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~~

Baking day/Market days

Here is one of the loaves of cinnamon raisin babka! OH my gosh I have to say we shared one and they are absolutely the best cinna raisin bread I have ever had~!~ Very light and airy!!! and the golden raisins..........AWESOMELICIOUS is all I can say!!!

I did the round and also traditional loaf loaves.These are my black and blue berry muffins!  Our farm's blackberries and blueberries from last season.  This is my favo desert of all time!! MY grandmother Roses's Old fashioned Southern peach cobbler!!!  And with just a bit of vanilla ice cream!!OH I cant wait to have desert tonight!! LOL

Here are some nekked shortbread cookies!! Waiting for the toppings!!

Here they are all dressed up and ready for yall!  I added a dollop of my homemade chocolate ganache then homemade caramel, some toasted coconut and to top it all off some chocolate drizzeeled!! THESE are my new and improved copycat version of the girl scout somoas.  CARAMEL COCONUT DELIGHTS!!  and a BIG THANKS to a great customer who recommended changing them around!! She gets a surprise tomorrow at market!!A close up of finished peach cobbler!!

Chunky apple oatmeal cookies~ SUPER moist and soft.  I cooked some chopped apples from last season in cinnamon sugar then added them to the cookies.  These are my hubby's favo right now!!

Cranberry pecan cookies with a touch of lemon zest.  These are an awesome super soft cookie, I am making them plain and with a lemon cream filling!! yummo!~!

SO that is some of what got finished today!  Lots more do!!  Have a blessed evening!! SEE U IN ALLEGAN TOMORROW AND KALAMAZOO ON FRIDAY!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Altered day

Well I found this great picture of my hubbys grandmother while diggin thru old photos looking for one to scrap on.  This one jumped out at me and yelled  "pick me"  LOL I love doing vintage items and this was perfect.

Long ago I bought a bunch of these plain wood signs for a dollar store wanting to make something well that didnt happen and until now. they have been layin in a drawer in my studio ever since.  I painted, sanded, antiqued the wood then used an old doilley she gave for the backround on it.  The pic is matted on a beautiful piece of some vintagey fabric looking paper, I love the black photo corners on this too.  Had them in a drawer also so I did use up some of my stash on this project.  I also made a bunch of coffee stained hang tags last year so used one of those, and the stamps I had and havent used in quite awhile but they are old typewriter key ones and fit this primitively perfect!  A couple of light pink millinary flowers and a tiny sprig of dried sweet annie oh and a pearly hat pin tied this all together!!

I am going to give it to her for mothers day.

Yesterday was all about baking and getting things ready for markets this week.  I made up a batch of my espresso cookies, my cranberry lemon pecan cookies, some of my apple oatmeal cookies, and worked on a new cookie of the week which I will post about tomorrow! And thanks to a great customer who had the idea of mking my caramel coconut delights even better I will be making those today.  Her idea was to use a dollop of chocolate ganache' on them then the caramel and coconut mixture.  I think that will be perfect!!   They are my version of the girl scout somoas.  I will post pics of those when I get home tonight.    I also made up my mixes for apple oat bread, triple berry muffins with a country crumb topping, and my peach cobblers.  Today will be a busy day so will talk to ya soon!! Have a blessed day!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

ALLEGAN MI MARKET THIS THURS 11-1 and BRONSON WINTER MARKET FRIDAY in
KALAMAZOO MI 10.30-2

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Prom time

Wrist corsages for sale.  This black one has some tiny black silk flowers and sheer black ribbon along with a touch of black glittery tule.  7  1/2in longWhite roses with pink flower accents and sheer pink bow and ribbon.  8 in long.

Since prom is right around the corner I thought I would start making some corsages.  These are all silk ones, my mom brother and I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought the prettiest flowers!!  As yall know I love my "farmgirl bling" so added some pretty little pearl strands and some glittery ribbons.  The pink and white one actually was an experiment using the pink little flowers I made from paper, chalked the edges for more dimension and really this turned out kind of cool  Also found some great glittery tule we had at the shop.   We usually have someone come in the shop askin for silk so figured since it will last and stay nice we will offer some.  These are all on silver elastic wristlets.  If anyone would like to order a set of corsage and matching boutinerre please convo with me I can do that and ship asap.  I did put a couple in my etsy shoppe to.  I can also make one up to be a pin on instead.  I cant wait to see everyone's dresses there are so many different kinds.  This may date me a bit but my prom dress and most everyones in high school were full southen belle ones.  My junior prom dress was very light blue with lots of details and my senior dress (my favo) was white of cource floor lenght with a hoop under!! LOL can u imagine!! I loved that dress it was a v neck with pearls and sequins and long sleeve and of cource it was a summer satin, I love summer satin and my wedding dress was it also.  Oh too fun I will have to dig up ol prom pics!! My dresses are still in my closet in my old bedroom at my mom and dads house bet my pics are there too!!  In fact I also have all my senior pics in a box there, I had some pics taken with my collie "Laddie" and my chevy nova my daddy built for me!!  Oh the memories if that car could have talked!! LOL

Hope yall have a blessed Sunday and I will be back to share more with yall soon!!

