Top

2 Little Hooligans

Butterfly Net…or…Bug Catcher?

I was finally able to finish my latest creation that I have been working on for over a week now. The whole project will take about 2 hours to complete and with most of that time being drying time. I decided to use mod podge on the handle to keep the fabric clean and washable. It only required about 10 minutes at the machine.

I’m pretty happy with the outcome and I will definitely be making some more of them. They are easy, fast and very cheap to make.

Although I’m pretty sure this cute little butterfly net will turn into a bug catcher pretty quick!
Whatcha think? Wanna make one?

I will have a tutorial to share with all of you next week for fat quarter friday.

embrace the camera {in the dandelion fields}

One of my favorite things about spring is how the fields up the road become covered in dandelions. Those fields become the most beautiful place for a photo shoot for me, while the kids have fun picking the flowers and running around in the fields. This year thankfully my sister-in-law agreed to cart me and my 3 kiddo’s one minute up the road to take advantage of these beautiful flowers. The fields are usually covered in more dandelions like last year but that’s alright I think we got some good photo’s anyways…and mostly it was great to leave the house and be able to play with the cousins.

Gosh that little girl is too funny, I couldn’t show you just one.

There is our big cousin getting into the photos…again! I definitely got better photo’s of the cousins then my kiddo’s, but with a pretty little girl so sweetly picking flowers it what hard not too.

She was by far the best model.
I just love this one of the two of them. So sweet!

These 2 photo’s pretty much sum up what our photo shoot was really like. Here I am trying to pull off my flutter sleeve top that was fluttering a bit too much in the wind, while still wearing my slippers. And you can obviously see the girls wanted no part of sitting still to take a good photo with their momma.

Yet, somehow I love these photo’s anyways. I’m no photographer…I just pretend to be one.

Thanks Auntie Kel for getting us out of this house, even if it was to go just 1 minute up the road. It was fun and well worth it!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway.
We will be picking the winner tomorrow!

A repost & Crafting for the pigs.

**This first part I’m reposting because it was deleted the other day when blogger was down.**

I have received a lot of emails wondering how I have been feeling. While I wish I could tell you that I’m feeling back to normal and all is well…I can’t. I’m just getting better at “living with it”. So while it may seem like I’m feeling better since I am still blogging, I’m not. Posts take me days and sometimes weeks to write, but I keep doing it because I like it and it gives me a happy place to escape to. Sewing and crafting was my happy place to escape to before, but since I struggle to do both of those, I blog on what I am able to do. So while I have not been able to take the kiddo’s anywhere in over 2 months and I have left the house only once in the past month to go somewhere other then to a doctors appointment. The moment I get into the car and move I am immediately on sensory overload and feel extreme nausea. So we stay home and I try to keep the kiddo’s busy and happy. We craft when we can and do activities that are quick and easy for me. We spend most of our days outside playing or watching the pigs and chickens. I have always been easily entertained and in times like these I’m so thankful for that. It doesn’t take a whole lot to make me happy. So if blogging about the happy things that occur in our lives keeps me going, then that is what I am going to keep on doing. So no, I’m not trying to make it seem like my life is normal right now. I’m just keeping my blog positive and upbeat by writing about what I really want to and that is the good times. I mean do you really want to know all about the times that I cry because I am lonely or feel like I am going to live feeling like this forever? Or how I feel like the worst momma in the world right now. Or how I feel useless and lazy. Or how I cannot fit into any of my jeans cuz I have gained so much weight due to the lack of exercise. I didn’t think so…nor do I want to write about such things. I’m trying to make the best of what I have been dealt. And in all honesty …it could be worse. I promised in the beginning not to turn this blog of mine into a pity party and I intend on keeping it that way. But apparently some of you would like a little updating now and then and that is fine, so I will try and keep you updated every once in awhile. With all that said, I really do appreciate all of your prayers and get well wishes, they truly mean a lot to me. Your emails and comments always put a little smile on my face. And please forgive me if I am unable to reply to all of your emails or comments.

Now let’s turn this back to my happy place and talk about a little crafting that I have managed to do and can’t wait to share with all of you. The hubby had to help me with a few of the steps and of course was making fun of me while doing it. He wanted to know if we should do a “step-by-step” for the blog. Oh crazy hubby, its called a tutorial! Anyhoo, it is 1/2 finished and if I can get about 10 minutes behind the machine it will be complete. Until then here is a little something I made for the piggies.

