Baking, clutter and distractions

I love to bake. I love to bake pretty things more than I like to eat them. I think that if there were a beautiful buffet set out in front of me with all the baked goods of the world one one side and then all the beautiful fruits of the world on the other, I would go for the fruit. Then I would go for some apple pie and then some sort of sweet bread but if there was an honest to goodness fresh baked loaf of something Italian, I just may go for that. I do love me some sugary goodness but homegrown fruit wins over a cupcake and truthfully, it's the appearance of the cupcake that I like more than the flavor. Oh my, I saw the tallest, scariest cupcake ever at my local big chain grocery store. The amount of frosting was more than the cake. I think the cupcakes stood about eight inches high and five of those inches were frosting. I just may need to get one to take pictures of. Then I will scrape all the frosting off and eat the cake.

The picture above is of a small loaf of chocolate chip banana bread. The recipe was for a raisin banana bread. I'm not a fan of raisins. Never was. I thought chocolate chips were a fair substitute. Then I added toasted pecans, wheat germ and cinnamon. I like cinnamon. It turned out a more than delicious loaf. Actually, it made a regular sized loaf and a mini loaf. It was very, very good but then again, drop a stick of butter into anything and it usually comes out good. I was thinking that why, with all that banana, would the recipe call for so much butter? I need to redo it with something else, maybe just the banana, maybe a wee bit of olive oil. I once ate a brownie that was made with olive oil and it was pretty delightful. I'm justing thinking. Hmm.

My house is a mess. A tiny cramped space of a mess. It is only eight steps fro mthe front door to the bedroom and if you were to walk into the house to the bathroom, which is in the bedroom and then back into the living room to the kitchen and then out the back door it would only be thirty steps. Tiny.It is so messy here that I cringe when I look around and then put the blinders back on and pretend it all isn't there. There really isn't any place for me to put everything. We have one closet. There is a small cabinet in the bathroom and two cupboards in the kitchen and that is it. When I sit here at the computer, I see the mess grow all around me. Oozing about bits of ribbon, tissue paper, crafty books, school texts and children's books. Sometimes a vontage hat or two scuttle by and I'm not sure how, but my sweaters seem to prefer the brekafast nook floor, not the closet. This kind of mess and clutter tend to overwhelm me so much that I can't figure out where to start. I think to myself, well, if the bed is made at least something looks pretty. And, it does. It looks really pretty.

we have some winners!

It's the luck of the draw ladies! Please email me with your address...congrats!

The Week in Review: March 31-April 6

  It was a wonderfully busy kind of week and I can't remember much of it other than fun, friends, laughter and mail! I am under a gift attack from the fabulous swappers of coloriffic swaporama and they have been too, too kind to me. So much wonderful goodness keeps arriving to my doorstep, I am floored by it all. Thank you everyone! Thank you! On Saturday, the mister and I, got a bad case of the giggles that turned into full blown laughter only no sound was coming out and we were in soooo much pain! I'm cracking up just thinking about it and we both can't remember why we were laughing unless it had something to do with my pinching him. Good times!

I'll be drawing a name out of a tiny suitcase later on today to see who gets to receive a copy of Bead Simple and a few jek in the box goodies. Heck, I'll be pulling three names. One person will receive the book and the other two will receive a few goodies. Stay tuned! Oh, have you seen my new shop banner? It was made by the fabulous Taryn of My My fame. Hop on over and check it out!

Happy Spring bed

It's that time again and just so ya know, no, I don't keep the same sheets on the bed for a month without washing them. I toss them in the laundry and remake the bed with the same set for the month. I take everything off the bed to re-do the whole thing to mix it up for the month! How does this look to you? Thank you to everyone who delurked and left a comment for the Mondo Good Stuff giveaway. Thank you Susan for giving a shout out on West Coast Crafty! I'm going to do the name game this weekend and the winner will be announced on Moday. Stay tuned!

nifty thrifting finds

 It seems my Mamos was thrifting with me when I hit the thrift store last week in her honor. I even found a vintage doll that she would have snatched up but I put it back. It's difficult to not buy her things but silly to do so as she isn't here to enjoy them. I did send a little loving thought her way when I found it and I would be lying if I said I wasn't talking to myself (her) when I was s hopping. No wonder people stay away from me. Hee! Do you ever find that you tend to gravitate towards one or two colors each time you shop? I do this when I thrift and when I'm looking at fabric. I don't notice until I'm at the checkout and then it's like...ohhh...yeah, yellow and olive. Here's what I picked up!

 Okay you lurkers and readers! We need at least fifteen more comments from the giveaway post before I can pull a name out of a hat. Take a wander over there and let me know what yer thinkin'!

Mondo Good Stuff!

So many nifty things are out floating about. I want to give a shout out to two of them because well, ya know, I'm involved...The lovely Susan over at West Coast Crafty has a new book out! It's pretty nifty. It's called Bead Simple and it is chock full of fabulous ideas for making your own bits and baubles. Anyone can find a nifty project in this book. I should know as I even did one. I'm not really crafty in a jewelry kind of way but Susan's enthusiasm and instructions are so easy to follow you can't help but be inspired! There are plenty of beautiful pictures and the guest designer list is eye boggling! Check out the website here and there's also a fun flickr group. You can even score an autographed copy at Susan's etsy shop. Oh heck, I'll tell ya what....the next 25 comments will get thrown into ah at and I'll do a fancy giveaway of Susan's book and a couple of jek in the box items! So if yer a lurker and I know there are quite a few of you, don't miss this opportunity! Comment away, but be nice!

Next up, issue 9 of blanket magazine is up and available for download. It's free and it's really cool! Issue 9 is the music issue and it is jam packed with all sorts of musically inspired art, design and articles. Check out my article on how to make a mix cd and let me know if yer interested in a copy of the mix I made just for this issue. I know I owe some tunes to a few folks out there and they are coming. I need to get me some new blank cds.

Lastly for now, I will be updating the shop with new gnomie gnomes and matryoshka sachets sometime next week. I know it sounds all vague but I've got a LONG to-do list for today and then school work and grandma and then shop stuff. I'm really excited about the sachets. Here's a sneak peek...