Walk on the Wild Side or ?

Today I kept hearing  it was National Sibling Day!  

But actually that was yesterdays news.

 I went on line and discovered I could download 

an app on my phone (checkiday).   I was curious 

to see what I could celebrate tomorrow,  

April 12, 2014! This is what I found.

     Big Wind Day  -  On April 12, 1934, it was recorded 

to be the highest wind speed in the whole

world.  Mount Washington Observatory 

 made this recording of 231 miles per

   hour.  Pretty crazy!!!

        

      Drop Everything and Read Day  - best know as D.E.A.R! 

                  This   day was created to honor Beverly 

               Cleary's birthday who wrote, Ramona Quimby, 

Age 8. You can read more about it 

here Read!

      National Grilled Cheese  Sandwich Day  -  I love 

grilled cheese sandwiches!! I can honestly say

 I'll be making and eating myself a

 Grilled Cheese Sandwich!  Check out 

      Beverly's Blog at A Night Owl  she has 25 

amazing recipes for grill cheese!

      National Licorice Day -  From what I've been

 reading on line, true licorice is black.  Red and 

     any other color is not true licorice! 

      Russian Cosmonaut Day  -  This day celebrates 

the first human in space made in 1961 by

       Russian Yuri Gagarin.  Read more 

here-Nasa Mission

         

                          

      Walk on Your Wild Side Day -  I don't know how 

this day came to be but I like it! I'll have to 

   sleep on this one!  Have any ideas, please share!

What's your favorite grilled cheese?  How will

you celebrate your wild side? 

Slow Cooking Glazed Ham Recipe

I'm making this again this year!!

Umm, umm!!

This recipe is the best for cooking your ham in a slow cooker! If you haven't cooked your ham in a crockpot before, you should try it at least once.  

This is a great recipe to try for any occasion.

Your ham will turn out very moist!!

Ingredients

Ham  -  I used a Kirkland Signature Spiral Ham

1 Can of Ginger Ale or Coke

Package of glaze (comes with ham)

Can of sliced pineapple

Maraschino cherries

tooth pics

Cloves (optional) 

Remove ham from packaging and place ham flat side down in crockpot.   Pour can of ginger ale or coke on top of ham.  Prepare glaze as directed on package and spoon over ham.  Place pineapple slices and one cherry in center of each pineapple slice onto ham with a tooth pic.  Press cloves in to ham (optional).  My family doesn't like to much clove so I leave them out.  Cover and  slow cook for about 4 hours, until fully warmed/cooked. 

 Your ham will be so moist.

If your ham doesn't come with a glaze here are a few recipes. 

Brown Sugar Glaze

Ginger Ale or Coke

1/2-3/4 c  brown sugar

1/2 tsp mustard (prepared or dry)

3 T cider vinegar

1/8 tsp cinnamon

4 T water

3 T flour or corn  starch 

Pour ginger ale or coke over ham. 

Mix together remaining ingredients and spread over ham. 

*

Preserve Glaze

Ginger Ale or Coke

1/2 c peach preserves

1/4 c mustard

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pour ginger ale or coke over ham. 

Mix together remaining ingredients and spread over ham. 

*

Pineapple Glaze

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c pineapple juice from can or water

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Mix together and spread over ham.

He Has Made Everything Beautiful In Its Time

Ecclesiastes 3:11

  

   

DIY Stenciled Bunny Placemats

Here you have my cute stenciled bunny placemats.  Just in time for Easter. You should give these a try.  They are super easy!!!

  I found these colorful placemats at my local Dollar Store

To make these cute placements all you need: 

ready made placemats, acrylic paint,  a paper plate, a sponge brush, a stencil (I made the one you see by drawing a bunny free hand on thick stock paper.  You can find images on line. Also, a pair of scissors if you need to cut your stencil out and a pencil to draw your image! Don't forget to cover your surface with paper so it doesn't steep through to your counter.  

Draw and cut out your stencil.

Here's my cut out stencil!  Position your stencil on your placemat

Squeeze some paint onto your paper plate!  Dip your sponge brush into the paint.  Holding the stencil with one hand and lightly moving your brush up and down to paint in the stencil with you other hand.  You can tape your stencil down, but I didn't find it necessary!

Here you go a painted bunny!

Use different colors to paint your bunnies!  Super easy craft!!

While looking on the web for  ideas, I came a cross a blog,   Katie from View From the Fridge!  She inspire me to stencil something.  So I made some stenciled bunny placemats.  Thanks Katie!

