Heaven and Nature Sing! Christmas Eve

Thank you all so much for joining me this week and for all your sweet comments. Thank you for being here with me through such a trying year, and for helping me close the door on it in the joyful, peaceful way we have done together for nine years. Though there was no stitching this year, I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you could feel how personal this project was for me, and how much I enjoyed creating it and sharing it with you.

As always, from our house to yours, Merry Christmas!

PS: Next year is my 10th annual Christmas Open House. Ten years! Theme is chosen, and we're goin' big!

Heaven and Nature Sing! The Sixth Day

Last day of birds and critters, but there's one more day of Christmas Open House tomorrow that you'll want to stick around for!

Is the Tufted Titmouse the cutest bird on Earth? Why yes, yes it is. If you've never seen one, do yourself a favor and have a quick google. Adorable overload.

We couldn't have all these critter friends and not have a bunny, so now we have a lovely, round, pearly white Snowshoe Hare.

And a black squirrel. Why is this squirrel black, you ask? Because when we were stationed outside of DC, we had a small population of black squirrels. I'd never seen one before, and I just loved them.

The wee Wren. So small and chubby and cute. My aunt always had wrens nesting on her porch.

And finally, the Downy Woodpecker. These are quite small and pretty. We had several varieties of woodpeckers, but these are my favorite.

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This last recipe is one I use when I'm too pressed for time to make these Lemon-Orange Rolls, which we always have at Christmas. I've mentioned before that for me, citrus is a must at Christmas. Not only is it traditional, the sharp, bright flavors are a perfect balance for all the sweet and savory flavors of the holidays. This Orange Loaf Cake, which I tweaked a bit to be more like the rolls, is easier and faster and just as delicious. My changes:

For the 3 Tablespoons of orange juice, I used half orange juice, half fresh lemon juice.

For the Tablespoon of orange zest, I used half orange zest, half lemon zest.

I did the same with the glaze ingredients and baked mine in a tea loaf pan at 325 for 50 minutes.

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The final freebie is a very sweet, soft little Winter Bird. I must stitch this.

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Twenty-two birds and eight critter friends later, all that's left is the tree. Oh, this tree. Come back tomorrow for a Christmas Eve treat!

Heaven and Nature Sing! The Fifth Day

Y'all didn't think we'd get all the way through this week without a fox, did you? Here he is, in all his sparkly, coppery glory!

Oh, the Sandhill Crane. These birds were overhead, seeing us off as we left our last duty station. It made me cry, as we didn't want to leave. I'll always think of them that way. Hope to see them again some day.

Bonus critter friend! The adorable skunk! Somehow it seems right that skunks should sparkle.

The Snowy Owl. This is another example of using scrapbooking scissors for markings, as I mentioned Sunday. I simply trimmed the squiggles apart and glued them on separately.

A lovely, graceful Swan. She has her own little pond to float on. 

A TIP for making easy stands for your birds and other critters. Simply bend a pipe cleaner into a "U" shape, bend the "legs" of the U, and glue them to the ornament.

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One more side recipe, this one goes with everything I've posted so far. Very quick to whip up, super buttery, slightly sweet (which you can adjust to taste), it's more like a corn cake. Because it uses baking mix, you can also use Carbquick and Splenda to make it much lower in carbs: Buttery Bisquick Cornbread. (I always reduce the sugar/Splenda.)

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Speaking of owls, check out this magnificent 100 Owls freebie. Isn't it lovely?

Final day of birds and critters tomorrow! Come see who made the cut (I had to quit at some point!)

Heaven and Nature Sing! The Fourth Day

Everyone is grey today! I love grey. I don't decorate my house with it because I find it a bit cold, but I love stitching with it and on it and I love wearing it. So of course, my favorite birds are grey: the wee Chickadee I showed on Monday, and here, the chubby little Dark-Eyed Junco. These little fellows always showed up for winter when we were stationed on the East Coast, and I loved them.

The Mockingbird, state bird of Texas (and several other states). We have a lot of them where we live now.

