Simple Bird Feeder

Yesterday, while playing outside with my daughter I saw a pine cone that had fallen in our yard.  Thoughts of my childhood flashed in my head of making bird feeders from pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed.  Quickly I asked my daughter if she wanted to feed the birds, she quickly said yes and we were off making our project.

What do you need?

Pine Cone

Peanut Butter (any type)

Bird Seed

Twine

Paper Plates

Knives

Scissors

Paper Towels

We started with one (1) plain pine cone we found in the yard.

We added twine to hang the pine cone feeder up.

Then we spread the peanut butter on the pine cone.

Peanut butter on the pine cone.

Then we rolled the pine cone in bird seed.

Pine cone feeder hung on the tree.

This is a simple and fun activity that you can do almost any day.  

Until next time,

Jamie

An attempt at sewing...

When I was a kid I would sew all of the time.  My grandmother had a craft business and I would help her create hair for her dolls, wind bobbins with thread or whatever else she asked me to help her with.  I may have not been the best helper but all of the stuff she showed me like pinning patterns and cutting them out, stuffing dolls or sewing a Care Bear together all came back to me as I opened my new sewing machine. 

Last week I made two very simple pillowcases, which my daughter loves!  This week I tried something more creative and I worked on a dress. The directions for this dress were easy to follow.  I was able to quickly put together the dress.  When I gave it to my daughter to wear the next morning she said she liked and then proceeded to tell me "you didn't make it, grandma bought it."  Well, I did make it.  I guess she forgot she came with me to the fabric store and picked out the cloth.

I found this Free Sewing Project for a Single Seam Sundress on the Simplicity Website. (http://www.simplicity.com/Classroom/Sewing_Free_Projects/single_seam_sundress/SW041_single_seam_sundress.pdf)

This is the finished dress.  Sorry it is so blurry.  It is hard to keep a 2-1/2 year old still =-)

Until next time,

Jamie

Red, White and Blue Muffins

In an attempt to be a little festive for the 4^th of July, I found an awesome Blueberry Muffin Recipe online, doctored it up (just a little) and poof…the best muffins I think I have ever made.  They were so simple too.

I found this “To Die For Blueberry Muffin” recipe on the allrecipes.com website.  

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/to-die-for-blueberry-muffins/

The below recipe is how I prepared the muffins I made.

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

3/4 cup fresh blueberries (use 1 cup blueberries if not adding raspberries)

3/4 cup fresh raspberries (optional)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter (melted)

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin tin or line with cupcake liners.

Combine 1-1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture.

Fold in blueberries and raspberries.

 

Fill muffin cups right to the top,

 

(Note:  To keep my muffins uniform in size, I use an ice cream scoop similar to this one (http://www1.macys.com/shop/product/oxo-ice-cream-scoop-trigger-scoop?ID=568304&cm_mmc=Google_DMA_Home_Cookware_PLA-_-PLA+Home+Brands+-+Cookware_PLA+-+Cookware+-+OXO+-+2-_-18237734540_-_-_mkwid_NZGt460a|d{device}_18237734540%7C-%7CNZGt460a)

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter (I melted my butter first), and 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

 

 Sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

 

I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as I did.

Until next time,

Jamie

Strawberry Jam

It's June, and last weekend we had such beautiful weather that we just had to go strawberry picking.  But, what should we do with all of the strawberries?  Well....I decided to try to make Strawberry Jam. 

This is the recipe I found ad Food Network.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fresh-strawberry-jam-recipe/index.html  I read all of the comments and and made one alteration to use only 1-1/2 c of sugar instead of 2 c.  My first attempt at Strawberry Jam turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Here are a couple pictures from my first Strawberry Jam Experience.

Boiling 8ox. Canning Jars

2 cups of chopped strawberries

1-1/2c Sugar with Lemon Juice Heating on the Stove

Sugar Mixture with chopped Strawberries Added in.

8oz. Jar Filled with Hot Strawberry Jam (Right Off the Stove)

Mother's Day Pots

I love to make gifts that come from the heart.  Yes, they take a little time.  It is well worth a little effort to make a gift someone will appreciate.  I made these pots for my mother and grandmother for Mother's day this year.

Supplies

1 Clay Pot and Saucer

White Paint

Mod Podge

Foam Paint Brush

Photos

Ribbon (your color of choice)

Scissors

1.  Use damp cloth to clean inside and outside of clay pot and saucer.  Allow to dry thoroughly.

2.  Paint inside and outside of clay pot and all of the saucer.  Allow to dry thoroughly (i.e. Overnight)

3.  Cut photos to side of choice.  Make you have enough to cover the pot, you can decorate as you please (i.e.  Straight line, cover the whole pot, etc.).

4.  Use generous amount of Mod Podge to cover area where you will place the photo, work in small areas since glue will dry quickly.  Repeat until the pot is covered as desired.  Allow to dry.  

5.  Cover whole pot and pictures with Mod Podge (inside and outside) to seal the pot.  Repeat 3-5 times to get desired finish.  Allow to dry between layers, as noted in Mod Podge directions.

6.  Once dry, add ribbon as a decoration and fill with your favorite flowers.

Teacher Appreciation

For a Teacher Appreciation Gift I made a small art supply cake for my daughter's teachers.  This was a quick and simple project and the teachers loved it.  I had seen similar projects online but I made this project by memory of what I had seen and my own creativity.

Supplies
1 Cardboard Cake Board
8 Bottles of School Glue
12 Sticks of Glue
12 8-ct. Boxes of Crayons
1 Box Tissue
2 Pencils
Ribbon
Hot Glue Gun
Pen/Marker
2 pieces of colored paper

1.  Start by centering the box of tissue and glue it to the cake board.
2.  Place School Glue around the box of tissue.  You can glue it, but I did not. Place ribbon around level on and glue to secure.
3.  Stack boxes of crayons for a second level.  Since I had to transport this in the car, I decided to use the crayons to box in the sticks of glue.  But, you could use the crayons as on level and the glue as an additional layer above.  Place ribbon around this level and glue to secure.
4.  Use pencils to hold up the sign or note.  This one said Happy Teacher Appreciation Week and the teachers names.
5.  Have fun!