I baked a whole bone in ham in Sunday.  Slow cooked ham is always good, with any side dish you add to it , in my opinion.

Problem is, there is always lots of left over ham.  I freeze some of the slices for sandwiches later on, and it also gives me plenty of extra meat to make my homemade ham salad for quick lunches, and snacks.

Here is the easy recipe.  I have been making it this way for 5 years, and my family loves it.  Hope you give it a try.

It has a smoky flavor, with tang from the pickles, and a little sweetness to finish.

Chop the meat with a knife into small pieces.  (I remove most of the fat, and the skin from the baked ham.) You will need about 2 Cups chopped.

 Chop about 1 Cup hamburger dill slices finely, and add to the meat.

Add 1/8 tsp. liquid smoke, 1/4 tsp of the pickle juice from the jar, 1 Heaping TB Hellman's Mayonnaise, and 1 Heaping TB Miracle Whip Salad Dressing.  You can't see the liquid smoke, or pickle juice; but it is in here.

Mix to coat the meat, and pickles with the dressing using a fork.  If it seems a little dry, you can add a few more drops of the pickle juice.

Hope your family likes this as well as mine does.  It gets eaten pretty quickly.

Summer Flag Dessert

 I wanted to contribute a dessert pizza to the meal today.  Wanted to, that was; until I had an epic fail.

Finished Dessert

I haven't made one in a long time (in fact my husband can't ever remember having one, it's been that long).

I forgot that cookie dough enlarges and flattens as it bakes.  OOPS.

The sugar cookie dough I rolled flat for the crust baked past the edges of my baking stone, and flowed over to the oven bottom.

I tried (without success ) to transfer it to a larger pizza pan, upside down; with my husband's help.  I put in back in the oven, but it cracked, and fell apart.

Now what to do with these ingredients?

purchased roll of sugar cookie dough
2 bricks cream cheese
1 cup powered sugar
2 TB vanilla, divided
1/2 pint blueberries- washed
1 pint strawberries- washed and stems removed

Fresh Berries

Lay dough out of refrigerator and allow to warm slightly.  Roll out onto a cookie sheet, leaving at least 3" on the outside edges.

Bake according to directions.

Bake until crumbly, but not too dry, and browning is not necessary. 

When cool, crumble the cookie into a mixing bowl.

With a fork, mash one of the blocks of cream cheese into the mixture, and stir in 1 TB vanilla, until well blended, but still has large crumb pieces remaining.  Add the mixture to a 9" x 9 " square baking dish.

Cookie Cream Cheese Layer

I halved the strawberries, and added the blueberries to the left top corner, and the strawberries in lines all across the pan on top of the cookie mixture.

Berry Layer

    

You could stop here, and serve with whipped cream.  Just omit the powdered sugar, and additional vanilla and cream cheese, but I always go all in.  I made an icing from the remaining cheese, sugar, and other TB vanilla.  I whipped it up with a fork, so you do not even have to get the mixer out.

Icing

I added the icing to a zip sandwich bag, a couple of tablespoons at a time, and sealed the top.  Cut a small snip in one corner, and use it like a piping bag to add some sweetness to the top layer.  I dotted on the "stars", and squeezed the stripes in a line on top of the berries.

Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares, and spooning out.

Let me know if you like this one.  When life give you lemons.....

MAKING A QUILT BATTING SNOW CAKE STAND COVER

I love to decorate, and it snowed here today!  Early for our part of the country.  Gave me the inspiration to add a little faux snow to the house.

I wanted to use these deer ornaments somewhere.  They are a demure 4", by 6" tall, and I felt like they needed corralling,so they didn't get lost in the Christmas decorating.  I made a centerpiece from  a cake stand, and some scrap quilt batting. They will grace my kitchen table now!

Any  cotton blend quilt batting will work, and any cake stand, even a plastic one.  I used some of the less expensive batting here, but I do not recommend polyester.

You will need

 A cake stand

 Some Scrap Batting

Scissors For Fabric
Ruler, or Tape Measure
Marker





Begin by cutting a square larger all around than your cake stand. My cake stand was 4 1/2 inches tall, and I wanted about 3/4 of the pedestal to show, so I cut my square 4 inches x 4 inches. More will get cut off, but this gives you a starting point, since stands will vary.
Turn the cake upside down on the batting, and measure out and cut the square to the size you need.

Next I measured out from the pedestal  3" (or whatever length you want your skirt to be depending on the height of your cake stand), and marked a few dots 3 inches out, all around in a circle with a marker.

