Scrapped Wood Tree Puzzle

I love puzzles and have really enjoyed using my scroll saw to create puzzles. I thought a tree would be a fun addition to my "Family" sign sitting on my piano. I began with a piece of 1x8 and just sketched out the puzzle directly on the wood. Here it is cut out and sanded:

After cutting it out and sanding the edges I chose scrapbook paper that  coordinated

The using spray adhesive I sprayed the backs of the paper and adhered the paper and let dry.

Then lots of sanding

and sanding

another piece down!

And the finished product!

I love it with my Family letters! (Done the same way, with spray adhesive and sanding the edges)

I just used cheap dollartree sandpaper 150 grit torn into small pieces to sand down the edges. Once the edge is sanded you sometime have to tear away some of the paper. You can also use modge podge rather than spray adhesive, but I tend to have problems with bubbling when I use modge podge.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

My kids love having breakfast for dinner and while I don't mind, I like to have something a little more exciting than Krustez Pancake mix. In my searching I came across Cookie and Kate, which is a healthy, gluten-free blog and a recipe for Gluten-Free Banana Pancakes . While we wanted something healthy we didn't necessarily need gluten-free. I made some changes that made them work better for our family.

Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

• 6 small bananas mashed


• 4 tablespoons butter, melted


• 2 tablespoon lemon juice


• 2 teaspoon honey


• 4 eggs


• 1 cup Wheat Flour


• 1 cup White Flour


• 1/2 cup Oatmeal


• 1 teaspoon baking soda


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Mix your mashed banana, melted butter, eggs, lemon juice and honey in a small bowl.  In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated.  Let batter sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Cook on a oiled griddle for 2-3 minutes on first side and 1-2 minutes on second side. This makes 12-15 healthy sized pancakes.

These are a very hardy pancake. We served them with butter, syrup, whipped cream and homemade jam.

Recipe: Oatmeal Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread

My husband is currently training to run the St George marathon. We nearing the finish line of training (only about 4 more weeks) and each week he seems to get hungrier and hungrier with all of the calories he's burning running! So he asked if I could make some whole wheat bread. In my searches I came across Tracey's Culinary Adventures: Whole Wheat Oatmeal Buttermilk Bread.

I loved that it had a combo of white and whole wheat flour as well as oatmeal. It was easy to put together and turned out to be a wonderful bread. Here is my take on the recipe!

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup room temperature water
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature (or 1 TBSP lemon juice + milk to = 1 1/2 C)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt

Place 1 C water in a heat glass bowl and microwave 2 minutes or until boiling. Then add 1 1/2 C oats. Stir together and let soak for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Meanwhile make "buttermilk" by pouring 1 TBSP lemon juice + milk to equal 1 1/2 C and let sit for 2 minutes or until milk begins to curdle. Add everything into mixer with paddle attachment and knead for 10 minutes. Dough should be smooth and not sticky.

Put into a well oiled bowl and let rise in a warm place (a warm oven works well) for 30 to 45 minutes.

Once doubled in size punch down and split in half and form loaves.

Place each loaf in a prepared loaf pan. Let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Mix 1 TBSP warm water with 1 TBSP honey. Brush tops of loaves and sprinkle with oats. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes. YUM!!

Quick and easy picnic blanket (from jeans)

I've had this big box of tired, worn out, or ill fitting jeans for a few years. Shameful I know, but they were in the garage and-out of sight, out of mind. Well 2 of our kids just started soccer season which means 2 practices a week and 2 games a week. We needed a new blanket to take with us!

I've made jean quilts before and they are  along and tedious process getting all of your pieces cut to the same size and organized. Then pieces the squares, putting a backing on and then tying it.

For this blanket I took the jeans and cut the leg off as close to the crotch as possible. Then I cut down one seam (or tore) to the bottom of the leg and cut off the bottom seam. This left me with large pieces of jean. I squared them off and set off to sew them together. I matched up right sides together and sewed together until I had a length I was happy with. Then did several more strips. With the large jean pieces it only took 3 or 4 lengths to get it long enough. Once my strips were done I sewed them together.

All done! In all it took me less than an hour and I have a free, durable picnic quilt.

Many times we get pizza and a movie on the weekends. The kids like to eat it picnic style while watching the movie (We got The Lorax this weekend). This was another great use for the jean quilt and it can easily be thrown in the wash if there are any spills!

Double sided 2x8

I have high hopes that Fall will be hitting my part of the country soon. We're still hitting triple digits each day, but our evenings are just barely making it to bearable.

So on the thoughts of Fall I decided to make a new Halloween craft. I had some scrap 2x8 that I white washed with watered down craft paint and made a festive Halloween design. Who doesn't like a cute skeleton!

But there is a backside to the wood that is just a great as the front. Why leave it blank when I can just as easily make it a Christmas decoration? I love the Hymn "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" and decided to put part of that hymn on the back.

Happy Fall decorating!