Hello Kitty inspired nail art

Enjoy!

 

Clean nails

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My white is getting old…its chunky.

 

 

 

 

For help with the stripes, click here.

 

 

 

Water Marbling

I know Ive owed this one for a long time, so Ill make it simple.

You need –

Halloween candy optional but recommended.

The cup has room temp water in it.

Im gonna just post the pictures and if you have questions….ask below or the Facebook.

Pick it up with the Qtip now.

TADA!

Sorry it isnt brighter or a neater color. My light in the house sucks. Ill do my whole hand and a different color and then add pics later.

For a different nail tutorial, go here.

Chicken Fried Steak and Heavenly Taters

I feel 20 lbs heavier just reading my title. Tack that on to the full tummy I have from eating this just a few minutes ago. I want a nap. ZZZZzzzzzzz.

 

Okay. I know that alot of you are calorie counters and try to eat right and be healthy and etc. I do too usually. But this is a staple in my house because of a few reasons…

 

1. My husband is from the midwest. People evidently dont cook like this there. So hes addicted.

 

2. I like to fry stuff. And put gravy on it.

 

3. Its nummmmmmmmy.

This may seem a bit time consuming, but I love comfort food. Its worth it, I promise. Drink some cider while you cook, it makes this so much more relaxing.

Heres what you need –

Milk

Eggs

Cubed Pork Steak

Flour

Salt/pepper

Poultry seasoning or seasoning salt

Garlic

Oil for frying

Poatatoes

 \/Mix-Ins\/

Green onion

Bacon pieces ( I use real bacon)

Minced garlic

Sour cream

shredded cheddar

Mmmmm taters

First off, I boiled my potatoes while I worked on my bread. I recommend it with this meal, its yummy.

Whisk eggs into milk with salt and pepper.

Mix poultry and garlic seasonings into flour.

Pour about a half inch of oil into your pan and get  it heated up. This is the same pan I cooked the bacon in and I left the drippins in to.

I test it with a bit of flour once I think its good and hot.

MMMMMMmmmm

I cut this all up to have it ready for my potatoes. I wanna lick my screen.

Its so hard to take pictures of steamy foods.

I drained the potatoes, put them back in the pot and then smashed them roughly. I added everything in and smashed it again.

A good helping of cheese on the taters makes them gooey.

Now you can make your steaks.

First, flop it in the flour and coat it. We want it dry and ready to hold onto the egg mix.

Now, egg and flour again.

Once they are dredged, carefully lay them in your hot pan with the oil.

Heres 3 at all different levels of browning.

Brown on both sides and remove to a papertowel covered plate.

Nom nom nom

How gorgeous is this?

Now, we have to make gravy. You cant have this and taters without gravy.

I empty out my grease into another pan and leave about 2 tbsp in it. These are called “drippins” here in the south. We are about to get fancy and make a roux.

Yummy drippins

Sorry for the flash but I had to get a good picture of this for you.

Now sprinkle it with a bit of flour so that all of the wet gets soaked up.

Boy, I was whisking so fast, I went invisible. Thats the big, major, huge, important thing with gravy. You gotta whisk like a madman.

Keep whisking but let it cook. Dont let it turn into pancakes. Keep it soft.

Almost!

There we go!

Now slowly add a bit of milk.

It will bubble and cook fast, so whisk away!

Whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk. Add more milk once its fully mixed up.

Creamy goodness

I love it. And of course, this is basic gravy. You can use sausage drippins to make sausage gravy…etc.

NOW EAT!

How yum do these taters look?

Feel free to comment/question..etc!

Go make foods! <3

Soft Rolls and Cinnamon Butter

I love bread. Its soft and warm and filling. It just makes me happy.

I recently started making all of our breads (except for plain white) and Ive been loving it. I really need to get a standing mixer with a bread hook though.

This is the recipe I followed - Homemade Bread

I did all my mixing and kneading by hand, so you don’t need a mixer like it says.

Heres a few pics along with the butter recipe…

Rising wonderfully

My husband says…”Can I eat one now?”

Yummy cinnamon butter

For the two of us (and some leftover) I use approx….

half stick of butter

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp brown sugar

sprinkle of cinnamon

Mix it all together and chill it.

Making flavored butters is also pretty impressive to guests. Use herbs, seasonings, anything!

Now go make stuff! <3

Fall into a cup of Fall

I love Autumn. I love leaves and cold weather. I love boots and sweaters. I love chili and football.  But right now…….Im in Savannah Georgia. It’s not fall here.
Theres pine trees and sand. Even on cool days (65 or so) I miss the snow. I miss wearing my hair down without sweating my ass off.
So I made cider. I turn my air on, put on sweatpants, and made cider. Its fall in my house. Screw outside.

