Lovers Day- February 14th

February is for LOVE.....I got a call from my sweet friend Jennifer Jorde....She wanted to know if I could bake her some homemade breadsticks and make some Chocolate Covered Strawberries for her little family for Valentine's Day.  I couldn't say no....so I did it.  I love to please and I sure hope I did.  I really was excited for this job because I was working on perfecting a SweetSonya Garlic Bread Spice Blend.  Well I think it was perfected....THEY WERE GOOD, even if I do say so myself!  Thanks Jennifer!

Draper/ McMullin

 Di tutte le stelle, tu sei la piu' bella! Of all the stars, you're the prettiest! This couple is too adorable! That night was gorgeous and so were these love birds! My husband and I are best friends with the Drapers! Italian food was the perfect meal for these two! The menu consisted of Fettuccine Alfredo, Baked Ziti, Bread Sticks, and Caesar Salad! (All for 250 people!)

Mr. & Mrs. McMullin

Yummy Food!

Over 500 Bread Sticks

SweetSonyaSensations Secret Sauce

Ball/ Schaub Wedding

I was so excited when my good friend Tracy Ball called me to help her with her daughters wedding! Emma is such a doll, so I couldn't refuse! The food was just as sweet as Emma! Sweet Sonya Sensations was ready to take on the task at hand! Emma pondered on what she wanted. She had me focused on doing the dessert for her special day. Tracy and Emma bought my toffee from the La Di Da Designs boutique. They both loved it so much that it was mandatory for this wedding! She also wanted her other favorite, Salt River Bars! I told her that I knew how to make them and she was over the moon! She later called me saying, "I feel like I need something healthy!" We decided that fruit skewers were the best choice! The healthy ones at the wedding needed something sweet too! This night was picture perfect! Tracy and Emma both have wonderful taste! This night was so wonderful!

Mr. & Mrs. Schaub

The Budd's Wedding Celebration

Well Saturday was a full day of fun!  Kris (my little sister) and John Budd were married in July and decided to have their celebration in October when the weather was perfect!  Boy was it!  Back in July Kris asked me if I would cater the event.  Of course I said YES!  It was held this Saturday on October 18th in her backyard and it was beautiful!

Her menu consisted of

Caramelized Pull Pork on Pretzel Sliders
SweetSonya's Cole Slaw
Greek Pasta Salad
Ranch Beans
Fresh Sweet Corn

For dessert we had a PUMPKIN BAR!  How very appropriate for this time of year.  I must say the evening was perfect and I thank Kris and John for the opportunity to help out!

"Oh Say Can You See"

My calling in church is the RS Extra Meeting Coordinator (honestly I really don't know the title). Anyway, I work with a committee to provide extra activities once a month for the wonderful women of our ward to invite friends and family to come and join us for an activity. This month we did "Patriotic Banners" as seen below!

Yep - I stole the idea from Pinterest! I love Pinterest and I do use the ideas I save! Anyway, didn't they turn out cute?

For those of you who missed the meeting or just want to do one yourself, I have posted the instructions here so that you can do it on your own....don't worry, it's a cinch!
 

First of all here is the list of supplies you will need

5 pieces of "Natural" burlap cut in 11" x 10" pieces

Ceramcoat 2 oz bottle of "Navy Blue" paint

Ceramcoat 2 oz bottle of "Cardinal Red" paint

2 yards of natural jute

2" masking tape

scrap fabric

ruler

pencil

small craft paint roller

9 star stickers (mine are cut on a circuit machine)

I want to mention and give a huge thanks to my good friend Kristi Bremer for her willingness to cut all the stars out for the 55 kits we made for our craft night.

Love you Kristi!

Step ONE

Important to remember:  When working with the burlap panels, always work with them vertically as shown.  The extra inch added is for turning over the jute on the top in order to hang it.  So you will always need to remember to work with the jute VERTICALLY.

With your pencil measure 2" from the bottom and make a mark on both ends.  Then using your masking tape, lining up the mark on both ends, you will adhere the tape to the burlap.  Then, from the top edge of the tape measure another 2 inches on both sides of burlap, mark and again adhere masking tape across.  You should have two stripes of masking tape across your panel 2 inches of burlap showing on the bottom and the middle and 3 inches showing on the top as seen below.

Step TWO

Using your star stickers and again making sure your burlap panel is vertical on your work surface, eyeball (yes sometimes I can just eyeball it), but if you want to measure, do so, and adhere the stars to your burlap being sure they are sealed on all edges.  Also, be sure a point of the star is facing north or to the top of your panel as seen below.

Another tip on this one....as you can see there is a little more space at the top for folding over the jute to hang.

Those HOT TAMALES in the bowl were really good!  We had M&M's too!

Step THREE

Painting......

Be sure you are working on a surface that you don't mind getting paint on because this paint will soak through the very porous burlap.  Also, when painting be aware that burlap is so dry that it soaks up a lot of paint and seems like you have to go over it a lot in order to cover thoroughly. 

Here is the craft paint roller I found at Home Depot in a kit with a tray and everything you need (for $1.98).  Love that kind of deal!

I rolled on the blue and the red paint.  You can put it on as thick or as light as you want it.  I like the rustic, vintage look so mine isn't real thick...see below.

Step FOUR

LET DRY......  It doesn't take long.  About 30 minutes if you are in a hurry or a couple of hours for a good dry.  

After it is all dry, carefully remove the star stickers and the masking tape..Joila!

The next step you get to choose whether you want it sewn or you want to just hot glue the banner to your jute.  I chose to sew mine which was pretty easy.  I unfortunately, do not have pictures of me sewing mine...(somehow I couldn't figure out how to take pictures and sew at the same time)  And for those who are saying, "have someone else do it", well I was all alone. You just roll the top of each panel over the jute and sew a casing.  I thought it would be too hard to work the jute through a casing so I just sewed it with the jute in it being careful not to catch the jute in the seam.

Another way in which you can finish off your panel is to just hot glue it to the jute.

This is the way we did it at our meeting and it worked well.  Not all people have a sewing machine and feel comfortable sewing so glue works well too.

Just find the center of your jute and the center of one of your striped panels that will be the center of your banner. Line that up and glue along the edge of the burlap rolled over the jute....as shown.  Do all the panels making sure you have placed the blue star panel appropriately in order that it is the one that will end up on the far left of the banner when looking at it hanging.  Also, you can take of strips of scrap fabric and tear pieces to tie between the panels on the jute.  If doing so, remember to leave about 3/4 of an inch between panels to fit the fabric pieces.

Sorry the pictures aren't really clear....but you get the idea!

Anyway, Happy Fourth of July!

Veteran's Day

I wanted to post a thought about Veteran's Day....I am so very grateful to all those that have sacrificed for my personal way of life and most importantly...MY FREEDOM!  I marvel at the strength of this nation because of the few that are willing to give and in some cases their lives.  I love soldiers and sailors and pilots and thank their families for their additional sacrifice.  Simply said...God Bless You and Thank You!

I also have to remember a little hero in my life.  Today always marks the day my little brother Lance passed away.  He was a great kid and to think that he would be 42 years old just is amazing to me.  I still think of him as 14.  Thank you Lance for being my only brother and the short time we lived together, well I cherish those few memories.  Love you...til we meet again!

This is a picture of my brother Lance Eric Heath, taken shortly before he died in 1986.

Finally....

Well it has been a long time (almost a year) that my "epiphany" came about.  I have been working out some kinks and thoughts...and I am ready to go.  First, I am in the La-Di-Da Boutique again this year.  I will be running The Cafe' and baking a lot of "to die for" baked goods.  I am so excited and extremely nervous at the same time.  I love boutiques and especially one's I work at.  It is my fourth year at this boutique and am so grateful to my friends Lori and Jen for having me back.  I am posting the flier and link to information about the boutique.
Plan a girl friend day, come have lunch and find a few gifts (maybe even one for you)!  I wanna see you all there!
www.la-di-da-designs.com