pretty fabric & new sachets

i made some new sachets today with some pretty fabric for my shop. this time they are lavender rose petal sachets. my favorite one is the one with the little umbrellas : ) i just added them to the shop!

breakfast & dinner

fresh berries with tuscan bread for breakfast & grilled veggies straight from the farm for dinner. perfect summer meals!

reply to everyone: i thoroughly enjoyed julie & julia. a movie about cooking & blogging! (& paris!!) quite a fun movie.

cooking with julie & julia

i'm watching julie & julia while cooking (& eating!) dinner tonight : )
i've had so many people say i should watch it & now i am finally.
did you see it? like it?

replies:
dandelionkisses: yes you must see it! text me after you see it & tell me what you think : ) & how was the creamy tomato basil pasta??
inside the cabinet of wonder: oh yes!! we must go to it together for sure! it's a plan : )
thy lady: let me know when you see inception & what you think. especially about the ending!
linda: thanks for thinking of me : )
brit: oh yes, smores! i don't really like smores, but i do like roasted marshmallows : )
yellowblue: a family friend had us over for lunch & she had the perfect little picnic table set up. she loves hosting little meal parties : )

winner

hello! this is just a quick note to congratulate the winner of the giveaway!
congratulations laura! you won the lavender sachet!

thank you to everyone who entered & answered my questions. & the awesome song suggestions!

if you didn't win, you can always go to my shop & pick up your own lavender sachet : ) i'll be making some more soon!

a little update

i'm back a couple of days early! camping was an adventure, but i'm going to rewind a bit & show you a meal i made a couple of days before i left for camping. as i mentioned earlier, i tried out a recipe that rachel posted on her blog for vegan creamy tomato & basil pasta. i used fresh basil from my mother's garden. the dish was a m a z i n g ! i loved it. i recommend you try it : ) camping was an adventure : ) we were camping about three minutes from a town, so we went to town quite a few times for fun. it's a cute town & we went to bookstores (one had cute little red striped baskets for shopping with), a flea market that sold a lot of vintage things, & a farmer's market with booths of fresh fruits & fresh veggies & vegetarian food & arts & crafts (all = fantastic!). here are a few photos: while we were in town one day, i took a clue from some other bloggers & saw inception. wow, i was sure happy i did. it was incredible! go see it. it's mind blowing & intense. joseph gordon-levitt rocked the screen. yeah....i really liked it : ) come back tomorrow for the giveaway winner! (still time to enter)

replies:

linda, amy, rachel / red lips vintage, kid., inna: thanks for your happy trip wishes! they made me happy : )

laura: hello! aww : ) i'm so glad you like the music. i just discovered mumford & sons. i love them!

indie.tea: hello! woa! lavender cupcakes?? how cool is that! i'm going to check it out :o)

amy: yay! maybe you will be my first customer : ) & you should really try the tomato basil pasta. divine. oh man, you can play that muse song on the piano?? so cool.

jessica: oh wow a dress! how nice. i think that may make it even better : )

thy lady: yes yes, they are just like the ones i sent you! i'm so glad you are back. missed reading your comments : )

allison: dude. inception. wow. i am so happy you recommended it. & yes! jgl & e page were my favorites too! (& the guy with the accent : ))

linda: we do have similar tastes in movies! : ) i love ingrid michaelson.

kittycat: ok! i'm going to check out that song... thanks!

i'm going camping for the week. i'll be back on monday to announce the winner of the lavender sachet giveaway (there is still time to enter!). i'll reply to comments & update then too! hope you have a wonderful week : )

photo

my shop

ok! i have just finished creating my shop : )
i'm pretty excited.
i don't have much up right now, but i'll be adding more soon.
go check it out!!



i think i'm going to make this vegan tomato basil cream pasta for dinner tonight. rachel posted the recipe & it looks so good!

p.s. don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!

replies:
dandelionkisses: cherry pie & wolf pack!!
pauline: ohh thank you pauline! that was some extra encouragement i needed : ) i still have to see me and you and everyone we know. i am a little worried it will be weird/awkward from the trailer... the eclipse action scenes were pretty good! i was a bit impressed : ) that song by fleet foxes is really good! i'm going to put it on my ipod now. have a happy island vacation!
amy: that muse song is really cool. almost epic in its own way : )

surprise surprise

i've been quite busy these last few days! remember the lavender i picked? i harvested the buds & sewed little sachets with them. i've been making many little handmade things to sell in...

my new shop!
i've opened a shop on etsy to sell vintage finds & handmade things like lavender sachets & books with pockets.
i'm really excited! i'll be posting the link to it soon (i just have to get it all ready), but until then, i'll be hosting a giveaway for my 300th post (!!!) & for my shop opening. i am giving away one of the lavender sachets i made. all you have to do to have a chance to win it is comment below & answer these questions:
1) what would you like to see more of on my blog? (recipes, thrifting finds, food, adventures, ...etc.)
2) what is your favorite song right now?

