The Apron

Oh a little girl and her apron. There is just something so sweet about the two. "Mama, I want to wear and apron just like you." Words to soften a mama's heart.Her apron was a half apron... and mine is a full apron...so her half apron just isn't cutting it for her anymore. Not to mention it is old of course. I made this for her about 3 years ago.
                                                                 My little lady in her "old" apron
So she would love a new apron. But not any new apron. This one must be made by her. She has decided that I make mine, she shall make hers. So we set off to the sewing room for my little lady to make her own. And then... she finished and now must put on her new creation. I think the apron transformed her, because as soon as she put it on, downstairs she went to fix her brothers a snack. Oh the things an apron can do... I am truely blessed to be able to share these moments with her and to teach her these skills that she can use for life.

Five

Well... my littlest one has turned 5. Oh what a milestone five feels like to such a little guy. He feels so big now, he even told me he is pretty sure he felt himself grow a little over night.

I have been wanting a make a birthday ring for my children for some time now. As I ventured into my project, it got the interest of my husband. As we looked for birthday rings to make we came across this post that features a star birthday ring made by Grimm.He found that one to be very interesting and so we set off to make a similar one. Ours only has 6 points. I think it turned out quite nice for our first try. Oh, and Nature Daddy also had an idea of something he wanted to add to it. The kids love this hanging candel holder I got for Christmas, so he made a base for our birthday ring and a hanger for the candle holder. I thought it was very nice addition to our centerpeice.

The cake I was making for him was supposed to be a mushroom gnome house. Unfortunatly I didn't wait long enough before putting the icing on. I knew better, really I did. I was just in a hurry and, well, I am sure you've been there before. You realize after the fact, "If I only waited!" The mushroom was made with a recipe I found for black bean cake. It turned out really Yummmy! I decided to make the frosting with coconut oil. (That is why I REALLY should have let the cake completely cool before icing. Cocnut oil melts at something like 76 degrees. Should have should have! Oh well) The frosting tasted amazing! I will post my recipe at the end of this post for you to try. Oh, but I forgot to tell you. Mama got frustated with the cake and walked away. Big 14 yr old brother stepped in and finished it up for me. I was so proud of him! I didn't get a good picture of the cake but you can see it behind the birthday ring. I just may have to turn more of the birthday cakes over to him!

And here is the present I made for him. I made him a gnome's mushroom house playmat. I also cut him a gnome with my scroll saw, somehow he didn't end up in the picture though. I am sure plenty more gnomes will be added before long though. Oh, as promised, here is the recipe for the coconut oil frosting. Coconutty Frosting 1/2 c virgin coconut oil 1 1/2 lb-2lb powder sugar 1 can coconut milk 1t vanilla pinch of salt Make sure the coconut oil is soft. cream it in the mixer. Then add about a pound of the powder sugar. mix it well and add the creamier portion of the can of coconut milk. I never added the watery part. Add vanilla and salt and blend well for a few minutes. If it isn't thick enough add more powder sugar. I also added, only because I had it on hand, a little bit of coconut palm sugar. It gave it just a little more cocnutty flavor. Now, MAKE SURE, your cake is COOLED before using this icing! Enjoy!

Lovin the Owl Hats!

I have seriously fallen in love with this owl hat pattern I found on Repeat Crafter Me! . I have got these 2 done this weekend and Dear Hubby was so kind to take me to JoAnn's today to get some more yarn ( not like I really needed it, my stash actually could use a little busting, but you know how it goes, right?) So many more hats in the works, all kinds of fun yarn could be used in these!

Our Fairy Garden

Finally, we have finished our fairy garden for The Magic Onions fairy garden contest. What fun it has been! It was mostly Serenity and my project, but the boys and Daddy couldn't resist joining in! Here, let me take you on a tour of our fairy garden.

