Friday, October 28, 2011

Trash to Treasure to Trash

OK.  This is kinda of an obvious, maybe somewhat silly post, but well I am just gonna do it anyways....I was cleaning out our cars yesterday to get them ready for the winter......yay snow......sorry all you snow haters......had to say it.  PRAY FOR SNOW is my new favorite t-shirt.....next to  HUMPTY WAS PUSHED.  Anyways, while I was cleaning out the cars, I spied these plastic plant pots, that were this funky green color.  They were  from some awesome shrubs that I scored, CHEAP.

 This is the TRASH part of my title.   Usually they come in black, or terracotta.  I took them in the house, scrubbed them up and threw a few bags in the bottom so when you take out the trash, there is a new bag waiting for you.  Now they are pure TREASURE. 

   OK, they are still trash, but I couldn't name the blog Trash Trash Trash, could I.    I took another bag and fitted it inside and tied it so it would stay around the rim....and with the magic of words,  its TRASH again.  



Now instead of having to clean out the backseat floor of the car,  perhaps I can just clean out the trash bucket.   Better yet, we could move to the Star Trek Enterprise and have machines that replicate clean for us.
Have a clean day!
Oonga
Sisterkins 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Making Chalk Paint


Wow, this new craze of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint has hit the blogger community like the virus from I Am Legend.  It seems everyone has been painting furniture and their first born, for a go with this paint.  I expect that $40.00  for a quart of paint would have been a deterrent to most, but not so......guess just a handful of us are the cheapies.  Well maybe more than a handful, maybe two hands full.  I found a recipe from HERE!  I was going to make this but.......
 I was too lazy to have a shower 
well, I didn't have a trip to town planned  to pick up the ingredients.  But I figured I would make like a whitewash recipe of my own.  Rule # 1.....If it's too expensive, make it or make do!!  My mom used to use milk and slaked lime  to paint the walls in the chicken coop.  I used to use water and slaked lime to do mine as I didn't have goats like we had when we were kids.. Anyways it sure made the chicken coop all shiny and white.  So this is what I came up with for my version of chalk paint:.

Oongas Version of  Homemade Chalk Paint
 1 part slaked lime
3 parts acrylic latex paint
1 part water


This batch was really lumpy but it was an experiment.  The lumpies didn't seem to matter though.   
I painted a piece of wood that was salvaged from a renovation we had done in our 100 year plus, old home.



I let it dry overnight after applying two coats.


I took it out to the garage the next day, and sanded to distress it.  Also, cuz I was far to excited to sand it previous to starting the job.
I had purchased a inspirational vinyl  saying a while back and transferred it on to the wood.





Next step was to run out and buy some  Annie Sloan wax;  no this won't happen, cuz: see Rule #1.   Plus, if you remember,  I was too lazy to have a shower.    I  found carnauba and beeswax from our stash of waxes but I also had some antique medium that I purchased years ago from a liquidation place.



I love that the lines from the saw which originally cut this board over 100 years ago are still there.  I didn't want to lose that.



I grabbed an old t-shirt rag and started to rub the carnauba wax with a bit of antique medium into the area that I had sanded.  Then I just started to rub the wax all over.  I think next time I will use some burnt umber oil paint mixed with the carnauba for a nicer antique effect.  Not too fond of the color of the antique medium so I didn't use too much of it.  I will put that on my shopping list for when I do my porch dresser.  I must say that this paint recipe worked out pretty well for me.
I am  hopeful that it will work for my porch dresser.
Anyways, here is the finished board.   I am pretty happy with it.


  I still have 2 more boards to do.  I will maybe try another color of paint next time.

Hope you have a great day
Oonga
Sisterkins
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The 36th Avenue

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fancy Hand Towels

 Hi  fellow bloggers,  I am a new blogger to Sisterkins and would like to share my first blog with you all.  Check me out in the ABOUT ME page for a little insight into my world.
 While sorting out my craft supplies, I came across some awesome ribbon that I had tucked away for a rainy day.


 I had found some towels in my stash that were just a little too frilly for my bathroom.
I decided to upcycle them for my bathroom.  I got my trusty seam ripper and worked away until this.....


I dusted off my sewing machine and went feverishly to work and created this beauty.  It suits me and my bathroom to a tee!  What do you think?

Hope you have a great day!
EESH
Sisterkins

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Vegetarian Chicken Nuggets

To make these yummy nuggets, you must have the following ingredients:

2 Cups Split Chana Dal (Available in most Indian grocery stores.)
1 Cup Leftover Mashed Potatoes
1 TBSP Maggi
1 tsp Black Pepper
Pinch of Thyme
Soak your dal for a few hours or overnight. Drain
In a food processor, grind your dal to the consistency of cornmeal.  You may have to add some water, maybe up to 1/2 cup.  You want to keep this mixture as stiff as you can.  When ground up, place dal in a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients.  Mix thoroughly.  Follow instructions below.



Your  mixture should look something like the picture below and be quite stiff.


Form into nugget shaped pieces.  You may have to wet your hands with water as this mixture may become quite sticky; just keep rinsing your hands without drying them and form the nuggets.
Place nuggets in deep fryer or a frying pan and fry until golden brown.



They will be tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  


Plate them up and serve with your choice of dipping sauce.  This is a great way to get your little ones to eat legumes.  They wont even know.  These are really good.  An alternative to a hamburger, is to make them into patties, fry them in a frying pan and serve them up as you would a chicken burger.  If you try this recipe either way, let me know what you think.
Hope you have a wonderful day.
Oonga
Sisterkins

Monday, October 24, 2011

Satellite Transforms Into A Pond

I wanted to share something that I built years ago. It has held up very well even though we have harsh winters here.    The temperature can dip to -40 degrees C which is darn cold in Celsius or Fahrenheit. (My Canadian roots are showing).

I have a pump running  all summer, which helps to keep the water fresh.  I put fish in it for the summer and also splurge on water plants.  I enjoy the sound of water running while sitting in my satellite gazebo.  Click Here to see that project.  It sits above ground level because one, the lawn mower would of blown all the grass in it, and second of all, I was just too lazy to dig any deeper ( the ground was pretty hard).  It all seemed to work out in the end,  and the rocks added to my ``already built`` rock gardens!   Hope this inspires you to recycle an old satellite dish, in one way or another.  It's one less dish in the landfill.



Thanks for looking!
Have a wonderful day!!
Bessy Boo
Sisterkins
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