Royal Wedding!!

So excited about the Royal wedding!!  My married daughter is coming over tonight (or should I say morning), at 1:00 am to watch with Maddy and I.  I remember staying up all night to watch Princess Diana's wedding and 5 years later, Sarah and Andrew's.   So romantic. 

In honor of the festivities I am making lemon scones and vanilla bean scones, along with Devonshire cream and Lemon Curd.  Oh, yum!!!!  I have a fabulous book, If Teacups Could Talk by Emilie Barnes.  I love this book so much, the beauty of the whole tea party idea and so many wonderful recipes!

  

Over the years I have hosted many tea parties and here are a few of my favorite recipes:

Mock Devonshire Cream (From the above mentioned book)

8 ounces softened cream cheese

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

Mix together well and chill.  Serve with scones, muffins and/or fresh fruit.

Chicken Salad Finger Sandwiches

1 cup chopped, cooked chicken

1 apple~ peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup craisins

mayo to taste

salt & pepper

1/2 tsp curry powder

White or wheat bread

Mix all ingredients until well blended.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Chill well.  Butter white or white bread and spread with filling.  Trim crusts and cut into triangles. 

 

Double Chocolate Scones

2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 beaten egg
1 8 oz carton plain yogurt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Powdered sugar & milk for glaze

Sift together all dry ingredients.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Make a well in center of dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix together egg and yogurt.  Mix into dry ingredients until just moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Knead gently a few times on a lightly floured surface.  Pat out into a 9" circle.  Cut in to wedges and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 about 18 minutes.   Cool then glaze with a mixture of 1/2 powdered sugar and 1 1/2  tablespoons milk.

Best wishes William and Kate!   



IKEA Clock Transformation

Don't you just love IKEA?  We finally got one closer than 3 hours away and I just love to shop there.  You never know what fun, quirky thing you'll find.  A lot of their stuff is way too modern looking for my vintage style but there are lots of things that work or can be made to work! 

This little clock for example.  At just a $1.99, it's a veritable canvas, waiting to be transformed!

The first step is to pop off the clear cover.  You can do this by carefully slipping a thin butter knife under the edge and prying up gently.  Then you'll remove the hands and lay them aside for later. 

Now you'll design a clock face.  You can use pretty scrapbook paper, photos or make a design like I've done here.  I used my software MS DIP and a fun bird graphic by Rhonna Farrer along with some added text~ Take time to enjoy the process.   A good reminder I think. 

After measuring my clock face, I cut my design to fit and used the original clock face's hour numbers as a guide to place my new hour markers~ some fun little bling gems in clear and pink.

The last step is to replace the hands, (I left off the red second hand, it just didn't work with my color scheme) and the clear cover.  All done!

This clock hangs in my craft studio, which is done in a pink, white and brown color palette.  Love it!

Thanks for visiting and I would so love to have you as a follower!  Linking up to the fun parties below! 



Easter Traditions

So excited for Easter tomorrow!  How about you?  It's such a special day to me.  I love celebrating the Resurrection and being reminded that because of Christ, we have that blessed hope, knowing we'll see loved ones again.

 

 

 

I also love the fun side of Easter.  I always looked forward to dyeing eggs with my kids and now share that tradition with my sweet grandjoys.  This year I did break it into groups though~ 4 kids under six and dye is a dangerous mix!  But it was so fun and brought back lots of memories of when their parents were little.

 

 

Maddy is at the perfect age to be a helper.  I have to laugh because when my 3 older kids were small, money was so tight that I always made and stuffed their Easter baskets myself.  They would always ask for the ones already made up in the store but I just couldn't afford it.  Now that Maddy is the only one left to buy for, the last couple of years I bought her one of the coveted store made baskets.  And this year she said "Mom, will you just make me a REAL Easter basket this year?"  LOL, kids!

   

Have a blessed day tomorrow with those you love!

 

 

Winner, Winner!

I'm excited to announce the winner of my Grain Sack Tote Giveaway is commenter # 14 ~ Jenny:

Hi! New follower here. I saw you on my cousins blog (Sundries and Such) and was intriqued with your blog name. This is a really neat tote bag. I've not heard of this product but it looks like the results are stunning.

Thanks Jenny, for the sweet comments and for entering my giveaway!

I was a winner this past week myself!  I won this lovely camera strap from Zipcoverz, hosted by Jennifer over at Tatertots and Jello.  These really cool camera straps zip on and off easily to change your look.

Love it!  Thanks, ladies! 

  



Pottery Barn Knock-Off. Way Off.

I love Pride and Prejudice.  A&E's Pride and Prejudice to be precise.  Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.  Colin Firth IS the quintessential Mr. Darcy.   There can be no imitations.

I am lucky enough to own the mini-series on DVD and my daughter and I watch it every few months.     One of my favorite quotations from the movie is when Mr. Darcy declares his love to Miss Bennett:     "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."    Swoon.

So last year I saw that Pottery Barn had this charming little jewelry holder with that sentiment.

I dearly loved this little beauty but of course there is no way I could ever pay that much for a frou-frou for myself.   So I tucked the idea away for inspiration.

So today I decided to create something using these lovely words.  I pulled out this little thrift store tray and some pretty scrapbook paper.

My finished project doesn't have much in common with the PB other than the quote, but I do love it!!

It will sit on my dresser holding jewelry and loose change and make me smile whenever I see it.  



Thanks for stopping by!   I would so love to have you as a follower!!  See you the fun parties below.

 



Sister Sister Sunday