Crafty Night Owls: holiday

Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Christmas Series Day 9 - Homemade Cheeseball

On the 9th Day of Christmas

Santa brought to me

CraftyNightOwls - Mom Kristine

Her gift to us is a post on

"homemade cheese ball"

Favorite Family Cheeseball

Many years ago I played around with a couple cheeseball recipes until I came up with this one that has become a family favorite. Christmas around our house isn't the same without this yummy munchie.
We like it best with "Wheat Thin" crackers, but you can use any kind you like. One of these cheeseballs, along with a bag of crackers, makes a great holiday food gift, also.

                                            FAVORITE FAMILY CHEESEBALL

                                            2 oz crumbled blue cheese
                                          * 1 [8 oz.] jar Kaukauna sharp cheese spread
                                             2 [5 oz.] jars Kraft pimiento cheese spread
                                             2-3 [5 oz.] jars Kraft Old English cheese spread
                                             2 [8 oz.] pkg. cream cheese, softened.
                                             6 TBS. dreid parsley leaves, crushed
                                             4 tsp. dried minced onions
                                             1 cup finely chopped walnuts

                                              2 TBS. dried parsley leaves, crushed
                                              1 cup finely chopped walnuts

*If you can't find the "Kaukauna" sharp cheese spread [or an a similar brand container of sharp cheese] , then substitute another kind as we did here. Thie sharp cheese tubs are usually found in the deli or refrigerator cheese section. For these balls we substituted a "cheese whiz" type brand, but my preference of taste is a sharper cheese] Also, the small jars of cheese can be very expensive so watch for them to go on sale. Super Walmart sometimes carries these at the lowest prices.
If you're not a big fan of blue cheese, don't be afraid of using it here. People can't even tell it's there, but it certainly adds to the wonderful flavor of this cheeseball. I always add some crumbles, mix and then taste. You don't want the blue cheese to over power the other cheeses, but to just compliment the overall flavor.

In a large bowl, blend cheese sperads, cream cheese, the 6 TBS. parsley leaves, onion and 1 cup chopped nuts. [I usually mix this together with my hands] This picture shows the bowl of second cup of chopped nuts mixed with the 2 TBS. crushed parsley leaves to roll the balls in later.

Shape into six round balls. [they may flatten out a bit at this stage] Place these balls on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Cover loosely with foil and place in the frig for a few hours or overnight.

Remove cheeseballs from the refrigerator and with your hands, shape into a round ball. Roll the ball around in the nut/parsley mixture. Wrap each ball in a square of plastic wrap and store in frig until ready to serve.
[wrap a second time in foil if they are going to remain in frig for a few days to make them air tight.]
They can be refrigerated for up to a couple weeks and stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.

We hope your family and friends will love this cheeseball as much as our family does

Friday, November 1, 2013

2 Halloween Door Signs in One

Here's the How-to Step by Step:

This is a double sided Halloween door sign

1. Start with a wood sign (I bought mine at hobby lobby for $5.99),

paint in multiple colors and a sponge brush.

2. I painted the back side 1st. I applied a coat of white paint for the base. let dry.

3. I am doing a candy corn style so now I applied a strip of yellow. let dry.

4. applied orange. let dry.

5. I cut out the words with my cricut. Using my cricut and a sheet of vinyl.

the font is called: barbed ink.

Once you cut the letters out, remove off of the cricut mat, now strip the backing off the (vinyl as shown).

6. Apply the vinyl letters onto the wood.

7. because i didn't mind the black bleeding through i applied the black straight onto the sign.

8. Completely cover the entire back with black.

9. once dry remove the vinyl letters and this is what you get. see how the black bleed into the letters a little. it looks cool on a Halloween sign.

If you don't want it to bleed. keep reading and I will show you how to stop the bleeding.

I am now working on the front. this side I wanted it to be a solid red.

I again applied the vinyl onto the wood. the font on this side is called: Creepsville

To make sure it doesn't bleed. apply a layer of the same color as the letters (in this case red).

