Preparing for gardening this Spring!

I have been thinking about the upcoming gardening season and what I want to grow this year.  I planted 3 kiddie pool gardens last year and I was very pleased with my results!  I want to do that again this year and add a forth kiddie pool garden to plant  herbs.   While blogging this morning I saw this post from V and Co. She has started plant starts for her garden already.  I have decided that I want to do that too!  I have seeds I can use from past gardening attempts.  Last year I bought starts from Wal- Mart but I think it would be more rewarding to start my own this time around.

As for flowers I found a neat blog called Meadow brook farm. She has some great advice on how to mix your annuals with your perennials and lots of other great tips.  A warning though!  The pictures on her blog will give you a giant case of spring fever!  I don't where the rest of you live, but here in Utah the weather still thinks it is Winter in April! :-(

More Canvas wall art

So I would still like to make my own Canvas wall art however it seems I have not had much time for crafting lately.  You can tell  by the last few posts on my blog ( none of them have been to do  much with crafts).  I have a few fun ideas patiently waiting downstairs in the black hole that is supposed to be my craft room.   My craft room needs to be spring cleaned and organized.  I have a feeling when that happens the crafting will magically start up again :-)
So anyway back to the canvas art.  I saw this today from sheepblue 

 I love how she has made a picture with several cavases!  I want to make something similar for above my bed.  I have three 12 x12 canvases that bought at "Big Lots" ( one of my favorite shopping haunts) a while back.  I can't wait to get my hands on them and try my hand at this!  So hopfully I will get that craft room cleared up in the next couple of days.

April Bug a boo book pick!

If you are the type of adult that just loved the Harry Potter series and have not been able to find a replacement after reading book 7 then you  need to try the Fable Haven series written by Brandon Mull!  He just came out with the 5th book in the series "Keys to the Demon Prison" at the end of March.  So that is my April book pick, but if you have not read the series yet I suggest you start with the First Fable Haven book. Brandon Mull is such a creative and imaginative writer!  His writing style is completely different then J.K. Rowling, but similar in the way he shocks and surprises you on your reading journey with outcomes that you are not always mentally prepared to accept.  ( You Harry Potter readers know what I am talking about ). 
In our family we have an order of who gets to read the new Fable Haven book first.  I first got Fable Haven for my daughter Amandas Birthday 2 or 3  years ago.  She read it so fast and furious that I knew it had to be a good book so I read it next then my Husband Mike called to read it next much to my oldest Daughter Natalies dismay. So she had the misfortune of having to wait and read it last. (Joseph my 9 year old has not been mentally mature enough to read them until now, but he is in the middle of the Percy Jackson series right now).   So that has been our Fable Haven reading order ever since.  Amanda finally finished reading " Keys to the Demon Prison "  last night so I am anxious to get started! :-)

In search of a cute cheap bag.

I have been in search for a cute inexpensive Garment/Temple bag because mine is feeling a bit outdated and the velcro is worn out.  I found this one and I think it will do the job minus the bow!

They have them at Caroline and Company for about $22.00 and free shipping!  I have seen those same bags going for double the price andI figured I would not even be able to make one for as cheap and with my impatient sewing skills it would not look  as nice either :-)

Paula! Paula! Where for art thou Paula!

Sweet Lizzie's!

This is the stash my family came home with last night from Sweet Lizzie's

It is a new Old fashioned style candy store here in Tooele Utah. 

here is a picture of the inside of the store.

The owner also owns the Famous Sweet Pea Boutiqe here in Tooele.  All you Tooele people know what I mean :-)  It is an fabulous store here with gently used Baby - Teen items that are name brand, trendy & cute!  And the prices are really reasonable.  I have bought all my babies clothes there.  They are very picky about the things they accept so the selection is fantastic and it is hard for me to not go overboard in that store!  She has just started a blog where she is starting weekly give aways.  Last Fridays give away was a $20 gift certificate!  You can do a  lot with $20 in that store!

