4th of July Weekend

This 4th of July was spent in upstate New York camping at my family's property.  We try to go at least once a summer, usually one of the holiday weekends (4th of July or Labor Day).  Since the property we own is just vacant land, there are no houses/cabins, no running water and no electricity.  So when we go, we have to bring everything, and I wouldn't change it.  I love sleeping in a tent and cooking over a fire.  And spending a weekend with my family is an adventure all by itself!

Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Dirt road leading to the family property

Surrounding land

Sunshine over the frog pond

Cooking part of our annual 'Thanksgiving' dinner.  Every year, my uncle cooks a turkey in a smoker and everyone else makes all the sides to go with it.  Who knew you can make Thanksgiving in the great outdoors?

And here is the result of all the contributions by everyone.  This is Jeremy's plate.

And this is me, after driving a quad in a downpour.  You can see our little kitchen setup too.

Roasting marshmallows over a campfire

Our annual group shot.

Happy 4th of July from all of us!  Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.

Handmade Gift Exchange

I participated in the summer Craftaholics Anonymous Handmade Gift Exchange.  This is the second time I entered and had so much fun meeting a new friend and creating a gift for them.  

My partner was Susan and she has an awesome blog called homeroad (be sure to check it out!).  I was so excited when the package arrived in the mail and couldn't wait to see what she sent!  When I saw the box she packaged everything in, I knew I was going to love the gift.

She included a cute a little note on a mason jar tag (love mason jars!).

Susan made me a set of hand stamped tea towels and a pin cushion!  I love my gift and couldn't wait to hang the tea towels on my oven door. 

Thank you so much Susan! :-)

Way Behind...

Well it started out well, but about half way through the month of June, I feel behind....way behind on the 30 Days of Creativity.  I'm sure if I go back to what I worked on and the pictures that I took, I could come up with the remainder of the month.

Tonight I'm going to concentrate on the things that I worked on to post.  Including the gifts I received from my Craftaholics Gift Exchange partner! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful 4th of July!  I spent the weekend camping with some great friends and family.  I'll be posting about that as well.

Stay tuned!