Super ant killing sugar bombs!!!!

I hate, hate, hate, hate ants.  They are annoying and bothersome. They can spread germs and disease. As soon as we moved in to our new house I noticed that we were going to have an ant problem. My husband likes to use boric acid as an ant killer, but I really couldn't put that powder around on my counter tops in the kitchen. With our three year old, I don't want anything he can get into or reach.

I came up with the idea of mixing half and half sugar and boric acid in a cup. Then I added a little water (just enough to dissolve the mixture). Once it was mixed, I dropped a handful of cotton balls into my mixture. Once those were soaked in the mix, I place the balls in soda caps and on small pieces of paper plate.

I placed them in hidden spots that my son can't reach and then waited. The sugar draws the ants to them. At one point I couldn't see the cotton ball for all the ants on it.  Within, about 12 hours, I had not a single ant in my kitchen.

Crock-Pot Roasted Chicken

 

It's so hard to make sure our families eat a good home cooked meal everyday. I LOVE my crock-pots(yes, I said pots, I have two). It's very very easy to produce a nice "oven roasted" chicken in your crock pot.

 

Put your chicken in the crock pot and season however you would like it. Put 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pot. With lid on cook on low for 6-8 hours or 4-6 hours on high.  Enjoy.

DIY Pepper Pen Fridge Magnet

 

DIY Pepper Pen Fridge Magnet

 

 

 

This is one of the easiest projects I've ever done and a great way to upcycle.  All it takes is a strong magnet, a metal pepper box, and  a hot glue gun.





 

Remove the lid from the pepper box.

 

 

Glue magnet on to the back of the container.

 

Now you can use it on the fridge to hold those pens your always looking for. I also want to find something that I can use to hold a post it note pad. I like the idea of using things that we would normally find in the kitchen in a new a creative way.   Any ideas out there???????

 

A Different Style of DIY Laundry Soap

OK, So we all know that laundry soap isn't cheap and that there are so many to choose from. I have tried so many different kinds and find something I like and something I hate about almost all of them. I've also tried to do some of the different DIY soaps out there. There are a few different versions going around on pinterest. I like the idea of making my own soap and it really saves me money. I add a little twist to mine by adding a little of my favorite smelling surf powdered laundry soap.

2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax
3 cups Surf (our your favorite powdered laundry soap)
1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap

 Grate or cut Fels-Naptha in to small pieces. Put in medium size sauce pan with plenty of water. Place on stove over medium heat and stir frequently until all the soap is melted.

Add the other ingredients and mix until dissolved.

 

 Take off heat and mix in a bucket with 10 gallons of water. Mix well.

 Once mixed you can put it in smaller containers. I put mine in one gallon containers. I shake mine well before every load.

When I make this I get three batches out of the washing soda, borax, and surf. After the three batches I still have borax and surf left. I like adding the surf to the mix for the extra boost and smell. I still save tons of money and I use the extra surf in other cleaner mixes and for my carpet.  I hope you all find this helpful.
 

God Bless.

Grungy Prim Mason Jar Vase

So this was my first attempt at making something grungy. I think I did a pretty good job. I painted the jar with a brown paint that I liked. Then I mixed up a little homemade mod podge to that I added some vanilla extract, nutmeg and cinnamon. I covered the jar with two coats of that. Now I need to decide what to put in it.

Valentines Heart Garland

Heart Garland and my prim angel bunny. Country Crafting Momma

So I've been looking all over pinterest trying to find different ideas for decorations for valentines day. I've been seeing lots of different posts for paper heart garlands. I really liked the idea but wanted it to fit in with the prim style and to make it last longer than paper.( I like to be able to reuse them for a couple of years)  I used some light cardboard (food packaging) and painted it a country red color. Then I folded the strips in the center to form the point of the heart. Then I turned the other ends into each other and glued them together while also adding little yarn loops on the tops.  Then I  strung them all on a long piece of yarn and hung them up on my T.V. mantel. They look really cute. What I like best is that by making them out of cardboard I will be able to save them and use them again next year.

There are lots of other blogs out there with tutorials. If you need a tutorial or some inspiration check out some of these blogs.

