Brunch

I got to cater a little party this weekend.  The hostess is a good friend and she wanted small, finger-type foods.  So everything was petite, just a few little bites each.

 Three different kinds of mini muffins, (yes, from scratch)

 Miniature parfaits,

 Bacon and egg bites, with lots of cheese

Twice baked mini potatoes.

It was lots of fun, I got to plan the whole menu and then played in the kitchen.  My sweet DH was my guinea pig, every recipe got his approval.  The first things to disappear were the mini potatoes, they were yummy.  A good time was had by all.  I hope your weekend is filled with fun, I'll talk to you again soon.

Thanks a latte'

Just a quick card for a friend who loves the color green and coffee.  Some of the papers and all of the ink is CTMH the rest... I am attempting to use more of my misc. scraps from an overflowing scrap box. I am also working on some new projects with the latest CTMH toys.  I hope to post some of them in the very near future!  Have a great day and I'll talk to you again soon.

Heart 2 Heart Doilies and Lace

I rummaged through my scrap box and found some bits and pieces of older Close to my heart papers and used some as flowers and some to layer on my card.  I like the look of the lace on the side, reminds me of a petticoat peeking out from the bottom of a hem line.  

Be sure to visit the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog to see all the other projects for this challenge.  Thanks for stopping, I'll talk to you again soon.

Close to my heart does it again!!!

This just in..... new toys from Close to my heart, they will be available for purchase starting Aug. 1.  Can't wait to start playing with the new CTMH Cricut cartridge and the My Acrylic stamps that go with it!!!!!

Contact me if you want to order one for your very own!! I'll talk to you again soon.

Heart 2 Heart Inspiration II

Orange!!?? a color I am not usually drawn to but lately have been using and photographing a lot.  The middle picture is of things that were sitting on or near my worktable so I gathered them up for a quick photo shoot. These are just a few of the orange inspired pictures I've taken lately.  So my challenge was to create a card with my inspiration color for the Heart to Heart inspiration challenge.

I love orange and blue together (nope not a Denver Bronco fan) more like Chicago Bears! (Mostly just to support the DH).  All papers, stamps and inks are from Close to my heart, ribbon and buttons from my stash.  Thanks for stopping by I'll talk to you again soon.

Heart 2 Heart and Good intentions

At the beginning of my summer break I had all these good intentions, I was going to get my craft room cleaned and organized (I plan this every summer), I was going to do on-line challenges, I was going to get a lot of sewing and clean up done around the house and yard.  Well, here I am again at the end of my summer break, and while I got a few things done, a few things started, a few things thought about.  In the end, I did not accomplish everything I wanted to do.  I have one more week to try to get at least one major project finished.  Not sure which semi-started one I'm going to do but I'll let you know.  Meanwhile, I did do a few challenge cards for the Heart 2 Heart July challenges.  We were supposed to create a card based on the picture above.  Here is my card....

All the papers, stamps, inks and buttons are from Close to my heart.  The ribbon is from my stash.   Off to get some work done.  I'll post another challenge card later.  Talk to you soon.

Blog Candy Give Away

Ok, all you readers who never leave a comment.  I really would like to hear from you so, here is a little incentive.  Here sits Pinky Swirl Rue and her friend Dotty Darling.  I will be giving one of them away on Wednesday July 20th.  How do you get a chance to win? Glad you asked, just leave me a quick comment on this post and on Wednesday I'll randomly choose someone from the hat.  That person can pick one of these little cuties for their very own.  So leave me a comment and let me know who you are I really would like to get to know you!

Pinky Swirl Rue

Dotty Darling

I'll talk to you again soon!

Photography trip

A good friend of mine and I had a chance to do a little over-night photography trip to Santa Fe.  We visited the International Arts and Crafts festival and walked up and down Canyon Road (where all the art galleries are)  It was a fun and relaxing couple of days were we just photographed, talked and ate when we wanted to.  I have always wanted to go and take photos of the different doors and gates and windows that I have seen over the years when visiting "the city different" I think the bright doors set in adobe walls are so interesting.

Peeking into courtyards in the plaza.

A row of painted mailboxes, so charming, I wish my neighborhood had mailboxes.

Flowers blooming in the summer heat and more doorways....

We had a great time and didn't bore our families with "just one more picture!"  Have a wonderful weekend and I'll talk to you again soon.

Girlfriends and dollar finds

I have some friends who are going to a conference in a couple of weeks.  Their team leader wanted some fun little gifts to give them so I volunteered to help.  First we blinged up some $ bin finds from the local target and I stamped and beaded and beribboned some pens.

I wanted to put together some tiny little survival kits.  The theme was "Girlfriends".  So, I went shopping and found these little plastic purses in the candy section of my local dollar store.

Before

I took it apart and made a template from the label.  Then I stamped a new cover and filled it with essentials.

After

 The kits include: hello kitty bandaids, a package of advil, an emery board, some gum and candy and post-it flags for marking their new catalogs.  My friend found some hobo bags in zebra print to put all their goodies in and I stamped up a tag for the handle.

Something fun to give to each member as a thank you for being a part of  her team.  Have a great day and I'll talk to you again soon!

The heat is on...

We're not in triple digit heat right now but it is still hot enough that the "swamp cooler" is having a difficult time keeping up.  We had a group dinner to go to last night and I really wanted something with ice cream but even with ice and a cooler it was not going to make the trip across town

sooo....

 meet Dreamsicle and Neapolitan and they really tasted like their frozen friends without the ice cream headache:)

They were easy to make with a few added ingredients to a basic white cake, cake mix.  So I had my ice cream and cake too!

I hope you are staying cool and enjoying the summertime.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Fun with scraps

Fabric scraps that is.......

 I've been playing around with fabric from my stash and trying to come up with small, little useful things to make from my over abundance of bits and pieces of fabric.  I know from my experience, when I am sewing my pincushion is never were I need it to be.  If I'm at the cutting table, it's at the sewing machine (this is a problem because the two areas are at opposite ends of the house) and I am not someone who can wear one on my wrist, can't even stand to wear a watch.  So, my solution, make several and leave them in all the places I usually need a pincushion.  

This first little owl is going to a young friend who likes to sew and craft.  The ladybug is sitting on my worktable right now.  I'm not sure were it will take up residence at the moment, it is a work in progress.

I have lots more fabric and ideas so check back I may soon have a little give away as these little useful things may be multiplying.  Have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday to the USA!  I hope all your celebrations are fun and safe.

I'll talk to you again soon.