3D snowflakes

I designed these today for the Silhouette online store, and am way excited about them. I want to make tons of them to hang in my front room all through the holidays. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Bag Tutorial Roundup

I have been bookmarking tons of different bag tutorials as I run across them on the web for weeks now. I thought I would share some of my favorites!



1. The One Hour Bag from Skip To My Lou
2. Little Boxy Pouch Tutorial by three bears
3. Free Diaper Bag Tutorial by makebabystuff.com
4. the basic messenger bag by mmmcrafts
5. For Pleat's Sake tote by U-hangblog
6. Pleated Pouch by Skip To My Lou

This is me embracing AZ

I set aside a Saturday a few weeks ago and put up two dozen jars of prickly pear jelly. Why do they call it "putting it up," by the way?

I used this recipe from homegrown evolution.

I do have a few different pointers about how to harvest your prickly pear fruit. I called up a friend of mine who has been canning prickly pear jelly for over 30 years. Here are a few of her pointers: don't bother burning off the spines. just harvest your fruit (with big metal tongs, like the bbq grilling tool ones), rinse it off, and then stick it in the freezer overnight. Pull it out, let it thaw, and then mash it with a potato masher. Strain the pulp twice, once with an old (but clean of course) pillow case, and the second time with a strainer and cheese cloth. Then your juice is ready! Also, it can be used for more than jelly. You can also make syrup, use it with lemonade as a drink, or marinate meat with it.

I'm so glad I called her! Not only did her pointers help out a ton, but she also had a great anecdote about not washing the pillowcase with your underwear after you are done using the case to strain out the pulp and pricklies... I will let you imagine the rest... :)

Hey Interweb Friends!

If you hop on over to Freckled Nest right now, Leigh-Ann is doing a big giveaway that includes one of my airplane mobiles and a lot of other awesome handmade items.



Just thought I would give you a heads up ;)