Paula Deen's Potato and Ham Soap

I found this recipe online and made it with some leftover ham from Christmas, it was quick, easy and the whole family loved.

2 cups of ham cut into small pieces

5 lbs of baking potatoes peeled and diced

1/2 stick of butter

salt and pepper

1 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup sour cream

Put your potatoes in a large pot and add just enough water to cover them. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then uncover and cook on med-high 20 minutes. Reduce heat and add ham and the butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Over low heat add the sour cream and half-and-half; keep warm over low heat till serving time.

I served mine with some warm bread and a veggie.

The Junk Mammas

Wishing....

You and your family a very safe and Merry Christmas!

The Junk Mammas

The elves are busy

The elves have been busy around here lately as well as the rest of America. I wanted to do a small "gift" for my son's preschool class, and I remembered one that was in a Martha Stewart Mag.



But 3 and 4 year olds just don't need a whole candy bar, so I used the hersery snack size candy bars not to be confused with the minuture herserys bars. Not that is what happened at our house.


Now am off to make 18 more for my daughters class and peppermint popcorn for the school party.

I also love this idea for a little neighbor gift from Nanny Goat , who also has the tags to download for free. Who can't use any extra roll around the holidays.



The Junk Mammas

Need a last minute dessert?

Looking for the perfect ending for your Thanksgiving meal? Try this quick and easy no bake cheese cake. I have made this for the last couple of years as an alternative to just regular pumpkin pie. The kids love it and the adults enjoy it as well.


What you need

1 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese softened

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 sugar

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 1/2 cups of cool whip topping thawed

1 graham cracker pie crust or 6 individuals crusts

mini chocolate chips (optional)

Make it


Beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice with electric mixer until well blended.

Gently stir in cool whip.

Spoon mixture into crust. Top with mini chocolate chips.

Refrigerate 3 hours or over night.



Wishing you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving!


The Junk Mammas

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Junk Mamma Jenny!

I won't tell anyone that you are 40 today, oh I mean 39!

Weekend finds

Despite the crazy evening I spent with blogger last night, I did manage to hit a couple of sales and score some goods early this morning.

I got this cute cabinet that opens with little cubbies inside. Not as all sure what to put inside it, but these images below from Pottery Barn should help inspire me.

Also, picked up some misc. glassware and a pair of shutters. Shutters seem to suck me whenever I see them. Hope there was some junkin going on in your weekend!

The Junk Mammas

New look

This was my first attempt at a new look for our blog, without a clue what I was doing. The whole process was very confusing and turned out not so great. Please bear with us as we may need to get some professional help. :)


The Junk Mammas

Junkin @ JUNK BONANZA

Can I just say- WE LOVED JUNK BONANZA!! We went to the cites on Wednesday night, and were up bright and early on Thursday. Headed to Canterbury Park around 7:00 a.m., to insure we had a good spot in line.

I wasn't great at taking pictures, my hands were literally full of the stuff, we made one trip back to the car to unload.

They had the coolest junk there, and the jewelry was incredible. The place was one great vendor after the next. You know how you find one cool booth at a flea market or art fair, this whole entire place had great stuff.

Can not wait until next year!!

The Junk Mammas

Good times

Spent a great day with friends last Saturday. We went to the Burr Oak Winery for the fall festival to start our day. Wine tasting, lunch and even some grape stomping.

Next stop was the outlet mall in Wisconsin Dells, where few deals were to be had.

Last, dinner at Monks. This is one of my all time favorite places to eat in the dells, they have a philly cheese steak that is to die for.

Was home by 9:00 and in bed around 10:00.

The Junk Mammas

Junk Bonanza

Junk Bonanza here we come...Just received our early bird tickets and we are on the count down until we go on the 16th. If your planning on attending let us know, we love to meet fellow bloggers.

The Junk Mammas

Barn Sale

We are vendors this year, last year we were just shoppers. If you are in our neck of the woods please stop by and say hello and check out all the really fabulous JUNK!

The Junk Mammas

It's almost here

With school starting on Wednesday fall is just around the corner. With fall comes one of our favorite holidays ~Halloween. While paging through some new catalogs I can across some great things for the season.

Love these shortbread cookie fingers from William Sonoma. They look pretty easy to make and would make a ghoulish table accent.

Who doesn't love PB kids? They have a Halloween count down calender and I love the other stuff in this picture like the word BOO under the cloches.

PB kids also has these decals, I think these would be pretty simple to pull off. The Internet has some great free clip art.




Love these white painted pumpkins by Martha Stewart, I will hopefully have some time this fall to paint a few.


The Junk Mammas

Maddie's Pink Party

My baby just turned 6 years old last week and we celebrated in Pink!

A purple pinata was turned pink with a little cut up tissue paper.

Above the birthday girl was taking a break from it all.

In the back ground you can barely see the banner I made for a previous birthday party with pink scrapbook paper.

