Starting to Cook!

We've got lot's of things cookin' around here and honestly… they all have priority over blogging.

But… I thought I'd at least try to share with you some Photoshop Brushes I created a while back. My plan was to make them downloadable.


Here's the thing… when I try to do something like this, I realize just how lacking in technical knowledge I am. I know how to create a Photoshop Brush set but not how or where to upload them so that you can download them. So, if you are a Photoshop user and would like a set of "frosting brushes", I'd be happy to e-mail them to you. Just let me know! They were created in CS3 using a Mac and are saved as an .abr. I'm not sure if they'll work with other versions or platforms. If there is a way to make them downloadable, let me know!


And, quickly… here's one of the cookbooks I found on my weekend junking trip. I thought the cover was fun. It's going in my etsy shop as soon as I find the time to scan some more pages and get it listed!

Some friends have gone through some hard times lately. For them, time seemed to stand still. Time flies when you're happy. Busy is good. I'm lucky to have every single one of the things I have to do.

Going to the Bar

Happy Valentines Day!

I just realized this is post #50! I also just realized that I started this blog on the lucky date of 7/07/07 (I wasn't thinking about that at the time!). It was March of last year that I started posting here on a more regular basis so that's what I'm considering my "blogiversary".

I'm celebrating by going to the bar!


Okay… it's a cheesy play on words. I'm talking about brownies and bar cookies.

The last time I went shopping for cake decorating supplies, I noticed that Wilton has a line of products out for making fancy brownies. They've had similar cupcake kits and the like out for a while. It made me wonder…

Are brownies the new cupcakes?

Naaah… I don't think so. I love brownies but they just don't have the same appeal as cupcakes. I can't imagine brownie printed fabrics and paper and other decorative things.

Never the less… I wanted to see what I could come up with to make brownies and bars more interesting and, in the end, I fell back on the standard practice of stenciling them. I was happy that I figured out how to color powdered sugar. You can't really see it in the picture, but I made some pink powdered sugar to sift over the letter stencils. I just stirred in some red powdered food coloring. It worked great!

The home updating/redecorating continues here. It's slow going as we've had lots of other things going on too. So… my house has been a complete disaster for the past couple of weeks. NOT FUN! It will be worth it though! The new flooring has been installed in the kitchen and the walls and trim have been painted. I think somewhere, in some "guy manual" there is a rule that says oak must never ever be painted. I broke that rule when I painted my trim and the hubby isn't too happy. Consequently… I will not be painting my oak cabinetry (like I wanted to) and I might have to live with deer antlers on my living room wall. Oh well… I'm soooo happy with the white trim in the kitchen, I can't wait to get all the trim in the living room painted too!


Wouldn't you know… in the midst of all the chaos… it was my son's turn to bring treats to school for the monthly bake sale. So we cleared a patch of counter space and made some Almond Bark Pretzel Rods. Quick, easy, cute, yummy and fun to work on together.

Instructions:

1. Melt almond bark in microwave following instructions on package
2. Dip pretzel rods
3. Place on wax paper
4. Sprinkle



I got out all my sprinkles and let E go to town. The chocolate jimmies came out of the jar kinda fast and the "OHH NOO!" expression on his face was priceless.
I happened to have some pretzel rod sized cellophane bags from Nashville Wraps on hand, so it was easy to individually wrap them and get them ready to go. I was told that they sold out in a hurry!