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?

4th of July Aftermath...

We had a fun Fourth of July!  We started the morning with all of the breakfast bakes and topped it off with the berry trifle.  Later we had swimming, a BBQ, and of course... fireworks!  My boys would be perfectly happy if I only bought tanks, smoke bombs, grenades...and maybe some of those parachute men!

Fire...Fire...Fire!!

My sister in law brought cute red, white, & blue popcorn to eat while watching the fireworks.

I straight out copied the Glorious Treats Flag Cake. 

(She is a cute food genius, I eagerly wait to see what she'll come up with next!) 

I knew when I saw the cake that it would be perfect for our Fourth Of July picnic.  The flag cake has been all over blogland, but it was all new to our family.  The kids and adults got a big kick out of it!

Everyone sang patriotic songs and watched with anticipation as I cut into the cake.  Some of the little ones had a great time guessing what was inside the cake after I told them there was a surprise!

Ahhhhh!  Only regret...it's PINK!!?  Shucks, I will remember to buy gel dye next time! :)

Such a great idea and it actually tasted good besides having an entire bottle of red dye added! 

Hope you had a great day too!

Do you have any fun 4th of July foods that you make?

Snap! Crackle! Pop! Firecrackers!

We've got a few fun Patriotic Decor items coming up

here on Crafty Sisters and thought we start it off

with these EASY to Make Firecrackers!

I made a smaller set of these for my

America Wood letters

and they were so much fun I decided I needed more....

bigger and better to boot!

SO

Go grab the biggest dowel you can find (about 1 1/2")

I cut them in 7", 6" and 5" lengths (I got 2 sets per dowel!)

Some pre-cut Stars (the bigger the better)

some wire

and any scraps of red white and blue paper you can find!

(you don't need much for these!)

and some spray paint for the stars!

After you cut the dowel to desired lengths

make sure to drill holes in the top and into the stars

so you can attach the stars.

Don't forget to sand em' smooth!

Paint the ends of your dowels,

trim out your papers ready to go.

While your doing this you can coat the stars 

and the wire that you curled with some spray paint.

I used a really fun "copper penny" shade that had a hint of silver metallic to it.

I love love love how it turned out!

After much trial and error and some help from the nice ladies in my class last week,

we decided it was definitely easier to put the glue on the paper first

and then.....adhere it to the dowel.

Just sand off any excess on the edge with sanding tools.

I dipped the end of each wire into the end

of my glue gun and stuck them into the stars and dowels.

The great thing about the springy wire attaching them is that

they have some give to arrange them how you want.

I also ran a bead of glue to attach all the firecrackers together.

I finished them off with a bow of twine

and now they're all ready to put out!

Fun, Cheap & Easy!

Star Quilts Into Wall Art

Years ago I went through a little Americana fixation. 

It all began with this quilt made by my super Mother-In-Law.

She made the quilt for my son to match his nursery. 

The night I went into unexpected labor a month early,

I was roaming the aisles of Home Depot looking for a dowel

to hang my beloved star wall hanging in the perfect spot in his nursery.

I had some serious "nesting" urges going on! 

I love how the squares are off just a little and the stars are scattered across. 

 Looking closely you see the quilt pattern of how it all fits together. 

Quilt patterns are so intriguing. 

It's the same pieces, but with different fabric and rotated. 

I've vowed that one day I'll learn to quilt! :)

For a while now I've wanted to try the same pattern

with wood for a wall hanging for my son's "older" room. 

I traced the pattern onto some mdf scraps and I used the scroll saw to cut.

It's so easy to use, it reminds me of a sewing machine. 

Nicole is really the master on this thing.

I am definitely an amateur... but practice makes perfect!

If you are careful and go slowly, you could easily do this with your jig saw.

I traced each piece onto scrapbook paper and cut it out.

I tried something I have never done. 

 I couldn't find my glue or mod podge, so I used my Gorilla Glue Wood Glue. 

I do have to say it worked really well, especially with the thick heavy scrapbook paper. 

Gluing scrapbook paper to wood surfaces is hard

because you have to make sure you have a really thin

layer of glue so that the paper won't buckle.

 I smoothed it out with my fingers to make it nice and even,

and it went on like a charm! 

 

Make sure you rub all over the paper for good contact!

I even used a pencil to smooth out those bubble pockets.

 

 

I built some frames with a 1x2's and thin plywood backing.

 

I took each block and sanded the edges where the paper overlaps. 

I did add some stain,

which I would recommend doing before you put the papers on.  :)

 

Then I put the puzzle pieces "back" together. 

We've been watching a lot of tiling shows on DIY lately

so I wanted a gap between that mimicked the feel of tile.

I ended up chopping a few chunks of extra wood and adding them

underneath certain squares to give it height and make them pop. 

 

 

 

My Mother-In-Law's quilt is pretty fabulous....

 

and I think....these will compliment it well!

 

If the older boys don't like them, thank goodness the little ones do!