Ocean Camping..

Yes indeed. I went camping. I'm not the best camper in the world. I mean, I have a great time when I'm there but sleeping in the damp and the cold is not what I like to do. I had a great time though because I LOVE the ocean and the company we had was great. Unfortunately, the only full day we had there was overcast and a bit chilly while the days before and the day we left were warm and beautiful. That's the chance you take when you live in the Northwest. You never know, REALLY, what your going to get. Especially, at the ocean.

We went with a real good friend from our church and his kids. He's a single Dad with six kidlets. He's one of the best Dads I know and his kids are so much fun to be with. We all had a great time, even if the weather was a little uncooperative.


Here's my hubs with the pups.Tucker, the cocker spaniel NEVER relaxed. He was a nervous wreck the whole trip. Which makes Momma a nervous wreck. Chelsea was in her element. She loved it.

My sweet Honey Bunches of Oats. He's so sweet, I love my little man.

Here they are trying to figure out how to hydroplane the little boogie board

Trying to dig to the other side of the world.

Pretty trees.

The trail leading to the ocean from our camp site.

Even though it rained and the clouds refused to budge we had a wonderful time with our friends. We're grabbing those sites again for next year!

Tucker, my sweet little furry boy

I've had dogs all my life. Big one's, little ones and those in between. They've all been great dogs and wonderful companions. I have to tell you about one that has my heart. Tucker. I love my Chelsea-chilibeans (golden retriever). She's a wonderful dog and is sick smart! She loves me and I love her. But boy oh boy! this guy has just got my heart. I don't love my pets differently. That would be like trying to say which kid you like better! You can't! Tucker just has me wrapped though. Every time I look at him I want to squeeze him. He makes my heart melt.
Tucker does something that cracks me up and I can't figure out why he does it. When he's not sleeping on his throne (the couch) he's usually sitting in front of me, or close to me, staring at me. He just sits there and looks at me. He sits about two to three feet away and just sits and stares. Sometimes he gets up on the couch since we have a pet friendly home;0) and sits next to me and, yup, stares at me. It's so cute! I do want to add that Tucker is a Cocker Spaniel with thyroid issues. He doesn't have a real high energy level and his long walks every day usually poop him out. I play with him all the time, this is just something he does in addition to his cuteness.

This day he brought something along.

Looks like a big ol cigar in his mouth! He stayed like this for a long time. Isn't he the cutest!!

Fairy Poppet and Friends

My partner received the poppet I made, so I thought I'd post some pictures of what I created.

I worked really hard on her and I'm pretty proud. It was hard to send her away! I changed a few things on her. I didn't add the tail, I can never get those things turned. I added toes and fingers and pointy ears. I wish I had a better picture of the wings.

I sent her a few friends too. Here's the traditional poppet half the size.

And the newest Cupcake doll!

The Poppet and the Cupcake patterns can be found here. Good Cookie Creations
Take a look here too! Craftster

Sock Monkey Swap

Mr. Henry the Kendo Warrior Wannabe has arrived at his destination so I thought I would post some pictures I took before he left...






Since Henry is more of a lover than a fighter he's gone to his destination without weapons. (he was getting tired of nicking his tail anyway..;0)) I made his Kendo warrior outfit out of a large Black T-shirt. I used pretty much the whole T-shirt in making his outfit. He has pants a shirt and the skirt that ties around.It certainly does NOT follow the tradition of the Kendo garb since the pleats in the front and back all have meaning and they're all connected (Henry's is not) I didn't think Henry would mind and I'm hoping my partner didn't. I'm not that experienced with making doll or sock monkey clothes, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Oatmeal Pancakes..

I've made these pancakes for the last several weekends and my family and I just love them. I thought I would share the recipe with you! I also made homemade maple syrup. I'll put the recipe here as well.

Oatmeal Pancake Recipe



I double the recipe. I've used whole wheat flour in the recipe but didn't like it at all. I've also used regular milk but cut it down a bit so my batter isn't runny. I like a thicker batter.
These are soooooo good!

We ran out of maple syrup so I thought I would try and make some. Here's what I did..
In a sauce pan combine:
1 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
a dash of salt
(I added a bit of cornstarch to it as well, since I like a thicker syrup. I add about a 1/2 teaspoon to a little of the syrup I pull out into a cup. Mix it up so there's no lumps and put it into the sauce pan with the other ingredients. You certainly don't have to do this, since boiling it down will thicken it a bit.)
Heat the ingredients over medium heat until it dissolves and thickens up a bit.
This is really good syrup. It does need to be refrigerated since there's no preservatives in it. I'll be making this from now on.

I hope you try the recipes...the pancakes are sooooo yummy! Can't go wrong with Oatmeal.

Swap Dotee's

I wanted to post the Dotee's I made for my swap partners...


This little one was to look a bit bug like. I debated on adding hair but didn't in the end. It just seemed to much and I liked the little antenna's showing. It was to represent Nature and Tranquility...the little bells tinkle in the wind.


This one is to represent Davy Jones of the Monkee's. My partner liked the Monkee's and said she had never received a Dotee of the Monkee's but she puts it on her questionnaire in hopes. I was determined to get her a Monkee Dotee! I used felt for the hair and beads say The Monkee's, Davy Jones and I'm a Believer. The guitar was made with Shrinky Dinks.
This was a fun easy swap to do. Dotee's are super fun to make and pretty easy and you can run wild with the creativity.

"Candy" Perler Biggie Bead Bracelet...

I was cruising Pinterest the other day and found a neat little craft idea to make with melted perler beads. (Craft and Creativity) .
I made one using the larger Biggie Beads and thought I would share with you....Here's what it looks like finished.

I was looking for the smaller "traditional size" like the tutorial and ran across these Biggie Beads, I've not seen those before. They're quite a bit larger and much easier for my old hands to place on the pan. Anywho.. Heat your oven to 250 degrees F. For the smaller beads only heat to 200F Grab yourself a pan and line it with either parchment or aluminum foil. And lay out your beads like this...


Put them in your hot oven and keep an eye out. Mine took about 15-20 minutes to melt down so they looked like little beads. The little beads will take a lot less time so make sure and watch if you use them. There was no odor that I could tell but put your fan on, just in case. They look like this when they're ready to come out...


I smushed them down with a magazine so they had more of a uniform look to them, but it's not necessary to do that. Let them cool. I used Stretch Magic cord to sting them, tie it off and you have yourself a little perler bead "candy" bracelet! This would be a great craft for young girls.(Supervision with the oven of course) The beads are large enough, yet the colors are a bit limited with the larger beads but still colorful enough to look like a candy bracelet.