This month

This has been a particularly difficult month for my family and just wanted to share with you to help with the healing process. It first started with our precious little kitty who was failing in her health, she was diagnosed with cancer and as we were dealing with this sadness we found out that my husband's sister had been killed (unfortunately this was his second sister to have met with sudden death and he has now lost all of his siblings) and while we were coming to terms with the shocking news my mother had a bad fall and required surgery.

Needless to say these past few weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions and craziness. We buried my sister in law just a few days ago and just got back home, and of course my blog along with normal routines have been disregarded while we have been dealing with both the death and my mother's limitations as she transitioned back home. As of now, we are looking into putting out kitty to rest and my mother has decided to move herself to a skilled nursing facility to help her get back on her feet. I only pray and hope that this next month is filled with as much joy as we had sorrow.

Thank you for letting me share this awful news as each passing day gets better and while it's still difficult to share such saddening news I know it's important to talk about it and move forward.

Updating tonight to say our little sweet Tigger was laid to rest, it's hard not to miss someone who has been apart of your life everyday for the past 18 years. She was by far the best kitty we ever had and leaves a hole in my heart not having her here anymore.

France - Life is Ugly

Another page from my trip to Europe. These are a combination of pictures that I took to capture some not so nice things about Paris. Unfortunately one of the things that abundantly plagues Paris is graffiti, and I do mean plague. It is everywhere on some of the statues, on the windows, sides of buildings and as you can see even on the vans. The other picture is in a prominent area where I guess people either protesting or drinking threw bottles at the store front windows. So I just thought as a tourist these are things you just don't normally see.

My Very First - Project Life

I have to admit that since my kids are all grown and my life is very tedious I never really got into PL but admired those who did it from afar. When I realized I had 200+ pictures from Yellowstone I realized PL may just be the answer for me. So I delved into it and this is my first 2 page PL spread.

Halloween Card - Mummy Bride

One of my favorite TGF digital stamps is this adorable Mummy Bride. She is so fun to use when HW comes around. Being digital I often forget I have her since I tend to grab what's in my drawers instead of thinking what's on my computer. I have gotten a little wiser and print off more than one image that way I am sure to have a least one copy on hand and the fact that it's ready to go (no stamping required) means instant coloring satisfaction. 

France - Monet's Garden

I showed the majority of these photos on a previous post and now have incorporated them into a page. I didn't journal because I felt like this really needed no words, the place is just simply beautiful.

France - Favorite Things

Continuing with my France pictures I created this page based on a few random things that I had noted at the time. In the upper left there are school children learning to make croissants, in the upper right is a picture of a mini Suzuki USA mini bike, in the middle left is a picture of the first Mini car which is about the same size as the Smart car which is parked behind in, in the middle right is picture of some highly fashionable mens shoes by the designer Christian Louboutin and lastly in the lower left are the unbelievable pastries that are seemingly everywhere.

France - Love Locks

I was fortunate enough to be at the Expo this past weekend which gave me some much needed scrappy time. During which, I was able to create layouts from my recent trip to Europe. So for today I am sharing a page about the locks that people fasten to all the bridges that cross the Seine. It's very fascintating to see all these locks crowded into every inch available all for amore. 

I do apologize for the bad scan. The chunky embellishements cause light offset despite covering the page with a towel to elminate light pockets. 

Boyish Charm

I am getting ready to head out to the Scrapbook Expo and of course most of my core supplies have been packed up since I will be heading there after work on Thursday. But I had to squeeze in one last layout before I left.

Another layout of my adorable grandbaby..I just think he's so cute (but hey I am a g'ma so I am supposed to be prejudice, right?)

Most everything on here is way old product so glad I have dug in to use those supplies up. The Boyish text is from Making Memories stickers..you remember those right, I had a completely unopened pkg so glad I broke into those. 



Peach Cobbler Cupcake

We have a potluck at work today and I was wanting to use up some peaches that I purchased awhile back that needed to be used up so of course a Peach cupcake came to mind. what speaks of summer better than a peach dessert.

So for today I made a browned butter cupcake with a peach cobbler filing, topped with brown sugar cream cheese frosting, a bourbon caramel drizzle and adorned with a vanilla wafer crumble. Yum!. Recipes are below for those interested.

Makes 24 Cupcakes



BROWNED BUTTER CUPCAKES
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, browned
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
Line 2 muffin pans with cupcake papers; set aside.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Scrape the bowl, making sure there are no streaks of flour remaining (do not over mix).
Place two tablespoons of batter in each of the paper liners in the prepared muffin pan.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting

PEACH COBBLER FILLING

2 C fresh peaches (peeled and diced)

1/2 Lemon

1-1/2 T Cornstarch

1/4 C Brown Sugar

1/2 C Water

1 T instant  Tapioca

Place diced peaches in a bowl and mix with juice from lemon.

In med pot combine brown sugar, cornstarch; gradually add in water, stirring until cornstarch is dissolved. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sauce is thickened (about 5 min). Add in peaches and lemon juice cook over medium high heat until sauce as re-thickened (another 5-10 m in). Remove from heat and let cool

BROWN SUGAR FROSTING
3/4 cups light brown sugar
2 cups powdered sugar
1 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the sugars and vanilla; beat until frosting is smooth and light (a good 5 -8 minutes). Chill the bowl in the refrigerator until it thickens back up a bit, about 30 minutes, pipe on to cooled cupcakes. If your frosting is still too thin you can always add in a ¼ C cornstarch to help stiffen it.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

(I usually keep some on hand in my fridge) but any recipe really is good. Here is one for you if you don’t already have one Bourbon Caramel Sauce if you don't like the taste of bourbon just don't add it in and use 1 T Vanilla instead.

Vanilla Crumb

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1/2 C Vanilla Wafers, finely crushed

1/2 t cinnamon

2 t sugar

2 T butter, melted

Combine all ingredients in a bowl or food processor then place into a pie pan and bake 8- 10 min until lightly toasted and brown.

Assemble cupcakes by coring out center of cupcakes and filling with peach cobbler filling, pipe on frosting, drizzle caramel sauce and sprinkle with cookie crumb.

~Bon Appetite

New and Old

Well I missed posting the other day so am making it up by posting two cards. First up I wanted to show you another card I made using some older stamps. If you remember I was browsing my stamp drawers and realized I had neglected a lot of stamps. So I pulled a few sets out to put in front of me so I am reminded to use them.

The Catch a Wave card actually uses two older stamp sets. The first one is from Bo Bunny and the other is from Judith. I used a kaleidoscope ink pad and stamped the palm trees and continued to stamp two more times without reinking to give a faded look. The Surf Boards were colored with copics. And I added a touch of Magic Sand at the edge of the card to give it a touch of the beach.

The Cabana Boy card showcases newer products..well technically new. The Kraftin Kimmie stamp is brand new but the sentiment is from a stamp that I ahem purchased last year and {cough} just found. Also using some newer Authentique paper and a cute little paper latern die.