Jill Ruth & Co.

Wordless Wednesday: God Bless America

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:22:00 +0000

Dancer Silhouettes

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:04:00 +0000

In January, I posted about our dancing snowflake ballerinas. And, in February, showed you more of our dancing silhouettes. Well, this past weekend, I got a chance to take a couple quick silhouette pictures of our very own dancing ballerinas right before the dance recital held at the school.

We have two in dance and it was a full two days for them with dress rehearsal and two performances.

I will not even remember the missing gloves incidents. Yes, plural. Certainly not a big deal, just mishaps to keep one humble and to keep life in perspective.

The costumes were beautiful and bright and I have pictures of that too, but the simplicity of a silhouette always speaks more to me.

And, in this picture, the bonus of great shadows too. :)

I hope you all are allowing yourself some time to slow down in this very busy month of May.

It's warm here again so I'm heading out to paint!

It's Been Spring Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000

We took advantage of the nice weather and took some pictures of our one year old granddaughter!

We set up a tent for some of the pictures. It seemed like a good photo op for everyone.

The youngest first.

Then came along big sister.

Then I hopped in.

And, along came Dad and the girls had to give him tea!

My son wouldn't crawl in....and my oldest daughter with the baby (toddler, now!) didn't get a chance to crawl in.

Ahhh...time under a quilted tent sounds pretty wonderful doesn't it?!

Probably not going to happen for awhile here. Graduation prep is well under way and as soon as the pictures were over we had to bring everything in and keep movin' on. At least we had time for fun pictures.

Cold is back in our forecast for tomorrow. Oh well!

Contrary to this Photo, Recycling is Not Negative :)

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:06:00 +0000

Since Monday was Earth Day, I thought I'd show you this art photograph I took a long time ago.

If you'd like to read about our local recycling center and it's beauty, click here.

I hope your days are going well and that spring will come soon!

So, the Baby Had a Party.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:44:00 +0000

I thought you might enjoy seeing the party decorations for our granddaughter's birthday party.

There isn't a lot of natural light in there and I didn't bring my tripod, so I did the best I could with exposure.

Not birthday decorations, but house decor...you may note the nine frames in a grid on the right, these are all the photos from the "family tree" display at their wedding. The history of the wedding of parents and grandparents hang in their dining room, so neat!

A lot of my daughter's projects were inspired by blogs via Pinterest.

The book page table runner was one of them. She used double sided tape to put the book pages together and the edges were punched with a border punch I have. Very cute. Very simple. The original is here.

Free chalkboard print outs from here.

My second daughter helped my oldest make the cupcake toppers and crowns. These paper hearts were sprinkled with edible glitter.

And, the crowns. Oh my, tooooo cute. I'm not one to go in too much for "princess this and princess that" even with five daughters. But, these crowns were just really neat. You can read the "how to" here.

The "A" is just a chip board letter painted and glittered. The silhouette is actually my granddaughter. My daughter asked me to take a profile picture of her with a fairly plain and light colored back ground, then I used Photoshop to select just her head and printed it out. Then my daughter adhered it to black paper and cut around the image. She used the silhouette cutter to cut out the letters "one year old".

The silhouette, a couple of crowns, the A, and the banner will all go in her room now for decorations.

I helped make the cake topper out of paper and ribbon. And, this was my daughter's first attempt at decorating a cake. Pretty awesome!!

Simple tulle bows on the light fixtures and chairs. Very feminine, very easy.

I thought this was so fun!

She took a lot of her instagram pictures of the baby from her first year and had them printed.

And, using tape, put them up on the wall in the shape of a "1".

I'm pretty sure this is going up on the wall in her room too.

Won't that be fun for her to point at and look at pictures now in the coming year?

A vintage frame with a chalkboard to announce the celebration.

It hangs in this wall arrangement. It also includes wedding pictures, baby pictures, and their ring pillow from their wedding.

The birthday banner.

And, a little banner for the high chair.