Miss Mourning Dove. I don't know why I always think of them as female. Perhaps it's because they look so soft. And then there are those hot pink boots!

If you've never seen a Nuthatch, these little guys zip up and down tree trunks. So busy and so cute.

Today's critter friend continues the grey theme. Mr. Raccoon, with his fancy sparkly mask, looks like he's fixin' to get up to something.

You may not decide to make as many of these birds and animals as I have, but if you do, you'll need a convenient way to store the pattern pieces so you can make more at some point. I just bought card-sized envelopes, taped the picture of the pattern to the front, and labeled it. Then I got a cute Christmas box to hold my entire collection of patterns.

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Here's a side dish I do two ways. When I was growing up, my mom would frequently "put on a pot of beans", just like her mother had, and probably her mother, and on back. Beans were (and still are) an inexpensive, filling, nutritious staple. This is how I make a basic "pot of beans" that we eat as is. Great with that flank steak I shared Sunday.

Pinto Beans

3 c. dried pinto beans

1 onion, peeled and halved

4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

7-8 c. water

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high about 8 hours, adding water if needed. If more than 1 cup is needed, temp is too high.

And this is the other way I prepare them, as refried beans. Obviously, they're not actually refried, but close enough. They're good with the taco recipe from yesterday, or as tacos themselves. Bean and cheese tacos are a thing in Texas, not sure if they are elsewhere. I also put them in my chicken taco salad, but that masterpiece will have to wait for another time. 

Refried Beans

To the above ingredients add:

1 can chopped green chilies

1/4 tsp. dried minced garlic

pinch of cumin

Mash with a potato masher when done. *If you're making refried beans, don't add too much water.

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Today's freebie is the prettiest, plumpest, purplest Partridge you ever did see! I imagine her stitched up with maximum glam--Kreinik and beads and the works!

Stay tuned for still. more. birds.

Heaven and Nature Sing! The Third Day

Starting off with a critter friend here on day three. This precious fawn, curled up resting underneath the tree. Remember that paw print paper punch? Ideal for the spots on a baby deer.

Another favorite of mine, the Goldfinch, with their beautiful, vivid yellow and black.

How do y'all like my grumpy Great Horned Owl? I love hearing these at night. We heard them occasionally when we were stationed on the East Coast, and I was delighted to hear one not long ago here. Such an arresting sound to hear on a quiet night.

The humble House Sparrow. But we managed to jazz her up a bit with some glitter! And she gets a lovely freebie tribute!

Is there anyone who doesn't like Hummingbirds? Exquisite little things. This one was really fun to make because I could go over the top with glitter! The thing I like best about these patterns is how well she captures the shape of the bird. Doesn't that just look like a real hummingbird sitting on the branch?

I considered using clear sewing thread to attach hangers to my birds, and you could certainly do that, but instead I opted to glue a bit of pipe cleaner to the back so I could perch them on the branches. This has the added benefit of making sure they stay put. I moved this tree, fully decorated, from one room to another and nothing budged.

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Our third main dish option for this week is a ridiculously easy slow cooker recipe for taco meat that you can toss together in minutes. It is so good! The recipe calls for cooking the meat in the slow cooker, but I always pre-cook mine. I have relied on this recipe a lot in recent months. 

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Hope y'all are enjoying the week. Back tomorrow with lots of little grey friends, and a slow cooker side I do two ways.

Heaven and Nature Sing! The Second Day

Welcome back, y'all! Hope you enjoyed yesterday because there's a lot more where that came from. 

Today we're starting off with everyone's favorite, and the unofficial birds of Christmas, Cardinals! Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, in fact. Can't get much lovlier than that bright red plumage against snowfall.

Oh, my sweet wee Chickadee. I adore these little munchkins and their cheerful buzzing and chirping. They're probably my favorite bird. 

Critter friend! A teeny tiny Chipmunk has joined us. Yes, I reduced the size of the pattern to 33%. Yes, I almost went nuts making this microscopic friend. But how cute is he?

And finally, the glossy Crow. This would be a great pattern to use for fall decorating as well. To compliment him, today's freebie is a very unusual Crow design. I'm not sure I'd stitch it, but it's different, which I like, and it's we'll done. Might be a neat fall piece, with some color adjustments.

