Thanks Lady Anne!

I have the sweetest, most thoughtful customers!  Anne surprised me with this parcel from England today!  British delights of clotted cream biscuits, jumbo oats & Sultana biscuits, lemon curd (super yum), raspberry & blackberry preserves, Damson preserves (excited to try it), strawberry preserves, organic Earl Grey tea, and chocolate truffles!  Made my month!  Thank you so very much Anne and Prince Charles ;-)  I curtsey to you.

Hairstyles 2013 Guide

Who says choosing the right hairstyles 2013 is difficult? Indeed, it doesn’t have to be that way if only you knew how to recognize the right styles. For instance, you have to consider your face shape. In this 2013, oval face shape will perfectly fit the long layers hairstyles while round face will be more beautiful with short pixie with highlights. If you want to try a bit more masculine hairstyle, try super short pixie hairstyle with few layers.

Meanwhile, you still have to pay attention to the health of your hair. Make sure you use the best hair treatment product to keep your hair shiny and smooth all day long. After all, it’s not that hard right to keep the beautiful hairstyles 2013.

Valentine's Day Decor

Wendy is one of my first customers and I'm lucky to call her a friend now.  I had forgotten about some of the past Valentine's Day pieces she had purchased.  It's always nice to see how people decorate with your art.  Thanks so much for sharing your photos Wendy!  Your home looks very festive and I really like those heart plates.

Something is Fishy Here

For week 3 of the British Fest dinners, I made Tyler Florence's Fish & Chips.  It was so delicious!  The cranberry scones from last week were good, but not my favorite.  I'm about to pop the wild blueberry scones in the oven in a few minutes.  Tea kettle is all ready for the Earl Grey tea.

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 3 large russet potatoes
• 2 cups rice flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 teaspoons salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1 (12-ounce) can soda water
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 (8-ounce) cod or haddock fillets, cut in 1/2 on an angle
• 1/2 cup rice flour, for dredging
• Malt vinegar, for serving

Directions

Heat 3 inches of the oil in a deep fryer to 325 degrees F. Alternatively, use a deep heavy skillet.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chips (that is, fries) about the size of your index finger. Put the potatoes in a fryer basket and lower into the oil. Fry the chips for 2 to 3 minutes; they should not be crisp or fully cooked at this point. Remove the chips to a paper towel-lined platter to drain.

Crank the oil temperature up to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Combine soda water and egg and pour into the flour mixture. Whisk to a smooth batter. Spread the rice flour on a plate. Dredge the fish pieces in the rice flour and then dip them into the batter, letting the excess drip off.

Put the chips in the bottom of the fryer basket and carefully submerge in the hot oil. Carefully lower the battered fish into the bubbling oil on top of the chips. Fry the fish and chips for 4 to 5 minutes until crispy and brown. Remove the basket and drain the fish and chips on paper towels; season lightly with salt. Serve wrapped in a newspaper cone with malt vinegar and/or tartar sauce

Abe & George

Abe & George are ready for some President's Day decorating!

Piñatas & Pumpkins

The first Halloween ornament for 2013.  This one is a surprise for my best friend from high school.  She sent me a surprise at Christmas, so I thought I would send this fellow to her.  It's nice to be creating Halloween again!

Petaluma

I stitched together hundreds of photos to make this little video of our recent trip to California. (Rich wants you to know that he's not picking his nose at the beginning of this video. He's picking his teeth. That's a little bit better, right?)

Oh, and it was mostly just me and Rich since Alfredo spent most of the time visiting family.


Our visit to Petaluma...mostly by meal from Amy Powers on Vimeo.

Lords & Ladies

I like my themed dinners with our Sunday shows.  With Downton Abbey's start two weeks ago, the first dinner was Bangers & Mash and tonight it was Beef Pasties.  I know pasties are Celtic, but if it's on the traditional British recipes websites, it's fair game.  Chris and I enjoyed a delicious New Castle beer tonight and I'm not a big beer fan.  I have to say that the Sticky Fingers scone mixes are good.  Week one was raspberry white chocolate scones and tonight we are trying the cranberry version.  I ordered the wild blueberry ones today, so a review will be coming next Sunday.  We've been enjoying lemon curd with the scones and crumpets, which by the way, Trader Joe's makes a good crumpet.  

I have to say if you're a huge Downton Abbey fan, don't go clicking links about the show.  I unfortunately landed right on a huge spoiler and it bummed me out!!!  I'm excited that my son Cameron has started watching the show.  His girlfriend is a huge fan too, and it's about time he starts watching! He's just beginning season two and it would be nice to be able to watch the season 3 with him :)

Happy watching!

  

Thank You!

Thank you so much for the nice response to the last of the Valentine's Day pieces.  A Spring ornament made an appearance and next on the list-  Easter pieces :)  The weather sure doesn't feel like Spring, but    I'm sure I can download some music for some proper motivation!