And, what's a party without snacks and balloons?!

Of course we all had to have pictures with the crowns. But, I'll only show you a couple!

My littlest gals.

Queen mama and her one year old!

Her first taste of sweets ever was a couple of bites of her birthday cake.

About midway through the afternoon, a little royal nap was needed!

I'm glad you stopped by to "celebrate" with us. :)

I hope you have a great weekend!!

Texture Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:32:00 +0000

Yesterday, while we celebrated our Granddaughter's first birthday, my husband and I sat for a moment on the bench in front of their home.

I noticed we were reflected in the front glass door. :)

Today's challenge at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday is to use at least two textures to edit our photos. I actually ended up using three: Soft and Sanded Shakespeare Sonnet, Dotti, and Mere.

"I'm One! I'm One!"

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:17:00 +0000

Our granddaughter is one today! We helped her celebrate yesterday.

Hopefully, I'll get some pictures of her sweet party decor posted this week.

Life has been quite full around here, hence the scarcity of blog posts. The one big focus being my son's upcoming graduation in May!

When I get overwhelmed, I remember our ongoing slogan:

"What gets done, gets done, and what doesn't, doesn't."

Profound, huh? :)

Click here for how to make a GIF (an animated photo...)

Wordless Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:59:00 +0000

Shabby Chic Spring Bunting

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:38:00 +0000

I managed last week to get a bit of spring put up in our home. I know the mantle here needs a little tweaking to balance it, but more than likely, it's not going to happen.

We are often off balanced around here anyway, ha!

After making this bunting with my daughter, I sure thought it would be neat to make another one.

And, although, we really don't have "shabby chic" in this room, throwing in a little for some seasonal decor works for me!

As I did here with the lace, I used handitac to put the bunting and flowers on the mantle. The flowers are just a shabby rolled rosette made with muslin and the hot glue gun.

I think the subtle colors are romantic and soothing.

Just for fun, I made color swatch board.

It's still quite cool here, but at least the sun has been shining off and on and it is officially Spring!!!

Texture Tuesday: The Word Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 16:27:00 +0000

I'm linking up once again with Kim Klassen for Texture Tuesday. This week's theme is to use words in your photo or post.

Each of the following photographs was textured with a layer of Kim's texture "wisdom" on overlay at 45% opacity.

I took these photos last summer in my tank garden.

The blooms were plucked from my Black-eyed Susan Vine.

I thought they might make a nice pressed flower.

And, if I can find the dictionary that I pressed them in, I'll find out. :)

So True.

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:44:00 +0000

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poerms are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

~Joyce Kilmer

1886-1919

My son gave me a Wacom Bamboo tablet last year for my birthday and this year he gave me the wireless adapter so it's much easier to use. I need to make myself learn this cool tool, so I spent a bit of time with it and added the text to the above photo.

I tried taking pictures of the geese in flight above our pond this weekend, but really just ended up with pictures of trees. Ha!

So, with the lemons of pictures, I made some lemonade. :)

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Caramel-Coated Spiced Nuts

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:08:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I decided we were going to eat more salads as main dishes and went looking for a steak salad recipe.

I found Pioneer Woman's Big Steak Salad recipe.

I ditched the idea of homemade onion rings right off. That would take a crazy amount of time!

Then, I opted to use a tried and true spiced nut recipe I had clipped years ago from Taste of Home instead of her recipe for the pecans.

I did however, use the dressing recipe she had. It was okay, but I'd like to hear from anyone with a perfect vinaigrette recipe for me!

I'm telling you the steak combined with the blue cheese and spiced nuts atop the mixed greens was sooooooo good. I didn't take any pictures. Too bad too, because we ate it on vintage green trimmed diner plates. Big happy smile!

I do however want to share the spiced nuts recipe with you. These make a great gift or now we know, a great addition to a salad!!

First, whisk 2 egg whites with 1 tsp. of water.

