Yummy English-Style Scones

Today I will share my English Scone recipe. I made these scones for my Bible study group this past Wednesday and they were gobbled up. This time around I modified it a little by adding pecans, chocolate chips and dried cherries in place of the raisins and dates.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 cookie sheets.

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup finely pitted dates
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold butter
4 eggs, divided
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon water

Put the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix together. Add butter; blend with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat 3 eggs, cream, and vanilla in small bowl. Add to flour mixture; mix just until ingredients are moistened. Knead dough several times on lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half; place each half on prepared cookie sheet and pat into 6-inch circle (about 1 inch thick).

With sharp, wet knife, gently score each circle of dough into six wedges, cutting 3/4 of the way into dough. Beat the remaining egg with water; brush lightly over dough. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on wire rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with marmalade and whipped cream. This recipe makes 12 scones.

The ingredients that I changed  were to use 3/4 cup of chocolate chips (and no raisins) and a 3/4 measuring cup filled half full of pecans and half full of dried cherries (and no dates.)  You can add just blueberries or raspberries; what ever suits your tastes. Also I want to give you 2 tips on making perfect scones. The key to making scones very tender is to not overwork the dough. Also to get just the perfect color make sure your oven rack is in the middle position. Enjoy!

Company Girl Coffee Time

Hello to the Company Girls and all my blogger friends.  Thanks for joining me today. I am always glad for the end of the week as the Sabbath day is approaching and I get to rest and fellowship with the Lord. Life is always so hectic with many things to accomplish or so it seems. A day of rest for the mind and body is much needed and always appreciated. I do thank the Lord for each and every day but the Sabbath day is a special time set apart from all the others for fellowship and thanksgiving to Him. He loves our adoration for who He is...the awesome, loving, just, kind, merciful, forgiving Creator of all the Universe. (I could have gone on and on with words that describe His nature.) Suffice to say we could thank Him every day of our life for being our All and All and it wouldn't be enough. I am so glad we will have eternity to do so.

Today I ran some errands to the Country Pantry. It is a very nice bulk food store owned and operated by a Mennonite family. They have so many wonderful fresh spices, baking items, meats, cheese, nuts and many items to numerous to mention. I like their steel cut oatmeal. The wonderful thing is I can buy a big bag that is equivalent to a box from the store. The difference in price is, at the Pantry it cost $1.05 for the entire bag and at the grocery store it cost $4.50. That is a huge savings. Their spices are cheap also and a lot fresher than what is in the little bottles at the grocer. If you have a bulk store in your area, it is worth checking out to see what they carry and how much you can save. These days, we are all for saving our dollars where we can.

Yesterday I received my swap gift from my friend Ellen in Canada. She is a dear, sweet person with a wonderful husband, and a very cute baby boy named Eleil. We have done several swaps together and it is always so much fun. She has so much creativity and owns her own wedding planning business called 'About A Bride'. She wears so many hats I don't know how she gets it all done but she manages and does it well. I have posted the photos of the swap gift here. Thank you Ellen. I love every thing you made me and the extra gifts. The way you wrapped one of my gifts in fabric was so nice. I like the fabric design and will be using it for a project. I  especially loved the photo of Eliel. We will have to swap again some time. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and are able to take time to count all of your blessings. See you next time for coffee. :D

Vintage Inspired Card

I have been so inspired by the book "Delight in the Details" by Lisa M. Pace, that I decided to try my hand at making vintage looking flowers. This card is the results. I love how it turned out. I used a scalloped circle punch and punched 5 circles out of pages from an old worn paperback book. She has instructions in the book on how to layer each circle to form the flower. I used brown Colorbox ink to make it look even older and paired the flower with some single leaves and a vintage button to finish the look. I also sewed a zig-zag stitch across the front of the card. I will be making more of these. Hope you all have a very productive day doing what you love.

