The Do's and Dont's of Making Raspberry Syrup

So I went out and bought a bunch of healthy food. Of course I had to get some berries! I wanted to try that soaking them in vinegar water to make them last longer thing. So I did, only we don't have paper towels (bc I hate buying them). And the trick is to get the berries completely dry before putting them in the air tight container...well that just couldn't be done with the raspberries. I ended up with a soggy pile of berries that were already turning into mush. [Next time I will soak the strawberries and raspberries seperately and have paper towels] 

Since I already had raspberry mush I decided I'd try and make raspberry syrup for my lemonade!

So I took my raspberries and really turned them to mush with a spoon.

Next I made simple syrup with 1/2 a cup of sugar and a whole cup of hot water. Then added in the raspberry mush and stirred it all up. [Next time I will try only using a half a cup of hot water to make the syrup stronger]

And here's where it got experimental. (I suggest using a mesh strainer, this will make this process very quick for you). I on the other hand had to strain a couple different ways. All of the big chunks were floating on top so I skimmed my spoon over the top to get some of it out. Then I put a vegetable steamer over a glass and poured the mixture through which got most of the mush part out.

Then I poked holes into coffee filters and fastened them to a glass. This took forever. I ended up having to stand there and poke new and bigger holes with a straight pin because the seeds would get caught. Over all this took me about an hour haha. And I ended up with a little over a cup of Raspberry Syrup.

I also tried to make a little filter pouch, but the mush was too heavy and this ended up being very messy.

To sum it all up DON'T do it my way and DO do it with the correct tools. Either way you'll get some yummy syrup to put in your lemonade or other drinks!

The Bennett Garden : Stage 1 & 2

I have wanted a garden for years now. These last two years we attempted it but the first year we started too late and last Summer was so hot it faught to keep my few plants in containers alive. This year we are doing it right!

I made my DIY seed starters about two weeks ago. I tried leaving them outside and I think they got too cold so I did a second round about a week ago and have them in the window in my craft room and taking them outside on nice days.

{You can find the How To for my DIY Biodegradable Seed Starters here.

Thankfully my Mom works at Home Depot who was having a Black Friday in April sale and we got our 15 landscaping timbers for $25! We then went back and bought a bunch of Miracle Grow Garden Soil, Top Soil and Cow Manure on sale as well. So far we have just put everything where it's supposed to be. Phillip is going to bolt everything down Tuesday and I'm going to start tilling up the land today. Here's some pictures of our progress so far!

I marked the bed with sticks so we wouldn't have to remeasure everytime we moved them.

We picked these head board pieces down the road from our house on a walk one day. We got the idea to possibly use them at the end of the bed. We are going to make a fence around the garden to keep Houdini out (he loves fruits and veggies!)

[While Phillip was home on his break we discussed the fence some more: I really want to be able to lean over the edge and work; with a fence I wouldn't be able to do that. So I think we are going to try it without the fence, at least till the plants mature. I'm thinking the edging will be enough to keep him out...at least till they start bearing fruit.]

Next step : Till the ground and add in our Garden Soil, Top Soil and Manure. This is going to be a feat because we are doing it by hand. But we love a good challenge and I believe the more love and hard work you put into the ground the better your garden will be. Well I'm off to start tearing up some dirt! See you guys soon!

It's a Start!

Tonight was soo GOOD! After Phillip got home we spent the evening outside enjoying the lovely weather. While he was at work I went and got the 1"x8' wooden planks we needed and as soon as we got home we went to work! He mowed the grass while I nailed the planks to the railing of our porch and strung the lights across the awning of the house using a cool lil cheat I found at thefamilyhandyman.com, clothes pins go right into the vinyl up there. After he mowed the yard we strung the lights together; and then he built a fire while I painted the planks each a color of a rainbow. Then we ate pizza around the fire and soaked in the cool night and our lighting success before coming inside to watch some Supernatural and go to bed. This weekend has been productive and inspired: my heart is full :)

DIY: Boot Stretching Technique

So while shopping at Forever 21 not too long ago I found a pair of those boots, you know the perfect booties that are marked half off and there are only two left and by some miracle they happen to be in your size! Ya, those boots...well booties. I quickly snatched them up and tried them on and of course they were a little snug. But they are the perfect pair and half off, there's got to be some way I can work with that. So I got home and paraded around for a bit and found they were a bit more than a little snug. Straight to the internet I went! Where I found that rubbing Rubbing Alcohol on the insides of the boot can help stretch them out. Well we didn't have any alcohol, bummer. And I'm one of those people who like instant satisfaction so I didn't want to wait till I could get some. So I used body mist! which is pretty high in alcohol content.

This is what ya do:

 Get your boots, body mist and two pairs of socks! Now spray the mist on the spots that are tight ( I recommend doing a little at a time because once they are stretched there's no going back ) Once you've got them sprayed put on both pairs of socks and clean your house, yup you heard me work those puppies in! Look at you multi tasking! :) Every now and then you can stop and take off the second pair of socks and see how they feel and just keep working with them. 

 I stopped when they were still a little snug because once you start wearing them they will continue to stretch with regular wear. I've been wearing mine for a few weeks now and they fit perfectly!

This method can also be applied to heels and other shoes made with similar material (i.e. leather and pleather). I hope this will help you guys keep your feet cute AND comfy!

