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January 30, 2011

Homemade Pasties~!

Hey Everyone!  I am behind on posts so I am trying diligently to catch up this week! 

For those of you who have never made or tasted a homemade pasty -  You really should come over for supper at the West household!  I make some kick ass pasties!  My husband's dad taught me how to make them years ago and they are still one of our favs!  Let me tell you ~ they are HUGE and Delicous!  I even make the pie crust from scratch - that is the best part in my books!  Some people eat it with Ketchup - but I prefer to eat it with beef gravy!  Here are some pics of my process!  Next time I have some friends over for pasties...  You all should stop by!!! 


Pie crust being made!

Rolling out the crust with Great Grandma's rolling pin!

We cut up a tob of carrots, potatoes and onions and still needed more!

Layering the goods!

Folding over the crust and praying it will all fit in!

Lookin good!

Pasties are served!!!!


January 19, 2011

Come See us at the Artist Cove

Hey Gals!  


We will be vending at our first function of the new year tonight at The Artist Cove!  Stop by and see us!  The first 50 gals who come receive a complimentary goodie bag!  Here is the scoop...

January 16, 2011

I've Missed you!

Dear blog readers... Oh, how I have missed our time together!  


I am so pumped to be on the mend... I can't wait to make 2011 a great year!  I need to make up for lost time... so I am going to jump right in to my first post of the New Year (I know, better late than never)!  However, I can tell you there will be many a ton of more posts to follow!  I promise!  I have way tooo many things to share with you already!





Here we go...
Each year some of my friends pick a word (two or three) to set the tone or be a guide for them to focus on throughout the year.  I have never done this, but know it would be good for me to do this year.  


Sometime ago, I had talked about this with Karen, from Farmhouse Woolens and we tossed a couple words back and forth.  I don't don't if either one of us could narrow our "word" or "words" down at that point.  I think we were still overwhelmed with how our year went in general.  The year itself was neither bad nor good for me, it was just trying.  I know I struggled with finding a balance in this crazy creative world of mine between work and family... not to mention being a people pleaser and trying to make everyone happy along the way. However, after MUCH thought... I have decided on 2 words for me this year.  One word will be for me "personally" and the other word will be for me "professionally".


My first word is "ACCEPTANCE".  That is my "personal" word just for ME to reflect on each day as I move forward in 2011.  


To me, before I am a talented designer, I am first and for most, an amazing mother of two beautiful girls, a loving wife to the sweetest guy ever and a damn good friend to many!  For the most part, I am blessed with an amazing life (of course, with flaws!!) and I always seem to worry & struggle with "ACCEPTANCE".  In a nut shell, this quote below from Stacey Charter sums up it for me....  (Maybe it is a "Stacy" thing!!!) 


“There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:
This is me damn it! 
I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! 
I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. 
Accept me - or walk away! 
Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. 
If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.  
When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad - you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.”

Copyright © 2000 Stacey Charter
(I LOVE reading this quote each day!!!)

The second word for my professional life is "CHANGE".  This is a BIG word for me!  I think the first step toward change is awareness (I am pretty confident last year brought awareness that "CHANGE" is needed)!  The second step to "CHANGE" could be my word "ACCEPTANCE" above.  My BEST friend Paula has this quote everywhere and mentions this to me time and time again...  "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  -Reindhold Niebuhr

I love that quote and have these two in view each day as well....

If you don't like something, change it. 
If you can't change it, change your attitude. 
Maya Angelou

"Life is change. 
Growth is optional.
Choose Wisely!"

I hope this year is off to a great start for each of you!  If any of you have "choose" a word or "words" for the year... I would love to hear about it in the comment section of this post!  I am excited to see how these two words play out in my personal and professional life this year!  Let's make it a great year friends! 
 

December 13, 2010

Drum Roll Please....

Hey Everyone!

THANK YOU * THANK YOU * THANK YOU 
for touching my heart with all your kind words.. YOU are all so INSPIRING!

Your comments were ALL amazing!  
So amazing.... that there was no way to choose... 
so here are the random winners!!!!  

{NO worries, there will be many more opportunities to win 
as we hope to make giveaways a VERY FREQUENT thing on the blog!} 

The 19 WINNERS are:


To each of the winners... Please email me at swest@buttermilkbasin.com your physical mailing address so I can mail out your darling little wool kits!  In the TITLE please put SNOWMAN KIT to help make it a little easier for me as we get a ton of emails and I don't want to overlook any of you!

Kits will be sent off later this week as I am taking a few days off to recover from my illness - in hopes to get better in time to spend Christmas with friends and family!  Maybe I'll post a little more since I will be laying low!!!  :-)

Merry Christmas to ALL!!  Stacy

December 12, 2010

2010 Cookie Swap

Hey Everyone!  
Since we are all in the Holiday Spirit from our Blog Hop... I thought I would share with you some pictures of my annual cookie swap that was held today...  It was suppose to be yesterday but the 17 inches of snow (which caused our Metrodome to collapse) made things a little interesting...  

Each year I gather some of my most dear friends and have them over to my home (this year) or we gather at the studio.  Each gal rsvp's her recipe to avoid dups.  Then we each bring 6 cookies for each person that attends.  We each bring one extra set to donate to someone close who is going through a trying time.  This year our set will be heading all the way out to CA!  I can not wait to hear the response, as it is always a BIG surprise for the receiver!  

I didn't get photos of everything (didn't even get of my amazing display of yummy food!) but this should give you a little bit of an idea of what we do... See if you can guess the winner of the Most Creative Packaging?  (Oh yes - Prizes are a MUST!!)  Enjoy!


Centerpiece for the Tablescape of Food
Centerpiece of Table
Flowers in Vase for Bathroom
Little bowl of Candy everywhere...
Paula Dean's Line of Holiday Paperware for this year!
One of the Desserts...
Center of Dessert...
One of the MANY trays of cookies for sampling!

First Packed cookies... more below!




















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