Friendly Bloggers

Don’t you just love the most how friendly and sharing our blogger friends are?!

                                 I DO!

Thanks to my new blogging friend Elaine from At Home with Elaine for sharing where to find the book images at ScrapBlog.com…

                                                                                This I Love!

Digital Fun!

I’m a fan of digital scrapbooking and seem to go in and out of phases where I’ll create a lot with digital and then I get away from it for a bit.

I was looking for some cool freebies out there, and my goodness are there a LOT of wonderfully talented and generous digital image artists out there!

I created this today in the middle of working my everyday job…

           the gorgeous lace background I found for FREE at Wishing on a Starr 

                            and the scrolly detail on the picture at Kelly Jos

                                     Beautiful gorgeous baby picture by Heather C. King Photography

This journey to find digital scrapbooking elements today all began because I found this beautiful blog… A Creative Mint who has amazingly gorgeous photos and drop-dead gorgeous digital frames and this one  really caught my eye…

                                                                                Pretty! Pretty!

  I wanted a digital book like this one for my blogging pictures and so I started googling…

                    I never found one, does anyone out there have any leads for me?

                                               What are your favorite digital sites?

Love at first sight?

                           Oh, well, not quite really at first sight, but DEFINITELY at first Bite!!!

                                         Yes, these Peanut Butter cupcakes are FANTASTIC!

                                                   Here’s the recipe….

Peanut Butter w/ Chocolate Glaze Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For cupcakes
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

For chocolate glaze
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

To make cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin cupcs with paper cupcake liners

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in egg. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until batter smooth.

On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/3 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and are lightly browned and a toothpic inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. There will be cracks on the top. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on wire rack.

To make chocolate glaze
In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot adn the butter has melted. The mixture should form tiny bubbles and measure about 175F on a thermometer; do not let it boil.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the milk chocolate and let it sit in the hot cream for 30 secs to soften. Add the vanilla and whisk the glaze until it is smooth and all the chocolate has melted. (Return the glaze to low heat if necessary to melt the chocolate completely, whisking constantly.) The glaze should be thick enough to hold its shape when spread over the cupcakes. If it is too liquid to spread, let it sit at room temp for 5-15 minutes, depending on the temp of your kitchen.

                             The recipe is from….

                                                         Cupcakes! By Elinor Klivans 

                                                 Really, You must try this recipe! It’s double YUMMY!

Pink Saturday Memories

Hi Friends! I am posting this morning instead of my usual late Friday evening for Pink Saturday

because I had been out late last night to see Little House on the Prairie the Musical here in Dallas

as part of the summer musicals!

It was such fun watching the story unfold of beloved characters from the Little House books that I remember just devouring when I was about 12 years old….

                              There’s “Ma” in her Pink prairie dress!

             I thought the musical was very well written and of course you can still hear the “half pint”

      in the  sweet voice when the wonderful Melissa Gilbert spoke! She has such a distinctive voice

                                        to me that epitomizes who Half Pint was.

                                           Thoroughly enjoyable!

                                                     Please visit Alaina over at Arbor House Lane also on your

                                                                     Pink Saturday visits!

Beep! Beep! Here come the Cowgirls!

Yes, I’m still in just the beginnings of my craftin’ for the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat coming up in June!

I’m still working on scrapbooking pages for a swap and a little bit of a book to follow suit!

I purchased the CUTEST Cowgirl image on Etsy from Vintage Bella's Shop and used it on the cover of my cowgirl scrapbook….

                                           Isn’t she a doll?!! I used a vintage rhinestone horseshoe for the closure!

I then found the cutest cowgirl truck stamp at Stamp Asylum in Plano, TX thanks to some sweet

help from their girls there and I used it as the end of my album, with a little surprise inside the trunk…

                                                                           BEEP! BEEP!

                                   It again made it onto a page too….

                                            Pull out the card and write down the memories from P.C.!

