Potted Herbs as Gifts

Earlier this week I talked about my herbs which I have growing indoors and they are doing Great!   I planted them back in November so give or take 3 months and you have a good crop to harvest for spicing up your meals!   Then I got to thinking about the upcoming holidays and since I am big on homemade gifts…I thought potted herbs are the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day or any Birthday!   I have recently acquired the Cricut cartridge “Freshly Picked” and haven’t had time to delve into what it can do.

What I really like about this cartridge is it’s all about Gardening…one of my favorite things in the world.   So today I took some time and made a few seed packets and little paper signs.   This is only a start … I can do so many creative things with this!

I had the herbs growing in the standard black plastic pots so I transplanted them into nicer terra-cotta pots.   You can decorate the pots any way you desire, any color and even personalize them with names, dates, etc.

Add a packet of those saved seeds you kept from your garden last year and you have a spectacular homemade gift!   You can even include some garden themed chocolates…..Yum!         Perfect!!

Garlic Scapes

This year I decided to harvest the garlic scapes from the hard garlic growing in the garden.   Some folks do this and others don’t – last year I didn’t and all the garlic harvested seemed quite large to me.   This year by cutting the scapes (the curly stalks that hard garlic grow) I am giving the bulb in the ground an even better chance of growing larger – the growing energy is directed towards the bulb and not the stalk or scape.   So now I have all these Garlic Scapes

and browsing through the blogs participating in the GROW project I spotted this perfectly timed post by Colleen at In the Garden online  and spent the day yesterday making Garlic Scape Pesto and canning up 6 pints of pickled scapes.   The pickled scapes will make a great addition to my Father’s Day gift since my Dad loves garlic and the garlic bulbs are not ready yet to harvest.

I cut the scapes to fit the pint size jars (I made 6 pints) and added the hot brine along with some red pepper flakes and dried oregano.   To make the liquid brine you heat up 3 cups of vinegar, 5 cups of water and 1/4 cup of kosher salt.   Then you use the hot water canning method and cook 45 minutes.   They need to set for 2 weeks before eating to allow the flavors to blend.

I also made the Garlic Scape Pesto and it is totally addicting – I am thinking even better than a Basil Pesto ……. really good!   I modified the recipe a bit.   I cut up 1 cup of scapes and added them along with 1/3 cup of walnuts to the blender.   Blended a while and added 1/2 cup olive oil and lastly about 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese.

 So very delicious!!!   Thank you Colleen for your timely post – I am enjoying my Garlic Scapes to the max!

I recently returned once again from the trip down south and my mailbox was full of wonderful treasures …. 2 new magazines I have subscribed to;  Runner’s World and PaperCrafts.   I have decided I now have to purchase the Provocraft Gypsy to go along with my Cricut simply because of all this back and forth traveling.   The Gypsy will allow me to travel and create without lugging the Cricut machine each trip….how exciting is that!

Renee’s Garden once again floored me with their promptness and generosity.   I received the media kit with my Nasturtium seeds and decided to send for the 18 free packages of seeds they offered.   I received them all within a few days and am overjoyed with all these wonderful new possibilities to add to the gardens down south.

Happy Gardening!!!

Seed Paper Flowers and The Big Card!

I have seen this idea posted on the internet in the past and I thought I would give it a try since I have been accumulating little scraps of paper as I work with my Cricut.   This is quite easy and I was unsure if it would work, but it Did!   First, I took the scraps of paper and put them in the blender ..

Added water and blended  ..

You can see the paper and water turned to mush and it’s even colored which is neat.   I added marigold seeds to the paper mush and added all this to a colander to squeeze out the excess water.   I had a flower mold which I then added the mush or pulp to – you can spread this out on a cookie sheet and cut out shapes if you don’t have a mold.

 Plastic flower mold

I am letting these air dry.   I did read you can dry them in the oven on low heat but since I haven’t tried that I can’t say how it works.   If you are in a hurry it might work out.   These flowers or any shape you create can be added to a card for Easter or Mother’s Day.   The idea is to plant the whole flower – paper and seeds and let it grow!   Cool idea – now we will have to test it and see if the flowers grow.

Speaking of cards, I have been working on a BIG card for my son.   He is turning 21 in May and the idea hit me this week to create a card and bring it along to the holiday parties this weekend (he is away at college, so he won’t see it) and have all the family members sign it.

 This is designed on a full sheet of poster board and the images cut on the Cricut.  I will bring along the tags for everyone to write something on and then glue them in and add more designs to finish it off.   I left plenty of space since I don’t know how many signed tags I will end up with.

