Baking with Serviceberries

Serviceberry season is coming to an end here in Minnesota, but we've been taking full advantage of it while it's lasted!  

First up, serviceberry muffins.  I used the basic muffin recipe from here, and then added the serviceberries.

They didn't last long in our house...

We also made serviceberry pancakes for a Sunday morning breakfast in bed.

I keep a dry homemade pancake mix on hand in the kitchen, so when we get the urge to bake pancakes it's super easy. The recipe is from here.

Delicious!

Highlights From Our May Garden

Chives 

Irises

Weigela

Strawberries

Garlic

Peonies

Loving what May has brought us, and looking forward to June!

Fern Watercolor

Last Monday, May 21st, was my mom's birthday. We had her and my dad over for a special dinner and presents. 

My mom loves ferns, so I made some fern art for her. Remember this post with the oak leaf? I used the same coloring book and tracing method, and used another page from the same linguistics book.

Then I painted the fern in with watercolors.   

I had the book page professionally framed here (they do an amazing job!).

My mom collects different editions of Pinocchio, and when my guy and I were at Powell's last summer, he found this for her.

We wrapped her presents in kraft paper, doilies, and baker's twine.

She loved them!

Organization Tip: Earring Display

I just read Elsie's post on organization, including ways to display jewelry, and it made me think that some of you might find this earring organization tip useful (plus it's really, really easy!). 

All you need are two pushpins and some fishing line (or clear wire). Cut your fishing line to slightly more than twice the length of where you are going to hang it. I have a wooden shelf in my closet that I attached it to, so I stretched the fishing line across the length of the shelf, then doubled that amount and added a little more so that it has a bit of give.

Tie the loose ends of the fishing line together so you have one big loop, and then start twisting it (a lot). Once the whole thing has been twisted, use your pushpins to attach both ends wherever you are hanging it (in this case, the edges of my shelf).

All that twisting made little loops, and now you can put one pair of earrings together in each loop.

This works for any type of earring back - I use this for all my earrings, except for the tiniest little studs.

So now not only are my earrings all together in one place, they are easy to see and choose from and they look pretty. Functional and decorative is always a plus!  

Moving!

Please excuse my long blog absence - we have been busy, busy, busy! The main cause of our busy-ness was moving. We've been living between two houses for awhile now, and we finally sold one of them! 

My guy and I each had a house, and so it was double the yard work and double the housework, not to mention splitting our time between both houses. It's nice to both be together under one roof all the time now, but we're still dealing with piles and boxes! In the meantime, we're trying to find and enjoy the beauty in the mess: 

: vintage linens
: pictures waiting to be hung
: stacks of books
: kitties exploring new furniture and empty boxes
: arranging things
: fresh flowers
: books on shelves
: catnaps
: a clean(ish) kitchen
: re-arranging things
: and drinks at the end of a long day

Thank you to those of you who have left comments and emailed in my blog absence. I have missed being here, and I'm glad to be back!

x Katherine