Monthly Archives: May 2011

“Domestic Engineering” Creature Comforts Challenge 101: Cast Iron Ceramic Cookware

Posted on May 19, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Being a “home chef” or at least that is what Martha Stewart would call me, I find that there are essential tools of the trade that are not only a staple, but a MUST have to help set me up for success in mastering recipes.

Today I will be focusing on dutch ovens and ceramic coated iron cookware. If I had the lucky “money tree” growing in my backyard, I would own every piece there is out there. Currently, I have collected 3 pieces; a stock pot, a casserole dish and a small souffle/ roasting pot. All three are from different manufactures and even one of the pieces I got after my grandmother passed away that she used for 50 years!

Calphalon - Got at Bed, Bath and Beyond with 20% off coupon

Passed down from my Grandmother - Made in Belgium

Mario Batali - Got off of EBAY brand new!

What do I love about these pieces of cookware?

They cook, bake and roast evenly.
They go from stove to oven to fridge in one meal preparation, making clean-up and storage much more time friendly.
They hold temperature amazingly!
They are durable for my rough AND VERY heavy hand in the kitchen
They clean with ease.
They don’t need to be treated like traditional iron cookware.
The hold their appearance even for decades!

Yes, they can be expensive, but they can make a good “wish list” idea for those special occasions. You can also work coupons at Bed, Bath and Beyond, hit the sales at Williams Sonoma or even find good buys on EBAY. That is where I found my big stock pot. I got it on EBAY for a STEAL! It was $65 with free shipping brand new!

Life’s Crafting A Gift that Will Keep them Using Their Heads!

Posted on May 19, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

Bow Storage Wall Hanging

I have two little girls, so in my house, so you can only imagine that I am over run with bows – LOTS OF BOWS! I had a dear friend give me one of my most prized possessions in the hair department when it comes to my girls. It was a bow holder made out of a picture frame. She made it at a “Girl’s Night Out” crafting event and gave it to me as a gift.

I figured out how to make it myself and I now too have been making them for girlfriends as gifts. They are a great birthday gift for the toddler that has everything in the scope of toys and clothes or for a babysitter. Just add a few bows and maybe even a homemade tutu or one that you can pick up at Costco and you have a gift fit for any princess.

The whole thing costs about $7 dollars to make if you do it right. I get the picture frame at Michael’s and use the 40% coupon you can find online each week. I head to a fabric store and pick out cute scrap pieces they sale (which are the perfect size for this project.) As for the ribbon I am always on the look out for the $1 spools and I just stock up and I coordinate my scrap material finds to the ribbon I have on hand.

Supplies Needed:

Scissors
Hot Glue Gun
Assorted Ribbon – You will want to have 5 rows.
Material size 12×12
Picture Frame that can hold a matted 8×10 picture

Instructions:

First you place the glass on the material face down and wrap the material around the glass securing it as you would with tape with hot glue.

Then cut and arrange ribbon using a layering effect on at least one of the rows.

Wrap and secure the ribbon around the now covered glass with hot glue. Make sure it is moderately tight where there is enough give to be able to clip a bow to it.

Place the finish insert back into the frame.

Add a hanging bow to the back clasp

Completion!

The whole project took about 20-30 minutes to do depending on how settled I was on the ribbon choices.

Life’s Cowgirl Theme Birthday Party on a Budget!

Posted on May 6, 2011 by apieceoflifespie

My oldest just turned 3 and she had a fascination with Jessie, from Toy Story, and she requested a Jessie and Bullseye themed party. I thought, “Not a problem” until I found out that to just limit the party swag to just those two characters was going to be tricky if I was to buy anything commercially and stay on a resonable budget.

I took matters into my own hands and started doing my homework and managed to be able to throw a cute and on budget themed birthday party that looked like a good amount of money was thrown at it.

For invitations, I had a friend that is a graphic artist design me a custom invite that looked like a movie stub that I could sent the file to Costco Photo and have two invitations printed out on a 4×6 photo. I then found a plain primary colors note card with envelope set at Target for $3 and I printed out directions and other important information on those that the invitation could not support.

Made to be able to print on a 4x6 photo then cut into two invites

For decorations, I found a Cricut cartridge on Ebay that had all the Toy Story characters that I could manipulate for my benefit to make my own decorations (I bought it for $23 band new in the box and sold it one month later via Ebay for $26). I made cupcake toppers, banners, and accents to table settings.

Banner

I went to a local feed store (which was a fun side-trip with the kids since they had a few farm critter residence that were fun to meet) and found out that I could rent out bails of hay for $6 that I used for seating and ambience. I added banners and bandana material to spruce it up.

On advise from a friend, I decided to put my effort on decorations this event and buy pre-made cupcakes. Albertson’s has a wonderful chocolate cupcake that was topped with delectable fudge icing and mini chocolate chips. I purchased 36 cupcakes for about $20 dollars.

I raided the Michael’s dollar bin and lucked out on finding markers and crayons that were Toy Story themed. I did the same at Target’s dollar bin and found the tin buckets for the goodie bags and place settings.

I found bandanas and cowboy hats at Oriental Trading Company and sheriff pins on Ebay for the goodie bags.

I order my mylar balloons off of Amazon and had them filled while I was picking up regular balloons for only $1. The total savings I had on the mylar balloons was $6 a balloon.

For eating areas, I opted not to rent table and chairs sand I borrowed a couple of kiddie picnic tables from friends and covered them with butcher paper and a bandana material table runners and secured with raffia to add a more “rustic” feel. I found the material at a fabric store on sale and used my pinking sheers to make the table runners. I went the no-sew approach. I added the mini tins filled with the markers and crayons that I enhanced with sheriff stars to each place setting. This was a built in craft idea for the kids. Now they could color on the table using the butcher paper.

I did have a jolly jump that I got for $64 for 10 hour period.

As far as food, it was a party that served lunch so we stuck with dogs and burgers and the typical side dishes of chips, veggie platter and potato salad.

For thank you notes, I recycled the banners I made for the party by simply adding a back to them and tieing together with ribbon. When I was at Costco picking up my invitations, I asked for a pack of their envelopes and used those to mail them in. I got a lot of feedback that everyone loved the thank-you notes!

It was a bit time-consuming, but at the end of the day I saved close to $300.00 by cutting these corners and getting creative. I had an attendance of around 35 which included about 13 kids. I only spent $350.00 and that also included food and beverages (I did offer sparkling wine and beer to the adults).

7 Comments