Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Bark

White chocolate and peppermint. Red and white. Creamy and crunchy. That's what this is!
For some of my Christmas presents, I made peppermint bark. The recipe couldn't be any easier!

I melted the chocolate, spread it in a pan, and then sprinkled peppermint bits on top. I also swirled it around a little to mix the red in with the white.

I will be giving this away, although I did sample some. :)

Super easy and super yummy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the balloons released for grandpas in Heaven.

Enjoy the day!

Pumpkin Scones

With all of the pumpkin that we have left over, we've been making lots of treats. Yesterday, we made scones and were they good!

We made a spice glaze to go over them, with pumpkin pie spice.

And we made doll-sized ones too, just because. :)

They enjoyed them!

Patched Jeans

What do you do when your favorite pair of jeans get holes in them?

Patch them up!

And that's just what I did.

I took an old t-shirt and cut out patches from them. I made two ovals over the knees, hems around the bottoms and a flower to go on the back pocket.

I hand-sewed the whole thing, going over my seams twice to make sure that they stay.

The edges of the flower are starting to curl up, but I think that I'll leave it that way.

I love the way that they turned out, and I know that I'm going to have fun patching up my next pair when they get holes in them!

Homemade Pumpkin Bread

Some friends of Caitlin's family gave us a whole lot of pumpkins! We made jack-o-lanterns for halloween, but we still had many left over. So we roasted some to be used for baking. Now we will be able to use them for lots of pumpkin treats!

This morning we made pumpkin bread. We used a recipe from a church cookbook and it turned out really yummy!

Pumpkin Pie

Last week, while we were up at our grandma's, I made a pumpkin pie for the first time by myself! It turned out nicely, although the crust got a little too dark and the pie itself cracked. But it tasted good!

The finished pie.

Swirling in the ingredients.

Baking in the oven.

A slice with whipped cream. Yum!

Flowers, Butterflies and Birds

The weather has been so nice lately! We've been spending a lot of time outside, and having lots of fun. While staying with our cousins, I saw a lot of birds and butterflies on their flowers. I had so much fun taking pictures! I took them a while ago, but I'm just getting around to posting about them now. :)

The Monarch butterflies were the main subject of my photos. I loved following them around, trying to get a good shot. This is one of my favorites.

A hummingbird came as well. Their wings beat so fast, and it's amazing to watch them.

A Monarch butterfly landing on a flower.

And a close-up shot of a zinnia. The pink is so beautiful and rich!

I love taking pictures of God's creation!

Outside My Window

This will be my last outside my window post for a while. I'm taking a break because we've been really busy. When things calm down a bit, I'll do this again!

So, on to the pictures! A butterfly had landed on the clover and I managed to take a few pictures before it flew away.

And a slightly blurry shot of a rabbit. I tried, but it wouldn't stay still!

I also had a few small caterpillars crawling around my plants.

And I had a wasp land one of my leaves.

I hope that you've enjoyed seeing what I do outside my window every week. I sure had fun blogging about it!

Playing With Pictures

I've been taking a lot of pictures lately and editing them on the computer. I've seen so many others do it, but never actually got around to doing it myself. I finally did and here are the results!

These first two are pictures of daisies growing around the house.

I took the picture, then changed it to black-and-white and colored in the center.

These are pictures of a bucket full of felt daisies in a shadow box.

I did the same thing, changing it to black-and-white, but this time I made the picture grainier.

I love playing with pictures!

Jean Jackets

Recently, I made a pair of jean jackets for my dolls, Marissa and Robin. It was the first time that I had ever added sleeves to a project, and they turned out really well!

I left Robin's jacket unfinished so that the edges would fray.

I used old pairs of jeans for both of them and for Marissa's I used a pair with butterflies on the back.

I had a lot of fun making them and am now ready to make other things with sleeves!

Outside My Window

This week, the clover blooms.

They smell so sweet! I love having my window open and sitting on my bed, reading or writing.

Photography Challenge/Happy 4th!

We've been up at our grandparents for the weekend, and it's tradition to make funnel cakes for the 4th of July. So I tried my hand at making them this year. And this week's photo challenge from Miss Eyebright is desserts. So here is my picture of 4th of July funnel cakes!

Funnel Cakes

2 cups flour (I used white rice flour and 1 1/2 tsps guar gum)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 + milk

2 eggs

oil for frying

powdered sugar for the top

1. Mix together all of the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients. The batter should be thick enough to hold it's shape, but thin enough to pour through a funnel.

2. Pour the batter in a funnel and into hot oil.

3. Fry until golden brown on both sides. Let cool slightly, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Happy 4th of July!

Daylilly Blooms

Around our house we have many daylilly plants. And they're finally starting to bloom!

The flowers are mostly yellow, but we do have a few red ones that haven't bloomed yet.

The petals do have a shimmer to them....if you look closely you can see it!

Outside My Window

This week outside my window, it rains. Rain, rain, rain.

It's a good thing I love the rain. :)

My rain gauge doesn't catch the rain because it's under the roof. But it's been raining so much that I have over an inch!

A few close-ups of my plants.

I love the rain!

Photography Challenge

This week's photography challenge, from Miss Eyebright at http://mydefectivecompositions.blogspot.com/ is vintage.

We went up to our grandparent's house on Saturday to celebrate Father's day. I brought our camera because they have so many vintage things! I knew that I would be able to get a picture of something. I took lots of pictures and it was so hard to choose which one to use! But here is my picture of a spelling board.

Maybe for my next post, I will show my other pictures!

Rhubarb Butter Tart

While cleaning out the kitchen cupboard, I found a tart pan. Never having made a tart, I decided to give it a try. I picked some rhubarb from the garden (the only thing growing there this year), and found a recipe online. I changed it to what we can have (one of my brothers has food allergies, so we have to modify almost all of our food.), and this is the result.

It turned out really good. It was buttery and rich with just the right amount of tartness. I added cinnamon to the crust and to the filling, so it had a light spicy taste as well.

Rhubarb Butter Tart

1 cup chopped rhubarb

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup corn syrup (I used brown rice syrup)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch of cinnamon

pie crust

powdered sugar

1. Add the rhubarb to a pot of boiling water. Turn down the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes, then drain.

2. Add the butter, sugar, salt, and syrup. Stir until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Then add the egg and vanilla.

3. Pour into a pie crust and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes. As it cools, it will firm up.

5. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, cut into slices and enjoy!