Carriages and Sweet Bundles

 

Hello!
Carriages and sweet bundles. 

I needed some more baby cards and I found some delightful 

chipboard stickers and odd tags in my odds and ends.  

It was time to put them to good use. 

I found some fun twinkle twinkle little star paper 

and some matching papers.

It has been fun to play with paper again. 

Now they are tucked into my card box for when needed. 

So have fun scrolling down to see them all.

 

Praying you have a splendid day!
 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Nests and Flowers

 

Hello! 

Spring is upon us and it is nice to see the change in the seasons. 

Along with the seasons, there are seasons in life. 

As we are preparing for another in our home,
I've been making a few cards to use in the next few weeks.

I found some wonderful bird nest images from

Shoregirl's Creations that I hadn't used yet. 

Then I pulled out some lovely papers 

(and I have lost the company name for them).  

I love the softness it all brought together.  

Along with some lovely ribbon gifted me by Judith from Lavender Cottage. 

The colours worked so well together... well in my opinion. :)

The I found these sweet towel images by Shoregirl Creations as well...

the just needed to be used. :)  

I found another set of papers that were very cheerful.  

I love the happy red gingham.  

I added a little flower stamp tot he postage spot. 

I also found these sweet papers, and I didn't want to make a card 

where they were covered up too much. 

So I looked through my stash for ribbons and flowers to add to 

each card.  

Some of the flowers I crocheted, and then I found the pretty paper ones. 

I searched my stash and found some lovely pearls and rhinestones 

for each of the flowers. 

 

Now, for some real flowers. 

This week the wild crocus have come up on the hill behind our home. 

They are so cheerful in our cold temps, but the sunshine is beckoning them out.

I pray you are having a lovely spring and that you are finding time to 

stop and take a look at the nests and flowers around you...

or in your craftrooms. 

I love how the glory of the Lord is seen in even the tiniest details of His creation! 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Fun in the Kitchen

 

Hello! 

Quiet me on the blog in the past while. 

I have been busy in the home though. 

We've been working a lot on our homeschool lessons, 

with taking out items for the kids portfolio binders.   

It's kinda fun to look back on the happenings of the year. 

We've been cooking and baking quite a bit.

 Since I got my new cookbook from the Prairie Homestead, 

my children have been wanting to be in the kitchen more. 

Today I made some homemade tortilla wraps for supper. 

It's so simple and delicious.  

Below is a copy of the recipe a dear friend of mine 

shared with me.

 

One of the best parts of this flat bread is that you

can add anything to it and it's great! 

Tonight was re fried beans, cheese, and mixed greens.

 

My children in the kitchen.  (Three of them)

OH, if you are looking for a great new cookbook,

I do recommend Jill's Prairie Homestead Cookbook. 

There are some very delicious recipes in there. 

This is my copy, and when it arrived I had to share right off. 

I sat on my bed with my children all around me leafing through 

each page. :)  

I don't have a lot of cookbooks, but I can see how this one will earn a place on my shelf. 

I hope you all have a beautiful day...

and perhaps some enjoyable time in your kitchens. 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Touches of Spring

Hello!

I am feeling the touches of spring, and have been finishing up some projects

 that I've been wanting to get taken care of.  

Things like making some bone broth...although I have yet

to take the step to put them through the pressure canner. 

I am working my way through the freezer so by the time we have to move it'll be empty.

Yes, we are moving at the end of May and I'm in preparation for that. 

I have added another item to my household posessions though. 

I was gifted this lovely teapot and am happy it's come to live with us. :)  

It has an amazing tight weave screen for loose tea.

I have also taken all the plastic off our windows. 

Then the next step I got to this week. 

Cleaning the screens and putting them back into the windows. 

The mosquitos and bees were wanting to come inside to visit too often for my comfort.

For those of you that think it's not important to wash screens.....have a look below!

That is just from a year of use for eight screens. 

Now you can see through them without there being dust and dirt in them. 

It didn't take long, but will let more of the fresh air in.

Also this spring my children were blessed with being able to go to a glass making class. 

They went with our little community homeschool group. 

