Young Women's Fence Post Plaque

A few posts ago I showed you a card I made as my attempt at getting creative for an event we were having.  Well here is my follow up......the gift I made for the girls at the event.  I cut down an old fence board at about 12".  Then I sanded any rough edges before applying the scrapbook paper and quote.  I inked the edges and then applied a light sprinkling of glitter with the last layer of glue.  After it dried I added the ribbon, flowers, button and hanger.  Now the young women in our ward will have something fun to hang on their wall and be constantly reminded of how we should live our lives.  Hopefully they liked it as much as I liked making it for them.  They are a special group of girls and have touched my heart!

Spice Rack - Supersized

 For years I was trying this and that to find something that worked well for me and my spices.  Nothing worked.  Nothing fit the space, stored enough, and kept my spices fresh.  Until I saw a blog post from Dehydrate2Store about using Mason Jars.  A light bulb click on......this was amazing.  So......above you can see what we now use at our home as a super sized spice rack.  What is nice is that you can make a rack any size to fit your home.  This rack is skinny enough that it goes down a hallway next to our kitchen.  
I love it!
Functional and beautiful!

Our future garden site

Just wanted to post a before picture of our future garden site and the pile of wood chips that we acquired (thanks to some awesome neighbors) that we will use in our garden with the Back to Eden method.  (You can read more about that below)  Since we are starting from scratch it will be a lot of work this year but I know it is worth every tear, pain, and bead of sweat.  What I am excited to see is how many pounds of food we can produce with a first year garden.  What is your guess????  I will be giving a prize to the person that has the closest guess.....so leave yours below.  

How are your garden plans coming?

A New Way To Garden...

Recently we were introduced to a new idea or way to garden.  At first we struggled with the idea as it is complete contradiction to the way my husband was raised....tilling and weeding to keep a wonderful garden.....but after much studying we honestly believe it is a superior way to produce some of the most essential things for our families....our food.  The film that we watched that started this gardening revolution for us is called "Back to Eden".  The video is free to watch online....so please take a few minutes.  Watch the video.  Think about it.  Study it.  You will be able to watch our progress as we turn a piece of land into our own little eden.  Click the link below for more information.

http://backtoedenfilm.com/

Canning like CRAZY!

Although we are still settling into our new home we have realized winter is on it's way and are rapidly trying to can some beautiful produce that was given to us by friends and new neighbors. Take a look at some of our adventures.

Washing carrots.....the little hand you see is my youngest trying to be a big helper.

The finished product.  Washed, sliced, and canned.  Yummy goodness.

Strawberry Jam.  Simple.......anyone can make their own jams.

Canned chicken.  My first experience with this and it turned out great.  Canned with some chicken bouillon to add some extra flavor.

Hope you are all putting something away for winter as well.  Hurricane Sandy should have been a wake up call for everyone......you don't have to be a prepper to put away a few jars of food.  It is just the smart thing to do.......financially, physically, and emotionally.  Leave me a message and let me know what you are canning or preparing.

Trying to be creative....

A few days ago I offered to make an example invitation for our Young Women in Excellence program with the theme of "making a house a home".  After searching for examples for a simple, fun house shaped invitation I found very few online.  So I thought I would post my little creation to maybe help others when they need a little inspiration.  Hope you are all having a wonderful day.  I would love to see any creative projects that you are working on as well.

A new adventure begins

WOW!  I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post.  Many things in our life have been changing.  One of the biggest changes is that we relocated to Idaho.  We are now and will be in the process of turning our new home into the most productive piece of land it can be.  We are still in the "city" so please join us on our new adventure as we go from modern life to pioneering life.

Many, Many pictures and posts to follow so please come back often!