Mustard Seeds

Bass Pro Scavenger Hunt

So, we love our Bass Pro Shop. I often go there with the kids and spend hours walking around the store looking at all the wildlife and watching Bubba the HUGE catfish in the tank by the elevator. Basically, it's like going to a nature and science museum without the admission fee.

It's fun, educational and--even better--it's a very cheap outing in air conditioning. And, if you go on week day, ask the greeter at the door about the lunch special and you can get a coupon for a $4.99 lunch in the store restaurant, which has a huge aquarium-style wall (very cool).

Since we go frequently, I took my camera one day and created a scavenger hunt. Click here to download and print it out. Now, I'm not quite sure if it will work in all Bass Pro Shops, since I created it with animals in the Denver location. Let me know if you try it. I'd love to hear how it goes.

Happy hunting!

Thinking about my mission of motherhood

Some time ago, I think I mentioned the book, The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson. (Available in my shop.) I'm reading with a few of my mommy friends and we've been getting together to talk about it and our roles as Christian moms.

"Few things will last after we die, but our children and their children will throughout eternity. What we do, therefore, has eternal significance, so it's especially important to understand God's original intention in this regard. " pg. 21

I can't recommend this book enough. It's not so much a "how-to" parenting book as it is thoughtful look at what the Bible says about motherhood, our purpose, etc. I love that there are scriptures and questions at the end of each chapter that encourage examining our own personal roles and thoughts on motherhood.

"The most important factor in being successful as a mother is to turn our hearts to God, to seek his will, and to allow him to begin making sense out of the messes we've made of ourselves. He who created motherhood is a gentle teacher whose ways we must seek." pg. 36

Tin Can Pencil Holder Tutorial

I'm always trying to think of creative things Anne can make for family and friends. Figuring out crafty gifts for men always seems to be challenge. Recently, we came up with this man-ly, bark-covered pencil/pen holder. We made several for Christmas gifts. (It's never to early to start stockpiling handmade gifts for the holidays.)

One word of warning, it does involve a hot glue gun, so adult supervision is needed.

Supplies:

• One empty, clean soup can
• Spray paint (optional--but I spray painted our can bronze to kind of match the bark)
• Hot glue gun (regular white glue just won't hold)
• Gardening gloves
• Bark (We gathered bark from fallen trees on one of our camping trips.)

Step One: If you are going to spray paint the can, do this first. Let completely dry.

Step Two: Break/cut bark in pieces and play around with they to see how they will fit on the can. Remember, that the bark should be flesh with the bottom of the can so that it will sit evenly on a table.

Step Three: Put on gloves to protect hands from hot glue.

Step Four: Adult squeezes hot glue on a small portion of the can. Child attaches and presses the bark to the glue until it cools a bit. Repeat until the entire can is covered.

Step Five: (optional): Sharpen some pencils to include in the holder.

Grand Opening and a Giveaway

Drum roll please....Mustard Seeds Handmade is officially open for business! That's right...my Etsy shop is now open for business. And, I'm celebrating with a giveaway.

One lucky winner will receive with 6 x 9 inch zippy bag. It's made with vintage decorator fabric and lined with black and white oil cloth. Just visit the shop and then leave a comment on this post about your favorite product. I'll draw the winner on Thursday, July 16.

Happy shopping, friends!

P.S. An extra special thanks to Kristen and Erin for all their support in helping me launch!

Heating up

The summer weather is finally heating up here. The last few days have included a lot of popicles, sunscreen and water activities. We don't have a pool, but we have a few friends who have great community pools, so we've been to some of those.

Meanwhile, in our backyard, we have the hose, the sprinklers (always a favorite) and the "hot tub" as Anne calls it. It's an old wash tub that I got from a barn. We fill it up in the morning so it's warmish by afternoon. Both kids went skinny dipping in it day before last...

Some photo love

I've been lucky enough to hang out with my dear friend Kristen on several occasions since she's been visiting from NYC. One benefit of being friends with a pro photographer is that she is always taking fabulous photos of my kids.

Check out this post on her blog here to see Anne and Ava (Kristen's daughter) having some milk "twalk."

And some more photos in this post of Anne playing in her room.

Plus, Kristen helped me take photos of my Etsy shop items while she was over last week. Here's a sneak peak.

If you live in the NYC area and are in need of some incredible photos of your family/baby/wedding, make sure to check her out....

Happy Birthday, USA!

Scenes from our 4th of July festivities....

We went to the Paris St. Market to browse the vintage goodness. This metal table would be perfect in my diner-decorated basement area. But, I restrained myself...

Anne rode around in the wagon.

I made my first-ever cherry pie to take to a friend's house. I'm not going to lie....it was pretty darn good. There will be more pie baking in my future.

I've recently become intrigued with jello molds. I've collected quite a few from thrift stores over the last year. But this was actually my first attempt at using one. I used this recipe here, minus the fresh fruit.

