I love this look found in dibor _co_ uk images. Use spray paint chalkboard (6.99) from homedepo to organize your produce! I am now going to scour the farmers market a few miles away for wooden bins..if not..unique should have them. :)

This image from home hunts.net is of a French farmhouse. I love the pot-rack. Rustic, functional, simple. I like that. I am wondering if my future-brother-in-law could make one of these? :) I know my sis would love this. I am not a fan of the chairs..but love how a simple table cloth cleans things up a bit. Real stone dry stack fireplace and saltio tile floors makes a nice difference.

This is not my personal passion or dream...to re-use and recycle a whole home concept...but wow what a great art studio or workroom! Don't actually love it..but I like it.

I added sugar, cinnamon, a small dash of ginger, and fresh peaches..this with a pie crust that is homemade or store bought is all you need. All this tart requires is that you roll out your pie crust into a vaguely circular shape roughly 14 inches or so across. Then, if you want to you can use a knife or a pastry tool to neaten up the edges into a more uniform circle but it's not necessary. You could probably even pat out the dough into the shape you require if you so desired. Slide the dough onto a rimmed cookie sheet (in case of filling leakage--don't want a smoking oven) and pile up the filling in the center leaving about a 2-3 inch border. Fold up the edges around the filling--the rougher the better! It'll look more authentically rustic that way and pop it in the oven to bake.

That's it!

The second batch of delicious Janelle biscotti has been taken out of the freezer (spent some time overnight in the fridge) and is ready for British style high tea! Thank you Janelle!!! Its so good with tea or hot coco. Here is a recipe from allrecipes.com that might inspire those of us who think its impossible (like me) to try and make it.

Before Baking

Biscotti can seem a little exotic, but they're just as easy to make at home as any other cookie. To begin:

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix dough, adding "extras" of your choice. Common flavors found in biscotti are anise, orange, almond, chocolate and hazelnut. But try more exotic combinations such as dried cranberries and pistachios, lemon and poppy seeds, or ginger and macadamia nuts. Be as creative or traditional as you wish.
Form biscotti loaves as big or small as you like--create dainty little tea cookies or jumbo breakfast-sized coffee companions. Note: The dough can be sticky; try wetting your hands before forming the loaves.

Slicing Made Simple

After the first baking, the biscotti loaves should be firm and very lightly browned, but not hard.

Loaves are ready to cut when you can touch them without burning yourself.
Use a long serrated knife--especially if you have nuts or dried fruit in your biscotti. This kind of knife will allow you to slice neatly through the loaves without putting any pressure on them.
Slice on the diagonal for long biscotti or straight across for shorter ones.

The Crunch

Time for bake number two. The point of this second baking is to dry out the biscotti without browning them too much, so a low oven temperature and a slow baking time are key. For softer cookies, simply bake them for less time. For biscotti that can stand up to coffee-dipping, bake until they are as crunchy as you like.

Beautify Your Biscotti

Once the biscotti have cooled, you can decorate them if you wish. Try drizzling them with one or several kinds of melted chocolate, or dunking them in chocolate then rolling them in chopped nuts.

Cuddle in to the art of felting. Then if you take a dog-nap you can enjoy a home-made or semi-made felted quilt or blanket. It is truly a fun and easy easy craft. No sewing involved! Here is what suit101.com has to say about needle felting!

How to Needle Felt

Use a Dry Felting Technique to Add Embellishments to Projects

Jan 15, 2008 Kate Pullen

Using a felting needle is great way to add embellishments to sewing project. While it is a simple technique, a few key tips will help produce perfect results every time.

Needle felting is an ideal way to add embellishments to a variety of sewing projects. The process of needle felting bonds fabrics and textiles together. This means that a variety of unique textures and surface decoration can be achieved which is ideal for creative embroidery or other needlecraft projects.

How to Needle Felt by Hand

Little in the way of equipment is required to needle felt by hand.

