More Thank You's

Honestly, it feels like the only cards I have time to make anymore are thank you cards.  That is something I hope I never loose the desire to do. I feel like it's important to share with others how much I appreciate the thought they put into me. I also think it's a good lesson in gratitude for my children, while also helping them with their writing and composition skills.

Our latest batch of thank you's was for christmas presents. My kids were given some wonderful things from various friends and family, and we were right to work to thank everyone. This year, I wrote them for my daughter and had her practice signing her name. My son however, had to write a brief thank you message that I'd scripted for him so he could practice his writing. He was getting pretty creative with his sentence/paragraph structure, but he was practicing his writing so it's all good.

As for the card, I went simple with a window pane look of various christmas papers. I bought a set from JoAnn's a couple years ago that I'm still working through.

The card is a tan color with a red linen paper background that's been sanded down to expose the core. I used "thank you" from a CTMH thankful set I have with SU red ink. I finished it with raffia ribbon for embellishment that was punched with a straight, ribbon threading hand punch.

I always try to make a few extra just in case, but it seems this year I had just enough. Phew! I better plan better next year. I am really happy with how this one turned out. It was fun, colorful, and had a great embellishment touch.

Maybe this year I can spend a little more time on my paper crafts. We'll see. I'd really like to get my daughters first year book done (4 years later) and add some more birthday and thank you cards to make back-up collection.

Block 10 for BlockBusters BOM

There's a pattern here.  Things get all backed up during the holidays and magically, when kids go back to school, the kitchen is shut down and only serving healthy foods, and holiday decor is packed away I suddenly have time to get things done.

I was able to get this block put together pretty easily. The colors are fun, but they're very similar to the background-color theme fabric I've been using, which is the black. Still, it was fun to play with the grays.

I'm trying to be more careful with my points. I feel like I did a better job on this one, but still have work to do.

I've also been thinking about layouts that might work once all the blocks are finished. I have some fun ideas with these spectrum fabrics. Hopefully they'll work out as well in fabric as they do in my head. Whenever I try to draw things out they just don't come out the same so I'm reluctant to do that. We'll see. Until then I have another block down and only two to go for the complete collection. Yeah!

Trying to Find the Right One

Last fall my son went on a field trip to a local apple orchard. He was enthralled by the idea of growing your own food and came home requesting we get some apple trees. I have been wanting to start a garden for years, so the thought of getting our own little orchard going sounds fantastic!  It's time! I started researching which trees do best in our region, when to plant, how to get them, and how to care for them.

I admit, I was pretty bummed to find we are unable to purchase pink lady apple trees. Those are my absolute favorite; most diverse apple ever! You can eat them fresh, can them, make them into applesauce or apple pie filling, and their color and aroma are amazing.  I wish I knew why we can't purchase them. When I read about them, it seems they'd do well in our arid region. Oh well, so down the list I go. 

I discovered Jonathan apples. They taste great fresh and I've read they're great for applesauce, but I tried canning them and they don't keep well. They become too soft and rubbery.

Next I tried Braeburn. They look absolutely beautiful, don't you think?

I haven't yet opened them up to see how well they kept, but as I was processing them they felt more crisp and dense. Hopefully that's a good sign. We'll see. We need to get these ordered and in the ground before the end of March! We need to get to work!