Pinterest 365 – Day 29 – December Daily Album Cover

Posted on November 29, 2012 by gracieed

Yesterday I posted about setting up my December Daily album to capture my memories of the month of December.

Today I worked on the cover.  On the whole I’m happy, but I think it’s missing something.  I will set it aside for a bit and maybe the inspiration will come as the month progresses.

Let me show you what I did.  First I die-cut the words and numbers “December Daily 2012″ using my Silhouette Cameo.  I then found some cardboard (I think it was formally a cereal box), cut two pieces 4″X6” and painted them both white with acrylic paint.  After the paint dried I adhered the letters and numbers, then covered the numbers with Diamond Glaze dimensional adhesive and red glitter.  The Diamond Glaze gives the numbers an embossed look and the glitter just jazzes everything up.  I then found a piece of red and gold ribbon with a snowflake, glued that down and then placed a button in the corner.  This is what I have so far, but I know it needs something else.  Maybe some stitching around the edges.  I’ll keep working on it throughout the month and share with you when I have it all completed.

 

 

 

“I know exactly what your album cover is missing.  A dog paw!  And I know just the dogs that can help you with that.”

Posted in Christmas, Paper Crafting, Pinterest, Scrapbooking | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 28 – December Daily Album

Posted on November 28, 2012 by gracieed

The December Daily project is something that I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years, but could never get my act together to see it through.  What is December Daily you ask?

December Daily is a holiday tradition started by Ali Edwards.  It is an album project that documents the 25 days leading  up to Christmas.   I want to capture my memories of the whole month so mine will be 31 days.  Part of why this project works is the prep that is done ahead of time so that all I have to do is take the pictures and document the memories one day at a time.

 

 

Today all I did was prep the individual pages of the album.  I purchased the 4X6 overlays from Ali Edwards and chose to print out each card in the red colorway.  I began decorating each card and will work on the cover for tomorrows post.  I don’t have an actual album; I plan to spiral bind the project when I’m done.  I love the size of 4X6 because it can become a nice mini-album that I can bring out each year with my Christmas decorations.

Having recently just celebrated my birthday, I am increasingly aware of how time is marching on.  I want to capture the stories of our life, the everyday goings-on that make up the sum of our lives.  I may not be able to share each day (because of picture developing), but I will post pages when I’m done with them. 

 

“Oh man Ellie, you know this means way more pictures!  And she’s probably going to try to put the reindeer antlers on us again.”

Posted in Christmas, Paper Crafting, Pinterest, Scrapbooking | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 27- DIY Candle Holder

Posted on November 27, 2012 by gracieed

Today begins a series of blog posts all about Christmas.  I’m getting ready for the holidays by making cards, decorating, making gifts, cooking yummy appetizers and desserts and prepping to capture the memories through pictures and journaling.

I’m starting today with decorating my house for Christmas.  I haven’t done this in a few years {you can read about why here} and have been going through my existing decorations and looking for ways to update things a bit.  I found this candle holder at Momtastic and thought it would be perfect along with a couple more on my mantel.  When we were first married my mom gave me the Precious Moments Nativity set for my birthday and I always display it on our mantel.  I surround it with candles and I thought this candle holder would look nice.

It was crazy easy to do.  First I took a trip down to my local dollar store and bought a tapered candle holder and a bowl with straight sides.  They had the mini-gold fish bowls, but I liked the one you see in the picture.  The tutorial suggested glass or bead glue and I fished out my tube of E-6000 adhesive.  This stuff will stick to anything!  If you decide to use it make sure you’re in a ventilated area; it packs a punch.

I removed all the stickers and washed and dried the glassware.  I made sure to have a pile of qtips available and a bottle of nail polish remover.  The nail polish remover does a really good job of removing any accidental glue drips.  The nice thing about the E-6000 glue is that it doesn’t dry immediately so you have time to position the candle stick holder on the base of the bowl to make sure it’s centered.  You could measure, but I just eyeballed it.  After I adhered the candle stick, I went around the base with a qtip and removed any of the glue that squished out.  That left a residue which I then removed with a qtip dipped in nail polish remover.  It needs to sit overnight to dry, but will be raring to go in the morning.

