nesting....

I was straightening up my yarn and came across a bunch of yarn scraps in a bag.

I hate to throw it out but don't have much use for it.

We have an old cat tail bird feeder for sunflower seeds but haven't used it since moving here. It just sits in the garden as an ornament.

Well, I just shoved all the yarn bits down inside the feeder. The holes are large so getting the yarn bits out shouldn't be a problem.


Although its late for this year's nesting, I know the birds will see it because it is right next to a bird bath in the bushes. Maybe by next spring, they'll feel comfortable enough to use it....if not, at least the yarn looks pretty!

Ironcraft #27 and dessert of the month: Cheesecake Tarts!

This week's challenge was to make something patriotic....with starts and stripes.

Well, I decided to go a different route and made a little tart for Dean's dessert of the month club....and they were quite a hit!
Here is what I did

Ingredients:

1. 18 pre-made graham cracker tart shells
2. 2 blocks cream cheese
3. 1 can sweetened condensed milk
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla
5. 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (or ReaLemon)
6. 1/4 cup strawberry jam
7. 2 cups mixed, cleaned and hulled berries.  Any kind
8. sugar (optional)*
9. 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 

*Put your berries in a bowl and then sprinkle them with about 2-3 tablespoons regular sugar and put in frig.*

Arrange your tart shells on a pan that you can fit in the refrigerator.

Blend cream cheese on high until light, smooth and creamy, add sweetened condensed milk and beat again.  Add vanilla and lemon juice, blend.  Get all lumps out.  
Take a cookie scoop and put 1 scoop of the cream cheese mixture into each tart shell. Jiggle the mixture to smooth it out.  You can use the back of a small spoon to make the center a bit concave if you want.  It holds the berries better that way.


If you are serving immediately, go to the next step.  If not, put in frig or freezer until serving.

When serving:
Strain the berries and fill the little tart shells with them, carefully piling them up a bit. You may have a little bit leftover....eat it!

**Now, take the strawberry jam and heat it for about 30 seconds in the microwave.
Remove and stir in the lemon juice. Mix well.  (This is also optional)

Gently drizzle the jam mixture over the berries....this will act as a binder once it cools.


Place in the frig for a bit to set the jam or eat right away. 

Before serving, add a tiny dollop of cool whip and a cutesy cupcake topper!


Then step back and watch your son toss the topper into the trash and shove the entire tart in his mouth in 2 bites!

It makes me so happy when I make stuff up on the fly and everyone loves it!!!!

Mosaic Monday

I made this "Potter Person" years ago and thought she was perfect to share today.

Patriotic Patty is wearing her favorite star spangled earrings and red hot lipstick!

Happy Independence Day!

Baby Jesus ROCKS! ...ironcraft challenge #26

This week's challenge is to make a "camp craft."

Instead of the regular camp crafts, I thought of Baby Jesus Pebbles because we planned on doing them at VBS but time didn't allow it.




If you want to read about how they got started, here is the link.

I think this is a perfect camp craft because you can find rocks just about everywhere...and you don't need paint brushes, just fingers or paint pens.

Here is what you'll need and how to do it.

pretty rocks, slightly flat ones are best
fingers
white and peachy acrylic paints (or paint pens)
black sharpies
baby wipes for your fingers

First, lay out your rocks and find the best side to face up. The rocks used in the tutorial are from a bag of decorative rocks I had in my stash and they are teeny weeny.



Using your index finger and white paint, carefully paint an oval on the front of the rock, let dry.



Once dry, dab your fingertip into peachy paint and make a small oval about 1/3 of the way from the top of the rock...this is your face. Let dry.



Once dry, take your black sharpie and make a line around the edge of the peach, ending with a curly q for hair.



Draw on features



Now outline the body....go just inside the edge of the white paint for this.



Draw 2 slanted lines and one angled line...this is your swaddling cloth



At this point, you are done. If you'd like, flip the rock over and put a Bible verse on the back, like the portion of Isaiah 9:6 which reads "unto us a child is born...."


Our church youth will be making about 300 of these to pass out this holiday season.

Mosaic Monday

Here is a little shelf I did several years ago for Kaela...but then we moved and I forgot about it! We were cleaning up our garage shelves and I found it all wrapped up in bubble wrap.........


close up of the birdie in her nest...

Tweet!

VBS

We worked at our church for VBS all this week. The theme was "Pandamania."
We had over 280 kiddies show up, it was quite an event!


Here are some photos of the sanctuary.




...a dragon who's teeth literally got knocked out as I was taking the picture! By the next morning, he had his fangs back!




Last year, I made and dropped this little turtle at our local library.
I met the family that found it!
One of the women I worked with in the arts/crafts room overheard me talking about toy drops....she promptly told me her son had found it and sleeps with it every night. Later her son told me he named the turtle "Snappy."




small world......

Leo, giving Kaela a sweet nuzzle.....