A Huge Welcome!!!

I'm so very excited to welcome Stacy on board as my new email assistant!! Stacy is my sister in law. She's a sweet, down to earth, super smart, crafty gal.
She saw my post from last week, and called me to say she was looking for something to do at home to earn a bit of extra money. A match made in Heaven!!

I'm starting her out slow with thank you and confirmation emails and renewing listings to make sure the inventory stays stocked, but she is one smart cookie and will be taking over most of the emails this month!!


Give her a warm welcome!

We took this photo over the summer in Colorado. This is most of my family, my parents, my older sister and brother, their honeys and all their children, my little sister, my honey and all our kiddies. My oldest sister wasn't able to make it out this summer.

Prairie beauty

Where oh where did October go? It feels like I blinked and November popped up to say Hello!
It was a crazy busy month filled with birthdays, and injuries (ouch I sliced my finger open!), Holiday trunk shows, traveling, costumes, and candy, oh way too much Candy. In addition My wonderful assistant LeAnn was offered a full time job at the elementary school, so I am on the hunt for a new assistant to take over emails. It's been a bumpy start.

One of the highlights of October was my sweet friend April asked me if I would come out to Utah to sell my pretties at the Spark Handmade Market. It was a whirlwind trip but so nice to catch up with old friends and to get a chance to make some new ones.

I was lucky enough to have a table next to the amazingly talented Kristin of Faded Prairie

She is such a genuine down to earth sweetheart! And her blog! Oh my word talk about eye candy. It's chalked full of vintage rustic prairie goodness!

Kristin has put together an AH MAZ ING giveaway with goodies she picked up at Spark and a lovely mixed media masterpiece she created while attending the weekend. Hop on over and check her out!!

Oh fyi there is a special discount code for my shops over on her blog...

PS I will be posting REALLY important Christmas and Holiday order information here this week. IF you plan to shop with me this Christmas (and my family and I are truly grateful for the consideration!) Please be sure to pop back by and read the info this week...

Something new!

A new spin on my classic and original Capture Life Necklace !

I have hand set a little natural gem stone into the flash for a little spark of color and whimsy :)

You can choose your birthstone or favorite color!

January Garnet

February Amethyst

March Aquamarine

April... sorry not a diamond ;) White Topaz

May Emerald

June Moonstone

July Ruby

August Peridot

September Sapphire


October Pink Tourmaline

November Citrine

December London Blue topaz (I have turquoise too!)

Once I have all my little monkies in bed tonight I will have these available in the shops!

Also I just might have to give one away soon so you might want to check back... Just sayin' ;)

Birthday Cheesecakes

were in the middle of what we call "birthday season" in the cinnamon*sticks house hold. We have 3 of the kids birthdays 2 weeks apart each, then our anniversary (10 years this year!!) then Thanks Giving followed by my hubby's birthday, and then Christmas. Add in several extended family birthday's in the mix and it gets super busy with parties.

Last week we celebrated with Thomas who request cheesecake for his Party.
I made Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cheese cake (every one's favorite)

and Chocolate and vanilla bean cheese cake.

I'll write up recipes when I have a chance and share them here :)

xoxo

Jewelry!

I realized today I haven't posted any jewelry here in a long time! How did that happen?

So here are some of the new listing that have made it into the shops plus a couple of my favorite customs from the last month and a half.


A new twist on my "all you need" heart and stone stacking sets.. Find them HERE or HERE!

My New Moroccan Twilight rings find them HERE or HERE

I was asked by a sweet sweet gal to make a set of Bracelets for some of the wives of the Dodger's players! How Exciting is that. She was leading a Faith Study with them and wanted to gift each of them with a special trinket at the end :)

New Fine silver Floral initial necklace Find them HERE or HERE...

and the sweet little gem stone charm shown with the initial charm is available to add onto any design, find it HERE!

This was a special request for an extra thick extra heavy sterling ring with 3 copper hardware plates. I love the way it looks!

I was so honored to create a set of wedding rings for a sweet couple :) This was "His" wedding band.

And last but no at all least, My PMC pieces are some of my all time favorites to create. Each one comes out so unique with lovely rustic character. This was a custom twist on my Rustic Love necklace.

There are more to show but I think this many photos will slow up your computer enough for tonight ;)

xoxo

Birthday Boy!

Today is Our little Man's Birthday!

We are so proud to watch you grow and blossom each Year. You are such a gentle soul. Inquisitive, inventive, crafty, loving and so very kind.

We Love you Little Man!!!

Mom and Dad.

