Bright Lights, Big City

As long as I can remember, I have felt a pull between two opposites- a love for the countryside and a love for the city. While I am completely at peace in the country, there is something about big cities that makes my pulse race in the most exhilarating way.

Helena Palazzi Photography

The traffic. The noise. The people. The lights. The buildings. All of these things and more capture a piece of my heart.

Martin Rusch

I love staring out a window many stories in the air, taking in building upon building with skyscrapers lined up as far as the eye can see.

Helena Palazzi Photography

Especially at night. When light and darkness meet halfway.

Troy House Photography

For the next few days I will be in and around New York City, and my heart is filled with happiness. I have a weekend filled with not only the excitement of the city, but also the company of family and friends, ones who it has been too long since I've last seen.

Midweek, I move on to Massachusetts to spend time with some more close friends who I also haven't seen in far too many years, and I most likely will be MIA for a little over the next week; I hope during that time you have many moments of sweet bliss, as I intend to enjoy many of the same.

University of Cookie: Royal Icing

Hey guys! A quick note to let you know there's a new vlog over at University of Cookie. This one is called "making royal icing."

Come take a peek! {I may or may not have invented a new drinking game to go along with it!} ;)

Wags 'n Whiskers flower challenge, a sale, and news about the next release!

Yay! It's Friday! :) Hope everyone is having a fabulous week! It's time for a new Wags 'n Whiskers challenge, and this week, the fabulously talented Jeanette is asking us to use flowers. I was commissioned to make a Mother's Day card with two boys with skin of color. So I chose both Super Ryan and Just For You. Aren't they too cute? I love these two together, because "Just For You" does indeed look like the older brother, don't you think? I stamped them in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with Sketch Copics. I then cut them out and double popped them off the card.

And right now, both of these stamps, as well as all the Wags 'n Whiskers stamps illustrated by Crissy Armstrong, are on sale for 25% off!!! How cool is that!! If you've been wanting to get some of them, now is the time!

Please be sure and pop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the Divas fabulous creations! We're sadly saying goodbye to Bree from her GDT spot, and welcoming Melanie on board as our new GDT. We'd love it if you played along with the challenge, and this time you have two weeks to play along, because next week is the NEW SUMMER RELEASE of Wags 'n Whiskers! So hope you stop by on Wednesday and Thursday for the sneak peeks, and then again on Friday for the celebration blog hop for the new release! The new stamps are sooooo CUTE, and I can't wait for you to see them! Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Nikki, Lacey, Chris, Michelle, Karen, Jacqui, Tina, Jeanette, Christa, Bree, Debbie, Melanie

Images: Super Ryan and Just For You - Wags 'n Whiskers; background and sentiment banner - Magnolia-licious

paper - DP - Nitwits; cardstock is Bazzill

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Sketch markers

Misc: silk ribbon, charms, machine stitching, oval Nestabilities, dimensional tape

My Top Three Asparagus Recipes

Spring asparagus at Santa Monica Farmers' Market

Asparagus. The queen of spring. Elegant, fresh- and addictive. For many of us, the primavera arrival of asparagus is big news. Huge. Exciting. We simply can't get enough. You see, there is something magical about asparagus. Maybe it's the sexy reputation. Isabelle Allende describes asparagus as phallic in her memoir,  Aphrodite, describing gardens lush with it, and stalks thick as trees. She throws in a few maidens with obvious oral fixations and well. You can guess the rest. 

To be honest, the whole thick as a tree trunk thing, though, is a bit much. Big stalks? Not gonna impress me. I tend to gravitate to the slender young asparagus, myself. The slimmer the better, in my gluten-free part of the world. Why? I barely cook them. It's more like a coaxing. A gentle flash in the pan with some fruity olive oil and a kiss of balsamic vinegar. A pinch of sea salt. Nothing fancy. Keeping them tender-crisp is the key to maximum enjoyment-- for me. But I know some folks prefer long, slow roasting. 

And that's what makes the world go 'round, darling.

Continue reading

Mother's Day Cards By Andrea

Oh Hello!  Guess who entered her photos  but forgot to type in the text??  Yes, that would be me!

This is a lovely card designed by my neighbor, Andrea.  Andrea had the scrapping ladies over to make Mother's Day cards.  Andrea has a plethora of stamps and ink pads; the woman could easily start her own store!  Or maybe start giving stamping lessons!

