LollyChops

Alive and Picking!!!

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to let you know that I am alive and picking (veggies that is).  RonChops and I are having a fantastic summer!

I have been gardening, reading, swimming (which is more like bathing since the pool has turned into a giant sauna) and bike riding (loads and loads of bike riding).  I decided that I needed a real deal serious blog break... BUT...I WILL BE BACK!  Look for me to be posting again towards the end of summer.  I have something special planned for my one year blog-aversary on Aug. 16 (so keep your eyeballs peeled). 

More hugs than you can stand (honest) with some little lovies thrown in on the side!

me

Happy Hello!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to take a minute to say hi (HI!!!) and let you all know that I am doing pretty good!  I have managed to tear myself away from the computer for two whole weeks and it's been wonderful!  I am taking this recovery thing pretty seriously so bear with me while I take another week to get back to normal (well.... as normal as I'll ever be anyway)!

My email looks like an episode from a new show I just made up called "When Craft Bees Attack" so bear with me there too.  I'll need to don my bee suit and dive in before the swarm takes over the craft room!

I miss you all tons and cannot wait to get back into the swing of things!

More HUGS than you can stand!

P.S.  THANKS for ALL of the well wishes! 

P.S.S.  MomChops was not able to tackle my email.  She's having knee replacement surgery this Thursday and has had a lot going on to get ready for that!

O.M.T.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Cupcake Week :: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a cloud?

For the last cupcake week post I would like to share a simple / silly little cuppy I made using my mad needle felting skillz (they are really not all that mad... there mostly sad... but that's ok).

I corralled a leftover never finished or shared project from BTBW (big time bunny week) as a sacrificial craft element for this project.  I started on a felt bunny pin cushion and I just ran out of time/steam (that was a crazy week for sure).  So I grabbed that bunny bottom and turned him into a cupcake bottom for my needle felted top!  I'll run you through the amazing transformation (get ready to oohhh and ahhh) and then wrap up Cupcake Week with a final amazing recipe from LFM!

 
Here you have a mound of felt roving atop a bunny base.
I used my leftover roving from my Wool Pets Bunny Kit (you can see it HERE).


I started poking away at it to see if I could get the swirls of cupcake frosting happening.
poke
poke
poke
poke
ouch
poke
poke


It's (poke) starting (poke) to (poke) take (ouch) shape.


I even attempted to make a little dollop top.
(which looks rather cloud like if you ask me).


..and here we have store bought cuppy saddling up to needle felted cuppy.
She's short and sweet and he's tall unfinished and hammiesome.
She let him borrow some of her sprinkles.
Cause she's nice like that.

I had so much fun experimenting with PhotoShop brushes that I decided to make a rabid pack of .png files from those cupcakes for you to play with as well (you can use them as digi scrapbook elements too).  These resize and print perfectly (with no crazy fuzzies like the brushes...  which I WILL get worked out)!



Download the .png files HERE (they are in a .zip file)!

Also...  do not forget to head on over to LFM's for the grand finale of grand finales in cupcake land!  Think ooey gooey cinnamony goodness!

Don't forget to download all of the recipe cards from LFM's!



Special thanks to La Fuji Mama for being my cohort this week!  I had such a good time sharing everything with you!  Thanks so much for hanging out.  I'll be gone all of next week recovering from the surgery!  MomChops is officially trained on responding to email to be sure to leave her LOADS of comments to reply to!

Giant CUPPY HUGS!



P.S.  If you are interested in finding out how things went with me and GallyChops head on over to Fuji's tomorrow to get the scoop!

Cupcake Week :: One onesie and the brush off test!

Can you believe this is the next to the last day of Cupcake Week?  I am astonished it's gone by so fast!  I hope you guys have been having as much fun as LFM and I have been!  I know we were giggling like crazy women just planning this thing out...  I think our hubs wanted to lock both of us up (which would have been fine with us as long as she has access to a kitchen and I have access to a JoAnn's, Michael's and a Hobby Lobby (that would have been some prison right???).  You guys can come too if you want ok!

So today I am taking the CheaterChops route.  I am going to use the Cupcake patterns I shared on Tuesday (you can see them HERE) and show you how I made a cute little onesie for LFM's baby gurl (and then I have one more surprise way down at the bottom)!

