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Apple Pie Spice Potpourri
A delightful potpourri with real apple slices and spices, to make your house smell wonderful!

1 small apple - made into dried apple slices (see below)
1 cup carnation petals, pink and red, dried
Cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/ 2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3 drops vanilla fragrance oil (at your craft store)

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees. Slice the unpeeled apple in very thin slices and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed lightly with vegetable oil spray and bake for 30 minutes. You can sprinkle a little cinnamon on top to make these cinnamon dried apples. Let the dried apple cool for about ten minutes before adding to the other ingredients.

In a lidded glass jar (a Mason jar is perfect) combine all of the ingredients of the potpourri mixture, and gently combine with a wooden spoon. Cover tightly. This mixture will keep for months. To use, place about a tablespoon into 2 cups of boiling water. Turn down the heat and let the mixture simmer gently to release all of the wonderful apple pie scent!





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Artificial Snow
1/2 c Granulated sugar
1/2 c Talcum powder

Mix together. Sprinkle mxiture over any area you want to decorate after it has been spread with liquid starch or a mixture of 1/2 glue and 1/2 water. Let dry. HINT: the more sugar the more sparkle.



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Bookbinding or Leather Glue
1 packet (1/4 ounce) unflavoured gelatin
3 tbls. boiling water
1 tbls. vinegar
1 tsp. glycerine
1. In a pan, add gelatin to boiling water. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.

2. Add vinegar and glycerine. Stir until well mixed.

Makes about 1/3 cup. For larger projects, double the recipe.

How to use it: While the glue is still warm, apply a thin layer with a brush. This waterproof glue is excellent for binding leather to leather.

It also makes a good flexible glue for use on paper, or for gluing cloth to cardboard for making notebook binders or scrapbooks.

Stored in a tightly capped plastic or glass jar, this glue will keep for several months. It will gel in the bottle after a few days. Warm bottle in hot water to reuse glue.



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Bread Dough Baskets
Fill with homemade muffins, biscuits, or use as you would any other basket!

2 pounds flour
1 pound salt
1 and a half cups of warm water
clear gloss varnish
ovenproof dish, round or oblong

Mix the warm water with the salt in a bowl. Let it cool down and then slowly add the flour until you have formed a firm dough. Knead the dough until it feels elastic. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest for at least 30 minutes before using.

Measure the diameter of the ovenproof dish. Roll out the dough to the desired thickness and cut it into strips of about an inch longer than the diameter of the dish. Lay the strips in one direction:

Lay the strips across the dish - from the top of one side, downwards across the base of the dish and then upwards on the other side, to the top of that side. Continue laying the strips, leaving an even gap (of about 1 inch width) between the strips.

Weave the strips in the opposite direction: Lift up every alternate strip that has already been laid and move the one end to the other, so that both ends are next to each other. Place another strip of dough across the dish in the opposite direction. Gently pull back the strips that were previously lifted. Use this method to "weave" the other strips across the dish as well. Trim any uneven edges with a knife.

Make the rim by rolling out thin strips of dough of about 5 inches long. Place the strips of dough around the edge of the dish. Lay the next piece of dough carefully next to the last piece of dough - continue this until the rim is covered. Take a tiny piece of an old, damp and clean pair of pantihose, cover your index finger with it and gently wipe over the edges of the dough covering the rim - this is to ensure a smooth finish to the rim. Take a sharp knife and deftly, make slight incisions into the top part of the rim - to give a ribbed effect.

Bake in at a low heat (about 250 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 1 and a half to 2 hours, or until the dough is a light golden brown in colour. The dough must be hard to the touch. Remove from the oven and let it cool down completely before removing the basket from the dish.

Paint the basket with clear varnish. Let it dry and then add an additional layer of varnish.

Keep the basket in the kitchen, or in the diningroom, and place fruit or bread rolls in it.

