What Have I Been Doing Lately???

Taking pictures for a photo challenge!!!

Here are some of the recent ones:

"tree"

"friday"

"door"

"high contrast"

"flower"

"journal"

"self portrait"

"pet/animal"

"friend portrait"

"water"

~~Laura

West Ladies Giveaway!

Hello everyone!!

Just wanted to let yall know that Jenna at Feminine Farmgirl is having a giveaway! You could win the West Ladies "The Art Of Breadmaking" DVD!! Come on and check it out! www.femininefarmgirl.blogspot.com

~~Laura

Candles part 2

Barefoot Seamstress

Just added our hand-dipped candles and more organic baby burpies and booties to the shop!
Also, Elizabeth has added smaller flip-flops in the Women's 5-6 range.

Come and take a look!

~~Laura

Candles part 1

Don't know what yall think, but around here NOTHING smells better than 100% pure beeswax! MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

I love the sweet honey-like smell that our hand-dipped beeswax candles make.
Here is part 1 of our journey of candle dipping..........

We started with 6 huge blocks (that equaled 17.2 pounds) of pure beeswax..........

Yes we did make a HUGE mess chopping these big blocks into smaller pieces! ;-)

As our harp teacher would tell you, I had several big blisters from scrubbing our "waxed" floor after it had a big layer of wax on it! Ouch!
We found this old pan and wonderful cast-iron skillet at goodwill-- love that store!!


Elizabeth had a wonderful time taping down a ton of paper that turned out to be of no use to our tile floor.......... but it saved all of our counter tops!!! ;-)


Our dad gave us these "weights" from his tool box and we tied cotton wicking to them. Now we are all ready to dip!



P.S. We have this old bar attachment to our riding lawn mower that we don't use -- yep!, you guessed it -- perfect place to hang our candles to cool! ;-)

~~Laura

Websites

Boy has this been a busy year so far!  Farmers' markets, sewing, websites, photography classes, baking, knitting, harp lessons, music recitals, guitar playing, candle dipping, soap making, birthday's...... we have done it all!  whew!  So many things to post about!  

Well, to start off I would like to mention that www.barefootseamstress.com is getting a makeover!  Elizabeth and I are making new additions faster than I can get pictures of them and then uploaded them on the site.  We are adding - funky, retro aprons, organic baby items including burpies, booties, hats and blankets, tea cozies, hand-dipped candles, homemade soaps, wonderful smelling lavender products, hand knit dishcloths, spa sets, and a bunch more that I can't think of at the moment!  ;-) 

A new addition to my list of "things that I love to do" is a photography business!  Yes www.imagesbylauraelizabeth.com is under construction!  Finally!!  :-)

Well, I will be posting our candle-dipping pictures as well as everything else that we have been up to very soon, so keep an eye out!

~~Laura

Fresh Bread Anyone?

Tomorrow we are having some friends over for a re-make of our Empress Tea!  This time we will be adding in some gluten free things as well as one WONDERFUL raw food dish.  Here is a sneak peak of one of the delights.........

More pictures and details later!

~~Laura

Sunsets

Some of my favorite sunsets from our backyard....

~~Laura

The requested smoothie recipe

The original recipe for this smoothie calls it the Blue Sunset -- we eat it in the mornings, have changed it up a bit, and are now calling it the Blue Sunrise smoothie!

~~Laura

Blue Sunrise

2 Cups Frozen Mango (or one 12 oz bag)
2 Cups Frozen Pineapple (or one 12 oz bag)
2 Frozen Bananas
2 Cups Best Ever Nut Mylk (recipe below)
3 Tablespoons Agave Nectar or 12 Drops Liquid Stevia
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Blueberries

In a blender, puree all ingredients except blueberries until smooth. Pour out about half of the mixture into serving glasses, filling each glass half way. Add the blueberries to the remaining shake in the blender and blend until smooth. Gently pour the remaining blueberry shake over the pineapple-mango shake. Enjoy! Serves 2

Best Ever Nut Mylk
~~Laura’s variation of Mathew Kenney

1 C. Almonds or Brazil nuts or Walnuts or Pecans or hemp seeds
4 C. Purified water
1/3 C. Agave Nectar or 1 1/2 droppers full of Liquid Stevia
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
3 Tablespoons Coconut oil

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender for about 45 seconds. Pour through a milk-bag, cheesecloth, or a very fine sieve. Yield: 4 Cups

Come Join Elizabeth!

Come join Elizabeth at her new blogs!  Learn about what she eats at Life With Food Allergies and take  walks through nature along side of her.  These fun blogs are just starting to bud so keep on the lookout for new posts!  

