Sock of the Month!

So, fittingly, I finished ONE of my Sock of the Month Club from Biscotte & Cie on the last day of the month.  I was able to start and finish an entire other pair of socks while I worked on the Sock of the Month, as the pattern for this one is very intricate!  It was a little too difficult to sit and do while at piano lessons, swimming, horseback riding, painting, violin and skiing!

Without further ado, I present one finished sock:

It's really cozy, off to knit the other one, but tomorrow is time to open my next bag and see what kind of yarn I get, very exciting!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

More Socks....

When I finished these socks on Tuesday evening (at my son's piano lesson), I realized that although I started these after sock of the month, I have now completed them, and somehow never got around to posting pictures of the progress on these : (

The yarn is another skein of Biscotte & Cie, color Bulles et limettes (not sure what that means - but it's pretty).  I love the feel of these yarns and the self striping that goes along with it.  While I was knitting these  my brother became fascinated with the self-striping of this yarn and now I will have to make him a pair!

Wearing these right now, because they are so cozy!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

So, if you've perused my blog you will know that I LOVE the St. Albert Public Library!  No, I don't live there, but I did manage to find a way to get a library card for this FABULOUS institution.  I love the children's section because it has so many awesome children's books in not only English, but also French.  Now, again you know I do not speak or understand French, but for my son in school he receives instruction in French daily, and so one of the things the library is good for is the extensive collection of beginner books that we can read together.

Okay, now to my point.  While I was in recently, I came across The Complete Magnolia Bakery cookbook.

This book is full of beautiful recipes!  Last evening my son and I made the Coconut Oatmeal Drop Cookies from this book.  I used non hydrogenated margarine instead of butter, and I added 1 cup of butterscotch chips.

They taste FANTASTIC (might have to wear elastic pants tomorrow...)!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

For Oh S"crap"! It's Monday, I am featuring my left overs Chicken Pot Pie.  

When we got home today after work, the fridge was full of various left overs, but nothing enough to make dinner for two possibly three people, and still have some left overs (I don't want to cook dinner tomorrow).

After staring in the freezer for a while, I saw a package of Phyllo Pastry, and decided to make Chicken Pot Pie.

They Phyllo Pastry defrosted while stirred together in a large skillet:

-left over chicken (cubed)

- small onion

- celery

-fresh mushrooms

-left over carrots (from dinner the night before)

-left over frozen peas (small amount left over in package in freezer)

-left over frozen corn (small amount left over in package in freezer)

- can of mushroom soup

- can of cheddar cheese soup

I cooked all of these ingredients together in the skillet until thickened and transferred to pie dish lined with one sheet of Phyllo Pastry, and topped with the other.  As the Phyllo Pastry was still sort of frozen I had to shape the corners as best I could : )

Into a 350F oven for 45 minutes and dinner was served with a green salad!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Waffle Sunday!

It's Sunday, and that usually means waffles in our household.

While putting some things away in the travel trailer yesterday I found a package of pancake/waffle mix left over from the summer.  So I used it to make the waffles today, except I added 1/4 cup of Chia seeds to make me think it was a little more healthy!  Some fresh fruit along with whipped cream and maple syrup (real), and breakfast was served!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Breakfast???

At least four times a week I make Steel Cut Oats in the microwave for breakfast (recipe).

Usually,I put some fresh berries in it for breakfast along with the brown sugar, but it's Saturday and I'm all out of fresh fruit, so today we added dried cranberries and almonds.

The cranberries were delicious, so while at Costco this afternoon I picked up some dried blueberries.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Macarons

We have in Edmonton a wonderful bakery called Duchess Bake Shop.  One of their specialties is their Macarons.  These cookies are delightful, and come in so many wonderful colors and flavors.

My son decided we should make some of these, and for some reason I agreed.

After many hours of searching cook books and the internet, I was able to make these.  I should have added more purple the the batter apparently, but overall, they turned  out well, and were tasty.

Now, will I make them again?  Probably not, because to make several different flavors and colors is just more work than I want to do, and now that I know how much work these little treats are I will enjoy the Duchess ones even more!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

M & M Cookies

Last night my son and I made M & M cookies.

I used the same recipe as I did for the Valentine's Day Cookies (recipe) except that we added M & M's.

