TT&J Giveaway!

To get an extra chance to win, I am sharing this giveaway with my readers! (all 5 of you=).


Tater Tots & Jello, my new fav blog, is giving away a $100 gift card to lowes! I know I could use this for our projects at Brown Acre!

Enter to win!

Jewelry Box Re-fashion

No before and after pics.....sigh.

Just the after. I'm sorry.

But what a beautiful after it is!!

I made this gem for my dear bestie BB Toble's birthday ( Nicknamed sweetly).

It it totally a late gift as her bday was several weeks ago, but this project took forever and with my busy schedule, football, and some sick days in there, I just couldn't get it done!

She started off as an ugly, slightly broken veneered jewelry box in an awful brown stained color.
Hardware was disgustingly brassy.

Anyways, Here she is completed. I am in love.

I used a wallpaper sample and covered the inside lid to add a pop of color when opened.

I painted the exterior with a plum purple (her bedroom has a deep purple accent wall) and spray painted the brassy knobs a grassy green.

I roughed up all edges and sanded down every surface for a more aged look. And to show off the details I did like. 

Of course, I had to fill the box with some bables, now didn't I?!?

Yea, I made all those too.

Love ya, BB! Happy Belated Birthday!

  

Linked up to

Pumpkin Glorious-ness!

I've been dealing with pumpkins today. Its been on my to do list, and I actually had a Saturday with nothing else huge planned, and no where else to be. 

Woot Woot! 

I really got some stuff done! 

Here are a few shots from my pumpkin goodness. 

These baby sweet pumpkins grew in our gardens this year. So cute and delish. 

This picture shows me separating the seeds from the pulp. I also cut each pumpkin in half for roasting.

I did the seeds first, as I knew they would take the longest. I rinsed them and threw them into a pot, covered it with water, dumped in some salt and set the pot on to boil. Once boiling, I set the timer for 10 minutes. 

After ten minutes, these morsels were ready to dry. So I got out my trusty paper towel roll and evenly spread out the seeds. They dried for about 10 minutes (only because I had some other things going on and they just had to wait on me!!)

Next comes the seasonings! I used 4 T. of melted butter, 2 t. of seasoning salt (I used natures seasoning), and 1 T. of Worcestershire sauce. Mixed it up real good.  

Spread out on pans. The seeds on the left came from store bought carving pumpkins and are a little larger. The ones on the right are my baby pumpkins from the garden. 

Pop them into the oven at 250 degrees for 1-2 hours. I stir mine every 15-30 minutes to ensure even drying. 

When they stop looking "wet" and look nice and toasted, they are done!!

Now, try not to eat them all in one setting!

I also wanted to make some pumpkin puree for some recipes and pies so I roasted the halves as well today. Cut in half, brushed on the pulp side with butter (generously) and stuck in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until a fork easily stick through the skins. 

Here they are after the fact. Nice and toasted looking.  You can even see my fork pricks in the bottom left one! 

Because I don't have a third hand, I couldn't take pictures of the next part. I peeled the skins off each side of pumpkin. Some sides I had to scrape with a spoon, others the skin fell right off.  I stuck the pulp from two sides into the food processor and blended it all up! You could use an emersion blender, a regular blender, or a food mill for this as well. 

The pic on the right shows the purty puree!

So what am I doing with this puree!?!? Freezing most of it for later use.....but one cup went towards these lovely!

Oh. My. Word. 

So good. Can't stop eating them. 

Here is the recipe. 

Also, Ms. Mavis Butterfield helped me out with how to make pumpkin pie spice.......

As for the larger pumpkins, they were decorated in great suspense for the greatest night in the history of  candy ever. In the words of K-man. 

Mother Earth News Fair- Seven Springs PA

A couple weekends ago, my hubby and I (along with the inlaws) got to attend the Seven Springs Mother Earth News Fair! I'm so glad that we went and will definately go again next year.

I have tried to post this several times, but the pictures wouldn't load=(. I have no idea why. So, I posted them to my facebook page for all to see. Hopefully you can match up pictures with what I'm taking about here.

Anyways......


We got up early on Friday, sent the child to school (his aunt KK and Nana were caretakers...thanks a bunch!!!) and headed off to PA. Once there, it was clear that the fair had grown and so had the number of folks who were in attendance (according to Mr. John).

We parked and walked down to register and get started. I was SO overwhelmed by the number of vendors and seminar selections! What did I want to see?!? What if I missed something important!?!

We had a very handy guide to help us figure out where to go and when. Even came with a map. Nice.

We started off the day with starbucks. Yum Yum. Everyone was happy.


Then we headed to our first seminars. Z attended something about gardening in the forest, while I attended Incubation 101.

I'm definately hatching some chicks this year. I really learned alot. Plus, they were just so cute!!!!



We then check out a few vendors: SUCH COOL STUFF! Everything here was made just for us, it seemed. I wanted to buy everything! I could have walked around for days and still not have seen everything.

Lunch was next......yummy pork BBQ.


Last on the agenda for Friday, we attended Joel Salatins seminar "Can we REALLY feed the world?"

I love him. He is so imformative and funny. Great speaker. Look for those pics on FB.


The next day, we got up and ready, and headed back to the fair. We were slightly late and so the first seminar we wanted to go to was totally packed. Didn't think we would get seats. But we did. Right up against the stage. We saw Joel Salatin butcher a chicken.
I was sad at first. The chickens flopped and stuff. But once they were dead I was fine.

We then headed to shop around the fair, try some more food, and just take in the craziness that surrounded us.

The last purchase I made was my fav. I got some amazing real maple sugar candies and maple cotton candy. The ride home was so sweet=).


So, Sorry for the lack of pics on here. I really don't know what happened. It still wont let me add them. So you'll have to check me out on facebook to see what I am talking about here.

Now I can blog about something else! And this one is no longer hanging over my head! WootWOoT!!!