Pinspiration

  As I told you last week, I have joined Pinterest. What a wealth of inspiration it's been! There are so many decorating ideas, crafts, recipes, fashion trends... the list is endless. 

  Here are several of my favourite finds. I will break them into categories so they (hopefully) don't overwhelm. I hope you enjoy & are inspired by these images. (Disclaimer: I do not own these images. I will link back to the source provided on Pinterest.)

Ideas for the home:

I love this plate arrangement on the wall as well as the amazing turquoise the piano has been painted. I don't think I would have the courage to paint my old friend (my piano), but I might if I came across one thats wood was in bad shape. The thing is, I don't NEED a piano. But that colour would be pretty somewhere else, perhaps? 

See? Pinterest = inspiration! 

Classy Clutter

Okay, I love pretty much everything about this kitchen. The turquoise ceiling, the awesome backsplash, the very cool hardware on the cabinets, & the fact that the cabinets go all the way up to the ceiling. 

This one is staying in my "dream home" file. 

Canadian House & Home

I am IN LOVE with the colour combo grey & yellow. 

Southern Living

I'm thinking I may try this yellow stripe in my basement bathroom. 

houzz

Desire to Inspire

Craft ideas:

Look at this lovely wreath made of old book pages. Thrift shops are full of cheap 2nd hand books!

Brassy Apple

Wood letters covered in old maps. You could even use maps you brought home from a trip. 

Pinterest

House number pumpkins. Such a great idea!

Lookie What I Did

Cookie Recipes 

(a.k.a. get out a napkin 

because you're going to start drooling):

Salted Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Diary Of Dave's Wife

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies... are you kidding me?!

Scrambled Henfruit

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flickr

Makeover Goodness:

Adorable painted school desk

Brown Paper Packages

Union Jack Packing Palett Table

Tres Chere

Pink bedside tables - how cute!

Natty By Design

I even have a whole folder (on Pinterest it's called a "Board") of just Owls. 

Cuz you know I love me some Owls:

I think I may have to attempt these Christmas tree owls

Juicy Bits

AMAZING owl cake

Cake Wrecks

A Pumpkin owl is perfect at this time of year

Sara's Party Perfect

 Well, does that get your mojo flowing? These are just the tip of the Pinterest iceburg! I'm pumped & ready to do something to make our home a nicer place. This weekend, we're tackling the painting of our main floor hallway & back entry. What's on your to do list? 

Enjoy your weekend!

Linkiin' up with: Two Things In Common

Potato Soup & Cheddar Biscuits

  Fall is in full swing & I am so very much enjoying all the autumn crafts & recipes out there in blog land. Fall at our house means a return of some of our favourite warm meals. This one is my son, Parker's, favourite. There's no prodding to "eat your vegetables" when I make this!

Potato Soup & Cheddar Biscuits 

Potato Soup
makes about 5 cups (I usually make a double batch so we have left overs)


3 Tbsp. Butter or margarine
1 Large Onion, chopped
1/2 cup Thinly sliced carrot
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 garlic clove, minced

4 cups diced potatoes
2 cups frozen corn
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp. parsley flakes

2 cups milk

Put first 5 ingredients into your soup pot. Saute veggies until onion is soft & clear.

Add next 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover & simmer slowly until veggies are cooked. Stir occasionally.

Stir in milk. Heat without boiling. This only takes about a minute because the soup is already very hot.

Serve with Cheddar Biscuits. Refrigerated leftovers are good for up to a week.

Cheddar Biscuits
makes 1 dozen


2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil (I use canola)

Preheat oven to 425*.

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients & cheese. Stir in milk & oil just until moistened. Don't over mix. If you're careful, you can do this in a stand mixer, but it's also easy by hand.

Using a heaping tablespoon, roll batter into 12 balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 425* for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Note: I've also made these without the cheese because I didn't have any on hand. They were tasty too!

Thanks for stopping by today. I love all my friends & followers.

Tomorrow I will be sharing some of my favourite finds from Pinterest. 

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up:

Tater Tots & Jello

The Creative Paige

"Gilded" Pumpkins & Squash Tutorial

  What do water, pumpkins, & spray paint have in common? Well, for today they are three of the objects needed for the "gilded" pumpkin & squash project I made yesterday.

  First of all, let me tell you that this project is super fast! It only took me 10 minutes plus drying time.

Here's what you need:

-Pumpkins and/or squash. I used the mini ornamentals that you can buy this time of year at the grocery store.
-A bucket of water
-Metallic spray paint (I had some silver spray paint left over from my silver side table project)
-Rubber gloves
-Newspaper or cardboard to place pumpkins on while they are drying

1) Fill your bucket with water almost to the top for easy dipping.

2) Shake your spray paint & generously spray a layer of paint onto the surface of the water. Spray paint floats because it's oil based.

3) Dip your pumpkins / squash into the water & paint mixture. You may want to dip a few times to get the desired amount of "gilding". I found that I could dip 2 pumpkins / squash & then I had to add more spray paint to the water.

4) Allow the "gilding" to dry. Mine took about 2 hours to dry.

5) Display & enjoy!

