Contrast

When I think of contrast that old Three Dog Night song comes to mind... the ink is black the page is white...
This week I've been working on a photography challenge using contrast.  I didn't want to do a traditional kind of black and white photograph but when I tried to think outside the box I had quite a bit of brain block.
Baking to the rescue! Contrast chocolate cupcake, white frosting.  What do you think?

I made these little mini's this morning. Cute, huh. They taste pretty good too.

I'm taking them to a small group dinner tonight along with the left over chocolate chip pistachio cupcakes I made yesterday.  I think I have baking out of my system for a few days anyway.
This is my other latest thing, I do this whenever I'm waiting at the Dr. office or in line somewhere or waiting for something to come out of the oven.

It's called zentangling.  Just use a square piece of paper and black pen and some basic lines and for a doodler like me it adds up to hours of zen fun.  There are several great sites on the internet that give instructions on how to do it and the philosophy behind it.  I'm thinking about starting a before school group with some of our early bird students.  Anyway, that's it for contrast today.  Have a great evening and I'll talk to you again soon.

Going Green

A green birthday that is...
My sweet husband's birthday is this month, today in fact.  So in honor of the month and because green is one of his favorite colors, I made cupcakes, chocolate chip pistachio. From scratch even.  Something I like to do but rarely have the time.

I found these cute cupcake papers in the $1 bin at Michaels.

Cupcakes baked and cooled. (slight green tinge is good)

Cupcakes in profile.

On to the White chocolate frosting.

Lots of butter (shhh, don't tell) I never said these were lo-cal did I?

Tinted a pale green then swirled on.

Little custom topper.  Too much fun! Verdict:  Yum.  What shall I bake next? It's spring break so there is no telling what I'll come up with.  Stay tuned.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Birthday Boys

The little twins across the street are celebrating their first birthday.  The card colors were inspired by the gift card I got from Target.  Their dad said it was the coolest card he'd ever seen.  I hope your weekend was great and your week is terrific.  We have school tomorrow to make up for one of the snow days last month but, if you have tomorrow off enjoy it and do something creative. I'll talk to you again soon.

Valentine treats

Lovely flowers from the beautiful bouquet my DH gave me for Valentine's Day.

A couple of little valentine treats for friends. Gotta love that crepe paper.

Hope your day was great.  I'll talk to you again soon.

Freak NM storm

 We've been out of school for two days and just got word we'll be closed again tomorrow.  It's supposed to hit 7 below tonight.  So there's really been no melt in most areas other than the main roads. Not usual NM weather at all, but kind of nice for a change.  I wouldn't want a winter like this all the time though.  There's a reason I'm a desert girl.

 I love this little red bench from the neighbor's yard.  So I braved the cold to get some pictures of it covered in snow.

 Icicles, another unfamiliar sight, usually any snow we get melts before they form.

I hope you are somewhere warm and dry tonight and I'll talk to you again soon.

Sunset

One of my favorite shots from our visit to Bosque Del Apache.  The cranes were coming in at sunset to roost for the night.  The sunset was awesome!

Talk to you again soon.

January

One day it was here the next it was gone! Don't know where January went, but here I am at the end of it and don't really have anything to show for it. Work has been busy, I've been taking some evening classes and volunteering all weekend at church for the last few weekends. So there hasn't been much time for creating and I've been feeling it. So today while the workmen are here completely re-piping my house and cutting big holes in the walls all over the place, that they assure me will be patched up so no one will ever know, I closed myself in my creative space and made a birthday card. Just one since I've also had the dog in here pacing because she can't go out and bother the workers.

(about the card: I used mostly scraps that were floating around my worktable, and I've been fidgeting with making crepe paper flowers, I kind of like how they turned out. All the ink and cardstock is from Close to my heart. and so is the birdcage stamp and the glitter, of course.)
I must have birds on the brain because tomorrow I'm going with a friend on a photographing trip to the Bosque Del Apache Bird Refuge. Our photography instructor is meeting us there to help us work on our technique. It's supposed to be beautiful, 62 degrees. Can't wait, it should be fun. If I get any good shots I'll be sure and let you know. Talk to you again soon.