Now on Facebook

If you are a member of Facebook, be sure to become a member of Mama Hampton's Homemade Goods! Mama Hampton's is the name of my farmers market business. You can get to the page by clicking HERE.

Also, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the web page I created for Mama Hamptons!

Jaiden's Graduation

Jaiden had her preschool graduation last Saturday. It was very nice, but is was so hot! Her school doesn't have air conditioning and when you pack 50 people in a small room, it gets hot! I have been trying to post the video of her graduation but, it is taking forever to upload. I tried putting it on you tube, but it exceeds the 10 minute time limit. I am still trying to figure something out.

I made Jaiden's dress and had to pat myself on the back. I am so happy about how well it turned out! I am working on creating a PDF to share the pattern I made.

Mama's Doughnuts

This is a super simple recipe for doughnuts that my grandmother used to make. I remember as a little girl going over to her house and we always had to make doughnuts. An easy, cheater way to make these is to used refrigerated biscuits instead of making biscuit dough. There are several different possibilities to use as topping for the doughnuts. You can use powdered sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon/sugar mixture, icing, and/or sprinkles.

To make these doughnuts, heat oil in a deep fryer to 375*. Place 2 cups of desired sugar in a paper bag (ie. powdered sugar, granulated sugar, etc..). Separate biscuits and make a hole in center if desired. Drop 3 biscuits at a time into hot oil. Fry biscuits until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes. Place on paper towel to drain and immediately place in choice of sugar. Shake to coat.

In the picture, I used granulated sugar for the doughnuts on the left and a cinnamon sugar mixture for the ones on the right.

Fredia the Fundrasier

I feel like "Fredia the Fundraiser" right now. I baked 36 Sesame Street cupcakes for a bake sale at Jaiden's church for a Haiti Fundraiser, I ("and Jaiden") raised $190 for a trike-a-thon for Jaiden's school that supported St. Jude, and I have baked 60 cinnamon rolls for a business expo Jaiden is participating in at my mother's school. I am just in fundraising mode right now!

My Cookie Monster cupcakes need a lot more practice, but I thought I'd share them any way. I cheated and used store bought icing and used coloring to tint the icing. For the fur, I used tip #233 and for the eyes, I used tips #12 and #18. Cookie Monster's mouth is an Oreo cookie cut in half. I also made Elmo, Oscar, and Big Bird cupcakes, but I didn't get a picture of them.

The kids had a lot of fun riding their bikes at school! The teachers had a drink and snack station set up for the kids and a toy gas pump. Here's a little video of the trike-a-thon. Jaiden is in the hot pink helmet.

FBCT - Frozen Buttercream Cake Transfer

This is Arya's cake that I made for her birthday party! I was so happy with the results and got a lot of nice comments about it! The transfer for the cake is made using the frozen buttercream cake transfer method, FBCT.

It is really easy to make, I practiced twice before I made my official transfer for the cake. I had never used the piping bags to decorate anything other than cookies. I really needed to practice the technique of tracing. After I felt comfortable, the rest was a breeze! (Click on any pic to make it bigger)

Supplies:

Wilton Black Decorating Icing (comes in a tube)

Pipping bags and attachments- coupler, coupler ring, decorating tips. (I used small round, medium round and star tips.)

wax paper

coloring book page

masking tape

small icing spatula

icing/frosting (I cheated and used store bought in a can)

coloring/tint to color your icing

portable surface, IE. cutting board, cookie sheet, etc...

1. Clear out a space in the freezer to accommodate your portable surface.

2. Cut or print out the coloring book page (CBP) and tape it down to your surface.

3. Cover the CBP with wax paper and tape it down.

4. Using the Wilton Black and a round tip, trace your CBP. I used both small and medium. You'll want to think of this as in layers, if needed. For example Jerry's whiskers would be the first layer I traced and his face the second. This is so that when he is turned over and put on the cake, his whiskers will be on top of his face and not under it. Also, any thin lines that go off the image, as in his one set of whiskers, do not trace these, add them later. The didn't transfer very well. (The pic is of my first attempt)

5. Use your coloring to tint the icing to the desired color of each part. I used light pink of his ear and tongue, light brown for his body, and white for his eyes.

6. Fill your piping bags with the colored icing and attach tip. I used the small round for the smaller areas and the star tip for the large areas. When the image is fully covered, use the icing spatula to evenly spread the icing and to fill in any areas that might have been missed.
7. Put your image in the freezer to harden, I left mine in overnight.

8. Have your baked and iced cake ready to go. Take the transfer out of the freezer, carefully remove your transfer from the portable surface, and place it on the cake. (Icing side down, wax paper on top)

9. Rub lightly over the transfer to "set" it on the cake. Very carefully, take one corner of the wax paper and begin removing it from the transfer.

10. Go back with your Wilton Black and fix any necessary areas or to add thin lines like the whiskers (mentioned above in step 4)

Remember, your image is going to be backwards, so print any words in a mirror image so it will appear correctly on your cake.

Happy, Happy Birthday, to You!!

Today is Arya's 3rd birthday! Time is just flying by! After 3 short hours of labor and a bunch of pain, Arya was born after 5 in the afternoon.

Ryan and I were having a hard time trying to find a name for her. We both wanted something unusual, but couldn't decide. I was in love with the name Araya (A-ray-ah)and was trying different ways of spelling it when I came up with Arya. It is a combination of both Ryan's and my name. I fought with Ryan to put a "H" on the end of her name, but he was really against it. I wish I would have listened to myself and put it there anyway, then maybe people wouldn't have such a hard time trying to pronounce her name. (Oh, well, I guess it goes with choosing an unusual name!) Arya's name is pronounced A-RYE-AH, not "area".

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little girl!!!

Dollar Store Homemade Deodorant

I have been searching the internet for recipes to make deodorant and I have found there are just as many different recipes as there are brands of deodorant in a store. I took bits and pieces from the different recipes and made my own deodorant. Let me just say, it works! I have put in to the test for three days now. I put some on in the morning and that evening, I mowed grass, the deodorant held up! Ryan wore some to work yesterday to test it himself. It was a hot day and was out in the elements all day delivering several appliances. In other words, he had a hot and busy day. He even came home and worked in the yard without applying more deodorant, he really put the deodorant to the test. It's amazing how it kept odor away all day! This is a keeper! He usually has to reapply deodorant when he gets home from work, but didn't yesterday!

I bought all the ingredients at Dollar General to make this and spent $3.50 for supplies that will make a ton of deodorant. A big price break from store bought, plus this stuff isn't giving Ryan a rash like the store bought does. This deodorant will not keep you dry, but it defiantly keeps the smell away!

I just used a plastic spoon for measuring and stored it a mini Glad container.

Homemade Deodorant

3 tsp. Queen Helene Cocoa Butter Cream
1 tsp. Vitamin E skin oil
2 tsp. baking soda

Stir all together to make a cream deodorant. It may be necessary to add more coca butter for a smoother consistency.

Prepackaged Fabric Terms

I knew there was a cut of fabric out there called a fat quarter, but I never knew there were other cuts of fabric being sold. These packaged cuts of fabric are made to aid in the quilt making process, they eliminate most of the time spent cutting out pieces. There are entire books dedicated to making quilts entirely out of these different prepackaged, cuts of fabric. One of these books is, Layer Cake, Jelly Roll & Charm Quilts by Pam Lintott. You can find it on Amazon for $16.50.

Here are the different terms:
Fat quarter: 18x22
Fat Eight: 11x18
Jelly Roll: 40- 2.5x42 strips
Charm Pack: 40- 5x5 squares
Dessert Roll: 40- 5x42 strips
Layer Cakes: 40- 10x10 squares
Honey Buns: 40- 1.5x42 strips
Turnovers: 80- triangles that when sewn together form 40-5x5 squares

(picture taken from Amazon.com)

AccuQuilt Go

I found this machine last night while looking for something completely different. Just look at how neat it is:



For the "low" price of $350, this can be yours! I think it is so neat and probably worth the money. I can see myself saving up for something like this! Boy, we've come along way from grandma using scissors to cut out quilts! Click Here to go to the AccuQuilt site to learn more about the machine.

For the First Time

For the first time in my life, I took a shower in my own home last night!! I think it was the best shower of my whole life!

There are still a few things we have to do to complete the bathroom but, we are moving on to start the old bathroom/new laundry room today. We need to get the old bathtub out and remove the old subfloor. My sister and BIL have a bet with Ryan and myself that we alone cannot remove the old bathtub ourselves. The bathtub is an old cast iron, clawfoot tub, weighing approx. 300 lbs (136 kg). If Ryan and I can move it out by ourselves, they buy us dinner, if we cannot not, we have to buy them dinner. Great motivation!

