Archives for August 2010

Great Grandma Munns’ Hot Rolls

August 31, 2010 21 Comments

There is just something about hot rolls. Soft, flakey, buttery, hot rolls. This recipe is especially special because it is THE recipe that my Great Grandma Munns used. These rolls are legendary in our family! Every Sunday on her farm in northern Utah, Great Grandma would bake a huge batch of hot rolls for her family for a great big meat-and-potatoes Sunday dinner. Just imagine all of the rolls she must have made, week after week, year after year.

I feel like I am sharing a little piece of family heritage with you today! This recipe has been passed down from generation to generation. I am the fourth generation to benefit from Great Grandma's baking expertise. I never knew my Great Grandma Munns, but I like to think of her when I make these rolls for my own little family. I think of my Grandma, too. And my Mom. Four generations tied together by one simple recipe!

Let me just begin by saying that I have never been particularly skilled at baking homemade breads. I just don't quite have the knack, although I am still trying! But these rolls are just so easy to make!! They come out yummy every time!

So now let me share with you... the art of baking Great Grandma's homemade rolls....

Grandma Munns' Hot Rolls

Combine 1 T. yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Let set.

Beat 2 eggs.

Add 5 T. sugar - beat.

Add 1/2 c. shortening - beat.

Add 1 T. salt - beat.

Add 1 c. warm water.

Add "some" flour. (About 1 cup.)

Add 1 c. warm water.

Add "more" flour. (About 1 cup.)

Add yeast mixture.

Add enough flour to make a soft dough. (About 4 cups.)

Put dough in refrigerator. Roll out 4 hours before eating. Brush dough with melted butter and roll out in desired shape. Great Grandma Munns rolled her hot rolls out like a jellyroll, cut it off, and put them in muffin tins. (This is my favorite way to make my rolls, too.)

Let rise for 4 hours. Bake at 400 for 11-12 minutes or until golden. Brush with melted butter while hot.

Top with some homemade raspberry or strawberry jam. ENJOY!

Filed Under: recipes

Happy Little Watermelon

August 30, 2010 8 Comments

Yikes!! Just after posting my Halloween advent calendar, I realized I still had a couple of last summer projects to post! Do you ever have a pokey little project that seems so simple but somehow takes forever to wrap up?? Admittedly, most of my projects turn out that way! So let's rewind just a bit... we still have 3 more weeks of summer. That's plenty of time to enjoy the season!

Let me introduce you to my newest creation: This sweet little wooden watermelon. August is National Watermelon Month, so I feel quite festive to finally have this hung on my porch! I had so much fun creating this!

I started out by spray painting the bare wood that I bought at the Wood Connection. If I haven't yet declared my love for this store, let me do it now!! I love that this store supplies all of the bare wood to let me go craft-crazy!!! (And watch out, because I think I bought out all of their fall wooden projects!)

Next, I cut out some watermelon seeds from the scrapbook paper. I mod-podged them onto the red piece. After those dried, I gave the entire top a good coat of mod-podge to protect it.

Next, I gorilla glued the two wood pieces together. It needed overnight to dry completely. My hubby drilled some holes in the top, and I added some wire to hang the melon and curled up the ends around a pencil. I thought the bow would be my finishing touch... but it just needed a little somethin' something.

So the cricut saved the day again with a bit of vinyl! Ah... that's better!

I thought about hanging this on my orange front door, but this little melon is brightening up my porch now instead!! I absolutely *LOVE* this bright touch to my summer projects!!

Have a super week!

Filed Under: craft, summer, vinyl, wood crafts

Temple Block Project

August 28, 2010 7 Comments

Remember when I featured Lil' Luna's amazing temple block project??? Well, Kristyn so generously antiqued a picture of my very own Denver Temple, so I sent the picture straight over to Costco to be developed. I mod-podged it on some painted wood, added some ribbon and tule, and I was done in no time!! Seriously... this was one easy project with Kristyn's help!

I wanted to be sure the block matched Little Man's room, so I added a touch of blue tule with the black and white bow.

Now I just need to figure out how to display it in Little Man's room! Thanks again, Kristyn, for sharing your talents with us!

Filed Under: craft, wood crafts

Halloween Advent Calendar {Tutorial & Download}

August 27, 2010 73 Comments

Don't get me wrong--I absolutely love summer! I love the warm weather, the carefree attitude, and I treasure all of the family fun in the sun! But yet I find myself itching for fall. I am already planning the holidays and definitely gearing up for Halloween! What better way to anticipate Halloween than with an advent calendar... and a yummy one at that!

