Portabellopixie

Creme Brulee French Toast

Dear waistlines, you have my apologies.  That being said, I must share this with you.

If you remember, we have a big family breakfast, every Sunday morning.  It's the perfect excuse to eat fatty carbs first thing in the day, and our family has come to really look forward to this weekly tradition.  Last Sunday, I realized I didn't have the ingredients for the pancakes I wanted to make and pulled out the old standard - "make something up."

Never has my "making something up" turned out such insanely good results.  OH my.  Now, be forwarned, this dish is probably a health risk to 100% of the population, but definitely worth taking at least once every few months.  And with a side of heart healthy fruit.

For the recipe, click on the link in the right sidebar or right here..

Also, please welcome some of our first sponsors to the blog!  I am so happy that I made the decision to do this, already I am loving hearing about these businesses and getting to know more of the artisan community that we all belong to.

Welcome Miss Ruby Sue!

Welcome Cinnamon Sticks!

Welcome  Snazzie Drawers!

A Post about a Lot of Stuff.

Let's see, first up on the lovely Monday is that I must send you over to Sarah's to find out about her awesome news.  So excited for her!  (and me by extension..)

Second, after a lot of thought, I've decided to open up sponsor spots on this here blog.  I figure that I am a small business and I work with small businesses.  Why not help each other out further.  Also, I think it will be easier to put more free projects and goodies on the blog with sponsors.  So if you are interested, check out the info here!  We are excited about this and hope you are too.  :)

Also, to make the space fresh and fun for the new things to come on the blog, we are doing a bit of renovating and cleaning up, so "please excuse our mess."

Third, if you follow me on twitter, and were around on Saturday night, you would have seen that I went on a wild hair and showed a bunch of strike off's that didn't make it into some of my different groups.  I decided to give away a collection of these rejects to one of my twitter followers.  All you have to do is follow me. on twitter.  Right here. By today, because I'm picking a winner tonight!

OKay, I think that's all for now.

xo

Sandi

Spark-ly Hair Flower

One of the awesome classes at Spark was a flowery - corsage contraption that I thought was very cute, but I didn't see myself wearing.  So with the excited permission of the teacher, I frankenstein'ed the crap^TM out the project and made it my own.  (And no, I have not actually trademarked "Frankenstein the Crap out of it" but am showing off the fact that I figured out that ^TM thingy.  It's actually very simple, 'a, course.)

What else was awesome about my trip to Utah?  Sarah.  I have been a long time fan of Sarah Jane and her gorgeous illustrations.  A little bit before my trip, we were chatting on the phone for the first time and she graciously offered to let me stay at her home since it was in the center of everything I was traveling to Utah for.

I never would have guessed (maybe hoped though) that we would hit it off so fantastically.  I loved Sarah, and her family!  They actually made me not feel homesick, as her kiddos reminded me SO much of my own!  And her awesome husband reminded me in spades of Dustin.  Their taste in food ( homemade kettle corn, nuf' said) was identical to ours and Sarah's and my business stories are incredibly similar.  About to become more similar..  please go check out Sarah's blog and her etsy shop.  She is not to be missed!  Already planning my next trip back to hang out with her.

My studio is in the middle of a move from the bottom of our home to the top, to a sunny yellow spare room that has been sitting her unused for the entire time we've lived in this house.  Not sure why I didn't set up here to begin with, because I am loving this space!  It's a little bittersweet though as we only have 5 months left in this house.  Our landlords are going to be moving in themselves, so around January I am going to need to start up the house hunt thing again. 

I am normally so in tune to what is right for our family, it just comes to me.  But this time around, I am just confused.  We're toying around with the idea of moving to two different places, or staying put here and buying a house or still renting.  The winter blues got me hard last year in the cold tundra of Montana and I'm not sure I can live with it long term.  Anyone else get the winter blues?  January is the worst for me.  What do you guys do to brighten up the dreariness of January through April?

Yep, I do.

I get a lot of questions. 

But one of the most common questions I get when people meet me for the first time has nothing to do with art, photography, food, music or anything else that I commonly share on this here blog.

It always has to do with the bears.

"Do you really have bears in your yard?"

Yep, I do.

Okay, so technically this was the yard across the street, but you know, close enough.

Thank you to everyone who has ordered the Shabby Pumpkins pattern!  I think any downloading bugs have been ironed out and it's working great now!

 

Sparkly Utah Trip

I had THE time of my life on my Utah trip.  It was honestly the best and most inspiring trip I've ever taken.  (Which makes me feel a tad guilty since I went alone, but these trips are good for the soul every now & then, so I am releasing myself from the guilt.  Amen.)

I don't even know where to begin.  What comes first when you get to go on a trip to catch up with old friends, meet lots of new friends, meet online friends in person, eat a LOT of great food, take hundreds of photos, be inspired and make plans for lots of new projects and be crafty?  I don't know..

I had the best time chatting until all hours of the night with two of my oldest friends, Kari & Jacqui.  You know those friends that you don't see for a year, but when you get together, not a day has passed.  These two lovely ladies are it.

And just wait, wait, wait till you see what Jacqui made me..  Oh my gosh.

Spark was A*Mazing.  I can't fill all of Spark into one post, so for today, the decor.

