Time To Un-Wine-d.....

Just a quick blog for all of you -- tasty treats!

Easy Apple Crisp

Ingredients



Quaker Oats Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal (1 serving/packet)


2 apples chopped (I love Honeycrisp!)


3 TBSP of butter cut into small chunks.



Instructions

Chop apples into small chunks.


Place in 8x8 baking dish.


Top with oatmeal.


Drop chunks of butter evenly over top of apples.


Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.





I also purchased a new wine today called "Hallowine" from Door Peninsula Winery.  It is an apple wine (white wine) spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg!  Serve it warm during the chilly fall weather!  

Hallowine

 

Muffin Top Monday

OK Muffin Tops, (and we know who we are), let's not wait until the first of the new year to proclaim "weight loss" as one of our New Year's resolutions!  I have only recently begun the Weight Watchers program (although I did do it last year and lost 25 pounds) -- OK, so I'm re-starting the program to lose some more weight!  This time around I am going to the weekly meetings.  I believe this way I might work a little harder at it, because I have to weigh in every week.  Since I started back on the program couple of weeks ago, I have lost 4.1 pounds!    I encourage anyone to take a look at the WW program -- it really is one of only a FEW that make any real sense.  I know that many of you HATE the idea of counting points, but try it for a week.  You will be surprised at how much you over-eat.  I never realized that I ate enough for two people!  I will admit, it did take about a month for my stomach to shrink so that I wasn't hungry in between meals.  Once that happened, I ate smaller meals (felt better afterwards), watched what I ate between meals, and lost weight! 

I'm not a spokesperson  for WW, I just want to share my experience with you, and if it encourages you to get healthy too -- then that makes me happy! 

So come take a look at the Weight Watchers web site, read through the success stories and the tasty recipes -- get healthy with me!

Weight Watchers

Fantabulous Friday!

Hello Everyone!

After taking a refreshing week off, I'm back to the old grindstone!  I'm really looking forward to the cooler weather.  This past weekend was HOT!  They showed video of people out sunbathing on the news....in October?!?  And along with the cooler weather comes thoughts of delicious comfort foods and goodies -- Enjoy! 

This recipe looks tasty!  Any recipe with pumpkin in it catches my eye -- and to put it in a cookie is even better!  It's from the Neely's on The Food Network.

Whoopie Pumpkin Pies

If  you like cute and whimsy little items -- visit Bubbletime's shop on Etsy!  Add this cute stuffed candy corn to your Halloween collection, or look around for some funny little bugs, mice or birds!  



Cuddly Candy Corn




















And to top off the evening or a great holiday dinner, try adding some MULLED WINE to the menu!  Here is a recipe from Sandra Lee on The Food Network.  I will be trying this recipe for sure!  For a red wine, I think I will use Rosemounts Shiraz -- try it....you'll like it! 

Rosemount Shiraz

Freakin' Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!  And for those of you who live in a world where Friday does not actually mean 'FRIDAY' -- Whaaaaasssssuuuuup?!? 

It's been a few months since I started blogging, and I have  re-evaluated what it is that I want to share in my blogs.  I'm thinking Mondays will be titled 'Muffin Top Monday' as I have recently started back on Weight Watchers, and would love to share my journey, and tasty recipes with you.  Don't worry, I'm not going to going to post great recipes with tofu and millet -- that's not good eats!  And please feel free to share some of your favorite recipes with me -- I would love to post them to share with everyone!  Wednesday is going to be titled 'Wine and Nosh Wednesday'.  Hmmmmm....I seem to have a recurring theme of 'food' in my blogs......  Friday is just a free-for-all!  And sprinkled somewhere in between will be the same stuff I like to share -- arts, crafts, FOOD, jewelry, activities, FOOD.....  Hey, food brings people together, and can be the heart of a gathering among family and friends!

So without further ado....

 
A friend of mine recently shared this recipe on Facebook (thanks MaryBeth!).  These little marshmallow ghosts look fun and tasty!    This one must be the ghost of Elvis -- he's got the 'coif' thing going on.  Uh-Huh!





Marshmallow Ghosties



























Prep: 35 min

Start to Finish: 35 min


...Ingredients

22 chocolate wafer cookies

1 envelope (2-3/4 tsp) unflavored gelatin

1 cup granulated sugar

Brown mini candy-coated chocolate pieces

1-1/2 cups fine-crystal sugar


Directions

1. Line cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet with sides; set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water to soften.


2. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, dissolve granulated sugar in 1/4 cup water, stirring. Remove spoon, brush inside edges of pan with water to remove sugar crystals and boil until the temperature reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees F) on a candy thermometer. Add mixture to gelatin and, using an electric mixer, whisk on medium speed for 3 min. Increase speed to high and whisk until soft peaks form, 8 min.


3. Transfer marshmallow to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch-diameter plain tip, or coupler, and immediately pipe pointed mounds onto cookies (pipe just 5 ghosts at a time so marshmallow doesn't set before you decorate). Working quickly, add candy eyes and coat generously with crystal sugar. Allow ghosts to set about 1 hr before serving; store in a covered container for up to 2 days. Makes 22 cookies.


Nutrition Facts

Calories120, Total Fat (g)1, Sodium (mg)39, Carbohydrate (g)28, Total Sugar (g)25, Protein (g)1, Iron (DV%)1, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Captain's Blog: Stardate one-zero-zero-six-twenty-ten.

I can picture it now....sitting on the deck of a large spaceship, staring out at the billions of stars, drinking my coffee, and eating junior mints.  Aaaaahhhh.......  All while kicking alien butt!  In your face Captain Kirk!


Yes, so....not only do I love Autumn, but I am a Sci-Fi junkie too.


With that said, I wanted to share a couple of Etsy's Geekery items! 

Star Trek Sterling Silver Pendant

A sterling silver Star Trek pendant by Starbright Silver Jewellry.  I really like this pendant -- it's geeky but sophisticated!  















My husband and I are also fans of  Stargate.  This piece from Takit, is simple and pretty, and it's a subtle statement of your favorite show. 

Stargate Pendant Necklace

Here are a couple of beautiful jewelry pieces chosen from the 'non-geekery' items at Etsy!

This necklace is beautiful, delicate and reminiscent of Autumn!  Loop In Loop Jewelry offers this necklace made with fine silver, amber chips, citrine chips, and freshwater pearls.  What a wonderful display! 



Golden Falling Leaves



















One Loom Studio makes gorgeous jewelry from silver art clay!  I really love the natural feel of her shop.  Stop in and take a look at the other nature inspired jewelry available!

Mint Leaf and Sapphire Necklace

If You Blog It, They Will Come.....

Things have been real slow lately around Etsy, and not just for my shop!  Ok, so maybe my stuff just stinks?  It's like sitting in your shop, and constantly walking outside to make sure the sign says "OPEN".  Can everyone get to and find my shop?  Is PayPal working properly......?  If you are selling your crafts online, and are having the same problem, I KNOW you feel my pain!  I would just like to continue creating more jewelry, but unfortunately things must come to a standstill until sales start coming in -- or I become famous -- or we win the lottery!  :)  Anyhoo, Until that happens, I will just keep swimming..... (Sing it Dory!)



Here are a few shops to take a peek at!  This first item is from Bloom and Barnacle's shop.  A cute ghostie figurine created with sculpey clay.  They have many other festive Halloween items listed in their shop -- so hurry on in, before it's too late!



Tall Ghost With Boo Garland







 

 

  

 

The Venerable Bead offers this fun copper enamel skull pendant!  These cute pendants are cut from a copper sheet and then enameled in different colors.  Check out their shop's other beautiful treasures! 

 

Skull Pendant Necklace
 





And some great smelly stuff! Green Briar offers this soy candle collection in 3 delicious scents!  Make your house smell like a home with Pumpkin pie, Caramel Apple, and Apple Harvest!

 



Three Fall 22 Ounce Wood Wick Soy Candles







Aaaaahhhhhh....October!

Cool breezes, colorful trees and....  box elder bugs -- BLEAH!  It's difficult to go outside and enjoy the lovely weather with icky bugs flying in your hair.  All is well though!  Just bought our daughter a cute little witch costume for Halloween!  I will have to hold off on buying the candy -- we have already gone through 3 bags of candy, and it's not even close to halloween!

Here are a few Etsy shop mentions for the day.  Some beautiful items to decorate your home, and some to make you smile!

This little guy is whimsy and cute.  His little beady eyes say, "Take me home!"  Visit bdb world's shop to see other polymer clay cuties, cards, watercolors, and jewelry.

Hermit Crab

I adore these wool pear ornaments from lil fish studio's!  And they are from my favorite town, Brainerd, Minnesota -- where I grew up!  These would be just lovely on a your Christmas tree, or just for year-round decor.

Pistachio Green Wool Pear Ornament

I think that stoneware pottery is wonderful, and I love fall leaves.  I found this beautiful piece from Botanic2Ceramic while perusing the Etsy stores, and had to mention it in my blog!  A rustic looking, unique design with branch-like edges, and a maple leaf motif.