Let me introduce you to our Halloween advent calendar! The idea is that each day of October, you eat a piece of candy and look forward to Halloween! Mr. Oopsey Daisy doesn't enjoy sweets all that much, so it's just lil' old me! Eat a piece of candy every day?! Yep, I can do that!!

I cooked up this project in time for our family reunion. I wanted to have a crafting "Super Saturday" with my Mom and sisters!! So I gathered supplies and made them little kits, and we made a few different crafts together one quiet afternoon while the little boys were napping. (Don't you just love our matching t-shirts?!) It was fun to sit back and help them craft while I shot pictures!

We started out with magnetic cookie sheets from the dollar store. I mod-podged some cute Halloween paper onto the cookie sheet.

The paper didn't quite cover the edges of the cookie sheet, so I mod-podged ribbon strips to create a border on both sides.

I cut strips of scrapbook paper and mod-podged them on to create a calendar grid, 5 rows by 7 columns.

I wanted to be sure that I could tape candy onto my calendar year after year, so I gave the calendar a good coat of mod-podge over the top of it all.

I used the Cricut to cut out an October heading and laminated it for durability. I threw some magnets on the back and now I have an adorable heading!

Next, I wanted to create cute marble magnets as the numbers on the calendar. I made these calendar numbers in Photoshop, cut them out and mod-podged them underneath the glass marbles and added magnet tape to the backs of each. As magnets, I could slide the numbers around to create a new calendar each year.

Not too shabby, eh? I love the marbled look to them!!

Missing something?? Oh yeah... let's add the candy!!

Whew! That's one busy calendar, jampacked full of chocolatey goodness! I found that double stick tape worked best to secure the candy onto the calendar. I can hardly wait for October 1st to roll around so I can start munching on some of my favorite candy!!!

If you would like to make your own Halloween advent calendar, you can download and print these numbers to create your own magnets! You can download your own set of numbers here.

**By the way, I am going to be switching over all of my downloads to Google Docs instead of Scribd. Thanks to some helpful readers, I have learned that Scribd charges for downloads after a certain period of time. If you've had troubles downloading my printables in the past, I hope to get this changed over soon! **

Enjoy your weekend!

Filed Under: advent, craft, download, fall, Halloween, holidays, magnets

Blog Swap With Crystal’s Craft Spot

August 27, 2010 2 Comments

Happy Friday!! Let's start the weekend with inspiration from a fabulous blogger!! Let me introduce you to Crystal...

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Hi everyone! I am so excited to be blog swapping with Alison today. Don't you love her blog? I find so much inspiration every time I look. I just love her cute projects.

I am Crystal from Crystal's Craft Spot. Its my little spot to share my current craft projects, tutorials, recipes, and ideas I want to use in the future. Every Wednesday I host a new Craft Challenge and every Friday is Feature Friday where you can link up any of your projects you've been working on. I hope you'll come join me.

Here are some of my favorite projects you will find on my blog:

Now for the fun part! I'm going to show you how I made this cute baby gift for a friends. It combines a new mom's 2 favorite things: a picture of their baby and their little newborn stats.

First I painted the edges of a 5x7 wood board (found at walmart for about $1.50).

Then find a picture of their new baby (I ~~stole~~ borrowed mine from her blog) and pasted it into a word document. I sized it and added a text box with his name, birth date, time, weight, and height. I printed it on photo paper and cut it out.

I used spray adhesive on the board and glued the picture down. Now they have a sweet keepsake and will always remember how tiny their little one was.

Here's one more picture...my little helper thought the picture needed an extra prop.

Come by Crystal's Craft Spot anytime for more crafts and tutorial. Thanks again for letting me stop by. Its been a lot of fun!

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What a darling project!! I know I am inspired. Thanks for making our day, Crystal!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Family Flag

August 26, 2010 12 Comments

This little project has been in the works all summer, and I can't wait to share it with you!

This summer, my Mom and I (mainly my MOM!) made a family flag. My parents went to a church camp this summer, and they were asked to bring some kind of family banner or flag. For months, we had a vision, and it has been exciting to watch our vision take shape from a sketch on a paper to this lovely flag!

