4 Seasons

Remember this shelf? Well I finally figured out what I wanted to put on it! Hurray!

First you will need 2 2x4's. I cut mine into 22 blocks (5 8in. & 4in. blocks, 4 7in, 6in, & 5in. blocks) Then I divided them all up so they looked like this.

Here is the one for SPRING

Then I found some cordinating papers and cut them to fit the blocks.

Then found some matching paints.
Then I painted each block. I painted all the sides except the front because it was going to be covered in paper.
Then I decided to hand draw the letters and cut them out on white paper.
Then I modge podged the paper onto the front.

Then I put a layer of modge podge on top of the paper.
Then laid the letters on top and put yet another coat of modge podge. ( man I love that stuff! )
Then all the letters will look like this!
I technically haven't done this step yet, but I am planning on doing it soon. When for this step I am planning on outlining the outside of the letters with elmer's glue and then pour glitter on top.
Then I added some extra touches and set them on my shelf! Hurray!
I also painted these cute little wooden figures and hung them on the hooks!
And Volia! Now I just need to get SUMMER, FALL, and WINTER done. Stay tuned for pictures!

Old Jeans Quilt

I finally finished it!!!  This project has been sitting on my craft table for nearly 2 years. No joke.  I finally decided to sit down and plunge through it.  I love it now that it's done.  It's not perfect, actually it's probably the most faulty quilt I've ever made... but I still like it.

It's an oversized Queen quilt, but I actually made it to be used outside as a picnic blanket.

It's so big I had a hard time fitting it on the camera screen.  Finished product is 120"x80".

This jean quilt was made from 108 6" squares my Mother-in-law collected from my husbands jeans from growing up and also about 7 pairs of various sizes of worn out jeans we had lying around.

I left as many pockets and seems as I could to add character to the quilt.  Can't wait to see what surprises my kids hide in those pockets over the years.  ☺

A few little patches to fix holes in the jeans.

I quilted it with a green and blue yarn using a very simple zig-zag stitch (some of these jeans were impossible to get my needle though!)

And I bound it with a very pretty green and white print from Connecting Threads. 

Which is one of my Favorite fabric stores.

I can't wait to take it out tomorrow and have lunch on it... if it doesn't rain that is.

Three Cheese Macaroni

I made this the other night for my kids, one child loved it.  The other threw it on the floor. I guess not everbody can like everything right?

I thought it was pretty good.  Easy ☺

1 lb Elbow Macaroni
2 Tbsp. Butter, divided
2 Tbsp. Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Dry Mustard
2 C. Milk
1/2 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1/2 C. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1/2 C. Shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1/2 C. Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Preheat oven to 400°.  Cook the macaroni according to package directions, drain.  Grease a medium baking dish with nonstick spray.
Melt 2 Tbsp butter in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add flour, salt and mustard and stir until smooth.  Gradually add milk, stirring continuously.
Cook over low heat, stirring until thick, about 5 minutes.  Stir in 1/4 cut of each cheese.  Combine cheese sauce and cooked macaroni in a large bowl.  Spoon into baking dish, sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Melt remainng butter, combine bread crumbs and melted butter.  Spread on top of cheese.  Bake until hot and bubbly, about 25 minutes.

White Chocolate Fruit Tart

If you could taste a picture, you'd be in heaven right about....

Now.

I got this recipe a long time ago... from my co-worker at the UofU.

It is Amazing!

If you happen to have a tart pan that is the perfect pan to use to make this wonderful dessert (A tart pan is not as tall as a pie pan and the bottom of the pan pops up to make for easy cutting.)

If you don't have one, or have never even heard of one... you may use a 9" pie pan.

Tart Crust

3/4 C. Softened Butter

1/2 C. Confectioners Sugar

1 1/2 C. Flour

Preheat oven to 300°.  Cream butter and suggar, gradually add flour while mixing.  Press dough into tart pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Cool.

Filling:

10 oz. White Chocolate Chips, melted (do this in a large saucepan over med-low heat, stirring constantly or they'll burn.)

1/4 C. Whipping Cream

8 oz. Cream cheese, softened

Assorted Fresh Fruit

Combine melted chips and cream, add cream cheese.  Beat until smooth.  Spread over crust and chill 30 minutes.

Arrange fruit over top.

Glaze:

3 Tbsp. Sugar

2 tsp. Cornstarch

1/2 tsp. Lemon Juice

1/2 C. Pineapple Juice

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil 1-2 minutes until thick, stirring constantly.  Cool; brush over fruit. 

Chill tart 1 hour before serving.

Store in fridge.

