Homemade Taco Seasoning

Since our family has been making transitions to eat better*, I've been trying to make a lot more of our own pantry staples. An easy transition has been to make our own taco seasoning. I've tried a few recipes and didn't really care for them... the recipes that had chili powder as the main ingredient just didn't seem to taste all that great. Then I found one that used mostly cumin... and I tweaked it to fit our tastes... and we loved it. It's the only one we make now! 

[terrible phone picture, but oh well!]

2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

(sometimes I add a little bit more of the "spicy" ingredients depending on how hot we want it, and sometimes I add red pepper flakes. It all depends on our mood... or my pregnancy nausea!)

I always double it, though. Throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it up. You can put it in an old spice container or whatever you have. I've been asked several times "how much do you use?" and honestly, it depends! I usually make 1 lb of ground beef when we have tacos (so Jake can have leftovers for lunch the next day), and when the meat is done browning (with diced onions) and has been drained if needed, I add a bunch of this seasoning and some salt and a little water... and I taste it. If it needs more, I add more. Simple as that. :) 

What other home made pantry staples should I give a try? Any suggestions? 

*we generally eat pretty "healthy," but I've been trying to reduce the amount of processed foods (even though we don't eat very much), things with MSG/GMOs, etc. 

Paper Rose Wreath

I'm kinda lonely today. For someone who enjoys staying home, being home, never leaving home... that's saying a lot! I honestly don't go and do many things during the week. I'm just kind of a hermit in that way, I guess. I'm definitely a introvert... some people just drain the energy right out of me! I need to re-charge. I need to be in my safe place.

Well... I've been recharging and in my safe place all week. I think I've left the house once... or twice? And that was to go my parent's house, ten minutes away. ;] I usually try to keep my weekends open, because Jake works half days on Saturdays and then we usually try to do something together later on. Well, he's working all day today (and I don't know about tomorrow... I hope he gets tomorrow off!!) and I'm antsy to get out of the house and do something. Maybe Ryan and I will go to the county fair later...

Or I suppose I could mow the lawn. That's boring, though... hmm. Any suggestions??

ANYWAYS. I started this project... *whispers* last November. It's very time consuming, especially if you have a little one! I could really only work on it at naptime, but I didn't want to devote EVERY SINGLE naptime to it... so it took some time to finish. And then I would go weeks without even thinking about it, because it's just easy to forget about. Oops.

I've seen this idea all over (where else?) Pinterest and decided to give it a go. Most of the ones I had seen were made out of colored paper, but I really liked the one I saw made from an old book. So I bought a 400+ page book at the thrift store. It was over 100 years old and it was in German, so I have no idea what it was even called or about. I wasn't planning on putting a bow on it like there is, but I ran out of paper! And I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this bow, so we'll see if it goes, stays, or changes...

If you'd like the tutorial on how to make one, go here; or just search Pinterest and you'll find a bajillion and one of them to follow ;] I didn't make mine exactly how this specific tutorial showed, but it gives you the general idea.

Here is my slow but sure progression (terrible phone pics, be forewarned!)...

[November 2011]

[April 2012]

[July 2012]

[Finished! Sort of. July 2012]

Now I just need to decide if I want to keep the bow or not. Or if I should just change it. Or try and find another 100 year old German book at a thrift store ;] 

Crayon Art { tutorial }

If you're on Pinterest, there's really no doubt that you've seen crayon art floating around... like this:

Source

I made one a while back that turned out pretty cool, I think:

I had intended on putting it in Ryan's room. I still could, but... eh. I decided I wanted to make another one specifically for his room... using only the colors that are in his room: white, orange, brown, blue and green. I've seen some people add painter's tape to part of the canvas so that it doesn't get covered in crayon, and I wanted to give that a try. 

I like the look of the unwrapped crayons, so I did the same with this one. HINT: put the crayons in a bowl of cold water and {most of} the labels will just slip right off! All of the slid off for me, except for two of the orange crayons. Annoying. Oh well.

If you want step by step details, then you can go here... I'll just show you the photos of what I did. 

I hot glued the crayons on the canvas, and then cut out a lowercase letter "r" (for Ryan, obviously!) out of painter's tape. I stuck it to the canvas, and then got to work with my hair dryer.

I wanted the "r" to stand out a little bit more, so I outlined it with a marker. 

And here it is, in Ryan's room. It may stay there, it may not... but I don't have anything else to put there at the moment... so it stays, for now at least. 

And hey... there's a sneak peek of the curtains and cornice that we made... at some point I hope to find a white glider that I can recover; then his room will be complete! And then I can share pictures ;] 

A project from long ago... {tutorial}

When our old computer died, I was really sad because there were a ton of pictures (mostly of Ryan) on it that had not yet been saved to our external hard drive. I plugged in the external hard drive today to see what was on it... and I think that most of the pictures actually made it on there! I was so happy. I know I haven't posted a tutorial or a craft in a long time so I thought it was about time to post one, since I found the pictures.

This is a project I worked on a few months ago, when we first moved into our new house. My mom had given me a wooden stool that, I think, she got for free somewhere. I thought it was cute but needed... something.

I decided to paint it using the "technique" I posted about a while ago, in my blog post titled "Making New Stuff Look Old." I've heard you can use other techniques but I haven't tried anything else yet.

I already liked the base color, so I decided to skip the first coat of paint that I used in my other blog post. I just went ahead and used the soap on various parts of the stool that I wanted to look worn. After I was satisified with the amount of soap, I painted the entire thing with a pretty shade of grey-blue that we just happened to have on hand. I thought it had a "country" feel to it. 

After I painted the entire thing, I let it dry completely. It didn't take too long because the layer of paint wasn't very thick. 

