Ah...well,I have been diligently working on some recipies for our town's annual festival, Harbor Days. Each year there is a cherry bake off and this year I am going to enterthe contest and finding new and original recipies proves to be quite the task!! I thought I'd share a cherry recipe with ya and some pics so you can be inspired to get those fresh cherries that are everywhere now and get to baking!! I will post later about the bake off and what recipe I ended up deciding on!!

Check out these adorable cherry pie cupcakes!! Too Cute!!

Here is a recipe for ya!!

CHERRY BROWN BUTTER BARS

Cherry Brown Butter Bars

Crust:7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract,1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour, Pinch of salt

Filling:1/2 cup sugar,2 large eggs,Pinch of salt, 1/4 cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract,1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced1 pound sweet cherries, which will yield 12 ounces of pitted cherries, which yielded some leftovers, perfect for snacking (alternately, you can use 12 ounces of the berry of your choice)

Make crust: Preheat over to 375°F. Cut two 12-inch lengths of parchment paper and trim each to fit the 8-inch width of an 8×8-inch square baking pan. Press it into the bottom and sides of your pan in one direction, then use the second sheet to line the rest of the pan, perpendicular to the first sheet. Congratulations! You’ve just faked a square tart pan.

Using rubber spatula or fork, mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl, in the bottom of the small saucepan you used to melt the butter. Add flour and salt and stir until incorporated. Transfer dough to your prepared pan, and use your fingertips to press the dough evenly across the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust until golden, about 18 minutes (it will puff slightly while baking). Transfer crust to rack and cool in pan. Maintain oven temperature.

Make the filling: Cook butter in heavy small saucepan (a lighter-colored one will make it easier to see the color changing, which happens quickly) over medium heat until deep nutty brown (do not burn), stirring often and watching carefully, about six minutes. Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup to cool slightly.

Whisk sugar, eggs, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture; whisk until well blended.
Arrange pitted cherries, or the berries of your choice, in bottom of cooled crust. Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake bars until filling is puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bars completely in pan on rack.

Crafty Inspiration

Summer is here and even though you'd think it's a time for lounging around in the sun... I have been very busy!! Getting ready for the Barn Creek Salvage sale in august.. ( more details to follow ) and my annual scrapbook weekend retreat in October has so far filled my summer days!! I love to look to other bloggers to get those creative juices flowing, so I thought I'd share with you some links to great ideas and inspiration!!

For all of you quilters and sewers out there, if you haven't checked out Moda Fabrics blog, http://www.modabakeshop.com/ it is worth the visit!! ALL tutorials for many quilts, home decor items, and cute whimsy pieces!! Here is a cute tutorial for this adorable apron!!

One of the designers that often contributes to moda bakeshop is V and Co. if you haven't checked out this blog, grab a cuppa coffee and plan on staying a while. This is one great blog FILLED with eye candy and great projects!! Here is a sample..

If you still have more time ( possibly hours ) check out one of my favorite blogs, Cynthias Cottage Design. She has great decor ideas and even has some great links for her favorite blogs!! Check it out here!! Here's a sneak peek at what she has to offer..

If you are looking for some tutorials and great projects for both mom and kids, visit the fiskars website.. http://www.fiskars.com/ they have great tutorials and many categories, so you are sure to find a project to suit your needs!! Here's one I am going to do for my kids!!

I love this tutorial for a very clever way to recycle that trash you may just be inclined to through away!! Check out this great tutorial here!

Phew.... Finally!!!

Phew!! Finally school is finished today and teacher gifts are finished!!! Next weekend is my girls dance recital and then I can finally take a breath and summer can begin!!! I have been so busy with end of school events and gift crafting, I have not been the best blogger or homemaker.. now I am excited to have some time to tackle my "to do" list!! Last night I made some banana cupcakes for the teacher and bus drivers in these cute cupcake holder boxes. It took some time, but I am pleased with how they turned out. The pictures aren't the best quality, but I was rushing to take pics this morning and the light was not very good!!

I also made some altered notebooks for the teachers... here is a sample!!

I will be posting on a more regular basis now that my teacher gifts are done and school is out!!

