My New Passion!

My friend, Dawn, came and spent the day last week and showed me how to use Photoshop!  And although I still have so very much to learn it is consuming my time.  I found the templates for these pages on Pinterest. I never just pin, I always go to the page where the pin is from, because so often I just find that it was a page full of advertising and no valuable content.  But these are amazing and so very easy for me to do. (Even as a beginner!)


It took me an entire day to do the three pages, and I didn't do anything for "B" yet due to the fact that my granddaughters don't have any brothers, and I am not quite up to changing the template yet.

The template was designed and shared by Holly, by clicking on her name it will take you to her blog so that you can download your own quiet book and begin working on it yourself! I am so grateful for talented people you are so willing to share their amazing talents with the rest of us.  It made creating these pages so easy for me.  I will try and add more as I get them done.  The template makes a 4x6 book perfect for my granddaughters to take to church with them.  Hopefully, it will help them to remember their family, as we are scattered all around the world!. when Holly created the book she used Smarshmallows, available from The Shabby Shoppe, which is a wonderful kit. the cost is $6.50 but well worth the money! I can see myself using it for other things! Living in China, I am so grateful for the internet, it allows me to still do some really great stuff for my family.  I hope that these will bless them for many years to come.  The Shabby Princess has some wonderful designs that are free as well and I recommend checking them out.  The one that is featured right now is a great back to school questionnaire. What a great way to record the changes as your child grows. My friend also recommended Summer Driggs for scrapbooking papers.  She has some wonderful things as well. I think digital scrapbooking is a great way to bring the family history to life for my grandchildren.

By the way,  I don't get any kickback from the owners of these website, I just found them useful in my foray into digital scrapbooking.

Pie Crusts, Cowls, Sock Mania 8

When I was a young girl, my mom let me cook as much as I wanted.  She and my dad would encourage all my efforts.  There was only one dish that was so inedible that even our dogs wouldn't eat.  It was a seafood pasta. Aside from that dismal at seafood pasta, I was able to successfully navigate the world of home cooking.

One of the specialities that I developed was in making pies.  My dad loved pies and so he enthusiastically encouraged my practice. Years later I was astonished when during a cooking class at church the teacher kept commenting on how difficult it was to make a pie crust...I had never found it so.  Some key tools are essential though.  I use a pastry blender, a canvas pastry mat, a rolling pin and a good all vegetable shortening.  I must admit here that I am very partial to Crisco shortening and will only use another it there is no way to get my hands on Crisco.  The recipe is simple

2 cups flour

1 tsp of salt

2/3 cups shortening

4 tbsp cold water

 I measure the flour and salt into the bowl, cut in the shortening until its like little peas, using a folk I add the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough sticks together to form a ball. I find the amount of water added depends on the weather and the climate (dry or humid).  I gather it up and roll it out on the canvas pastry mat. I try to only roll the dough once.  The more I handle the dough the tougher the dough gets.  I then line the pie pan (I prefer a glass pie pan versus metal or aluminum). It's pretty much never fail. The recipe yields enough dough for a double crust of a 9" pie. Although I like using this for a single crust pie as well, that way it provides a good base and the leftovers when sprinkled with sugar were a delightful snack for my children.