But first...it's time for some onesie funsies (holey corn dogs batman)!

I did a little tutorial on the wonder that is Wonder Under a while back.
You can see it HERE.
I used it again (from the world's oldest roll of the stuff - courtesy of MomChops)


I picked some pretty pink fabrics and got everything all ironed and cut out
(this time I managed NOT to iron the wonder under to my ironing board)


...and like magic the cupcake pieces jumped on to the little Onesie
and effortlessly sewed themselves on.
The End.

I wish.

I nearly had a sewing machine thrown out of the window incident.
...but we'll save that story for the "LollyChops Fun with Sewing Machine Angst" week.
ok?

So...  my next bit involves PhotoShop.  I decided to try my hand at making some little cupcake photoshop brushes and I need those of you out there who have PhotoShop to help me test them out.  I think they still need some tweaking...  but once I get this down...  WATCH OUT (and I am totally not kidding)!  I am going to go into a PhotoShop brush making frenzy for sure (I see Hamie and Hank brushes in your future girls).

You can download the Cupcake Brushes HERE (try right clicking and then saving to your desktop). 
...and you can see a little tutorial on how to install them HERE.
...and you can send me lots of HUGS anytime you want ok?!
 ...and don't forget to go check out my cohort in cupcake craziness (A.K.A. the mob boss of Fuji's Cupcake Emporium ) LFM.

Here is a little sneak of the recipe card for today!



Cupcake Squeezers (and thank goodness that was a short post cause you guys have got to be getting tired of me HUGS),



P.S.  Tomorrow it's farewell to ole GallyChops.  He's had a good run but it's time for him to head off to that place where little Gally's go.  Thanks so much for all of your wonderful emails and cards!  You guys ROCK the craft universe!

P.S.S.  Can you please let me know what you think of the CupCake PhotoShop brushes when you get a chance.  I am dying to see how they work.  I think I need to tweak the crispness and saturation a bit...  your feedback is invaluable!

Oh gosh....  O.M.T. (so much for this being a short post).  You must go check out the cute cupcake embroidery / everything pattern available at Petit Debutant (available HERE) AND go check out the massive Cupcake Party Planning that's going on over at Ready, Set, Craft! (start HERE)  WOW!!!  I want to be Joanne's niece!

Cupcake Week :: Shrinky Dinks & Tags!

 

When deciding on what I wanted to share this week tags were most definitely at the top of the list!  But I knew I could not just do tags!  That would be totally boring (Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz).  So...a while back I ordered some shrinky sheets from Dick Blick (you can see the ones I ordered HERE)... and I decided to do a tag/shrinky dink combo for Cupcake Week (whew...  world's most boring download and print post narrowly escaped)!

Let's dive right in (frosting first!!!)!

I made these tags to work with a Marvy pink scallop punch.
(like so many tags that I have come before )
Do you sense a theme here?

Am I getting boring?????
OMGoose.

You can use these tags to decorate packages...
Wait... haven't we seen that package before...

With a different tag?????

G.A.S.P.

BUSTED!
(only I removed the orange ribbon and the "L" tag).
Quiet down folks...  I am going green here.
Recycling is IN!
Right?

...and you can also use the tags with store bought cupcakes
See how they make them look almost homemade???
Almost.
(if you squint)

Now for the shrinky dinks!
I had never made shrinky dinks before and it takes a little more practice than I was expecting.
I wanted to share my trials with you in case you decide to give this a try.
I hope this prevents you from making as many mistakes as I did!

I bought the shrink sheets that you can run through an ink jet printer.
I got clear and white (resource HERE).
These are the clear ones.

I found that you cannot punch larger shapes very easily with these sheets.
They are just too thick.
The 1 inch circle punch seemed work just fine though.
I found that laying them on chip board was much better than parchment or vellum.
They tell you not to cook them directly on metal.


You cover them with vellum to help keep the curling to a minimum.
I baked mine at 300 F for 3 minutes and 30 seconds (exactly).


I burned the tar out of the first batch I made.
I had the oven too hot and parchment was not a good bottom for the pan.


The second batch did not cook long enough so they were still really curly on the edges.
But the third batch was just right (kinda like the 3 bears).

You can see how much these shrunk and how totally adorable they are!
They are like shrinky sprinkles!

