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Saturday, January 6, 2018

Folded Book Heart

Those who know me, know that I LOVE (no pun intended) decorating for Valentine's Day. I think part of it is that the house looks so bare when you take down the Christmas decorations. The other part for me is that living in the Midwest, January can be a terribly dreary month so the bright reds and pinks help to cheer things up a bit. Here is a simple project that can cost you nothing if you have an old book lying around to use. I have a bunch of these little, red, French books that are not antiques so I don't mind using them for projects. Any book will do but a hardback is best and one whose pages are not so old they are brittle.

You'll need a metric ruler and a pencil. This clear ruler is the best one I had but because you are starting to measure from the left edge, I had to use it upside down. The best and easiest instructions I found were in Instructables (click HERE to go to the full instructions). One thing they don't tell you is WHERE to begin your folded pages. Here's my formula for this pattern: The pattern is 40 pages. My book had 167 pages. 167 minus 40 is 127. 127 divided by 2 is 63.5 so I began by folding page 63 is page 1 in the pattern.

After you mark all of your pages, you begin folding. Make sure you are folding at a straight 90 degree angle.

This is what the first page looks like after you've made both folds.

Another tip: I used a clothespin to hold the pages as I folded them to keep them from falling down. It made folding each page much easier.

Here's what it looked like after I'd folded a few pages.

And here's the finished product - pretty cool! I wanted to 'dress it up' a little bit though.

On the inside of each cover, I added some Valentine paper and sandwiched a piece of ribbon in between as well.

Simply tie the ribbon and you're finished! A quick, inexpensive project for Valentine's Day although I could see this as an Anniversary gift (maybe for year 1 which is "paper"). Instructables has quite a few free patterns and I'll be trying the Heart Inside a Heart next! Check out this site for a TON of free patterns for different holidays, names, etc.

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Monday, January 1, 2018

Best Pie Crust & French Silk Pie

I know it's just after the holidays and NO ONE wants to think about sweets BUT file this one away for mid-January when your sweet tooth starts acting up again! This French Silk Pie is our "Family Pie" for holidays but really, it's a show-stopper for any dinner and your guests will be very impressed!

The recipe came from a church cookbook and I have seriously been making this for Thanksgiving and Christmas for over 30 years . . . you can tell by looking at the page haha! (I'll give you a 'clean' version at the end of the post)

The pie is thick, and oh so rich! The recipe says it serves 8 but you seriously can hardly eat more than a small slice at a time so really, I'd say you can serve 10 with this recipe. The hardest part of this pie is you MUST beat each of the four eggs for FIVE minutes EACH. Now, until this Christmas, I'd always just had a hand mixer so I would set up everything at the kitchen table, sit and read a book while beating! This Christmas my wonderful hubby bought me a KitchenAid Stand Mixer (and I hadn't even asked for one!!). So the next time I whip this up . . . oh it will be SOOOOOO easy!

Often I will use a store-bought crust but if I have the time, I much prefer making my own and I'd like to share THE best pie crust recipe I've ever used (I've also been using this recipe for over 30 years!).

It's "old school" and comes from this well-used, well-loved Hungarian cookbook (both of my parents are Hungarian). The recipe is simple, I think it's really the technique that makes this what it is.

Do you see that it tells you to cut in HALF of your lard/shortening first to the consistence of "meal" and THEN cut in the remainder but coarsely? Do it. Trust me. It makes all the difference! Years ago I began using 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening because I feel like it's a richer crust but you can use all shortening (or lard hahaha! Now THERE's something we don't often find in recipes today!) Prick crust and bake as you would any other crust.

Lard is pig fat and many of us remember our parents or grandparents saving it up in coffee cans under the sink after frying pork chops or bacon. You CAN buy lard that is a 'cleaner', purer version than that we usually stored up under the kitchen sink.

Now I HOPE if you are going to the trouble of making a crust from scratch that you are NOT tossing the scraps of dough! Brush on a little melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until bubbly and crisp on the edges . . . oh it is heavenly!

What a treat this always was for my kids!

Now you can see how this puffs up and is such a flaky crust!

I always top this pie with real whipped cream. If you stabilize the whipped cream, it will not 'weep' and become runny. In fact, you can even pipe it as I did and it will hold up for days and days in the refrigerator. Directions for this will be at the bottom with the French Silk Pie recipe. You can top it with shaved chocolate as well. Since I served this at Christmas I added chopped Ande's peppermint bark.

Did your sweet tooth come to life again?? Okay, maybe it's still too soon but when it DOES, pull this out and give it a try!

Homemade French Silk Pie

Baked 9" pie crust

1 c softened margarine (you can use butter but IMO it's almost too rich with butter)

1 1/2 c granulated sugar

3 squares (3 oz.) Bakers unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

2 1/2 t vanilla

4 eggs

Whipped cream for topping

Cream margarine and sugar at highest mixer speed. Blend in the cooled chocolate (DO not add the chocolate until it is completely cooled or the pie will be runny). Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time beating five minutes at high speed after each addition (total time 20 minutes). Pour into baked shell and refrigerate at least one hour before serving. I find it best to make the day before and refrigerate for a day. Top with whipped cream and nuts or shaved chocolate.

Stabilized Whipped Cream

In a pan combine 1 t unflavored gelatin with 4 t cold water and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Heat on stove until gelatin melts but don't let it boil. Remove from heat and let it cool (but don't let it thicken). Whip your cream until it starts to thicken and add 3-4 T powdered sugar. Slowly stream the gelatin liquid in while continuing to beat until the cream is stiff.

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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

A Savior is Born!

It's been a wonderful year of blogging and meeting new friends. So with a grateful heart, I wish you all a Merry Christmas as I take a break from blogging until the New Year.

Friend, you can hear with listening ear,

and heart that responds to His voice.

Years have gone by since baby's first cry,

Still, in Jesus your soul can rejoice.

And the sound of that evening --

the joyful sound --

tells of faith that will save you by grace;

The Saviour will give you the peace that you seek,

as you walk in the light of His face!

Connie Faust

One of my favorite carols (and now one of my favorite artists thanks to sweet Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose who "introduced" him to us in one of her posts!)

The holly bears a blossom

As white as lily flower

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

To be our sweet Saviour

The holly bears a berry

As red as any blood

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

To do poor sinners good

The holly bears a prickle

As sharp as any thorn

And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ

On Christmas day in the morn

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel" -- which means, "God with us". Matthew 1:22

Celebrating this season of JOY and wishing you a

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 15, 2017

Christmas Countdown Magnets

I've been so busy, I didn't get to posting this and now, we don't have that many more days to count down TO Christmas! But tuck this idea away (or visit my Etsy shop to purchase one as a hostess gift or stocking stuffer!)

I started out with wood and added paper to them with Mod Podge, sanding and distressing.

I wanted a way for the chalk to be attached so I stitched the ribbon to form a loop to hold it. The ribbon was first threaded through my one of my favorite crafting supplies (free formica chip samples). I coated them with chalk paint for the number part.

This shows different ribbon but after stitching, the ribbon was pulled to the back and stapled.

The front then flips over and after adding red-liner tape to the formica chip/chalkboard, that was adhered to the front of the board.

I think these are fun (I'VE been using one!) but would be especially great since you can place these on the refrigerator at kid-eye-level and they can write the numbers themselves. I hope while you're counting down the days, you're able to enjoy the coming holiday and rejoice in the birth of the Savior!

What kinds of things have you used to 'count down' the days?

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