Fringe Flowers

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Busted Button

You know those times when you realize you should have bought a ‘thank you’ gift but you are short on time or cash? Wellllll, have I got a solution for you! And for only 3 easssy payments of $129.99… just kidding… here are the goods:

These puppies:

Pretty, hey? These took only 10 minutes to put together, and I bet you have all of the items necessary to make this quick and easy bouquet kickin’ around your house, just waiting to be turned into something lovely.

All you need are some fringing scissors (you can use regular scissors too- I just got some fringing scissors at a thrift store because I’m lucky like that!),  a glue gun, a few straws, and some tissue paper. This would be a great opportunity to use up any of your old tissue paper stash you’ve been hoarding- and then you could call it ‘upcycled’ and get even more attention!

Firstly what you want to do is to get 4 layers of tissue paper that measure about 12 inches long by  1.5 inches wide. If you make sure there is a fold on one side, you will have a nice finished edge and it will make the rolling process a lot easier.

Use your fringing scissors to cut along the tissue, leaving about half an inch uncut.  If you are using regular scissors, just make a cut about every eighth of an inch. This step does not have to be perfect.

Stick the straw to one end of the fringed tissue with a blob of hot glue, or ‘dab’ of hot glue,  as Martha would say, and procede to roll the straw along, adding a new line of glue every few inches. Secure the end with another ‘dab’ of glue.

You know what always bugged me about Martha? How she’d call a pair of scissors “a scissor”.

Isssn’t this cute? It looks a lot like a spikey dahlia. And if you like that look, then stop here, but you know what? This is boring. And it needs something…

There. You know my motto, “A button a day keeps the borings at bay”…

Now, turn the lights down low, and place your flowers in a little jar on the window sill.

And have a romantic evening alone (or with a couple of Egyptian Lego men) coming up with new ideas that involve fringing scissors!

These would be sooooper cute if you used a couple of different colors of tissue in each flower. Next time I’m near a McDonald’s, (which will more than likely be tomorrow, and the next day) I plan on snagging a handful of their colorful straws so I can make a bright and cheery bunch!

Happy flower making!!!

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Butternut Squash Ravioli

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Busted Button

I love food. And I love butternut squash. It’s not like other squish (heehee). It is sweet and melony…in the best way possible. It smells like a pumpkin that mated with a cantaloupe (delicious, of course) and it’s versatile too.

Isn’t it pretty? Another cool thing about this squash is that it makes SUCH good vegetarian food because its perfect taste/texture can stand up to meat. I ain’t a vegetarian, but this recipe is accidently vegan… I wanted to pair my fave pasta dough recipe with a perfect butternutty filling, so here it is for your viewing, and (hopefully one day) eating  pleasure:

For the filling I combined one medium roasted butternut squash (to roast: core it and cut it in quarters and stick it in a 350 degree oven for an hour), one large caramelized onion, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and some salt and pepper to taste…and I threw some parsley in there for color.

Whip up the dough from this recipe. Add a tablespoon of oil, and make sure to use 1/2 tsp of salt. Then forgive me for the next blurry pic :O

Stupid, shaky, trying-not-to-get-flour-in-my-new-camera hands!

Anyways, you don’t need to use a pasta maker (the guy in the recipe tutorial doesn’t) but it sure helps! Here is a video with some random Australian showing you how to use a pasta maker. It also features some kid dressed up as batman at the end??!?

Once you’ve got your dough thin enough, pipe heaping teaspoons of filling like a-thissssss.  Next, seal the raviolis-paint some water around the filling bloops. (I can’t believe that the spell-check red squiggly lines didn’t pop up on that word!)

Place another sheet of dough over the bloopy one (OMG ‘bloopy’ is a word too!) and work out any air that got trapped while you are sealing the raviolis with your fingers. I used a measuring spoon to help make the BLOOPS look pretty 🙂

Make sure you go to a thrift store the morning before you make these and find a ravioli cutter for 50 cents! What luck! If you aren’t as lucky as me, you can use a pizza cutter or just a boring old knife to cut them.

Gah, they were so delicious! Seeing this photo again just compelled me to take a break from writing this just so I could have my second lunch. (Everyone has second lunch, right?)

My favorite way to eat these bad boys is to sauté about 4 cloves of garlic in some olive oil while the ravioli is boiling (which takes about 3 minutes if it’s fresh, and 4 minutes if it’s frozen.) Scoop the cooked pasta into the frying pan and shake it like a polaroid picture add some fresh parsley. If you aren’t vegan or a slave to a dairy sensitivity, bring on the parmesan!

They are also delish with a simple jar of store bought tomato sauce.

Any pasta that you don’t use right away needs to be frozen on sheets. Then get your trusty sidekick (AKA kid #3) to help you put the frozen ravioli into a ziplock bag.

Take a photo and insert it at the end of your blog post. Write a rushed conclusion so you can get to lunch #3.

Happy blooping  😉

Posted in Dairy-Free recipes, Recipes, vegetarian/vegan recipes | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Paper Button Flowers

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Busted Button

Today I want to share one of my favorite spring crafts! It is easy as can be, and is really perfect for any occasion.

Here are some nifty flowers I made this year for my Secondary Valentine. Oh, what’s that, you say? “What is a Secondary Valentine, dear chiiild?” Well, firstly, I am not a child. Secondly, it is much more important sounding than the title would lead you to believe. Having two Valentines makes the day twice as fun.  Pick one of your fave friends, and do something special. New tradition? You know you want to.

Anyways, check out these cute little’s:

These were SUCH a fun, easy, and quick craft to do! I made a few for my daughter and she thought I was a super hero! (I love how easy it is to deceive children.) These take less than 10 minutes to make- from start to finish!

All you need are some buttons, a glue gun, some skinny wooden craft sticks, a bit of green ribbon, and some paper flowers. (I used a flower punch, but you could easily get creative and cut out a few different flower shapes. Or you could get lazy creative and use some pre-cut scrapbook embellishments from the craft store.)

Glue some coordinating buttons onto your flowers. You can stack some of them for a neat look.

Next, glue on the craft sticks. Told you this was easy!

Finish each flower with a piece of ribbon tied, then glued around the ‘stem’, and there you have some of the happiest flowers you’ll ever see.

Now stick em in a cup of beads or what have you, and put em somewhere special- like on top of your cluttered-with-awesomeness crafting station- until you find a special person to share them with.

Well, that was a short post! You know what that means? Brag time!

Here is a photo of Kid #2- Cutest lil boy you have ever seen. Kid #3 and Kid #4 do come close though…

Happy flower-making and cuppy-caking. (If you’re into that sort of thing.)

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