The Reason I've Been Missing

Hello, friends! Well it's been a month since I've posted (I even missed my blog's one year anniversary!) and I have to admit that I've really missed this little blog. I didn't mean to disappear but the truth is that I haven't been doing a lot of baking or crafting which makes it difficult to post. I've written before about my lousy commute to work and how it steals all my energy but that hasn't been the only thing affecting me lately. In fact, I've got some big news. My husband and I are having a baby!

I'm 16 weeks pregnant tomorrow! Happily much of my energy has returned and I find myself slipping into nesting mode. And for me, nesting means crafting. I hope you won't mind a few baby-related projects being introduced to the blog - though I'm thinking it'll be ok since this DIY nursery decor post is actually my most popular. We go for the 20 week ultrasound at the beginning of October and once we know the gender the decorating and DIY will likely go into high gear.

So Sugar and Shimmer will see a little more action now. I've already got some great ideas for fall and Halloween and, in the meantime, I've been taking a cake decorating class that I'll be posting about and I've got some magnetic calendars to catch up on too. I won't be posting 5 days a week as I have in the past but I'll be here regularly with great recipes and ideas for you. I hope you're still reading!

Easy Felt Flowers

A few weeks back I was at Michaels and saw some really cute felt flowers. I almost bought a few before I stopped and thought "I could totally make these". So instead I went to the felt aisle and bought some of that. Turns out I was right and these pretty little felt flowers are incredibly easy to make. One took me about 15 minutes!

You'll need 8 felt hearts - 4 small and 4 medium. I just free-handed the first of each size and then traced the rest. You'll also need something round for the centre of your flower. I used a Christmas ball since it was the right size and had a wire already attached for a stem but you could use anything round.

Start by hot gluing your small hearts evenly to your round centre.

Next glue your medium hearts underneath the layer of small hearts, filling in the gaps.

There are really no rules for how you attach your petals. My goal was to cover the base of the Christmas ball so that it looked more like a flower instead of a Christmas decoration with felt glued to it!

Since my ball already had wire attached, my flower was complete. You could hot glue wire or a pipe cleaner for a stem or don't even bother with a stem if you're going to put your flower on a wreath or similar. I'm displaying my pretty blue flower in one of my upcycled enamel bottles for now but I plan to make more for a new wreath I'm working on!

Happy long weekend to my fellow Canadians!

Caramel Nut Pie

It is hot outside! So hot that we haven't turned our oven on in weeks - everything gets cooked out on the grill. And since we now have a Traeger Grill I can bake outside too as it uses wood pellets and provides even temperatures across the cooking surface. And before you start wondering, no I'm not being paid by Traeger to endorse their product, we just genuinely love our grill. Recently I made a Caramel Nut Pie. The following directions are for use on a Traeger but I'm sure you could adapt them for use in a regular oven as well. It would be worth the effort as this pie is delicious!

Ingredients:
1 prepared pie crust
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 tsp. flour
3/4 tsp. vinegar
3 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup walnut halves

Directions:
Arrange pie crust in heat resistant pie plate; set aside. Combine all of your ingredients except the walnuts in a mixing bowl; beat well until blended. Spread walnuts evenly over bottom of pie crust; pour sugar mixture over nuts.

Start your grill on smoke with lid open until fire is established (about 5 minutes) allow grill to pre-heat for 10 minutes; switch setting to High (450 degrees on thermostat). Place pie in centre of grill; close lid and cook 10 minutes. Switch setting to Medium (300 degrees on thermostat), cover and cook 30 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from grill and cool.

This pie tastes like a giant butter tart. I served it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries from our garden and it was so good that it didn't last the weekend! And it was so simple to make that I already had all of the ingredients in the house. Definitely give this one a try - and even better if you make it outside!

Magnetic Calendar - July

Well I've been completely MIA for a while with a week of vacation and then family obligations and somehow July arrived! I can hardly believe that it's already July 7 - I didn't get a chance to wish my fellow Canadians a happy Canada Day or my American friends a happy Independence Day. I'll assume you had a great one all the same :)
Now that we're in a new month it's time for another magnetic calendar!

This month was all about summer, sunshine and the beach! Here are some close ups so you can see some of the stickers and other elements I used. I think my favourite is the little pitcher of lemonade!

For more information about how I made my calendars or to see the months I've completed so far just click here. And if you decide to make your own please be sure to comment here so I can check it out!

Father's Day Cards

Just one more quick post to wrap up Father's Day. I wanted to show you the cards that I made for my Dad and my Gramps.

For my Dad's card I created a sort of collage of vintage bits and pieces that reminded me of him. I added some plaid paper and the letters to spell out "Dad" and I had the perfect card.

For my Gramps' card I cut out the words with my Silhouette first and then had to figure out what to put with them. When I found the map in my paper collection I thought it was the perfect fit for a claim of "World's Best"!

And that's Father's Day for this year. Hope all the dads out there had a great day!

By the Batch - Barbecue Edition

Instead of being about a batch of cookies, this week's By the Batch post is about a batch of condiments - homemade condiments that we gave to my Dad for Father's Day! He's really hard to buy for so we decided that making him something was the way to go. And at this time of year he's all about his grill so anything you can spread on meat to make it yummy was sure to be a hit ;)

We made 5 different condiments (from BBQ sauce to mustard to relish) and bottled them in little jars that we bought at the Bulk Barn. I made little circle tags for each bottle and tied them on with string. Then we put all the bottles into long basket lined with rafia.

The last step was to affix the cute little tag I made with my Silhouette.

My Dad seemed to really enjoy the gift and he'll be able to enjoy it all summer long. Father's Day is over but maybe this can inspire you for next year!

My Mom's Gardens

My parents live on 10 beautiful acres that they devote a great deal of time to maintaining. Their effort is worth it though as their property is a tree and flower filled retreat that explodes into bloom at this time of year. Visiting one evening this week I just had to take some pictures to share with you. Today I wanted to feature some of my Mom's lovely gardens and planters. She manages to create arrangements that are both natural and whimsical at the same time.

I love this arrangement the most. The little blue jay sitting in his pot on a weather beaten wooden chair. The muted colours blend so well into nature and the weathering on everything makes it seem as though it was always there in the grass.

My favourite part of my Mom's gardens is her gorgeous peonie bush. Peonies are such beautiful flowers - it's just too bad the ants love them so much because I'm afraid to bring any inside!

Hopefully you're as impressed with her work as I am. It's a gorgeous day for gardening here so I'm off to tend to my beds. Tell me, how does your garden grow?