tnis-salg: April 2010

Bright Lights, Big City

As long as I can remember, I have felt a pull between two opposites- a love for the countryside and a love for the city. While I am completely at peace in the country, there is something about big cities that makes my pulse race in the most exhilarating way.

Helena Palazzi Photography

The traffic. The noise. The people. The lights. The buildings. All of these things and more capture a piece of my heart.

Martin Rusch

I love staring out a window many stories in the air, taking in building upon building with skyscrapers lined up as far as the eye can see.

Helena Palazzi Photography

Especially at night. When light and darkness meet halfway.

Troy House Photography

For the next few days I will be in and around New York City, and my heart is filled with happiness. I have a weekend filled with not only the excitement of the city, but also the company of family and friends, ones who it has been too long since I've last seen.

Midweek, I move on to Massachusetts to spend time with some more close friends who I also haven't seen in far too many years, and I most likely will be MIA for a little over the next week; I hope during that time you have many moments of sweet bliss, as I intend to enjoy many of the same.

University of Cookie: Royal Icing

Hey guys! A quick note to let you know there's a new vlog over at University of Cookie. This one is called "making royal icing."

Come take a peek! {I may or may not have invented a new drinking game to go along with it!} ;)

Wags 'n Whiskers flower challenge, a sale, and news about the next release!

Yay! It's Friday! :) Hope everyone is having a fabulous week! It's time for a new Wags 'n Whiskers challenge, and this week, the fabulously talented Jeanette is asking us to use flowers. I was commissioned to make a Mother's Day card with two boys with skin of color. So I chose both Super Ryan and Just For You. Aren't they too cute? I love these two together, because "Just For You" does indeed look like the older brother, don't you think? I stamped them in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with Sketch Copics. I then cut them out and double popped them off the card.

And right now, both of these stamps, as well as all the Wags 'n Whiskers stamps illustrated by Crissy Armstrong, are on sale for 25% off!!! How cool is that!! If you've been wanting to get some of them, now is the time!

Please be sure and pop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the Divas fabulous creations! We're sadly saying goodbye to Bree from her GDT spot, and welcoming Melanie on board as our new GDT. We'd love it if you played along with the challenge, and this time you have two weeks to play along, because next week is the NEW SUMMER RELEASE of Wags 'n Whiskers! So hope you stop by on Wednesday and Thursday for the sneak peeks, and then again on Friday for the celebration blog hop for the new release! The new stamps are sooooo CUTE, and I can't wait for you to see them! Thanks for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Nikki, Lacey, Chris, Michelle, Karen, Jacqui, Tina, Jeanette, Christa, Bree, Debbie, Melanie

Images: Super Ryan and Just For You - Wags 'n Whiskers; background and sentiment banner - Magnolia-licious

paper - DP - Nitwits; cardstock is Bazzill

ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Sketch markers

Misc: silk ribbon, charms, machine stitching, oval Nestabilities, dimensional tape

Victoria Beckham Tattoo

Now Victoria Beckham reveals HEVictoria Beckham Tattooer growing cluster of tattoos, a new script inked underneath her Roman numeral tattoo.

Victoria Beckham Tattoo

Look at me: Posh points the way to her new tattoo, seen on the inside of her wrist as she launched her denim line at Saks department store in Boston last night
A sleek-looking Victoria struck a series of poses at the meet and greet for fans, and took the opportunity to fully expose the new tattoo as she pointed at the logo for her DVB denim range.
Posh arrived in Boston on Tuesday with the rest of the Spice Girls to continue their world tour, amid reports that their big reunion tour has run out of steam.

Victoria Beckham Tattoo

Stam Cam

Lacking serious time to come up with something better (I'm sure most of you understand the word exams) I hope you enjoy this: Jessica Stam for Numéro Corea...it's old, but still great. And she's one of my favs.