I only made one change on Andrea's design, I added doodle dots.  But even then Andrea made suggestions.  I am so lucky to have such a talented and super-nice neighbor!!

For a very POPular Teacher . . .

Can it be? Summer is almost here? But before summer...it's time for teacher appreciation gifts!

Welcome to those of you coming from Woodlands Family Magazine (and to everybody else, too)! I'm so happy to be working with Melissa of Domesticated Lady (you're going to love her!) to bring you not only a how-to for cookies, but an adorable FREE printable topper as well!

Let's get started on the cookies (you can make these NOW and freeze them until the end of school!):

• Make sugar cookies using a candy corn cookie cutter (it's a multi-tasker) and let cool.
  

Using red royal icing and a #3 tip, pipe the outline of a popcorn box (AmeriColor Super Red).

• With a #2 tip, pipe a wide oval in yellow icing (AmeriColor Egg Yellow).

• With another #2 tip, pipe the outline of popped popcorn above the box in white (add AmeriColor Bright White for extra white).
• Thin the yellow icing with a bit of water, stirring gently until it is the consistency of thick syrup. Let sit several minutes covered with a damp dishtowel (see a video of this process here).
• Gently stir the icing with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have risen to the surface and transfer to a squeeze bottle.

• Fill in the oval and part of each popcorn piece.
• Thin the white icing in a similar fashion.
  

• Fill in the popcorn box and the remainder of the popcorn. Swirl the yellow and white icings together on the popcorn.
• Let dry at least 1 hour.

• Using a #5 tip, add wide red stripes to the popcorn boxes.
• Switch to a #2 tip and pipe "POPcorn" in red on the oval.

• Outline the oval in red using the #2 tip.

• Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.

My favorite part? The swirly popcorn pieces:

The free printable topper is available from Domesticated Lady here.

Melissa, of Domesticated Lady) has so many wonderful ideas...I know you'll want to check out the rest of her darling blog while you're there! (And the online version of her article about the toppers/cookies is here.) It was a pleasure working with Melissa...this theme was all her idea...she is so creative!!!

If you want to make a few individual popcorn pieces to go along with these, check out these too cute cookies from The Decorated Cookie! Is that the cutest idea, or what?

You know what? I made popcorn cookies about 5 years ago and I am so glad to get a chance to update them. Wanna see?

I like this year's version much better!

I'll be linking it to TidyMom's I'm Lovin' It linky party. :)

Have you planned your teacher gifts yet?

Going to the Dogs

I've mentioned before how head over heels E and I are for our two dogs, so it might not be surprising we both desired to have them be part of our wedding celebration. While we weren't able to make it happen, I still love seeing when couples do include a furry, four-legged family member in their big day!

Christophe Photo


Carrie, Brock & Sailor- Echard Wheeler Photography


L: Paloma Images. R: Jonathan & Becca- Ryan Phillips Photography.


Paloma Images


L: KT Merry via Style Me Pretty. R: Lauren & Chris- Laura Novak Photography.


tm photography

♥ Giveaways. Win Me Plss ♥

♥ kay. more fabs giveaways to enter to.
I hope I'll win!!^^ fingers crossed~~

- Bec's Beauty Buzz Rimmel Giveaway

- Jenulence Eyeshadow Giveaway on Two Thousand Things Blog

love.love ♥♥

Making Extra Cookies . . . Works For Me Wednesday

Well, you probably knew it was coming after last week's WFMW, but something simple that works for me is making extra cookies.

I *always* make a mistake when decorating cookies. Even if only I can see it...there's always "the ugly one." Knowing I have cushion (and not just on my hips) takes the pressure off and I actually think I make fewer mistakes because of it.

Example...I made these 40th birthday cookies a few weeks ago. Next to last cookie, I spelled "Robyn" as "Roybn." ROYbn. There is no recovery from that. I had extras, so....I ate it.

Besides eating them myself, I find my husband is more than willing to eat the evidence of ugly cookies as are my neighbors. (Good neighbors like that are hard to find.)

---

What is working for you this week? I'll be linking to Works For Me Wednesday!


PS....any grill queens out there? I'm honored to be guest judging On The Grill at Our Homeschool Home starting tomorrow (Thursday). Link up your recipes and pictures. You'll get bragging rights, a darling WINNER button for your blog and a FANTASTIC prize! Get your GRILL on!!!

