[make] fun with felt

I was asked to help with some activity bags at our church.  Instead of going with straight up painted canvas, I opted for something I could have little more fun with.  I started with small tote bags in bright colors from Hobby Lobby.

Since the bags are to help keep little ones occupied during services when we don't have Children's Church, I thought the size would be prefect for preschoolers.  They were all beautiful colors, but why not add a little something to make them unique?

This was my first attempt and Jack claimed it immediately.

Then, after the mushrooms I realized I may prefer the simpler styles.  I love working with felt and I may have gotten a bit carried away ...

I added coloring books, crayons, stickers and stencils to complete a dozen 'Little Saints Sermon Kits'.  The twins wanted a version of their very own of course.

How precious are the little lambs?  I added a few extra details so they would have dimension like Jack's aquarium bag.  As a happy coincidence, these little bags are the perfect size for carrying their bibles in addition to a few 'tools' to keep little ones nice a quiet during a sermon.

Which design is your favorite?

[celebrate] red, white and blue

Our family had an amazing July 4th holiday at Daniel Boone Campground.  Festivities included games, contests and the ever popular, golf cart parade.

Thanks to the rain, golf cart decorations didn't start until the morning of  but with some help of polka dot fabric and white duck tape, we rallied.  Of course super cute children escorted by two handsome drivers didn't hurt!

We feasted on all sorts smoked, grilled and baked dishes thanks to our resident chef aka dad.  Simple table decorations made the food the focal point with BBQ pork, smoked chicken and sausage, baked potato salad, grilled corn on the cob, grilled squash and zucchini, baked beans and creamy cole slaw.  Watermelon, peach cobbler and doughnut sundaes complete with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and blueberries  made the perfect desserts.  Fireworks and glow sticks wrapped up Saturday night with our little spot having one of the best views in the campground.

Now back to the real world and the realization that summer is halfway over!  Happy Independence Day!

[live] independence

It's been so long since I've taken care of this little blog.  Too long.  My apologies to those of you out there still keeping up with PlayPending.  I've sadly been missing since Halloween but life has a way of taking over.  Now it's July and our 4th celebration will hit this weekend.  Hopefully these inspirations will translate into realities that I can share in more detail.

In the meantime, Happy Independence Day!

[celebrate] your inspiration ...

Little. Red. Riding. Hood.  I mean how can you not base your whole Halloween off of that adorable costume? And the photo, oh my.  So what is your Halloween inspiration this year?

I think mine is pretty obvious. All the links to the photos can be found on my boards!

[make] roasted salsa amarillo?

So it's not really salsa verde.  I figure amarillo will work, right?

Salsa Asado Amarillo

10-12 yellow tomatoes
6-8 cloves of garlic
1 yellow bell pepper
1 sweet onion
1 large bunch of cilantro

Start with yellow tomatoes.  A whole baking tray full.  Layer on garlic, yellow bell peppers, and sweet onions.  Bake at 375 degrees until everything is bubbly, tender and little bit browned.  Then comes the fun part.  Scoop the roasted tomatoes out of their skins and throw the whole bunch in a food processor.  Watch out - it will be hot.  Pulse to your desired consistency and add a bit of interest.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Cilantro

These are all so dependent upon how sweet your tomatoes are and how sweet you want your salsa.  Start with a 1/2 cup of vinegar and work from there.  We like lots of cilantro (which will give you more of a salsa verde feel) but add what you like.  You won't mind the taste tests.  Throw all your roasted salsa in a jar or serve it right then.

A couple of warnings - the garlic get stronger as it sits, considerably stronger.  But most importantly, this is a sweet salsa and those sugars just will not keep as long in the fridge.  If you are looking for something to keep more than a week, you might want to think about canning it.

[celebrate] ladies and lemonade

In celebration of our new Etsy shop, CandyLand, the girls and I had a Ladies and Lemonade evening.  A little learning took place with the Lemonade Day learning pack but we were really all about the party.