Getting my house (and mind) in order

We've been camping ---A LOT. And in between camping, there have been trips to Grandpa and Grandma's house. We haven't been home for the last 4 weekends....So let's just say my house is in great need of "ordering." It's been a little neglected. We're going to be home for the next two weeks and I am anxious about getting everything cleaned so I can enjoy the summer days with the kids.

I'm also feeling a need to "order" my life as well. My mind seems to be moving in several different directions at once....blogging, sewing, writing, crafting, opening an Etsy shop, budgeting.....

My prayer for today: (From Psalm 90)

Lord, teach me to number my day aright, that I may gain a heart of wisdom. Establish the work of my hands, yes establish the work of my hands. Lord, please order my mind as well...

Meanwhile, while God orders my mind, I'll be scrubbing, purging and ordering the rooms of my house. I've got about six different lists and calendars printed out and taped to the wall that I keep running to and writing down items before I forget them.

New headbands for camping

The night before our camping trip, I made several new headbands. The pattern is taken from this book.

Full-sized bandannas are always slipping out of my hair so I like that I was able to make these with elastic. I shortened the length of elastic (I have a rather small head) so that it would fit snugly.

I made this one for C.L. using a vintage fabric swatch.

I altered the pattern to make smaller ones for Anne and a matching one for Camping Baby.

Off to camp...again!

See you on Monday.

  

The Strawberry Patch

We had a WONDERFUL day yesterday. We went strawberry picking at Berry Patch Farms with Kimberly and her two boys. Let's just say going to a farm with my little ones and friends and picking (and eating) lots of berries is what I call "bliss."

 

 

 

We found a friendly frog out in the field.

Anne: "We need to name him."

Me: "How about Freddy the Frog?"

Anne: "No, I think his name is Strawberry."

Me: "That sounds perfect."

 

This is Bacon Bits. He's grown quite a bit from last year. I think we should call him Hamhock because there is absolutely nothing bitty about him. The farm also has roaming chickens and roosters and turkeys and cats and dogs. It's so fun!

 

The very ripe berries yielded two things last night....strawberry shortcake....

and freezer jam.

After all that fun with friends in the day time, I also got a lot of friend-love last night when Erin and Kristen came over for dinner. If you remember, these are the girls with whom I spent my 30th birthday in NYC....

I can't stop eating these...

More pictures of our adventures at Berry Patch Farms later tonight... I'm off to make some shortcake....

Another camping post

So in case you haven't noticed...there's been A LOT of camping-related posting going on here. What can I say...we love to camp. We'll go on our fourth trip of the summer this coming weekend. So there will probably be more ideas shared (hope you can bear it).

A couple of camping trips ago, I made some "nature gathering" bags for kids. They were especially useful when gathering items for these.

The bags are lined with oil cloth, which makes them great for gathering items that may be soggy or damp. It also means they can easily be wiped out.I think they would make great beach-combing bags, too. I also used a small piece of oil cloth to reinforce the place where I attached the strap.

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For those of you who don't camp or even (gasp!) hate camping, please stay tuned. Regular mommy and crafting posts will return at some point...

On another note, when we are home, I've been sewing up a storm in the basement. I am considering opening up a little online shop (either on Etsy.com or right here on the blog). There may even been some nature gathering bags available for purchase...

Happy Anniversary!

Eight years ago, I said, "I do." I'm so glad that I did!

"So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate." Matt. 19:6

To celebrate our anniversary, we went on a camping trip by ourselves this weekend. Woo-hoo! We've talked about going on a "just-the-two-of-us" camping trip for three years, and this year we did it! The grandparents watched the kiddos and we got to relax and explore on the four-wheeler.

Wow! There is a big difference between this photo and the top one, eh? The top one is definitely more glamorous.

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Anne told us before we left, "I won't be there to play with my camping toys, but you can play with them."

So we did. This is Camping Baby. We strapped her to the four-wheeler and took her on our ride with us.

Anne was thrilled when we showed her the picture and asked, "Did she like it?"

"Of course. She loved it," I replied.

Pie Iron Recipe #6: Cherry Pie

Another dessert pie iron recipe.

Note: We have used a "double" pie iron for this one. If you are just using single irons, obviously, this recipe will yield two desserts.

Ingredients:

• One can of crescent rolls
• One can of cherry pie filling

Step 1: Spray Pam on both sides of the pie iron.

Step 2: You'll need to press the crescent triangles together to make a rectangular (or square) piece of dough. Place in first side of pie iron.

Step 3: Spread pie filling.

Step 4: Place crescent dough on top. Use your fingers to seal the edges of the sandwich the best that you can.

Step 5: Place on top of pie iron.

Step 6: Cook over hot coals until warm and crisp. Time depends on how hot your coals are. Check after a few minutes. Flip pie iron over and continue cooking second side.