I attached a ribbon around the base of the bowl which can be easily removed and replaced for other seasonal celebrations.  I really like this project and want to make a bunch, but need to make sure I have a good reason for all of them.  There’s a great temptation because they’re so inexpensive ($2) to make a bazillion, but unless you have a reason, you really only need a couple :-). 

 

 

 

“You could make one to hold our treats.  That’s a really good reason.”

Posted in Budgeting, Christmas, Decorating, Homemade, Pinterest, Saving Money | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 26 – Eucalyptus Oil to stop a cough?

Posted on November 26, 2012 by gracieed

I love essential oils.  All different scents.  Well, maybe not anything smelling like licorice or patchouli, but every other scent is fair game.  I use them in the soap I make, to freshen up potpourri, to scent lip balm, added to a hot bath, to scent my cleaning solutions and as an expectorant when I’m all stuffed up.  My hands down favorite is mint.  It’s so refreshing; it actually puts a spring in my step :-).

I came across today’s pin – well, today.  Mike is fighting a cold/flu bug, is all stuffed up and coughing up a storm.  So far I have been able to steer clear of the germies, but as the day progressed today, a little tickle started in the back of my throat and now I’m coughing.  I’m hoping against hope that it’s just a tickle and will go away by morning, but it doesn’t usually work out like that for me.

I was scrolling through the latest pins and this one leapt off the page because it addressed my need to stop coughing and my love of essential oils – eucalyptus, in particular.  According to the ‘A Seed Inspired’ blog, it really works and since it can’t hurt, I’m willing to give it a try.  Worst case, I won’t get stuffed up because eucalyptus oil really clears your sinuses.  It’s also really attractive right now because I’m all out of cough syrup.

Basically, we’re supposed to rub 4-6 drops of eucalyptus oil on the soles of our feet and that will help to alleviate our coughing during the night.  I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

 

 

“Yeah, I don’t know if I can sleep with you tonight because your feet smell funny.”

Posted in Pinterest | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 25 – Caramel Apple Bites

Posted on November 25, 2012 by gracieed

There is nothing I like more than caramel apples.  Well, caramel anything really.

It’s apple season around here and although I’ve made this dessert before for a Pinterest party, I wanted to share it with you today.  The instructions over at the Try It, Mom blog involved a variety of dipping options, but I settled on using Kraft caramels.

 

I used a whole bag of caramels, melted over low heat.  The longest part of this dessert was unwrapping all the candies.  To make chopping the apple easier, I used my apple slicer and then cut eat slice into four pieces.  I made sure the apple pieces were dry (a result of trial and error) because the caramel won’t stick to a juice apple piece.

I used a toothpick to hold the apple piece, dipped it into the caramel and then into chopped pecans.  I covered a mini-cookie sheet with foil and placed the bites onto it.

 

After the cookie sheet was full, I refrigerated the bites for about 30 minutes.  One apple made 32 bites; perfect for a sweet appetizer or as part of a dessert bar. 

 

 

 

 

“Hey you’ve never mixed caramel in with our kibble. Why is that? We think it would be good.”

Posted in Homemade, Pinterest, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 24 – Retaining Wall

Posted on November 24, 2012 by gracieed

Today’s pin is one of those that can’t be completed in one day.  We’ve actually been working on this for the past week, but today was the big brick moving day.  Several of our friends and family came over this morning to help us move 270 stone bricks that weighed 65 lbs each.  Not only did they have to haul these into our backyard, but they had to do it up a hill.  And they did it in a little over an hour.  They are complete super-heroes if you ask me.

