Cardboard Stars

I love three things, decorating with natural color, recycling and food. The last having nothing to do with this post!

These starts are made out of cardboard that everyone has around the house, mine are a popcorn box and a cereal box.

Cut out the star shape using a stencil, here is the one I used, star cut out

Then you need to score the cardboard from each point straight down, so 5 scores. I used my kitchen scissors. After scored go ahead and fold on the scores, some folds will be out and some will be in. You will be able to tell which one is which while your doing it.

Then go ahead and leave them their great natural color or paint white for a more antique look.

Cork Ball

Once I saw this fabulous cork ball posted by Andrea Jenkins, a fellow Spartan, on her blog  All Put Together I knew that it was something I needed to create for myself asap.

 
I ran to Michael's and picked up a Styrofoam ball. Why are they so darn pricey.  I decided I would paint my ball a light blue as that is one of the main colors of my living room, though in hindsight Andrea's idea to paint it brown was a much better as it makes the Styrofoam less noticeable once completed.

The corks I had been collecting for about a year only got me half way through the ball. 240 are used for the 6'' ball, according to Andrea. I am not patient enough to count! Thankfully, my Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb had about 400 corks that they shipped off to me at a minutes notice!

Supplies:
- Styrofoam ball
- Brown paint
- Hot glue gun and hot glue
- Corks, corks and more corks (separated between white and red)

First paint the ball brown, let dry. These foam brushes work really well. Yes, I realized mine is maroon not brown!

Second, hot glue the corks to the ball by placing a dab on each cork and holding it for 10-20 seconds on the ball.

Third, enjoy

Spoon Mirror

Like most of my peers I too participated in Sunday Funday, though unlike most, my Sunday Funday consisted of a trip to Michael's and 101 plastic spoons.

I saw this amazing mirror on pintrest so I checked out the link at Country Living to see if there was anything tricky about making it and much to my surprise there wasn't. I actually made it for under $6!

Supplies:
- 101 plastic spoons in your choice of color (I used clear and silver spray paint) (48 for $1 at the Dollar store)
- 16 inch mirror (Michael's $2.50 with 50% off coupon)
 - Hot glue gun and glue

Simply glue the first round of spoons around the mirror by their handles and the place the second row on top a little lower than the first trying to keep them offset of the first row.

Simple and Chic at its best!

Squash Risotto

I don't want to fool anyone, I am not a good cook. I made this recipe tonight in an effort to use the acorn squash chilling in my fridge and much to my surprise it was really good. I did everything a little wrong and it still turned out amazing. I figured it was my duty to post for other aspiring chefs to try for themselves. It is, dare I say, fool proof!

Scooping the squash out is a little tricky but worth it in the end.

I made a few alterations so feel free to stray from the recipe with whatever is in your cupboards or fridge. (I would definitley make sure you add the wine, chicken stock and Parmesan cheese)

+ I added kale
+ I used pecans instead of sunflower seeds
+ I added some ginger juice that I had after grating the ginger in my fridge to freeze.
+ I used Two Buck Chuck from TJ's which is probably not classified as 'good white wine'.

This would be great for a side dish, unless you are a single sole like me and eat all side dishes as entrees!

Some day I will have an assistant who can take amazing pictures while I cook, until then this is what you get. This is mid cook, the liquid eventually evaporated.


Recipe from About.com:

Prep Time: 15 minutes 

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of acorn squash 'balls' (use a melon baller or parisienne scoop)
• 2 ounces of extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of chopped onion
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 cup of good white wine
• 2-3 cups of rich chicken broth (I just used one cup water and a chicken Bullion cube)
• 1 Tablespoon of minced rosemary (I used 1 tsp of dried)
• 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup of toasted sunflower seeds (I used chopped pecans)
• Salt and pepper
• I added kale that I had in the fridge so feel free to add some veggies

Preparation:

Heat a thick bottomed pot large enough to accommodate almost all of the squash in a single layer. Heat the pot until it is very hot than in quick succession add the olive oil and acorn squash. Stir the squash quickly as it caramelizes and the outside of the balls begin to darken (5min). When they are well toasted reduce the heat to medium and add the onions. Stir for a few minutes as the onion also caramelizes a bit. Add the garlic and stir until it is fully aromatized, a minute more.

Add the white wine and stir as it reduces coating the squash. Reduce the heat to low. Add half of the chicken broth and rosemary and continue stirring as the squash cooks. If needed add more of the chicken broth until the squash is just cooked (20min). Adjust the heat as needed trying to evaporate the liquid and glaze and cook the squash simultaneously.

When the squash is tender (not mushy), add the Parmesan cheese, sunflower seeds, and season to taste with the salt and pepper.

Serve the risotto immediately or hold for 5 minutes before serving.

