February Pink Challenge Week #1

PINK THINGS I LOVE

If you would like to be a part of the "Color My World Challenge" and haven't joined before, feel free! This month its all PINK....Let me know that you are joining though so I can see what you come up with:)


Week #1 Things you love in pink

Week #2 A craft project using pink

Week #3 Use pink in an unusual way

Week #4 Use pink in a recipe

Waiting to walk into the light again

I think it was just that kind of a week,
when the light eluded me
just around the next bend,
picking up one foot and putting down another
trying for the grace to forgive
and wanting to know I was.
No way of going back,
no sure step forward
the light too far ahead to see.
trying for grace to let go
and wanting to know I am.
At times it just seems like
life comes on heavy treads,
and the sound it makes hurts my soul.
trying for peace to rest
and uneasy in its grasp.
New light ahead, evolving grace
letting forgiveness rest
and peace pervade.

"In this world you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world." Jesus

White Challenge #4

Here is my all white dinner for the #4 white challenge. Interesting how white comes in so many shades!

Greek Chicken

4 chicken breasts cut up
1/4 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
3 minced garlic cloves
1/3 c. white wine or cooking wine
1 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. feta cheese
2 sm. shallots minced
1/4 c. chopped green onions
1 c. mushrooms
chopped tomatoes

Dredge chicken pieces in flour, brown in olive oil over med high heat, add shallots, garlic, salt and pepper (to taste). Set aside. In same oil saute mushrooms, oregano and parsley for 3-4 minutes. Add Feta cheese, chicken broth and wine. Stir until melted. Place chicken in baking pan, pour wine mixture over. Bake at 350 for 45 min - 1 hr. Sprinkle tomatoes and green onions over for the last 10 minutes.

Smashed Potatoes

White potatoes
whipping cream
White pepper
salt
butter
Boil potatoes whole, unpeeled until cooked and tender. Smash with potato masher slightly. Add rest of ingredients to taste and smash again. Potatoes will be lumpy. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.

We serve the chicken over the potatoes, but they are very good separately also.

Shopping My Closet

Sometimes it pays to just shop your closet! I love the clothes and outfits that Ann Taylor Loft puts out, but when I saw this idea I thought , "hey, I think I've got enough similar pieces in my closet to put this outfit together with out spending a dime!" If I would have used some black "bling" it would've been pretty close, but I liked the gray instead.

I like to challenge myself once in awhile to see what I can come up with instead of rushing out to buy a new item. And plus with cropping and picnik.com I can even look as thin as the model :)

Color Blog

To those of you that have joined my color challenge, (and anyone else who love gorgeous color and photos) you may want to check out this blog and be REALLY inspired. http://acreativemint.typepad.com/ Love her vignettes of color!

Scrapbooking in the Round

In the sewing splurge of the last few months, my scrappin' has taken a back seat. Yesterday I finally sat down and finished a round scrapbook of our anniversary, that I started last fall....yikes

It was a round scrapbook I found in the dollar bin at Target last summer. Although it had a pink cover, that was easy to change and it came with 20 round pages! I didn't end up using them all but still for the price.....

I used the Marrakech line from Basic Grey that I got on clearance. I'm really pleased with the final effect, but working with circle paper can be a little more challenging...I ended up punching holes for the ring that holds it all together in the wrong edge on several pages and had to cover up those holes with more ribbon!

But one more project off my to do list, especially as another scrappin convention and retreat are coming up and I want to start on some new things:)

Gift Bag Updo

No matter what I do I never seem to have the right gift bag for what ever I'm wrapping. So this time instead of rushing out the door to get one I just used a plain white bag and embellished it very simply.

Also I figured I could skip a step and just make the embellishment into a card too and keep it fast and easy. One of these days I might have a fully stocked wrapping station like you see in magazines, but in the meantime.....

Boots!

I just wanted to let you all know that, "Yes!" I plan to wear my flowered boots! Maybe not to the mall or church, but I did spray them with waterproofing so they should be fine to wear in the puddles or when I walk out in the field to pick berries and don't want to step on a snake:)

I'll Have One of Everything

For those of you who live on bread, muffins, croissants etc. you have no idea how hard it is to follow a gluten free diet for the rest of your life! So whenever I'm in Sisters, Ore. I always stop in at Angeline's Bakery. There I can step up to the counter and order just like a "normal" person..."I'll have a muffin, scone, brownie, one of each kind of cookie and a toffee bar!" because they bake lots of different things that are gluten free and I can actually have a choice! You have no idea how happy that makes me....yummmmmm

Color My World Challenge #3

I have had these rubber boots for a very long time and every time I use them I think, "these are so ugly!" So to use the color white in an unusual way I prettied them up....

A very simple technique that used all items I already had and....

VOILA! Cute boots!

Morning Walk

Thank You, Lord, for even blessing my complaints! I say I can't take another gray day and You send a beautiful morning and show me that even now You have color all over! Thank You for legs to walk and a heart to praise! "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard." Psalm 19:1-3

Check out this giveaway!

