We have a bunch of pallets (different ones than what is shown in the Pinterest photo) just stacked up on the side of our home. We use this wood for building and doing random projects. I saw on Pinterest a photo of a pallet painted to look like the American flag and knew that was one project I wanted to do.
The pin:
Our creation:
Super easy to do. First I bought some paint from Home Depot in the shades I wanted, as well as some paintbrushes. I primed the whole thing with primer (we had some leftover from painting the house....you could just use your white paint) to get a clean base and then got to painting! You can see that the wider pieces of wood I did a red AND white stripe on and the thinner pieces I did just one stripe color. Sammy made a star stencil for me using a piece of cardboard and I used a pencil to trace the stars on and then paint them white. It did take a few coats, so be patient. After all my stars were done, I used a little paintbrush and went back with blue and touched up any mishaps I had with the white.
My plan was to just lean it up against our porch, but it looks great hanging up on our new shop addition (which I still need to blog about!!). I love it. I'm going to make another one, a bit different, for Sammy to hang up inside the shop.
With love,
Mama Hauck
Yum. I can't wait to make a delicious blueberry pie!
Water
7 cups blueberries
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup ClearJel
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
2. Fill a large stainless steel saucepan halfway with water and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat. Add blueberries and blanch for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Cover and keep warm.
3. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar and Clearjel. Whisk in 2 cups water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Stir in lemon zest and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from hear. Fold in heated blueberries.
4. Ladle hot pie filling into hot jars, leaving slightly more than 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim and screw on lid.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 30 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.
.
One tip about pie filling....it is hard to find Clearjel (the thickening agent needed to make your pie fillings) in store. At least it was for me. I went to a few different stores and could not find it, not even in the canning section. Going on the hunt for Clearjel with three kids in tow was awful. I wound up going to our town's very small health food store and bought what they had left...exactly enough for this recipe, so I wasn't able to make a double batch like I had hoped to do. I would recommend buying your Clearjel online. It's cheap and you don't have to drag your kids all over timbuktwo.
With love,
Mama Hauck
Today Molly started her second year of preschool! Last year she went Tuesdays and Thursdays, this year she will go Monday, Wednesday, Friday. She's pretty stoked about seeing all of her old preschool friends, as well as making new preschool friends as there are a lot of new kiddos attending this year.
Papa surprised Molly by taking the day off from work and making her eggs, bacon, and sausage for breakfast. After seeing Anthony off to the bus stop, we took Molly's first day of school photos. This year was special, as last year Papa was gone on a work trip and missed her first day. After photos we all loaded up in the car and took her to school! She wasted no time finding her cubby, hanging her items, then finding her name tag. A kiss goodbye and she was off. Simple as that. She is a pro at this preschool stuff.
With love,
Mama Hauck
