Airplane Baby Shower Favors

I helped with the decorations for a friend's baby shower recently.  She knew she was having a baby boy and they decorated the nursery in an airplane theme so we used an airplane theme for the shower too.  I found the idea for these cute favors on Craft Gawker and tweaked and personalized them for the shower.  With a few simple supplies and a little time these cute planes were quick and fun to make.  They take Smarties, Life Savers, a stick of gum and a rubberband.  I added a personalized wrapper to the stick of gum to make them extra special.  I think these would be a fun idea for a birthday party too or any airplane themed party for that matter.

Biennial Haircut Donation

My hair grows fairly quickly and is pretty healthy  so for the past 10 or so years I have been donating my hair to Locks of Love.  Locks of Love uses the hair to make wigs for children that have health problems that cause them to need wigs.  My hair usually grow fast enough to cut it every other year.  I let it grow an extra year this time.  My hair was long enough to reach my waist when pulled straight.  After it was cut I had 15 inches of curly hair or 18 inches when pulled straight.

Canning Frenzy

Throughout the summer and fall, as fruits come into season I prep them and freeze them.  Then I have a big canning day when I make jams, jellies, butters, sauces and marmalades.  After a very full day of canning, I had over seven and half dozen jars of various sizes filled with all sorts of yummy treats.  I usually try a couple new recipes each year and there are some tried-and-true recipes that I make each year.  This year, I made marmalade for the first time and look forward to making it again next year.  I also made apple peel jelly for the second or third time but this time I added mulling spices to give it a unique flavor.  I look forward to enjoying them and sharing them in the year ahead.

When life gives you lemons... make lemonade!

Following the old adage about lemons, when the Lord provided carrots I made Sunny Carrot Salad, Carrot Fritters and Carrot Pineapple Bread.  I needed a side to bring for a church activity and just in time the Lord provided a large bag of grated carrots.  I went searching for some recipes online and made 3 different recipes.  I enjoyed the combination of carrots, pineapple and raisins in the salad and the bread was good too.  The carrot fritters tasted fine but it was an unusual flavor combination for me.  It was a fried batter with sweet carrot pieces flavor.  I think they needed a sauce but I don't know what kind.  I didn't take the fritters to the church activity but I think everyone liked the bread and salad.

From Taste of Home's website

Hand-Made Cards

I had fun creating some cards this past weekend during our Scrapbooking Retreat.  When I was not busy with other responsibilities I was able to sit down with the ladies that were here for the retreat and created some cards using my Cricut and Sizzix.  They are not very elaborate or great but I had fun using my new Cuttlebug embossing edges that I picked up on clearance.  I was able to use the embossing edges in my Sizzix with the adapter plate even though they were made for a Cuttlebug.

I used the Cricut with the Heritage card to cut out the butterfly.  For the card above I mounted the butterfly on velum and colored the back side of the velum to make it look like staind glass.  I also embossed the bottom edge.  For the butterfly below I mounted the cut out onto marbled glossy paper and cut the glossy paper to the same outer shape.  I made the marbled paper myself and will share the technique another time.  I then mounted them on the card and punched the corners for an added touch.

 I used my flower pot sizzix die and cut out several pots and filled them with different flowers.  I also embossed the edges of the cards.  For the first flowers I used a flower punch and stacked two flowers on top of each other and mounted them on the card with brads.  These flowers were left over from a fun project I had done with my Beginners Sunday School class many years ago.  They had colored in a piece of card stock with crayons of any color of their choice and then we punched out the flowers and had mounted them in different ways to make bookmarks.  I used the left over flowers for these cards.

 I used paper flowers cut with the Cricut and the Sizzix for the cards below.   I especially liked the combination of paper button flowers with the button embossed edge.  The lettering was also cut out with the Cricut.

 My final flowers were silk flowers mounted onto the card with brads in the center.  For an extra pop you could use brads with gems for the centers. These made a fun 3D card that could still be flattened enough to go into an envelope for mailing.  It is a bit harder to see in this picture but he right edge was also embossed.

Strawberry Salad

Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

One of our summer volunteers makes a salad similar to this every summer for our staff meals.  It is so refreshing and delicious so I tried to duplicate it.  I used a premade dressing and a salad mix to make it easy and fast.  I used the roasted almonds available in small snack bags at Walmart for $1 each.  I think it is pretty close to her salad.  I threw in some blueberries I had on hand too and it tasted great.

