My Love of Wreaths

If you know me at all, you know I have this thing for wreaths...

 

I love to make them, give them away as gifts, hang them on my front door, I just love them! And I get pretty bored with the same wreath after awhile, so I'm always looking for a new one to make. Thank you, Pinterest!

 

 

 

 

The above are all Pinterest inspired wreaths that I have made for myself and/or others. And below is my latest creation, which can currently be seen hanging on my front door.

 

 

I was surprised by how inexpensive it was to make. I bought the grapevine wreath at Hobby Lobby for only 4.99 and I bought the flowers at Hobby Lobby, too (they were 50% off!). The burlap roll I also bought at Hobby Lobby, and I didn't use much at all to make the bow, which means I get to find something else fun to make out of it! The numbers were a bit harder to find, every craft store has wooden numbers, but most were either too big or too small. I found these at Wal-Mart with the mailboxes. They are lightweight and the perfect size. They are also self-adhesive! (I did add some craft glue, though)

 

All you need to make a wreath like this:

Grapevine wreath

Assorted flowers

Numbers

Ribbon of your choice or burlap

 

Inexpensive, easy, and looks cute on a front door! This would make a great wedding or housewarming gift!

 

Summer Adventures, Part 1

This is the first of our "summer adventure" series, hehe. I know, it wasn't really summer yet when we went camping. But we don't mind...we'll take adventure when we find it!

We took our first camping trip in early May, it was my first time tent camping since childhood. We stayed in Hocking Hills State Park because we love to hike in Hocking Hills, our kiddos think it is awesome!

 

My oldest's favorite place this year (and last fall when we took a day trip) was Ash Cave. A huge cave (he likes everything to be big), a waterfall, and endless sand. What more could a 4 1/2yr old boy want!?! My youngest's favorite was Old Man's Cave, she said. She loved the tunnels we had to walk through!

He left off the waterfall, but I think this looks great for a 4yr old who hates to draw/color. This pic was all his own doing!

 

The kids really enjoyed their time with the grands...

 

 

We had a blast and I'm looking forward to more camping adventures this summer!

This is what you call exhaustion, folks!

 

Canning Season Is Upon Us!

A few weekends ago, I had one of those moments. My husband and I looked down at our breakfast plates and then looked at each other. "You're turning into your Nona," he said. Yep, there we were eating homemade biscuits, bacon, homemade sausage gravy, and some of my canned applesauce that I had heated up on the stove. It was a Nona breakfast for sure. What can I say? I learned from the best!

Where did that strawberry jam come from, you ask? That's more to my "turning into Nona" story. I've been making jam with her since I was young and for the first time, I decided to try it without her help this year to see if I could do it. Much to my surprise...success!

One of my besties and I picked berries in the morning. They have the BEST berries at Fulton Farms! So sweet and delicious, and reasonably priced if you pick them yourself. Then we came back to my house to try our hand at jam making. Did I mention we listened to some good ole Emmy Lou Harris, just like I always have with Nona?

Well, we were far from perfect and it took a loooong time for the canner to get hot enough (novice mistake, lol), but in the end, our jam is seriously delish! If I remember correctly, I think we got roughly 20 pints to a gallon of berries (with a little leftover to eat!), or about 40-45 of the smaller 8oz jars.

 

Pure goodness in a jar! Strawberries (picked and canned the same day), sugar and some pectin.