Apartment Therapy

 

 

M double M

 

Or check out my Pinterest search for a few more great ideas.



 

Farmhouse Tables.....Lots of DIY's

I love farmhouse tables and really really want to build one for my little family to use as a dining table. We are getting ready to move soon so I can't get into building one right now, but in the mean time I've been collecting different websites and blogs with plans and tutorials. I hope to have a pretty good list here.

I found this on For Rent's contest link. I like the idea that this one has extensions.

 

I found this one on East Coast Creative. I like the idea of using an old table or two as your base. Makes the process easier. 

 

 

I really like the design of this one. It's an Anthropologie knock off. The only thing I don't like is with the  leg design on the ends it would be hard to pull your chair up too far on the ends. You can find all the info on this design on Shanty 2 Chic.

 

 

I found the next one on A Swell Place to Dwell. I love the way the color is on the top. I don't dig the two tone idea. I think it would look awsome all the same color as the top.

 

 

 

This next one is again an idea on using an old table for the legs and base. It comes from a blog called Garage Sales R Us. I like this idea, but once again I would like to see it all one tone. I really do like all the distressing that they did. Great job.

 



 

 

I hope that you have found this post helpful. I have tried to get a pretty good list. If you know of any other blogs that should be included with this list please let me know. I would love to add them. Thanks. 

 

 

Oh So Simple....Chinese Fried Rice.....

Chinese Fried Rice.....That amazing "side" dish that I can make a meal of. I love going out to the local chinese spot and eating my weight that wonderful stuff. There is only one problem......It's expensive.  I was on Pinterest the other day when I came across a great idea.....Make it at home. I found a great recipe on another blog called Life as a Lofthouse. Check it out for some great Fried rice. I made a couple of changes though....

I doubled the recipe and used brown rice. I also added more onion. Plus I didn't use the sesame oil. I just used a bit of veggie oil..... It came out soooooo good. My husband, who is usually a bit skeptical about the things I find online, loved it. I plan to make it often.

Photo from Life as a Lofthouse

Handmade Cardboard Barn Stars for Primitive Decor

I'm just getting started on redecorating our home. Last year we moved from California to Kentucky and in that move left almost all of our decor items behind. I was bummed at first but now I see I pretty much have a blank slate to work with.  I have fallen in love with the Primitive style of decorating but it can be so expensive.....In comes thrifty me.  I found that I can easily make them with some thin cardboard, (like some different food packaging) or cardstock for inside decorating. I have so many idea's of what i can do with them. I'm going to show you how easy it is to do........

Step One: Find a five point star pattern in the size you like. (In my case I had an old scrapbook stencil)

Step Two: Trace and cut out stars.

 Step Three: Score stars from point to point. Use a ruler if you have trouble with straight lines. I didn't have one of those neat tools to help with this step so i used an old plastic cuticle tool. (It worked great)

Step Four: Fold on your score lines.

Step Five: Add paint. This is where you can get creative. I like to add some black paint first on the raised folds and sometimes at the tips or edges. Then I paint and allow the black to show though wherever it does. After the paint drys you may want to pinch your folds again to make your star pop out again.














Now If you'd like to hang you'll need to use some hot glue or tape to add a loop to the back of the stars to hang. I'm planning a few different things with my small stars. I'm going to be making some garland and wreaths for the fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas. Keep a look out closer to those holidays I'll post about those garlands.

It's time for you to get busy. Have fun and add your personal touches to your new "Barn Stars".

God Bless.

"The moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;"
Psalm 136:9 ESV

Southwest Egg Rolls or Burritos, Chili's Style

My husband and I have always loved Chili's Southwest Eggrolls, but don't eat there often due to the cost. I was on Pinterest one day and came across a recipe for them. I got my recipe from http://deep-fried.food.com/recipe/chilis-southwest-egg-rolls-18319. I liked this version because it allows you to change the amount of servings that you want to make. I found one problem though...I asked for 20 servings and upon making them I got 13 servings. I think it's because we made them so fat.  They were SOOOOOO GOOD. I don't really like to fry foods so next time I think I'm going to make the filling and use it as burrito filling. I'm not gonna lie. This meal seems like it takes forever to make, but it's worth it. Happy Cooking.

