Day 6 - Sunshine? Ship's Wheel?

For the past 6 days you have been following my Charm A Day challenge. Your emails have been so inspiring!!! Thank you! However, I'd like to tell you about how I got started. 

One day I was killing time at my local Jo-Ann's store. The cover of this book caught my attention.

So I bought it. For those of you who know me, you are in shock... right??? As a bookstore owner I can order any book, any time at wholesale. Why would I pay full price? Why??? Because I wanted to read this book NOW... not in a week... NOW! 

I drooled over each and every page and picture.  The authors, Peggy Kryzewski and Christine Hansen are charm goddesses! According to this book there were Art Charm SWAPS going on behind my back. All these wonderful little bundles of goodness were being shipped all over the world and I wasn't getting any!! So I grabbed my computer and started searching for Swaps. I landed on a new group forming on Yahoo... so I joined. It was weeks later that I found out the moderators were the very same authors I drooled over. Surprise!!!

I'm hooked! I love making and receiving charms. To check out where I get my inspiration... go to Peggy's blog: http://artandsoultoo.blogspot.com

and Christine's: http://www.christinehansen.com/

Better yet... JOIN US! Check us out at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtCharms/

On to Day 6...

It's been raining all day today. HUGE thunderstorms. Dark, dreary, muggy day. BUT... sunshine filled my heart and soul when I saw my reservations came through for a trip to Florida in November (Thank you Catherine and Dan for your timeshare). As I was making today's charm I was thinking... Sun, funky sun. My hands made a ship's wheel instead. Funny how I planned a totally different charm than what actually emerged. Art has a way of doing that :-)

I hope your days are just as challenging.

Thanks for looking!

Deb

Fly away...

Ahhh.... I FINALLY get to go away where the sun shines all day, and the ocean is clean and pretty. It's only for a few days... but that should be enough to raise my spirits. Just like a flower... feed me, water me, and stick me in the sun... and I THRIVE. Keep me in a dark, cold place and I live, but begrudgingly.

However... since LIFE isn't always fair... in order to play in the sun one must work their butt off before they go... and most likely play 'catch up' when they return. Such is the way it is in my life.

I am back to selling books on the internet... and doing quite well. Slow and steady wins the race, so I'm adding books a few at a time on a daily basis. In the past I would throw all of my inventory up on line in one giant move and then go crazy packing and shipping. Semi-Retirement (or maybe old age) has taught me to take my time... think the process through... pay attention to placement. My patience is paying off.

Working for my daughter, Stephanie brings brightness to my day. She runs her own business... Kreative Event Services (her ESTY shop is kreativees) . Her main item is Wedding Invitations... however she does invitations for all of life's celebrations also... and favors... menus... etc. She deals with the customers and does the design work... and I'm a worker bee. Lately she had me silkscreen a flower on to the front of a Wedding Invitation... and the next minute I needed to sew a table runner and ring bearer's pillow. In the next breath I was Hot Foil Stamping paper napkins and business folders... and today was spent at her house assembling these fabulous Booklet Wedding Invitations. You never know what she will have me do next. It's exciting!!

It's kind of sweet knowing your kids think you can do EVERYTHING. When they were itty bitty kids they knew you could scare the big bad monsters away from under their bed at night. A kiss on a boo boo made it all better. Whip up a paper-mache volcano? Sure. Make a Dolphin Halloween Costume for the school parade the next day? No problem. Teach them to drive? Piece of Cake. THEN... we go stupid. THEY know EVERYTHING... and we know NOTHING. One day, out of the blue with absolutely no warning... they decide we are not as dumb as we appear (although we are still considered old and feeble) and THAT is how I get suckered into doing these crazy projects. How can you say NO to a child that thinks you can 'do it all'?  

Below are photos of the silk screen job. I don't really have silk screen equipment. If you look closely you will notice I used a lot of duct tape, masking tape, cardboard, plastic cups, and ingenuity. To burn the screen I rigged a work light hanging from my guest bathroom towel bar, a cardboard box, and a black plastic trash bag. The only item I spent money on was the silk screen itself... and I got that at Michael's with a 40% off coupon. Actually, I could have used an old pair of panty hose and an old frame... but I haven't worn panty hose in YEARS, so it was actually cheaper to just buy a silk screen already made.

