A seashell Flower

By Brianna from Dutch Harbor, AK

This is a gorgeous, romantic, and elegant craft which can be applied to a number of other crafts as an enhancement, although it is completely stunning on its own! The shells (if you live near bodies of water) are free, which is the best part!
Approximate Time: Depending on the size of rose you wish to make, this craft takes from 20 to 30 minutes.

Supplies:
10-15 cleaned oyster shells per rose
3 sticks round, all-temperature mini-glue sticks
1 low-temperature mini-glue gun
1 small to medium auger, nautilus, or snail shell per rose (cleaned with dish soap and water)
Optional: shiny, clear, indoor spray paint/lacquer (This makes the iridescence of the shells and their colors really shine through!)
Instructions:
Load glue gun with glue stick and plug in to warm up.
While glue gun is warming up, arrange your oyster shells from largest to smallest.
Find the two largest, (pieces are just as good as full shells) and glue ends together, so that the shells rest on your work surface opposite from one another.
Find the next two largest from the ones left, and repeat the process, only having turned your base about forty-five degrees.
Now that you have a complete base to work from, start finding the medium-sized shells, which usually have more of a curve to them, like the inner petals of a rose.
Take those and glue them after turning base another forty-five degrees, these two should angle up about twenty to thirty degrees, to mimic the opening of a rose bloom.
Rotate your rose another forty-five degrees and use 2-3 of the next smaller size shells, gluing them in at a slightly steeper angle, almost closing the bloom.
Take your snail, auger, or bit of nautilus shell and stand it upright in the middle of your rose, gluing and holding it there until it is cooled.
Once all of the rose has cooled securely, take it outside and place on a piece of cardboard. Spray with lacquer lightly, making sure to get in-between the layers of petals. (Don't go overboard, or the spray paint will loosen the glue and your rose with fall apart easily.)
Let dry as per instructions on your paint can.
Display in a nice copper bowl or hot-glue to another project such as one involving sea glass or drift wood; a mirror or vase.

Great Tea bag folding Site Link

If you like tea bag folding and scrapbooking you will love this link.
http://www.masikatiwebdesign.com/teabags/teabags.asp

Great Grand Marnier Cake Recipe

For the cake:
1 box butter yellow cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup Grand Marnier
Light Zest of 1/2 an orange

For the syrup:
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup Grand Marnier


Heat oven to 325.
Butter and flour a non-stick bundt pan. (You can always use that sick spray called Pam, but I prefer B and F--just make sure you use enough so the cake doesn't stick)
In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, oil, and Grand Marnier and zest. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Pour into the prepared bundt pan.
Bake the cake on the lower rack (bottom third of the oven) until a tester comes out clean, approximately 40-60 minutes.
In a medium saucepan on medium high heat, bring a stick of butter, water, and sugar to a boil. Once at a boil--stir constantly with a rubber spatula or whisk and continue to cook for 5 minutes---NO LONGER than that! (PS the syrup is dangerously hot!) Make sure you watch the mixture the entire time (one, for safety, and two, for best results). Being extra careful (the mixture will bubble wildly) add the Grand Marnier, bring to a boil again, and cook for only 1 minute more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Remove the cake from the oven and with a fork, poke holes all over the top of the cake. Pour the warm syrup over the top. Let cool to room temperature. Invert cake onto a serving plate and serve. (PS--this cake is best made 1-2 days ahead of time).
Be sure to watch your oven and check the cake often for doneness.

Picture frame from Record

Is this not too cute.

What a fantastic idea for old records.

This great tutorial can be found

HERE

Along with many others !

The little garden Vegs

As most of you who follow me know I live in the  high dessert at an elevation of 3,200 feet and  have 60 a day growing season.
We have already dropped to 32 degrees at night and I am covering the plants every night with plastic.
When checking out what grows well here I was told you just can't grow these plants here.

The bare spot is where spinach has already been harvested.