Needles: The first thing to note about a felting needle is that it is long, barbed and extremely sharp. Therefore care needs to be taken when working to avoid injury. The process of holding and using a felting needle is very different to using a sewing needle. The felting needle punches through the fabric from top to bottom. Punching away with happy abandon is likely to end in a finger puncture or two, so this is a technique that requires concentration while learning the basics. Whether working with a single needle or a needle felt tool, the principle is the same and that is to push or punch the needle through layers of fiber or fabric. This means that it is important to do this on a surface which the needle can sink into. When picking a surface to work on it is important to make sure the whole barbed part of the needle can pass through the work. This ensures that the maximum quantity of fibers is dragged through the layers. The way the fibers are pulled through the layers can be seen in the photographs below (click on photograph to enlarge image).
Felting Pad: Special needle felting pads can be purchased; however, many needle felters use polystyrene blocks, upholstery foam or compressed foam. Experienced needle felters have their own special surface for working on. Some needle felters, for instance, use the heads of firm floor brushes as this gives the support to the work while allowing the needle to sink through the work.

Tip: Remember that unless carefully chosen, some "ad hoc" felting pads can end up also getting felted into the work. Therefore, avoid wads of fabric, old cushions or anything fibrous. When working on unfamiliar surfaces, keep pulling the work up to check that the work is not getting felted to the work base by mistake.

Instructions

The process of adding embellishments using the needle felting technique is quite simple.

Lay Out The Fabric: Needle felting will mesh different surfaces together, so before starting the project these need to be laid out. It is best to start with small projects such as adding a felt embellishment to some fabric. Most small items can just be laid on top of the base fabric, for more intricate or precise projects the surface decoration can be temporarily attached using water soluble materials or with a simple tacking stitch.
Start Punching: Holding the felting needle or tool in the hand, punch the needle through the layers of fabric and fibers. Work on a small area at a time, until the layers start to mesh and then move onto the next area. Repeatedly work over the whole area until the layers are completely entangled and meshed together.

Tips for Successful Needle Felting

Although the technique of needle felting is very simple, there are a few tips that will help produce perfect results every time.

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Very fibrous fabrics will work best. Mohair, for instance has plenty of loose fibers that will easily felt into other layers of fabric.
Further felt layers together by putting the finished piece into a washing machine on a hot wash. This will shrink and further felt the work. Wet felting will only work with wool or animal fibers as silks, cottons and other fibers will not shrink. Unusual textures can be achieve by mixing wools and other fibers as the wool will shrink and the non wool fibers will distort giving an unusual surface texture.
Use the right size needle for the project. Very coarse needles can split or tear fine fabrics.
The layers of fabrics and fibers become permanently bonded, so be certain of your design before starting.
Fibers from the top layers get pushed through the bottom layer, adding an interesting texture. The reverse of the fabric could be used as a design feature. This can be seen in the images below where the dark blue fibers are clearly seen on the rear of the work.
The felting process gives a firm finish. This slightly stiff finish has a different feel than if the layers had simply been stitched together.
Needle felting slightly distorts and pulls the fabrics out of shape. This is illustrated in the third image below.

Simple Needle Felting Projects

There are many free sewing patterns and projects on the Internet, including some great needle felting projects which are ideal for a beginner and are suitable for working by hand. These include:

Needle Felt Phone Case - simple project that is ideal for a beginner .
Needle Felt Apple - project to make a 3-D apple that would be a great embellishment for some sewing projects.
Felt Heart Bouquet - lovely project with plenty of scope for variations.

Needle felting is an interesting technique for sewers to know and has many applications.

Recommend Article!

The copyright of the article How to Needle Felt in Sewing/Needlework is owned by Kate Pullen. Permission to republish How to Needle Felt in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Needle Felt Layers	Fabric Needle Felted Together	Rear of Needle Felt
Yarn Felted to Fabric	Felting Needles

abstract ice...taking picture of all the snow and ice can be fun if you are looking with an abstract eye! These pictures can later be printed and filed so that I have something fun and fresh to put into frames for winter or Christmas decoration that is subtle and white / silver.

How beautiful the world is around us....this shot is from Banchee's off-leash woods near our house. Have a great day, Amy

Amy's Simple Aesthetic

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Friday, February 19, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010