The Sunday Yummies...Sunday baking

If you are on Pinterest you have seen This recipe for Blueberry Buttermilk Breakfast Cake. I don't think there are too many out there that have not pinned it!
We had a ton of berries in the Fridge and 2 cartons of buttermilk that weren't going to last past the weekend so I decided to give it a try.
Oh My Word! It was delicious! I had a small piece last night, and the kids devoured the rest this morning.

We made the Blueberry Version, just as the recipe shows. I also had Raspberries and Blackberries to use up so I made a Raspberry version but in place of the lemon zest I used orange.

I'm thinking next week we may make a nuttella version with out berries.

Click on the link at the top for the full recipe, then schedule an extra hour at the gym, it'll be worth it, I promise!
xoxo

Guest Post Recipe

Tomorrow is the First Official day of Fall. I LOVE fall. Out here in Southern California we don't get the Glorious display of foliage that so many other parts of the country get to enjoy. But we still get to pick apples, harvest pumpkins, cuddle up under blankies and sip Caramel Apple Cider. Dig out the warmer sweaters, and pull on a comfy pair of boots!

I also Adore making soups. They are the perfect fall meal. I experiment each season with new and old recipes. On Monday I made "Baked potato soup" It's rich and hearty. Not a diet soup for sure, but so flavorful and yummy. I made a full 6 quart pot thinking I would serve one half and freeze the second half. The kids ate it ALL!
Guess it's a make again recipe for sure!

I did a guest post for my sweet Friend Tracy of Creme De La Gems who is moving today from Central California back down towards San Diego. Head on over and check out her blog for the recipe. Plus ooh and ahhh over her Amazing Polymer creations. She's set up a presale for her adorable Polymer Nativity set. She sells out early every year so don't wait too long!!!

What do you like best about Fall?
xoxo

Our Summer Adventure part 2

This was by far one of my favorite stops on the trip. I'm a big geology buff. I love rock formations and geological history. I'm just nerdy like that. :)

The Craters of the Moon National Monument is an expansive area of old lava flow and cinder cones. Speckled through out the black and reddish landscape are the most beautiful and delicate wildflowers.

We hiked to the top of one of the larger cinder cones and took in the view of the whole valley.

The kids liked the trip down the cinder cone much better than the climb up!

All of our National Parks have a Junior Ranger program. The kids loved each program. Once they completed their workbooks they were sworn in as official Junior Rangers and received badges.

Next I'll share about the Grand Tetons.

Happy Saturday!
xoxo

The Sunday Yummies

Sauce sauce and more sauce!

Since I have so many meals still ready to go in my freezer I decided to stock up on more Tomato Sauce.
This is my basic easy recipe That I came up with after combining tips from several sources and years of experimenting.

What you'll need

One whole medium to large brown onion
One whole head of garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
red pepper flake ( I use about a tsp)
1/2 to 1 cup red wine. (I don't know a whole lot about wine, I use Chianti because I like the flavor in this sauce)
~4 cans Roma tomatoes liquid and all
~salt to taste (it's a large pot of sauce so add some taste and see how much more you need. I didn't measure sorry!
~1/8 cup sugar to cut the acidity a bit.

In a large stock pot (I use my 6 quart dutch oven)

~Heat your oil
~add your chopped onions and saute until soft and starting to gently brown
~mince or crush the garlic and add in once onion is soft.
~sprinkle in your pepper flake
~Add your red wine (you can leave the wine out if you don't consume alcohol, the alcohol does cook out fully)
~Puree your tomatoes and add them in.
~add salt to taste
~add sugar
~bring to a boil
~once boiling reduce to simmer, partially cover and simmer for 3-4 hours.
~The longer you simmer the sauce the richer the flavor. I cook mine a full 4 hours.

Once it's cooked divide it out into servings per meal cool completely and freeze!

Easy Peasy and so yummy!

You can also change things up a bit by adding veggies, or leaving out the red pepper, or add in Ricotta or heavy cream for a richer sauce.

Happy Friday!

xoxo

when momma turns her back...

It suddenly got very quiet in the house today. I tiptoed down the hall to see what my younger 2 were doing.
I found this...

I didn't even have to say a thing, the moment he saw me he burst into tears.
I didn't have the heart to scold him.

Give away time!

It's been forever since I've had a giveaway. I think it's time for a new one :)
This one is over on Facebook.
Super simple to enter head on over to the Cinnamonsticks face book fan page and leave a comment on the giveaway post. Every comment is a chance to win so tell a friend to head over to our fan page and "like" us then leave another comment to let me know.

The winner will get to chose their choice of gem stone for a custom ring like the ones above :)
(coming to the shops later tonight!)

Good Luck!