{Texture Tuesday}The Orange eDition

This week's Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen assignment or challenge was "orange."  She has a beautiful texture called "pumpkin grunge" which I fell in love with.  This is strange, because orange is usually my least used and most disliked color in the rainbow! 

Click HERE

I'd already entered this photo my sister Kathy Creamer took of a covered bridge near where she lives in northen Indiana, so couldn't use it. 

Here's another photo she took, to which I added the pumpkin grunge texture.  It brought out all the beauiful fall colors around the pond.

Kathy's more mobile than I am.  She loves to get out and take pictures of the landscapes around her.  I would, too, but I don't drive anymore...only in emergencies.

This past weekend, my DH took me to Hobby Lobby!!!  Haven't been there in awhile, so bought for several projects I have in mind.  He just about fainted at the check out! LOL! Sorry, Hon!



 I want to make a fabric cake that I found at Connecting Threads online and in their catalog.  The pattern was free, so that was GOOD after HL!  I'm going to make it for our granddaughter Kaylee - think she'll like it a lot. 

In my opinion, Connecting Threads has great products.  I've gotten several of their thread sets, for both my sister and myself.  Would love to get the new fabric they've introduced - Spice Blossoms.  This is so odd for me, because it's got a lot of orange in the collection!  Maybe it's because the orange is more muted, not so much "in your face" orange.  I do love Autumn, though.

Back to Hobby Lobby, I got a couple packs of fat-quarters in a range of oranges and yellows.  I thought I might as well use these in my photo for this week's TT challenge.  I grabbed my little jester from Las Vegas, and a stem of berries and flowers from one of my fall arrangements, & the fabric from HL.  This is what I came up with. Hope you like it - I love my litte jester!

I adjusted the photo a bit, and added Kim's textures as follows:

                       pumpkin grunge - soft light @75%
                       granny's cupboard - multiply @ 100%
                       cracker jack - color @31%

Not much difference, just enough to tone down the brightness.

Take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo

**disclaimer: Neither Hobby Lobby, nor Connecting Threads know I exist! All opinions are my own.

America - A Horse With No Name+Lyrics

This song brings back great memories of the fun I used to have, running around on the weekends with my friends, especially my cousin Nancy.  We'd go out cruising our little town, stopping at the Steer drive-in, watching all the people slowly drive by - showing off their muscle cars.

 Dodge Super Bee

 Ford Mustang

 Pontiac Firebird

 Plymouth RoadRunner

 Oldsmobile 442

Dodge Charger

(all photos of these cars were found by Google search)

We'd wind up going to the Waffle House and downing about what seemed like 10 pots of coffee!  We'd save the little Waffle House coasters from under the cups, just to see how many we could collect. 

source: Waffle House website

Then we'd head over to Nancy's mom's house and crash there. Mudd, as we all called her, would always make us feel welcome.  We'd listen to music like this one by America, or 

Jim Croce

Nilsson

Harry Chapin

- all the popular ones. 

Can't forget Don McLean and American Pie!

(all photos of artists found by Google seach)

 

Linking with Pinning and Singing on the Weekends with Natasha.  She's also having a giveaway - MY MEMORIES SUITE scrapbooking program!  Head on over to check out the details!

Hope you enjoy A Horse With No Name by America and that it brings back good memories for you, too!

Take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo

Throwback Thursday Before Blogging - Counted Cross Stitch

One of my favorite hobbies used to be doing counted cross stitch.  I'm a little bit older now, and it's more difficult to see those tiny holes, unless I wear my jeweler's glasses!  And, my favorite time of the year is Christmas, so I would usually stitch something related to that wonderful time of the year.

Here are two projects that I'd kept, both done in 1987.  The photos aren't the greatest because of the glass over the image, and these were both laying at an angle when I took the pics.

I'm linking this with Throwback Thursday Before Blogging.

Take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo

EarthWondersChallenge #5 Water

The Earth Wonders Challenge this week is "water." 

This photo was taken last September on the shores of Puget Sound north of Seattle.  We'd gone there to watch the Whidbey Island Ferry leave.  The photo isn't blurred by shaking hands, but by the strong engines shaking everything!

Before...

and after.

I've used Kim Klassen's "scratchedmagic" texture, soft light @ 56%.  I really liked the original photo the way it was.  It shows the fog swirling around the dock, and the vibration of the ferry's engines in the lights and the reflection in the water.  The texture hasn't changed it much, just made it a little bit darker.

Take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo

Coffee Caramel Cake (minus the Caramel)

Hey there,

Linking this with Bunny Jean's Decor and More Bunny Hop!
                  

Remember the post I had, Saturday I think it was, about the fabulous recipe for Coffee Caramel Cake in the crock pot?  I'd found it at A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures.  Well, I made it today!  It was so super easy and delicious!

source:  A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures

I'll let you get the recipe from Hope's blog, but give an overview here.  You need a box of white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker French Vanilla), the normal items found on the box to make the cake (1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 1/4 cup water, 3 eggs), and 2 T. instant coffee granules.  You'll need some cooking spray, like PAM - I used Wal-mart's cheaper, yet just as effective, Great Value brand.  Spray the inside of the crock pot insert WELL.  I was so intent on the sides, I didn't spray the bottom as well as I should have.  It stuck just a little bit, not much, but I wanted it to be so perfect! Ah, well...that's the story of an imperfect perfectionist!

