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12.21.2014

Pretzel Caramel Pecan Treats

This recipe is super easy, tastes great, and I've already received tons of compliments on them.  I thought of these chocolate caramel and pecan turtle cluster recipe while making the super popular pretzel/hug/m&m treats, so I got a little creative and came up with these pretzel caramel pecan treats.  As we know, I'm super good at food photos (not), so don't judge a recipe by the photos.
+Pretzels
+Bag 'o' caramel candy
+Pecan halves
+1-2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
+1/4-1/2 a stick of butter

1. preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. half the caramel candies 
3. lay out pretzels on a foiled cookie sheet (do not use wax paper, the caramel sticks)
4. place a caramel half on each pretzel
5. put cookie sheet in oven for approximately 6 minutes
6. remove cookie sheet and place a pecan half on each pretzel/caramel combo and push it in
7. melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and butter in microwave (about 2-3 minutes stirring every 30 seconds)
8. drizzle chocolate on pretzel/caramel/pecan combo
9. place in refrigerator for an hours or so
10.  take treats out of fridge and let them get to room temperature before enjoying.  Don't eat them straight from the fridge!  That will make you think you've made a terrible mistake and want to scrap the whole project.
I'd love to hear from you if you make these pretzel caramel pecan treats... or if you have a better name for them.  If you're looking for more quick and easy treats to make for the holidays, check out this family favorite recipe for Pistachio Bark.


12.19.2014

Inspiration: Weaving II

Here is a follow up from yesterday's post with some more weaving inspiration.  I mostly find new artists from Instagram and looking through hashtags like #weaving, so that is why these posts are pretty IG heavy.

I recently came across Courtney and Nicky from Warped Threads on Instagram.  I didn't realize there were two different people behind Warped Threads until I was writing this post, but it helps explain the range of colors and designs that are offered in their Etsy shop.  I love their feed because there is so much diversity among their pieces.  Here are a couple favorites:






Another Instagrammer that I love following along with is ShopHelloChiqui.  She shares some great weavings of her own, regrams of other artists, quick video tutorials, and updates from her shop.


That's it for now. I'm sure as I dive deeper into the world of weaving I'll find some more inspiration to share and I'll eventually share some of my own (working full time and trying to get photos in natural light has proved to be a challenge).  If I don't make it back here next week, Happy Holidays!

12.18.2014

Inspiration : Weaving

It has been a quite a while since I've shared an inspiration post, but my inspiration has been all over the place lately.  Maybe it is just all of the blogs I read, but weaving just came out of nowhere and is starting to gain traction.  It's a great way to add texture and art to a room at the same time.

I was reintroduced to weaving by Rachel from Smile and Wave.  She has been doing some weavings lately that are so fun.  I love seeing them together as a collection.  She also gives some weaving tutorials over on A Beautiful Mess (see here and here)


Maryann Moodie has some amazing weavings.  I creeped on her Instagram way back when and found some of her first weavings from more than two years ago.  Seeing her first pieces and seeing how she has developed is really encouraging for a beginner like me.  I pretty much screenshot every instagram she posts and save it for inspiration.  Here is one of her collections and a couple of my favorite pieces:


A photo posted by Maryanne Moodie (@maryannemoodie) on

A photo posted by Maryanne Moodie (@maryannemoodie) on



I love the color combinations she picks. To learn more about her, check our her Etsy shop, her house tour on Etsy, and a day in the Life of Maryanne Moodie on Design Sponge

Another one of my favorite weavers to follow on Instagram is Melissa Washin.  Maryann Moodie shared a shot of Melissa's weavings a couple months ago on Instagram and I have been following along ever since.  When I was creeping on her Instagram, I found some of her first weavings and they were only from 11 months ago.  Seriously?!  She's only done this for 11 months and she is this good?! Here are some of my favorites:





I think the 'siblings' in the last picture are my favorite.  I love that they coordinate and I like the threads of green and blue in the fringe.  Check out her Etsy shop for more.

As I'm exploring on Instagram, I'm finding more and more artists that I'm loving their work and I'll probably have another post of weavings and artists that I'm inspired by.  I still need to photograph the pieces that I just finished, but stay tuned for some pictures of those in the near (probably after Christmas) future.  Have you been noticing a weaving trend lately?  Or is it just me?

12.10.2014

Life These Days

Life feels so frantic lately, like there is so much going on and there isn't time to fit everything in the day. Even on the calmest day I still feel like my mind is going a mile a minute. Maybe it's the time of year, or maybe I just have too many ideas and not enough time.
We've traded in our evening walks for cuddles and creating. I miss the sun and spending time outdoors every evening with my girl, but I know that this is just a season.
Since we have been spending so much time inside, we've had to come up with some more activities for Cora to do. I pulled out some of my smaller canvases and foam brushes and let this girl go wild. It was fun to watch her realize that she could move this blob around and the color would spread. She tries to eat the paint and cries if she gets too much paint on her body, but overall it is a fun activity. She moves from using the 'wrong' side of the brush to the foam part to using her fingers. It is so beautiful to watch her make art uninhibited when I have spent my life being trained to follow the rules and continually assess and plan whenever I'm creating.
Maybe I'm inspired by Cora or maybe some other spark has been lit inside me, but I have had so much motivation to create in the last month or two. I've had so many ideas and I'm trying to find any spare minute I can to bring my ideas to life. Just in the last week, I finished a large weaving (more on that in another post), started another weaving for a Christmas present, made a hat from an old sweater for Cora (below), and started painting again. Hopefully this motivation continues through the winter because it has been so fun for my family to create together and encourage each other in our individual passions.
Since a lot of the things we've been working on are for Christmas, I can't share pictures for another couple weeks, but there should be lots of eye candy and posts coming your way.
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