Ingredients
Garden salad mix
Fresh strawberries, chopped
Red onion, chopped
Almonds, roasted and lightly salted
Creamy poppyseed dressing

Optional additions
Blueberries
Cooked chicken
Grapes
Orange sections
whatever else your tastebuds may enjoy

Strawberries

The Lord provided 10 pounds of strawberries this past week.  After I cleaned and sorted them I had about 9 pounds that I cut up and put in the freezer.  I plan to use them this fall to make strawberry jam. Yum!

Ziggy's Haircut

I gave Ziggy his semi-annual haircut on Saturday.  This was the third time I have given him a haircut myself.

Before

He usually does a good job of staying pretty still and letting me cut his hair with the electric clippers.  This time he was a bit reluctant to let me clip his leg and paws.  I checked and there were no injuries or sores.  I finally had to turn off the clippers and hold them against his paw.  Once he was willing to let the clippers stay against his paw he let me turn them on and clip the hair.  Not sure what made him reluctant this time but we got the job done.  We had quite a pile of fur after we were done.

After (He always looks skinner and a bit funny after a hair cut.)

Ziggy is a "designer dog", a mix of Yorkie and Bichon.  I bought him from a breeder in Kentucky and picked him up at the airport when he was a tiny 9 week old puppy.  His hair grows more than it sheds so he gets a haircut in the spring and one in the late summer.  His coat is soft and has curl from the bichon and he gets the brown with flecks of black from the yorkie.  He has the temperment of the bichon - calm, friendly and not a yappy barker.  He loves people and gets excited when he sees friends. He is my buddy!

Bungaline Pads

At camp we have an activity that we call "Bungaline".  It is a modified trampoline with a harness system that allows the jumper to jump higher and do flips.  Well, there are pads that go on certain parts of the supports for extra protection and our pads were getting worn out.  They had a vinyl or leather like material on the outside and a thin padding on the inside. As you can see below the padding was disintegrating. 

I re-made the pads with outdoor material on both sides of the padding to protect it from the weather.  I found material that has polyester on the outside and pvc lining on the inside to make it more weather resistant.  I also used a thicker pad for more cushioning.  All together I made 8 new pads for the different supports and cross beams.  I think these are a huge improvement over what we had.  You can see the comparison below.

An added bonus is that the new material matches the color of the metal supports on the bungaline.

Purple Peony

One of my favorite photos from this past summer was of this purple peony bush here at camp.  I love all the delicate petals and colors in each bloom.  This photo also caught several stages of the bloom with yellow yarrow (I think) in the background.

Scrap Quilt Baby Afghan and Froggie Bath Sponge

I recently completed this afghan for a friend's baby shower.  I used up some of the remnants of yarn that I had left over from other projects and tried to give it a scrap quilt look with a random placement of the different colors.  I crocheted each square then joined them together.  Since I didn’t know if my friend was expecting a boy or a girl I used both girl and boy colors to try and make it somewhat gender neutral.  I used the Flower Motif pattern from “The Best of Terry Kimbrough Baby Afghans” printed by Leisure Arts.  I followed her pattern except I didn’t add the border.

I also made this froggie bath sponge for the baby shower.  I came across the pattern in ‘Crochet Today’s’ March/April 2011 issue.  It was very easy to make and works very well.  I used the Moon and Stars yarn for both the body and the head.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog where I hope to share the projects I am working on and other neat ideas I find.  I enjoy a variety of creative outlets.  When I am not busy with my full-time job you can usually find me working on one project or another.  I am not exceptionally skilled in any particular craft but I enjoy dabbling in crochet, cross stitch, photography, gardening, quilting, sewing, embroidery, scrapbooking, card making, origami and a little bit of this and a little bit of that. 

I work in Southern Wisconsin as the secretary/office manager for a Christian Camp.  We are open year-round with weekend retreats in the fall through spring and week-long camps in the summer and into the fall.  It is a blessing to minister to all those who come to our camp and to see the Lord work in hearts and souls.  As an added bonus, I get to live on the campground year-round and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation – the multitude of stars at night, the delicate intricacies of the blooming flowers and the wonderful variety of the changing seasons.