Birthday cake

Let me just start by saying, I am not a baker. I'm not good at it nor do I enjoy it. But my kiddos think that mom's homemade cakes and especially my frosting are the best.

My cakes are generally lopsided. I blame the oven, but it's very likely my fault.

This cake came to be because the first one I made broke into about 7 pieces when I was taking it out of the pan.  I nearly cried...



Did I mention I don't like baking...?
I made a whole new cake this morning. I left it in the pan until I was sure it had "set" so to speak.
This one came out in one piece..thank goodness.

I decided to use some of the chunks of cake to create a hill for the freshly washed Army men to make their stand upon.

This was also good to help camouflage the lopsidedness of the cake.
Since I was adding crumbly cake to the top and trying to frost it as well I needed something to cover my mistakes. Crushed up graham crackers fit the bill.  It looks a bit like sand or at least some rugged terrain if you use your imagination.

I hope he likes it...

I do know that it tastes better than it looks. :)

 

Bugle Bells

I know I don't usually offer recipes but I am just in love with these. They wouldn't be considered a "work of art" but they definitely look as good as they taste.

Ingredients:
Bugles
almond bark
M&M's

Directions:
Melt almond bark
Dip end of Bugle
place M&M into bark
set on wax paper on other non-stick surface to harden.
That's it!!

Sweet and salty all in one. YUM!!
 

Gifts from the heart

I've been blessed this week with some wonderful gifts from some wonderful ladies. 

First I got this wonderful little journal from my dear friend Elizabeth. 

She knows I have a fondness for pink, so she was sure to include many splashes throughout.

It truly was a gift from the heart...

Thank you so much Elizabeth. 

Next my mom made a nice big batch of sandbakkles. 

They are a traditional Norwegian cookie. 

The kids are loving them.

Yesterday I met my knitting group for lunch. 

Afterward I was given this yummy plates of goodies for the kids by our "teacher". 

How sweet is that?!? No pun intended.

 

"I like to melt stuff..."

I'm showing my age with that quote. 

Remember the show  

Friends: The One with Frank Jr. 

Anyway...I do like to melt stuff. 

We have piles of crayons. I think they are reproducing in the cupboard. 

I've recycled crayons many times with varying degrees of success. 

Cheap dollar store variety and the free crayons from restaurants contain too much wax and not enough pigment. 

The best ones are the Crayola.

My technique:

Spray mini muffin pan with olive oil to act as a release agent.

Melt in a 230° oven for about 10 minutes. 

Cool completely.

Color.

(I set the pan in the garage overnight to harden.)

Now we have a fun, chunky set of crayons to spark some renewed interest in coloring...hopefully.

 

Good clean fun

I successfully made soap!! 

I've been nervous to try it on my own but figured with the month of cure time for this cold process soap that I better get over it and do it.

This is a coconut oil and olive oil soap with no added fragrance or color. Figured I better start with the basics and work my way up. 

I have to tell you that I was super worried yesterday.

I never got a good "trace" before pouring it into the mold. 

So maybe I shouldn't say that it's a success yet....

I'll let you know in a month.

 

Scrappy, scrappy

I've been working on loom knitting again. I have an order for 10 dishcloths and am expecting I'll be getting a few more orders real soon. I decided to use some of my scraps of yarn to give some visual interest to these cloths.

Waste not, want not.

As long as I was thinking scrappy...

I put together the first in a series of journals. 

The cover is a print of one of my kaleidoscopes. I believe this one started as a rose.

I love the look of all the different papers. It's up to the recipient to decide how to use them.

 

Wordless Wednesday #2

Apples, apples everywhere

On Saturday, a few families on the block got together to help harvest the apples from our neighbor's trees. 

It's a big job but the fruits of our labor really pay off.

This year 63 grocery bags of apples were picked.

The apples were all big and beautiful with very few blemishes or worms.

Amazing!

We took home about 6 bags worth. 

I set up shop in the garage so I could make a mess and not worry about it. 

Concrete washes quite nicely. 

 After countless hours of cranking the peeler, I ended up with 23 gallon size freezer bags of peeled and sliced apples ready for the next stage of processing.

So far I've dehydrated 10 trays of apples, 4 pans of apple crisp-ready to be thawed then baked and cooked up about 2.5 gallons of applesauce. 

And I still have a freezer full of bagged apples. 

I am going to have to can the rest of the applesauce I make since my freezer can't hold any more.

 

Pinterest FAIL!!!!

The boys were gone all day Sunday so Little J and I made plans to do lots of fun "girl stuff" that we like.
We shopped a bit, visited my mom, went out to eat then came home to get to some crafting.

We planned to make some salt dough and "better than salt dough" ornaments, tags, etc.  Little J loves to both cook and paint so I figured "two birds" right?!?

As you can see we had a bit of an issue with the "better than salt dough" recipe.


