Dog Days of Summer...

Hi there!

With summer activities and a few 

other things I needed to take care of,

I wasn't able to post Tried & True Tuesday. 

I hope to be back to my regular routine soon.

Piper and I were able to find some time on the porch, 

her favorite place to hangout.

Here are a few more pics of our sweet lady...

I hope everyone is off to a great summer!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Cheers!

Sharing...

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Inspiration Cafe # 4

Hi everybody! Thanks for visiting the Inspiration Cafe this week. My name is Heather from Beating Hearth and I am the contributor who's in charge of inspiring you all to sew.

 I pretty much do it all, from quilting to crochet to embroidery to pillow cases and clothes. So, hopefully I can inspire you a bit to try one of the stitching arts and get 

crafty with your bad self.

My Crew

I am the sole non-redhead in the bunch. Yes, you can cry for me. Today I am going to try and get all you folks who are non-committal (and with good reason as getting equipped to quilt can be spendy!!) about quilting, to make a quilt. Come on, I don't want you to fully commit and get married to quilting or anything, but maybe just go on a blind date with quilting. Just see if maybe it's something you might be a bit more interested in. Quilting is quite handsome (or beautiful), and fun, and smart. Maybe a little different from what you've done before, but once you quilt, you'll never go back.

This is what I want you to make...at least it's the beginning of something I want you to make. These little beauties go by many different names, Hexies, hexagons, Grandmother's Garden, English Paper Piecing...but the great thing about them is you don't need much to make them. They're quick and easy to make and darn cute!  I am going to show you all the supplies you need and give you all the tips needed to create a beautiful and simple to make quilt.  Please click here to continue reading... 

Tried & True Tuesday ~ Homemade Sourdough Ranch Pretzels

Here is an awesome treat my girlfriend always

 makes for our trips and get-togethers,

Sourdough Ranch Pretzels! 

Beware, they are addictive!

Sourdough Ranch Pretzels Recipe:

Print Recipe
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Canola Oil

2 envelopes Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (not the dip)

2 teaspoons Garlic Salt

1 rounded teaspoon Lemon Pepper 

2 teaspoons Dill Weed

2 bags of Sourdough Pretzels (1 lb bags)

Directions

Break pretzels into small, bite size pieces.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, then toss in the pretzels until coated well.  Lay coated pretzels on a jellyroll pan and bake at 200 degrees F for 1 hour - stirring/turning occasionally.  Cool & ENJOY!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Cheers!

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Lump Crab Mac & Cheese ~ Sunset Grille & Raw Bar - Duck, NC

Remember how much I loved Red Sky Cafe's Shrimp N' Grits...
I searched the internet so I could find a recipe to make my 
own back home in Ohio?  Well, my daughter ordered 

Lump Crab Mac & Cheese at Fishbones Sunset Grille & Raw Bar last night...

There were no leftovers, I ate the rest.  

 I have to find a recipe to make this at home. 

So so good!

This restaurant was the perfect spot for dinner on the Sound...

I'll be searching for a great recipe and will be making this soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cheers!

Let's Go Fly a Kite...

It was a perfect day in Corolla for this...

A big HUGE thank you to my friend for bringing the best kites EVER!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!

Happy Hour in OBX ~ Motion by the Ocean Recipe

This week I'm in Corolla, North Carolina with family 
and friends having some fun in the sun!  

I had to  share this really great cocktail for a hot summer day.   

My friend made this for all of us our first night....it's so good!

   Motion by the Ocean Recipe:

1/2 ounce peach schnapps
1/2 ounce creme de cassis liqueur
1 ounce of Vodka (you can add a 1/2 ounce more if you like)
2 ounces orange juice
2 ounces cranberry juice
1 orange slice
2 maraschino cherries

Place all the ingredients over ice - stir, 

garnish with orange slice and cherries ~ Enjoy!

OR

Martini style,  

place all the ingredients in a shaker over ice,

shake and pour in a martini glass. 

Garnish with an orange slice and cherries ~ Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!

Hi Everyone...

Welcome to my first post for Inspiration Cafe!
I'm so excited to be a part of this 
talented group of bloggers!  

