More Cookies!

I'm getting good at this~;o) Time to change these up a bit. Perhaps some scallops, hearts, and other lovely embellishments? We'll see~;o) Stay tuned!

A Midnight Snack~;o)

It is way past my bedtime and I should be sleeping but I just couldn't resist! The creativity juices are kickin in at high speed and I just had to share! Although I'm sure that pretty much the rest of the southeast is in a lovely little slumber right now. (insert giggle) I saw a cute little pink felt sprinkle cookie on etsy and thought about purchasing it. Then I remembered the oodles of felt I bought during the summer and a light bulb went on in my head. Why let it go to waste right?! For those of you shaking your heads at me right now please realize I'm half awake~;o) What a time to get inspired huh!? Happens to me all the time. So anyways I plan on adding these into the new shop too.....yes that would be the one that I still haven't added anything into yet. I will most likely open it sometime in January after the holidays, until then stay tuned!

Tampa Bay Brewing Company

I chose a Burger and Fries.....

I should have chosen Shepherds Pie.

( Practicing my amateur skills with Miss Lilac)

Snugglebear and I met up for dinner with My Brother (The Smiler) and his Wife (AJ) at Tampa Bay Brewing Company this evening. This was our small way of celebrating Christmas together~:o) Because it is so hard to try and visit everyone on Christmas day, we meet a couple of weeks sooner. This was also another great excuse for me to bring along my new slr digital and test my skills~;o) I am most pleased with the results. Snugglebear surprised me with a Camera Bag complete with a CD video on how to use my new Nikon! This video saved me the hassle and struggle of trying to figure out the directions in the manuel. I am a hands on learner when it comes to electronics people~;o) The video made my practice this evening easy as pie! The last picture shown I took yesterday evening and is a random one of Lilac, a.k.a. "The Pterodactyl." She is a feisty little Amazon Parrot in these parts, but to my surprise, she is quite "The Ham" in front of the camera.

My New Camera!

(Photo Courtesy of: Ken Rockwell)

I took this from across the street.

This camera even lets me get close ups of these little guys~;o)

I love this new camera!

I am so excited! My new camera finally came in the mail! As you can see I didn't waste anytime trying it out~;o) So I drove to Hyde Park this afternoon and decided to put my amateur skills to use~;o) I probably took about a total of around 40 pictures. As you can see I have alot more practicing that needs to be done! I am thinking about taking a couple of photography classes too, I need all the pointers I can get! In the mean time here are a couple of my first attempts with this new camera. Until next time darlings!

Retro Flourish Tags

Good evening Friends! Just checking in to say hello and also share my newest tags with you! I REALLY LOVE the way these turned out! They remind me of a kitschy kitchen~;o) These are great for scrapbooking and embellishing gifts with! I will be adding them to the Southern Bliss etsy store soon! Yes the same store I have been mentioning for the past two month but not listed anything in yet~;o) I miss working my old part-time hours *insert sigh* I am hoping to create and post some more fun color scheme layered tags soon! Stay tuned!

Chic and Chenille~;o)

Okay so now I am hooked on Chenille Pipe Cleaners! Aren't these chic little handmade {ornaments} just darling?!?! I had so much fun making them! The Candy Canes are so easy to make. Just take two 12 inch pipe cleaners and twist them together, then trim each end till the stick is about 9 inches and bend one side to a crook, and you have a sweet little candy cane! The Snow Flakes are a little bit more involved than the Candy Canes. Here are my instructions on how to make them:

1. Take three 12 inch white pipe cleaners and trim them all to about 6 1/2 inches.
2. Hold all three trimmed 6 1/2 inch pipe cleaners together and give them one to three good twists in the middle. (This will hold them together)
3. Now spread each stem apart.
4. Add 5 to 7 clear plastic beads on each stem. Be sure to curl each end with needle nose pliers or the tip of a pencil will work.
5. Add string or yarn to one of the snowflake tips by curling the tip of the pipe cleaner end around the string or yarn. Enjoy your snowflake ornament!

The Christmas Wreaths are the most time consuming ornaments to make so I will leave it for Martha to explain to you. To make them go here: Martha How to video These ornaments are so easy to make and are great for decorating the Christmas tree, gifts, and so much more.....enjoy!

Dinner on a Trolley

I wonder how they got it into the restaurant??

We ate in here~:o)

This was our appetizer.....

( I had Fettuccine Alfredo~;o)

I guess we can say that I have become somewhat of a camera fanatic these days.....in a recent post I mentioned that I was in search of an upgrade. After much research and the help of a good friend (Thank you Aimee~;o) I have decided on the Nikon D40. <----- Go here if you want to learn more about this camera. Because I use my camera so much I have decided to kick it up a notch for more professional results. Yes, I think I'm ready for an SLR! (Key word here friends, "She Thinks") With that being said, I will be looking into purchasing one within the next couple of weeks. So today we decided to go to one of snugglebear's favorite restaurants. Now "The Spaghetti Warehouse" is a franchise Restaurant.....but does yours have a Trolley in it?? The one in my neck of the woods does. We went around late afternoon and to my surprise it was quite empty. I insisted upon sitting in the trolley to dine, and to snugglebear's delight, it was empty. Usually he doesn't like to sit in the trolley because he complains that it is too stuffy and crowded with people. He was in a rather cranky mood so for us to have the trolley to ourselves was a plus for both of us. He concluded that most people were out shopping this weekend, so we enjoyed a nice quiet lunch in the old wooden streetcar~;o)

This is Upper Tampa Bay Park located just outside of Oldsmar.

