Easter Fudge

Easter Fudge!

Yes folks you read right, that is Easter fudge. I have decided to start a new Easter tradition, and it is this yummy green fudge. We first tried it this Christmas, it is so yummy that I blame it personally for any pounds gained during Christmas this year. Well as you can see it is really a very pretty green color and I think it looks more like spring than winter, although I am sure I will still make it then too. I thought it would be fun to put in a few Easter packages plus we just love eating it. I hate to admit that since this picture was taken a couple of days ago we have devoured half the pan without even getting it wrapped. So if you are looking for a new tradition, and can't we always use a new food one, here is the recipe:

1 cup Butter, 1 Can evaporated milk, 4 cups sugar, 1 bag of the green mint chips shown above, 1 bottle marshmallow cream, 1tsp peppermint extract. Lightly butter sides and bottom of heavy saucepan. Butter sides and bottom of 9x13 pan and set aside. Place butter in pan and melt. Add milk, then add sugar, keeping sugar off sides of pan. Cook over med high heat until 236 degrees (SLC, Utah) stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool until warm, around 175 degrees. Do not stir. Add chip and stir until melted. Add marshmallow cream. Add peppermint extract and food coloring. Beat by hand 1 to 2 minutes. Pour into buttered pan. Drizzle a little melted chocolate over top for decoration. Let cool and cut. This is really easy if you have a candy thermometer, one of the worlds great inventions.

I don't know if you can see in there, I was trying to photo inside one of my sugar eggs. Tiff at Loveboxes had me all inspired about them. It didn't turn out quite how I wanted but you get the idea. She was also the inspiration for my Matthew's bunny there between the eggs. We made him out of the same parts she makes her little dolls out of. Matthew thinks he is hot stuff. Easter is coming! Yeah!

This one is purple grapes even though it

looks blue in the

picture. This one

is a half-apron.

I am sending these over to the shop later today!

This one is cheery cherries and is a full apron.

Okay, this a little embarrassing, but I love these little Madame Alexander dolls. Okay not so unusual, lots of people do, but mine happen to have originated from a very unsophisticated source. Drum-roll please: McDonalds. Yup, those of you with kids may know that once a year McDonalds puts these cute little dolls in their kids meals. We love them at our house! I will never be able to justify the expense of the real, full-size dolls so this way I still get to have my own little collection. Why do I bring this up now? Because it is that time of year and I became the proud owner of Dorothy and Glinda the good there in front yesterday! Yup, you guessed it this year's theme is The Wizard of Oz! So as sickening as it is to think about I am afraid we will be eating some fries and chicken around here, although yesterday I just ordered the chocolate milk and apple crispers and chucked the hamburger, then I could but them in Brittany's lunch today! I know I need serious help! Oh well, these are the silly little things that make me happy!

Look what Hubby can do!
I have the most talented hubby! We took a ceramics class together last spring. When we started we were about the same level-beginners. Keep in mind I was 8 months pregnant so I do feel I had extra challenges, but I never turned out anything more than sad little ash-trys. Not especially useuful for a non-smoker! But Hubby has continued in the class and is really enjoying it and turning out some fun stuff. He has even bought a wheel so he can throw at home. He just finished his most recent class so I get to go pick up more stuff next week. It is really fun to have a new hobby in our house, and I am always in favor of his finding a new stress outlet! P.S. they are sitting on top of two cabinets he made for our room last year; woodworking is his first love in hobbies but requires a much bigger time commitment to finish one project. Aren't I lucky though?!

I just had to post these today because they say it may snow on Wednesday so I am really trying to enjoy them while they last, although they usually get snowed on almosta every year and still survive!

My mom got this cute little doll for her birthday this week, she is really very cute in real life. She looks a little creepy in the picture but she is so much cuter in person. She reminds me of Joan Walsh Anglund's illustrations. She and her friends are here.

I can not believe it, my baby turned nine months old this week. How can it be possible that we have had him as long as I was pregnant? It sure went a whole lot faster than my pregnancy! Well I decided to take some pictures of his nine month old feet. Aren't they cute? Although I really should have done this sooner because a nine month old really can move his feet A LOT. Making it very difficult to photo, as you can see from the action shot.

I have been trying to figure out how to get one of these fridges too, I think the handle on our fridge is cracked, we definitely need a new one! Dream, dream, dream. Afraid I am going to have to sell a whole lot of bags to get one of these babies! They come in Eight different colors! Who wouldn't want a refridgerator in pink lemonade or beach blue! Oh well, a girl can always dream, we have the tooth fairy coming regularly to our house, do you think there is a fridge fairy? It is from big chill too.

I have been thinking about these stoves from big chill ever since I saw them on Holly's web site. You can see them here. But you really should see how cute it looks in Holly's kitchen too.