Add 4 cups of nuts of your choice. I used almonds, cashews, and peanuts this time, but have used pecans before too.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup brown sugar, 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp. white pepper.

It seems to me that white pepper is much finer than regular pepper so that may be why the recipe calls for it.

Add the sugar and seasonings to the nuts and stir to evenly coat.

Spread out on a greased baking sheet and bake 30 minutes at 325 degrees.

Stir at 10 minute intervals. The coating begins to firm and harden. Yum.

Spread the nuts out on waxed paper or parchment to cool and break apart the pieces that are stuck together.

If tightly covered they will keep for quite awhile.

These nuts make a great hostess gift, teacher gift, or thinking of you gift! I use seasonal cellophane bags to present them in too.

Here's the recipe again:

2 egg whites

1 tsp. water

4 cups of nuts (you choose)

1 C packed dark brown sugar

3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. white pepper

Whisk the egg whites and water until foamy. Add the nuts and stir to coat. Combine the brown sugar, pie spice and pepper. Add to the nut mixture and stir to coat.

Spread into a greased baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool on waxed paper.

Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Rorschach Mud Puddle Test

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:06:00 +0000

So, what does this puddle look like to you?

I took this picture before the snow we had on Sunday.

I'm seeing images in the puddles instead of the clouds, hmmm, think I have spring fever?!?!

FYI: Rorschach Inkblot Test

A Sweet Birthday Banner

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 22:03:00 +0000

Our daughter and granddaughter came for a short visit!

There were plenty of smiles BUT not when the camera was up! Plus there was a lot of...let's just say sinus drainage. :) which made getting a picture of her a bit of a challenge.

She turns one in a month and my daughter came with a list of projects for us to work on for her party.

One of them being this shabby chic bunting.

We don't do a lot of decorating for parties here, but I need to make one of these shabby buntings now to hang somewhere! Sans the pink and the "number 1". Ha!

We just tore fabric in strips, cut some lace and various yarns to about the same length and tied them on a piece of jute. I made the banner out of burlap and the "1" is made from two layers of ribbon glued in place.

Super easy!!

~::~

Super cute!!

I think she'll be walking a bit by her first birthday.

Happy Wednesday!

Cheesy Cauliflower or Broccoli Soup

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:05:00 +0000

Recipe:

1 stick butter or margarine
1 1/2 C. chopped celery
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
1/3 C flour
1 can chicken broth
2 C half and half
2 C milk
2 C velveeta cheese shreds
3/4C grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 small head cauliflower or broccoli

Clean and cut up the head of cauliflower or broccoli and steam just until fork tender in microwave or steamer. Melt margarine or butter in soup pot and add the celery and onion. Saute until quite soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add the flour and stir and cook for a minute or two. Add chicken broth and cook until thick. This will take only a couple of minutes. Add half and half and milk. With a hand blender, puree the soup. Add the cheeses. Simmer very gently until cheese is melted, stirring often so it doesn't scorch. Add the steamed cauliflower and simmer on low 30 minutes.

And, serve!

Truth be told: I don't usually (ever?) put our soup in a lovely vintage soup tureen to serve. I usually serve out of the big soup pot. But, this makes for a much prettier photo! :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:53:00 +0000

Texture Tuesday: Dream Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:15:00 +0000

I love "dress up" and have lots of dress up pictures from over the years with five daughters!

This particular photo is of my now 6 year old when she was just 2. :)

A "dress up" photo seemed perfect to use for today's dream theme at Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. I altered the photo with many techniques that I've learned from Kim over the past couple of years and I added a layer of her "warm vignette" texture.

I do hope you all are having a nice week!

Words Often Fall Short

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:04:00 +0000

This past weekend we lost my father in law. He was in his second battle with cancer when it was determined that the treatments were no longer helping.

About 30 hours after he was told that they had stopped the treatments, he died.

All of his family was able to gather and say goodbye.

This week has been sad, but so very blessed in many ways.

One of my favorite pictures: dinner in the basement at the farm where we were making sausage during the annual butchering time. This picture was taken 3 years ago.