I'm Mary from Sweet Little Bluebird ~ 

I'm a wife and mom to two sweet girls. 
Blogging is a new hobby of mine.  
I blog about fun things I stumble 
across in life and online.   
{You can learn more about me here.}  

   

Grab a cup of joe and let's get started!

  Today I'm sharing a yummy muffin recipe that can be made 

with or without eggs.  I have a little one with an egg allergy. 

I'm always searching for healthy and yummy recipes the whole family can enjoy.

This recipe is an adaptation from 

these strawberry banana muffins pictured below.  

I found the great recipe several weeks ago:

Banana Strawberry Muffins Recipe - EgglessCooking.com.  

Egglesscooking.com adapted the recipe from - JoyOfBaking.com.

Click the picture below to view my post for this yummy recipe:

I adapted the Strawberry Banana Muffin Recipe by using granny smith apples
instead of strawberries and adding a little more cinnamon.  
I also made mini muffins this time - perfect size!
These were a HUGE hit in our home!

Banana Apple Mini Muffins (Egg Free)

Ingredients

1/2 cup Melted Butter

1/2 cup Plain Yogurt (or 2 eggs)

1 cup Overripe Mashed Bananas (approx 2 large bananas)
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1 cup chopped Granny Smith Apples

2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

3/4 cup  Light Brown Sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

3/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line muffin tin with paper liners and spray it lightly with non stick cooking spray.  I didn't have liners so I just sprayed the muffin tin.
2. In a small saucepan or microwave, melt the butter and set it aside until it cools down to room temperature.
3. In another bowl, mix yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla extract.  Once the butter is cool, add it to this mixture.
4. In another large bowl, mix all dry ingredients {flour, brown sugar, baking soda and powder, cinnamon and salt}.  After they are mixed well, add the apples.   Make sure the apples are coated well.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter or else the muffins can become dense.
6. Fill each muffin cup with the batter (*see photo) - Recipe makes about 26 mini muffins. 
7. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. 
8. Place muffins on a wire rack to cool.   
9.  Enjoy!

*I used a Pampered Chef medium size scooper,  

it holds the perfect amount for the mini muffins.

For these muffins, you overfill them - shown in the photo above.

Yummy served warm or cold!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Thanks so much for stopping by 

Inspiration Cafe!

Cheers! 

Mary

Hello Everyone and welcome to our very first Inspiration Cafe post.. 

So exciting!!!

So grab your coffee and lets get started.

Just a quick little intro about myself...

My name is Natalie and I am the lucky mum of 3 lively, sweet kids and wife to an awesome hardworking man. I live on the beautiful NorthShore in Auckland, New Zealand and I blog about my crafts, love of all things painted white, Jewelry and kids at Northshore Days.

Me and my beautiful Payton

 

Today I'm going to show you how I made this beachy bracelet. 

Its really easy and of course the sky is your limit with projects like this.

Recently I discovered I actually liked memory wire after years of avoiding it for some reason. So I'm loving creating all kinds of looks with it. And I have been inspired, quite a lot by my environment, last month I created a Winter inspired bracelet and this week the beach has been calling....

The image I had of the beach is one of my favourites (and its my blog header too). Look at the rich colours, the sand and the greenish hue of the sea. It threatened a storm that day and there was a yellow tinge to everything.

What you need: 

beads of varying sizes, shapes and colours

charms for your theme - I used shells and starfish

jump rings to attach the charms to the bracelet

memory wire cut to your desired length - mine wraps around my wrist 5 times

Using a pair of long nosed pliers bend one end of the wire to form a loop. 

Then thread your beads and charms on, and end off again with another loop.

 So simple!

However, if you're anything like me, you will re-thread your beads over and over untill you're happy with the look...

 Then you throw your family into the car for a trip to the beach and a photo shoot....

 I think this is by far my favourite creation yet. At least when I wear it this winter it will remind me of the beach and put some cheer into our cold dark days.

 

 I hope you enjoyed our first post and that you feel inspired to create this week.

Let us know if you make any of our creations - we would love to pop round for a visit to your blogs.

We will see you again next week, Mary from Sweet Little Bluebird will be sharing a yummy recipe with us all.

Don't forget to leave some comment love...

Take care

xxx