Rachel Robin's Nest

Crafts, Projects and Recipes to Help Feather Your "Nest"

DIY French Memo Board August 27, 2012

Filed under: DIY — raediantphoenix @ 4:16 pm
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I have always wanted a French memo board, but they’re always very expensive, and the color schemes are never quite what I had in mind, so I decided to just go ahead and make my own.

I’ve had this cork board since I was about 13.  It’s had a good run, but it definitely could use some new life.  I picked up some beautiful grey and silver fabric and some purple ribbon, since I wanted to put the board in our bedroom, which I’m going to be redecorating in purples and greys.  I have to say, I’m absolutely thrilled with how it came out!  If you don’t have an old cork board, you can use a canvas or plywood.

DIY French Memo Board

Materials

  • 1/2 yard of fabric
  • 1/2 yard cotton batting
  • 3 – 4 yards of 5/8″ ribbon
  • Cork board, canvas or plywood cut to 16″ x 24″
  • Staple gun and 1/2″ staples
  • Pushpins or tacks

Directions:

1.  Lay your cork board or canvas out on the floor, and cut a piece of batting big enough to wrap around the edges of your board.  Do the same with your fabric.

2.  Make sure your board is centered on the batting, and starting in the middle of the long side, wrap the batting around and secure with a staple.

3.  Directly opposite of the first staple, pull the batting taut and secure with a staple.

4.  Repeat steps 1 and 2 on the short sides of the board

5.  Continue moving around the board, always securing sections in opposition so that the fabric stays taut and centered.  Secure the corners by wrapping them up like a present

6.  Repeat steps 2 – 5 with the fabric, wrapping it around the batting and the board

7.  Once your fabric and batting are in place, it’s time to secure the ribbons that will give you places to tuck your photos and mementos.  Start by making an “x” across the corners.  Secure the ribbons with staples on the back of the board

8.  Now, make 2 lines parallel to one of the main “x” cross pieces, securing the ribbons with staples.  Make sure to center the ends

9.  Now make 2 lines parallel to the other main “x” cross piece, dividing up the board in even sections.  Again, make sure that the ends are centered.  You can see that mine are a bit off, but I’m not too bothered by it

10.  Lastly, place your pushpins or tacks into the intersections of the ribbon.  I used pushpins that stick out a bit so that I can hang things from them

There!  Beautiful!  Unfortunately my pictures don’t really do justice to the color of the ribbon.  It’s a lovely deep purple, but the pictures look sort of blue.  The new memo board is now hanging above our bed, and it’s a much nicer backdrop for all our little memories.

 

It’s Vacation Time! August 17, 2012

Filed under: Uncategorized — raediantphoenix @ 2:32 pm
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Hi friends!  I’m going to be headed to the beautiful hills and valleys of Vermont for the next week, so there won’t be any posts on Rachel Robin’s Nest until I return on August 27.

I hope you’ll come back then, because I’ve got some great posts and projects planned.  In the meantime, here’s a lovely photo of Quechee Gorge, which is a mere 10 minute walk from my parents’ house.  Absolutely gorgeous! 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 

DIY: Melted Crayon Art August 16, 2012

Filed under: DIY — raediantphoenix @ 1:16 pm
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This is a project that I’ve been dying to try ever since I saw it on Pinterest.  I’m weirdly obsessed with stationery supplies, and crayons have always been near and dear to my heart.  There’s something about a new box of crayons that’s just so…satisfying.  The smell, the colors…  They bring me right back to childhood.

Anyway, I’ve been looking to do some fun DIY art for our apartment, because it’s a bit empty at the moment.  I picked up these silly monkey canvases for $2.50 apiece in the dollar area at Target, and I knew they’d be perfect for some crayon art.

