We Grow By Our Dreams

Under the Sea Party

2009-09-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

We do parties pretty big at the Grow house. This last week was my niece's 8th birthday. Most of the stuff we did ourselves but the cake was from Baskin Robbins. We added the sea life candles from Oriental Trading. Let's hit the food table first.No Grow party is complete without Krispie Pops. This year I did an aquarium and clownfish. I made a chex mix with goldfish and oyster crackers.

Fruit plate with cute fish toothpicks.My sister saw these clam cookies somewhere and recreated them. The pearls/eyes are yogurt raisins.Silly games are always part of our festivities. My sister painted a dog cone to look like a shark. The game is called "feeding frenzy. The kids h ave to throw sha rk b ait a t the shark. One party goer loved the shark cone so much that she ate her cake with it on. We also had an obstacle course that was completed wearing goggles and flippers. The kids collected "pearls" in their bucket along the course.In a kiddie pool, the kids did a dolphin ring toss and a fishing game. . Now, some decor pics. Here are 3 partygoers on a beach towel in front of the kiddie pool and very large banner that my sister made using poster paper and fish cut outs. My niece pulled out all of her ocean books and stuffies to decorate my piano.

The patio was decorated like an aquarium with hanging fish, balloons and metallic streamers.

Lastly, this is the front of the invitation. My sister designs and makes them herself every year. Not pictured: the dolphin pinata, goodie bags and my niece in her mermaid costume. Also, the swedish fish and gummie sharks were gone before I could take a picture of them.

The Grow Garden 2009

2009-07-21T10:31:00.001-07:00

This is our garden this year.

These are going to be yellow pear-shaped cherry tomatoes. I planted 4 other kinds of tomatoes too.
These are chili peppers we planted last year that grew back. There are 3 plants with different kinds of peppers (one is called chocolate pepper.)
We planted green onions outside of the garden to keep the critters away.
These are eggplants from the plant we planted last year. They also survived.
Here is a small cuke. I planted one cucumber plant and it has gone crazy along with the 4 zucchini plants.

This time last year I had a major critter problem in my garden. So far we've been lucky (knock on wood.) I buy most of my plants from Rogers Gardens in Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach. They sell lots of heirloom plants that do well by the beach. And, if you love gardens, gourmet food and art you should visit this place. It's amazing, especially at Christmastime.

Magnetic Board

2009-07-21T10:22:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago we had a ladies craft night at church. Well, I mostly socialized so I didn't finish any of my 3 projects that night. I just now finished this one. It's a magnetic board to hold pictures, postcards, invitations, cards, whatever. I was supposed to use ribbon to tie on the metal hanger but I cut some fabric off of my bedskirt instead.

I'm making some custom magnets to go with it. When I finish I'll post them with my board hanging in my room.

Blue Ribbon Granola

2009-07-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

This year I was honored to win a blue ribbon for my granola at the OC Fair. I've had several requests for my "winning recipe" so here is my attempt to share it with you. I make granola for my family once a week and it is different every time I make it. The award winner was Orange Cherry Pecan.

First up:
Orange Dried Cherries (They are good on their own but are a wonderful addition to granola.)

*Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2- 10 oz. bags of frozen cherries
1/2 to 1 cup (enough to cover the cherries) Orange juice (I used orange mango)
1/4 cup honey
secret ingredient-a little orange zest

In a medium saucepan on medium heat, bring all ingredients to a boil. Turn heat to low and allow mixture to simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and the juice is thick. Don't stir. If you really want to stir it, just swirl the pot around. Remove from heat. Using a slotted spoon, remove cherries and place them in a single layer on a silicone pad lined cookie sheet (or parchment paper or non-stick cookie sheet.) Dry in preheated oven
for about 2 hours, checking every 20-30 minutes. You want them to be chewy. If you have a dehydrator, cool. Use it.

