scraps and stitches

Just a couple scraps of paper and some really simple stitches and you've got yourself a little stack of cards.

After seeing these super cute invites from mer mag's blog, I thought I might actually start on a goal I have every year yet never accomplish. I usually make cards for any celebrated occasion and at the beginning of each year I have the good intention of making a bunch of cards to have on hand and this year I actually did.

Another good way to go through my crazy accumulation of scraps that I have a hard time parting with. Just trying to be resourceful.

Snow Day

Our kids had never been to the snow. Weird, huh? We used to go all the time to snowboard, but with bad knees, and kids in the mix we had just never taken a trip to the snow with them. That is definitely going to change. It was the most beautiful day and we had so much fun together. After all the rain, the mountains were covered with snow. We found our own little spot on the mountain and introduced the kids to the snow.
We had snow ball fights,

sled rides,
and, of course, we built our friend, Mr. Wonky Snowman.

This one was so brave walking the sled up the hill all by herself and shooting down the mountain with no fear.

I think she had fun.

Time to go home.We had a perfect snow day.

Thumbprints

(Heart -Shaped) Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies from Joy of Cooking cookbook only contain about 2 gms of fat and are super yummy. Here's the recipe.

Position rake in center of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.

Whisk together thoroughly:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup corn starch

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Beat on med speed until well blended:

3 1/2 Tbs unsalted butter, softened

3 Tbs corn or canola oil

1 Tbs light corn syrup (I didn't have any and they turned out just fine)

1/2 cup sugar

1 lg egg

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir flour mixture into egg mixture just until combined. With lightly greased hands, pull off pieces of dough and roll between palms into 3/4 inch balls. (I then kind of shaped them into a heart still keeping it kind of thick so that I still had enough room to make a deep well thumbprint for the jam or preserve.) Space balls about 2 inches apart on the sheet. With thumb or knuckle press down center of each cookie to make a large deep well. Fill wells with:

seedless fruit jam or preserve (not jelly because it will be too runny)

I used strawberry and it worked great. Bake 1 sheet at a time until tops are lightly tinged brown, about 6-9 minutes. Remove sheets and let stand about 2 minutes until cookies firm slightly. Transfer to racks to cool.

Just about the easiest cookie I have ever made.

sunshine painting

The sun was out yesterday and we didn't want it to go to waste.

Ella and I decided to do a little sunshine painting while Julian took a his nap.

She started out crouched down...

then soon ended up making herself quite comfortable.We can't ever make it through a painting session without paint covering the hands, getting on clothes although a smock is worn, in the hair and any surrounding surface. I love this picture with the little speck of paint on her nose. I guess that makes for a good time painting.

Here is what I was working on. A piece of fabric made it into this one.

I love this out of focus picture of the sky poking through the leaves and branches, it reminds me of a watercolor painting.

new traditions

Last year we made these little valentine's day pillows with some fabric paint and fabric. Ella painted the hearts after I drew them on the fabric and if I remember right Julian painted his hands. Ella's pillow, the kitty pillow, ended up being a year round pillow which she loves, so I shouldn't have been surprised when she suggested yesterday that we make new pillows. I guess we have a new tradition. I like it.

Ella's is the only one that got finished. I suggested the X O and explained what it meant and she painted it on her own. I threw in the little ruffles after seeing this cute pillow and she loves it.

This might be another year round pillow.

Ella's headband & cards

It's another rainy day. Ella's first request everyday now is to do a craft. So as I was racking my brain for something to do and watching Ella push Julian around in her little doll stroller while constantly pushing her hair out of her face, I thought of something that would not only be fun but also useful...a little valentine's day headband.
I gathered a couple of supplies and let Ella choose which ones she wanted to put in the mix.
It turned out completely different than how I had envisioned it, but I love it. It's Ella's creation. I cut the hearts out and I actually moved my sewing machine to her little table and let her push the pedal. At first I was going to let her try to guide the material and everything, but I soon realized just concentrating on how much pressure to put on the pedal to make it go slowly and to stop when I said was more than enough for now. Julian had a couple of turns with the pedal also.
Now these cards just make me smile. This is all Ella. She has seen me make cards before throwing in some pics from magazines and it looks like she was taking notes. When I set her up to make valentine's day cards last week she already had a list of what she needed - a magazine, glue, scissors, and some pink and red paper. She asked me to cut out some hearts for her but soon after she wanted to cut them out if I would just draw them for her.
I was busy sewing while she was hard at work with her cards and this is what she came up with. I love the pictures she chose, especially the one for Julian. HA! Pretty cute.

feelin' love?

This hand stitched love note from Twig and Thistle is making me want to bust out some thread and get to work with my own love thoughts...this may make a cute little pillow.

And this sweet necklace from here makes me want to plan a date in the park.
Just a couple of things think about this week.

Soft and Squishy

I'm on a quilted blanket kick that's for sure. After going through my tiny sized scrap pile of fabric and making a small square quilt, I decided to go through my pile of slightly larger pieces and realized I could make a nice little blanket for Ella. I decided to dig up her worn with love receiving blankets from when she was a baby and incorporate them into the mix.

I made 4 large rectangles out of 4 pieces of fabric, then used long strips for in between and along edges. The back is a large piece of soft micro corduroy fabric that used to cover a chair in Ella's room. This turned out to be such a nice thick squishy blanket, perfect for cuddling up.

I hand-tied this with a nice turquoise.

I think part of my inspiration for these quilts has been this book I found at a thrift store.

It was published in the 70's if you can't tell from the pics. One of the things I love about old books is the style...awesome!

I have a request for a new comforter for our bed, so I better get started before I'm over this little quilting kick.

I LOVE SOUP!!

This sweet girl loves soup also. She just can't have too much because the sodium makes her retain water weight. No, not really, but she does drink an insane amount of water when she eats our table scraps.

I have tried these two soups from The Pioneer Woman and wow this is now my go to site for new recipes. So tasty. These are not low in fat but seriously sometimes you just go for it...even if you are trying to get rid of after-the-holidays problematic areas. I did do a little tweaking to the butter and heavy cream content and they were still so amazing.
Cauliflower Soup
Even the kids were asking for seconds.
Oh, and the best thing about these recipes is she has pictures for each step so it's very helpful to us visual people.
Sherried Tomato Soup
One of my new favorites.