Home Made Acrylic Pen

Overview: I made this pen for my brother-in-law and thought you might like to see it. For more information and supplies you can click here for a company called "Craft Supplies USA" for many wood tools and products. Making a high quality pen is inexpensive if you have access to a lathe and only takes 30-45 minutes. The blocks of material are as low as $2.00 and the hardware (the pocket clip and the actual pen with ink cartridge) can be as low as $4.00.

This picture shows the block from which you make a pen. These are some acrylic blocks. The pen I made came from a block closely resembling the top block.

These are cherry wood blanks.

Here is my finished product for my brother-in-law. I really like the acrylic blocks because they make great designs on the pen. I am sorry there are no step-by-step pictures here. I didn't have my camera while I was making it and was under a timed deadline to get out of the shop.

Living Room Upgrade - Wainscot and Chair Rail

Overview: This was a great project at my friend Greg's home. He wanted to add some character to his living room. Putting up Wainscot and Chair Rail was an easy and fairly inexpensive way to do this since we did all of the labor ourselves. So Greg, Cody, I did this all in one evening. He and his wife painted the room red beforehand and took off the old baseboards. They bought a kit at Home Depot which includes baseboards, wainscoting, and the top/chair rail which assembles easily. They said they spent a little over $200 for this whole room. Check out the before and after pictures below:

Before:

After:

The next step is to caulk any gaps, paint all of the wainscot, and do minor touch up painting on the red walls. This took us about 6 hours to complete and dramatically changed this room giving it a charming atmosphere. Please feel free to ask any questions about the installation. To see a 4 minute video of the product from Home Depot, click here. Enjoy!

The next phase is to put crown molding along the ceiling.

Orange Rolls

Overview: This is an addition to my flavorful cinnamon rolls which you can find here. Follow the instructions there until you get to where the dough is rolled out and ready for the cinnamon.

Once the dough is rolled out, spread a 1/2 cup of melted butter over the dough. You don't need to use it all but make sure there is butter over all the dough.

Above you will see that I did half cinnamon and half orange. You can do the same thing or do all of it with cinnamon or orange. For cinnamon, click on the link above. For orange rolls, get two oranges and grate the outside of the oranges into a bowl. I only used 1 orange for the picture above because it was half.

With a spoon, spread the orange zest over the dough.

Roll the dough up and then use dental floss to cut the dough into rolls and place into grease pyrex pan.

Cook for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Spicy Pumpkin Pie

Overview: This is a special recipe from my Mom who got it from her Mom which has been passed down from the beginning of time that is pretty much to die for.

Start out by turning on your oven to 450 degrees.

Mix and blend the following into a bowl:
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1-1/2 Cups Pumpkin Pie Filling (1 can worth)
1 teaspoon Ginger
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Mace
1/4 teaspoon Cloves (ground)
2 Eggs
2 Tablespoons Flour
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Milk

Pour contents on bowl into a ready made pie crust. If you are using one purchased from the store, continue reading below. If you are needing to make a delicious and easy one from scratch click here for instructions.

Place the pie in the oven set at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Then turn the temperature down to 375 degrees and bake for 45 minutes.

If your crust starts to darken too much, cover the crust with aluminum foil like this picture.

It is a tradition in my family with pumpkin pie to use the extra dough and carve out a pumpkin like the one that is pictured above.

Please disregard the knife wounds. These were from testing to see if the pie was ready. When you test your pie to see if it is done (putting a knife or other skinny object in the pie to see if it comes out clean) don't worry if it doesn't come out clean. Usually pumpkin pies set fully once they start cooling out of the oven. Try your knife test twice if you are worried (not 4 times like me) and then pull it out of the oven.

Enjoy.

Click below for other pie recipes:

Cherry Pie

Apple Pie

Apple Pie

Overview: If you are using a store bought pie crust continue reading below. If you want to make an easy and delicious crust from scratch click here.

Turn your oven on to 450 degrees.

Start out with your pie crust recently placed in your pie pan. Place 1 - 2 cans of apple filling into your pie pan. I prefer not to skimp at all when it comes to a pie filling. I figure that if I am going to spend the time making the dough from scratch so that the pie will taste better, I need to spend some extra money to buy cans of the better quality apples so that the pie will be superb.

Then roll out the extra dough left over from the pie dough that I cut off from the crust to make the top lattice of the apple pie.Once rolled out to the thickness of between 1/16" - 1/8", use a pizza cutter to cut strips.

I used the picture of a cherry pie because I did not have one of the apple pie at this stage. Start by placing all needed strips of dough in one direction only. Then pull pack every other strip and place another strip going perpendicular at the end of the pie pan. Once placed, replace all previously moved strips to their original position. Continue by pulling back all of the strips that were not pulled back the first time. Place another strip perpendicular to the those that you pulled back and continue in this pattern creating a weaved effect. This may take a few tries to master but the end result is well worth the effort. The mouths of those about to eat your masterpiece will start to drool simply by looking at your pie because it is so beautiful.