The most wonderful thing about this tart is that you can use whatever assortment of fruit you want.  The orginal recipe calls for pineapple, mandrin oranges, strawberries and kiwi.  The arrangement can also be according to your design.  Here's some of the other's I've made over the years.

This one below is my favorite.

Pin the Bow on Minnie Mouse

My daughter is celebrating her 3rd birthday this week.  I got this crazy idea to throw her a birthday party and invite all her little friends.  I'm planning on there being between 6-10 little 2-3 year olds and their mom's running around my house this week.  I was racking my brain trying to come up with a plan to keep all these little kids entertained.  This is one of the games we're going to play.  Pin the bow on Minnie Mouse.

I took a white poster and drew Minnie's head, then I cut some bows out of craft foam.  I let my daughter decorate the border of the poster with little foam stickers she got from Grandma for her birthday.

Not too bad right?  I'm not exactly an artist... but I figure... they're 3.

They won't care.

Quick and Easy Picture Frames

I'm back, I feel like it's been for-ever since I posted, even if it was only 5 days ago.  A lot has happened and I'll admit I've kinda been slacking on the blog.  You ever had that span of time when you feel like you've been stuck in a rut?  That's kind of how I feel.  It's been one thing after the other for the last 8 months, and I just can't seem to catch a break!  I'm exhausted, so I'm sorry if the blog has to take a back seat in my life for a while.  I've got a lot going on.

Anyway, here's a project I did a couple weeks ago that I never had time to post.

I found these cute little picture frames at Michaels for $1!

I also got a cool sticker maker for my birthday,

I cut 2 1/2" strips from some cute patterned paper

Ran them through my sticker maker

And stuck them on the frames.

I stapled a ribbon to the back of each frame to hold them together.

I had to use a little glue around the edges, but it works... right?

This project is part of the bedroom re-do for my daughter.

I put pictures of her with Mommy and Daddy in each frame

She loves it.

Garden Update

About 6 weeks ago my husband and I started our garden, we had them all growing in a "jiffy greenhouse" sitting on our kitchen table.  Last time I posted about it we only had a couple sprouts.  Things have progressed quite well since then.

We currently have 38 surviving plants and last night we planted 10 more (6 Bell Peppers and 4 more Tomatoes.)

My favorite investment this year has been my greenhouse.

We bought it at ALCO for $30.  It's perfect.  It took me about 5 minutes to put it together, it keeps the plants nice and warm and allows them to get more sunlight.  They've exploded since we put them in there last week.

The only down side is that the top shelf gets Very Warm, and it killed almost all of our sunflowers.

Fortunately all the vegetables are doing great!

For the moment all the plants are still in SOLO cups, except for the Dill, which we've planted in bright colorful pots.

We put a few landscaping bricks on the bottom shelf to keep it from tipping over in our wind storms.

Banana Peppers: (Center) 

Sunflower:

One of the surviving 3 out of 25.

 (We plan on replanted a whole bunch of sunflowers in the garden, maybe they'll do better out there.) 

Roma Tomatoes:

 (They've grown over 2 inches since we put them in the greenhouse.)

Yellow Squash: 

Green Bean:

We only had one do well at all, once again, plan on planting more seeds in the garden. 

Cucumber: 

Tomatoes: 

Pumpkin: (back)

Dill (pink pot.)

(I'm so sad cause we found one of our pumpkins destroyed already!  A bug had eaten the stem clear through, thus all the white powder sprinkled on our plants, it's bug poison.) 

In the actual garden we'll be planting: radish, onion, green beans, sunflowers, and corn in pots we also have watermelon.

We can move all the plants into the garden after the last frost, which is averagely May 17.  We'll wait until the last week in May or first few days of June to plant.  Here's our prospective garden:

We're going to make some sort of border around the edge of the garden, not sure how yet.

We'll also get a few bags of Miracle Grow Garden Soil and till it into the dirt, along with some homegrown compost.  That will help our plants significantly in our terrible Indiana clay.

All the way from the edge of the patio (about 3 feet out) to the three posts in the back by the forest.

It'll be about 12' x 25'

If you'll notice that picture above, my backyard is mostly dirt.  It's terrible!

I'm super excited today because I looked outside and I can see a thin layer of green starting to cover my yard:

We planted 100lbs of grass seed back there last week, in two weeks we'll have a beautiful lawn!

I'm so excited for all my vegetables, just think.  Salsa, Pickles, Pickled Banana Peppers, plus all the fresh vegetables we'll have to eat this summer!

In August we can visit the apple orchards and collect apples for pie filling, applesauce and brandied apples!

I'm hoping to go pick my own berries this year too.  Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.  Oh I'm so excited for warmer weather!