Vintage Pink Cake

.....

I thought I would share one of my newest card styles.

It's not yet up on my website but I will be bringing it to the

 gift show along with a few other new ones.

The perfect card for birthdays, weddings, or any celebration for that matter!

Who doesn't love a pink cake?!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Sisters and Babies

Yesterday I was blessed with my first niece...Lila Kate. 

Born Sunday at 5:30am, she is a beautiful baby just like her momma.

I am dying to meet her and wish I could just blink 

and be up in Washington holding her.

.....

Sisterhood... It's a pretty cool thing.

My two older sisters and I are like this -->both fingers crossed

We talk on the phone not just once but multiple times a day.

About big things, small things, because we are bored, 

because we need advice or affirmation about a decision or maybe because 

we can't figure out what to order at Starbucks.

.....

So when big things happen.. Say... Having a child!...

it's hard not being all together.

At 2:30 am after getting the text from my mom saying she's pretty sure it's baby time.. of course I was wide awake. 

It's not like I was going to go back to sleep and say "okay call me when she's here."

.....

 I was talking to my oldest sister on her quick break at work...

(she's awesome and works night shifts as the best nurse for kiddos) 

and we were saying how it's like a part of us is having a baby! 

(Except for the small fact that neither of us have to go through much physical pain.)

.....

While I waited for the next 3 hours I watched full house, played candy crush, and texted/called my mom every two seconds trying to get 'play by plays' and updates. Until my sister finally called me to tell me Lila had made her debut!

I am so excited to meet this sweet girl in 2 short weeks 

when I head up for the Seattle Gift Show! 

.....

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Happy Friday!

Today I am finishing getting my stack of invites together

 to send out for the Seattle Gift Show!

I decided on simple postcards.

It is all coming together and I am so looking forward to it. 

After spending much time conjuring up ideas for my booth, I finally know 

what I want it to look like. 

The challenge of course-- turning my idea into a reality. 

.....

I think this booth is totally awesome. 

{image source}

It's Lollia's booth...you know...that beautiful smelling lotion, perfume, bubble bath, and soap. I absolutely love their line. 

And that booth is like a small house...so cool!

.....

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Garden Progress!

After being gone for a whole week it was fun to come 

back and see how much the garden had taken off!

Luckily we had a timed sprinkler in there or else 

everything probably would have died.

.....

A little over a week ago I almost harvested one of our squash zucchinis...it was probably about 7 inches long and I thought it looked ripe. I ended up leaving it and when we came back on Saturday this is what it looked like.

It was huge!! Maybe a little too big? I don't know. We ate it anyways and it was great. 

I would love to try one of the recipes using squash blossoms but am a little intimidated. Someday. 

Our corn I think is almost ready to be picked. Apparently we bought the miniature variety (if there is such a thing) because the entire corn stalk only comes up to my waste. Which doesn't say much since I lack in height.

Remember "Brian's Spicy Spaghetti" ??? Well these peppers were the culprit. Of course they haven't turned orange yet but I am sure our mouths will be on fire soon enough.

We randomly decided to plant a watermelon. People always said it would take over the garden. Well I finally believe them. It branches? vines? currently spans at least 8ft across the garden. I'm sure it'll just keep getting bigger.  (excuse the hose going through this picture)

 We're not sure what kind of onions we bought. They look like red onions meet green onions. But I thought we bought white onions. We've used a couple in meals and they are really strong but tasty...and probably under-ripe still.

 I went a little camera crazy with the red kale because it's so pretty! It definitely needs to be harvested and cleared a bit.

And lastly our tomatoes. They're slowly coming along. I am used to the cherry tomatoes that seem to grow so quickly you can't even get them all. I just keep on waiting and waiting to be able to pick one of these babies.

Happy gardening!

Relaxing!

Before we left for vacation with Brian's family, 

my head was spinning with a million different things I wanted to accomplish.

.....
With the Seattle gift show just a few weeks away,

my to-do list was long (and still is!) and the thought of taking a whole 

week off seemed almost a little scary.

.....
I have the tendency to go-go-go and often feel the need

 to be doing something productive at all times.
I wasn't going to have service for the week of vacation either 

which furthered my anxiousness about getting things in order.
.....
This was one of the first times I had to really force myself to relax

 and pause my brain from thinking about everything I needed to get done.
...

The week was great spending it with family and

I do feel quite rejuvenated and ready to tackle my list and get things done.

A glimpse at our week!

 (including my brother-in-law getting engaged!)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Pound Cakes and Spicy Spaghetti!

I made my first pound cake the other day!

We went over to our neighbors for dessert and they had suggested pound cake so pound cake it was.

Did you know they call it that because there is a pound of butter in it?!?!?

It makes sense but I didn't realize that.

I searched for a recipe with my trusty friend google and ended up finding 

"The Perfect Pound Cake" recipe from Pioneer Woman.

I love the Pioneer Woman show and I've used her recipes before so I thought perfect!!

Plus..this recipe only called for 3 sticks of butter... 

Not even a full pound. Win win!

Away I went with the mixer!

After the hour of baking it says it should be golden brown and not jiggly.

I probably spent the next 5 min or so shaking it to see if it was jiggly but then realizing my eyes can't move that fast so maybe I'm just not seeing it jiggle but it actually is

2 more minutes in the oven ( that's always my go to with anything.. Dessert, chicken, fish)

And another 2 minutes because I still could t tell if it was still jiggly after that

I finally called it good and inverted it so that it could fall out naturally like stated in the recipe..

A couple hours went by and it still hadn't fallen out.

Finally I took the knife to it and carefully scraped the edges...

After prying, shaking and hitting the pan upside down, it finally broke in half and came out.. 

The top still intact to the pan

{Lesson learned: you must spray a TON of cooking spray in the pan before you bake}

The good news is that it was still edible and didn't taste half bad!

.....

In other cooking news

Brian made the best pasta last night

I'm talking restaurant status

We picked our first vegetable that was ready... An orange pepper.. 

A HOT one...not an orange bell pepper

We also picked chives, basil, and a few onions that weren't ready to be picked but we thought, what the heck lets use them anyway!

He decided to take the dinner reigns last night...

The Ingredients

1 diced chicken Italian sausage

1/2 diced zucchini

1 diced orange pepper (if your willing to take a risk)

4-5 basil leaves

A small handful of chives

1 garlic clove

3 small unripe onions (or 1/3 cup diced onion)

3/4 cup tomato sauce (not marinara or spaghetti sauce)

Whole wheat spaghetti

.....

Sauté the first 7 ingredients while boiling water for pasta.

Get the pasta cooking away

Mix the tomato sauce in with the sauté and let heat up and simmer a bit

Mix together with cooked spaghetti and top with parmesan cheese 

.....

Our mouths were on fire!!! We realized that pepper we planted was hotter than anticipated. 

But it was oh so good!!

...

We are headed on vacation tomorrow with Brian's family for a week.

 I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will hopefully be able to post next week.

The first bloom

When Brian and I went to get vegetables for our garden a couple months ago,

we also picked up a Gardenia plant.

Gardenia has always been one of my favorite scents

After talking to relatives and friends 

not many of them had ever tried growing Gardenia and if they did it didn't turn out too well

apparently it needs sun in the morning more so than the intense sun in the afternoon

we found that out after it had been planted but luckily it was still in a pretty good place

I was so thrilled to walk downstairs the other day and see this!

And oh my it smells delightful

Of course that bloom is slowly turning brown around the edges...

{trying to google that to see if that is normal}

But not to worry because not one but two more blooms have popped!

Who knew I could be so excited about a flower

I guess I felt like we accomplished something by them actually blooming!

.....

In other exciting news....

Some of my cards have found a new home...

 at Willow Papery in the beautiful town of Ketchum, Idaho.

{Image Source}

Are you familiar? 

It looks like such a beautiful town!

If you are ever in the area check out Willow Papery!

.....

I hope you all are having a great week!

C.A.S.T. for Kids

Growing up, my sisters and I would often go on fishing trips with my dad. 

Daddy-daughter fishing trips were the best

We knew there would be sweet treats along the way like hot chocolate which made up 
for waking up early, early in the morning

It's funny how many memories you walk away with...

to this day I remember some of the songs I heard on the radio as we drove to one of the lakes

and we still talk about the funny man who sold us bait at the dinky little mart

Though many people wouldn't think of me as the most "outdoorsy" fishing gal...I love the fact that you can sit on the boat for an hour and not catch anything..

but the second you do catch a fish, the feeling you get is completely worth the wait.

I promise there is a reason for this fishing story...the long awaited next organization Lindsay P Designs is working with to give back...

C.A.S.T. for Kids Foundation!

They have three different programs they offer.

C.A.S.T for Kids

Fishing for Kids

Take a Warrior Fishing

They host events all over the country providing a fishing experience for 
both children and adults who may not get the experience otherwise.

Not only do they help children but I love their newest program to support 
military personnel and their families. 

{Image Source}

{Image Source}

{Image Source} 
Check out their website and see why I am so excited to be able to give back to this organization!  

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Brian has a bike race on Saturday..

So we spent the morning working out..

Brian getting one more bike ride in while I ran..

That is pretty much our Saturday routine these days...

and yesterday definitely felt like a Saturday!

{I always try to snap pictures of Brian as he rides past me}

The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping with all of the other "day-of holiday shoppers."

Lets just say the Watermelon was slim pickens and we tossed the whole thing after we tried some it.

I suppose that's the price I pay for waiting until the last minute!

The fair grounds by us were having a fireworks show that night and as we drove near it decided that the crowds weren't worth it...

Hard to believe the next holiday is labor day which I am sure 

will be here before we know it!

.....

I have some exciting news I recently found out about...

My cards were featured in the Seattle Gift Show Catalog! 

I am hoping to get more exposure from this.

The show is slowly approaching and I have been busy getting my cards and aprons together.

I have so many ideas for my booth and I am anxious to see them unfold. 

.....

Hope you all have a great Friday and 4-day weekend for many!

Happy {almost} 4th of July!

Fried chicken anyone?

It's hard to believe 4th of July is tomorrow!

It's one of those holidays that seems to sneak up on you so quickly!
.....

I love decorating for holidays but ill be honest... I don't have many decorations up for the 4th and I'm slightly bummed.

Maybe next year I will be more proactive...

{this will most likely be my only decoration}

I am still trying to decide what we will have for dinner...

 but more importantly dessert.

It's going to be 95 degrees and the thought of using the oven doesn't sound too appealing
 so I think barbecuing is in order!
I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July! 

It's July!

When July hits I always feel like it is officially Summer.

Graduations are over, families are going on vacation, kids are all out of school and the weather seems to agree that it is in fact Summer.

(especially this week...it seems like it is hot, hot, hot everywhere!)

.....

What do you do to make summer fun? 

The days of no school, and sleeping in with the only agenda being the water balloon fight in the afternoon, are now over for most of us.

I still think Summer can be just as fun!

Drink some fresh squeezed lemonade...

Take a minute to sit outside and enjoy the sun (if it isn't toooo hot)...

And make a fun summer dessert...

popsicles anyone?

(Speaking of which...I highly recommend the Dreyers Outshine Creamy Coconut fruit bars

If you like coconut they are absolutely divine!)

....

Wednesday I will be announcing the next non-profit organization that will be receiving 10% of every sale through September! I am so excited to tell you all about this organization. 

Stay tuned!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

{one of my favorite pictures from last Summer!}