Autumn Woodland Maple Leaf Platter Tray

  

Gathering Leaves

Gathering Leaves


Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?


--Robert Frost


Here are a few new earrings that I made and posted in my shop recently!  I hope you all are enjoying the cooler weather!

Honey Bee Earrings



Happy Hummingbird Earrings





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunshine Earrings

The Moon is Made of Cream Cheese

Okay, maybe not.  But really, if it were up to me, the moon would be made of rice crispies and marshmallows.....

Here are a couple pairs of "Moon" earrings that I recently made (in the spirit of Halloween, yah-sure).  These are made using Czech glass beads.  I know that they are very simple, but Czech glass beads are so pretty that they can stand alone! 

Harvest Moon



Witches Moon



Suprise Cupcakes

I made these delicious cupcakes today -- they are tasty and very easy to make!

List of stuff:  German chocolate cake mix, 8oz of softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup of sugar, dash of salt.

Prepare German chocolate cake mix as directed. 

Mix cream cheese, sugar and dash of salt in a separate bowl.

Line cupcake tray with liners and fill cupcake liners 1/2 full with cake batter. 

Drop a teaspoon (a blob the size of a quarter?) of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each 'cupcake'.

Bake cupcakes according to the directions on the box.

Enjoy!

Before I put the cupcakes in the oven, I sprinkled them with Halloween decorations (instead of using frosting).  The cream cheese sinks into the center of the cupcake -- that's your yummy surprise! 

Waiting For Noah....

Supposedly we are going to get tropical downpours tomorrow.  Thoughts of Evan Almighty come to mind....  I'll make sure to batten down the hatches, just in case!

Just a few showcase items today.  I am still in the process of working on another ocean inspired necklace.  Why the ocean when I live in Minnesota, and supposedly have 10,000 lakes to model jewelry after?  Unknown.  But the thought has crossed my mind.

This first shop is worth a look just for a good chuckle!  Obey My Brain's Josh Freeman is so animated in his pictures -- Cute, cute, cute!  (Oh yeah, and the hats aren't bad either)! 

Large Fleece Squid Hat

This next shop has some of the sweetest looking little animals I've ever seen!  TSminibears shop offers PATTERNS (some with materials) for these adorable woodland animals.  This little bear just makes my heart melt....



Miniature bear PATTERN
























If you are looking for some beautiful pictures to hang around the home, Red Leaf Gallery has some splendid nature photos!  With Halloween drawing near -- thoughts of pumpkins come to mind!

Pumpkin

Hope you all have a wonderful afternoon! 

Blogger......Rhymes With Frogger.....

I listed a few new pairs of earrings yesterday!  I figured during this slow time, I would feed my creative need with some simple items like earrings.  They are pretty, and they keep me busy!  I hope you all are enjoying our seasonal transition into fall -- I've put out some of my fall decorations already!  Have a good day!

Blue Grapes



Amethyst Drops






















Moonlit Evening



Dammit Jim...I'm a Crafter, Not an Artisan!

Yes, that would be me.  Somewhere, somebody asked me that question -- I'm a crafter, and proud of it! 

Anyhoo....I said that I would report back on the few purchases that I had made about a week ago.  The tart warmer, pumpkin cheesecake wax tarts and the Harvest Moon perfume.  Everything is wonderful!  The tart warmer that I had purchased from The Hairy Potter Studio has a wood like glaze on it -- so it looks like it was turned from a log.  Cute!  The pumpkin cheesecake tarts from The Tempting Tart smell fabulous!  They last quite a long time too!  I let them melt in the warmer for a couple of hours, then I blow out the candle -- the scent continues to be released from the wax for quite a while even after it hardens again.  It is so nice to come home and have that wonderful 'spicy' scent in the air!  The Harvest Moon perfume from Solstice Scents is warm, cozy and comforting!  I put a little on my wrists, so that every time I swipe the hair from my eyes, I catch a whiff of the warm, spicy scent!  Very fall feeling -- apples, pumpkin and spice.  Not too sweet or over-powering!

Tart Warmer

Pumpkin Cheesecake Wax Tarts

Harvest Moon

Wash With Your Brain!

Well...sort of....  Fun Gooey Brain Cupcake Soap made by Sunbasilgarden Soap!  Devilish little gift to give to all those stinky goblins in your life.  Sunbasilgarden offers a variety of bath items that come in different scents and styles!  Check out Pomegranate Paradise and Mango Tango Bath Bomb!



