Our afternoon in the garden was spent…
picking weeds…
digging for worms…
chasing bugs…
and lounging under the trees.
{embrace the camera} afternoon in the garden
Expensive taste living on a Walmart budget!
Since our house is still under renovations, and will be for awhile, rainy days have been VERY trying lately! With all attempts to keep the tv off and projects going, this mom has exhausted her resources. I have even gotten desperate enough to have them go swimming in our bath tub. (It’s actually a brilliant idea.)
You know the deal…
2 stir crazy kids=
2 cranky kids=
ONE crazy momma!
So, when I saw these I fell in love with them. I can picture the kids playing in here for hours! Ok, so maybe there would be some fighting going on in it too! AWW, a mommy can dream right? Anyways…
This one is from Haba and costs $200+
and this one is from Land of Nod and costs $99!
I may have great taste, but lets face it, I’m living on a Walmart budget! So I decided to TRY and make my own. With few patterns and no tutorials out there, I came up with my own. Yes it did take many late nights, but I did it!
Here it is!
Total cost $15! (courteousy of four $3 Walmart sheets and one hula hoop!)
Because I am feeling for all those other moms out there living on a Walmart budget with expensive taste, I have created a tutorial and I’m going to share it with you!
Go HERE for the tutorial.
2010 fathers day card
When asked what kind of card we should make for daddy, my little guy replies “paint our hands and feet!” And with screams and clapping coming from my little girl, I knew I had no say in this matter. So, I got out the paint and decided to TRY and get all their hand and foot prints on one piece of paper. Much to my surprise, it was a success and we were still smiling and laughing when the craft was finished! Of course this craft obsessed mommy had to make our card a little more special with scrapbook paper & ribbon.
While I was finishing the card, my little girl was still “painting” her hands and feet with markers!
And my little guy decided to make a card of his own for daddy (at least that was the excuse he used to get his hands on my scrapbooking goodies.)
Next up for daddy, we are going to make his favorite treat…raspberry squares.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp with Pecan Topping
Now that gardening season has arrived, so hasn’t the time to fill up our freezer with all our extra goodies from the garden. First up rhubarb.
It is not my favorite thing, but nonetheless its growing and I’m determined not to waste anything (or hardly anything) this year. That is a small feat with a garden the size of ours!
Whenever possible I use my canning jars to cook in. Its a great way to store them and even greater way for my husband to pack them into his lunch, just grab and go!
So here is what the recipe calls for:
(Recipe taken from The Gardeners’ Community Cookbook by Smith & Hawken)
Pecan Topping (recipe follows)
4 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2″ pieces
4 cups strawberries, hulled, and halved
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1. Prepare the topping.
2. Preheat oven to 400′ F.
3. Combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and orange juice in large bowl. Transfer to ungreased 13 by 9-inch baking dish (or into canning jars) and dot the topping over the fruit mixture.
Pecan Topping:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until topping is golden brown.
*If baking in canning jars, fill jars leaving 1 inch from rim. Cook at the same temp but for less time. I usually can tell the crisp is done when the liquid has started to get thicker, the crisp has lessened by half, and the top is
golden brown. *
Cool slightly and serve. If you baked in canning jars make sure you let the crisp cool completely before placing into freezer.
It is actually delicious! Of all the rhubarb recipes I have tried, this is by far my favorite.
Here are a few extra ones to be given away as gifts. I just placed a piece of fabric on top of the lid and then screwed the ring on. A quick and easy way to dress up your goodies.
Want to share your garden recipes with me. Just send me the link to your blog.
{embrace the camera} in the lupine fields
We were so lucky to share this beautiful day with Grammy.
Finally some new items added to my etsy shop
A pillowcase romper with snaps
and a peasant style dress with matching bloomers.
Go check them out in my etsy shop.
We crafted for Father’s Day…
A fabric hand print tree!
Last week we started getting ready for Father’s Day and that was a good thing, because this little project took us 3 days from start to finish! It’s not really a little kids project but they “helped” mommy out as best they could. Now that it is all done, I just love it! I have a thing for my kids little hand prints.
