.:news paper mache birds wall art:.& .:rosemary lemon chicken:.

.:hello:. friends... today was a rainy day and I did some crafts AND made a delicious dinner. Two of my most favorite things to do. First off I am going to show you how to make some pretty wall art. Very easy to do, just takes a little patients, wal-mart, and a printer! Here we go.

Supplies:
two canvas's of what ever size you would like
newspaper
mod podge
water
brushes
permanent marker
black piant
scissors
spray paint

Start by....

Prepping your canvas.

I just sprayed half hazardously all over. no direction. just a few squirts. you will cover most of it up anyway. You could just splatter or paint if you do not have spray paint. However, spray paint is CHEAP and fun to work with. Keep that in mind(: I ended up spray painting our patio. Because, I am an air head and really didn't think about what I was doing...oops.

Next...let it dry and in the mean time start ripping up your paper. The original project used an old book. I do not have an old book to rip up. I did however have newspaper. It also did not use ANY color. I love color so came up with this idea.

now its time for MOD PODGE.If you have never used this, then you are seriously missing out.

water, sponge brush,mod podge,newspaper, birds(we will get to that)

Put some mod on your sponge brush and brush it onto your paper. 

Then dip your brush in water and brush it over the paper on the canvas.

I have not perfected the method of application. You can also put Mod onto the canvas and then stick wet paper onto and brush it smooth. Mod podge is water based...so it works well with water for sticking to things.

All done. Now it needs to dry. In the mean time this is what I did.

"googled" small birds and found the ones I liked. I wanted a side few and a front few. Then I opened then in paint shop and either shrunk them or enlarged them so they would be the right size. Then I printed them in "grey scale" so I wouldn't waste color. Cut them out carefully and WAIT!

Put up and decorated my tree. That little monster is under the tree waiting for me to leave so he can eat the balls hanging from it.

Then I made dinner. This was DELICIOUS.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken. Recipe is at the end.

Then we ATE it and watched X-Factor.

All dry!

Now I took the spray paint and squirted a little over the canvas to make everything really pop.

Take a pencil and out line your tree, then go over it with a black marker.

trace your birds on.

I love this black paint because it has a sparkly finish.

now paint in the rest of it black and let it dry!

FINISHED!

These are the first ones I made. They hang in my mother-in-laws house above the piano. I am honored.

.:well I hope this was helpful and inspiring. I hope you all try this because it was worth it! The rosemary lemon chicken recipe is below. I picked it up from a cooking class so I hope the instructions will be helpful if you try and make it on your own:.

Rosemary lemon chicken:

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon

1/4 cup of flour

6 medium chicken thighs/4 large

6 medium cloves of garlic thinly sliced or chopped

1 tbl. Rosemary

1/8 tsp. red pepper

1 C chicken broth

1/2 C white wine(or red)

2 Tbl. lemon juice and zest

4 pats of butter

salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a large skillet over med-high heat until crisp but not over done. move bacon to a plate to drain. 

Remove all but 2 tbl. of bacon fat.

Place flour, salt and pepper in shallow dish. Dredge chicken in flour. Brown chicken on both sides. You MUST be patient during the browning because a lot of flavor will come from this. You want them to be a nice golden brown on both sides. Depending on the size of the chicken may take 10 mins on first side 7-10 on the opposite side.

GOLDEN!

When your chicken is brown reduce heat and add garlic, rosemary, and pepper flakes.

Cook until garlic is aromatic-2 mins

Add wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add bacon and chicken broth. Bring the broth to a boil and then add lemon juice and zest(also added mushrooms at this point but not necessary if you don't like them). cook 12-15 mins simmering, turning chicken often, until sauce is thick and glossy.

Chicken must be 165F/75C

adjust seasonings and serve.

I served with wild rice and asparagus! oh and I added mushrooms.

Cheers!

.:stephanie:.