Yes, I crafted for my pigs. I know, It’s crazy… and I’m ok with that. I had forgotten how relaxing and fun painting can be. I actually found a quick and easy way of stenciling letters onto wood. I just printed the names off on some paper and then traced around the letters with a pen onto the wood leaving indents. The indents on the wood gave me the perfect quick and easy stencils I needed to paint. Maybe that is nothing new to all of you, but it’s new to me and I just thought I’d share.

Pigs this cute need their names displayed, don’t they? But I think it’s the names Ray and Wilbur that I just cannot help but love. They are the first animals my kiddo’s have named. While we all know why our little guy came up with Wilbur, we are still not sure why our little girl came up with Ray.

I’m pretty sure I will be a little sad when its time for them to “go to the fair,” as my hubby’s friend calls it. (That one always makes me chuckle.)

Fat Quarter Friday {giveaway}

Today is my 2 year mark of selling on etsy. It was a hard decision to make, but it turned out to be one of the best. But mostly if it was not for selling on etsy, I never would have started this little blog of mine. This blog started out just as a place to promote my shop and it was boring. Once I started blogging about me and my life it became fun and something I looked forward to doing. So posts about my etsy shop became less and posts about me and my life became more and that’s when my love for blogging really grew!
So let’s celebrate on Fat Quarter Friday by giving away some fat quarters!

So here are 20 of my most favorite fat quarters bundled together with 2 yards of large Ric-rack. All pre-washed and from my personal stash.

This is my little way of saying thanks!

Thanks for all your support, comments, friendships, etsy sales and well… thanks for taking the time to read this blog. I know my spelling is horrible and my grammar is even worse, but y’all seem to overlook that.

To enter just leave me a comment and tell me what you would like to make with this little bundle of fabric. Please make sure you leave your email address if it is not linked through blogger.

Giveaway will end May 20th 2011.

And for the biggest news of the day… these dirty little piggies took their first steps yesterday! There we were, out on the porch watching the tractors spread cow manure on the field, when all of a sudden that little munchkin took her first 2 steps! The rest of the night was spent trying to get her to take more steps. It was the most precious thing to watch her walk to her brother and sister. They looked so sweet reaching out their arms and calling to her. The smiles on all of their faces were priceless. They were so proud of their little sister and she was pretty proud of herself too. Gosh, they just melted this mamma’s heart…again!

embrace the camera {momma’s day 2011}

Mother’s Day weekend was spent like most weekends around here. Daddy spent all day Saturday moving firewood back to the house while I taught the kiddo’s how to peel the bark off the chunks of birch trees to use as paper. We literally spent all day Saturday doing this while playing outside. Sorry y’all we don’t lead extremely exciting lives around here, but that is alright with this momma.

Because I received the most beautiful bouquets of wild flowers.

And some of them were even beautifully displayed in the old manure spreader… love!

Although not everyone showed their love for their momma this weekend.

This little munchkin has not been to happy about the lack of momma milk given the past few days.

So as you can imagine, I felt like the worst momma in the world after seeing those big tears, but I know what I am doing is best for the baby. I think this momma getting better and a baby being free of second hand medicine is much healthier then those few feedings she had been receiving. And really, don’t let those tears fool you, this momma has shed waaaay more tears then she has.

Becoming a mother has definitely been a challenge, with lots of ups and downs along the way (and I know there are lots more to come) but there is nothing else I would rather be… then a momma. And there is no other place I would want to be on Mother’s Day, then right here with the ones that make me a momma… tears and all!

How to make butter in a canning jar

A few of you wanted to know how I made my butter in a canning jar, so I thought I would share the way I make it. Some people allow their cream to warm to 60′ or room temp, but I don’t. I guess if you allow the cream to warm a bit, it causes the butter to be less sweet. Well I don’t know about you, but I love me some butter, so I keep the temperature of my cream cold and straight from the fridge. I’m not exactly sure on the real process of how making butter works, and I’m sure some of my terminology is not correct, but that’s alright with me. Like I said I, don’t know how it works, I just know that it does works and it makes some dang good butter. This is a great activity to do with the kiddo’s. And if you want to really educate them on how to make butter, just do a little investigating first on the real process of how it works. My kiddo’s are too young to care right now. They just love watching the cream turn into butter and taking little tastes along the way.
Here is what you will need to make your own butter and buttermilk in a canning jar:
*1 pint of cold heavy cream
*canning jar with a lid
*lots of energy for shaking Pour cold heavy cream into canning jar and fill it about 3/4 of the way. Take one last peek at what the heavy cream looks like. Next time you take a peek it will be whipped cream.

