I am constantly amazed...

by the talents of the women in the blogging community. Blogging has become an unbelievable forum for creative hearts to share their projects. Look at this "altered" candy caddy. I can see myself making one of these in the near future...maybe Valentine's Day....it's just so darn cute! This project was made by Jess over at "The Macs".

The beautiful fabric scrapbook above was made by Cari Fennell and shown on her blog, "Me and My Mary Janes".

This fabulous apron made by Donna Downey who scrapbooks, paints and now sews. You can view her blog here. I was lucky enough to meet Donna at a scrapbook convention a few years ago and I was a teaching assistant for one of her classes.

Meet Space Boy and Robot. Camille over at "Simplify" made these for her little boys for Christmas. Aren't they the cutest? Camille is a talented quilter...to say the least. Her home is also beautiful!

cooking with the pioneer woman....

I spent this Saturday hanging around the house and cooking a nice dinner for my family. My menfolk had gone off to play a hockey game in a town that was one and half hours away. The junior high girl was having a friend over for an afternoon of fun. I decided to try a new recipe from this lovely cookbook, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks". I just received it on Thursday in the mail, and I spent most of the evening devouring the recipes and beautiful pictures inside. The 'Pioneer Woman' writes a blog that is a wonderful blend of photography, life stories, cooking and inspiration. If you dare to read the tale of how she met and married 'Marlboro Man'... you will be mesmorized by the story of a city gal who meets a ranch cowboy and promptly falls in love.The pictures of the working ranch she calls home with 'Marlboro Man' are breathtaking.....it makes you want to plop on a cowboy hat, saddle up old Sally and giddy off into the sunset of blissful ranch happiness.The thing I really love about her cookbook is that it is written by a homecook for homecooks. She gives step-by-step photos for each recipe, along with a healthy dose of interesting rural stories and striking photos of her life with her man and 4 young whippersnappers. (Did I mention the pictures of cowboys in wranglers with chaps?) I tried her meatloaf recipe for tonight's dinner. I followed her recipe exactly with the exception of adding mushrooms and onions into my meat mixture. The top layer of bacon and tomato gravy on the meatloaf is enough to make any cowboy happy. I made 2 loaves and 12 mini loaves in a muffin tin for the freezer. I served it with mashed taters, corn, carrots and gravy. Pure comfort food on a day when morning dawned with a wet layer of snow on the ground.

It was a yummy dinner and one meatloaf is completely gone. And my whippersnappers gave our guest a wonderful performance demonstrating sibling love....."You laugh like a donkey!" said one. "Your face is like a donkey's" shot back the other. Like I said.....I love dinnertime conversation.

project life...

I have been scrapbooking for 10 years now and I am super excited about this scrapbooking project. It's called 'Project Life' and it's designed by the fantabulous Becky Higgins. This amazing kit contains all the components for a year of scrapbooking: album, page protectors, 12x12 paper, journalling cards and other decorative pieces. Becky designed a similar kit last year for Creating Keepsakes called 'Project 365'... but it sold out in no time. I regretted not purchasing that kit, so I was so happy when she announced that she was designing a new kit for 2010. Have you met Becky Higgins? I first became a fan of hers through her work with Creating Keepsakes Magazine in 1999 when I was a new scrapbooker. Becky was, at first, a page designer, then a columnist, book author and creative editor for Creating Keepsakes. I have always admired her page designs and her inspirational theme album projects. I have watched her grow from a young married woman to a mother of 3 adorable children. And I have had the opportunity to meet her in person 3 times and take a class from her at Creating Keepsakes University in Boston in 2003.


She is lovely....both inside and out.

Becky wrote this book a few years ago and I really love all of the projects revealed inside. Becky has amazing ideas about how to organize your theme albums and her projects are always very beautifully put together with amazing colors, photos and journalling.

She also wrote this book for the scrapbooker who would like to tackle projects from the family historian point of view. Inside you will find interview questions for gaining more information and anecdotal stories from family members and ideas on how to scrapbook this info.

I last saw Becky in 2007 when she came to my city for a convention. I had her autograph both of these books. I really treasure these and the inspirational ideas inside.

november is for....

preparing for Christmas and December is for enjoying Christmas. I read this amazing piece of advice last year on one of my favorite blogs...Restyled Home. That lovely Linda is chock full of great advice and creative energy!

So far I have finished Christmas shopping for the children. Yes...I said finished. I visited the largest local mall two weeks ago (when it was still October) and hit a home run with my list.
I picked up Santa gifts and stocking stuffers and the whole, darn SHE-bang. What a wonderful feeling! This means I can afford killer-shark traffic, over-full parking lots and slow check out lanes when December comes! Yee-ha!

Over the last month, I have picked up new Christmas wrapping paper, new tags, Christmas cards, and carry-out containers for homemade goodies. Tonight I picked up several rolls of scotch tape for a planned 'wrapping day' next week.

I am also having so much fun visiting some of my favorite blogs to see what ideas for Christmas other people are sharing. I love this photo from "The Party Dress" for an idea of a "Cocktail and Cookies" party. Makes you want to invite all your girlfriends over, doesn't it?

‘Nie Nie' shares story of the crash and her recovery

ksl.com - ‘Nie Nie' shares story of the crash and her recovery

on Oprah's couch today...

my beloved Nie and her husband Christian are talking about their survival of a fiery plane crash that killed their pilot and friend. I don't watch Oprah often, but I will be watching today.

meet the lovely sophistimom...

