Easy Kids’ Thanksgiving Table

   

This week on WDRB in the Morning, Craft E Magee and I collaborated to create an easy kids’ Thanksgiving table.  The idea was to create something fuss-free, entertaining for kids, and easy for adults to clean up.

Instead of a traditional tablecloth, Liz used brown kraft paper and set out adorable branch colored pencils so kids could easily draw on the table as they waited for food to be brought out.  At each place setting, she set out mini pumpkin pies, flanked by  a feather name card.  To create the names on the feathers, she used kraft and letter stickers found at Target dollar-spot.  Simple and super cute!

Keeping with the kraft paper theme, we filled small paper bags with Thanksgiving trail mix made by mixing popcorn and candy corn.  We used stamps and bakers twine to decorate ours, but you can also use these as name/place settings.

Finally, we used my Thankful Tree as the table’s centerpiece.  Set out leaves at each place setting for kids to write (or help them write) what they are thankful for this year.  Be sure to add a date on these to keep as mementos each year.

After dinner, you can roll up the kraft paper tablecloth and recycle.  Easy!

You can find more details and photos at craftemagee.com.

Do you create a special table for the kids at your Thanksgiving dinner?  Any additional tips for keeping kids busy while they patiently wait for dinner to be served?

Happy Thanksgiving, DIY’ers!

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DIY Thankful Tree

I have seen many, many versions of thankful trees online lately, and I love them all.  Finding a few bare branches in your yard and placing them in a pretty vase or jar is all it takes to create this personalized décor for your own home.  I used a circular paper punch to create leaves for my tree, but you can also cut leaf shapes from cardstock, or even use silk leaves if you prefer.

This will be perfect as a Thanksgiving table centerpiece and you can have all of your guests add their thanks to the tree.  I especially love to see what kids are thankful for.  My daughter’s thankful list this year included books, light to see, and a bed to sleep in.  Simple gratitudes that we often forget to acknowledge.

What are you thankful for this year?

Happy Thanksgiving, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Burlap Fall Inspiration

My brain isn’t ready to jump into the reds and evergreens of Christmas decorating just yet.  I’m still trying to embrace the coziness and warm colors of fall over here.  I have burlap sitting on my sewing table screaming to be made into something fall-ish, but what do I want to make? 

Here are a few inspirational burlap ideas from my favorite crafty bloggers that might help in my decision making:

I absolutely love this square burlap wreath from Craft E Magee.  The colors of the fall leaves pop against the red burlap beautifully and the square design is so unique.

These hand painted linen pillows from The Em Dash can easily be made using burlap.  You can now find printed burlap in most fabric stores and you wouldn’t need to paint your own designs if painting isn’t your thing.

This no-sew burlap table runner from Mandy at This Girl’s Life is perfect for those who want to create festive fall décor for their Thanksgiving tables.  No sewing skills needed – just burlap and hot glue.

After you’ve finished making these great projects, you can easily use any leftover scraps to make fabric acorns.  Fun, easy, and great for kids to help with.

What fall projects did you  make this season?  Did any of them use burlap?

Happy fall crafting!

~julee~

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Video: Make a DIY Fall Leaf Bowl

This week on WDRB in the Morning I tried to show Sterling how to make a bowl using silk leaves and Mod Podge.  If Sterling can do it, you can too!  Check out the video to see how fun and easy this craft project is to make.

You can see the full DIY Leaf Bowl step-by-step tutorial here.  To make this yourself, you’ll need a bowl to use as your form, silk fall leaves, plastic wrap, and Mod Podge.  Cover your bowl with plastic wrap, brush on a layer of Mod Podge, and then begin adding your leaves.  Keep adding Mod Podge and leaves until you have a full covering.  Let the bowl sit overnight to dry, and then peel away from the bowl and plastic wrap.  That’s it!

Don’t forget, if you’re in the Louisville area you can catch me and Craft E Magee on WDRB in the Morning twice a month.  Our next craft segments will air on Wednesday, November 20th at 7:45 & 8:15am.  If you can’t watch live, check out my YouTube channel for all of the video segments.  Thanks for watching!

Happy fall DIY’ing!

~julee~

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DIY Fall Leaf Bowl

This sweet little DIY fall leaf bowl will be perfect to add to your fall décor this season.  It’s super easy to make (I know I say that about all of my crafts, but I promise it’s true), and I love that you can customize it to create it in any size that you want.  I started out by making a small leaf bowl, but I have plans on making a larger one for my coffee table.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own fall leaf bowl:  A bowl to use as your mold (any size you want), cooking spray, plastic wrap, silk fall leaves, Mod Podge, and a sponge brush.

Start by spraying the bottom of your bowl with cooking spray.  Then,  fully wrap the bottom of the bowl with the plastic wrap.

Apply Mod Podge to the bottom of the bowl and begin adding your leaves, brushing on the Mod Podge as you go.  Continue until your bowl is covered with leaves, and add a layer of Mod Podge to the top of all of the leaves.  Let sit to dry overnight, or use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.

I wanted my bowl to be a shallow candy dish, so I didn’t go all the way up with my leaves.  Cover more or less of the bowl depending on the look you want.

Once the Mod Podge has dried completely, remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, and then remove the leaves from the plastic wrap.

That’s it!  Now you have a cute leaf bowl perfect for fall candy, acorns, or adding to your Thanksgiving table.

Happy fall crafting, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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DIY Halloween Owl Plaque

Are you ready to deck out your walls with Halloween décor?  This week, I made time to create my first Halloween craft of the season.  Such a sweet little DIY Halloween owl plaque, and so easy to make, too! 

Would you like to make your own Halloween owl?  You’ll need:  a wooden plaque (mine measures 7x7), black paint, Mod Podge, owl template, and assorted scrapbook papers.

First, download the free owl template from Kiki(verde).  Cut out your scrapbook paper in the shapes from the template.  Use stick glue to piece your owl together.  (This is not shown, because this genius idea didn’t come to me until too late, but it’ll make it easier, trust me.)

Paint your wooden plaque black.  After it dries, give it a nice smooth, even, thin coat of Mod Podge.

While the Mod Podge is wet, lay your owl down.  Then, top your owl with a nice, smooth, even, thin layer of Mod Podge.  Not too much or your paper will warp.  Smooth out any air bubbles. 

Once dry, your owl is ready to display amongst your spookiest décor.  Whooooooo!

If you would like to hang your Halloween owl plaque, simply hot glue a ribbon to the back as a hanger. 

D.I.Y. Louisville is having a Halloween party!  If you’re in the Louisville area and would like to join the Crafty Halloween Party, see the full details here.  For only $10 you can join us and we’ll have all the supplies you need to make your own DIY Halloween owl plaque.  Plus, we’ll have refreshments and prizes, too!  Email me at diylouisville@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Happy Halloween crafting, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Spiced Apple Chips Recipe

Last week I shared healthy back to school snack recipes to make ahead and have ready for easy after school snacks.  Our fridge is always stocked with apples, but when my daughter gets bored with them, she starts to reach for unhealthier choices.  She loves apple chips, so I was excited to try this spiced apple chips recipe to use up some of our apples and give her an alternative snack.  I have never made these before, but the recipe was simple:  apples baked with a fragrant combination of four spices.
 


Spiced Apple Chips Recipe (from Whole Foods)

You’ll need:
3 Apples
1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash of kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 200-degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and salt.  Slice apples crosswise as thin as possible.  Using a mandolin is ideal, but I didn’t have one.  Remove seeds and place the apples on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle the spice mix over the apples and use your fingers to spread the mixture thin and even.  (I didn’t do this part, but in hindsight I wish I had.)  Flip apples and repeat on the other side.  Bake at 200-degrees for one hour, flipping the apples after 30-minutes.  If your apples are cut thicker, you may need to leave in the oven for another 30-mins or longer.  When apples are done baking, leave in oven until cool.  Apples will become crisp upon cooling.



You can easily experiment with the spices for this recipe, using what you have in your pantry. A simple cinnamon and sugar blend will be delicious, too.



I love how these look packaged in a mason jar and think they will make great gifts.  The bonus to making these is that your house will smell scrumptious with a hint of fall in the air!

Have you ever made your own apple chips?  What spices do you add to yours?

Happy healthy snacking, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer

Like everyone else right now, I am obsessed with all things pumpkin spice.  I have seen several do-it-yourself creamer recipes floating around, so I decided to try my hand at making my own.  I pulled from several different recipes to create a dairy-free version that tastes heavenly.  Seriously, so delicious I almost skipped the coffee and drank the creamer straight-up.  Want to try it?

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer

1-Can Coconut Milk  (Not the kind that comes in a carton.)
1/2-Cup Pure Pumpkin Puree
1/3-Cup Organic Cane Sugar (Organic cane sugar is not as sweet as refined white sugar, so adjust or alter your sweetener to your tastes.)
2-tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1-tsp Vanilla Extract

Whisk together the coconut milk, pumpkin, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice over low heat.  Remove from heat when the mixture begins to steam.  Add in the vanilla extract.  Strain through strainer or cheesecloth into a glass bottle.  Refrigerate up to 5 days.

