Toll House Pie Recipe

Happy Friday, everyone!!  I’m going to be participating in Colleen’s (andbabymakesfive) Back-to-School Recipe Pool on Fridays.

Today I want to share a recipe for Toll House Pie.  It’s wonderful served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or, if you’re a mocha lover, try a scoop of coffee ice cream!!  YUMMO!!!

This is a picture of the pie that my son, Justin, baked in the spring for one of his final projects in“Creative Cooking” class.  He did pretty good, didn’t he?

Toll House Pie

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 1 (6 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 9” pie crust, unbaked  (I use Pillsbury All-Ready
  pie crust

Preheat oven 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy.  Add flour, sugar and brown sugar.  Blend in butter.  Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Pour into unbaked pie crust.  Bake for 55-60 minutes.

Serve warm with whip cream or ice cream.

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To see who else is participating in this fun idea, visit Colleen’s blog, And Baby Makes Five.

Until Next time . . . .Kris

 

Problems With Watermarking

Hi, Everyone!!  It seems that a lot of people have been having problems with people “borrowing” their pictures and posting them on other forums without permission.  I’ve noticed some of you have been putting watermarks on your pictures.  Using Live Writer only gives you the option of placing it either on the top or the bottom of your picture and I’ll show you a reason why you may want to invest in a different photo program.  Did you know that you can click on a picture to enlarge it and then right-click it to save it in a file?  If you have a photo printing program that can crop pictures, which you can do in Live Writer, you can crop off the watermark!!  In some pictures, you could lose the integrity of the picture by cropping, but in others, cropping doesn’t affect the picture at all.

I asked Lisa (primsfromabove) for permission to use one of her pictures as an example.

I right-clicked and saved this picture from her blog.

I used Live Picture Gallery and cropped off her watermark and now I have a great picture I can post where ever I want!!  (I wouldn’t really!!!!)

 

I bought a photo imaging program called “Photo Explosion” at Staples for $50 and has a $20 rebate.  Other stores carry it.  I learned about this program from Karen of kmprimitives. She adds an edging feature onto her photos that I loved and this is the program she told me she uses.  Thanks, Karen!!

It has a watermark feature where you can add your mark any where on your picture, choose font style and color and then the transparency of the watermark.

These two pictures are examples of ones I have posted before.

I’ve been torn about putting watermarks on my pictures.  Part of me thinks that I should take precautions to prevent someone from stealing my photos and another part of me thinks that if someone does want to take my photos, what are they going to gain?  Are they going to try to pass off my home as their own?  I don’t think they would be able to keep up the facade for too long before someone would figure it out.  Are they taking them to criticize my decorating style?  Go ahead, I don’t pretend that I have a degree in home design; I decorate my home to make myself and my family happy.  Besides, how many people would want to follow a blog where someone is always criticizing another’s home?  I definitely wouldn’t.

I guess I should be concerned about my tutorials.  Some one could take my projects and pass them off as their own.  I’ll probably try to safeguard those, but if someone really wanted them, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to get them. And I guess if they can live with themselves, then more power to them!

Those of you that post pictures of items you’re selling should definitely try to watermark your pictures.  Someone had the audacity to take pictures from Janet’s (underthewillow) selling website and use them as their own for items they were selling on ebay!  Can you believe the nerve?!!

My point of this post was to let those of you who are putting watermarks on the tops or bottoms of your pictures to be careful of someone taking them and being able to crop off your mark.

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I’m going to be participating in Colleen’s (andbabymakesfive) Back to School Recipe Pool on Fridays, so check back tomorrow to see what yummy recipe I’ll have to share with you!

 

Until Next Time. . . . .Kris

It’s Finally Done!!!

Although, I have to be honest. . . .it’s been done since last weekend!  I’m just having a hard time coming up with a display that I’m satisfied with and on top of that, I wasn’t happy with how my cupboard looked in the many. many photos I’ve taken!  I’ve tried so many different lighting angles, but they all kept making it look blotchy and shinier than it really is.  I’m not happy with the pics that I’m posting, but I wanted to show you my cupboard.  These pictures definitely don’t do it justice!!

So, without further ado. . . . .my new Stepback Cupboard!!

Instead of using stain, I gave the cupboard two applications of Dark Brown Briwax.  And it’s ironic, since we’re all posting about textures, but this thing feels amazing!!  I have painted and refinished a lot of wood and I have never finished a piece that feels as smooth and rich as this one does!  It is so soft and luxurious feeling, it’s unbelievable!!  I guess that’s  why I’m upset with how it looks in pictures, because I can’t capture the true essence of the finish.