They each were able to make an item.  The boys made bowls, and my daughter made a paperweight.

I am working on sorting through the things we have accumulated since moving here.

I have gone through clothing (regular and seasonal), books, kitchen items, fabric and crafting items.

It feels good to re-home items we no longer need or want. 

I know it's great to de-clutter as a normal part of life, but to also remember that some of the clutter we do have in our lives is necessary.  

Such as items to make great homemade foods from scratch, and preserve food for our families needs.

Perhaps I do have too many mason jars....if that is possible.

Also the sewing area I contemplated for a long time....all that extra material and sewing items are very much needed for making and fixing items we need. 

All the gardening items are needed, and the homeschool area.  Yes, there are lots of items in those areas, but when you consider the usefulness of these items they have to stay.  

One thing I have been doing is learning to let go of things that I have collected.  

Sometimes you just need to take a picture and say goodbye. 

All of this is coming about as we are enjoying the touches of spring. 

Walks in the woods as the snow is melting and the green is returning.

Oh, and I tried my hand at transferring images to towels. 

I didn't get it very dark, but the images came through well. 

The towels I did were for a birthday gift to a fishing loving man.

So, I'm sorry I've been quiet on here.

I have found that I just haven't been able to put into words what has been going on 

in our lives the last while. 

I hope you have a beautiful day!

Thanks for dropping by!

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Homemaking Mondays: Something Fresh

 

Hello!  

This is the new apron that I have made for myself. 

I just wanted something fresh. 

The temperatures are rising some, 

and the snow is staring to melt. 

Spring is coming!

 

I bought this fabric awhile ago and finally cut into it. 

I found some gross-grain ribbon that matched,

and some lovely crocheted cotton lace.

 

Then I also had some lovely eyelet lace border that I'd saved

from an old bed-skirt. 

 

It'll be nice to wear for baking. 

Something to cheer me in the kitchen. 

Do you have an apron that makes you want to bake?

Do you like to make something new to wear for spring? 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Tweet Birdie Home

Hello!  I'd love to share with you this tweet little birdie home. 

 I found this birdhouse at the free store minus part of the roof.  

I added some more wood to make a roof.

It looked like it needed some love and of course it came home with me. :)  

 

It looked great rustic, but I wanted something more cheerful.

I chose to paint it coastal blue with a white roof and trim.
The windows had the black insert and so I left it that way. 

The bottom I painted brown and then quickly changed it to green.

I added some rolled wood around the one barrel.

I painted it a light blue on top like a water barrel.

I found this cute button in my stash. 

Seemed so cute and welcoming.

Then I looked through all the flowers I had, and found a bag of these cute metal ones.

I hot glued them around the house, and this one on the front fence.

I then filled this bucket with hot glue and added some gold balls to it. 

I painted them pansy purple.

Then I added some tall flowers I had in my stash.  They just seemed to fit.

I will be spraying it all with a sealer so that it can go outside. 

I hope that some bird will be interested in living in this 

tweet birdie home.

Psalms 104:12

^"By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches."

Thanks for dropping by!
Love and Prayers,

Jennifer

Some Simple Joys

 

Hello! 

I'd like to share some of my simple joys with you.

We have been having some lovely days. 

The sun was shining for awhile, then went away, and then came back. 

It was warm up to the freezing point. 

There are days when

I opened up the upstairs door (the main floor of our house)

and let the cool air freshen things up.  

I keep the wood stove burning 

heating water for tea and some oranges with balsam fir essential oil 

for a nice scent.  

Yes, the stove is quite dirty... come spring when we will no longer need it,

it'll get a good scrubbing.

 

I was watering my window plants today and turned my citronella plant around.

It is so vibrant and I love to watch it grow.

The mint in the window is doing so well that I'm going to start clipping some 

for tea and for putting in the water pitcher.

 

The plants in the house are loving all the extra light they are getting 

and seem to be smiling. 

 

With all the nice weather there are spots that are melting and giving 

the promise of spring to come. 

 

I hope you are enjoying some simple joys in your homes. 

Love and Prayers,

Jennifer