7 Course Mother's Day Vegan Dinner from Nicky!

I really got spoiled for Mother's Day this year; my husband Nicky made me a 7 course, vegan dinner (in addition to presenting me with a card, a bag of my favorite Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos and my fave Harry Potter movie, Goblet of Fire)! You see, since we just got married last month, this is the first year that I've been an "official" stepmom! I missed the kids more than ever on Mother's Day, of course. That part was kind of sad, but the day was made happy by Nicky taking such good care of me. Would you like to see pictures and read about it? :)

He seated me at the table (complete with cloth napkins!) and wouldn't let me do a thing while he brought out first some exceedingly convincing vegan shrimp (not for the squeamish!), served with (yum, yum!) cocktail sauce:



Next came an absolutely delicious salad, with Follow Your Heart Monterey Jack flavored "cheese," fresh strawberries, redleaf lettuce, red onions, Lighthouse Raspberry Lime dressing and almonds:



Then a bowl of one of my favorite ready-made soups from Progresso (hey, come on, folks, he prepared this whole dinner by himself; packaged foods were a lifesaver!):



Along with garlic-herb crostini (cut from a mini baguette from the local grocery store):



Next, the cherished intermezzo was Ben & Jerry's Berried Treasure lemon and berry sorbet:



The two mains came side by side; vegan "cheese" ravioli with more Monterey Jack "cheese" and Boca's "chicken" parmesan, each with a different tomato mushroom sauce:



Lastly, a strawberry bundt cake with chocolate sauce and fresh berries (that cake didn't last long, lemmetellya!):



Here are some of the products that went into this scrumptious feast:



And here's the man who made it all happen! Thanks, honey, I love you so much:



Wishing each of you just as much happiness,
((Hugs))
Celeste (Crickets)

Susana de Tumbleweed Studios!

Susana, digital artist and jewelry designer, is the owner of Tumbleweedstudios.
As she says:... "A place where you'll find a variety of Items of many avenues of the arts, such as, Giclee Prints, Digital Illustrations, Photography, Note cards, Pet portraits, and a variety of Jewelry items".

She is our featured member this week from Spanglish Team, a very talented group of artisans, crafters and designers who share the passion for quality handmade, one of the kind products.

If you want to see more of her amazing work, please visit her shop and take advantage of the fabulous promo she is offering.

Andrea de AG mode Tiene Many Talents!

Presenting Andrea of AG mode; fiber artist and Etsy Spanglish Teammate!

Andrea tells us a bit more about herself:

"Since I have memory I’ve being surrounded by fabrics, yarns, hooks, needles, buttons, lace, fashion magazines, and all the other things needed to develop and finish clothing. Since always I live with the design bug in my heart.



I have a BA in Fashion Design from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I specialized in lingerie and intimate garments. I love the well constructed garment, the good fitting clothes, and the unexpected accessories. After working for years in the Fashion industry, I decided to establish my own company, self-publish my originals patterns and sell my own handmade designs.



I love to work with different techniques to obtain stunning results, rich colors and textures. Sewing, knitting, crochet, Tunisian crochet, and beading are my passion."

Handbag Cave: Style to Go!

At Handbag Cave online boutique, you'll find stylish, fashionable handbags by Raquel Gonzalez; she expertly designs & creates each one with a discerning eye for quality and detail.



I am irresistibly attracted to Raquel's sleek & shiny PRINCESS MAKE UP POUCH In Sour Apple.

As a vegan, I especially love the fact that it's made with faux leather and faux patent leather. Which is your favorite (perhaps it's the corduroy tote shown below with all those bells and whistles)! Let me know by leaving a comment and please, drop by Raquel's online accessories boutique today!

Wedding Pics: The Nicky and Cricky Show!

Our friend and photog pro Gary Kalpakoff was our photographer and he did a fantastic job--thank you, Gary!

Pics from Celeste & Nicholas' wedding this Saturday; we wanted to share just a few with you, our friends and family who mean so much to us.

