Gabriel's Garden Journal

Here's a quick tutorial on how to put together your own garden journal. I did this one for our nephew, Gabriel. The printable worksheets were copied from Homesteadgarden.com.

Hope you're having a wonderful time gardening this season!:)

Butterfly applique' onesie

God has given us some great renters and we're thankful that things have been going well these past several months. Q and I both had the idea of giving them a gift for their new baby girl, who was born recently. I decided to do an applique' on a onesie for her.

I gathered four different purple fabrics to make this butterfly. I first drew out the design on card stock and cut out the pieces. Then, I traced the pattern onto the fabrics and cut those out. The trickiest thing about sewing on little pieces is making sure it stays where you want it to be. I used pins, but I know that you can probably use iron-on adhesive first before stitching it in place.

I used a zig-zag stitch for the wings and body. Because the antennae were tiny, I used a regular stitch and did that only through the center of them. My machine will eat up those tiny pieces if you use any other stitch on them. Then it's hard to get them unstuck!

All in all, this was a fun project to do--and it didn't take me all day, either. If you haven't tried applique' yet, you've got to. It's a fun and easy way to dress up anything in your wardrobe as well as make a simple hand made gift. 

Lovin' those lemons...

I have a BIG thing for lemons. They are one of my favorite fruits. I love how they smell, taste, and make other foods taste so good!

Since high school, I've had a favorite chocolate candy--the lemon truffle from See's Candies. It is divine! Every time we go to California to visit family, we just have to stop by and get some of these indulgent treats.

One of my scented lotions from Bath and Body Works is lemon. It's part of their summer vanilla collection. Try it and you'll smell so sweet!

I enjoy making lemon desserts and eating meals where lemons have been sprinkled on for added flavor. Fresh-squeezed lemon juice in water is an awesome variation from just "plain ol' water."

However...there is a certain lemon something that I have a hard time with because its taste varies from place to place....and that is ice cold lemonade. Sometimes it is too sweet, too watery, too sour and it is not pleasing to my taste buds at all! If any of you have a great recipe for this, I'd love to have it.:) I have tried Sonic's lemon cream slush and I really like that. This is my new treat for the summer.

I thought it would be fun to share some lemon recipes that I've tried (or want to try soon) and share them with you all this summer. Lemons are a refreshing taste for this new season upon us!

As promised, I wanted to start off by sharing the recipe for lemon gems from Taste of Home. I made these and bagged them up for some graduates as one of my gifts to them. You'll love its melt-in-your-mouth lemony taste! Enjoy!

Lemon Gems 

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup colored nonpareils

Lemon icing:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon peel. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Shape into a 1-3/4-inch diameter roll; roll in nonpareils. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm.

Unwrap and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine icing ingredients. Spread over cookies. Yield: 28 cookies

I'm proud of my man!;)

As many of you know, Quentin works another job besides being pastor of our small church. He works with disabled adults at a home in Boulder. Currently, there are six people living in the house. Quentin is one of a few employees who work with these individuals with cleaning, cooking, giving them their medications and getting them to appointments, jobs and activities. He thoroughly enjoys working with them to help them be the best they can be. 

Yesterday, Q sent me a link to an article that was written about him in their "staff spotlight." It's a publication put out by Imagine!, the company he works for. I'm very proud of Quentin! He is doing so well. I'm thankful that God has given him this other job, not only because he is a good testimony of Christ's love to these people and coworkers, but also because it supplements our income and gives us great health insurance (which we've already had to use). God has been good!

Here's the link to the article: http://www.imaginecolorado.org/ImagiNews/JUNE10.htm#story1

My garden: hoses and seeds...

Q has been doing a wonderful job with the garden. I should really call it "Q's garden" because he has done most of the work, spending several hours each week outside tending to it.

Here's what's been happening these last few days...

The soaker hoses are up and running! This will make watering so much easier.

Q planted seeds for green beans, carrots, corn, lettuce, peas, pumpkin and zucchini. The potatoes have been placed in their own plot of land, too.

We've noticed mushrooms popping up in our strawberry/herb patch. We don't know if they're edible or not. Either way, they will have to go. We don't want them killing our plants. So far, the strawberry plants are doing okay. We've also noticed a couple bunnies checking out the garden, so we're thinking about putting some fencing around it.

The cantaloupe plants are thriving. They took a long time to germinate. They will be planted outside soon. 
The group of tomato and pepper plants have been doing well indoors. However, my roma plants didn't do so well. After transplanting them into bigger pots, they all died. We think that they got root-bound because there were sometimes 3 or 4 in a dixie cup. Because of the unpredictable weather, they stayed in those cups too long. 

The picture above shows the beginning of my second try with the romas this year. I only placed one (and sometimes two) seeds per cup. We'll probably get a mid-fall harvest, but that's okay. I just want these guys to make it! The weather is gorgeous now, so as soon as they're a bit bigger, we'll put them out.

How's your garden going? I can't wait to see things growing outside, and of course, I'll show you some pictures.:)

Anniversary day treats

Even though Q and I celebrated our anniversary last weekend by going to see Fiddler on the Roof, I still wanted to do something special on our real anniversary day which was yesterday.

This bouquet of roses was given to us by a member in our church. The pot is sitting on our dining room table and it makes me smile. We hope to plant them outside soon.

I was trying to come up with a unique card for Q and this is what I came up with. I went a little "doodle crazy" with it! It is a scratch-art card. I colored on the front of the card using different colors of crayons. Then, I painted a few coats of black acrylic paint. I used scissors to make my design. I wrote, "Do you love me?" because it is the title of one of the songs from Fiddler on the Roof. 

On the inside of the card, I drew a heart with the words, "Yes, I love you" (again from Fiddler). However, when Q scratched this part, the words came out with it! I guess it would work if the words were written directly onto the card with the crayon, instead of on top of the other color. So, I wrote on it again for him to see my message. 

I made him this yummy dessert with some almond filling he bought a while back. This was the perfect day to make something out of it. I found the recipe for almond filled cookie cake on cooks.com. It is delicious! 

Here's the recipe for ya! Enjoy!:)

Almond Filled Cookie Cake

Crust:

2-2/3 cups flour

1-1/3 cups sugar

1-1/3 cups butter

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring

Filling:

1 cup grated or finely chopped almonds or 1 (12-1/2 oz) can Solo brand almond filling

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 egg, beaten (optional, if using Solo filling)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9 or 10-inch springform pan or glass cake pan.

In mixer bowl, blend all crust ingredients at low speed until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half and with floured hands shape into 2 balls. Place between waxed paper or plastic wrap. Press 1 ball flat to the size of the pan. Prepare the second ball in the same way or the top of the cake.

In a small bowl, blend all filling ingredients. Spread over crust to within 1/2 inch of sides of pan. If using Solo filling, make shallow impressions in the bottom crust to help hold the filling. Place second layer of dough over the filling. Remove paper. Garnish with almonds, if desired. Bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees for 60 minutes or until golden brown.

If using Solo filling, test center with a sharp knife to make sure the center is not liquid. If it is, bake 10 minutes more. Cool 15 minutes and remove from springform pan. If using a glass pan, use sharp knife to loosen cake sides from pan while still warm. Cool completely. Serves 24. Store covered in refrigerator. This tastes better after a day or two. Cut thin slices; it's very rich!

I'm thankful for four great years with Q. He is a special guy and I love him so much. I hope God gives us many more years together.

Spring cleaning: the guest room

Working on the guest room took a little longer than a week, but I'm so glad it's done! We had two college girls spend the night a couple days ago and they said that it was a comfortable room. We also call it the family room. There are games and toys as well as a t.v. to watch movies.

Here's what was accomplished in this room.

1. The main closet was organized (it was a disaster before!).

2. Storage under the beds was rearranged.

3. Movies and audio cds were organized.

4. A couple furniture pieces were rearranged.

5. The bookshelf was organized and a few decorative pieces were added to the shelves.

6. Windows and mirror doors (on main closet) were cleaned.

7. The room was thoroughly dusted.

8. The linen closet was organized. Old medicines were thrown out.

9. I made curtains for the two windows and linen closet.

I'm so glad the main closet is in better shape! I can now walk in there without tripping over things. Coats hang on the left; games and toys are on the shelves; Q's outdoor equipment and our suitcases line the top shelves.

With our guests coming, I had to get these curtains done. Q helped me by putting up the rods. Then after several hours of work during a couple of days, the curtains were finished. I found both fabrics at Wal-mart for great prices! The bottom patterned fabric was only a dollar a yard, and I didn't need too much of it for all three curtains.

We like the look of the two fabrics together. I made two panels for both windows. When we want to let the light in, we just push each panel to the side.

I bought a small tension rod for the linen closet to hang the third curtain I made. It matches the window curtains. Inside the closet are extra towels, personal items and cleaning supplies. It's all neatly arranged, but in the future, I'd like to place an extra shelf in there.

That's all for now! How's your spring cleaning coming? I'm almost done, and I can't wait!:)