chocolate caramel shortbread

the original post says these are a close homemade attempt at a twix bar.
i don't know...yet...

but i really, really am going to try these.
as seen here at bakers royale.
enjoy!

a little sneak

been working on the may projects for the wip gallery...
it will be live first of the month...

all the while making quite a mess.
but this is nothing...
compared to what my 'old' studio looks like...

also in the middle of moving this mess to a brand new space.

a new little room in the basement just recently and freshly painted.

i am slowly moving into this new space...
slowly because right now i am trying to do it on my own.
the going is slow.
but i am also attempting to ruthlessly de-clutter the old space before moving into the new.
am i always de-cluttering?
i think so.
but it will be worth it...
when baby arrives and he has his own little room to himself.

then it will be worth it all.

more wip sneaks later...
-j

too busy

i have just been too busy...
well...sort of...
it's not been bad busy...
just daily life kind of busy.
in the middle of moving my studio to a downstairs room
finishing up our school year with the kiddos
planning vacation
even starting to plan next school year
more doctor's appointments (another ultra sound tomorrow).
you know...just stuff.
i would really like to chat about being 24 weeks...
that's right...6 months...
beginning the third trimester...
can you believe that?

how about a tutorial over at WIP?

thinking ahead

my daughters (oh, and the boy too!) throughout the year put in their requests for their birthday dessert.
even the boy, who's bday is not until october, has it all planned out...for me, that is.
so i wanted to remember this site i stumbled upon with a recipe for boston cream...
because the oldest girl has requested a boston creme cake for her june birthday.
and since i am attempting to plan ahead,
as well as share recipes on here often...
then this will be this weeks recipe post.
enjoy the sophistimom blog and all it's food eye candy photos...
as well as her recipe for boston cream::

for the vanilla bean filling:

4 large egg yolks
1/3 cup (63g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 cups (350mL) milk
1/4 cup (60mL) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together egg yolk and sugar until the mixture is thick and light yellow. Stir in flour and cornstarch until smooth.

2. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, combine milk, cream, and vanilla bean. Heat until almost boiling. Ladle about a third of a cup of the hot liquid, and while whisking, add to the bowl of egg yolks and sugar. Add a little more of the hot liquid, and pour the entire egg yolk mixture into the saucepan. Remove the vanilla bean.

3. Whisk constantly over medium heat until it boils. Whisk constantly for another minute or so until the mixture is very thick and hard to stir. Take off heat and stir in vanilla extract. Cover with plastic wrap and cool. When bowl is no longer hot, refrigerate until ready to use.

p365

i was sharing with a friend over retreat about p365 {project 365::a photo a day}.
she had never heard of it before.
i am not doing it this year.
but am putting some thought into doing it when the baby comes.
so when i saw ali's monthly photo overlays, new just this week, more thoughts started clicking for actually doing this, keeping up with it, and keeping it organized as well.
so thanks, ali, for continuing to keep the creative juices flowing.

good morning

{yes...this was breakfast this morning}

Actually I think it is already the afternoon…
except perhaps on the west coast.

Was away all weekend at a scrapping retreat with my sister up in the mountains.
It was a wonderful time.
Getting caught up on some album re-organizing. My goal is to get this project done before baby…
along with all the other before baby projects I want to get done::
paint new studio space
move into new studio space
paint nursery
buy crib
decorate nursery
find the perfect rocker
paint the girls bathroom…

No worries…I won’t be doing the painting…but a whole lot of directing for sure.

So while I am adjusting to being back into the swing of things…
and cooking again (we eat so fabulously at retreat!),
I just wanted to say hello to you all.
'hello!'

Will be sharing projects from the weekend later in the week.

-j

sewing alert

o.k. all you sewing aficionados out there, you have got to look at this!
a fabric basket.
so many possibilities!!!
-j

guest blogging...

today over at WIP...

here's what i posted::



Staying on top of life can be often times more than tricky. Assuming I am writing mostly to women here, this includes possibly being a wife, maybe even a mom, a home manager, student…and on and on the titles could go. Recently it came to me that I am even relied upon to be the meteorologist of the family as well. Who knew? Often this makes for an overwhelmed to-do list. And more than often it means I am looking for a way to be more efficient in getting my to-do list done. I mean after all, let’s not forget family documenter and curator titles (read: scrapbooker!)

So recently I read an article by Quinn McDonald in Somerset Magazine titled Putting Your To-Do List to Work for You. That caught my attention immediately. In a nut-shell the article went like this:

1. Write down everything you need to get done in a day. Big, little…write it all. (I even include laundry, is that weird?)
2. Create this list at the end of each day. Good prep for the next.
3. Circle three things that HAVE to get done. This idea really struck a cord with me, and since applying it to my daily list of never-ending things to do, it has really helped me stay on task with those things that I just really have to accomplish.
4. Using an index card, write on the front one of the three tasks; then jot down the steps needed to complete each. O.K., I admit, I don’t necessarily utilize the index card approach, but very often I will use this approach, and it really helps. Try it.
5. Next morning, start with those three ‘HAVE to get done’ items. Oh! And this I have started practicing: don’t check emails first. Sure sabotage to getting any work done. It’s true.
6. There are some comments on managing emails, but that’s a whole other post, I think.
7. Challenge yourself to get two of the top three done before lunch, and then finish the last by mid-afternoon.

These are all just little habits to help our day’s line up in order and decency. Because trust me, I would love nothing some days than to simply scrap, or sew, or surf blogs all the live long day. But reality says we do have to maintain our lives, so I am hoping these little tidbits will be of some help to you.

Wishing you a productive day! Off to check my to-do list.

and then...

there was monday.

sigh.

great, great sunday.

services were awesome, joyful, extremely full of worship. already Sundays are celebratory days of community worship bringing praise to our Redeemer...

but then Easter Sunday is like icing on the cake!

the rest of the day was spent with friends and family eating, hunting, laughing, simply time together.

food included traditional ham...

my mom's scrumptious cheesy scallop potatoes!

spinach strawberry salad (recipe to come soon)

deviled eggs

fresh veggies...

just to mention a few.

and then the ever popular berry trifle...

lemon poppy seed cake...

and toffee matza...

food just makes for wonderful celebration time.

today is back to reality...

school studies

desk work

laundry

you know the routine...

nice to have had such a great weekend to bounce into another week.

and a retreat is waiting for me on the other end...so looking forward to that.

here's a sneak for May over at WIP...did ya see those yummy bingo cards? fun stuff!

-j

april gallery

Happy April!
and almost Easter!
Not believing it's actually April...the month just totally got away from me! yiKes!
Happily work in progress gallery is live and kickin'.
and here are my little contributions...

this first layout "this story" is to help remember how adorably excited these 3 girlies are about the news of a new baby to come in the house. they were immediately excited, and i want never to forget...i filled the journaling in after i took the picture.

my friend, alexandra, inspired this layout with her serendipity mail she sent me. a package of love with sweet goodies celebrating my pregnancy. how wonderfully sweet is that?

this is me and my bestest crocheting friend. she is just so funny about how cute she thinks i am with my baby belly.

these two are actually double page. i will journal on the tag above. loved that bird stamp from trish's april kit. it's really sweet.

just loved these photos of this littlest girlie, and also enjoyed tearing into that art warehouse paper with it's lovely scallop edges.

more later.

have a great day.

-j