I Love Mail!!!

I just love when a treat arrives in the mail!! Yesterday my treat was the Cath Kidston catalog. I've already looked through it numerous times!! It is beautifully photographed and full of wonderful ideas for vintage decor and style!! If you aren't familiar with Cath Kidston products you can order her catalog here!!

Lilacs!!!

I am so excited my lilacs are finally growing!! It has been a long, cold spring here in Northern Michigan and I thought they'd never bloom!! I has inspired me for sure... I have been a busy bee this morning and thought I'd share some pics!

I worked on a corner of my kitchen this morning.. adding some of my "junk" I found in the trash last week!! I still need to paint the kitchen walls, but haven't yet commited to a color. It is creeping up on the one year anniversary of moving in and I am a little gun shy about the kitchen color. I am thinking of a very pale green, tan, or even yellow. I can't decide since the pine in the kitchen has a yellow undertone, I don't want it to clash too much and I DEFINATELY haven't commited to painting the wainscoating yet...

This shelf I found junking. I love the color, even though it is really chipped up, I think I like it just how it is. The birds nest was on the ground in my yard, so that was free, the enamelware bowl was my dad's cereal bowl when he was a little boy and the milk jar I bought at the grocery store... it's the brand of buttermilk that I buy and I love the bottles, so I never return them for the deposit. They make great vases!!

I framed this pic of my 6 year old. Walgreens had a free 8x10 print for mother's day, so I had this pic printed. During the summer we head over to the beach on Lake Michigan and search for Petoskey stones. This pic was taken with my cell phone at sundown and I just love how it turned out!!

I hung a couple of my vintage aprons from this old piece of picket fencing I found on Junk day... I have to dig out more of my aprons, as well as finished some I have half sewn... but when this is finished I think it will be cute. The girls love to wear an apron when helping in the kitchen.. I have a stack of the old picket fencing and I will be using it in many more areas of my house, so I am sure you will be seeing a lot more of it!!

Above my picket fence, I hung a pic that I bought when I lived in Las Vegas.. I was drawn in by the frame and the $11.00 price tag, but I also liked the picture. It was painted by a local artist and he had a stack of them in one of my favorite antique stores. I bought it because of the farm. Growing up in southern California, then living in Las Vegas, I always wanted to live in the country and this pic was a little taste of country that I loved. Now I have these barns and fields right in my own backyard!!

Another day..

Well, today is another day to try and get some needed projects done. Sure these inspiration pics are supposed to get me motivated, so stay tuned to see if this helps!!

I'm going to put on my apron and get some work done..

I'm going to work on my junk bench and try to get it to resemble something like this one..

I am going to the hardware to get some chalkboard paint to finish up some projects on my list

I am going to try and get some laundry done, although not in a laundry room as nice as this one..

and if I'm VERY lucky, I can paint a stool I have waiting for a re-do... I want it something like this!! We'll see what today brings!!

Junk Inspiration!!

Ahhhh... gettink ready for another day of junking. The fun will be over early Saturday morning when those big garbage trucks come to pick up all of that beautiful junk and then we will have to wait for other local towns to have their own junk day... Since I haven't made it out yet today, I thought I'd give you some inspiration for your junk and if you haven't perfected the art of junking, here are some resources on where to start!! The pic above as well as some of these wonderful ideas are from Junk Camp Ki Nassauer's wonderful junking blog. There is a wonderful interview ( 2 of them , actually ) on the blog, Restyled Home so check it out here.
Love this cookie cutter turned night light!!

And who wouldn't want to eat pickles out of this cute Junk????

I HIGHLY recommend this book and often refer to it for inspiration!! It is available on Amazon. Ki along with Sue Whitney have elevated the art of turning junk into one of a kind items!! The magazine Junk market style also highlights these ladies works. Check out the blog here. Here is some pics from Junkmarket style..

I'm a sucker for a picket fence!!

Junk in a bathroom is ALWAYS good...

And finally... this is my next piece of junk I picked this week... It's a rusty old planter, used at our local cemetary for plantings, but now it is old and rusted and I think it may be a great toilet paper holder for all of those extra rolls... or I just may find some other use for it... we'll see!!