Mmm...homemade bread

Who doesn't love homemade bread? (Minus those of you who are gluten intollerant and if you are I am so very sorry gluten hates you.  I have a good friend with Celiac and it's so sad to see what it does to her body. For that reason I will post some gluten free recipes I have that I absolutely love at a later date).


I have some dear friends that I don't get to see often enough so a few months ago we decided we would start a dinner club, assuring dates we'd be able to see each other's faces and catch up.  Once a month we get together at someone's house and have a big dinner, something homemade.  The person who hosts makes the entree then the rest of us sign up for sides, salads, bread and dessert.  When it was at my house my friend Becky brought some amazing homemade artisan bread.  I still can't stop drooling every time I think about it.  I grew up with homemade bread every week and have always wanted to try it but have been intimidated by it for some reason.  I bought a bread maker a few years back and it helped initiate me into the world of yeast and doughs and since, we have made many pizza doughs in it.  When I saw the beautiful bread my sweet friend made and heard about how easy it was I knew I had to try it!  So I did...and it's a.m.a.z.i.n.g! And now I get to be the one to bring homemade bread to people's houses and hear about how impressed they are with my bread-making skills (thanks Becky!).  What's even better is when I tell them it's 4 simple ingredients and is really easy.


This recipe makes 4 loaves and they keep great, as long as you seal them in a large ziplock bag.  Here is the best recipe I've found so far...
http://www.food.com/recipe/5-minute-artisan-bread-325571


If you have made any variations of this (putting other herbs in it, etc) I'd love to hear.

My not-so-Etsy store

I started making hair accessories about 6 months ago and since have been asked by many people if I sell them.  I did sell quite a few at a couple of Christmas bazaars and really need to open an Etsy store but just haven't had time to do that yet.  So, for the many people who have asked me to post them so they can buy them here they are ! I apologize for the pictures not being so great.  Here are my tulle, lace and fabric flowers...these can be posted to either the large, flat, heavy duty bobby pins or the metal clips that you pinch and they come apart.  Either way they make great bows for packages as well and then it's one more gift! They are $5.50 each.  I can do special orders too.

Ribbon flowers (the ones in red) and big bows come in virtually any color and are $3.50 each.   

The hand crocheted scarves with ribbon flowers attached are $15.50 each. The ribbon flowers are either made with clips behind them or on black pony tail holders.  With the pony tail holders they make adorable napkin ring holders as well...  

Fabric wreath ($30.50)...

Felt clips...the animal clips are $4.50 each and are approx. 2" at longest point.  They have the snap clips in them.  The felt flowers are about 3"+ wide and have the large, heavy duty bobby pins (not really bobby pins-stay in my little girl's hair and mine with no problem). They are $6.50 each (and again, they'd make great napkin ring holders or flowers for gifts)...

Felt clip holders which include hand embroidered name but do not include any clips (more to come) are $15.50 each...

Shipping is included.  I can do custom designs and colors so just ask if you have questions.  I'm working on getting my Etsy store up and running and will let you know once I do! 

"Put a bird on it!"

If you've ever seen Portlandia (the TV show) you're probably familiar with the "Put a bird on it" episode.  So funny!  I grew up in Vancouver, WA, across the bridge from Portland, OR, or as we call it now "PTown" so the show hits close to home (or what used to be home).

I started crocheting quite a few months ago, after I saw it done on another blog (can't remember which one).  I had some embroidery thread that was my Grandma's and got some inexpensive reusable bags from Michael's (again, gotta use the 40% off coupon).  The dish towels are cheaper at Walmart.  I penciled ideas onto the bags and just started embroidering by freehand (sounds hard, but it's really not if you do small stitches).  I've done napkins, kitchen towels, bags, etc.  Here are just a few I did as Christmas presents...

These make awesome gifts because they're inexpensive and hand made.  Just Google images to come up with designs, or cruise other blogs for ideas. You can buy embroidery kits @ craft stores (like Michaels) for fairlyinexpensive and they come 

with templates so you can just copy some of their designs to get started.   I love using buttons as accents too.  They're cheap and add a lot of color and three dimension to designs.  Fabric or ribbon flowers are super cute as additions too (my next blog will be about those!).  And don't forget to put      a bird on it!  It really does make everything cuter.   

Happy embroidering!

