Teeny Tiny Tip: Double Sided Tape

A few teeny tiny tips to make double sided tape easier to craft with | SuzerSpace.com

Double sided tape is a great weapon for a crafter.

It’s perfect for quick assembly.

But it can be frustrating if you don’t know a few tricks:

  1. Don’t be me, and buy 1″ wide tape. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but in reality, glue flaps on paper boxes are more normally in the 1/4 to 1/2″ range. I can’t wait until I use it up and can get a better size. Until then, I’m left to cut what I need, which is a sticky situation (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun 😉 )
  2. If you do need to cut your double stick tape, dedicate a cheap pair of scissors to the job. They will get gummed up and unusable, but at least this way you are not gumming up all of your good scissors.
  3. The best tool for removing the carrier (that part that isn’t sticky) from double stick tape is the hook from the Silhouette. I pick at the corner with the sharp point and then slide the hook underneath to pull it free.
April 25, 2017 by I made this In the Craft Room Links and Things To Remember

Sunday Scrolling: April 23, 2017

  • I’m not sure it’s possible for you to have missed the Unicorn Frappuccino event. Wondering what’s going to be next trend?
  • When you browse Pinterest, there are a jillion and one Mason Jar crafts. Here’s a neat craft blog that concentrates on them, with step-by-step tutorials.
  • I’m not sure if this is the exact recipe, but a co-worker brought in treats on Friday that were amazing (and I’m not a big chocolate lover, so this is big praise), and he said they were really simple to make.

None of the links in this post are affiliate; they are just items that caught my eye this week.

April 23, 2017 by Links and Things To Remember

Watering Can & Tulip Paper Flower Mobile

Watering can and tulip paper flower mobile | suzerspace.com

I’m not sure if I’m ever going to be able to cut and assemble enough three dimensional flower projects – every one I see has something new I want to try.

These tulips have been all over the place – I’ve seen them on craft blogs, Pinterest and even a version in a Papersource kit.

As always, I decided to put my a spin on the craft to really make it my own. And if you’d like to do my version (or just use it as a starting point for your own), free Silhouette Studio files are available at the end  of this post. Continue reading…

April 22, 2017 by I made this In the Craft Room Using my Silhouette Cameo

Foolproof rice

Foolproof rice cooking technique | suzerspace.com

I’m not sure if this is a recipe or a teeny tiny tip, so I’ll categorize it as both.

Making rice always seems more difficult than it should be. There’s that magic formula of water vs. rice and cooking time with the lid on that generally didn’t really work out that well for me. So I bought a rice cooker, and for about 10 years never gave rice a second thought.

Then last summer, a co-worker gifted me a box from one of the meal subscription services, and it contained a stuffed pepper recipe that featured a new-to-me method of rice cooking. And I’ve never gone back to the rice cooker – in fact, it has moved from the kitchen to the basement, along with other one-trick appliances that aren’t earning their keep.

The technique is ridiculously simple – you just prepare rice as if it were pasta.

Cook rice like pasta for a foolproof dish

Bring a pot of water to boil, add rice, continue to boil uncovered until the rice is cooked to your desired finish. Drain and serve.

Never too crunchy or too soggy. The only caveat on this method is to make sure the holes in your colander are small enough to catch the rice and not let it all go down the drain.

Foolproof Rice

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup uncooked rice

Directions

  1. Bring a medium to large pot of water to a rolling boil.
  2. Add rice to pot, reduce heat slightly so it doesn’t boil over and stir.
  3. Keep rice cooking at a boil, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
  4. Test occasionally beginning at about the 15 minute mark (longer if you are using brown rice).
  5. Remove from heat when rice is cooked to your desired finish. Drain and serve. Don’t forget to freeze the leftovers.

April 20, 2017 by I made this In the Kitchen

Teeny Tiny Tip: Microwave Splatter Shield

An old food storage container lid makes an excellent microwave splatter shield

I’m a big fan of kitchen gadget stores. I love to browse the catalogs, websites and the actual aisles, looking at tools, appliances and decorator items.

But I rarely buy anything. I like to be resourceful and use what I have. Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

Take microwave splatter shields. Really good idea. I hate, hate, hate to clean the microwave (true fact: more than once I’ve thought about just buying a new one instead of scrubbing something off the ceiling of the existing one). But they seem really expensive for what they are.

Last winter, in a fit of organizing, I threw away or gave away all my mismatched plastic food storage containers and switched over to glass. At the last second, I snatched two very sturdy lids back from the pile.

Why? Because they were the perfect size to use as splatter shields for my  bowls. They cover almost all of the top of the bowl, but let a little space exist on the corners for steam to escape.

And they are sturdy enough to use as a placemat/trivet for the hot item to be carried from the microwave to the coffee table.

You do eat all your meals on your coffee table, right? 🙂

April 18, 2017 by I made this In the Kitchen Links and Things To Remember
I'm a Pre-Press Super Hero by Day. A mild-mannered nerd at night. The SuzerSpace is my place to showcase all that I enjoy and want to share.

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