I saw the recipe on Pinterest under the most beautifully white and perfect ornaments. Yeah...what the recipe gave me was a goopy mess. I tried to salvage it by using metal cookie cutters as forms while they dried at 175°F in the oven.

Lesson learned... people aren't always careful about what they post.

We did go on to make some salt dough ornaments that actually did turn out.
As you can see they aren't the pristine white I was going for but then again I use unbleached flour so what can I expect!

 

Jalapeno Jelly

We ended up with a lot more jalapenos than last year. 

They must like it hot and dry. 

Anyway, I'm a big fan of jalapeno jelly on brie with crackers. 

Oh YUM! 

So I figured...might as well give it a try.

I used the Ball Jalapeno Jelly recipe.

Can't wait to sample it! 

 

Sewing, gardening and painting

Not necessarily in that order. 

Or maybe I should have called this my 

late summer catch-up post.

Regardless of title...

I found a few fun garage sale deals this summer. Mostly storage items that had seen better days...such as a set of two copper canisters.  

Only one pictured. 

Not sure why,  other than laziness on my part.

I soaked all the black paint off using my favorite product Sol-u-mel and a scrubby pad. 

After carefully taping the rims of the copper tin where the lid fits down over, I gave them new life. 

The color is "celery". Not my first choice but what can a girl do when free is the price.  

Thank you County Reuse Center. 

The black I had on hand...although now I am out. Good colors like that don't generally end up at the recycle center.

Aside from painting the tins and a little bit of the lawn...oops...over-spray,
I've been sewing a lot!!

We've had a hot summer here in MN. Ways to stay cool are in high demand. 

If you may recall back at the 4th of July, I made a bunch of neck cooling wraps for the days festivities.

I carry a zipper bag of them with me all the time now because you wouldn't believe how often it has come up in conversation. 

People asking if I know where to get them.  Well yes, in fact, I do!  *grin*

In addition, I've been gardening. 

My green beans have been a disappointment this year, especially if compared to last years bumper crop.

My tomatoes are really starting to ripen and are oh so yummy.

Labor Day is quickly approaching...the kids head off to school the next day. 

It's bittersweet for me. 

I like the extra freedom I am allowed but I honestly miss them not being around. 

I won't miss the bickering or tattling. Geesh, when will that end?!?!

The homework, the early mornings and activities add a different layer that always takes a bit of adjustment as well. I've started my list of  "projects" to tackle once my time is mostly my own again. 

Until then...I'll be around haphazardly....

sometimes posting...sometimes silent.

No worries...I haven't gotten lost. 

Just soaking up the remainder of summer with the family.

 

Green tea??

This is what I'm drinking this morning instead of tea. It's a recipe I discovered on Pinterest.

I tried it yesterday since I had everything on hand and was so surprised at how good it tasted. You can't taste the spinach at all!!

Here's a link to the recipe.

I'll be swinging by Kimmie's blog later to see what my friends are up today...you should too!

 

Juice anyone?

I'm raising my glass to Kimmie and my Tea Tuesday friends. My glass happens to have juice instead of tea today.

I've come up with my own flavor combo that is pleasing to my taste buds. It did take some trial and error with some pretty nasty glasses of juice to choke down.

I have so much more energy and less cravings for "naughty foods" on days that I juice first thing in the morning...well, second thing.  I have to have a cup of coffee first thing.

Halle's morning power juice:

1 beet
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 inch chunk fresh ginger

Organic veggies taste the best but I have made my juices without when I couldn't find what I wanted.



I currently have a Jack LaLanne power juicer but what I really want is a Champion Juicer.  My parents had one when I was a kid. It was avocado green. Yup...it was the 70's.  I drank carrot juice with bee pollen sprinkled on top most mornings.  Hated it then.  I would hold my nose and slam it down.
Funny how our taste buds change over time.


Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

Inspired by Pinterest

It's happened again...I just have to make some new things I've seen on Pinterest.  

Such as these Kale chips! 

OH YUM!

Crispy, crunchy, healthy, yummy.

Here's a link to the the original post. 

Credit where credit is due....

The second inspiration didn't have any readable instructions...just a series of photos pinned. So, unfortunately, I can't give credit to whom it's due.

Here's the original "pin" (left) which summed itself up nicely.

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I used an ugly canvas I picked up at a garage sale...gessoed and tissue papered it before painting it green.

I thought the green left behind my leaves was a little boring so I went back with painted and retouched them. 

Looks pretty dumb on the shed door but I happened to have a nail there for the photo op.

Have you been inspired lately?

 

Inspired by Pinterest

In the weeks leading up to Easter I saw a few ideas on Pinterest that I thought...

"I could totally do that!"

 

I made this wreath for my mom's apartment door. 

And these cute little deviled egg chicks for Easter.

Of course, today I went to link to the original pin and share the link to the owner of the photo...no luck. 

It says "original pin deleted". 

All I have is the photo in Pinterest. 

I'm not about to post someone else's photo on my blog without being able to give a photo credit. 

Yet another reason that I'm now labeling my photos.