Pumpkin Vase

Remember my little peeping pumpkin from last month? Since I didn't carve it, this little pumpkin has held up well - so I turned it into a vase by cutting a big hole in the top and remove the guts and seeds (clean the seeds and put on parchment paper to dry them out before roasting them). Then I played around with what I wanted to put in the pumpkin - a small plant, succulents, a candle and faux leaves...it all looks good! My favorite is the candle surrounded by fake leaves; if you want it to hold a candle just make sure the size of the hole you cut in the top will tightly hold the candle. And note: I'm pretty sure fake plants are going to catch on fire and/or melt if they get too close to a flame, so use caution and be careful when and if you light the candle!! Better idea - use a flameless candle ;)

one year ago: yarn wrapped wheat
two years ago: Jen's spinach salad
three years ago: leaf lanterns

Wrapped Pumpkin Decor

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to call this. Tesha sent me the photo and instructions, and it's really cute - but if I call it what it is you're gonna roll your eyes and not give it a chance. So I'm calling it a 'wrapped pumpkin' so you'll at least look at it before judging this toilet paper craft LOL!!!

These were centerpieces made for a fall-themed wedding shower that Tesha went to, she was the winner at the table and got to take it home.  I would never have thought up this clever idea - who looks at a roll of t.p. and thinks "pumpkin decor"?

Wrap a roll of toilet paper in a solid piece of orange material and tuck in the top of the roll. Cut a rectangle piece of green material using pinking shears, tuck that into the top of the roll. Add a bit of straw or raffia if you want, then push a Tootsie Roll down in the middle of all of it to hold in place.

Around the Campfire (week 46)

Dear Campers ~

We are making our cross country road trip this week, but I made a bunch of things ahead of time so I could still post while sitting in the camper at night. Obviously I went on a pinecone craft roll, this week was 3 different birds and a pinecone wreath. And I still have a couple more to show you later! Hope you enjoyed my silly birds :)

Here's a quick little craft that would be super cute as part of your Thanksgiving decorations - acorn gift holders. Hot glue twine around the top of a plastic egg leaving a little tab sticking out on top to make the stem of the acorn. Add treats or small gifts inside the egg then attach the twine top. Looks like an acorn - how easy is that?

Posts you might have missed ~

11/11: around the campfire (week 45)
11/12: herb bubble bread
11/13: pinecone turkeys
11/14: pinecone owls
11/15: pinecone birds
11/16: pinecone wreath
11/17: homemade applesauce

It's been a very cold trip, freezing every night, so Dave didn't want to do his usual grilling at the campground - so I planned ahead and made a few dinners ahead of time (I had a very busy week before getting in the motorhome with all the crafting and cooking!) that could be finished inside instead of on the grill.

What's Cooking ~

• Al and Cathy made us smoked pulled pork with fixings and a delicious cake that I'll share soon
• my sister made us "Quebec Chicken" before we left - we love this SO much!
• pre-grilled chicken breast, long grain rice, mixed veggies, steamed spinach
• tuna noodle casserole, salad
• chicken enchilada suizas, chopped salad with tomatoes and avocado
• meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies
• chicken parmigiana, salad

It's almost Thanksgiving - everyone ready? Got your menu planned and know what you're making? I'm not sure where we'll be; if I end up cooking for just Dave and I maybe I can find a turkey breast and make this recipe for roasted turkey breast and stuffing again, and just make gravy using butter instead of turkey fat. Oh great, now I'm hungry ;)

Sincerely ~



Jill, your camp counselor

Homemade Applesauce

Cathy's neighbor, Jane (yes, candied bacon Jane!), told me about a different way she makes and preserves applesauce that I had to try for myself. She was spot on with that bacon so I'm totally trusting her!  First of all, she cooks it in a crockpot so it's super easy and hands-off; second, she doesn't process the filled jars in a water bath (I had no idea you could do this by the way). Her unusual way is after filling the jars, wipe the rim clean, add a hot lid (note: put the lids in a small saucepan of water on the stove, bring to a simmer), and screw on a ring. Then place the jars upside down on a towel for 10 minutes, turn right side up and wait for the "pop" indicating it's sealed. You'll know if they've sealed by pushing in the center of the lid, there should be no give. Tighten the ring after you turn them over if it is loose.

That's it! She follows the recipe found here except she cuts the sugar to 1/4 cup, I followed her lead and did the same thing. I didn't try hers but my batch is a little tart, a little sweet, and the perfect consistency (note: not sure what Jane does but the recipe says you can put in food processor if you want a smoother consistency - I did not need to put mine in a food processor, it just turned into the right consistency when it cooked down).