Flaky Dog Home Remedy

Hello all! The cool air has really set in around here and I'm completely head over heels for it! We love and pray for the cool air, but as we all know with cooler air comes dry skin. My pitbull, Houdini, has had dry skin for a better part of a year now, he's super flaky but it doesn't seem to make him itchy at all. He was taken from us last year and kept in an Animal Shelter kennel for a week (a whole nother story). When we got him back his skin was flaky. The vets told us it was probably the stress and change/lack of diet and it would work itself out. Well it's become quite obvious that this isn't something that is just going to go away on its own; and with that cooler air coming in I wanted to try and tackle this problem before it worsened. I've tried a couple different dry skin dog shampoos, but those don't really seem to help. So I started looking for home remedies. I love home remedies, much like I love thrifty crafts. I love being able to solve a problem (or a craving) with things that I already have on hand. While looking I found a couple of different remedies, only one of which is something that I had, so I went for that one. OLIVE OIL.

 It said to add ONE TABLESPOON of olive oil to your dogs food a couple times a week for a shiny moisturized coat. And guess what?! It works! Yay! Instead of a tablespoon every other day I've just been drizzling a very small amount on his food just about everyday. (I'm not a very good schedule keeper so I do this so I won't forget my days.) I've been doing this for almost two weeks now and have noticed a huge difference in his dandruff. It is almost completely gone! AND his coat is super shinny and pretty! Houdini also has an odor that seemed to come around about the same time as his flaky skin, even though he isn't flaking anymore he still smells. So I'm still trying to figure that out and will definitely share my trials and errors with that too! I want to try some of the other dry skin remedies that called for oatmeal, tea tree oil and vitamin E. 

Have any of you ever battled with your pets dry skin or odor before?! I'd love to know your remedy!

(Be careful to not give your dog too much olive oil as it will most likely make them gain weight. If your dog is already over weight I would suggest trying out the other home remedies first. Also, I give my 80 lb pitbull one tablespoon, if you have smaller dogs DO NOT give them the same amount. I'd cut it in half at the very least. After posting this to Instagram a vet friend of mine told me that olive oil can give your dog diarrhea and vitamin E can be used the same way without the side effect)

Never, never, never give up : My new sign

Martian Child inspired pallet wood sign

I love John Cusack, so of course I absolutely adore Martian Child. Since the first time I heard David and Dennis's exchange

"When you're here at home it's okay to be from mars but when you're out there with the rest of the earthlings,you know, you gotta play by earth rules. But what we will never do is never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up; Winston Churchill said that, I think."

I feel in love with the saying. For some weird reason it didn't even come to mind while I was searching for a good short quote for a pallet wood sign I had been wanting to make awhile back. Since I couldn't find a good enough quote I kinda lost inspiration and set it to the back of my mind to let it work itself out. Phillip and I were watching a movie (which one i can't recall) the other day and someone had the quote "never, never, never give up" written on a block on their office desk, and it dawned on me that's the perfect quote for my sign! and my inspiration was back! Since I wanted it to be a short quote I used the original over David's "never, ever, ever..." but to keep it like the movie I added the "I think" to the end. I looked up some fonts, drew it with pencil and then painted over the pencil markings. I may go back at some point and add some flowers or design around the letters. Oooh! Or I was just looking up some coffee filter flowers; I could make some to put around the sign rather than adding to the sign itself. Either way I'll share it with you guys for sure!

I'm totally in love with it. It goes really well in that corner, which is in our living room. It's a great little reminder to keep on keepin' on when life gets tough :)

(We currently do not have the Internet, I blog from the blogspot app, which is starting to improve but hasn't added hyperlinks to its abilities yet. Therefore I can not share any websites with you here like the really cool website I found where you can type in whatever you want and preview it in their fonts, so you can see the font to imitate without having to download the font. I do however have a Pinterest account and I'm always pinning my inspiration, so for the time being you could follow me on there if you like! I love meeting fellow DIYers! I also have an Instagram account, the links to both accounts are in my profile! I hope to see some new friends soon! Thanks for stopping by!)

DIY: Hanging Mason Jar Planter!

I think it's safe to say I have a problem

I can't stop buying plants, and here lately it's been house plants. So I've had to come up with some creative ways to place them around our home. We have also been very broke, so I've had to come up with ways to do it with things I already have on hand. A get a sense of pride when I finish these thrifty projects, and I think this one is my favorite!

And this is what you will need to make it!

A small plant (of course)

A piece of wood

A drill with a bit

A mason jar

Wire wrapping supplies

Marker

First you need to decide where on your board you want your jar to hang from

Mark two dots where your going to drill your holes. I marked mine right under the lip of my jar towards the middle so that the jar will cover the holes

And then drill your holes!

Now is time to prep your jar for planting. I didn't have any potting soil and I knew I needed some filler of sorts so I picked out a buch a pretty tiny quartz stones in our yard and put them in the bottom of my jar. It looks cool and will also help with drainage!

Now stuff your plant in the jar, doing as little damage as possible to the roots

Now it's time to wire wrap!

I used 20 gauge wire to wrap around the jar twice and cross the ends in the back  (make sure you leave a few inches of wire on either side)

Grab hold the cross (as close to the jar as possible) with your index finger and thumb

And then turn your hand upside down so that your thumb is now on top, crossing the wire 

And then twist it a few more times

Now your ready to attach your jar to your board, we are going to do that by putting the wire tails you left through your drill holes and twist then together in back like an action figure is tied to it's box

Then turn your board around

And twist the wires around each other like you did before

I twisted mine all the way to the ends and then coiled up the two wires twisted together

I had 20 gauge silver wire and a flimsy 16 gauge bronze wire, I wanted the look of the bronze but doubted its ability to hold the jar, so I used the silver wire and then covered it with the bronze wire for looks. I made one loop 

And wrapped the jar pulling the last wrap around through the loop and pulled it back the opposite direction making another loop and wrapped the last few inches around the back

And now you have hanging mason jar planter!

I attached a hanger to the back and hung it up in our living room

I'd love to see what you guys do with your mason jar planter!!