I filled my shade tent ceiling with pink balloons, streamers, paper pom poms and a chandelier I picked up a few years ago from a sale.

The table cloth was made from pink fabric with a little ball fringe and I just used dishes and stuff I had around the house and filled them with anything pink I could find.

For lunch the girls had jelly sandwiches cut into shapes, grape kabobs, bugles and strawberry soda.

The Junk Mammas

Target fabulous find

I saw these cute canisters shopping at Target today. Can I justify the price tag of $51.97 for all three. I do have birthday money left. I'd better decide soon cause everything cute flies out of our Target.

The Junk Mammas

Gracie's 7th Birthday Party

We celebrated my daughters 7th birthday this past weekend. Thankfully the weather cooperated, because I didn't plan for an inside party. It was wet and humid when I set up in the morning and I was really fretting over where to have the party inside or outside. Once I decided things fell into place.




My daughter picked a bird theme. Really. She has been into birds for about a year, so I went with it before she changed her mind to Pokemon.

The table was set up for to make bird houses, I love to start with a craft, it seems to settle the kids down a little bit. Even my neighbor commented how quiet the 8 kids were being. I used chairs and bedspreads that had been picked up from the the curb or garage sales to set the table. The party chandelier was made using the tissue paper pom poms and lanterns from Micheal's. Some of the pom poms I made from this tutorial and some were from the Martha Stewart kit.





The birdhouses the kids made looked cute hanging on the fence drying.

I also sewed the pendent garland. I was going to make some more they were kinda fun to make. Last minute I decided to make a mini garlands for the birdcages. I also used the leftover fabric to embellish the gift bags with a simple bird motif. The favor included a bird whistle and lip gloss or toy airplane. The bird whistle you fill with water and they really sound like birds chirping. I purchased them off amazon.



The project that nearly killed me was the pinata. Last week the weather was very humid, and the paper mache layers took forever to dry. I am an impatient crafter, so this was not a favorite project for me. I had to enlist my husband at the end to put the hanger in it. So if you make a pinata plan accordingly.





Another party for the memory book.

The Junk Mammas

Pickles

Refrigerator pickles are a quick, easy and a delicious way to use extra cumbers. Mine uses 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup vinegar, a teaspoon of course salt and some dill sprigs. (cucumbers and onions of course)

I put everything except the dill in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Next, I pour it over my cut up cucumbers and onions, add some dill and refrigerate overnight. By morning you have flavorful pickles and as they are eaten you can keep adding cucumbers to the mix.

The Junk Mammas

Picnic clean up tip

Growing up we went on alot of picnics. Parks and kids equal dirt. And my mother always packed a soapy water jar for cleaning up us kids. Wipes just can't handle the job when the kids are really dirty. Now I do the same. I find it easiest to use a wide mouth jar, so I can get my hand in it easily. I add a few drops of dish soap, fill'er up with water, and drop in a dishcloth. Now your set. Picnic on!!

It was a good morning!

I found the new Country Home magazine the other day at Walmart. Yippeee! It wasn't cheap $12.99, but Walmart does discount magazines. So my perfect morning included Country Home, iced latte, a raspberry white chocolate scone and watching my kids ride there bike up and down the block. Ahh summer!

Junk Mammas

Craigslist find

Here is my latest craigslist score, a Broyhill coffee table for $40.00. The seller had the end tables when I first looked at it, but they were gone by the time I was ready to make the purchase.


While I don't love the finish, this table has great bones I love the rounded legs, square top and it's the perfect size to accessorize and leave a space for the kids to play.

I usually sit on my projects a while, but this one I wanted to get started on right away. I sanded it down to bare wood on the top only. The legs I left because I was planning on painting them. I choose a dark stain for the top, Ace Hardware brand Jacobean.

I used 2 coats of stain and 3 coats of poly on the top. Next on to the legs, I painted those cottage white with Behr paint plus primer 2 coats.

Here is the finished project, I might distress the legs a little, but for now I am just enjoying a project I have completed.

The Junk Mammas

New Camera

About a month ago I bought a new camera, the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS. Don't let the size fool you, this camera takes some great pictures, in addition to being super small and easy to carry.

It also has a great feature on it, where you can pick a color from your subject and the rest of the picture appears in black and white.

Below is a picture I took of some pink peonies my mom brought me.

This camera comes in different colors and for under $300.00 complete with case and memory card this camera is a winner in my book.

The Junk Mammas

Lordy Lordy one of the Junk Mammas is "40"

You say it's your birthday.......

New years eve 13+ years ago, the Junk Mammas knew how to live it up.

Mad scientist for Halloween, one of our favorite holidays and costumes!

years before we were 3 blind mice, not sure who or where the 3rd mouse was.


Here's the birthday girl posing for a shot. Happy Birthday my dear friend Kim!!!!


Remember 40 is the new 20!

The Junk Mammas(Jen)