...summer salad by alicia kienlen...

So my sisters both love to cook, and they both have their own style. However, both of them love a fresh from the garden type salad that has crunchiness, as well as both sweet and salty flavors in it. Unlike your normal salad, it has tons of interest for viewing as well as eating. I'm not one for recipe's unless I know I'll screw it up without it and do you really need a recipe for a salad?? Nah! I'm on a budget and a timeframe most nights, so I bought a lot of packaged stuff so that I could easily throw it together, I also don't have room for a garden on my back porch. But here are the ingredients:

Summer Salad

Blueberries
Strawberries-chopped
Sunflower Seeds
Mandarian Oranges
Celery-chopped
Cucumbers-chopped
Tomatoe's-chopped
Spring Mix Salad
Feta Cheese
Balsamic Vineagerette Dressing

Directions: This is the super easy part.... Toss together in a bowl, and enjoy!!

If you want to add something extra, throw some grilled chicken on top. I have plenty leftover this afternoon from a potluck at church, so that's what I'll be eating this week! I'm so excited!!!

...decorations for my room, inspired by pottery barn...

So as I *hopefully* finish the painting in my house this summer, I'd like to start actually decorating my room. And by that I mean, take away from the fact that I don't have a headboard and put something on the wall of interest, but also something that brings in my personality. Well if you know me well enough, you know I love looking through Pottery Barn and gaining new and interesting decorating ideas! The latest one I saw was this I love the way it could create interest on my wall and also help me display things of interest to me like some of my art and photography, randomly and yet elegantly. The first picture I know I'm going to put up this is this picture... Should I tone the colors down to make it have that "old effect" to it, or black and white it or just leave it with all of its colors?? Let me know what you think!

...card making at it's finest...well my finest...

I enjoy creating cards. A handmade card can say so much more or so much less than Hallmark. I can come up with my own photos if I so chose, and the creative license to collage many things together to create a very unique one of a kind card. I can even photograph it and utilize it as something new...like a background on my computer or a new print for a material (Yes!...you can print really cool card stock type patterns onto material and then use it AGAIN!!!). Tonight I created a card for about 75 cents from two stickers, a button, leftover ribbon, a stamp, a micron pen, some string, a pre-perforated tan card and a patterned piece of paper. The results, I'm quite happy with!! Take a look...

...flutter, flutter, flutter, little dragonfly...

Isn't this dragonfly just the coolest!!?? (If you click on the picture you can see the full version and all the details!)