Look at this gorgeousness!
I found this lovely blog yesterday and I am in love! This lovely girl lives in Australia and paint the most amazing dresses, and creates all sorts of beautiful lovelies. Her name is Natasha and you have to go visit her here. She has great links too. Another one I loved belongs to Holly, go see her here. This is what I love about blog-world, there is always something great to be found!

I didn't like her eyes, I think I like this better!

This is what I have been spending free time doing. She is going to live with my niece Abby in her room, she is very excited for her new home!

This week's book is Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Same author as last week's Ella Enchanted but this is her new one. I actually liked it even better than Ella. It is loosely based on Snow White. I really loved it, especially for pre-teen girls, any girl actually, any age. I like the message it had that appearances are not the most important and the things people may sacrifice to be attractive may actually hurt them more. Anyhow, if you are a fan of fairy tales at all give this a try!

Look what finally came in the mail yesterday!

I have been waiting for her! ( Not really very long, I was just excited!) I bought her on ebay from Diane Duda check out her blog here. She does fabulous mixed media things that I really love. In fact I love her so much and she was so reasonable(cheap) that I feel like a friend made her for me, but I suppose that is the fun of blog-friends! Thanks Diane!

It is coming! Spring! Spring! Spring!

I have been so jealous, so many bloggers have had such great pictures of Spring coming to their yards and now it is finally coming to mine. No if that storm that is supposed to be coming will just not snow on these lovelies I just might get to see them bloom soon!

I have decided to try and throw a kid tip a week in here. I have gathered from some of my friends that some of the things we do around here are a little unusual. This is one of our favorite projects. Painting on canvas. My friend Circe introduced this idea to us a couple of years ago and boy do we love it! You can buy three of these canvas in different sizes for around 3 or 4 bucks at Walmart. I do recommend having your kids draw their pictures on first as they are starting out. I draw the picture for my 4 year old, the rainbow is his, and then he paints it in like a coloring book. I let them use acrylic craft paint, so make sure you have a covered surface and good paint shirts. Brittany has gone wild with this idea and creates great stuff, the other two are hers. Kids love this, they feel like a "real" artist and there is something great about the lasting effect of paint on canvas.

I SOLD A BAG!!!!!!
This is so exciting for me! I sold this bag on etsy this weekend! I have done quite a bit of custom sewing but have never sold anything that I made and then put up for sale so this is very exciting. Apparently there are a lot of people who like polka dots! Lucky for me I actually made two of this bag so I will put it up here again and see what happens. Just had to share my excitement!

Look what I found!
I am so exctied! Look what I found at Wal-mart today for 88 cents! Yes you heard right 88 cents! When I was in about 4th grade these chapsticks in the little metal tin were the big deal. All the really cool girls had multiple flavors, and there were a lot of flavors. Kim, from the previous post, she had a lot of flavors. Me, I think I owed one, once. So imagine my joy when there they were today! Yes, I know, I am a total dork. But I am a happy dork! I am sure they were a different brand and the smell isn't quite as strong as I remember but the nostalgia is still doing it for me! Does anyone else remember these?

Tiffany at loveboxes posted a picture of the two of us as little girls with some of our friends the other day. I was going through some things with my mom yesterday and found this one. It is the first day of 2nd grade. Tiff is wearing the beautiful gingham dress trimmed with velvet her mom made her( her mom always did sew her the most lovely dresses), I am in the middle, notice the cute little denium purse my mom made me. And that beautiful little girl with the ringlets is our friend Kim. Boy were we cute!

You could win all this stuff!

This time I think Tiff is really got a great give-away and I say that not just because that little dolly came from gingham world, but because the fairy box is my favorite. Go over to loveboxes, look around, make a comment and you could win them! She is doing this all week!

I have been making bags this week. I like these two the best I think, but maybe it is because I am so hungry for spring! They are over at etsy. I hope to be adding more over there today, children permitting!

Books!

Tiffany from Loveboxes has been telling me that I should blog about some of my favorite books. First you have to know that I have a reading problem. I know that doesn't sound like a problem but trust me it can be. Ever since I was little reading has been a fantastic world for me, frankly one that was a lot more fun and interesting at times. So as a kid I read everywhere, at school(inside my textbooks), at the table, in the car, in the bathtub. I must confess that I still do this. My husband laughs because I can cut vegetables and read at the same time, or fold laundry or any number of other activities. So needless to say there is usually some book in my life. I go through phases, sometimes biographies, sometimes historical fiction, sometimes what my mom calls fluff and sometimes children's literature. I hesitate to recommend books because peoples opinion of what language and behavior is appropriate varies so greatly, especially in my little world. This is the major reason I do not join church book clubs. So with great trepidation I will attempt to recommend a book a week. This week's book is from children's lit. I have loved kids books long before I ever thought about having kids. This week's book is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It was made into a movie a couple of years ago with Anne Hathaway that was cute but not nearly as good as the book. It is basically a variation on Cinderella. I love fairy tales and this really was a fun one.

