Homemade Shooter Toy

Hello! Do your kids (or others young at heart) need something fun to occupy themselves with?  I found this great idea for marshmallow/ pom pom shooters and had to give it a try. Original idea found HERE!

All it takes is a cup, scissors, a balloon and something to shoot.  We used the pom pom balls, but it also works great with wooden beads!  You cut the bottom off the cup with a pair of scissors and set it aside.  Then tie a knot in the balloon, cut a small hole in the top of the balloon, and stretch the top of the balloon over the cut part of the cup.  That way no sharp edges are open to cut little fingers.  Grab some ammo and have fun!

We've set up cups and tried to knock them over, had contests to see how far one could shoot, and big sisters were deemed off limits!!!

We ended up with lots of different ones, and if the balloon slides off at any time, it's easy to just re-attach it.  It has made for hours of fun!  I may be finding those little pom moms for weeks to come, but it's worth it.  :)  Would be great for parties, or just as a boredom blaster for cabin fever.  They'll make great pine cone shooters for the summertime also!  I'll have to remember that. :)

Thanks for dropping by!  Hope you have a wonderful day and perhaps this idea will be useful to you.

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Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Hello!  Do you love cheesecakes?  I do, and homemade is oh so good! A dear friend of mine shared a recipe with me for cookie dough cheesecake and if you like cookies, you'll love this.

It has an oreo cookie crust, eatable cookie dough filling (well all cookie dough is eatable if you ask me, but this one has no eggs in it), a no-bake cheesecake layer, and topped with yummy cookie dough balls.  Next time I'm going to double the cookie dough bites and make them a touch smaller.

After layering it all up in my springform pan I covered it with plastic wrap and tucked it in the refrigerator to cool.  After serving it to my family, it was a huge hit and they were asking for me to make it again soon.  So this recipe gets stashed in my homemaking binder with all our family loved recipes.

Here is the full recipe for it so you can give it a try if you've a mind to.  Very easy and yummy!

                                                     COOKIE DOUGH CHEESECAKE

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful day and perhaps take some time to make something yummy to munch on.

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Crockpot Beef Barley Stew

HI!  So what is on your supper table?

Today we had crockpot beef stew.  I like to take the leftovers from a roast and the broth and add it to my crockpot.  Then I toss in whatever leftover veggies I have...in this case I had carrots.  I added a bunch of water and about a half a bag of barley.  I let it cook for about 5 hours added more salt, pepper and onion powder this time.  A nice warm meal.  We eat ours with just crackers and cheese.

Hope you have a nice day! Thanks for dropping by!

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Doily For You

Hello! Nice to see you again!  Today I have a card that I'd like to share with you.  It was fun to get out some ink as well on this one.  

I found some pretty papers by K& Company, some soft beige lace, some green ribbon and a burlap flower and button.  

On the front panel I inked a sweet lacy wild grass stamp and a sweet sentiment from Tina Wienke.  Something simple for someone I have been thinking about.  

Below is a new doily that I made from a pattern called White Fan Doily by Beth Mueller.  I made it in red and I think it turned out quite striking. 

Thanks so much for dropping by!  Praying you have a wonderful day!

Sharing with Word Art Wednesday and The Art of Homemaking Mondays.

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Crockpot Baking

HI!  I'd love to share with you today all about my new adventure into baking in a crockpot.  

You see, my oven stopped working and so....I thought I'd try to find another way to compensate for it's loss.  The Lord has blessed us with a big crockpot and so it's been used much more this past while.  I mostly have used it for cooking roasts, beans, & chilli.  I like to make big batches of beans and freeze them in ready to use packages.

Now, we love to eat bread and I'm not a fan of store bought myself.  So, I looked it up on Pinterest (there are tons of recipes)  and I just printed off one that I knew I could manage.  Now with the crockpot it cooks from the bottom but not on the top.  So the loaf is nicely browned on the bottom and still light on top.  Most recipes call for broiling for a few minutes to brown it, but since I don't have that option we ate it just as is.  It's still very delicious!!!

One thing I'll do next time is to let it rise longer on the warm setting.  I kinda rushed it and it was very heavy.  So thus far I've made two loaves, one above and one shown below.

This one I had made the dough the day before and put in the fridge, then popped in the crockpot when I needed it.  Well a couple hours before I needed it.  The one thing that you have to remember with crockpots is to time things!  Definitely not as fast as the regular ovens.

Now my family wasn't wanting to miss out on sweet treats out of the oven either.  So we have tried brownies today and they were delicious!  Much softer in the inside than usual (sides and bottom were crispy), but that's ok.  They were all happy for the treat! :)  It tasted so good with a glass of cold milk and some apple slices.

I already have plenty of suggestions for what to make next.  Cinnamon buns, and cake are top on the list.  What would you make next?  The kids said cookies too...but I think I'll just make stove top ones, or fry them.  Have you ever had fried cookies?  They're yummy to!

Thanks for dropping by!  I pray you have a sweet day!

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Airing Out Blankets

Hello! We've been having a beautiful chinook here in the Yukon and the temperatures have risen to just above freezing.  We've had windows and doors open to refresh the house.  Added to this my girls have helped me to hang out the blankets to air on the clothesline as well.  Washing sheets at the same time...but those I'll dry in the dryer since....well it's not going to happen too fast on the line.  

It's so wonderful to  have fresh smelling bedding in the middle of the winter.  

Do you do this?

We have another three-four months of winter left so when the chinooks come through we thoroughly enjoy them! 

Above are the blankets from my girls beds...ones that they've made and the orange one in the middle that was a gift.  

Below are the quilts that I made for my boys beds.  The wind has ben blowing so hard that it's squished up the one on the right.  

