Brownie Bran Muffins

Brownie Bran Muffins

1 3/4 c unsifted flour ( whole wheat)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c brown sugar
2/3 c cocoa
1 1/4 c wheat bran
2 eggs beaten
1 1/4 c milk (skim)
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c oil
1/2 c apple sauce

Line 18 muffin tins with silicone or paper liners.
Preheat oven to 375F
Sift together dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cocoa.  Mix in bran.
Combine well beaten eggs, milk, vanilla, oil and applesauce.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix until just moistened. Batter may be lumpy.  Fill liners 2/3 full.

Bake for 18-22 minutes.

I have been making these muffins for 35 years.  The whole wheat flour and the replacement of some of the oil with applesauce are more recent adjustments.  Enjoy!!!

Sunflower HB

I made this card for an aunt who is celebrating a birthday this month.  She is a painter so I thought part of the card should be painted so I created a painted background.  I chose Cobalt Blue, Cadmium Yellow and Sap Green in the Folk Art brand to paint the background onto yellow parchment card stock.  I wanted to create the illusion of sunflower fields.
I cut the Spellbinder Sunflower die from bright yellow and golden yellow and the centre from warm brown.  I chose a card from the same card stock as the centre of the sunflower.  I cut a leaf from green card stock.  I cut the greeting from the same golden yellow card stock as one of the layers of the sunflower with the Memory Box Grand Happy Birthday die.  This was trimmed to leave a small border on 3 sides and adhered to the bottom of the background layer.  I then layered the flowers and the leaf which were adhered with Quick Dry adhesive.  I embossed the brown center with a polka dot embossing folder from Cuttlebug.  This was adhered to the center of the flower.  I adhered this layer to the card front.  I needed something above the sunflower so I added 3 birds in the sky with a black marker.  Really happy with the way it turned out.

Mosaic Monday - This Week

I received this wonderful fused glass tea bag catcher from my sister who attended a youth event this summer and needed a couple of emergency contacts.  I served as number 2.

Does she know me well?  Glass, yellow and tea related.  Does not get better than that.  These were being sold at the event and was produced by Mad About Glass.  I love it!!

Thanks so much.


This photo was one of the several I took for the challenge on Flickr this week which was In The Mirror.  We needed to take a macro close up shot of an object.  It would be best if we did not see the edges of the mirror.  I took a shot of a dried rose in a small crystal vase.  I placed a few glass marbles in the vase to hide the stem.  I love how it turned out.
You can see my shots by following this link. SMDPics

A visit to my aunt's house on Saturday showed this type of industriousness going on.  Dill pickles and peaches were on the agenda for preserves that day.  Her daughter and husband were up and the kitchen was a hopping place.

My kitchen saw some activity as well Friday night when I cored and quarters the rest of the apples from my Mom's.  The flies were starting to flit about and it as time the apples were processed.  I managed 4 containers of apple sauce for chocolate bran muffins which get made at my house every week.  So I use about 50 containers of apple sauce a year and at this time of year apples are being offered for free by several folks with trees.

I found this set of dinnerware at the thrift store last week for $3.  I could not leave it there.
It is Country Side by Wedgewood in blue.  The tea cup saucer is missing so I have substituted another for this photo.  I'm sure with a bit of attention on-line I may be able to acquire a replacement.


Submitting to Mosaic Monday #5 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Share Your Cup #112

These are crystal tree ornaments for our Christmas Craft sale in November.

They are octagon chandelier crystals connected with brass wires and measure about 3 inches. I have added some gold organza ribbon hangers to make them easier to hang on the tree.

They will make any tree sparkle and shine during the Christmas season.

I made sixteen which I will donate to raise funds for mission work.

This was lunch today featuring fresh garden tomatoes from my Mom's garden. 

I toasted two slices of multi-grain bread. 
I then added some old cheddar cheese and melted it under the broiler.
I sliced a nice fresh tomato which I layered onto the slices and seasoned them with salt, pepper and a bit of greek seasoning. 
The sandwich was placed on a blue glass plate which is Luminarc France - Avon Royal Sapphire glass.
I had cup of Masala Chai tea in a nice yellow mug which coordinated with the charger plate. 

I finished this book Maeve Binchy - Scarlet Feather this week.  My aunt passed it onto me recently and it was an excellent read.

I will have to check out some of the other titles by this author.  She passed away in 2012 at the age of 71 and she had written 37 titles I believe.



Tea tonight was decaf Earl Grey with a few chocolate cookies.