DIY Melted Crayon Art

Materials:

  • 64 box of crayons
  • Canvas
  • Glue gun
  • Hair dryer

Directions:

1.  If you are re-claiming an ugly canvas like me, paint over it with plain white acrylic paint.  A tip for keeping the canvas from sticking to your work surface:  stick pushpins into the back of the canvas to lift it up off your work surface

2.  Sort through your crayons and decide what colors you want to use and in what order.  I got mine all lined up before I started gluing them down

3.  Start gluing down your crayons by placing a line of hot glue down one edge.  Make sure you take into account which side of the label you want to be facing up.  I put the crayola logo on top, but do what you want!

4.  Once you’ve got your crayons glued down, set up your melting work area.  The wax can spatter a bit, so put newspaper or paper towels under and behind the canvas

5.  I used high heat and a low speed setting to melt my crayons, because the higher speed made the wax spatter more.  Starting at about the midpoint of your crayons, angle the hair dryer down and start heating them up.  As they got hot, they will begin to drip down

5.  Continue melting your crayons until you achieve the desired effect.  I found that different colors melt differently, so you may need to concentrate your efforts in different areas for different amounts of time.  You can also target blobs of wax further down the canvas to keep them moving

I’m really glad I did 2 different canvases with 2 different color schemes, and they look perfect on either side of the window in my living room!  Although I did goof and make one of the canvases upside down–there was a hanging device on one side of each of the canvases, and I melted the crayons on the opposite side, but it still looks ok, and I can put a picture hanger on it to fix it later.

How did your crayon art come out?

 

DIY Gift Idea: Spice Rubs August 13, 2012

Filed under: DIY,Recipes — raediantphoenix @ 1:13 pm
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Well guys, my Mini Caprese Salad Bites post was a record breaker–most likes, most follows, and most views of any day so far.  Wow!  Thanks!  I’ll try to keep the good content coming.  Ben will be away on a business trip for the next three days, so I’ve got LOTS of projects planned to keep me busy!

My dad is incredibly difficult to buy gifts for.  99.9% of the time if you say, “Hey Dad, your birthday/Christmas/Father’s Day is coming up.  What can I get you?” he’ll say, “Nothing.”  He doesn’t want anything, doesn’t need anything, doesn’t want us to spend money on him.  The other 0.1% of the time he’ll want something really obscure and expensive, like a device that transfers vinyl records to digital that you can only get from some really sketchy online vendor for $150.

Dad has lots of hobbies, but I don’t know anything about fishing, or golf, and he owns and/or has already read so many books that finding something new is always a challenge.  But one thing my dad and I have in common is that we both love to cook.  Growing up in my household, Dad did all the home-cooking, not Mom.  And he instilled in me a love of crafting truly delicious, comforting and interesting food.  So I knew just what to do for his birthday this year.

Many, many moons ago, I came across this post on making spice rubs as a “Man Gift.”  I pinned it, thinking it was a great idea to just make some rubs for myself.  But when Dad’s birthday rolled around this year, I remembered the spice rubs, and got to work.  I made three different ones, but there are a million and one recipes out there, so hit up Google and make as many or as few as you like for the chef in your life!

DIY Spice Rub Gifts

Please forgive my horrible photography skills

Salt-Free Herb Rub

  • 2 tbsp rosemary
  • 2 tbsp thyme
  • 1 tbsp tarragon
  • 1 tbsp black pepper

Cajun Rub

  • 2 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp garlic
  • 1/2 tsp allspice

“Heart of Darkness” Blackening Rub

  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp salt

I got my little spice jars for a dollar apiece at the dollar store, but if you want to, you can use recycled jars, small mason jars, or even small tins.  Just keep in mind that you may have to double or halve the recipes in order to appropriately fill your chosen container.  For mine, I tripled the Blackening (so there was a little left over for me!) and the Salt-Free rubs (just enough to fill) , but one was enough of the Cajun rub, since it had a lot more ingredients.

I love to put the Blackening rub on fish, or sprinkle it on burgers.  The Salt-Free is great for poultry, and the Cajun rub would be amazing on some pork chops.  Yum!

