I have had fun working with the most adorable line of appliques, BaZooples by licensed artist Vicki Schreiner and manufactured by Expo International. I designed three booklets of projects for them earlier this year and am designing more projects for an upcoming magazine layout. The baby animals are darling. While at winter CHA (Craft & Hobby Show) in Anaheim When Creativity Knocks filmed a new episode featuring the BaZooples applique line. Cindi Bisson created a cute diaper cupcake using the monkey appliques. See how easy this baby gift is to make in their new Diaper Cupcake webisode!  More news from WCK! Winner of WCK Great Crafter???s Tool Hunt 2 -Craftwell eCraft. Winners of tool packages are being confirmed and will be announced shortly. The focus this week is All About Color ??" Check out WCK's new improved home page for the latest product review, techniques and Ana's blog article.

Baby times, the softness, the scent of snuggled wee ones. Creating baby things brings back many special memories! Follow the JOY! Debra

Fowl Friday got off to a late start due to some technical difficulties and Freda's love of bubble bath. She spends waaay too long in that soaker tub plus singing at the top of her lungs! Anyway I digress from the vital and disturbing issue of today. We are in the midst of a snowstorm, the snow is falling in big heavy wet clumps and Debra decides we need some exercise. The kind of exercise that requires going outside in the snow! We chickens have short legs, I am thinking Debra is aware of this by now after our being in residence for almost a year. Freda is fine she always rides on my back but moi! my short but so shapely legs will be buried along with the rest of me. I do not want to smother in snow, I have so much life ahead of me! The snow attire consists of a very fluffy scarf which might smother us even before we get outside!

Our protests are being ignored, Debra thinks there is a little too much fluff happening in our belly area so it is a walk outside apparently! Does she not think being chased around by two ragdoll kittens almost every day is a workout?! Sigh. If we are not around for next Fowl Friday you will know there are a couple pair of chicken legs sticking out of a snowbank in eastern Canada! We also do not want to miss any of the Olympics, the Canadian Women's Team took gold!!! Sigh, Debra has the door open, we have to go. Think of us in the cold blinding blizzard! Follow the Fowl, Fran & Freda!

March is just around the corner and now for some spring time fun! The March April issue of Creative Homearts magazine is now out with some great spring projects on their website as well including full patterns and instructions. I love creating bunnies and needle felting so this whimsical Jester Bunny (listed under web extras) is easy to create with STYROFOAM* brand foam from Dow and wool wisps from National Nonwovens.

                             (photo courtesy of Creative Homearts)

I have hung out my egg wreath, pastel birds and pillows adorn the bench and tables. I feel spring in the air, the earth beneath the snow is uncovered in patches which grow larger everyday. Soon the hardy crocus will emerge along the house often with snowy crystal sparkle outlining the flowers. Spring comes and our thoughts turn outwards to the innocence, the lively fragility of new growth, nature's bounty bursts forth and blooms! May we all bloom this spring! Always Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Just back from our local Women in Business luncheon on Social Networking. Great presentation by expert Lynne Conrad and I followed up with my experience using sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I was the proof for Lynne that it works! She is a young woman, "a social butterfly" with lots of passion for her social networking business. The event was well attended and with Lynne's busy schedule of speaking on the subject, a hot topic here for sure!

Dreams do come true! Last night the Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir ice dancing team made history winning the first gold for North America here at home. It was a beautiful performance and they are such a lovely young couple. Best friend team the Americans got the silver. The medal ceremony was so touching, such talent and JOY! Always Follow the JOY! Debra

Yesterday Kate and I had fun participating in a Bowl-a-Thon event for six local animal groups. It was hugely successful and everyone had the best time. We were bowling for the Cat Club, our two teams were the Kat Nappers and the Fancy Felines. Kate and I were the Fancy Felines! Neither one of us hadn't bowled in a long time but Kate had overall high score for the two strings and I managed to have high score for the first string! The event was enthusiastically supported and everyone went home with prizes. We had a great time especially in our costumes of bling cat ears, rosettes and feather boas! The feathers kept falling out, not sure if affected the bowling style or not! Celebrity cats showed up to support the event, here I am with Sylvester, he is quite the bowler and our two ragdolls Milla and Bella have a huge crush on him!

Kate made all of our ears from wool felt, needle felting the center hair fur and added bling with glitter and sequins. They were attached to metal headbands and very comfortable to wear as well as super stylish! The pictures say it all, it was an afternoon with lots of laughter and team spirit for such a worthy cause. Thanks to everyone who helped organize the event, great job! Follow the JOY! Debra

Fran here for Fowl Fridays! Freda is tooooo busy to join us. Once again she tries something new and she is oblivious to anything else! (remember the rooster from Hatch.com, need I say more) This time though she is using her mind and trying  Zentangle. Zentangle is doodling, using a fine pen and small squares of art paper to create beautiful artistic designs with intricate patterns. It is relaxing and frees the mind, not thinking Freda needs any freer mind than she has already! Anyway she has not showered or eaten since yesterday and has gone through three pens already. Her talent well Everyone is creative, (can't live with Debra and believe anything else! that is what I tell her anyway!) So Freda is doing her thing which seems to involve a lot of "chicken scratch" and marks that look like she walked all over the paper. (doing it in the dark last night she probably did!)

