Kinoje

Our beloved gentle giant, Kinoje left us on Friday evening.

With great sorrow and sadness he is being missed.

He will live long in our hearts and memories.

Raspberry Cupcakes

Raspberry Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 1/4 cup unbleached flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 tbsp butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (approx.)

For the icing:

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

the juice from 1/4 cup raspberries, pressed through a sieve

1/3 cup icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix together flour, baking powder and the salt.

Stir together milk and vanilla in a separate bowl.

2. Beat the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With mixer running, add the eggs, one at a time. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating twice with the milk mixture.

3. Line a standard muffin tin with baking cups. Fill each with 1 tbsp of batter, add about 8 or 9 raspberries, and 2 tbsp of additional batter. Bake until edges begin to turn golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool in tin, on a rack.

4. Make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese together with the butter until smooth and fluffy, slowly add the raspberry juice, beat until smooth. Slowly add the icing sugar and continue to beat until smooth.

You may have to refrigerate the buttercream until it is thick enough to ice the cupcakes.

Top the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream and a few fresh raspberries, and enjoy! Yum!!

Makes 12 cupcakes.

FP Love

I was very pleased and excited when I woke up this morning to find that one of my treasuries had graced the front page of Etsy early this morning. What a fabulous treat, perfect way to start the week!! Thank you Etsy admin and congratulations to all the amazing artisans in my collection!

love

up on the fp!

love

the whole collection

My Knee

Last August I almost fell off of our back step. My toe got caught in the other pant leg as I stepped off the top step, amazingly I was able to right myself and didn't fall, but I damaged my right knee in that process. I didn't realize until April the extent of the damage after an MRI.

Mark and I traveled to Fort Frances on Monday, had to take a long detour as the highway to Atikokan was closed due to a large sink hole. We arrived at the hospital in Fort Frances just before my appointment, it was a long drive. I met with Dr. Porter Monday night, went through what he was going to do on Tuesday.

Fort Frances is a gorgeous community, I am impressed!

I was to be at the hospital at 12:30 on Tuesday for my 1:30 surgery. Unfortunately there were complications with the surgery before mine, so I was around 3 hours late going in. My surgery went well, I was a little nauseous afterwards but at the doctors urging we finally left Fort Frances at 6:30 and drove to my sisters in Thunder Bay. I was lucky there was so much freezing injected into my knee that I didn't have pain until after we got home on Wednesday.

I am slowly healing, starting to get bored and impatient, that must be a good sign!

I am not up to much, laying on the couch, reading and watching the Tour.

I'll be back in the swing of things before I know it.

my knees on Wednesday afternoon

my knees this morning

the swelling is going down

Note my gorgeous jammie pants, I love them, so comfy. They are made by paisleybaby, I highly recommend them!

The Handmade in Canada Party!!!

Have you heard the exciting news?

The TransCanada Etsy team is hosting the Handmade in Canada Party, which runs from June 24-July 1. TWO great prizes are up for grabs.

First, is a handwoven t-shirt rug crafted by me, team member, fiveforty. Simply make any purchase from my shop, and for every $10 spent (excluding shipping) you will earn a ballot for the draw.

The second prize is a very generous goodie bag. To win, find a hidden Canadian symbol in one of my shop listings. In the same listing, you will find a clue leading you to the next shop.

Please visit the team blog for full details on how to win and to see photos of the prizes: transcanadaetsyteam.blogspot.com/

*** Here is my PARTY FAVOUR to you!! Enjoy 10% off all items in my shop before shipping!! Offer is good until 12:01am EST, on July 2. I will refund the discount through paypal.

Happy Canada Day!

handwoven t-shirt rug, one of the fabulous prizes!

gorgeous goodie bag, another of the fabulous prizes

Eco Friendly Jewelry

I am slowly adding some of the eco friendly jewelry I made for the Green Tradeshow into my Etsy shop.

recycled glass, wood and hemp necklace

recycled rubber tire beads, hemp and copper earrings

recycled rubber tire beads, surgical tubing beads, and hemp necklace

Purple, Aqua, Lime, Indigo

I haven't posted in a while, we have been so busy in the gardens and greenhouse. I am almost finished planting in the greenhouse, then will finish planting my little flower seedlings. They are calling for frost tonight, fingers crossed that it is warm enough not to have frost. I would hate to lose plants at this point.

I have been working making jewelry, listing in my shop. Here are a few of my newest listings.

clearly purple

teal lime

aqua indigo