Mike and I started Monday of this week by clearing away the old retaining wall and digging a 12″ X 60′ trench 12″ deep.  Mike did all the digging with a lot of help from Ellie.  We discovered that she really likes to catch dirt in her mouth.  I helped by shoveling the loosened dirt onto the hill and toting the old retaining wall boards up the hill into a neat stack.

 

Once the trench was dug, it was time to start filling with gravel.  Gravel and sand were delivered on Wednesday and we spent the better part of the day shoveling that into wheelbarrows and moving it up the hill into the trench.  What we didn’t use for the base of the trench, Mike told me we’ll use to back fill the wall.

We took a break on Thursday to enjoy Thanksgiving and to give our aching backs a break, but Friday the bricks (5 pallets of them) were delivered along with some lumber to repair a section of siding damaged by rain.  Mike’s dad, uncle and cousin worked on the siding after the bricks were moved.  They did a marvelous job.

Now all the bricks are stacked in our backyard ready to be placed.  Once the first row is set and level the rest should go pretty quickly.  We literally couldn’t have done it without all the excellent help we received.  Once the wall’s complete I will post pictures and we’ll certainly be having a “retaining wall” celebration party! 

 

“I love helping my dad in the yard.  Catching dirt is my favorite!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m really more of a supervisor, not an actual worker.”

Posted in Backyard, Gardening, Pinterest, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 23 – No-Stir Granola

Posted on November 23, 2012 by gracieed

We love granola in this house!  I must make a batch every week and I wanted to share this recipe with you from one of my favorite bloggers, The Frugal Girl.  She has a recipe that she’s used for ages called No-Stir Clumpalicious Granola.  Now, this is the first time in my life that I’ve made my own granola and her recipe is the only one I’ve ever used, so I’ve been confused by the ‘no-stir’ description.  There is quite a bit of stirring to mix everything together, but as I’ve researched other recipes I now understand that part of making granola means that you stir while it’s cooking not just to incorporate all the ingredients.  It all makes sense now!

So onto the recipe:  I made some modifications and added an ingredient :-).

Frugal Girl’s recipe calls for vegetable oil and I’m really into using coconut oil for all my baking, so I made that substitution.  No biggie.  I always use almonds if I have them, but there have been occasions when I have a lot of pecans, so this batch today is a combination of almonds and pecans.  Once again, no biggie.  My addition:  ground flax seeds.  I add about 1/4 cup for the omega-3 fatty acids.  Normally I would add the dried fruit, but I’m out at the moment and we’d rather have granola sans fruit than no granola.

This is magnificent with a bowl of Greek Honey Yogurt and a diced apple or pear.  Yummmmm! 

 

“Did you know that nuts aren’t good for dogs?  That’s why mom “says” we can’t have any of the granola.  Really I think it’s just because she wants all for herself.”

Posted in Homemade, Pinterest, Recipes, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Pinterest 365 – Day 22 – Salami Rolls

Posted on November 22, 2012 by gracieed

We spend Thanksgiving at Mike’s mom and dad’s and usually bring a sweet potato casserole and an appetizer.  I’m sure like most families there are signature dishes that only appear on Thanksgiving or Christmas and our feast is no different.  The appetizers have been pretty consistent over the years, but every now and then we like to try something new.  My mom introduced me to the appetizer I’m making today and you’ll find it along with many yummy others on my Food-Appetizers board on Pinterest.

There are only 3 ingredients:  salami, cream cheese and green onions.  Easy to make, a little time consuming, but worth the effort.  I usually make a whole plate and they’re gobbled up in a matter of minutes.

Basically you cut your green onions into thin slices to fit the diameter of your salami slices.  You don’t need a lot of onion, just enough to get the flavor.  You then smear the salami slice with a bit of cream cheese, lay the onion across the middle, roll that baby up and secure it with a toothpick.  Easy, peasy.  Mike helped me today by prepping all the salami slices with cream cheese.  Thanks hon!

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? 

 

“Hey mom, make those without the onions and the toothpicks and I know Ellie and I would be eternally grateful.”

