first tomato of the season

Well, we picked our first tomato of the season today! It was absolutely wonderful going in the backyard with my sweet Jimmy and picking it together. He was so excited and carried it around carefully for about 10 minutes. He was so proud that we grew a tomato :) We have TONS of cute green tomatoes growing, and more and more of them are starting to turn red. What a delight!

Food: Baked Donuts

I found this recipe for baked donuts awhile back on pinterest. Baked, not fried donuts. Much better in my mind, health-wise (and much better that the house didn't have to smell like greasy yuck all day). I made them yesterday morning along with quiche lorraine and a fruit salad and we had a yummy brunch.

While they don't taste quite the same as a "real" donut, they are quite good. They keep well, and taste like they are right out of the oven if you heat them back up in the toaster oven or microwave.

I found the recipe over at Eat Drink Pretty and made a few small changes. Enjoy :)

Baked Donuts

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
Dash of nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Cinnamon sugar topping
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be careful that your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Add flour if the dough is too sticky or milk if it is too dry. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on a floured countertop. Cut out donuts using a 3 inch biscuit cutter and stamp out the middle with a small round object - I used a straw and then kind of stretched the hole bigger. Transfer to a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray, or use parchment paper. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - Around 8 minutes, I flipped each donut over to get the nice brown on each side.

Remove the donuts from the oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Dip each one in the melted butter and coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Store in airtight container. Re-heat before eating leftovers :)

25 More Random Things.

I loved doing the 25 Random Things post the other day. So here are 25 more :)

1. I love ice water. I don't like "plain" water - it has to have ice in it. I always put 3-4 cubes in my glass and then top it off with crushed ice. The cubes don't melt as fast (thus keeping ice in the water longer), but the crushed ice on top keeps the cubes from splashing into my face.

2. I love Sonic's Strawberry Limeade. The people that work there know it's us when we come through the drive thru- we always order and split a "Route 44 Strawberry Limeade with no ice".

3. I am horrible at giving cards with gifts. I love to give gifts, somehow I just manage to never get a card to go with it.

4. I used to have a napkin collection when I was a kid. True story. I collected napkins from restaurants, my friend's houses, our house (every time my mom brought home a new bag of napkins, I'd take one). I think I had almost 100 different napkins in my collection. Wow :)

5. I don't like to stay up late.

6. Or get up super early.

7. My fave shampoo is Biolage. That stuff is amazing. Now if only the price would drop about $15 ;)

8. At parties/bridal or baby showers for friends, I always fold up the used tissue paper. If the guest of honor doesn't want it, I ask if I can have it. Yes, I'm that person. The one who keeps and reuses tissue paper.

9. My sophomore year in college, my roommate, suite mate, hall mate and I left at 10pm on a Friday night to go to Virginia Beach (4 hours away). We got there at 2am with no place to stay and thankfully ended up finding a place. I don't think we took any luggage or anything. We just hopped in the car and left (I drove). It was crazy and silly, and about the only time I can think of that I've ever done something like that.

10. My fave flower is a hydrangea.

11. I pretty much always wear my hair up in a messy bun.

12. In the summer, I love to wear capris and skirts.

13. In the winter I love to wear comfy slippers. My sweet hubby always buys me a new cute pair each Christmas.

14. My wedding anniversary is December 20. I LOVED getting married right before Christmas. We went to Jamaica on our honeymoon and came home in time for Christmas. It was fabulous!

15. I love the game "The Settlers of Catan."

16. And Bananagrams.

17. I love to sit in silence after my sweet babies are in bed. I love to hear the clock ticking. It's a great time to relax, pray, chat with my hubby and think about the day each evening.

18. I am kind of a neat freak. I like to have everything mostly neat and tidy. But I have my places where stuff is all crammed and a mess- like, my purse. Or the kitchen junk drawer. Or the drawer in my desk.

19. I have to have my home semi-clean and picked up before we leave for a trip. It's always great to come home to a clean and tidy house.