Here is the before with the kitchen sink

Here is the same view, now with a shower there!!

Here's our tile

Here's our faucet

Here's the shower in action!

Remodel 3

We are moving along! I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! On Friday, we got the bathtub in place and finished the plumbing. Saturday, I finished the drywall and painted above where we decided the shower would end. All day Sunday, Ryan started installing tile around the bathtub and we hope to have it installed the rest of the way tonight. I have some more drywall finishing to do around the side of the tub and paint before the rest of the tile goes up. We hope to be grouting Wednesday and taking showers by Friday!!!

I am not allowing anyone to see the bathroom right now, I want it to be a big shock when everyone see the end results! I had to make my sister get back in the car so she couldn't sneak a peek.

We had to go buy a new pedestal top to the sink this week. We had it sitting in the corner, ready to install, and one of our kitties decided to jump up on it. The sink went crashing to the floor and of course, shattered into a hundred pieces.

Here's what left on our list for the bathroom:

1. Finish drywall on sides of tub and paint

2. Finish installing tile and grout

3. Install sink

4. Hang medicine cabinet, and light

5. Have my BIL finish the custom cabinet

6. Install new floor

Here's a sneak preview of our tile

This is the wall above the shower

This is the wall above the shower before paint

Remodel Part 2

We are well under way in our remodeling adventure. As I type, Ryan is in the cellar running the plumbing for our new bathtub. We tore out all of the old dry wall in our soon to be bathroom, removed a build in cabinet my dad made that we used to store kitchen items in, and have run electric for the medicine cabinet lights. I have also painted half of the room and done any necessary drywall repairs. We are hoping to have the bathtub installed completely by this weekend. And, are hoping to begin tiling the shower no later than Saturday. It is a slow process! Everyday after Ryan gets home from work, we chisel away at the bathroom, keeping the end result in our minds. We did take last night off to pay some attention to the girls. It will be so nice once it's all completed!!

This is a sneak preview of the wall color in the bathroom and a custom towel cabinet my BIL Ryne made.

This is the hole in the floor for the bathtub drain
This is another look at where the kitchen sink was and where the new bathtub will be
This is what my kitchen currently looks like. You could play I spy with this picture... I spy a bathtub, a sink pedestal, a laundry hamper....
This is where the custom cabinet was. Now the cabinet my BIL made and the sink will be here.

Hopefully this weekend, I will have some more completed bathroom pics to share!

Remodel Time!! Part 1

I am sure you noticed that I haven't been around here for a while. Well, we have started our house remodel. The wall we want to take down (to make the kitchen and the family room one big room)contains the old coal stove pipe chimney. The chimney runs from the cellar to the roof. A few weeks ago, Ryan began taking down the chimney in the attic, brick by brick. We then progressed into my bedroom, brick by brick. We then had to throw each brick out the window and then load them into our truck for removal. We now have a big, gaping hole in our bedroom wall for the time being. With Jaiden's room being on the other side of the wall, we are going to make that space a closet for her room (old house, no closets).

We got our income tax back and now have the money to move forward! This past weekend, we started on the kitchen/bathroom/laundry room remodel. As I have said before, our house was build without plumbing. When the owners decided to install plumbing in the house, they sure didn't use common sense in the placing of the items. Our bathroom sits under the stairs that lead to our bedrooms. As you can imagine, there is not a lot of room there. We have never had a shower because there is no room to stand up straight when you are in certain areas. So, in order to have a shower, the bathroom has to be moved.

Next order of business is the kitchen sink. It is in its own separate room that separates the kitchen from the bathroom. My dad build some custom cabinets and besides the sink, that is all that is in the room. In thinking outside the box, I wanted my kitchen sink in the kitchen. Maybe I'll be starting a new trend(note the sarcasm here)!! This weekend, Ryan ran all of the plumbing a moved the sink into the kitchen. I tore down the walls in the old sinkroom to make way for tile for our new shower.

Once we get the bathroom moved to its new location (the old sinkroom), the old bathroom will be a laundry room. This will enable us to get the washer and dryer out of my kitchen.

As for part 2, we are waiting for our bathtub to come in, it had to be special ordered due to the smaller size. After that comes, we can really start seeing some major progress. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

This is the chimney up in the attic

Chimney is attic gone!

