First Attempt at Cake Pops - They Look Very Different To The Ones in The Books!

A couple of weeks ago, my niece Leah, was over for dinner and I decided this would be a great time to try making these cake pops I keep seeing everywhere.

I made the actual cake pops, but when it came to decorating them, the boys and Leah took over. So ours ended up as upside down cake pops with some rather unusual designs but they loved making and of course, eating them!

A Quiet Monday

Embracing Rust

Some fantastic Etsy finds for the Fall in rich rust!

New Autumn Designs at Jacaranda Designs

I've been extremely busy lately readying my shop for the holiday season.  There are many new jewelry designs in lovely earthy as well as vibrant colors.  Here's a snapshot of a few pieces. Head over to Jacaranda Designs to see the entire new line. As always, many of of my designs are one of a kind. However, I do make duplicates of some pieces so if you require  multiples, please contact me and I'll see what I can do.

A Tasty Crop of Heirloom Tomatoes

This year we decided to try planting some heirloom tomatoes. I usually plant the basic beefsteak and cherry tomatoes so a change was welcome. We ended up with some really tasty large red tomatoes and also hundreds (yes, I'm not exaggerating!) of little year pear shaped tomatoes. They are sweet and far less acidic that regular tomatoes. If only I could get the boys to enjoy tomatoes...one day maybe.

Here's an easy appetizer I made with the yellow tomatoes.

* Roll out some puff pastry and cut it into 2" by 2" squares, spread some pesto or tapenade on each piece of pastry, and top it with a cut tomato and a splash of olive oil. 

* Then pop them in the oven on a baking tray at about 450 degrees for about 15 minutes.

They are delicious!

Jacaranda Designs Jewelry September Giveaway - Autumn Acorn Earrings

 It's been a while since I've hosted a giveaway for Jacaranda Designs. I thought a suitable giveaway this month would be  a pair of my acorn earrings. In lovely autumn colors, they are perfect for the coming season. To enter is easy....

Please leave a comment on this post, including one word you would use to describe the style of jewelry at Jacaranda Designs.

You can enter once per day and you must include your first name and etsy username or email address with every entry. If you're worried about spam email, you can spell out the 'at' and 'dot' rather than using the standard email format.

Receive additional entries:
- if you follow or subscribe to my blog
- twitter about the giveaway and/or blog about the giveaway
- become a fan of Jacaranda Designs Facebook Page
- feature any of my items on your blog
- follow me on twitter
- purchase any item from Jacaranda Designs (5 additional entries!)

Just comment/leave a link letting me know!

Go ahead, have fun and spread the word please!

This giveaway is open to everyone, worldwide. Giveaway ends Friday 30 September, 5pm.

There's Nothing Like a Good Cup of Coffee to Start The Weekend

There's nothing like a good cup of coffee to start the weekend. This week I started drinking decaf coffee in an effort to wean myself off caffeine. I've had killer headaches but hopefully I'm over the worst of it.

Don't you love the design on this cup of coffee? I wish I could take the credit for it, but alas no, it was a far more experienced coffee maker at the Kerr Street Cafe in my hometown of Oakville.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Camping Trip

This past weekend our family went on a camping trip to Bon Echo Provincial Park in Ontario. We had never visited this park before and were really impressed. There is a stunning lake there, offering canoeing and swimming as well as beautiful granite and quartz rock formations.

Saturday was a glorious warm day. On Saturday morning, we woke to find a family of four raccoons sleeping in the top of a tree on our site.  That night after we finished our dinner, we sat around the fire while the raccoon mommy and three babies decided it was time to come down the tree. They were very nervous but knew they had to come down. It was interesting to watch the mother raccoon pushing one of the babies to climb down the tree and the baby trying to get back up. Although we stayed very quiet, they were obviously scared. The mommy gave the baby a good talking to (at least that's what it sounded like) and then they made it down and disappeared into the bush.

Sunday, sadly it rained! Today we're cleaning the mud off the tents and packing everything away.

It's the last of the family road trips for the summer :(

  

 

 

 

 

Fresh From My Garden

I picked these from the garden and placed them in a vase in the kitchen. Later we went out for a few hours and left all the windows closed. When we arrived home the beautiful scent of these roses had permeated the entire house.

The Lazy Days of Summer

It just a few weeks left until the boys head off to school again. I'm going to miss their company during the day as well as the lunches on the patio outside. Both boys love books and Jake particularly likes to sit on the patio eating his lunch and reading his favorite piece of fiction. Enjoy your weekend..hope it's a good one.