below is the sachet one of you will win! i'll be choosing the winner on monday, july 26th. hope you enter!in other news, i just got back from seeing eclipse. it was pretty good. (i mean, you gotta love the wolf pack : ))replies:
dandelionkisses: yeah... something like that. & yeah they are cleaning blood lol. their job is to clean up crime scenes & places where people die & leave a mess.
yellowblue: me too! pumpkin is simply a secret ingredient.
amy: loved the royal tenenbaums! sunshine cleaning was not bad either : )
g: hello! i'm so happy you like it : ) i just discovered mumford & sons & am in love with them! they are really, really good. thanks for following :o)
allison: thanks! it turned out better than i thought it would.
broom people: wow! that is super exciting. the bag is the one i saw in flight 001 here! i really want to get one now : )
rachel / red lips vintage: they are very delicious : ) & if we are ever in the area we would totally make you some!
make it easy: the royal tenenbaums was great! i still have to see me and you and everyone we know.

lately

i picked some lavender to use as part of a surprise i am working on. i'll let you know about it soon hopefully : )
life has been kind of crazy, weird, & blah, all at the same time. strange.
i made this mosaic pot yesterday using broken ceramic plates. i am quite pleased with how it turned out.my fourth of july was nice. it was pretty windy & a bit cold that day. lately i have been surprised it is summer, because it has been quite chilly! wendy & i made pumpkin empanaditas a few days before she left to go back home after staying with me for a month. my favorite part when making them is twisting them close.i went to the library the other day & got:sunshine cleaningthe royal tenenbaumsme and you and everyone we know

i'm excited to watch them!

i'll be back soon (hopefully) as i want to host a giveaway! so check back : )

herbivore

we ate dinner at a vegan restaurant called herbivore last night. rachel of red lips vintage suggested it & i am glad she did! the food was amazing. wendy had this amazing creamy pesto ravioli & i had grilled portobello mushroom with creamy polenta, sauteed spinach, & mushroom gravy. for dessert it was german chocolate cake, blueberry pie, lemon poppy seed ice cream, & vanilla ice cream with pomegranate juice. vegan food surprises me a lot with how good it can actually be.

i think i'm going to need to work on some serious sewing soon with all of this supplies i keep acquiring : )my mom brought me home a surprise yesterday. she was cleaning out a closet at church & found this collection of beautiful ribbon & trim. i was so happy to see it. my favorite one is the yellow flowers trim.
petunia was thrifting the other day & found some fabric that reminded her of me. she gave it to me a few days ago. i love it! isn't it pretty?? thanks petunia : )

i actually when thrifting with petunia a few days ago too. here are a few things i found:fabric stenciled for embroidery ($1.50)vintage game of flinch ($0.75), dim sum, bagels, and grits: a sourcebook for multicultural families ($1.98), & guns, germs, & steel: the fates of human societies ($3.98).

wendy & i have been continuing on a supernatural marathon. we are halfway through season four now. we really love the new character castiel who is an angel : )

one last thing, i found this super cool zine monthly called craft leftovers monthly. i just bought two of their zines : ) can't wait for them to come in the mail!

replies:

dandelionkisses: me too! the first one looks kind of artsy : )

amy: the strawberries were super good. i want to go strawberry picking now!

jessica: any day at the beach is nice, i think. but i didn't like how windy it was.

pauline: ohh! i'm so glad it arrived safely! i was a little worried about my packaging. i hoped it wouldn't rip open or anything. i'm happy you like it : )

brit: it's probably my favorite blanket we own. this little old lady made it out of scraps of fabric she had : )

rachel / red lips vintage: mmm i'll have to check that place out! thanks! oh & by the way, wendy (the one with the daisy chain) is my cousin, but the other girl is my sister : )

the fair

i promised some photos from the fair i worked at. so here they are! what i did was create exhibits to display the many different arts & crafts that adults & youth entered into the fair. when i first started, the building was just an empty warehouse. so it was quite a job to put everything together in two & a half weeks!i even entered a few things (& got blue ribbons on all of them!). one of the things i entered was double peanut butter cookies. they aren't healthy, but they are really yummy! i got a blue ribbon on them & i won the cookie bake-off for best cookie with them. i wanted to share the recipe with you:

Double Peanut Butter Cookies

¾ cup peanut butter (I use crunchy salted)
4 oz. unsalted butter (softened)
½ cup (packed) dark-brown sugar
½ cup organic sugar
1 large egg
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. baking soda
½ cup peanut butter baking chips
4 Tsp. organic sugar for coating


Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking sheets.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, salt and baking soda together and set aside. In another mixing bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Add the vanilla and egg, mix until well combined. Slowly add the flour mixture just until all wet and dry ingredients combine. Add in your baking chips and mix. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Scoop 2 tsp. of dough and shape into a ball roll the ball into the remaining sugar and place on the cookie sheet lightly press down on the top of each cookie with the bottom of a jelly jar leaving 1 inch in between each cookie.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on whether you desire a soft or crisp cookie. Allow cookie to cool for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack for remaining cooling time.
Yields: 4-6 dozen

i hope you enjoy them!