Looking down into the old pipes inside the chimney

Our bedroom wall. The circle is where the old pipe came out of the wall to heat the room

Almost gone!

The huge mess we had in our bedroom




This is the sink before.

This is the kitchen before


My sink is now where the table was in the picture above. It won't look as odd once we get rid of the old counter top, fill the rest of the space with cabinets, and get a new counter top that runs the span of the cabinets.

These are all of the old sinkroom where I tore the walls out.

Too Many Irons in the Fire

I have always been a person who cannot just do one things at a time. I read two books at once, work on two projects at the same time, and etc. I think this time though, I've got too many irons in the fire. I have got so much going on right now. For the last several days I have been developing a web site for the items I sell at the Farmer's Market. I this something I love and would like to expand it from a passion to an passion with an great income. I know this is something I can make happen, I've got got to put my full effort into it! I went online and downloaded the forms to become an LLC and go get a Federal ID number, I've just got to come up with the money for processing fees. I would love to expand this to be able to have a commercial kitchen with a store front. Right now, I operate under the Ohio Cottage Food Law which means, I cannot take orders over the internet, I cannot sell outside of Ohio, and I cannot sell food that need to be refrigerated. This does limit me as to what I can and cannot sell. I have some great recipes for pie, but cannot sell them do the the refrigeration part. Long story short, this is something my main focus is going to be on this year.

Also, as soon as we get our income tax money back, we are remodeling our house. In several ways I am looking forward to having a normal house, but then again, I am not looking forward to the huge mess this is going to create. Our plans are to knock out the wall the separates our kitchen and TV room. Not as easy as it sounds! The wall is a bloom wall, meaning it goes all the way up stairs. If we tear it out down here, our second floor would come crashing down, so we have to support the floor/ceiling to take out the wall. The second challenge is in the wall itself. The wall contains the old stove pipes that were once used in conjunction with the old coal stoves. The previous home owner did not take the pipes out when they converted to a "modern" heating system. Instead, they enclosed the pipes in concrete and walled it in. This shaft runs up all the way into the bloom wall. This means, we have to tear a hole in our bedroom wall and take out the concrete and carry it out. Now, why an I going through all of this trouble over wall, my kitchen will be expanded to the two rooms. I will be able to have my kitchen sink in the kitchen instead of it's own little room. I will also be able to have a shower!!! The room where my sink currently is will become my bathroom and my old bathroom a laundry room. This will get the washer and dryer out of my kitchen. This project will also allow me to have kitchen counters and cabinets (house built without them). I will take plenty of pictures so everyone can see what I'm talking about.

As of right now, I still don't have a desire to do anything crafty. I think I am just burnt out. My sister referred some people to me to hem pants and I turned them down. I just down want to go near my sewing machine right now. I know this will change, it better, I have too much fabric!

So, that is a brief summary of what's happening in my life right now. I will try to post on here as much as I can.

Tubby Little Snowman

One day, Jaiden started singing this song to me and I thought it was so cute! I had never heard it before. Last night we were down at my grandmonther's house and I asked her to sing it for me.

Here's Jaiden's singing debut:

King Cake

" The history of the King Cake has its roots in pre-Christian religions of Western Europe. Part of the Harvest celebrations that the pagans practiced was the sacrifice ritual. It was customary to choose a man to be the "sacred king" of the tribe for a year. That man would be treated like a king for the year, then he would be sacrificed, and his blood returned to the soil to ensure that the harvest would be successful. The method of choosing who would have the honor of being the sacred king was the purpose of the "King's Cake". Several men of the tribe, would eat of the cake A coin or bean would be placed in the cake before baking, and whoever got the slice that had the coin was the chosen one.

When Christianity extended its influence and began overshadowing the religions that came before it, many of the local customs were not outright abolished, but instead were incorporated into Christian tradition and given a new spin. Catholic priests were not predisposed to human sacrifice, so the King's Cake was converted into a celebration of the Magi, the three Kings who came to visit the Christ Child.
French settlers brought the custom to Louisiana in the 18th century where it remained associated with the Epiphany until the 19th century when it became a more elaborate Mardi Gras custom. In New Orleans, the first cake of the season is served on January 6. A small ceramic figurine of a baby is hidden inside the cake, by tradition. Whoever finds the baby is allowed to choose a mock court and host the next King Cake party the following week (weekly cake parties were held until Mardi Gras).