Start Your Garden From Seeds

A few weeks ago, it was time to get the garden in order by selecting our seeds for the season.  Instead of buying our plants at our local nursery, my husband and I chose to grow them from seed.  We picked a variety of seeds that we knew the family would like, and even some new things we'd like to try this year.

Save your egg cartons, and your plastic berry 

containers!!  Fill them up 

with dirt and follow the directions

 on each seed packet!

I used Organic Plus Patio Plus Premium 

Outdoor Potting Mix.

Once the seeds were planted, water them and 

cover them with plastic wrap.  This helps them 

to germinate.   Don't pack down the 

dirt.  Once the seeds germinate, you can 

remove the plastic wrap and keep watering.  

(Sorry, I have no pictures for this step!)  

I grew them inside next to a window!  

Once they grow (like the pictures above),   

transplant them into bigger pots (red plastic cups).  

The cups are deeper and can help the roots of the 

plants grow.  We would have planted them 

directly to the ground, but the weather in

 the morning is still to cold and the sun is way to hot 

for these tender plants.

My husband drilled holes on the bottom of these 

red plastic cups.   Don't forget to water once 

you've moved your plants to their new home!!!

It's not to late in the season to start preparing your seeds. 

This is a great project for the kids to take part in. 

What will you grow? 

Happy gardening!

He Has Made Everything Beautiful In Its Time.  

                                                     Ecclesiastes 3:11  

Hollywood Sewalong - The Notebook Part 2

 

After watching the movie several times and wiping away my tears, I had to concentrate on the fashion of the 1940's from this great movie, #The Notebook.   I'm taking part on this Sewalong and I was inspired my the pretty colors of blues, bright greens, purples, and great reds!  Even the black and white popped out at me!

When I went shopping for fabric, I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to make.  Only that it was either going to be a skirt and blouse or a dress.  As I walked down the rows of fabric, I came across some beautiful fabric.  It was so hard to decide, I became confused and decided just to go home with nothing in my hands.

That night I watched the movie again and I just fell in 

love with this scene.

So the next day I went out to shop for fabric.  

This time I knew what I was looking for!   

Red and white polkadot

 fabric and I found it!!!! My goal is to 

finish the dress

 by May 2nd, my birthday,  

that way I can wear it on 

the 3rd of May (date night)!

 Please come visit me again for the 

The Big Reveal, May 5th, 2014!

Thank You for visiting!

Click on the link below to visit the original five members who put this challenge together! 

Hollywood Sewalong - The Notebook Part 1

 Remember, it's not to late to take part on this #Sewalong!!!!  You can still watch the movie and come up with something beautiful before May 5th, 2014.  Come join the fun!!

He Has Made Everything Beautiful In Its Time.  
Ecclesiastes 3:11  

Organizing One Room At A Time !

Clutter, clutter, clutter!  Who doesn't have clutter?  A messy drawer, a pile of shoes, a over stuffed closet, a pile of papers or  to much fabric/crafting materials!  I have plenty of the above and going into April 2014, it's time to take control of the clutter!  

I have way to much stuff and it's time to purge.  Spring cleaning is a great time to start! April 1st, 2014, is a great time to start organizing a room, a closet, or a drawer.  This is No April Fools joke!!!!  Whatever room you decide to start with let  today be the day! 

Before you start, I have a new method of organizing and I'm excited to share it!  It might seem a little crazy but I do think it'll work.

I counted how many rooms I have in my home, adding the back/front yard and garage in the count. They are part of the house.  Although my husband does maintain both the front and back yard, I enjoy gardening and spending time outside.  These areas  always need some girly touches like new planted flowers! 

Say you have 5 bedrooms, 2 bath, the kitchen, the living room , the family room, laundry room, garage, front and backyard.  That gives me 14 separate sections.   Yes, it's a big challenge but you really do need to  start somewhere and someday on this crazy desire of organizing!  

If you want to have your house put together in a year and you have more sections then 12, you will have to combine a few rooms together.  For example, I know I can get both bathrooms done plus the laundry room organized within the same month. That cuts the 14 sections down to 11 sections or months.  Being my husband takes care of the yard work, I know that it will only take me one month to do what I need to do to both the front and back yard.  I can start working on my gardening! I might even be able to start on another room within that month. So now its 10 sections to complete! You can take a couple of months off to enjoy the holidays!  Or one month for the holidays and one month during the summer.

