april book giveaway!

March 30, 2018

I have been learning quite a bit about honey and bees lately and I find them fascinating! The result of this fascination is that I find myself seeking out local honeys at farmer’s markets and specialty stores. My current interest led me to choose a book about honey for this month’s giveaway. I am also adding a honey dipper to the gift because a true honey connoisseur would never serve or eat their honey from a metal utensil!

While trying to eliminate processed foods, I have been using maple syrup and honey as substitutes for sugar. A local beekeeper recently pointed out to me – honey is technically the only unprocessed of the two since maple syrup goes through a long boiling process. Interesting!

So, the giveaway for this month is Honey by Angelo Proseperi-Porta. Sometimes trying to substitute honey in recipes can be tricking. This book makes it easy with everyday recipes for cooking and baking, and a section of information that includes tips on substituting honey in recipes. This book is a great help in making a transition from sugar to honey and contains more than 85 sweet and savory recipes!

For a chance to own this wonderful book, just leave a comment and you will be entered to win! The winner will be chosen at random at the end of April. Good luck!

The March giveaway book seemed to speak to many people. The interest in the book really makes me wish I had more than one copy to gift! But, sadly, I needed to choose only one person to receive the one copy. I did so totally at random and that person is Mary P. Congrats to Mary and thank you to everyone who entered to win! To read more about One Good Deed a Day: a Journal, click here.

Instagram users, read on! This month, the challenge is to share photos of things with a bee motif. I love the little hobnail votive with a bee that I have in my office – isn’t it adorable? And, it smells heavenly! Since the giveaway this month is a book about honey, sharing photos of bees is right on theme! Use the hashtag #pleasuregram to share your photos.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a wonderful weekend and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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chicks in a puddle

March 27, 2018

Even though Easter usually has no shortage of candy available, it is still fun to add a candy favor to each Easter place setting. You have seen me make edible candy nests in the past (or candy turkeys at Thanksgiving), but today I am making ‘chicks in a puddle.’

You can easily replicate these in minutes as a super simple DIY. Only 3 items are required to pull it off – candy chicks, white chocolate baking pieces, and a little blue food coloring.

My ‘chicks in a puddle’ are simply candy chicks sitting in a ‘puddle’ of white chocolate that has been tinted blue!

To create your own, melt some white chocolate chips, from the baking section of the grocery store, in a double boiler. When melted and smooth, add a little food coloring to the chocolate – to tint it a light blue color – and mix thoroughly. With a teaspoon, spoon the chocolate in small ovals onto wax paper or parchment to create ‘puddles.’ While the chocolate is still warm, press a candy chick into each ‘puddle.’ Place the ‘puddles’ into the fridge for a minute or two to speed up the setting.

This can be a fun activity with the children or grandchildren!

That’s it! Aren’t they cute little additions to the dinner plates?

I hope you are inspired to create some chicks in a puddle for your Easter table! A great tie-in for a child’s Easter basket is the book Puddle by Hyewon Yum!

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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crane beach in ipswich

March 23, 2018

I fit in a beach walk on a recent trip to the North Shore of Massachusetts – squeezed in between two major Nor’easters!

On today’s Friday field trip, I welcome you to Crane Beach!

Thanks for stopping by and joining me on a winter beach walk! Have a fabulous weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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polar bear easter egg

March 20, 2018

Today, I am sharing another DIY Easter egg design. And, even though you may not be interested in making a polar bear designed Easter egg, you can use the technique I used here to create a design of your own.

I started with an emptied-out egg. The first thing I needed to do was to make a polar bear template to use on the egg. I used a mailing label to draw a simplistic design of a polar bear. Why a mailing label? Because, I would next adhere the sticker shape I created to the egg. Since I was dyeing the egg to contrast in color from the white polar bear, the shape of the sticker would resist the dye – leaving a white polar bear shape on the egg.

Removing polar bear shaped sticker after dyeing the egg.

After the egg was dyed, I splattered it with white paint, using the same technique I used on my constellation designed eggs. I really glopped the paint on, because I wanted to give a suggestion of a heavy snowfall!

When the paint was dried, I used a pair of tweezers to carefully pull the sticker off the egg. As you can see, it didn’t keep the spot perfectly white – some dye did get under the sticker. The effect is almost like a batik. Wax can be used in place of the sticker (like that used for Ukrainian Easter eggs) to eliminate any dye from getting through, but I really like the effect when some dye makes it under the sticker.

Finally, I used a thin, black, permanent marker to outline the polar bear shape and gave him a nose and some eyes.

Pretty easy, right? This same technique can be used in so many ways. I created the polar bear for a friend, but I may continue the theme by creating a penguin next! Are you wondering what has me thinking of such cold weather friends for Easter instead of bunnies and chicks? Must be that New England March snow!

I hope I have inspired you to create some new Easter eggs designs!

Thanks for stopping by and remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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white orchids

March 16, 2018

The current highlight at Longwood Gardens, one of the top public gardens in the nation, is orchids. I like orchids, though they are not my favorite. But, I have to say, on my last trip to Longwood, I fell in love with one of the orchid installations.

