JUST JAMMIN !!!

There's been a whole lot of that going on in my kitchen of late. One of the best things about summer for me, is the abundance of fruit. I like to tuck some away, so that when we're deep in the gloominess of winter, and all you have to choose from is bananas and oranges, we have a little of summer's yuminess to indulge in.
Our Walmart had mangoes on sale for 25c each last weekend - that is a steal !!! Armed with 2 big bags filled with them, I scoured the web to find a mango jam recipe ..... after all Mr Smucker developed one, so there had to be one out there !!! Well there was, and I set about making some mango jam. YUM is all I have to say .... absolutely delicious !!!

Next up, on a trip to Tom Thumb, I found some plums on sale. I had planned to make plum jam last summer, but just never got around to it - time to rectify that. After much chopping, bubbling and stirring, I made 8 jars of delicious plummy goodness. Just look at that color ..... it makes me smile :-)

Next up I think is going to be some mint jelly. We love to eat it with roast lamb - Yummy !!!
Now, the best way to enjoy the fruits of your labor .... well, in my opinion, it has to be these ...

Freshly homebaked, warm out of the oven scones. Served on my pretty china ... Ahhh Bliss !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIFTS ....

Oh, I am quite miserable today !!!! A visit to the dentist this morning, has left me with a mouth that feels like it had a go around with a jack hammer .... what a wonderful discovery Aleve is :-)

My Mother-In-Law turns 80 tomorrow - quite a milestone birthday, I'm sure you'd all agree. I thought I'd show you what I made for her ...

Using these artist canvases (readily available at Hobby Lobby), I created this ....

A keepsake album, full of family pictures. It is lovely and sturdy, and stands up easily - book style. I can't take credit for the idea, my mom and I saw an album like this when we attended the Great American Scrapbook Convention in June. I do love how it turned out, and I hope she likes it too.

I also knitted her one of my frilly scarves (like I made for end of year teacher gifts). I thought I'd taken a picture to show you, but it seems I didn't.

Her birthday card was also handmade using a tutorial I found on line. It's called a cascading card ..... boy, does it have so many embellishment possibilities .... The blog I got it from stempeleinmaleins.blogspot.com is well worth a visit. It has some fabulous ideas.

The bottom picture, gives you a better idea of how it all pops together. I used my trusty Cricut to cut out the gnome, flowers, grass and clouds, which I then arranged to make my "picture".

Happy 80th Birthday Mom !!!!

THE GRADUATE ...

We had one this year - Boy Child graduated from Elementary School. While this is no big deal really, and in our case, the Middle School he will be going to is only across the field from the Elementary School, these are still milestones in the lives of my children, and I feel very strongly, that they need to be celebrated, remembered .... and scrapbooked about.

Boy Child on his last day of Elementary School.



 I made Girl Child an amigurumi owl, complete with grauation cap when she graduated Elementary 2 years ago. Now, Boy Child had long admired the monsters I knit ...... Sad but true, I have knitted many of those monsters, but none of them have ever been for my own children :-( Well, I rectified that ..... please meet, The Graduate !!!!

Cute, isn't he. He has the cutest little top knot under that graduation cap. I left off his mouth, as Boy Child finds some of the mouths on his soft toys a little scary. It works though, as the flecked colors in the yarn, make him look like he has a little smile on his face:-)

We've had a lovely, lazy summer so far. The Texas heat has returned, but so far we're managing to keep out of it. Hope you're enjoying your summer, wherever you may be.

BACK AGAIN .... AT LAST !!!!

Blogger, oh Blogger - why did you have to make those changes? I have struggled for weeks now with the new format, unable to create any new posts  ..... tonight Hubby came to the rescue. Gosh, that man is my hero:-)
Well, the school year has come and gone - this year was particularly emotional for me, as this chapter of our lives that was Elementary School is now over, and I'm officially the mom of two Middle Schoolers .... YIKES !!!!
The end of any school year brings about the need for Teacher gifts. This year, being our last, meant that I needed to come up with more gifts that usual ..., the school nurse and office staff have seen our family through 8 years of Elementary.
So, for the Office Staff and Specials (Music, PE, Library) teachers, I made these cute little Gift Card box cards. They're a little fiddly to make, but are so worth the time.

Next up, was the teachers who had taught Boy Child during his time at Elementary. For these sweet ladies, I found a paper pack at Target, that had 565 paper flower pieces in it. It allowed me to group different paper pieces, and create a lovely big paper flower. To these I attached some florist wire and leaves, and finished each flower off by attaching a Starbucks Gift Card.



My mom has been visiting us from South Africa for the past 21/2 weeks. It has been a treat having her here. Sadly she leaves us on Saturday to go home. She brought myself and Girl Child a wonderful scarf each, that she had knitted. I'd never seen anything like it. A visit to Hobby Lobby and a quick lesson from mom (and her help too, in getting 7 scarfs knitted in under a week !!!), meant my teacher gifts were done.

Aren't they just so super cute !!! They're light enough to be worn from Fall through to Spring, but still do a great job of keeping you warm, when it's cold outside. They are so much fun to knit up too ..... did I mention quick ....

This is what they look like while they're being knitted. The next decision to be made - How to wrap them? To me this is one of the most important part of gift giving. I decided to make and decorate matching boxes ..... again using a handy dandy paper crafting tool, that mom had asked me to order for her ...



So now the long lazy days of summer are ahead of us .... I plan on tackling a few big projects, as well as some smaller ones. The biggest project of all though, will be the revamping of my craft space .... curtains, shelves, and just generally my hope is to create a far more organized space.
I'm so glad to be back in Blogland - I've missed it!!!
Until next time, enjoy your summer, and thank you so much for stopping by:-)