FREE Bow Tie - celebrating 2013!

Happy New Year to YOU.  I always wait so long in between posts (life gets in the way) that I could write a book here haha) but won’t - bet you’re breathing a sigh of relief already.  Here’s how I feel right now, summed up in this quote:

I wish I could stand on a busy corner,

hat in hand

and beg people throw me all their wasted hours.

~ Bernard Berenson

Oh what I could do with those hours!  I could not wish for one thing in my life right now other than more time to do all the things I want to do.  Its always a balance isn’t it. 

We had the best Christmas ever, surrounded by family and friends.  Mom’s home was filled with festive decorations, sumptuous food (she’s a terrific and traditional cook) and the time went by in a blink.  She goes totally overboard with Christmas-ness and I ♥ every second of being in her home because her love for us is evident in all the effort she lavishes on her home for us to enjoy.  She even made Norwegian Fatiman which is always a hit.  Over the holidays we cherished time with our daughters and enjoyed moments with my sister in law and nieces too. 

A highlight of our time with relatives was establishing a new tradition.  I introduced (my slightly modified version of) the basic Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe to my family as a base for a Pizza Party. 

I supplied all the ingredients for the dough and had issued an invitation to others to bring along whatever they chose from a list of possible toppings.  There wound up being a range of ingredients from fresh fruit and vegetables and all the way to capers and specialty sausages from a local market.

My Father in Law made his specialty tomato sauce and our Aunt and Uncle welcomed everyone into their spacious and beautiful home for the event. 

I rotated everyone out to create each pair of the six in total pizzas so everyone had a turn at being Master Chef.  Groups of two and three swapped out to put their personal touches to these delectable pies. 

And once they were oven ready they were shoo-ed into the oven to bake to golden deliciousness.  The dough rose beautifully and I baked them on a convection setting and they turned out exceptional!   It was such a great time together we are already planning for next year.

Honestly can say these are the BEST pizza’s ever - could it be the convection oven?  Have YOU ever used one? 

*****

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions but I was prompted in my heart to spend the first week of the year at home.  My Mr does not begin regular work hours until this coming week so our days, since we arrived home just before New Years, have been like a small honeymoon away from the world.  During the days we have tackled tasks which needed tending to.  For me in particular this meant tending to my creative space.  I’ve been collecting supplies (and been blessed by some folks saving bits here and there for me) that I needed to make some sense of it all. 

Because I made most of our gifts, this took up a tremendous amount of my time and energy so I confess to turning a blind eye to how things were piling up.  I had quite the time getting started - and tasks I thought might take a few hours have stretched into marathon days. 

But come 4:30 each day was cut off for everything and it was switch into “date” mode!  My husband is a great cook and has treated me to several of his fantastic meals and a few nights we’ve worked together on some.  I have treasured and savoured every single second of our time together.  I made myself stop feeling guilty for taking this time out when there are so many needs “out there”.  All too soon there will be no choice but to get back into things.  My faith and then my marriage are priority - like the feature gems on a beautiful necklace, strung on each side with people dear to me - family and friends and so they come the very next - and that's probably where YOU factor in.  Which means I’ll be trying to visit some blogs and catch up over the coming week.  No internet at the folk over the holidays so blog visiting piles up too.  Thank you to all of you who have visited and left some ♥ in my absence. 

*****

I think Bow Ties are going to be BIG this year in designing and otherwise - like moustaches were last year.  I must admit I’m moustached out now.  So, I created this Bow Tie card using a cut I created for your personal use projects!

 

 

I cut the bow from a specialty paper I purchased last year from Paper Nation - I cut two of the bow parts so it had a bit of lift.  I glued the middle bit on using black foam tape squares.  The stamp is a Studio G.  This cutting set is available in PNG, SVG and .STUDIO file formats.   Click on the link below to get these files and… Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD

Note:  I’ve received comments some of you are having confusion or don’t understand how to download my files?  Firstly, you click the word DOWNLOAD to go to Ge.tt where the file is hosted.  Then in case you don’t know, my files are zipped into a folder.  If you don’t understand what this means or how to access them, please leave me a comment with your email or blog so I can get back to you and assist you in getting these.  

Thanks for visiting me today

♥Barbara ♥

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