You could win this cute elephant!
Tiffany at Loveboxes is having a great contest. She has opened an etsy shop and is having a promotional contest so go here .

Isn't she the cutest?!

I found her in a cupboard yesterday. I had forgotten I had her. My great-grandmother Hoffmiester(how do you like that very german name?) was a better artist than I will ever be. She was very into ceramics, I will put up some of her plates later, and must have done this little girl somewhere along the way. I am so glad her name is on the bottom. I remember her being at grandma's house when I was little, although I don't really remember treats inside. I think I inherited her when my mom was cleaning cupboards and divided stuff up between my sister and I. I know there was a lot of stuff to divide too. Some of my best childhood memories took place in Grandma Hoffmiester's basement with my sister. She had a great basement because it was finished like a little apartment but no one lived there. It was full of my grandmother and great-aunts old clothes from when they were girls, I would guess the mid-40's. My sister's girls and my daughter still play with her great old hats and jewelry left from that basement. But my sister and I would play for hours in the great dress-ups and play house in the apartment. Boy I miss being a kid! Well this little girl has made it out of the cupboard and now she is going to stay out where she can remind me of all that fun!

I fnally figured e-bay out yesterday, at least a little. These are listed over there but I can't make the link work. They are under folk art landscape painting. Can you tell the computer is not my strong area?

It's a new store!

I am so proud! I finally figured out how to make an etsy shop! It is that link up there at the top and these guys are in it!

Quilt Girl

Well, have you ever started a project that you were really excited about in the beginning and then you get almost to the end and blow it? That is what happened here. I was doing great, ever incorporated little snippets of my daughter's old dresses into the quilt and then I just went too far. I decided to put polka dots in the grass, long story short after about 4 different colors of polka dots they looked like warts and I tried to pick them off and paint over them. That didn't work either and by now I have an embarrassing amouont of time invested so they became daisies, which is probably what I should have done to begin with. Oh well! Live and learn! Perhaps this is what happens when you try to paint with three small children around.

Sunshine and Flowers!

There is hope for spring, but then again isn't that what spring is? Proof that hope works? Well the sun has decided to come out and one of hubby's orchids has decided to try and bloom. Two very exciting events.

This is one of my copy-cat numbers.
I was trying to imitate Susan Ellison's fairy. I love her stuff, wish I had any hope of attempting her roses they are so beautiful. This was just for fun, to see if I could even come close. I did okay slapping paint on there, as usual it was the face that made things hard. I have decided that is how you tell a "real" artist. Faces just seem to flow out of Vanessa's (from A Fanciful Twist blog)pen. And her people and faces are so wonderful and fun to look at! So I guess I will just keep messing around because it makes me happy and who knows, eventually I might just get it!

This is a painting I did quite awile ago, I like it except that the original is slightly off center and it bugs the heck out of me! Oh well, I guess it is a good excuse to try it again. Oh it is supposed to be the Salt Lake LDS temple just in case you can't tell!

I made Anita's bread!

This is our favorite french bread that my friend Leslie's mom Anita is famous for. It is yummy and easy!
Mix the following and set aside.
2 Tbls. yeast
3 c. warm water
pinch of sugar
Add to the above:
1/4 c oil
1/8 c sugar
1 T salt
7c flour
Mix well, require some kneading and raise 10-15min. Pinch and turn to shape into three long loaves. Place on greased cookie sheet. Then snip tops and wash with egg white. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds if desired. Raise 20-30min. Bake at 350 25-30 min.

Yummy!

I just discovered these yesterday! They are really good and are my attempt to satisfy my terrible chocolate craving while trying to curb my calorie consumption. Anyhow they only had half a gram of fat and 15 calories for two. They taste like a cruchy junior mint. Needless to say there were a lot more in the cute tin when I bought them but you do get quite a lot for two bucks!

This is the baby blanket I finished yesterday.

Can I just say I love strip-quilting?! It only took me one nap-time and staying up a little late one night. That is pretty darn good around here, and more importantly I like the way it turned out. It goes with my cowboy theme for my new nephew who should make his apperance in Texas next month. I didn't put a bat in it because I didn't think in Texas it would get as much use. So there we are, a quilt for little Nickolas!

Yup, you otta be in pictures!

Okay, I have struggled with the idea of putting pictures of my kids on here, but after getting these cuties of Joshua yesterday I just can't resist. So this post is for Oma and the aunties and friends who haven't seen how adorable Joshie ( there is another thing I wasn't going to do--shorten his name) is getting. Hope he makes you smile, he does me!