Melissa's Blog

Hydrangea Mantle Clock

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:57:30 +0000

I felt like mixing it a little so I decided that I feel like painting some flowers.

I had this clock that was picked up at a flea market. It is a handmade clock and looked rather drab when I got it. I decided to paint it a deep black green and add some hydrangeas to it. The hydrangeas are painted in shades of blue, white and highlighted in lavender.

Hydrangeas Mantle Clock

This was a nice change from painting Halloween themed items. I listed the clock on Etsy if you want to see a few more pictures of it check them out there.

I am not sure what I will be working on this week. It is Spring break and we have a list of places and things we want to do so there may not be much painting this week.

Pineapple and Mandarin Orange Fluff

admin — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:48:42 +0000

I was talking to my mom about wanting something sweet to eat but not knowing what I wanted. She told me about a recipe she had got at her Weight Watchers meeting. She has been making it ever since and always has it on hand for her and my dad. It is a no baking involved desert that makes a good snack too as there is protein in it to help keep you feeling full.

She gave me the recipe and I tweeked it for me. I cannot use artificial sweeteners so I used regular Instant Pudding and Lite Cool Whip instead of sugar free. If you make the recipe as I do it comes out with a Points+ Value of 4. If you make it using artificial sweeteners it has a Points+ Value of 3.

Here is the recipe.

Pineapple and Mandarin Orange Fluff

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

Can of Crushed Pineapple (Undrained)
Can of Mandarin Oranges (drained)
Cool Whip (8 oz)
1 Instant Vanilla Pudding
1 cup Fat Free Cottage Cheese Or 1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix the pineapple, the drained mandarin oranges and the vanilla pudding together. Mix in the cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. Fold in the Cool Whip. Refrigerate for a couple hours.

Pineapple and Mandarin Orange Fluff

Halloween in March?

admin — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:04:46 +0000

I know I should be thinking about Easter and Spring and be painting things like Easter Bunnies and Colored Eggs but I just have not been feeling that. Instead I have felt like painting for Halloween.

I had a couple of wood candle holders and decided to make them into Halloween Decor. The first one is the Mean Jack-o-Lantern.

Mean Jack-o-Lantern Candle Holder

Mean Jack has been sculpted with paper clay to look menacing. There are a couple painted skull bats on the base. There are other bats flying about above and below Jack.

Here is Black Cat Candle Holder…

Black Cat Candle Holder

The Black Cat is sculpted from paper clay. There are 4 feisty black cats and 4 rats on the base. There are also bats and stars above the Black Cat.

Both of the candle holders are listed on Etsy in our store. The Bat Wing Clock is listed on Ebay.

A New Bat Wing Clock

admin — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:29:26 +0000

I had been in a painting slump for a while. I suddenly felt like getting some of my half finished projects done. One of those is this Bat Wing Mantle Clock. I had it almost finished for a while and it was just sitting so it seemed like the best thing to complete first. I really love this clock design and when you see it in person it is a pretty impressive design. It has a wingspan of 20 ½ inches and is 7 ½ inches tall.

Bat Wing Clock

I base coated this one in a deep purple and trimmed it in silver. The clock face is painted black and has a skull and spider webs. The front has a bunch of bats in flight. The top has a haunted mansion scene with a bright full moon and cemetery. There are a few spooky inhabitants and also some more flying bats. On the back you will find a skull bat.

Bat Wing Clock

I love the bat wings. Brandon carves those and attaches them to the clock. It really makes the clock special.

I did learn that purple is a really hard color to capture on my camera. Some pictures it looks purple, some it looks blue. Trust me it is purple!

I have listed the the clock on Ebay. I really would like to just list everything on Etsy but things just seem to loom out there. So if you want to see the listing just click on the word Ebay.

