Music and Shakespeare

 

This are pics of one of my new oversized bookmarks, available now at etsy! This one features a music note pattern, adorn with metallic pink buttons, pink and black ribbon, and pasted on pink shades of glittered cardstock. What do you think?

Gluestick Love

 

These are a new idea I have been working on. It's part of my "Love For Your Gluestick" theme. These are little pouches for your gluestick, making them both fashionable and, well...I guess thats it. But who needs another reason? It's not practical, it's just love for your gluestick.

As a crafter, a gluestick is your best friend. From cardmaking, scrapbooking, to collages, you never part from your gluestick. So, if you are looking at it that often, it might as well have something pretty to relax in. Right?

One day, last fall...

Just a short post today - I just came across these photos that I took last fall and thought they were beautiful, so I wanted to share!

Lime Meltaway Cookie Recipe

SO, I feel terrible because I haven't posted in my blog, listed on my etsy site, or uploaded into my flickr account in weeks. So, last night, I posted a new card I have created (I have been working, even though I have been scarce online....) and in honor of it, I am posting this morning. Check out my new card! Its on the left, the first pic on the top!

I was looking though an old blog that I had through yahoo and found this post I did on Lime Meltaways and my experience making them. It was a great receipe, and so super easy. Here it is for all of you...mmmmmm

The best part of this receipe is you can make a whole ton of the dough and keep it in your fridge or freezer and then when you get home from work, and you've had a crappy day, you can pull them out, stick 'em on a tray and have fresh baked cookies in time for desert!

Lime Meltaways
www.marthastewart.com

Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
Grated zest of 2 limes
2 tablespoons freshly squezzed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.

3. Between two 8 by 12 inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4-inch diameter logs. Chill at least one hour.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/8-inch thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.

5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly 8 to 10 minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.


Experience:

So, first things first. Most of baking that you will do will require you to follow the directions completly and exactly. This recipe is not that way. When I read the ingredient for sugar, I read granulated sugar, not confectioners sugar (blame it on the 300 chocolate covered pretzels I just made). So I used granulated sugar in the mixture and to toss them. It wasnt until after I baked, tossed and happily ate them when I re-read the recipe and realized my mistake. It was a yummy mistake however, because I really liked them. They were still chewy and sweet and the granulated sugar added a nice crunch (you know, the nice rotting your teeth crunch). I will have to see how they come out if you follow the recipe exactly.

Also, baking these cookies is tricky, because with most of my batches, if I waited until they were slightly golden, they were already too cooked. You really have to keep an eye on them, and don't bake them for long. They are very delicate.

These make great Christmas Gifts. I put them in a cookie tin stacked in piles of 4 in cupcake papers.

Butterfly Mini Notes

These are some new creations from a super cool punch that I bought recently. The punch is on some dark purple paper with a hem stich on the bottom of the front (purely decorative). The inside is pink with my own design printed on it. They can be used for anything I think, mini happy notes, gift tags, "love you" notes on your bathroom mirror....

They measure about 2 x 1.5" folded, so they are a cute addition to anything. I added a sticky foam pad to the back of each one to make them easy to stick them til your heart's content.

They are very girly girl I think, what with the pink, purple and the butterfly. I have become more and more girly as time passes. It kind of grosses me out. But I am learning to embrace it!

Dreaming of Springtime

We ave suffered through another snow storm here in Connecticut. So I made a collage while I was stuck in the house dreaming or the arrival of Spring...

Just a short post today, but I thought this collage came out pretty good, and I wanted to know who else is dreaming of Spring?

Fun with Anagrams

Enamel Dog Log

I found this really great website, www.wordsmith.org. The above phrase with I thought to be exceedingly funny is an anagram out of my username, megangoodell. Although most of them were disturbing, here were some other good ones:

Legal Do Gnome
Alone Mold Egg

I got a chuckle out of them. There were also cool little pages on this site like the Anagram Times, where they take headlines and find anagrams out of them, like this...

Death by chocolate = The 'halted' by cocoa

Obviously these people are obessesed wih these things...

