Landscaping Book

I finally had time to actually browse at Sam's Club the other day (no kids!!) and I found the most amazing book for DIY landscaping. It has many different designs and layouts for a different areas with sunny and shady options. It has pictures of a front and top view, showing you how many to plant and what it will look like when it get older. It also has step by step instructions in the back for many yard projects including laying paths and pruning climbing bushes. Its geared towards the NW but I'm sure there are other version out there for other areas. My library only had the older versions, but they seem to include a lot of the same info. Check it out if you are planning your yard!!

Today I planted the impatiens my mother in law gave me for mothers day. I swear I have dreams of planning out this amazing garden and then I get out there and I just wing it, and half the time I never have a plan... so much for reading all these books. And yes I have checked out about 10 books over the past months preparing for this summer. Have i had time to read them??? No.

I really do like the landscaping one because I can see how the different plants look with each other.

I also planted some dahlia's, pansies, and some other plants I bought at a green house sale at the local high school. I really don't know much of anything about these ones, but I do know if I don't do it soon they will probably die like the alysumm I bought. That's also why I just threw my tomatoes outside. Smart gardener told me to harden them off, but I decided to be realistic that I was not going to have the time to do that. So I planted three of them outside and the rest will follow soon. I'm going to work on taking actual picture of the garden to include but I wanted to give an update. Right now, I'm planning my shady area!

My Garden

I've had it in my mind to also use this blog for gardening, I just haven't done much yet. I'm a novice when it comes to gardening. I planted a vegetable garden for the first time last year and this year will be my first year planning a landscape and flowers. I'm hoping to share my lessons learned with you and to get advice from experienced gardeners. Hopefully you won't laugh at me too much!!

For my vegetable garden this year I'm using the website smartgardener to help me plan it out. Its a great website that helps you plan according to your area, how many people are in your family and what vegetable you want to grow. It creates a to do list for you that you can check each week including when to start plants inside, when to transplant outside, what to plan directly outside, when to week, etc... Its helping me feel like I can do this even though I'm not too experienced. It also helps you plan according to the direction of the sun (height wise). I think this is one area I failed in last year. Its not a perfect website, but its pretty good for what it is!

So far I've planted my spinach and cabbage outside and I've started cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary and more cabbage inside. I have a southern facing window in my office that my plants are growing in. They seem to do REALLY well there. Here is an example of part of my to do list this week:

I also decided to purchase the upgrades to do shade, fruits and herbs. Totally worth the $10 to me! We already have strawberries (starting to see blooms!!!), raspberries, and blueberries. Over the weekend I stopped by Windmill Gardens and picked up a pink lemonade blueberry plant. I'm excited to see what it does!

My next project: Plan out a cut flower garden in my back corner. Any advice??

Easter Bunny and Square Bows

I really wanted to do a fun fancy dinner for Easter. We ended up hosting dinner for my in-laws and it was a lot of fun. I went all out with a tablecloth and cloth napkins. And yes, I folded them into bunnies. There were a couple sources for them but my favorite was a youtube video from better homes and gardens. My napkins didn't press as well as theirs but I think it turned out fine. I just tied a bow around them to hold them in place.

On that note, I also remembered that I recently learned how to correctly tie a bow. Did you even realize there is a correct way to tie a bow?? I recently started being a den leader for cub scouts and I learned that you should tie a square knot bow and then it stays in place better and also looks better. If your bunny ears end up looking cock eyed then its not a square bow. Your shoes also come untied easier. Since I've started tying my shoes correctly I haven't had to double knot them anymore! It also helps keep my kids shoes on better.

I did use this video when I was trying to figure out how to teach the boys. The best thing I can recommend is if you do seem to be tying to cockeyed, then after you make the first "bunny ear" wrap it around the opposite way. I had always been wrapping it counter clockwise but now I try to remember to do it clockwise. It does depend though on how you start the knot.

The really odd part is my Mom ties her shoes the correct way, but I guess I learned backwards...

P.s. my dinner menu was: Spiral Cut Ham, Rosemary Wheat Rolls, Roasted Asparagus, Onions and Potatoes, a salad my In-Laws brought and Frosty Strawberry Squares (I'll post strawberry recipe soon hopefully)

Valentine's Day

We're a little more settled now and I actually have my own creating space now so I've been jumping back into crafting. I've fallen in love with Pinterest and its become a great source of inspiration for me. Its also showing me that I am super amateur in all of this but I love to dabble and that's the point of this blog right! I got the inspiration for this card from a pin from The Queen's Scene. Looking at her blog a little more I've fallen in love with her style and will probably go to her for inspiration but I don't know that I will ever create anything as gorgeous as she does! I used a couple of stamps I've collected over time and the circut cartridge Storybook.