                                              And just one more page to share today…

                          I’m trying to use elements that aren’t necessarily considered “cowgirl” and

                               integrating them into the overall effect to add some interest to the layout.

                                           Scrappin’ is FUN!

Simple Elegance

Sometimes beauty isn’t complete when you first find it…

       As was the case with this silver lovely I found at

                          Girls Gone Junkin'       

           All the elements were there, the scrolly handle and legs…

            Plus the vintage patina on the silver…

                But the inside had no bottom!

T hat’s ok, it’s a great price and I can fix  her up….

              Now the simple elegance is beginning to shine through!

        Plus she’s just perfect to hold the shimmery flowers

                                           I’ve made….                                                                               Yes, simply elegant!

Vintage book makeover

I was over at My Desert Cottage signing up for her blog “Where I create” party (You need to sign up too if you haven’t already!) and I was going through her tutorials and found a very easy and fun tutorial to turn a vintage book into a Desk Organizer.

I had a vintage book that I actually picked up in Paris when I went for a girl trip at the flea market…

                        It has a gorgeous leather-like cover and I knew it would be perfect for this!

                                       I began folding all the pages, one by one…

                                      And I scrounged through my images and papers to use and to

                                      create a nice vintage appearance to go along with the book…

                                               And before I knew it I was finished…

                                           A little more stamping on a vintage envelope to start off what it

                                                                      can hold now for me….

                                                                          LOVE it!

Ahhhh…. It’s Pink Saturday!

Happy Pink Saturday, Friends! Happy Mother’s Day weekend to you too!

It’s a special Day for all of us Mothers, and we get celebrated for the beautiful Mothers and women that we are!

Today I wanted to share a gorgeous picture I purchased off of E-bay….

                                                                             It is the “Strauss Waltz”

      and it is very large! It’s 24 by 40 with this GORGEOUS wooden frame!

                                         I love the details of the frame…

                                     the depth of the wood and the

                                             feminine curves…. ahhhhh……

                                                             And the carved designs on the frame

                                                 are so beautiful and sets off the picture

                                                               PERFECTLY!

I am thrilled with my purchase and I have it hanging in my living room….

Now to a completely different kind of beauty…. Just because my dog, Ollie, jumped up on the couch begging for a photo when I was taking pictures of this picture…

and just to show you my Ollie’s little “mohawk” too!

                                              I think Ollie’s crazy personality lies

                              within this crazy bit of hair!

                                We’ll never cut it off!

           And just to show you the sweetness of my Ollie too…

 

            Thank You for visiting me this Pink Saturday

                  and please visit my blogger friend

                  Nece from The Old House in Texas

I love that Necel lives in Wyoming but dreams of being

             where I live…. In Texas! Though I do believe

         she’s not thinking of the suburbs where I reside!

                      Happy Mother’s Day!

Sweet Cake!

I was on my daily zip through pretty blogs yesterday and visited the sweet Elizabeth at Creative Breathing and, as usual, was blown away by her abundant creativity, especially when it comes to felt creations, well, I shouldn’t say “especially” because her cute scrap creations are just as stunning.

I was thinking OH HOW CUTE is this adorable felt cake…

                Elizabeth is so sweet and shares the tutorial on her blog to make this..

                      Plus it has the sweetest story about her husband’s birthday to boot! 

Seeing this adorable cake, it got me thinking how cakes are so perfect! Cakes are there in all the celebrations in life!

Cakes bring happiness…

There are cakes made for baby showers…

                                       Tutorial for diaper cake found at Homemade by Jill

Cakes are celebrations of the best moments of life…

Our wedding would rank up there, and you never forget how beautiful your cake was!

                                                       Source

It is no wonder we want to craft cakes, they remind us of happy days full of fun, smiles, and laughter!

I thought this too with this triple decker felt cake with CANDLES….