Also, there is the Anagram Hall of Fame where I found this nugget of funniness:

Clothespins = So Let's Pinch

Oh, and one last thing I found on their "Odds and Ends" page:

Ever wondered why there isn't another word that can be made by rearranging the letters of the word anagram?

I hope you got a chuckle out of these like I did. Check the site out and find a cool anagram for your username. I would love to see them!

Valentine's Day weekend cont...& craft night!

Above, is a picture of a church we walked by in Newton, MA where we picked up the T into Boston. I love how the sky came out so blue. I swear its the fantastic camera I have, none of my own talent. Im an amature.

That morning, we went to the Natural Science Museum. They were having an exhibit on Lizards and snakes, here are some my favorite pics..

Chris is trying to scare off these lizards stuck to the glass...


A camera shy lizard (in this shot, I forgot that my flash was on. I got in a bit of trouble with the staff for using flash photgraphy, and after apologizing, I chuckled to myself, because this pic came out so much better because of the flash...:))


We had such a good time, it was one of the best ways I could think of to celebrate Valentine's Day. I think its so important to do things together, even if they are silly...

So when we got back, it was craft night and my mom came over to work on some of our projects....


Here is a collage I was working on..


I think we made progress.

Swimming with the Fishes on Valentines Day Weekend

So, I know I wrote about Valentines Day in my last post, but it is my favorite holiday so I usually tend to overdo it. Me and my husband stretched it out over the weekend and visited Boston. Boston is our favorite place to go. There is just something about it. It is the only place that still looks beautiful in the middle of February when it is cold, there is no leaves on the trees, and all you have is hard crusted mounds of brown snow left over from the last snow storm.

Anyway, I got some great shots from the New England Aquarium that was our first stop. I absolutly love aquariums. I am always surprised at how fasinated I am by the creatures that are out there...







It was really amazing. We had a great time. I put my hand next to the glass where the turtle was to give you an idea of how big he was. It was incredible! I love turtles!

I have lots more to share about our weekend, so stay tuned!

Gettin' Warm and Cosi on Valentine's Day

For our first Valentine's Day, my husband and I toasted S'Mores at a local restaurant called Cosi. I just thought it was the coolest idea, to toast marshmellows at a restaurant in the middle of February. My husband wasn't surprised when I pulled out my camera...






I also have been very inspried lately by this blog, http://www.inspiartionalboards.blogspot.com
It has a bunch of interiews from people all over that are great crafty artistic people. They also put links to their blogs and etsy shops, which has been awesome. I don't try to steal other peoples ideas, but sometimes, to see people doing something, it inspires you, by saying, "if they are doing it, I can too!" So check it out!

I am very excited too! My hubby and I are going away this weekend to Boston. I have always wanted to go to the New England Aquarium, www.neaq.com and so since it is Valentine's Day weekend, we are going to stay overnight in the city and make a weekend out of it. *Bubbling with excitement*

I will be sure to have lots of pics from the weekend when we get back. See you all then!

Lucas the peacock

Here is a pic of one of my new characters, Lucas the Peacock and his first feature on joyCARDs...



I also did some cards out of another new character, Bernard the dog... he his all ready for a walk!



Its late and I have been on this computer all day, and my hubby wants me back! I must go, but I at least wanted to share these pics...night!

Sarah's Valentine

I just started the "creative everyday" group, and in honor of it, I decided to post a valentine I made for my friend Sarah. Well, its more like a Valentine's Day box. But, its full of goodies that Im sure will make her smile..

Here is me just starting to decorate...


Here is all of the items completed, ready to be stuffed..


I even included some inspiration, some bits of paper and buttons and such to make her "Get Crafty!"


Box is stuffed and ready to be brought to the post office...

A late Friday night

I thought I would share with all of you my night last night. My husband had a late class, and since our second car got rear-ended, we still havent replaced it and so I was stuck in the house without a car while he was at his class. But, I think it was good, because I got a lot of things accomplished. I did a lot of crafting and made some new cards.




