Reflecting on summer

As summer is coming to an end, I've been reflecting on the past few months. I had a mental list of things I wanted to do with the kids and places I wanted to take them. We didn't even come close to do half of those things. Maybe my list was unrealistic? Maybe. Most definitely.

But when I think about this summer, I feel no regret. I don't dwell on the things we have not done.

I feel extremely happy about all the amazing memories we created, all the fun we had, all the laughs we shared.

There were swim lessons, camping, play dates with friends, crafting, hanging out by the campfire, more play dates with friends, picnics, getting slightly lost at the corn maze, outings to the water park and another to the splash park, the kids noticing the little things in nature and catching all kinds of bugs, more camping, and more and more fun with friends.

(pictures were taken last week, at the splash park)

I might not have had time to take the kids to the zoo, or had time to visit the farmers market in the city like I wanted to, but I am very pleased with the summer we had. We all had so much fun, and the kids were smiling so, so much. They learned, they grew, they experienced, they felt, they laughed, they matured. And most importantly, they are happy. And so am I :)

In my kitchen: disasters!

I woke up Saturday morning in the mood to get busy in the kitchen. On the menu that day, were cinnamon banana muffins (a new recipe I wanted to try) and a batch of strawberry jam (a recipe I made years ago very successfully and that was delicious).

So right before the kids morning snack time, I got busy and set out to to make the muffins.

Now, looking at this picture, you might wonder why I called my post kitchen disasters. Well first, the muffins wouldn't bake all the way through. They were supposed to bake for 20 minutes, and I ended up having to leave them in the oven for an entire hour and I raised the heat half way through. They were still raw inside. Complete mush. To the garbage they went.

But at that point, I'm not thinking I'm the one with the curse. Simply that the recipe did not work.

Right after lunch, I decided to tackle the strawberry jam. After reading this post from Soule Mama, I decided it was time I made strawberry jam again. I've never canned anything in my life and though I'd love to do some canning, I find it a bit scary since I have no idea what I'm doing. But jam I can make. Jam I have made before and it was so delicious. I used the same recipe as I had made before, found a bunch of fresh strawberries on sale at my local store and was ready to go.

Then this happened:

Yes. I burned the jam. Or I'd like to think my stove did (that's my story and I'm sticking to it ;) I left my black ladle in there so you can see just how dark (aka burnt) the jam is. And it tasted burnt too. Seems my stove gets a bit too hot compared to my last stove (the one I made jam with before). Next thing I new, there was smoke everywhere in our home, and jam all over the stove and the wall beside the stove.

This has never happened to me before, so I decided I was cursed in the kitchen and called it a day. But I am happy to report, that the curse has been lifted now and will be back with more food posts soon. Posts of the yummy kind that is ;)

My first try at needle felting!

Since the beginning of summer, my girlfriends and I have been getting together on an almost weekly basis. Our kids all play together while we hang out, chat, eat and sometimes craft. This particular group of friends of mine is filled with talent. It's really fun to hang out with them, because I always leave inspired to craft more. We all have our own different styles, and favourite mediums, and from time to time, we've been showing each other how to do different things.

I've shown some of the girls how to do the Waldorf star lanterns, and I've been taught how to crochet, create with polymer clay, and most recently, needle felt.

I've been wanting to learn how to needle felt for quite a while now, but didn't know where to start. Luckily, my friend Myriam knew how and wanted to teach us :) So one afternoon, a couple of weeks ago, we sat on her patio and started on our creations.

I must say, I found it intimidating to just create something from scratch with some wool and nothing but my imagination. If you craft a lot, you might understand what I mean. I might be creative, but when you try a new medium, it doesn't always come naturally. So I started making a pumpkin, simply because that's what Myriam was making, so I could sort of copy her, lol.

Here is my little pumpkin. Crooked stem (on purpose) and vine and all :) I was quite surprised how well it turned out!

Next thing I new, I started making a toadstool. And a bee. I should have taken a picture of the under part of the toadstool to show you the ridges I made. It makes it look more realistic.

The bee was quite tricky for this newbie, but I still got it :)

Needle felting is very addicting, I find. I now started making a baby pumpkin to accompany the first one I made. It will be perfect for our new nature table for fall! And I definitely have plans to purchase some more wool to needle felt, and now I really want to learn how to (wet) felt a play mat or a bag maybe.

So that's all for now. It's been an insanely busy (but fun!) past few weeks, and I'm so glad to finally be home and back to a normal routine (well, sort of). I still have lots to catch up on at home. You know, a mountain of laundry to tackle and some organizing around the home from being mostly gone all summer. But Ashton starts grade one in a week from now, so I still have to make the most out of what's left of this summer :)

Have a happy and creative day!

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Rhubarb sauce

A little bit ago, I my friend Sherry gave me some rhubarb from her garden. I hadn't had rhubarb since I was a kid. I was the only one at home that would eat it, dipped in sugar of course. I think my parents would eventually just mow the lawn right over the plants at some point through the summer. We didn't cook or bake with it, nor did we know anyone who wanted any I don't think.

But I'm all grown up now, I don't do the rhubarb dipped in sugar anymore (I don't think I would even like it that way anymore). But I know there are lots of ways to use rhubarb, so I was really grateful to be given some :)

I made this absolutely delicious rhubarb sauce and here is the recipe:

Rhubarb Sauce

• 2 1/4 lbs rhubarb (or 6 cups prepared)
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used organic raw sugar)
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Trim away the leaves and butt ends of the rhubarb. Cut each stalk in half lengthwise, then chop into 1-inch pieces. Strain the orange juice into a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the juice is reduced by half. Add the honey, cardamom and stir until dissolved, then add the rhubarb, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft and broken down.

Serve warm or chilled.

Store in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Freezes well.

And if your wondering how you would eat this, well let me tell you, it's absolutely delicious as is, while it's warm. I actually prefer it warm. It was just so good! You could also spoon some over a cake, such as my apple cake, but you'll have to wait a little longer for that recipe ;) I'll post it soon though, promise. In the mean time, I hope you are enjoying the bounties of summer!

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Summertime fun!

This last week of camping has been filled with great summer memory making moments. We really embraced the whole camping experience as our camping came to an end. The mosquitoes were letting off a bit, which made it much easier for us to enjoy ourselves too.

Nature treated us to a beautiful rainbow late last week. We could see the full arch too, I haven't seen one of those in a long time, and the kids were in awe.

We had a beautiful full moon as well. Which explained my kids crazy behaviour for the few days prior, lol.

We had a few campfires, of course, and the kids got to practice lots of golf. We were lucky to not have any neighbours beside our site, so they basically had an entire field to play in :)

Isn't he so handsome!

The kids and I did make a day trip into the city last week and I had to stop at Michaels. I was lucky enough to find these foam craft kits on sale from $10 down to $2.99!! There was only two kinds left, but they were perfect. Tree house and mermaid habitat. I waited for one of those "the-kids-can't-stop-fighting-and-it's-driving-me-crazy" moments to take it out and distract them. As you can tell, it worked perfectly!

Yesterday was our last day there, and it was a beautiful one. I took the time to clean my car and found 2 kites in my trunk. I had completely forgotten I had them! Great timing, because yesterday was also the windiest day we had all summer I think. So we put those puppies to use right away!

Both kids did such a great job! They were like pros! And of course, mama had fun with the kites too. I can never pass up a kite flying opportunity!

We ended our camping with a lovely picnic.

It was great fun, but I am quite happy to be home sweet home now. Except for the massive mountain of laundry and unpacking. But it's still nice to be home!

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Crystal attraction

I've always been attracted to crystals. I mean, what's not to like. They are pretty, most times soft or sparkly, and always magical.

(Amethyst from my collection)

I had a few of them that found their way to me over the years, like an amethyst pendant I bought back in college, or a rose quartz that was given to me by a friend when I was just a kid (and I somehow never lost it through the years).

Then last year, during our trip to Drumheller (aka dinosaur land), I found myself in a cute little shop that was filled with everything crystals. My son was as drawn to them as I was. So we each picked two small stones, and he also picked two for his little sister that was not with us in the store at the time. When we got home from that trip, and I decided to gather all our crystals in a small wood bowl and left them out so the kids could reach it anytime they would like.

Fast forward to this summer. I met a wonderful new friend who is also really into crystals. She actually used to sell some, and she still had some stock left. Lets just say that the girls and I went through her stock pretty quickly.

And I realized something: The more I have, the more I want!

This is what I came home with that day :)

I've been meditating with them on occasion, but most the time, I just like to hold and "play" with them. Especially when I feel stressed or upset. They definitely have a healing quality, which I will talk more about in another post to come (if your interested in learning more).

Would you believe me if I told you that I just got even more this week? Yep. I have crystal issues, lol. Not only did my friend inspire me to surround myself with more crystals by opening my eyes to the fact that I've always been attracted to them to begin with, but she also inspired me to start having a nature table again! Well, I never had a nature "table" to begin with, I only had a plate. Now I have a nature table, and it makes me happy. I will show you in another post soon.

What about you, do you have crystal attraction?

Been busy crafting

I've been so busy crafting in the the past month, slowly trying to build an "inventory" so I can fill a table and start going to craft fairs. I don't have pics of everything I've made so far (like the felt sandwich set, the bookmarks and the oodles of owl headbands), but I thought I'd share these two with you, because they are just so sweet (in my opinion), but I could be a bit bias ;)

I made this little flower fairy (using a pattern from here), for my friend's Chrystil's little girl. She had her appendix removed, and she's just 3. So when we went to visit her after, I brought her this little fairy, to keep her company :)

Something else I've been working on, was to create my own pattern for a Waldorf inspired toadstool house. I apologize for the picture, it's not very bright, as I took them in the evening. I wanted to take the pictures before my kids saw it and started playing with it. I made sure to make it just the right size so that my kids gnomes, fairies and other peg characters would fit in it, and their heads be at the height of the window.

I made it in two pieces, so the kids can remove the roof if they choose, so it's easier for them.

They get to keep this one, as it's the first one I've made, and will likely make a few changes to the next one. They are always quite happy to be the recipients of my "practice crafts" or my mistake ones. All in all though, I'm pretty happy how it turned out!

Oh, and on a side note: I made my first two sales this week! Two friends bought some owl headbands, one for her daughter, the other for a gift! I was so excited to have made a first sale, I may or may not have done the happy dance ;)

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8 signs it's summer

1. Having picnics and enjoying refreshing foods.

2. Enjoying campfires.

3. Firey summer skies.

4. Pink sunsets that announce tomorrow's heat.

5. Being able to witness the rain falling out in the distance.

6. Seeing a moose taking a stroll in the canola fields.

7. Actually, it was a mama moose, walking with her young... see the ears peeking behind her? :)

8. Seeing beauty blooming everywhere you turn.

We've been enjoying so much of this summer already, and I'm really looking forward to all that this season has to offer that we haven't had time to do yet. I hope you are enjoying life to it's fullest too!