Happy B-day Crafts

Seattle Karen celebrated a birthday last week - I was in the mood to craft so she got a box filled with treats.

I started with an embroidered dish towel, my own writing. The dish towel was a recent find at IKEA. I like the red stripes going down the side. It's a little fiesta on a towel.

Karen is the ultimate baker. I made her a batch of cake balls (yellow cake and frosting) dipped in milk chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. They tasted like a chocolate dipped Twinkie. I got the recipe from the 'Cake Pop' cookbook Bex bought me a while back and the funny thing is, Karen got the same cookbook from her hubby for her birthday.

And I found the perfect card so I just stamped the envelope to personalize it. I got the stamp template and chalk ink at Paper Source recently and the stamp in the center was from The Ink Well in NYC. It was a good excuse to play with my new toys.

PS July b-days, don't think you won't get the same stamp! No guarantees on the dish towel or cake balls....

The Perfect Spot

Back to how cats like to be on something, on something - Roxy found the most perfect sleeping spot the other day.

She was right in the middle of all of the pillows on the bed.

And yes, she was sleeping just fine until the paparazzi woke her up!

She's Crafty

Not only was I busy stitching for Valentine's Day I've also been listening to some classic Beastie Boys while working out - and thus the blog title.

I used some patterns from Sublime Stitching to make these towels:

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For these towels below I used my own lettering to create the designs.

Busted!

A few weeks ago I roasted up a chicken for dinner.

As it was cooling on top of the oven I heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen.

I walked in to find Roxy! standing there eating my chicken.



By the time I was back in the kitchen with the camera she was standing over by the window just licking her lips.

Tea 'n Crumpets

I can't believe the Royal Wedding was over two weeks ago.

Yes, of course I was up at 4:30am to watch every last minute of the ceremony. I couldn't wait to catch the first glimpse of her dress, watch the procession down the aisle at Westminster Abbey, and see the first kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

My highlight reel includes Kate walking down the aisle with her dad and Prince Harry turned around to see her and then whispered something to Prince William. And it was so endearing when Kate first walked out on the balcony and at Buckingham Palace and you could see her say 'oh wow' as she looked out at the crowds.

Thanks to so many lovely gifts over the years I had quite a tea party for the event.

Tray one was a silver tray from MomO, a trio of milk glass vases from Mel, roses from Michael (he brought them home Thursday night because he knows a proper tea party requires flowers), Beauty and the Beast limited edition tea cup from, silver tea strainer, silver tongs, and Royal Blend tea (all straight from London) gifts from Bex.

Tray two was a gift from Bex, it was topped with a tea pot from Mel, vases used for M's Eloise party, cut glass plate and two handled cup both vintage treasures, and all of my goodies were from Trader Joe's. I nibbled on tea, crumpets, lemon curd, crispy thin butter cookies, French macaroons (from the freezer section and highly recommended), flaky cinnamon twists, and chocolate covered sunflower seeds.

Even though I watched the wedding coverage three times I still won't delete anything from the DVR. The wedding was a perfect display of what the British do best - pomp and circumstance. I loved every minute of it.