"The World's Best Peanut Butter Cookies"

I love making cookies for my kids.  They used to make them with me until they realized how much work it is.  They love chocolate chip cookies so I try to keep chocolate chips on hand.  However, the other day it was rainy and we were low on groceries. I didn't want to run to the store so I searched my cupboards and found a few things of peanut butter (my favorite-Skippy Natural creamy, my husband's favorite-Peter Pan creamy, and the best ever to dip apples in-Trader Joe's Almond butter creamy with sea salt...mmm).  I'd like to say I threw a few things in a bowl and came up with the world's best peanut butter cookies, but I don't have the ability to do that (ask my husband!) like some people do.  So, I searched the internet for a new recipe (I like to try things out) and here's what I found on Cooks.com....

THE WORLD'S BEST PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
2 sticks butter                                              1 cup brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs 1 1/2 cups peanut butter 2 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla extract Mix butter, sugar and peanut butter together. Add eggs, flour, baking soda and vanilla extract.Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

A special thanks to "William III" for submitting this recipe (although that's my incredibly good picture of them).  And for being right.  These are the world's best peanut butter cookies!  I sealed them in a large ziplock bag (a cookie jar would do the trick too as long as it's air tight) with the ends of a loaf of bread (we don't eat the ends).  The bread keeps the cookies soft.  Every day you can put in a new piece of bread (throw away the old one) and the cookies will stay fresh and soft for about 4 days. You can also freeze the cookies.  Enjoy!

My favorite blogs

I'm new at blogging so I've been exporing other people's blogs lately.  I love a really good blog.  I just wish I had more time to just read all my friend's blogs and my favorite blogs every day but I don't.  So I use them as resources, for recipes, home decor ideas, to catch up, etc.  We live in an incredible time where a lot of resources are just a click away.  So, here are some of my favorite blogs (there's not very many...yet):


www.thepioneerwoman.com (this picture is of Ree, who is the author of this blog, and my BFF on the right with her at a book signing in LA-jealous!)


www.littlebirdiesecrets.com


www.simplelifejourney.com (a good friend of mine)


www.shabbyblogs.com


What are some of your favorite blogs?

A necklace I'd buy

I love making things.  I love making things that are cheap to make but look expensive to buy.  Well, maybe not expensive but definitely not cheap.  So, when I saw these on another blog (Little Birdie Secrets) I was completely inspired.  I'd like to take credit for the things I make and decorations people think I come up with but I must admit I rarely have an original idea.  It's more like an original steal.  And so I take credit.  I do.  And I don't feel bad about it.  Except when I share it online.  Cuz I really like Little Birdie Secrets.  Since I live on the West Coast and in a small town in Central Oregon I will mention stores that we have here but we are limited since there are only about 80,000 people in this little town.  I had a few birthday presents to make one weekend and knew I needed to go inexpensive.  Giving presents is one of the things that makes me happiest.  I'm not one to just grab anything I see on my way to a party.  I love searching for things people will love and absolutely love to see them open it and love it (of course I'm sure there are some that fake it just fine).  I saw these necklaces and quickly took a trip to Michael's (every craft lovers dream, as long as you have in tow their 40% off coupon).  I went straight to the jewelry section and saw the beautiful glass/crystal pendants (they're really plastic but look nicer, huh?).  I bought one with the coupon then went straight to the clearance section and bought some more there.  I bought some strands of metal (that looked the most like sterling silver but cost much less) and measured what I thought would be enough for the 3 pendants I had bought.  Note: I always keep a mini tape measure in my purse since I'm an event planner and they come in very handy.  I bought some glue that said it works on metal and plastic and dries clear (and was cheap) and then went home and went to work on my necklaces.  The pattern behind the pendant is just paper I had left in my scrapbooking materials.  I traced the pendants with a pencil, cut them out, glued the paper onto the back of the pendants, strung the necklaces through them and voila I had 3 necklaces for about $5 each.  No one knows they're that cheap when you wrap them in a jewelry box with a cute ribbon (real, always use real) and tie a precious bow on top (unless you're one of the 3 people I gave them to and you're reading this:). So, there you go.  I've had people say they want to buy one from me so if you're interested they're $15 for those of you who simply don't want to fight your way through Michael's and try to learn to make a necklace on youtube.