I completed a couple other items and will be listing them

Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes with Turkey Smoked Sausage

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:42:43 +0000

The weather here is unusually beautiful for March. It is making cooking about the last thing I feel like doing. This is a quick, super easy recipe that even picky eaters enjoy and can be made ahead with just a few ingredients. Brandon got this recipe for me years ago from someone at work and it has become a family favorite.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Potatoes with Turkey Smoked Sausage

Recipe type: Main

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 10 mins

Serves: 8

Super Easy Cheesy Potatoes

Ingredients

1.5 bags Oe-Ida O’brien Hashbrowns
2 cans Campbell’s Healthy Choice Cheddar Cheese Soup
2 packages Butterball Smoked Turkey Sausage or Turkey Kielbasa (sliced)
1 cup (approximately) Fat Free Milk

Instructions

In the slow cooker, pour a layer of hashbrowns then add a layer of sausage or kielbasa then repeat with the hashbrowns, then meat and then cover with a layer of hashbrowns.
In a bowl, whisk together soup and milk. I add the milk a little at a time until it become just fluid and not too thin.
Pour the cheese mixture over the potato and meat. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

There are only 4 ingredients so it isn’t labor intensive to make, easy peazy! It is also very good the next day making the leftovers go quickly! It is just a good recipe for days when you don’t feel like cooking! If you are a Weight Watcher’s member this recipe comes out to be 8 points+.

The Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mythic Creatures Exhibit Cleveland Natural History Museum

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:56:10 +0000

Friday night we attended the The Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mythic Creatures Exhibit at the Cleveland Natural History Museum. This is a traveling exhibit and it has been at museums from New York, Atlanta to Sydney, Australia. We have been waiting for the exhibit to come to Cleveland and it is now here until July.

Joe Leonard has a few pieces in the exhibit. Joe Leonard is a good friend and is an extraordinary wood carver. Joe designs and carves one of kind treasures for customers all over the world. One of his claims to fame is that he designed and carved the 17 armored horses for the outside row of the Euro-Disney Carousel in Paris, France.

About 10 years ago, Brandon took a few carving lessons from Joe. They have become good friends over the years. Brandon goes to Joe’s shop weekly and helps out on his current projects. He helped on Joe’s Pegasus which is in the exhibit and we were excited to see Joe’s carvings in the exhibit.

Here are some pictures of the exhibit. First is a blurry picture of Brandon and Joe, I am a very good photographer

Joe and Brandon

Brandon and The Pegasus at the Mythic Creatures Exhibit

Joe Leonard's Griffin at the Mythic Creatures Exhibit

Dane and a Unicorn at the Mythic Creatures Exhibit

Mermaid - Ship Figurehead at the Mythic Creatures Exhibit

Display of Mythical Action Figures

The Kraken at the Mythic Creatures Exhibit

There is plenty more to see at the exhibit. Also, while at the museum don’t miss the outdoor area where they have animals native to Ohio. They have birds, otters, foxes and much more. They have deer too and this young buck was enjoying the stream on that warm March evening.

The Natural History Museum has always been one of our favorite museums in the area. Make sure to check out the Mythical Creatures exhibit. It will be here until July 1st. Also, if you want to see more of Joe Leonard‘s works, check out his website by clicking on his name.

A Warm Bowl of Soup on a Snowy Day

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:43:35 +0000

We finally got our first real snow of the season. So much for not having to use the snow blower this year!

It was also the first day back to school for Dane. He was pretty bummed they didn’t call off school. I spent my morning trying to get our house back in some order after the holidays. Cleaning and putting decorations away then I decided I wanted something yummy, warm, comforting and filling for lunch.

I decided I would make black bean soup. I have a recipe that is from the restaurant Bahama Breeze. I have made it a few times and haven’t made it about a year or more. It makes for a perfect meal on a cold and snowy day. It is easy to make and makes enough for an army.

Black Bean Soup

Author: Bahama Breeze Recipe

Ingredients

4 cans (15 oz. each) Black Beans
3 slices, rough chopped Bacon, Sliced
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 bottle (12 oz.) Beer
cup Water
1 tbsp. Sherry, Dry
cup Onions, diced
cup Green peppers, diced
2 tbsp. Garlic
tsp. Ground Cumin
2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
To Taste Adobo seasoning, salt and pepper

Instructions

Heat oil in a pot on medium heat.
Add the chopped bacon and sauté for 1 minute.
Add the peppers, onions and garlic. Sauté for approximately 2 minutes.
Add the beer and Tabasco sauce, and bring to a boil.
Add 3 cans of beans with their juice and bring back to a boil.
Using a hand held kitchen blender, puree the soup until smooth.
Add the remaining 1 can of beans and bring back to a boil.
Add the Sherry wine, and season to taste with Adobo seasoning or salt and pepper.
Serve hot with sour cream or steamed rice

I make mine as the recipe states but I don’t add the water. With the juice from the beans the soup is perfect. I would add water if it were too thick but I have never had to. I serve mine with Low Fat Sour Cream and a little shredded cheese.

