April 30: Journey

Life is full of many characters, 

some for a single moment, 

some for a time, 

some for many years; 

all are a part of the journey.

April 29: The Creator: Ivy

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, 

before you were born I set you apart;

I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

"Ah, Sovereign Lord," 

I said, 

"I do not know how to speak; 

I am only a child."

But the Lord said to me, 

"Do not say,  'I am only a child.' 

You must go to everyone I send you to 

and say whatever I command you. 

Do not be afraid of them, 

for I am with you and will rescue you," 

declares the Lord.

-Jeremiah 1:5-8

April 28: Oatmeal Date Bread and Honey Butter

For brunch today I tried a new recipe out of my new favorite bread cookbook.

The book: Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

The recipe: Oatmeal Date Bread

It was turned out awesome (in my humble opinion), and since the recipe made two loaves, I got to bless friends with one and enjoy some myself.

I also made a honey cinnamon butter to spread on top.

The bread still warm with the butter melting slightly on top, delicious!

April 27: Strawberries and Pineapples

Yup, that's it: Strawberries and Pineapples. So simple yet so excited.

Two of my favorites, both on sale, both a special treat, and they are delicious together.

Cleaning and chopping them was not a chore, rather a pleasure. I can't wait to enjoy them with friends at brunch tomorrow.

April 26: Driftwood Mobile

Today is a rainy Thursday; that coupled with staying out to watch the Bruins lose and an early morning coffee shift meant my afternoon was mostly a long nap. But, Saturday was sunny and warm; we enjoyed it by taking a long drive and exploring a new beach. A picnic on the beach and looking for treasures in the sand made for a wonderful day.

I made a mobile, mostly out of driftwood, for on the balcony. I know you are wondering, when will the balcony projects end? Well, not yet; that's all I can say.

In my last beach mobile I used my Dremel to drill holes in the pieces. I was too lazy to get out the Dremel this time. I used a nail and hammer to make holes in the driftwood, the shells and sea glass I used conveniently had holes in them, and I wire wrapped a beach stone. I also used some natural looking beads, and held it all together with brown thread. 

I like the way it twirls in the wind; sometimes the top part spins one way while the bottom branch grouping spins the other way.

April 24: Balcony Flower Garland (ok, fake flowers)

I have been planning and working on a fabric garland to hang out on the balcony. It has been coming along slowly; ok, so far I have only ironed the fabric.

But today, I found these spring flower garlands at Michael's for 1/2 off, making it $6 for the pair. I have never purchased fake flowers (maybe I should call them artificial, that sounds more proper) before but have seen some nicely "blooming" in photos on another blog recently. At 1/2 off, I thought I would give these artificial beauties a try.

A few nails later and they are hanging over the windows out on the balcony.

                

I hope our resident cardinals, Red and Lady Red, enjoy them too.

April 23: Crochet Beer Coozie

Just a little something to keep your hand warm while enjoying a cool brew. And since baseball season is underway, it had to be red for the Red Sox.

The first one I stitched turned out a little too big, but it was the perfect fit for my pint of Ben & Jerry's. Another situation in which a hand needs to be kept warm and the treat cold.

Happy Baseball, Beer, and Ice Cream Season!

April 22: The Creator: Rain

Let it rain, let it rain.Open the floodgates of Heaven

The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad

Let the distance shores rejoiceClouds and thick darkness surround himRighteousness and justice are the foundation of his throneA fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every sideHis lightning lights up the worldThe earth sees and tremblesThe mountains melt like wax before the LordBefore the Lord of all the earth
Let it rain, let it rain.Open the floodgates of Heaven

April 21: Container Garden Part 2: Herbs

My container gardening adventure continued today; check out part 1 from Thursday.

This morning, the farmer's market offered lots of started herb and veggie plants. It was hard to choose. Again, due to the very limited sunshine on the balcony, I limited myself and decided not to plant fruiting veggies this year. I did pick up some lettuce plants and swiss chard plants. However, upon returning home I realized I don't have a container for them, so they will wait for another day (I see container gardening part 3 coming).

Herbs were where it was at for my planting today. I had two rectangular planters that came from Mom and Dad's shed that worked wonderfully.

