The Patch!

I'd have to say that Fall, Autumn, The Relief After Summer...is my favorite time of the year.  After all those hot hot days, you can get your sweatshirts out again! Pumpkin flavored things can be found, the leaves are so pretty, you can work in the yard without wanting to go and lie down...AND...the Pumpkin Patch is open!!!!!!!!!! For one fabulous month everything Fall-ish can be found at the patch.

We lucked out...it was the opening weekend and not too many people were there. It was so peaceful and relaxing.

Can you see the maze peeking through?

There it is!

It's a low one for the kiddos.

I love being under the oak trees....I miss those trees from my days in Morgan Hill.

There is just something about them...so majestic.

This early at The Patch the sunflowers and zinnias aren't blooming and the pumpkins on the vines are tiny, but it is still gorgeous.

The sky was so blue....

One of my good friends adds to the beauty of the patch with her fabulous paintings.  Each year it's fun to see just what her new project will be.

We brought home Butternut Squash and made a wonderful Fall soup..although we ate a bit late because I haven't made the soup since last Fall and I forgot how many steps there were! Tasty though and worth the wait.

I did find one lonely sunflower - I had to climb on things I shouldn't to get this photo and I was perched a bit precariously!

So many to choose from...I don't know which ones I will bring home next time.

So many great colours and textures and shapes.

So, if you start this weekend you can probably make it out to The Patch several times before the end of the month! 


I'm sure I'll see you there!

xoxo       Elizabeth

Tortilla Making!

The other day I made one of our new favorite things....

It was a gorgeous Fall-ish afternoon...

and while Lane gazed out our kitchen window at this marvelous sunset I set to work making tortillas for our dinner.

This recipe is just 'the best' - I tried to make tortillas when I was younger and they were such a disaster.  This recipe makes great tortillas every time...and I am going to tell you something that I almost never say - Follow The Recipe - just the way it is.

Well...actually...I did change one thing.  I didn't have organic flour so I just used regular white flour, and it worked fine.

Sometimes we make burritos with our tortillas, but that night we decided to make chicken quesadillas. 

I had grabbed a cooked chicken at Costco (such a great deal...sometimes I get two!) ... already cooked chicken, some grated cheese, butter on the outside of our wonderful homemade tortillas and we were set.

The hardest part of the dinner was the tortillas...and they were easy!

So, a gorgeous sunset, good company, a great recipe and Voila! the perfect Fall-ish dinner!

Now get some flour and go make tortillas!  Then leave me a comment telling me what you did with them!

xoxo       Elizabeth

Art Time Craft Camp 2013!

As always I had lots of fun with the kiddos at Craft Camp....there are a couple basics of Craft Camp that we try not to change...

Some sort of goodie is always served (after lunch of course!)

And...messy tables are a good thing!

This time we crafted so many things that I am not sure I even got pics of all of them.  The kiddos came at 10am sharp and we crafted right through til 3 with a short break for lunch.

Supplies are always in abundance - having choices while making art is a good thing.

We used some wood chunks (thank you hubby for cutting them!) and foam to make geometric shaped stamps. We even decorated the back of the stamps with decoupaged images - too fun! I was inspired to do this project by one of the blogs I follow....Mermag.

Using stamp pads everyone practiced to see what ideas they could come up with to put their stamps to good use.  The end result was to be an original art piece on canvas.

Do you see the two that are holding hands!?

This student used the stamps to fill in her drawing! And then added the blue background!

Simplicity!

A lot of thought went into this one...figuring out just how to get those shapes to do what she wanted!

Voila!!! Look how creative the kiddos were! Fabulous....I was thrilled to send them home with these wonderful art pieces! One of the things I love about doing all of this is seeing what each student comes up with. Given the same instructions and the same materials each student adds their creativity and it is amazing to see the results.

On the last day of class we used the geometric stamps again, but this time with paint on T-shirts. More fantastic results.

We made perpetual calendars on the back of cookie sheets - magnetic of course!

Shrinky Dinks are always fun to do. This time we drew designs and then turned them into bracelets.

Tiny little works of art!

Some paper mache, yarn, and patience while they dry...

add some pretty felt flowers and leaves and there you have it...a pretty bowl to put your special things in!

We did some faux tie-dyeing too!  This looks so great and it is so easy...you secure your fabric (we used muslin) with a rubber band over a plastic cup.  In the center draw a design with Sharpies about the size of a quarter. Next with an eye dropper, drip about 10 drops of alcohol (the medicinal kind!) in the middle of the design. Sit back and watch as your 'tie-dye' appears.  We used a piece of muslin about 13" x 30" and filled it with as many design as we could...then I turned them into book bags...

I used old belts (yes I had them in my stash!) for the straps. Don't the kiddo's designs look great?!

So I would say Craft Camp was a success...I sure had a good time!

 I think we might be able to use the saying that is well known in our family....

....and a good time was had by all!......


xoxo         Elizabeth