Dried Herbs

Earlier in the summer, I blogged about my herb garden. As with most other vegetation in this part of the world, the ridiculous heat did a number on my herbs as the summer went on. About a month ago I gathered up what was left of my herbs that I hadn't used or hadn't been fried by the heat.

I did a little research as to the best way to dry them. I prepped the herbs by washing them and tying them in bundles. They needed a relatively cool, dry, and not dusty place to hang for a few weeks. Finding a place that matches all of those requirements is quite a task! I read somewhere that over the water heater is a good place to hang the herbs, so that's what I did.

Fresh herbs hanging over the water heater

They hung out for about 4 weeks and I finally got around to jarring them up this week. The smell as I was crushing them up and putting them into jars was yummy!

4 weeks later...dried, crispy, and very aromatic!

I bought the jars at Ross for $2.99 for the set! I used dry erase marker to write the name on the lid.

Thyme, sage, oregano, parsley

I now have dried thyme, sage, oregano, and parsley to enjoy through the winter!

Oops...broke the corner of the parsley jar!

Side note: As true to my typical form, I managed to break one of the jars in the process. No surprise there!

When the husband is away...

...the wife gets to play....with craft projects, that is.

Chris was gone on a preaching trip a few weekends ago and I needed something to keep me entertained. This mirror was hanging in our office and I had been wanting to do something with it for quite some time.

Here's how it started:


Thankfully the mirror part came out so I didn't have to worry about covering and taping it. I spray painted the wood black. I am a horrible spray painter and the end result isn't great. I really need to go back and put another coat of black. Perhaps I'll get back around to that one day.

In between coats of spray paint, I got the mirror cleaned up and ready to go. I cut the "Welcome" out of black vinyl using my Silhouette. Adhering it to the mirror was a bit tricky to do as a one-man show. I did my best, but it still ended up a little crooked. As I mentioned in this post, I have trouble with straight lines.



Here is the finished product hanging on the wall.


I really like how it turned out...other than the letters being crooked and needing another coat of paint. I'm planning to fix those things soon. It also needs to be hung in a different place. Where it's hanging now is in front of the door, but it's hanging kind of low. When you walk in the door, you see the reflection of your waist down to your feet. Not all that helpful!

Card Making

One of my latest endeavors is attempting to make cards. I'm still learning how to use my Silhouette SD to do all kinds of neat things. This includes learning how to use it to make cards. I really enjoy thinking of ideas, figuring out how to get the Silhouette to do what I want (well, that's not always fun), working to put it all together, and seeing the end result. The best part about this crafty hobby is that a card can be made in one sitting. I have a little bit of a problem with attention and keeping focused on one task for very long. So, a project that can be done from start to finish in one time block is perfect!

Here are a few of the cards I've made recently:



Perhaps I need to try something with colors other than purple and green?

Did you miss me?

I'm sure you haven't missed me all that much! Thanks to my computer not letting me on Blogger, taking it to the computer repairman, and being out of town, I was forced to take a little sabbatical from the blog. But, the computer is fixed and life can continue as normal!