Free & Cheesey

Friday Freebies

Since it's Friday, which means of course that there is good reason to celebrate, I thought I'd give you lovely followers a 'Friday Freebie'.  OK, two Friday Freebies. 

These two designs were made for 4"x2" labels, but you can do whatever you'd like with them.

I've already used the pink one, as you can see, on my Bates Mercantile Co. file. And the label even matches my toes. Sweet!

Just click right on the label designs below to save the image to your computer. 

How cute would this be to label things in a little girl's room?

And I think this gray one would look super in a pantry. 

But they're yours to do as you wish. Just a little thanks for being here.


A Day Without Cheese.........You're kidding, right?

Monday morning, after we'd been away for three days, I went to get milk for my tea only to find it was a little sour smelling.  Bummer. Wait, not a bummer. I remembered that I had read this recipe for making cheese from sour milk on LeVoyageCreatif.

Straight from Marie's typing hands to my mouth. Gar and I declare it good stuff. I thank her for sharing this recipe on her blog.

How to make the cheese:

Ingredients

Sour milk or kefir

Herbs

Salt

Pepper

Garlic

How to:

Pour the amount of kefir or milk in a pot and heat it up slowly.

You don’t need to stir.

(Marie is right, you really don't need to stir. It just does it's own thing.)

When it boils ever so slightly let it simmer till the cheese curds has separated from the milk water.

When the cheese curds are all gathered at the top of the milk water, pour the content over a sifter and let the curds lump up while draining the milk water.

(See how the curds all gathered and left the milk water at the bottom of the pot?

Cool, right?)

(Sorry this is blurry, I was interrupted by a lost doggie. I found his owner and walked him back home, but in the flurry of excitement, missed getting a decent picture)

When left with only cheese curds pour it over in a bowl and mix it with whatever spices or herbs you like.

(I used oregano, chives, thyme and lemon balm from the garden, and of course some sea salt and crushed pepper for good measure.)

Mix well and store with a lid in the fridge.

How's this for my first try? Looking and tasting mighty fine if I do say so myself. Thanks again to Marie for the recipe. Check out the little crock/bowl Marge also scored at the yard sale.....cute and perfect for my first batch of homemade cheese.

The cheese is fairly mild. Marie says after a few days it takes on a more mature flavor. Ready to have some for our usual Friday Night Appetizer Fest.

I hope you have a great weekend where you are. Got any plans? Tonight we're thinking campfire out back in the fire pit, and tomorrow we're gonna dance the night away at our friend Pearl's 50th birthday pah-TEE. Whoop Whoop!! I do LOVE to dance! 

Cross My Heart

You are such nice followers, I think you deserve a lovely free printable. Promise. Cross my heart. It's free. You can print these poppies, frame and hang wherever you like. I'm sure many of you crafters could think of other things to do with this ..........use for decoupage, turn into stationery note cards, transfer onto a pillow case, use as gift wrap....the possibilities are endless. Thanks to TheGraphicsFairy and a little design license by me.  First, I took the poppy image that I found at TheGraphicsFairy, who I thank for providing it for free, then applied some filters in photoshop, applied a pattern over it in illustrator and a few other steps and viola- an instant botanical for you.  Complete with a John Keats quote: Through the dancing poppies stole, a breeze most softly lulling to my soul.”  -John Keats


Just right click on image to enlarge and save to your computer. Of course, if you're not a follower, it would be wicked cool if you became one and then right clicked the image. Wink wink. Nudge nudge.

Look how pretty it is matted and framed!

Love! And don't forget to visit our store, Bates Mercantile Co., to see our other printables and vintage goodies.

On another note, you may have noticed Mercantile Muse's new look. I'm still working on it, changing colors and fonts styles, etc.  So don't mind the mess while I work. Oh yeah, and don't forget to enjoy the poppies freebie! Just a little thanks for being here.

Sunset Meadows

Some storms rolled through yesterday at the end of the day, but broke for a lovely sunset.

The way the light was shining through the rain, I just knew we'd be in for a rainbow. I kept going to our east side windows and checking one and then, sure enough, there it was.



No pot of gold, but the sunset was worth at least that.

The meadow looked so pretty and the sunset stretched all the way around the sky.

It was a beautiful thing.

I hope your Tuesday is wonderful, wherever you are.

Pam