Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

This breakfast cake is easy to make and a delicious treat in the morning. And it is a great way to use up a lot of blueberries at one time!  I somehow either have too many blueberries or not enough, so you may need to plan ahead and be sure you have enough for this recipe.  You could use less, but the 2 cups of blueberries ensure that you will bite into that tasty fruit with every bite.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

adapted from Alexandra Cooks

1/2 c  unsalted butter (1 stick)
zest of one lemon
1 egg
1 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 3/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/4 c. buttermilk
2 c. blueberries
1/4 c. flour (additional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream the butter with the lemon zest and sugar using a mixer.  Beat until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined. Toss the blueberries with the 1/4 c. flour and set aside.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir with spatula or wooden spoon until incorporated.  Add the buttermilk and mix well. Add the remaining  flour mixture and stir until the flour is absorbed. batter will be thick.  Fold in the blueberries, leaving any excess flour in the bowl.

Grease an 8 inch square pan well.  Spread the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the batter with 1-2 T. coarse sparkling sugar, if desired.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.  Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

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It was a FUN Easter!

I hope everyone had a happy and blessed Easter.  It was a glorious day here in southern CA.  I was lucky enough to spend the day with three important males in my life (my two sons and grandson!) and my DIL and her mother.  It was a lovely day and we all had brunch together at my grandson's home! :)  He clearly rules the roost these days as most four year olds do!

We all brought something for brunch (muffin recipes soon) and just had a nice relaxing time being together. I love it when everyone can just enjoy being together - life is just too precious to waste a moment, right?

As Carter gets older, it is more fun each year to do things for him because he understands more and takes delight in every little thing.  I loved doing this card because it was just fun and whimsical..  When he opened it, he turned the card upside down to make the bunny right side up - I don't think he liked that the bunny wasn't upright!!  His Mom kept showing him that the bunny was peeking out to say hi, but he wasn't quite sure of it all!! 

The bunny fur is actually Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Jewels - little flakes of glitter that made

it look like sparkly fur!  The eyes and flower centers are Nuvo Drops 

and it was just a really fun card to create.

This is the inside.  I usually don't decorate the inside of the card  but it was so easy

to put together that I couldn't resist.  I added a yellow card stock circle behind the bunny so 

I could write on the inside and have it not show through.  Forgot to take a picture of that!

Carter was much more interested in pulling out the little eggs full of candy, the jelly belly bubbles, the goldfish crackers and the peanut butter bunny.  I have a feeling that his Mom and Dad may be fighting over that one! :)  And the book was the cutest - it was about an elephant who wanted to be like a bunny and deliver the Easter eggs - so funny and just plain adorable.  I heard they read it to him that night and he loved it.

That makes a Grammy very happy!


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Sympathy Card - Graciellie Design

I wanted to make a simple and elegant sympathy card for a dear lady who recently lost her husband.  she also lost two of her grown children the end of last year and I honestly don't know how people without faith get through trying times like these.  She is an amazing woman.

I love this floral image from Graciellie Design (the You Matter collection). It is simple yet elegant and when foiled (I used DecoFoil) it just radiates beauty.  The sentiment is also from Graciellie - the Healing Prayers collection.  

It is much prettier in person. 

It is difficult to capture the shine 

    and coverage of the foil.  

I wanted to keep it uncluttered so just used Neenah Classic Crest card stock and some gold card stock from my stash of scraps!  The card is accented with sequins from 28 Lilac Lane and Nuvo Golden Ovals which are new and add a special shimmer to the card.

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Butterfly Thank You

This is a very simple card but it has a wonderful story to go with it  that will explain the theme.

I was invited to have lunch with some of my friends at our local community college. I used to serve on the Foundation Board there and we were catching up on all sorts of things. It was a lovely spring day, but was most amazing was the influx of butterflies all over the campus.  It was incredible.  When I drove into the parking lot I first saw them darting in and out of the cars - or so it seemed. They were nowhere one minute and everywhere the  next.  You may have heard about the butterfly migration that was hitting southern California, and in all my years living here, I had never ever heard of butterfly migration, let alone see it.  I was a bit of a skeptic until that day.  So I walked up to the admin doors and stopped at least a dozen times just marveling at all of the butterflies playing a sort of game of hide and seek.  I was enthralled.

So onto the lunch in an office that had windows all alone. There were four of us enjoying great company and great food but I cannot tell you how many times each of us stopped mid-sentence to watch a group of butterflies darting in and out of the bushes.  Now when I refer to a group of butterflies, I mean HUNDREDS of them at any given moment.  We were all mesmerized. I learned later that they are California Painted Lady butterflies.  They were small, but no less magnificent in their splendor and sheer numbers........  I have lived in southern California most of my life and I don't remember ever seeing anything like it.  It was just amazing.......

So to thank these lovely ladies for a wonderful lunch and great conversation, the thank you card just HAD to include butterflies -right?

 I continue to try to photography foiling with success, but I am not there yet!

The cardstock is actually silver foiled butterflies, but they are reflecting the light

and shimmering in a wide range of colors. The greeting was foiled on the 

Gemini Foil Press and the butterflies from Graciellie Design (Moments of Bliss) 

were printed, cut and foiled with DecoFoil in turquoise.  They are so much

prettier in person.

I love the simplicity of this card.  I am definitely in a foiling rut and don't plan on stopping anytime soon!

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