Screw the lid on and start shaking. Shake for about 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes unscrew the lid and take a peek…now you have some whipped cream.

Go ahead and take a nibble, it is scrumptious! Screw the lid back on and shake for another 5 minutes or so. If you unscrew the lid now, you will see this. The miracle of making your own butter is starting to work.

Screw the lid back on and keep shaking for just a few minutes. You will be able to feel and see once the butter is starting to form.

Now unscrew the lid and pour off some of the liquid. Make sure you pour the liquid into a bowl and save it. The liquid is actually buttermilk. Just an added little bonus to making your own butter. You can use it to make some buttermilk pancakes.

Screw the lid back on and shake a few more times to make sure you get all of the buttermilk out. Drain the excess liquid again.

Screw the lid back on. In a few more shakes you will get a smooth ball of butter.

Now place the butter into a bowl.

Run some cold water over the butter while mixing the butter around with a spoon to get the rest of the buttermilk out. Drain the liquid off and repeat til the water is clear when drained off.

Now you have handmade butter made in a canning jar.

Place your butter and buttermilk in some jars and place in the fridge.



Enjoy!
Why not make up a few to share with others, who doesn’t love and deserve a little homemade butter?! These will make a cute little homemade gift paired with your favorite pancake mix or freshly baked bread. Or snip some fresh herbs and mix it in with the butter to use on top of grilled steak.

Meet Wilbur and Ray

The newest additions to our family and yes…my Mother’s Day pressie!

I’m looking forward to the hours of entertainment they will give us and all of the garden and table scraps they will be consuming.(And of course I would be lying if I didn’t say the yummy bacon and pork chops they will be giving us too!)

BIG THANKS to P & T for parting with Wilbur and Ray, they sure did make this mamma’s day!

Hope all you momma’s out there enjoyed your day as well!

Headbands for the girls.

I finally got to do some crafting this weekend and boy did it feel great! Now granted I only spent about 15 minutes whipping these headbands up and they are far from being inventive as I see them everywhere but at least now I know why. They are so fun and easy to make and with how quick they go together, they can become addicting. I’m sure I could have made a few more but my little girl was helping momma and accidentally spilled all 4 containers of buttons everywhere. So we spent more time picking up and sorting buttons then actually crafting. But that was alright with me, cuz I think she already loves buttons as much as I do.

These 3 went to my little niece for her birthday.

While I kept the lace one for my little girls.

There was something about this orange one that I just couldn’t part with.

Maybe it was how cute this little munchkin looked with it on.

Lace + baby = pure sweetness!

If your looking for a tutorial, check out this one from Disney.

baby chicks.

Daddy brought home 30 baby chicks today.

And the kiddo’s can’t get enough of these cute little birdies.

They spent hours in the barn last night watching, holding, petting and squealing at them. They even had to tuck them into bed last night.

Our little boy loves to hold and snuggle them, while our little girl would rather just pet them and squeal from afar.

But who wouldn’t love these cute little chicks. Just look at those sweet, fluffy little feathers. I just wish these cute little birdies would stay this small forever.

However, in a few months these cute little chicks will turn into big birds that will fill our freezer. Sorry all of you vegetarians out there, that is just how we do things in our house.

Homemade microwavable popcorn

Did you know that you can make your own microwavable popcorn? Me neither. Well after reading this post yesterday I had to give it a shot. Oh yes, it was DELISH! Just as good as popcorn made on the stove top minus the clean up.

Thank you Jami, this is the next best thing to our homemade butter in a canning jar.

Although when we put the two of them together we get the most heavenly treat! There is nothing like homemade popcorn with a little dab of homemade butter on top to raise this momma’s spirits…and not to mention my pant size too.

I’m far from being back to my normal crafting or blogging self, but things are starting to look up for me. After seeing many doctors and having lots of tests they think that I have been suffering from vertigo along with some other issues for the past 2 months. So hopefully this week I will finally find out what is causing it and then we can start treating it. I never would have guessed how debilitating vertigo could be, it’s not fun. Thanks again for hanging in there with me and this little blog of mine while I’m going through a little rough patch.