My father in law is in the blue plaid shirt.

This photo was taken at our daughter's wedding, June 2011. What a happy time it was!

We have discussed here in our home so often how words fail when someone dies.

A life is there and then it isn't.

Christmas 2011

But, so much remains to show that his life was here and mattered.

Dried Garbanzo Beans, Who Knew?

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:03:00 +0000

A friend of mine sent me this link last summer when my 12 year old needed a healthy snack recipe for her 4-H project.

It's really good!!

She got a blue ribbon, missing the mark of a purple ribbon because the judge thought they should have been baked a bit longer to crisp them even more.

And, this batch would have gotten a blue ribbon because I probably baked them a tad too long

However, both attempts were good.

For the record, I doubled the recipe. I always think while you're at it you should make more. I'm glad I did.

I don't think it's hard to get it right. Just don't run off to pick up kids while they are still in the oven, thinking that you can just turn the heat down and let them bake another 25 minutes.

I'm a salt fiend and these really are still good with no salt. Which is of course the point of the recipe.

I don't know who Dr. Oz is but I thank him and my friend for the recipe.

Maybe this snack will counter the meringue hearts I made yesterday. :)

Recycled Hearts

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:13:00 +0000

I had given away all of my denim and there was a HUGE box full and I was convinced that I did not want to make anything more with denim.

Well, with as many of us as there are here, one starts to accumulate denim without even trying. Jeans too torn to giveaway, broken zippers, etc. I love to patch jeans for us to wear again, but if they are too small for the kids, there's no point to patch them as even thrift stores don't sell patched jeans. So, a pile of jeans "to be crafted" as grown again.

And, I decided that I wanted to use denim again.

I had in my head a bean bag heart that would sit on it's side. Casual, plump-like.

And, lately, I like the word "loved", as an adjective not the past tense of love.

The crocheted covered rock came as a gift from a far away friend. :) Love it!

This is the other side of my small plump denim heart. All patchy and full of stitching. The plan was to stick a "little something" in the pocket but it hasn't happened yet. Oh well.

I think these plump and casual hearts could certainly sit out longer than just for Valentine's Day.

I've decided there are a lot more bean bags/rice bags in my future. They feel so nice to hold and they sit easily where/how you want them too. And the kids can throw them!

Try out saying "loved" as in... I am loved.

You are.

From our Father above.

Go ahead and say it.

Feels good, doesn't it?

More Snowflake Ballerinas

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:40:00 +0000

I thought I'd show you more of the snow flake ballerinas while the weather is still cold. :)

These hang in the toy room. I took care to shoot the picture above the rest of the cluttered mess.

The toy room is a bit of a catch all room.

These are the ballerinas that are geared for little hands.

My girls making these were 6 and 7 and have done quite a bit of crafting in their little lives and they still needed quite a bit of help. I think colored paper for the dancer's bodies and skipping the glitter would be a good idea. My gals would disagree though.

I read later on a blog somewhere, I'm sorry I don't remember where, to use coffee filters for snowflakes.

Boy, would that be a great idea for little hands! It's quite hard for the younger ones to cut the paper snowflakes even if you only fold the paper twice.

But, no matter how they are glittered or cut, they seem to turn out graceful and pretty hanging from a snow like piece of garland!

Grandmothers

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:18:00 +0000

I'm not sure if Mrs. Blenda Hanson was famous for her recipe for Swedish Potato Balls, but I think they are pretty good. This recipe came from this cook book that was my Grandmothers.

It saw some use. :) I love my grandmother's notes in it.

Don't want to forget that the Pickled Bullhead recipe is on page 116.

I'm not sure what a cruller cutter looks like but I googled and discovered that Crullers are similar to a twisted donut.

Looks like an interesting recipe, with the reminder to don't sift before measuring.