First I placed the plants (still in there containers) in the planters to see how they would fit. These planters have drainage holes in the bottom, so I didn't worry about putting any stones or shells in the bottom. I started by putting some potting soil in the planters, then took the plants out of their containers, placed them in the container, and filled around them with more potting soil.

basil, thyme, cilantro, lemon balm

sage, parsley, oregano, rosemary, dill 

And, the balcony gets greener.

April 20: Button Earrings

After an early shift at the coffee shop this morning and several loads of laundry to get through, I am feeling unmotivated in the crafty department. I do plan on starting to cut some fabric for a garland project I am planning for the balcony, but that can happen while I sit on my sunny lounge chair enjoying the flowers I planted yesterday. And, I have no intentions of finishing it today, so we will come back to that another day. For now, I will share a quick project ending in a cute pair of dangling, button earrings.

The possibilities are endless, one button, two buttons, three buttons (or more), buttons of all one color, buttons of different colors, big buttons, small button, any buttons you want.

Materials:
- you guessed it, BUTTONS!
- earring hoops (can purchase at craft store or jewelry supply store, there are usually several sizes to choose from)

Steps:
1. choose your buttons; you probably want the two earrings to match so you will need two of each button choice
2. place buttons on the earring hoops
3. using a needle nose pliers bend a small portion of the end of the earring hoop up, to catch the loop that is already on the other end.
That's it, you are ready to wear your new earrings.

April 19: Container Garden Part 1: Flowers

I finally had a sunny afternoon free to start working on the plans I have for a container garden on the balcony. After stops at Good Will, The Dollar Store, and Home Depot, I had collected my materials and was ready to start planting.

I have always gardened in the ground before, particularly in a small, sunny garden space we had. However this year the only outdoor space we have to ourselves is our little balcony, and that little balcony does not see much sun. When it does see the sun, in the late afternoon, the light is filtered through the trees, and I will confess that my lounge chair takes up the sunniest spot. I get priority, over the plants, to the sun. Hey, I need the sunshine too.

So, I hit the shade tolerant plants section at the garden center and went with the following: impatiens, coleus, coral bells, begonia, lobelia, and lilyturf grass (which apparently is deer resistant, just in case a deer finds its way to our balcony).

I picked out some containers at Good Will and The Dollar Store. Most did not have drainage holes in the bottom, so before planting the flowers in the containers, I added some large pieces of sea glass and sea shells (I didn't have the more traditional stones or rocks to add) to the bottom of the planters to give drainage space. Then I planted away, giving a good watering when I was finished.

April 17: Paper & Fabric Greeting Cards

After a long morning and early afternoon of jury duty, I needed a simple, fun, not too time consuming project to do before it was time to make dinner. Using some of my favorite things, paper, fabric, and stamps I created these greeting cards by sewing fabric pieces onto a 4" x 5.5" folded card. The stamped message says, "I love you, friend." My one word of advice, from experience and my absentmindedness, is make sure you only sew to one side of the card, don't sew the card together so it can't be opened.

Now to write some sweet messages to some sweet friends and send them on their way.

April 15: The Creator: Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

April 14: Bridges

Today we spent the day on the river, kayaking, picnicing, soaking in the sun, and just enjoying being outside. We floated under a few bridges along the way.

April 13: Printed Images on Book Pages

I decided it was time to take the heart garland off the front door. While I put the hearts up for Valentine's Day (I know, a long time ago), the hearts were in different pastel colors, so I decided it was springy and okay to leave it up for a while longer.

However, I am ready to look at something new as I come home and my neighbors probably are too.

Of course the Red Sox button still hangs from the door knocker. Funny story about that, I thought J had put it there, so I took it down and told him I didn't like it there. His response was, what are you talking about? We then figured out that our neighbor, also a huge Red Sox fan, must have put it there. I felt bad for taking it down, rehung it, and now it will hang there until the end of the season. Back to the printed images on the book pages.


Luckily, I have the insides of a few books leftover from my behind the books secret storage. So, I used the pages from one of them.

I found this simple explanation of how to make sure the image is lined up properly on the book page, http://bywilma.com/2012/03/02/diy-how-to-print-on-bookpages/.

I found lots of cool images on a website called the Graphics Fairy. There is lots, I mean lots, of images here. You should check it out.

Then all I had to do was convince my printer to let me print in black in white even though my color cartridge was empty (this was the most difficult part of the process). Once over that hurdle, I printed the images and sewed them together with a zig-zag stitch across the top edge to create a little banner for the front door. Here are a few close ups.