Up to Lately

I've been having some fun in the office lately.

One thing I have been wanting to add to my shop is simple gemstone pendants so the stone is the star! 

These are my first additions including riverstone, rhodonite, black onyx, fancy jasper, white howlite, turquoise howlite (dyed) and mahogany obsidian. They will come with a black cord.

This inspirational necklace was a custom order. The request was for a handstamped Live Your Dream necklace with purple incorporated into it. 

So I dangled amethyst in front of the message with sparkling sterling silver. I love the result and now feel inspired to create more necklaces like this!

I also cooked with coconut oil for the first time. We recently purchased a huge vat of organic coconut oil to use as a moisturizer but then a bloggy friend sent me this recipe from Sweet Potato Soul. It called for coconut oil! 

They are roasted with coconut oil, paprika, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Sweet and spicy!!!

Well that's it for now. Still waiting for Spring! Thank you for stopping by and have a great week. ~Val

Earring Studs and A Cheese Bake

Cabochons

For a long time I had only been making earring studs in sets due to time constraints. Now I have time to post single pairs in variety of gemstones! Available in my Etsy shop. 

Cheese Bake
This was delicious and easy!

It came out looking nothing like the inspiration pin I got the idea from here. It seemed to collapse because the veggies I used shrank when cooked!

It is made in a spring pan so you can hopefully remove it once cooked and have a perfectly shaped delight. That was not exactly how it went for me. I did oil the pan edges first just in case. The oven was preheated at 425F.

Any combo of veggies and cheese can be used for this. 

I started with thinly sliced butternut squash on the bottom as sort of a crust. 
Then added spinach. Then some cheese.

Then yellow bell pepper and portabella mushrooms. Then more cheese (one can never have too much cheese)! 

I also put in a layer of tomatoes and chopped cauliflower in here. The cheeses used were a combo of mozzarella, asiago and shredded Mexican cheese.

It came out collapsed even though I tightly packing the ingredients to the top as I was adding them. That was ok though. Between Jim and I, this only lasted 2 days! 

It tastes a lot like a quiche, but without the eggs. Next time we will try different veggies and maybe different cheeses!

Thank you for stopping by! Stay warm if you are in one of those cold spots. This past week was rough in Massachusetts! ~Val

This Week's Blog Post

Gemstone Lanyards
I have been wanting to make multi gemstone lanyards for a while now. It was just a matter of time available to create fresh, new inventory.

Well I had some extra time between product orders this week and made one with silver plated findings and one with gold plated findings. They really look much more like jewelry than my other ones! Available at Miss Val’s Creations.

Red Tavern
This is my favorite building in town named the Red Tavern. It is haunted (supposedly).

Reading up on this I learned that its original owner, Edward Searles was actually responsible for the walls in the city that I mentioned in my last post.

They were built to create more privacy for his property. I found this cool old photo on a Searles history site showing some of the walled part which really looks out of place today!

The Tavern was built in the early 1900s as a guest house to his castle. The nuns own his castle now so I have not actually seen it. Maybe in the spring I will try checking it out if it is accessible!

It was sold in 1946 and additions were added to the original structure which I think is what makes it so visually appealing to me.

Today it houses business and a function hall. I have been inside and it is quite beautiful with wood paneled walls, high ceilings, fire places….all sorts of stateliness!

 It is not easy finding much information online for all these neat old places and structures but I am slowly finding more photos online of things to check out!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great fun-filled week! ~Val