Piano Pumpkin

A few weeks ago when I saw the white pumpkins that are popular now, I had the idea to make a piano keys pumpkin. I found the off-white half-pumpkin at Michaels, as well as a sheet of adhesive glitter foam. I played around with the size of the keys to get them the right size and placed them so there was enough room for five black keys.

The black glitter tulle around the stem was purchased at Hobby Lobby. I gathered it on my sewing machine, then hot glued it around the top of the pumpkin. The music notes are stickers I had on hand, but can be found at any craft store.

I LOVE the way it turned out!! I'll probably leave it up through the month of November.

Felt-Free Quiet Books

I created a COLORS quiet book made from fabric that I've given to my grandchildren when they turn one. I'm not a fan of felt, so there isn't any felt in any of the quiet books I've made.

 I try to use true colors and a variety of textures--soft, rough, silky--on each page.

 I have the color name cross-stitched in capital letters so they can learn to recognize letters--

 and eventually how to read the names of the colors.

 The color names are covered in clear vinyl so they won't get dirty.

 I tried to use interesting 3-D shapes on each page, like pom poms, bells, gems, buttons, etc.

 There are also a variety of ribbons on trims.

When our children were young I made them a quiet book.

 I took pretty good care of it, with the plan to save it for our grandchildren. Now that my oldest son has four children, I gave him the Quiet Book I made in the 80's, with a few updated pages.

 The balloons have velcro to match the colors, and the stop light has buttons.

 The lion's cage is closed with a hook and eye, and the hands on the clock move.

 You can tell the shoe is from the 80's, but I gave it an updated shoelace. The circus tent has a zipper.

 This is one of my new pages, with fish swimming on the ocean,

 and bunnies that come out of the pockets to play with.

 The apples snap onto the tree and the pocket buttons with fruit snacks or a pad with paper and crayons inside.

 I also added this page. Since I'm a piano teacher I figure it's never too early to start learning the music alphabet and where they are on the piano keyboard!

Here's the cover of the Quiet book I made for my oldest daughter's two girls.

This is what the layout looks like before I fold them in half to create four pages of the book.

This was the first ocean page I created, using real sea shells on the ocean floor.

 A close up of the fabric doll page. The zipper pocket has more clothes for her to wear.

 The buttons page.

The beads are for counting and the butterfly has a bow to tie.

 The stars use snaps.

I added ribbons to the shapes to match so they wouldn't get lost.

The cherry pie is made from corduroy fabric for the "crust" and has strips to weave.

 Below is the Quiet book I've made for my youngest daughter's family.

 I started it off with the piano keys again.

The red fleece bear has a bow to tie.

 Can you tell how the ocean page has gotten more elaborate each time I make it? It's my favorite page to create.

 More shapes to match and stars to snap.

 The clock page and counting beads page. The clock page is the only one I've recreated exactly from the original quiet book I made in the 80's.

 I like this weaving ribbons heart much better than the pie I used in the other quiet book.

 The Lees are big BYU cougar fans, so hopefully this fleece "Y" logo will help to steer the next generation in the right direction!

Tea Party Tips and Recipes

 Spring is the perfect time to host a tea party! I had fun deciding what I would serve, deciding on my decorations and making the invitations and menu.

The first thing I did, of course, was to make the invitations. The font I used on the invitations and the menues is Centeria Script Demo, a free font I uploaded from the internet.

Ten ladies were able to attend.

                            
 For the place settings I used pink transferware Villeroy and Boch dishes that I purchased in Germany, on cream tin chargers.

I printed a menu so the ladies would know what was being served.

I had a selection of herbal teas available so the guests could choose their own flavor.

I hung some Martha Stewart lacy paper lanterns in the windows and in the corner of the room.

Here are the savory choices: chicken salad on homemade sweet potato rolls, cucumber sandwiches on homemade white bread, and avocado egg salad with bacon on homemade wheat rolls. I added cherry tomatoes for garnish. Not pictured are cream scones, which were on a separate platter. There was clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam to put on the scones.

 The dessert choices were strawberry lemon bars, lemon curd tarts, chocolate chip cookies with toll house spring chips,

and strawberry-filled cupcakes with strawberry icing. I wrapped them in cupcake skirts purchased at TJ Maxx.

For a centerpiece I used a silver candelabra surrounded by small vases of pink azaleas from our yard.

  I looked for something small and narrow I could use for the mini vases,

and discovered these salt and pepper shakers at Wal-Mart for less than a dollar for two of them.

I added organza ribbon and a small pearl bead to each bottle.

I had fun making pink sugar cubes for the tea. The tray the sugar cubes are displayed on in this photo is from Ikea. For the tea party they were served on a pink depression glass plate.

To make the sugar cubes, tint regular sugar with pink food coloring in just a tiny bit of water. The blossom mold is also from Ikea, for 99 cents.

Pack the sugar into the molds, but only about half full.

Use the flat end of a wooden spoon to pack the sugar down tightly into the mold.

 Let the sugar cubes sit over night until dry. The cubes will slid out easily. Store in an airtight container.

Cucumber sandwiches are standard fare at a tea party. I made small loaves of white bread, then cut out circles with a cookies cutter.

 I cut the cucumbers into flower shapes with another cookie cutter.

 I spread the bread with cream cheese with chives and placed the cucumbers on top.

One thing I forgot to take a picture of was the take home gifts for each lady. I'd made a small loaf of bread and a small plastic container of homemade strawberry jam for each one. I also provided small pretty paper plates for the ladies to load up any leftovers they wanted to take home with them.

Probably the two favorite items on the menu were the cream scones and the avocado egg salad with bacon. Here's the link to the recipe for the egg salad, found on ourbestbites.com.

http://ourbestbites.com/2015/04/avocado-egg-salad/

 I copied the recipe for cream scones many years ago and don't remember where I got it from.                                                             
Cream Scones

2 cups flour                               1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt                       1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, chilled               1 cup heavy cream (whipping cream)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix all dry ingredients together. Cut in cold butter with pastry blender until mixture is the size of peas. Add cream and mix to form a stiff batter; it may not cling together. Knead 5-10 times to form dough, adding only as much flour as necessary so it's not sticky.
Divide dough into two equal parts. Pat each half into a circle. It should be about 1" thick. Cut each circle into six or eight wedges. Brush tops with cream and dip into sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until just slightly browned on the bottom. DO NOT OVER BAKE!   Makes either 16 small or 12 medium sized scones, depending on how many wedges you cut
Serve with clotted cream and jam.

Clotted Cream

1/2 cup sour cream                         1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy cream                      1/4 cup confectioners sugar

 Mix together sour cream and vanilla. Beat cream in a chilled bowl. When cream forms into medium- stiff peaks, sprinkle on sugar and continue to beat. When sugar is integrated and peaks are stiff, gently fold in the sour cream/vanilla mixture.