Cupcakes!

Well hello dearies.
Do you ever get a hankering for something that you just can't let go until you get your hands on it? Well that happened to me in the last couple days. I've been wanting to have a nice cupcake with lots of gooey icing, in the worst way. Even though I put the call out for cupcakes to my family and dear ones, not a single cupcake showed up on my cottage's doorstep.

You can imagine the dire sadness that overcame me when I visited a lovely new favourite blog of mine, Pink Roses ~ only to see yet another irresistible cupcake! What is an old girl to do, I ask you? I know you're thinking that I simply got out my baking gear and started baking up some scrumptious cupcakes. Well just call me Mrs. Safeway, because sitting in front of me at this very moment are some perfectly wonderful cupcakes. Don't they look lip-smackingly scrumptious? Well, it's time for a nice quiet cup of tea and some cupcakes. Too bad Bea missed them ~ she stopped by for a visit earlier today, but that was before my trip to the grocery store! She never did have a good sense of timing.

Baking Beauties

Look ~ it's a cake fit for a Queen!

Wait! This isn't what it first appears.
This is not a cake at all.

Then what exactly is on the cake plate?

Goodness gracious ~ it's Bessie's hat! Looks like she's found a new place
for her hat when she doesn't have
a freshly baked cake to display.
Inventive and pretty: Bessie and Bea strike again.

Lettin' ourselves go

Bea came over for tea this afternoon. She had a ever-so-lovely birthday gift for yours truly. It was a beautiful hand sewn tote bag with numerous goodies tucked inside the pockets. One of the things that was included in the bag was this beautiful homemade pin cushion. It has Bea "written all over it" in all its lacy lusciousness!

There were many laughs and giggles between us gals today. At one point we were discussing the colour of our hair. Now you probably picture us gals having various shades of blue hair, but in actuality, dear Bea's hair looks blonde ~ she insists that it isn't. She says when she was younger it was blonde, but it went white some time ago. White, blonde, whatever, I think that her hair is a lovely shade and a couple years ago, I decided not to colour my hair anymore in hopes of reaching the beautiful shade Bea sports. Today, I wanted to tell her that she was the reason I decided to let the white take over, but it came out a little crazy. I said: "You know Bea, you were my inspiration to let it go!" "I inspired you to let yourself go?" Bea asked with a somewhat shocked, yet amused look on her face.

Ah sweet friendship!

It allows us to let ourselves go.

Until next time ~

Bessie x0x

Bessie & Bea's Easy Rag Wreath

Well bless my soul! Christmas is fast
approaching and Bessie and Bea are busy as
beavers or maybe you could say Bea is a Busy Bea!

The girls are planning all sorts of handmade Christmas presents to give their friends and loved ones this year. Here is one idea that Bessie offers. It is simple and takes very little money or time to create.

It's the perfect gift to give someone who is a little klutzy perhaps and cowers at the idea of having a wreath on their wall with breakable bulbs. It also makes a great idea for a seamstress or a senior!
All you need for this project is a thin, pliable clothes hanger and lots of colourful fabric scraps. First you shape the hanger into a circle shape, and make a loop out of the hanger part. Next, cut the scraps about 1.5 inches (4 cm) wide by 8 inches (21 cm) long. Finally, you tie the fabric scraps all around the hanger, interspersing the colours to give it a beautiful scattered look. You could also make a monochromatic wreath if you wish.

Such colour!
Such warmth!
Such love!

Happy creating this Christmas season ~
Bessie & Bea x0x0

Spaghetti Spaghetti

Bea has been busy, busy, busy lately ~ babysitting her dear little grands all this week. As her grandson says: Grandma's house is so funnilarious! They've been having the time of their lives, I'm sure.

Hi folks! Bessie here. I had a chance to have some fun when I was caring for my great nephew and niece. We had a rip roaring time. The poor souls didn't know what "playing hooky" was until I was in charge! Don't worry dearies, I didn't actually allow them to play hooky while their Mama and Papa were gone, but we got into plenty of mischief anyway.

One day when they got home from a long hard day at school, I announced that it was Spaghetti Spaghetti Night. We started off the festivities by having a lovely sit down dinner: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garlic Toast, Peas and Green Salad. To drink we had the finest wine (Kool-Aid) available this side of the Rockies! The little ones were thrilled to be treated to such a grown up dinner.
For dessert, I served them a Spaghetti Cake. If you can believe it, all the ingredients came from the Dollarama! At the end of the meal, my nephew gave me a big compliment. He declared: "You're a good cook! Your food tastes better than restaurant food!" That's high praise from an 11 year old.

Alas the week passed quickly and soon it was time to say so long to the kids. We survived the week quite nicely ~ I mean, there was the obligatory visit to Chuck E Cheese, and the little tooth fairy incident, but really nothing too bad happened.

