oooo, it's that time again.."end of school" tea party!!

Jasmine is very quick to remind me that it's time for my famous "end-of-the-school-year" Tea Party! Since we just moved her back home, from her year in the dorms, I guess she is right! So, I was looking thru photos and wanted to post pictures of last years Tea!! Num, num! Menu for this year will be something like this: I want to try those little Pillbury Savories, make some Strawberry Cupcakes from Martha's new Cupcake cookbook, make homemade Bon-Bon's again, Tea Sandwiches (of course) and whatever else I can think up!!!! OH! And PG Tipps Tea!

i'll admit.....

so i am obsessed! ok? i'll admit. 5 days i obsessed over this lilac ribbon i picked up on a craft shopping spree. i had only purchased 5 yards. i got home and made the card with it and loved the color! so, i obsessed about it until i finally talked myself into driving, the 45 minutes it takes to get to the bigger town with craft stores, to get more! well, i get there and i can't find it! OMG! i panicked. i searched for 10 minutes then, lo n' behold, i found it buried under other spools, in with the navy blues! so i found that, and more as you can see, i am an addict. the poor store clerk, that had to measure and cut the ribbon for me, asked me if it was for a wedding? she thought she remembered me from the other day. i said oh, no. she asked well, then what was i going to do with it? i said, well, um, i just.....i just like it, i collect ribbon! lol! i ended up purchasing the whole pile of ribbons. now i will get busy and make the cards for etsy!

Easter Baskets!

I got up this morning and frantically put my three Easter baskets together! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! I made the three bunny tags yesterday after being inspired at The Mulberry Tree in town. Super cute gift shop! I love! They took me a few hours to create, then put together. I think the girls will love them. Lily and the finance are going to come out later for dinner. I decided to make a big spaghetti dinner, garlic bread, green salad and Brown Sugar Strawberry shortcakes for dessert! Yummers! Jas asked me "You mean you aren't going to have meat?" I said, "What do you mean? There is meat in the spaghetti sauce." She replied, "You know, a piece of meat, like turkey, ham or a roast?" I said "No, not this time. We are going to go UNtraditional, and easy this year!" Well, as easy as a big dinner can be! Pics are of the three easter baskets and of course as I was photographing them Zoe decided to run up the oak tree for attention! Then ignored me! Hmmm, I wonder if she is still up there.........................Happy Easter all!

Super Gorgeous!

Jasmine instigating photo shoots again with all the new Clinique eyeshadows! yummy! the big idea was wrapping tulle around their heads and using the garden as background. Also, photoshop actions are awesome!

Etsy Treasuries!

A windy, wet day here in Southern Oregon! I love it! I have got Jasi hooked on making treasuries on Etsy! ( Well, I think she started making them to feature me in it because she feels sorry for Mommy!) And she is so exceptional at it! Her current treasury is Add Spring To Your Hop and is the top photo here. It is just so beautiful and pleasing to the eye! Way to go Jas! I am so proud of you! My current treasury is the second picture and called called PerkUP! . You can almost smell the coffee aroma just looking at it! Fun stuff and amazing artist's!

Me and My Loonie!

Loonie! Remember this? What did you name her, I never found out!? Mmm, those cookies were so good and the gifts were so wonderful!

Valentine Cards are DONE!!

The Valentine cards are finally done!! The three cup cards are for the girls and the red felt heart is for the Big Guy!! I really liked how they all turned out! I was so worried I wouldn't be able to come up any fun new designs but again, I surprised myself!

Ranting......

So, it started snowing about 2 1/2 hours ago and I have an inch on the deck, cars and most unfortunately...my DirecTv Satellite dish! My favorite channel, FoodNetwork, went out and I tried everything I knew to get a signal again. I finally went outside to look at the dish and yes, there is snow on it BUT this is not the first time there has been snow on it but it is the first problem I've ever had! Of course, the big guy is out of town and I don't dare try to climb the pitch of the roof to brush the dang thing off! Grrrrrrrrrr......

Guess I'll just have to start a new book!!!

Homemade PIZZA!!

Mmm, nothing better than some of those Almond Bars (see previous post) and a cup of Fair Trade Organic Jasmine Tea with stevia! I am sooo addicted to my Jasmine tea! My guilty pleasure, since I drink 3 cups a day! Yikes! Hey, it's a green tea, supposed to so good for me (:

My latest fav is the Whole Wheat Pizza with Arugula from the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Everyday Foods magazine! Soo nummy! The only thing I do different is that I brush the rolled out dough with olive oil then I top with thinly sliced red onions before I top with the tomatoes. It adds such a nice taste! And instead of pecorino cheese I shave a fresh chunk of Parmesan with a vegetable peeler and top with that!

I really love the whole wheat dough recipe too! It reminds me of foccacia. I also toss the arugula with 2 T. olive oil and 1 T. balsamic vinegar before I top the pizza with it. What a taste sensation!