Orange Cherry Pecan Granola

* Preheat oven to 275 degrees

4 cups grains (I use a mixture of oatmeal, wheat flakes, barley flakes, and rye flakes)

2 cups nuts (the winning recipe used blanched almonds and pecans)

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2-3/4 cups honey (depending on how sweet you want it)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

sprinklings of sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg

secret ingredient-2 Tbs. orange juice

Orange zest

Orange Dried Cherries
Combine all ingredients except zest and cherries in a medium-sized bowl. Spread mixture onto a non-stick or foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 30 minutes to an hour. Stir every 10-15 minutes after 30 minutes. You want the granola a golden brown. You are stirring so the sides don't get too brown. Remove granola from the oven and sprinkle with orange zest. Allow granola to cool before adding dried cherries and packaging.

It's great on yogurt or with milk as a cereal. Other flavoring options: add a teaspoon of vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, coconut or almond extract. You could also add peanut butter and replace the honey with maple syrup or agave necter.

Other fruits: dehydrated or freeze-dried strawberries, peaches, raisins, currents, flaked coconut, blueberries, apples, banana chips, etc.

Other nuts and seeds: slivered almonds (just be careful that they don't get too brown too quickly), peanuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds (they are in the picture above but I didn't use them in my award winning recipe), sunflower seeds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, etc.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try it.

Home-made English Muffins

2009-07-14T20:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, you heard that right. I made my own English muffins. They are as easy to make as pancakes only so much cooler. I found the recipe on Baking Bites blog. I substituted white flour with whole wheat pastry flour and they were amazing. I served them with butter and my mum's homemade sugar-free plum jam.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-03T23:12:00.001-07:00

To continue with my tradition of posting a tour of my home on every holiday, I present you with Independence Day. First off, a picture of my house with my flag out front.
Just inside the kitchen is the banner that I sewed using vintage and recycled fabrics and bias tape.

And, as promised, on the living room coffee table lies the coordinating table runner. It's reversable. It has the red bandana/centinial fabric on one side and colorful flip flops on the other.

I didn't really go all out of decorating the house this go around because I've been busy planning the church 4th of July Breakfast. We are having pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipping cream.

I also made 150 of these Mentos "firecrackers." I used up a bunch of paper and ribbon I wasn't crazy about. I will put these on the tables as the decoration.

Basic instructions: Remove paper wrapper. Replace with 2" x 3" piece of paper (I ran my adhesive runner up one side and then just rolled the Mentos over the paper). Tie knot in 3" long piece of ribbon and adhere with a small glue dot. Repeat 149 times. LOL.

And, finally, every year the girls in my family (aka the growgirls) wear matching Old Navy t-shirts. This is my uniform for this year. I'll wear it with a skirt and a flag bracelet

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. Happy 4th to all of my American friends. Thanks for stopping by.

A patriotic banner

2009-06-27T16:56:00.001-07:00

I just love making these festive buntings. I made this one a little different. I used a lot of vintage fabrics (I love the bicentinial one) plus some fabric samples. I used red and blue vintage bias tape on the top. And, it's a bit longer than I usually do so I had to swag it. It's hanging over my kitchen widow that looks out to my flag.

I'll be back in a couple days for an Independence Day tour of my home, including the table runner I made to match the patriotic banner.

There's No Place Like Home

2009-04-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much crafting lately except for plastic lollipops, silk flower bouquets and other props for our church production of the Wizard of Oz. My niece is a munchin, my sister is painting scenery, my mum is a director, and I'm the stage manager and prop master. I also get to operate the 8 foot tall Wizard who comes complete with beaming yellow eyes, smoking nose, and moving mouth.

And, I also helped design our publicity. Here is our poster:

If you are in the OC area this weekend or next, come see our show. To get tickets, send an email to: tamiwalkoz@aol.com I think the Saturdays are almost sold out so you might want to hurry.

Easter Open House

2009-04-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my tradition of posting a holiday tour with pictures from around my home, here are some pictures showing Easter at my house. First up, I made hot cross buns on Good Friday. We made bunnies out of plastic grocery bags at work this week. I found the fun idea on the makeandtakes blog.

Here are a couple pictures from my front yard. The geraniums are around all year. The pink flowers come up every spring.

Now, we'll go inside my house, starting with the wreath on my front door (it's store bought.)

My niece made a whole series of wooden block decorations in Kindergarten. There's one for every holiday.

Here are a few pictures from my kitchen. We have three cupboards with glass doors. They each get decorated along with the shelf above the kitchen sink window. And, the egg garland I made this year goes above the windows that look into the front yard.