 

 

Mini Caprese Salad Bites August 10, 2012

Filed under: Recipes — raediantphoenix @ 1:03 pm
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In New England, in August, when it’s 95* out with 95% humidity, the last thing on this earth that I want to do is turn on my oven.  Every night, making dinner is a struggle.  There are some nights when I just eat cheese and crackers because the thought of making my apartment even hotter is just too much.

But a delightful, fresh, and delicious option for those too-hot-to-cook nights are these Mini Caprese Salad Bites.  Fresh cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil come together with balsamic vinaigrette to create melt-in-your-mouth perfection, no cooking required!  These are ridiculously easy to make, if a little time-consuming to assemble.  But the result is so pretty and so tasty, they’re totally worth it!

Mini Caprese Salad Bites

Ingredients:

  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, rinsed
  • 1-8 oz block of mozzarella cheese, cubed
  • Bunch of fresh basil, rinsed and patted dry
  • Balsamic vinaigrette
  • Toothpicks

Directions:

  1. Halve the tomatoes horizontally*
  2. Pluck individual basil leaves–pick nice, full, pretty ones, and remove the stems
  3. Assemble the mini skewers–spear one half of a tomato on a toothpick, with the cut side facing up.  Then, spear a basil leaf close to the stem end.  Next skewer a cube of cheese.  Wrap the basil around the cheese and skewer the tip end.  Cap it all off with another half a tomato
  4. Repeat until you have used all the tomatoes
  5. Place finished bites in a deep container, and drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over all, making sure to get some on each bite.
  6. Let sit for about half and hour to let the flavors mingle

And there you have it!  Simple, pretty, and delicious!  Also, you can adapt the recipe as a sandwich.  Just get full-sized tomatoes, and lay slices of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil on some panini bread and drizzle with balsamic.  Yum!

*If you are like me, and hate tomato seeds and juices, pop the halved tomatoes into your salad spinner and whing them around a bit.  It won’t get all the seeds, but it will get a pretty good chunk of them.  Just don’t spin them too much, or you’ll bruise them.

 

BBQ Lentil Burgers August 3, 2012

Filed under: Recipes — raediantphoenix @ 11:54 am
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Ah, summertime.  Official grilling season.  There’s nothing quite like a meal cooked over an open flame.  Those charcoal briquettes really impart a special flavor to the food.  However, all to often we get stuck in the burger and hot dog rut, because they’re classic, simple, and easily available.

But this summer, I wanted to try a little something different.  Also, I’ve been on a major health kick, and trying to do at least one meat free dinner each week, both for my health and the health of my wallet.  Meat is expensive!  But I digress.  After some poking about on the internet, I found a really easy, simple recipe for lentil burgers.  It was actually a little too simple, in my mind, and would likely be very bland, so I doctored it up a little bit.  The results were quite delicious.  The lentils actually have a very dense, almost meat-like texture, and take on the flavor of whatever you add to them, so they make a great burger.  Give them a try!

BBQ Lentil Burgers

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups cooked lentils (1 1/2 cups dry)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 3 tbsp BBQ sauce (I love Sweet Baby Ray’s)

Directions:

  1. Combine eggs, lentils, salt and BBQ sauce in a blender or food processor.  Puree until the consistency of runny hummus
  2. Pour into a mixing bowl and mix in the onions and breadcrumbs.  Let sit for a about 10 minutes so that the bread crumbs can soak up some of the moisture
  3. Form into 12 smallish patties
  4. Pan fry, or grill until the patties are browned and crisp on the outside and heated all the way through

If you want the basic lentil burger recipe, omit the BBQ sauce and add another egg.  This is the starting point, and you can add any flavors or extras you want.  I think they’d be great with some black beans mixed in as well, and maybe with some chili powder and served with cheddar cheese and onion for a southwestern burger.

What combinations did you come up with?

 

 
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