Summer 2017 Scrapbook Done!

I was so happy when I finished this scrapbook that soon after I finished it I ordered prints for my next scrapbook.  You can read about that one soon!  I started this one back in October and though it took me a long time to complete, I had a blast doing it!

I'm sure you will see from the pictures that I'm not a professional scrapbooker.  I keep things rather simple as my inventory is slim.  I don't really have the desire to increase my stash of scrapbook supplies because I enjoy the simplicity of the craft.  I basically stuck to patterned paper, washi tape and rubber stamps.  A true scrapbooker might laugh at that!

I recently saw a professionally done scrapbook of someone's Disney trip.  It was amazing!  There are actual professional scrapbookers.  Can you believe that?  I'm not talking people who sell scrapbook materials and offer classes to help you scrapbook.  I'm talking people who will scrapbook your vacation for you.

Anyway, those people clearly put me to shame, but I have still found a bit of fun in my new little hobby.  And besides, it's a great way to chronicle our family adventures and have something to look at and reminisce about without the the use of technology.  And I think we can all agree that sometimes we need to take what we call in my house, a tech break.

Summer 2017 was a great year with many fun summer trips.  2018 was a good one too, and I'm sure I'll still have fun scrapbooking it...once I get to it!

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A Summer Tribute
Paper Crafting Fun

Watermelon Candy Crochet Beanie

This hat took me far longer than it ought to have taken.  But I am still pleased with the results.  And sadly, I have put my crochet hook down for a bit because every time I crochet I seem to aggravate the knot behind my left shoulder.  I've tried my tips and tricks.  And you can find them here!  But for some reason that knot is relentless.  My hands, while they do get fatigued after long use, were fine.  This time it was just the dumb knot.

If you have any tips or tricks please leave them in the comment section below.  Do you use ergonomic crochet hooks?  Let me know what ones and if you think they help.  There's also a posture corrector that I keep seeing online and I'm curious if that could help.  It looks like the thing my son wore when he broke his collar bone.  Has anyone used one of those to correct posture while crocheting?

Anyway, here are some pictures of the hat on my head (with extremely poor lighting!).  It is a simple beanie and should work up quickly if you don't take a thousand breaks.  Do you like the little pompom I put on top?  I hesitated about that, but in the end decided to go with it.  How about the flower?  In the future I'll have to include instructions how to make that simple creation.  It's super easy and very fast.

Here is a post with a link to directions on how to make this simple crochet beanie.  For this hat I used a J-hook, but I'm sure you can work with many other sizes depending on the thickness of your yarn.

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Watermelon Candy Granny Strip Afghan
Bright and Fun Granny Square Bag

My Vegetable Garden 2018

What's more homemade than home grown vegetables?

This year I decided to try again at growing vegetables.  I hadn't grown any since we lived in our old house.  And my success there was minimal.  I think we had some soil issues, too much shade and a proliferation of pill bugs.  After a couple years there I stopped trying.  

But with our new yard and more sun, we had a mildly successful year.  I will definitely do it again next year.  For the fist year I decided to keep it simple.  I planted one hill of summer squash, two hills of zucchini, six tomato plants and two hills of cucumbers.  I threw in a few green beans but the bunnies demolished those before my husband got the fence up.

I dug my garden the old fashioned way.  And perhaps the stupid way.  The day before I put my garden in I helped my friend with hers.  Pitchforking two gardens two days in a row resulted in a very sore arm and hand.  In the future I will keep this in mind and perhaps invest in some sort of tilling tool.

One of the best things I think I did for my garden was to cover the fresh dirt in cardboard and newspaper.  To ensure it didn't just fly away, I covered it with brown cedar mulch.  Due to that I had barely any weeds.  I'm talking just a few tufts of grass poking out from in between the seams.  I will definitely do this technique again.  My mom does this and I saw it on Pinterest. If your garden is not immense, you should give it a try for sure.

My yellow squash didn't produce a whole lot of great fruit.  That could be for many reasons, but I did see squash bugs in the flowers.  One zucchini plant did quite well, but the other only produced a few zucchini.  The tomatoes produced well, but I was hoping for a bit more.  I had six plants and probably 7 or 8 tomatoes from each plant.

Next year I want to fertilize better.  I went with some Pinterest tips and used coffee grounds and eggshells.  And while my garden did ok, I am sure with more nutrients it could have done even better.  I think this worked well for the cucumbers and tomatoes, but my squash did not have high yields as I mentioned

Just the other day I took in the last of my green tomatoes and put them on the windowsill.  Frost has arrived and frozen green tomatoes aren't that great.

I'm sad I have so few pictures.  I'm not sure what I was thinking!  Next year I'll be sure to take more.

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Summer Squash Casserole
Zucchini Sticks
Herb Roasted Green Beans