I had to use a flash in the first two photos and it makes the aging I did around the edges look a little harsher than it really is.  Again, these pics really don’t do my cupboard justice!!

Did you notice that I solved my display dilemma?  Even up until today, I was playing around, trying to come up with something (I even stenciled a new sign!), when I realized that I could take photos without getting the complete top area in the picture!  AHA!!  And what you see peeking out of the bottom picture isn’t staying.

I even cross stitched this little bag using a free pattern from primitivebettys. Click here, and it will take you to her blog. Thank you, Betty, for generously offering these fabulous free patterns!

 

Are you wondering where I’ve put this cupboard? It’s in my bedroom.  It’s replacing a big ole clunky cupboard that we made a few years ago to accommodate an older 19” tv.  And, unfortunately (or should I say “fortunately” - wink, wink), the tv broke and we replaced it with a much slimmer 22” flat screen!

This is as you walk into my room, there’s double bi-fold doors to the right of where I’m standing.  You can see a portion of the old cupboard poking out on the right.  And there’s the blanket crane that I did a tutorial on a while back.  If you missed it, you can click here, and learn how to make one for yourself.

I’d like to reupholster the wing chair with the fabric on the left and my dream bedding  is the tea-dyed Pinwheel quilt from Choices Quilts, pictured on the right.

I desperately need new bedding! lol  We made all of the wood pieces shown here.  We cheated on the nightstands, though.  We bought unfinished kitchen wall cabinets from Home Depot and put side panels and a top on.  I made the tree behind the bed.  I’ve never been fond of the artificial ficus trees, so I bought some realistic leaf stems from my local craft store and drilled holes in a large, straight stick I found in the woods behind my house, then hot glued the stems in the holes.  I made two other trees (I’ll show them on another post), one looks like a cherry tree and the other looks like a willow tree.  I put them away for a while because one of our cats kept trying to climb  them, even after he was declawed.

There’s an area to the right of this night stand that just has a laundry basket sitting on the floor where all of the dirty laundry gets tossed into. I’m working on an idea to replace the basket.  And then after that area, is a doorway that goes into the master bathroom (which is to the left of my stepback cupboard).  I’ll share pictures of all of the bathrooms in a later post.

So, that was a little tour of my bedroom.  I hope you enjoyed it!  I’ll share more pictures later when I get my cupboard display figured out and I also want to tweak things on the white shelf over my bed (that’s why I didn’t show an up-close photo!).

I have many projects lined up to work on, including a new peg board to hang in my living room and a “now you see it, now you don’t”  project for my dining room.  I’ll definitely share those with you when I get them done.

Once school gets back into session, which is this Thursday, I’ll be back into my normal routine and should get a lot of stuff done!! Yayyy!!!

 

So until then. . . .Kris

Simply Prim Textures

Okay, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and post some pictures of textures in my home, too!  I took these pictures kind of quickly and as I was sorting through which pictures to post, I thought of a few other things I should have taken pictures of.  So like many of you, I will probably post more pictures later!

Here’s what I took so far . . . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

I promise I’ll show my “big project” on my next post!!

It’s finally done; I’m just playing around with different displays.

 

So until next time . . . . Kris

A Visit to Amish Country and a Sneak Peek!

On Monday of last week, we made a trip to Berlin and Walnut Creek ( Amish country).  It was just my hubby and I and Kory.  My other two had to work, plus, they’re not a big fan of Amish country!!  We started out by going to Rebecca’s Bistro and Tea Room for breakfast.  I absolutely love this place!  If you ever make a trip to Walnut Creek, this is definitely a place you must stop at.  The food is wonderful ; not your typical Amish fare.  I usually go on a Monday or Tuesday and have never had a problem getting a table, but if you go at the end of the week, they suggest you make reservations. 

It’s established in an old home with wood floors and beamed ceilings.  One room even has the original logged walls.  Very charming!!  I took  what pictures I could while trying not to come across as a “tourist”!  lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the room we were sitting in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the bathroom is charming!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My hubby had an omelet made to order.   

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                

                                  

I had the  Raspberry-stuffed French Toast.  Kory had the Apple-stuffed French Toast and started devouring it before I could get a picture!

Here are a couple of outdoor pics:

 

After breakfast, we headed over to an antique store where I found two firkins!!  

