Have a wonderful day!

Cheers!

Jenn : )

…. that I’m working on today.

These will be business card wallets soon.

Hope you’re having a good Monday!

Jenn : )

One day, Ginny said to Jenn: “Let’s do a cooking blog post.”

A flurry of emails later, Two Spoonfuls was born!

We are two creative gals who became friends through our mutual love of fabric and sewing. Now, we’re bringing our energy and style into the kitchen, trying new recipes, re-vamping old favorites and sharing them with you.

We’ll use familiar ingredients to create dishes that are flavorful and easy to prepare, while adding our own helpful tips, bits of kitchen wisdom, and a little food history too. The recipes we share will be practical, with easy gourmet touches.

Look for Two Spoonfuls recipe recommendations: always in time for a weekend, to share with your family and friends.

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My second Two Spoonfuls recipe to try is Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes.

This recipe can be found on the AllRecipes website.

The recipe is for both the cupcakes and the accompanying Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. Most of the ingredients I already had in my pantry, particularly the spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, grnd cloves, and allspice.

All you need is a mixer (hand held or stand) to make the cupcakes. They bake until golden.

Then, while your cupcakes are cooling, use your mixer again to whip up the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. After you’ve frosted these cupcakes, be sure to hide a few for yourself, because they will go quickly!

They are delicious!

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* Jenn’s Notes *

Have you ever set aside a little time to do some baking and then read through your recipe and discovered that some of the ingredients need to come to room temperature? What a buzz kill! Now, I’m not saying that I’ve never covertly placed ingredients into the microwave and “encouraged” them to come to room temperature, but ideally, we all want to make the recipe the right way. So - I’m letting you know now that the butter, cream cheese and eggs should all be at room temperature when you are ready to get started. There. I’ve just saved you some electricity! Go green!

This recipe says that it makes 24 cupcakes. I got 20 cupcakes. After you taste how good these are - you’re going to wish you had those missing 4. The only solutions I can see for this problem are either to fill your muffin cups with a little less batter than you normally would or just make a double batch. In fact, just make a double batch - you’ll be glad that you did. ; )

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Did You Know?

Target sells two different colors of stackable 36 count Cupcake Caddies! No more smooshed frosting, and you can carry all 36 cupcakes in one easy, portable carrier - they even have a handle!

“Cupcake” is the common term in the U.S. and Australia. In England a cupcake is called a “Fairy Cake”.

Ground allspice is not, as some people believe, a mixture of spices. It is actually a pea sized berry of the evergreen pimiento tree that is native to the West Indies and South America, though Jamaica provides most of the world’s supply. Allspice is also called Jamaica Pepper. The English gave it the name Allspice because it tastes like a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

These are the dried, unripe fruits of Allspice, which will be ground and used in cooking.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this Two Spoonfuls post!

You can click here *Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes* for the complete recipe.

I look forward to hearing from you, especially if you decide to give these a try!

We’re aiming to share our Two Spoonfuls posts every other Friday,

I’ll still be doing my usual work-in-progress posts, too!

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Now let’s see what Ginny’s been up to over in her kitchen…

Click here to find out!

*Two Spoonfuls*

Jenn : )

Hi there - I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Josh and I went to our new favorite sushi place for dinner on Saturday and then drove downtown and saw Paula Poundstone at the Moore - she was very funny.

Yesterday we stayed in. There was an America’s Next Top Model marathon on,

so I camped out infront of the tv and finished embroidering a flurry of these little guys:

I recently got my November issue of Cotton Time magazine.

Here, I’ll give you a peek inside!

Tiny ornaments - I may have to make these for next year.

An interactive felt book for kids - fun!

I think we should all take a day off and make fuzzy hedgehogs - who’s in?!?

Have a fabulous day!

Jenn : )

Hi everybody! Thanks so much for all the Two Spoonfuls love, I think my next installment may be frosted pumpkin cupcakes next Friday, so stay tuned for those - yummy!

I’ve been away from my sewing machine lately, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been keeping busy. I’ve had lots of domestic stuff to do, a weekend trip to Portland for a friend’s surprise birthday party. And when I’ve had a moments down time, I’ve been reading *this* (most entertaining!).

In October I signed up for a Mail Art swap hosted by Honeydew Studio. There are 16 participants and the goal is to send an original piece of artwork to each person. That’s 15 pieces of artwork for each person to make and send - right at the start of the holiday season - crazy, I know! But I’m really excited about it because it’s about time that I dusted off my brushes, paints and pencils and got back to my drafting table.

So far I’ve done 4 of the 15 pieces and here they are:

(Squirrel and Butterflies)

(Squirrel in Love)

(Squirrel in the Rain)

(Squirrel Birthday)

They are all about 3″x 4.5″ and were created with watercolor, pen & ink and colored pencil on heavy illustration board. I have this idea for eventually translating them into little woolfelt scenes (that’s why everything in the sky looks like it’s hanging by thread - I decided to illustrate them the way they would look in 3D.)

All 15 pieces are going to be squirrel themed, and to be honest I don’t really know where that came from. I’ve always enjoyed squirrels, but no more than any other woodland creature. Perhaps, like Picasso’s Blue Period, I seem to be having a temporary obsession with them. Just bear with me, only 11 more to go…

What have you been nuts about lately? What is your latest obsession?

I’d love to hear about them! : )

Jenn : )

One day, Ginny said to Jenn: “Let’s do a cooking blog post.”

A flurry of emails later, Two Spoonfuls was born!

We are two creative gals who became friends through our mutual love of fabric and sewing. Now, we’re bringing our energy and style into the kitchen, trying new recipes, re-vamping old favorites and sharing them with you.

