Wedding Ring Quilt Boxes

I've been going out walking with my husband every night and bringing my camera. Last night, I took this photo of chokecherry blossoms at the local park-

I loved the colors in it- so used it as the palette for this simple double wedding ring patterned set of boxes. I hope you enjoy them.

Click images for a larger version. print on card stock, cut out, score folds, fold, glue.

Wedding ring printable box 2x2x2

Wedding ring printable box 3x1x1 

How to make spruce tip salt

This year the spruce tips are coming out a little later than normal. Spruce tips are an easy to forage wild edible that's widely available. They have a green, citrus-y flavor that's bright and my family is pretty wild for it.

Any time you're trying a new wild edible, pick a couple and taste them before harvesting, because you want to make sure you like the flavor! If they need some sort of process to eat- like some mushrooms need to be cooked (NEVER PICK MUSHROOMS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!) - pick a couple, bring them home, and cook them. Just make a note of where you found them.

Spruce tips can be eaten raw. You're looking for just the tips that come out in spring- they will be a light green and the needles are quite tender compared to the rest of the needles. You pick them like berries, just pinching them off the tree. As with any wild edible, harvest sustainably. There are enough tips that you can collect from different places on the trees, and leave most of them in place.

These are the picked tips. See that papery brown coating? It slips right off. Take that off, and discard it. Make sure there is no debris on the tips.

Chop up the tips. You could use a food processor- but I don't like even the mild heat that a motor can generate, or how much gets stuck or pasty because of the slight moisture. Chopping a bunch at a time by hand doesn't take very long.

Mix it with white sea salt. In this case, I got some sea salt from an artisan salt maker in Valdez. She gets sea water and evaporates it. I wanted my spruce tip salt to be made using Alaskan sea salt.

I like a 50/50 mix.

 This is just some of the tips added.

Spread it in a thin layer in a baking sheet and allow to dry overnight. The salt helps it dry quickly. Then put in jars.

What can you do with it?
Spruce tip salt is delicious on vegetables, fish and chicken- and probably good on pork. I'm not really a pork eater.

It makes a lovely, personal gift.

Movie Night with G.H. Cretors popcorn (sponsored)

When I got an email asking if I'd like a couple bags of G.H. Cretors "Obsessively delicious" popcorn and a couple fantastic movies for a movie night- I'm going to admit that I didn't hesitate.

I probably wouldn't have hesitated even if the movies weren't movies that I wanted to see because the popcorn is just that good- but one of the movies was one my family really wanted to see and the other was one that people have recommended repeatedly. Both movies were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

So the package came and the popcorn flavors were going to be a surprise. G.H. Cretors has the following flavors available:

• The Mix
• Organic Chili Jalapeno White Cheddar
• Organic Dill Pickle
• Just the Cheese
• Just the Caramel
• Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• NEW Organic White Cheddar
• NEW Organic Honey Butter Kettlecorn
• NEW Organic Salted Butter

I got The Mix and Just the Cheese

So for the first night, we watched Moonlight- which was the movie that TG and I really wanted to see, the one that Mahershala Ali won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.  That night, we opened the bag of The Mix- which is a perfectly balanced, not too sweet, not too salty mix of cheddar popcorn and caramel popcorn. 

Look at that! The shiny candy caramel and the perfect cheddar! It was delicious. 

My daughter curled up under the blanket they sent, and I curled up with the tissues. It's a really beautiful movie, a coming of age movie that's gorgeously done in 3 parts. 

The other movie was Arrival, which also won an Academy Award for the Best Sound Editing, and that night was watching with my husband. I opened the bag of Just the Cheese and my husband and I were just wild for it. 

Isn't that pretty? Yes. I took both popcorn pictures out in the sun to get the best lighting possible and cropped them but didn't otherwise edit the photos. 

It's a fantastic cheese popcorn. It's not too salty or bitter, just cheesy with just the amount of cheese. My fingers didn't turn orange eating it. 

Arrival was lovely too, and watching it with my husband was very nice. He's so used to my love for action-adventure, that he enjoyed watching a thoughtful science fiction movie that actually had a plot with me. It's a gorgeous film, with a lot about language and communication and making choices. 

Both movies were about love, without being romantic films. 

The popcorn! Oh my gosh. It's perfectly popped. Nice sized roundish pieces with fantastic flavor. 

And it's easily available. You can find it at Walgreens, Target and loads of other places. Check here for a list of retail locations near you. 

I absolutely recommend both movies and the popcorn. Grab tissue. You'll need it.

G.H. Cretors Popcorn supplied the movies, blanket, tissue and popcorn at no charge. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and all opinions are mine. 

2nd Amendment coloring page- Bill of Rights series

The 2nd Amendment is the next up in my Bill of Rights coloring page series. You can find the rest (which right now is just the 1st Amendment) HERE.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Click the images below for a larger version to color.

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