 Inside of card

I have realized that working and creating cards and designs takes quite a bit of creative imagination.   You may see something you want to create but sitting there with all the supplies in front of you seems to just draw a blank.   So I have been doodling or just playing around with different items like stamps and cut out shapes and words and this is working for ideas.   For instance – I saw this concept of stamping the background of paper (heavy and light) and using it as a design ……

So I just started doodling with the stamps and shapes and I like this idea.   I will make up some cute Easter cards to give out this weekend … doodle thoughts work great!!!

Pressed Herbs and Flowers

Experimenting with my new Cricut has been fun and has stirred up all kinds of creative ideas!  I made these gift bags which I thought would be a bit bigger but I have to keep in mind the size of the machine.  I was envisioning the gift bags you pick up at the store but the ones I created are much smaller.  I can use them for candies or soaps but the best gift I thought to use them for would be seed packets…they are the perfect size!

I used pressed dried herbs and flowers along with paper cut designs to decorate the gift bags.  Dried sage is used as the stem and leaves in the design above.  Herbs are easy to dry either by hanging or press them flat in a heavy book as I did with these.

 Pressed basil, parsley, sage, flowers and leaves

I have realized that an area for laying out all my materials is crucial for the designing of projects. 

There seems to be an unlimited amount of projects and creations on the internet and I have only just begun to discover some of them.  A really clever idea that I did happen to find and can’t wait to use it in a design is using foil tape to cover cut out paper designs for an embossed look.

I think an embossed Running Garlic sign would be cool … oh, the possibilities are endless ………

I got my Cricut!

Yes!   We purchased the Cricut and I am overwhelmed to say the least!   I did attend the demonstration and ask many questions at the local craft store yesterday and now I do feel much more comfortable with it.   There really is ALOT of different shapes, sizes, fonts and figures this machine can cut.   For those unfamiliar with a Cricut, it is an electronic cutting machine.   Different cartridges can be purchased and used to create whatever you have in mind.  My unit came with 2 cartridges and I purchased 2 additonal ones – Walk in the Garden is backordered but I did come home with From the Kitchen.

 My first flower creations!

As I left the store I saw this couple walking down the sidewalk with their 4 dogs.   I watched in amazement as they loaded all 4 well behaved dogs into their small vehicle and drove off.  I really thought I was seeing things!

Also this past week I was notified that I won Free Seeds from Everything About Gardening on facebook.  I am a fan and my name was chosen … I love winning!   Jeff @ http://www.cheapseeds.com does a fantastic job of promoting his business!   I was amazed at another of his links – gardening videos.   Check it out at http://www.bestgardeningvideo.com   Tons of information … tons!   Thank you Jeff … I will have fun picking out my seeds!

Another wonderful discovery this past week is Linda from Scentsibilities.  She left a comment on my post about square foot gardening and mentioned she is on the board of a non-profit called Growing Places Garden Project and they use this method in their gardens.  She encourages everyone to check out the website and start working with others in your community.   What a remarkable person and a wonderful cause!

22 Days till Spring

Encouraging!  Even though we still have quite a bit of snow on the ground signs of spring are starting to appear! 

The sun is shining brightly outside and I received my Nasturtium “Spitfire” seeds from Renee’s Garden yesterday in the mail.   These are the seeds I am planting and posting about each month for the Grow project along with many other garden bloggers.  It will be very interesting to compare notes with everyone from all over the country!

I have been a fan of Renee’s Garden for some time now.  It started the year I received the kitchen garden cookbooks as a birthday gift (from my cousin Renee ironically) along with a beautiful selection of seeds that I planted that year.  Seeds, gardening books, cookbooks are absolutely fantastic gifts for the gardening person …… they will love you forever!

“I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project, thanks to ReneesGarden.com for the seeds.”

I have also secured my ticket to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show this year and I am totally excited!  The schedule of events and vendors looks fantastic and of course, I will share all my photos here.  The ideas that can be developed from the displays is truly remarkable and I definitely need some sound ideas for our place down south….much, much landscaping and gardening and planting to be done!

Going through all my records and charts I am starting to put together for this growing season, I decided I would like to create a nice Garden Journal and once again this may be something I make for The Great Garden Giveaway gift also!  I will be going to the local Joann’s craft store tomorrow to watch several demos on the Cricut machine (a scrapbooking marvel) and will decide if I want to invest in one.  I have been researching on the Cricut message boards and there is alot of information and members there.  If I do purchase I may have a pre-giveaway giveaway to celebrate …..Stay tuned!!!