Peel, core, cut the apples into chunks. I can't tell you how many it'll take to fill your crockpot - depends on how big the apples are and what size crock-pot you have. I used my big oval 6qt. slow cooker and an assortment of apples, some were big, some little - I mixed northern spy, courtland, macintosh, and honey crisp and it took quite a few of them to fill my crockpot. Note the recipe says she fills 3/4 of crockpot, I listened to Jane and filled it to the top.

Put the apples in the crockpot, pour 3/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla over the apples.

Mix all together and cook on low for 5-8 hours until the apples are broken down and it looks like applesauce!

I didn't take a picture of the filled jars, but you can see
them in the background behind the green tomato jam...

Pinecone Wreath

Ok, I realize the last couple days have been all about pinecones with beaks...turkeys, owls, birds, oh my... so today let's change it up with a simple wreath made with a whole bunch of "found" pinecones (note: I may or may not have combed the neighborhood for pinecones...I have a rule to not go into anyone's yard to gather craft materials hahaha, but if it's on the sidewalk it's fair game...or if it's on a pine tree that's within grabbing distance from the sidewalk it's mine. Hopefully Mrs. Williams wasn't watching me jump for pinecones in her tree that was very very close to the sidewalk!). I actually looked at the craft store to purchase pinecones and then had a "what the heck am I thinking?" moment  and just went for a couple walks to gather them! Duh...

Since the pinecones came off the ground and trees, they are surprisingly full of creepy crawly little bugs (you don't want to know how I came to that realization...) so I read about a very easy way to stop that little problem...lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pop into a 220' oven for about 20 minutes. Interestingly enough, baking them for a few minutes not only gets rid of the bugs, it also turned them different colors which made for a pretty cool wreath.

This is super easy - just wire the cones to a wire wreath form. I did a base layer of bigger cones, and then filled in spaces by hot gluing smaller pinecones and small bits of broken cones onto the wreath until I couldn't add any more! There were a couple places where I could still see the green wire, so I added a few little sticks and feathers to cover those up.

I especially love that the pinecones sort of look like flowers when I cut them in half, the one that is anchoring the bunch of feathers really looks pretty. Agree?

I'm thinking I'll lay this wreath on my round dining room table and put a large candle in the center...and then once Thanksgiving is over I'm planning to remove the feathers and spray paint the whole wreath to make it a Christmasy/wintery wreath. I'll show you how that turns out (if it turns out, I'm not very good at spray painting - once again you don't want to know - so we'll see).

Pinecone Birds

Don't be sick of my pinecone projects yet please - I was on a roll and they are so much fun to make I couldn't stop hahaha. Today it's these little birds...quite truthfully I'm not loving the red one, his feathers are great but I don't know - the red head is not my favorite. I love the whole brown one tho, he's a sweet little bird that makes me happy to look at :) You can obviously make your any color combination you want!

I saw quite a few different examples of pinecone birds online that inspired me to come up with this version. All you need is a small wood ball (they come in a package at the craft store, there are different sizes to choose from - match up the size you need based on how it looks with your pinecones), glue a couple black beads on for eyes and a small black cardstock triangle for the beak. Glue the head to the pinecone - you might need to snip out a bit of the pinecone so the ball has a solid place to rest against - you can glue the head to the top of the pinecone, or to the underside, I did one of each and they both look good. Aren't these cute?!

For the legs - cut a length of lightweight wire, shape 3 toes in the center of wire, bring the two ends up and twist together creating the legs (see the pictures, that should help explain what I'm trying to say). Stick them into the pinecone and hot glue in place.

 I attached some craft feathers for the bird tail - stick them in the pinecone and then glue in place.

Pinecone Owls

Following up on yesterday's pinecone turkeys with these cute owls (just wait, tomorrow is a different bird - plus I have a couple other pinecone crafts coming up...perhaps I went a little crazy with gathering pinecones and had to keep finding projects to use them?!)

These are just as easy as the turkeys, and came from the same site (click here for the original source) - once again I looked at a picture and then just cut out some pieces of felt to make these cuties.

I made my owls stand up by attaching a piece of cardboard to the underside and then wrapped some fluffy scrap yarn around the base, it reminds me of a nest. You could attach a string or cord to the top and make them into hanging ornaments, that'd be really cute...or decorate packages with them...whatever. Once again, good kid craft and very easy to make. Cut out larger pieces to glue on the sides for wings, the little dots are felt that I punched out with a standard handheld hole punch and glued on. You can't see the feet very good because of the yarn I wrapped around the base, but it's 2 small pieces of brown pipe cleaners twisted together and inserted in the bottom of the pinecone. The white part of the eyes are large sequins and the black circle is a piece of cardstock I punched out with my hole punch - it's hard to cut a small circle using scissors!