Looking Glass Spray Paint

Shout it from the rooftops, Windy City Recessionista is back!

Yes, that's right, my 11th month blogging hiatus has come to and end. I hope you are as excited as I am. I have been busy and a lot has changed in the past 11 months though thanks to Pinterest I have once again decided to make time in my life for crafting and creativity.

Last year I was lucky enough to get a few cans of spray paint imported from Michigan by my adoring family to fulfill my crafting needs. Spray paint is illegal to sell in Chicago. Whether this ban affects graffiti artist or crafters more is debatable. Though this year I have found a way around the law thanks to my other addiction, Amazon. I ordered a can of Kylon Looking Glass spray paint and four days later I was ready to attempt to make my own Mercury glass.

Chicago along with much of the country has had an incredibly mild winter (knock on wood) which is not only great for those with seasonal depression but also those with a spray paint addiction. I have been saving wine bottles for the past few months to take out all my spray painting aggressions on. Though after painting the 10 I had my thirst was not quenched requiring me to shamelessly rummage through my neighbors recycling bins in search of more glass to transform.

This old light bulb is actually one of my favorites and with any luck I will have enough to decorate my Christmas tree next year. (please save me lightbulbs or anything else that spray paint adheres to) See: hoarders.  To achieve the mercury glass affect you need to first spray the surface with water so the paint does not adhere evenly and while still wet you will apply the paint.

A few mercury glass containers. The jelly jar second from the left is an awesome shape for a vase though the Duvel beer bottle on the far right is by far my favorite, I also like how the paint looks on the dark brown glass of beer bottles. Duvel is also delicious which makes it more appealing!

This was a green two buck chuck bottle that I sprayed white and let dry. Then, I covered it with Elmers spray adhesive and coated it in Epsom salt. Note, spray adhesive is much stronger than one would assume, try very hard not to get it on your skin. Use any kind of oil to get it off if you are unsuccessful, ie vegtable oil.

Everyone can be expecting some of the beauties very soon as my mantle is one of about 3 flat display surfaces in my house so I have no where to put all of my creations!

Yes, those are my zoo animal prints I posted about last year in the background!

Other techniques used: Silver and gold spray paint, clear bottles with white poster paint covering the inside and a bottle wrapped in yarn (the most time consuming of all!)

With a few bottles of spray paint and a few free glass containers you to can reuse recylebin goodies and create beautiful decorations. Or better of get drinking that wine!

B/W cutouts

I can't believe I am admitting this to the world, I am a packrat. I hate throwing things away, even egg cartons sometimes. I just can't help but think of all the cool things I could make with them! I have yet to get to the hoarders level, but based on my collection of lip gloss and chapstick I would say I am getting dangerously close.

Last fall I was parking my car and found some abandoned canvases in the alley. As you can see there are 4 separate pieces and at first I though it might just a cool abstract design, though unfortunately that was not the case.  It was a North Carolina tribute, yes I realize it is upside down and maybe backwards haha but this blue blob is not the real focus of the post. These sat around my house for a few months before I walked by a local gift store and got my inspiration for the beautiful and simple black, white and book pictures above.

In Windy Recessionista Style these photos where easy and cheap to make. The backgrounds consist of black posterboard (2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree), the giraffe picture is covered with pages of a book ($1 at the Dollar Tree). I looked up pictures on Google Images and simply sketched them on to the paper. Done and Done.

Thank you goes out to my darling grandmother for sneaking the spray paint in to the Chicago city limits. They don't sell it here in an effort to stop graffiti and tagging which obviously is still going on. Alas the ban really just affects us crafters. Buh, when I am elected Mayor of Chicago....

 Ostrich with silver frame

 Elephant

   Giraffe

I am not sure how I got on a jungle theme as it matches nothing in my current decor but luckily I have two frames left and I plan on being a little more girly with these.

Breakfast Chilaquiles

Some times you just can't stomach another bowl of oatmeal and its desperation like this that breads creativity! After a trip to a celebrity chef run Mexican restaurant in Chicago by the name of XOCO I decided I needed to recreate one of my favorite dishes from there, chilaquiles. This dish is easy to make and a very filling way to start any busy day.

Supplies needed:
frying pan
small oven safe croc
2 eggs
tortilla chips
salsa
beans
cheese

1) Scramble eggs in a pan on the stove. Do it however you normally do, I like to add a dash of milk to increase fluffy-ness.
2) Line the bottom of your oven safe ceramic dish with tortilla chips. Top with Eggs, beans, salsa, and cheese and place in the broiler until the cheese is melted. Once out of the oven you will want to portion it out into anther serving dish as the cooking dish will be too hot to handle!
3) Enjoy!

You can do many variations with this adding green pepper and onion to your eggs, hot sauce for a little extra kick, or maybe some nice creamy guacamole. Now its up to you to get creative!