This is the canoe launch in the park.

These beauties were lit throughout the entire park.

Much happier after eating, he posed for a picture, unusual for him~;o)

This is all salt water!

After a delicious afternoon meal, we headed into Town and Country where snugglebear had recently learned of a nearby National State Park and Wildlife nature trail. We love these because they are free, they are great for exploring and for taking pictures~;o) We stumbled across a bonus....they were having a "Holiday in the Park" event for families, the festivities included Christmas lights throughout the park, cookies, games, and a hayride~:o) To my knowledge the Christmas Lights display will be going on till the end of December. If your in the vicinity I recommend a visit, you'll certainly be glad you did~:o)

Its time for change.....

{Southern Bliss}

Hello Family & Friends! I hope everyone had a bountiful and refreshing Thanksgiving Holiday! After much thought and consideration, I have decided to retire the blog name Studio Bijou and appoint a new name. I am happy to introduce: Southern Bliss! Same inspirational blog, great new name~;o) The new blog address is: www.southernbliss79.blogspot.com. Until next time darlings.....

Wishing you and yours a safe, fun, and relaxing Thanksgiving Day!

(Picture courtesy of: Photobucket)

add one more to the list of manias.....

Here's another peek at my latest mania! Though it is closely tied with my other new obsession for photography~;o) Another new mania you say? I promise it is the last one people, okay no wait....I take that back~;o) It happened during my recent new love for traveling. I have decided that the best souvenirs during my ventures are captured on camera~;o) (psst hey friends....translated this means she's cheap!) So now I am currently looking into upgrading my digital to a professional one. Any suggestions? Right now I am leaning towards a Nikon D50. Does anyone have one of these? What are your thoughts on it? Any SLR will also work. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Come on all you photography gurus, I know your out there and I need your help! I'm all ears.....

Egmont Key Island in November

This past weekend we decided on a last minute venture to beautiful Egmont Key Island. I'm so glad we did! This little island is located just outside of exciting Fort Desoto! The only way to get there is by ferry, so.....by ferry we went! I love boats and I love being on the water so this was nothing new for me. However, the name of the island alone didn't sound very "catchy" to me, but I decided to give it a try anyways. To my surprise there was much to do! I had no idea you could camp on the island too! I won't bore you with every little detail, I'll just give you a quick little outline instead~;o) Egmont Key's highlights include: snorkeling, shelling, fishing, swimming, dolphin watching, hiking, nature trails, exploring Historic ruins, and a 150 year old lighthouse. Did I tease ya enough yet? If your ever on the westcoast of Central Florida, Egmont Key is certainly worth visiting~:o)

More Paper Goods~;o)

Project Southern Bliss has been such a SUPER SLOW process friends! Between work and all my other gazillion manias I still haven't had a chance to list anything in the shoppe. On top of that Sunny Florida has been gloomy and cloudy for the past few days, not that I mind one bit~;o) It is such a nice change from the hot, humid, and dry scenery lately. I will say this though, I totally understand how completely frustrating that photographing items can be on these kind of days for those of you that live in areas that are like this year round. On a happy note though, beautiful photos are still possible with the help of a homemade light box~;o) The photos posted above were taken on a gloomy day and are courtesy of my homemade lightbox! Want to make your own? (Click Here) It is definitely worth making compared to spending $35+ people. As for my lovely tags and tissue paper flowers, I am hoping to get them into the shoppe by the end of this week. Thank you for looking and keep an eye out for them!

http://www.southernbliss.etsy.com/

Election Day is almost here!

Haven't voted yet? Do it. It's your civic duty!

(Button courtesy of photobucket)

Homemade Caramel Sauce

I recently decided to start experimenting with candy and other sorts of confections. Yes another mania to add to the rest friends~;o) One of the first recipes I decided to try was for Homemade Caramel dipping Sauce. The results were mouth watering! This sauce is fantastic for dipping fruits and drizzling on top of ice-cream! Let me share the recipe with you:

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup butter
2. 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (we like dark brown sugar best!)
3. 3/4 cup light corn syrup
4. 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
5. 1 teaspoon vanilla
6. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:

1. In a 2-quart saucepan, melt butter on low heat.
2. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and milk, stirring to combine. Increase heat to medium (or perhaps just below medium).
3. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.* Use a spoon that won't melt -- the caramel gets pretty hot!
4. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and cinnamon.
5. Serve warm or cold with apple slices, or drizzle over ice cream.

This recipe is very easy to follow and will yield approximately 3-4 cups of Caramel Sauce. I was able to easily fill up three 8 oz. jars in one batch! These also make great food gifts, enjoy!