Cheese Ravioli Alfredo

I made this for dinner tonight and it was sooo good I thought I would share! I used a recipe from my Kraft Foods Magazine but tweaked it a little.

2 - 9 oz packages of refrigerated cheese ravioli

8 oz of chive and onion cream cheese

1 1/2 cups of milk or cream (i used cream)

1 cup of mushrooms sliced

1/4 cup of chopped tomatoes

2 cups of fresh spinach

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 garlic clove minced

1 tsp of lemon zest

2 tbsp of olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

*Cook ravioli according to the package instructions

In a large non-stick skillet, saute mushrooms and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add in the milk and cream cheese stir constantly until it's completely melted. Add in your cheese and spinach. When the spinach is wilted add in tomatoes and lemon zest. Pour over cooked ravioli!

This recipe was so rich and creamy. I will definitely be making this again and the great part was my 2 year old daughter LOVED it. She couldn't get enough of it! And it took less than 1/2 hour to cook!

"Christmas in my heart" and Hot Apple Cider

I know that we are technically still in October.....but Christmas is right around the corner! So I am going to be doing a lot of Christmas projects so I hope you're prepared!

This is just a small project. It only took me about 30 minutes. I made this with a small piece of wood that I bought at walmart for like a buck and then just decorated it with some paper and buttons. I love the quote in the middle, I just cut it out of a piece of scrapbook paper that had the quote on it.

You can hang this on your wall with some ribbon or just lean it against a wall or put it on a shelf! I like how it turned out and I only spent a dollar on the whole thing.

Close up of the bottom

Close up of the Top

I love this this time of year, but can I just say it is FREEZING cold here in Utah and I am so ready for the warm weather to come back! It is so cold that I made some Hot Apple Cider. It was so yummy. I got the recipe out of my Kraft Magazine and it was super easy.

1 Gallon of Apple Cider

1 tub of "sunrise" crystal light

4 cinnamon sticks

2 tsp whole cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Put all of the ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer and let simmer for about 20 minutes and then remove your cinnamon sticks and cloves and enjoy!

This recipe is definitely going in my recipe box!

Terra Cotta Mummies Tutorial

Here is the tutorial for those cute Terra Cotta Pot Mummies!

Supplies Needed:

*This is for just one mummy*

2 terra cotta pots that are the same size.

Googly eyes

White paint

Paint Brush

White material (ripped into 1" strips, you will need at least 1/4 of a yard)

Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue

Distressing Ink

Step 1: paint your pots with white paint. It would be a lot easier to spray paint these, but I didn't have white spray paint on hand so you can do couple of coats of just regular white paint. Let dry. (They don't have to be completely white because you are going to cover them)

Step 2: Hot glue your pots together. Bottoms togeher.

Step 3: Hot glue your googly eyes right below your rim.

Step 4: Apply a little hot glue at a time and wrap your pots with your fabric. You will want to do this a little at a time so your hot glue doesn't dry and also so you can twist and turn the fabric so it's wrapped really well.

Step 5: Use some distressing ink or chalk and rub a little on the edges of the fabric.

And you're done! How cute are these! You can use these as candy dishes or just for a cute Halloween Decoration!

The 12 Days of Christmas

I have wanted to make a banner for a while. I have seen people making banners everywhere! They are so popular right now! I decided to make a banner out of mini matchboxes and do it for the 12 days of Christmas! I love how it turned out!! It did take a little more time than the advent calendar but I love it!

I decided to make it the 12 days of Christmas and put a different activity in each day for my daughter. So I am still thinking of things to put in it. If you have any ideas let me know! (she is only 2...so her attention span is very small!)

So You Think You're Crafty!!!!

Recently I was invited to participate in a craft competition called "So You Think You're Crafty" This is how it works: There are 10 crafters competing against each other to see who is the craftiest. It is a ten week competition and each week there is a different theme. Everyone will vote each week for their favorite craft and the person with the lowest votes "goes home." The remaining crafters keep competing until there is 1 crafter left!!

The voting starts in two weeks. I am up against some very talented crafters! I am super excited to compete in this competition. I hope everyone checks out the website here and votes each week! The crafts are anonymous until the winner is announced and then a tutorial will be posted of that week's winner!

Terra Cotta Mummies!!!

Okay, I just got back from my sister's house in Vegas and she had made the cutest terra cotta mummies! They are just so cute! She showed me how to make them so if you want I will post a tutorial! Let me know what you think!

Advent Christmas Tree Tutorial

This project might look complicated, but it's not I promise! It is such a fun project and such a cute Christmas Decoration! Way better than those store bought advent calendars you buy for your kids! You just have to make this one once and you can reuse it every year!

