Easy Cupcakes

Happy February! Last night a friend mentioned that we are halfway to spring! As if that wasn't enough reason to love the month there is also Valentine's Day. Time to pull out the lace, pink and red decor and figure out ways to make the days special for your loved ones. It was also 25 years ago that my sweetie and I tied the knot. Yes, it was on Valentine's Day!

I wanted to start the month out with a special treat and I was inspired by all sorts of beautiful food on the Internet. However, I got a bit overwhelmed with the effort it would take to make the cakes and deserts. I remembered the white cake mix I had in the cupboard and decided to make some cupcakes. I decided to make it a bit special and took out half of the batter and added some red food coloring. I filled the cupcake papers with half white and half pink batter and swirled it around. I did get a little decadent and made a cream cheese frosting (1/4 cup butter, 8 ounces cream cheese, 1 pound powdered sugar and tsp vanilla all whizzed up with the mixer). Personally desert just doesn't count unless there is chocolate involved so I topped each one with a kiss and some sprinkles. It was easy but makes for a special treat. So, find a cake mix and whip up some cupcakes for your sweeties!

New Work

I have recently been asked to show my work in April at the Riverfront Art Center here in Stevens Point. The show is called Common Threads and will include several textile artists. This will be the first time my work will be exhibited in Wisconsin and it has really motivated me. I have gotten away from showing my work and I am finding that making new work feels refreshing and fun. Here is the latest piece I completed yesterday.

The trees are made out of rusted wire and the small house is made by weaving shredded money. No, I didn't cut up my money, I purchased a bag of shredded bills quite a few years ago and have done a few things with the material. I discovered that if I ironed the small pieces flat they could be woven into a really interesting fabric. I guess this makes sense because the paper money is made out of has a high percentage of cotton rag. Let me know what you think of it!

Tea!

One of the hightlights of our trip to Colorado was a tour of the Celestial Seasoning's Tea factory. I have been drinking Celestial Season's Tea since I was in college and that was a loooooong time ago. All of Celestial Seasoning's tea is made in Boulder, Colorado and when we drove into the parking lot we saw a very colorful store front with graphic images taken from the art used on the tea boxes.

The tour begans in the tasting room where several teas, both hot and cold, were brewed and ready for tasting as well as individual cups of any tea we wanted to try. The tasting room not only has tea but also the original artwork used on the boxes. If you haven't looked carefully at the boxes, take a moment and pull out your teas and look at them. They have lovely illustrations. In addition they have a collection of artist made teapots that were great fun to check out.

After the tasting and a short film we went onto the factory floor and it smelled like heaven! There were bags of herbs and teas stacked to the ceiling. One of the rooms we went into was the peppermint room. They have to keep peppermint seperated from the other ingredients because it has such an intense smell. If it was kept with other ingredients it would start to change the flavor of the other herbs and spices. After standing in the room for a few minutes I could feel my head and sinuses start to clear!

Of course, the tour ends at the gift shop where I scooped up a few boxes of tea and a cute little dish in which to 1put my used tea bag. If you ever find yourself in Boulder, Colorado check out the Celestial Seasonings tea plant!

Colorado

My sweetie and I just returned from a great January get-away. We went to Colorado and visited my cousin and a friend. The mountains were beautiful, the food delicious and plentiful and fun was all around. We didn't ski (haven't done that for decades and the idea of ending up with something broken didn't seem like a good way to spend a vacation) but we did take a gondola to the top of Vail mountain and took photos and had lunch. Here are a few photos of the trip.

CHEERS!

New and Interesting Things

I have found lately that I haven't been reading blogs and that has made me a very dull person it seems! Although didn't know that until this morning when I decided I needed to take some time out and see what some of my favorite blog friends were up to. I discovered this great free hat pattern at The Purl Bee, B. at Dog in the Hole Studio wrote about making pockets to put beside each plate at Christmas dinner. Inside each pocket would be questions to be answered either by the person with the pocket or they could ask another person at the table the question. One of the questions was fun...if you didn't have any bones in your body to break what activities would you do without fear? I also caught up on holiday doings and the end of Every Inchie Monday, which I only participated in part of the time. I still love looking at my little inchies and maybe I will make some more to join the twenty or so I already have. So, next time I feel I don't have the time to read blogs I hope I remember how energized and inspired I feel by all of your creativity. I waste time in so many ways...reading blogs is not one of them!

My Favorite Christmas Cookies

As the song goes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. The tree and decorations are up and yesterday I baked my favorite cookies, Fudge Peppers. They are a chocolate cookie with a chocolate mint inside. I was introduced to these delectable bites when I was a teenager. My mom's friend Jeannie used to make them and when I would babysit for her around the holidays I would eat as many as possible without getting found out. It was kind of like going after the brownies by "evening out the edges" of the rows. Then my mom made them and I also gobbled down as many as possible. The recipe calls for Rockwood Mints, a brand that is no longer manufactured, so for awhile, no Fudge Peppers. Then last year I got an idea to try Hershey Mint Truffle Kisses and voila! They were great! This year as I was making them I felt my mom and her good friend Jeannie, both who have passed, present in my kitchen. It was a nice baking day. Most importantly I want to pass this recipe on to you, but with a warning! If you have a babysitter hide your Fudge Peppers!

Fudge Peppers

Cream together:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

Add:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cupt brown sugar
Add:

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Sift and add:

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt (I think this is a bit much, I reduce it to 1/2 tsp)

2/3 cup cocoa

Place Hershey's Mint Truffle Kiss or other chocolate mint in center of a teaspoon full of dough. Seal edges and roll into a ball. Roll in white sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

Holiday Tutorials

I was doing a little blog hopping yesterday and came upon some wonderful ornaments at A Creative Dream. These cute owls what drew me in and I explored more and found many others including this snowman and monkey. Happiness in blogland is finding great tutorials and the blogger, who refers to herself as a Creative Dreamer, is posting 15 holiday ornament tutorials in 15 days (not counting weekends). Hop on over there and start making some ornaments. Gifts perhaps?