                                                                        Tutorial at IKAT BAG

Mother’s Day is just a few days away, and FTE can ring by doorbell and delivered this cake to me! I’d be THRILLED!…

                                                          Order yours 1-800-FLOWERS

Whether I’m celebrating a birthday with family, friends, or a special occasion I always

need a decadent never fail cake to spice it up and one of my faves and my most requested from friends to bring along cake recipe is this one…

                          Paula Deen's Grandmother Paul's Red Velvet Cake

                     I usually leave the nuts out of the icing, my friends and I

                           just want the sweet icing straight! YUM!

                      Yes, cakes are glorious   

 

                 reminders of moments of                        

 

                     Celebration in our lives!

She makes my heart Sing!

                               My daughter,  Megan, takes wonderful pictures of my sweet

                                                Granddaughter, Madison, each and every day

                                                    and this one is a favorite, because it shows her

                                                              quite big personality….

                                              I tell you, I love this child from her beautiful brown eyes

                                                     down to her fur accented socks!

                                                               I just wanted to tell you that!

Still being a Cowgirl…

Hi, friends! i continued on my cowgirl crafting a bit this weekend, in between working captioning the latest news stories about the terrible oil slick that’s going to damage our environment and the averted bomb scare in nyc!

there were a few good things, however, one of the baby eaglets has hatched and he’s adorable! his name is phoenix!

did you go to the live webcam to see the eagles on hornby island? i have the link two posts below!

Anyways, as i said, i did get a bit of crafting in too and i wanted to share a few images of more scrapbook pages i’ve finished…

 i found these paper letters at canton on friday, and i knew they’d be perfect for these scrapbook pages for the paper cowgirl swap i’m doing for creating scrapbook pages so each cowgirl at the art retreat can create a memory book of our weekend together in june!

a little glitter, ok, a lot of glitter, and i’m smilin’!

(i didn’t realize glitter was all over me until we went to olive garden and my daughter, the waitress, said mom, you look like you’re trying to be a teenager! there’s glitter all over you!) ha!

  i felt like a free spirit crafter this afternoon, so i saw some unused pattern paper and i thought, hmmmm…. a flower!

and a glittered button, and i’m feelin’ happy!

so one down, and time for another one…

this paper was all-american, just like this cowgirl, so i was thinking p and c for paper cowgirl, ok….

maybe smaller this time, way smaller!

looking at the little letters, i saw a banner, yes, i did!

so that’s what had to be…

and a bit, just a teeny amount more glitter…

i’m happiest when i just let the crafting spirits drive me, aren’t you too?

Pink Saturday finds!

Hi my  Pink Saturday friends! I wanted to show you some of the vintage finds I found at Canton Trade Days on Friday!
I just love a beautiful Spring day in Texas, especially if it's spent at the flea market finding goodies!
A fellow blogger's shop from Girls Gone Junkin' is one of my favorites, it's like treasure haven! If you go tell Cathy Suzie Button sent 'ya, ok?!
I found this wonderful vintage soap box at the Girls gone Junkin' booth....

it even still had a rose soap inside!

I also love to head to the antique building 'cause it's new stuff every month!

I found a bag with a large paper doll...

She's so Prutty! Yes, Prutty!

Especially in her pink dress!

I also found a few vintage cards, and this was one of my faves...

Lovely!

I am also lately moving into wanting smaller items,

this is what happens when you collect TOO much, you've gotta cut back somewhere!

This "little book" caught my eye...

Here are some cute pink images from inside...

and the back page cutie pic...

Oh, my gosh, I'm eatin' my words here, I said I was going smaller!

Well, this was a large adorable vintage children's book,

so I had to break the rules!

(I do all the time!)

Look how adorable a couple of the pictures were inside...

and...

and...

And totally off vintage, my daughter said don't let me buy any clothes for

Madison

(she has too many already!)

but, like me, rules can be "bent" such as shoes, well, patent leather boots

with BLING!

Please visit a fellow sweet Pink Saturday friend, Charlene at My Heart's Ease

Happy Pink Saturday!