I may do a Lincoln and Washington Needles & Notions for President's Day.  They could also be displayed for the Fourth of July.  

dinosaurs!

We've been on the waiting list for the display case at the public library for a whole year and finally, on his birthday, the day arrived. Alfredo decided to display his extensive dinosaur collection. Didn't he do a great job?

Today I'm packing for our trip. Hoping to post from California. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, Alfredo!

 

Happy birthday, my sweet boy! I love you so much.

 

Alfredo's birthday always reminds me of when we first met him a week before his first birthday and how he instantly charmed us. The very first time his big beautiful eyes met ours, we became a family.

 

I remember that first week...how I'd make a little nest for him of pillows and blankets and we'd spend those days reading books, playing games and watching shows. If I left his side, even just to go to the bathroom, he cried and cried. I remember him looking at me square in the eyes, holding my face with his dear little chubby hands. We fell in love instantly.

 

Rich and he, from the very first night, found that they shared a crazy sense of humor. They played this funny game where Alfredo would play with this toy...closing all the little doors that flipped up...and Rich would open them back up. Alfredo would shake his head "no" like crazy and then laugh and laugh. They did it over and over. That's how they fell in love that first night.

 



 

This picture was taken on his first birthday, just about a week after his arrival. This picture breaks my heart. I imagine what this little baby had witnessed, what he'd already been through in his short life. And there's a sadness in his eyes that just gets me. That look haunts me.

 

But here we are, 5 years later...a family. That sadness and those unhappy things are washed away by all the love we have together.

 

Happy, happy birthday, Alfredo!

 

 



angry bird photo booth

 

I set up a simple photobooth constructed with pvc piping and a sheet. I already had the piping on hand from previous projects. I just put them together to create a basic frame with a stand. I clipped the ends of the top of the sheet and fed the pipe through it. Easy Peezy. Alfredo decorated the sheet with reusable wall decals which we scored on Amazon for super cheap. ($3 + shipping)

 

Alfredo posed with each guest or group of guests and they had great fun posing and hamming it up. Yesterday, I set the photos up in strips of 4 (sometimes I just repeated the same image and just cropped it or zoomed in if I didn't have 4 images). Check out how cute the one of Alfredo, Rich and me turned out...fun!

 

 

 

I sent them to Walmart to print 2 strips per 4 x 6" print and ordered two copies of each. One strip will go with each Thank You note. The other set of strips will be for Alfredo...I'll  hole punch them together and bind them with a little binder ring. Maybe I should laminate them first to increase their lifespan. 

Angry Bird Birthday

Wow...what a fun party we had! It was so crazy that I didn't get many photos. And some things didn't go exactly as planned. For instance, the Angry Bird game didn't really get organized. Some kids played with the big red ball and others with the big "blocks"...

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a bouncy house that was super popular.

 

I'm really kicking myself for not getting any photos of this but we had a guy put on a big pig mask and run through the field while the children threw Angry Bird plushies at him. I think it was the biggest hit of the party. I hope someone took pictures of it...it was hilarious.

 

After the field part, we went to the party room.

 

 

 

Nests filled with spray-painted Easter eggs and feathers and paper Angry Birds on skewers made quick and easy table decorations.



 

 

 

I printed coloring pages onto 11" x 14" bristol board. This kept them busy while they waited for their cupcakes, this kept them busy. 

 

 

 

We had a little ice cream sundae bar and had just a few children fill their ice cream bowls at a time.

 



 

 

And just feast your eyes on these unbelievable cupcakes and cake that my friend Caryn made for us...

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

So much fun!

 

 

I have one more thing to show you from the party and then we are on to the next big thing...a trip to California!

 

Alfredo's actual birthday is tomorrow. He is so excited to be 6. What a sweet blessing he is to us.

 

 

Short Hairstyles 2013

Short hairstyles 2013 don’t always have to too simple. You can still give pretty nice details to make your appearance a bit funky, or at least attractive. You surely often see a really short haircut, right? Yes, this cut will definitely work. Look at Pink, for instance. Her look will give you more confidence that short haircut works great too for heart-shaped face. In fact, her cut is so lovely to be combined with nice highlights.

Short hairstyles 2013

Mostly, such short haircut looks best straight hair. If you don’t have this kind of hair, just ask hairstylist to temporarily straighten your hair. It’s cheap but it delivers great results. After all, short hairstyles 2013 should be as simple and beautiful it can be.

angry bird game

 

I saw this idea all over Pinterest and instantly knew it was the game for us. We're renting an indoor field for Alfredo's birthday party. The idea is that the children will roll (or toss if they can) this huge ball into a tower which another child builds with boxes. They'll place piggy plushies in amongst the boxes.