I paid $35.00 for the one on top and only $30.00 for the  bottom one with legs.  And let me tell you, the bottom one is HUGE!!  It’s 15 1/2“ in diameter and   14“ high.  Both will get makeovers that I will share with you later.

My purpose for going to Amish country was to find prim treasures, while my hubby’s main reason was to buy food!!  We stopped at a bulk food store where we bought trail bologna, assorted locally made cheeses, candied peanuts, a block of chocolate and other wonderful goodies.  The most exciting purchase, at least from Kory’s point of view, was the Fry Pies.  They are a “must buy” whenever I go.  The last time,  she picked  Strawberry w/cream cheese and  Lemon flavored pies and was disappointed that they didn’t have them this time.  Although she was happy that they had the Peach flavor that wasn’t available the last time.

Here’s our assortment of Fry Pies:

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was hoping to visit a couple of stores that I normally don’t have the time to stop at during the school year because I have to make sure I’m home to get Kory off the bus, but it was 90 degrees and humid and Kory wilted like a flower!!   She was happy with breakfast, buying a videotape at the antique store and getting her Fry Pies – after that, she was done with shopping and was extremely grumpy, so I didn’t make it to the other stores.  Oh well, maybe another time.

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 I mentioned in my last post that my hubby and I were working on a big project.  I’ll show you a sneak peek!!

So stay tuned!!!!

 

Until next time. . . . .Kris

 

Goodies I Won

I want to share with you the wonderful goodies I won from Karen (My Colonial Home).  She had a drawing for her 200th Follower and I won!!   She made a hand-stitched Fall Pumpkin picture and a Bird-Make-Do (both designed by her) and a Willow candle.Thank you so much, Karen.  I love everything!  I will post pictures later of where I have them displayed.

I’m sorry I haven’t done many tutorials lately.  This time, every summer,  my hubby has a slow week of work and we usually take a vacation.  This year  we decided not to due to kids’ work schedules, the economy and my daughter taking summer courses to earn her masters in Library Science by December.   So for this past week, we’ve been spending some quality time together  - we made a trip to Berlin and Walnut Creek (Amish country), went out to dinner and have been working on some projects that I hope to share with you soon.  I’m excited to show you a big project that we’ve been working on and will hopefully have done by this weekend!  So stay tuned for that!

School starts in two weeks, so I’ve also been busy with back-to-school shopping and all of that fun stuff that goes along with getting them ready.  As much as I love having them home in the summer, I miss having a normal routine.   After the first few days of reveling in the peace and quiet and walking around in circles, not knowing what to do with my time, I hope to get back into the swing of crafting and posting more tutorials! 

So. . . .

Until Next Time. . . . Kris

Antique Finds and Morning at The Fair

First of all, I want to share with you a couple of finds I found at a local antique store.

I found this 15” Munising bowl for $15.00.

 

And aren’t these fantastic?  The little pumpkins were $6.00 and the large pumpkin was $14.00. 

They’re made by a woman that has an antique/prim store in Curtice called The Grainary which is located in The Big White Barn at Bench Farms Greenhouse.  It’s about 2 hours away from me, near Toledo.  I would love to go see her shop because the display she has set up at my nearby antique store is fabulous.  She has a great talent of mixing antiques with handmade primitives.   So if any of you live nearby, you have to check this place out (and then let me know if it’d be worth the 2 hour drive!)

 

 

Yesterday the kids and I went to the county fair to watch my niece’s 3 year old son (the one that I babysat) show his goat in the Intermediate level.  He did a fantastic job!  He handled the goat very well for only being 3!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Intermediate age, they all get a ribbon and a medal.

After the goat show, we walked around for a little while to look at the animals.  It was great, because there was hardly anybody at the fair.   We got to see the Petting Zoo, whereas last year it was so crowded you we couldn’t get near it!

Kory got to feed some baby kangaroo.

 

We saw these cute little guys. . . . .

 

And even this guy!!!!!

 

 

Kory wanted to ride the camel,  but at the last minute she wanted me to ride with her!  Not a smooth ride!!!

We then checked out the Petting Farm.   Now let me tell you,  I could have taken several of the animals in this barn home with me!!

Aren’t these little pot-bellied pigs cute?!!  Too bad they can’t stay that size!

 

And these little guys . . . .aren’t they adorable?!!

I love the Lions-head bunnies.  They have fur around their head that mimics that of a lion.

Who couldn’t love this face? 

Until next time . . . . . .Kris