Making Your Own Easter Basket

It's easy to make a basket - even out of paper. Here's how you do it.

You take a piece of paper and you fold it. Then you cut the edges.

Then you staple or glue the folds in place.

Then you make a handle.

And you fill it with goodies.

Bake and Make

I wanted to make a dessert for Easter dinner but my family is pretty picky. I had to use whipped cream for the frosting and fruit for the filling. I wanted to liven it up with some white chocolate Easter Eggs and flowers and a few fondant blooms too. So I did.

I started off with four layer cakes that I tried to cut to make fairly even. Then I frosting the layers with whipped cream and used bananas and strawberries to liven up the filling.

In the end it turned out okay. Not as pretty as total fondant but it tasted better than a fondant cake.

Steampunk Jewelry

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I wanted to use some more of the gears I got at the flea market. Here's how I did it.

I took a strip of sheet metal and laid out the gears the way I liked them.

Then I hot glued them in place. After that I bent the metal to fit my arm. And decided to add a few more gears.

And then WAH-LAH some steampunk jewelry.

Clockwork Bracelet

I went to a flea market and bought a bag full of bits and pieces of clockworks.

I laid them out and started piecing them together.

And I have plenty left over to make some necklaces too. It's so fun to make stuff from old broken junk.

Pacific University - Earth Week Events

Here's a list of upcoming Earth Week Events at Pacific University in Forest Grove, (thanks to an email I received at work):

There are several interesting speakers coming to the Forest Grove campus of Pacific University next week as part of the Earth Week festivities.  All events are free and open to the public.

MONDAY APRIL 21: Dr. PHIL MOTE on CLIMATE CHANGE
Prof. Mote is the head of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State.  He will be giving a talk called “Five Things I Wish Were True About Climate Change” on Monday the 21st at 6:30 in Taylor Auditorium.

TUESDAY APRIL 22: DR. TRYGVE STEEN on OREGON’S OLD GROWTH FORESTS
Prof. Trygve Steen from Portland State will give a presentation on Oregon’s awesome old growth forests.  He’s a lively speaker with awesome photos, so this will be fun.  Tuesday the 22nd at 3PM in the Milky Way.

THURSDAY APRIL 24: MACARTHUR AWARD WINNER DAVID MONTGOMERY on DIRT & CIVILIZATION
Renowned author and scientist David Montgomery from the University of Washington will give a lecture called “The Need for Global Soil Restoration” on Thursday, April 24 at 6:30 in Taylor Auditorium.

More information on Earth Week as well as directions to campus can be found on the Pacific University website.

Bridge City has a New Name for One of its own

The Bridge of the People.  Love the name, love the look, can't wait until it's open.

There's a new "multimodal" bridge in Potland. The Tilikum Crossing, Bridge of the People. It's a name that comes from the original residents of the Willamette Valley and it's a great name for a bridge that soars above the Willamette river. “Tilikum” means people, tribe and relative.

The bridge will host transit, bicyclists and pedestrians, but no cars. If needed, emergency vehicles can use the bridge.

On the west side, the bridge will connect with the new Southwest Porter Street. The east side will run near the OMSI. 

The 7.3-mile Portland-to-Milwaukie light-rail line will run on the bridge.

The new transit line is scheduled to open Sept. 12, 2015. 

April 26th is Earth Day

If you're looking for something to do to help support the Earth and Earth Day, you can check out this website for a few good "green" ideas.  Then plan to make a difference. It's easy to volunteer and you might make a few friends while you're helping the earth.

Let's all do a little and it will do a lot!