At our family reunion last week, we hung our family flag proudly because it represents each member of our family--my parents and their 4 children, including ME!

My Mom sewed the flag on nylon so it would be durable outside. I cut out all of the words and pictures on my Cricut (you can get tips for cutting fabric on your Cricut here), and we appliqued them on. It was a lot of work!! The front of the flag depicts each member of the family, and the back of the flag features an actual photograph of the whole extended family!

Each of the 4 kids were able to design their own flag section, a quadrant on the flag. We chose symbols that represented us. The apple and A+ represent me as a teacher. It was interesting to see what each of my siblings chose to portray themselves!

My older brother, John, is a huge Cardinals fan because we grew up in St. Louis, Misouri. His section portrays him perfectly!

Besides being an American Studies major, my sister Celeste is also our resident politics expert and a true patriot.

My baby sister, Kara, is the family musician! She sings. She plays the violin. She plays the piano. The girl is a musical genius, so these musical notes and treble clef are very fitting.

My parents' symbol forms the center of the flag. They were married in 1978, the founding year of our family.

The theme of our family has always been Return With Honor. My Dad always recited that phrase whenever we left the house to go on a date, go out with friends, etc. As teenagers, we used to roll our eyes in embarrassment, but now it is a motivating motto for our family.

Look how cute my parents are... My Mom and Dad, the ones who started it all!

And here are the 4 kids... John, Celeste, Kara, and ME. Isn't that flag a beauty?!

On the back of our flag, my Mom sewed a clear vinyl pocket and slid in a recent family picture. This way, we can update the picture as more grandchildren come along.

I feel like I just gave you personal introductions to my entire adorable family!

This was such an integral part of our family reunion--a flag we can fly with pride!

Have a wonderful day!

Filed Under: applique, sewing Tagged With: Cricut, family flag, family reunion

Wednesday’s Wowzers PLUS housekeeping!

August 25, 2010 7 Comments

Before we dive into today's wowzers, I have bits of news and announcements....

First of all, THANK YOU. Thank you for reading. Thank you for making my day just by being here. It's amazing how much I look forward to hearing from you!! I didn't have my computer while I was out of town, and so it was a little piece of heaven to return and read your comments and e-mails. I especially appreciated the feedback on my new Cuttlebug yesterday. Thanks for the helpful advice!

I had a bigger response to my Family Home Evening Board than I expected! Thank you!! I have received quite a few e-mails and comments asking about the vinyl I used, so let me give a brief explanation. Because I use the Sure Cuts A Lot software, I can download images via Google Images and print these on my cricut, along with any of my own pictures and clip art. I designed my text using fonts that were my own, but I downloaded the tiny pictures on the board from the internet. Because these were not my own original images, I cannot technically sell them. However, you have definitely peaked my interest, and I just might look into selling the vinyl I design. For the moment, I am just doing this for fun! If you are dying for your own vinyl, I received my inspiration here at Writings on the Wall.

Last but not least, I have a winner to announce.

The winner of the Kinley Lane Designs giveaway is Danyelle who said:

Danyelle, please contact me by e-mailing me at oopsey.daisy@yahoo.com. I just need your shipping address and working e-mail address to pass along to the giveaway sponsor. Congrats!

And now, on to our weekly dose of inspiration!

As soon as I saw this Matchbox car organizer, I knew I needed to make one! I especially love the stenciled words. How cute is that?! I know Little Man would be head over heels for such a project. I found this idea at Pickup Some Creativity.

This idea was actually posted last month, but I loved it so much that I just had to show it off!! I absolutely adore this baby's room at Corner House. Besides the adorable painted trees... hello, that chair is gorgeous!!

I love a good free printable, and these adorable dinner conversation cards are sure to please!! I have already printed out my set!! Thank you, Summertime Designs!

Even though I am rarely on the lookout for baby girl ideas, I am lovin' the techqniue Jamie used on this rose petal shirt and headband. I love that she used velcro to attach the flower!! What versatility! Genius! You can read more at I Heart Naptime.

I realize you may have seen this adorable laundry sign before, but I just about fell off the couch when I discovered it! Thanks, Domestically Speaking! This is too cute for words!

Finally, I love this back-to-school idea from Somewhat Simple... a recycled pencil can! The way that Steph embellished this can is just adorable!

Thanks for making Oopsey Daisy part of your day!!

Filed Under: wowzers

My New Toy

August 24, 2010 12 Comments

I am still recuperating from VACATION LAUNDRY, one of my least favorite things to tackle!! So while I am wrestling whites, darks, and lights.... Let me introduce you to my new toy.

I am lucky enough that two of my close friends (who happen to be married to each other!) both work at Provo Craft ... you know the same company that produces the Cricut! They are both the experts of craftiness! They just happened to have an extra Cuttlebug and offered it to me for nothing short of a dinner date!

I am so excited to try out this little guy! The Cuttlebug is an embossing machine, and I really think this has been the missing link in my card making. Now I think I will enjoy card making that much more!! Hip hip hooray! I am having way too much fun shopping for the different embossing folders that create the different embossing patterns.

Do any of you already own a Cuttlebug and have any favorite embossing folders? Any tricks or tips for me? I have never been a huge paper crafter, but maybe I just needed this new toy....

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Chalkboard Menu

August 23, 2010 24 Comments

Hello, my friends!! We are still enjoying every minute of our family reunion nestled in the lovely mountains of Colorado. In case you missed my guest post at The Scrap Shoppe on Thursday, here is the tutorial for the chalkboard menu I created.

For a while now, I have been watching chalkboard menus pop up across blogging land. I have also been dying out to try out that chalkboard spray paint I bought months and months ago. So here was my chance!! This is my take on the idea--simple and sweet!

I started off with this gold and slightly gaudy frame that I picked up at Good Will for just a couple of dollars. Score! But it definitely needed a new color. A splash of turquoise spray paint was just perfect! I love how the shininess of the gold still peeked through just a bit.

I was actually amazed that applying chalkboard paint was so easy! I simply spray painted the glass that came inside the frame. I quickly learned that, because it was glass, it would need 2-3 coats of chalkboard paint. Easy peasy! How have I not used chalkboard paint before?!

Next, I cut my vinyl. I had debated about making this a weekly menu board showing every day of the week. However, it was a touch small for my gigantic handwriting! Instead, I settled for making it a daily menu board that I could change each night. Isn't this a fun, fancy font?! (This is one I purchased from DJ Inkers.)

But my little chalkboard menu was looking a bit bare. I knew exactly what it needed--a fabric flower! How about a fun tattered flower?! I just tore a strip of fabric and sewed a basting stitch down one of the sides.

Then I gathered the flower by pulling one of my long threads to create a ruffle. I just twisted it into a circle to create the flower shape. I quickly hand-sewed through the layers to help keep its shape.

To create the center of the flower, I took a circle glass magnet I already had, covered it with fabric, and hot-glued it right into the center. I hot glued that happy flower snugly into the corner of the frame.

Isn't that a nice touch?! Black, white, and turquoise together.... yummmm!

I set this chalkboard on an easel in the corner of the kitchen. Now my husband doesn't have to come home from work and ask, "What's for dinner?" Talk to the chalkboard, sweetheart!

The chalkboard says it all... have a super day!!

Filed Under: chalkboard paint, craft, vinyl

Transportation Number Flashcards

August 20, 2010 15 Comments

Even though I am not teaching this year and still have years to go before my kids are in school, I am LOVING all of the fabulous Back to School ideas out there! I have been drooling over all of the cute flashcards I've seen...

I saw this ABC post at The Crafting Chicks, and I got to work right away!! I made these same adorable ABC flashcards, and even printed extra sets for cousins for Christmas gifts. (Yes, I am getting an early start!) I paid for a digital kit, but it was definitely worth it!

Next, I found these adorable ABC flashcards from Homemade By Jill. Stinkin' cute!

But I really wanted some number flashcards for my Little Man... so I decided to make some of my own!! Of course I created them with a theme Little Man can relate to--transportation! After creating them in Photoshop, I sized them as 4x6 and printed them out at Costco. Little Man discovered these all on his own after we picked them up, and he was going nuts over the ambulances, fire trucks, cars, motorcycles, etc.! Hopefully these will help us begin to lay a foundation for learning numbers! Here is a quick sneak peek:

I used some clip art from DJ Inker's and some freebies from the World Wide Web! I used the adorable flashcards from Crystal Wilkerson at Jessica Sprague. Too cute!

**Unfortunately, these images are under copyright, so I cannot offer them as a free download.**

Have a fabulous weekend!

Filed Under: learning tool