Tiki Torches

It’s going to be in the upper 70s today!  

I don’t know about you but I can NOT wait for summer and all the good things it brings like grilling, bonfires, beers and hookah on the patio. Brad and I recently “discovered” Zavotski Meats & Deli.  I say “discovered” because we've known about it for a while now and have said countless times “we should go there instead of House of Meats since it’s so close,” but House of Meats although a farther drive, was familiar to us.  Finally, we decided to walk over to Zavotski after the gym one day; I’m so glad we did.  This past weekend we had two of the most amazing chicken burgers, one was tomato basil and the other was blue cheese and jalapeno, no condiments needed.

Last night we used our time to make something that could only enhance our outdoor summer.  What we need is something to keep those pesky bugs away while enjoying sitting outside on the patio.  We could just go out and buy a citronella candle or some tiki torches but that’s so cliché and boring, so we decided to make our own.

I found this pin on Pinterest labeled “DIY tiki torch wine bottles that look pretty and keep the mosquitoes away.”  Perfect. 

Picture from "When Pigs Fly"

What you need:

•  Empty and clean bottle
• Tiki Torch wick refill
• Tiki Torch citronella lamp oil
• 3/8” metal washer
• Funnel
• (Optional) Decorative rocks

We got everything we needed (except the bottles) at Home Depot.  I’m not sure they sell small bags of decorative rock there, we picked smaller ones from a bag of leftover rocks we bought last summer, from Home Depot’s garden area.  We found the wick refill and torch fuel in the lawn and garden section and the washers with the nuts and bolts. 

We decided to use Corona bottles instead of wine bottles. I think drinking Corona screams summer, but maybe that’s from watching all those Corona commercials, I guess those advertisers earned their paycheck.  I took one of the bottles with me to Home Depot to make sure to buy washers that would were the right size; you want them big enough to sit flush on top of the bottle opening.

Making Tiki Torches:

1. Fill the bottle with decorative rocks to your desired height, this part is optional as the rocks are for decoration only. Since we used Corona bottles instead of wine bottles we ended up having to cut the wicks so they would fit into the bottles without touching the rocks.
2. Using your funnel, fill the bottle with Tiki Torch Oil.  We filled ours just above the bottom of the bottle neck.
3. Fit your wick into the center of a metal washer so about 1/4" is sticking out from the top.
4. Place the long side of the wick into the bottle, the weight of the wick and washer will hold the washer in place on the top of the bottle.  This is why we had to cut our wicks, they were sitting on the rocks instead of hanging in the bottles, causing the washer to be unable to sit flush on the bottle opening.

I was surprised at how quickly the wicks soaked up the fuel, I was able to light them almost immediately.

We kept them lit for a short time to make sure they worked and I'm happy say they worked PERFECTLY.  When kept lit for a while the bottles start to turn black, as you can see below.  This is normal, it's just soot and will wipe off with dry towel.

Thank you to my awesome helpers, Brad and Maggie!

Reviving Your Mascara

I usually post once a week but I was so excited about this that I have to share.You may already know about this little trick, and if so, why didn't you ever tell me?!?!?!

It's so annoying when my mascara begins to dry out because I know there is more in the tube but it's just become unusable.  I hate throwing it away because it seems like a waste of money to only use half the tube but again, it's become unusable.  I always try to use get use out of mine long after it's time to throw in the towel and my current tube is no exception; it still works, just not nearly as well. 

I've never been so glad that my husband wears contacts, because after adding just a few drops of his contact solution to my mascara; 

It works like new again!

Easter Treats

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter this past Sunday and I hope the Easter Bunny was kind to you and your little ones.  I must be getting old because the Easter Bunny no longer brings me a basket or hides colored eggs, although someone gave me a great idea when she told me they hide and find bottles of beer!  Sign me up for that Easter Hunt.

My nieces and nephews had fun finding eggs at my parents.  My mom put on a wonderful family gathering again this holiday, as she usually does. We have a pretty big family so we do potluck style dinners on holidays although I'm not sure why, as my mom always buys and makes way more food than she needs too.  Regardless, we do potlucks and I've been getting pretty crafty with what I take. I'm really proud of the Race Car Bunnies I made for dessert this Easter.

Aren't they ADORABLE?!

They were really easy to make too and I'm going to show you how.



Here is everything you are going to need:

• Small pretzel twists
• Plain M&Ms
• White frosting
• Bunny Peeps
• Twinkies (unfortunately there are no Twinkies right now, so I used Kroger knock-off Twinkies)
• Marshmallows

 

Start by cutting a 2 inch space out of the "Twinkie,"  eat this part (yes you have to because good Twinkie shouldn't go to waste.)  Don't cut all the way through, you want it to still be attached at the bottom.  Also you should make this cut closer to one end of the Twinkie, the longer end will be the front of your race car.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next you will stick (almost) everything together with frosting.  


 
 
 
 
For two wheels, cut a regular sized marshmallow in half (two marshmallows per car), I found the easiest way to do this was with scissors.  The scissors tend to get sticky, so you will need to wash them often. 
 
 
 


Okay, so I don't have any pictures of the next steps because I didn't find a good way to do it until halfway through making these.  I originally tried to "glue" the M&M hubcaps on the wheels with frosting like I did with all the other parts, but the M&M's kept falling off.  After failing with this technique I tried sticking the M&M's to the sticky side of the freshly cut marshmallow and found that it stuck amazing well on it's own.  After you cut the marshmallow just push the M&M onto the sticky side with some force, then frost the opposite side of the marshmallow and stick to the Twinkie.
 
 
 
 Tell me what you think!  Would you make these for your next Easter get together?