And, finally, these are the eggs my niece and I dyed today. I displayed them in a wooden egg holder I found at an estate sale.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Easter!

Egg-cellent

2009-04-07T21:25:00.001-07:00

I've been crazy for bunting lately. After I made the heart one and hung it in my mum's kitchen, she fell in love with it and asked me to make her a banner for every big holiday. So, here is the Easter bunting.

I designed the shape and used all types of mismatched fabrics that I had. Some were scraps leftover from the baby buntings. Others were from old sheets. Most were from fabric sample cards that I bought from a flea market at the fabric store.

I made this one the same way I made the heart one. I zig zagged the front piece to a piece of white felt, used my scalloping scissors on the edge and attached all the eggs with double fold bias tape.

The next holiday banner will be for the 4th of July. I have some really great fabrics already picked out, including a vintage bicentenial fabric.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Easter.

I still make cards

2009-03-16T00:22:00.000-07:00

Ha! It's been a while but I made some cards. For the first one I stamped the leaves and sentiment with SU Best Blossoms. The bottom is plum color paper that I punched with my new Fiskars Apron Lace border punch. The top is striped purple and white paper I've had for years. For the next card I used SU Touch of Nature colored with Prismacolor pencils. I masked the image and stamped SU French Script. I used another new Fiskars border punch for the bottom along with some ribbon and some twill that I stamped with a Hero Arts sentiment. Lastly, this is a really quick card with DCWV papers and Cornish Heritage Farms bunny and sentiment.
Thanks for coming by. Have a great day.

The Spice Girls

2009-03-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

I had three participants in my Spice It Up Challenge. They all took a totally different and creative approach to the challenge to makeover a spice container. Here are the entries:

Jan from Far North Designs.

Christie from I Must Stamp.

Catherine from Paper Garden Projects

The judges (my very crafty mom, sister and niece) had a very tough time choosing. My niece was the tie-breaker. She chose Christie's pretty purple vase as the winner. Christie, I am sending you the Love book along with some goodies. And, because it was so close, Catherine and Jan will also be getting treats from me.

Thank you ladies for sharing your talent.

I need a vacation from my vacation

2009-03-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

I took a few days off work and came up to Sacramento for some fun times with my friend, Suzie. A little over a week ago her son decided to get married while I was up here. My weekend was spent dipping strawberries, cookies and pretzels in white and dark chocolate, helping choose music, helping decorate the reception tables, and generally running all over town buying supplies. The good news is that everything looked (and tasted) wonderful and the bride and groom looked gorgeous. The bride and groom's son Hayden ate about 20 of the pretzels. So, today is Sunday, or the day after the wedding, and Suzie and I decided to relax and drive up to the Sacramento LDS Temple. It was really nice and quiet up there. I fly home tomorrow via Jet Blue. Can I just say that I love Jet Blue!?!

I've been featured!

2009-03-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite blogs for great ideas is Tip Junkie. It features inspiration from lots of creative ladies. My felt sports pennants are featured this week along with with several other tips on fun things to do with kids.

If you love giveaways, Tip Junkie has lots. Check out this one

How to donate to Locks of Love

2009-02-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

Every two years I donate my hair to Locks of Love. I can't think of a more worthy cause than helping children to feel more self confident. I want to share my experience to show you how easy it is.

Here is what you need:

1 big ziplock bag
A cut ponytail measuring at least 10 inches
A padded envelope
LOL hair donation form

Just fill out the form and mail the hair in the ziplock bag in the padded envelope. There are some guidelines for the hair. There's even a video that shows how easy it is to donate. So, if you are thinking about getting a haircut soon, consider making a hair donation to Locks of Love. If you do, I'd love to see before and after pictures.

Now, some before and after pictures. My hair was layered so the longest piece was over 14 inches, but most of the ponytail hair was in the 12 inch range. In the past 4 1/2 years, I've donated about 35 inches of hair to Locks of Love.

I'm not that great at taking my own picture but I think you get the point. :)

How to have a great birthday

2009-02-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

Monday was my birthday and I went with my mum, sister and niece to Disneyland, for free. We started the day at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel Storytellers Cafe.

