Middletreemade's Blog

What To Do With That Old Calendar

middletreemade — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:03:35 +0000

What do you do with those beautiful calendar pictures after the year is over? Make them into artwork for your wall!

We had this little calendar with pictures of Japanese woodblock prints, and they were just beautiful. I held on to that calendar for a few years…certain that someday I would figure out what to do with them! And I finally did!

Find some cheap (but not junky) frames that would fit your pictures, cut the images accordingly, hang your new artwork on the wall and smile about the fact that you didn’t have to throw out that lovely calendar!

the FANCY LETTERS tutorial

middletreemade — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:52:00 +0000

After putting together a simple centerpiece in my last post, I decided we also needed some sort of festive banner for our get-together… It was Unofficial Thanksgiving after all! (Friends get together every year and celebrate with a huge turkey and everything! And this is how we end up having 3…yes, THREE thanksgivings…every year.)

Anyways…onward…

I wanted to put up some sorta of banner that said “Happy Unofficial Thanksgiving” on our wall, so I got out the mod podge, some stamps, and printed some letters…. Why don’t I just get on to the tutorial? That would make much more sense…

Materials:

*Mod Podge glue

*Old Paintbrush (to use with glue)

*Cardstock (I actually used sketch book paper, you could probably even try thin cardboard)

*Stamp and ink of your choice (I used a leaf stamp with brown ink)

*Old Book Pages – find an old book at a thrift shop…I found one at Goodwill for maybe $2 I think

*Letters or words you would like to use

* Parchment paper just for a work surface, and so the letters won’t stick to your table!

(FYI: This is the mini-version of the letters I made, that’s why it looks so small next to my fingers!)

The How-To:

1. Type up some letters and print them whatever size and color you would like (I just used Word, and picked orange and red) Or use letters from a magazine if you’d like. Cut our your letters.

2. Stamp your cardstock/sketch book paper with your stamp. I overlapped the stamp a bunch of times…you’re just making a background, so don’t be too picky. Then cut squares of your stamped paper…make sure each one will be large enough to fit your letters/words.

3. Rip some pieces of the old book pages. You will use this behind each letter. (Compare this to your letter and see if it’s the size you want) Glue old book page scraps onto your stamped cardstock.

4. Glue your letter cut-out on top of the old book page scraps

5. Mod Podge over the whole thing and allow to dry. If you’d like, you can also Mod Podge the back (once the front is dry!) but I didn’t bother.

After your letters are dry, put them on display! I literally just taped mine to the wall…but maybe you’ll make yours even nicer by stringing them up somehow. Or you could use them on a scrapbook page, for card making, name cards, or frame them as wall art…any other ideas? Let me know how yours turn out and what you use them for!

Simple Table Decor on a Wonderfully Gloomy Day

middletreemade — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:02:29 +0000

We have quite a large gathering coming up this weekend, and my thoughtful husband reminded me that we needed some kind of centerpiece for our dining table. My hopes were to somehow keep it simple, attractive, seasonal and low on cost. Thank you Hobby Lobby for making this possible! I was able to buy the glass candle holders for 50% off, actually…the tall grasses were also 50% off! Oh, and imagine that, those white candles (came in a three pack)…yep, 50% off! I did already have the big vase in the center, so that was helpful. At first, I added some fake leaves (which were also 50% off) around the candle holders, but next to the real grass they just looked too cheesy. Real leaves from the backyard worked better. With the help of Mod Podge, of course!

What do you have on your table this fall?

This Week in the Crock Pot: Italian Sausage Soup!

middletreemade — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:49:27 +0000

My Mom loves her crock pot. And, you guessed it…I love my crock pot too! In fact, my Mom gave me my first crock pot as one of our wedding gifts a few years ago…and each year I am growing to love it more and more! Thanks Mom!

So….Italian Sausage Soup…Oh my…delicious! I knew we liked it the first time we tried it a few years ago, so I thought we’d try it again this year…and seriously…I LOVE this soup! It’s probably in my top 5 of soups. (Not sure what the other 4 are just yet, but this is just SO good!)

This time I used alphabet pasta just for fun…and I think I’ll do that next time too. Previously I used pasta shells, but I think mine were too big because they soaked up all the liquid in the leftovers! So make sure to use some kind of small pasta, like the recipe suggests!

There’s a bit of spice to this soup…really warms your throat and clears your sinuses Great for the cold season approaching!

The hardest part about the whole recipe is making the meatballs. And really….making meatballs is not a hard thing to do at all! Just mix the ingredients and roll them into little balls. This time I made extra and froze a few bags of meatballs for future soup-making…making it even easier for myself the next time around!

Ok…you’ve been waiting so patiently for it, so here’s the link to the recipe:

Slow Cooker Italian Sausage Soup

Let me know if you try it! Happy Crock-potting!

What We’re Dancing To: Andrew Peterson “Hosanna”

middletreemade — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:15:25 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve listened to Andrew Peterson…and now I am wondering why it has been so long. His Resurrection Letters Vol. 2 album is so powerful. I am so thankful for the way God made us…to be moved by music, by artwork, by nature… How beautiful and creative He is!

This morning the boys and I have been dancing to “Hosanna”. What precious moments these are as I hear big brother singing along… “O Hoeee O Hoeee” What a blessing to my heart.

Hosanna

I am tangled up in contradiction
I am strangled by my own two hands
I am hunted by the hounds of addiction
Hosanna

I have lied to everyone who trusts me
I have tried to fall when I could stand
I have only loved the ones who love me
Hosanna

Oh, Hosanna
See the long awaited king
Come to set his people free
Oh, Hosanna
Come and tear the temple down
Raise it up on holy ground
Hosanna

I have struggled to remove this raiment
Tried to hide every shimmering strand
I contend with these ghosts and these hosts of bright angels
Hosanna
I have cursed the man that you have made me
I have nursed the beast that bays for my blood
I have run from the one who would save me
Hosanna

Oh, Hosanna
See the long awaited king
Come to set his people free
Oh, Hosanna
Come and tear the temple down
Raise it up on holy ground
Hosanna

We cry for blood
We take your life
Hosanna
We cry for blood
We take your life
It is blood and it is life that you have given

You have crushed beneath your heel the vile serpent
You have carried to the grave the black stain
You have torn apart the temple’s holy curtain
You have beaten death at death’s own game
Hosanna

Hail the long awaited king
Come to set his people free
(We cry) Oh, Hosanna
Come and tear this temple down
Raise it up on holy ground
Oh, Hosanna
I will lift my voice and sing
You have come and washed me clean
Hosanna

Dear Goodwill…

middletreemade — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:42:11 +0000

You. Are. Awesome.

A while back I read about re-purposing other people’s artwork (sorry, other people!) by simply painting right over it! And THIS POST really inspired me to do some art with my littles! Well, really just with big brother while little brother was sleeping. And to be honest, most of his handiwork ended up on his body more than on the canvas…which is why we paint in just diapers! And by ‘we’ I mean just any babies involved, of course!

So…I went to Goodwill a few weeks back, in pursuit of a large canvas to re-purpose…totally NOT expecting to find quite what I was looking for…but, believe it or not, YES! I found THIS!!!!

The painting was painted in 1988 (it was written on the back) and was in need of some updating! FYI, this canvas only cost me $10. Seriously. TEN.

I first tried to prep the painting (paint a white and yellow background) with big brother’s help…just me and him. That resulted in me having to wash paint off the deck and off of our camera…oops!

But thankfully we had daddy’s help for our official painting day! Good messy fun!

And here’s the finished painting hanging up in our dining room! I think the craziness of it all really represents how life is right now….chaos and beauty. A wonderful mess.

Ok…you’re turn! Go to Goodwill and find some old paintings!

What’s Cookin’ Good Lookin’?

middletreemade — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:21:10 +0000

Happy Thursday, Friends!

Oh Thursday…you used to be our TV night….and we’d stay up late to watch The Mentalist. But sadly our TV is having issues lately…actually it’s not really the TV itself…but it’s really not worth explaining. Anyways….though I do miss watching Menty, it’s really not all that sad not having the TV. Less is better, really.

In other news I’ve been really enjoying cooking and baking lately! Thought I’d share some recipes with you!

Pumpkin Knot Rolls – Taste of Home recipe

Okay, so I tore this one out of a Taste of Home magazine my mom gave to me. The original title is Pumpkin Knot Rolls, but I decided to change things a bit (I am my mother’s daughter after all!) and re-titled mine to be Butternut Cardamom Rolls. I didn’t have canned pumpkin on hand, but I DID have pureed butternut squash in cubes in the freezer (for baby food). Also, I used soymilk instead of cow’s milk…lately I’ve been avoiding dairy (mostly) because the little guy seems to have some sensitivity to it. (Though I did use butter like the original calls for…oops)

Anyways… they turned out delicious! I froze half the batch to enjoy later and use alongside other dinner meals. They also work well for mini sandwiches.

Here are some of the changes I made, if any of you are interested. Otherwise, I imagine the original recipe is just as tasty!

-1 cup warm SOY MILK instead of cow’s milk

-1 cup BUTTERNUT SQUASH PUREE, instead of canned pumpkin

-CARDAMOM AND SUGAR on some of the rolls, as well as using the sesame or poppy seeds on the others. (Next time I will probably only use cardamom and sugar)

-I also liked my rolls a little bigger, so instead of dividing each half into 12, I divided each half into 8 balls. 15 minutes in the oven worked just fine.

Some other happy cooking goodness….I’m making chicken stock in my crock pot! I didn’t even know you could do that until this week! Last night we made roast chicken, so I just used all the bones from that, and added a bunch of veggie scraps/peelings that I had in a bag in the freezer. SO EASY! Slowly but surely, I am getting the hang of this whole wife/mother/homemaker thing! Thank you Nourishing Days for the how-to!

What we’re dancing to…

middletreemade — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:08:04 +0000

At home this week we’ve been dancing to Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes. I think Fleet Foxes would be a wonderful addition to your fall soundtrack….. perhaps alongside some Ray LaMontagne, a little Norah Jones, and Feist. This song reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel….they would fit well into a folky fall soundtrack as well!

LYRICS:

I was raised up believing
I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking
I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me

But I don’t, I don’t know what that will be
I’ll get back to you someday soon you will see

What’s my name, what’s my station
Oh just tell me what I should do
I don’t need to be kind to the armies of night
That would do such injustice to you

Or bow down and be grateful
And say “Sure take all that you see”
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls
And determine my future for me

And I don’t, I don’t know who to believe
I’ll get back to you someday soon you will see

If I know only one thing
It’s that every thing that I see
Of the world outside is so inconceivable
Often I barely can speak

Yeah I’m tongue tied and dizzy
And I can’t keep it to myself
What good is it to sing helplessness blues?
Why should I wait for anyone else?

And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
I’ll come back to you someday soon myself

If I had an orchard
I’d work till I’m raw
If i had an orchard
I’d work till I’m sore

And you would wait tables
And soon run the store

Gold hair in the sunlight
My light in the dawn
If I had an orchard
I’d work till I’m sore

If I had an orchard
I’d work till I’m sore

Someday I’ll be
Like the man on the screen

Love My Little “Puhm-tih”

middletreemade — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:31:05 +0000

Hi Friends,

I’ve been hoping to write a new blog post for some time now. Each time I sat down at the computer, one of the boys would either wake up and need me (Yes, I said boyS plural…we now have two! ), or I would attempt to write while they were awake…which means my 18 month old wants to write WITH me! (He loves the keyboard!) So…here I sit, making another attempt. And big brother is *mostly* content playing with a little desk organizer thing, pulling the little drawer out and putting things in it.

Seriously…I think it has taken me 10 minutes to get this far…..oh dear.

But I love my littles. And I am thankful to have these moments, and experience their curiosity…even if that means that I don’t get much done!

I also love that fall is here! Big brother says “puhm-tih” for pumpkin…I love little baby words! No words from little brother just yet…mostly just giggles (love those too!), he’s almost 4 months now!

Well…big brother is getting upset that he can’t type with mommy. Time to go!

Love,

P.S. I was too slow…he already started pulling things out of the garbage can!

Dear Quilting, I love you…

middletreemade — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:20:47 +0000

…at least this week I do. I hope this love will last longer than my many other random inspirations!

It has certainly been a while since I posted something crafty…so here we go!

This is what I have recently been inspired to work on…2 (small) quilts! This is my VERY FIRST attempt at making a quilt, and I am amazed at how simple it really is! (as long as you start off with something small and basic)

The first one is a dinosaur quilt for my son…can you believe he’s a year old already? I found this dinosaur fabric a while back at Joann’s and used it to make a small table runner for his birthday party as well as a diaper cover. I still had some fabric left over, along with some red fabric from a previous project. I’m having a bit of trouble with the binding though (the corners at least), but other than that it’s almost done!

And a second quilt for me…I mean…my family I’m planning to make it a couch quilt, so not too big, but big enough to share with my love while we watch a movie! Just started this one, with batik fabrics! I LOVE BATIKS!!!! They are just so beautiful!! Joann’s had fat quarters on sale for 99 cents each, so I bought a good handful of them and found a black batik fabric (by the yard) that I’ll use for the backing. Weeeee! I really hope this one turns out nice! Here’s what I have so far…

And for any of you who think you might be interested in starting a quilt, definitely visit Write it Down. And go to her Tutorials page, where you’ll find her Baby Quilt Tutorial. That’s how I learned how to do all of this…I obviously didn’t go with the same kind of pattern that she did, but I did follow most of her step by step instruction (with wonderful pictures to help) to get me through the process! She really has a GREAT tutorial, so make sure you check it out!

Ok…off to the rest of the day (and hopefully there will be time for more quilting!

Let me know what you’ve been working on! Or if you have and links of tutorials to share! Happy Wednesday Friends!

Much love,

Heather