Once you have created the latticed top, roll up the edges to form a crust on the lip of the pan. Use your fingers to create a decorative crust as pictured above or here.

Place pie in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Then turn down the heat of the oven to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes.

Make sure to place a pan or aluminum foil underneath of the apple pie because they are famous for boiling over.

Make sure to watch over your pie once you turn the temperature down to 350 degrees because the crust may start to burn. If the crust is browning to fast, cover the crust with pieces of aluminum foil for the remaining cooking time.

Now you have a gorgeous apple pie that is waiting to be eaten.

Make sure that you let it cool down for at least 10-15 minutes before you eat it.

Click below for other pie recipes:

Cherry Pie

Spicy Pumpkin Pie

Cherry Pie

Overview: If you are using a store bought pie crust continue reading below. If you want to make an easy and delicious crust from scratch click here.

Turn your oven on to 450 degrees.

Start out with your pie crust recently placed in your pie pan. Place 1 - 2 cans of cherries into your pie pan. I prefer not to skimp at all when it comes to a pie filling. I figure that if I am going to spend the time making the dough from scratch so that the pie will taste better, I need to spend some extra money to buy cans of the better quality cherries so that the pie will be superb.

Then roll out the extra dough left over from the pie dough that I cut off from the crust to make the top lattice of the cherry pie. Once rolled out to the thickness of between 1/16" - 1/8", use a pizza cutter to cut strips.

Start by placing all needed strips of dough in one direction only. Then pull pack every other strip and place another strip going perpendicular at the end of the pie pan. Once placed, replace all previously moved strips to their original position. Continue by pulling back all of the strips that were not pulled back the first time. Place another strip perpendicular to the those that you pulled back and continue in this pattern creating a weaved effect. This may take a few tries to master but the end result is well worth the effort. The mouths of those about to eat your masterpiece will start to drool simply by looking at your pie because it is so beautiful.

Once you have created the latticed top, roll up the edges to form a crust on the lip of the pan. Use your fingers to create a decorative crust as pictured above or here.

Place pie in the oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Then turn down the heat of the oven to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes.

Make sure to place a pan or aluminum foil underneath of the cherry pie because they are famous for boiling over.

Make sure to watch over your pie once you turn the temperature down to 350 degrees because the crust may start to burn. If the crust is browning to fast, cover the crust with pieces of aluminum foil for the remaining cooking time.

Now you have a gorgeous cherry pie that is waiting to be eaten.

Make sure that you let it cool down for at least 10-15 minutes before you eat it.

Click below for other pie recipes:

Apple Pie

Spicy Pumpkin Pie

Easy Pie Crust

Overview: During our Thanksgiving Break from school, my wife and I decided to take a trip down to visit her family for a week. I thought that I would try my hand at making pies. I felt that I had the pie making potential in my blood because my Mom always made pies from scratch and so did her Mom. I am not sure how far back pie making goes but I will venture a guess at .....maybe....since the beginning of time. I guess this means that I have the potential to be pretty good. Lucky me. :)

Start out by combining and mixing well:

1 Tablespoon Vinegar

1 Egg

1/2 Cup Water

Next combine in a separate bowl:
4 Cups Flour
1 3/4 Cup Vegetable Shortening
1 Tablespoon Sugar
2 Teaspoons Salt

Mix together the ingredients of both bowls and form into two balls.

Place the bowl with the two balls in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes or up to 3 days! You can also freeze it to use whenever you want which makes this recipe very versatile.

Take the dough balls out of the fridge and place on your rolling surface with flour underneath them. Depending on what type of shortening you use, it can be very sticky if you don't use flour.

Roll out one dough ball to where it is in a circular shape and between 1/16" and 1/8" thick.

There are two ways to place the the rolled out dough into your pie dish. You can either fold it in half as is pictured above or you can start at one end, place your rolling pin on the dough and roll your dough onto your pin. Once all your dough is on the pin, then move over your pie pan and unroll your dough.

Time Saving Tip: Make sure that you have a sufficient amount of flour underneath your dough so that it will come off of the counter top easily.

Once your dough is placed in the pie dish, push down the dough against all surfaces of the pie dish. BE CAREFUL NOT TO PUNCTURE OR TEAR YOUR DOUGH. If you do and your dough is sticky enough, you can take a piece of your extra down along the sides and cover up/repair the damaged area. Don't worry about how it looks because it will be covered with pie filling.

Cut off the excess dough and roll up the dough to form edges on top of the pie pan lip.


Shaping the crust: This part is easier if you have a Lazy Susan table but if not, don't worry. Start by placing two fingers a little more than a finger width apart on the inside of the crust.

Next place another finger on the outside of the pie crust between the first two fingers.

At the same time, move your two fingers that are on the inside toward the outside of the pie pan while moving your one finger towards the inside of the pie pan. Once you make it around the whole pie pan, you are ready for the filling or you can freeze the crust for later.

Click for Cherry Pie

Click for Apple Pie

Click for Spicy Pumpkin Pie