I gave my sister and mother these fabulous photo coasters for their birthdays last month and my sister jokingly said “you should write a guest post on Tidy Tangle about how to make them”. So here I am “guest” posting. I might add that I have been studying my little heart out and working hard with my web development business and spending one more minute at the computer to blog is less than appealing so I apologize for my silence, but it’s been a necessary evil to keep my sanity. Part of the battle of learning to juggle it all is dropping a ball from time to time so you don’t drop all of them and run for shelter! But thanks to my sister for keeping the dream alive and providing some wonderful posts! (more…)
Mother’s Day Gift – Photo Coasters
Side view of the coaster
Felt pads on bottom
Set of five coasters
Switch to Health (S2H) STEP
You may remember my post on the S2H REPLAY. If you don’t, read the review on the REPLAY first and then come back. Much of the way the program works is the same, the only difference is that the STEP keeps track of steps you take and gives you a reward code for every 10,000 steps. I was really surprised how quickly I could get to 10,000 steps even though I spend some of the day sitting at my computer for work. I averaged 5,000 steps a day. On days I ran, I could get 5,000 steps just from my run. I actually found it fun to see how many steps I took in an average day. So you can probably expect to get 3 or 4 reward codes a week with the STEP. (more…)
Fabric Hoops Decor
I found this great post and couldn’t resist sharing. Such a simple idea, yet so beautiful. I did something similar in my daughters room with scraps left over from a quilt a friend made, but used square frames instead. I like the round hoops better.
http://www.purlbee.com/swatch-portraits/
For a great way to incorporate it into a nursery, check out this blog
http://aedriel.blogspot.com
The Jesus Storybook Bible
So if you’re looking for a great Christmas present for your kids (and you!) then turn to this Bible. You won’t be disappointed. You can buy it here
Gift Idea: Rice Heat Therapy Bag
A few years ago, I made a rice bag out of some bright red corduroy pants that I found at a second hand store. I simply sewed two rectangles together like a pillow, left a hole and filled it with rice and then finished sewing it up. (more…)
Homemade Powder Laundry Detergent
The ingredients
Used stand mixer to shred the soap
After processing it
A few weeks ago, my sister shared how to make homemade laundry detergent. Well, I made it and it turned out to be thicker than I wanted and I didn’t have a stock pot big enough for the experiment so I decided that perhaps, a powder was a better solution for us. I don’t mind powder and my machine has a special place just for the powder so that plenty of water rushes through the detergent to dissolve it. (more…)
Pie Making Workshop
So you may have noticed that I renamed Wednesday “Wonderful Wednesday” or maybe you didn’t. I was having a hard time collecting enough photos to make Wordless Wednesday a smashing success so I decided to rename the day something vague to allow more room for creativity. The truth is, I just haven’t been doing very much these days other than just trying to keep the house clean and our bellies full amidst the chaos! (more…)
Grating Butter
I use butter often, but I don’t like trying to cut the butter into small bits in order to get every square inch covered. Then I had an “ah-ha” moment – why not grate the butter? It worked perfectly. The bits were just enough to add a butter flavor and I was able to get the butter to go further that way.
Another great use of the grater for butter – making pie crusts. With great pie crust recipes (like this one on allrecipes.com), you have to have a food processor to process the butter very finely while it’s cold. Instead, you can freeze the butter and then grate it and add it to the flour for pie crust. Works perfectly without the need for a costly appliance that takes up self space!
German Rye Bread – No knead
After mixing
Rising in the sun
After the initial rise
While living in German, we used to hear the refrain quite often (from Germans) “how can you eat that bread in America?” (referring to Wonder bread). Every Saturday morning, we’d walk down to the local farmer’s market and pick up some fantastic German Rye bread and that’s when I realized what I had been missing out on my whole life! Now that we’re back in the states, I can’t find a good substitute anywhere so I stumbled upon this recipe in “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” which I adapted and it’s almost a perfect match. In fact, I think it’s better. (more…)
Thift Store Shopping Tips
Rachel came to visit us in Charlotte this past weekend with her youngest and we had a great time! My daughter had so much fun with her cousin and we had a great time just showing Rachel our life in Charlotte. On Sunday afternoon during nap time, we went to a local thrift store. I found this store about 9 months ago and have been dying to go back. However, it’s not in the nicest part of town so I was reticent to go by myself. So I dragged my sister as my body guard and we embarked on the journey. For those of you in Charlotte, the thrift store is Value Village on Central. (more…)