Whew!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, no  matter what you chose to do!  

I planned absolutely nothing, and was able to focus on my jewelry and cooking the entire weekend.  I spent most of Saturday working on redoing almost all of my photos in my Etsy shop (check them out!)  While redesigning and uploading my photos, I started making connections through the Etsy forums and Facebook fan pages, which has been a great amount of fun!

Sunday, I spent the day working on a few sets of earrings and then creating a couple of polymer clay pendants.  One set of earrings I posted on Etsy (Time for Tea Too).  I also redesigned my Etsy banner and attempted to make my first clay cane.  It didn't turn out that well, but it isn't horrible for a first attempt.  The blue cheese-beer-bacon bread I made from scratch did turn out fabulously well, so the day wasn't a total loss on the creativity side. :D

Today, we smoked a pork shoulder and cornish game hen, and I made brownies from scratch for the very first time.  
 f you are going to attempt it, I highly recommend the Hershey's Kitchen brownie recipe:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I did only about 1/8 of salt)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts, if desired. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares. About 16 brownies. 

Now, I am just checking through the Etsy forums and glazing my polymer clay pendants...delaying going to bed.  I'm so glad it's a shortened work week, how about you?

Also, welcome to my new followers and the new people perusing through my blog!!!  I hope you enjoy!