flowers, frogs and ladybugs

I’ve had these little baby shoes in my sketch book since last fall and finally got them finished!

Chocolate brown Mary Janes with a pink layered flower. h

Something summery and fun for a little man… cute brown sandals with green frogs. R

For the little ladies… brown sandals with ladybugs.j

They are now in my Etsy shop, puddintoes.   

Posted to:  
Get Your Craft On at Life With Lori
Strut Your Stuff  at Somewhat Simple 
Sugar & Spice at 733

Plant update

The vegetable and flower starter plants are still inside in my homemade light stand… 

Poor babies.   Most years, they are at least outside in the cold frame by now, if not planted in the raised beds under row tunnels.  

Not this year. 

We have yet to behold 60 degrees, with most days only in the 40s.   

Pretty chilly.        

But back to the plants. 

Needless to say, they are anxious to get outside and stretch their roots.  

The tomatoes have grown taller than the lights. 

Soon, my pretties.

Fast talker

 

What can you say in 1 minute 42 seconds?  Anything this inspiring that also happens to rhyme?

Jeremiah 29:11 subway art

I’ve been adoring subway art for quite awhile now.  I  so wanted to make one with a Bible verse. 

There are lots of great tutorials out there in bloggy land for subway art, each using a slightly different method.  I finally decided to give it a try, following these instructions from Tater Tots and Jell-O. 

First, I picked Jeremiah 29:11.   Then I played around with the words.  They looked much better with different font sizes and some of the words bold or narrow.  As per Tater’s tutorial, I took my file to Kinko’s and had the words printed there.  The black from my inkjet printer is not even close to true black.

I used a 12 x 16 art canvas and painted it black. Edges too.  

Hint:  Once you get the words arranged to your liking, BE SURE TO TAKE A PHOTO before permanently affixing them to the canvas!!  It’s super hard to remember the word placement and spacing once you start gluing the words down.  (Not that I would know or anything) K 

What do you think?  I love it and can’t wait to make approximately 67 a few more. 

iii

Posted to: 
Get Your Craft On Thursday  Works-For-Me-Wednesday
Made By You Monday
Making The World Cuter Monday
Keen Inspirations

start with seventy-seven cents

Last week avocados were a mere 77¢.  As in less than one dollar.

(You can imagine my delight)

While I adore the avocado in many forms, this unusual salsa is a definite favorite.  And it’s sooo easy!

First.  It has the avocado (see above).  Second.  Olives and cheese.  Avocados + olives + cheese = nummy!

MONTEREY JACK SALSA

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
5 green onions, chopped
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional, if it's not for you)
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
1/2 to 1 cup sliced black olives
1 cup zesty Italian dressing

Tortilla chips

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Allow some time in the refrigerator for the flavors to mingle, but go ahead and serve immediately if you just can’t wait :)

I told you it was easy. 

Please visit Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for more great recipes!!

the girl loves her salsa

My granddaughter, Skyleigh, had her first taste of my home canned salsa recently.

 
First bite: 

I think she likes it…

But whatever you do, please PLEASE do NOT attempt to touch Skyleigh’s salsa bowl. 

Such and infraction will swiftly incur much WEEPING and WAILING and GNASHING of teeth.  K

Wherein I become a mad scientist

Awhile back, I found this awesome post from My Purple Brick Road on how to make compost tea for your indoor plants. 

Oh, so timely was her post.  The winter.  It was long.  Snow.  There was a.lot.of.it.  The spring.  It forgot to come and melt the snow. 

Staying inside, instead of trekking through our winter spring wonderland to the compost bin?  I was all in, baby. 

And thus began my foray into the world of indoor compost experiments.  Which really wasn’t a full on experiment.  Or scientifically sound.  But it did make my kids roll their eyes. 

Bonus. 

For the full instructions, hop over to My Purple Brick Road.  She splains it real good. 

Here’s my jar, about halfway through the week.  Doesn’t it look all dark and mysterious-like? 

I included the paper coffee filter and some tea bags, but otherwise proceeded according to the directions on her blog. 

When the week was up and it was time to test the tea,  I was, um, a little afraid of what it would *smell* like.  I mean, sitting on the counter all week at room temperature does not bode well for the fragrance department. 

So I removed the lid with proper fear and trepidation. 

Which, as it turns out, was totally unnecessary.  It smells just like straight-from-the-store potting soil.  My very own homemade Miracle Grow! 

After straining, I mixed mine 50:50 with water, so there would be enough for each plant to have a taste.  Now at week 6, they are thriving and healthy 6 

And I’m loving making it inside.  At least until the warm weather finally arrives.  (Please hurry).  

Posted to Works-For-Me-Wednesday at We Are That Family. 

iii