In the kitchen and garden 2017

When things get stressful, I head to my garden or kitchen. Watering the garden or cooking up something is my happy place.
Every couple of months the doctor I work for brings in a crate of ripe bananas. It's a small office so I bring most of the bananas home to make banana bread. Someone asked me why I make bread when I'm gluten sensitive and can't eat it.  I hate to see the bananas go to waste and I don't bake all that well but I can make banana bread. People seem happy to receive a loaf, so that's a plus. I also love the smell of baking, even if I can't eat any of it.  So I see it as a win - win!
In my garden the second round of basil is in so I'm in the process of making pesto. Nothing better than fresh pesto! Again another friend said it was faster and cheaper to just buy pesto. For me it's the process, spending time out in the garden, picking off the leaves and getting everything ready. Today is a beautiful day to be outside so why not?
Now to find more people to give the banana bread to. :) 

Lawn Fawn - Elphie Selfie 2017

I've been on a creative roll this week. There are a whole lot of babies being born this year. I decided to make tags instead of card. I don't have very man baby theme stamps so I had to go through my stash for stuff to see what I could come up with. I've had this Lawn Fawn "Elphie Selfie" stamp set for awhile now (impulse buy) and the little baby elephant just popped out. 

Paper Crafters at FabMo - October 2017

Finally got my act together to get my Paper Crafters workshop together for FabMo. I love making Halloween cards, even with it not being a super big card sending holiday. 
I also designed a Halloween gift card holder for those few kids I will see on the big day. 

Gift Card Holders 2017

I volunteer at FabMo and we do a workshop at Google once a month. Coming up with projects that can be done in an hour and use supplies from the FabMo stash can be challenging. Almost all the young employees don't know how to sew, let alone use a needle and thread but I will say they have no fear when it comes to learning something new. They just go for it!
I saw some gift card holders on Pinterest made from felt, which FabMo gets a lot of. Using my die cuts, I whipped these up. I've never been good at making french knots, but for some reason it worked on the snowman. The Joy holder is a spin on my German Shepherd who loves to chase sticks. Even the tiniest little chip of wood, she will fetch it. It brings her great joy, so I had to make this one with a little branch. 
They turned out so well that I will do a workshop at Fabmo for my Paper Crafters group. 

Gifts from Iceland 2017

When I travel, I try and support local artists. While in Iceland I picked up a few things. The heart necklace is made for ram horn and horse hair. The glass beads are made in the original community center for the island. Walls are about 2 feet thick and very low ceilings. Those earrings are going to a good friend for Christmas. 
I really wanted some lava beads and finally found a simple necklace. Good thing I didn't buy one of the more fancy and expensive pieces. After I got home I researched Iceland lava beads and found out that the lava on the island can't be made into bead - too brittle. All are imported in from somewhere. 

Iceland - Food 2017

Langostino, shark in a bottle, whale tail, lamb bacon, sea bird

Iceland, I think is known more for the food people won't eat. :)  There isn't a whole lot of fresh veggies or fruit so if your a picky eater, you'll starve. We ate most of the famous dishes and it was no surprise they lived up to their reputation. Fermented shark wasn't that bad but the whale tail was nasty! With food price being so $$$$ is had to be really bad for me not to finish it. We did find a bakery that made the best croissant (even better than Paris) and a swiss mocha is made with real chocolate. Of course a small mocha (think large expresso cup size) and croissant was $12.00.
I did have the best lobster (langostino) I've every had. It was the only thing on the menu and that restaurant (out in the middle of no where) does it really well. It came recommend by our Airbnb host. 

Best chocolate croissant ever!

Iceland Snowmobiling 2017

One of the things on my list of must do while in Iceland was to go snowmobiling over a glacier. Everything in Iceland is very expensive and snowmobiling was right up there! It was a fun adventure and my daughter did a great job piloting. once in a life time experience, at least for me. 
It was very icy ( summer time) so just a little more dangerous. Without fluffy snow, there are a lot of giant ice pits all over the glacier and things were slippy so staying on the trail was super important. 

Iceland Trip 2017

Back from my trip to Iceland, so there will be several posts about my travels there. 

One of the things I wanted to do was ride an Icelandic horse. Susan Eckert, the owner of Adventure Women Travels was a big fan. I always wanted to take one of her trips to Iceland but I wasn't experienced enough to go with all the horse women. Her trips there were centered around horseback riding as as she was an avid rider and owned two Icelandic horses here in the states. Susan passes away this year, so in her memory I gave it try. 
My horse Oden was a slow and steady guy but my daughter's horse Tree Bark (Icelandic name too hard to pronounce) was a feisty one. He always wanted to be next to the guide horse so my daughter was always at the head of the line. Beautiful waterfalls everywhere and the water being glacier fed, was safe to drink straight from the source. Saw a few big geysers (only Icelandic word to make it into main stream English) which was impressive.