20. I love to take walks with my sweet little family.

21. I have to sleep on the side of the bed furthest from the door to the room.

22. I love clocks. I have 6 in the room I am sitting in - the family room. People always comment on how many clocks we have :)

23. None of them are set to the right time. They all need new batteries or repairing ;)

24. My new fave thing is washi tape. You can use that stuff for anything - wrapping a gift, adding fun to an envelope that's getting mailed, decorating an art journal page.

25. We have a tissue holder in the family room. If it runs out of tissues, I will sometimes fold up TP and fluff it out the top so it doesn't look all lonely and empty. Weird, I know. :)

DIY :: Printable Journaling Cards

So, if you're like me, you can never have too many journaling cards :) I shared these a little while ago, and decided to make a few more after doodling some ideas for these this weekend.

This set includes a 10-Things List, an Any-Month Calendar card, Learning how to write writing paper, and a Memo Sheet (Don't you just love memo sheets? No? Just me? :)) These are perfect for journaling on, putting in an art journal, on a scrapbooking page, or anything you can think of :) Right click, save, and print on cardstock. The black corner marks are the cut lines. They are approximately 3.5"x5" each. Enjoy! :)

As with any printables I share, please remember that these are for personal use only.

Please email me with any questions. Thanks!

a perfect summer day

Food: Fresh Blueberry Streusel Topped Muffins

Normally I'm not a muffin person. I don't usually eat muffins, therefore I don't ever make them. I have nothing against muffins, I'd just rather eat a donut ;) Well, one of my sweet friends brought me one yesterday morning that she had made - fresh blueberry streusel topped muffins. Oh.my.word. They were out of this world. So, fresh blueberries were purchased and these delicious muffins were made yesterday afternoon. And there are only about 6 (out of 12) left ;).

Fresh Blueberry Streusel Topped Muffins (adapted from Joy the Baker)

7 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1/3 cup milk

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

For the Topping:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons sugar

4 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-muffin pan with paper liners.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stirring continuously, melt and cook butter until little brown bits appear. Butter will quickly begin to brown- once it does, remove from heat

In a medium bowl, whisk milk, egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. Add the brown butter and stir to combine.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk and butter mixture and stir gently to combine. Gently but thoroughly fold in the blueberries. The batter will be really thick.

Divide the batter among muffin cups - I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Batter will not really be pourable, so I had to scoop it out from the measuring cup each time.

To make the topping: Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly (this took several minutes). Sprinkle evenly over each muffin.

Bake until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in airtight container (if there are any left ;)).

* Recipe adapted from the fabulous blog Joy the Baker.

A Fabulous New Way to View Blogs

Jessica over at How About Orange (love her blog) shared this super fun way to view blogger blogs the other day. You view images from each post (you can view them as a mosaic, snapshots- which look like polaroid shots, like a memory game (below), as well as a couple other ways) - each image links to that particular post. SO cool! My fave is flipcard, which looks like the memory game. Go here to see my blog as an example. Or just type in a full blog address and add /view/flipcard to the end. How cool is that!?

Food: Fresh Peach Cobbler

Oh.My.Goodness. If you are looking for a fresh peach cobbler recipe, this is it. I've tried a few recipes already this peach season and have finally found this amazing recipe by Paula Deen. I adapted it a little bit, including more peaches and some extra sugar on top. I also made my own self-rising flour and was super happy with how it turned out. Thankfully peaches are on sale right now at all the groceries. Will be going and stocking up on more to make more of this delish dish. Enjoy!

Fresh Peach Cobbler

5 cups peeled and sliced peaches

2 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup water

8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or you can use the same amount of self-rising flour and just omit the baking powder and salt below)

2-1/4 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1-1/2 cups milk

2 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar and water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer 5-10 minutes.

Cut butter into small pieces, place in a 9"x13" baking dish and place in oven to melt. Remove from oven and set aside.