Flat surface made of cardboard and duct tape... using plastic cup as a 'leg'... and duct tape is a hinge at top.

Using cardboard and masking tape for registration.

Overnight drying and dining table.

Close up of finished screened lotus.

If I didn't have the stuff to silk screen, why did I take the job??? Because no one said I COULDN'T do it. We all just assumed I could. THAT'S the power of positive thinking.  Remember Thomas the Tank Engine??? I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN... I KNOW I CAN, I KNOW I CAN, I KNOW I CAN. Just wait until you see what I THINK I CAN do next!!! I'll give you a hint... it involves my bedroom walls... and I have no money for wallpaper. BUT... I have to head south and warm up a bit first.

Stay warm and THINK POSITIVE!

Blueberry Scones... YUM!

Last week I received an email from a friend with a link from America's Test Kitchen attached... for Blueberry Scones. The email read... "If you are planning on coming down to the shore this weekend, I would like these".  What it really should have said is... 'If you are coming down let me know so we can go shopping and bake these together'. OK... now you're talkin'.

I read the list of ingredients, and watched the video. Knowing that the kitchen was not as well equipped as mine for baking (I'm a frustrated pastry chef at heart) I packed things like a rolling pin, micro plane, baking sheet, cooling rack and all of the dry ingredients. Thank heavens I didn't need my Kitchen-Aid mixer! We shopped for the rest of the ingredients and went to sleep while visions of blueberries danced in our heads. Like little kids on Christmas morning we couldn't wait to get downstairs... to start baking! But first... coffee. Then... CBS Sunday Morning Program. OK... NOW can we bake????

As far as I'm concerned the only 2 programs worth watching on television are America's Test Kitchen and Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. Wait... and The Big Bang Theory... so I guess that's 3 programs. Sunday Morning is so peaceful and educational. The closing segment is always a calming view of some beautiful part of the world. It puts me in a happy mood... all is right with the world. I remember years ago when by brother, Les watched this show I thought it was the most boring show on Earth... that only old people watched that show. Well... I guess it's official... I'm old.

America's Test Kitchen is my number one all time favorite cooking show. At first I thought the host, Chris Kimball was joking by wearing a bow tie... however it really does fit his personality. Hey!!! I just noticed that my 2 favorite shows have the hosts wearing bow ties... hmmmm.... I wonder what THAT is all about? Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory would probably wear one too if he had to dress up. I guess I like nerds. Any way... America's Test Kitchen's recipes ALWAYS turn out EXACTLY like they should. Their kitchen crew tests everything in so many different ways, then explain to you why it didn't work and what needed to be changed to get the result they wanted, so you don't have to experiment. I have learned so much about the 'science' in cooking. Molecules, gluten, fat, starch, you name it... I'm learning it.

So... we made the scones. I did things I never have done before to make these. The blueberries had to be frozen... so you didn't end up with Smurf batter. The butter was also frozen, then grated like mozzarella and put back in the freezer. Everything had to be keep cold... and you had to work the dough quickly so the butter wouldn't begin to melt... that's the secret to flaky pastry apparently. Rolling the dough into a log shape with frozen blueberries in the middle was the most difficult step. The little critters kept escaping and rolling onto the floor... but enough stayed put to make it worth the effort. FINALLY.... TA-DAH!

My First Ever Blueberry Scones!!!

The pastry part was flaky and delicious... with a hint of lemon. The flavor lingered well after the last crumb slid down your throat. At first we thought they needed more sugar, but then realized that would make them taste more like a muffin... and besides, there was a sprinkling of sugar on the top... that was enough for a scone. Perfection! Add a cup of coffee... and yummy scrambled eggs with ham, peppers and onions... and you really have to wonder why people eat brunch out on Sundays. They are missing the whole point of  'and on the last day he rested'.