Fingerprint Friday

First, if your looking for this week's give away, scroll down and second, if you've been tagged, scroll down!

My photo for Fingerprint Friday. I love this photo! A few days ago, I met the mother of these beautiful children in my Etsy shop. She sent me this photo to show me what her daughter looked like. I wanted to ask her if I could use it for today but was embarressed. Tonight Sarah and I happened to be on the computer at the same time and I was having a very difficult moment. Sarah offered to pray for me and my child and it was a prayer that couldn't have come at a better time. So I think this is how God showed himself to me this week.
If you would like to join in, go over to Pampering Beckie.

Talk about You Tuesday (or Thursday!)

Wow and I have to share this with everyone. I purchased my friend Debbies bow company many years back (she decided to go back to being a lawyer!) so I still have lots of ribbon hangin around here. I have never perfected my bow, until now! Sometimes it's absolutely amazing all the information that is at our fingertips. I just googled, how to make a boutique hair bow and wala! So go and check this site out, Girly Things and you will never have to purchase another bow. (You can just spend hundreds of dollars on ribbon and have it sit around your house for years!)
And..remember to scroll down for my holiday skirt give away.

Give It Away Wednesday--Spreading the Spirit!! And, I've been tagged!

Today's Quote:
He Said "COME TO THE EDGE."
They said, "WE'RE SCARED."
He said, "COME TO THE EDGE."
THEY CAME TO THE EDGE, HE PUSHED THEM AND THEY FLEW.

This week's give away is for a velvet holiday skirt. You have 2 choices for color. green or Burgandy. Just leave a comment here, you have until next Wednesday. Good Luck!

And I have been tagged by Becca's world

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.
Here are my six...
1. I have given up on dating.
2. I have been known to use my last dollar to have a party.
3. When I got pregnant, my then husband and I couldn't picture me being a mother, I was such a workaholic. After I gave birth, I raised my head, saw her laying on the table and my first thought was I can take care of her. Then I passed out. I think I am a pretty good mother.
4. Sometimes I feel really sad about losing my business.
5. I totaled my first car, which was a bug, 10 minutes after I got it. My father was not happy!
6. I have had many jobs. I helped run a bed and breakfast, 7-11, pizza maker, short order cook, dollmaker, childrens party planner, sketcher, teacher, waitress, secretary, bakery, bridal alterations, bartender, deli dept at meat farms, babysitter, costume designer, wardrobe mistress, faux painter, stylist,house sitter, boss, factory owner and designer. You think with all that experience, I would be able to find a job!
I have tagged
Who would have thought
Never enoughluff
Connies turning 50
The Zawisza Tribune
My Crazy Life
Three Loud Kids

Recipe Monday

PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE
My daughter loves pumpkin pie, by November, I usually can't have another bite of pie! So, I decided to try this pumpkin Spice Cake. I made this for our halloween party. It was delicious, very moist and rich. This recipe's hints: Have all ingredients meaured and ready before you begin, it makes baking much simpler. I made this with the pumpkin creamcheese frosting but it would have been just as good and not so rich with plain cream cheese icing. Great cake for Thanksgiving! Every store I went to was out of Nutmeg, so I left it out. Cake tasted much better the following day. I would ice it and refrigerate uncovered 2 hours before serving. The uniced cake can be frozen for 2 months. I used two 9" pans instead of three 8". Also, very important, I went to 6 different stores looking for plain buttermilk, you can use 2%!
Enjoy!!
Recipe
3/4 cup(s) (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup(s) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup(s) sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup(s) pumpkin purée
1/2 cup(s) buttermilk
1 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
Prepare cake pans: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat three 8-inch cake pans with softened butter. Cut three 8-inch circles out of parchment paper and fit them into the bottom of the cake pans. Lightly coat the paper circles with butter and set aside.
Make the batter: Cream butter until smooth in a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed. Add the sugars and mix until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and light. Set aside. Combine the pumpkin purée, buttermilk, and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. In thirds, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture, blending well after each addition until smooth.
Bake the cake: Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean -- 35 to 40 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pan on wire racks for 30 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and return to the wire racks until completely cool.
Assemble the cake: Place one layer on a cake plate and top with one-third recipe of Pumpkin Cream-Cheese Frosting. Repeat with the second and third layers. Serve or store refrigerated for up to four days.

Last minute rush, I had to put the guests to work!



Pumpkin Creamcheese Icing
1 package(s) (8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup(s) pumpkin purée
1/4 cup(s) (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon(s) fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon(s) grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
4 cup(s) confectioners' sugar, sifted
DIRECTIONS
Blend the cream cheese, pumpkin purée, butter, orange juice, zest, and vanilla in a large bowl using an electric mixer set at medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and creamy -- about 5 more minutes

Christmas...the time for giving...$15. Skirt Sale

I'm sorry I missed my give away this week. Life kind of caught up with me and I needed to get some work done. I have taken all the small pieces of fabric in my closet and turned them into these beautiful skirts. They make great gifts because the price is right and are so easy to wear, so sizing is simple. Little girls love them! Quantity is very limited.
Also, I want to talk about Cornucopia. Cornucopia not only means horn of plenty but it is a horn of plenty that never runs out. I have gone thru really hard times during the last few years after losing my business. Last summer, I found out what it's like to be an out of work single mom in NY. Very difficult. We struggle here but I know the best thing to do when your struggling is to give. I want my experience to help others. I am not quite there yet financially. At Christmas I will donate 5% of what I make on Etsy to help PS . I heard a woman share about this school. A teacher there, she has to pay for all her supplies and will go without a salary. She said that sometimes the free lunch the kids get in school is the only food they have all day. These are the things I have to remember to know that I have a pretty damn good life and my stuggles are nothing compared to others.
I just had an idea, maybe this weeks give away could be a contest. I have no idea how to make those little side buttons. Make me a button for Cornucopia and the chosen design will win the skirt of your choice.