Here is the mushroom house, with it's well manicured lawn and sweetly placed flowers, and of course, a mushroom house has cute little mushrooms growing inside their fenced in yard! And over here is the fairy school. We have decided that the fairies who live in the mushroom house must grow the mushrooms for the seats at fairy school. My kids have also decided we should hold our own school day in a similar setup outside. What fun I think that would be!
Beside Fairy School we have the little fairy playground, with it's slide, swings and see saw.


Down stream from the playground is Mermaid Cove, the magical little swimming hole. Serenity loved adding the seashells and jewels to the cove.I think this was her favorite part.

The village wishing well

Then there is the rustic house, where we hang out the wash and stack the fire wood. I think this best represents our own home,lol.

And here is the campground with a campfire already in progress. I can just see them now, sitting around the fire sining their camp songs! Oh what fun those fairies and have!

And here is our garden in it's entirety.

I certainly hope you have enjoyed your tour of Serenity's Fairy Garden!
Oh, and by the way, I think the fairies must have sent out this little guy to scout out this new garden because he decided to show up and tour the garden while I was taking the pictures. Had to grab one with him in it. What a fun addition to our garden!
Do you see the butterfly by the clothesline??

Making Laundry Soap

I needed to make a new batch of laundry soap this morning and I thought I would share my process for doing it with anyone who has not yet done it and would like to give it a try. I have been making my own laundry soap for about 2 years now. I have tried different recipes, tweeked them some to fit our cleaning needs and have finally setteled on this. It is finally one that does quiet well getting my husbands work clothes clean and the kids outdoor clothes, which lately are usually pretty muddy, and our stinky barn chore clothes smelling clean, but not perfumy. First, you need to grate a bar of soap. Today I am using Fels Naptha. I can get that at my loacal IGA for $1.35. Sometimes I use my own homeade lard soap but I didn't have any this morning. Dr. Broner's is also a good choice. Put your grated soap into your pot and fill with just enough water to cover.

Put it on the stovetop and heat it, sitrring occasionally, until the soap has melted.



Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of washing soda and 1 cup of borax



Now you need to fill your bucket (mine is a 3 gallon, but I have actually made up to 5 gallons with this same recipe. smaller bucket= thicker gel larger = not quite as thick) 1/4 full with hot tap water.



You are now going to add your soap mixture to the bucket of hot water and stir. Then fill the bucket the rest of the way up with cold water. Stir.



Let cool and use. I use 1 cup per load. Now, this makes a thick gel so to make it easier to use what I do is start filling the washer with Hot water. Add your cup of soap and swish it around with your hand. Now you are ready to turn it onto what ever setting you are going to be using and add your clothes. I have figured out that each load of laundry costs appoximately $.03. Even cheaper when I use my own lard soap!Pretty decent savings and it is fun to do!

Canning Milk

This is Bertha.We love Bertha. Every day she gives us 3 1/2 gallons of wonderfully creamy milk that we can then drink and turn into butter and yogurt and cheese and many other things. It is great to open my fridge and see all of the fantastic dairy products that we get from her. Just one problem though. EXCESS. Trust me, I am NOT complaining one bit about this. 3 months of having her though has now filled my freezer with mozzerella cheese and butter and my fridge with milk and yogurt. As a matter of fact, pretty much the only things in my refriderator is milk yougurt and eggs, which I also have a fantastic surplus of. Which leads me to the question, can I can milk at home? I would think so. I mean, the way I have always looked at it, if you can buy it in cans at the grocery store then you should be able to can it at home, right? I I set off to do some searching this last week and found this article on the Mother Earth News site telling how to can milk.So here are my plans for this week. I am going to set out to preserve our abundance of milk for future use when she is not in milk. Will we need it then? I don't know. My 2 goats should be at peak production at that time as long as they are actually pregnate and due in June when I have figured. BUT since this is my first experience breeding goats, I might not have succeeded. Time will tell. But the one thing I do know is that IF those goats aren't pregnate then I will most deffinately have milk canned for those 6 weeks. If the goats are in milk? Well, some problems in life just make you smile!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. See Soulemama to play along.