Getting Started

Materials Needed:

Step 1 

Step 2 

Step 3 

Step 4 

Step 5 

Step 6

Step 7 

Step 8 

When they are glued properly, your ornament should look like this!

Finish with glitter or whatever you desire!

Getting Started

The great thing about making these paper bag stars is that you can use them all year long. It's not just a ornament for a specific holiday. A lot of people do make them around Christmas to make their homes more festive, but you can make these a year round feature!

They are SUPER EASY to make, I taught myself to make one after about 5 minutes and one horrific rough draft. Tip: Do not cut too low on your design -if you feel like coming up with your own style- so you don't cut the bottom part of the bag. It gets too messy when you do and everything sort of loses structure.

I did a super simple cut that I will share with you that looks pretty and very starry. Make a room full of these just as is without lights or you can either by some cheap battery operated short string lights to wrap around them or you can design yours around a corded bulb. Whatever fancy may strike you, go for it!

Step 1: 

Cut out a regular lunch paper bag into the following shape. Using the first cut out as a template, lay the cut bag onto 7 more paper bags, and one by one, cut out the same shape onto all bags until you have 8 total.

Step 2: 

You can either use regular glue or a glue gun to do the next step. I used regular Elmers glue which worked perfectly. The paper bags are pretty thin paper, so Elmers was definitely strong enough.

Step 3: 

Using your glue of choice, make a line down the middle of your bag from top to bottom on the smooth side of the bag without the bottom flap. Then another line along the bottom edge of the bag. 

Step 4: 

One by one, place your bags one on top of the other with the same glue on the smooth side only, with that same side facing up. When you are done gluing, the bottom flap side should be sandwiched between the layers. Allow to dry for several minutes.

Next, put the same glue markings on the top bag in your stack, on the smooth side just like the previous layers. Carefully unfolding your stack until it forms a 3D circle, press that newly glued applied side of that top layer, to the bottom side of your first bag on the very bottom of your stack. When you are done, you should have your star formed. You can either leave glued with clips to hold in place until dried, or use a couple of staples to hold firmly together. Let dry well.

Enjoy and create to your hearts content! Send me pics of what you make, I'd love to see them!

It's Pumpkin Bread Season!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Swirl Yeast Bread Recipe       

(Makes 2 Loaves) 

1/2 cup warm Water

1 1/2 Tbsp. Instant Yeast

2/3 cup warm Milk (around 100 degrees F)

2 large Eggs (room temp)

1 1/2 cup Pumpkin puree

2 Tbsp. Canola/Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 tsp. salt (optional)

1/2 tsp. ground Ginger

1 tsp. ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground Cloves

Flour (Enough to make a pliable dough- approx. 6 1/2 cups)

Cinnamon Swirl Filling

2 Tbsp. Butter melted

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. ground Cinnamon

Directions

 

 

Garlic (Allium Sativum)

The name in an of itself is the perfect description for this tangy plant. Garlic comes from the Old English word, garlēac, meaning gar (spear) and leek-or in other words, 'Spear-shaped leek'.

This has to be gardeners most coveted crop, used in a variety of dishes from all over the world because of its delicious flavor. Renowned for its natural medicinal and disinfectant properties used during both World Wars, and is a natural de-wormer. Garlic is a semi-hardy perennial (it can be left in your garden over winter), that reproduces by making an underground head of cloves from just one clove. Garlic roots can go as deep as 2 ft., so they require a well-drained soil with a PH 5.5-6.8. They produce pink flowers that may or may not produce seeds.

Growing Garlic

Planting your garlic cloves requires full sun, fertile, moist soil, which must be loose and sandy or high hummus so bulbs can spread easily and grow. The best time to plant your bulbs is late summer to mid October-they grow better in cooler weather.

If you do intend to plant in the spring instead, do it as soon as the ground thaws or early March. Plant where you want it to grow as it does not transplant well.

Make sure you plant your garlic with the tips pointing up! Have the points sticking out of the soil a bit or very shallowly cover with soil. The roots will grow from the bottom of the clove.

Plant each clove 3" apart and 2-3" deep. Don't let them get dry! Keep free of weeds  as well to ensure healthy growth. One clove will yield an average garlic head of 15 cloves.

It is a good idea to inter-plant garlic in your gardens with companion plants, as it does not take up much growing space.

Harvesting & Drying Your Garlic

 STOP WATERING! Harvest the bulbs as soon as the leaves die and fall over.
Once your Garlic leaves get a foot tall

After digging up your bulbs, wash well and dry in the sun until they are white (about 1 weeks time).

Save what bulbs you want for planting. Those seed bulbs should be dried at a temperate no higher than 100 degrees F or in the shade. They require 8 weeks of cold weather (between 30-35 degrees F). FYI the skinny center cloves are not good for planting.

To store your garlic for cooking, you can braid the leaves and hang them in your kitchen or store in paper or mesh bags. The ideal storage for long-term is 35-40 degrees F with 60-70% humidity.

Blueberry Buckle-A love story

If your mouth doesn't start to water at the thought of eating blueberry buckle fresh out of the oven, there is something wrong with ye. Better yet, take that fantasy and add either some fresh homemade whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream to take it to another level of delish. Salivating? Ready to make some? Let's go!

This is a recipe that I grew up using over and over again. I was lucky that as a young girl we had blueberry bushes producing heavily each summer on our land. It is still one berry that I need to add to my garden so I can eat one and save one as I pick for my next baking escapade.

 Blueberry Buckle Recipe:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soft butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups well drained blueberries

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup sugar ( I used brown sugar but you can use white too)
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup soft butter

Baking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F for a bread loaf pan. Preheat to 375 degrees F if you want to make in a 9" square pan. (Please note the difference in baking times!)

Mix wet ingredients together well first. Then mix in the dry ingredients. Fold in gently the blueberries. Spread batter in a greased and floured pan of your choosing.

Bake loaf pans at 350 degrees for 60-65 min. Bake square pans for 50-55 min. OR until a wooden pick in the center of the cake comes out clean. Serve fresh, warm from oven.