One Proud Momma

I am so sorry to leave ya'll hanging! It has been very busy around here!

My middle daughter Laci had her 30th birthday on the 30th :) I'm feeling quite old now lol

She wanted an ice cream cake, and this is it. It was really good! 

You only turn 30 once, and it's an opportunity to go all out with a full blown birthday party! 

The very next day, my baby girl Shae, graduated from UCF with her bachelors degree!!!

So very proud of this girl! She did it all on her own! WTG Shae!!!! xoxo

This was the day she introduced us to her boyfriend, at lunch before the graduation ceremony.

We like him! Aren't they cute?!?!

Hubby has more pics on his phone, like the one of both of us with her. I somehow didn't get one. That's ok I'll steal it later from his Facebook :P

So now that the important things are over and done with, I am free to blog away!

One of the first things on my crafting agenda is making new cushions for my wicker furniture. I ordered them last year, they were on back order so long that Home Depot cancelled the order :( which leaves me to taking mine apart, and making a pattern to make my own damn cushions! It may take awhile, but I'm determined. Even if I've never done this before. Wish me luck!

I'll see you soon with updates of some kind....you never know what I could be getting myself into lol!

Happy weekend!!!

XO

Breaking the Block

I don't think it's a big secret that I've had severe Bloggers Block. I'm wanting to break that block! I miss my blog, and I miss you guys. 

I've had a lot going on with my health, and because of that I've been eating much healthier. It has really made a difference in how I feel :)

Poached eggs on fresh baby spinach. This is to die for! 

Egg Beaters, crimini mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and baby spinach. YUM! 

Sockeye Salmon, asperagus oven roasted with garlic & olive oil, and acorn squash :P

Another version of my egg beater scramble but with more mushrooms. 

Now I wish I had more pics of foods I've made! 

I really blew it Easter weekend. I even had dessert. TWICE IN ONE DAY :(

Ah well, I'm back to saying no to processed foods, and sometimes you NEED a piece of pie! Or TWO! 

Despite going rounds with my autoimmune stuff, I have a great life! I've been lounging around my own little Paradise Cove we're creating. I love my home :) 

I have a new craft room! My youngest daughter (my derby girl) moved into her own place, so her room has been transformed! 

I love, love, love, my purple craft room!!!

Laci came over and made some vinyl wall art for me with her Silouette Cameo!

And she made some cute nail art vinyl stickers for me! 

All sea and beach related of course ;)

We took a trip recently and saw SNOW! 

But that's another post ;)

And we bought a motor home...so we can take our fur kids with us everywhere.

But that's another post, too! 

I'm so glad it's spring, and I'm so looking forward to some beach and shelling time! 

Is it spring for you? 

Cranberry Cravings

Hello! Greetings from Paradise :)

I know I have been away for a while (like a month!) but we'll discuss that another time.

Today I want to share my recent adventure at Epcot®, and another Evening with Ocean Spray®!
I was invited to an exclusive event, where I sampled some amazing food made with cranberries. Cranberry sauces, cranberry dips, glazes, chutneys, in everything from entrees, to side dishes, and desserts. Wow! The chefs at Epcot ® went all out for this one!

Everything was so very delicious!

Kobe Beef and Craisin Vegetable Fried Rice

Craisin Glazed Pork Belly with White Cheddar Grits
Cranberry & Sea Salt Cured Wild Salmon with Maple Sugar Crystals

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Craisin Ketchup

Two of the cranberry growers! Todd May & Peter Beaton

I have mentioned before what a big fan of cranberries I am :) I love the juice straight with nothing added, and the sparkling cranberry is very refreshing too.

Did you know the cranberry is a super fruit? It sure is! They are loaded with antioxidants. Just 1/4 cup of dried cranberries, or 8oz of juice provide 1/4 of your daily fruit needs! Besides that, they are just dang good! And now Ocean Spray® makes Trail Mix, too!

