Color Kits

I hate finding little bits of crayons in the bottom of my purse so I made this first little color kit as I've been wanting something to keep in my purse that would keep together the kids crayons. I figured it would be cool to add a little space for a small notepad or book and so I left a little spot for a small moleskin or other cute pad.  Anyway it folds up nicely and protects my stuff from the kiddos coloring items and protects the crayons from my purse.

On a completely different note, our house has been on the market for 110 days and I am now hoping since we waited this long we will be around for the cherries and peaches.  My spinach is growing quite nicely and I hung out some lavender to dry earlier today.  Maybe to make some little sachets:)

Fun Fabrics for pillows

Pillows are a great project for any beginner seamstress!  You can't go wrong with fun fabrics and if you don't have money for fabric look around your house for old sweaters, window treatments, sheets, and any other type of fun print you can find.  I even fill my pillows sometimes with scrap fabrics I save from my various projects.

 I have been helping my new friend L with getting her house looking hip and fun.  It has been great because I haven't been able to do too much with my house since everything needs to look neutral. She has similar style so I feel it's like an outlet for me to help her.  Anyway these are the fun pillows I finished for her in the commercials for the Lost finale.  Anyway can't wait to make more.

Sewing some more

Just finished a cute little bedspread and pillow for Aislin's bed.  I have been wanting to get this stuff done so her room looks a little more put together and so I am glad to say it is done.  I used scrap fabric for almost the whole thing. I found the fun top fabric at the flea market for a steal.  I hope that I have enough left to make a small dress.

Cherry Trees... learning the hard way.

I have been absolutely enthralled with progress of the cherry tree.  Watching it bloom and shed flowers and then little cherries appearing has been exciting. So.. today when I went out and saw my little cherry babies on the ground I was a little freaked out.  I pulled out my iphone and began the search for what was wrong with my beautiful tree. I discovered I have borers which basically suck and are hard to get rid off.  This does explain why the peach tree in the front yard was having a hard time when we moved in and why my cherry tree looked a little sad near the end of spring last year.  Anyway I rushed to the store and got some spray and put Alf to work right away.  We cut off the dead looking parts of the tree and sprayed it down.  We also sprayed the little peach tree out front which has some peaches coming out so hopefully we can keep them both alive.  We still will get a good batch of cherries this year ( or someone will) just not enough to feed the entire block:)

The Wonderful World of Toothpaste

I had mentioned making toothpaste in one of my previous blogs so I thought I should give you an update and share the recipe.  This recipe is not good it is actually awesome.  I will not use store bought toothpaste again.  Alf actually brought a  good size tube of fancy paste home from his parents house and it totally pales in comparison.  This toothpaste is whitening my teeth, and keeping them feeling shiny like when you get your teeth cleaned at the dentist and it leaves your mouth minty fresh.  So try it.

Toothpaste Recipe

Ingredients:
6 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
4 tsp vegetable glycerin ( can me found at whole foods in the skincare area)
4+ drops of peppermint oil ( add the oil to taste )
2 packets or splenda or sweetener of choice.

Mix all ingredients to a paste-like consistency. store in an airtight container.
That's it.

I have mine in a little tupperware in the bathroom.
Alf says he prefers it over the other toothpaste too so I have to gives little experiment an A+.

Happy Mother's Day to me.

I don't think I have had as much fun on Mother's Day.  At first I thought our plans to skip church were not really gonna work in my favor as every mom knows Mothers day is the one guaranteed day of the year for flowers.  Alf laughed at me when he realized my only reason for wanting to go to church was a free flower.  Well anyway I have been wanting to go to the museum for awhile as it's free on Sundays and we always have had church so we went to the Albuquerque museum ( which is the art museum here).  It was pretty cool to see and then we topped it off with some Doghouse hot dogs.  All day Ash kept telling me it was my day and I could have whatever I wanted.  Alf got me some flowers and took on dinner and bedtimes.  It was a great day.  Ash said he likes getting to go special places everyday and wants to know what we are doing tomorrow.

Zoo Day!

We have been wanting to take a trip to the zoo so we all loaded in the car this morning and headed over.  It was slightly chilly which was perfect as there was not a million people there.  We dragged along our nephew and Alf took the day off so there was fun had by all.

Whooo Are You.

