Felt Pinwheels {Gift Wrap Idea}

I've got a small little craft to share with you today, but one that I think is so sweet! I've had a piece of brown felt kicking around in my craft supplies for a few years now. The time had come to use it or get rid of it. I had recently made some paper pinwheels out of maps & thought I'd give it a shot with felt. I think they turned out so cute!

They are quite easy! Here's what I did:

1. I started with the same template I used for my map pinwheels
2. Cut them out
3. Attach the ends with a button

This time I used them as a decoration (I almost said a garnish! ;)) on a brown paper package. 

Wouldn't they look cute in a bunch of different colours? I'm going to be making more now!

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Dutch Crumb Cake

Fall. It brings with it visions of colourful leaves, hot drinks on cool evenings, & homey flavours in the kitchen. 

For as long as I can remember, my mom has made this cake during the fall & winter months. I specifically remember my Grandpa really liking it & therefore receiving it for his birthday almost every December (along with a package of smoked cheese, a block of halva, & a bowl of marinated vegetable salad - funny the things we remember about our loved ones... those were some of his favourite foods.)

Anyway, back to cake.

As a kid, I didn't enjoy raisins in baking, so when my mom made this I would often eat the yummy crumb topping & then make up some excuse not to eat the rest. Happily, my tastes have become more refined over the years & now I enjoy this cake in its entirety. I think you will too. 

Dutch Crumb Cake

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 cup butter

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp. baking soda

1 egg, beaten

2 Tbsp. molasses

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350º & grease a 11"x7" baking pan.

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles cornmeal. ***Reserve 1 cup of mixture for topping.***

Combine lemon juice & milk. Add baking soda & stir to dissolve. Add to flour mixture in bowl along with egg, molasses, & raisins; stir until dry ingredients are moistened. (Batter will be lumpy.) Turn into pan. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top. Do not stir.

Bake 35-45 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. May be served warm or cooled - delicious either way!

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This recipe was featured on:

Happy New Home {Housewarming Card}

  When was the last time you were at a good, old fashioned housewarming? People don't throw housewarming parties very much anymore. I suppose it's because of the business of our lives these days.

  I remember when I was about 7 or 8 years old, my parents built a new house in the small town we lived in & we had recently moved in. My parents had some friends over for coffee & were visiting in the living room. My brother & I were ready for bed, already in our pyjamas, when the doorbell rang. I answered the door & to my utter astonishment, there, on the porch, were a string of people, their arms loaded down with bags of groceries. In they came, bringing with them enough groceries to stock our cupboards & fridge for days! A true housewarming!

  That was my first housewarming experience & probably one I'll never forget.

  In these days of never-ending business, let us never forget the things that are truly important - building relationships. A housewarming is a wonderful way to show God's love for a new neighbour. Even if it's as simple as making some cookies or muffins, attaching a card, & going across the street to introduce yourself. It will definitely bring a smile to your friends & neighbour's faces & hopefully start (or strengthen) a wonderful friendship.

Products used for this card:
Pre-made card - My Mind's Eye
Cardstock - American Crafts
Font - American Typewriter
Puffy House - KI Memories

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Isn't It Grand? Layout

As I've shown you before, I made some prephoto layouts for some of our vacation photos. This is another such page. I have to tell you that it's a lot of fun to get photos developed & just adhere them into place in the layouts that are premade & see your vacation scrapbook develop before your eyes. 

Products used:

Cardstock - American Crafts

All other products - Making Memories

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Twinkle, Twinkle Baby Card

Twinkle, twinkle little star...

Do those words conjure up memories of your childhood? 

Or perhaps memories, recent or distant, of singing lullabies to your sweet babies?

Making this card brought back some lovely memories of some precious times I have spent with my children. 

Products used:

Cardstock - Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper - American Crafts

Felt Heart - Pebbles

Font - Brannboll Smal

So easy, sweet, & loveable. Perfect for a new little addition to the world.

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Thrifty Finds

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? I had a lovely time on Saturday out thrifting with my friend, Sarah.

Here are the treasures I brought home with me:

A nice, little grey suitcase. This makes me want to throw a bridal shower so I can use this to collect the cards. :)

Some wire baskets. I've been looking for some of these for almost a year. I finally found some!

I bought this tray for the mesh on the back. But I'm not sure. I may end up using the whole thing for my future project (stay tuned).

This was my squeal of a deal! I've been looking in the fabric stores here for a nice yellow & white cotton for a future project. No luck. I also looked on Etsy, but the ones I liked would have been a little pricey with shipping. I found this duvet cover in the perfect shade of yellow. And there will be lots of fabric left over for pillows & other projects! I'm so excited to get working on the project I have planned for this!

And... Some pretty doilies for gift wrapping (stay tuned for this as well).

