Sweet & Salty Patriotic Popcorn

I have a fun 4th of July popcorn recipe to share with you that comes from my Sister In-Law, Richelle.

Every Fourth of July, we look forward to her colorful sweet and salty popcorn she makes for our family firework show.

I really like it because it's simple to make, and not too sweet.  I don't know about you, but I love gooey sweet popcorn, but after I eat several handfuls I feel sick...like I just ate a cube of butter and a pound of sugar! This popcorn is just right.

What I also like about this popcorn is that (most) kids with allergies can eat it too.  Several of our cousins suffer from food allergies, and often get left out of all the fun treats we eat around the holidays.

The ingredients are:

1/2 cup popcorn (gourmet works best, I like Orville Redenbacher)

2 TB oil

3 TB sugar

salt to taste 

(You can add food coloring if you want a burst of color.)

We use a popcorn popper similar to the picture above. 

Add the oil, sugar, unpopped popcorn, and food coloring to the base.  Place the lid over the base, turn it on, and wait for it to pop.  When you hear the popcorn popping start to slow, flip it over, unplug it, and remove the bowl of popcorn.  Add salt to taste while warm.

For the red, white and blue popcorn- pop white first, add red coloring to second batch and wipe clean, add blue coloring to last batch.

**This popcorn popper recommends ONLY using oil while popping, so if you are worried about adding sugar and food coloring, try this recipe in pan with a lid over the stove instead**

We found that if you use a wet rag, you can *carefully* clean the sugar off of the hot surface before it carmelizes onto the bottom of the pan. The sugar and food coloring does discolor the surface.

Like all my warnings?

I just don't want you to be mad at me when you ruin the bottom of your popcorn popper! :)

As always, be careful when you are cooking or handling hot pans and oil! Yes, I have "safety issues."

 

 A fun and festive popcorn treat for the Fourth of July that you can make in minutes!  Enjoy!

Papered Flag

Some of my best inspirations working with wood

come from looking at handmade cards.

I knew as soon as I saw this card/gift box

made by Tracy Harp of Inky Doodles

that it would be perfect made out of wood!

Isn't it so cute and clever!?!

I cut the basic shape and star out of 

1/4" MDF at approximately 11x14".

I painted it Americana Deep Midnight Blue.

I always water down my paint for a smoother finish.

It's better to do 2 light coats

than one thick globby coat.~is that even a word?

I then Mod Podged on some of the cutest paper 

from Authentique.

Have you guys seen their paper?

It's gorgeous and thick which makes it perfect for paper crafting!

When I was done I glued gunned on some cute ribbons to hang it with.

So easy, so fun and cute!

Did any of you watch Craft Wars last night?

Oh my goodness was it fun, exciting and totally intimidating!

What did you guys think?

Growing Pains

photo courtesy someecards.com

Yesterday the dreadful project of

cleaning the garage happened.

Yuck, seriously please tell me I'm not the only

person to put it off for months if not years.

Candace was busy working on her garage too~

very excitedly putting up shelves!

I finally emptied boxes from when we moved 5 years ago.

My hubby taunted me the whole time that I was a hoarder.

After watching many episodes of Hoarders during Spring Break, 

(it was like a car wreck I couldn't peel my eyes off of!)

I knew it wasn't a compliment.

Most tragic of all I finally hauled away all of my 

little daughter's clothes since birth.

I have held onto them with high hopes of actually using them again.

I have struggled with infertility my entire adult life, so when

after 10 years of doctors, drugs and needles

I got my dream baby~I had some hope that

eventually there would be another.

So it was hard to let go of those "moments".

My hubby couldn't understand why I was bawling scooping baby

clothes into black garbage cans.

It must be a Mom thing.:)

I did gather some of my favorite things

like this little hat my SIL gave me.

Loved it on her!

How could I not be bawling!;)

So on the funnier side of being a Mom I had to share this hilarious

list of funnies I found on Pinterest!

Sign from Sawdust City LLC

To celebrate our hard work and being able

to now park both cars in the garage, my hubby and I are making

a Peanut Butter no bake pie today.

If it turns out......I'll post about it tomorrow.

Happy Sunday friends!

Pruning 101

It only seems fitting after such a wonderful Father's Day yesterday
to sing the praises of our amazing Dad
who came to the rescue once again this last week for his girls!
Pruning, not the fruit but the tree kind!

A few weeks ago while Candace and her little family went on their first ever

family vacation, I spent a lot of time out working in the yard.
Then when Candace got home we spent 2 whole days chopping
and hauling to the dump over a ton...yes a ton literally, of branches.

I admit it wasn't all work~

our duckies are growing so fast and it was fun to just be outside with them!

I went and got the kiddie pool, which at first seemed monstrous.....

it doesn't seem big enough anymore.
And of course along with us is squirrel #3, Fifi.
Yes, I said number 3.:)

When we moved here I wanted the exact opposite of my last home.

