finding more for sale~~

We keep digging thru boxes in our back storeroom and found all these NEW beautiful silk flowers.  These all were bought from Tapscotts floral supply who by the way have the best quality and choices out there in silk flowers!!
Anyone interested?? GREAT PRICE!! plus travel expenses or pick up at the store this weekend!!
THANKS

silk flowers for sale!!

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Sunny sunday

Sorry I havent been here this week!! It was just a very difficult week for me to do much of anything.  I cant believe it is already a week our little Bubba is away in heaven.
I am slowly working on a memorial frame for my dear sweet hubby in Bubba's memory.   I so want to do more and raise awareness of how serious things can get with our dear pets!! this experience has left us very angry and bitter towards a vet and really I want people to know and hopefully prevent another family and furry kid go thru what we have.  Just not sure how to go about this task at hand but I promise you I will come up with something to help others learn for this.

I did find this quote and want to share it with you, this will be on an element for the frame I am working on.

WHEN A PET DIES, THAT SPECIAL WARM PLACE IN OUR HEARTS SUDDENLY BECOMES EMPTY....... AND AS IN ALL PAINFUL EVENTS, IT WILL TAKE TIME TO GET OVER THE LOSS.....
BUT WE REALYZE, AS TIME PASSES, THAT ANIMALS HAVE A WAY OF TEACHING US ABOUT LOVING, ABOUT LOYALTY, JOY AND FRIENDSHIP..... AND WHATEVER WE'VE SHARED IN THEIR PRESENCE CAN NEVER REALLY BE LOST...........author unknown...
This is so very true..

Hopefully I will get a creative kick in my butt this week and make some things and create art~ I do have markets so it is going to be difficult to be away from Buster and Barney but I have to bake and tomorrow is goin to be spent at the flower shop making pretty posies to put a smile on someone's face.
FLORAL TOUCH FLORIST FENNVILE, MI  269-543-4815  if you need to send flowers to Saugatuck, South Haven, Fennville, Pullman or Glenn we can take care of that and make something extra special up for you!! 
Have a blessed evening!!
HUGS
Darlene and the boys
Thank you for all the lovely heartfelt comments and emails!! I so appreciated them all! and shared them with hubby and the boys too!! THANK YOU!!
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Asparagus ravioli pics

My friend and I made some asparagus and cheese stuffed spinach ravioli.  This is what we did to make this delicious dish!!! and it was very very tasty!!

We started out steaming some fresh asparagus then put it in the processor to puree.Made some spinach pasta then ran it thru the pasta machine til nice and thin.

Here is her ravioli maker which worked like a charm and gave the little pockets of filled pasta a very cute rippled edge.

The filling was put into a piping bag to make it easier to put it inside the ravioli which consisted of the pureed asparagus, a touch of salt and fresh ricotta cheese.

The spinach pasta ready for filling.

AND HERE THEY ARE!~ all filled and sealed!! We were thinking the next time we make em this week they will be a bit thicker so instead of putting the pasta thru to the thinnest setting we will cut it back by one and maybe not press the top part on the ravioli maker so hard, it makes a perfect indentation for the filling but a few split open, probably though because the filling is a bit on the wet side too.

Susan cooked them up and then added some butter, salt and pepper and a few chopped up chives.  Oh I am so sorry I forgot to take a pic of them before we ate!! Believe me though they were AWESOME!! and so so yummy!~ that asparagus and cheese was the best!!And on to something new that was delic!!  Homemade cinnamon honey graham crackers!! Oh my goodness now we are all gonna be spoiled by these and sorry Mr Keebler and your little elves!! no more store bought!! nope NEVER!! if you havent tried making them you should surely put this on a list of things to make soon!! LOL I made them a bit thicker than your average everyday graham so I would think these would make a most awesome tastin smore!!! ok gotta run and make a fire outside!! LOL just kiddin, and these would probably make a wonderful crust all finely ground up.  I can see making these regularly!! the texture was perfect and the taste from the fresh honey was incredible. 

Not meaning to put any elves out of work!! they will be a favo at markets I am sure!Just poke em with a fork here and there randomly and bake for only 9-11 min and enjoy!!  Well I hope yall have a Blessed Mothers Day !!  I will be with my mom at the shop, by the way we do deliver around the Fennville and surrounding towns so we can still get something nice made and out today!! Floral Touch Florist 269-543-4815

ENJOY your day and I will be back tomorrow!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Baked goods and a card

Here are my prebaked cherry almond muffins.  Cherry and almonds are a wonderful combination! I would like to try dried mi sweet cherries and almonds in a bagel!!  Sounds way too yummy!

