Today's Adventure

Today, I sent Foster into a familiar nursery rhyme, Little Boy Blue.  He found the sheep, but not the cows.  We'll see what the next adventure brings!

Spring Awakening

As many others who go through cold snowy winters, the scent of spring in the air brings thoughts and ideas for our outdoor spaces, big and small.  The home and garden stores start to fill with the signs of the coming months and with itchy trigger finger gardeners who can barely wait to get they're annuals in the ground.

Looking out the window at my own winter beaten yard, I decided to join the dreamers and look for inspiration.  I'm a fan of an eclectic mix of styles indoor and out, which I'm sure you'll notice in the images below.  So here is a collection of gardens, garden decor and accessories, deck and balcony spaces.  Enjoy!

Lovely!  Never would I have thought to do this!  I think it takes the right kind of space to make it work, but the look is fab.  It reminds me of the clawfoot tub in the garden, idea.  Image via Daisy Pink Cupcake

As an avid tea drinker, this one appeals to me :)  Image via Funky Junk Interiors

I love these upcycled garden markers from Monkeys Always Look on Etsy.  Perfect for your herb garden, indoors or out.

A gorgeous balcony space I would love to spend time in.  Via Creative Design

A burst of colour in an urban space. Via Flickr

An inviting outdoor room with a stunning colour palette.  Via DIY Network

You could surely be inspired to get your hands dirty in this welcoming vegetable garden.  

Courtesy of Shirley Kelly

A gorgeous stained glass bird bath from Gloria's Glass Garden on Etsy.  Love!

Weekend Brunch

This past weekend, my husband and I had a couple friends over for a pancake brunch.  And yes... I put food colouring in them!  Just not as much as shown in the rainbow pancakes post.  Although, I still want to make them one day!

On the table were my waistline friendly pancakes (8 points for 3 cakes for you weight watcher folks), home made fruit compote, fresh blueberries, banana, chopped pecans and fat free cool whip.  It was oh so good!  If you are interested in the recipes for the pancakes and topping, I've included them at the end of this post.

After a little pancake action and some coffee, we spent some relaxing time in the living room (food coma) with our little guy.  Although, Foster had alternative plans for his Auntie... who he all out attacked with hair pulling (it's his new thing) and goober!

I hope you enjoy these recipes!

Fluffy Pancakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup Splenda sweetener

1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups low fat milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 Tbsp light butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all dry ingredients well in a large bowl.  Mix all wet ingredients together in another bowl.  Add the wet mixture into the dry and stir until combined.  Do not over mix.  Cook over medium heat with a little cooking spray in a non stick pan.  Yields 12 pancakes.  

*This recipe is very flexible.  Add fruit, nuts or chocolate chips if you want some variation

Fruit Compote

2 cups water

1/2 cup Splenda brown sugar blend

3 tsp cornstartch

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon rind

2 cups fresh berries, pureed or mashed

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and mix well.  Add water and bring to a boil while stirring constantly.  Add fruit and lemon juice / rind and simmer approximately 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Will thicken as it cools.  Serve while warm or store in refrigerator.  Freezes well.  It's also great on white cakes, cheese cakes and ice cream.

La Marquise des Anges

I had the pleasure of dealing with Sabine when purchasing a beautiful cameo necklace (pictured above) a couple months ago, from her Etsy shop, La Marquise des Anges.  I just HAD to share her shop with you.  It was such a positive experience!  Located in Paris, Sabine searches for unique items to create her pieces, of which you can tell, are made with a lot of care and love! 

So head over and check out Sabine's creations.  Or better yet, buy yourself something lovely!

Blueberry Banana Oat Muffiny Goodness

Introducing.... my favourite muffins :)  They are yummy, moist and friendly to your waistline.  Also, the ingredients are pretty interchangeable.  Don't like blueberries?  Swap it for another type of berry.  Don't like artificial sweeteners like Splenda?  That's ok too... just use regular sugar.  Although, that will bump up the calorie count.  You could easily turn this into a morning glory muffin as well.  Just add some shredded carrot and some raisins and you have a great breakfast treat.  For any of you Weight Watcher folks, one muffin is 3 points.  So if you would like to enjoy some muffiny goodness, check out my recipe below.  They barely last two days in my house!

