Happy New Year 2012

Updating our Toronto Apartment

Making some changes to our apartment, so far I have decided on the Restoration Hardware Lancaster 96" sofa that is 4 feet deep ~ perfect for two to curl up and watch TV.





For a coffee table I have found a wonderful vintage cart with 6 wired basket drawers

Thinking of painting the apartment white and hanging subway art above the sofa.



I will post more as I make decisions and will post before and after photos.

Found a different sofa at Elte, 44" deep.

Hot Chocolate Gift Basket

3 Cups ~ Chocolate Milk (Powdered Nestle Quik)
1 1/2 Cups ~ Coffee Mate
8 1/2 Cups ~ Powdered Milk
1 1/2 Cups ~ Icing Sugar

1 Tbs ~ Chocolate Shavings for each cone bag
Handfull ~ Mini Marshmallows for each cone bag

Instructions for cones:  Put 1/2 Cup of Hot Chocolate Mix in the cone, add chocolate chips or shavings then top with marshmallows.  Tie with curling ribbon or raffia.

To make hot chocolate  ~ use one cone for 9 oz of boiling water


Cone bags available at Creative Bag, they are not listed on their website but are available in their stores.
Shrink bags also available at Creative Bag

Christmas Gift Wrapping

Black wrapping paper with black and white bakers twine and a tag made from white cardstock

Lemonade Mason Jar Lids from We Love Citrus

The past few days have been 16 C, we are really enjoying the Indian Summer that we are lucky enough to have this year.  As we look at the days getting colder my mind drifts off to days of spring and summer when the warm weather will be back.

I recently discovered some mason jar lids for lemonade and can't wait to order them and start squeezing lemons.  You can get them from  We Love Citrus  ~ you can order them here.  Being a jar addict, I have fallen in love with these lids.  I will post pictures as soon as I use them.

Angry Bird Pumpkins

This halloween I have had so much fun painting Angry Bird Pumpkins.  Start with clean, dirt free pumpkins and use craft acrylic paint to create your designs.  When all paint is dry, spray lightly with a matt varnish to protect the paint.

 

Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla

Chicken - Cheese - Red Peppers ~~ make the perfect quesadilla snack, served with sour cream and salsa.

Diet Journey - Low Calorie Taco Salad

After a week of dieting I have lost 9 lbs and plan to keep on my healthy eating track.
I have cut out:
Refined Carbohydrates - Flour and Sugar
Starchy Vegetables
Root Vegetables
Fruits High in Sugar - Grapes, Bananas etc.
Chocolate
Deep Fried Foods
Pop

In sticking to a drastically reduced list of foods that I am eating, I have decided to post some of the creative ways that I am preparing a few basic foods.

100 g     Ground beef - cooked then rinsed in hot water to remove fat (198 Calories)
100 g     Iceberg lettuce (13 Calories)
1            Small roma tomato (13 Calories)
1 oz       Tacotime hot sauce (10 Calories, 0 g fat)
2            Melba toast (40 Calories)

Total - 274 Calories

Apple Pie

Pie Crust 

5 1/2 cups    Flour

3/4 tsp          Salt

1/2 tsp          Cream of Tarter

1 Tbsp          Powdered Milk

Sift Ingredients

Cut in 1 lb Lard

Add 8 - 10 oz Very Cold Water - Mix

Let sit for 20 minutes (a must)

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Thanksgiving Day Breakfast - Quiche

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup  Jarlsberg cheese, shredded
• 1/4  cup old cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

You can also add: 

ham or bacon 

green onions

mushrooms, broccoli etc.

Be Creative

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (220 degrees C)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and half-and-half. Season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Place shredded Jarlsberg and cheddar in the pie shell. Pour egg mixture over cheese.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is set. Allow to set 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Dill Pickles

Medallion Quilt

I started this quilt several years ago.  I was recently able to pull it out of storage after a few moves.  I will be working on it again to get it finished.






Because of my worsening arthritis, I will probably need to have it machine quilted when I am done.

Chokecherry Syrup

Ever since I was a young girl I have loved the flavour of chokecherry syrup.  We would often go and pick fruit - I think my dad thought it was safe to send us picking because the cherries were too bitter to eat and we would have lots of chokecherries in our buckets at the end of the picking.