~~HUGS~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Scrappin sunny friday

So I stayed home this am and played in my studio!! LOVE my scrappin time!!  This first lo is one a special girl we had, Whitney.  She was my hubbys grandmothers dog and when she passed away we took Ms. Whitney! what a sweetheart too!  We only had her a few years but she touched our hearts for sure.   she went to sleep at the age of 16 so we really were blessed to have her as long as we did and share her life.  So this layout using MY MINDS EYE patterened paper is from their Bohemian line which is one of my favos of all time, is a tribute to her.  The tag simply says "gone but not forgotten".  Miss ya girl!

Then there is my Buster Brown.  This page says Paw prints on my heart.  Buster has his mommy's heart!!  I love the papers some dog themed some not.

Jax is on this lo Play Time, I cut up some cute boy papers and also took the toys off another piece of paper and added pop dots to the backs to make them pop!!

ANDDDDDDDD I had to come up with a lo of me!! Never scrap myself!  But it was to be something about you or your personality.  I love pink so with lots of pinks around me and of  cource my Buster voila!  A page of me!

I have a couple of altered projects I am working on for submissions so I cannot post them yet but cant wait to share them with yall!  The sun is out and it is up to 46 degrees so my happy little self is out to work in the greenhouse!!

ENJOY your friday yall!!

HUGS!

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

An altered organizer and some scrappin

Gosh I am so glad we got some rain this am!! Grow asparagus grow!! cant wait to pick some and grill it!!

I did work in my studio this am had a challenge lo to do and also wanted to TRY to help myself be more organized this year for markets.  I am forever placing orders on pieces of paper and then well not sure where I put it!???  u know all bout it dont you?? LOL

So quite awhile ago I bought pkgs of these pretty pink and brown floral file folders hoping to do something with them!! well so here it is a order organizer for my desk.  I added the days of the week to the tabs, a pocket is inside each one and then added a few pretty embellishments on the front.  Hopefully this will help!!  fingers crossed!! LOL

This is a layout I did for a challenge submission using a black and white photo.  The pic is of my hubby's grandmother and her twin.  CUTIES!! Added a bunch of new paper prima flowers layered and then cut out a vine and leaves from some textured green cardstock.  Then used my wonderful TIM HOLTZ distressing inks to give just the right amount of aged beauty to this piece.  There is lots of ribbon accents too, under the flowers, along the bottom I twisted some black old seam binding and also some brown on the tag.

Double Trouble and when these two get together watch out~~~LOL

 love ya Granmda Jan!!

And this one i like alot, a lo to include butterflies~ some pretty butterflies sure pop off the page dont they?  The bottom one is patterened paper ontop of a chipboard cut out and then put ontop of some old sheetmusic paper and oh love the vintage velvet light green rickrak ribbon!!  love rick rak!!

Love is painted chipboard and then given a bit of bling with Martha Stewart's white glitter.  I used a flourish stamp on the top corners.

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Have a great night and I will be back with more scrappy goodies tomorrow!!

HUGS

Darlene

A Joyous Easter Weekend!~

I had 2 markets this week and made some extra new things for at the shop.  First I made some bluebery buckle cakes filled with our farm's blueberries from last season.  The butter crumb topping is so rich and yummy!!  This was a good seller at market.

Next was something new for me BABKA!! oh my goodness this is gonna be a keeper for markets this summer!!  It is a jewish cake/bread, the ones I made were filled and topped with some brown sugar and walnut struesel.  They are a bit time consuming as the starter for this bread needs to sit overnight in the fridge but well worth all the work for sure!! my personal favo right now!!  I can see making some filled with fresh chopped apple chunks or even some pumpkin puree!!

Then there were some sponge cake rolls filled wtih vanilla buttercream and homemade strawberry jelly (my homemade of cource) topped with a bit of lemon flavored glaze and a touch of "farmgirl bling" powdered sugar.

And i had an order for a personal size carrot cake so instead of the traditional round that I make i did them in loaf pans and cut lenghtwise.  They have a cream cheese frosting filling and topping and I love the little carrot topper I made for them.  They all sold!! yeah

And the most joyous sat gift was some of my hyacinths in bloom!!! one of my favo colors too!! purple!!

and you walk by and what a lovely smell!!

I hope you and your families have a blessed easter weekend!!

~~HUGS~~

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~