Homemade Polymer Clay

This is a pretty cool way to make your own durable polymer clay.  I found the recipe here.

Other projects done with this awesome Homemade Polymer Clay:
-Monogram & Word Decor Plaques

Materials:

-3/4 cup white glue

-1 cup cornstarch

-2 tbsp mineral oil or Vaseline (petroleum jelly)

-1 tbsp lemon juice

Process:
1. Stir together cornstarch and glue in a non-stick pan.

2. Add mineral oil/petroleum jelly.

3. Add lemon juice.

4. Over low heat, blend well with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stirring constantly!

5. Keep mixing until the mixture begins to look like mashed potatoes.

6. Remove from heat.
7. Coat the palms of your hands with mineral oil/petroleum jelly; very carefully remove the "mashed potato" mixture from the pot... IT WILL BE HOT, but its best to knead the clay while it is still hot.
8. Knead by hand until smooth, adding more mineral oil/petroleum jelly if needed.

9. Once smooth, use as desired.

The clay won't stick to your hands but it did stick to my unpainted fingernails, but it comes off easy!

You can insert little screw-in eyelets if you want to be able to hang these for jewelry or for key chains.

We used normal rubber stamps to press the designs into the clay.

The clay takes 2-3 days for something thin to dry thoroughly and for something thicker, up to a week.

Once these are dry you can paint them using acrylic paint.  {I haven't painted mine yet.}

The small two are for a pair of earrings!

 Enjoy!

 Here is a shallow little bowl I made...

These ones below are going to be earrings...

I still have to paint them; I'll stick the earring posts into a piece of Styrofoam to hold them while I paint; pictures to come later.

I like E-6000 glue; it holds super well and I've never had it come loose.

Sensational Sloppy Joes

This is a really good and simple recipe for making sloppy joes!

I adapted this recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients:

-1 lb. ground beef, chicken or turkey

-1/2 cup chopped onion or 1/4 cup dried minced onion

-1 (10.75 oz.) can condensed tomato soup, undiluted

-1/2 cup ketchup

-2 tbsp brown sugar

-1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

-1 tbsp prepared mustard or Dijon mustard

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp celery seed

Process:
1. Cook ground meat until browned. 

2. Meanwhile, mix tomato soup, ketchup and brown sugar.

3. Stir in cider vinegar.

4. Stir in mustard.

5. Next, stir in salt and celery seed.

6. Drain meat and add onion to pan {if using raw onion, cook until onion is softened}.

7. Pour soup mixture over meat.

8. Stir and cook over medium-low heat; uncovered for about 10 minutes.

 9. Serve over rolls/buns with sliced pickles.  Enjoy!

Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie

This apple pie is fantastic!  And its a plus that you don't have to peel the apples!

I'm not sure where I got this recipe, but I've had it and been making it for years.  Enjoy!

Ingredients for Pie:

-single pie crust

-1/2 cup sugar

-3 tbsp flour

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/8 tsp salt

-6 cups thinly sliced apples (about 7 apples)

Ingredients for Crumb Topping:

-1 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup flour

-1/2 cup oatmeal

-1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping:

-1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

Process:

1. Prepare pie crust as directed on package or make your own {this one is awesome!}.

I had a broken pre-made pie crust in the freezer and instead of throwing it out I decided to try to fix it...

I mixed 4 tbsp melted butter with about 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup sugar.

I mixed this until the crumbs were coated.

Poured the crumbs into the broken pie crust.

Then, pressed the crumbs into the pie shell to form a second layer of crust.

2. Wash and slice apples.

3. Add sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt to apple slices.

4. Toss to coat apples thoroughly.

5. Pour apples into pie crust.

 They will be mounded, but they'll settle as they cook.

6. Mix together the crumb topping ingredients.

7. Place pie on a lined baking sheet.

8. Crumble the crumb topping over the apples, it will be like a apple and crumb mountain!

9. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, until browned and crispy.

Half way through baking.

10. Remove pie from oven and drizzle with caramel sauce.

11. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

 The caramel will soak into the crumb topping as it cools.

12. Enjoy on its own or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.