Mother's Day Gifts Revealed

Mother's Day has come and gone so I can now post pictures of the gifts I made. Yea! They turned out way cuter than the pictures make them look. I wish I had taken better pictures. I got my 1" clear tiles from candytiles etsy shop. She was very nice to work with and responded to ALL of my questions really fast. She offers things in kits or individuals. I am thinking of ordering some more for a girls night out craft party. Wouldn't that be fun?

I really wish I had taken better shots of them but oh well...

This pendant necklace is one I made for my Grandma T. Its a picture of my Grandpa. I added the pearl charm (its actually an earring that I wore on my wedding day! I bent the metal with needle nose pliers to create a charm). From what I hear she was very excited when she opened it. Wish I could have been there to see her face.

 

This one I made for my mom. I wasn't quite sure if 4 tiles was going to be too much at once but I really liked how it turned out. My mom loved it too. She opened it up on Sunday morning before church and said it was perfect because she had been looking for a black necklace to go with her outfit that day.

I made a key chain  for my Mother-in-law since I haven't really seen her wear necklaces and my husband didn't think she would either. I used a pressed flower from my collection on the middle tile and turned it sideways. I sandwiched the grosgrain ribbon between two sheets of paper and glazed over each layer individually while letting it dry between layers. One thing I learned with hers was that super glue is needed when attaching the bail to the back because 2 minutes after opening her gift, the bail fell off. Good thing it is an easy fix.

My daughter watched me make these and really wanted one of her own. She specifically requested a "sunshine one" So I did just that. I just drew a sunshine on some regular copy paper in crayon to give it that special "kid look." The next day I gave it to her as a reward for going an entire day using the potty without any accidents! It was a major celebration and she loved it!

For my Mother's day gift/birthday present my husband and I had a two night "staycation" in Seattle. It was wonderful! I'll be posting about that soon. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Playing in The Dirt

Lately my blog posts have been a little less on the crafty side and more on the work and chores side but at the same time they're something that I enjoy. Yesterday Dan spent his lunch hour at the topsoil and gravel place where he loaded up 1 yard of composted soil to fill our garden box up with. Our garden box has lost a lot of dirt over time and was only about half way full. The seedlings in the kitchen had become extremely tall and were touching the light, so it was time to get them in the ground.


Dan also had a lucky find at work. In the company junk/trash pile was a piece of a crate that was perfect for a raised garden box. We just drilled some holes all over the bottom for drainage and set it next to our existing garden box in the back yard. We are pretty limited on space in the back yard and since we are renting we can't really make any drastic changes to the yard.

The kids really had fun digging and raking the new dirt over and over again. By the time we finished it was definitely time for a bath. I planted pretty much all of the seedlings including the tomatoes (I really hope I don't end up killing them by putting them into shock). I didn't acclimatize them like I should have. My MIL suggested I cover them with something for awhile so the change isn't so harsh on them. Lets hope it works! If I end up buying new plants you'll know what happen.

Got to love family bonding time and what better way then playing in the dirt!

Scout Neckerchief Slide

Saturday was a fun day. Lots of little projects around the house that needed fixing got done. One of those projects was just for fun but I really enjoyed how it turned out.

For those of you don't know, my husband is the scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts in our ward at church. He has been doing this since January of 2008. His job has become a love/hate relationship with me. I love watching him become giddy and excited over doing outdoorsy things, I love seeing him work with the youth and what woman doesn't love a man in uniform? :) But I hate the time it takes from other things. He's gone a lot! But I guess it comes as a package deal. But enough of that.

The project I worked on this weekend was a Neckerchief Slide that Dan carved at scout camp last summer. I touched it up and re-carved some spots to give it more depth. But for the most part it looks like the same little dude. Then I painted it! Surprise surprise! I love it! It reminds me of a totem pole carving with a little spunk. My favorite parts are the tongue and the hair. I sprayed it all with some acrylic sealer and the hair is a black feather from a package of craft feathers I had in my stash. I hot glued it on the back and then went over it with modge podge so it won't peel off with all the sliding on and off the neckerchief. What do you think?