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Chocolate Dipped Coffee Spoons

Chocolate
good quality plastic spoons
liqueurs, optional
extracts, optional

These are good in coffee or teas or just by themselves. Use different liqueurs and extracts to make different flavors. There is no end to the flavors you can make. Melt chocolate until it is liquid, making sure that it doesn't scorch, you can do this in the microwave. Add extract or liqueur of choice. Then dip the spoon into the chocolate and lay the spoons with their handles over the edge of a wax paper lined cookie sheet until set. Don't just dip lightly you want a nice puddle in the spoon part and part way up the handle. You can drizzle white chocolate in a design over dark or milk chocolate or dip 1/2 of spoon in dark and 1/2 in white chocolate. For an elegant look wrap each in celophane with a glittery ribbon or if country is more your style tie the wrap with raffia or twine.
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Crystal Garden
6 tablespoons Salt
6 tablespoons Bluing -- liquid
6 tablespoons Water
1 tablespoon Ammonia
Food coloring

Combine salt, bluing, water and ammonia. Pour over small pieces of rock or coal in a shallow GLASS OR CHINA bowl. Drip food coloring on top, if desired. Crystals will begin to grow soon. Add water occasionally to keep crystals growing. You'll probably want to place dish on a tray or wooden board as crystals grow over the sides of the bowl.



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Decorative Wallpaper Boxes
What a great way to use any old box you have hanging around - you'll need one with a lid, though, like an old shoe box.

- glue
- scissors
- Wire edged ribbon, approx 2 inches wide
- boxes
- scraps of wallpaper

Instructions:

1. Remove lids from boxes and set aside for later use.
2. Glue wallpaper to sides and, if desired, bottoms of boxes.
3. Fold wallpaper over top edges of boxes and glue to inside, making sure to have a neat and even edge along inside.
4. Replace lids on boxes.
5. Wrap ribbon around stacked boxes and tie a shoestring bow at top



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Elmer's Glue
1 qt. skim milk
3/4 Tbsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. white vinegar
10 oz. water

Place milk and vinegar in a double boiler. Cook on low heat and stir as curds form. Drain off liquid. Wash remaining mass with water until the vinegar smell is gone. Put into a clean bowl. Dissolve baking soda in water. Pour over curds and stir until a white paste forms. Seal in containers.



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Kool Aid Tye Died T-Shirts
T-shirt
Unsweetened Kool-Aid®
Vinegar
Small plastic bowls
Plastic gloves
Rubber bands
NOTE: Use different flavors/colors of Kool-Aid®.

For every color you wish to use, put 1 package Kool-Aid® and 1 ounce of vinegar in individual plastic bowls. Mix until Kool-Aid® is dissolved. Using rubber bands, pull and twist T-shirt into different shapes. Dip rubber-banded ends in bowls (make sure you wear gloves or your hands will stain). To set colors, iron on medium-high using an ironing cloth between shirt and iron. Let set for 24 hours before washing. To be safe, wash separately the first time. Launder T-shirt as usual and it's ready to wear.

NOTE: Don't put softener on the T-shirt if you pre-wash it as the dye will not take.
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Leaf Transparencies
MATERIALS:
2 sheets white paper
colored leaf or two
block of plain paraffin, kind used in making jelly.

DIRECTIONS:
Select a colorful leaf with an unusual shape. Place it between the 2 sheets of white paper. Sprinkle slivers of paraffin generously on the paper and press with a hot iron. The melting paraffin will seal the leaf between the pages.

From construction paper or cardboard, cut 2 identical frames and glue the waxed picture between them. Hang picture in a sunny window. Sunlight showing through the waxed picture gives the effect of a stained glass picture. Ferns leaves done like this make a pretty lampshade.



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Crayon Cookies for Kids


Take scraps of similarly colored crayons and place them in an old muffin tin, according to color. Turn oven on low, and let the 'cookies' stay in the oven until completely melted together. Remove from oven, let cool and harden completely. Recycled crayons!


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