Thursday, February 26, 2009

Almost Spring!

It was a gorgeous day here today! It was supposed to rain, but i guess it rained during the night and that was it! It was beautiful! I can really feel the temperature getting warmer too. No need for slippers or heavy sweatshirts during the day. All bets are off at night tho! Still a bit chilly!

I cooked for my friends big mardi gras/50th birthday party this weekend. That was quite a job! I had fun tho. It was a lot of work, but it turned out well and everyone was happy! We had barely enough food tho! That is the hardest part of planning for a large crowd. I even went to some websites that help you figure out the food and they were way off for Jake's grad party. I actually went with I thought would be good and I did better on my own! I made Cajun/Creole food for this party and they were recipes that I have never made before - a no-no, but I always do it anyway! It is a bit more nerve-wracking! I am going to include one of the recipes I used because it was sooooo good! It was pretty easy too.

Shrimp Etouffe

2 lbs shrimp
1 c. olive oil
3 onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. worchestershire sauce
juice of one lemon
one can Rotel tomatoes and green chiles
salt
cayenne pepper
parsley, chopped
green onion tops, chopped

Saute veggies and spices for 30 minutes, Add shrimp, cover and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add parsley and onion tops. Let stand for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

*Note*
You might be able to cut back on the oil to lighten this recipe up. It is the only high calorie item in the dish! So Yummy! Send me a comment if you try this recipe!

Have a great day!

Susan

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Ideas for bunnies and eggs...











Good Morning, Bloggers! It's been awhile since I have blogged, sorry! I have just been busy with getting ready for classes and trying to keep up with orders from Etsy. I haven't been that busy, but busy enough to keep me packing, shipping and filling orders every couple of days. Life is good!
Have you ever seen something really cute and thought, "What would I use that for?" and then passed it up because you couldn't really justify the purchase? I'm always kicking myself later when that product is sold out or back ordered because other people got a clue what to do with it before I did! I do try and list ideas to use my products, but I thought I would post some pictures here so everyone could see (for all you visual learners!) what I was thinking.

There is a picture of a treat bag with little chocolate eggs, and some of my little punched eggs that are for sale on Etsy. The little eggs are small enough to be confetti in the bag! They come in a cute little tin tied with a ribbon and a little metal-rimmed tag stamped with an egg. I used the ribbon and tag on the bag. You could easily write someone's name on the tag. I also made a cute little tag with a bunny and eggs. My good friend, Crystal showed me this one. So, I can't really take credit for it, but I thought it was a cute way to use your bunnies and eggs. I cut a long strip off a piece of green cardstock using the "grass" paper edgers. I then cut it into lengths that were roughly the size of my tag. I glue them down and slipped the bunny and eggs in before I layed them down. Now it looks like a bunny searching for eggs in the grass! teeny tiny flowers would also be cute here too, but I don't have that punch - imagine that a punch I don't have!
Well enjoy the ideas and I will talk to you soon!

Susan

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

New Banner, New Shop


Good morning! I just had to do a quick post this morning to show off my new banner for my Etsy store! A fabulous artist on Etsy made a banner for me that could not be more perfect! If you are looking for a banner or something similar, you HAVE to check out her shop! http://www.decafjnr.etsy.com/ She has beautiful premade banners (the best I saw!) and she went above and beyond to create something custom for me. Thanks, Jan! If you want to see a full-sized version of my banner check out my Etsy shop. http://www.qdesigns.etsy.com/
I have also found a few new places to shop/sell on the internet. One is called ShopHandmade. I opened a store there last week to see if it was worth a try and I sold a card! It definitely does not get the volume of people that Etsy does, but they claim to have a different audience so I thought I would give it a try. I have the same name so my store is www.qdesigns.shophandmade.com. I'll post a better link when I have a chance to put a few more items in my shop.


It is interesting to me how you can get such a connection with someone over the Internet. I have had a few people that I have made custom orders for or who have done work for me, and I have to say that crafters are the best! I have met some really cool people! The skeptic in me says, "well how do you really know if you have never met them face to face?" Gut feeling. It has never let me down before! I have to say that I really feel a person's personality come through in an email, or blog. Perhaps one day I will connect up with some of the really interesting people I have cyber-met!


Gotta Run! Busy day ahead! Have a fabulous day!


Susan