Flavorful Pumpkin Pie Pudding

We love pumpkin pie at our house but we don't eat alot of it because it's not very good for you. I have heard of pumpkin pudding before and decided to give it a try. I looked at tons of different recipes and didn't really like any of them. So I took a few of them and changed them until i came up with this. It's wonderful and no sugar added. (Both my husband and I are diabetic so this is a plus).

If sugar isn't an issue to you, you could substitute the regular stuff for anything sugar free.

1 sugar free vanilla pudding mix. (any brand)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 can (15oz) pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar free maple syrup (any brand)
3/4 cup or 6oz either plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tub cool whip
3-4 graham crackers (made into crumbs)

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add pumpkin, maple syrup, yogurt and vanilla extract. Mix well with spoon or whisk. Fold in 3/4 cup Cool whip. Divide in to 6 equal serving cups. Top with your desired amount of cool whip and graham cracker crumbs.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Iron...I think NOT!!!!!!!!

So at my house we are usually on the go or busy playing with our wonderful 3 year old son Noah. I've never seen a kid with so much "injury"(energy), as he calls it. It's hard to find time on laundry day to iron all the things that we would normally want to. So a few years ago we stopped using the iron. No we don't walk around with wrinkles in everything, we just have a much easier way to get the wrinkles out. It's so simple and easy to do. Spray, Pop or Pull, Hang or wear.  Oh, and the best part we make our own spray and it's super cheap. My husband actually came up with this idea one day when it dawned on him that we were spending $6 a bottle on a wrinkle release product from some big company that sold via catalogs. He started to look at some of the ingredients of that expensive spray and somehow realized that it was very similar to fabric softener. He messed around with some different concentrations and he finally came up with a perfect solution.

A Spray Bottle
1/3 Cup of your favorite fabric softener
24 oz HOT water

Put the fabric softener in the bottle and fill the rest of the way with HOT water. Shake. Then spray your wrinkled items. While it's still wet you can either "pop" the item or pull on it until the wrinkles fall out.

Oh yeah and make sure you start out with hot water. It activates the fabric softener.  It works so great and depending on they type of softener you like it also leaves your clothes smelling great.

Wonderful Easy Mexican Chicken Soup

My family loves to eat. Sometimes it's hard to find something that everyone agrees on. And my Mexican chicken soup is something everyone loves. I make it both on stove top and in the crock pot. It can be an easy throw together meal or you can let it simmer all day and enjoy it as your day allows.



 

 

The following recipe is for a stove top batch. I will put in adjustments for crock pot cooking at the end.

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1/2 pound of chicken, breast or dark meat cut into small pieces

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup of chunky salsa (as hot as you like it)

1 cup cooked brown rice

1can whole kernel corn

garlic and salt to taste

 

In a large pot mix chicken broth with water and add chicken pieces. Cook until meat is tender. Usually 8-10 minutes. Add cream of chicken soup and salsa stir until well mixed. Add rice, corn, garlic, and salt. Mix well, lower heat and cook about another 8-10 minutes.

 

*****If you decide to crock pot it,  put all ingredients in the crock pot. Use uncooked rice and increase water by a cup. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

 

I also always heat up some flour tortillas on the side. YUMMY!!!! I hope you enjoy.

 



Nice to Meet You, Happy New Year!!!!

Hey Y'all. Welcome to my new blog  "Country Crafting Momma". The whole Idea of blogging is so new to me. My husband and I have decided to start decorating our home in the ever so popular " Rustic, Americana, Primitive" look. Due to the costs of this style we will be making most of the items ourselves. I thought that there couldn't be a better time to start a blog. I think it will help us to stay motivated about our progress and maybe inspire someone to get crafting themselves.  I really try to use "cheap" materials or stuff just laying around the house. The same goes for cooking. I love to cook, but trying new things can cost alot sometimes. So i try to find things that pack flavor but are fairly inexpensive or use common ingredients. I'm looking forward to sharing all I can with you. Thanks for stopping by. God Bless and happy crafting.
                                                                                                  Heather Young,
                                                                                             Country Crafting Momma