More Note Cards, How to & Papercrafting Tips

As you can see, I’m still on a note card kick after my photo scrap note cards and my note card giveaway (it’s still open, you know!).  And now I’m having a perpetual “problem”—all these paper scraps left over from note cards are inspiring me to make even more cards!

My latest set is a baby/child set:

I think these cards are great for a few reasons (and not just because I made them!).  First, they’re customizable, so the giver can add his or her (or just her, who are we kidding, men don’t send note cards) own photographs.

And secondly, they have fun little details on both the inside front cover and the back.

See these little details?  It’s the thought that goes into handcrafted items that make them so special.

When I’m inspired to make a note card, I lay out my matching paper scraps and make all of my cuts at once.  You can’t exactly work assembly line style when you’re doing creative work, but I do try to make all my cuts at once and then do all my gluing at once.  I think it makes for a more fluid process, plus I can keep moving onto the next idea as it comes hurtling at me at 100 miles an hour.  I feel like I have to do them all… now!

I thought I’d share these papercrafting tips and tricks, since they’re so fresh in my mind:

1. Measuring is for weenies.  Why measure and mark your piece only to erase the pencil marks after you make your cuts?  Also, I find that I make more mistakes when I measure.  Instead of measuring, I place the piece I want to cut alongside something else for guidance.  So, for example, when deciding how to trim my card so it fits into the envelope nicely, I hold up my paper to the envelope, eyeball it (it’s a technical term) and cut away.  I do a lot of eyeballing.

2. Glue first, cut later.  When I’m layering two pieces of paper, I prefer to glue them together (smaller, trimmed piece on top) and then trim the bottom piece last.  That way I have a better chance at getting a perfect trim.  Of course, this also opens the door for a fatal error here and there, but we’re creative people, so obviously we can come up with creative solutions if this should ever happen to us.

Should you want a set of note cards similar to these, you can still enter my giveaway, which is open until 8 p.m. EDT on Monday, August 1, 2011, to win a set of five handmade note cards with envelopes.  If you still want the cards but don’t win the giveaway, you can buy the set you see here in my Etsy shop.

Learn more and enter the giveaway.

Summer Giveaway is Still Open!

For the followers who just joined this week -- and for those who may have missed it -- here's a reminder that my summer giveaway is still open!  You have until 8 p.m. on Monday, August 1 to enter.

You get one entry each for following me via Google Friend Connect, liking the Creating a Family Home Facebook page and following me on Twitter.  You can also earn another three entries by tweeting about the giveaway, mentioning it in your Facebook status and mentioning it on your blog. For more details and to enter, go here.

What's the giveaway, you ask?  Good question!  You're entering to win five awesome handmade notecards made by me, of course!  Check 'em out:

Three of them are customizable -- just trim a picture to fit and mount it!

Here's another view...

Good luck!  I'll announce the winner on Tuesday, so stay tuned!

The Great Outdoors – Midsummer Blooms

~ If you took seasonal outdoor photos that you love this week, join in and post a link in the comments!  I'm replacing {this moment} with The Great Outdoors while the weather is warm and we’re spending so much time outside. ~

I love cutting flowers and bringing them inside, so I take care to grow flowers and shrubs that make for nice cut flowers.  But what about the blooms I can’t bring inside, the amazing plants I couldn’t say no to at the nursery?  I thought I’d celebrate them today, as they’re truly some of my favorites.

My Limelight Hydrangea reminds me of my wedding bouquet, which I still have hanging from the rafter that divides my kitchen and family room.  Our wedding colors were pale green and pink, and the following spring I planted this woody hydrangea that puts out beautiful limegreen blooms that fade to white.  They can be cut and brought inside (unlike my first paragraph suggests!), but I've been waiting so long for the blooms to get here that I thought they qualified.  : )  It turns out that you have to wait for the bloom to fully open before cutting, or else they fade fast in a vase.  It's a long wait! 



Calibrachoa



Hibiscus

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories, my favorite variety

In the past I've found that Black-eyed Susans don't hold up well as a cut flower, but I found out earlier this week that if you cut stem short so you only get one flower per stem, they seem to do better.

And look who I caught when I was out taking photos of the garden!  This female ruby-throated hummingbird is drinking from my tangerine sage.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

** Oh, and DON’T FORGET TO ENTER MY SUMMER GIVEAWAY for a set of delightful, customizable handmade note cards, made by me of course!  Learn more and enter the giveaway. **

Yarn Along and Flowers on My Deck

I just checked out last week’s Yarn Along post and realized I’ve made more progress on my Birds in Flight socks that I’d thought!  Yay!  I was going to write about how I’m trying to do too much, with all the exercising, gardening, crafting, oh, and blogging I’m compelled to do.  But now I don’t have to, right? : )

These sample socks are taking longer to finish than I’d like, but mostly because I want to ship them off to Knit Picks already.  I told them they’d have the socks this week and…um, well, you can see that they don’t.  But they will next week.  Definitely next week.

