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Friday, September 30, 2011

Pizza Time for Food Friday!




A couple of weeks ago, we made pizza for the team.
Seriously.
We made 35 pizzas.
I have never seen so many all at once in my life. 
I have never seen pizzas eaten so fast in all my life.
Did you know it takes approximately four hours to cook 35 pizzas in a regular oven?
It does.
And football players will wait for pizza to come out of the oven!

O.K. here we go.
I won't give you the recipe for 60 hungry football players, but this amount will make 2 very nice size pizzas.

Lean Dough

In a large bowl, combine the following in this order:

3 cups warm water
1 Tbs. yeast
6-6 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbs. salt

Stir, cover and let sit for 2-24 hours.
For the pizza, you can split the dough into two balls and let each rise.
When ready,
take the ball of dough and cover it in flour.
Begin to roll it out with a rolling pin.




{{Here is something I have learned in the kitchen..
You know how you will roll out dough and it seems to shrink back to it's original size?
If you roll it and let it set for a couple of minutes and come back to it, it will cooperate and spread out. You might have to do this a couple of times.}}




Now, you can either bake it a bit in a hot oven (450 degrees) before putting the toppings on, or like we did, we put toppings on and put it right into the oven. I have found baking the crust for a bit first keeps the toppings from burning if you need the crust to cook more.
You can also brush the crust with a bit of olive oil before putting on the toppings.


We made some with pesto, mozzarella and pecorino-romano cheese, and some with pizza sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese.

Pizza Sauce:

Crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley.
This is how Mama Shaver makes it-throw it all in a pot, season to taste and simmer.


It was a feast!!!
Hope you enjoy yours just as much.

xo
lynn

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Etsy

What is Etsy?
I found this definition:

Etsy is the world's most vibrant handmade marketplace

With that said, come on over and visit my newly re-opened 

ETSY!



Or, click on the same name under the Etsy window on the side bar.
Have fun browsing and let me know what you think!


you like it!

{get it? "hope" you like it?}
o.k., I know. That was cheesy. I think the heat is starting to get to me!
xoxo
lynn



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Launch Your Creativity


This Saturday, I will be attending the Launch Your Creativity.
It's a seminar at a wonderful tea shop, Paris In A Cup Tea Salon, in Old Towne Orange.
I kinda can't believe I'm taking this next step!!!
But I've ordered business cards from Staples, so here I go!!!



You can also order through Vista Print or Moo.com, but I went this route because of lack of time for shipping.
I do like the outcome. I used a portion of this collage and downloaded it for the background:


I'm excited for this event for a couple of reasons.

1. I will be able to listen to Guest Speakers such as Jenny Doh and other business owners and artists.
2. I'm going to have to put on my Big Girl Britches, as I've decided to do the "Pitch Your Product" portion of the afternoon. 
From what I can tell, you take your "product" (my collages) and show it to people like the editors of Romantic Homes, Cottage and Bungalow and Victorian Homes, among others.
Gulp.
3. The least that can happen by doing this is that I get some fabulous feed back on my creations.
(I'm hitching up the panties by now.)
4. I get to have a fun lunch and  scones and tea...
5. I can wear something other than jeans or shorts on a weekend.
6. Maybe I'll have to go buy some new Big Girl Britches. That always helps.

I'll let you know how it goes!!
xo
lynn



Sunday, September 25, 2011

Scavenger Hunt

I thought I'd have a little fun today by joining in on the Scavenger Hunt going on over at Ashley's blog.
I found out about it by looking at my friend, Linda's blog. ( Make sure to take a look. Linda has some fabulous photos!!)
Each week, participants are given a list of things to search for during the week. I have to admit, I forgot what they were all week, until Friday. I would see something and think to myself, "hmmm, that would make a great shot. I wonder if it's on the scavenger hunt?" Great logic, right?

Here is what was REALLY on the list:

Monochromatic/Analogous color:



Scarf:
this was extra tough, as it's been hotter than a lot of our summer days this past week.  Today it's gloomy and chilly. A woman at church this morning was wearing the most gorgeous scarf in a shade of sage green I had never seen before. Since it's probably not real appropriate to take out my Iphone in the middle of church and snap her photo, I asked Miss Party to pose. She is wearing one of my favorites that I bought when I went to India.



Next is Low Key.
You aren't really supposed to pull out of your archives, but it was either this or the one Doug took of Brenna and I last night watching USC get slaughtered by Arizona State. Let's just say I was so tired last night, I was asleep by 8:30 and the photo reflects that.
Instead, I'll pull the one from Michaelangelo's Piazza, where I caught Lauren in a very quiet moment by herself:



Circle is next, and I saw this on my walk this morning:


Next is phone. Phone? That's what I thought. How boring are phones right now? They all look the same. They are all cellular.
Except for the two I found in the new yogurt shop last night.
It only cost me $2.18 for this photo.
I went back in today after church to ask to take a photo of their phones and I just couldn't pass up a little bit more of the peanut butter frozen yogurt. Just a little.
It was worth it for the photo of the phones.





There you have it.
Take a minute and stop over at Ashley's and see what others caught this week!
xo
lynn

linking to:



 

Friday, September 23, 2011

Food Friday

Since Miss B. and I are still cooking for the football team, I thought I'd install a little feature called
food friday
Sound good?
Cool.

Today's feature is mini bell peppers, Mama Shaver style.


I cooked up 8 pounds of these cuties. Most people aren't cooking for 60, so you can eyeball how many you will need. Two pounds should be good for 4-6 people. It depends how much your guests enjoy peppers.

Heat Olive Oil in a pan large enough to hold your peppers in one layer.
Heat the oil to very hot and toss in your peppers. 
Be careful, as they will splatter!


Cook until the peppers are "limp", or fairly charred on all sides.


Now add a good amount of Kosher salt. Don't skimp!


After the salt, add Balsamic Vinegar. I went around 3 circles on my pan with the bottle of vinegar.
Cook this until the vinegar begins to glaze, or thicken just a bit.




Pop into your mouth and enjoy-that's it!!
Have a wonderful weekend!

xo
lynn


Thursday, September 22, 2011

A quick note

Hey friends! I have been on a roll and am submersed in the art room for the next couple of days. What a gift of time!! Hoping your day is full of beauty...
xo
lynn

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Splash Dogs 2011

 Over the weekend, we went to see Splash Dogs.
It is, by far, one of my most favorite sporting events.
Let me show you why:

Large or small, these dogs want to JUMP.
 They fly off of a dock into a 28 ft. pool with utter abandon for one purpose.
 Retrieve The TOY.


If it's not with utter abandon,



It's with complete and total focus.




I had the best time snapping away with my camera. 
Some of the dogs went so fast and so high, I completely lost sight of them and ended up with shots of just their paws!

Here are some of my favorite flyers~


This little guy is all of 16 inches long.
He jumped 8 FEET!


The toy is bigger than his head!




No matter......


Now, some dogs just didn't want to go in.
Nope. No way. HUH-UH.


Can you just hear her?
"Really, mom? Are you suuuure you want me in that water?
'Cause I'm think'in it's not happening."

I'll end with the longest jump of the day.
20 ft.
No kidding!



WHEEEEEEEE!


SNAP.


SPLASH.

I'm hoping to go the finals mid October.
Yeah.....I'm smiling!
xo
Lynn










Friday, September 16, 2011

Before and After: A Tutorial

This is before:


this is after:


 This is the tutorial!

I got out my old nemesis, the GEL MEDIUM.
And decided to try yet another image transfer.


Then I copied this sweet bird from Karen over at 
I just used my ink-jet printer....


Then, I spread a good layer of GEL MEDIUM on top of the print.
Do NOT, not, NOT get GEL MEDIUM on the back side of your paper! 
You want in only on the print.



Put it face down on your project.
Burnish with a bone folder.
As you rub the paper, if you go to the edges and the GEL MEDIUM squeezes out, wipe of the bone folder before making another pass over the transfer image.
(That's so you don't don't don't get GEL MEDIUM on the wrong side...)


This time, I didn't wait for the image to dry. After rubbing it really well, I slowly peeled off the paper to reveal my little bird:


I know, right????
It's like a present unfolding!
If you see chunks of it not coming off, try laying the paper back down before pulling it all of and go over it again with the bone folder.
It might help.
But remember, you are working with GEL MEDIUM, so it's all up for grabs.


Here, the image didn't quite come clean, so I gently rolled the top layer of white paper off of his tail.
I think birds like clean tails.
I think he's o.k. with a chunk of it missing.
'Cause it's clean.


I was pleased to see that it worked over the side of the box as well.


Ta-da!


If you click on the image, it will enlarge.


Now on to clean up the room.
Sorry. No tutorial for this, other than get the trash basket out!!



xo
lynn

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Happy Week


 I am trying to re-organize my time to spend a good chunk of my day in the art room.
I think I've worked it out.
 (For this week, anyway!)

It has been several happy hours a day




in the 






art room!

xo
lynn