If you would love to win a fabulously beautiful coat for a child be sure to enter the giveaway at http://edensbouquet.com. Jen has created a line of clothing for children that surpasses anything I've ever seen:) click on this link on my side bar to see whats up!

Inspirations Right Now

I have been thinking about inspiration and what I inspires me Right Now...

1. Color! Lots of it and in every shade...give me one more gray day and I'll shrivel up:(
2. Other Blogs...there are some incredibly talented people out there in Blogland! At first I get a little intimidated viewing others creations and creative processes, but then I get excited about all the possiblities out there:)
3. Learning new things...theres so much to learn that sometimes I can hardly breathe!
4. Older folks....I just love the wrinkles and the wisdom and the soft watching for a better place!
5. Children...dimples and rumples and pudgy hands and the sheer joy in living,theres nothing like it:)
6. A truly good book! If you haven't tried one by Jan Karon, please do!!!
7. Challenges...this color challenge is really getting me thinking and noticing things I didn't before
8. GOD...nuff said!!

Let me know what some of your "Right Now" inspirations are...I'd love to know!

Eye Candy for Spring

Here is my new stack of fabric for spring clothing....some for Brielle, some for me...so many ideas so little time! My new sewing machine and I are still getting to know each other and I've had a few moments of frustration! However if you want to know how to use ANYTHING you can find out how on "youtube" so THANKS to that I am happily using my ruffler foot and button holer now. Amazing how much better a new model works. Hmmmm I wonder if there is a way to get a new model of a brain so I could trade this rusty one in:)

Color My World Challenge White #2

Here is my White Craft Challenge! It is entitled "Giving her Wings". The photo of my grandaughter wearing her fairy wings is by http://www.sharlastenersenphotograhpy.com/ . I used a 12x12 scrapbook page.

Along the side I used all words that have something to do with wings and white on white layers of paper and rick rack.

I used a photo in black and white and then layered a colored one over that.

It was a bit of a challenge for me to use all white and have it look okay...which is the exact point of this challenge...to do something you might not do otherwise! Good luck to those who have joined me on this challenge:)

Letting go of Winter...slowly

As soon as Christmas is over I like to start looking ahead to spring...it helps my mood! So I like to put some things on the entry table that remind me of that, like branches with a touch of green, fern curls, pears,

bird nests and white berries, moss and rocks......warmer days and the greening of the land is

Just Around the Corner!

White and Welcome

Welcome to the Color My World challenge http://holly-nowmorethanever.blogspot.com/. I love how everyone who joins comes up with such great ideas! This is going to be even more fun than I thought:)

More White

Molly at http://www.whispersofjoy.com/whispers-of-mj.html has joined the "Color My World" Challenge! Be sure you check out the adorable pics of things she loves in white...and her great website for sweet baby accessories! I'm thrilled to have such creative people joining me!

White Theme

I'm so excited to have http://3princesspaperie.blogspot.com/ joining me in the Color My World Challenge! Be sure to check out what she loves in White...Is anyone else feeling inclined to join? I'd love to see what you come up with and its only one blog a week, so it shouldn't be too hard!

Out with the Old, In with the New

When I opened this Christmas Gift from my kids I was very pleased! Folded up inside was a gift certificate to a sewing machine store! So today I made the BIG purchase......

Out with Myrtle....

and in with Magnolia!

It sews like a dream and I can finally do buttonholes again, overcast, ruffle etc. but in a whole new way!! Yippeeee!

But thank you Myrtle for all the years of hard work you managed to give me and for never giving out! Welcome Magnolia, may your years be long and productive!

And thank you kids for finally getting me to try something new!!!

Coloring My World Challenge #1

WHITE THINGS I LOVE

I am doing a monthly color challenge this year. I got the idea from http://www.ayearofcolor.blogspot.com/.
Because I'm new to blogging I missed out on joining up for that:(
Each month I will choose a color to focus on, and each week use that color in a different way on my blog...
1st week-a collage of things I love in that color
2nd week-a craft in that color
3rd week- use that color in an unusual way
4th week-use that color in a recipe

January-white
February-pink
March-green
April-yellow
May-purple
June-blue
July-red
August-gold
September-brown
October-orange
November-black
December-silver

This is a way for me to think a little outside the box and be challenged to use my senses to appreciate my world. If you'd like to join me let me know! It doesn't cost anything, its just for fun...and I'd love to see what someone else would come up with.

For Jane Austen Fans Only

Here is a "Just for Fun" site to check out... strangegirl.com/emma/quiz.php. You can take a quiz to find out which heroine of the Jane Austen books you are most like! Of course I knew right away which one they would peg me as, so as much as I'd like to be a more exciting heroine "I must be forever resigned to go thither with quiet dignity and faithfulness" as Anne from "Persuasion"! Ahhh, to live in a refined and gentler time....

My Year In Pictures