Here’s my sock among the geraniums, petunias and red salvia in one of the containers on my deck.  I’ve been working hard to keep these flowers looking good (read: alive) through the heat wave, and it paid off.  And it finally rained last night!  The flowers still look good, despite the downpour, and I don’t know which accentuates the other more—do the flowers make the sock look better, or does the sock make the flowers look better?

I couldn’t decide which photo I liked best, so I chose four.  Each one has a different focus, and that’s why I like them as a series.

I’m still reading Come to Grief when I settle down before bed, and I think I should dedicate more time to it.  You know, in between everything else.

As always, I'm knitting along with Ginny on Small Things on Wednesday.

 

** Oh, and DON’T FORGET TO ENTER MY SUMMER GIVEAWAY for a set of delightful, customizable handmade note cards, made by me of course!  Click here for more information and to enter. **

 

Gifts to a SAH, WFH Mom

I’m a stay-at-home, work-from-home mom in a rural community.  And as you might be able to imagine (or maybe you’re going through it, too!), I can sometimes feel pretty isolated.  Days on end go by where I don’t [get to] leave the house (or the farm, which feels like the same thing).  Sometimes there’s nowhere to go, or it takes too long to get there in between naptime and dinnertime.  I don't even have neighbors to chat with. 

I get out when I can and go shopping or meet up with a friend, but it’s not as often as I’d like.  Nothing (and no one) is nearby, so everything requires advance planning and extra time for driving.  This is one of my excuses for a gift I just got myself—I call it the gift of connectivity.  Really, that’s just a fancy way of saying I finally broke down and bought myself the new iPhone.

And can I tell you something?  I LOVE THIS FRIGGIN’ THING!  Until now, I’d always scraped by with old, lame, useless phones (meaning, all they did was make calls—hah!).  It’s sleek and shiny and the screen looks amazing.  I can  go on and on about all the features it has that I don’t use… but I’ll spare you.  At first it was a little scary (read: addicting) to be able to so easily check e-mail and Facebook way more often than is necessary, but the newness has worn off a bit and I can really see the value in this phone-that-does-just-about-everything.  I really like having connectivity at my fingertips.  It may sound silly, but it feels good to be able to see what my friends are up to and check on things—including my work e-mail—without getting completely sucked in.

My other excuse for the new phone is to stay in better touch with you, my readers and friends, through my blog’s Facebook page and Twitter page.  Please go check them out and join in on the two-way conversations!

 

The other gifts to myself involve much-needed exercise.  For the past two or three weeks I’ve been waking up in the morning before Nathan to do yoga for at least a half hour.  Yoga leaves me feeling energized and invigorated, and I can already feel myself getting stronger.  Muscle memory is incredible—restarting a serious yoga practice after a nearly two-year hiatus has been easier than I expected it to be.

My favorite, most vigorous yoga DVD so far is Power Yoga - Total Body Workout with Rodney Yee. Some easier workouts that I do in between the harder ones are A.M. Yoga for Your Week (five workouts each with a different focus!) and Power Yoga for Stamina.  I know yoga well enough that I don’t need to follow DVDs or sequences in a book, but my mind often wonders, so direction from Rodney Yee really helps me concentrate and get the most from my practice.  If anyone wants more good DVD or book recommendations, hit me up on my Facebook page or leave a comment here.

I’ve also been going for walks after Nathan’s in bed at night—the epitome of “freedom.”  (You can tell I don’t get out much, and when I do, I’m never alone, thanks to my husband’s job.)  A few weeks ago I took these awesome sunset photos and really felt the weight of my responsibilities lift, just a little, and for just a few minutes.  These walks are the only time I’m truly alone.  It’s relaxing to plug into my iPod (now, iPhone!) and go wherever I want on the farm without a stroller to push or hold me back.

The efforts and time spent have been paying off—I’ve already lost 2.5 pounds!

A mom deserves some gifts to herself every now and then.  I hope you moms out there find the chance to do the same.  I think I'm going to find other ways to "give" to myself, similarly to how I give my all to my family every day.

Best Fried Zucchini Ever and Frying Tips

I know that fried zucchini isn’t particularly complicated to make, but it’s one of my favorite zucchini recipes so I wanted to share it here.  Plus, I have some good frying tips from years of experience and a husband with culinary skills. (And a heavy dose of trial and error, despite the skilled and experienced chef-husband who has a knack for telling me what to do in the kitchen).

I love making fried zucchini as a side dish, but it makes an even better appetizer.  I know this because we end up eating about half the fried zucchini while it’s coming out of the pan, before dinner’s ready and before we’ve made it anywhere near the table.  See all the empty spots on the rack below?



I made the batch that came out too light in color.  My husband finished up the too-dark batch.  Aim for somewhere in the middle.



They're so good they're impossible to resist.  With that said, here’s the recipe with my frying tips included.

