Busy Day

No surprise...I've been a terrible blogger, but I'm not letting that stop me from posting something out of the blue.

I had a most productive day last week and here is what I accomplished.

I roasted all the spaghetti squash that I harvested from my garden.

And then I scraped out all the flesh and put it in bags and into the freezer.  I also used a helping to make that nights dinner.

Next up was to process 10 peaches that I had purchased the week before into 7 jars of peach jam.  (It actually was more like 8 jars as one of the jars was bigger.)

And finally...process all the basil I had into pesto, which I placed in muffin tin to freeze.  Later, I bagged and labeled each pesto muffin into it's on freezer bag.

These are perfect for tossing into any pasta sauce or soup.  I just used one to top flatbread pizza.

End of a perfect day.

Latest Projects

Life has been a little too hectic lately, but I managed to squeeze in a whole day of projects last week.  Here's what I made:

New Mantel Garland

I've been into keeping lights on my mantel all year long and to keep it from looking too Christmassy, I've been making garland for the season.  In February, I did a red heart garland and for Spring I've done this daisy garland.

Here it is drying

I bought the wood flowers at Joann's and painted them pale yellow.  I then added adhesive aqua gems.    I attached the flowers using my glue gun to green floral wire.  (I used some of the small hearts left over from February's garland as the backing for the flowers making it much easier to stick to the wire.) I made two of them and gave one to Cait as a little Easter present.

Here is the finished mantel:

I think I need to update my mantel afghan to something a little less...PINK.


I also made all the grandkids their Easter cards.  I think they turned out so cute:

And finally got two of the April Birthday cards made and sent:

For my SIL Karen:

And from my brother Bob:

This is my first time using an old photo.  Hope he likes it.

Happy April!

In the Deep Freeze

What to do when it's two degrees outside and it's still the afternoon.  Why make chili, of course.

Here's all my ingredients:

I've posted the recipe before, but I may have added or removed things over time.  Here is the Chili recipe  from days gone by.  In that version there was no meat, but today I put it in.  I also don't add pasta all that often.  It gets too mushy.  Play with it and use what you like.  If you asked what's my secret...I'd say cream corn, barbecue sauce and V8.  Must have cumin too.

It's just a little bit of everything and will warm you up on a day like today.  I made what I think is a huge pot, but after tonight, I'll be lucky if there is one small bowl left.  This family loves chili.

Stay warm.

Card of the Month

I've been making a few cards lately.  I finished 5 birthday cards on Friday evening to celebrate all the February birthdays, but I didn't use any sketches for my inspiration.  Today though, I made two cards using this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch for inspiration.

Here is the sketch:

Here are my cards:

Version 1

Version 2

Best news on the card front is that I purchased a new printer.  It is awesome.  I've been struggling for so long with the old one and this one does so much and so easily.  I am back to being able to print my card sentiments on the inside before I make the rest of the card.  Yeah!!  It's an Epson WF-3640 if anyone is in the market for a new printer.  Got it at a good price from Office Max thanks to the help of Tyler.  Super knowledgeable.

Homemade Ice Cream

I received an ice cream maker for my birthday.  I've been wanting one for so long and I was so excited to use is yesterday.

I made this:

Raspberry chocolate chip.

It was very fun and easy.  Can't wait to make more.  Already have flavors going around in my mind.  Peppermint for Rick, pumpkin for Jay...the ideas just keep coming.

Also made a couple cards last week.

Inspiration

Version 1

Version 2

Have a great Saturday.