And here’s how I do it.

12 cups of apple cider

1 orange ( a very orange-colored one, no yellow)

Whole Cloves

Cinnamon Sticks

a pot or crock pot

———————————-

Roll the orange around on the counter and smoosh it as if you are going to juice it. Stick cloves in it. I guess I used about 12 or so. Put the cider in the pot, add the whole orange, throw in a few cinnamon sticks……and cook it! Id do it low and slow. In the crock, I do it on low for around 3 hours. Just to merge the flavors.

This was about 4 hours later. My orange is super soft.

This is what happens to the sticks. They open and release yummy.

My favorite Salvation Army find so far was this cup. Too cute.

So what do you do when it’s all done and everyone has drank their fill. Do you throw everything away?

NO!

We cut it up and make potpourri!

Dont you smell it just by looking at it?

I love how pretty and natural it is.

Just cut it all up and throw it in a pot. Cover with water and simmer on your stove. Be sure to store it in the fridge so it doesn’t mold!

Now go make things! <3

Smoky Eye Attempt

So, a fellow fan page on Facebook that I love (STFD) posted a photo last night that explained how to achieve the smoky effect with eye makeup. She tried it today and so did I!

Heres the original picture that she posted -

Whoever this is, Im super jealous of her eyebrows

I plopped the baby on the floor with 672 toys and drug out my massive (and outdated) collection of makeup. But first, I took a picture of  my eye with out makeup.

Agh SCARY!!!!!!!!

Yup, thats me. Pox scars and all. I tried to take full face pictures, but kept looking cross-eyed, (maybe I am, who knows?)

So, I followed the pictures above and did both eyes. It took me forever. I suck at makeup, but I was determined!!!!!!

Here are my final results. I had to take a full picture because every pic I took didnt show the makeup well. Do you know how hard it is to photograph your own eye?!?!

Ignore my alien-shaped face

Final conclusion -

I probably wound never go through all of this again just to achieve that result. It doesnt look much different that what I usual do if I wear makeup except there’s more steps.

and

a bit of product placement!!!!!

I have been scrubbing my face with this -

Green Tea Scrub

it can be purchased here or you can see the ingredients and make it yourself.

Go give the makeup tutorial a try and post your results to my Facebook page!

Crockpot Chicken Legs & The Best French Fries

Im constantly getting asked about recipes. Im here to tell you that I dont use them hardly ever. Sometimes I Google one for reference, but I never follow measurements.

I put together this little humdinger for ya. There are no measurements. Only ingredients.

You dont have to do exactly what I do. You can add stuff, take stuff out, or even dance all around the kitchen in your skivvies while you do it. (I highly advise that)
——————————————-

This is an easy recipe that is SUPER tasty. My husband loved it and even though I spread it out over the course of the day…

….it can be made all within 3 hours from start to finish. If you dont want to use the crockpot, then thats fine! I still recommend slowcooking even if you dont use the crockpot. Low and slow is the best way to make meats.
Heres what ya need-

Chicken ( I used legs)

Seasoning of your choice

Onion

Garlic ( I used fresh)

Oil

Barbeque Sauce

Water

Potatoes

WOW THATS SIMPLE!

And now for the steps….

I hate the way raw chicken feels. I dont know why but I feel sad for it. Too bad its so delicious.

Step One – Sprinkle whatever seasonings on your chicken ( I used salt, pepper, and poultry) and then put it in a frying pan with enough oil to coat the bottom. Cook them for a few minutes and brown on both sides. We do this to kind of get it to “Man-Up” for the slow cooking. Ive skipped this step a few times and the chicken just melts off the bone and you cant even get it out of the pot.

While the chicken is browning, chop up your onion and garlic.

Step Two- Pull the legs out of the pan and throw the onion and garlic in. Toss it around until its cooked a bit.

And now its gonna smell delicious.

And heres what your chicken legs will look like.

Brown on the outside but still raw on the inside

Now that the onion and garlic is browned and the chicken is sitting pretty, take some water ( I used around 3/4 cup) and slowly pour it into the pan on top of the onion/garlic. This is to break up all the delicious drippings stuck to the bottom of the pan. Just use your spatula to scrape some of it up. WASTE NOT, WANT NOT!

Now its time to assemble it.

Grease your crockpot

I just pour a little oil in the bottom and wipe it all around with a paper towel.

Now, layer everything.

Chicken

Barbeque Sauce

Onion/Garlic/Water

I threw in a handful of chopped fresh Cilantro

Low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours

IN THE MEANTIME……..

