THE QUEEN OF EVERYTHING ELSE

Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 medium carrots, diced 2 celery ribs, diced 1 large leek, sliced into ½″ rings, washed well to remove any sand and drained in a colander 2 cloves garlic, chopped 3 Tablespoons tomato paste 1and a half -2 cans of Navy beans 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes 6-8 cups vegetable or chicken broth, or water 2 sprigs fresh thyme 4-5 kale leaves, ribs removed, roughly chopped salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Directions: -Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until the onions starts to soften. Add the carrots, celery, and leeks. Continue cooking, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, being careful not to let it burn. -Next add the tomato paste and stir well. Let cook for 30 seconds then add beans, diced tomatoes, broth, thyme,  Add salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste. (It might not need much sa...

Here are two ways to make this adorable DIY pot of gold  The tutorial for this one is at  DecoArt Blog This makes a great gift to bring to someone or you can use this as a St. Patrick’s Day prize or party favor!    It’s so fun and festive! Here is the free Printable  Or you can try this one  Here’s what your need: Mini terracotta pot Black acrylic pain Sponge brush Mod Podge Gold glitter Shamrock Stencil or cut out Rolo candies to fill Begin by painting your terracotta pots with the black acrylic paint. It took two coats to cover. Once dry, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge along the inside of the lip. {I use sparkle Mod Podge when crafting with glitter!} Sprinkle with gold glitter. Next, apply a thin layer along the outer rim. Roll in glitter. Next take your cut out / stencil and place it in the center and apply a light coat of Mod Podge to the cut out area.  Sprinkle...

DIY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIGN You see these fancy handmade Birthday signs for sale at Etsy all the time.   I will show you how to do it yourself using scrapbooking paper, oak tag and ribbon. First I took a regular Birthday sign from the dollar store and took it apart and used the letters as my template.  I also added a name, I was lucky and I was able to use some of the template from the birthday sign, the rest I improvised.  You could find templates of letters on line too.  I planned out which letters were going to be each color and then traced each letter onto the colored scrapbooking card stock and then cut them out. I then glued the letters onto black oak tag and then cut around it so that it gave it a backing contrast and it was sturdy. Then glued each letter onto the the yellow oak tag square which I measured ahead of time to make sure it was going to fit each letter.  Each letter is a different size.  Then backed that onto coordinat...

How to clean your Keurig   So every morning I wake up and immediately turn on the Keurig to make a cup of coffee.  This morning I noticed the cup didn't fill as up as it usually does.  I knew I had to clean the machine again.  Last time I cleaned it I used a cleaner I got from the store. This time I wanted to try the good ole vinegar trick.  I put about a cup of vinegar in the machine and added water about half way and waited about 10 mins then started to run the water mixture through the machine till it was gone.  I then filled it again with water to the top and ran that through till gone.  I did this 2 times to make sure the vinegar was all out.  I then made myself another cup and problem was fixed.  The coffee tasted much better too!!   You should clean your Keurig every 2-3 months.  

DIY Tissue Pom Poms  These are great to make as decorations to hang all over for your parties.  You can really save a lot of money making them yourself. They are great indoors and out. I really love making my own decorations when I have parties its fun and easy . For each pom-pom, you will want to use between 10-15 sheets of tissue paper . (Most Dollar stores have tissue paper for a buck.) I made some with the 1/2 size sheets and then tried a few with 10 full-sized sheets and they all turned out great! Step 1 – take 10-15 pieces of tissue paper  Step 2 – fold tissue paper in sections (1-2 inches probably) to create a fan. Step 3 - trim the ends (you can try different shapes at the end to change the finished look, but I mostly just rounded them off) Step 4 – secure in the middle – like I said earlier, you are supposed to use “florist wire” but string worked great, pipe cleaners would work or if you have a heavy duty stapler.  Step 5 – gently pu...

These long winter months are starting to get to me.  I am itching to get outside and create.  Soon the days will be longer, sunnier, and everyone will be ready to spend more time outside in the great outdoors! Besides looking fantastic, an outdoor oasis can actually add value to your home. To help you create an outdoor space to be proud of this summer, I am going to highlight five do-it-yourself projects that you can accomplish in less than a weekend. Hop on over to Homes.com to see all 21 examples of the five different do it yourself outdoor projects that you could start planning to tackle once this winter weather leaves us and spring and summer arrives.