I also did an experiment where I inked the edges of one of the shrinky punch shapes before I baked them and they came out pretty nice
(the inked one is on the left).

You can get the templates for the smaller 1 inch circle punches and the tags that work with the Marvy pink scallop punch below!

Cupcake Week - Think Pink Tags
Download the PDF HERE

AND

One Inch Cupcake Circles
Download the PDF HERE
Note:  I crammed as many cupcake circles on one page as I could (in order to reduce waste as much as possible).  Those shinky sheets are eggspensive!

AND...(but wait there's MORE???)

Don't forget to head on over to my Cupcake Week Co-Host (La Fuji Mama) to check out the recipe for today (it's her own invention and totally amazing!!!).  Shirley Temple Cupcakes cooked in a glass mug (they really do look like Shirley Temples)!!!  She's a crafty cooking geeneous.  I swears!

You can get a sneaky peak at the recipe card to my right but you have to head on over to Fuji's Cupcake Emporium to learn how to make them and get the real recipe card!

You know you wanna collect all these recipe cards don't cha???

So that's all I gots for today!  Tomorrow I am going to share a cute little cupcake onesie made using the embroidery patterns from yesterday!  

Cutsie Cupcake HUGS (I think my blog is waving the pink flag of surrender over here)!  It's never seen this much pink before it's whole life.  Ever.  Whew.

P.S.  HUGS x 1,000,000,000,000 = more hugs than you can stand (honest)!

Cupcake Week :: Super Sweet Embroidery

The cupcake week fun continues today with some super sweet embroidery patterns just for you!  Since I have not been myself these past few weeks and barely crafting at all La Fuji Mama (co-host extraordinaire) graciously volunteered to make up a little something with some of the patterns!

I have a quick and simple share of her completely adorable cupcake tea towel and some patterns for you to make them all for your very own selves...  BUT first... a silly little RonChops story.

A Study in the HUBS Cupcake Eating Habits - by LollyChops
When I was getting ready for this week and working on my download and print freebies I... ummmm.... asked RonChops to go to the store to buy me some store bought cupcakes (hanging head in shame)!  All I can do now is blame it on GallyChops!!!!  He's being such a trouper lately!  I have not been doing much cooking of regular foods much less a boat load of cupcakes (I left that daunting task to La Fuji Mama and her hips (cause you know that where cupcakes go when they die right....straight to the hips... which is why you must always eat two...  cause you do not want to look all lopsided now do you????)).

So once RonChops got the little package of cupcakes home, he innocently asked me how many I needed for my photos (this dude loves him some sweets).  Once he was given the all clear he dived right in!  It's been a while since we had cupcakes and I had forgotten how he eats them.

He splits them in half.

Eats the top first.
...and follows up with the bottom and a milk chaser.

I asked him why he did it this way in-between fits of laughter.

Come to find out it's very scientific...
...very serious.

It's to avoid the frosting on the nose problem.
(did you even know this was a problem???)

The things I learn about my Hubs....  randomly.
(that pic up there is him modeling his very serious cupcake division method)
(I think he has some totally cute arms)
(shhhh....  don't tell him I said that ok)

So back to the cupcake embroidery patterns (which is really what it's all about you know)!  LFM busted out this totally cute tea towel from the patterns and sent it to me to share with you!  See that lovely cupcake posing with her tea towel?  That's the delicious fella from yesterday.  I think she may have already eaten his twin by the time this picture was taken (remember girls...  eat your cupcakes in twos (thats our new mantra))!!!

I placed the patterns on the PDF's in three ways.  Completely together, just tops and just bottoms (you will see what I am talking about below).

I hope you enjoy these little patterns (and I would especially love to see what you make from them...hint hint hint)!
 

CCW - Embroidery Patterns 1
Download the PDF HERE
 
 
CCW - Embroidery Patterns 2
Download the PDF HERE


CCW - Embroidery Patterns 3
Download the PDF HERE

AND...  there is always more with LollyChops (I am such a windbag...I swears)!
 
La Fuji Mama has a recipe for KILLER savory cupcakes today!  Potato Focaccia Cupcakes (with a "frosting" that's made from a dip recipe my gramma gave me when I was 15)!
 

Super cupcake HUGS!



LC Update:  I found out late yesterday that they have to move my surgery to Friday instead of today.  So sad.  I guess GallyChops has a few more good times left in him after all.

