Inspiration Friday

My craft room is a chaotic mess and I know that I'm not alone. Because of this, I am always on the lookout for really good storage ideas. Many crafters are faced with heaping piles of supplies that they do not have room for. When I delved heavily into scrapbooking, I frequented a site where members shared their page layouts, ideas, and work spaces. I have to admit that photos of their work spaces are what attracted me to this site. Although I have it bookmarked, I seldom took the time to browse until this past week when someone on a craft message board pointed it out once again. I'm sure you will be inspired by what you see and if you only take one idea from this site, it will be time well spent. Their ideas can be incorporated into any craft setting, not just scrapbooking. I hope you enjoy the Two Peas site and be inspired by the creativity of their members.

I have been making bunting (some call them banners) for several years. They make cute party decorations and can be adorned with letters to spell Congratulations or Happy Birthday or any message you wish. This is the bunting that I take with me to fairs to decorate my booth. I usually hang it in the front to add some color and interest. I love the smiles that it brings to the faces of my customers when they see that they're decorated with yo-yo's. Many times, it sparks interesting interaction between the customer and me about the time they spent with their mothers or grandmothers making yo-yo's. I know that with each word spoken, they are recalling fond memories and I feel very privileged to hear them. This is just another reason why I love yo-yo's so much.





Thank you to all of you who have inquired about Mouse. The Vet is happy to see that he is doing so well and has now decided to take a wait and see approach to further treatment. I will be monitoring Mouse closely and reporting to the Vet in two weeks. Here is an excerpt taken from a previous post regarding his condition.

"Mouse had another test done on Thursday. The test results show that his kidney function is better but it still shows that he's in kidney failure. In order to slow this down, the Vet recommended changing his food which should result in a little less stress on the kidneys. We are hoping that by doing this, we will slow down the kidney failure. He will continue to get his fluids, but for now, it will be limited to twice a month since he seems to be doing a lot better. That is such a relief because the constant transporting of him to the Vet was wearing thin on both him and me. In jest, the Vet mentioned that he sees that Mouse is getting better because he's gaining weight. Believe me, Mouse does not need to gain any more weight. According to the Vet's assistant, Mouse is the biggest cat that they've seen. He's the biggest cat that I've ever seen too."

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Aloha!

***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***

Practice Makes Perfect

I almost feel like running down to Border's and picking up a copy of Embroidery for Dummies. I'm almost certain there must be a book by that name written for people like me. I've found quite a few great online tutorials on embroidery stitches but I find that impractical as I don't want to be tied to my computer while practicing. I would love to find an instructional book with vivid color photos, the more the merry. If anyone knows of a good one, please send a shout out my way.



As you can see, I've also managed to incorporate fabric yo-yo's into a couple of pieces. After all, anything round like cherries are just screaming to be replaced with a yo-yo, don't you think?



Mouse heads back to the Vet this morning for more fluids. You wouldn't guess that he's ill because he's still carrying on like his old self. Here he is, sitting and shaking my hand and begging for a snack. How can I resist when he does cute things like this. I know it's not a great picture but I had difficulty taking the picture and shaking his hand at the same time. I'm obviously one of those people that can't do two things at the same time. LOL



I hope you all have a great day!

Aloha!

***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***

I Knew You Were Coming So I Baked A Cake

Well, I really wished you could have stopped by for a bite of this delicious Applesauce Cake that I made last night. It came out so moist and paired well with a cold glass of milk.

Look at the beautiful, fluffy batter dotted with spices...




I didn't have a tube pan like the recipe called for so I baked it in a bundt pan...




Here it is right after coming out of the oven. The aroma was delightful!




The icing looks beautiful dripping down the sides of the cake...




Of course, we had to try it...




Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com...

MOTHER'S APPLESAUCE CAKE

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves and soda. Set aside.

2. Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 2 cups brown sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs. Add flour mixture into creamed mixture alternately with applesauce, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in the raisins, dates, and walnuts. Pour into greased and floured tube pan.

3. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1-1/2 hours, or until done. Cool.

4. To make icing, melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stir in 1 cup brown sugar. Boil for 2 minutes. Stir in milk, and continue to stir until the mixture returns to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool for 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Frost cooled cake.


***My personal opinion...I think the cloves in this recipe can be cut by 1/2 depending on your taste. I used a scant teaspoon this time after reading the reviews for this recipe. I'm going to cut the the cloves to 1/2 teaspoon the next time I make it. My taste buds are still pretty dull due to my cold and I could still taste a strong clove flavor in this cake.
Another thing that I should mention is to cut the icing recipe to 1/4 unless you enjoy a huge amount of icing. This makes way too much icing for my taste and I have a very sweet tooth.
The fruits and nuts were omitted from the cake due to picky family members.
Be sure to test the cake during the last half hour of baking. My cake was ready to come out of the oven 10 minutes earlier than the recipe called for.

On a crafty note...

Another craft fair project that I've made over the years are these floral paper clips. It's so much fun to adorn a stack of papers with something bright and pretty. It makes a great teacher's gift too. I'd choose these over a boring silver paperclip any day.




I hope you have an extraordinary day.

Aloha!

***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***


****Hi! I'm sorry the pictures aren't showing up for you. Blogger can be very strange at times because the photos are showing up for me. I've uploaded them once again. I hope this helps. Please let me know if you still cannot see them.
By the way, I haven't had an applesauce cake for over 20 years too and I had been thinking about the applesauce cake with raisins that my mom would make when I was a child. I hunted around for quite a while until I found a recipe with pretty good ratings and then took the plunge. Worth every calorie, I tell you. I also wanted to mention that my son says that the spices are just right as it is. I guess this is where personal taste comes in. Thanks everyone, have a nice day!

I feed my soul...By the stitches I sew.