First, I made some new friends.

Then, I had an amazing buffet breakfast. I was happy about all the healthy choices. Then, came my birthday dessert, sure it was only 9:30 a.m. but it was an amazing chocolate mousse covered in chocolate ganache.

Then, on to Disneyland where we rode a gazillion rides.

And, we made more friends.

Our one day ride total:

Jungle Cruise

Indiana Jones

Astro Blasters

Space Mountain (twice)

Honey I shrunk the Audience

Teacups (twice)

It's a small world

Big Thunder Mountain

Winnie the Pooh

The Haunted Mansion

Pirates of the Carribean

And, I got a pass to come to California Adventure for free within 30 days. woo hoo!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

I have a few treats to share with you today.

This is a brownie baked in a heart shaped muffin pan. The frosting is chocolate ganache poured on top. I made the flower with chocolate clay. I haven't chosen a recipient yet. I had lots of Heidi Grace Love Blossoms goodies leftover so I used the flocked paper to cover Target mailboxes and the tops of the candy packages. The mailboxes were super easy with the Paper Garden template.

I make pink candy every year. I don't use a recipe. It's just melted white chocolate and crushed candy canes spread thin onto parchment paper. I have a bunting addiction. I made a 10 inch heart template and cut several different red and white fabrics and white felt. I zigzagged stitched the patterned fabrics to the felt. Then, I used my new Fiskars scalloped pinking shears to cut the edges and finished it off by straight stitching red seam binding on the back. It's hanging over my kitchen windows.
Have a lovely day. Oh, and I'm part of the Craft Critique Valentine's Day Carnival of ideas today.

Thrifty Crafter Frame

2009-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

Rebecca from Fiskars gave me a challenge. I was sent a big box of Heidi Grace goodies from the Love Blossoms line and an inexpensive wooden picture frame and challenged to make something.

The tough part was that there was so much gorgeous stuff to choose from.

Wooden Provocraft Fame

Super thick Die Cuts (I used the "C", "H", "O", 2 blank squares and 3 little hearts and 2 circles)

Plastic Shapes

Ribbon (I used the pink one, 4th from top)

Die Cuts

Rub ons (I used the "l" and the "e")

Cardstock Stickers

Here are some close ups. I painted the front, back and sides with light pink paint. I distressed the heck out of all the paper and embellishments. I didn't think the L or the E matched so I made my own with rub ons. This frame was inspired by a frame made by Stephanie from Homegrown Hospitality as seen on Fiskars TV.

I made the frame for baby Chloe. I also made her a pink and green baby bunting. Isn't she gorgeous? (Ash, don't show Chloe, it's a suprise.)

Weekend Happenings

2009-02-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

Our Super Bowl spread complete with cheesy football and veggies, apple pie, chili and cornbread, sugar-free rootbeer, white cheddar popcorn and helmet jell-o jigglers.

My niece and I went for a walk along the wetlands at sunset yesterday. She took the picture of me. Be kind, I was makeup-free yesterday. Lost a front tooth.

Sitting by a big tree.

Looking toward the beach. The hills in the distance are actually Long Beach, it's beach faces ours.

Thanks for stopping by.

Favorite Team Sport Pennant Tutorial

2009-01-31T16:11:00.000-08:00

For the past 8 years I've been making these fun Super Bowl decorations out of felt. However, the idea can certainly be used for any sports team, theme (including your child's team) or to show your school pride. This year I made the football field and the Cardinals. I already had the Steelers. Here's a little tutorial on how to create a banner for your favorite team.

This is my felt pile. I always by the 8 1/2 x 11 sheets when they are on sale.

Step 1: Fold the felt in half and mark the center.Step 2: Make your background shape. Using a ruler or piece of paper, mark and cut from each of the top corners to your center line.
For the field, cut a staight piece and glue it down the center. Don't worry about the bottom part hanging off the sides of your triangle. Just flip it over and trim.
Step 3: Make a template: Print out and cut out your shape. I find images on the internet or make numbers in Word.Step 4: Lay your image on your felt and cut around the outside of your template. If you are using an image with multiple layers (like my Cardinal), then cut the largest piece of felt first, cut the template down to the next color and continue cutting until all of your layers are cut.
Step 5: Glue it down. I like Tacky Glue but I'm sure any fabric or Elmers glue would work.Some of the penants have a top strip. For the field I made it in 2 pieces so it would be flat and added a couple field lines. Here they are hanging in my living room. You can email me with questions. Thanks for visiting. Happy Super Bowl Sunday! If you make a pennant, please share the link with me. I'd love to see it.