I am all for encouraging Freda but I wish she would get an easel!

Till next Fowl Friday...you know what Freda will be up to and me sigh I may have droopy tail feathers by then! Follow the Fowl! Fran & Freda!

Thoughts of spring may be in the air but the snow still swirls. A saucy squirrel enjoys treats on my deck, he looks warm and content while immersed in snow, great fur coat he has! His obvious enjoyment has prompted me to make one of my favorite things, cinnamon rolls, heavenly aroma and so yummy warm from the oven on a cold snowy day! Recipe below! Enjoy! Always follow the JOY! Debra

The spice cinnamon has been in use for thousands of years as early as 2000 BC and considered a prized commodity worthy of royalty. It was harvested from a small evergreen tree found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Methods were developed to commercially cultivate and harvest the crop in other areas. Actually the cinnamon we are all most familiar with and use comes from a related species, Cassia. Cinnamon has many qualities from medicinal to insect repellent. Personally I prefer it for cooking where combined with sugar it is delicious!

Cinnamon Rolls

1-3/4 cup flour 

4 t baking powder

1/2 + 1/3 c butter

1 egg

3/4 c milk

1 c sugar

3 T cinnamon

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Mix baking powder and flour together. Cut 1/2 cup butter thoroughly into flour mixture. In measuring cup crack egg and add milk to the 1 cup mark. Mix. Gently stir milk/egg into flour mixture making sticky, lumpy dough. Spread plastic wrap or wax paper on counter, flour generously. Place dough on plastic wrap. Knead five to six times very gently. Flour rolling pin and start from center rolling out to approximately 1/4" thickness. Melt 1/3 cup of butter and spread over dough. Sprinkle evenly and cover completely with cinnamon and then sugar. Roll up and slice into approximately a dozen rolls. Place flat on ungreased baking sheet and bake for twelve minutes. Let cool on sheet for a minute.

Baking Tip

For the flakiest and lightest rolls make sure the butter and liquid are chilled and handle the dough very gently. As in pastry making the small pieces of fat or the butter will separate the layers for melt in the mouth tenderness.

Baking Tip

Use a baking sheet with sides as the butter melts out as they bake and is reabsorbed when removed from the oven. As they are baked in a very hot oven and oven temperatures can vary watch them after seven minutes. They should be a golden brown, light and crispy. These also freeze very well and can be warmed up wrapped in a low temperature oven.

Love is intangible and yet affects every moment of our lives, enduring beyond the lives of those we cherish. Many, many years ago, I believe it was my grandfather, a young handsome robust man who gave my grandmother, a sweet tiny girl, a beautiful Valentine cookie. She kept it wrapped and placed in her hope chest. That cookie is a remembrance of love that endured and of our family history. To begin and end in love is all we can want of this life, for love endures and keeps us alive forever in the minds and hearts of those who follow. May the legacy we leave be one of love.

This weekend my daughter and I are participating in an event that is also close to my heart. Six local animal groups are joining together and having a bowl-a-thon fundraiser. These groups perform many services to protect our local animals and raise awareness of what is needed. Every life has meaning and deserves to live not to just survive.

Always follow your heart! Debra, CEO!

Halfway through February and still in a wintery wonderland here for a couple more months...yet spring is in the air. Holiday reds carry right through Valentine's and now are packed away, a few cheeky snowman remain here and there but I found myself this morning thinking of pussy willow wreaths, cuddly bunnies and feathery chicks awaiting. Each season brings its own special flavor and a freshness to delight all the senses. Spring is the freshest season of all, it follows the weary winter and heralds in a whole new cycle of life. Tender and young life begins tentatively then bursts into a adolescent rainbow riot of sound, smell and sight. Bursting, blooming, twittering, chattering, sundappled rays dancing in saucy breezes, glorious spring, nature's love affair with life!

It is a season where cuddly creatures and sherbet inspired color collide in an array of whimsy and wonder! Tiny scraps of felt embroidered and wool needle felted make up this cute little bunny magnet.

and if there are bunnies there is always an egg hunt not too far off! It is a little early for an egg hunt but not too early for a very special hunt with great prizes for crafty individuals! When Creativity Knocks is hosting their second annual Tool Hunt! Register and vote for your favorite tool, you could win a fab tool package!

Always Follow the JOY! Debra, CEO!

Debra is humming away getting ready for a Valentine weekend. Meanwhile Freda and I have been noticing Debra has been keeping a couple of things from CHA unopened. Curiosity is not just for cats so last night Freda and I sneaked into the office and opened the files. What we discovered was so shocking Freda almost screamed but I grabbed her beak and held it shut. She is still coughing up feathers! Apparently some stupid looking bird Debra made a few months ago with tape measure tail feathers, really! has been published in Crafts 'n Things magazine! Debra promised that WE were the only feathery stars in this nest! What have we gotten so far, just a bunch of empty promises apparently! Sigh we are dejected, droop has invaded are usually perky feathers. We want to be just another pair of pretty faces peeking out of somewhere!

So that is our sad story, yes we may be vain and superficial but someone has to be so it might as well be us! Fran & Freda fabulous Fowl! Follow the Fowl!