HUGS and thanks for the well wishes everyone!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Cupcake Week :: Chocolate Bottom Invites

 

Hello! Hello!  Welcome to day two of Cupcake Week!  In case you missed out yesterday, I am doing an entire week of Virtual Lolly posts with a co-host thrown in on the side (all cupcake focused...the week not the co-host).  My fantabulous co-host is none other than La Fuji Mama (also known as LFM)!

On this side of the blog extravaganza I'll be sharing cupcake crafts and on the other side (the edible side) LFM will be covering the cupcake recipes!

I decided that my craft for today would be do-it-yourself party invites!  You see...  I am throwing  little going away party for GallyChops today and he requested his very own special made-just-for-him invites to honor the occasion!  Since he's a man about town and is the type to change with the seasons...  I decided to not actually place any cupcakes on his invites... I just make some cute little circles you can punch out that have the cupcake flair.  This way if you are not so much into cupcakes you can go with your own accent (hopefully that makes everyone happy)!

I of course HEART vellum so I made these to work with vellum (but don't blame me... blame GallyChops... he's in charge of the project for today (it's his last request before he goes under the knife tomorrow...  poor little annoying guy).

Let's get rockin on these invites so you can hurry up and head on over to my co-hosts site to check out the cupcake recipe of the day!

Every invite will require two pieces.
The bottom piece printed on 110 lb heavy card stock
(shown here at the top of the picture)
hehehehehe
...and the top piece printed on vellum
(shown at the bottom of the picture)
Now that you are nice and confused...


PARTY!
The idea...
...is that the vellum "party" piece will overlay the bottom piece...
I cut the vellum out in the shape I drew but you can cut it in the same shape as the bottom piece
(which by the way is the A2 size - for when you get envelopes)


I punched a small hole in the center/top of both cards.


...and I stuck a little brad in there...


...so the top piece swings over to reveal the party details!
You can use a solid piece of paper for the top piece...
...it will still be just as cool!
Honest to peanuts!

So to the right of the templates for these cards you will notice a neat little line of matching cupcake circles.  I made these to work with ANY 1 inch circle punch.

POOF.

A cute little seal for your envelope.

So here's the kicker...
I have 6 different templates.  Yep.  6.  I have a pink one (with a solid and stripes background) and a teal one (with a sold and stripes background)...  plus each set has a matching overlay....  I am no math genius but GallyChops is and he told me that was 6 templates.  Gulp.  So you can get them below.  If you wanna.


Pink with Stripes
Download the PDF HERE


Pink with Solids
Download the PDF HERE


Pink Party! Overlay
Download the PDF HERE


Teal with Stripes
Download the PDF HERE


Teal with Solids
Download the PDF HERE


Teal Party! Overlay
Download the PDF HERE

AND....  you MUST go check out the cupcake recipe of the day over at LFM's....  below is a little peak of the recipe card I made... but in order to actually get it and check out the yummy recipe you have to flip on over there (follow the "Flip over to Fuji's" buttons all this week at the end of every one of my posts ok...your tummy will thank you)!


Giant HUGS you guys!  I am sure going to miss you TONS and heaps but I'll be back as soon as I can (and Virtual Lolly will be here with you ALL week long cupcaking it up)!  MomChops is going to give La Fuji Mama a call to let her know how my surgery goes tomorrow (and she will be posting a little "hows Lolly without her Gally" update on her blog on Wednesday).

I just want to thank you all (and I mean ALL of you) for your prayers, well wishes and warm thoughts).  I just really truly heart you guys and consider myself truly blessed to have met each and every one of you through my little blog.


P.S.  I looked up gallbladders and read they they are about the size and shape of a small pear.  I thought that was pretty darn cute all things considered.

O.M.T.  I'll show you how the recipe cards work tomorrow!

Cupcake Week :: Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Fondant Icing

Guess what week is it folks?????

 

If you guessed Cupcake Week you are not only a genius you are smart too!!  HOORAY for Cupcakes!

My co-host for this week is La Fuji Mama (here on out called LFM).  She and I teamed up and started scheming several months ago on what we wanted to do for Cupcake Week.  We wrangled up a goat load of cupcake recipes and cupcake crafts to share with you guys all week long!  I'll be posting all of the cupcake crafts and LFM will be posting her super fantastic cupcake recipes (complete with custom Cupcake Week recipe cards made by GallyChops (that fella is uber talented...  I am kinda sad to see him go...ummm. not).

LFM came up with some pretty darn awesome recipes that I think you guys are really going to love...(and guess what my favorite part is about this whole cupcake week extravaganza...  not all of the recipes are for sweet cupcakes!!).  She came up with some killer savory recipes too (she's the sweet tooth of the FujiChops gang and I am more of the savory type)!

All this week you will be able to flip flop between our two blogs by clicking on the flip or flop buttons at the bottom of each post (who does not love to flip flop every now and then right???)!

I am having my surgery Tuesday and I have somehow managed to get everything done for 5 whole days of posts (it took a craftastic miracle...let me tell you)!  Starting today through Friday you will be entertained by virtual Lolly and LFM (virtual Lolly is almost as much fun as regular pants Lolly...almost).  I have asked LFM to post a surgery update for me on her blog Wednesday (so if you want to see how things went for me Tuesday hop on over to her place to get the skinny on ole GallyChops)!

To start the week off right I have a cupcake recipe guest today named Jessica (is that not the coolest way to kick off CCW...with a cupcake guest recipe!!!!)!  She's going to be sharing her super fabulous mint chocolate cupcakes with mint icing and marshmallow fondant (who knew there was such a thing)!!!

Let's get going with the interview!

LollyChops:  What topping(s) do you like on your pizza?
Jessica:  Pepperoni and Black Olives..

LollyChops:  What recipe do you cook best (the one you are known for or that all your friends always want you to make)?
Jessica:  My chocolate chip cookies are bomb-a-licious..

LollyChops:  What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
Jessica:  Mint Chocolate Chip..

LollyChops:  If a recipe calls for a clove of garlic – how much do you really use?
Jessica:  2-3..I cook for Mumsy [a garlic-holic]

LollyChops:  What is your all-time favorite comfort food?
Jessica:  Either Beef Burgundy.. or homemade Mac n cheese..

LollyChops:  Tell us something we'd be surprised to learn about you.
Jessica:  I’ve changed majors 4 times so far in 2 quarters at CWU. And am now planning to major in Anthropology along with a Specialization in Religious Studies.

LollyChops:  What's your favorite color combination?  Do you find yourself gravitating toward it over and over?
Jessica:  Light green, pale yellow, light blue, and Orange.. can you tell..?

Let's cuppapolt into the recipe (ohhhh that was horrid)!

Mint Chocolate Cake
2 ¼ cups all-purpose or 2 ½ cups cake flour
1 2/3 cups sugar
¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 ¼ cups water
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
2. In large bowl, beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into cupcake pans filling between ½ and 2/3 full.
3. Bake 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
4. Cool for 10-15 minutes before transferring cupcakes from pan to wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
5. Frost

Mint Icing
1 teaspoon Wilton Clear Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoon peppermint extract*
2 tablespoons milk or water
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon Wilton Meringue Powder
1 lb. sifted confectioner’s sugar (about half a package)

1. Sift confectioner’s sugar and meringue powder into a large mixing bowl, set aside. Cream shortening, flavorings and milk or water. Gradually add sifted dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend an additional minute or so, until creamy.

[This will create a thick consistency {great for icing roses}. Add one additional tablespoon milk/water to create a medium consistency {great for other flowers/decorations}. Add two additional tablespoons of milk/water to the thick consistency to make thin consistency {perfect for piping and icing the cake}.

Marshmallow Fondant
16 oz white mini marshmallows (1 bag)
2 – 5 tablespoons of water
2 pounds confectioner’s sugar (1 bag)
½ cup solid vegetable shortening

1. Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in microwave for 30 seconds. Open microwave and stir. Repeat 30 second cycles until it is melted (about 2 ½ minutes). Remove from microwave and top the marshmallow mix with ¾ of the powdered sugar.
2. Grease your hands (palms, between fingers, back of hands) and counter GENEROUSLY. Dump the marshmallow/sugar mixture onto the greased counter.
3. Knead the pile. Pull the confectioner’s sugar to the center as you continue to knead. [you’ll feel overwhelmed like this will never end. Just keep kneading and trust me, eventually it will all come together.
4. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when fondant begins to stick again. If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry; add ½ tbsp of water at a time and continue kneading. If tiny bits of dry powdered sugar are visible, continue kneading and add a few more drops of water. After about 8 minutes, it should start resembling fondant.
5. Fondant is best if left double wrapped overnight; however, same day use is fine.  Prepare fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of shortening, wrap in plastic wrap and put in a Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.