I had made a large batch of streusel so added a bit ontop of these otherwise nekked muffins!  Ok that would be my "farmgirl bling" instead of glaze!LOL

They turned out so nice and big!! way over the top of the muffin pan and look way too pretty.

I also decided to do some cherry almond mini cakes for market too.

These guys are my old fashioned pound cake but I added cinnamon streusel to the inside of them for a little surprise.

The strawberry crisp was a huge hit! This white and pink tree is blooming just outside at the kitchen!! ISNT it gorgeous! all the bloomin trees seem extra full this spring! Probably because we actually have had a perfect spring, warm days, cool nights and some rain so makes trees full!! April showers definetly bring may flowers!!   Feeling the deep desire to create something I whipped up another special mothers day card!!  this is for a dear friend of the family out in arizona.  She loves flowers so I added vines of sweet peas on this card.  Then using my super PAPER TREY INK mothers day stamp set I stamped mother on it.  Love the frame is is painted light pink then I went over it with antiquing medium, and dry brushed black to outline it.  Added a bit of Martha Stewart's pink glitter and it is done! 

My Mr Boopie Woopie Boo is always sleeping on Busters back!!  They will lay on the couch for hours like this!!  Buster is so gentle and kind he doesnt mind his little brother climbing all over him.  When we first brought MBWB home he would curl up ontop of Buster and sleep, he must feel safe with his big brother near by.  Buster is usually acting like the mommy here, one of our cats Chevy Girl would sleep curled up by his belly when she was just a tiny baby and he watched over her too.  And last spring when babies were hatching I took him out to the coop to see them, he laid on the floor and the little chicks were climbing over him.  He just sniffed them and watched them closely!! Such a doll baby I have!!  OH which brings me to some news! While doing chores yesterday am I checked under one of our 5 hens that are laying on eggs and guess what!!!!! 2 babies!! oh they are just so stinkin cute! I will have to take some pics of the newest farm members.  We have about 2 dozen eggs out there that hens are on so they should  start hatching any day now!!  Did u know it takes right around 21 days for a chicken egg and rigth around 27 days for a duck or guinnea egg to hatch.  Just a bit of chick trivia this am!! LOL

Oh and here are my nekked strawberry banana bread loaves!! these are  (pattin myself on the back) my recipe!!  and they are a great seller at market. And yall know I add my "farmgirl bling" to them.  Just a powdered sugar glaze with a touch of banana extract for a more flavor.   I just forgot to take the after pics.  So the regular weekly markets start up for me this week!! I am happy but will miss the every other week market.  Kind of was nice to know the off weeks I would spend alot more time at home and also in my studio with my 3 boys close by!!  LOVE my boys!!  I will leave yall for today and say hope you are safe and happy!! It is rainin here so I will probably work in the greenhouse a bit. lots of transplanting to do and more seeds to get in the trays.   AWWWWWW love spring and gettin dirty!! LOL

Have a blessed sunday be back tomorrow!!

!~~HUGS~~~!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Happy Monday Mornin~

We finished up the prom flowers on sat and everyone picked all up without any troubles.  The kids were all so sweet and happy!  I hope they all had a wonderful time, at least it wasnt raining out, just breezy and a bit cold sun was out!!

So here's a couple of the silk corsages we had to make up and a bout set too.

I love adding little blings to each one.

The above pic didnt turn out too well I will retake them it was to use " earthly " embellishments on a lo so I added some homemade flowers using recycled brown coffee filters and some stash pp.  Same color themes greens and browns. 

I also participated in an online crop this weekend  the theme was Celebrating Earth!!  One of the challenges I did was for colors staying with greens/browns/oranges.  I made up a simply lo using my father in laws childhood pic! LOVE that one dad!!

Using my JUST RITE STAMPS I stamped childhood on cardstock, distressed a bit with TIM HOLTZ distressing ink, and added some vintagey sheet music and I love the words along the green backround pp.  The butterfly was on a sheet, i cut it out, chalked it for some color and it really added something to this quick and simple page.

I also love recycling so the old wood domino was perfect.

Oh here's a pic of my Mr. Boopie Woopie Boo laying bedind me on the couch.  HE is such a mommy's boy and a cutie pie at that !  LOL MOMMY loves him!!

I am off to work a bit in the greenhouse, will share pics with ya, we got the gardens all tilled up and will be ready in a few days to start the planting! yeah! love that part!~ My brothers herbs are doing great in there too, we have planted some dill, rosemary, oregano, sweet basil, lemon thyme, thyme, tarragon, cat grass, sugar snap peas, squash, zucchini, tomatos, green and hot peppers, and some flowers, moon flowers, pansy, hollyhocks, cosmos, moon flower vines, gourds, and of cource spinach and some arugulas. So much more to seed though!!  That is my job today and well hope to work on a few projects in my studio!! 

Hope yall have a blessed monday!!

HAPPY SPRINGTIME

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

OWOH WINNERS!!

OK the winner of the first owoh giveaway was BRENDALEA CONGRATS!! she is the winner of the handmade paper envelope filled with rosette paper flowers.

The second winner of the cards and my captured fairy shadowbox is BAGLADY CONGRATS!!

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH TO ALL THAT ENTERED AND PLAYED AND LEFT THE NICEST COMMENTS HERE!!  I TRULY WISH I COULD SEND EVERYONE SOMETHING!! YALL ARE THE BESTEST EVER AND I AM THANKFUL SO MANY OF YOU ENJOY COMING AND READING ABOUT MY ALTERED CRAZY LIFE!!!

Have a blessed monday!! Will be back to posting things tomorrow!!

Most of yall know but my mom and I have a flower/bakery shoppe here in out little town and with Valentines day we had a super busy nutso week and weekend so we are taking today to do something fun for us with my brother!!  Closed the shop today and it will be all about us doing things together!!  YEAH!!! We all need a break and a little r and r!!  I will be back at the kitchen tomorrow baking up some new treats so will post all about it.   Allegan MI market is thurs and friday I will be in Kalamazoo at Bronson Winter Market.

***ENJOY YOUR DAY***

HUGS!!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Flower pics and a giveaway!!

HAPPY SNOWY SATURDAY YALL~
I thought I would post some pics of some of the flower arrangements we did up and sold yesterday.  I love the sunday glasses done up they are fun to make and we seem to sell a couple each year for valentines. 
CUTE CUTE CUTE!
FOR MY SPECIAL GIVEAWAY READ AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!!

WE do alot of teddy bears with flowers from the sm ty bears to the big talking ones and they just are so adorable!! Who wouldnt want to recieve one? 

I hope yall have a great day, we are expecting snow but not too much accumulation this weekend. 

OK in the spirit of the OWOH I have decided to do a quickie giveaway that will ship out tues!!  Leave me a comment of what is your greatest LOVE here on this post and hubby will draw a name tomorrow!! IT IS A SURPRISE LITTE SOMETHING FROM ME FOR VALENTINES DAY!! 

BE sure though you leave a comment here before midnight tonight to get your name in!

NOW LETS see those comments!!

My answer would be my family!~! of cource I love all my extended family too but in this world nothing means more to me than my wonderful family!!

Have a great day!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Altered wreath and the "boys"

So every year I try to come up with a homemade gift personalyzed for our family to give my mother in law. This year I took an ordinary grapevine wreath and altered a bunch of wooden ovals and circles i cut out of some thin wood. After printing a bunch of xmas day pics out I added some great MY MINDS EYE christmas glittery paper. The paper is from the holiday glitter pack I bought at HOBBY LOBBY, also I used my MARTHA STEWART snowflake punch to add some glittered flakes using some of her white holiday glitter flakes.

Each circles paper is cut with decorative edge scissors and the edges are of cource distressed with TIM HOLTZ distressing inks. (LOVE ALL HIS INKS BTW) they are added on using some E6000 adhesive. My mil loved it! even hubby said it turned out pretty cool!!



So here is my little Mr. Boopie Woopie Boo with some of their wrapped presents. He is starting to get the hang of opening them but Buster and Bubba are pros now!!

Here's a pic of our cookie case at the shop.

Some of my dip mixes and candies and jellies at the shop

These little finnish almond squares are actually quite easy and super yummo!!

My dear friend Susan made these mini pastries up and they are absolutely too pretty to eat!! but they are yummy too!! Love the little marzipan holly on those cookies.

I made these orange spice rounds and of cource they needed that "farmgirl" bling to them so sprinkled each with confection sugar, then dipped 1/2 of the cookie in white chocolate and then colored some of that same white choc red and green to add the little decor in the middle.

Another pic of the cookie case at the shop on xmas eve.

Buster getting ready for presents!!

OH and there is one of their favo toys!! the loofa dogs!! they are too stinkin cute but didnt last too long as you can see by the way he is ripping the hat off this guy.






So it was a glorious holiday with family and friends and my "boys". I do hope yall had a wonderful weekend and please remember all our men and women serving our country and fighting to keep peace in our land!! I pray for each and everyone one of them and the Good Lord above watch and keep them all safe.

"Lord let there be love in our hearts, harmony in our homes, and peace in our land."

Hope you enjoyed the pics and I am taking this coming week to play with some new recipes and get ready to go back to market in Jan. Have a great day!!

~~HOLIDAY HUGS FROM OUR FAMILY TO ALL MY DEAR BLOG FAMILY~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~