Then, when it was dry, I took a piece of sandpaper to the areas that had the soap on them, and the paint easily came off to show the color underneath. I don't have any pictures of this part of the process... but it's easy ;] I sanded it until I was happy with the result, and this is what I was left with:

I really like it! It has a worn look to it, which I really like... I like old looking things, as you know from the post I linked to... and I just think this looks pretty. :] I think it looks nice in my kitchen.

Home made laundry soap

I've been wanting to make our own detergent for a while... but I was waiting on a 5 gallon bucket! I'm cheap and didn't want to buy one. My mom brought one over recently so I decided it was time to get to work. Ryan and I were up early one morning (who am I kidding, we're up early *every* morning!) so I started this project around 6:30 and was done by 6:45. EASY PEASY.

Here's what you need!

• a five gallon bucket and lid
• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap
• 1 box of [Arm and Hammer Super] Washing Soda
• 1 box of [20 Mule Team] Borax
• a plastic stick or long handled spoon *
• a plastic bag **

* since this mixture gels, you need to stir it every now and then. Using a stick or spoon just shy of the height of the bucket will allow you to leave it inside. A plastic stick is recommended, because wood may rot or metal may corrode.

** as much as I like enlisting my husband to help me with things so he knows how much I need him, I can't always wait until he gets home to open the 5 gallon bucket every time I want to do laundry. My poor fingers would not be happy if I tried to do it myself. So instead of opening and closing a 5 gallon bucket all of the time, you can cover the bucket with a plastic bag and them just lightly push down the lid so it seals. The mixture will evaporate if you don't cover it, so either do this method or close the lid completely.

1. Unwrap the Fels-Naptha bar and grate it. I've heard you can put it in a food processor and do it that way, but it honestly didn't take long (nor was it difficult) to grate by hand using a small hand grater. O

Oh, that's so grate. ;]

2. Boil 4 cups of water in a large pot.

 Once it is boiling (BOILING-boiling, not kinda-sorta-boiling), add the grated soap. 

 Stir it until it is completely melted. This will take some time, and it may clump together.

Keep stirring it and it will completely melt together, like this.

3. Once it is melted together, remove it from the heat. Take your bucket to the bathroom and fill it halfway with hot water. Add the melted soap mixture, and 1 cup of the Super Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of the Borax.

Get your little helper to bring you your spoon :) and stir it really well.

 Then fill it up the rest of the way with hot water. Stir it again, and then cover it with the plastic bag and lid.

Let it sit overnight before you use it. It will thicken like a gel and need to be stirred every now and then.

To use:

Top load Washer:

1/4 cup detergent per load for regularly soiled clothes

1/2 cup detergent per load for heavily soiled clothes

Front load Washer:

1/8 cup detergent per load for regularly soiled clothes

1/4 cup detergent per load for heavily soiled clothes

I don't know the EXACT cost per load of laundry, but one lady calculated hers out and supposedly she said it came to just about 7 cents per load. All of the ingredients I bought cost me about $6, and obviously the two boxes of powders will make SEVERAL 5 gallon buckets of detergent. So it is very inexpensive. I'll have to let you know how it actually works... it's Saturday, and that means laundry day!!

*edited to add* I knew I was forgetting something! The smell! It smells really good; the Fels-Naptha soap has a nice clean scent to it. But I've heard you can add essential oils to it, also, if you would like a certain scent (lavendar comes to mind). YUM! :)

Making New Stuff Look Old {tutorial}

It's no secret: I love old stuff.

Coffee cans.
Buttons.
Cigar boxes.
Blue Mason jars.
Books that are falling apart.
Window frames.
Tea canisters.

...but finding those "treasures" can difficult and sometimes expensive. But we all know how much fun creating something yourself is, though, right? I saw this really neat way how to make something look as though it has layers of aged peeling paint, and I thought it looked really awesome! So I gave it a try and got really excited about sharing it. I hope you have fun with it, too!

You need:

An object to paint (I have the letter "H" but you can paint just about anything!)

Paint (I have brown, vanilla and light blue)
Brush

Sandpaper

Bar of soap (like Dove)

Decide how many layers/colors you want on your object. Paint your base color. If your object is already a color you like then you don't have to do this step.

I liked painting it so it looks kind of grainy, like wood. 

After it is completely dry, rub a bar of soap in the spots you want it to look aged/peeled.

 (I'm not really left handed. This was for photo purposes only. Haha...)

Then paint your second layer of paint. 

After it is completely dry, use sandpaper to remove the paint where you soaped your object. Only the paint covering the soap will come off easily, so you can sandpaper the entire thing lightly and it will only remove the wanted paint. 

If you want more paint to look aged on this layer, add some more soap, and then your 3rd layer of paint. Avoid the areas that you already sanded. I rubbed some of the blue paint around the edges of the already peeled areas. If you want, you can wait to do the sanding until the absolute end... but you need to remember where you "soaped" with each layer and put it in the same spots. I decided to play it safe and sand it between layers. 

Then sand the top layer. 

To add to the aged look, rub some brown or dark paint onto the object. 

The finished product:

The H was the second time I tried this technique; I painted this letter D last night, and interestingly, I like my first try better than my second. ;) Unfortunately my last name does not start with a D so I cannot trade. This basket is the start of a birthday gift for a friend who also has the same "rustic/vintage" taste that I like. The mason jar will be turned into... well, you'll have to wait until the next post for that. :)

I think I like that it shows more of the layers of paint... you can see the vanilla color a lot more. It looks more "rough" and I like that! 

High Definition? Naw, just last names. :) Maybe I'll "touch up" my H a little so it looks more rough. Yes, I think I will do that...

Enjoy!