Diaper Stackers

My mom gave me this great book on how to make basic nursery decor. Its really great because it really breaks things down and makes it easy to sew these cute things. It also teaches basic sewing skills, which I'm still working on. I bought the fabric to make these about a month ago (soon after baby Cole was born) but I kept putting it off for good reasons (cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids). I decided if I didn't do something I probably wouldn't get around to it until they were both in kindergarten :)

So this week on Monday I decided to ignore the apartment and luckily Landon and Cole cooperated and it were low maintenance.  I just would sew whenever they were both content and I was able to almost finish it. It required I little more work on Tuesday but overall it didn't take too much time (less without interruptions) and it was fun to make.Plus I was able to sew it all without calling my mom to figure it out. I am really happy with how they turned out! So if you are looking for nursery decor check out that book!

Landon's 2nd Birthday Cake

I got the idea for this cake from a blog that I follow The Sister's Cafe. I added gummy worms to the idea but it was a big hit. I also just used cool whip instead of making my own whipped topping. Call me lazy...

My mom preferred this to normal cake because she liked the whipped topping frosting better then regular frosting. It was really easy to make and Landon loved it. It was really easy to make which I was looking for since I also have a newborn now!

Cake hint: Don't cook it as long as it tells you on the box. It's much more moist if you just cook it until it starts pulling away from cake pan.

Pajama Pants

I finally got around to finishing these pajama pants! I started them about 2 months ago and have been procrastinating finishing them. I have to make my own pjs because I have long legs and I want long pjs! I ran into a lot of issues while making them also. That's what I get for my first shot alone. Usually my mom is close by for guidance. I still had to call her a few times!

The first problem was when I cut the fabric. I didn't fold the fabric right so I ended up having two left legs.... that doesn't work well. My mom suggested just having one leg inside out, but I'm too picky about my pjs even though no one sees them.

I went back to the store and of course they didn't have anymore of the original fabric I bought so I scraped the original pattern (similar blue with polka dots) and now have it for possible inventive projects (maybe i'll try and make bean bags with numbers.... hmmm...).

Then I was going along fine until I reached the waistband (I know, so close to the finish line!!). I don't know how I did it but I measured the elastic about 6 inches too big.... who even knows. This wouldn't have been so bad, except I had actually sewn the elastic to the pants instead of threading it through. So my hubby was nice enough to take out the stitches (he kind of likes doing that) and I cut down the elastic and went with threading it through this time. Then I finally hemmed them and they turned out pretty good.

The only other thing is I think I used a bigger size then I really wanted, but it just means the legs are a little baggier then I'm used to. Atleast the waist fits now!!!

Bean Bags

I made a set of 10 bean bags for my Relief Society service auction tonight. I had made bean bags for my son a few months ago, so I just used left overs to make them. I also made a bag to put them in using the same template from previous post. I just made a smaller version and luckily it worked out just fine. The only part that didn't work out so well is that the drawstrings were a little shorter then they probably should have been.  It was fun making them and I was glad to be motivated to use my sewing machine again. They also sold for 100 fake dollars :)

Swiss Bread

Don't ask me why its called swiss bread, but this is a recipe I got from one of my culinary arts classes at BYU-Idaho. If you look at the end result it looks amazing, but its actually really simple to do. You can even use your own bread recipe and shape it into a braided loaf. And if your not daring enough to try braiding this recipe, you can always shape it like a regular loaf. I triple dog dare you to try it though :) Your guests will be super impressed. The original recipe is double, but I have a hard time fitting it in my kitchen aid.

Swiss Bread
BYU-Idaho Baking Class Summer 2007

Combine these ingredients and beat until smooth:

· 1 cup scalded milk (heat until just steaming and then cool to 110 Degrees)

· 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast (dissolve in 1/4 cup water at 110 degrees)

· 1 1/2 tbsp sugar

· 2 tbsp oil

· 1 cup all purpose flour

Allow sponge to rise until double in bulk (about 30-45 min).Then add:

· 1 egg beaten

· 1 tsp salt

· 1 cup of flour

Mix with a dough hook and add more flour gradually until dough pulls away from side of the bowl (using kitchen aid mixer). Dough should be soft but not sticky.

