EAB Designs

Ruffles

I adore ruffles and, not surprisingly, they often find their way into my designs.  These lovely peacock ones are for a bride's spring wedding.

Many years ago, I actually dreamed of becoming a children's dress designer, especially wedding attire.  I love simple designs created from beautiful natural fabrics, of course with the addition of a ruffle, or silk ribbon sash.  Thankfully, I was blessed with two girls and lots of time to sew dresses for them.  Today I'm fortunate to work with brides, who happily still love ruffles.

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Snow Day

Last evening we received eight inches of snow, our first accumulation of the year.  It was a heavy wet snow that coated the trees and we awoke this morning to a winter wonderland, and thankfully no power outages.

I relish any opportunity to keep my girls home from school so I love snow days.  My husband is even working from home today so it's especially nice.  After my walk outside this morning, I took one of our frozen bags of blueberries (from our summer picking) and made our favorite blueberry buttermilk pancakes.

So delicious, easy to prepare and the perfect snow day breakfast.  I don't have a link to the recipe since it's one of my own, but if you'd like to make them just let me know and I'll be happy to send you an email with the recipe.

New Blog Design

Hi everyone!  So good to be back.  I haven't posted in a bit because I've been redesigning my blog - my first major accomplishment for the new year.  I changed from a three column format, to two columns and I love the new cleaner and less cluttered design.  As a result, I'll be able to post larger and more detailed pictures as needed, and be ready to add links to leap into social media.  More on that to come later!  I'm also still implementing a different color scheme and working on the design of new pages which are linked to my new header tabs.  Much of the information that was previously found in my side columns, can now be found in these tabs.

I have zero html experience and, I must confess, there were times of outright panic when my blog seemed to have totally disappeared during my attempt to redesign it. However, I never give up on something until I get it right and thankfully I had my trusty copy of "Typepad for Dummies" to guide me along the way.  It's amazing how much html code you can quickly learn just by trial and error.  After a few more touches and minor corrections, I'll be ready to move on to my next big tech project for the year.  I have a long list!  I'm excited to make 2011 the year I become well versed on all of the wonderful technical gadgets and applications I seem to own.  All of which will help me do more of what I love to do, create!  How about you?  Anyone working through any "how to" books right now?

Records & Reading

Does anyone remember the part in the movie "Little Women" when Jo, upon completing her novel, ties up her manuscript and tucks a flower into it?

Well, I didn't write a novel, but I did finish working on my business tax expenses for last year.  Here they are in chronological order, categorized, and entered into an excel spreadsheet.  It's a little summary of all the work I've put into my business last year, so like Jo, I tied my expense receipts with a ribbon, inserted a piece of boxwood (no fresh flowers around), and left it in my sweet husband's office so he can prepare our taxes. To reward myself, for a job well done, I took extra time off to read this novel.

 

Actually, I found it hard to put down and finished it in less than two days.  I loved it and was happy to hear it was made into a movie which will be premiering in August.  "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, a wonderful story filled with unforgettable characters.

A Valentine Download from Me to You

This Valentine's day, my gift to those dear to me will be a list of the things I love about them.  Inspired by the sonnet, "How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I designed these little numbered cards to write down some of the many reasons they mean so much to me.

As my gift to all of you, I am providing a free download of the cards, numbered one through twelve, to use in creating your own Valentines.  To present your cards to your loved ones, simply tie them with a beautiful ribbon, or punch a hole in one corner and insert a metal ring.  Place your cards in an envelope and your Valentine will receive a gift they will truly appreciate.

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Click here for the pdf file to create your Valentine cards

I printed my cards on ivory card stock and used scalloped edge scissors to cut them out, however any pair of scissors will do.  For an added touch, I also applied chalk ink to the edge of the cards. Enjoy!

January 2014 Update:  You can find our 2014 Valentine printable ("I love you more than..." cards here.)

Visit our shops for new additions to the collection.

Favorite Gifts

I would much rather read a well-loved classic than a new novel, and when Penguin books came out with their new collection of beautifully embossed classics, I instantly fell in love.  This Christmas, my youngest daughter gave me my first of these books, "The Secret Garden" to begin my own collection of favorite titles. My oldest daughter gave me this beautiful glass calligraphy tray, which I have secretly admired for quite a while.  I adore both gifts and feel so loved they know me so well.  Another favorite gift, sent from my Mom in California, was a box of "Nuts & Chews" from See's Candies.  I must admit, I think I ate three quarters of the box all by myself and thoroughly enjoyed every bite of that yummy caramel and nougat!

Tea with Biscotti

During the holidays, I bake lots of biscotti and freeze them so they can be taken out and enjoyed on a moment's notice.  Quite often, that's whenever we put the tea kettle on.  I will miss my daily indulgence of these little beauties once our reserves run out.

I tried many recipes before I found the perfect one that offered all of the wonderful qualities of an authentic biscotti. Happily, a friend introduced me to "Biscotti" by Lou Seibert Pappas.  

 

My favorite recipe can be found on page fourteen, "Biscotti di Prato".  However, all of Pappas's recipes result in extra crispy, subtly sweet, and delicious biscotti. Perfect with my cup of tea!