Peanut butter cookies!!!

And easy ones at that...Three Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies!....And..photos to go with it....

Believe it or not, this is all it takes. Don't add anything else!

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 whole egg

In a medium bowl with a wooden spoon, beat peanut butter until it becomes slightly creamier.

Add sugar and mix well.

Finally, add the whole egg and mix.

When well blended, drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet or spray with cooking spray to prevent from sticking. press each cookie with a fork first one way, then again at a 90 degree angle to the first fork press.

Bake at 350°F degrees for about 12-15 minutes or until you see them golden brown at the bottom.

Makes about 2 dozen small cookies(this is if you use a teaspoon to spoon them onto the tray). You can double the recipe easily.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

~The Bella Modiste~

Todays Garage sale finds

Here we have the purse made from three upholstery fabric samples....is it just me or did it turn out perfect!?...btw..in the picture..the purse is a bit lopsided, this is not a construction fault, just how the purse was laid out and the angle of the photo

Here is my finally finished rug(I started it about..5 years ago...then a few weeks ago took apart the whole thing and started fresh)...although it is acrylic yarn, I do like how it turned out....

And here are today's finds..this batch was $5....

This is also part of the $5 batch, the white is bunches and bunches of pre-cut muslin blocks..I'd say about 8.5in squares..perfect for embroidery....

This huge lot of 11 books was only $1....yes...one dollar....which includes numerous Sewing with Nancy books, most of which ran about $20 new....and several quilting books...

This lovely is from 1941 and cost only a $1...and is a Learn How Book, with instructions for crochet, knitting, embroidery...and....shuttle tatting.....which..I WILL learn one day....ha ha

And here we have three books from 1940-1950 all acquired for 25 cents....yes..all three for a quarter....not each....for all....someone had tied them up with ribbon and some kind of ugly fall decor on the top....it was ugly and dusty..the spines on two are rather....messed up..one missing all together and the top missing from one, the back cover of the middle book is missing, but the Shirley Temple book and the Eight Cousins are in OK condition...for a quarter I figured why not? least I can get some enjoyment from them..I have read Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott..just last week in fact..its a pretty good book....And I cant wait to read Rose in Bloom, which comes right after it.

Also bought from the sale I got the three older books from was this adorable marionette....for....oh my gosh....a quarter....what were they thinking!? the only thing wrong with him was one of his strings had slipped out of the little cross piece at the top..a problem I fixed in about 15 minutes, along with shortening the string connected to his head.... So..those were today's wonderfully fun finds.....next I will give you the recipe for the yummy yummy easy as pie cookies...

cheers,

~The Bella Modiste~

Oh gosh!

It has been a while since I said I would get pictures "tomorrow".....so lets see...I have even more to share today, plus a fun and easy recipe.....

So here we have the photos from...two weeks ago...

The wonderful book from Emily at MJF, along with a ton of zippers....Emily, I have not forgotten you, in fact, every place I've gone the past while I've searched for those durn number beads..I will find them!...I hope....worst come to worst...I can look for them online....

Here we have the goodies from Bonnie at MJF, everything from zippers, to piping, tailors chalk,patterns, hem binding, elastic, and fabric...

here is the lovely fabric from Bonnie...I've only used three of the pieces so far..the red stars, along with the two striped pieces you see on either side of it in the picture....the purse turned out sooo cute..photo of it in the next post..I promise!...

These are the doilies I found...I love the smallest one best of all...and have set it aside with a few really tiny ones that are similar too it...

And...here we have the beautiful Belgian lace...

These are the two uncut circles of it....

And here we have the smaller pieces, some of which are cut, and one is complete...it is really beautiful stuff...just not sure i want to use it on yet....something very nice of course...