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Zion National Park Layout {Basic Grey}

  For those of you with kids in school, does that mean quieter days or much busier days? In our house it's a combination of both. When the kids are gone, I get my housework finished faster, but school also means a lot of driving for me. Oh well, it's certainly nice to be getting back into a routine & enjoying this new season that's just begun.

  I'm steadily getting some layouts of our trip finished as well as cards made for our church's Fall Festival & another order. 

  Here's one I did of our whirlwind tour of Zion National Park, Utah. We were driving through a nearby town & stopped at a little bakery for lunch. We were chatting with the owner & she said we had to go visit Zion National Park since we were so close. We had the time that day, so off we went.

  We were only able to stay for an hour or so, but it was so worth it! We want to go back & spend a few days there in the future. It is stunningly beautiful.

  I'm a fan of this page design because:
a) I could cram 7 (count 'em, 7!) photos on this layout.
b) It was simple to throw together because I used (mostly) products from one line - Basic Grey's Wonder.

I used some chipboard letters from Making Memories for the title.

That little scooter was just too cute not to tuck in somewhere on this page even though this subject has absolutely nothing to do with driving scooters.

I kept things simple by journalling along the side & keeping the margins nice & open. 

I love me some "white space"!

Products used:

Cardstock - American Crafts

Patterned Papers, Stickers, Border - Basic Grey

Chipboard Letters - Making Memories

Have you started sorting, filing, or scrapbooking your summer memories?

~~~~~

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Strawberry Punch {Back At It}

  School starts today for our kids & it's a great time for me to get back into the swing of things here on the blog too. We've had a wonderful summer, but I'm ready for fall... crunchy leaves, warm drinks, baking, & autumn decor.

  In the spirit of bidding summer goodbye, I have one last summer recipe to share with you. I made this for our Labour Day BBQ & it was a hit! I've had this recipe clipping in my stash for years, but just had never made it. I believe it originated with Taste of Home.

Strawberry Punch {Printable Recipe}

makes 14 cups

1 can pink lemonade concentrate, thawed, undiluted

2 1/2 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries, partially thawed

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups strong brewed tea, chilled

2 liters ginger ale

In a food processor or blender, combine lemonade concentrate, strawberries, & sugar. Cover & process until smooth.

Transfer to a large pitcher or punch bowl; stir in tea. Add ginger ale. 

Enjoy!! 

I hope you all had a great summer!

~~~~~

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Ideas For An End-of-Summer BBQ

  The end of summer is almost here. It's sad, but true. To send summer out with a bang, why not throw an end of summer or Labour Day party? We plan to.

  Here's some ideas that are inspiring me to make our party just a bit more festive.

Don't you just love the look of bunting? I don't know what it is, but it's just so darned cute! I'm thinking of whipping some up with some colourful handkerchiefs from the dollar store.

Source

Continuing with the handkerchief theme, I might make a table runner to match. :) 

Source

And use them as napkins with the cutlery in mason jars. The mason jars can also be used as glasses. 

Source

Adding some mason jars with brightly coloured flowers would be pretty. 

Source

And because our meal is a pot luck, I'm thinking of making some of these so people can label what they brought.

Source

I'm all inspired to party now! How are you ending your summer?

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Indian Summer Cards {Basic Grey}

Earlier in the summer I made this little series of cards out some products from Basic Grey's Indian Summer line. 

I thought I would save them to share with you in the fall or when I when I was feeling a bit more excited about fall.

That time has come.

Recently, I found out that our church is holding another Fall Festival this year. This time, it's at the end of September instead of October. Because of that, I've been busy getting cards made for my friend, MJ, & my booth. 

And in thinking about fall & getting ready for it, I find I am becoming more & more excited for it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to squeeze every last drop of fun & sunshine out of the last of summer before the kids go back to school after the long weekend in September. We still plan to go swimming a few more times, do more gardening, & have an end of summer bbq. Summer is not quite over.

And for that, I am grateful. :)

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your day!

Map Gift Box

  Since coming back from holidays I've been 1) recovering from a cold 2) cleaning up the house & doing vast amounts of laundry 3) scrapbooking vacation photos 4) trying to spend some time outside on the nice days. We still have 2 weeks until school starts & we've pretty much got everything bought & organized for that (other than a couple of uniform pieces we need to order), so we're now trying to squeeze every little drop out of summer that we can!

  With all the travelling we've done this summer, today's project seems to make sense to me. Maps were a daily occurrence on our trip. Whether we were driving & consulting our road atlas to see where the heck our GPS was taking us or consulting the map to see just where exactly the Space Mountain ride was, we got to know our maps really well.

  In July, when I made my Map Gift Bag, I had some materials left over. One pinwheel & a whole bunch of maps. I also found this little gift box in my gift wrapping supplies. Put it all together & here you have a sweet little map gift box.

Isn't that pinwheel so much cuter than a bow? I love it!

Have a great weekend! I will have a bunch of new projects to share with you next week!

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