We’ll use familiar ingredients to create dishes that are flavorful and easy to prepare, while adding our own helpful tips, bits of kitchen wisdom, and a little food history too. The recipes we share will be practical, with easy gourmet touches.

Look for Two Spoonfuls recipe recommendations: always in time for a weekend, to share with your family and friends.

—————————————————————–

Welcome everyone, to our first Two Spoonfuls post!

With Thanksgiving fast approaching and lots of pumpkiny goodness all around us, I’ve chosen Pumpkin Bread Pudding as my first recipe to explore. This recipe is from Ian Knauer and can be found on the Epicurious website.

Most of the ingredients for this recipe - you probably already have in your pantry.

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs plus 1 yolk

salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground allspice, ground cloves

5 cups cubed day-old baguette

3/4 stick unsalted butter

This recipe makes 6 servings and is very easy!

Simply mix up everything except butter and bread, toss the bread in melted butter and mix into the custard.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until set and golden…

And ENJOY!

You can drizzle on maple syrup, add a dollop of icecream, or just eat as is (like I did).

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* Jenn’s Notes *

I really liked this recipe - it was very tasty and easy to make.

Also - the house smells fantastic while this is baking in the oven.

At the Epicurious website, there were a couple suggestions that people had for this recipe. I made note of the suggestions, but decided to try the recipe as it is written before I started changing things. Now that I’ve made this, here is what I found:

* This recipe is mild in the seasoning. You could increase the amount of spices if you like that strong pumpkin pie kind of flavor.

* In my opinion tossing the bread in the amount of butter called for was unnecessary. When I make this again, I’ll start by cutting back to 1/2 cup.

* This would be a great recipe to add to! If you’re like me, then there’s a half box of raisins in the back of your refrigerator, yearning to see daylight. Go ahead and toss a half cup or so into the mix! Chopped crystallized ginger would be nice, too.

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Did You Know?

* Bread pudding is basically a custard (milk and eggs combined with heat) with the addition of bread and seasonings.

* According to Wikipedia: “In the United Kingdom, ‘custard’ generally refers to a dessert topping made from cornflour rather than eggs, either bought ready-made, or made by adding hot milk to a powdered form.” “Since true custards are made with eggs, in the UK there is a distinction made between the true “egg-custard”, found in custard tarts, and “ordinary” custard, the popular corn-flour variety.”

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this first Two Spoonfuls post

You can click here *Pumpkin Bread Pudding* for the complete recipe.

I look forward to hearing from you, especially if you decide to give this tasty dish a try!

We’re aiming to share our Two Spoonfuls posts every other Friday,

I’ll still be doing my usual work-in-progress posts, too!

—————————————————————

Now let’s see what Ginny’s been up to over in her kitchen…

Click here to find out!

*Two Spoonfuls*

Jenn : )

(Random # Generator : aka “Josh”)

…. LizzieJane! Yay!

Kathy is the lucky winner of the little flower pincushion

door prize from the Virtual Home Show.

Congratulations, Kathy!!!

And thanks to everyone who stopped by - it was great fun.

I’ll be checking out all of your blogs soon.

Cheers!

Jenn : )

We’ve gathered together a group of fabulous Etsy sellers who make some of the loveliest and well made hand crafts around. We’re bringing our very best creations from our homes to yours in this unique two day online shopping experience. Plus, we’re giving away door prizes so don’t forget to leave a comment on each blog to enter. It’s not too early to think about shopping for those special folks on your Christmas list so please keep them in mind as you browse these fabulous offerings:

Notebooks
Sue Bleiweiss

Gadget Cozies
Ginny Harvey

Toys
Felicia Haywood

Felted Items
Lisa Jordan

Needlebooks & Sewing
Jenn Maruska

Pottery
Julie Thomas

Gift Tags
Karen Wittkop

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Welcome!

I’ve just been doing some embroidery. Come on in!

My name is Jenn and I am the creator of Jenn Maruska Design. I’m an artist and seamstress and I make cute and useful items for your workspace and home. About 10 years ago I made my first simple needlebook out of woolfelt. I’ve since modified the design and incorporated my own unique, hand embroidery as decoration. And I now use luxurious high-quality wools for the covers. My needlebooks, pincushions and taskets are well made and meant to last for years to come. I’m inspired by natural colors and Japanese design.

My needlebooks are perfect for anyone who quilts, beads, embroiders or sews.

You can use a tasket to hold your small supplies and tools.

I hand embroidered a spool of thread as decoration for this crafty pincushion.

____________________________________________________________________

Don’t forget about the door prize!

Leave me a comment to be entered into a drawing to win the pincushion below.

The winner will be announced here on Wednesday, Nov 5th.

Thank you so much for attending this Virtual Etsy Home Show!

I’d like to invite you to the next stop on your tour:

Pottery
Julie Thomas

Jenn : )

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween.

We had friends over and made stew and an apple crostata, drank wine, played Risk and watched one really really really scary movie. We got only about a half dozen knocks on the door from little trick-or-treaters, but they were traveling in large groups this year - I hardly have any candy left. All in all a very enjoyable night!

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again - my orchids are all in bloom. I must be treating them well, as they are loaded with blossoms, pressed up against the windows to gather the light.

Orchid

Violet

Christmas Cactus

Can you believe that it’s November already? Neither can I.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who visited my shop this past month. I’m thrilled that so many of my needlebooks and taskets will be given as holiday gifts this year.

I’ve added my hand embroidered ornaments to the shop now. If you’re looking to decorate your tree with something made by a real person, topping your gifts with something that can’t be bought in a mall or giving friends a very special handmade gift, I hope you’ll consider these ornaments that I’ve lovingly made. : )

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

Jenn : )