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christmas 08
Originally uploaded by heather.carr

So I decorated for Christmas even though we are expected to move in a week or so. I just couldn't pass up the occasion. Instead of a traditional tree topper, I thought it would be cool to get one of those paper lanterns to hang over all three of my trees, fun!

my recipes

my recipes
Originally uploaded by heather.carr

My recipes now reside in this cute little recipe book I found antique shopping with my dear friend this past Monday. It's so adorable! Now, there is a method to my recipe filing madness.

Pumpkin Thanksgiving Fix

If you need your pumpkin fix this thanksgiving

Real Simple has got it going on.

Early Christmas Shopping Part II

1. A gift for your distinguished friend

2. A gift for the friend who likes to wear the bling.

3. A gift for the friend who is never on time.

4. A gift for the book lover.

Early Christmas Shopping!

I am purchasing a couple of 2009 calendars to give as gifts and some to keep for me :)

1. Pink Letterpress Calendars 2009 Punk Gal and Cupcakes make people Happy, $20.

2. 2009 Calendar from Creative Thursday, $38.

3. 2009 Calendar from Orangebeautiful, $28.

4. 2009 Dandelion Calendar form Hello Handmade Paperie, $24

5. 2009 Letterpress and Silkscreen Calendar from ilee, $22

Homemade Granola

It feels so healthy to make anything homemade, because you can see exactly what is going into it. I had been spying some granola posts on tastespotting and kind of made my own concoction.

Your Granola

4 c. organic rolled oats

1 c. raw sunflower seeds

1 c. raw pumpkin seeds

1 c. natural unblanched almonds

1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 c. sesame seeds

1/4 t. ground cinnamon (optional)

1/4 t. ground ginger (optional)

1/4 c. natural maple syrup

1/3 c. honey

1/3 c. sunflower oil (or canola oil)

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1/2 c. any dried fruit of your choice

(cherries, raisins, apricots, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the maple syrup, honey, oil, vanilla and set aside.

Toss together all the dry ingredients, minus the dried fruit.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix with a spoon until the oats are well covered.

Spread the granola on the baking sheet into a thin layer.

Bake for 25 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Place on cooling rack for 5 minutes, mix in the dried fruit and store in an air tight container until ready to eat.

I love to eat granola with vanilla yogurt and blueberries! Enjoy!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin!!!

Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Pound Cake, oh how many pumpkins things can I make???

It's the way it shatters that matters!

On my recent trip to Dallas I stopped to buy my one and only favorite candy. Nothing else compares to my Violet Crumble. I bought three of them and graciously gave one to my husband and hid the rest for me.

Welcome Fall!

I am so pumped that it is officially Fall! I don't know if it's cheating to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte while it was still summer, but oh well, I did it; the temptation overtook me.

There were several things I did to celebrate the first week of fall.

1. Buy decorative pumpkins to put outside my windows.

2. Baking, Dark Chocolate Pistachio Chip Cookies. I used this recipe and switched white chocolate chips for dark chocolate chips, I love the bitter taste.

3. Baking, Pumpkin Brownies. I didn't make the brownie part from scratch like the original recipe states; I cheated and made the brownies from the box :)

Etsy Obession

I can't get enough of searching for great things on Etsy. I would literally be on there all day if I could. I get so excited when I come across a great shop!

esther coombs

heather jeany

sakurakittycreative

kankalinhats

In Progress

As a side job, I would LUV to design people's wedding invitations, shower invitations, personal stationary or any kind of announcement. I've been doing a couple of things for some friends lately and have enjoyed it so much!

Here's a watercolor I found in my closet that I forgot I had painted. I need to find a good home for it, in or out of my apartment.

I'm looking forward to framing these prints from a 2007 calendar of vintage maps and hanging them in my bare hallway.

Old to them, new to me.

Our librarian at school is finding and giving away tons of discarded books that were published in the 1940's to 1970's and I'm reaping the benefits. There are so many great illustrations in these books that not only inspire me artistically, but could make for some great art to hang on the walls. Here's a glimpse at what I found:

The Art of Teaching

I was cleaning out the kindergarten classroom I will be residing in this coming school year. I found these old children's book from the sixties in a pile. Since they were falling apart and destined to end up in the garbage if I didn't grab them up; I decided to use them in pieces of art. Here's my first piece using a page from a career ABC book from the sixties.

Baking and Re-Making

I've been out of town for a couple of days on a little trip to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. So I've been missing my kitchen and being able to and bake. So the day I got back I attempted my version of bread & honey's apricot tartlets. But our supermarket sadly didn't have any apricots in stock, so I turned to peaches. I added a little whip cream and sprinkled cinnamon on top. It was quite tasty.

Another exciting endeavor, well exciting to me, is an art deco chair I found at a local antique store. I didn't even know the store existed and it happens to be just a couple blocks away from where I live. This chair was a steal and I'm thinking yellow. I'm open to suggestions also.

Fabric Earrings

I have been obessed with Etsy.com this past week. I love the idea of it and I have been finding the greatest handmade things: art, clothing, jewelry. I purchased two pair of fabric earrings from fabricfarrago. Here are some others that she has for sale.

Rhymes and Reasons

I have been reading blogs for the past couple of years. I never started my own because I didn't think it was something I could keep up with or I didn't have enough going on in my life to put out there. So, I decided I am not going keep those excuses any longer. My desire to blog has been lingering since my discovery of food blogs. They inspired me to cook and experiment with various ingredients. So, some of this blog will be dedicated to by my successes and errors in the kitchen. And the remainder of the blog will be to highlight artistic inspiration and great design I come across on the web. Several years ago I felt limited to where I could find people who design and create great things. Now, there are so many people with their cute businesses I'm discovering thanks to word of mouth, Domino Magazine and other blogs.

I finished reading a book by Franky Schaeffer called "Addicted to Mediocrity." It was a fantastic book that brings shame to crappy design and artistic sterility and promotes for people with the talent and desire to create in whatever area to not settle for society's low expectations for art, architecture and design. There certainly were no metal-sided buildings exalted in my art history books. The book points to God as the ultimate creator, who in everything He created was such beauty and grandeur. As works of His creation, He also gave to us the desire to create. With that gift we shouldn't produce things half-heartedly or with lower standards.

So check out the book, it's neat.

Here are some friends/artists who are not addicted to mediocrity:
http://browneyedblogg.blogspot.com/
http://willbryantplz.blogspot.com/
http://joydeeanncarson.blogspot.com/