Home Made Mod-Podge-the recipe

Super simple and super fast! I found this recipe here.

• A container with lid (I emptied an old dressing container because I liked the spout on it.)
  
• Elmer's Glue (whatever size, depending on how much you want to make)
• Water
  

1. Fill container with glue.
2. Put an even amount of water into the container. I did 4 oz of glue and 4 oz of water.


2. Shake contents until thoroughly mixed.


There you have it! Works amazing!

Some tips-
The recipe calls for 50% glue 50% water, mine was a little runny, so in the future I'd use just a bit less water.

Mod Podge is not water proof, so if you need to water proof something, make sure you cover it with some sort of water proofing spray.

Other than that it worked great!

DIY-Recipe: Chicken Stuffed Shells

So this idea also come from Pinterest.com. The recipe comes from Paula Deen originally. I loved this dinner so much! So first, here's the recipe:

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

1 (12-ounce) box uncooked jumbo pasta shells:

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

2 cups fresh chopped spinach

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (15oz) container ricotta cheese

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (5oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (26oz) jar prepared spaghetti sauce

Okay Steps!

1. Cook the shells according to package directions, be careful not to break them. Do not overcook, they should be done al dente, and not completely soft. *Preheat oven to 350.

2. Cook the chicken and mix in a large bowl with all the ingredients except sauce, shells, and 1-cup of Mozzarella cheese.

3. Spray a baking dish (9x13) and fill the bottom with some of the sauce.

4. Carefully begin to fill the shells with the stuffing and put in baking dish. I used a small spoon but I've also heard it works if you put it in a zip-lock bag and snip one of the corners off. I don't think I'm patient enough for that and the spoon worked great.

5. Spread the rest of the sauce over the shells. I did mine in rows. (see below)

(Sorry about the terrible pictures, I had a ton on my camera and they all got deleted. This one was from my phone)

6. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

7. Uncover and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the shells. Cook, uncovered, for 10 more minutes.

Serves 8-10 people.

Okay so some of the things that I noticed that kind of would be good to know for next time.

-With one box of shells, I had a TON of the stuffing left over. Next time I would probably get another box and freeze one of the dishes (*freeze after step 5).

-The onions didn't thoroughly cook for me so I might saute them a little before hand because I don't like crunchy, uncooked onions.

-I liked them smothered with sauce and they cooked great that way.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did! They are amazing!

DIY Vintage Window Picture Frame

This inspiration came from a gift that I had to make for my sister. Since I am a photographer, I wanted to make her something that had to do with that. Because I had just taken a bunch of pictures of her and husband I went in that direction.

I had never actually seen this done but I found something similar on Pinterest.com that you can compare it to.
Materials:

• Vintage window-However many panes you want. I got mine off ebay.com and it's 3x3.
• Pictures to fill the windows (the window I got perfectly fit 8x10 photo's. I used 8 pictures.
• Brown Package Wrapping Paper
• Staples
• Modes of Hanging-I used Hanging Wire
• Quote for the middle window-I used a vinyl lettered quote
• Styrofoam

Steps:

1-Put the pictures into the panes of the windows. I filled the back of them with Styrofoam to hold them in.

2-After that, I covered the back with the brown package wrapping paper to hold everything in and stapled it to the window. The only problem with that is that in order to re-open it you have to rip it open.

3. Attach the hanging mode to the back. If you use hanging wire like I did, make sure they are even so the frame will hang straight.

-Note: when I ordered my window off ebay.com, it came with a few broken windows so I took it to a local Window shop and they replaced it for me for 25$. Fast and Easy process.

DIY Braided Calzone

For this one, I wanted to make my fiance dinner. My first thought was to get a recipe off of Pinterest.com, so here is my second DIY project.

This idea comes from: quidoo.com (shown below)

Ingredients:

• 1. Pizza Dough (I just bought a Pillsbury pre-made roll of dough-- it's the perfect size)
• 2. Pizza Sauce (again you can home-make it or buy whatever brand you prefer)
• 3. Mozzarella Cheese
• 4. Fillers-whatever you prefer-I used pepperoni, cheese, and bacon.

Step 1:
Roll out the pizza dough into a flat rectangle shape to fit onto a cookie sheet baking pan.

Step 2:
Spread the pizza sauce on the center of the dough.

Step 3:
Add your fillers-Pepperoni, cheese, etc.

Step 4: Cut the sides of the dough-up to the center where you added the fillers- into strips- about 1/2-1inch wide.
Step 5: Alternate sides and begin to fold (braid) the strips you cut over the top of the fillers.


Step 6: Bake at 375 for about 14 minutes or until golden brown (I followed directions on the Pillsbury package.)

I served mine with an Outback Wedge Salad and Texas Toast.
It was amazing! Don't forget the rootbeer!

DIY Decorative Wall Art

This is the first project that I've tried to do. There are quite a few things that I love about this, and a few things that I would change for next time.

I first saw this idea on Pinterest.com in black and white and very modern (below). I'm addicted to this site and most of my ideas will come from here. I love taking these ideas and making them my own. It comes from curbly.com
Here is my step by step process. I don't have pictures for each step of the way, but in the future there will be. Enjoy!

Materials: I got all of this from HobbyLobby

• 9 12X12 scrapbook pages
• 9 12X12X1 pieces of Styrofoam (I bought 3 pieces of 36X12X1 Styrofoam and used a Styrofoam cutter to cut them into 12X12. If you don't use an actual Styrofoam cutter, the edges will be jagged and hard to work with.
• Fabric glue (I used tacky glue)
• Ribbon-36 ft for outsides of Styrofoam and at least 1 inch thick
  
• Pins or tacks

Optional:

• I chose to go in a more vintage looking wall decoration so I also added some yo-yo's, buttons, and pearls.

1. The first step is to choose the lay-out of the pages you want. Once you've chosen them begin to glue them to the tops of Styrofoam. Hint: the glue makes the pages bumpy and not very appealing. Be sure to use the glue just along the edges and corners to make it stick.

2. After doing this, take some ribbon and glue it around the outsides of the Styrofoam to hide the white sides. I chose brown to match with the vintage them. Tack in the ends.

3. Screw the "teeth hangers" to the back to hang up the displays. Make sure they are all in the same place on each of the 9 pieces so they hang even.


4. After this, I added my own touches of some yo-yo's. To make yo-yo's,
1. Cut a circle of fabric. Hint: they shrink pretty small so cut it relatively big. I usually
begin with a diameter of about 10 inches and then create a few different sizes from there.
2. Fold the edges of the circle (reverse side facing you) about a 1/3-1/2 inch around and sew
them down with a needle and thread.
3. Once you've sewn it all the way around, pull the thread tight so the fabric begins to
scrunch together.
4. Tie a knot and assemble it in a circle way

5. Pin the yo-yo's to the displays wherever you like them. I also added some buttons and strings of pearls to keep it a vintage looking style.

6. Put some nails in, equidistant and hang the displays!