Let Your Heart SOAR!

I may have failed miserably at my 30 day challenge of things I love, but I DID finally complete this collage! And...I must say I LOVE it! My life has been quite stressful this past month, so this was my escape. I got lost in a sea of *delightfulness* and tuned out all that "other" ugly stuff. You should have seen the mess I made! In my world, one cannot be creative without making a huge mess. It also forced me to organize my studio, which is spread out between my office and guest bedroom. I dug through plastic storage containers and boxes and the stuff I found that I forgot I had make me scream with joy! BEAUTIFUL fabrics and books and patterns to inspire and cure whatever might ail you! Now, if I can just calm myself from the circuit overload I'm feeling and move on to the next project, I'll have it made!

The idea for this collage came from my previous post about the layered heart. It just reminded me of a kite and I envisioned a smaller version being flown by a paper doll! This paper doll is an original, not a copy, from the 50's or 60's I'm guessing. She even has an old piece of cellophane tape around her wrist, which looks like an ace bandage! I pretty much covered it up with her kite string, though.

Isn't she the sweetest thing?

She's flying her *heart* kite and letting it *soar*

The sun is vintage flocked wallpaper and half a doily I spray painted.

I found these letters in my stash and wired them together with rusty wire. 

There are so many fun elements to this; paper, fabric, ribbon, lace and all sorts of little doodads!

I had so much fun with these little houses. Just snipped paper in various sizes. The windows are plaid ribbon!

Even added a little *doodle* here and there!

Oh, that tiny ric rac!

The finished project!

I hope you let your heart SOAR!

Red Velvet + Cream Cheese = One Happy Camper!

Just let me start off by saying you may want to double this recipe and use a bigger pan. An 8" square of this delectable confection is NOT enough. If I'm going to put myself into a sugar coma, I'm going all the way, so next time it will be a 9" x 13" pan!

I found this recipe for *Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies* on Pinterest. It was pinned from The White Library. If you're not *pinning*, you're missing out. It's a fun way to save things you love and find GREAT ideas, recipes, you name it and you can find it on Pinterest! Here's a fair warning, though, it can be highly addictive!

It's a super easy recipe. I didn't have dark *baking* chocolate, so used Hershey's Special Dark candy bars. The recipe didn't specify baking chocolate, so it was just an assumption I made. Anyway, they came out delicious! Mine didn't look quite as dense as the those in the recipe. Mine were really kind of light and fluffy! REALLY good!

I also didn't have an 8" square *metal* pain, so used a round metal cake pan. Not sure that *metal* is crucial or not. So, without further ado, here is recipe...remember, BIG pan! :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2-oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp red food coloring
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 8 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
4. Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
5. To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
7. Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the parchment paper to remove the brownies.

Layers of the Heart

Just want to wish all you love bugs a Happy Valentine's Day! I will be attempting red velvet brownies here in awhile. I was supposed to make them yesterday for hubby to take to work today, but my yesterday was not a good day. I was in my office until 7pm, so nothing creative got done. I hate when that happens!

This morning I did finish my layered paper heart. For some reason it reminds me of a kite. I would like to fly a heart shaped kite. Hmmmm....I'm having a light bulb moment!

The tissue ruffle is made from an old pattern!

Love the touch of  *BLING*

Layers of Paper Embellished with Various Ribbons and a Dash of German Glass Glitter!

Anyhoo...enjoy your day with your loved ones. Eat a cookie or some chocolate and do whatever brings a smile to your face! I'm thinking those red velvet brownies are gonna do it for ME! *Twinkle*Twinkle

30 Day Challenge of Things I Love...Day 5

This is my favorite new picture frame. I found it at the Feathered Nest Market, which is just down the street from me. I was at Country Temptations the other day and found the exact same frame on sale...50% off!

I love unique finds and this was perfect for this photo of me and Kira at her wedding. The perfect rustic touch for an outdoor mountain wedding!

One of the BEST Days of My Life!

The Photo is Actually Screwed Into The Frame. 

The cool thing is the frame can be turned sideways, as well. Just unscrew the wing nut and slide it up and flip the frame around. The stand is wrought iron. Very well made!

30 Day Challenge of Things I love...Day 4

Ok, so I blew it. I missed a couple of days, but life happens.  Hubby got sick and I ended up taking him to the walk in clinic on Saturday. Sunday and Monday, I wasn't feeling well and Tuesday was month end for work and frankly...a day from hell! Waaa, Waaa, Waaa! Ok, moving on now...

DREAMY!

SWEET CHIPPINESS!

Is that even a word?!

LOVE those knobs!!!

I went nuts when I found this gem of a chest! It was at one of my favorite antique/junk joints. The chippy paint pulled at my heartstrings and I just had to have it. There's blue paint showing through and some pale yellow and gold. The knobs are porcelain. The drawers are lined with felt and the top drawer has compartments. It's filled with my jewelry and some other tidbits, like extra buttons from tops I've purchased, stuff like that. It was nicely organized at one point, but now I just sort of throw it all in there. Did I really just say that out loud??? Ooops!