wine glasses – Working My Way Through Pinterest Pins…

WOW, this blog post has been several weeks in the making, but I hope you find it useful 🙂

Lets tackle the wine glasses first! I have been busy pinning hand painted wine glasses on Pinterest and one day I said “hey, I think I can do that!”, so I gave it a shot. I painted 4 wine glasses (two flowers and two polka dots) and they were SO cute!!! I was pleased with how they turned out!

For these wine glasses, I bought $.99 wine glasses from Walmart and also bought acrylic paint from their craft section. I did some research and came to the conclusion that this would work. I used simple brushes for the flowers and circle sponge tips for the polka dots… seriously, this was a fairly cheap project! Note: I did NOT bake these as some of my pins suggested, rather I put a layer of mod podge over the painted area. The pink flower…some of the paint did chip off a little with washing…so I will be exploring different paints for use on glasses I will be drinking from. But, if you are using the glasses (or whatever glass piece you are painting) as a decorative piece…the basic acrylic paints are fine. I’m using the black and gold polka dot glass as a paint brush holder and it is super cute! Go with GLOSSY though!

NEXT – Pretzel bites! Taste Score – 10!!!!

My husband and I got home from the Super Bowl party and he goes “I wish we had more pretzels”….lucky him, I had stashed a bowl away for him! Score for the wife!

I snagged this idea from http://www.iheartnaptime.net/easy-homemade-pretzel-bites/

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup warm water
1 packet active yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
11/2 tsp salt
1 TB sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
4 cups of flour (I used bread flour)
3/4 cup baking soda
1 egg (whisked) (I used egg whites in the carton)
Coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl add warm water and yeast. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes. Add salt and sugar and stir.
In a large bowl add flour and then pour yeast mixture over top. Knead with bread hook in your mixer or by hand for approximately 5 minutes.
Separate dough into 6-8 sections. Roll dough into ropes about 15-20 inches long and 1 inch thick. Cut with scissors into 11/2 – 2 inch pieces. Then cut a “t” or “x” on the top of the pretzel with scissors.
In a large pan bring 3 quarts of water + 3/4 cup baking soda to a boil. Once water is boiling place about 8 pieces of dough into the water for about 30 seconds. Remove with slotted spoon and place pretzel bites onto baking sheet. Brush dough lightly with egg and sprinkle salt on top.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. You can turn the oven to broil for the last minute to brown the tops. Remove pretzel bites to a cooling rack and brush tops with melted butter. (watch the time, I overcooked my first batch a bit…I cut it to 7min.)

Just a few things that I did differently…I made 5 sections of dough, I made some without the cut in the top (this was my way of saying “no salt on top”) and the last two sections, I cut the dough pieces in half, which made little squares instead of the longer pieces. (both are pictured) I also made a batch of cinnamon sugar ones, which were a huge hit!

Note: While they were tasty at room temp, they were BEST when right out of the oven. Maybe you can complete the par boiling step, put on a lined pan and bake as needed for your party? I think I will try this next time.

Meatballs! – Who doesn’t like meatballs? Taste Score 10! Easy score – 10

What you need – Crockpot

2 bags of home-style meatballs

2 bottles of Heinz chili sauce

1 jar of grape jelly

Mix the sauce (chili sauce and grape jelly), add the meatballs, and cook on low for 4-5hrs. You can cook them on high for 3hrs if you are in a rush! (if you have never heard of this, give it a try…southern women have been taking this to parties and tailgates for years!)

Finally – Chalkboard Paint

I have seen TONS of super cute chalkboard crafts on Pinterest and have pinned several of them, looking for ideas. One day I decided I was tired of the painting print in my hallway…so I thought it would make a great giant chalkboard! And in the event I decide I like the print again, all I have to buy is a new piece of glass for the picture!

Side Note: My husband and I have the WORST memories, so I thought this would be a great in your face way to make sure we don’t forget things!

I used Krylon spray on chalkboard paint…it was AWFUL!!!! It was very thin, ran down the can on the first spray and even ran when I “lightly” sprayed it on the glass. I know the best way to spray paint is to paint several light layers…and in this case, NOTHING worked. The paint ran and ran and ran…FAIL! Also, the finish on this doesn’t feel anything like a chalkboard, its more like a semi gloss black paint.

Needless to say, this project is currently in STALL mode. I received a tip from a friend to use the chalkboard paint in the can, so I will be trying to fix this FAIL and will post an update once it is done.

Unfortunately, I must close this post and get started on some homework! Grad School work is NO joke!

Tune in next time and check out my Pinterest page! Thanks 🙂

http://www.pinterest.com/imsteph1982/yummy-treats/

http://www.pinterest.com/imsteph1982/a-crafty-me/

http://www.pinterest.com/imsteph1982/life-of-a-virginia-girl/