How easy is that?! I think they are so pretty. They would also be pretty in a display with a few different metallics... silver, gold, & bronze, for instance. If you give it a try, be sure to link me up with your pictures so I can see your results!

Enjoy your day!

Linking up to: Nest of Posies Fall Festival & Someday Crafts

This Week's Papercrafts

  On Friday, I had the chance to go scrapbooking with my friends, Allison & MJ. I've been working on scrapping the photos from this year's summer holiday. We went camping in the mountains of Jasper National Park in Alberta. I got a few layouts finished. Here are a couple of my favourites:

  I'm also in the midst of working on my first international card order. 

My little card business is called Eiffel Cards by Stephanie. 

Here are this past week's creations:

Have you been working on anything crafty this week? I'd love to hear about it! 

Be sure to leave a comment & tell me about it.

Enjoy your day!

My Morning at the Farmer's Market

  Hello friends! How was your weekend? Mine was filled with fun, surprises, & friends. It was grand. I didn't even touch my garden as I had hoped to so I'll have to squeeze some of that into my week.

On Saturday, my friends, Allison, Vanessa, & I headed out to the local Farmer's Market for some inspired autumn shopping. It was a beautiful sunny morning. Armed with our Starbucks drinks in hand we perused the isles sampling the farmer's best produce. The carrots, heirloom tomatoes, nectarines were especially tasty.

  The pumpkins & squash were out in full force. I loved the colours & variety. It was a feast for the eyes.

We came across one vendor, Grandora Gardens, who had very knowledgeable staff. 

The girl I was talking to was filling me in on the care of cucumbers. 

Apparently, garden grown cucumbers should not be refrigerated. It makes them go mushy faster. Something about the cucumber taking its moisture & wanting to put it back into the plant to help it survive. She said to cover it in plastic wrap if it's not already & store it at room temperature. When you want to use a portion of it, you cut from the stem side, not the flower side because the flower side is naturally sealed. 

(The stem side is pointier. The flower side is rounder.) 

Then cover the end of the remaining vegetable with plastic & keep on your kitchen counter. It will (apparently) keep for up to 3 weeks! I have yet to prove this, but I am trying it out with the cucumber I bought from her. :)

She also said if you forget & put your cucumber in the fridge, just to leave it there. 

This only works for garden grown / non refrigerated cucumbers. If you buy them at the supermarket, they've likely been shipped in refrigerated storage & will have to be stored in your fridge when you bring them home. 

Interesting.

This vendor also had a wide variety of hot peppers & they even made their own chilli powder which smelled amazing!

There were sales on perennials, succulents, herbs, & dried flowers.

 While we shopped, we were serenaded by some lovely folk music.

As we walked through the market, we met some friends who were pulling their grandson in a wagon & we were saying what a great idea this was because they could put their purchases in the wagon as well instead of carrying around heavy bags. A man with a heavy accent said as he walked by, 

"Bring no more wagons here!" (Roll your rrrr's when reading this)

It struck us funny & we kept quoting him for the rest of the morning. :)

This lady had made these fancy masks that reminded me of the "Masquerade" scene from the 

"Phantom of the Opera"

Lovely hand made soaps that smelled just as lovely

This vendor had a plethora of different vinegars. The balsamic vinegars were amazing!

 I will be going back for some of these!

Me & my sweet friends.

Vanessa, Allison, & Me

  We grabbed an authentic Indian Chai Tea on our way out - delish! And only $1.50!! 

Way cheaper than Starbucks (and just as good)! ;)

  We'll definitely be going back again soon! 

  Before you go, I have an exciting tidbit to share: My recipe Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pie is being featured on Chef In Training's Mouth Watering Monday. I'm ECSTATIC! Make sure you go check out her yummy blog. 

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy your day!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pie

  Have you met anyone who DOESN'T like chocolate & peanut butter? I don't believe that person exists. It's one of my all time favourite combinations.

  I'm sure this fabulous dessert will have you swooning with delight. I made this for my husband's last birthday & I think I may have heard angelic music. ;)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Pie

Pie: 

1 1/4 chocolate baking crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted

1-8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup whipping cream

3 oz. dark or semi sweet chocolate, chopped

Drizzle:

1 oz. dark or semi sweet chocolate, melted

Combine baking crumbs & butter. Press into bottom of 9" pie plate or spring form pan. Chill in freezer.

Beat cream cheese & peanut butter on medium speed of electric mixer for about 2 minutes or until light & fluffy. Add powdered sugar & vanilla; mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chunks. Set aside.

Beat whipping cream with electric mixer until peaks form. Fold cream cheese mixture into whipped cream. Spoon into prepared crust. 

Drizzle melted chocolate in parallel lines over filling. Pull a blunt knife vertically through chocolate to create decorative effect. 

Chill 2-3 hours before serving.

   This weekend, I'm planning to clean up my garden. We got some frost this past week so a lot of my annuals have bit the dust. I've been faithfully covering my fall mums to protect them from the frost though. I'm not ready to see them go yet. What are you up to this weekend? Projects, crafts, cooking, what? Drop me a line & let me know. Whatever you have planned, have a wonderful weekend. 

Enjoy your day!

Linkin' Up to: One Artsy Mama & Tatertots & Jello

Update

This dessert was featured on: