Babs Just A Babblin' Blog

A bit of Gardening, baking, blogging, knitting, sewing, family, friends and discovering hidden treasures along the way.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Estate Sale Finds

Today half price:

Nice small pitcher to mix up cocktails.

Nine Waterford champagne flutes.

Eisenberg Christmas Tree pin.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Just a Little Encouragement

I was real hesitant to try making jam. It looked really hard. With the fresh strawberries in season, perusing a recipe or two and a little encouragement from my blogger buddy (thanks Razmataz), I gave it a whirl.



Fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries for a mixed berry jam.



Looking good.



Viola'...such cute little hostess gifts. They look so pretty. It tastes pretty darn good too.

A tad time consuming but easy!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

I'm So Going to This!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Birthday to our Baby

Happy Birthday to the baby of our family, Margaret Mary! She is the best Sister and friend. May your year be filled with blessings and lots of goodness and love.

And I can't forget Cooper, he turns one this week! Happy Birthday Coop!
Woof, woof!


Maggie and JoJo share the same birth date! Just many, many years apart! Better not say how many, she'd kill me.




Thursday, June 20, 2013

Estate Sale Find




Harker Pottery, eight place setting and several serving pieces!
My new every day dishes.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Garage Sale Find

Before:
 After:
She'll be a lovely addition to my camper......!  Best of all the price....three dol-la!

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Happy Fathers Day!

My favorite brothers!

My nephew Joffrey !

My Daddy!
Happy Father's Day to some pretty awesome guys!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Happy Birthday Wishes!

To the kindest, sweetest, most considerate, fun, loving sister-in-law ever.  We love hanging with you and wish we were there to celebrate with you!  Hope your year is now filled with happier days, loads of fun, and lots of blessings!

Marlene's Birthday dessert at dinner!
My brother always does things first class!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

This was fun!

Hoffmaster State Park was the host of the Tin Can Tourists/Michigan Chapter this past weekend.  As last year, they hosted a Vintage Camper Show. 

Richard and I headed over there Saturday afternoon.  I would say there were probably about 50-60 vintage campers open to walk into and chat it up with the owners.  Such cuteness, some...well they had a ways to go. 







and look, a cutie just the same as ours (but with an awning)!
It was fun seeing all the different styles.
I am partial though to my little canned ham!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

You're Going To Love This!

As you may know, I so enjoy my Starbucks foo- foo coffees and frappacinos. The other thing I really like is McDonald's Caramel Frappe.
Well, I purchased a smoothie blender a few days ago. Reason being, a camper friend had one for breakfast every day while we were camping. She puts a little everything in it, including a few greens. I admit I do not get enough fruit and veggies in my daily food consumption so thought this would be perfect. It works perfect. A little yogurt, skim milk, berries, banana, raw cashews, and a few spinach leaves. How healthy is that!

Back to the frappe'....I figured there was no reason I couldn't make these in my new smoothie thingy! I found a recipe on Pinterest and just made one!
OMG....it's delicious.



I didn't do the whipped cream! Here's the low down. Now I hope some of you don't find this too labor intensive. You may have an easier method.
I bought espresso beans and used a fine grind at the store. Next, used 8 tablespoons of grounds to 12 ounces of very hot water and french pressed the coffee. la-tee-dah! Don't I sound fancy. Once the coffee cooled, I poured the coffee into an ice cube tray and froze the coffee.

The recipe:
Six coffee cubes
8 oz. skim milk
3 T. Caramel syrup (Hershey's)
2 T. Sugar
Blend.

Ta.da. That's it.
I'm sitting outside enjoying this perfect tasty drink, blogging away.

Give it a try...along with a breakfast smoothie. I may experiment and add some more green to my smoothie....lettuce or avocado and maybe some seeds...YIKES!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Razmataz

So, I have this friend or should I say acquaintance?  She is delightful.  Her style is fun, eclectic and hip.  She lives in Canada and has a cute little getaway in Florida.  She is a great Mom and has a Sweet MaMa!  Her dog is adorable....Mr. Frenchie aka Balto.  Recently she became a Grandma for the first time! She loves to bake, to entertain and throw a good party.  She loves Prosecco!  She is into many creative endeavors.  Her forte' is interior design but she dabbles with quality, fun, stylish accessories for people like you and I.

Meet Razmataz! (aka Chania)!  I'd love to share her market items with you, especially her latest line of jewelry...SNO of Sweden.

She blogged about a bracelet she purchased for a friend's birthday and I was hooked.  I wanted one....I needed one...... well, low and behold, this gal has it together.  She is now selling them as well as other designs.

My favorites from SNO of Sweden are:



She carries other awesome lines as well....Dash and Albert, PineCone Hill, she makes adorable clay tags, etc.  I encourage you to check out her market.  www.razmatazmarket.com/shop

The amazing thing is I struggled with referring to her as friend but then thought acquaintance may be more appropriate as I have never met Razmataz....I wouldn't know her if she walked into the room but perhaps the more I think about it...I just might.  She's got style!  We met through blogging......

I've met the neatest "friends" through blogging!  It's a whole different world and avenue to reaching people. Nice connections, common interests, new ideas, etc.

Just so you know, this is not a paid endorsement.  I completely volunteered to introduce my friends to this product as I thought it was fun stuff.  Kind of like Silpada jewelry when I was first introduced to that.
Just love spreading the word!  Thanks for checking her out!  Let me know what you think!

Wonderful Experience

Our camping adventure was awesome. The weather, not so great but it didn't stop us from a good time. Glad I had my winter jacket!












Friends, nature, games, drink! Oh and raccoons! Good to be back in my own bed!

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Excited but a Little Sad

We are heading for a "glamping" outing for five days!  This is our first camping adventure this year.  We are meeting up with eight other couples so it should be a lot of fun.  That is my excitement to share!

The sad thing, my flowers are about to "pop".  My most favorite flower of the year is peonias.
They are ready to pop and will probably do so while we are gone!
I also purchased a new perennial this spring - a yellow lupine and that is nearly in full bloom.

 My oriental poppies - if it gets real warm - they will be blooming.
And a surprise visitor from nature.....a Jack in the Pulpit....I think I have a lady slipper also.
I hope Mother Nature is kind to me and slows the blooming process a wee bit~