Love,
Bessie Poppins

As English as a cuppa tea

Bessie here.
Put on a pot of tea dear ones!
I wanted to tell you about a rather charming and amusing book I happened to read this summer entitled Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour by Kate Fox. Here is a wee quote from the book, I hope you'll enjoy it: "The central 'core' of Englishness. Social dis-ease is a shorthand term for all out chronic social inhibitions and handicaps. The English social dis-ease is a congenital disorder, bordering on a sort of sub-clinical combination of autism and agoraphobia (the politically correct euphemism would be 'socially challenged'). It is out lack of ease, discomfort and incompetence in the field (minefield) of social interaction; our embarrassment, insularity, awkwardness, perverse obliqueness, emotional constipation, fear of intimacy and general inability to engage in a normal and straightforward fashion with other human beings. When we feel uncomfortable in social situations (that is, most of the time) we either become over-polite, buttoned up and awkwardly restrained or loud, loutish, crude, violent and generally obnoxious. Both out famous 'English reserve' and out infamous 'English hooliganism' are symptoms of this social dis-ease, as is our obsession with privacy. Sorne of us are rnore severely afflicted than others. The dis-ease is treatable (temporary alleviation/remission can be achieved using props and facilitators - pubs, clubs, weather-speak, cyberspace, pets, etc. - and/or ritual, alcohol, magic words and other rnedications and we enjoy periods of 'natural' remission in private and arnong intimates, but it is never entirely curable. Most peculiarities of English behaviour are traceable, either directly or indirectly, to this unfortunate affliction. Key phrases include: 'An Englishman's home is his castle'; 'Nice day, isn't it?'; 'Oi -what You looking at?; , Mind your own business'; 'I don't like to pry, but ....' - 'Don't make a fuss/scene'; 'Don't draw attention to yourself'; 'Keep yourself to yourself'; "Ere we go, 'ere we go'; 'Eng-er-land! Eng-er-land! Eng-er-land!."

If you know an English person or are English yourself, take a sip of tea out of your china cup and down a few biscuits and read it!

Love, Bessie

Our gift to you

Goodness gracious, we are busy gals!
Happily though, we found a moment to share an ice cold glass of homemade lemonade together a few days ago.
You see, we had to raise our glasses to each other, in celebration of Creative Sandwich's very first blogoversary!

In honour of our blogoversary, we would like to share one of our favourite recipes with all you dear faithful readers out there. It's our little gift to you all. Bessie often prepares this recipe for her guests when they visit her cottage, and since she cannot invite each and every one of you to her house, we will send this recipe out to you all with our love and affection.

Dutch Baby
1/3 c. Butter
6 Eggs
2 c. Milk
2-3 c. Flour
Sprinkling of Nutmeg & Icing Sugar
Fresh Fruit (your choice)
Whipping Cream
Fifteen minutes before baking, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 9"x13" baking dish in 425 degree oven with nutmeg. Beat eggs. Remove baking dish once butter has melted. *Make sure whole baking dish is coated with melted butter. Slowly pour batter into the dish and bake for 20 minutes and reduce to 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, until puffy and well browned.

Serve immediately with fresh fruit and top with whipping cream and a dusting of icing sugar. Dutch Baby goes lovely with piping hot tea or coffee. Use your prettiest china to make your guests feel extra special.
Serves: 4

So dearies, here's to another great year ahead sharing together our creativity ...
Remember, that's what Creative Sandwich is all about: creativity. Creativity schmeared over around and in between the ordinary white bread of our sometimes dry and boring daily journeys. And if you feel you need a little help along the way, when you just can't take another bologna on white, come see Bessie and Bea. We'll cook you up something fresh and tasty; spicy, and dripping with taste and savoury messiness. And we'll remind you that you can do the same, only better! Better because what excites you is special and unique and individual. One of a kind!

Lovingly,
Bessie & Bea
x0x

Garage Saling

Summer's here, and that can only mean one thing ... It's garage saling season!

Hello dear ones, Bessie here.
Even though the skies looked ominous, my first born and I went out garage saling (accidentally, on purpose) this weekend and found some special treasures. CDs for Junior. At 50 cents a piece, he was grabbing them to beat the band. Being a music major in university, he can never get enough music to listen to. For me, a huge bag of vintage buttons including some button cards (only a small portion of the buttons are shown in this photo). The asking price was $2, but I snagged em for $1. A mail & key holder for 50 cents and finally, an authentic black rotary telephone for a buck.

Ah, the joys of summer!

Love,
Bessie x0x

Bessie does some rearranging

Well hello dearies ~ Bessie here. It's just been the longest time since we've talked, hasn't it.

Just every once in a while, we all have to rearrange our things. Some people call it cleaning, but I prefer to call it rearranging. Goodness knows, I'm not about to purge. Perish the thought!

Today is a rearranging day.

I tackled my dresser today. Oh the delights of looking at all those glittery earrings, and my bottles of French perfumes.

Glancing at my hats, I'm thinking it's just about time for a day trip with Bea in her old jalopy real soon. I must get on the tele and see when we can arrange one. Perhaps we'll take a ride in the country to take in all the sites, sounds and scents of springtime ~ and perhaps a thrift shop or two. Oh that would be fun!
Love,
Bessie

Did somebody say aprons?

Bea love aprons.
Bessie loves aprons.
Much to their delight, the Mother-of-all-Aprons Swap hosted by Canadian Chickies has provided them with some utterly wonderful creations for them to swoon over. This swap has produced all sorts of beauties including flowing, flowery, formal and fantastic!
(Bessie and Bea also adore alliteration)

Here are some snapshots of some of the aprons...

Believe it or not, a repurposed shower curtain!


Look at the fine embroidery work on this pillowcase turned apron!


A hand-painted caricature ...
and a mermaid inspired creation.

Love,
Bessie & Bea
(who are so inspired they're thinking of creating their own aprons!)