And...the books I got..actually, I got one other too.but on arriving home, I discovered it had a lot of water damage and was very very musty, so that sucker is airing out in the garage until I can actually mess with it without sneezing every time I turn a page....So these are all the goodies I got Sept. 29th...next I'll show everything I got today..plus I'll share an awesome peanut butter cookie recipe....

cheers,

~The Bella Modiste~

Goodies!!

fun fun stuff...
Wednesday I think it was I got an awesome box full of everything from fabric to lace from dear sweet Bonne over at MJF...there were zippers, books, lace, fabric, and patterns all stuffed into an itty bitty box..I tell you..that woman can pack a box to over flowing...I couldn't fit everything back in to the box when I had slowly looked at everything! ha ha
Then today I got in my patchwork purses book from Emily at MJF along with a ton of zippers....I bartered with her for those goodies....
Also today mom and I went garage saling..I got bunches of fun stuff...4 quilting book, a think Daisy Kingdom iron on transfers book, a few doilies to use as pockets on aprons, and the best bit...several uncut pieces of Belgian lace..it is beautiful....and great quality..you can feel it....ha ha
and wouldn't ya know it..I haven't taken pictures yet...haha...but..I'll try to do that tomorrow when it is light out..so I can open my window and not have to use the flash....well....I probably oughta get my bed made...and clean up my room some and start a sewing...heheh
cheers,
~The Bella Modiste~

I'm wore out!

And plum tired!
This week has been wild! Business has been booming, dad is down with the flu, and I've been running back and forth from bedroom to office, transferring files, printing large graphics, saving files, sending files...yeesh...
And...fun news..I've invited to give a talk to about 15 girl scouts, all in about 1st grade....exciting huh? So I'll get a little packet of info together for each girl, make up a couple posters on butterflies and type up what I want to talk to the girls about...I'll probably talk about the life cycle, and the difference between butterflies and moths. The group leader said she could order in some butterflies for the girls to release, I'll probably suggest a craft for the girls to do as well...and I may even join up...I can be a girl scout until I'm 18...I'm thinking it could be fun....I'm told they have a sock-hop coming up soon...I have a poodle skirt...haha...and the black and white shoes...:P

So tonight I have a bunch of kitchen towels to make up for grandma, she asked for them about a month or so ago...I'm so ashamed..sure she said "take your time" but I'm not sure she meant 1-2 months!

ooh and I could take my butterfly books along, let the girls look through them...maybe..that could be a bit much and I don't know what my time limit is...I'm actually very excited about this...though I dislike talking to large groups of people...I think I can handle a bunch of first graders...hopefully they will stay interested, and I won't bore them....ha ha I'm going to try and make it really interesting, fun and informative...if I do it right..they'll learn more in one evening about butterflies then the average person knows...:P

anyways...not that much up with me....I've been running, doing this and that for dad and mom...but that's about it....I've gt some sewing projects to get done...plus X-mas presents, plus a Thank-you present and another present...yeesh....I need to get to work...I have to make 72 12.5in squares....which will be enough for 2 6x6foot quilts..which I will then need to quilt...which I'll probably do by hand....yikes...I need to hurry.....

cheers,
~The Bella Modiste~

Rambling thoughts on college education....

Its kinda funny the guy at the Post Office has been going on the past two trips up there about my not going to college and having been taught by my mom, who had no education beyond highschool...so today I wrote up the Forbes.com list of "Five Reasons to Skip College"....gave it to him, and told him he had to read it, I got him to read about half of it before we left...least it made him shut his trap about me being un-educated...hahaha...turns out....he went to college for Telecommunications.....and now he is a government slav---worker? huh? hello!....
Just thought it was kinda funny...*begin rant* people can't leave well enough alone, they have to go sticking their noses into other peoples business, like their education...and you know...look at Thomas Edison...home schooled, no college education...absolute genius! John D. Rockefeller, long dead, but a high school drop out, oil tycoon, and possibly richest man in history thus far! It is interesting that so many people think that college is some requirement, a sign of intelligence, "if you don't go to college, you are not smart". What!? Sure, alot of really smart people go to college, thats all great and wonderful...but what about us? The young entrepreneurs, who know what they want? And believe they can reach their dreams if they just keep at it? Why do the older generations think that all the kids should go on to college after highschool? Take a look at this list...
1. You'll be losing four working years.
There's an opportunity cost associated with going to college: Not only will you lose the money you'll have spent on tuition, you'll also be out the amount of money that you could have made if you'd worked during those four years. And if your family isn't wealthy enough to pay for your education on their own, you'll also owe a hefty amount in interest payments for your student loans. Perhaps more importantly, with four years of experience on your resume, you’ll be far better off when looking for work than the average 22-year-old college graduate.
2. You won't necessarily earn less money.
College grads earn an average 62% more over the course of their careers than high school grads. But economist Robert Reischauer of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., argues that those numbers are skewed by the fact that smarter kids are more likely to go to college in the first place. In other words, the profitability of higher education is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
3. In fact, you could probably make more money if you invested your tuition.
Put $160,000--the approximate cost of a Harvard education--into municipal bonds that pay a conservative 5%, and you'll have saved more than $500,000 in 30 years. That's far more than the average college grad will accumulate in the same amount of time.
4. You don't need to be in a classroom in order to learn something.
Truly motivated learners can teach themselves almost anything with a couple of books and an Internet connection. Want to learn a hands-on skill or trade? Consider an apprenticeship.
5. Plenty of other people did fine...
Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Quentin Tarantino, David Geffen, and Thomas Edison, among others, never graduated from college. Peter Jennings and John D. Rockefeller never finished high school.
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Another great article, by Forbes....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12409530/
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But think about, really think about it....did *your* parents ever discuss with you "Why" *you* should go to college? Did you go to college? Better yet, are you doing what you went to college for? What did you actually learn? Could you have figured that out yourself? *end rant*
Leave me a comment..tell me *your* opinion, though be forewarned, any comments containing obcenities, that are rude, mean, etc , WILL be deleted.