It consists of all white (my favorite flower color!) orchids suspended from the ceiling in balls.

I am sharing a few photos of this display for today’s Friday field trip. I am sorry the exposure of the photos isn’t the best, but they were taken on a stormy weekend!

If you are an orchid lover, I strongly encourage you to visit Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The Orchid Extravaganza continues through March 25^th. If you can squeeze in a trip, you will also be treated to a viewing of a rare display of blue-poppies – currently in bloom.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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bunny ear napkins with eggs

March 13, 2018

Have you ever folded your Easter dinner napkins to look like bunny ears? You probably have.

Today, I am sharing how to DIY some Easter eggs to use with your folded bunny ear napkins! I like to make bunny tail eggs for my napkins!

Since I was making one to show you, I decided to also make one with the front of a bunny to demonstrate how easy it would be to include bunny face eggs as well. You can choose to make just the backside eggs to use with your napkins – like I do – or, mix up bunny backsides and bunny faces on your Easter table!

All you need are pompoms to glue to the eggs. Use a white one for the bunny’s tail and a pink one for the bunny’s nose.

To add a little character to my bunny, I first added some spots to the eggs so my bunny would not be pure white. I did this by making up a taupe egg dye and adding a little bit of color variation to my bunny. Black or gray dye work for ‘bunny spots’ as well. Once you have dyed your eggs – if you choose to – use a glue gun to add the tail and nose to your bunny eggs. A fine point permanent marker is perfect to add the rest of the bunny face detail to the egg with the pink ‘nose.’

Once the eggs are complete, Use the diagram here to help fold two napkins appropriately. Add ribbon to keep the eggs in place and to position the ‘ears.’

A perfect little DIY for your Easter table! Change up the bunny and napkin colors to best match your décor. I used taupe and white, but you can use whatever colors work for you. Eggs dyed gray paired with gray napkins work well too. You can also create a variety of different expressions on your bunnys’ faces. Have fun with it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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longwood gardens green wall

March 9, 2018

The Green Wall in the corner of the East Conservatory at Longwood Gardens definitely achieves its goal of resembling a lush green jungle! This display really needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. One view is enough to cause a fern lover go into shock! Not only is the sheer size of the display impressive, but the way the design incorporates a hallway of doors is simply beautiful!

The Green Wall, containing 47,000 plants, is the largest in North America – a very impressive 14 feet high and 300 feet long.

The wall is made up of 12” x 12” stainless steel panels containing a potting mix for use in vertical gardens. Each panel is planted in one of 29 different planting configurations. Each configuration is based on plant type, lighting requirements, and other factors. Just inside the stainless steel, a layer of coconut coir fiber lines each panel to hold moisture.

In 2010, the panels were assembled in Florida where over 50 pallets, each 8-foot-tall and containing 72 boxes per pallet, were loaded in 3 climate-controlled refrigeration tractor trailers and transported 36 hours to Longwood in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

I hope these photos on today’s Friday field trip give you a little sense of the amazingly beautiful Green Wall at Longwood Gardens. This display is just one of the many breathtaking displays at one of the most beautiful public gardens in the nation (and one of my happy places).

Does this inspire you to start thinking of your spring garden? We change the clocks this weekend!!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend.

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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diy constellation easter eggs

March 6, 2018

I love dyeing Easter eggs. Each year I like to come up with a new egg decorating idea. And, I love creating a themed series of decorated eggs! Remember the picnic theme, for example? (Click here to see.) This year I decided to create a series of Easter eggs depicting the astrological constellations.

I started by creating a backdrop for my star formations! I added purple and a little bit of black paste food coloring to a ½ cup of boiling water with a teaspoon of white vinegar. I used this to dye my eggs. Once the eggs were dry, I used an old kindergarten technique to splatter white paint onto each egg. This simply involves loading a stiff brush or toothbrush with paint and splattering it onto the eggs using a finger or popsicle stick flicked against the bristles of the brush. (Something I first used when creating leaf prints in kindergarten art class!)

Now that a night sky is created on the eggs, I can go ahead and create the individual star formations. For this, I am using little stick-on crystals from the craft store. I created a graphic for myself to use as reference for the placement of the stars for each constellation. I decided to use a thin white marker to add some definition to the star arrangement – even though this wouldn’t happen in the actual sky! I included a graphic here for you to use as reference when creating your own eggs designs.

These eggs are easy to create and I think they are really cool looking. Have fun with it! Create an egg with your own sign, the signs of each family member, or all twelve signs!

I made mine on emptied out eggs so that I can display them for Easter each year.

I hope I have inspired you to create some astrological sign designed Easter eggs!

Thank you for stopping by!

Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

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dreaming of warmer days

March 2, 2018

A storm is brewing and the shift in the barometric pressure has given me an awful headache! I can’t help but dream of prettier, warmer days!

So, for today’s Friday field trip, some pretty pool photos taken at The Four Seasons Orlando! (With a few of my favorite plant photos thrown in for good measure – taken at The Four Seasons as well.)