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup Splenda sweetener
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 3/4 cup low fat milk (1% or less)
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine all wet ingredients into a smaller bowl.
2. Add wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until incorporated.  Do not over mix.
3. Spray muffin pan lightly with non stick spray or use paper muffin liners and spoon mixture into muffin tins.  They will be full close to the top.
4. Bake in a 400F preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Yield: 12 good size muffins

Rainbow Pancakes? Yes Please!

Mmm... I can't wait to try these beautifully happy looking Rainbow Pancakes from I Am Mommy.  What an awesome idea!  If you don't like the amount of food colouring used, you could use fruits or vegetables to dye your pancake batter as well.  Blueberries, strawberries, even a little spinach would work out (shhh... I wont tell the kids!).  For me?  I have lots of food colouring in my cupboard.  So this idea is on deck next pancake day!

Colossal Fruit

On my quest to loose a little weight from my pregnancy and just in general, I decided to join Weight Watchers.  I've never done anything like this before but I'm proud to say I lost 6.6 lbs my first week.  SO proud!  Now I'm on week number two and keeping things interesting by shaking up my meals.  Literally.  A friend of mine who is also doing WW, gave me a WW friendly 'just add milk' shake in a pouch.  So, in order to make it a bit more interesting, I wanted to add some ice and fruit to bulk it up.  When lo and behold... there was this MAMMOTH strawberry in the container!  Creepy looking and measuring in at a whopping 4 inches wide, I wasn't sure I wanted to eat this thing... I mean.. look at it!  It's just bizarre!  But as you can see, I quickly got over my apprehension lol.  And the shake was yum-o.

PS, here is a pic of my little man for the day :)

Done!

I finally got my second felt flower pillow done.  It's a little difficult with a new baby to devote time to these projects so I'm super happy when I get something finished.  I originally made a felt flower pillow for a friends birthday present, but I fell in love with it and decided I HAD to make one (for now lol) for my self as well!  So I found an old pillow case I wasn't using anymore, washed and stuffed it so it was ready too go.  It was a little worn and needed some new life.

Then the hard part.  Choosing which colours to do!  This is only some of the flowers I have ... Oi!

And after all, I decided to go with simple creamy white, embellished with gunmetal tone buttons in a few of the flowers.  It's like a whole new pillow and looks great in my home. 

Next I think I'll make some pretty flower hair pins for my niece.  I'll have to grab that 40% off coupon from the flyer for the craft supply store and go restock some of my findings.  I love me some time in the craft store!

A take on a classic

Since it was a dreary one out today except for a small window of time where the sun was actually shining, I decided to send Foster on another adventure today.  Charles Ebbets inspired..  This is one of many... (45 and counting) adventure photos so far.  My goal is 50.  Almost there!!

Becoming a trend...

So Foster has developed a thing for falling asleep in his jumper.  Luckily, I caught it on video lol.  Ugh... I could eat up the cuteness!

My lttle stunt man

This is one of many 'adventure' photo's Foster has been the model for.  I am determined to end up with one killer baby album for my little circus performer.  At forty plus different scenes already under our belts, I'd say we're well on our way!

Pillow Talk

I made this super cute pillow for friend's birthday recently... and I loved it sooo much, I've already started making felt flowers to do one just for me.  SUPER easy and lots of impact.  Buy, make or spruce up an old pillow case you already have.  How cute would it be to have some bright coloured flowers on a bold, graphic fabric?!

All inspired by this easy to follow tutorial for making felt flowers by Sara over on Craft Snob.
PS, this gift went over really well!

St.Patty's Day

Happy St.Patty's Day all!  The treasure at the end of this rainbow is the BEST treasure of all :)

A Shy Hello

Welcome :)

My name is Amber.  I have a wonderful husband and a five month old baby boy named Foster.  They are the loves of my life.  After much encouragement and *ahem* pushing to start a blog of my very own.... here we are!

I would be lying if I said I knew the exact direction this blog will take, but you can be sure it will involve family, recipes, crafting, art and well... all out pretty and yummy things.  Naturally, there will be an injection of my little boy here and there too!

-A