I even posted the cat cards, lovingly named Molly, in my etsy shop. I had a lot of time on my hands.

i even did some dishes and when I was done, I noticed that they were strangly coordinated in color. I took a pic of these for you as well..



Oh! And I took a picture of my new sock kitty I recently purchased from etsy by a seller named hapiness. See her shop here at www.hapiness.etsy.com.

Happy things for happy people. Her creations are so cute! Oh yeah, the sock kitty...I have a pic of him too...



Isnt he the best? I havent named him yet...any ideas?

SO then, when I was done with all of this, I spent some time on the ol' PC. Checking etsy, flickr, etc. My cat, Nougat wasnt happy with me, since I wasnt cuddling with her instead....


But, she got over it I think. That was my night. My husband then came home, and he made me watch the movie 300. It was gruesome. Such a man's movie.

All for now!

Some Heart

Thanks to one of my dearest blogs, iHanna, http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/ I have been inspired to add some heart to my blog everyday. So here is goes, day one.

Hmm. This is tougher than I thought.

Well, to start, I would like to share a photograph of one of the best days of my life...



Thats me and my new husband. You will have to bear with me, I just got married in September, so I am still in lala land when it comes to my wedding. It was a wonderful day.

There. I think that shares some heart for today!

All for now.

New Pics, Same Nothingness

These are some new cards that I made yesterday, and posted this morning. I tried to promote them this morning, with no avail. A couple more looks, but no sales. Well, it is still just my first week I guess, so I wont get dis-heartened. Wait, I already am. Well, I will try not to let it get worse. I just need to start creating something else, and then I will get excited again.

I took the day off from work today. I work up feelign anxious and just not so hot, so I decided to listen to my body for once and let myself relax. So this is how I relax I guess...:)

There are some new things that have been knocking around in my brain lately that I think I will work with today though, so that will be good. Im thinking about making somesort of card organizer. I know you have seen them around. Its not a new idea, but a handmade one would be cool, all scrapbooky and stuff. I will fool around with it. I have to have something to put on my 365 crafting group in flickr anyway! I guess I will get working. :)

All for now!

Above is a new item I posted on etsy. I was weirdly awake last night, so I crafted until 12:30 PM (in case you dont know me, that is extremly late!).

So, after a late night, I had trouble waking up to go to church, but it was worth it. I think the cards came out nicely. Church was good this morning, then I stopped by the craft store to get some more supplies....:)

And now I am here, checking my shop, etc. Below is todays posting for my 365 crafting flickr group:


Its hanging on my wall now, and I am very proud of it. It was one of those things that I wasnt sure how I wanted it to look, I just kind of took it as it went. I think it went well....What are your thoughts?

All for now!

My Etsy Shop

As you can see from the banners on the side of this blog, I am on etsy.com. It is a new endevour though, and I am working very hard. I hope it pays off. I really love doing my art work, and I would love it if someone else got enjoyment out of it too! Here's a pic I just posted on flickr of a baby shower gift I made for my friend today....

Rough Day

I'm having a rough day today. I work as a secretary at my church for the 5 pastors we have here. I offered to do a coffee run for them all, really just for the brownie points, and so when I got there they were so mean and rude. They made it quite clear that I was an inconveniece to them, and it made me feel crappy. So much for wanting to get brownie points.....

Anyway, on a brighter note, here is one of my favorite pictures that I took while on my honeymoon to Halifax, Nova Scotia.



There are more of my pics from our trip on my flikr page, www.flickr.com, people search megangoodell.

Thats all for now....

Organizing Solution Are you buried in clutter? Can't find a solution? Call for help! A professional organizer at your service. I will assess your personal situation at your home or office (yes, ... Effective Classifieds

This is a new ad I've posted. One of my many jobs, as an organizing professional. I wanted to show you all. Its in a local paper called the broadcaster for the Connecticut area.

A Saturday Morning

One Saturday morning we woke up, and wanted pancakes......

Our Saturday morning pancakes

The Saturday Morning Pancake Maker, my husband