Almond Bars

Almond Bars

Crust:

1 ¼ c. flour

¼ c. sugar

dash salt

½ c. butter, cold

Filling:

3 Tbl. soft butter

½ c. sugar

1 egg

½ tsp. almond extract

½ c. blanched almonds, ground

1 Tbl. flour

Glaze:

3 Tbl. butter

¼ c. sugar

½ c. blanched almonds, sliced

1 Tbl. flour

2 tsp. milk

½ tsp. almond extract

Crust: Cut butter into dry ingredients. Pat into 9 x 13 pan.

Filling: In processor, grind almonds with flour. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy, add egg and extract. Stir in almond/flour mixture. Pour over crust. On Lowest Rack : Bake 350 degrees till golden - 25 minutes.

Glaze: Stir all topping ingredients in small saucepan and heat over low till blended. Spread over hot cookies and broil 6 inches from heat till glaze is golden, about 3 minutes.

Cool in pan on rack. Cut into bars.

48 bars

Mmm, I have made these cookies two times this week already! Oink! They are a bit tricky, spreading the filling over the uncooked crust so patience and a light hand must prevail! Enjoy!

Lily's Esty!!

We worked all day and finally got Lily's Esty shop "Craftylass" up and running!! Wow, it was alot of work! Taking pictures, editing, describing, uploading (remember I am still on dial-up!)..... The guys enjoyed the big game and all the nummys I prepared to munch on! We missed not having Buddy with us though! BUDDY I love you!

Anyway, take a peek at the shop!

I'm soooo excited!!!

I'm so excited!! The mailman just drove up and you know what that means??? A PACKAGE! It was my Amazon order and I forgot what I had ordered so I was so excited when I opened the box and saw the "Slumdog Millionaire"CD!! Whoohoo! I immediately had Lil put it on so now we are doing art to the Slumdog musica! 5 stars all the way! Of course how can it be anything but fabulous considering the awesome movie!

Lily is making things to put on her etsy and I am working on making a banner for her etsy store! I have been hounding her to get an etsy shop going for sooo long! I'm excited she's finally going for it!!

Current Favorites and such....

Ahh, I don't know why but I love the music of Blue October! I love to do art while listening to them. And I can't figure it out because I am not a "rocker chick" (: Something about them, his voice, their lyrics....... And then yesterday I downloaded Angels on the Moon by Thriving Ivory, another rocker-ish song! Quite the contrast to Sarah McLachlan whom I just loaded all 4 cd's onto my ipod too!

Current read is Saffron Kitchen by Yasmine Crowther. Nice book, I have a feeling some tears might be shed though. That's ok. It was time for a change. I just finished the four books that make up the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. They were ok. I don't know, something about them made me come back to read each addition book. Hmm, not sure what my next book will be. I can't wait to browse my shelves though.

Jasi & Pearliss

I am so excited! My friend Donna asked to use the girls' pictures as her model/inspiration for her AWESOME paintings! She used this one of Jasi holding Pearliss and it is so beautiful!! Donna you ROCK! Please visit her blog to see the artwork!

Ahhh, my beautiful girls....

I love having girls! I am a girlie girl and so are they. That explains the need for them to do "modeling shoots". That's what they call them. Jas will come home for the weekend and con Cam into giving up precious study time (why isn't Jas studying?) to have a "modeling shoot" then they have to download them and see who can create the coolest look with photoshop. The stark photos Jas calls the "Marc Jacob" shoot. No make up and really random poses. Cami calls the ones with her and Lil the "twinnies" shoot. People mistake them for twins! Weird!
NOTE: Pearliss made a cameo with Jasi!

New stuff....

Trying to get back into the art room!

The Trifle!!

I forgot to address "The Trifle"!! I made a chocolate peppermint trifle for Christmas dessert. It was Martha's recipe and easy but many steps! It called for chocolate liqueur which I had to go buy. They recommended Godiva but gee whiz, $30 a bottle? The big guy was with, so I had to buy another brand at $10 a bottle. I am sure it wasn't as good BUT no matter I didn't use much anyway. The trifle was delicious but very very rich. And it looked so pretty!!

I also loaded up a picture of Sophie on Cami's scrapping table at Christmas time. Cam was working on a very awesome scrapbook for Jas for Christmas and Soph had to be in on the action!! She is the "Sophie Jekyl Sophie Hyde" kitty....multiple personalities....

And here is the "Snowman thank you" card I made Looney's Mom for sending her delicious cookies to the tea party!! Also, I finished Laveda's birthday card and it turned out real cute! The Queen Bird!!

Some Christmas Photos......

Since the Big Guy worked all Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it seems like Christmas never happened for me!! It was not planned to happen that way but when duty calls I guess there is no choice......So we all kept waiting for Dad to get home and didn't want to open gifts or have dinner until he got home even though we didn't know when that was going to be!! Finally around 6pm Christmas night he came home bleary eyed with fatigue but ready to "get the party started"!! The pictures are of my three beautiful girls, me and Cami, me with Lily's drawing of my 4th child Zoe (so precious, I cried) and me with the touching scrapbook Cami made of all our furry and feathered pets!!

Christmas Tea and Cookies!!

The fruits of my hard labor!!! All the cookies I made this holiday and the set up for a small tea party with the girls and my Looney friend! You know who you are! Also pics of my best Christmas bouquet ever!