Here's a TIP for making sure your birds fit together with no fuss. When you cut out the pieces, cut out the bottom piece, or base, of the bird just inside your traced pencil line. Cut the top pieces just outside your traced pencil line. This ensures that when you're gluing beaks and wings onto the body, they're a tiny bit bigger and you won't have bits of the body peeking out where they shouldn't, requiring you to do extra trimming.

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Today's main dish is my adaptation of this recipe for Cajun Chicken Pasta. It's very good as is, but I added a bag of frozen peppers and onions at the beginning, and then sprinkled generously with mozzarella cheese at the end for my version of the Rattlesnake Pasta we used to enjoy from a restaurant at one of our duty stations. Either way, it's low effort comfort food, perfect for cold weather and busy days. I used mini penne pasta and it cooked perfectly in the suggested time.

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Day two, in the books. See y'all tomorrow!

Heaven and Nature Sing! The First Day

Christmas Open House, day one! Are y'all ready for wall-to-wall birds? If so, you're in the right place! Even if you're not much of a bird lover, hopefully this week will be a source of Christmas cheer and maybe even inspiration for a simple, old-fashioned, handmade Christmas, perhaps using a different theme. There will be tried and true recipes as well, so at least stay for the food!

All of the birds and animals I'm showing this week were made using free patterns from the lovely Downeast Thunder Farm blog. I'm so thankful for talented creators like her who so generously share their work. During the week I'll be sharing a few tips you might find helpful if you decide to make some paper pretties yourself. These can be as plain or as elaborate as you like, with or without embellishments, different sizes--all sorts of variations. I used a combination of solid color matte, pearl, and glitter paper. You could use patterned paper to give a quilted or fabric look, or even make these in pastels for a spring project. There's really no limit to how you could customize these birds and animals. And you don't have to make tons of them (though you'll see at the end of the week how making loads of them creates an eye-popping result). Choose a few favorites. Make ornaments or gift tags or cards or even a garland (oh my! I need to do that!). Break out the paper, scissors, and glue and unleash your inner second grader! 

These little adhesive embellishments from the scrapbooking section are perfect for eyes.

I couldn't decide in what order to show these, so I took the easy way and opted for alphabetical. Helpful since there are so many. Let's get started!

First up, the king of birds, the awe-inspiring Bald Eagle. They are so fierce looking, and I tried to capture that expression. Should they also be sparkly? Probably not. But this one is. Fierce and sparkly.

The Baltimore Oriole. We were stationed outside of Washington DC for ten years, and in all that time, I only saw these beautiful birds three times, and only as flashes of orange in the trees at that. A rare treat.

I love Blue Jays. I know they're loud and bossy, but their bright blue coloring is so pretty. I really enjoyed making this little guy.

TIP: Here's an easy way to make those squiggly wing markings: scrapbooking scissors! I also used the toes from the paw print punch to make some other markings you'll see.

Our first critter friend! Y'all. We have black bears where we live now. I've only seen one since we've been here and that was plenty. He was enormous, and although the locals tell us they won't bother you, I still feel... it's a bear. (Photobomb!)

Today's last bird is the Canada Goose. Such striking coloring and so much a symbol of Christmas, and of course, so much goose attitude (goositude?). 

Today's freebie is a classic. You may have already seen it--or even stitched it--but perhaps not. First Snow is too perfect for this Open House not to include.

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As always, the recipes this week are ones I've been making for us. They're easy and quick to put together, so you can get back to Christmas stuff. I'll be sharing a whole meal, with three main dish choices (all super easy slow cooker), two sides, and a dessert. 

Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Flank Steak needs a little prep work, but the extra step is worth it. If you're pressed for time, you can definitely just dump everything in your slow cooker and it will still be good, but if you can, follow the recipe as is. It's delicious. And it's not spicy at all. Easy to increase the heat if you prefer, as we do. 

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Come on back tomorrow and see who else we have in the Christmas tree. We're just getting started!