Gooey Brain Cupcake Soap





















IT..CAME..FROM..SPACE..!!  If you say it like Captain Kirk, it sounds more dramatic.....   So, here is a little pair of funky earrings that I listed this morning -- they do remind me of something from outer space! 

It Came From Space

Autumn Rain and Cozy Quilts

I posted a new set of earrings last night!  I named them "Leaves In a Puddle", because they reminded me of taking a walk after a cool fall rain, and watching the fallen leaves drift across the puddles like tiny ships sailing to distant lands.

Leaves In a Puddle

I found this beautiful Autumn themed quilt on Etsy.  It is a Fall Frolic Scrappy Lap Quilt by Pieces of Pine.  I love to wrap myself up in a cozy quilt on a cold winter's day -- and a handmade quilt makes it even more comforting!  



Fall Frolic Scrappy Lap Quilt

  

Beautiful September Morning!

I listed a couple of new items on Etsy last night!  Here they are -- Enjoy!

Grandma's Dress

Fall Frolic

How about a kick-in-the-pants every morning?  Try Wake the F*ck Up Tiramisu Flavored Coffee!  With a name like that, you know it's gotta be strong!  This product is offered through Flaming Mouth -- Extinguish your mouth's desire for hot and spicy foods!™.  And just so ya'll know, I LOVE tiramisu!  Oh yeah, and pumpkin pie, and cheesecake, and junior mints, and.....     Check it out!

Wake the F Up!

Mmmmm...Junior Mints and Coffee....

So, I finally finished another necklace and a set of earrings!  Things have been so slow around Etsy since I opened shop (just my luck), I have slowed my creativeness WAY down.  It has been difficult -- I really love to create new jewelry!  At least I can be busy with my daughter, and there will be much yard work to do in the next couple of months!

Nocturnal Musings

Bohemian Rhapsody

Color me......Pumpkin!

Or shades there of.....

Here are a few of my picks for the day -- makeup in beautiful shades to pick up your mood!

I have featured Beautiful Twists by Ella Dean before, and I can't say enough about how much I get a kick out of her Smoochalicious lip gloss and their descriptions!  Each one has a unique and cute story to go along with it.  Not only is it worth buying the lip gloss, but reading through the shop descriptions is amusing! 

Autumn Leaves and Candy Corn

Patina Mineral's Shop features 'natural organic mineral makeup'.  Here is a 4 piece eye shadow kit in browns.  A beautiful way to show off your Autumn look!

Patina Mineral  -- Browns

And last, but not least (and most certainly because I LOVE PUMPKIN PIE), Virtue Natural's Pumpkin Pie Body Scrub!  A mix of cane sugar, brown sugar, Shea butter, and pumpkin seed oil.  A wonderful addition to your morning shower!

Pumpkin Pie Body Scrub

Please visit each of these delightful shops to view their ingredients list!

Eh?......Am I drooling?

Ok, so this last treasury that I assembled on Etsy just about did me in.  I never realized how many people sell tasty eats on Etsy!  So many tasty, tempting, treats to look through!  With that said, I have to gripe for a minute......  Etsty-ers were complaining the other day about how hard it was to make the front page.  I don't blame them!  When I think of what 'handmade' means to me, I think of the craft shows I have been to.  Quilts, food, painted wood items, crafted dolls, etc.  Etsy has a bad habit of posting too many 'luxe' items on the front page.  IT IS NOT A GOOD REPRESENTATION OF WHAT ETSY IS ABOUT!  Not that the items on the front page aren't beautiful, (perhaps not MY taste), but where is the representation for the rest of the Etsy shops?  Anyhoo....here are a couple of my treasury inspired postings for today!

Halloween Marshmallows

Chocolate Espresso Cake Truffles

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

The End of Summer

Today was a beautiful day!  I know, it was cloudy, windy and a little rainy, but after such a LONG stretch of hot (as in magma hot) days, it was a welcome change! 

Thinking of fall..... I will entice you with thoughts of autumn by showing one of my personal favorite necklaces: Autumn Reverie! Beautiful arrangement of cascading colors - seed beads changing from violet, to copper and to moss. An actual epoxied maple leaf sits as the focal to this necklace. Enjoy!

Etsy mention for today is a beautiful ethereal style necklace called Blue Moon Goddess! I found this little gem as I was looking for 'fairy themed' items for a treasury. Vintage Filigree's shop is absolutely enchanting for those who love vintage style!

Blue Moon Goddess

For those who appreciate and/ or worship all that nature has to offer - White Magick Alchemy offers supplies for divination, rituals, alchemy and more!  Here's my favorite pick!  Use it wisely!

Love Drops