A Little Vintage Thanksgiving, Boston Baked Beans with a Twist, and Pumpkin Cornbread

Good evening, all! Hope this has been a fabulous day! I've had a good one...a little baking, lots of glitter, my family around me--doesn't get better than that!

Unless...it's an unexpected phone call from someone I've only "talked" to in forums and on blogs--my good friend from Splitcoast, Darlene Pavlick! She had my number, which I just included with my address months ago, and just felt like calling! It's so wonderful to match the voice with the picture and their wonderful, warm type-written words.

Darlene was my first "follower" on this blog, and a big cheerleader! She's so fun, creative, and friendly, and I enjoyed our conversation immensely! Thanks, Darlene, for making my day even better! Looking forward to our next chat! You can visit Darlene on her lovely blog Dar's Crafty Creations--tell her hello from me!

Well, on to a sweet little Thanksgiving image I used from Crafty Secrets' "Homemade" Images & Journal Notes booklet--I just love these! (I'm sure I've said it a thousand times!) I love this little chef, and this seemed like the right time to use him! I copied some recipes that are found at Recoverd Recipes (I talked about them in my post a couple of days ago), printed them out, and there's the background--easy peasy! I used a cute hounds tooth print from DCWV's "Mod-Retro" stack.

And look at this yummy new glitter I just got from Little Pink Studio--bronze glass glitter--oooooh!

I found this Shakespeare quote online, and it just seemed perfect, so I typed it up in an old-style font on cardstock.

How about a recipe? I've been planning to make this for a week or so now, and finally got the chance last night--Alton Brown's Boston Baked Beans. If you ever watch his show, which is fabulous, his new cookbook--"Good Eats, The Early Years"-- is based on the show and so much fun to read! I changed the recipe up a bit, but here's how he gives it:

Boston Baked Beans--Alton Brown Style!

1 pound bacon, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 small jalapenos, chopped

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 pound dry Great Northern beans, sorted and rinsed

1 quart vegetable broth

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. kosher salt

Heat the oven to 250 degrees. Place a dutch oven over medium heat and add the bacon, onion, and jalapenos, stirring until the fat has rendered from the bacon and the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, brown sugar, and molasses.

Add the beans to the dutch oven, along with the broth, and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the cayenne, black pepper and salt.

Give them a stir and cover the pot. Place the pot in the oven and bake for 5 to 7 hours or until the beans are tender.

I chose not to use jalapenos, and used a can of mild green chilis (chopped) instead. Very good. I also found the beans to be a bit on the salty side, so I would cut that down a bit.

These were absolutely delicious and worth the long baking time--a repeater in the Campbell house!

Now, to serve along with these, my sister Becky gave me the perfect recipe:

Pumpkin Cornbread

1/2 cup flour

1/2 whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 cup cornmeal

2 large eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree (canned)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp. molasses

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9-inch square or pie pan. Sift flours, baking powder, salt and spices in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in cornmeal. In separate bowl, beat eggs lightly. Whisk in pumpkin, brown sugar, oil and molasses. Make a well in the dry mixture and add pumpkin mixture and blend batter with a few quick strokes--don't over mix! Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cornbread is browned and the surface has a slightly springy feel.

And what goes better with pumpkin cornbread than some amazing...

Fluffy Honey Butter!

1 stick butter, softened

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup marshmallow fluff

Now, to quote my sister, "and whip it....whip it good!" and serve at room temperature---DELICIOUS!!!

One more card for you tonight, then I'm heading off to bead--my eyes are half open right now!

This is an adorable free vintage image I found online and printed out on cardstock--I love this period in illustration--about the 1920's--just adorable! Look at that village in the background--just like a fairy tale! (Can't remember where I found it--I think I just typed in "Free Vintage Thanksgiving images").

I used the cute red polka dot patterned paper from Crafty Secrets' Radiant paper pack, some Bayou Blue, Close to Cocoa and PTI Vintage Cream. A little lace, gingham ribbon, some delicious velvet ribbon, and a real vintage button from my husband's grandmother's stash.

The little saying at the bottom says, "I wish it might granted be, you'd join the 'Turkey Line' with me! So vintagely sweet!

I'll see you all tomorrow...and as always, thank-you all so much for visiting me and for your very kind words! Sleep tight!

Birds, Bees...and More Babies!

Good afternoon! Hope you've all had a wonderful day so far! Just picked up daughter #3 from school and thought I'd do a quick post before soccer, daughter #2 pick-up, etc.!

All I have today are a couple of projects I've been working on--both soft, sweet Springtime colors, for some odd reason, but they were appealing to me, so.....!

First off--a birthday crown--I won't say for whom, as they do look at my blog, so it will have to be a secret...shhhhh!

Over-the-top, garish, opulent, you say? Yes, please!

I put lots of real silver shavings glitter on it, which will gradually tarnish over time, giving it a more vintage look....I like that!

My little pie birdie just jumped into the picture...

The main bird image is from Crafty Secrets new "Birds & Blossoms" Creative Scraps--fabulous images! The sentiments are from two of CS's stamp sets: "Bird Lovers" and "Bird Notes". The patterned paper is from CS' Pastel paper pack, as is the music patterned paper, but I can't remember which pad it comes from--sorry! A little Glossy Accents on the top medallion (from "Bird Notes"), big, chunky crystals, a little silver cord, and that's it!

Now for the bees....well, I don't actually have a bee project--yet! But, I wanted to show you something I'm very excited about--just ordered from Cornish Heritage Farms the other day, and am expecting a couple of new fabulous stamp sets--I'll show you one of them later. For today, though, take a peek at this little beauty:

My head is just "buzzing" with ideas for this set! Can't wait to get it all inky! I'll have something to show you next week...

Now, for the babies--just follows naturally, right? I've had babies on the brain since my nephew's birth the other day, so I fixed up this sweet little image from Crafty Secrets' new "Baby Girl" Vintage Postcard Kit.

All these images are just so adorable! All I did here was add a little Dazzling Diamonds with my glue pen, some sweet little baby beads, a few pink crystal rhinestones, and a little pink ribbon--done!

I used the stamp set that comes with it to finish off the back--vintage postcard style!




I have a couple of pictures of my new nephew--being a proud auntie, I just had to force them upon you--thanks for bearing with me!

How's that for a sweet little face? Just a few minutes after he was born--pretty alert little guy!

I really love this picture--very tender. My sister had to have a C-Section after hours of labor--nothing much was happening, and they decided to go that route, which turned out to be a very good thing--won't go into details! She was very brave and calm through the whole thing, and this is just a minute or so after he was born--her husband, Eddie was holding little Connor close to her face, and you can just see a little tear in the corner of her eye--and what a sweet new mama smile--at last! it seems to say...peace...

Now, to close up for the day...I've also been thinking alot about MY babies--where does the time go??? Seems like just yesterday, I was scurrying around at this time of year, trying to put together the costume for the amazing thing they wanted to "be"! Here's my baby #1; a college-girl now, far away from her mommy, when she was three years old:

My sweet little Chelsea in the pumpkin patch--I love this picture so much!

That same year all dressed up for Halloween--she was NOT a witch, she was a "magical magician"! I miss you, Chelsea!

A few years later, and we had three little babies at Halloween time:

Chelsea, this time she WAS a witch! getting ready for the costume parade at John E. Steinbeck Elementary School (our hometown's favorite son!)



My two little sweeties, Sarah, the scary witchie, and Annie the tiny pumpkin head--she was just 2 months old...wow! Now, these are my 8th and 9th graders--yikes!


Thanks for indulging me in my memories...pull out YOUR scrapbooks and remember Halloweens past--it's just a LITTLE scary!