Once it is dry you can now apply the color you want around the letters. (in this case black)

Tada: no bleeding.

To attached the ribbon for hanging. I grabbed some dark nails and hammered the ribbon to the top end of the sign.

made some cute pleats on the side and added a few more nails under.

Here is one side

Here is the other side.

I love my sign.

also if you are wanting to not waste your vinyl .. here are some tips on how to keep them for another project and how to organize them.

Once I peeled the letters off my sign I attached them to a sheet of wax paper.

Here is a shot of the other part of the vinyl. You can use this as a stencil. just make sure you keep the pieces that go in the centers of o's, a's, etc.

I am organizing them in file folders. If you notice I have taken the centers and taped them to the inside of the folder. see the top right of the folder. I taped them there and wrote under each on which letter the center belonged to.

Now just add the wax paper with the letters and your done. Write the description on the top and file it away.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Patriotic Banner

This was such a fun banner to make.

plus it can be used for 3 holidays: memorial day, labor day and 4th of july.

This banner has a shield, 2 rosette's, 2 star's, american flag and hat.

the following photos shows you what each of them ended up looking like.

The materials I used to make these were recycled cardboard, scrapbook paper, ribbon, markers, sticky gems, glue, Bravisimo rosette's, glue gun, yarn, fabric and lots of creativity.

First thing you need to do is print off the pattern below.

There is a pattern for each design except for the rosette's.

Downloadable Pattern

To make this banner. print out the pattern above, cut all the pieces out, trace onto cardboard or any thick material you want to use.

Then pick out what scrapbook pages you want to use and start covering your pieces.

To cover your pieces place your scrapbook page over the area you want it,
then flip the piece over and carefully cut the excess paper off. it's that easy.

Now start layering and gluing your pieces on. add bling, distress the edges,
outline designs, use pop up dots to add more depth, this is when you can
add your own personal stamp to the pieces. make it yours.

once all of your pieces are covered and complete. glue it to a long strip of ribbon.
Tie more ribbon, yard, fabric onto the banner and your finished.

Here are photo examples for each...

Step 1: Apply red paper to the bottom 2/3 of the shield

Step 2: Apply blue paper to the top 1/3 of the shield

Step 3: add strips of white ribbon, start at the top of the red paper

and run downwards and wrap and glue on the backside.

Step 4: Apply white paper onto banner cutout and then apply banner to shield.\

Step 5: Cover USA letter with star paper and then apply to the banner.

Step 6: Apply red pearls to the blue paper.. if you wish add more bling or swirls.

Step 1: Buy or make Rosette: This one is from bravissimo

(you can get very cheap through ohmycrafts.com)

Step 2: Draw or cut out the letters for BRAVE, Color and apply to Rosette.

Step 1: Apply blue paper to the star cutout

Step 2: White paper (cut this star a little smaller than the blue one) apply on top of blue one.

Step 3: Red Paper (cut a little smaller than the white star) apply on top of white one.

Step 4: Outline the white star with a red marker.

Step 5: Outline red star with a black marker.

Step 6: Add gems

Step 1: Apply red paper to flag cutout.

Step 2: add white stripes onto red paper.

Step 3: mount blue paper onto cutout and then apply to red & white stripes.

Step 4: Add Gems

Step 1: buy or make rosette.

Step 2: Draw or Cut out letters for HOPE ( I applied gallery glass onto of the letters)

Step 1: Apply red paper to the bottom 1/2 of the hat.

Step 2: Apply blue paper to the top 1/2 of the hat.

Step 3: Apply red ribbon, start at the bottom of the blue area and

go upward and wrap around the top of hat and glue on back.

Step 4: Apply white paper to band cutout and then mount onto the hat.

Step 5: Cover all 5 Star cutouts with different paper and then mount onto

the band in a fun fashion.

Step 6: Add gems & swirls.

To make into a banner, punch a hole into both sides of each shape. run ribbon through holes and make a knot. Then to add a little something more to the banner. apply yarn, fabric strips and ribbon.

Happy Crafting!!!

Carrie

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