Scrapbook Garage Sale

I was asked to pass this along...  

ANNUAL SCRAPBOOK GARAGE SALE

September 10^th

9-1

Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church

3700 E. Mt. Vernon

Wichita, KS

It’s that time of year once again.  Come and sell your new/used supplies.  Come and shop ‘til you drop!  Email me at Jhuelsman@keymgmt.com or call me at 619-6226 after 5:00pm for information on the sale.  C’mon girls make some extra spending money and sell your unwanted or leftover supplies.  Tell everyone you know that is a scrapbooker or cardmaker that this is the sale you can’t miss.

Table rental is $10 (same as last year).  Invite everyone you know to come shop or get a table with someone if you don’t have enough.  One table is included in the price of $10, and it is either a Round or Long table.  Get your reservations in early as they will sell out once again.

Homemade Dog Biscuits

The kids and I have been enjoying our Summer Fun List again this year. (You can see our 2009 list here.)  Recently, we crossed off "make a gift" by making Homemade Dog Biscuits and delivering them to the neighborhood dogs.  Rumor has it they were a hit! 

Basic Dog Biscuit Recipe

 Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup skim milk powder

1 Tablespoon (or 1 pkg) dry yeast

3 1/2 cups lukewarm chicken or meat broth

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm chicken or meat broth. The richer this broth is, the better your dog will like the biscuits.  Let yeast broth mixture set 10 minutes.  Then stir in flour mixture (which is everything else).  Roll resulting dough out 1/4" thick.  Cut dog biscuit shapes from dough.  Brush biscuits with egg wash.  Bake on greased cookie sheets at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.  Then turn off oven and leave in overnight to finish hardening (we made our in the morning and then let them set all day).  Makes 60 medium-sized biscuits.

Baby Shower/Adoption Celebration

Back in March, I shared this story with you...one about a baby discovered on Facebook that instantly filled the hearts of so many.  Adoption is beautiful and we finally got to celebrate as it became "official"!!!  We threw a Baby Shower/Adoption Celebration for my friend and I wanted to share some of the decorations with you.

We held it at a church, so we knew we had a lot of browns to work with.  We went with a blue/brown/red/white color scheme (which was pretty easy to find around the 4th of July!).

I made onsies with his name spelled out (the fabric used for the letters became the common thread that pulled the color scheme all together).  We used twine as the "clothesline" and added baby socks for extra cuteness!

Made much lovelier by the generosity of friends and family!

We used more twine and decorated clothespins to hang pictures all over the room.  Again, with a few socks stuck in here and there.

The decorative clothespins are SUPER easy and just adds that "little extra" punch.  You can find the tutorial here.  I didn't make mine magnets like she did, but that's a cute idea too!

 

On the tables we used a white round tablecloth and then cut a large square of fabric (the same as the letters on the onsies) to place on top.  A white vase filled with 3 pinwheels and tied with a ribbon made for fun centerpieces.  I found the pinwheels here.

We had a "Blessings" station set up for each of the couples 3 kids.  Guests were to write a special note for their upcoming birthdays and adoption days (they were all adopted).  There was an envelope for 1st bday, 1st adoption day, 2nd birthday, 2nd adoption day, etc.

We put a note next to the blue bins that said, "Please choose a blank envelope and a blank card and share a special memory, a piece of advice, or simple well wishes to provide a blessing in the future."  One bin had the envelopes that we had already labeled, the next blank cards, and the third was for the completed cards in envelopes.  The parents will then be given all of these cards to give each of their kids on the corresponding bday/adoption day in the future.

Food, lots and lots of food...

The beautiful momma and of course the guest of honor!  Every time I turned around, he was in the arms of someone else...just as it should be!

I finally got my hands on him!!!  A beautiful day.  God is good.

Kid-Friendly Snack

Apples with peanut butter and sprinkles.  This is a quick, fun snack!  You could use red, white, and blue sprinkles and it would be a fun treat for the 4th of July!

Rolled Meatloaf

I wasn't a big meatloaf fan, until I tried this recipe. It's delicious! Five out of five people devoured it at my house. That's a keeper, folks!

Ingredients:
2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 eggs
3/4 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. tomato juice
2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
8 thin slices ham
6 oz. grated mozzarella cheese
1 c. spaghetti sauce

Beat eggs, add tomato juice, oatmeal, and spices.  Stir.

Mix well into meat.

Pat mixture into 10x12" rectangle on waxed paper.

Arrange ham on top, then sprinkle cheese over.

Roll at short end, lifting paper.

Pinch seam together (the original recipe doesn't say to do this, but it just seems like you should).

Place roll, seam side down in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Drain off liquids.  Pour spaghetti sauce over meat.  Bake 10-15 minutes more.  Slice and serve. 

It was gone before I could get an "after" picture!  Let me know if you try it!

Nesting

My kids and I were doing some yard work at Maple Memories when they discovered a nest. Of course, they could only see the bottom of the nest while looking up and they HAD to know if it had something inside. So we got out the ladder to take a peek...

How exciting!!! We'll keep you posted on how our 4 latest additions are doing in the upcoming days and weeks (as Momma bird allows!).

Supporting Joplin

3 women...1 mission. Supporting Joplin. I am blessed with some very caring friends. Ones that don't just say that they wish they could help, but ones that do. Today, we made a trip to the store and put together toiletry packs (male and female) to take to Joplin. We are planning on making a trip soon (after the initial search and rescue is over) to help with the clean up. Today we filled 40 bags with shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, chapstick, toothbrush, toothpaste, tampons, ponytail holders, lotion, Q-tips, Cotton balls, hand wipes, and soap. Our goal is to fill at least 80 more (but we'd love to provide more).

All the contact lens solution and cases seen on the left...donated by the lovely man working in the eyeglasses place at Wal-Mart. There was a sign next to the samples that said take one and one for a friend. We told him we were taking things to Joplin...he said take them all!! AND then he went into the back and got us several more big boxes full! People are good and I believe he will be blessed for his actions.

Female Kits

Male Kits

If you'd like to help, we'd gladly accept any of the items above.  We would also like to take larger (non-travel size) bottles of Bug Spray, Hand Sanitizer, and Sunscreen for the people working and doing clean up.  A few other items that would be useful: blankets, individual bottles or gallons of water and/or gatorade, baby formula, diapers, wipes, and any first aid kit items.  If you want to donate, contact me at shannon@maplememories.com.