Snowflakes

I love snowflakes! I started noticing that I have a few around the house, and I like to create with them too. Even though the patterns are often repeated when creating something man made, I love that in nature, they are all unique. Every single one. Amazing. Organic and sparkly, what a wonderful combination!

We put the table back to a round table so I could use my snowflake tablecloth again. And, I found a good smoothie recipe that I love. Even better, its not green, but purple. Its easier on the eye to drink a purple smoothie, but this still has a cup of spinach in it -  and it tastes Sweet!

Upside Down Smoothie

1 cup spinach

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 banana

1/2 cup pineapple chunks

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup ice water

6 ice cubes

Makes 2 good sized glasses. MyGirl and I loved it!

I put everything in the blender in the opposite order it is given above, so just start from the bottom, which is why I'm calling it the upside down smoothie. Its not an exact replica from any other recipe I'm aware of, just a compilation of a few I looked it, and this is how I made mine. Start by blending in the blender, then stop and scrape down the sides, helping the spinach get mixed, then pulse well at the end until its all smooth and creamy. Use less water if you like it thicker, but since I don't want it too thick first thing in the morning, I added the water. We'll be making it again soon! I also think I'll substitute strawberries for the blueberries when I run out. Even frozen peaches would be good here too, I think, just the color would be changed. . . surprises await :-) MyGirl said she'd add more orange juice next time. If we do that, then we'll not use the ice water, but I thought the balance of flavors was fine. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Here is a darling tag I saved from Christmas. Cowgirl tied these with red ribbons around printed kraft bags for all her presents. Cute and easy with the Cricut and glitter. Love her creativity! I also love the star of David hidden in the pattern of the snowflake as well. Really reminds me of Christmas!

Speaking of glitter, I had fun playing with the Snowflake stamp set I won last year in one of the CTMH blog giveaways. I've gotten a lot of mileage with this set, and loved that this particular stamp is open. That allowed me to use a white marker and glitter to give it added dimension. I included a close-up below.  The wide striped chocolate ribbon helps draw the eye into an X shape. First you see the sentiment and the ribbon, then you go back and pay attention to the snowflakes. Often good design uses L, T, and X shapes I learned a long time ago in my graphic design classes. That's one thing I've proven true over and over again.

Last, I wanted to show the many snowflakes we still have on the ground, and this rogue squirrel that was climbing up and down the neighborhood yesterday. I saw it two doors down when I was going to my parents, climbing up their drain pipe onto their roof, then later in the day he was right above our kitchen window. When we started tapping on the glass, he hopped onto our deck, walked down the stairs, across the patio, and up the back side of the house by my bedroom. Not wanting him to find any way into our house, we tapped on the glass again, and he turned around and ran back down and into another neighbor's yard. Its the first one I've seen in our neighborhood since we moved here.