The little ladies decided that we needed teddy bear guests.  Our menu was simple but perfect - party sandwiches, chips, fruit bowls and two varieties of pretty little cupcakes.

Maddie perfected sipping.

Kate perfected the pinky.

Despite the fact that Teddy got the first cupcake, we had a wonderful Ladies and Lemonade evening.

[make] confetti salsa

You know how you get so excited in the spring when there are all these gorgeous little plants of all different varieties?  Well, I may have over planted tomatoes this year in my garden.  I ended up with 22 plants.  That's a lot come July and August, especially considering that only Jack and I eat them. It's a 3 gallon bucket of tomatoes every two days a lot.  Enter Confetti Salsa:

First step:  Chop!
8-10 seeded yellow tomatoes
8-10 seeded red tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
2 green ancho chilis
1 sweet yellow onion
1/2 yellow sweet bell pepper
1/2 red sweet bell pepper
1 large bunch of cilantro

Next: Season.
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Then: Mellow.
Stir it all together and tweak the salt, sugar and vinegar to your liking.  Then into the jars it goes.

At this point I just put mine in the fridge.  You could certainly go through the canning process at this point if you are up for that.

Finally: ENJOY!

[learn] candyland

If you visited the blog before (and thank you for doing so) you have seen the TwinBop posts that we did this past year with our girls.  Education was the main goal of TwinBop but it needed to be pretty.  

I spent an incredible amount of time finding worksheets, activities and fun ideas that coordinated not only with the lesson theme but with each other design wise.  Now I am just designing them myself. 

I've opened a shop on Etsy called Candy Land that contains pretty themed sets perfect for a morning or afternoon of summer learning fun.  They contain worksheets and play sets that you print yourself.  Lessons that my super smart husband has reviewed making sure they focus on higher learning skills for the preschooler  in your life.  (I suppose his Master in Education helps out with that.) 

What makes these different than your average lesson plan?  One, they are targeted towards ages 3-5 and are in line with the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Common Core Standards for Kindergarten.  Two, I've added in fun food ideas for each theme along with simple and inexpensive games. Three, they are pre-coordinated both theme and color wise equaling, you got it, pretty.  Learning during the summer just got a whole lot easier.  

Check out the shop and let me know what you think.  I'm adding more sets as often as I can and offering a little grand opening bonus if you are interested in purchasing a set or two.  Look for bonus pages on the blog soon!

[make] surplus veggies

Part of the reason that I've not been blogging as often is that I've been out in my garden so much more this year.  Between a wet spring and a hot summer, my veggies are coming on strong.  Some a little too strong.  My latest haul included loads of tomatoes currently on the stove boiling down.

But before the tomato boom, it was yellow squash and zucchini.  With spring onions and a few green peppers matured, I managed some wonderful squash relish inspired by Carolyn's post on Cooking for My Captain. I went monotone with the yellow squash, yellow bell pepper and sweet onion relish turning out wonderfully.

I attempted both sweet and dill pickles.  The sweet looked awfully pretty with the addition of peppers and onions, an idea from this pin.  I used my grandmothers old school recipe for the dill version (above).  Half vinegar, half water, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt.  Add fresh dill from the garden and slice the cucumbers a little thicker.

Now back to the garden and on to more green beans.

[celebrate] sadie priss soiree

I own invitations for parties that I'm yet to have, just because they are pretty and I've picked party themes based on invites alone. I love invitations. Now my sounding board and source for custom invites, Amy, has gone public - Sadie Priss Soiree.

For years I've sent her my own design projects for critiques and suggestions.  In fact this year, she hooked me up with a super sweet invitation based on my idea for a banner birthday festival for all three of my kiddies.   

Amy has some really cool designs for invitations, party packs and sweet little posters.  Check out her shop, her blog or even her boards on Pinterest.  You might want to be prepared to have a party for no good reason other than you really want to use the invitation.