Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I've been working on my Planner, trying to get the year completed so my cards have taken a back burner (for now).
I needed to make something chocolate for a Family celebration and I don't usually make chocolate frosting but I decided that double chocolate was the way to go for these light and airy cupcakes...

So much tastier then the canned frosting and takes no time to whip up.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, soft
3 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 Tbsp heavy cream

Whip butter, add vanilla, alternate cream with dry ingredients. Makes enough for 24 cupcakes.

Orange Streusel Loaves

I love looking for products in the States that we can't seem to find here so when I spied these Orange cake mixes I snapped one, er three up in a hurry. Then I had to search for a recipe to try. This one fit the bill. Makes two moist delicious loaves and freezes well. WIN. WIN!

The Streusel topping looks kind of weird but it was a nice addition....

Don't fret if you are not making a run to the States, anytime soon. I also found a knockoff recipe that I'm going to try out as well. This is a bad photo but you get the idea of the finished cake...

Orange Streusel Loaves
1 package of cake mix, Reserving 2 Tbsp for topping
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
1 cup of sour cream
1/3 cup oil
4 large eggs

Streusel:
2 Tbsp reserved cake mix
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (whoops I missed that step)

Glaze (if desired)
1 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk or orange juice

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 2 9x5x3 cake pans.

Combine first ingredients in mixer for 3 minutes. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Sprinkle on Streusel topping

Bake 45-50 minutes. 

December Swap Card

We are sticking with it! Almost caught up now.
I needed more Thinking of you cards to go with my February Goals (sending more cards) and I wanted to use my Stitched Blooms set that I purchased when I was in Florida. I've already used it a few times (borrowed from a friend) but it was a must for me to own as well.

Here's the card I made...

I was going to use it for Sympathy but I thought it was a little too chipper, I changed the flower colour and I think it works...

I also added a little impression? along the top of the blue paper using another set from MFT. I think it finished off the edge.

Keri used the fun YETI set from MFT. Funny, that we both chose MFT sets this month....

She paper pieced those cute Yeti's and used paper from her favourite company; Doodlebug. The best is Yeti to come. I love the sentiment, you could use it for so many occasions.

We are both really happy that we didn't give up on our monthly Swap. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be making cards right now since I'm lately obsessed with working on my Planner.

February Goals and Habits

Before moving onto my February goals and habits, I thought I would recap January. Since breaking down my 2020 goals into smaller pieces I feel I have focused more and was really successful.


1. Leave no dishes in the sink nightly (YES)

I only missed 2 nights, once when I was sick and once when I was away. I used to let the dishes drip dry but now I am really motivated to get them put away and wake up to a clean sink. Lets see if I can keep this going in Feb.

2. Spend 15 minutes a day reading, working on Planner, shredding documents (I find if I just get started I keep going) (YES) I never missed and you know what? I made great progress on my Planner and my reading was stellar. I finished 6 books in January. That's a record. My last book was this one and it was really cute...

3. Do 2 blog posts a week. (A more concrete goal then so many per year)(YES) I managed to complete 2 blog posts a week. Much easier when its broken down by week.

So here are my February Goals:

1. Send one card.

2. 15 minutes of stretching or yoga or strength training

3. Spend 15 minutes cleaning up computer (emails, photos etc)

Wish me luck!

November Swap Card

Slowly but surely we are getting our Monthly Swap cards completed...

I needed a Retirement card, they're hard to come by. I used an MFT die with some cute confetti paper and the Happy stamp and die from Lawn Fawn. Of course, I had no suitable Retirement sentiments in my stash so I computer generated it and I think it looks pretty good.

Keri used a cute chicken set from Sugar Pea and a chicken wire embossing folder to coordinate. This would be a fun card to send someone. Maybe for my February Goals. Stay tuned for those.

October Swap Card

We are slowly getting caught up. This month,we got together and swapped 2 cards. The first card was from Keri....

She used a cute little technique where you put some of the stamped images on the inside where they are visible and some on the outside. What a clever idea. Of course, she used the Lawn Fawn Baked with Love stamp and die set.

I used a new set from Pretty Pink Posh called Happy Snowman and the sentiment was from a Hero Arts Sentiment set...

I embossed the snow bank and put glitter around the edges of my snowman and the snowball pom poms are just too cute.

There you have it! Another swap completed. Stay tuned for Nov.

Puppy Class

Usually once a week, I get my fix of puppies when I attend Puppy Class for Autism Dog Services. It never gets tired when the new babies come in.

Robbie is so sweet and super chill.

Spark is exhausted after a mentally challenging class.

Marshall is a Superstar. Am I partial to chocolates?

Practising for the Public Access Test that they will all have to pass in order to be a Certified Service Dog. That hamburger looks tempting. Luna did a great job resisting temptation.

Poppy (cinnamon colour) is our only full Poodle. She's got lots of spunk, it will be interesting to watch her mature.

These pups are only 9 months old and doing so well!

It's a really good gig. I love talking dog and hanging out with some great Volunteers!