So anyway back to Sweet Lizzie's.  My kids had gone over to their friends house about a week ago and they had yummy candy from Sweet Lizzie's and that is all I have heard about for days!  So we promised them we would go there for Family Night and that could be their Family Home Evening treat.  What a charming little store!  They have the upstairs set up to be a party room.  Both my older daughters now want that to be where they have their next Birthday party.  When we walked in I thought how do I know that Women (owner)?  And then she mentioned She owned Sweet Pea Boutiqe and I realized that is where I knew her from.  What a neat lady! There needs to more people like that in the world.  She said that they are trying to help liven up the Tooele downtown area.  I agree!  The Tooele downtown area has the potential of being so Charming!  

Danielle was stealing candy from the stash  with the speed of lighting while I tried to take the Candy stash  picture.

luckily she could not get the lids of the toxic waste candy :-)  If you want to cry try one of those candies!

Make your own cookie cutter!

I have always wondered how to make my own cookie cutters.  I tried to find resources a few years ago on the net and could only find sites that wanted  you to 

 buy their homemade ones.  So I was happily surprised to see that now there are plenty of great sites out there that show you how.

What a great idea!  Another thing to use my Crop-a-dile for :-)  You can learn how to make this cookie cutter  at Roots and Wings.

A great site called Juggling Frogs has a couple of cool ideas.

 

first she show how to make a cookie cutter out of clip art and an aluminum disposable pan.

She also shows how to make a bulk cookie cutter out of recycled tuna cans.

Peggy Weaver shows how to make a cutter out of copper ribbon too.

Obviously she has a lot of experience making them.  That horse looks complicated!

If you know what Studio 5 is I know that you are from Utah :-) It is a morning show we have here that has a lot of good craft ideas.

They have a great cookie cutter segment.

To watch it you will need to disable my music player at the bottom of this page first.

Do you want an out of this world Sugar cookie recipe?  Here is one I begged off my friend Jennifer Payne.

Her family brought us a Christmas plate of goodies in December.  There were two Sugar cookies amongst other yummy stuff.  My husband and I nabbed the cookies before the kids got a chance to get to the plate.

We were blown away at how good they were!  And just a warning.  These cookies are really fattening as a good sugar cookie should be

Soft Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

Makes about 6 dozen depending on cookie cutter used



Cream Together:

2 Cups Sugar

1 cup Crisco (Regular not Butter)

4 Lg. Eggs

2 t. Vanilla

1 16 oz. tub of Sour Cream



In a Separate bowl combine:

8 Cups All purpose Flour

4 heaping t. Baking Powder

2 heaping t. Baking Soda

2 t. Salt



Add slowly to the wet ingredients. Do not over mix.

***here is the cool part**** Turn your heavy cookie sheet over....bottoms up!****Sprinkle with flour and roll your dough out on the bottom of the cookie sheet! (This way the mess is going right into the sink when you are done! No mess all over your counter! Cool Huh?) Remove excess and bake.

they will rise a little so spread them out. I like to bake 12 at a time. 350 for 9-10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet when done onto a cooling rack. When almost cool place in a air tight container. These will stay so soft for 3-4 days! Decorate with frosting....



Snow White Buttercream Frosting:



Whip till foamy:

3/4 c. cold water

1/2 t. salt

3 T. Meringue Powder



Slowly add: (Alternating)

3 lbs Powdered Sugar

1 1/4 c. Crisco Shortening



When ingredients are combined add flavorings:

1/2 t. clear vanilla

1/2 t. almond flavoring

1/4 t. clear butter flavoring



Whip again. When adding coloring use Wilton paste food coloring for a more vibrant color. If you need black try using a store bought chocolate frosting and adding black food coloring to it. (you will only get gray no matter how much coloring you add using buttercream)

"I Don't have to make it all better"

I have not taken the time this month to talk about the March Bugaboo book pick. "I Don't have to make it all better" by Gary and Joy Lundberg.  I am one who does not have much patience reading self help books, but I ate this book up from cover to cover!  It shows a beautiful way on how to listen and better communicate with others (especially family members)  I Love this book!