Amy Hanna

Hello Valentine!!

 

How to make a yummy cup of espresso!

I LOVE coffee, and have drove my husband nuts trying to find the perfect espresso maker.  One of the gadgets that I have purchased is an espresso maker from William and Sonoma. It is called Le Cube and is made by Nespresso.

I love the fact that this machine is super easy to use. You can purchase of bunch of different brews in a variety of different strengths. This machine is great when you are serving espresso after a dinner party. You can make the drinks pretty quickly and there is not much clean up.

I purchased this nice wooden box filled with coffee cubes when I bought my machine.

The nice thing about having the box is that it has the description of all of the choices of cubes you can buy listed on the inside of the box so you can remember which one you like.  Especially for someone like myself who has I hard time remembering things!!  My favorite choice is the Ristretto which is also the strongest one.

  I just went to Ikea last week and purchased the cute silver espresso cups  that are shown in the first photo. They are called kalaset and they are priced at $5.99 for two cups and saucers. I just love that they are metal, they keep the coffee nice and hot!   I also used my handy frother that I had bought at Ikea a while ago for under $2.00 and I made myself a delicious cup of cappuccino using half and half instead of milk. Yummy Yummy!!

Looking at things through a lens................

Finding inspiration in things that surround you is always a fun project to do when you are in need for a bust of creativity.  Today a piled up a bunch of things that I have been collecting to use in some new creations.  It is so fun to work with things that have been originally created by someone else's hands years ago.  Like the hand painted portrait pin from France and the hand carved meerschaum pieces. 

I find that sometimes when I photograph items before I start working with them it helps to show me the piece in a different way and helps me to know how to use it.

 

I feel kinda like the abominable snowman shown above after dragging my dead Christmas tree out of the house today. Not to sound like a total downer but it  felt like such a wierd Christmas to me.  I never quite got the feeling like it was a holiday.  Now the dreaded task of putting all the decorations away. I usually have that done by now but I have been in slow motion. 

My daughters drew the drawing of the snowman on our chalk board wall, just love him I think he will have to stay around for a while longer!!

I took these photos yesterday morning before I started pulling everything off of the very dry dead tree.

N

 

My husband actually made the egg ornament above with the wise men when he was just a boy.  I love handmade ornaments they are always my favoite!

The gingerbread man was made by one of my girls in preschool. 

I bought the vintage angel topper at an antique shop in SFO twenty years ago. She reminded me of the topper my Mother had used on our tree while growing up.

 

I still use my paper ladies that I made in Lesley Riley's class years ago.They are photos of my Mother and my Grandmother as little girls.

Happy New Year!!