Thrift Store Bottles And Vases

So you know how the big blogs have guest posts on their blogs sometimes? Well, we sort of have that going on today and I'm so excited that we have another creative crafter in the family! My granddaughter, Shya, completed a project using bottles purchased at a thrift store to use on a fireplace mantle or sofa table. She purchased 5 glass jars of different sizes and decorated each one differently. The project was inexpensive and she used items that we already had for decorating the bottles.
Starting from left to the right, here is what she did:

1. Mix 1 drop of blue food coloring into 1/3 cup Mod Podge and simply paint the outside of the bottle using a small paint brush. Let dry at least 3 hours. She let the bottle dry overnight then wrapped a piece of burlap ribbon around the outside and used hot glue to secure it to the bottle.
2. Place a pearl strand (leftover from last year Christmas decorations) inside the bottle. You could use an old necklace or beads also.
3. Place a strip of burlap ribbon (leftover from the burlap wreath projects), Simply DIY Project For the Front Door and Simply Decorate An Autumn Mantle, around the outside of the bottom and with your fingers begin to fold or pleat the ribbon, then wrap a piece of satin ribbon around the burlap and tie a bow.
4. Place colored glass pieces (or you could use marbles) in the bottle.
5. Pour white acrylic paint into the bottle and rotate the bottle until all of the glass areas are covered. She used some leftover bling from my pumpkin project, Simply DIY Pumpkin Decorating Project, to decorate the outside of the bottle. For a final touch, she added a monogram letter in the middle.
6. Finally, to complete the look for a beautiful nighttime showing, she added battery operated candles (tea lights in the white and blue bottles and votive candles in the larger bottles). When they are all lit up, they look simply beautiful!

The entire project cost less than $10 and you could probably do it for less if you have old jars or bottles you don't use. It seems that I always have left over candles and ribbon around so that also helped keep the cost of the project down. Use your creative touches and create something beautiful!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

I wanted to repost this in case you missed it.  It's one of our most popular pins on Pinterest.

My kids especially like chewy granola bars but they seem to be one of those things that just keep going up in price and I'm not sure how healthy they actually are. I have tried a gazillion recipes and my daughter repeatedly gave the thumbs down....until this recipe! This one actually tastes better than the store bought kind. YAY!!  It took me under 10 minutes to make them-love that!  I adapted this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pods.

So here's what you need:  

• 1/4 c unsalted butter
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c honey
• 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups oats, I use old fashioned oats, but the recipe calls for quick oats
• 1/2 c crispy rice cereal

OPTIONAL: (3/4 c.) chopped pretzels, (1/4 c.) mini Reese's pieces, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, ground flax seeds

Spray pan or put a square of parchment on the bottom of an 8x8 inch baking pan.
In a large sauce pan, add butter, brown sugar, honey and peanut butter. Heat over med-low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture starts to bubble. Once it bubbles, cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract.
Stir in oats, crispy rice, and if you used pretzels add those. Stir until coated, pour into pan and press evenly. Sprinkle with mini candies or choc. chips and gently press into mixture.( I only put the mini M&M's on some of them and they kept falling off, so the next batch I didn't add them, plus I felt like they were a little healthier without them)
Put in refrigerator and let cool at least 30 minutes, then cut into bars. I wrapped mine individually for easy, quick snacks to go. I cut them like granola bars and got 10 from this recipe. Enjoy!

***UPDATE: 2/19/13***
I took a suggestion from one of our comments and made the latest batch with Nutella. They got mixed reviews at my house. I thought they were delicious, and I'm not crazy about Nutella. My kids, who really like Nutella, didn't like the bars. I thought they tasted like chewy chocolate granola bars. I did miss the peanut butter, so I think next time I might try using Nutella and peanut butter. I followed the same recipe but substituted Nutella instead of the peanut butter and didn't add any additional candy pieces or pretzels. -Thanks Jodi for the suggestion! We love getting new ideas to try!

~Simply Angie

Front Door Fall Decor

Happy Saturday everyone! It has been one of those crazy, busy weeks so we must apologize for not having a minute to get a new post ready. Sometimes we have a few posts ready and sometimes we have a few posts started but not quite ready. So that's what happened....had a few posts started but not ready. Needless to say, I am ready for the weekend and I am grateful for a little down time!
This little DIY project is super simple and inexpensive.

• You can start with any dried flowers, weeds or grains (I used wheat), tie them together with floral wire. I also used an 8 inch piece of wire to wrap around the top, then made a loop with the hire so I would have a hanger on the back.
• I bought a wood letter for under a dollar and painted it.
• Made 2 bows from burlap ribbon using the directions from a previous post, Simply Make Your Own Bows, then I used floral wire to attach them to my wheat.
• You could also add some corn, sunflowers or anything you'd like to your Front Door Fall Decor.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and don't forget to take a minute or two for yourself!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Gluten-Free Pancakes

I've been experimenting with my gluten-free pancakes and this is my favorite pancake mix. I mix the dry ingredients and store them in a glass jar. It's perfect for camping or just to have on hand. These pancakes also freeze well if you want to make them ahead and put them in the freezer. This is a great recipe for people that have an intolerance to gluten also. We warm our homemade syrup to pour over, here are our top favorites syrup recipes:
Simply Apple Cider Syrup 
Simply Homemade Pancake Syrup
Pancake Mix
3 c white rice flour
1/3 c almond flour
1/3 c powdered milk
1/3 c organic cane sugar (or sugar of your choice)
1 tsp sea salt
1 T baking powder
Whisk all of the dry ingredients together and place in a glass jar to use at a later time or mix in a bowl to use immediately. When you are ready to mix your batter, combine in a medium bowl:
1 cup pancake mix
1 egg
3/4 c water (you  may need more or less depending how thick you like your batter)
1 T coconut oil, you can use butter or oil of your choice
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula. Don't overmix, it's ok if it's a little lumpy. Heat an electric griddle to 325F or pan on the stove, and pour batter (or use 1/4 c) for each pancake. When the bubbles appear on the pancake, they are ready to be turned (about 1 minute).
This makes between 6-8 pancakes if you use 1 cup of dry pancake mix.
Enjoy!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi