Daisy Friday

After two hectic days of work at the restaurant, I had this beautiful friday off. There were chores to get done, and jewelry to be made (I made a pair of sweet earrings for my dear friend Emma who is going to Korea for the summer; and like a dufus I forgot to take a picture of them before giving them away). And once all the necesarry things were out of the way, I decided to do my favourite thing, which is go to the dog park with Daisy!

I slathered myself in sunscreen, filled the waterbottle, and pocketed plenty of poop bags before heading out. We walk there and back, so we get plenty of exercise (and it really tires her out so she is nice and mellow the rest of the day). In the evenings we generally go in the "small" dog park, but Daisy being the awkward size that she is, I blame the stubby legs, she can go either way. So because it wasn't an overly busy afternoon, we went in the "big" dog side.

Of course I had to bring my camera along to utilize the sun's perfect lighting, and get some new photos for her scrapbook. Doesn't she look so happy above? She really does love the dog park, it does wonders for socializing your dog and helping to make them happier. The pictures below are ones I took at home in the backyard, right before I filled up her kiddie pool for her to cool off.

I'll admit I took alot of pictures today. She is so good about doing sit -stays when I need a shot, but I think at this point she was feeling like I was the paparazzi. Love her little 'tude, like "No more please".

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

winter wonderland

We woke up to a wonderful surprise this morning; overnight it had snowed and was still snowing! It was the perfect light fluffy snow, which made shovelling a heck of a lot easier than usual. And after the hard work was done, Daisy and I had a little photoshoot. Enjoy the cuteness in her denim jacket!

It was hard to keep her attention long enough to snap a shot, she couldn't resist munching on the freshly fallen snow.

Close up of the cuteness! I love the snowglobe effect of being outside while it's snowing. There were lots of flakes caught on our lashes to be sure. And yes...the jacket is fleece lined. Only the best for my girl.

I saved my favourite one for last, she looks so picturesque here. This pic is now my desktop background. I hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse of cuteness as much as I have. I can not wait to scrapbook these into her album, and yes I am that crazy.

Daisy and I also want to give a shout out to our pals on the other side of the world. My friend Steph from flickr, has just added to her puppy brood. Her pup Archie now has a chug (chihuahua pug mix) sister named Gracie Scarlett!!

holiday joy

There is so much going on that its been hard to post things when I wanted to. But here is a quick update of some of the things that are new. My family and I had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope that you did too. There was so much good food, quality veg' time all cozied up on the couch together, and happy smiles as we opened gifts. Because my budget was so tight this year, I went with one small purchsed gift, and then their other gifts were handmade by me with much thought put into each thing. Everyone seemed more happy with their handmade gifts so I feel it was a success. And it only went to solidy my belief that it is not the price, but the thought behind the gift.




Here are some pretty cards I made. I'm entering these in the Paper Crafts December Gallery Challenge.






Daisy wants to wish you all the very best this season, as she fills in as one of Santa's reindeer!



And here is what I wore to the Christmas Party I hosted on Wednesday. After all that baking and prep, I managed to have a wonderful time and indulge my friends. The little black dress is thrifted, one of my wonderful finds at a Value Village half price day, lucky me!!

Thank you for taking the time to visit my little corner of the web, and reading my blog. I wish you all the very best.

tis the season...

To make cookies!

I have been baking up a storm since Monday in preparation for the open house Christmas party I am hosting tonight. I always go over the top when hosting parties, because I just love playing hostess. Apparently this time I've gone so over the top I broke the bank, and by broke the bank I mean, I'm broke and thus, am considering finding a job.

But those matters are not to be thought about until the new year. My mind is still in cookie mode. I did not want to do anything too fancy and meticulous, but I did want some cookies with taste & visual appeal to my guests. So I whipped up a few batches of my Mint Brownie Bites, Classic Sugar Cookies, and Gingerbread Men. And yes, they're all wee.

The mint brownie bites are compliments of Good Housekeeping, and the recipe can be found here, http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/mint-brownie-bites-recipe. Warning, highly delicious little morsels. I made them for the cookie exchange and they were a smash hit. I got a lot of feedback the next Sunday, or moms telling me how their children begged for more.

I also bought some pretzel batons, and dipped them in chocolate and then decorated them with sprinkles for another tasty party treat. But I had by mistake, melted too much chocolate for the amount of pretzels...what was I to do? Why dip the cookies, of course! And, because I simply could not resist, I made mini vanilla cupcakes. Don't they look so yummy with their frosting and sprinkles?!

Here's my perfect cupcake. I ate this one ahead of time, because I couldn't resist its cuteness.

And amongst all of this wonderful baking for my party, I took time to make a batch of peanut butter doggie treats, for Daisy, but also for the dogs of my friends & clients. They're cute wee gingerbread men, a festive treat for any pooch.

Look at how 'wee the baby gingerbread cutter is? Perfect size for doggie treats. And don't worry, the peanut butter treats will not be mixed up with the real gingerbread men. What holiday baking have You been up to? Let me know with a comment, I promise to read them all.

busy days

I forgot how hectic the days become as the holidays draw near. Mum was hosting a small party tonight, so first thing on my agenda was to clean the house top to bottom. That was work enough. But after that, the day kept throwing more tasks at me to complete, and I tackled each one with as much cheer as I could muster.

After the cleaning was done though, I was pleasantly surprised by the postman delivering a package from my grandparents!! It made me so happy.

I've a function to attend tomorrow night, and I thought I would make some treats. Just some easy truffles and peppermint bark hearts. They weren't so easy, but once they were done I was really happy. And I most definitely did some sampling...Truffles are heavenly. Nuff said.




I also decided to work on some Christmas presents. I made a necklace for a friend, and a necklace & earrings set for my mother. As I know she has no clue how to find my blog, I'm posting her gift on here for you all to see. She liked purple alot, so I made her some jewelery to go with all her purpley tops and dresses. Its packaged with a pretty bow and nestled under the tree for her now. This is the sort of jewelery that will be available when I open my Etsy shop in January!

Lastly, I found Daisy's festive neckerchief which had been tucked away from last year. She has a special holiday message to share :

"Fleas Navidad!"

Daisy's Goodie Giveaway!

In celebration of November being the month in which I adopted Daisy from the local shelter, and also the month of her birthday, we wanted to extend the celebration to our blog readers. As I have been in scrapbook mode lately, Daisy's album is now complete too, but I've got so many stickers left over, I thought I'd share them. I also made some pretty stamped note cards, and sewed some sweet bandanas. Daisy is seen above, modelling the medium size. And I picked up this sweet pocket puppy calendar for 2010. So how can you win these goodies? Simply leave a reply here on the blog and tell me a little bit about Your four legged friend!! Leave an email address where you can be reached and your name will be entered in the draw which will take place on November 30th, Daisy's third birthday!




Good luck, and also, remember to vote in the blog poll, it helps me know what you're interested in!!


cheers.

fdwdaisy tester

Over the weekend I found these little bottles from Wilton for candy making. I thought they were a brilliant idea and they would help me fill molds alot easier, with less mess. So I decided to buy them (they were only $2.79 for the pair) and give them a try. I documented the test to share with you.

You need a squeeze bottle, some candy melts, or chocolate melts like I used, and a candy mold. Mmm....chocolate...

The instructions were to fill the bottle half way with the melts. I filled it 3/4 because let's face it; the more chocolate the merrier.

Then you need to place the bottle in a bowl of warm water. Warm seemed to me like it would cool too quickly, so I boiled water and set it in that instead. While its melting, knead the bottle to help the candies melt and smooth out.

I thought the boiling water was a perfect opportunity for some hot chocolate. Unfortunetly, we were out of marshmallows....I did spruce it up with a dash of peppermint extract though.

When the candies are all melted and you've kneaded it really well, it should be smooth and ready to fill the molds. Well...Everything worked great until this step. Look at the tiny stream that comes out...and you would not believe the amount of squeezing it took to get that! I filled one mold about half way and gave up, using a spoon (the old method) to dig out the chocolate and spoon it into the molds. The bottle also did not keep the melts very warm, so they started solidifying early, leaving my daisies with lumpy backs.

But the daisies are still cute right? And yes, I chose to make daisy chocolates because I'm celebrating my Daisy all month long. Though, as much as she may want to, she can't have these treats. My final verdict on the squeeze bottle method for doing candy melts is three daisies out of ten. Good idea, but it just did not work as well as it should have. I am going to cut the tips off more, and see if I can't increase the flow that way. But I still need to solve the hardening chocolate issue, which might require lots of fresh hot water. I'll let you know how test number two goes.

Let me know if you found this helpful. Have you tried the squeeze bottle method? Did it work or make more work?

Daisy Mondays in November

Right, so I've never denied that I am one of those slightly ridiculous people who 'love' their pets a crazy amount. Today is Daisy's second anniversary of being adopted from the local shelter! This dog has made my life so wonderful, and I love her so much that I simply must celebrate. Its completely true what they say about love an animal and you will receive it so much more in return.

Today is her Happy Adoption Day, and to celebrate I baked her delicious doggie treats, which coincidentally are both nutritious and cheap. Yay! That scottie cookie jar was a sale find at Winner's which Mum gave to her (daisy) last Christmas.

While I am not so crazy to throw her a party and invite her doggie pals, I am borderline...So I have done up little treat bags for her pals (a.k.a - my clients' dogs).

Because her adoption day is at the beginning of the month, and her birthday at the end, I've decided to do a wee bit of celebrating all month long. Every Monday's post will be dedicated to something dog related. Also, at the end of the month there will be a Daisy Goodie Giveaway, open to all of my blog readers. Keep posted for more info about the giveaway!