Prepare yer taters! This is the best way to make french fries EVER. I love them way more than any person should ever love potatoes.

Wash and cut the potatoes. You can peel them if you want. If you DO peel them, then cut then thinner than I am or else they will be floppy instead of french fry (-ey?)

Make sure they are all the same size or you will end up with good fries and raw fries.

One is bigger than the other. Dont let that happen.

After they are all cut up, rinse them and make sure they are clean. Throw them in a big bowl of ice water. I hadnt put ice in when I took my picture but I did do it. You can leave them right here in this water up until your chicken is almost done. I wouldnt do it longer than that. Mine were in for about an hour I think. Leave them in for AT LEAST 30 minutes though.

Tater bath

When you’re ready to DO IT TO IT, just drain the water and use a paper towel to dry the fries very well. I just roll mine up in the papertowel per drop. I didnt do it all at once because they will still secrete water in the meantime. its kindof a butthole thing to do, but they are starches and its how they roll.

My food is so spoiled, it gets snuggled.

Fill up your pot about 1/3 of the way with oil. Dont do it to high, because the fries rise in the oil and we dont want to burn your house down.

I do not have a thermometor nor am I a pro. But here is my special way of testing the oil…..its a secret,  so dont tell the authorities.

I flick water at it.

Im a genius.

DONT EVER COPY ME. Ever.

So whenever your oil is hot enough…throw a handful of fries in it. Well, dont THROW them. Just gently put them in.

MMMmmm this is one of my favorite noises.

Now we arent going to cook them all the way. We just want to fry them to a pretty ‘blonde” color.

Make sure you drain them well after you take them out.

Heres how they should look \/

Once you do all the fries, them just cover them with a paper towel and leave them be for about 15-20 minutes. They need to cool some and drain.
Dont turn your oil off if possible.

Once your 15-20 minutes of tater resting is up………..FRY EM AGAIN!

Oh yeah, you heard me. Double fried french fries. DO it. Its orgasmic.

When they are all done and friend and the crockpot is finished sexing up those glorious  chicken legs………..you can feast!

Made with some of my “rustic” slaw

If you dont like these fries, then yer a tater hater.

I also recommend going and checking out a few fry sauce recipes . Some of them are really good. Just Google “fry sauce”.

Leave a comment, ask a question, send a message, tell me what you think……TELL ME YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS! I dont care, just say something.

Softest Legs Evah!

Okay. I have yet to do a real beauty post. Not because I dont like to be pretty. But mostly because having gorgeous hair and perfect makeup AND spitup on my chest…..isnt really doing it for me. So here goes.

I love me some Pinterest. Ya’ll know this. And I keep seeing this picture pop up.

Looks tasty, right?

You can go to the blog by onegoodthingbyjillee or click the picture for how she did it.

BUT I  LIKE TO DO THINGS MY WAY!!!!!!!!!!

So yeah….I hardly ever get to shave my legs, let alone get to exfoliate them.

Piggy doesnt like to let me do big people things.

So this morning while she was napping (and instead of cleaning) I decided to give this a go.

First off, you need these things -

Sugar, lemon juice, olive oil (you can use any kind of oil)

I also used a teeny bit of vanilla extract. And you need a disposable razor. NOT YOUR 8 DOLLAR ONE.

So I used 1 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of oil, 1 tsp of lemon

Very dry. I wanted it that way. I also didnt want alot of lemon because I think it would burn. Now mix it up really well.

I got in the shower (No pics of that, pervs) and washed normal and did my hair and then shaved my legs.

Then! THE FUN!

I sat on the edge of the tub and squirted a bit of body wash into my sugar scrub. I use Caress and it smelled yummy.

Then I rubbed it all over my legs.

Don’t laugh at my chicken legs.

I sat here for about 10 minutes and kept rubbing. It felt good on my evil skeeter bites.

This is where I did something different. Disclaimer: If you do this and hurt yourself….its your own fault. Not mine.

The tutorial I was following said to rinse and shave. Well I didnt. I shaved with it on. I wanted to scrub and scrape the ick off. The sugar does kinda hurt. SO be easy.

I then rinsed and dried and put lotion on.

I used this.

Once upon a time, I used to tan. I LOVE this stuff.

I highly recommend using aloe lotion. If you use something perfumey….it might burn. My legs were pretty sensitive after this.

BUT THEY FEEEEEEEEEEEEEL AMAZZZZZZIING.

As soon as my lotion dried, I rubbed em and almost couldnt stop. I was really skeptical about this when I saw the tutorial.

