Farm Themed Baby Shower

     Sorry I have been away so long. I wish I had more time to spend on my blog, unless that means getting hurt or sick to do so, never mind! Just thought I would show you a pic of a resent baby shower our church gave; when I say resent I mean within the last six months. Of course we had a farm theme. Each table was a little different. The candy apples were fun to make. This was my very first candy apple making experience and a dear friend was doing most of the work. So, it is a little questionable as to whether I made candy apples or not. (:  
     You can see a little of the food table in the back. We had stuffed eggs, chicken sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, veggies and a tray of mini cheese cakes. It was a fun day with games and gifts for mom and baby. We have had other projects but I still have no good camera. This was taken with my phone.
     Have fun being creative and "Smile- sunshine is good for the teeth".

Miniature Paintings

I have been working on miniature paintings for a wedding shower. It has been a great deal of fun. I must say I had gotten away from making miniatures. I use to do it quite often before I made my finale painting. But in this case these are the final works of art. We will be placing them around the centerpiece of each table. The centerpiece will be a tin pail filled with an assortment of red, yellow and white flowers. The main flower however will be the red poppy. The poppy is by far my favorite flower as well as the peony.I made twelve paintings in all. Perhaps I will take one of the miniature paintings and make a large one.Hope these inspire you to be creative.

Bookmarks

More bookmarks hope you like them. I have been busy with other projects lately and have not had the time to do as many as I hoped.

Story Time Bookmarks

Here is bookmark number two. This time I used watercolor and ink. I do like a little color every now and then.Each bookmark measures 7.5 x 2.5 inch on watercolor paper.

King Richard III

First of all I desperately need a new camera. This one has had it all my pics are blurry. With that said, my newest project is making bookmarks. This is a pen and ink done on wet canvas. The canvas is not wet but you can use wet mediums on it such as ink and watercolor. I do not have the time to do many large projects, bookmarks I can handle. You might think, big or small what difference does it make, you could just do it when you have the time. The problem is when I draw or paint I tend to zone out and can think of nothing else, small projects can be done and finished and I want ignore my family.

It has been a long time sense I have worked with pen and ink; I had to practice some before getting started. Adding color to the cape was scary, but it turned out alright, I just need a finer pen next time. I have started a new pen and ink bookmark but I am doing it on heavy watercolor paper. I am trying to decide what I like best. I would like to get some prints of the bookmarks and maybe sale some. Hope you are finding ways to be creative. God bless.

"Yummmmy"

These whole grain pancakes look sooo good! I think I need to make me some. I got the pic and recipe from honey&jam.com. Go over and check out the web site great pics and food.

Whole Grain Pumpkin Pancakes
Adapted from 101 cookbooks

2 cups white whole wheat flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup natural granulated sugar (evaporated cane sugar)

1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice*

1 1/4 cups organic buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree**

2 large organic eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted (melt in the pan skillet you are going to use)
butter, to serve (and for pan)

To make the pancakes combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, spice and salt in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, pumpkin, eggs, and melted butter. Stir all the ingredients until they are just combined. Don't worry if the batter is a bit lumpy, you don't want to over mix.

Heat your skillet, pan, or griddle to medium-hot and brush it with a bit of butter. Test for the right temperature. If a drop of water dropped onto the pan starts to dance, you are in the ballpark. Pour about 1/3 of a cup of batter into the skillet. Wait until the pancake bottom is deep golden in color, then flip with a spatula and cook the other side until golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve with Apple Maple Compote

.
Makes about 12 large pancakes.

*don’t have an pumpkin pie spice? Its easy to make your own! Here’s a recipe.
**pumpkin pie puree is different from pumpkin pie filling. Both are in the same section of the grocery store, so be sure to get the plain pumpkin!


Apple Maple Compote

This is just about the most simple thing ever, hardly a recipe at all.

Apples
Butter
Cinnamon
Maple Syrup

Firstly, I’d plan on using about 1/2 an apple per person. Cut the apple into slices.

Next, add a pat of butter to a medium sized pan, enough to coat the entire thing. Next, add the apples to the pan and sprinkle the cinnamon over. Let the apples get soft, turning them over once, and sprinkling the other side with cinnamon. Add enough maple syrup to cover the apples. Let it bubble away for a minute or so. Pour over warm pancakes.

Red

Above images: 1.& 3.Shop: Toast 2.The Paper Mulberry - vintage farm tools 4. Shop: Katherine Hooker womens tailoring This collection of pics comes from one of my favorite blogs "The Paper Mulberry"

Tissue Paper

I love to decorate! One thing I enjoy doing is using paper. Fabric is expensive and there is so much decorative paper around today. I adore toile and I found this tissue paper at "Hobby Lobby". This was $2 the fabric is $13 and I get the same look. The Scrapbook paper makes great place mats as well. Happy Decorating!

Thanksgiving