I have had an interest in embroidery for as long as I can remember. As you can see, I'm not that good at it and my stitches are all wonky and uneven. Over the years, I have completed many cross stitched pieces but no embroidery. I'm finding that cross stitching is a piece of cake when compared to embroidery. I'll admit that this is one skill that I have yet to hone, but I won't let that stop me. I'm a firm believer that practice makes perfect and I plan to practice until I get it right.

This is a classic pattern and one that I'm sure many of you have seen before. There is a certain nostalgic feel to it and it reminds me of my paternal grandmother. It looks very much like something she would have embroidered onto her pillowcases.

I have been admiring quilts that include embroidery work in their design for a very long time. There is something very pleasing to me to see embroidered pieces scattered amongst the beautiful blocks of color. I know that I won't be attempting a quilt anytime soon, but maybe a few embroidered pieces may find their way into my handbag designs this year. This is just in the planning stages, but one that I hope to bring to fruition sometime soon.

I want to apologize for the quality of my photo. In an effort to post early in the morning, I'm having to take my pictures while it's still dark outside. I'm sure there is a way to get better photo's even in the darkness, but I'm a bit camera challenged. If you click to enlarge it, you will get a better idea of what it looks like in person.

I want to extend my thank you to each of you who made a comment to yesterday's post. I will admit that it has gotten a little bit overwhelming at times to answer each and every one of you individually, but please know that I appreciate the time and thoughtfulness of each comment that I receive from you.

I'm off to practice my stitching. I hope you have a great day!

Aloha!

***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***

Beautiful Hawaii.....Well, Usually.

Imagine this...You've been saving your money for many years to take that once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii and upon arrival, you are faced with dark, angry, overcast skies. I'm sure that with the passing of each rainy day you would be trying to convince yourself that there would most certainly be blue skies tomorrow. After all, this is Hawaii, right? I'm sure our recent visitors are still shaking their heads in disbelief and cursing their most unfortunate circumstances that they have visited during such an extended period of lousy weather.

The photo above was snapped on Sunday afternoon from my patio. Where's the sun you ask? Well, let me assure you that it's under there somewhere. Notice the tiny blue patch of sky peeking from between the clouds. Tiny snippets of blue sky made intermittent visits throughout the day. Ah...it's sure to clear up by late noon, you enthusiastically say. Well, if it's anything like yesterday or the day before or the day before that, it likely isn't going to happen.

From time to time we go through periods like this. The downside is that the tourists probably won't get that fabulous tan that they told everyone back home they would. The upside is that they probably won't go back home looking like an overcooked lobster either. If you have ever had the opportunity to people watch at the Honolulu International Airport, you'd know exactly what I mean. Tourists step off of the plane looking like normal human beings. Hawaii sends most of them back home looking like bright red lobsters. I kid you not! The only advice I have to offer while vacationing here is to use a sunscreen with a high SPF level and to plan your vacation during the summer months. The weather is usually the most stable then and you will be sure to go back home sporting a beautiful shade of red, err, I mean tan.



As you can see, I continue to have pinwheels on my mind. I squeezed in a little time to put together a quick pinwheel project. I used the extra fused fabric from the wall pocket to make teeny tiny pinwheels for little girl's hair elastics. Of course, I'm sure the little ones would appreciate much prettier patterns and brighter colors. I think that the experiment was a success and I probably will be making more very soon.

I hope you all had a very fun-filled, creative weekend. Tell me about your weekend if you have the time. I love hearing from you.

Aloha!

**EDITED TO SAY: Who woulda thunk it, when darkness turned to light, lo and behold, blue skies reign over Hawaii once again. I guess I was starting to feel the effects of the dreary weather we've been having lately, hence today's post. LOL**

***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***

T.G.I.F.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by yesterday and entered my giveaway. I'm sorry that I couldn't respond to each of you individually. I spent much of the day with my head on my pillow in a semi-unconscious state. Cough, cough, sneeze, cough....you get the picture. And the fever, oy vey! I awoke this morning to some really wonderful comments. It's amazing how intertwined our memories are. My heartfelt thank you for sharing them with me.

Drum roll please...I have finally completed one pincushion. Yes, you read that right, just ONE pincushion. I have absolutely no motivation to get this project done. Here's a photo of the pincushions in various stages of completion. Hopefully they will all end up looking like the black and red one in the front. One down, 56 more to go.



Here is a close-up which shows the beading that I have done. I love how it adds a little bit of interest to an otherwise mundane pincushion.




Have a fabulous weekend. See you all on Monday.

Aloha!


***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***

Pinwheels In My Pocket

As a child, I remember how much I appreciated each and every toy that came my way. I didn't have everything that I wanted but I'm sure that I did have more than many children. I have very few memories of expensive, fancy toys. Most of my toys were simple things like jump ropes, liquid bubbles, jacks, hula hoops and pinwheels.

I grew up in simpler times. A memory that I hold so vividly is playing house and dress up. A calabash aunt from across the street gave my sisters and me a bunch of old clothes and shoes that she had acquired from a friend. I remember how the clothes looked so "old" to me at the time, probably items from the 40's and 50's. We cherished them just as much as our favorite toys. We'd gather the neighborhood kids, dress up in our finery and play house for hours and hours each day. Pure and simple fun and great memories.



If you are wondering why I'm reflecting back, it is because memories of my childhood came flooding back to me as I assembled this wall pocket. I began reflecting on many things that I hadn't thought of in years. Who would have thought that making pinwheels would bring back so many happy memories.

My pictures are pretty dark because of the lack of sunlight due to heavy cloud coverage. If you click on the image to make them larger, you will be able to see the details much better.



I know this will not be my last pinwheel project since making them brings me so much joy.

I wish you all a memorable day.

Aloha!


***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***