~~Laura

P.S. don't forget to vote on her polls!  ;-)

Part 9 Of Precious Things

Who shall paint the flash of splendour from the opened casket bright,
When His precious lovingkindness beams upon the quickened sight!
Priceless jewel ever gleaming with imperishable ray,
God will never take it from us, though the mountains pass away.

Walkin' around...

After a hard days work Elizabeth and I love to go on a walk 

around the neighborhood...here is yesterdays walkin'.

No...that's not us....just our shadows!

Some joggers we happened upon...

~~Laura

The Best Smoothie In The World #2!

What is my new favorite smoothie?  The Blue Sunrise from one of our cookbooks!  The bottom layer has bananas, mango, pineapple, brazil nut-milk, vanilla, and liquid stevia.  The top layer is the mango mixture with blueberries and bee pollen added.  This was the creamiest smoothie I have ever had!

~~Laura

What Have I Been Doing?

Last August I decided to take 2 online dual credit college courses -- Music Appreciation and Spanish 1.  Spanish was awesome, but I really enjoyed the music course because there was A LOT of writing to do and I was also required to attend 3 recitals.  Here are some pictures of 1 of the recitals.  Everyone was in period costume and played beautifully!

~~Laura

Barefoot Seamstress Is Up And Running!!!

More explanations to come soon like....  hhmmmm.... Chicken Pox and viruses???  The whole family is great now and we are back to posting!  My website is up!  Come on over and check it out!

www.barefootseamstress.com 

~~Laura

Lunch Time!

We don't have much time, but we thought we might share our "Elizabeth and Laura proof" lunch! It was completely gluten-free and totally delicious!  We have given the explaining to Muddy and so take a look at her blog in a bit.

Almond Milk

Mango Cherry Milkshake- with the Almond Milk

Raw Mexican Pizza

Elizabeth's Not Egg Salad

Raw Apple Pie

~~Laura

Updates!

After quite a summer, we're back to posting and that includes Muddy.

This week is VERY busy including orchestra, a raw foods class, violin, voice and tennis lessons plus school.....try to post as soon as we catch our breaths!

~~Laura

What can we say?

I know that "I'm sorry" really doesn't cut it this time. Our last break from blogging didn't have an excuse, but this time is different however. About 6 months ago we realized that Elizabeth had more food allergies than we could count. She and I also learned that we are gluten intolerant. All of this excess baking (and eating something that she was allergic to) really took a toll on Elizabeth and until recently she had been in and out of the doctor's office twice a week. Thank goodness she is doing better and is only going once every two weeks! We are now back to normal with a few additional activities that we can't wait to share! We have a lot of catching up to do, so hang around and see what has been going on around here. :-)

~~Laura

Part 8 Of Precious Things

Precious ointment, very costly, of chief odours pure and sweet,
Holy gift for royal priesthood, thus for temple-service meet;
Such the Spirit's precious unction, oil of gladness freely shed,
Sanctifying and abiding on the consecrated head.

January Women's Luncheon Bazaar

Tea Anyone?

Here are some of the tea cozies that I made for a women's luncheon bazaar in January. They are made out of fabric from the Homestead in Fredericksburg. I have sold out of most of them but am in the process of finishing some more that will be available in my shop very soon. I'll also have them at our next farmer's market March 21 at Grey Forest.

~~Laura

Dinner in a flash...

What do you do with navy beans?


We made a pot of navy beans a couple of weeks ago and ended up running late fixing supper. So here we stand at the stove looking at our pot of beans and asking the above question.


The Answer -- Polenta with Herbed Navy Bean Broth


Sounds pretty fancy huh? Actually we just started throwing things in that sounded good. We first sauteed carrots and celery in coconut oil. Then we threw in a bunch of minced fresh herbs with some onion powder (Daddy's doesn't like onion chunks). We added enough bean broth to taste and ladled it over leftover grits that we "fried" in coconut oil -- thus the polenta. Here is the final result.

















The verdict? Here's the answer - It was SOOOOOO delicious. Daddy has asked for a repeat.





~~Sisters

Part 7 Of Precious Things

Precious faith our God hath given; rich in faith is rich indeed!
Fire-tired gold from His own treasury, fully meeting every need:
Channel of His grace abounding; bringing peace and joy and light;
Purifying, overcoming; linking weakness with His might.

Beet Salad

I made a really yummy beet salad with broccoli, kalamata olives, and a lemon and olive oil dressing.  --simple and tasty --  It also cleaned out our refrigerator.

~~Laura