Plum crazy!

This is our ninth September in this house and it’s the first time that our plum tree has produced so many plums. We picked them last night and I’ve been doing as much plum work as I can in between the other stuff. Not all of them are ripe, but will be by the weekend. My sink was full!

As soon as Jouni came in with the last of them, he asked where his pie was. I hadn’t even started on it yet, but hurried up with it. I made a tart rather than a pie. If you’re thinking that it looks incredible, you’re right!

I knew I wanted to make plum butter, so that was next. I boiled some plums to soften them then strained out the seeds and skin to get the smooth pulp. I put it in my crockpot with sugar and cinnamon then left it to cook all night. In the morning I took the lid off and am letting it continue to cook and thicken.

I found a recipe for plum and vanilla jam. I happen to have some vanilla beans, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I have canned the jam and heard the first lid pop already. It didn’t make much, but if it turns out as delicious as I think it will, I’ll make more of the jam.

Indiana Jones cake

We had Reino’s 7th birthday party today. Of course it was all about Indiana Jones and we had to deliver a cake that fit the theme. After searching the web, I decided the easiest thing to do was try to duplicate the scene on the Motorcycle Chase (#7620) box. I made a rectangle cake and a round cake. My husband is very creative so of course I consulted with him on the best way to cut and shape the pieces. He had some specific ideas, so I let him do the shaping then I applied the frosting and handed it back to him for decorating.

Here it is, all cut and I’ve started applying the road.

I crushed some packaged oatmeal cookies in the little food processor and used them for dirt on the road. The tree is under some of the cake, so I had to frost around it.

At this point I handed it over to Jouni to finish. He had a vision and I didn’t want to interfere.

The kids loved the cake and thought it looked great. We had the party outside and when I brought the cake out, Jouni played the Indiana Jones theme music.

Happy Birthday, baby!

Today is Reino’s 7th birthday. I just can’t believe he’s 7 already. Here are some pictures to show how he’s grown and, I think, gotten even more handsome.

Brand new and very sleepy.

At his 3rd birthday party.

And on his 7th birthday.

The scar from his fall in April is healing, but still very visible. He had chicken pox within the last few weeks. The other red spots are from that.

First day of First Grade

I can’t believe my baby is in First Grade. School started at 9, so we left at 8:45. Here he is zipping up his jacket. Yeah, it was cool this morning.

Ready to go. Doesn’t seem to have a smile for me this morning.

The school is about 700 yards from our house. We got there in plenty of time. Oh, now he has a smile.

Finding his seat. He has a great seat directly across from the chalkboard. Some kids are facing the middle of the room, but Reino got lucky.

My serious student. He didn’t mind at all when it was time for me to leave.

Happy Birthday, Jouni!

Today is my husband’s birthday and I made him a Black Forest Cake. My own version, of course. It was delicious!

The top.

And from the side. It was tall!

And a delectable slice.

Thanks for looking!

Elephant Cake

I volunteered to make the cake for my friend’s son’s 2nd birthday. He wanted an elephant cake. I think it turned out really cute. Click on the images for a larger version.

Thanks for looking! Continue reading if you want the details on making an elephant cake.
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8 years

Today Jouni and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary. He surprised me with some gorgeous earrings this morning. He spoils me. I made this card for him today. The black part is a rub-on from the Cosmo Cricket “Fleuriste” line. I colored it with Lavendar, Lime Green, and Crystal Stickles borrowed from Rachel. Excuse the finger. 🙂 Inside is another rub-on from the same line that reads “You are my happy ending.”

Thanks for looking!

PackRat Birthday card

Today is my friend Ramona’s birthday. We like to stay up late and waste time playing PackRat on Facebook. It’s a card collecting and trading game. Some cards are released then purchased or are pop-ups. Others are made by combining three cards to make something else.
Here’s the cover:

The result of a “recipe”:

And the back of the card with the details. Packrats steal and each card in the game will contain the history of that card.

I used watercolor pencils to color and draw the cards. The images are all acrylic stamps from ProvoCraft. The black ink is StazOn. Cardstock is from DCWV. Thanks for looking. This was a lot of fun to make.

Mother’s Day card

I haven’t scrapped or made cards in a long time. I need to get back to that. Yesterday was (Inter)National Scrapbook Day. I was determined to do something scrappy. I had to clean up my space first and then I got started on my cards. I have to admit that I didn’t finish them last night. The light wasn’t good and I needed to coordinate colors and see the papers. I finshed this morning and here’s what they look like. Thanks for looking!

I used Basic Grey’s Lily Kate papers. The flowers are white silk with Color Box Pink Pastel liquid chalk for color.

Lychees!

On Saturday we went to the Asian and Indian markets in Helsinki. I’m allergic to most fresh fruits, but cooked and canned are okay. I saw a can of lychees and decided to try it. It was good, but there was a lot in the can. I looked for recipes and found an entire website devoted to lychees! Leecheysonline.com has a lot of very interesting recipes. I found a recipe for Sticky Lychee Muffins but decided to try it as an upside-down cake. I only had half a cup of chopped lychees left so I halved the recipe. The ingredient list has 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, but also calls for 12 teaspoons, separated, later in the recipe. The 12 teaspoons are not on the ingredient list.

Since I halved the recipe, I baked it in a loaf pan. The cake smelled delicious when it was cooking. The cinnamon was very fragrant.

Fresh from the oven. Looks and smells yummy.

From the side. Look at those luscious layers.

Lychee Upside-Down Cake

We would definitely make this again. Since I used the canned lychees, it’s something that would be easy to make at the last minute or when unexpected guests stop by. Thanks for looking.