Ingredients:

Two medium-sized zucchini, washed and sliced into thin rounds, less than a quarter-inch thick

Two eggs, beaten in a shallow bowl

Italian seasoned bread crumbs, about one cup

Extra virgin olive oil for frying

Kosher salt to taste

• Fill the bottom of a heavy frying pan with about 1/8” of olive oil and put it on medium-high heat.

• While the oil is heating, dip the zucchini slices in egg and dredge them in bread cumbs until they’re fully coated. Set aside until oil is very hot.

Tip: If you start frying before the oil is hot enough, you’ll end up with soggy zucchini slices that have soaked up all the oil.  You’ll know your oil is hot enough when a you toss a pinch of bread crumbs into the pan and the oil around them bubbles.  If the oil’s not hot enough, the bread crumbs will sink to the bottom without any fanfare.



See all the bubbling action?  Yay for fried zucchini!



Once all of your slices are coated and the oil is hot (but not smoking!), start carefully placing the slices in the pan in one even layer.  Be careful not to overload the pan, or else you can bring the temperature of your oil down too low and end up with said soggy zucchini.

• After 2-3 minutes, check to see if they’re brown enough to flip.  You’re looking for a medium golden brown color.
• Flip slices and let the second side get nice and brown.  When they’re about done, the oil will bubble less vigorously.  Remove from pan onto a wire rack and salt them immediately.

Tip:  Place your fried zucchini on a wire rack to cool instead of paper towels.  Paper towels cause the crispy crust to get soggy—and this goes for any fried food.  Instead, I put the paper towels under the wire rack to catch the oil drips.

Tip:  Salt the zucchini rounds while they’re still piping hot.  The salt will stick better.

• Repeat with the next batch of zucchini until all your rounds are fried and salted.

Tip:  Add more oil in between batches as needed, but allow the oil to get up to temperature before adding the next batch of zucchini.

ENJOY!!!!

** DON’T FORGET TO ENTER MY SUMMER GIVEAWAY for a set of delightful, customizable handmade note cards.  Click here for more information and to enter. **

Awesome Summer Giveaway: Handmade Note Cards!!!

My resourceful photo scrap note cards—and some brightly colored scrapbooking paper my mom just gave me—inspired me to do a fun giveaway…awesome handmade note cards!  If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you knew this giveaway was coming…and you knew it would be awesome because I told you so.

Here's the sneak peek I gave you earlier in the day:

See these great colors?  How could I not be inspired?!  I know that muted tones have their place, but I can’t help being transfixed by vivid, saturated colors.

So, here’s the giveaway—a set of five handmade note cards made of the brightly colored paper and some interesting paper and photo scraps I've been saving up.  They come with five white envelopes. 

Aren't they beauties?

They measure about 5 1/8" by 3 3/4" and are blank inside so you can write your own message.  And get this—some of them are customizable!  I’ve left a space on three of the cards so you can mount your own meaningful photograph (or photo scraps!).  Ingenious, right?!  Didn't I say this was going to be awesome?

There are six ways to enter, all of them easy.  Here’s what you do:

1. Follow me through Google Friend Connect and leave a comment that you follow.  (If you already follow me, just leave a comment saying so.)
    
2. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and leave one comment for each.  (Ditto if you already follow on Facebook and Twitter.)
         
3. Post about this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, your own blog or all three—and leave one comment for each. 

That’s six possible entries per person!  Entries will stay open until 8 p.m. on Monday, August 1.  I’ll use a random number generator to select the lucky winner and will announce his or her identity on Tuesday, August 2.  Don't forget to check back to see if you're the lucky gal (or fella)—or just make sure I have a way of contacting you.

Good luck, and thanks for following!

Get Ready for a Giveaway!!!

I'm getting ready for today's giveaway.... are you ready?  : )  Here's a sneak peek:

Stay tuned for the giveaway, which I'll post this afternoon during naptime.  Isn't naptime great?

The Great Outdoors – the Hummingbird Garden at Dusk

~ If you took seasonal outdoor photos that you love this week, join in and post a link in the comments!  What is the story behind your photos?  Anyone can join in—it's not farm or garden specific—anything seasonal and outdoors goes.  I'm replacing {this moment} with The Great Outdoors while the weather is warm. ~

Dusk has been my favorite time to be outdoors lately.  The temperature is cooler, the light is soft and the sunsets are amazing.  And the hummingbirds—ohhh, the hummingbirds.  I think dusk is their favorite time, too.  They buzz all around my gardens and the pots on my deck, feeding often from my red salvia, lantana, tangerine sage and bee balm.  At dusk, my deck-slash-hummingbird garden is the best place to sit still and watch, read book in the fading light or water the flowers and enjoy the sights and sounds of the nature around me.

Thanks to the pots on my deck, I haven't had to make hummingbird nectar (recipe here) and hang my feeder.

These lantana lure hummingbirds right up to my back door.  I can see them all the way from the kitchen!

  

This hibiscus flower will bloom tomorrow.

I can't wait for these trumpet vines to bloom.  Hummingbirds love the bright red little trumpets...and I do, too!  Bee balm is on its way out.