The tea cup is Countryside in blue by Wedgewood.  The saucer for the teacup was not included when I purchased the plates from the thrift store so I substituted a plate white saucer.   The white tea pot by Stokes is just right for evening tea.

I'm working on a macro photo for a challenge on Flickr.  We have to take a photo of an object on a mirror.  I've not done that before so I'm taking some practice to get a great shot.

Here's is a teardrop crystal from a chandelier on a mirror.  We cannot include the edges of the mirror.  I will have to search the web for samples.

Sharing with Carol at Art and Sea for Share Your Cup #112.

Snowflakes - Winter's Butterflies

I put these cards together the other day.  I need to add cards to the box so 2 more is good thing.  I have 93 card in the Christmas box.

Light blue textured card stock.  A four inch square of designer paper featuring a winter blue design.
I printed the snowflake greeting on vellum and ripped the top and bottom edges. Trimmed it to the width of 4 inches like the DSP.
It is held in place at the top of the card with a star brad with a snowflake confetti on the left and a tiny round white brad on the right.

Mosaic Monday - This Week

I was motivated last week to cleanup the storage room.  It has been on the To Do list for most of the summer.

I had some of supplies still stored from when I made lots of handmade paper from recycled paper. Three boxed of brochures, manuals, etc. hit the dust.  Now the remaining supplies like my instruction book, moulds and deckles and a few naturals inclusions remain. 

I can actually see the floor. The boxes on the right contain craft supplies which I can now remove easily and put away right away. I can easily access the chairs for classes. 

I am very happy.

It has been raining for the last couple of days.  The temperatures are much cooler than last week.  I know it's going to happen but a bit more summer would be nice.  I'm sure will have a bit more.

I bought myself a shirt last week.  I paid much more attention to the details this time.  Yellow is a favorite color.  The seams on the front for the buttons and button holes are completely finished and lay flat. No more ironing them flat.  I will wear this shirt open over a t shirt so insides will be visible.  The sleeves roll up and have a tie so it will be a good summer shirt as well as a long sleeved shirt in the winter.  It has a pocket.  I generally need a place to put sunglasses when I take then off so it will come in handy.

I made a couple of apple crisps in take away containers with apples from Mom's tree.

I had a friend over for tea and we shared the missing half of this container.  The other container headed out to a birthday party.

HB Metallic

I made this card for a friend who is turning 93 today.

I cut the Memory Box Jumbled Happy Birthday from gold and silver foil card stock with 2 passes.  This allowed me to change the spacing of the words.  I adhered them to the navy blue card with quick dry adhesive.
I placed an embossed border at the bottom of the card in light blue done with the Anna Griffin Acanthus set.

Quick and bright card.

Sympathy Card Set

I made this card for a friend who lost her daughter recently.

I chose a light blue card and then cut the sheet of 12x12 designer paper by Scrap Works - Ethan Kate - Intimates Brooch Felt.  It is a nice soft color palette of blue, green and white.  This is the solid side of a pale blue.  I cut the DSP with the Memory Box Reverse Butterfly Collage die then mounted it to the card front ensuring the corners and the spaces between received adhesive.
I stamped the sentiment with the greeting from the Stampin Up Simply Sketched stamp set in Gable Green.










The extra cards were done with the same supplies but using the other side of the paper which features designer flowers.  They are wrapped and tied with a bow for delivery this morning.

Apple Rhubarb Crisp with Tea

I picked some apples from the ones I picked from my Mom`s tree last weekend.  I removed the ends and stems, cut them into quarters, cored them and sliced them.  I filled my casserole with sliced apples and some rhubarb.  I added the crumb topping and put it into the oven.

Here`s the apple rhubarb crisp out of the oven.  I let it cool a little bit. I love my Kitchen Aid casserole.  Its a great color and it cleans up real easy.

I made a cup of tea to enjoy with my crisp.  Chai Tea is one of my favorites.  I recently purchased this Cochin Masala Chai tea.  This small white teapot works well for tea for one.

I plated a serving of crisp on a Myott The Hunter in blue cobalt plate.  I added a small cup of tea for this evening dessert with a bit of honey and half and half.

Yes, I did add a bit of half and half cream to add the bit of decadence to the serving.   There was some sugar in the crumb topping but no additional sugar in with the fruit.  It was not too sweet at all.

I really enjoyed this dessert.







Sharing with Cuppa Tea Tuesday hosted by Ruth at Antiques and Tea Cups.

Share Your Cup #211

This is one of the books I read recently.  A couple who are separated in their teens but make a pact to meet in 11 years.  He has always tried to find her but she made choice she was not proud of so, took steps to make it hard to find her.  It was a very good book from this great author and it was hard to put down.