Download the super cool recipe cards (there was too much for just one card) below.

Mint Chocolate Cake & Mint Icing
 

AND

Marshmallow Fondant

Giant GallyChops + cupcake HUGS!

P.S.  MomChops is going to be taking over my email all of this week.  So if you leave me a comment or write to me she's going to be keeping me in the loop and writing you guys back (is that cool or what)!!!

P.S.S.T.  If you want to learn all about the history of the cupcake and get to know my co-hoster flip on over to LFM's place to check things out over there.

Chiffon and taffeta flowers!

I am attempting a daring feat today!  I will see if I can write the shortest post in LC history (GallyChops has informed me that I need to go to bed e-meediately).

I hardly crafted this weekend (3 hours was about all I could muster).  I did manage to make up some taffeta and chiffon flowers that I have been admiring for decades (in dog years of course) and I wanted to share them with you real quick!!!

It was crazy easy and I did not burn down the house (which is kinda like a bonus if you ask me).

I got 1/8 of a yard of several colors of taffeta and chiffon at JoAnn's for digging in the dirt cheap (we are talking like $.30 - .75 per piece)!

I cut them into circles and used a candle flame to kinda burn the edges a little.  It took me a few tries to get the hang of it - but once I had it down I was on a taffeta and chiffon edge burning ROLL!

I made up a few totally cool flowers and have plans for loads more once I have this gallbladder thing all worked out.

I found out Friday that there are in fact stones in there (the technician pointed to them and said to me "you see those there..  those are your little friends")...  I think you guys make much nicer friends that that goat load of gall stones (I plan on keeping you guys around for sure!!!).

Oh yeah...  O.M.T.... this past Friday - Rachel from OnePrettyThing wrote to tell me that she is currently researching methods and procedures for polishing and cutting gallstones into fine gems - so we can make necklaces and matching earrings (she's so clever).  I can hardly wait!....  Saturday RonChops came up with the idea of bringing them home to use as models for needle felted renditions of gallstones.  That could be cool too.  I'll have to decide carefully what to do with them!

Lots more grizzly HUGS!

P.S.  Bear with me until I get all this personal health stuff worked out.  I'll let you guys know what's going on for sure!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

P.S.S.T.  So much for the short post.  hehehe

Pea.Ess.Ess.  Kim (one of the owners of SpoonFlower) made a super awesome dress from my Pear Pops - Gumbo fabric!  You can go check it out HERE!  It's sooooowwwwww cool!

Sunday Guest Recipe :: Applesauce Cake

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!  I gotta say...  W.O.W. and thanks to all of the love you guys sent our way Friday!   I am just totally blown away by all of your comments!  MomChops and SisterChops are coming over today to help me with the totally tubular giveaway!  We'll be getting things ready to ship out and notifying the winners (woot~~~)!

On to the recipe/interview portion of our regularly scheduled program!
My guest today is Heather from Living-Senses!  She has been a real trooper in dealing with me!  She was scheduled appear April 4 and I did not have my act together...  so she gracoiusly agreed to be my guest today instead!

Let's get rolling with the interview!

LollyChops:  What topping(s) do you like on your pizza?
Heather:  sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, pesto, and kalamata olives. No contest. Unless of course it's fast food pizza, then I love Canadian Bacon and Pineapple. Forever and always.

LollyChops:  If you were a salad, which dressing would you pick?
Heather:  Blue Cheese. Love that stuff.

LollyChops:  What do you use to clean your dishes. Plain sponge, sponge with scrubber attached to one side, scrubber handle thing with soap refill, scrubber knob thing w/wo soap refill, kitchen towel, etc… 
Heather:  I've recently learned to knit, and last night I cast off dish cloth number 7. I've been enjoying using my hand knit dish cloths lately. It's really fun to open the dish cloth drawer and see all hand knits looking back at me, too. I also have a soap filled scrubber for really sticky things.