Hope's recipe calls for caramel sauce, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just left it out. 

Oh, here in Indiana, caramel is pronounced CARMEL. Not Car-MEL, like in California, but CAR-mel.  Just to letcha know...

Back to the cake - make the cake batter just like you would normally.  Add 2 T. (tablespoons) instant coffee granules and mix in.  You might have some specks of coffee showing, that's ok. 

Pour the batter into the crock pot insert gently.  You don't want it to splash up onto the sides (or yourself!). 

Tear off a sheet of waxed paper (I used Cut-Rite) bigger than the lid bottom.  Place on top of the insert, then place lid on top of the waxed paper.  This will keep condensation from getting on the cake.

I don't know what size my crock pot is, but it took 3 hours to "cook."  I had started it at 1 PM this afternoon, and unplugged it at 4 PM.  I left the cake in there while I was making supper, finally checking to see if it was done about 25 minutes later.

It was, so I put a platter over the insert and flipped everything over.  The cake PLOPPED onto the platter, no problems, except for that little bitty place in the center.  SPRAY, SPRAY, SPRAY!

Look at that beautiful carmel color!

After I'd gotten the cake batter into the crock pot, I thought I'd be smart and make the icing. I'd remembered Hope's admonition to keep the finished cake in the fridge because the icing has milk in it, ok?  Well, after I made her wonderful icing, I put it into the fridge, thinking I'd be ahead of the game.  WRONG-O, Mary-Lou! 

Here's what you need for the icing...just do it when the cake is completely cooled.  Doing ahead doesn't help!  Trust me!

After the cake had cooled, I took out the icing and it was hard as a rock (almost)!  I stirred it up and it was a terrible mess.  Everything was separating, I was just sick!  Well, I went ahead and iced the cake as best I could.  When I tried to smooth out an area, all I did was pull the icing away from that part of the cake.  I found a light touch did help.

I put it back in the fridge for awhile, to set up a bit.  Hubby was calling for his cake, and he wanted to eat it, too! Imagine! LOL! 

I cut a couple of pieces for us, and Wow!  It tasted just like carmel (not caramel).  Even without the extra sauce.  I can imagine how great it would be with the sauce.

You just have to try this one!  Go check out A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures for the full recipe.  Enjoy!

(All the photos, except the first one from Hope's blog, are my doin'.  Kinda hard to mix and take pictures, too.  Can't blame any one but me!)

I'm linking this to Debbiedoo's Newbie Linky Party Every Monday.  I'm running a bit late with this one, but you could still link up, too!  There're still 3 hours left in the day here! 



Click HERE

Take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo

Pinning and Singing - South Pacific-Bali Hai

This weekend I've chosen Bali Hai from the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.  I saw the movie version when I was a kid and fell in love with all the music!  I'll have to say Bali Hai is my favorite, though, of all those great songs.

Back in 1997, my hubby and I were living out in Seattle, well, just north in Lynnwood.  I had to come home to Indiana (family matters) and drove by myself (scary, at times), just had my puppy Koki with me.  I'd made it to Colorado and it began raining.  It had become dark, and it seemed all the drivers just fell in love with their brakes!  We were on the north side of Denver and I was really tired, so to keep myself awake and alert, I began singing Bali Hai.  Can you imagine the look I got from Koki?! LOL!

So, here's my contribution to Nastasha's Pinning and Singing on the Weekend today.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.



Take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo

A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures: Coffee Caramel Cake Link

You will not believe this super recipe I came across tonight!  I was going though my emails, one being the Crock Pot Recipe Exchange.  Ginger has some really cool ideas for using your crock pot. 

She was mentioning last week's most viewed recipe in the exchange, which turned out to be Hope's Coffee Caramel Cake.  Can you imagine!?  Making a cake in a slow cooker?  I bet the inventor never thought of that one, huh?

Anyway, you've just gotta go over to A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures and get this recipe!  Doesn't it just look delish?  Just click on the link.  I think I'll try it tomorrow! 

A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures: Coffee Caramel Cake

XoXoXo

Earth Wonders #4 Yellow - Black-eyed Susan

I'm going to add this photo of my Black-eyed Susan, linking it with Wonderland's Earth Wonders photo challenge. 



Click HERE

 I just wasn't happy with the way the corn photo turned out.  It was ok, but I really like this one much better!

I adjusted the vibrancy to 62% and added two layers of Kim Klassen's Just Stitched texture, soft light @ 100%.  What's your opinion - leave me a comment!

Ana's having a GIVEAWAY, too.  Go on over and join in!  Her photos are amazing.

Later...take care and God Bless!

XoXoXo