Category Archives: Blogroll

Jan30

One World, One Heart 2011 blogging event

Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2011 by Dianne

Welcome to my blog! I’m glad you stopped by. I’m a domestic goddess from southeastern Pennsylvania. I’m like the local ‘Martha Stewart’. I enjoy baking, crafting, photography and gardening the most. My family is small, but I think they are mainly happy with the house and grub.
Here are some of my favorite crafty projects I’ve made over the last few years-many my own design:

A mixed media painting, a mosaic frame of her parents and heart shaker for my mom; a mosiac message board I redid; a decorated key for a swap; a frame with a photo of me for a friend; a needle punch strawberry lidded mini basket; a Sally Sells Seashells by the Seashore shadowbox; & Christmas count down calendar.
I’ve been working on this project and share all my 4″ x 4″ collages here along with most of the Artist Trading cards I make too. I’ve made 100s of the later. And I’ve made many online pals through cross stitching too.
So I am participating in this event:

By the skin of my nose! I was one sick lady a few weeks ago with a bad appendix and pneumonia. I was in the hospital for 3 nights mainly because of the blasted pneumonia. I’m on the mend and made two of my giveaways just a few days ago.
This is a great way for other bloggers to meet and I believe I may have participated in at least 4 of these events and won a few prizes. : )
On to the goodies…

I made this special 4″ x 4″ collage card to commemorate the 5th One World, One Heart event. It has mostly handmade papers on it (bought).

I was really happy with how this glass heart shaped suncatcher turned out. I played around with Tim Holtz alcohol inks and a flower rubber stamp. The vintage bird (that belonged to my mom or grandmom)is what I think is a carved shell with an added diamond rhinestone eye. It’s so pretty in person and my husband really liked it!

I made a bunch of these at Christmastime. It’s a little bottle with a message that says ‘There’s no place like home for the holidays’. It has pretty orange sand and little shells inside too. I only gave my niece one so far, so if you win my giveaway, you get one too!

I also am adding the sparkly blue butterfly to the mix for your spring decorating.
All you have to do is leave me a comment and I may just pick your name on February 17th. Thanks and good luck! Special thanks to Lisa our terrific hostess!
Click here to read about the event.
I will randomly pick a number through an online generator on midnight the 17th.
Good luck!

Update-since I reached 100 comments-I’m added a pretty beaded fob to the mix-thanks for your support!!

This is a sticky post and will be on the top of my blog until the middle of February.

Jan16

Stolen from Barbara

Posted on Friday, January 16, 2009 by Dianne

Standard

What the heck, these are silly but fun. Hope I answer truthfully. ; )
Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to – leave in plain font

1. started your own blog (plus too many other things)
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited Hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to Disneyworld
8. climbed a mountain(not a big one-in the Poconos with my mom and elderly grandmom)
9. held a praying mantis I think it was a baby and not sure if I held it on a stick or my bare hands.
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited Paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in Venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen Niagara Falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an Amish community(I live close)
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of Pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited Africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance(twice)
47. had your portrait painted (my in-laws took our photo to Paris and my drawing looked like some Spanish lady)
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. been to the top of the Eiffel tower in Paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud(one of my favorite activities as a toddler)
54. gone to a drive-in theater
55. been in a movie
56. visited the Great Wall of China
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited Russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a check-maybe? Doesn’t everybody at some point?
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the Lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar(more like tasted)
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the Everglades (I may have been there as a toddler though)
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in London
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the Vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in Jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire Bible
86. visited the White House
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating (I could never do this-I’m ‘this close’ to being a vegetarian-darn hamburgers)
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury-hope this doesn’t jinx me as I have no desire to do this.
91. met someone famous (John Travolta and Tug McGraw for a few)
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the Alamo in person.
96. taken a road trip
97. been involved in a law suit (child support issues-not sure if that is a law suit-I was one of the children)
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee
100. met the love of your life

This is telling me I need to travel more and be more charitable.

Aug29

Show & Tell #7

Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008 by Dianne

Standard

I want to thank Zoey over at Perennial Passion in my sidebar, for the idea this week for my share. She was talking about watching an old Andy Griffith Show and I remembered I had an Aunt Bee cookbook. In fact, I have several tv and movie related cookbooks:

Having a ‘Pooh’ cookbook doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it’s really a cute one with the different characters represented throughtout in sweet black and white ink drawings. Doesn’t Mint Honey Bread sound good?

Forrest Gump is all about shrimp-Mama’s Shrimp spaghetti sounds yummy. It is also loaded with Forrest reflections.

The Wizard of Oz is really sweet-features a ‘kids in Munchkinland’ party. Many of these recipes are ones we know, but renamed to go with the movie, like ‘Wicked Witch Waffles’.

Some Like it Hot is actually a good name for a cookbook! This features a nice section of mixed drinks. How does the recipe ‘Figs in Drag’ sound to you? I was also born the year this movie came out.

Cooking with Friends is a great cookbook with a mixture of coffee house style recipes plus recipes that would be favorites of the different friends. Great photos throughout too. I may pick a recipe from here to share with you.

Aunt Bee’s Mayberry cookbook is a spiral ring one. There are different sections from appetizers to desserts, many named after the characters like Beef Stroganoff Barney. This is a pretty awesome cookbook too.

I know I have a few more that weren’t on the same shelf as the above; Gone with the Wind, Frasier, the Sopranos and It’s a Wonderful Life.

These are fun cookbooks and I recommend them!

Recipe share:

Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

(we had the plain ones last year in NYC, the icing was black and white-yummy)

1 cup flour

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (6 oz) white chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375°. Stir the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl and set it aside. Cream the butter and sugar with the electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

For each cookie, drop a little less than ¼ cup batter onto an ungreased large baking sheet. With your hand, slightly flatten each piece of dough. Leave at least 2 inches between each ball. You will need 2 baking sheets to accommodate the dough.

Bake until the edges and tops of the cookies are set, 15-18 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool briefly. Eat warm or at room temperature. These cookies will stay nice and chewy for a couple of days.

Makes 12 oversized cookies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight at midnight, I will do the drawing for my 4th anniversary giveaway, so add your comment for that below if you want to try to win. 4 years ago today, I started rambling on. : )