A Little Vintage Bunting

All Summer I have had the goal of making a little vintage bunting for some room of my house.  With just three weeks left before we start homeschooling, I am happy to have begun!

I am making individual Artist Trading Cards for the bunting, and will continue adding to it until it is full.  I have two completed so far!  An Artist Trading Card is like a miniature scrapbook page that can be traded with others, for a unique art collection.

A classic ATC is normally about 2.5 by 3.5 inches.  I am making mine a bit larger at 3"x 4" so that I can use the vintage illustrations I have for it.  This illustration came from a vintage children's book I purchased for $1 at a thrift store.

Yes, it hurts to cut up a book, but I will so enjoy seeing these illustrations on a daily basis on my wall!

This is the page I chose to use first.  This little girl reminds me of myself in the 60s when I had a little metal dollhouse and plastic people and furniture for it.  I absolutely loved setting up the house and dreaming of having my own home some day!

This shows the size of the piece I cut from the book.

Next I looked for cardstock in the right colors, so that I could make my ATC base and mat the pic.

I went through my craft stash and found some embellishments that would go nicely on the card.

And this is the finished product! 

Today I made another one, using some beautiful vintage paper that my dear friend brought me from the scrapbook store where she works.  And since the line of paper is called October Afternoon, a name I find charming and enchanting, I even added it to my card.  Baking a pie on an October afternoon would be bliss.  :) The little circle of the girl is attached with a foam square so it pops out from the page, and I made the October Afternoon 3D as well.

And so this is the beginning of my little vintage bunting!  It is temporarily hung on my kitchen wall, until I decide the perfect place for it to live.  :)

I am loving it. 

To be continued!  

Blessings,

Donna 
Late Breaking News:  I've made another card...an adorable button cupcake card.  Click here to see it!  
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Freezer Pickles

The cucumbers are starting to come in, in our little Square Foot Garden!  Exciting!  So today I decided to make Freezer Pickles, using the recipe found HERE.  I used 3 good sized cucumbers and 1/2 sweet onion, so I cut the recipe down to about 1/3 or 1/2.

You cut up the cukes and onions, salt them, and let them sit for 3 hours.  You also mix up the brine and let it sit for 3 hours.  The above is vinegar, sugar, spices, etc.

Then you drain and rinse the cucumbers well.

Then mix the cukes and the brine well.

It made enough to divide between these three little containers.

And now I have three little containers of pickles in the freezer!  Can't wait to give them a try.  Any one can do this.  So easy.  The June Cleaver in me was so happy to have gotten this accomplished...altho I was wearing shorts and was barefoot instead of pearls and heels.  :)

Blessings!

Donna 
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A slice of frozen lime? Yes, please.

I am nuts about ice cold water and tea.  And it's the icing on my cake when I can have a slice of lime floating merrily atop, giving a hint of lime to my drink.  However, I was getting tired of daily dirtying up a knife for a lime slice.  So I tried to slice the whole lime and keep it in a baggie in the fridge.

This ended up not being very satisfactory either, as the lime lost its visual appeal after a couple of days hanging out together in a baggie.  Got alittle ugly.  So one day I realized the answer to my problem.  I sliced up 2 whole limes.  Then placed them on a plate to freeze.

Into the freezer they went, uncovered, for 1-2 hours...til frozen.

Oh wow...they looked so COLD and tasty!! 

I popped them into a ziplock bag, rolled out the air in it, and zipped it closed.  Now they reside in my freezer door, ready at my beck and call.  Thirsty?  Yes!  A slice of frozen lime in your water?  Oh, yes please!

And that's how it's done.  Quick, easy, and I have enough lime slices for about 2 weeks.  Yippee!  Doesn't take much to make a girl happy.

Blessings,

Donna

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A Taste of Summer Sweetness

1.  A one single pie crust
2.  3 fresh peaches
3.  1/4 cup sugar
4.  sprinkle of cinnamon

Cut the pie crust into about 3 inch circles.  I greased my muffin tin lightly, then eased the pie crust circles in to each cup.  After mixing the peeled/sliced/pitted peaches with the sugar and cinnamon, I layered about 3 slices into each one.  Bake at 375 for about 15-20 minutes (til light brown and the peaches are tender.)

They easily slipped out of the muffin tin and were the perfect little warm peach tart dessert with ice cream.  And don't forget to make little pie crust shapes with a tiny cookie cutter for embellishing the tops!  You'll have enough dough leftovers to do that.

Bon Appetite!
The sweet taste of summer!  

Blessings!

Donna
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An Unlikely Suitor ~ A Book Review

I was recently given the Bethany House published book, An Unlikely Suitor, for the purpose of reviewing.  This historical Christian fiction novel by Nancy Moser, drew me in right away with the beautiful and intriguing artwork on the front cover.  Although 376 pages in length, I was never bored or in a hurry to finish the story.  It was a beautiful weaving together of the story of three young women in New York City, the summer of 1895.  They were of two different classes of society, with three very different personalities.  In the end, all three of them find the love of their lives, although not the obvious choices you would imagine!

Two of the girls are of Italian immigrant families...sisters.  They and their mother are seamstresses by trade.  I found the description of their sewing, designing hats and dresses, and fitting them on their clients to be fascinating.

I would highly recommend this captivating story, full of redeeming value.  You will be whisked away to another time and place.  And you will be encouraged and inspired in your own faith journey with Christ.

Gift to Mail in a Card #2

While blog hopping this morning, I came across the cutest idea for making bookmarks.  And realizing they are the perfect little handmade gift that you can tuck in a card to mail, I put it on my fun 'to do' list for today.  Please visit KR Creations, as she is my inspiration and idea giver for today's craft.

Take a piece of cardstock (the thin decorative paper won't work as well as heavier cardstock-type).  I especially like the kind that is double sided, since it gives you some coordinating paper to use as trim.  Cut a piece approx. 4" x 3.25".  Two of mine are alittle larger than that.  Fold the paper in half.  Use a sewing machine to sew the top and right sides together.  Insert ribbon first, if desired.  On examples #1 and #2, I also sewed my contrasting paper on before sewing the top and sides together.  Leave the left side and bottom of the folded paper unsewn.

Embellish with a favorite phrase, buttons, punch outs, etc.  Your imagination is the only limitation!

This one is made from cardstock that is printed with vintage children's phonics images.  So so cute!  I added the matching strip of plaid paper along with a circle punch out and 2 buttons, slightly off-kilter for more interest.

I forgot to add ribbon at the top of this one before sewing it together, so I just made a paper loop and added it to the top, gluing it to the back.

Isn't this paper cheery! 

And oh so true, that books take us on wonderful adventures.  :)  The book I am reading right now for pleasure is set in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California.  Happy sigh.

This craft was so fun, easy, and quick.  In just a small amount of time I have three gifts to give.  I enjoyed sewing with paper...no raveling edges!  I would like to make more using an old map, a page from a vintage children's book, and sheet music.  It's fun to send a little surprise along with a card, and these will easily fit that endeavor.  These would make cute party favors or craft show merchandise, too.

Which one is your favorite?

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Donna
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Simple Blessings

May our gorgeous little visitor...

...with his God-given beauty and grace...

...bless you, encourage you, and make you smile and chuckle today!  The birds planted these sunflowers below my birdfeeder.  And now they are getting to enjoy the harvest.  Oh, how I love it!

Blessings,

Donna 

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DIY Travel Binder

We have taken two wonderful trips this summer!  And I knew I'd want to chronicle them in a memorable way, without all the time and brain power involved in scrapbooking.  Finally this idea came to me, and I LOVE it.  I want to share it with you, in case this would fit your style too.  I took a 3 ring binder that I already had, with a clear pocket on the cover.  Made a cute but simple cover page for it using my computer for the print, and a darling old Susan Branch calendar for the pics.  My fishing pole is just a twig from the yard with a piece of twine.  I slid the cover page into the clear cover pocket.

My fishy is lame...but I'm A-Ok with that!  He's a happy little fishy!  I am not going for perfection, so I just taped the fishing pole to the paper, and used double sided acid free tape to attach the pics.

I filled the binder with page protectors from Walmart, as well as some photo pocket pages to hold little momentos.  This first page is starting to tell about our Lake House Family Gathering in early June of this summer.

I purchased a cute little paper pad at JoAnns that was a travel theme.  Cost me about $1.25 on sale.  I am using it for some quick, easy journaling.

Here is one of the photo pocket pages.  I thought it'd be fun to include my packing list, the state of Missouri cut out from an old map I got at a garage sale, and our ticket stubs from the St. Louis Arch which we visited on Day 1 of our trip.

In addition to brochures and such from St. Louis, I printed out the info on the Lake House we rented...it was a huge, beautiful home that easily held all 22 of us!  I also created a photo book at tinyprints.com of the photos that I wanted to remember of our week.  So it will eventually reside in a page protector in this book too.  For now we have it out, enjoying it.

Next up, our big trip to Disney World in Orlando.  I purchased a Mickey Mouse paper at JoAnns, and this adorable cut out of Mickey is a post card from Disney World.  I won't be attaching it to the page, b/c it will also become a Christmas tree ornament in December.  I will attach a photo of our family at Disney to the back, write the dates of our trip, and punch at hole in the top where some red ribbon will allow it to hang on the tree.  Fun reminder in December of our trip in June for only $1.95.  :)

I kept all the ephemera from Disney that I could.  And I even took this binder on the trip with me, so that during quiet rest times in the hotel, I could begin to put it together.  Best idea ever!  I came home with it more than half way done!

If you've never been to Disney Resorts, the above left little cardstock envelope held our plastic room key-cards which were ALSO programmed with the theme park tickets we had purchased!  So handy!

A map of our Disney resort, a Downtown Disney map, the cut out of Florida, and the menu from our first Disney Resort meal.  :)  I will just barely tack these brochures/maps to the underlying scrapbook paper so that we can take them out and look at them anytime.

Map of Epcot,  Day 2 of our stay.  I wish my photos were brighter, but I couldn't use a flash due to the shiny page protectors.

We had an after 4pm pass to Magic Kingdom one night...the map and our tickets.

The bag from the Lego store where our son made fun purchases, and a Disney store bag that held some candy we bought.

The papers from the Lego things Tanner bought.  How that will bring a sweet-sad smile to my face one day when he's too old for Legos.

I kept the stubs of some of our Fast Passes from Hollywood Studios!  And made a page to note that we went to see the new movie Cars 2 one night.

These pages and pockets hold our hotel room notepad and paper coasters, some gift cards we used, and a few pieces of flora I picked up on the resort grounds...a piece of Palm Tree bark, part of a Palm leaf, a seed pod, and a tiny blossom.

I hope you enjoyed my Travel Binder tour!  I will be printing out lots of photos from Disney too, but this is what I have completed so far.  Easy.  Inexpensive.  Quick.  And makes a fun book of memories for the future.  Wonder where our next vacation trip will be?

Blessings,

Donna
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