Spice it Up Challenge

2009-01-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

How old are the spices in your pantry? If you have little tin cans they are at least 15 years old. McCormick has a handy device to test your spice's age. Dry spices are only fresh for 2-3 years. Got old spices? Well, dump 'em and get crafty.

The challenge:

1. leave a comment here telling me you want to play.

2. put the Spice it Up blinkie on your blog. (I'm still working on the hyperlink)
3. make something out of your old spice tin or jar.
4. upload it to your blog by February 23rd.

All entries will be judged by an unbiased panel. One winner will recieve the Love book I shared yesterday.
Winner will be announced on my blog on March 1st. I'll also post all the other entries for everyone to be inspired by. If you don't have old spices (good for you), then I can send you one of my tins. I have 5 up for grabs. Email me your address please.

An Early Valentine Treat

2009-01-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

I made this fun little journal out of big, red envelopes that were left over from Christmas cards and a bunch of little knick knacks I had around the craft space.

This is the front page. Lots of ribbon, Making Memories words, Cosmo Cricket punch outs, Creative Imaginations paper, vintage sheet music and a sparkly heart. Another 2 pages. More Creative Imaginations paper, sheet music, Prima flowers, Cosmo Cricket Punch out, other papers, and metal word.

More pages. Daisy D's words, Cosmo Cricket punch out, paper from France, Cardboard and sparkly hearts.

Back page. Prima flowers, another metal phrase, patterned papers and sheet music.

Here it is all stretched out. There are lots of pockets to hold photos or other memorabilia. I tried to keep it from getting too busy so someone could add photos, journaling, or other memorabilia.

Thanks for stopping by. I am posting a fun challenge tomorrow.

2009-01-26T21:33:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of projects to share with you but so far they are parked inside the camera. So, to update how I'm doing on my goals, I have:

1. Spiced up my blog. For those of you on feeds, my blog has a new look thanks to Michelle at Shabby Creations.

It's exactly what I wanted.2. I signed up for the Camp Pendleton Mud run. It's a 10k run/obstacle course. I've been "training" for the past week. Check outthe map to see what I'm crazy enough to do.
I'm most nervous about the climbing walls. I'm secretly hoping some hot Marine guy with just throw me over. :)

Below is a fun little thing. There are 10 people named Heather Grow in the U.S. Try out your own name.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are
10
people with my name in the U.S.A.

http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=

Hello Baby

2009-01-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

My bff and her hubby just welcomed the most precious baby girl into their family. I wanted to make something special for her so I dusted off the sewing machine and made her a bunting (pennant banner) for her Beatrice Potter themed room.

I found some great goodies at Joann's Fabrics: a Fiskars 3 piece quilting set (on sale!) and lots of cute fabric. I had a hard time choosing a color scheme until I found the Heidi Grace fabrics (serendipity!). The rest of the fabrics were chosen to coordinate with those three fabrics.
I followed a great tutorial from Joyful Abode. The pictures were taken in my bathroom because it's the same color as the baby room.

New Year, New Me

2009-01-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

I'm not into "resolutions" that start on January 1st and seem to end around January 10th. For the past 5 years I've come up with a one word theme for the new year. I let the theme guide me as I make daily choices. My theme for 2009 is "courage."

I do have a few goals that I'm working on this year too. No pictures but if you're interested, here they are:

1. Walk the dogs at least once a week.
2. Eat more vegetables (this may sound funny coming from a vegetarian but I don't really eat a lot of veggies.)
3. Keep an exercise journal.
4. Run in a race. (5k, 10k, whatever)
5. Find (or create) places to put all the stuff in my room.
6. Spice up the blog and Etsy store.
7. Sew more (pictures of projects I'm working on coming soon.)
8. Submit cards for publication.

I'll be doing a little contest on my blog soon. Stay tuned.