First to set the scene...the wedding was held at the XBarH Lodge at Red Rock Retreat here in the high desert of southern Utah near the Grand Canyon. The pine lodge is 10,000 square foot in a gorgeous setting (yes, it really did snow--good thing we didn't get married outside as we were originally planning). Michele and JC, the lodge caretakers, were absolutely perfect. They were so helpful yet inobtrusive and really, really made us, our out of town family guests and all FOUR dogs present feel very welcome (Nicky and I and our families all stayed at the lodge before and after the wedding). Here's a view out of some of the windows in the huge upstairs loft:



My mom, Melena, who drove down from Idaho with her partner Mike, helped me get ready:



The guests were seated both below us and above us, the ceremony was held in the stairwell so everyone could see (this was just one, small part of the gigantic lodge):



I made both mine and our minister Lenny's scarves/wraps (Nicky and his team of pros did everything else!):



We held it together pretty well during the Mark Twain quotes...then our talented and fun musician friend, Victor Gutschalk, who had been playing the ukelele before the ceremony, broke out his classical guitar to sing & play The Wedding Song (There Is Love) by Peter, Paul & Mary:



Nicky started crying first, and that got me all teared up...then we started laughing at ourselves through our tears...we were a mess! Our minister Lenny handed me his kerchief to use:


Our friend Joy Moffat took this photo from the balcony!

Then I passed it on to Nicky:



Then all bets were off during Lenny's recitation of the "What is real?" passage from The Velveteen Rabbit...even Lenny (and most of the audience) lost it and Nicky had to hand him back the handkerchief!


Our friend Joy Moffat took this photo from the balcony!

Go ahead, I dare you...just try to read the passage out loud without tearing up (click on image below to view text):



After the ceremony, we got to hug and thank all our beloved guests, then we headed downstairs to enjoy the delicious, vegetarian spread that Nicky and his team of helpers made ready for us:



And then of course, we enjoyed some of the wonderfully delicious wedding cake that Nicky's cousins Jolene & Jim brought all the way from Colorado (Jolene is a professional cake maker and it shows--each tier was a different flavor and the top two were vegan!):



People keep asking us if we feel any different now that we're married. The fact that the answer is "Yes, we do!" was a surprise even to us (we've been together for over three years and own a home together)! It feels GREAT to be husband and wife and we feel even closer than before, if that's possible. ;)

You may be able to see more photos here and here. Thank you, everyone, for your well wishes, support and simply for being part of our lives. We truly cherish our peeps.

I Organized My Yarn Stash!

Cleaning up my yarn collection was an all day project! Yes, with the wedding just a week and a half away, the push is on to get my scarf and Fringie photo prop studio pretty enough to wow out of town relatives. ;)

I worked all day today and I'm pleased with the results! I now have at least one of every yarn I own in ONE ROOM (and some backstock organized in cupboards in another room by color)!

Below are pictures, one wall at a time, of my newly beautified workspace.

As you enter the room and turn to your left, you'll see my neutrals, one of a kind smooth yarns and samples of each multicolor, textured yarn:



Next we see a huge shelf loaded with backstock of smooth yarns (this is where I pull out up to 34 yarns at a time to make fringe tassels, Fringe-O-Rama Scarves or Fringies). To the left are some of the flowers I use for my U Pick 'Em flowered boas. Below the shelf are some backstock and ribbon yarns:



Here we see my not-so-organized desk aka "packaging station." It, uh, didn't get organized today. Martian Manhunter can be seen in the upper left, casting a friendly and watchful eye over the process (we christened the cricket "Legs," he's the mascot from Mulan & was a birthday present from Nicky):



Lastly, yet more backstock, more ribbon yarns, the matrix/ladder yarns I use to make my See Through Lightweights line of scarves, "kits" of yarn I use for Fringies and Fringe-O-Ramas and...drumroll, please...finished product (scarves)!! Here we are:



Hope you enjoyed the little tour...yes, it may look like mess, mess and more mess. Still, it's all set up in a way that makes sense to me and will allow me to work more quickly and efficiently!

Family Pictures from Montana: My Homestate!

My brother Marcus just sent me these pics of my niece Sage and nephew Luke. I miss them so (they live in Stevensville, close to Lolo and Missoula, Montana where we grew up).

The horses shown are their rescued horses (Cory is the redder mother and the more brown horse is her daughter). That's quite a story...the two had been separated when their original owner gave them up, then reunited when Hope (my sister in law) and Marcus adopted them from two separate sources. Sweet, huh? You can see the obvious bond between Sage and her equine family members. Hope practices natural horsemanship with the horses and it's evident that they sense that they are a valued, respected part of family life.

Thistle (their beautiful dog in the picture below) was adopted from a local shelter, already grown up, housetrained, great with kids and the other animals--what a great find she is! :)

These pictures are a bit of a time warp...Sage looks tons like me and Luke is the spitting image of my younger brother (Marcus). If you'd told me that you'd just found these photos in a drawer somewhere of my brother and I, I would have believed you!