Yummy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's for Dinner???

Question of the day as usual.

Yesterday for dinner I made these individual Turkey Meatloaves.  

These are a mixture of:

ground turkey (a package - not sure what size)

1 egg

left over handful of potato chips (two varieties)

left over cheese crackers (broken pieces and crumbs)

1 small onion

1 cup salsa (the kind from the back of your fridge)

grated cheese (whatever you have available)

- mix together and scoop into muffin pans

- bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 74 C

- top with some more cheese and return to oven for a couple of more minutes

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Socks! One Pair!

I just realized that I forgot to post a picture of these socks!  I made myself finish them before I started on my Sock of the Month socks.

These socks are so cozy in my ski boots, I was only slightly cold at the end of the day wearing them!

The yarn for these socks is Supersocke.  The pattern that comes with it is in a language I cannot understand, so I just used my every day sock pattern.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

 I have been making these cute Mini Magazine boxes to go along with card sets, because they are just so much fun to make!

Originally, I was using my Cricut to make them, but I kept seeing all over the paper crafting world that people were still somehow making these with out a cutting machine.

Hmmmmmmm......

Now, this one is not as nice as my Cricut one, but it does the job well enough.  

I did find random tutorials on the internet to make these, but on most of them the measurements did not work for me (the boxes were "saggy" and limp).

Because I am a visual person, I have put a diagram marked on a piece of paper and hope this helps any of you that decide to try one! 

The paper is cut 8 1/4" x 12".

This is an awesome way to use of left over paper!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 Kathy

Life Shared Card

Last night I decided to open up my Life Shared stamp set.  I have had it for a while, and just not used it, but I loved it and had to have it because it reminded me of Dick and Jane.

Now, before you all jump to the conclusion that I must be really old, my mom was a teacher and these were her favorite readers.  I think she had a copy of every one of them ever published and these were the books from which I learned to read long before I went to school.

I colored this card with my Copic Markers, and the whole assembly made me happy, Dick and Jane and coloring, along with cutting and pasting.  BIG fun!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Valentine's Day Friend Cookies

I took these little cutie packages to work with me for Valentine's.

Inside the Glassine bag, is one of the chocolate heart, chocolate chip cookies that my son and I made.

The Glassine Bags are from Creative Packaging.

The Designer Series Paper is actually a Jolly Holiday Christmas Paper from Stampin Up, and the stamp set is called I Heart Hearts.

I think these look so cute, and I hope everyone loves them!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Grade 3/4 Valentine's Treats

I bought these little Whoos Your Valentine's Kits from Close to My Heart back around Christmas time with the intention of having them prepared well in advance of Valentine's Day.

Alas, I sent my son to bed, and I finished them off around midnight before Valentine's Day!

We used supplies from the kit, and a roll of the candy ribbon that I bought I don't know when, where and or why, but it seems to work for this purpose!

Pink and Red Smarties  (not to be confused with Smarties/Rockets) from the Bulk Barn filled each of these little tubes.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Valentine's Day

My son and I made these cookies on the weekend.

They are a chocolate chip cookie that I have been working on for a while to get the taste I want.  We decorated them with chocolate hearts we purchased at the Bulk Barn.

The recipe for these cookies follows:

Chocolate Chip Cookies  

2/3 cup non hydrogenated margarine

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

- beat until smooth, then add

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

- beat until smooth, then add

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 

1/4 cup Bird's Custard

- beat together until smooth, and add

1/2 cup chocolate chips

- Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, rest on cookie sheet for 1 minute while putting on hearts prior to transferring to cookie rack.  Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Valentine's Package

On the weekend my son and I were home alone and had two extra days of fun as it was also Teacher's Convention, so we had what we like to call BIG FUN!

One of the things we did was make cookies (recipe will follow likely tomorrow).

Then we realized that these cookies were just too tasty, and fun to keep to ourselves, so we made treat boxes and gave them away.

The plastic boxes are from Creative Packaging here in Edmonton.

The ribbon is from my stash (craft - not cookie), and the red glitter paper I picked up at a scrapbooking store at some time.

I lined the boxes with parchment paper to keep the cookie from sitting on plastic.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp a Stack # 4

This is the last card that I made at Karina's Stamp a Stack.