If you are a Weight Watchers member the Points Plus Value for one cup of this soup is 5. The sour cream and cheese are extra. It makes a very filling lunch and a tasty one too.

Brandon’s Favorite Cookies

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:22:53 +0000

Brandon’s favorite cookies are his grandma’s Molasses Cookies. His grandma would make them each year and he loves them. When we got married I tried to get the recipes of things he liked to add to my collection of recipes. A few years ago, Brandon’s mom made me a cookbook for Christmas and gave me a few family recipes – his aunt’s peanut butter cookies, his aunt’s pie crust, his grandma’s banana bread and the molasses cookie recipe.

I tried the recipe and the cookies tasted good but they got really firm. He told me that it was a family mission to try to keep the cookies soft and they tried various ways of storing them including storing them with apple slices which only led to molasses cookies with a hint of apple flavor.

I did a little research and decided to try one thing with the recipe to if it would make for a softer cookie and it worked. The recipe I was given called for 2 tsp of baking soda. This recipe doesn’t make a lot of cookies and that seemed like entirely too much baking soda so I cut it back. I made them with less baking soda and it made the cookies softer and even after four days they remain soft.

Molasses Cookies

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Melissa Etto – Adapted from Brandon’s Grandma’s Recipe

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 30

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp cloves
3/4 tsp ginger
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon cloves and ginger.
In another large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar together. Add egg and molasses to shortening/sugar mixture and mix well.
Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture a little at a time and mix until just combined.
Form into balls the size of a walnut. You can dip the dough balls into sugar or just place them on cookie sheet or If you didn’t dip the dough balls in sugar before baking, you can sprinkle powdered sugar on the cooked cookies.
Bake 8-10 minutes until the tops crack. Cool on wire racks.

I never had molasses cookies before meeting Brandon and when I first tried them I didn’t really like them. Now I love them. I think I will be making these more often than just at Christmas!

Our Version of The 2011 Disneyland Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House (Part 2 – The Reveal)

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 04:12:45 +0000

If you missed my last post, this year I decided that our gingerbread house would be modeled after the Disneyland 2011 Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House. You can check it out at the Disney Parks Blog.

After a lot of hard work and finagling our gingerbread house is completed! It was a bit nerve wracking after completing the house to see if the electronics and animatronics were going to work with the weight of the gingerbread, icing and fondant.

Here is a video of the reveal…

It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself I totally dig that the cookie on top spins just like the Disneyland one. It starts with the “happy” cookie side and spins to the “evil” side and the house comes to life! The house opens and closes with a lot of force, it shakes the table! and it holds together! My fear was that it would work once or twice then destroy itself and we would be left with 100′s of pieces of gingerbread.

Brandon did a great job with the electronics/animatronics (it works a lot better than I anticipated it would )and he also did the video editing. I am completely pleased at how everything turned out. Here are a few more pictures of our version of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House.

2011 My Version of Disneyland Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House

This has been a fun project. It was challenging and got Brandon using his electronics too. Now it is time to make Christmas cookies!

Our Version of The 2011 Disneyland Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House (Part One)

admin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:41:45 +0000

This year’s gingerbread house design was a no brainer for me. I fell in love when I saw the Disneyland Haunted Mansion gingerbread house for this year as soon as I saw it on the Disney Parks Blog. I thought it was awesome and this was what I wanted to build this year!

I was so excited when I saw it that I asked Brandon to watch the video to see if he could help me make mine open and close like theirs and he said he could.

The design work took me a while but I made a pattern and set it up to make sure it was right. I did have to make some adjustments to it and here is my model.

I thought about how to make this come together for a while and then this week Brandon took his vacation from work and we started on making our gingerbread house.

I made the gingerbread, cut out each of the pattern pieces and baked them. I allowed them to cool overnight.

Then it was time to assemble. Assembly was a bit challenging with having an upper and lower house to build. I had to build the bottom and top separate so that Brandon could put hinges and the electronics and lights in it and get it all programmed to work in sequence. The kitchen table started to look like a Radio Shack exploded…..

This was kind of a build of faith. The entire time building I worried that it would all come crashing down once we put the two sections together and try out the open and closing feature. A little successful testing to make sure it would work (fingers still crossed) then I had to button it up and finish decorating.

The next post will be the final reveal and the moment of truth weather or not the house will open and close as we anticipate.