From this point you can form dough into whatever loaf you would like; directions for braided loaf below. You may have a little extra dough. Then place loaf in well greased bread pan. Brush with weak egg wash of 1 egg and 3 tbsp water. Let rise until about 1 inch over top of pan or double in bulk. Back at 325 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Braided loaf:

Weigh the double into 8 oz portions (you can also just divide loaf into 3 equal portions). Round the balls of dough and then form three 12” rope. Braid the ropes loosely, sealing the ends. (SEE BELOW)

Yield: about 1 loaf of bread (maybe a little more)

Round the balls of dough and then form three 12” rope.

Braid the ropes loosely, sealing the ends

It is a 1 1/2 lb loaf, so I think my pan is and 8 inch pan. Sometimes it can make a 2 lb loaf, depending on the amount of flour needed. Just kind of tuck the ends underneath to make it look nice and even.

Scrapbooking Weekend

I spent alot of my spare time this weekend catching up on scrap booking. It was quite productive!! I've caught up and I just need to print two pictures (Landon at 11 and 12 months old) for the last pages I worked on and scrapbook Landon's birthday.

This page was a combination of using the cricut and sticker letters. Since I wanted so many letters on these pages, I opted for stickers since I don't have to glue the back of each letter. I used the cartridge Stretch Your Imagination for the cricut shapes.

We spent Christmas week in Washington with both our families so we had lots of pictures with family. I only used the cricut for Create Joy (Beyond Birthdays Cartridge) the rest are store bought embellishments my husband bought me for Christmas. It was a struggle planning this page since I wanted to include so many pictures, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The Christmas page includes store bought embellishments but I used three cartridges total for the two pages. Beyond Birthdays for Christmas, Stone Script for Snow Day! (you can't really see it in the picture) and the snowman and sled were from Stretch Your Imagination.

I took pictures of Landon each month around the 17th and I wanted to include this in his scrapbook. I also included some of his gross motor milestones on it. I used Teardrop for the text.

Amazing Breadsticks

This is my husband's favorite! He wishes I would make them everyday and the best part is they are super easy to make. They only take about an hour start to finish. You can make them plain, with garlic butter, or with cinnamon for a sweet treat.


Breadsticks

Dissolve:  1 tbsp yeast in 1 ½ cups warm water

Add:

• 1 tbsp brown sugar or honey
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 cups flour

Knead five minutes. Roll into a rectangle. Cut into strips. Melt 1/4 cup margarine and pour into pan with sides at least 1 inch tall. Place strips on pan. Let rise 20 minutes. Sprinkle with salt or other seasoning. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Once recipe makes 24 bread sticks. For my husband and I I usually make half a batch.

Garlic Bread sticks: Use garlic butter in pan and sprinkle with garlic salt.

Cinnamon Bread sticks: Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on pan after melting butter and then after baking brush with butter and then more cinnamon.

Drawstring Bags

I decided to make drawstring bags to hold some of my son's toys like blocks and the bean bags that I made. I found this pattern at here and altered it a little bit. I didn't like how much fabric was above the drawstring so I shortened that part a little bit. This is a great handy project especially for new sewers like myself.

To make this bag:
1/3 yard of 44-45" fabric
2 30" ribbon ties (I used shoe laces or you can make the drawstring out of the same fabric)


Cut the fabric 35 1/2" by 12 1/2". Turn under each edge 1/4" and press. Now fold in half with good sides together and your fabric should measure 17 1/2" by 12 1/2". Measure 14" up the side and mark. Measure 1/2" and mark also. Sew (1/4" seams) up sides to the 14" mark leave 1/2" open and then finish sewing the last 3".


Now press open the seams you just stitched.

 Now you are going to fold the top edge down 2" and sew right next to the edge. This should be a little below opening on the sides. Once you've sewn this edge, sew a little above the other side of the 1/2" opening.



           Turn bag right side out. Attach a saftey pin to the ribbon or fabric tie (if you are using shoe laces, the ends are already stiff enough). Thread the ribbon through the opening on one side all the way around until it comes out the same side you put it in. Do the same on the other side. Tie the ends and you have a drawstring bag!

Christmas Thank You Cards

I'm really into browns, greens, and blues. It helps that green is my favorite color. The first two pictures I made for Thank You cards for christmas. I like the first picture because they could have also been used for most anything. The last picture is a card that we made to send to a family member having a hard time. I used my Cricut for these cards. It really makes card making and scrapbooking fun. I used the Beyond Birthdays cartridge and the Home Accents Solutions cartridge.