I want to start off by saying that this was not my idea. I found it here: 
She has an amazing blog and great ideas.
Here is what you need:
canvas
mod podge
paint brushes
fabric scraps
card stock
kids hands and wrists to trace
canvas
mod podge
paint brushes
fabric scraps
card stock
kids hands and wrists to trace
Start by tracing your little ones hands and wrists onto the wrong side of fabric, cut out and set aside.
Next, cut out a ton of leaves.
The easiest way I found to do this, was to take a small piece of card stock and fold it in half. Then on the fold cut a oblong half-circle. (Open it up to make sure it looks like a leaf.) Then I folded my fabric scraps in half and placed them into the re-folded half-circle. With folded fabric inside of folded card stock, I cut the fabric using the card stock as my template. It made it much quicker to do it this way. I made two sizes of leaves but you can make as many as you want.
Now,
Start mod podging your leaves onto the canvas in a shape of a tree. Then place the kids hands on top of the leaves, these will be your tree trunks.
Once all finished putting your tree together, mod podge the entire canvas.
Allow a few hours to dry.
Hope daddy enjoys! Our daddy loved his, my little guy hasn’t mastered keeping a secret yet!
A few pictures from our girls baptism
Fabric covered 3 ring binder tutorial
Need a graduation gift or a cute way to organize all of your little ones projects from the past year? Personally, I keep thinking of all those ugly photo album books out there that could use some updating. How cute would a bunch of these look on the bookshelf?
Here is a tutorial to make one of your own, enjoy!
Fabric Covered 3 Ring Binder Tutorial
(Beginner Project: From start to finish project should take about 1 hour.)
Materials needed:
One 3-ring binder (I used one that was 21″ x 11.5″)
** You will need to adjust measurements of fabric and stabilizer depending on size of your binder**
2 pieces of iron-on stabilizer: 23″ x 12.5″4 pieces of fabric: 13″ x 8.5″ (for the pockets)2 pieces of fabric: 23″ x 12.5″ (outside cover of binder)
Trace around binder onto the two pieces of stabilizer and cut out.
Make sure the pieces of stabilizer are the exact size of binder.
Take one piece of stabilizer and fold in half.
Measure three inches from fold and cut.
You now have two pieces of stabilizer that will be used for the pockets.
Should have this.
Gather the fabric pieces.
Time to iron on the stabilizer.
Take two pieces of fabric sized 13″ x 8.5″ and iron stabilizer onto wrong side of fabric.
Take one piece of fabric sized 23″ x 12.5″ and iron stabilizer onto wrong side of fabric.
Should have this. Don’t worry about trimming off excess fabric.
Gather all the 13″ x 8.5″ pocket pieces of fabric.
With right sides together sew one piece of fabric with stabilizer to one piece without stabilizer. Make sure you sew on the straight edged side. (The rounded edges are the corners of binder.)Repeat for other two pieces.
Turn right side out and iron
Time to layer the pieces.
Place the 23″ x 12.5″ piece of fabric on table right side up.
Place one pocket piece on far right side and one on the far left side. (Straight folded edge is towards the middle and the rounded edges are on the outside.)
Now place stabilized 23″ x 12.5″ piece of fabric on top of pockets, stabilizer side up.
Carefully line up fabric so that all the pieces of stabilizer line up perfectly. This part is a little tricky. Pay special attention to the rounded edges of the pockets. You want to make sure all the pieces of stabilizer line up perfectly, if they don’t, it may look a little bulky on the edges.
Pin in place.
Leave a 2 1/2″ opening in the middle bottom of fabric. (Opening will be used for turning fabric out.)
With using the stabilizer as your guide sew together leaving 1/4″ space from stabilizer.
Trim off excess fabric. Reach into hole and pull fabric out. Iron. Hand stitch opening closed.
Place binder into pockets. Now your finished!
Please Contact me with any questions.