Sometimes the wind gets to gusting so much that it's shaking the house and the bird feeders are blowing around so much that the birds don't bother trying to eat out of them. :)

The bird feeders are just made out of empty apple juice containers, and the seeds get spilled on the ground where the birds are enjoying them.  

It should be nice and fresh to crawl into bed tonight, and I'm praying it'll give them a better sleep.  

Thank you so much for dropping by and seeing part of our homemaking life.  Praying you have a beautiful day!


Sharing with The Art of Homemaking Mondays.  If you haven't popped over to this link up, I encourage you to do so.  Lots of encouragement and ideas and sharing!

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Country Lane Tea

Hello!  Do you love old fashioned tea sets? I do, and I was blessed to find a set minus the teapot at the local thrift store.  An answer to my prayers, for I've wanted to find one for a long time. 

I love blue and white dishes, and this set is just my style. I love the old english country road scene. It's a set called "Country Lane" - Old Staffordshire  By Wood and Sons, England. 

It is so nice to have such a dainty set and I enjoy using it.  There is a set of four: cups, saucers, and little plates.  Then a creamer and sugar bowl. 

Do you like having tea?  What is your favourite flavour?  I personally like chamomile peppermint or lemon balm with honey.  

Thank you for dropping by!  Perhaps one day for a spot of tea. :)

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Feminine Like Her

Hello Friends!  Today I'd like to share with you a card that I had made for my daughter's birthday.  She turned 14 so I wanted something that wasn't little girly, but very feminine like her. 

I chose a soft gentle palate of colour with papers from My Mind's Eye: Sunshine & In Bloom paper pad sets.  I love the papers from this company. I then added some soft coral paper behind the panels as an accent along with some brown inking to soften the edges.  Then some lace and ribbon was in order along with a sweet pearl flourish and some crochet flowers.  If you check out the top of the musical panel, there are the words "too cute". Love it!  

Praying you also have a wonderful day!

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Snowshoe Day

 Hello! Thanks for popping by!  Today I'd love to share with you some pictures of a little snowshoe walk I took with my kids.  It's a wonderful fun thing to do in the winter here in the Yukon.

The sun came out today and shone brightly...for us down in the river valley it shines on us for about 1 -1 1/2 hours in the middle of the day.  Every day it will get more and more from now on till June. :)

One other thing I love about homeschooling is that we can spontaneously go out in the middle of the day for adventures without upsetting schooling...but adding to it.  We saw and identified tons of tracks, from snowshoe hare, fox, mice, lynx, raven and squirrels.  We saw a rabbit kill and had a good talk about how the Lord created the pattern for all of his creatures to be fed.

I just love that my kids and I can snowshoe.  Everyone in the family aside from my husband have a pair and we tromp along through the snow together. I wore my old Sorel boots as my newer ones are too big to fit into the straps.   I've had these boots for years and years, and my mother before me. They still are warm although a bit ugly now.

I just love the snow on the trees and the blue sky above!

Our snowshoe trail through the trees.  It's a new trail, but will get nicely packed down as it gets used more and more till it melts.

We walked up almost to the bridge but chose to stop here since the trail goes down too close to the ice.  The ice on our river this year isn't very safe, and I don't want to chance anyone breaking through to the water below.  This particular area, the water is very deep next to the narrow trail.

A look up the river on our way back home.  The sun having gone down below the tops of the trees.

Here is a picture of the river close to our place that you can see huge sections broken down, and you can see and hear the water running.

Thanks for dropping by!  I pray you have a beautiful day to, being out in the beauty of God's amazing creation.

Romans 1:20 "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse"

Psalm 95

¹ "O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

² Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

³ For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

⁴ In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

⁵ The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

⁷ For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

⁸ Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

⁹ When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

¹⁰ Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

¹¹ Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest."

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Delicate Baby Blanket

Hello!  I just wanted to share a new baby blanket that I finished.  I used some sweet pinky/purple variegated yarn and make the middle using a slanted shell stitch.  Then I used a sweet dark violet purple and made a few rows around the outside/

To finish it off, I wanted to use a nice edging and so I went looking and found this one that really jumped out at me.  It's called #3 Jonquils from Miss Abigail's Hope Chest.   It was very simple, yet adds such a delicate feminine touch I think.

It's soft and cozy and I hope that it'll warm a little little girl one day.

I love learning new patterns and ways of doing things.  Something else to add to my crochet binder. :)

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A Spark of Curiosity

Hello!  I'd just like to share with you a little about my son's interest in the A. J. Goddard shipwreck.  A few years ago my daughters studied a shipwreck that had been discovered in a lake not far from here with some other homeschool families.  They did a print making class and had the final works framed and put up on a permanent display at the local Transportation Museum.   At the unveiling they got to meet with one of the actual men that discovered the ruins. The children were all given a booklet of the The Wreck of the A.J. Goddard and I brought it home and tucked it in the bookshelf with all the kids other books.  The girls also have a whole booklet of a print from each other the children telling the story of the ship from it's building to it's sinking.  He loves perusing it as well.

One day my son who is much younger than the girls pulled it out and read it over and over again.  He then proceeded to make his own sternwheeler boat out of wooden planks that he had.  He talked about the stories of boats and wants to go again to visit the one sternwheeler boat that sits in Whitehorse.  The S.S. Klondike.

It's wonderful when out of the blue a child gets excited about learning something new.  One of the things I love about homeschooling is that there is more ability to pursue these interests during peak learning times.  Learning to learn that's what education is, not just learning what everyone else is.  Everyone will need to know different things in their lives, and we never stop learning.  So what are you learning about today?

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