Cut out following the dots to form a circle. Easy,peezy. Mine is not perfect, but it doesn't matter when it's finished.

Next, add cut work triangles to the edge. I free handed mine, but you could make a little cardboard template, and trace the cutting lines on before you created the edge if you want it to be perfect.  Again mine is not perfect, but I love the finished snow doily.

To get your cake stand snow skirt to drape correctly, lightly wet the entire piece of fabric, and wring it out before adding it to your cake stand. Once it dries, it will hold it's shape.

If you would like to purchase the handmade reindeer ornaments, please visit my ETSY store.   www.etsy.com/listing/211557336/4-reindeer-christmas-ornaments-woodland

I would love to know how you used your cake stand doily. Please leave a comment.

Thanks.
Becky

HOW TO DECORATE A SMALL CHRISTMAS TREE IN A BOWL

Seems like most of us have those small Christmas ornaments we have collected over the years, and there are lots of really cute small ornies out there.
I often shop online, and I try to picture what I can do with these affordable jewels.

I love quick and easy, and this is one decorating project that takes longer to gather supplies than to put together.

One of these for every room would be do-able.

 I also have several of those Gatlinburg prim pine trees that I have bought over the years, and the top piece is great to remove and use as a small tree in itself.


Here is one vignette that I am setting up with the snowmen star ornies that I painted this year.

Snowmen are a bonus, because I usually leave them out until Feb. They don't scream Christmas, like Santas, or stockings.

So, I grabbed a yellow ware bowl from my collection, but an old crock, or basket will work nicely, also.  I am using mine in my Primitive kitchen, so I thought the bowl appropriate.

I needed to add some fill to the bowl, and it had to be something that would help the tree top stand upright, so I grabbed my 1/2 yard of Christmas plaid fabric. Burlap is also readily available, and works great!

I put the fabric into the bowl, and center the tree in the fabric. The fabric draped bowl is completely hidden here, but I know you get the idea.

Next step is to refold the fabric back inside the bowl, pushing it around the tree trunk to keep the tree upright, and then space your ornaments all around the tree for a great country centerpiece.  The number of ornies you will need will depend on their size, and how large the tree is.

Here is my finished primitive decorated Yellow ware bowl with the Christmas tree, and my star snowmen.

I would love to hear your comments on what you'll be decorating your small trees with.

For more info on these folk art ornaments, see them on ETSY
www.etsy.com/listing/208162209/set-6-star-snowmen-ornaments-christmas

MAKING PRIMITIVE DISTRESSED HANG TAGS HOW TO

I am finishing up some chicken bed spring nodders, and they needed a hang tag.
Thought I would share my method of distressing the tags to make them look old and worn.

Gather your supplies , and you will also need a lighter, or matches, of course, to light the candle.  Pillar candles, or taper candles in a holder work best, Not a jar candle. I bought the  Ranger walnut distressing ink at Michael's. They have other colors, as well.

I print my images for tags onto card stock, and you can find a multitude of images by doing a Google search online for FREE Hangtag images to download.  I sometimes edit the words in Paint, but you can also use them as you find them.  Here is the plain tag before I embellished it.

 

I glued the card stock to a purchased tag, then held the edges in the flame just here and there.  Remove it quickly, working over a stove, or sink, so you don't start a fire; and blow out the flame so it just takes a little of the edge off.

Here is the tag after singing the ends, and sides lightly with the candle. Try to hold the tag at an angle, to avoid sooting the front.  Remember practice makes perfect, so print out a practice tag the first time you try this. This one has a bit of soot, but I liked it there, so I left it alone.

The next step is to LIGHTLY blot the top of the tag with a damp paper towel, just to dampen it. Don't get it sopping wet!  Next rub the edges on the ink pad, again holding it at an angle to avoid covering up too much of your design. I also dabbed the part near the top to help meld the two colors of the tag together.

                                                                                                                                                                       

 

The finished product,ready to grace one of my primitive spring chicken cupboard tucks.

You can find them here   www.etsy.com/listing/208734506/primitive-chenille-chicken-bedspring

HOW TO SEW A SCULPTED DOLL FACE, NOSE

I posted some tutorials on adding mohair , and drawing doll faces on the blog, so today here is the post on creating a nose.

After you get your face drawn on the way you like it, the first thing I do is any sculpting of features you want to really stand out from the face.