Pinecone Turkeys

These are silly but I had fun making them - wouldn't they be cute at everyone's place setting, holding a name/place card, or as part of a centerpiece? Very easy and simple, good kid craft other than I used hot glue (white glue would take longer to hold but might work so the littles could make them).

I saw the inspiration for these here, it's a site that you have to pay to join - I just looked at the picture and then winged them (get it? "winged" them heehee) - no pattern but really, it's just a few pieces of felt glued on to look like a turkey...you can do it!

You need 3 pieces of different colored felt for the tail feathers. I just cut them freehand, it reminds me a little of when we would trace our hand to make a turkey as kids (did you do that? I'm sure you did...), you want 4 or 5 "fingers" but the bottom of each piece is straight across, that's where you'll glue them to the pinecone.

Cut 2 legs with toes out of yellow felt, stick into the underside of the pinecone and glue in place. The head is a round piece of felt with a skinny long neck attached; add a couple googly eyes, an orange felt triangle, and a little piece of felt shaped like a fat comma over the beak (I looked it up, that thing is called a 'snood' - now you have an interesting fact to share at the dinner table, you're welcome). Stick the neck piece into the pine cone and have the head bend over the front of the pinecone, glue in place.

Herb Bubble Bread

This is a super easy recipe for pull apart rolls - perfect for Thanksgiving (or anytime really, it's so easy don't just make it for special occasions!). Yes it starts with frozen bread dough but who cares - I definitely don't think you always have to make things from scratch, especially when it's going to be doctored up like this Bubble Bread. And you're making it "homemade" by rolling dough balls in butter, herbs, and cheese - for what it's worth, these taste, smell, and look great!  A keeper recipe for sure :)

I took these to Al and Cathy's in a simple fabric bread basket I whipped up in just a few minutes, I'll show you that later...

Ingredients:

• 1 pound loaf white or honey wheat frozen bread dough, thawed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon sage
• 1 teaspoon dill
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375'

Use scissors to cut loaf into 20 pieces. Combine melted butter with seasonings i small bowl. Place cheese in shallow dish. Shape dough pieces into balls. Dip in butter mixture and roll in cheese. Arrange balls in greased 8x4-inch loaf pan. Cover with clean, dry towel and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Bake until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes and invert from pan.

source: What Should I Bring/Alison Boteler 1992

11.12.2017: stuffed spaghetti squash
11.12.2016: caramel apple shots
11.12.2015: pumpkin roll

Around the Campfire (week 45)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a recap of what happened around camp this week:

Posts you might have missed ~

11/4: around the campfire (week 44)
11/5: crockpot beef stew
11/6: green tomato soup
11/7: green tomato pasta sauce
11/8: green tomato muffins
11/9: green tomato jam
11/10: fried green tomatoes

What's cooking ~ we had a hectic week and ate out a couple nights ~

• baked salt and pepper shrimp, cauliflower rice with mixed veggies
• spice rubbed pork tenderloin, sweet kale salad, roasted asparagus
• apple cherry chicken sausage, zucchini noodles with red pasta sauce, salad
• leftover lasagna, caesar salad
• grilled chicken, butternut squash risotto, steamed spinach

Miscellaneous stuff keeping me busy but not blog-post worthy ~

• it's that time of year - getting ready to make like a snowbird and flee the snow. Busy, busy packing and getting things done before we head out. I keep thinking of "just one more" craft I want to make before we go so my craft room looks like a bomb went off in there! I did take time to put everything away, which leads to organizing (ahem, procrastinating) of course:

• read "The High Season" by Judy Blundell - loved it.
• fit in just about every personal well-being appointment possible - I'm talking 2 doctor appts and annual physical, mammogram, dentist, bloodwork...I wait till the last minute every year and have to cram everything in back-to-back! Oh well, at least it's all done! Oh, and Sarge went to the vet and the groomer this week too!! 
• wrapped Christmas presents to leave for family so I don't have to ship.

Hope you have a great week - I have a few pinecone crafts to show you that are SO cute, check back to get some ideas! Keep warm people - yikes, it's so cold all of the sudden... time to dig out the winter gear! 

Sincerely ~ 

Jill, your camp counselor