Papertake Weekly - Something Different

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope your week is off to a fantastic start! We're supposed to be WINDY here today. YUCK! I don't mean breezy...it's always breezy here in Reno. We're talking windy, windy, windy. The losing shingles kind of windy. So hopefully it won't do too much damage. Well enough about the weather. :) With the arrival of Tuesday, that means it's time for a new challenge from Dawny at Papertake Weekly. This week, she is asking everyone to do something different, and since it's the last Tuesday of the month, we're being sponsored by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp! Whether it be a different type of fold for your card, a different technique, different colors than your norm, whatever. It doesn't matter as long as it's something different for you. Me? I chose shabby chic! I hope I accomplished it. I sure did try, anyway.

The teapot was cut with my Cricut Expression using the Dreams Come True cartridge. I cut out several and layered the pot three deep and the handle and spout two deep, all with dimensional tape between them. I took my scissors to the edges and used lots of Cat's Eye Jumbo Java chalk ink around the edges.

The gorgeous lace and ribbon is from Stamp and Create, the tea stamp is from Magnolia-licious, the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the papers are Nitwit Buds n Blossoms, and the leaves are made with the Martha Stewart frond punch. I tied a piece of twine around the handle of the teapot and looped it around and tied the other end throught the tea stamp. I wanted to simulate a tea bag. I finished it all off by using some Kaiser flat backed pearls.

Because of the dimension, I also made an envelope box to hold it. So what do you think? Did I accomplish the shabby chic look? Please be sure and hop over to Papertake Weekly to see what fabulous creations the rest of the design team came up with. Then grab your paper, your glue, and then figure out what "something new" you've been wanting to do. We'd love to see it, and you just might win a prize! Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Life Is Just A Bowl of Cherries Cards

I recently added a new stamp set to my collection:  Berries and Cherries was purchased from Taylored Expressions.  Taylor has some of the cutest themed cupcake stamps on the markets.  But at the moment I in a fruit phase so I chose cherries.

I stamped the bowl of cherries image in Stampin' Up's chocolate brown classic ink.  I colored in with Copic markers.  I cut the bowl image and the background scalloped matting using my nestabilities.  I also used a new Stampin' Up border punch to finish the edges of the red and gold papers.

I used a circle punch to cut out the phrase cirlce: "Life is just a blow of Cherries".  I mounted the phrase over a strip of yellow-gold ribbon which I tied into a little knot.  The card front section is mounted on a plain white A2 cardstock card base. 

I know this was a quicky post, but I am having a busy week!! 

Remember to leave a comment under my Monday's BBTB2 blog hop post to be in the drawing for the Mother's Day mini cartridge.

Bee Happy with the BBTB2 BLOG HOP and BLOG CANDY

Don't worry, Bee happy - it's a Bitten By the Bug 2 Monday with the April Blog Hop!!  How great is that?   The Monday Blog Hop is enough to chase away all of your Monday blues.  If you are following the blog hop you probably arrived here from Margie's blog, if not, you may want to start the at the beginning of the Blog Hop at BBTB2 (after you read my post and register for my great blog candy, of course!). 

This week's challenge cut is the Bee from the Sentimentals cartridge.  I made a sweet little yellow and black bee, with a yellow and green shadow cut.  I matted the bee with pop dots onto a label cut also from Sentimentals.  I trimmed the label with flowers because the bee must have been searching for pollen.  Silly Bee.

I added more ribbon and flowers to the bottom of portion of the card and topped the ribbon with the phrase Bee happy.  There is also a sneaky little bee hiding behind the ribbon. 

Did I mention that there would be blog candy??? Oh indeed there IS blog candy.  I have a new, unopened Mother's Day mini cartridge in need of a home!  I will be drawing a winner on Saturday from the comments on this blog post.  So before you hop along, be sure to leave a comment!!!!

So, you have read the post? Yes.  You have left a comment below? Yes.  Okay then, that means it is time for you to hop along to the next stop on the blog hop.  Your next stop is at the blog of the FABULOUS Heather.  I love Heather!  She is super person as well as a super wonderful paper crafter!!  Have a great visit at Heather's blog!!!  Thanks for stopping by!