Begin at the top of head to sculpt nose

I  thread a needle with carpet and button thread, and tie a knot in the end.  I go in through the seam at the top, where it will be hidden, and come out at the top side of the nose.

I bring the needle and thread through the top of nose

Bringing thread to opposite side of nose

   

     

   When you sculpt with your needle, you need  to make a tiny stitch to begin, and then go down into the poly fill, and scoop up a small amount of the stuffing above your needle, and come out on the opposite side , directly across form the first two stitches.











Continue sewing back and forth, picking up stuffing.







This is the finished nose. I took a couple of stitches across the bottom on the drawn lines, and go out through the bottom seam, where it will not  show,and knot off.

                                                                                  
                                                                                                        

HOW TO DRAW A FACE ONTO A PRIMITIVE DOLL

Today, I am beginning a new primitive doll, and I would like to share the process I use to draw the face onto the pattern, and then transfer it to the doll with you. This is a very easy way to get the features all aligned, and centered so it looks like a real face

 Materials needed:
 Card stock
 pencil
 post it or generic sticky note
transfer (carbon) paper

  I use card stock to  create my patterns so they are more durable and I can trace around them several times before I need a new one.  Use whatever color you prefer.

 This is the completed face,drawn on the pattern. Dotted lines mean needle sculpted features, and solid lines indicate painted features. I did the nose is dotted lines to denote that I am going to needle sculpt it, and not paint it in. I am going to do both to the lips, so I just used a solid line for them and the eyes.

 You can make make any shape, or size lips, nose, eyes, etc. with this method, and get a mirror image every time.

This is a very easy way to create different styles of faces.

                                                           

I discovered by accident that the inexpensive "generic" sticky notes from
the dollar store are transparent, and work well as a small tracing paper.
Lay the note on top of what you've drawn, and trace over the lines onto
the post-it.


 Fold the template in half to find your center for placement.



    

Draw 1/2 of your nose, and 1/2 of the eye and eyeball, and half of the mouth at the crease.

Even though this is free hand, it is very easy to create a half shape, than
a full eye or lip.

                                          
                                        

 Next, I turn the post it note over, and place the other half of the eye where it needs to go. Note that the nose and mouth are toward the outside edge at this point.  (Your sticky note will be more transparent,and the lines will be on the under side until you trace over them, I did this for presentation purposes). There is no need to use any kind of transfer paper, the lines you traced on the front will copy well when you draw over them on the back side.

 

     

All that is left to do now is to transfer the pattern to the doll.

 I lay the template over the face prior to sewing the doll together,  and slip a piece of   light carbon transfer paper between the pattern and face, and draw over it right onto the right side of the face..


My next post will include a lesson on painting, and grunging the eyes ,lips,and needle sculpting the nose.

Happy crafting!
                                                               

HOW TO ADD NEEDLE FELTED HAIR TO A DOLL

Here is one of my finished dolls with the natural wool hair.
I wanted to share the needle felting technique I used to give my dolls their unique look.
I tied a few strands with some torn rag strips on this doll.

 

This is about 2 oz of mohair wool, and it arrives washed, and ready to separate.








Some of the strands are longer than others. I use the shorter ones for bangs, and filling in any bare spots.  You can also lengthen some of the strands sometimes by twisting the fibers together, and pulling gently on the ends.

 I usually use a 38 gauge triangle point (medium coarse), and it works fine.
BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THESE NEEDLES-THEY ARE VERY SHARP


Just grab a hank of hair, and pay attention to which direction it grew on the animal, and start poking the end which was attached to the animal into the fabric.
Depending on the kind of wool, I jab about 1/8 inch apart on each piece of hair, and give it a gentle tug to make sure it's attached.
One wrong jab and you can cut your finger.

                   Any kind of wool will work because it has microscopic scales, like a fish.              and the technique of jabbing the wool into the fabric catches those                             scales on the fiber, and pushes it below the fabric surface, and locks into             place. I find the process very relaxing.




I like to start at the front of the head, and continue across the front, and then turn that section that is finished,upside down, toward the face, and add the next row behind this. Continue until you are satisfied with the amount of hair.
Here is a view of the back of the head once I finished felting the hair in place. You'll notice I do not paint the area where the hair will hide the fabric, it makes the fabric too stiff, and may break your needle. I have had that happen.

I used different tones to give her a sun bleached hair look. I trimmed the ends to make it look more groomed.

Here is Cotton Picking Sally, all finished!

Thanks for stopping by!

See her many personalities here 
Cotton Picking Folk Doll