Talk about You Tuesday/Give away Wednesday

The picture of the peasant top above is a new item in my shop (perfect colors for Thanksgiving!) and the napkin idea below is just one of the great things I found on I found on Tip Junkie. Laurie, the blog owner has lots of great tips about give aways and great products. There are posts about decorating and seasonal things and also tutorials on how to work a blog. I have just begun to explore her blog and can't wait to do more research there! Also, she is running The Mom-prenuer Shop-a-thon (which I just signed up for)it's a one stop listing of a bunch of fabulous women who sell products. The challenge is to buy from women this holiday season. Here’s the link to the Shop-a-thon! http://tipjunkie.blogspot.com/2008/10/mom-prenuers-shop-thon_03.html

I won an award! My first! Thanks, Jaden!

Thanks Jaden! That was very nice of you. An award for me, as a creative blogger! Jaden was one of my give away winners and I love a quote I found on her blog. As the great Dr. Seuss said- "I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!” "The requirements for this award are to list six things that make me happy, then tag six more bloggers."
Six things that make me happy:
1. Of course, the 1st one, my daughter's happiness
2. Hosting Parties, all kinds
3. Warm rainy Saturday mornings and coffee and gardening
4. The beach at 4:30
5. Hiking deep into the woods
6. Being n love, will that ever happen again?
The final requirement for this award is to tag 6 more bloggers that are Kreativ.
1. Jumping in the rain puddles of life.
2.Little Jenny Wren
3.Hill upon Hill
4.Pampering Beki
5.Project Domestic Bliss
6. Daisy Bouquet

**REMEMBER TO SCROLL DOWN TO SIGN UP FOR MY GIVE AWAY< YOU HAVE UNTIL 10:00am ON WEDNESDAY!

Crazy in New York!!

Annual Dog Costume Contest
It's been a little crazy here this last month, Halloween is starting to feel more like Christmas then Christmas. There is abot a month of activity leading up to Halloween here. Oct 31 the weather was perfect, there were so many families and children out on the streets. My father always described Christmas when he was growing up in the 30's and 40's like this. People on the street and something in the air. Everyone happy. That's what it felt like. Like the old song. It's Christmas Eve in the city...It was really nice. Even though I live in a big city, I live in a small neighborhood...The "girls" sorting candyOur Halloween Bash!
a>Octoberfest and Community ServiceUnion Square Farmers Market, in the rain with hot cider

"80's Band" TRICK OR TREAT!!
And last but not least, my little model!

Give It Away Wednesday--Spreading the Spirit!!

This weeks winner was Jaden,winner of 2 cotton lycra tops. Go check out her poetry, very inspirational!
I have to confess I am being a little selfish here. One of the reasons I am doing this weekly give away is to change my life on a profound level. I am stuck in some lifelong routines that don't work anymore, and that's all I will say about that! Sorry I missed Talk about you Tuesday, this week it will be Talk about you Thursday! We are having a very BIG Halloween Party Thursday night in my very SMALL apartment. A little overwhelmed here!
This week's give away is for a sweet pink cotton peasant top, a "must have" in every little girl's wardrobe. You can leave a comment here until next Wednesday at 10:00 am. Lot's of pretty things have been given away already!
Also check out Chasing Moments Photography, the wonderful photographer/mom of this little beauty here.
As always, if you know of a child in need, please let me know.

Recipe Monday

POPOVERS!
"Antique cast-iron baking pans not only are beautiful reminders of days gone by, but they also make the best muffins you've ever tasted." Beth Kidder, New England baker
Just like a lot of other blog writers, I LOVE colecting almost anything (old)! I started collecting these old griswold pans a few years back. As quoted, they are beautiful and useful. I think there is something special about having a pan that is just for a certain muffin. When we make popovers my daughter knows that this is the "Popover Pan". It's a great way to build traditions and memories.
There is a special upkeep of these that I will try and post about later. The following recipe is delicious. My hint this time is don't get creative with the flour, I tried using a whole wheat flour and the popovers never popped, the flour was to heavy. Am I the only one who doesn't know these things?! Another hint, the hotter the pan, the better the muffin. Heat the oven with the greased pan inside, the batter should sizzle when its poured in.
Grease the pan thouroughly including the top and place inside oven. Heat oven to 400
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Sift flour and salt in bowl then add milk and eggs. Beat until well mixed which won'lt take very long. Ladle into pan, no more then 2/3 full.
Bake for 35 minutes or until popovers are very brown and puffed.
Remove from pan immediately and serve hot.
If your interested in starting a collection, they're available on Ebay.
Remeber to scroll down for my "Spreading the Spirit" give away!