Mix remaining cup sugar, flour, baking powder and salt (if using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt) together with a whisk. Add milk and stir slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir! Spoon fruit on top and pour syrup gently all over.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until just beginning to brown and pull away from edges of dish. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. sugar and bake for 2-3 more minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

*Recipe adapted from Paula Deen of Food Network

Food: Fresh Salsa

We had creamy chicken taquitos for lunch today and somehow I missed picking up salsa at the grocery yesterday. So I looked up a quick salsa recipe and whipped up this amazing salsa. Nevermind that I didn't have a jalapeño, I just walked right out in the backyard and picked a nice ripe one off of the jalapeño plant :D

My go to site now for amazing recipes is Annie's Eats, this is where I found this fabulous recipe for this fabulous fresh salsa :) I cut the recipe in half and it made a bunch. Enjoy :)

Fresh Salsa

2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and very coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, halved
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes
1 (28 0z.) can diced tomatoes (drained or not, depending on how much liquid you want in your salsa)
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. cumin
1/2 sweet yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
juice of one lime

Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the jalapenos and garlic. Process until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add all other ingredients to the food processor. Pulse in very brief pulses until the vegetables have reached the size you desire (it does not take many pulses so don’t overdo it). Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving to allow the flavors to blend.

25 Random Things

I love it when bloggers do "Random Things About Themselves" posts, and thought it would be fun to put together a (random) list of random things about me, the blogger behind The Creative Place.

1. I love sugar. Like, it's not good how much I love sugar. My hubby and I are on a venture to try and stop drinking soda (at least for awhile). We won't talk about the Mountain Dew I purchased at the Target Cafe this morning. Bah.

2. I hate flying. I have flown to Europe, to the Caribbean, to the west coast, to Mexico. But I hate it. I cry before flying, I dislike it that much. I have major issues with anxiety over it. Working on it. Lots of prayer.

3. I get so excited to flip the calendar to a new month each month.

4. We have "Clean Sheet Night" every Friday night. I take all of the sheets and blankets off all of the beds, wash them and put them back on. There is nothing like climbing into bed all nice and clean with crisp clean sheets to start off the weekend.

5. I shower at night. I have to be clean before going to bed. Weird, I know.

6. I love to do laundry. Well, at least the washing and folding part. Getting it all put away? Not so much.

7. I love to make lists. I have 10 or so lists on my desktop right now on the Post-It note app.

8. I love crossing things off my to-do lists even more.

9. We love to have people over to our house, to hang out or to share a meal. Everyday my son asks "Who's coming over today?" No joke.

10. I love the smell of rain.

11. I used to run cross country (or at least tried to run ;)) in high school. Working on that again with Couch-2-5k.

12. I still don't know how to use my Twitter. The website that "Anonymous" left on my Twitter post the other day was super helpful (thanks!), but I'm still getting the hang of it.

13. I had food poisoning REALLY bad my freshman year in college. Like, the paramedics had to be called and I went to the hospital in an ambulance. I was on an IV for several hours and lost about 10 pounds. Hands down the sickest I have ever been in my entire life.

14. Growing up, every Halloween I was a princess, a fairy princess, a ballerina or something of those sorts. Anything where I could wear pink, frilly and a tutu.

15. My first cavity I ever had (my freshman year in college....quite a big year health wise ;)), I had to have a root canal for it because it was that bad.

16. I strive to have one of every food group at every meal I prepare (dairy, fruit, veggie, meat, grain, and of course a sweet ;)).

17. I have to clean my kitchen and family room every night before bed. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I haven't cleaned/picked up at night. It really just helps the next morning/day to be smoother, so I can get right to cooking and playing with my sons (and making more messes :)).

18. My favorite color is green.

19. I never, ever thought I would like having a laptop computer more than a desktop computer.

20. Or that I would like a Mac more than a PC. I love my Mac.

21. I do not like having wood floors. I know, I know, everyone else on the planet loves them. I despise them. Our wood floors magically create dust/dirt/crumbs every day. No matter how much I sweep. I tell my hubby at least once every other week how I really do not want wood floors the next place we live. Maybe this will all change. Maybe not.

22. My favorite meal is my mama's homemade spaghetti and meatballs, a salad, and fresh garlic/parmesan bread. We are having this tonight.

23. Coming up with 25 random things is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

24. I love how it looks outside right before a thunderstorm.

25. One more random thing: I love magazines. I have so many subscriptions, I need to count them all up. I have received them as gifts or super cheap through tanga or with a discount coupon code.

Inspired by: Laura Tarrish | Bridgetown Papers

I recently came across a fabulous artist on pinterest - Laura Tarrish. I found my way to her website, portfolio, and online shop and immediately loved her gorgeous work. She is a graphic designer and collage artist, and uses tons of vintage ephemera throughout her designs (!!). She has had tons of clients, including TheBoston Globe, Apple Computer, Chronicle Books and the U.S. Department of Energy. Wow! Laura has had careers as a graphic designer and illustrator and has recently added design blog contributor to her resume, contributing to Design Observer and Felt&Wire. An avid collector of various kinds of ephemera, Laura admits to having a studio which is always disorganized and messy but rich with possibilities!

I am completely inspired by her work :) So for today, a glimpse into her studio/workspace and her gorgeous work - She graciously sent me some of her beautiful images to share with you :) Her glassine cards are one of my faves - she talks about these adorable cards in her shop: "I’ve been a collector as long as I can remember… and for many years, I’ve created tiny collages in glassine envelopes with pieces of type, old (and made up) fortunes, stamps, bits of maps, ticket stubs etc. Once made only for friends, I am now offering these cards for your special occasions! Each card has various floating elements and each one can be customized with with 1 or 2 letters of your choice. Each card is UNIQUE!"

She also creates these gorgeous personalized collages to commemorate an event, person, family or trip.

Personalized notecards

A glimpse into her studio:

Aren't you completely inspired?! :) Facebook: Bridgetown Papers | Portfolio: Laura Tarrish and Bridgetown Papers | Online Shop: Bridgetown Papers

All images from Laura Tarrish.

I'm finally on Twitter.

Soooo I finally have a twitter account. I know, I know, I'm behind on the times. If you like, follow me on twitter here (@creativeplace_). I think I might need to find a tutorial on how to use twitter. Haha :) What about you? Do you have a twitter account (Is that even what it's called? Or do you just say "Do you have a twitter?")? Do you tweet a lot?

Food: Peanut Butter Cookies

So for some random reason I had a craving for peanut butter cookies the other night. I found a recipe online and adapted it to suit my personal taste. They were quite yummy :)Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoons baking soda

Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add vanilla. Beat in egg. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter a little at a time. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for about 8-10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Be careful not to over-bake.Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Pretty Package

I absolutely love to wrap small packages in leftover paper supplies I have laying around. It's so much more fun than using a roll of wrapping paper - but don't get me wrong, I love wrapping paper too! In fact, I wrapped this cute little gift in the brown paper from the interior of a wrapping paper roll (you know how sometimes there isn't a tube at the end of the roll? It's just stiff-er brown kraft-type-paper?). I then used a doily and covered it with some fabric swatches, a vintage button and topped it off with fabulous Divine Twine, alphabet letters, a leftover fabric scrap and some paper rounds. Reusing and adding a handmade touch :)

around here

DIY :: Button Bracelet

One of my sweet friends was wearing a button bracelet the other day-- it was SO super cute. I told her I was going to attempt to make one, because I loved it so much! So, after a couple tries, I came up with this cute little thing. Incredibly simple to make, all you need is elastic thread, a needle, and a bunch of different sizes and colors of buttons.

Fun thing is, you could make a bunch of bracelets using different colored buttons to coordinate with different outfits :)

I cut a piece of the elastic after measuring it around my wrist and made it a tad smaller so it would stretch and fit snug. I then threaded the first button on (the large brown one on the left) and tied a knot on the back. Next, I started threading different buttons on, varying the colors and sizes. Some of the smaller buttons fit on top of the large buttons for a nice layered effect.
I kept threading on the buttons, as well as pushing them all down on the thread to make them snugly fit next to each other.
When I got towards the end, I pulled the elastic out a little bit to fit on one more button and then tied the thread to the back of the beginning button.

Voila! A fun button bracelet :)