Blog Awards

I have been remiss at thanking several artsy people for giving us blog awards. Stephanie and I both appreciate all the love and positive feedback on our little blog over the last few years. SO here is the scoop.... I am giving mention to the art friends who have generously given us the awards. IF you read this blog and are interested in bloggy love.... I nominate ALL of you. Feel free to click and "save picture as" and copy or paste to your blog to spread the love. You are free to add links, depending on how you feel about it.



** Stay tuned for some special announcements concerning this blog in the future...



SO without further adieu...

The talented Kristy Christopherson @ http://kristychristopherson.blogspot.com/
gave us this One Sweet Blog award. Steph and I both have traded fun stuff with Kristy. She is a fellow "Twilighter" like Stephanie and myself. The Sweet blog award is very cute. Who doesn't like cupcakes??

Also the talented Darlene Koppel over @ Cinnamon Pink http://www.cinnamonpink.typepad.com/
gave us the I heart your blog award. Darlene was in a Summer Card Swap with us through Heather Simpson-Bluhm.

Thank you Kristy and Darlene!!!

I sorta feel this way...it is up to you to add the blog love. It spreads the wealth farther in the cyber world....


*Check back soon for a bloggy announcement....



~Dawn

Pumpkin Cookies

The night before Thanksgiving, I was in a Martha Stewart-ish type of baking mood. I love Pumpkin baked items. I searched for the elusive perfect cookie recipe. I nearly made my dear buddy Stephanie's recipe. I was hooked ever since Halloween on making this recipe, cuz I was intrigued by the buttercream cinnamon drizzle...


http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/2008/09/pumpkin-cookie.html



The lovely Heather mentions this on the post with the recipe " Now seriously, get yourself to the store to fetch these ingredients. I promise you will love these cookies. Your children will adore you and your husband will remember why you were such a great catch! And if you are lucky there might be one or two left for you" endquote.

So I tried them...

and YES they are really that good. So seriously go run to her link and print off the recipe and make some for your family.

I am a "foodie" and I thought they rocked! Everyone at Thanksgiving thought they were wonderful.

Here are some extra foodie type hints if you did not know some extra secrets for baking cookies.

I prefer the Silpat baking liner....

The cookies do not stick and this is a great investment if you bake a lot.

In addition I also line ALL baking pans with parchment paper. The cookies do not stick and it makes clean up a breeze. Did you know to rotate the pans so they are cool when you drop cookies on to the pan? So I use both methods, and darn it the Silpat ones are always even more perfectly formed.

I also swear by the silcone oven mitts. They grip like a dream, and really nice. I bought a girly extra small set by Orka for petite hands and I love them. I make spaghetti squash a lot for a side dish. I can not scoop the squash without my killer silicone oven mitts.

Go bake some cookies...

~Chef Dawn

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and those you love. I am feeling incredibly thankful and blessed this year especially. Since it seems to be the popular thing to do on a blog here goes...

Things I am Thankful For:

1. My Husband, Roger...who is the best hubby on the planet and the happy life and marriage we share

2. My Mother, Ellie...who I am thankful especially that she lives near me, even though it is all the way across town...it is still better than 5 states away

3. Good Health, of myself, my family, and friends.

4. Creativity and actually having too many Hobbies. I would rather fill my spare time with something that fills my soul and feeds my passion than having it any other way.

5. Having a really nice roof over my head

It is at times like this that we need to be reminded just how very richly we are blessed in many ways. I am thankful for a great many more things than just the 5 listed. I hope your turkey turns out perfect and you are surrounded by good food, family, friends, and love.

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless,

~Dawn

A fun GIVEaway @ Retro Cafe Art

I was perusing one of my favorites blogs http://krishubick.blogspot.com/



The lovely Kris Hubick-Retro Cafe Art design http://www.retrocafeart.com/
design the most fabulouso collage sheets. I found this sheet of German Heads called "Hello Dollie" and had to buy it seconds later...

How cute are they?????


I have purchased many collage digital images from Kris and can vouch for the high quality that they are. So while there I wandered over the her fun blog


http://krishubick.blogspot.com/2008/11/another-blog-candy-eyelet-giveaway.html


She is a having a fun giveaway! Who doesn't like winning stuff off other people's blogs... I don't even scrapbook and I LOVE eyelets. So go visit her good stuff, gallery of inspirational art made from her cool stuff and you might win this --------------->















Off to bake some Pumpkin cookies. No time for arting when domestic events are approaching!
~Dawn

Vintage Cabinet Card

Fresh off renewed inspiration from attending a fabulous class. I am sorta fixated on altering vintage cabinet cards. Here is the latest from this week.

~Dawn

Sharing class time with Stephanie

Stephanie and I took a class last week at Debbie's place, our fave local store http://www.frenzystamper.com/




We learned and inked and were inspired by Wendy Vecchi http://www.studio490art.blogspot.com/ Wendy recently designed some great rubber stamps with Stampers Anonymous.

I added the pics compliments of Steph and of Debbie! (Thanks!)






<-------- I stole this pic from Deb cuz I am in the picture in the corner. That makes me giggle. Inspiration was everywhere. I am inking everything in sight. Ranger knows how to make some nice products from some guy named T!m (http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/) Maybe you have heard of him? wink wink




UPDATE! Debbie saw my post and emailed me another photo of Stephanie and myself deep into the inking....



How cool is that???




Wendy was awesome. Highly recommend her for classes.


~Dawn
at home inking up a storm

That"s My Story and I'm Sticking To It!

I am putting this cutey little bookmark to some serious work. Dawn surprised me with it in the mailbox. I should probably get the mail on a daily basis to collect goodies like this that may be there! LOL 

I am reading the Charlene Harris book Dead Until Dark.....................trashy but good! 

Dawn and I are taking a class at Frenzy in the morning, can't wait.

~Steph

ugh!

Does anyone see anything wrong in this picture??? Why do these sort of things always happen when the hubs is out of town on business?

At least the front door is getting some use until the garage door repair people arrive tomorrow.

Oh well, time to bake something!

~Dawn

Rock Your Vote!

Tuesday is the day, 

don't forget,

flying monkeys 

couldn't keep me away!

~Steph