Oy...I got up soo early...7:30!!!

So let's see what'd I do today?....I got up early today...WOW!!! good for me!!!...took care of our lonely Daffy duck...

He has really chilled out since Daisy was killed, he no longer attacks my feet(ouch!)...well..least not as much...mostly because before he was acting as protector to her and the eggs she was laying...

So after taking care of Daffy I did this and that, helped mom clean house...the usual...then today since dad wasn't feeling well, I helped him out with his business applied transfer tape to various jobs, and packaged up another job...and applied small pieces to cover up an old slogan on another job he had done a while back, the people decided that their previous slogan didn't work...so back to us they brought it.....ha ha

So I've been doing a fair amount of sewing....Friday I said I made two more marbelized handbags, way cute...also the one I made the beginning of the week that sold within 24 hrs of posting it to Etsy...
the one I sold:

and the other two(which I hope to list tomorrow):

Also Saturday I made two aprons... there are two seahorses on each bottom corner of the apron, just stitched around the seahorse, edges left raw...

Also last week I made an artful apron...good thing the design is unwashable..cause if it was washed that muslin would shrink up and ruin the whole look...hahaha....

I wont be having a sewing lesson tomorrow because dad has some how gotten the flu...*ack...* don't give it to me!!! And we'd rather not get my sewing teacher sick...and then next lesson is off too, as she is going out of town...So..I have an extra month to finish the assignment..though really she said I have until the end of all the lessons, but I'd much rather get it done now....so far I've prepped the pattern pieces, cut all the pieces I need, dry ironed the pieces, and today I washed and ironed the fabric, which this time is just a plain muslin, but I plan to buy my own copy of the pattern, and make some of the little outfits out of linen and other nice fabrics.

Oh..and I made mom a rag quilt for her birthday(early present, I got impatient, couldn't wait til the 17th....haha...it ended up measuring like 5 foot and a few inches by 5 foot and a few inches(obviously it is square) there are 64 little squares in the center...but...because of the type of quilt...I have to cut 3 times that...64 for the backing, 64 for the flannel inside, and 64 for the top cloth...yeesh! than the 20 squares around the 64..then the 4 squares and 4 rectangles...took time, but was it worth it? oh yeah! she loves it and it totally goes with her whole "farm girl" theme she has going in the living room right now....the picture is actually sideways..the quilt is not lopsided...honest it isn't...ha ha

so anyways...that's what all I have been up to...I'm gonna do a quick spell check here, and then read a bit of the book I have to study for my learners permit..yup...you heard right.....I'm actually going to get it(well, I was anyways..but I was stalling)...I'm going to study the book a bit more..take the online 4 hour(ugh) thing on drugs and alcohol, and then, I have two other tests to take for it, then I guess I get my permit..then after 80(or 50) hours of driving time and( and/or..cant remember) 1 year....I get that little piece of plastic that says I can drive...as long as I don't fail....hahaha

cheers,

~The Bella Modiste~