Vintage Downtown Christmas...

I love this time of year and especially this snowy downtown scene. It is something straight out of Americana, and makes me smile.

Many blessings to you during this magical Christmas!

Beyond Beautiful...

{heart} you

Twinkle, Twinkle...

Twinkle stamp: Verve. Paper by DCWV, Stampin Up. Sizzix: Top Note Die. Cricut: star cut using deep blade.

Paint star white, emboss with UTEE leaving ridges, dab with Colorbox Chalk Ink and sprinkle with pink and orange glitter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So thankful for all our blessings, today and ~every~ day....

xoxo,

Chickadee

Jeepers Creepers...A Card For You!

Stamping up a storm lately.

Stamps by Heidi Grace, Paper by Making Memories & Fancy Pants Designs, Flocked Webbing by We R Memory Keepers, Leaf and Spider Punches by Martha Stewart Crafts, Chalk Ink by Colorbox, Black Embossing Powder, Versamark Ink, Embossing Buddy, corsage pin, Prismacolor Markers, various trimmings from craft supply.

*Sentiment by Heidi Grace is all on one line.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to divide into two for perfect placement.  Stamp with Versamark and emboss with black powder.  Chalk all edges with Colorbox Chalk Ink (creamy brown).  Punched spider is popped out for depth as is the sentiment rectangle.  Color corsage pin black with Prismacolor markers.

Happy Halloween everyone!

xoxo,

Chickadee

Pick A Peck Of Peppers

Peppers, glorious peppers!  We grew a wonderful assortment this year.  Jalapenos, Hungarian Wax, Sweet Bells of all colors, Banana, Anaheims, and more.  My favorites were the Yellow Bell peppers.  They had a crispness and sweet peppery-ness that was unrivaled to my taste buds.  So very, very good.  

Crisp and tangy-sweet, the flavors literally explode in your mouth.  And there is something about eating such colorful, vibrant food.  It is the way life was meant to be lived.  Ahh....

We had a banner crop this year.  I stopped counting but this is our final picking, done right before a hard frost was due.  My rough estimate is that we grew about four bushels of assorted peppers this year.  And at the cost of them at the grocery store, even when they are in season, well that is a pretty good payback for a 50 cent plant.

After a summer of canning, one of the things I like best about this particular food is that the steps to preservation are so simple.  (At least, if you have any left before your family scarfs them all down). 

Step One.  Pick them.

Step Two.  Wash them.

Step Three.  Seed them.

Step Four.  Throw them in the freezer in the container of your choice.  After they freeze hard you can vacuum seal them to eliminate freezer burn and frost if you plan on keeping them in there awhile.  

Really!  It is that simple.  

And after the rigors of tomato canning,  I think it is especially nice of God to give us food like this that requires so little work (personally I think it makes up for all those tomatoes).  

They are now cozily attending Freezer Camp, just awaiting the chef to select them for a delectable meal of stir-fry, or fajitas, or any kind of Mexican flavored cuisine.

So beautiful.  So delicious.  So good for you too!

xoxo,

Chickadee

Assorted Fluff...

Just gorgeous....

xoxo,

Chickadee

Canning Is Like Childbirth

For such a strange weather year for gardening and a crummy output at best with certain of our crops, somewhere along the line the tomatoes weren't told about this sad state of affairs.  Consequently they put forth an enormous effort and the ensuing crop just about brought me to my canning-weary knees.  

Funny thing about that feeling though...
Somewhere about the time it is -20  (yes, that is below zero) in the middle of January and I am longing for a fresh, organic garden tomato, I will remember all those tomatoes so lovingly and painstakingly canned.  Blithely I will skip my way down to the Harvest Room and grab some of these luscious jars for chili or soup....and I will have forgotten every aching muscle spent planting, growing, harvesting and finally processing these beauties. 

 And I will long for the next garden season so I can do it all again.

Just like childbirth, canning is its own form of insanity.

So very hard, but so very, very worth it.

:)

xoxo, 

Chickadee

Sunset Splendor

xoxo,

Chickadee

Shopping Thrills...

Does it get any better than this?

:)

xoxo,

Chickadee

Autumn Already???

So vibrant, so beautiful....

xoxo,

Chickadee

Flower Time

Another thing I like to do when I am in town is to check out what others are doing with their flower gardens.  So if you happen to see some strange lady hanging over your garden fence ogling your flowers, don't worry, it's just me.  :)  

Aren't these sweet?

xoxo, 

Chickadee

Walk About Town...

Sometimes it is fun just to take a relaxing stroll around town on a gorgeous summer day and see what there is to see...

Like beautifully inviting  houses that someone has put a lot of effort into:

Or dappled city streets with trees arching over...
Mmm...the lazy days of summer....embracing life one day at a time!

xoxo,

Chickadee

A Taste Of Heaven...

Homegrown raspberries fresh off the cane...

And more on the way!
xoxo,

Chickadee