Vintage Finds For Storage

I found these beautiful glass and wire pieces at the thrift sale over the weekend. They were having a sale of 50% off. The average that I paid for each piece was about 15 cents...yes 15 cents. I decided to put them to good use in my craft room to hold some of my supplies. When I work in there now, things I use are readily available and it makes me happy because it looks so pretty. I have no clue why I am on a thrift store kick these days except to say  I found a new book, just published this year, called 'Delight in the Details'. The author is Lisa Pace and she is a mixed media artist. Check out her website at www.lisapace.com. She makes awesome crafts using vintage paper, ribbons,  paint, jewels, etc. It has been fun to check out the thrift stores for something that could be used to make vintage cards for my store table. I can't wait to try my hand at using pearls, old wool, and ribbons in my creating. What is it you love to create and what do you use for storage that is unusual? Tell us about it.

Cupcake Card

Today will be a quick post.  Mike and I are going to see my mother and take her out for breakfast. I  bought a new stamp set from Achievers a couple of months ago and decided to try it out. It has several cupcake designs and sayings in it. (I love cupcake stuff) Hope your weekend is a good one and you are able to find some time for rest and praise to Him for all your blessings.

Wonderful Day Shopping

Hello to all the Company Girls and also my other blogger friends. Hope you all had a wonderful week. Today I went shopping to a town 50 miles away from where I live. The town I live in is only about 350 people. (or so the sign says coming into town, but that was a count from the census about 20 years ago) Because of living in a small, but wonderful little town, we have to go further away to do any serious shopping. My husband was off today so he drove me and we spent the whole day together and had a wonderful time. He is the best person to take shopping as he is never impatient and he likes to bring his reading glasses and a book. If I want to go into a craft store he sends me in to shop while he sits in the car or on a bench and he reads. We found a wonderful thrift store to go to today. It was called the Hope Gospel Mission (I love the name). It was a very big store with lots of stuff in it. I think they had a little of everything and it was so much fun to browse. I found a wonderful spring wreath and a very nice frame for $1.98. They had lots of beautiful glass knick knacks, dishes, vintage fabric, jewelry and many, many books. After we were done shopping we went to Starbucks for coffee and we visited. We talked about our grandchildren Emma and Chloe and how much we miss them. We will see them the end of April as Emma has 'grandparents day' in her 2nd grade class at school. Time spent with them is always a celebration for us. They are treasures given to us by God. We are so grateful for the life we have...our family and good friends and having peace in our heart that only comes from knowing God. I wish you all a blessed weekend.

The wreath I bought at the thrift store for a couple of dollars. When I am done straightening all the flowers and vines, it will be beautiful. I will be using it on the wall over my table at the 'artisan gift store' where I sell my handmade cards.

Tundra Swans

Photos courtesy of the Wildlife Services.

I can hardly contain my excitement today to tell you about the latest migrating birds on the pond. I went out yesterday morning with a cup of coffee to walk around the acre and as I looked out I seen two of the most regal and beautiful birds I have seen in a while. They were  male and female Tundra Swans. I could hardly believe my eyes as we have not had any of those stop by for a visit for about 20 years. One of the last ones to show up on the pond  met his demise as somehow he got tangled in an electric wire and died. It was so sad. Even the DNR could not figure out why it happened...so seeing them out on the pond swan-tipping  was soooo exciting. In case you are wondering what swan-tipping is, I have included a photo of a swan tipping into the water to retrieve his food from the bottom of the pond. I was able to watch them for about an hour  tipping into the water with their heads disappearing and then coming back up with their prize. Their necks are so long that they were even able to come right up to the ice rim of the pond and extend their necks under the ice to find their food. So here are some facts about Tundra Swans. Their size is about 50'-54" long. The males and females look the same. They do not differ in color or markings like some birds do. Male and female both build their nests and they have one brood a year usually 4-5 eggs. It takes about 35-40 days to incubate and both share in this task. Their food is plants and aquatic insects. They nest on the tundra of northern Canada and Alaska, hence its common name. Migration is diagonally across North America to reach wintering grounds along the East Coast. They are often seen in family groups of up to 20 birds. (maybe these two were mad at the relatives.)  The young are easy to distinguish by their overall gray color. They give a high-pitched whistling like call.

I do wish my camera was of better quality and then I could take my own close-up photos of the migrating birds. Well, maybe some day I will invest in one and until then public domain photos are nice to be able to use. I am off to pour a cup of coffee for Mike and I. We are going out back to see what birds are visiting today.