Chokecherries are usually ready mid August to early September.  The chokecherry bush behind my fathers house was bare this year - the frost killed the blossoms in the spring.  We managed to locate some fruit further down in the coulies where the bushes were better protected from the elements.

After washing the berries and moving leaves and twigs, we boiled the fruit to soften and make it easier to mash to a pulp.

After mashing and removing the stones you add some water and boil a second time to get more of the precious juice.

When the juice is all collected you add sugar and heat it to a rolling boil.  After it thickens you add the juice to heated jars and sterilized lids and tighten the jar rings.  Within a half an hour you will hear the lids ping and pop, which is the best sound you can hear when canning.

Today you are you ~ Dr. Suess

Hill Cumorah Pageant - Palmyra 2011

Church History Sites - Palmyra 2011

We had such a wonderful time in Palmyra with my sister and her family.  We walked through the sacred grove with the kids.



The Smith Log House

The room where Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith

The Smith Frame House

The Printing Press

My Book - Hands

I woke in the middle of the night about a year ago and realized what my Patriarchal Blessing meant when it says ~ " into your home will come faithful spirits requiring the strength of their mothers hands to see them faithful in the gospel."  I then remembered a friends words from so long ago, "you must write a book and call it Hands."

I have been slowly putting a series of stories together for my book.  The stories are funny and spiritual, they will touch your heart.  My husband David has already written a beautiful song to go along with my book.

Cupcakes - Music Fireside May 29, 2011

Sunday Bag

I started with two  $1.49 bag from Creative Bag.  The lettering is from Lettering Delights and the family is customized from Lettering Delights.

Choose lettering and design.  Use iron on pencil to trace pattern or use iron on transfer printer paper.  Remember to trace on the reverse side of your design so when it is ironed on your lettering will be the right direction

Fabric paints or acrylic craft paints
Textile extender - for thinning paint and making paint glide smoothly across the fabric
Permanent fabric marker

Once you have painted your design you will need to iron the reverse side for two minutes to heat set the acrylic paint.

After the bag was painted, I nested a reversed bag inside and stitched around the top edge the two muslin bags provided extra strength for heavy books and fun things to be packed around in this Sunday tote.

Ideas for Fun Things to Put in your Sunday Bag
Magnet Doodle
Magnet Books
Magnet Book of Mormon or Noah's Ark
Book of Mormon Reader
Tick-Tack-Toe
Printed Reverence Books
Twistable Crayons / Case
Note Books
Felt Doll with Clothes or Wooden or Magnet Dress-up Dolls

Puft Wheat Wedding Cake

Niagara-on-the-Lake

For the May long weekend we went to Niagara-on-the-Lake and visited the little shops and drove around.  Such a beautiful area and with spectacular homes and vineyards.

We stopped to take a picture at the floral clock closer to Niagara Falls.  It is a spot that has fond memories for my husbands childhood.

Bumble Bee Cake

 

This was my first attempt at a ruffle tower cake.  It leaned a bit when I took it out of the cake box.  Thanks to the instructions on the Martha Stewart website Ruffle Tower Cake  Kids usually complain because there isn't enough icing on the cake ~ this cake truly has enough icing.

Cock-a-Doodle Quilts

A woman that I met in the Creative Bags Store told me about her favorite quilt shop, which just happened to be a short distance from my husbands office.

http://www.cockadoodlequilts.com/

Creative Bag

What a fun place, cupcake and cake boxes, ribbons, tissue paper, wrapping paper, raffia, boxes, bags.. etc.

I have had fun with cello bags and lunches.

http://www.creativebag.com/aboutus.html

1100 Lodestar Rd. Unit #1  (Lodestar & Dufferin)
Toronto, Ontario M3J 2Z4
416.631.6444
1.800.263.1418

Lettering Delights

My favorite place for cute, fun lettering is from Lettering Delights.  I have had an account for a couple of years and use it often for church and home.  If you follow them on facebook you can get a freebie every Friday.  Once a year Lettering Delights has Dollar Days, where many of their designs are a dollar and you can stock up on the fun fonts and graphics you want to use throughout the year.

http://www.letteringdelights.com/