Ombre Mason Jars

I recently set about making a rustic sort of box from old fence posts for my sister in law, and liked it so much, I made one for myself too!  I'll post later on how to make the box, but today we're going to talk about ombre mason jars!

So first, of course, you'll need three mason jars, or how ever many you'd like!

Pick a color and pour out a good amount on a plate.  I didn't like the pink I had (for my SIL, I did purple for myself) so I mixed some orange in to make it more coral-pink.  It is important that you get enough on the plate for all three jars to get a couple coats.

Once you like your base color (which, incidentally will be your darkest color), add a couple drops of white paint to one third of it, and a couple more to the next third and mix them in.  As you can see in the picture below, this will give you three colors, of progressive lightness, but still the same color (you're not ending up with different kinds of pink this way.)

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Then get to work painting!  I used a wide, flat brush and long even strokes.

I put my jars upside down on paper to dry so I didn't have to wait for the bottoms to dry to set them down!

Don't try to get full coverage on the first coat or it will end up looking lumpy and gloopy.  Do a thin layer and let it dry, then another.  The subsequent layers will go on thicker anyway once they have something less smooth to stick to!

Then all you have to do is wait and let them dry!  Like over night, maybe even a couple days!

Once they are really dry you can take sandpaper and scratch off some of the paint to make them look rustic.  The trick here is to scratch it where it would naturally wear down, like the raised letters or the corners.  Flat sides won't wear as much.

Oh hey, I did take one picture of a pink jar! oops...  Just one...

You could also do a band of another color, a forest green with gold accents is beautiful!

To do this you can either free-hand it and add a band, or if it is really dry, like a couple days dry, you can use painters tape to give you a clean line.  

Once they are done fill them with you favorite flowers.  Or cotton balls and q-tips in the bathroom.  Or bows and headbands for your baby girl.  Or pens and pencils on your desk!  A gallon size-mason jar would make a great cooking spoon storage and display!

Enjoy! 

And watch for a tutorial on the box to come!

Wedding Sneak Peek

I'm doing flowers for a wedding in late October!  So excited!  Here's a sneak peek of some the flowers!

More to come.....

Delicious Grilled Corn and Garlic Bread

All growing up we had a garden at the back of our big backyard that produced a wide range of fresh veggies, raspberries, and occasionally strawberries!  To this day nothing makes it feel like summer more than some fresh raspberries or fresh veggies!  One of my mom's favorite, and now mine and my kids' favorite, is fresh corn on the cob!  Yum!  Given my obsession with grilling food this summer, I give you, grilled corn on the cob... oh yeah, and garlic bread because that's another favorite of my kids!!!

Because:

This one is super simple!  In fact, nearly no work for me.  Goes like this;

One - Assign Mr. C and Mr. A to shuck the corn... Who am I kidding, mention in passing it needs done and *poof* it magically happens!  They love to shuck corn!!!

Two - wrap corn cobs in foil, but only if you don't like char on your corn.  I do so, skip to three

Three - toss corn on a medium to high heat grill.  In Arizona, high heat means 700 degrees... no really, my thermometer clocked 700 degrees F last week!!! oops!  I had all four burners on high for maybe 10 minutes!

Four - Occasionally turn the corn so it cooks on all sides, once it's cooked through, take it off the burner with tongs.  Enjoy!

Now, corn is like chicken, most people over cook it!  Please! Please! don't over cook it!  Corn is done as soon as it changes color.  Most corn will have a milk tint to it when raw.  It is done with the color has more clarity, is more defined.  Over cooked corn is chewy and gross.

Garlic Bread

This is crazy simple too!

One - Butter and sprinkle garlic powder on sliced french bread.  Re-stack it as you go.

Two - Wrap entire loaf in foil.  I double wrapped so it didn't fall out!

Three - Toss on a medium to high grill, turn occasionally so all sides get cooked.

Four - Take it off and enjoy!!!

The time it takes will depend on how toasted you like your bread.  If you like the butter just melted and the bread soft, it won't take more than 10 minutes.  If you like a good crust, it may take longer.  If you like it crusty, you may even want to open the foil on the grill so you get more dry heat to the bread.

Enjoy!!!

And Remember:

Brownies - On the Grill

You guys, I have taken grilling to a whole new level!  I still haven't turned on the oven in our house... so really it's been 9 months or so!  

I found this tasty recipe from I Am Baker and my Husband really wanted to try it!  But I still won't turn on the oven, so for the latest grilling adventure, I give you Brownies on the Grill!

Because:

So when I pulled up this recipe my husband wanted to that night!  When he got home I excitedly told him that I bought an oven thermometer so I could grill the brownies, he kinda groaned a little....  Now to be fair, he is SERIOUSLY the most AMAZING guy ever!  I mean really, he lets me do ALL sorts of CRAZY things!  Like, turn a room (lets be real, the house) into a flower shop... more than once, always supports my crazy craft ideas, helps me help people when we're barely making do ourselves, oh yeah, and grill everything all summer!

I didn't make as big of a brownie cake as the recipe, but it was still delicious!

First I made up my brownies.  All you do is follow the instructions on the box!  Of course at our house everything is dairy free, so this is the Betty Crocker, family size, fudge brownies.  I also recommend Duncan Hines for your dairy free needs!  Our allergies are mild, so we can handle most cross contamination situations, if you can't, try Duncan Hines, they have no "may contain" warning. 

I sprayed the pans REALLY good so the brownies could come out in piece and I also put a circle of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan, then sprayed that really well!

In the mean time I had all four burners on low to bring the grill up to 350 degrees F.  I hung my new thermometer from the upper rack of our grill.  

It doesn't touch the lower grate and gives me a good middle-temp.  This one is just a cheap $5 one from Walmart. 

I picked my pans specifically because they fit on the top rack of our grill!  Once the grill was hot I turned off the middle burners so just the side ones were going, turned the side ones a quarter of the way up and set a timer for 10 minutes...

While it's cooking, and important note for you.  If you put the pans directly on the main griddle, you WILL burn your brownies!  If you don't have an upper rack, or it's tiny, use a pizza stone or a cookie sheet/jelly roll sheet turned upside down to give a barrier between your food and the flame.  Otherwise, your grill is essentially a gas-stove!

then I set one for 3 minutes...

then 3 more minutes...

then 1 minute...

then 1 minute...

then 1 minute...

I really didn't want to burn them!

All said, they probably cooked 20 minutes, but it's honestly going to depend on your grill, hotspots, and the thickness of your batter.

Yum!!!

Seriously!  They were perfect!  Couldn't have been happier with how they turned out!

Now, I made the rest of the cake per the recipe except I used a dairy free butter for the frosting, which was my mistake, I knew better.  Normally when I make frosting I use shortening (sometimes butter flavored shortening) because dairy free butter has a higher water content and it tends to split... like everytime.  So ours tasted great, but looked... meh.

Enjoy!  And remember,

I mean really though, I just grilled brownies!!!

Grilled Honey Mustard Chicken Salad!

Here we are in Arizona with 117 degree heat (REALLY though!!!) and I still refuse to turn on my oven!  Actually, I realized the other day that I have not used my oven since... well, December!  That's right, December!  See, we were gone to New Mexico from January to mid-May, and it was already well into the 100's when we returned, and I haven't used it since!  So for the last three months I have grilled anything I might otherwise bake!  Because,

Our stove/oven is gas, and if you go more than a few days without using the stove top you need a match to light it (or more patience with the gas than I have... gas stovetop still scares me after 4 years, I love it, but it scares me).  I need a match almost every time I use it these days because I cook with even the top so little!  Which brings me to today's recipe:

This was seriously good, even my husband loved it and he doesn't love most chicken!

My base came from this recipe but I don't follow recipes very well, so I sort of followed sort of didn't, but came up with the following ingredients:

1/2 cup mustard.  I used regular hotdog mustard because that's what I had!
a scant 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey (plus a little for good measure)
a scant 1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregeno
1 tsp salt
a sprinkle of cayenne powder, because I need to feed the kids too!

Mix it all together, save out 1/8 cup of the mixture, and cover your chicken in the rest!  I let mine marinate a couple hours, overnight is great, or not at all, whatever time you have!

Then it was simple enough to grill it up!

Cook until the juices inside run clear, but please, by all means, don't over cook the chicken!  Most people have a tendency to cook chicken until it is dried out and gross!  I always slice mine thinner because my husband likes more flavor/sauce per chicken, so for me, it will take less than ten minutes to cook.  If you have thicker pieces it will take longer, but watch it and take it off the second it is safe!  Better yet, test it with a meat thermometer (I say that, but I've never done that... but it's still a great idea!)

I served it up on a plate so everyone could cut theirs up as they wanted.  plain chunks for the kids, slices for our salad.  

Now with that extra sauce you saved, mix it with enough mayo to get a nice pale yellow color.  Voila!  A delicious honey-mustard sauce for your chicken!  We used the sauce and my dairy free ranch on top of the salad, Yum!  In fact, everyone liked it so much I had to get up and make a second batch during dinner!

As always, remember,

BElieve THEre is GOOD in the world!

The world is a crazy place!  But there is always good somewhere, and this sign is just the reminder we need!

Believe there is good in the world!  Be the Good!  What a message of hope and love for those around you!

To start, I found this plank-sign at JoAnns on clearance for $5!  You could also do a solid wood piece or make your own slats from pallets!

I wanted it to look weathered, so I tried the soak-steel wool-in vinegar trick.... to no avail... I think I had the wrong kind of steel wool, it had a coating so I didn't get that nice-natural-gray stain.  Since I was in a time crunch for a birthday, I used black, white, gray and a little bit of teal paint, mixed each with a healthy amount of water and did a light brush with each color on the wood, then promptly wiped it off with a paper towel.  It wasn't exactly the look I was going for, but good enough for me!

Next I printed off the words "Believe There is Good in The World."  I just pulled up my word processor, found a font I liked, sized the print, and then printed it!  This way you can make it as big or small as you want.  then I used an exacto knife to cut out all of the letters, including saving the middle of the "o"s and "e"s.

Then I used a glue stick to quickly stick my stencil right on the wood and painted my letters, using a yellow paint for BE of believe, THE of there, and all of GOOD, and white for all the other letters, giving the sign it's double meaning.

Really, that's all there is to it!  I hope you enjoy and remember that there is no end to the good of people and that it all starts with each of us individually and the moves forward from there.  Believe there is Good in the World, Be The Good!