 
I added some letters to my Alphabet Photography collection.  A wonderful S and an I.

 Some colorful flowers and nature shots I took during my walks this week.

My latest offering in photo calendars.  It meant many trips to get the shots I wanted and then vetting them to get the 12 best ones.

I've been working on digital watermarks for my photos as well.  I have started participating in Flickr challenges and see some nice ones on the site.  I thought I could design one for myself from my own art.  I'm not sure it's the final ones because it's a bit on the big side.  It is my first effort and I will have to sit with them for a while then decide if any changes will be made.

You can check out my Flickr page.

Sharing with Carol at Art & Sand for Share Your Cup.

Cityscapes Photo Calendar

I've completed my black and white 4x6 photo calendar for 2017.  I was given some feedback last year that street photography and black and white photos would provide more variety to my the calendars I was offering.  Taking that to heart I started looking outside my comfort zone of macro photography.  I thought they would be landscapes and wide open spaces but I chose some cityscapes instead. The calendar includes buildings, bridges, parks, lighting and doorways.  I meant several trips to the downtown core as well as some early morning trips to get good contrast in my shots. I chose to also make it black and white.  It was a stretching experience and I am better for it. 

Simple Sentiments

These are a new level of card I am producing.  It is a note card with a layer adhered to the front.  For this set it is one of my 4x4 inch photos I used for my photo calendars.  This is one way to reuse the photo once the calendar page has expired. 

The 4x6 calendar page was cut with one of the dies from the Sizzix Squares Thinlits which cuts at 3.75 inches square which is perfect. The sentiment is color printed on white card stock in Smoky Slate.

The set is 6 cards with envelopes with sentiments one might need without much notice.  Get Well Soon, Sympathy, a simple thanks, Thinking of You or plain card with no sentiment.


They are simply packaged in a cellophane portfolio so 4 of the 6 cards a visible.   An insert is enclosed with product information.

Monday Mosaic #3

I was home to take care of Mom while she recovers from surgery.  There were meals to prepare and dishes to wash.

She is not able to do her regular harvesting of fruits and vegetables.  I picked raspberries. We picked apples and processed them for crisps and she found her body was letting her know she had over done it.  Sunday had to be a day of rest.  The crab apple tree on the right as you can see is loaded.
I watered flowers and tomatoes, lettuce, carrots in the garden and her wonderful grapes. I forgot to take a photo!!!

I picked Nanking cherries. She has several bushes and some had been picked but there remained one full bush to pick. They were gorgeous and plentiful. They are delicious and easy to pick.

 

The pansies are volunteer this year but it means she still has a planter of great flowers to enjoy up.  She was collecting seeds to plant next year.

I found this Rudbeckia - Prairie Sun on my walk this morning.  I love the two tone of dark and light.  It has a green center where many others have dark centers. 

Mom is doing well and we are blessed to have with us.

I'm sharing with Mosaic Monday hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Share Your Cup #210

These are a couple of books I finished recently.

I really enjoyed Robin's book.  She comes across as a regular girl as she describes her early years.  She clearly expresses the decisions she made along the way to change how the her own family would be compared to the one she grew up in.

Karen's books was filled with hope, despair, and much of the emotions in between.  I had a hard time to put it down.

This is the sun shining on my bedroom closet doors.  It's only there for a few minutes.  I noticed it the other day and made a point of taking a photo of it this morning.

Mom had surgery this week at the age of 82.  She takes good care of herself so I am pleased to say that she came through very well.  I will with her on the weekend to support her during her recovery.  We are fortunate to be several girls and each has taken part in the process to help Mom as needed.  Picture of the building.  In the morning, a wonderful marble sculpture in the foyer and the rainbow in the sky when we departed at the end of the day.  I took the rainbow as a good sign as to Mom's future.

Sharing with Share Your Cup #210 hosted by Carol at Art & Sand.

Cards - Reuse of 4x4 Photos

Yet another design to re-use the 4x4 inch photos from my calendars after the year is through.

This one has a wonderful pink flower.  I selected a card in pink to coordinate with the flower.
I found a nice label clip art on Graphics Fairy which I colored to match.  I added the sentiment in the center then printed the greeting layer on white card stock and trimmed it to leave a small border of card color.
I adhered the photo within the frame printed in black on the sentiment layer.

This card features a Canada Goose photo on a blue card.
The clip art has been colored appropriately. Again, thanks to The Graphic Fairy.

This card features a butterfly photo from the Retro Calendar.
It has a get well sentiment in french.
The clipart is from Clker.
The card is brown to pull all the elements together.