 

I painted the extra huge red ball with an Angry Bird face. (I just noticed in this picture that the placement of the black dots in the eyes is a bit off, giving him a bit of a Crazy Angry Bird expression!) I just used regular craft paint and it worked great...until I decided to paint on some sealer. As the sealer dried, the paint just flaked off. So I started over, repainting with just the craft paint. Hopefully it holds up for the party.

 

 

 

I covered all sorts of boxes with wood grain contact paper (found at the dollar store).

 

 

 

 

Adding strips of the contact paper to the top and bottom, with the grain in the opposite direction, and adding a strip diagonally really makes the boxes look like crates.

 

My kitchen is currently filled with these boxes and Alfredo has been testing them out by throwing his Angry Bird plushies at them. If his test is any indication, this game is going to be a big hit!

Pretty

The alter is just beautiful...

Sweet as Pie

Sweetie Pie ornaments will be posting this evening at 8 PM EST.  

For those of you who wanted to know the French cafe CD, it is In a French Cafe by Manuel.  It's available on iTunes. Makes you want to sip some coffee and munch on a croissant. 

new 'do

Whenever the hairdresser wants to straighten my hair, I'm all for it. It's like being a new person for the day.

Curly Short Hairstyles 2013

Short Hairstyles 2013

What if someone decided to have short hairstyles 2013? I can say this decision can be perfect as long as this cut is created with nice details. Be it classic bob haircut or wavy short haircut. Rihanna can give some beautiful cuts that inspire you. Look at how fresh she looks with classic bob and short bangs. Yes, you can have such fresh look as well.

Some advices may work for this cut. For example, try to make the hair a bit longer to give chances for nice curls that are perfect for special occasions such as nice dinner. What you need to have is curling machine only so you don’t have to go to beauty saloon just to get pretty curls added to your new short hairstyles 2013.

Oui!

Two new Valentine's canvases for this year.  I downloaded a great, relaxing French Cafe CD while painting them.  That was the best $7.99 I have ever spent.

angry birds pennant banner

We are in full-on Angry Bird birthday mode around here. Alfredo is so excited about this birthday and all the fun things we have in store for his friends.

Nothing says party like a pennant banner! This weekend, I whipped up this one...

 

I decided to make it out of felt instead of paper so that we can re-use it as a room decoration.

 

 

 

You can see how easily they are pieced together....googly eyes, eyebrows, beak and a wedge for the belly. I used a bit of felt glue to secure the face parts. 

 

 

 

 

 

I sewed the triangles together using bias tape folded over the top edge. It came together rather quickly. I started cutting out the triangles Friday afternoon. By friday night, I'd glued all the yellow bird faces. Saturday, I did the red bird faces and sewed them all together. There are a few sections, depending on the length of bias tape I had...some short and others quite long. Probably more than 50 feet of pennant banner all together!

 

 

 

 

 

This adorable "Happy Birthday" banner is from Target. The colors go so well with the theme. I adore it...especially since it can be used forever. And for just $5, you can't beat the price.

 

Tomorrow, I'll show you the humongous Angry Bird ball I painted and what we have planned for it. We're having so much fun around here!

 

First Piece for 2013

Hana 2013 is the first piece of the new year!  She will be featured on my 2013 artwork tags.  

Happy New Year!

We have a lot of catching up to do. I think you can search back my archives and see that at the first of every year I say something like "I can't believe Christmas is already over" so I will refrain from repeating that sentiment.

But I have a lot to show you. Above are darling glittery birds I bought at World Market and then dolled them up with a hat and scarf. If you hurry, you might be able to score them in the sale bin.

 

I added a quickly embroidered heart to a plain muslin bag and these made great little gifts for friends.

This year, lots of folks on our giving list got this:

An Ice Cream Sundae Party Kit!

I made batches and batches of butterscotch and hot fudge sauces (using the recipes here). I put them in adorable little pint jars using a coffee filter under the jar rim to make an adorable little jar skirt.

We packaged all sorts of toppings including chocolate chips, gummy bears, and sprinkles in little treat bags topped with patterned paper. I decided against labelling them all because they seemed easily identifiable and the paper looked so pretty.

 



 

I packaged them all in red gable boxes left over from Alfredo's birthday party last year.

 

It would have been nice if I'd shared this with you before Christmas, right? But this does make a great anytime gift.

 

 

Here's a funny picture I wanted to share with you:

 

We had a playdate and Alfredo's friend artfully arranged Alfredo's collection of Squinkies all around the house I made in Pam and Eileen's class. I just thought that was too adorable for words.

And now, I switch gears into planning Alfredo's 6th birthday party...

This year, Angry Birds!

 

Here are his invitations...40 of them, all carefully handmade. Aren't they fun?

 

p.s. Can you even believe that Alfredo is turning 6?!! What? Huh?