Fall Is In The Air ...

Fall is in the air and I've been busy creating some cute Halloween Necklaces and Earrings. Here are the designs:

Here is an example of the necklace and earrings:

The earrings are 1/2" glass with artwork glazed and sealed to the back and then they are attached to a silvertone leverback, earwire or post with butterfly stop.

The necklaces are 7/8" glass with the artwork glazed and sealed to the back. The bail and 24" chair are silvertone.

I am working on Thanksgiving and Christmas designs at this time.

I also have magnets, display cubes, altered paint cans and more. Please take a few minutes and visit my Etsy shop today! And check back often, as I am adding new things weekly.

Fall Vegetable Barley Soup

This is my go to soup as the fall season approaches and all through the winter months. This recipe is easy to double or triple. The recipe as stated is diabetic friendly and can be modified for your tastes.

Vegetable Barley Soup      
Makes 3 Servings of 1 Cup    
Prep Time: 15 minutes     Cook Time: About 1 hour

1/2 cup chopped onion
1-1/4 cups canned beef broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup pot (Scotch) barley
2/3 cup cubed potatoes (1 medium)
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 cup cubed rutabaga
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

1. In a medium sauce pan, combine onion, broth, water, and barley. Bring to boil, reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
2. Add potatoes, carrot, celery, rutabaga, bay leaf, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
3. Before serving, stir soup and taste to adjust seasonings.
4. Serve soup sprinkled with chopped parsley. 

Modifications:  

• Substitute vegetable or chicken stock for the beef stock
• Substitute turnip or sweet potato for the rutabaga, or leave out completely
• Add 1/2 cup peas, corn or other vegetables
• Add 1/2 cup cooked chicken, cooked stew beef or cooked ground beef

When adding additional vegetables or meat, you will need to add additional stock and/or water.

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Halloween Masks

Fun, rainy day activity for kids!

Over the years, I have collected some printable Halloween Masks. These can be printed, embellished with sequins, glitter, glow in the dark paint or whatever your creative mind can come up with. I've even used glitter nail polish to jazz them up! Two of them are made for children to color and then, with adult supervision of course, cut out.

Feel free to send me pictures of any you use and I'll post them!

Bat Mask	Black Cat Mask
Cat Eyes Mask	Pink Feather Mask
Dog Mask	Monkey Mask
Ram Mask	Bobcat Mask
Tiger Mask
Scary Jack Mask Shown colored.	Skull Mask This one can be colored.

Recycled Pumpkin ... Dual Purpose

The New Jack

Many years ago, at least 10, I went to a Halloween party and won this large pumpkin for my creative costume. But, I do believe I won it for the hair. My foot tall hair that was teased and sprayed so stiff it didn't move the entire night, even while driving and sticking out of the sunroof of the car.

Over the years, this poor pumpkin has been bumped, bruised and basically abused. So, when I pulled out "Jack", as we lovingly call him, this year, he was peeling and basically looked like he was ready for the trash. Not wanting to get rid of him, I decided he could be saved!

Leaves from Dollar Tree, orange spray paint from Walmart, yellow acrylic paint from my supply and Glow In The Dark Paint from Michael's, these berry looking things I had left over from some project, some leftover rattan covered wire from another project and then creativity began.

First, I peeled all the loose "paper" from him. Not exactly sure if it was paper, but where it was loose, it peeled easily. Then I wiped him with a damp cloth to remove any dust and dirt. Out to the back yard Jack and I went with the can of orange spray paint. I sprayed him all over, giving him a shiny new coat of orange. I was careful not to spray to much where the mouth, nose and eyes were since I was painting those yellow.

Top of Jack

Once the orange paint was dry, I let it sit 24 hours, I proceeded to paint the mouth, nose and eyes with the yellow paint. I applied 3 coats to make sure I had good coverage. I let that dry overnight and then applied two coats of Glow In The Dark Paint to the mouth, nose and eyes area.

The stem on top I painted with some coppery brown glitter nail polish that was just sitting here not being used. It was perfect!

Once all paint and nail polish was dry, I proceeded to apply the leaves, mixing the different shades of yellow, orange and rust, around the top of the pumpkin creating a cute little hat for Jack. Once that was dry, I took my little berry clumps and glued around the stem area.

Jack's Is Now My Fall Pumpkin

I then took the rattan covered wire, cut 2 pieces about 8" long. Taking one piece at a time, I wrapped it around a pencil, leaving enough straight on the end to tuck under the leaves and glue.

I let everything dry over night. And, standing back looking, I was proud to say, Jack looked great!

 Now you say, dual purpose? Well, as you can see from the first photo above, Jack looks great in his dapper leaf hat! But, if I simply turn Jack around after Halloween is over, I have a beautiful fall pumpkin!

So Jack will be displayed proudly on my front porch from now until November 28th when Christmas decorations start appearing!

Until next time ...

Watermelon Salad

This salad is one of my favorite salads because of the fruit and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Add grilled or leftover cooked chicken for a one bowl meal!

Ingredients
8 cups loosely packed lettuce mixture
2 cups seedless watermelon chunks, about 1"
3/4 cup quartered cucumber slices
1/3 cup thin small red onions, separated into rings
1/2 cup walnut halves
1/3 Light Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing
1 Tbsp. reduced fat, olive oil mayonnaise

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk dressing gradually into mayonnaise until well blended.

Add to salad and toss gently to coat.

Serve immediately.

Variations: Replace watermelon with strawberries, cut in half lengthwise.

If you love fruits like I do, you may ad  blueberries, strawberries, mango, kiwi, pineapple, etc. to the above recipe. I usually do about 1/3 cup of each one.

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Southern Sweet Tea

What holiday weekend in the South would be complete without Tea? Here is a traditional Southern Sweet Tea recipe.

Southern Sweet Tea

3 cups water
2 family size teabags
1/3 to 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you want it*
7 cups cold water

Bring the 3 cups of water to boil. Place teabags in pot, cover and steep for 10 minutes.

Remove teabags and pour tea into your pitcher. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Then add 7 cups of cold water, stir.

Serve over ice. Garnish with lemon slice on glass and be sure to have extra slices for those that like more lemon taste.

After completely cooled, store in refrigerator. If you place in refrigerator before cooled completely, it will get cloudy!

* If you want unsweetened tea, simply omit the sugar. Because I am watching my sugar intake, I use Stevia Extract In The Raw® instead of sugar. I use about 1/3 cup and have packets available for those who like it sweeter. 

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