halloween

Happy Halloween!

crafts

I am not sure how it happened, but I wound up totally in charge of my one daughter's class halloween party. I needed to find an easy craft seven year olds might like and could do by themelves. I came up with this spider web. It is fast, easy and most important, not messy. I'll let you know if they like it.

phillies

I am not really a baseball fan, but yahoo, the phillies won. The kids will be excited when they wake up. Good thing I ironed the red!

paper lace

I found this great paper lace in brookerpie's etsy shop. I would love to get some and try and make something with it, but I am not sure what that something is.

ps. the cranberry bread was a hit, it is almost all gone.

photo by brookerpie

cranberry bread

Last week I got the new issue of Food Everyday. I thought that the kids might like the cranberrry bread. I was able to make a loaf today and will send it to school with the kids for a snack tomorrow.

I will let you know their thoughts.

cranberry bread
from food everyday

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup whole milk
1 bag (12 ounces) cranberries
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (8-cup capacity), and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine butter, egg, and milk. Add wet mixture to dry mixture, and whisk to combine; fold in cranberries.

Pour batter into prepared pan; sprinkle top with turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let bread cool 30 minutes. Invert onto rack, then immediately turn right side up to cool completely.

package

I have stacks of cards that are waiting to be packaged. I just keep making more and more cards. I have my first house party in two weeks and the next one is the following day. I just hope I have enough for all of the sales. I have found that the more you have the more you might sell, it is hard to tell what people are looking for, so more variety equals better sales.

One more thing, last night on etsy I had a big sale, five packs to one person, I was very, very excited!

soccer

It was a soccer kind of day today. We had a practice at 8:00am this morning followed by two games. We then had a bit of a break in which we used to start a school project (more on that later). Then it was off to a three hour soccer festival for my oldest. I think at least half of the day was spent standing in the rain. I am tired and I am now ready for bed.

oktoberfest

It is oktoberfest at the kids school tonight. We have our tickets and the kids are fired up. They look forward to this every year. They love to see their friends at school events. Silly kids...

noir

I am not a candy or cake person. However, I do like really good dark chococlate. About once a week my husband will get me a two ounce dark chocolate bar from dean & deluca. I savor it and make it last for about three or four days. Yesterday he brought me home a dark choclate bar that a friend from work brought back from Switzerland. It is by far the best!

still working

The past few weeks have been crazy. The kids schedules are crazy. I am crazy getting stuff done for them. Everyday is jammed packed with stuff for them. I have been trying to get cards done whenever I can. I do not think that it will slow down until the new year.

trove

The trove barn sale is this friday and saturday. I will have cards there, so if you are in the area, stop by.

For more information about trove take a look at their site.

pum part two

The kids picked out their carving pumpkins yesterday. They picked the super size pumpkins, the biggest we've ever had. I think the four of them together were well over a hundred pounds.

tarte tatin

I made the tarte tain this evening for dessert. It seemed to be a hit. The critics here usually share if they do not care for something, they are never too polite. I served it with ice cream, a perfect combination.

more about apples

We squeezed in a trip to the orchard today between soccer games, we were out of apples. We are now stocked up again and should be good for about ten days. It is crazy how many apples we go through.

I think I might try and make the tarte tatin that I saw on Smitten Kitchen for dessert tomorrow night. I think the kids will love it. The apple crisp that I made last weekend was a huge hit and I like to try and make them treats that are seasonal.

pumpkins

We got all of our decorative pumpkins (along with some more mums) last week. I usually fill my porch urns with mums and put the pumpkins on the porch. However, this year I decided to switch it up a bit. We got three different types of pumpkins for each urn and made a pumpkin pyramid. The kids had fun picking out the different pumpkins to use. We will head out this weekend to pick our carving pumpkins.

inventory

I am going to have a bunch of card events in a row. I am a little nervous about how much I will need. Like the last craft show I am torn between needing a lot and not needing much at all. Until I figure it all out (which I am sure will never happen) I will just make cards until I fall over and hope that it is enough!

waffles

This past Sunday was my twelth anniversary (twelve married and twenty together, yes we were young!)

Every year my parents (my mom) gets us an anniversary gift. This year she got me (I mean us) a 6 waffle iron. The kids and I were very excited. I make them waffles a lot and this makes life so much easier. My old one only made two at a time and with four always hungry kids to feed you can imagine how long it took me to make waffles.

To a lifetime of waffles!

snapshot of fall 05

scrap packs

It was a busy soccer weekend. We spent a lot of it at the soccer field. As a result, I did not get as much listed on etsy as I had hoped to. However, I did get a few scap packs done and listed. Take a look in the shop.

snapshot of fall 04

Number four had his field trip this week. The pre-school went to a local farm and did the hayride, apple and pumpkin picking thing. He had a ton of fun!

listing more...

Still updating my etsy shop like crazy.

art club part two

We met again yesterday for my daughter's art club. We were able to finish up the paper mache pumpkins. They turned out great.

I also did another craft with the girls. I had them do apple prints on white paper. We used several different colors. After the prints dried they cut the prints out and glued them onto a black cardstock. It looked pretty cool.

It is a traveling art club, so the next one will be hosted somewhere else.

listing

I have finally gotten back to listing on etsyand I have added a bunch of new items. Take a look at my shop when you get a chance and let me know what you think.

apples to apples

Yesterday I taught my first art class to little kids (a lifetime ago I taught undergraduate graphic design classes). The theme of the class is apples to apples. We are going to be doing a lot of apple themed projects. It was four little girls along with one tag along, my youngest. The girls are fun and had a great time.

I am looking forward to next week.

apple cake

Last Friday I was a bit burned out from making the cards and a bit bored as well. While looking on the Smitten Kitchen blog I came across a recipe for apple cake. Feeling a need to fill some time in my day I decided to make it.

The cake seemed to be a success, everyone said that they liked it (I do not care for cake, therefore not a valid tester). It is perfect for a fall day. As a treat I served it to the kids with some vanilla ice cream.

Apple Cake
adapted from smitten kitchen

6 apples, Mom uses McIntosh apples
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a tube pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, melted butter, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.

snapshot of fall 03

All of the apples are gone. I am planning another trip to pick this week. Perhaps we need thirty pounds...

snapshot of fall 02

snapshot of fall 01

I stuck some of the apples that were to small to eat in this nice silver bowl that I just got.

craft fair

I have my first craft fair this weekend. I have been working like crazy to get stuff done. In my mind I go between, I do not have enough to sell to what difference does it make how much I have, I probably will not sell anything.

the perfect cookie, part two

The batter was baked. If not perfect, then pretty darn close. This is our new house chocolate chip cookie.

apples

The kids had off from school yesterday (and they are off again today). It was the perfect fall day, warm and clear. I decided to take them apple picking, a first for us.

They loved it. We took a hay ride out to the orchards and were left to pick on our own. We managed to pick twenty-five pounds of three different varities.

Now we have tons of apples. They ate three each before dinner. The girls brought a bag of them to their friends house and the boys and I dropped some at our neighbors. I arrange the really tiny ones in a bowl and we are still left with tons. I think I will make some apple butter, I just need to find a good recipe for it. My neighbor offered to drop off a supply of canning jars, I guess I should take her up on it.

Today we are off to the zoo and then lunch in the city.