Gooey Butter Cake....YUMMMMM

Wow...this week is flying by already! We've been BUSY getting everything ready for Christmas coming up this Sunday. One of my favorite things to give any time of the year are homemade food items such as cookies, cakes, jam, bread, etc. There is one cake I've made several times in the last few months...Gooey Butter Cake.  Just the name alone makes your mouth water doesn't it??? :)  Well it is just as delicious as it sounds and is super easy to make.  I'm not sure what cave I crawled out of, but I had never heard of this dessert until I read about it on faster kittykill's blog (did I mention that I love her blog?!)  Apparently Gooey Cake has been around for eons I've been told.  Before I crawl back into that cave, here is the recipe from her blog:  Gooey Butter Cake 
As I said, this is super easy to make and can even be made in a dutch oven on a charcoal grill after a tornado blows through and wipes out your utilities for 5 days! (yep folks, I've done this) :) Enjoy!

My recipe for Island Jam coming tomorrow... :)

Hello everyone!   Well the day is here where the winner is picked!  I ran the numbers through Random Number Generator at www.random.org and the winner is.....


                      Kristi @ mindfulhome!!!

Congratulations Kristi on the win!!!

I have sent Kristi an email letting her know she has won. If I don't hear from her within 24 hours from now, then I will run the numbers again and choose another winner.  :)  Thank you ALL so much for your comments and for visiting my blog!  I hope you all will stick around or check back with me because I am working on some neat tutorials and will be having more giveaways in the coming weeks!


xoxoxo
Susan 

SewMamaSew Giveaway!

 

Well, the time has arrived for SewMamaSew's December 12, 2011, Giveaway Day!  http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/2011/11/giveaway-day-december-12/  The Giveaway actually extends beyond Dec 12th this year, and will run through December 16th until 5:00pm PST!  There are tons of other sites participating in this so make sure you check out the link above.  So obviously I'm late getting started with this as life tends to get in the way sometimes. :)  Better late than never, right?  So here it is...my part of the Giveaway will consist of 2 different things...a Home Spa package, if you will.  The first item will be a custom-made pair of women's Kimono shoes that will look something like this:

I can make them several different sizes, so whomever wins will need to let me know their shoe size (or slipper size).  A big thanks to IThinkSew for offering this pattern (and many others!) for half price!  Again, you will be getting the Kimono slippers, not the pattern. Don't they look totally comfortable?! :)

The second thing I will be giving away is a handcrafted soap package consisting of 3 different cold process soaps that I've made:

The diamond shaped soap is Mediterranean Mud Soap (yes, it's made with actual Mediterranean clay!); the brown and white bar is Milk & Coffee soap (made with Colombian coffee and goat's milk); and the one behind the others is Cucumber Shea Butter soap (made with actual cucumbers from my garden plus shea butter).  

The winner of my giveaway, whom I will choose randomly, will win BOTH packages.  All that I ask is that you leave me a comment telling me what your favorite color is and why.  For example, does this color have a special meaning to you? represent some wonderful memory? etc... I'm looking forward to reading your responses! 

xoxoxox
Susan (aka StitchGoddess)

****UPDATE****

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the lovely comments thus far!  Wow!  You guys are super!  The color green seems to be a very popular one, with myself included. :)  I'm going to leave this giveaway open until tonight 8:00pm Central time (9:00pm Eastern, 7:00pm Mountain, 6:00pm Pacific) just so those who haven't had time to leave a comment because of work commitments, etc., will have a little more time.  I will be using a random generator program to pick the winner.  As a reminder....the slippers shown in the photo above are not the ones in the giveaway.  I will be making the winner a custom pair with their color of preference.  International entries are okay as well!  With that said, I'm off to work!  Thanks so much for visiting!!! :)

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I'm a bit new to this blogging thing so please bear with me.   First of all, I'd like to welcome you to my blog!  This has been in the works for awhile now, but it's finally here! Yay!  Secondly, I'd love to tell you what this blog is all about. This is primarily a place to share crafty ideas and tutorials, make some new friends,and learn a few things, but it's also a place for me to share some of what's going on in my life. 

A little about me (beyond the "About Me" section): I'm a Professional Registered Nurse working full-time as an RN Case Manager for a Hospice company.  My job is never dull and is highly rewarding.  Unfortunately, I cannot honestly say that I enjoy being a nurse, but I do love taking care of my patients. I know that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense so I'll explain what I mean.  I love taking care of my patients, but I very much dislike all the red tape and paperwork that goes along with it. I also dislike the current job instability (yes, even nurses are having a hard time finding jobs).  That being said, the other reason I don't particularly enjoy being a nurse is because I have Systemic Lupus and Fibromyalgia.  If you know anything about either condition, you know that fatigue and pain play a big role here.  It can get frustrating at times, but eh, it's life!

Now on to the fun stuff!  Crafting is my FAVORITE thing to do and what I do when I'm not at work.  I spin, knit, crochet, weave, embroider, sew, make handmade soaps and am trying to learn quilting.  I could do this 24/7, I kid you not!  I'm so excited to get this blog going and hopefully soon, will get some fab tutorials up!  If you happen to be wondering what the whole "Fred's in the Head" thing is about??  We have two Boston Terrier rescues who I ADORE!  Our little Koko is the doggie on the left and Bodie is the doggie on the right. Female and male.  As mischievous and rambunctious as they come!  I don't know when I started calling them, "Fred's in the head," but it fits them perfectly.   They inspire a great deal of my creativity and snuggle really nice too...

This is going to be an exciting week!  SewMamaSew is doing their Giveaway Day and I'm going to be participating for the first time!  I'll be posting more about it tomorrow so check back and see what I'm going to be offering for the Giveaway!  This will be going on all week starting December 12, 2011 through December 16, 2011 and there will be many, MANY crafty blogs giving great stuff away. :) More later!

xoxox,
Susan (a.k.a. StitchGoddess)