My Top Three Asparagus Recipes

Spring asparagus at Santa Monica Farmers' Market

Asparagus. The queen of spring. Elegant, fresh- and addictive. For many of us, the primavera arrival of asparagus is big news. Huge. Exciting. We simply can't get enough. You see, there is something magical about asparagus. Maybe it's the sexy reputation. Isabelle Allende describes asparagus as phallic in her memoir, Aphrodite, describing gardens lush with it, and stalks thick as trees. She throws in a few maidens with obvious oral fixations and well. You can guess the rest.

To be honest, the whole thick as a tree trunk thing, though, is a bit much. Big stalks? Not gonna impress me. I tend to gravitate to the slender young asparagus, myself. The slimmer the better, in my gluten-free part of the world. Why? I barely cook them. It's more like a coaxing. A gentle flash in the pan with some fruity olive oil and a kiss of balsamic vinegar. A pinch of sea salt. Nothing fancy. Keeping them tender-crisp is the key to maximum enjoyment-- for me. But I know some folks prefer long, slow roasting.

And that's what makes the world go 'round, darling.

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For a very POPular Teacher . . .

Can it be? Summer is almost here? But before summer...it's time for teacher appreciation gifts!

Welcome to those of you coming from Woodlands Family Magazine (and to everybody else, too)! I'm so happy to be working with Melissa of Domesticated Lady (you're going to love her!) to bring you not only a how-to for cookies, but an adorable FREE printable topper as well!

Let's get started on the cookies (you can make these NOW and freeze them until the end of school!):

Make sugar cookies using a candy corn cookie cutter (it's a multi-tasker) and let cool.

Using red royal icing and a #3 tip, pipe the outline of a popcorn box (AmeriColor Super Red).

With a #2 tip, pipe a wide oval in yellow icing (AmeriColor Egg Yellow).

With another #2 tip, pipe the outline of popped popcorn above the box in white (add AmeriColor Bright White for extra white).
Thin the yellow icing with a bit of water, stirring gently until it is the consistency of thick syrup. Let sit several minutes covered with a damp dishtowel (see a video of this process here).
Gently stir the icing with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have risen to the surface and transfer to a squeeze bottle.

Fill in the oval and part of each popcorn piece.
Thin the white icing in a similar fashion.

Fill in the popcorn box and the remainder of the popcorn. Swirl the yellow and white icings together on the popcorn.
Let dry at least 1 hour.

Using a #5 tip, add wide red stripes to the popcorn boxes.
Switch to a #2 tip and pipe "POPcorn" in red on the oval.

Outline the oval in red using the #2 tip.

Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.

My favorite part? The swirly popcorn pieces:

The free printable topper is available from Domesticated Lady here.

Melissa, of Domesticated Lady) has so many wonderful ideas...I know you'll want to check out the rest of her darling blog while you're there! (And the online version of her article about the toppers/cookies is here.) It was a pleasure working with Melissa...this theme was all her idea...she is so creative!!!

If you want to make a few individual popcorn pieces to go along with these, check out these too cute cookies from The Decorated Cookie! Is that the cutest idea, or what?

You know what? I made popcorn cookies about 5 years ago and I am so glad to get a chance to update them. Wanna see?

I like this year's version much better!

I'll be linking it to TidyMom's I'm Lovin' It linky party. :)

Have you planned your teacher gifts yet?

New Fashion illustration

Jing Zhang hails from China but she has just (or is going to) wrap up her studies in fashion design in the UK. Her site presents an interesting insight into fashion illustration, as it has examples of her illustrations as well as her hands-on fashion projects.

fashion illustration

Lionel Messi 5 Top Pics

Lionel Messi has become the first Argentinian to win the Ballon d’Or, the FC Barcelona forward claiming the prize awarded by France Football (soccer) magazine for the European Player of the Year.
The 22-year-old eclipsed runner-up and last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo by a record 240-point margin. Messi earned 473 points out of a possible 480, a near unanimous verdict, in the poll of 96 journalists worldwide. The award caps a brilliant year for a player who helped Barcelona to UEFA Champions League glory – he scored nine goals in last season’s campaign including the second in the final victory against Manchester United FC – as well as to a Spanish league and cup double.

Lionel Messi