Sewing is by far an essential skill to any homesteader and I think if you can't sew at least a little you are really lacking a wonderful skill.  I enjoy sewing as it gives me a creative outlet but also serves in very practical ways.  I like to challenge myself and my next big challenge is definitely a summer dress for Ais.  The only trick to sewing for me is getting it done with the kids doing something else as the machine is just way too exciting and they hang there little heads over my machine, and chatter, and constantly want to touch. Since I have no desire to explain how my kids finger is now stuck in my sewing machine to the doctor. I try to plan out my sewing time.
Anyway, I have been wanting to get some sewing done and didn't have time to take on the dress but I wanted an owl to add to my decor.  So I drew out a little pattern and sewed him up.  I think he came out looking pretty cute.  I let Ash take care of him but he has been warned not to go "all Boy" on him as he is delicate.  he has been watching over the fish.

The clothesline and fresh flowers

Today has been nice and bright.  I went out to check on the flowers and decided to decorate a bit with them.  We have a lot of lavender in our yard and I think it should be used so after reading how to cut it and a million ways to use it. After arranging a nice vase full of fresh flowers I went to check laundry and since I was washing some blankets I thought it would be better to use the line to dry.  Last time I used the line I couldn't figure out how to keep it from sagging.  So I found the metal poles and set it up and then it still sagged. Finally I put the cord around the little circle on the metal line holder and that seemed to work great the blankets are outside blowing in the wind.  I can't wait to try our some lavender recipes... yes you can cook with lavender.

I have conquered butter!

I have been wanting to try to make butter and haven't had the time till today.  Today is cinco de mayo but I had butter on my mind and nothing was going to change that.  I had some cream in the fridge that was going to go to waste if it wasn't used up soon.  I poured it into a mason jar capped it and let it sit all day.  In the evening I grabbed it off the counter and went to watch some tv.  I gently shook it while I watched, I wanted to relax not concentrate too much.  The cream sloshed back and forth for the first half of the show I wondered if I was doing it right.  It got nice and thick and started to coat the inside of the jar.  I wondered if it was ready but instead I kept shaking and suddenly I heard a thud.  Well just like that it separated into butter and buttermilk.  I shook a little more and then headed to the kitchen opened the jar and inside was my butter!  I strained out the buttermilk with cheesecloth and then rinsed the butter with water.  Kneaded it a little and got nice and buttery then put it into a little butter tub.  I of course toasted some bread and shared some with everyone.  It was so easy I will probably never buy butter again.  I like that I can salt it, or add any flavors I like and know I made it!

Liquid Hand Soap Recipe

I made some hand soap today since I had some glycerin I bought to make toothpaste yesterday (which came out great), I figured I would go ahead and make some handsoap since we needed some and well I had the time. So here is part of the batch. I think it came out well.

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap Recipe

Ingredients:

1 bar of soap or soap scraps you have on hand

7 cups water

1 TBS glycerin

1 TBS honey

peppermint oil

lavender oil

1. Grate the bar of soap.

2. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into a blender with the grated soap and set it on “whip.”

3. Add 1 TBS of glycerin, 1 TBS honey, 7 drops of peppermint oil, and 7 drops of lavender oil. Stir.

4. Let the mixture cool for 15 or 20 minutes and then “whip” it again.

5. Add cold water until the mixture measures 6 cups total.

6. Whip the mixture again.

7. Pour the mixture into a storage container without the lid and let it cool.

8. Fill a pump dispenser with your soap. Be sure to shake well before using.

The cherry tree and the apricot tree are sprouting pretty little fruities!

I made toothpaste today. I will post the recipe some other day. Today however I found things in the garden and wanted to share.

The Playground Concert

I have been working on a concert to raise money for a playground at East Central Ministries and tonight was the night. It was fun to say the least. We had a great crowd and raised a little bit to add to the puzzle and we also got a good list of volunteers to add to building day. I got to share the stage with a young local named Jenny Gonzales whose voice is like silk. Then I played a set and we finished the night with the Albuquerque Boys Choir who topped off the night with bango, pvc pipes, accordion, kazoos and more. I loved every bit of it. Thank You to everyone who pitched in to make this happen! If you'd like to help with the building or funding of this project please email me.

Here is ECM's website: www.eastcentralministries.org