Welcoming the New Year

Happy 2009, originally uploaded by desireux.

Hello 2009!

I'm welcoming the new year with many great memories from 2008. Thank you very much for all the love and support during the past year.

Cheers, and here's wishing you a great year ahead!

Happy Holidays!

Colors for Christmas, originally uploaded by desireux.

Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays to all of you. I hope you have a lovely time where ever you are.

I will be in New York for Christmas, really excited, its my first time visiting the Big Apple!

Btw, those cookies are delicious! They are from this Martha Stewart recipe. This batch of cookies were for Nick, who kindly requested them for his students. So sweet of him!

Decisions, decisions, decisions ...

Sneak Preview ... , originally uploaded by desireux.

Hmmm.... I don't know if I should keep the top two love birds, or just go with the bottom ones. I love how the top ones look suspended in the air, especially with their wings outspread but I'm worried it looks too busy.

And... I don't know if I should keep this design in red or stay with my usual white 180 degree cards. I really like how bold it looks with black, but on the other hand white looks clean and bright.

Thoughts anyone?

Roast Chicken & Avocado Black Peppercorn Ranch Naan

Roast Chicken & Avocado Black Peppercorn Ranch Naan, originally uploaded by desireux.

Yummy, yummy. There's always extra when I have a whole roast chicken, and this is one of my favorite ways to savor the leftovers. I cut the meat into smallish bits, including the skin (for that sinful bit of goodness). I then layer it on to naan (a type of flat bread), followed by a generous helping of avocados (because I LOVE them), Black Peppercorn Ranch dressing, a sprinkling of crushed peppercorns and sliced cheese. Put it under the broiler till the cheese starts to bubble.

The best thing is that this "recipe" is so flexible ... you can substitute the bread using pizza dough, pita bread, tortillas, you get the idea. If ranch dressing is not your cup of tea, I'm sure your favorite dressing will taste just as good.

Flowers in my hair

i dreamt of flowers in my hair, originally uploaded by desireux.

Last night I dreamt of flowers in my hair. It was sweet, someone came up to me, gently tucked a stalk of tiny flowers in my hair, and walked away.

Show me your tree ...

A very Chrismas-y Christmas card, originally uploaded by desireux.

Show me your Christmas trees :) I love looking at photos of Christmas trees so if you have already set yours up for the year do leave a link in the comments section and I'll hop over to visit.

Anyway, for my Christmas tree pop-up card this year, I decided to go with a more traditional theme of red, gold and green. I like how vibrant it looks and in the coming year, i'm going to try to incorporate more color into my pop-ups. So instead of having 99% of my pop-ups cut on a white background, you might be seeing more color!

It's up!

It's up!, originally uploaded by desireux.

I just set up my Christmas tree. Love the red sparkly lights and shiny baubles. And my little handmade polymer clay ornaments. I'm thinking of making some more ornaments this year, maybe with felt. Laura aka Lupin, has some lovely tutorials for felt ornaments on her blog, like this one to make a Christmas Pudding. She also has the loveliest felt ornaments in her Etsy store so head over if you would like some lovelies for your tree this year.

Stevy Snowman goes to Hawaii

Stevy Snowman goes to Hawaii, originally uploaded by desireux.

Another fun project :)

Happy Friday everyone!

A fir branch, a beaver and snowflakes

A fir branch and a beaver, originally uploaded by desireux.

Once in a while I will receive a request for a card that just makes me smile. My latest one involved a beaver, a fir branch and snowflakes. It was a fun project :)