I highly recommend not skipping the straining step.  I portioned my batch off into strained and unstrained to see what I liked best, and the unstrained portion was too thick after refrigerating and didn’t do well in my coffee the next day.  Also, this is not going to give you a super creamy creamer if you’re used to using heavy dairy/cream, but it’s a yummy alternative nonetheless.  Use Kim’s method of freezing your remaining pumpkin puree.



Have you ever tried to make your own flavored coffee creamer?  What flavors did you make?  I’d like to try some different flavors as soon as this pumpkin craze dies down.  Which will probably be January when I’m wishing for spring.

~julee~

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Make It: Fabric Acorn

I’m having a little love affair with these darling fabric acorns at the moment.  I’ve seen lots of cute decorating ideas with real acorns, which can be found in great abundance in my yard right now.  However, I tried to be cute with them once upon a time, and let me just say…uh, maggots.  And that pretty much assured that this neurotic girl will never again try to cuten up her home with real acorns.  But acorn tops are surely bug free and safe for crafting, right?  Right?

I used fabric scraps and burlap to make these acorns, but I have seen them on pinterest made with felted wool, and I recently purchased some from Papers N Fiber that were made from felted sweaters.  Whatever fabric or textile you have on had, these whip up nice and quick.  Here is a little tutorial of sorts with the steps using fabric:

You need:  acorn top, small fabric circle sized according to how large or small your acorn top is, needle, thread, stuffing, hot glue gun

Sew a running stitch around your circle, stuff with stuffing, pull thread to cinch closed and knot, use hot glue around the entire acorn top, attach.  For the burlap, I didn’t sew the top at all.  I simply filled the circle with stuffing, pinched everything tight, and glued the acorn top in place. 

Simple and cute – my favorite kind of craft.

Are you making any fall crafts?  I’d love to come check out your projects if you leave a link to your blog in the comments.

Happy fall crafting, DIY’ers!

~julee~

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What We Wore

There was actually a chill in the air today, so I pulled on a pair of boots for the occasion.  I’m not wishing for cooler weather at all, but wearing boots makes my heart do a little dance. 

What fashion trend is making your heart do a little dance this week?

 

Chambray Shirt:  Old Navy (Similar)

Tank:  Target

Dress (worn as skirt):  Thrifted, Target  (Similar)

Wedge Boots:  Thrifted, Old Navy  (Similar)

Bracelet:  Silly Happy Sweet

 

Kim and I post our outfits here to help inspire each other to get out of the yoga pants rut. Plus, we like cute clothes. We link up each week with The Pleated Poppy and Whatever Whenever Wednesday and Not Dead Yet Style with a bunch of other bloggers in blogland doing the same crazy stuff we are. If you're dropping in today, please say HI! in the comments - we'd love to come check out your blog!
~julee~

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Make It: Arnold Palmer

Just when I think that I’ve embraced the fact that fall is inevitably closing in on us, I find myself at the market scrambling for fare that is quintessentially summer. 

Around the corner I see hot soups, big hearty breakfasts, spiced cider.

But I’m not quite ready to let summer go just yet.

To make the perfect Arnold Palmer (aka Half and Half) pour equal parts fresh brewed tea and fresh squeezed lemonade over ice. 

Sip. Enjoy. Bid adieu to summer.

~julee~

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Guest Blogger: Miss Pinny from Home Skillette

We are so excited to share a very special treat with you today.  Today’s post is written by a fellow Louisville blogger, Melissa (a.k.a Miss Pinny) of Home Skillette.  When I asked Melissa if she would share a Thanksgiving-worthy recipe with us, I had no idea that she would produce the following display of scrumptiousness. 

Oh my!

Cook up the following to compliment your Thanksgiving meal, and I promise you that your guests will thank you!

You can check out more food goodnessness at Home Skillette.  After that, click on over to Miss Pinny Design and Bee Wares to see Melissa’s other talents.

Indian-Spiced Fall Veg with Israeli Couscous

Want to try something new with your sweet potatoes this year? This perfect blend of spicy, sweet and salty will keep you warm and cozy this holiday. Works excellently as a side or an entree.

Indian-Spiced Fall Veg with Israeli Couscous

Serves 4-6

1 small butternut squash, about 2 lbs
peeled, cored and diced into 1 inch cubes
1 red garnet sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp each turmeric and garam masala
1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cup boiling water
2 black tea bags, preferably orange spice
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 seeded and finely diced habanero pepper
1 tsp whole cumin seed
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup Israeli couscous
1/2 cup golden raisins
salt

*for less spicy dishes, use jalapeno instead

Set oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butternut squash, sweet potato, olive oil, salt, pepper, turmeric, garam masala and nutmeg. Toss together until the veggies are thoroughly coated with the oil and spices. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and roast for 35-45 minutes, until cooked through but not scorched.

