LollyChops

French Sheep :: A Wool Story Ewe Will Not Believe

Hi everyone..  I just wanted to drop in real quick to say hi so "HI EVERYONE" and to let you know that I miss you and have not forgotten you!  I got sick this past weekend (actually 3 different kinds of sick all piled up on top of each other) and have been down and out in a big way.  I am getting back to normal (well as normal as I'll ever be) and will be finding my crafty groove again real soon!

I HAD to share one small thing...  you might recall that I mentioned that I was going to be trying my hand at crewel (again) - so I went on line and ordered some books and some of the most fabulous crewel wool EVER!  I searched high and low and found this little place in France that dyes their own crewel wool...  so I immediately ordered a gigantic batch of it!  I got it in the mail Monday afternoon and it's completely and utterly fabulous!

You can read all about this fantastic place HERE.  They are called Renaissance Dyeing!  I ordered my wool on a Sunday and had it in hand 8 days later!  That's totally and completely amazing considering it came all the way from France(and the shipping was totally affordable too)!

I piled my sweet little crewel wool skeins into a basket and took their picture and made up a little rhyme to go with how happy they make me (a poet I am not)!  YAY for the coolest crewel wool ever!  Boo for the lame rhyme!

HUGS & X's!


P.S.  I'll back soon (I swears)!

O.M.T.  Renaissance Dyeing offers a 5 day course on all things related to dyeing wool and such..  do you guys think you might be up for 5 days in the south of France?  We would be stuck staying HERE but I bet we could manage right???

P.S.S.T.  La Fuji Mama had the CUTEST baby girl on Monday!  GO check out their newest bundle of cute babyness!

Sunday Guest Recipe :: Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

Hi everyone!  Today my guest is Shawna from Nuts to You!  Shawna is going to be sharing her very most favorite cake!  I remember when she first told me about it (ages ago it seems) and I have been dying to make it ever since!  Well today is the day..  I'll be whipping this little puppy up for Mr. RonChops chocolaty enjoyment.  I'll be sure to post a pic next week!

Let's jump right into the interview shall we!?!

LollyChops:  What's your favorite ingredient when cooking?
Shawna:  I love garlic!  It is so good at keeping you healthy and it adds such nice flavor!

LollyChops:  What topping(s) do you like on your pizza?
Shawna:  I like extra cheese and pineapple and pepperoni.  Yum!

LollyChops:  If you were a salad, which dressing would you pick?
Shawna:  If I were a spinach salad with raisins and apples, I would pick French.  Anything else, Honey Mustard.

LollyChops:  What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
Shawna:  Have you ever heard of Death By Chocolate?  That is it!
LollyChops:  I hope I go out that way myself..

LollyChops:  Who is your favorite celebrity chef?
Shawna:  Shockingly enough (wink, wink), I like Paula Deen.  I like her recipes, but I also think she is so personable and funny!
LollyChops:  Shocking!!! hehehe  She IS fantastic!

LollyChops:  What's your favorite color combination?  Do you find yourself gravitating toward it over and over?
Shawna:  My very favorite color is yellow.  Our daughters' room is painted yellow, and it is my favorite room.  I would probably do the whole house in it.  Except for the kitchen, which I would like to be red!  Yellow is such a sunshiny and joyful color!  Now to wear, I like blue.  I have a lot of blue!

LollyChops:  Have you ever started a vegetable garden.  If the answer is yes - what did you grown in your last one.  If no, what would you grow in one if you started it.
Shawna:  I had a garden in high school.  I had it for a few years, but my dad finally put an end to it because I hated to weed it!  I always started out well, but things quickly went downhill.  I grew green beans, peas, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.  There might have been more, but I can't remember.  That was five years ago at least!
LollyChops:  You mean we graduated at the SAME time???

Thanks for sharing a little piece of you with everyone Shawna!  On to the recipe!
Note:  This is a Paula Deen recipe, I cannot take credit for coming up with it!  I just make it all the time.  I think it tastes best if you let it cool all the way before eating it.

Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake
1 c butter, separated into halves, melted
1 pkg chocolate cake mix
3 large eggs
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3-4 T cocoa powder
1 1lb box 10x sugar
1 t vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center.  Lightly butter a 13x9 cake pan.  In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, 1/2 c butter, and 1 egg until well combined.  Evenly pat into prepared pan and set aside.

Beat cream cheese on med until smooth.  beat in 2 eggs and cocoa until well combined.  Reduce speed to low and add sugar.  Beat until well combined.  Gradually beat in 1/2 c butter and vanilla, beat until smooth.  Spread over cake mixture in pan.

Bake until set around edges but center is a little gooey, 40-50 minutes.  Do Not Over Bake!!  Let cool slightly before serving.

Thanks again Shawna!

Don't forget to download this week's recipe card!

Next week my guest is going to be Tricia of Hippie Family and she's making Spinach Lasagna Roll Up's!  YUMMERS!

HUGS & x's,

P.S.  I had a blast at my bead class yesterday!  I cannot wait to share the pics with you this week!

Happy Birthday Fuji Mama...

Before I share what I made last night I just want to give a little hip hip HOORAY to LaFujiMama..  today is her birthday!!!!  Little Miss Mama is going to be having a baby on Monday too (unless she decides to come a little early)!  So Happy Birthday to my dearest friend and blessings and best of luck Monday with the delivery of your tiny small one!  HUGS Fuj!

I am going to make this a quick post..  I have to get to beddy bye and FAST!  Lolly is tired out!

Necklaces you say?
I managed to finish the one that 94.5% finished yesterday (for Toi) (it was almost cheating since it was almost done anyway) and bust out one more (for Tara)!  Whew.

I know that the only people prolly interested in seeing these are the gals who won them..  BUT for everyone else out there..  I hope this gives you a tiny bit of push with a large dose of inspiration thrown in - to give making jewelry a try!  It so much fun and easy too!

I made another pair of matching earrings for both sets...  it's just natural to do something like that for something like this ya know?

Once I finish these up we are DEFINITELY going to need to move on to another type of jewelry around here.  I am about done with necklaces for a while!

So..  speaking of another type of jewelry..  MomChops and I are going to be taking a jewelry making class this Saturday at the Artful Bead in Ft. Worth!  It's a pearl stringing class and as with ALL of the classes I have taken there - promises to be a TON-O-FUN! 

If you are in the area and want to stop by - please do!  MomChops and I would love to meet ya! 

For those who cannot make it (which I imagine will be EVERYONE)...I'll give you a full report complete with pics next week (it'll be like you were there with us!!)!

Make sure you come by here Sunday and check out the Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake from Shawna of Nuts to You!  I already have the pics and it looks DECADENT!

HUGS & x's!

P.S.  If you want to do me a king sized favor..  head over to Fuji's blog and wish her a little birthday/baby love..I have a feeling she would really get a kick out of it (no baby puns intended)...  honest to peanuts.

P.S.S.T.  You will be hearing a LOT more about Fuji once she's had her baby..  I'll be doing some major guest posts AND giveaways over there to keep the camp fires burning until she gets back..  so keep your eyeballs peeled ok!

...a report from the craft room front lines...

Next time I decide to give away so much stuff within such a short amount of time..  you guys need to pop me in the CrazyChops!  Kay???

I am trying to get everything made for the giveaways I have had in the past two weeks and I am only about 1/4 of the way done!  AHHHHH!  It's not the paper that's kicking my behind..  it's the necklaces.  The paper will ALL go out this weekend!  I swears!

I am happy to report that my spacers arrived from India (in world record time) and so did some of the beads I had ordered!  Oh how I love companies who ship quickly (and accurately)!

When I get my resource links page built (hopefully this weekend) I'll share some of the places I order stuff from.

My first share way way up at the top of the post is of the finished green necklace (which was #1 and won by Jingle).  I made some matching earrings to go with it cause I had 3 beads leftover and it's actually a crime in 42 states to separate beads from the same strand.  So I was forced into making them.  I still have a lone bead from that strand... and I am going to have to figure something out and fast.. (maybe a pendant???).  What do you guys think???

The next share is of the 94.5% finished teal necklace (which was #4 and won by Toi).  I just have one more bead groupie to add and some earrings and then I'll be done.  Sadly it's getting late and I am tired out (getting a tinge of orange around the fringes)...so I had to stop.

In my spare time, I am also working on a project that's just for me and my craft room.  It's a picture frame with some butterflies laid about inside...  I saw it a few weeks ago on Ali Edwards site HERE (I love to get inspiration from brilliant folks like her!!).  I am trying to work up my own variation of this.  I'll def share it once I am all done...  this is just a teeny tiny itty bitty sneak peak.

Thursday HUGS you guys!
 
P.S.  Can you smell the weekend?  It's just around the corner!!!!  WOOT!

Spices and handmade papers.. oh so lovely!

As some of you may know...  I work with a lot of folks from India.  I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about their food and culture over the past nearly 10 years!  I wanted to share two things which have recently been given to me!  One is food related and the other is paper and crafts related!

Paper first...!
Several months ago I was headed to lunch with one of my co-workers named Ooshma.  Tucked into the space between the seat and the console of her car was the most amazing red handmade paper I have ever laid eyes on!  I asked her if I could take a closer look and she of course obliged!  It was extremely tall, narrow and thick and completely covered with embossed gold leaf flowers (and that was just the envelope!!!).  Inside was the most beautiful card I have ever seen.  Hands down.  There were gems, a tassel, beautiful pictures all in gold and dark red ink..  it was simply stunning.  She told me it was a wedding invitation she and her husband had received (they had gone to the wedding that weekend and had the invitation in the car so they knew where to go).  I asked her if all of the invites were like this and she just kinda flippantly said yes of course..  AND that was not even one of the nicer ones.  She said theirs had been much nicer!!  My head was spinning at this point and we started to talk about it more.

I thought about that invitation for WEEKS...  not even remotely kidding ok.  I finally asked her about it again and unfortunately she had already gotten rid of it!!!  AHHHHHH!!!!  She threw that beautiful paper away...  It nearly broke my heart!  We started talking about it again and I told her that I would love to have some of those invitations...  soooo she agreed to talk to her family and pick some up for me this past November when they went for her brother-in-laws wedding....and true to her word (cause she's completely fabulous like that)...  her family saved the wedding invites they received for this past years wedding season.  When she got back she gave them ALL to me.  I was completely floored!

I would give anything for you guys to see these in person.  They are so thick it's not even funny.  Some of the paper has glitter and sparkles embedded in the paper...  you can tell they are ALL hand made / hand pressed papers..  super thick and rich and the colors...  my pics do not even do them justice!  They are stunning.

The one that looks kinda blue is actually the most amazing shade of teal I have ever seen.  It's completely embossed and covered with glitter and a tassel and a beautiful gold piece.  It's just stunning!

She explained the significance of the symbols on each of the cards..  again..  I was just so totally blown away that her family had done this for me.

The pics below are some of the cards...  I just have to show them to you!

This one was covered in a beautiful scene AND glitter!


This one has a brass piece glued to the card (the swirl you see there...)
and the brown paper has gold glitter completely embedded in it!
Swoon!


This maroon paper also has glitter embedded and...
the sweetest gold filled vines and flowers...


This is another stunning one...
covered with delicate gold flowers and a tassel!

On to the spices!!!
I am a HUGE fan of Indian food... so far I have not had a dish I did not like right away!  Right before Christmas Ooshma took me to a really nice Indian grocery store that's right around the corner from our office!  She guided me on the essentials that I NEEDED to get in order to start cooking my favorite dishes at home!  We went on our lunch hour and had the most wonderful time!

I have been researching and reading up a storm on Indian cooking and had even purchased a few cook books to help me get started!

While we were at the grocery store Ooshma told me that I needed to get a Masala Dabba (basically a stainless steel container to hold my new spices).  We looked at the ones they had there but they were HUGE and expensive!

When I got back to the office that day I brought everything up with me (we had taken her car) and had the grocery sacks sitting in my cube.  The smells of those spices just completely filled my cube with the most wonderful aroma!  I could hardly wait to get them home and really go through them! 

One of the guys on my team (Srini) came by and noticed the spices sitting there!  I of course had to show him everything I had gotten!  He laughed at me and gave me some valuable advice with regards to the turmeric (he said never to let it get on a stone counter...cause it would stain it big time)!!!

We also talked about the Masala Dabba...  I mentioned the ones they had there at the grocery and he said it was best to get it straight from India...(they would be much much cheaper).  He casually mentioned that he had a friend coming for a visit and that he would see if he could pick one up for me!  Being the Lolly that I am I nearly jumped up and gave him a HUG ON THE SPOT...  but I refrained of course!

When I got back to work last week (from being on vacation and then out the whole week of the conference)...  Srini came by with the coolest red bag (I should have taken a pic of it)...  and low and behold...  there was my Masala Dabba...  and it was beautiful and absolutely perfect for me!

I knew I would be filling it up this weekend and set right to work Sunday afternoon to get it all set up...  I saved the turmeric for last and guess what...  I got it on the counter...  but fortunately I have 1970's counter tops (nothing fancy like stone) and I was able to wipe it right up!  Whew...  it was a close call.

Once I had everything situated in my little Masala Dabba I pretty much admired it for a good 5 minutes (totally not even kidding).  It's got 7 little cups, a little spoon and a really nice lid too!  It's super shiny (you can see RonChops and I standing in the reflection of the pic of the side of it way up at the top)...I think he was admiring it too!

You basically get your little spice container out when you are going to cook...  you pick and choose the spices and the amounts you need as you are going along!  I can hardly wait to give it a shot this weekend!  I have no idea what I am going to make yet...  but you had better believe that it's going to require some of these spices!!

So I offer my heartfelt and sincere thanks to Ooshma (her family) and Srini (and his Mom too)... for sharing their fabulous culture with me!

I hope you enjoyed this post and learned a little something about the wonderful paper crafts and spices of India!

Super Wednesday HUGS you guys!