I'm Back - Finally!

Feel free to chastise me for staying away so long, but Vacation and illness are my excuses.

We had a lovely vacation earlier this month to Lake Fausse Point State Park in South Louisiana. The park is fantastic and the cabin we rented was wonderful. We had the opportunity to visit Avery Island and tour the Tobasco plant and the Jungle Gardens there. Really lovely.
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip!

We got to see quite a few gators, and got closer to this one than I like!


Things are slowly getting back to normal, though, so here I am at long last to fill you in on recent happenings. I'm slowly finishing some tatted items to add to my etsy shop and am pondering some new items to add.
I have a lovely baby bootie pattern that I love to make (though it is a tad time consuming), but I want to make them in some less traditional colors. Suggestions anyone? I'm thinking dark brown or turquoise or a nice pale green. Hmmm.....
I am also venturing out with some new bookmark patterns, but I want to try a few more out before I settle on them for the shop.

I finally managed to finish a special order necklace and two other necklace I am giving as gifts.






























































I've also joined in on a #mailart project from twitter. (I'm @knotaway if you'd like to follow me there.) I'll be part of a group of 30 or so artists who will create a postcard size peice of art for each participant. We will mail them to each other. Everyone should receive 30 pieces of original art from artists all over the world. Fun, Fun, Fun!!! I'll be sure to post more details about that later!
Thanks for visiting. More Later!

Crockpot Lasagna

Our new favorite recipe...

Crockpot Lasagna

(everything is approximate - my crockpot is big)

3 lbs ground chuck/beef/sirloin
2 jars spaghetti sauce
3 oz low fat cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheese (I used colby jack)
1/2 box oven ready lasagna noodles
parmesan cheese (to taste)

Cook and drain the ground beef (I do this the night before, to cook in the morning). Mix the spaghetti sauce and meat and spread a thin layer in the bottom of the crockpot. Alternate layers of uncooked noodles, meat sauce and cheese ending with cheese. (I place slices of the cream cheese with the shredded cheese.) Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. (If my meat sauce is cold I start it on high for about 1/2 hour.)

I've never had to deal with leftovers with this recipe.
Hope y'all enjoy!

Grandma's Sugar Cup

At least that's how I thought of it....

I can remember watching her measure sugar with a cup like this so many times for Sweet Tea, Lemon Meringue Pies and Pear or Peach Cobblers.

She was the best cook, a great nurse, once caught a 25 lb catfish out of the pond, and so much more...

I wish my kids could have known her.

I'd love it if you would share some of your memories, too.

Blog Giveaway - Pink Tutu

3 Little Monkeys is giving away a child's pink tutu on her blog!

http://3littlemonkeysnews.blogspot.com/

Now just tell me WHO doesn't want a pink tutu????

Here's a bit about it from her blog (but be sure to visit her blog for the details, and follow her!)

Don't forget to visit her shop, too.
http://www.lilsoutherngirl.etsy.com/

"Alright I am doing my very first give-away. This one is for a beautiful pink tutu. This is my most popular item and it takes the cutest photos. This tutu is available in sizes 0/3m all the way through a 5T. The winner will be able to choose the size they want."

Swinging by...

I apologize for the extended absence from my blog. I have been quite busy lately in my offline world and have neglected this poor little blog!

Let me know what you think of this recent photo.
It's easy to see that nature has definitely taked over this old swing in my grandparents' yard. I know all the "younguns" use to love swinging on it.





















This is "Gold Dust". It is my newest addition to my etsy shop.
It is a macro shot of a bloom on a Jerusalem Artichoke plant in my backyard. I really love these plants even though they can be somewhat invasive. I transplanted them from my Grandmother's backyard. I believe she got them from her parents' home in Louisiana.
I hope you like it.

4.23.09

I am getting ready to enter a local art competition, so I've been busy selecting my entries and getting them framed. I'll share my selections later, but one of my options is a photo I took last summer. I took the photo with my digital camera, so now I needed to find the best place to get a high quality print. Twitter provided a wonderful answer to that question!

http://www.iprintfromhome.com/

You can check out their blog, too.
http://iprintfromhome.blogspot.com/

Every Tuesday they tweet a special, so if you are on Twitter you should add them!
I ordered my prints the middle of last week, and received them on Monday. Much quicker than I expected. They were well packaged and the quality is SUPERB! Needless to say I was in the frame shop on Tuesday!
What do you think of my choice of photo?

4.16.09

Youch!
I've been seriously neglecting the blog.
Sorry about that. Life has been busy lately and has kept me from spending more time here.

I did manage to take a couple of shots that I liked.
This one was a particularly dreary day, but I love the colors!














This is a Cherokee Rose that I started from a clipping about 13 years ago. I think it likes where I put it as the flowers are quite a bit larger than the ones on the original plant.







I am thrilled to say that an item I donated to http://www.etsyforcharity.etsy.com has sold! I'll be packaging it and sending it on it's merry way tonight.

Do check out this store. All proceeds go to charity (this month's sales go to Autism Speaks, http://www.autismspeaks.org).