Painted Sugar Cookies

Friday nights around here are usually date nights for Dan and I, but since we are planning a getaway trip soon (I am so excited!!!) we decided this weekend would be a good time for a "family date" or in our case, an excuse for another Family Home Evening. We always try to have treats on nights like this so we decided to make cookies together.
The recipe I decided on was for Sugar Cookies. I haven't found a recipe that I am in love with yet so I decide to give good ol' Betty Crocker a chance.  I really liked this recipe for "painted" sugar cookies because it was lots of fun to do with the kids and it was something they could do at their level without me getting too anxious about a huge mess. Just wanted to share it with you. It is a recipe you have to make about 3 hrs ahead of time because the dough has to be refrigerated before working with it. (I wish I had read that part of the recipe before I started making it but it was worth it.)

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup margarine or butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract (I just ended up using 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla instead)
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour*
*if using self-rising flour omit the baking soda and cream of tartar.
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cram of tartar
granulated sugar (don't put this into the mix, it is for later)

Mix powdered sugar, margarine, vanilla, almond extract and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients except granulated sugar. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Divide dough into halves. Roll each half 3/16 inches thick (trust me I didn't measure it) on a lightly floured cloth covered board (I didn't use a cloth. I just used my good old fashioned counter top). Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters and *sprinkle with granulated sugar. *If you are going to do the painted sugar cookies wait until the cookies are painted first before sprinkling on the sugar. Bake until edges are light brown. 7-8 minutes.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies: 65 calories per cookie. (I personally am not a calorie counter but thought that some of you might be, so I'd include that too).


Cookie Paint

Mix 1 egg yolk and 1/4 tsp of water together. Divide the mixture into a couple small bowls. Tint with food coloring. Then, paint away with some small paintbrushes. The kids loved that it was an art project AND a yummy treat. Also, if the paint thickens while standing, just add in a couple more drops of water. Then when its all painted place on your lightly greased cookie sheet (or well seasoned Pampered Chef stone) and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake and enjoy!

Great for a rainy day activity too.

Green Thumb!

I am so excited! I have a green thumb this year. Or at least it looks that way so far. My little garden starts that I planted have really taken off. All except the bell peppers and onions. I haven't seen them at all. I think my seeds were too old. But the florescent light that we set up has really done the trick for everything else. I have also started putting a fan on the plants for a little bit during the day so that when they have to take on the real wind outside they'll be able to keep standing (thanks momma Shellie for the tip).  They are already getting stronger. When I first started they all just flopped over, but now they hold up just fine.
I can't wait to plant these babies outside. I think I'll wait a couple more weeks. I also need to go and get some more dirt to fill the raised garden spot with. Then I'll actually have something to plant them in.

Our Pictures are Finished!

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that we had our family pictures taken. Well, those pictures are finally done and I am soooo excited! Our photographer did a really really really good job on them. I love how they turned out! If anyone is interested or wants to see them you are welcome to. Go to shurtzphotography.com and scroll down. Our family's icon is on the bottom left. Now I just have to decide which ones I want prints of. So many to choose from! If anyone is in this area I highly recommend using this photographer. He was great and his wife was great too. She took the kids for a walk and played with them while Dan and I had our couple shots taken. It was a lot of fun and I am sure we'll use them again.

Time for a change

If you noticed I changed the blog header today. I figured it was time for a change since snow is definitely not the scenery around here anymore. It hasn't been for quite some time. For some reason though I can't get my image to fit perfectly inside the blog layout lines so it is a bit off center. Oh well, I  will just have to ignore it. You probably didn't even notice anyway. So its my fault for pointing it out.

I've been working on Mother's Day gifts this week. They are turning out soooo darn cute! I am going to have to make some for myself! Wish I could show you but I know the other women in my life read this blog and it would spoil the surprise. I'll have to make a post on my projects after Mother's Day instead.