I traded in house size for a yard full of trees so I had my own private little retreat.

It has been wonderful but those trees~they are a lot of work and expensive!

So I have had to figure out how to prune myself because some Tree experts

charge up and over $500 per tree to come in.

Don't get me wrong~they earn their money rightly!:)
Since we can't hire our Dad out to come teach and rescue you

we thought we'd share one of the best sources we have ever come across

which was a video from This Old House!

Those guys are amazing~and hey the accents~who doesn't love em'!

This Old House's website is full of amazing tips on everything!
Another great article was from them is found here.
I love how their first tip is "Fight The Fear"!

photo from This Old House

My brother got me a Sawzall for Christmas

 and honestly that tool has been so well used!

It makes pruning easy and puts my mind at ease~the thought of my husband with a chain saw

scares the crud out of me!
This Sawzall makes cutting through those bigger branches so easy
and relatively safe.

Here are 2 tools that are must haves for your garden:

I really like the Fiskars brand and they are economical as well as being well made. You can find them at Walmart, Home Depot and Lowes.

Hand pruners~~for everything like roses and shrubs.

I picked up this set last weekend and they are delicious and just under $13!

Long handles pruners for larger branches and hard to reach ones!

Really easy to use and cuts even easier!

If there was any advice I could give, it's to have courage!  Watch a few videos and give it a try, you have nothing to lose, only money to save and a beautiful yard to enjoy!

Last but not least~THANKS DAD for teaching us how to work in the yard and forever being our Knight in shining armor.  Seriously he is the best Dad ever!

Shabby Apple Winner

Okay you guys,

we have finally picked a winner

for our Shabby Apple Giveaway!

The lucky winner for the $50 Shabby Apple gift card is.....

Paige

epfaulkner@*****.com

Paige you should be contacted by Shabby Apple 

asap for them to send over your prize!

Thanks everyone for entering!

We loved seeing what you all liked~
The most favored dress was the
Bon Voyage

Next up was the
Ahoy!

Don't forget that if you weren't our lucky winner today
that you have all month to use the Crafty Sisters discount!
craftysisters10off


Tomorrow we'll explain why it took us 2 days to pick a winner!:)
Happy Wednesday!

Shabby Apple Giveaway!!!

Yup, we are hosting a

SHABBY APPLE GIVEAWAY!

Shabby Apple is kind enough to offer one of our lucky readers

a $50 Gift card 

for any item of your choice from Shabby Apple!

Plus all of our readers can use this code

craftysisters10off

to get 10% off their order all month long!

Here's a couple of our favorites~

Shabby Apple also has amazing Maternity dresses,

and gorgeous swimsuits,

Fashion accessories

and even little girl dresses!

Here are the rules to enter this fabulous giveaway:

There are 3 opportunities to enter~the more you enter, the better your chances!

 All entries must have a USA address for shipping.

1. You must "LIKE" Shabby Apple on Facebook

then make sure to come back and leave us a comment letting us know you did!

2.  Tell us which Shabby Apple dress is your favorite.

3.  Make sure you are a Crafty Sisters Follower.

This giveaway will go through Sunday night June 10th

and we'll pick the lucky winner Monday morning!

Good luck everyone!

Rhubarb Dessert

Growing up out in rural Washington, we had a pretty

big yard which also meant we had a pretty big garden.

Our folks always had 4 large rhubarb plants

and a never ending supply of rhubarb for making cobbler,

one of our Dad's all time favorite treats.

Even though we all complained about having our rows to weed

in the garden, it has been quite funny to see most of us kids grow up to be avid gardeners.

My parents are still stunned at this.:)

I, out of probably all my siblings am probably the most sappy and sentimental

so I of course have to have at least 2 big rhubarb plants in my garden to remind me of my childhood.

Problem is my hubby doesn't like rhubarb and neither does my daughter.

Last week there was a recipe attached to our church newsletter that I just had to try

and hey it was all about rhubarb!

Even better~this is by far one of the tastiest desserts I've ever made.

I have no idea who contributed the recipe but it is quite delicious!

Rhubarb Dessert

6 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup sugar

1 3 oz package strawberry jello

1 cup water

1 white cake mix

1/2 cup margarine or butter

Put rhubarb into a 9 x 13 pan.

Sprinkle sugar on top.

Sprinkle jello powder over top.

Add water carefully over jello powder.

Sprinkle cake mix over top.

Melt margarine or butter and drizzle over top.

Do NOT mix.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.

Because there are only 3 of us in our family I always have more than we can consume

so I usually split the recipe into 2 disposable 8x8" square pans.

That way we can keep one and I can run the other over to my parents.

Boy was my Dad in heaven tonight!

Tomorrow I'm building another raised garden bed to put in an awkward spot

in my yard that I'm amazed I didn't think of doing before.

I have proclaimed this year to be "The Year of My Garden".

I have spent more time outside lately than in and it has been wonderful!:)