DIY DIVA: March 2011

Spring will yah SPRING all ready!?

Last week we got a little bit of Spring! The temperature got up to about 70! It was sooooo nice outside the tree in front of my house of which I am still unsure as to what type it is- do you know?

There is one a cross the street that has light pink flowers. Cherry Blossoms? I don’t know! But what I do know is that Spring and it’s warm weather needs to come on- I got projects to do! You may remember last fall I got in full refinish/repaint/DIY mode! Well some projects ideas went undone. Here’s my list of to do’s:

Oh the very first thing is a yard sale! I got some great tips from The Nester that I plan to use. SHOW ME THE MONEY!!

Repaint Kitchen Table set
Find and most likely repaint: Full side headboard, buffet table and dresser. The Hubbs has become quite the Craigslist guru. I show him a pic and he finds it!
Refinish Pookie Doo’s bedroom furniture to match her Pink and White Desk.

I know my list will grow but as we are limited on space here in military housing, it will not get too long.

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Retreat…Retreat!

Two weekends ago for the 2nd time I attended the Crop Cirlces Srapbooking Retreat in Bedford, PA! Gorgeous coutryside..that I didn’t take time to go out and shoot because I was too busy scrapping, chatting, and eating!

Bedford, PA

I’ll have to go back and take pictures though, they have 14 covered bridges and a place called Gravity Hill that I wanna peep!

Top: Cassie, ME, Andrea, Linda Bottom: Zemma, Lisa, Adora
Me in the Tall Green Hat- If you were wearing the hat when the timer went off you got more tickets to enter in the raffle.

Above is a card and below are the layouts I created…much more progress than last years 4 or 5! I took a break in between layouts to get the most fabulous FREE 1 hour massage (which I won at last years crop). That’s partly why I go! To get that massage!

Usually when I come home from a crop my mojo is flowing….this year was no exception, here are a few more layouts I created once I was home and hadn’t even upacked!!

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Deep Fried OREOS

This past summer my family and I went to a Renaissance Festival and at this festival I experienced DEEP FRIED OREOS! I’d never knew such a delicacy existed! They made them to order HOT and fresh sprinkled with powdered sugar! I kept saying I was going to give it a try but I thought they’d be too difficult to make at home- NOT. You need five ingredients (well 6 if you count the water needed to make the pancake batter)

I googled “fried Oreo recipe” and found this recipe at Allfoods.com one of the reviewers suggested just using pancake batter! Hey I’m all for quick and easy.

I poured vegetable oil in sauce pan and heated until it was around 350 degrees. Takes about 10-15 minutes.

Dip the Oreos in the pancake batter

I got this egg separator from my days as a Pampered Chef consultant, I’ve only ever used it to separate eggs-look what else it can do!

YUMMY!!! The cookie becomes soft and the icing in the middle melts a little and I love the little bit of crunch from the pancake! I thought about trying fried marshmallow’s-Maybe next time.

I made whole bag of Oreo’s and shared with two neighbors and a coworker.

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Camping for Dummies

A couple of weekends ago I, along with my Co-leader took our troop on an overnight training called-Camping for Dummies. Where I earned my camp certification and the girl’s learned camping skills and safety.

Opening Ceremonies

The Munchkin really enjoyed outdoor cooking

She really took to starting the camp fires and keeping it going! (less work for me)

Troop 2709

Our fearless leaders a Mom and Daughter team.

We learned to tie 3 different types of knots.This one is a square knot.

A little hike! During which we saw a couple of Eagles and Deer.

Bell Manor @ Camp Conowingo

Camp Conowingo is 600 acres of forest and fields adjacent to the Susquehanna River in Conowingo, Maryland and is the home of Bell Manor, a historic Victorian home from the 1860’s. Camp Conowingo is the home of Girl Scouts of Central Maryland’s summer Resident Camp program.

The view in front of Bell Manor

Tah Dah!!!! We used the Box Oven that I posted about a couple of weeks ago to make brownies for dinner and then again in the morning to make biscuits! It worked GREAT!

First we had to get the coals hot, we accomplished this by using a #10 can or empty paint can with holes at the bottom. Fill with newspaper and coals. It took about 20 minutes for the coals to be ready.