Remember to look at what months just are out of the question to organize.  Maybe you travel and are out of town on certain months.  You can either combine rooms or just carry the organizing on to the new year.  Just make it work for you without going crazy!  So it takes you 15 months to get the house in order, who cares has long as it's getting done.  You might have great intentions to get done in a year but life happens and sometimes you just need to let it happen!  No need to stress about it.

If you want you can get your calendar out and think about what months you want to do certain rooms!  Then start marking your calendar.  November/December are busy month.  Summer  time is not a busy month for me.   So pick easy rooms to clean and organize for those months that you know will be crazy busy!  

Remember some things you have no control over.  I have no control on what happens on my husbands side of the bed.  Yes, I can pick up his socks and put away his shoes, but he doesn't want me to, so I don't.  Well, okay now and then I do, but more often then I do, he does his own picking up.

Now there are a few rules you must follow:


1.  Only do one section at a time.

2.  One room at a time.

3.  Include the family in this new venue, when possible!

4.  Allow free days.  Reality is you won't be able to tackle
     something each day!  Life is unpredictable!
     
     I work full time and some days I'm simply to tired to tackle
     anything.


5.  Make your three piles:

                         DONATE - (You must give this pile 
                         away before starting a new room)

                         SELL - (Have a yard sale, sell on eBay, 
                         Etsy, or your Community FB page)

                         KEEP - (This pile must be put away
                         in it's new home before you start a
                         new room)

What room will you start first?????

                            He Has Made Everything Beautiful In Its Time.  
                                                     Ecclesiastes 3:11 

30/30 Sewing Challenge Complete

All of my finished sewing projects planned for the 30/30 Sewing Challenge complete.  I was so glad to take part in this challenge.  It helped me to create a good habit of sewing.  I  have to be honest there were days I just didn't have the energy to sew, but I did.  I'd actually put the timer on and sewed exactly 30 minutes.   It also helped me to use my stash!  Fabrics I've had for along time.  You wouldn't happen to know what I'm talking about...lol!   

So often we don't always take time to sew for ourselves.  We get to busy sewing and creating for others.  I do plan on making it more of a habit to sew and build my clothes with the kind of things I love.   



30/30 Sewing Challenge Week 1  

30/30 Sewing Challenge Week 2 

30/30 Sewing Challenge Week 3 

30/30 Sewing Challenge Week 4

I want to thank Sarah from Berry Barn Designs for the challenge of sewing selfishly for ourselves for 30 minutes  each day for 30 days!!!!   

Also, I appreciate everyones comments and thanks to those who took part in the challenge.  I was really inspired by all the different projects worked on and completed during this challenge!!

Happy Sewing!!

30/30 Sewing Challenge - Week 4

More 30/30 minutes of sewing this week!  Made myself 

another blouse!  Yippy to that!!!

The blouse has some gathering in the front shoulders.

 It bunches up in the center!  Love it!

This was the original fabric I was going to use but 

I decided on the one above.  

The pattern I used is Simplicity 2181.

To see other projects completed by those taking part link up to Berry Barn Designs!!

Berry Barn Designs 30/30 Sewing Challenge Week-4 Progress

Cheetah Print Shirt and Shorts Sewing Outfit

When I heard Project Run and Play- Season 9 was starting a new season!  I thought, "Oh, now that sounds like fun!"  I knew I wouldn't make the deadline but I was still inspired to whip some- thing up for my cute little Grandson, Benjamin!  



So, here you go my #sewing outfit for my grandson Ben!  I only wish I could have had him model the outfit! Cheetah printed fabric shirt coordinated  with a pair of black shorts! 

A just for fun project!

                    

Take me to the zoo in Cheetah!

30/30 Sewing Challenge Week 3

It's time again to show off what I've done with my selfish 30 minute sewing for me, me, and me alone!  Since I have two more weeks left to sew, I decided to add this doll to my list of things I wanted to finish.  

 I lifted her dress  so you could see her underpants!

I sewed her pants, jacket, and dress!  Used yarn to make her hair. And painted her face.

Then I assembled her together and now my Garden Doll is done!

I just noticed I need to snip a few out of control fabric threads!

It's been a fun week to sew!  I believe I'm getting into the habit of sewing for 30 minutes a day!  I really look forward to it!

Check out whatever one else has done!!

30/30 Sewing Challenge Week 3