I super highly recommend it.

Oh heres the result.

Okay. Maybe not.

But they feel like that!!!!!!

Go do it. I insist.

Gradient Zebra nail Tutorial

You guys have asked me a few times to explain how I do my nail art. Well, this is one of my faves and I think its pretty easy.

First, do all your clean/prep. You need to clean them off, cut, and file.

When you get done with that, go ahead and get all of your supplies together. Sorry that its so hard to see the color. Im gonna do some research on picture taking and I promise to get better at it!!!

Paint your nails white.

Make sure you let them fully dry in between each step. I use a hair dryer on the cool setting.

Now paint with the lightest color.

I got inspired with this color because it reminds me of the paint Ive been using on my projects

Now, get a small sponge or brush. You can also use the polish brush, but I think it would take too long. I used a fat paint brush.

Just smoosh it on really thin but DONT go all the way up. I did a few layers because this color is thin.
Let it dry.

Now do it again with the darkest color.

Dont worry about being messy. You can clean it up later. I added a clear coat here because I had baby things to attend to and I didnt wanna smudge.

Now you gotta do the art. I took pictures with each brushstroke. Sorry I didnt take a picture of what I used here (bad blogger!) but I used a black nail art polish (thin bottle, pointy brush) they sell them at Dollar Tree and they are great.

Go from one side to the other getting thinner as you move away.

I put on some glitter and then a top coat and VOILA! Salon looking nails!!!!!

And when you’re all done…………..GO TAKE A NAP!!!!!!!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3

ReVamp Phone Cover (Mod Podge review/tutorial1)

Oh em gee. Plaid (the company that makes Mod Podge) has sent me a sample box to review and I am stoked!!!!!!! Woohoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
They sent me this sample in return that I review it for them. I promise im not giving a good review just because of that. As a crafter, I would marry this stuff.

**breathe**

Okay, heres what they sent me. Sorry about the crappy lighting. Its much brighter in this room than it seems….my camera makes it look dark.

—-Dimensional Magic, Crackle medium, and Gold flake Dimensional Magic—-

—-7 different colors of Martha Stewart Glitter paint—-

—-5 different colors of regular Martha Stewart paint—-

I was all sleepy headed when I found this on my porch and I swear, I nearly peed myself. I LOOOOOOOVE Mod Podge products. I had never tried any of these before those.

So I do what I always do when I need inspiration…….I went to Pinterest. Lemme tell you something – that is the place to go when you need a kick in the butt to accomplish anything. (Unless you’re me and then you just sit there pinning things you’ll never do)

I had all my supplies, now I need a project. I clicked, pinned, thought, and discussed when I wanted and then I found it!!!!!!! The only thing I wanted to do.

See this gross thing? This is my cell phone cover. I loved it when I bought it, but after many different ways of trying to jazz it up…..its just gross. I used glue to add a sequin pattern to it awhile back and it made it worse.

Heres how you make something this gross into something totally rad!

First things first, I painted it. I used the Martha Stewart Pea Shoot color. This paint is the best. Its like painting with marshmallows. Its so soft and covers amazingly.

Its a good thing. <3

Okay, I highly advise that you clean all the gunk off of your projects. I was a bit excited and I didnt lol.

I painted spots on with the Blue Calico. And I painted the front piece of the cover with this blue all over.

I did opposite color paint. I like alot of color and Im completely in love with both of these colors. Very vintage-y.

I waited for it to dry thoroughly and then I painted around my spots with some black I had to create leopard spots. I did the same thing to the top piece.

I let that dry all night. I wanted it to be awesome. Looks pretty good to me already!

Now heres where I had a dilemma. I didnt know how to cover it. I have some high-gloss Mod Podge already, but thats not as durable as I needed. Sooooooooooo, insert DIMENSIONAL MAGIC! I was so excited to try this out.

I did a few tiny projects before attempting this (as youll see later) and I had already gotten the hang of it. This stuff is kinda stinky and can get realllllllllly messy.

I didnt get any pictures of this step because you gotta work fast. I outlined it and then lightly filled it in and let it dry overnight.

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!

TAAA-DAAAA!!!!!!! So shiny and feels like hard plastic. I did accidentally seal a brush fiber in  it, but I dont even care. Im in love.

There ya go folks! My new phone case. Also, make sure that you let it dry VERY well in between steps. I dont think I did tha, because today…..I found a bubble. I picked at it and I’m gonna re-coat it tonight.

I did about 5 other little things before I even tried this and I have a few other tutorials for you soon. I cant tell you everything I’m into at the moment………but heres a hint!!!!!!!!

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Now go do something crafty!