I usually just eat Craisins® right out of the bag, or make my signature Cranberry Cookies. (My kids STILL ask for these, even though they are adults.) I came up with this recipe shortly after Craisins® debuted in the early 90's, because to tell the truth I'm not a fan of chocolate chip cookies. Gasp! I know, weird, huh? I'll share my recipe with you soon, as well as everything that's been going on around here. I have so much to tell you! A couple of years ago I stumbled onto a recipe for Cranberry Cheesecake Bars, and they really are to die for! I'll share that with you too! You can find many recipes at OceanSpray.com , and become a member of the cranberry club. I did! You can share your cranberry recipes with them too, on the website, their Pinterest, and Facebook, and Instagram. You can click on those and it will take you right to it :)

I really love the fact that many Ocean Spray growers are family, and have been doing this and passing it down for generations. Ocean Spray is one big happy family of 700 growers!


If you get a chance to go to Epcot® during the Food and Wine Festival this year, you too can eat your way around the world, and drink your way around it too! My daughter did just that, starting her day with a Scotch Flight, which was 3 shots of Scotch. She said the 18 year Scotch was the smoothest. I've never tried Scotch, and won't get the chance to, unfortunately. (Darn Lupus!) She also had the Tequila Flight (3 shots of Tequila's) and various other alcohol based concoctions. Her fave food at the Festival is always the grilled
Greek cheese. She always gets this, and Friday she had it twice! I've been trying to pick a favorite, but I ate so many good things it's really hard to choose. I do have a way now to get my son Kyle to eat cooked spinach! Spanakopita!!!! Phyllo is on my grocery list :)

We didn't get to visit The Land this time (where the amazing greenhouses of Epcot® are) but we did get in to see The Sea, and Nemo and Friends. I got to ride in a seashell!!!!! I could live in that building. There are huge tanks, and small tanks, everything from coral growing, to many baby clown fish, seahorse, starfish, manatees, dolphin and rays, I even saw a shark. There's an elevator in the building for us disabled folks, too.

You've just got to go and see for yourself!

There's so much to see and do! And TASTE!

Make sure you check out the cranberry bog!

Elegant Shell Craft

Hello! I'm so glad you could join me today! I have something FUN!

I thought of this last year, started playing around with it at the beginning of the year, and you know how my year has been going LOL. I finally got back to playing with this, and really like the results!

You know my eldest daughter is an extraordinary paper crafter. She makes beautiful cards and scrapbook pages, and has been published many times, and has some new cards being published in a few months. I'm so proud of her! She has been nagging me for years to scrapbook and make cards. I can't cut a straight line to save my life! BUT I needed to try this thing....on shells. So I actually have been delving into the arts of paper crafting, and EMBOSSING!!!

I love the way it looks! They turned out great! It WORKS!

You CAN emboss on seashells :)

So pretty! I used Stampin'Up! Embossing Powder on these. Love the colors! Wild Wasabi and Tempting Turquoise. (I did NOT get freebies to endorse them...but  wouldn't mind if I did ;) Just sayin'! LOL)

All you need to do this: a heat embossing gun, Versamark stamp pad, stamps, and embossing powder. Oh, and shells. The more flat and smooth they are, the better.

I do love this, even the imperfections, and the natural growth lines in the shell come through the embossing where the lines are more pronounced. I used a gold embossing powder that I bought at JoAnn in an assorted package. I think this looks like it has been gold leafed.

I used copper from the same package on this seashorse. You can see a few bubbles on the seahorse shells, from overheating. A word of CAUTION: The shells get VERY HOT!  I lay mine on a ceramic tile that I also use for a paint pallet. Let it cool before you pick it up!

These would make nice ornaments, package tags, in shadow boxes, and I have a few more ideas.

This is one of the first that I played with. It is a single image, it shadowed in the photo for some reason. I took this one with my phone to text it to my daughter a few months ago. BUT. This is one that I used a different glue pad with. I wasn't happy with the miss spots. Versamark doesn't do this. How I wish I had known to use Versamark in the beginning! They didn't pay me either :P But you should know which is the best one to use, right?!

This is really FUN to do! When you see the embossing powder take on a shine, it just POPS! So pretty. So addictive!

No time for paper crafts today!
This post is long enough :D

Have you ever done any embossing? Do you think you'll do some now?