I mean, do you see the BIKE hanging from the ceiling??!!  I loved Spark and was honored to be a sponsor this year.  Look at the awesome project Margie put together for her class with my fabrics:

Liz, Rhonna & Margie really pulled out all the tricks for this event.  I would highly suggest coming to the next one!  More in the next post..

Shabby Pumpkins

Since I got it on the website last night before I went to bed, I am counting my request for one more day a success. I just didn't blog before I went to bed. ;)

Shabby Pumpkins is up on the website, ready for download!  The downloadables bit is a new thing for us, so if you experience any bugs, please let Dustin know ( dustin@sandihendersondesign.com ) right away and he'll help you out.

The pattern includes the pattern and instructions to make the Small Sculpted Pumpkin, Medium Sculpted Pumpkin,Large Sculpted Gourd and instructions to make any size Tufted Pumpkin.

I am on my way out the door for Spark.  The second Hunger Games book fresh in my ipod for listening to on my road trip.  Just finished the first one, and I honestly am not sure how I feel about it.  Obviously well written, but the very plot of the whole thing just makes it hard for me to say "I loved it" even if I did.  huh.  Thoughts? 

So I'll be back in five days with a whirlwind of stories to share.  I can wait, been looking forward to this for some time. 

Enjoy the pumpkin making while I'm away.  Be warned, they are fairly addicting.  I think I've made about 15 so far..  :)

 

One more day, please?

 

Okay, I know I promised the pumpkin pattern today. Sorry, I'm going to need one more day to finish it up! It'll be worth it though, they're so cute!  I spent all weekend sewing pumpkins, alternated between courses of cheese, basil & tomatoes.

Are you on our mailing list?  You can sign up in the cute little birdie box in my side bar.

Be the first to know when we have new stuff and promotions.  :)  This set of pumpkins is going to be the first of our Portabellopixie Downloadables.  (again, imagine that TM thingy there that I am still too lazy to look up.)  We've gone back & forth on whether or not to offer downloadable patterns, but finally decided to just give it a go and see how it works for everyone.

So, tomorrow.  I think.  Yes, it has to be tomorrow because I'm leaving Wednesday for a trip to Utah for 5 days!  So excited.. get to meet this fabulous birdie: (and many others!!)

Selfish, Soulful Saturday

Dustin took off this morning with the kiddos and his parents to attend some festivities in a town a few hours away.  I stayed behind to catch up  on some work, and to bask in some *Sandi-time*.  (If I could figure out how to put the little TM thingy up there next to Sandi-time, I would-but I don't feel like searching it out.  So just imagine it's there, m'kay?)

I headed out to the Farmers Market this morning, by myself.  I've never done that before, oddly enough, but I found it thouroughly enjoyable.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family and spending time with them, but going to the market alone this morning was mentally calming to me.

It also made me come to this realization that even though you are a wife & mother (or husband & father) you are still yourself. 

I walked around and immediately headed for the waffle vendor because that's what we always get as a family.  But on my way over there, I thought-"I'd really prefer a pastry."  So I got one.  The most fabulous Nutella stuffed pastry I've ever eaten.

I stopped at the flower stand that Ethan never has the patience for and picked out my own little bouqet.  .25 cents a stem!

And then I headed over to the fancy cookie counter because the kids like to pick out a cookie for dessert.  But on my way over there, I realized I would much rather have some glorious cheese.  So that's what I got.  And some beautiful balsamic, basil and heirloom tomatoes to go with it.

Aren't they gorgeous?  Mmm..

And then I came home and sewed for hours.  And ate my weight in cinnamon sugar pita chips.  It has been a blissful day.  A completely selfish day, that I don't feel guilty about in the slightest.  It has been soulful.

The best part of the day?  As I was driving home and at a stoplight, I looked across the street at the crowd crossing and saw a beautiful woman laughing while she juggled her little boy across the street.  I smiled continued to watch them.  There was something about her..  Then I realized I knew her.  A week and a half ago, I attended her husband's funeral.  He lost his battle with leukemia at a sadly early age leaving his wife and two young sons.  It was the most uplifting funeral I have ever attended and I wrote a good 3 pages about it in my journal.

Seeing his wife smiling, jogging across the street with her son, out and about and enjoying the farmers market a week and a half after burying her husband..  It just made me incredibly happy.  Happy in the knowledge that life is a such a joy.  Happy in the knowledge that life doesn't end in death.  Happy for my own husband that doesn't hesitate for a second to take the kids for a weekend when I have a full plate.  Just happy for life.

Remember to enjoy it.  (In case you're wondering, LIFE goes really well with cheese.)

Also, in case you are worried about me announcing on the internet that I am alone this weekend, don't worry - the attack bears are back & literally would eat anyone trying to get in after dark.  ;)

xo

Sandi

And just like that - It was FALL!

We just had our first week of school. Combine waking up earlier than I have since school got out and the obligatory first cold of the season and this week has had me bushed. But this odd thing happened. Literally on the first day of school, fall just sort of arrived.

I love fall.

It is definitely my favorite. I have toyed around with the idea of designing a collection entirely around this fantastic state of weather / being. I would want to call it Indian Summer, since it is the change from summer to fall that I love so much. Maybe some day.

Fall crafting & sewing has begun.  Come back Monday for the pattern.

xo

Sandi