One of the blogs I really enjoy is Sophistimom. It is written by a talented mom of 3 named Jaime whose parenting mantra is "Well read. Well bred. Well Fed". She shares a blog full of recipes and the photography is her very own....she has amazing skills both in the kitchen and behind the camera. All of her recipes are so beautifully photographed that you are inpsired to make everything she features because it just looks so dang delicious. I love making my kids homemade treats for their school lunches as I have a strong dislike for pre-packaged things that are full of not-so-good ingredients.
As a back-to-school feature last week, Jaime showcased recipes that would make excellent school bake sale treats. I loved this feature and the Peach Cobbler Bars are but just one of the amazing treats she shared with her readers. The following features both her photo and recipe instructions. Enjoy!

Just a word of warning: in the experimenting, I made them in a 9 x 13 inch pan, so in the pictures, you see a much thicker bar than how the recipe says to make them. After finishing them, I decided it would be better to spread them out thinner so that the cooking time isn’t so long, and you get more bars from the same batch. If you don’t have a nice half sheet pan, though, or want the thicker bars, you can definitely make them in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Simply reduce the temperature to 325 (165 degrees celsius), and bake for about 10 to 20 minutes more.
peach cobbler bars
1 cup (2 sticks or 224g) unsalted butter at room temperature2 cups (380g) granulated sugar1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract1 teaspoon pure almond extract4 eggs3 cups (300g) unbleached all-purpose flour3/4 teaspoon salt
for the filling:6-7 peaches, peeled and thinly sliced1/4 cup brown sugar1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
for the glaze:1 cup powdered sugar2 tablespoons cream1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 180 degrees celsius). Grease a large cookie sheet (half sheet) with butter or nonstick spray. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar, until smooth and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Add in vanilla and almond extract. Slowly add flour and salt, and mix until just incorporated.

2. Spread three-fourths of the mixture into the prepared pan. Mix the peaches, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl, and distribute evenly over the batter. Drop the rest of the batter by tablespoonfuls over the peaches, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden brown.

3. Whisk together the powdered sugar, water, and cream and drizzle half of the mixture over the warm bars. Allow to cool, cut into 3 inch squares, and drizzle over the remainder of the glaze.

Nie Nie....

Meet Stephanie Aurora Clark Nielson. She is lovely. A wonderful wife and mother of four. Also a talented blogger who writes the "nienie dialogues". She wrote about the joys of being a mother, wife, and keeper of the home. It was amazing stuff to read....and was, and still is, one of my favorite blogs. Nie lived in Arizona with her family....a happy life.

August 16, 2008 is a day that all of us nie nie dialogue readers will NEVER forget. Nie and her husband Christian were in a plane crash while on a short day trip to New Mexico. All 3 occupants of the plane were seriously injured. Friend and pilot, Doug Kinneard, died the next day of his injuries. Christian and Stephenie both clung to life with severe burns over much of their bodies. The reports were not good. Stephenie suffered burns over more than 80% of her body, and was not expected to live. Her four small children were taken to Utah to live with her sisters. Nie's sister, Courtney, kept us blog readers updated as to her condition. Stephanie was in a medically induced coma for months while burn unit experts worked away at repairing her body with skin grafts. All of us nie readers prayed and the blog community went to work with fundraisers to help the Nielson Family. And slowly, progress was made. Nie woke from her coma in November. She was moved by air ambulance to Utah to be near her family in December. She learned to walk again. In January she came home to her family. She started blogging again on January 16, 2009...exactly 5 months after the accident. She has worked hard to overcome body pain, regain the use of her limbs and to reclaim her role as keeper of the home. And slowly, she is regaining her life. Her biggest struggle lately has been dealing with her new appearance. She recently shared this picture with her blog readers...the first time we have 'seen' her since the accident.

I think she is more beautiful than ever.

She has made amazing progress and in my heart, I cheer for her every day.

I read with joy as Nie wrote about the happiness of making school lunches for her girls as they started a new school year this week. Something so mundane a chore as the making of school lunches, which all of us mothers bemoan at times,....... brings Nie great joy....because she is here.

She has walked through the fire. She has lived to tell the tale.

She is living, breathing and taking care of her family. And she is keeper of my heart for her courage.

this one is for Danie....

Let me explain first.... I love reading blogs. I read scrapbooking blogs for ideas & to see what is new in the industry. I read sewing blogs for inspiration & motivation to try new projects...most lately quilting. Two of my fav sewing blogs are Anna Maria Horner and Heather Bailey. I read cooking blogs too.....for the same reasons. One of my favorite cookings blogs is Cookie Madness....she posts the most amazing cookies recipes. I also read travel blogs.....which brings me to Danie. She is the sister of a friend of mine who now lives in India. I read her blog because not only do I love her writing....but also I get to experience the sights, tastes, smells & beauty of India thru her most observant eyes. Recently she posted about how "India" is so "in" right now. Keen observation....... when I opened the April issue of Canadian House & Home mag....I found a feature article on a designer whose designs are inspired by India. Holly Dyment has been to India many times and each time brings back inspiration for designs for her clients who are daring enough to inject the bright hues of India into their homes. Thought you might like to see this Danie! (You can check out her blog...."Earth to Danie".. you won't be disappointed).