Supplies Needed:

24 Mini Matchboxes

(I bought all of the matchboxes at my local dollar store and they came in packages of ten)

24-- 1/4" wooden plugs

(you can find these at Michaels, or Robert's, depending on the kind you buy they can have 25 in a package or 20)

Red and Green Paint

Sponge Brush

10 different pieces of coordinating scrapbook paper

(Each piece needs to be cut 2" x 12")

Hot glue gun, and glue sticks

Scissors

3" star

2 Red Buttons

Step 1: Get all of your supplies ready. Since I did this for craft night I bought about 15 different styles of Christmas paper, but if you are just doing one you can basically make it with 10 different kinds OR if you don't want to buy as many you could easily make it with about 5 different pieces. Each piece is cut 2" X 12"

Step 2: Paint your knobs. I did this at the begining so they would have time to dry. I painted them half red and half green. You could also just do one color.

**Tip: my mom taught me that if you put your knobs on duct tape or any other type of tape then it's a lot easier to paint them because they stay in place!

Step 3: Separate the insides of your matchboxes from the outsides. This is because you don't want to accidentally glue them shut.

Step 4: You are going to glue each layer of your matchboxes together. So the first layer is the stump which is 2 matchboxes. So glue the side of one of you matchoxes and glue it to another. I like to sit it on the table so I know it's exactly even.

Step 5: continue glueing all of your layers. You should have

2 layers of 4 matchboxes

2 layers of 3 matchboxes

4 layers of 2 matchboxes

and 2 single matchboxes

Step 6: You are going to start glueing your paper to each layer of your matchboxes. For the stump I decided to do it with a brown patterned paper. So take your 2" x 12" piece of brown paper and cut it in half. So you have two 2" x 6" pieces of brown paper. You are doing this, because the stump is two layers of 2 matchboxes.

Step 7: glue the top of your 2 matchboxes and put your 2" x 6" piece of paper on the top, making sure you center the piece on the two. Then glue the sides and the back, making sure your paper is glued on all sides of the matchbox. You are going to do this to another set of 2 matchboxes so that you have 2 sets of 2 matchboxes with brown paper.

Step 8: glue your other pieces of paper on each layer of the tree.

*for the sets of three and the other sets of two and the single matchboxes you will not need to use your whole piece of 2" x 12" piece of paper because you don't need the paper to overlap. You are going to use the extra paper for the fronts of your matchboxes!

Step 9: As soon as you have glued all your paper on all of your layers you are going to glue them all together! Start with the base which is the two layers of 2 matchboxes then it goes as follows:

2 layers of 4

2 layers of 3

2 layers of 2

1 single

1 single

Step 10: Use your scraps for the fronts of your matchboxes. Apply a thin layer of hot glue on the front of the inside of one of your mathboxes.

Step 11: Put it on a piece of paper. You don't have to cut it out to fit and then glue it, just glue it on a scrap and when it dries cut around the matchbox so you can get the perfect size.

You are going to do this to all 24 of your matchboxes.

Step 12: To make the star stand up you need two scraps of paper cut into a thin strip about 1/4" or smaller. Hot glue one of your buttons to your star. When you are done with this you can number your boxes. 1-24

Step 13: you will bend one of your scraps a little bit and hot glue it down on the top like pictured. Then do the same thing to the other scrap but on the back of your first one. Then hot glue your star on.

Step 14: Glue your other button on the base of the scrap to hide it.

Step 15: Hot glue your knobs on the fronts of you matchboxes and put in your candy and you're done!

Mod Podged Pear Tutorial

This pear is super easy to make and you can make it with all of your paper scraps!

Supplies Needed:

Plastic Pear

Coordinating scrapbook paper (don't use cardstock because it is harder to mod podge and it's not as pliable.)

Mod Podge

Sponge Brush

Distressing Ink

Step 1: Chose your scrapbooking paper (this is great for any scraps that you have)

Step 2: Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to a small portion of your pear. You don't want to mod podge it all at once or it will dry before you can apply all your paper.

Step 3: Rip a piece of scrapbook paper and paste it on the pear with more mod podge. You can rip your paper as big or little as you'd like, but the bigger you get the harder it is to keep it from wrinkling.

Step 4: Repeat the process of pasting your paper all over your pear. Don't be afraid to overlap your papers, it makes it look more rustic.

Step 5: Apply some distressing ink on a paper towel and rub it on your pear. Don't get too much on or your paper will all blend in together. I just tried to highlight where I ripped my paper to make it stand out more.

And there you have it! A rustic, fallish looking pear! I have made a couple so far and want to make a couple more and put them all in a bowl on my table! Not to mention this project only cost me $1 for each pear!!!

Mod Podged Pear

I bought a couple of these pears for a dollar each at my local craft outlet store. They are very plain and not very cute...so I was trying to think of what to do to them and decided that I would try to Mod Podge paper on them...and this is how they turned out

What do you think? Do you want a tutorial?