Scout It Out

When I was home over Christmas break I was looking through some of my Mom's magazines and I came across an article about classic country cars in  Country Living Magazine.  One photo in particular caught my eye, a 1976 International Harvester Scout II.  The reason why this was so interesting to me is because my Dad owns one.

This is a photo of my Dad's Scout, it hasn't been driven in years and needs a lot of work..  My Grandpa gave it to my Dad over twelve years ago when he got tired of it sitting in the driveway.   Grandpa worked at International Harvester and purchased several Scout's throughout the years at a discount.  Dad fixed it up a little and we used it when it snowed because it had four wheel drive.   When too many things started to go wrong they parked it behind the barn.  Dad has dreams of  doing a total restoration and adding a convertible top like the photo above.

Here are a few photos from our walk around my parents property.  I wish I could have taken some photos of the horses but they were in the barn eating.  I love how wholly they get this time of year.

Yes, there is a man laying on the bench.  Its not a hobo that's my  husband soaking up the sun.

lichen

Scrappy enjoyed running in the back pasture.

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On Holiday

My cardboard deer.  I found the pattern at goodhousekeeping.com.  It was really easy and turned out great.

Instead of buying wrapping paper I used left over kraft paper to wrap our Christmas gifts.  To top it off I made pom poms and wrapped them in yarn,

I made this apron out of corduroy for my for my 2 year old niece.  For the apple pocket I used felt,

To go with her apron I made her a sandwich out of felt.  I can't believe how real the bread looks.  I traced an actual piece of bread to make the pattern.

I also made bologna, tomato, lettuce, spinach, 2 kinds of cheese, egg, ketchup, mustard, mayo, peanut butter, and jelly.

Cute felt cheese

I took my niece Peyton with me for a little last minute Christmas shopping because she really wanted to go.  My sister warned me that she hates shopping but Peyton insisted.  The store was full of other last minute shoppers which reminded me to never wait till last minute again.  She refused to get in the cart and wanted me to carry her, so I reverted to bribery.  This photo was the end result of our shopping excursion.

Pesto Pizza Sandwich

Pesto on ciabatta

Goat cheese

pepperoni

Mozzarella and pizza sauce

Onto the sandwich press

Goes great with a Dales Pale Ale

Scrappy wants one

How to make a felt laptop sleeve

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Tools needed

Measure laptop then cut felt with a rotary cutter.   Make sure you cut it a little bigger than your laptop.

I used a leather hole punch to make the holes for the rivets.

Place post on anvil

Once the post is through the hole position cap then the setter.  Strike firmly with a hammer.

With the left over felt I made a few coasters.

Vintage Bollywood

I just love the dancing.  I will be playing this at our next dance party.

New Camera

Today I received an early Christmas present from my husband,  a Olympus E-PL1.  I wanted something in between a point and shoot and a DSLR.   I have been using our old digital camera which  is a 5mp canon power shot and when it doesn't work I use my 8mp camera on my phone.  The photo above was taken by my Papaw Tom of himself.   He was a photographer and owned his own studio which is being run by my uncle today.  He mostly  photographed weddings, family portraits, and senior pictures. Here are a few of my first photos of my Christmas decorations in the dining room.

This tatted snowflake was made by my Granny.

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What I'm Listening To

The Rapture - In The Grace Of Your Love / White Out Live! from DFA Records on Vimeo.
For the longest time LCD Soundsystem was my favorite band.  Now that they are no more I have been checking out the bands on the DFA label, since James Murphy is DFA.   I am really glad the Rapture went back to DFA because this album is amazing!!

Christmas Card

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Terrarium How To

For my wedding centerpieces I decided to make terrariums, then give them as gifts to the wedding party.  It was relatively inexpensive to make and went great with our theme which was enchanted forest.  Most of the cost was in the glass, all of the moss I collected from the forest.  The mossy fern I found at the nursery and split up. Layer pea gravel, activated carbon, sphagnum moss, potting soil ( minus the vermiculite), and plants of your  choosing.   This can be done with succulents, just add sand to the potting soil and place in your sunniest spot.  I found that it gets to wet in the terrarium  for succulents and have had better luck with the "forest terrariums".

Christmas pom pom and felt flower arrangement tutorial

Cut a piece of wool felt into a circle, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Starting on the outside cut into a spiral.

Starting on either end roll felt.  I like to start on outside end.

Add fabric glue every inch or so.

For the pom poms I like to use the clover pom pom maker.  It is so easy to use and it makes perfect pom poms.  Glue the flowers and the pom poms onto skewer sticks, chopstick, or sticks from outside with hot glue.  Place in your favorite vase.

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Now we're cooking with gas

 

We have been in the new house now for a little more than a month and finally we have a working stove.  We have been waiting on the electrician to up the AMPs and install the thing.  So for the past month I have been cooking in the "outdoor kitchen" which is a  camping stove and a grill.  For our first meal I decided to roast a chicken with some red skin potatoes.