"Make pillow one side satin and the other side cotton. Pillow stay put and the satin for your hair"

A recipe she heard on the radio station W.J.A.G on Nov. 23, 1957

I don't think I would like soy beans, but we grow them, maybe I should try it...

Maybe could sneak some to my kids, ha!

My excursion into the cook book was spurred because I had 5 cups of leftover mashed potatoes in my frig. I really try hard to use all leftovers.

So, Swedish Potato Balls it was. (See first photo for recipe) Fried up in an electric skillet because the stove top was busy canning meat.

I used a large cookie scoop and flattened them a bit with the same scoop.

Fry both sides in really hot oil, about 400 degrees until golden.

This recipe is slightly sweet and is more of a breakfast potato pancake. I think next time, I'll make them savory-ish by omitting the sugar and nutmeg and adding minced onion and salt and pepper.

Drain on paper towels. If the oil is really hot, they aren't that greasy.

Nice and pancake like in the center.

5 cups of potatoes was 2.5 times the recipe.

We will be eating leftover leftovers.

For a couple of days.

Meanwhile, on the stove...the pressure canner on the left was my husband's paternal grandmothers'. The one on the right, was his maternal grandmothers'.

I've had both of the gauges checked and both are still in working condition!

"Jar Meat" has a been a tradition in my husbands family for years and years.

How different the lives of our Grandmothers were from ours. (no internet?!, no google?!)

I enjoy these times when when I feel connected to the past.

I Like the Shape, the Color, the Patina

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:45:00 +0000

I picked up some wood bowls at an auction maybe a year ago or so. I cleaned them up and gave them a simple oil finish.

I think I paid $1 for a group of three of them. Only one had the little ball feet.

I am rather taken with them.

Linking up with Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. Images textured with "minus 43".

Junk "Love" for Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:28:00 +0000

Yesterday, on a whim I decided to dress our mantle for Valentine's Day since it had been sitting bare since the Christmas decorations came down.

I also decided to take the pictures at night with the tripod.

The night shots emit more warmth for a "Love" mantle don't you think?

The "L" is constructed from my favorite Reader's Digest books again. :)

I used handitak to put the lace border on the edge of the mantle.

The "O" is a book page rose wreath layered on a textured silver tray. The wreath is similar to this one, but made with book pages. Again, I used handitak to mount the wreath to the tray so it can easily be removed.

The "V" is a scrap of vintage drapery fabric probably from the 50s that I folded and tacked onto an old picture frame. The frame used to hold "Pinky". You know the set of Blue Boy and Pinky? Now, Pinky is frameless. She'll get over it.

The "E" of course a folding ruler that I mounted with nails onto an old cutting board. This cutting board has the most beautiful patina to it!

My little gals got a kick out of the mantle especially when I kept asking them if they just "loooooved" it.

Here's the link to an old post if you want to easily make a little decoration for your home for Valentine's Day.

Texture Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Jill) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:01:00 +0000

If there is one thing I'm consistent at...it's inconsistency.

So I'm posting on a Thursday for Texture Tuesday at Kim Klassen's Cafe.

So it goes.

Kim's latest free texture is minus 43 and that is what I used on the above photo.

The past couple of weeks have been a bit rough and that may be why I was drawn to the photo of the barren cold road from my files that I shot last year. As I thought about what I wanted to do with the photo I kept thinking about what was over the hill, how I see life, and that I have no idea of what is to come.

The photo looked scary then and my words or thoughts about it lacked hope.

But, then the pieces fell into place (a.k.a. prayers were answered) and I put my attention more on the road.

I have to trust that the journey will lead me to joy.

For all of us, many days, it's far more of a decision to trust than a
"feel good" emotion. I've actually come to like that because my mind is more reliable than my emotions!

A friend (who is on a rough journey) recently told me that her mother's advice to her was, "Remember what you know."

Simple, but packed full.

I take it to mean also "Rely on what you know, not what you feel."

I know I can trust.

And, I don't want to leave you hanging, life is much smoother again now.

I choose to trust in The One who is guiding my journey.