Posted in Pinterest, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Today I am thankful for…

Posted on November 22, 2012 by gracieed

Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the U.S., I thought I would list some of the many things I am thankful for. In no particular order…

  1. The depth and breadth of God’s love for me.  It takes my breath away.
  2. My husband –  for his consistent pursuit of ‘Love God. Love others’. And for his faithful love and care of me for 29 years (24 married + 5 dating).
  3. Mobility – I may not be in the best shape, but I’m so thankful that I can move around pain-free.
  4. My parents (mine and Mike’s) who have always been my greatest cheerleaders.  They show me daily what sacrificial love looks like.
  5. Friends who enrich my life in a million different ways.  You know who you are.
  6. My nieces and nephews – I think I have the BEST collection of nieces and nephews ever.  I love them all to pieces.
  7. My dogs.  Ones who have passed and those currently sitting at my feet.  Life is just brighter with them in it.
  8. My hairdresser – She has been cutting my hair for 30 years.  You can say we’ve sort of grown up together.
  9. My brothers and sisters (mine and Mike’s) – who we’ve watch grow into fantastic adults.  Love these guys.
  10. This blog – this experience has enriched my life in ways that have surprised me and humbled me.
  11. My pastor – such a blessing for our church and a good friend.
  12. My digital camera – so fun to be able to capture life without being concerned about cost.
  13. My home – we have shelter and warmth.  That’s a lot.
  14. Friends who trust me to care for their dogs.
  15. My laptop – a tool with infinite possibilities.
  16. Running, clean water – We support kids who live in parts of Africa where this isn’t a reality.
  17. My grandpa – so thankful that we talk every Monday.
  18. This transition time of life – the excitement, the challenge, the unknown.
  19. Knitting – I marvel at what can be produced with two sticks and a piece of string.
  20. My Shop Vac – makes cleaning so much easier.

What are you thankful for today? 

“I’m thankful for Woody, treats, snuggling with you at night, treats, breakfast, lunch, dinner, treats, playing catch, treats, long walks, treats, helping Mike in the yard, treats, friends to play with, treats, chewing bones, treats, sitting in the sun, treats…”

Posted in Project Life | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pinterest 365 – Day 21 – Homemade minty foot scrub

Posted on November 21, 2012 by gracieed

Today is one of those days where a foot scrub just sounds invigorating.  Mike and I are in the middle of getting our backyard ready for a new retaining wall and we’re both sore and tired and need to soak our feet and backs in hot water. It will all be worth it though when we gaze upon our new stone retaining wall. The original one was redwood and served us admirably for 23 years, but now it’s just crumbling apart. Our home is built into a hill and at the top of that hill is a beautiful oak that needs a bit of propping up. We’re excited that this next wall will hopefully last the reminder of our lives. (If it doesn’t kill us first :-))

Today the gravel and sand was delivered for the trench Mike has been digging for the past two days.  I started the process of moving the gravel from the street into the trench and our backyard (which I mentioned is on a hill) and I have to say it is back-breaking work.  We’re both so thankful for Advil, Bengay and Gatorade.  Also Woody and Ellie have been very helpful by standing in the completed trench.

When I spotted today’s pin from the Skin Scrubs blog, I knew it would come in handy one day this week and today was the day.  The ingredients reminded me of a mojito and I might just possibly veer off course after I’ve soaked in the tub and scrubbed my tootsies and make myself one.

The ingredients couldn’t be more simple:  limes, fresh mint, sea salt, sweet almond oil and lime essential oil.  I found the limes, mint and sea salt at my local grocery store and had jojoba oil and lime essential oil left over from a soap batch.  I blended all the ingredients and cooled them in the fridge for a couple of hours.  I will use it tonight and let you know how it goes. 

 

“That’s only for you right?  You’re not going to try to put that on my feet, are you?  ‘Cause you know how I don’t like my feet touched. Ever.”

Posted in Backyard, Homemade, Pinterest, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments