Luke 2 Printable

Neglected blog, maybe.  Busy schedule, most definitely!  I am thinking of Christmas and enjoying the November days being thankful for a warm home and family.  Here is my latest attempt playing with fonts/colors.

Enjoy
Kathy

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is a large batch.  I don't need that many cookies beckoning me to eat them.  The solution:  scoop cookie dough and freeze for instant cookies another day.  Fresh homemade cookies without any fuss or mess.

I bake about 3-4 dozen and freeze another 3 dozen dough pieces.  Scoop onto a pan, freeze for 30 minutes or more, then place in a freezer bag to save for another day.  I recommend using the frozen cookie dough within 6 months, not really a problem for me.  Frozen dough takes about 3 extra minutes to bake, or can be thawed and baked as per the recipe.

FYI:  Make someone happy, share a bag of frozen cookie dough!

Christmas Card

It is cold and snowy today.  I have plenty of sewing, wrapping, and laundry to do.  I set the work aside and made my first subway art:  a Christmas card!

 multicolor 4x6 or

red 4x6

I hope you enjoy.  I had fun creating.  I am feeling the Christmas spirit.  Peace, love and joy to all.

Halloween

Halloween banner fun.  Good times with some of my sisters.  Fun times for the cousins.  Hooray for digging in and using some of my paper stash.

My banner.  My favorite pennant is the mummy!

The kids made this banner.  Well my daughter made most of them, little miss crafty!

Rapunzel Costume

I have had a lot of fun creating and sewing this dress.  I bought a costume pattern but ended up altering my favorite easy pattern to make this fun costume.  Simplicity 2377 has no zipper or buttons so it is easy for little ones to dress themselves.  My princess was not in a photo mood, she was too ecstatic to play in her new costume.

I love the shimmery pink ric rac trim, it is a great finishing touch!

General Conference Handout For Kids

I have crafty things to post, but for today,it is time again to prepare for General Conference for The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints.

I have put together a two page handout (front/back)  for my primary kids, it folds into a small booklet.

There is a variety of wonderful conference ideas out there.  I was inspired by several and loved the simplicity of Sugar Doodle's.  I simply want to share, in hopes this can help others prepare for next weekend.

 

Enjoy General Conference.  I am looking forward to hearing from the Prophet and Apostles.
Photo's, coloring page and ctr maze are from lds.org

Added April 2013:  New front/back page (no printed date) and space to take notes of other speakers.

Apricots

I spent last week picking and preserving apricots, a lot of cots.
My family loves dried apricot halves, fruit leather and jam!

Apricots are so easy to work with.  Simply wash, pit and go!

Wash in cool water.

 I used wire drying trays and the amazing sun, very old school, to dry apricot halves and fruit leather.  Two days in the hot son equals dried to perfection.  Simple delicious fruit leather made with apricots and a tiny bit of corn syrup to sweeten, approximately 6 cups pureed fruit and 1/4 cup sweetener.  Wash, pit and blend.  I prefer to use small plastic lids (from butter, sour cream or yogurt) to dry the puree into perfect little portions of fruit leather.

 I had the dehydrator running round the clock drying more leather and cots.

 After several days of cots, my family joined in the pitting process.  Behold, even an 18 month old can help with cooking.  He was so proud of each pit he removed.

Finished products:  27 half pints apricot pineapple jam, 24 pints jam, 14 quarts of apricot puree, 20 cups frozen puree, gallon of dried apricot halves, and tons of leather.  So glad to be done!

Apricot Pineapple Jam

5 cups apricots (wash, pit and puree)
1 cup crushed pineapple un-drained (puree with apricots)
3 cups sugar
1 small 3 oz orange jello

Place 6 cups fruit puree and 3 cups sugar in sauce pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to medium heat and simmer/boil for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add small jello stirring until dissolved.  Ladle into jars, water bath for 10 minutes.  Yummy!

Makes 7 half pints, soft spread jam.
Try substituting Strawberry, Cherry or Lemon jello for different flavors.

Corset back wedding dress

June project:  alter wedding dress for this beautiful bride.

Shorten dress (was 6 inches too long), shorten to cap sleeves, remove extra width/put in a corset back and bustle the train.

To make the loops for the corset back I followed these instructions.  I opted to use double sided tape instead of pins...of course I removed the tape after I sewed the loops to the interfacing!  This made the project quite quick.

The finished product!  The happy couple!