The classic king cake is oval-shaped, like the pattern of a racetrack. The dough is basic coffee-cake dough, sometimes laced with cinnamon, sometimes just plain. The dough is rolled out into a long tubular shape, then shaped into an oval. The ends are twisted together to complete the shape. The baby hidden in the cake speaks to the fact that the three Kings had a difficult time finding the Christ Child and of the fine gifts they brought.

The cake is then baked, and decorated when it comes out. The classic decoration is simple granulated sugar, colored purple, green, and gold (the colors of Carnival)."
The colored sugars on the cake also have meaning. The purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power.

The girls saw a picture of a king cake in a magazine and got excited and told me that we had to make one. Since we were snowed in again yesterday, the girls and I made our very first king cake. We all had a lot of fun making the cake, but it took us all day!

Since this was my very first king cake, it came with a learning experience. There are some things I will do differently next year. I think that the cake baked a little too long, the top was a little hard and we didn't care for the icing. I also changed the amount of cinnamon/sugar mixture that went into the filling and omitted the raisins.

The recipe listed is WITH my changes. **As a tip: Anytime the recipe says to "let rise in a warm place free from drafts", put the dough in the oven with just the oven light on. The oven keeps the dough free from drafts and the light adds the warmth the dough needs to rise. (thanks to my friend Tiffany for this tip!!)**

King Cake

Cake:
1 c. milk
1/2 stick margarine
2 (.25) pkgs. dry active yeast
2/3 c. warm water (110*F/45*C)
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 3/4 c. flour

Filling:
1 c. sugar
2 Tbl. cinnamon
1/2 stick margarine, melted

Icing:
1 stick plus 2 Tbl. margarine, melted
4 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4-8 Tbl. hot water

Colored Sugar
1 1/2 c. sugar, divided
red, green, blue and yellow liquid food coloring

1. In a medium sized bowl, dissolve yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, and warm water. Let rest for 5 minutes.
2. After 5 minutes, whisk the yeast to mix it until it is completely dissolves. Let stand in a warm place for 10 minutes.
3. Scald milk. remove from heat and add butter. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Place dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Add eggs. Using the dough hook, being mixing the dough. Very slowly, add the milk and the yeast mixture. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2hours.
6. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
7. Roll dough halves out into large rectangles, about 1/2". Brush with melted butter.
8. Mix cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle over each dough rectangle.
9. Roll up each dough, like a jelly roll. Place on a greased cookie sheet, using each roll to form a half circle. Pinch the ends of each roll together.
10. With sharp knife, make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals.
11. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
12. Bake at 350*F (175*C) for 20-25 minutes.
13. When cool, push the doll into the bottom of the cake and ice.
14. To make icing: In medium bowl, mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla; add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until glaze reaches desired spreading consistency.
15. For colored sugar: In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup of sugar with yellow food coloring. Whisk to incorporate the coloring. Repeat with the green, and the red and blue(purple). If you mix yellow first, then green, then purple, you can use the same bowl and whisk.
16. Sprinkle sugars over the icing.
17. Sit back, relax, and eat a piece of cake, you deserve it!!





History of the King Cake taken from Mardi Gras Digest

Name that Flag

First, I want to apologize, I know this is "Red Mommy Crafts", but I just do not have any inspiration to create or the desire to make any crafty right now. I think I am a little burnt out. However, I do want to continue posting different items. I know the crafting bug with hit me again, it's just not right now!

On with the post! Tomorrow night, a bunch of the family are getting together at my grandmother's house for dinner and to watch some of the Olympics. We are having a "Name that Flag" contest. So, I thought I would test your knowledge on the world's flags also. See how many you can get right. Answers will be posted Tuesday, after our dinner.

1.
A: Lesotho
B: Luxembourg
C: Liechtenstein



2.
A: Austria
B: Denmark
C: Poland


3.
A: Estonia
B: Laos
C: Greece


4.
A: Ghana
B: Germany
C: Jamaica


5.
A: Ivory Coast
B: India
C: Ireland

6.
A: Austria
B: Denmark
C: Latvia


7.
A: Mexico
B: Senegal
C: Morocco


8.
A: South Korea
B: Japan
C: Vietnam


9.
A: Jamaica
B: Cayman Islands
C: Bahamas

10.
A: United States
B: USA
C: United States of America


GOOD LUCK!!

All flag pictures are from Flags.net