 

As they are roasting, steep tea bags in boiling water for 5 minutes. Set aside. Place butter in a pot and melt over medium heat. Once the butter has formed a foam, saute onions until almost clear.

 

Add the garlic and habanero, sauteing another 2 minutes, careful to not burn the garlic. Remove completely from pot and set aside. Place pot back on heat and add cumin, almonds and couscous, toasting for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.



Once the couscous has turned a deep golden color and the almonds a light brown, add the reserved tea. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes, taking point to stir intermittently. Once cooked thoroughly, place the couscous, onion mixture and roasted veggies (making sure to take advantage of any oil left on the baking sheet) in a large serving bowl with the golden raisins.



Ever so gently, mix together until all ingredients are combined and evenly distributed.



Salt to taste. Serve immediately.

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Macarons, Anybody?

      Saturday was the day.  I finally, after months of thinking about it decided to conquer macarons.  Now let me just state right here that making macarons for the first time is not something you can decide to do in one day.  Oh, no, it takes a few days of prep before you can even get started.  First of all the egg whites.  You have to use aged egg whites.  If you are having a what? moment right now, so did I.  Aged egg whites are ones that have been stored in the fridge in a bowl covered with a paper towel for at least 2-3 days.  From what I have read it helps to absorb excess moisture in the egg whites and moisture is your enemy when it comes to macarons.  Second you have to have a kitchen scale in order to make them properly.  If you are like me you don't have a kitchen scale.  I had to buy one at Target.  There are a few other things you might need to do some specialized shopping for in order to make these such as: Almond meal (or you can grind the almonds yourself), parchment paper or good quality silpat liners, a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and powdered or gel food coloring.

     Okay now onto the actual making.  I want to stress that these aren't really that hard to make, they are tricky.  Tricky, tricky little French cookies.  If you have never baked before, back away from the computer.  They require a lot of previous baking experience to get them right, or at least in my opinion.  You need to understand meringues, how to use a piping bag and have a grasp on textures and consistencies.  I used the recipe from Tartlette, because well, she's French.  I did change my flavors though, so I'll share with you my filling recipe and my tips that worked for me.

I am lucky enough to have a convection oven.  I baked mine at 275 and it took about 17 minutes for them to be done.  If you were cooking in a regular oven you should be at 300.  Tartlette says to cook them for 8 to 10 minutes.  I found I had to go way over that.  the first batch that I did were way under cooked.  The tops fell off and left a gooey mess behind.  

My kitchen scale, bought at Target for about 7 dollars.  You need to be able to measure exactly in grams for this recipe.

 Follow the recipe and at the end your batter should look like this.  It had the consistency of pancake batter. I added orange color to mine since I was doing a fall flavor.

You'll want to fit a pastry bag with a large round tip.  I used a binder clip to hold mine closed while I filled it. If you don't batter will run everywhere.

I put my bag into a jar while I filled it.  This is really handy to do since the batter is so fluid.

This part is important so listen up.  You have to line your baking sheets or they will fail.  I used parchment and it worked just fine.  When you pipe your macarons they should only be about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  The batter should spread only a teeny tiny bit, just enough to flatten out and not have a peak.  Then let them sit, for at least 30 minutes so that they form a skin on top.  That's what gives them the right consistency after being baked.

When they are done it's hard to tell.  Tap on the tops and they should sound dry and be firm. They should look dry and matte on top.  They should have developed feet while cooking.  Which is that nice little layer on the bottom that looks full of air bubbles.  That's what you want.  Don't over bake them or they will be too crunchy like a meringue.  They should be have a crisp top and bottom and be chewy when you bite into them.

Make your filling.  You can fill them with pretty much anything you like.  I used a chocolate spiced buttercream.  Pipe a little dollop onto one cookie and sandwich with another cookie that matches in size.

Yummy.

If you have a cute bearded guy lurking around looking for food, give him one to taste.

The finished fancy pants product.  Put them on a tray and look at them proudly.  

Chocolate Spiced Buttercream

1 stick softened butter

1/2c. cocoa

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp vanilla

2c. powdered sugar

2 tbs vanilla creamer, plus some to get the right consistency.

Cream butter, add vanilla and and creamer and stir.  Add cocoa powder and spices, mix well.  Add powdered sugar and beat.  Add any additional creamer to get the right texture.

As much as these may seem a pain in the butt, I can't wait to make more and I'm already dreaming up fancy flavor combos to try. If you are looking for a good recipe book for macarons, check this one out.

-Kim

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