I'm sure it's a bloomin' marvelous card, I'm just not that into butterflies.  I think I will be movin' it along.....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp a Stack # 3

This is the third card that I made at Karina's Stamp a Stack.

The stamp is from the Sale-a-bration flyer and I kind of like this one... It is nostalgic, simple, and classic!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp a Stack # 2

This is the second card that I made at Karina's Stamp a Stack.

My son picked out the greeting, so now I will just have to bake something to give along with this card.  

Should be easy enough....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp a Stack # 1

I went to Karina's Stamp a Stack on January 25, 2013.

This is one of the cards we made.

I LOVE this card, and can you guess why?

It's actually the flower, especially when stamped on the envelope it looks to me, just like the Alberta  Wild Rose, seen on our license plates and our Welcome to Alberta signs!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sock of the Month

Now that I have finished my most recent pair of socks, it is time to open my first package of the Yarn of the Month Club (?)  from Biscotte & Cie (if this link does not take you to the English website there is a button in the top right corner that my son pointed out to me after I spent a fair bit of time reading and navigating the website in FRENCH). 

This is for February and I have a really cute and for me challenging pair of socks to knit up with it. 

Hope to finish them soon, as I already have the next two month's yarn waiting for me (I really want to open them) : (

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Hello Friend....

A very good friend of mine has been going through a tough time for the past year or so, and unfortunately, it does not seem to be getting better any time soon.

So, last night I decided that I would make her a card and mail it to her so that she would have something happy in the mail!

I used Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, and First Edition Designer Series Paper.

The stamped image is from the Moving Forward stamp set from Stampin Up.

I hope this gesture makes her feel better even for a little bit : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

What's For Dinner????

Cake of course!!

You see, earlier in the week my son was ill at home with some sort of gastrointestinal malady.  For almost two days the poor little guy puked up everything, including his much beloved milk (which I had already switched to Lactaid).

As he was starting to feel better yesterday evening I asked him what he would like for dinner and his response was "cake with sprinkles".  

Well, since he had not eaten food in a couple of days, and this is some form of quick and easily digestible carbohydrate, I let him have cake with a glass of Lactaid for dinner.

I baked the cake and he iced and sprinkled it just the way he wanted!

Seems to have worked, it has stayed down for several hours now : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

Last evening I made whole wheat rolls to have for lunch today.

I again used my trusty Kitchenaid mixer to make these, and they turned out really yummy.  I had to have one for a bedtime snack last night : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Dinner???

By noon of yesterday, I was being asked this question.  Seriously people - ON SUNDAY!!!!

Alright, well, what is for dinner?

A colleague of mine always brings this slow cooker soup to every potluck gathering that I have ever seen her at.  It is a "classic" I guess, but tasty, and so I made it for dinner last night!

The recipe can be found here.

Hope this inspires your own use of the slow cooker, and creativity...

Kathy

Valentine's Sugar Cookies

I decided to clean up my craft room yesterday (hooray for me).  While I was doing this I came across a recipe that I had put aside with good intentions to make some time ago. 

Well, last evening seemed like a good enough day to make them, especially since I even had all the ingredients in the house and they would make an excellent on the way to skiing road trip cookie!

I used my Kitchenaid to mix the dough, and it worked out really well.

So, here's the recipe:

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3 tsps vanilla

1 cup sour cream

2 tsps baking soda

6 cups all purpose flour

Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes (the dough is very easy to roll at this stage).  Roll out and bake at 350 F for about 10 minutes.  Enjoy!  

I will likely be making more of these and icing them for my son's class on Valentine's Day!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Coffee Talk Swaps

Last night was Coffee Talk at Karina's.  It is a monthly meeting that Karina hosts for her downline and friends.  We get together and stamp, eat and catch up.  It's lots of fun.

These are my swap for last night.

 I think that they are fun now (however, putting the owls together by the end of 12 of these was exhausting)!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

February Stamp of the Month Club

Here is my latest set of the Stamp of the Month Club offered by Karina.

This stamp set is called Decorate a Daisy.

I believe that secretly Karina is trying to turn me into a flower person (I'm not really one, and they all die on me - could be that they need water and food?).

I do like this set, and I think I will try to use it in the next few days just to try it out!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy