words.

source

Today I felt like I had to address this subject. Sometimes people say hurtful things to others in defense of themselves. Sometimes people joke around and say things without thinking that their words could make the other person feel just a little bad about themselves.

Words have power. Use them wisely.

Sometimes a single sentence can feel like a punch in the face.

source

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I'm perfect. We have all sinned. I'm writing this post as a reminder for me as well.

But sometimes it helps to be reminded what words can do.

A single sentence can change someone. Will that sentence be tearing them down or building them up?

practice makes perfect. free blog design.

With the soon-to-come opening of my new shop (selling blog design, accessories, and more), I really need to get my act together and figure out how things are going to work!

I am still working out all the details, with waiting lists, forms, payment... and I need a little practice!

Starting today, I will be offering free blog design to the first ten people that sign up!

Before you go bouncing of walls with excitement (haha.), please read this whole post before signing up so you know how it's all planned out :)
Also, you can check out my (growing) portfolio.

Okay, here's how this is going to work:
1. You sign up via the form below

2. You choose one of the A La Carte options available (header, button, signature, and much more)

3. Your name will get added to the waiting list

4. Once you are at the top of the waiting list (shouldn't take too long to get up there), I will email you

5. We'll chat and I'll send you your first sample button/header/whatever you asked for, a few days (or more) later

6. You tell me your thoughts, and you can either take that one, or give me more suggestions and I'll create a new one. You will get three re-do's of the original sample I gave you. If you use all of them, you can choose from any of the designs I've made you.

7. Once you're happy with your design, I will log in your account and install it for you, or I can give you the files and/or html and you can do it yourself.

8. You and your readers enjoy your new design!

I will only be installing the designs for blogs hosted on Blogger. If you use a different platform, I would still love to design for you, but I'll send you the design files and/or html to insert.

Please sign up with the form below if you're interested. Also, please be serious about this. I would hate to waste time and effort and have a client walk away.
I look forward to working with you! xo. Kate
UPDATE
All the spots are filled! Thanks everyone! I might be doing this again soon. Please let me know if there are still people who are looking for design elements. If I get a lot of response I'll either have more free design or a big sale!

fall's color trends {day 7}

Welcome to Autumn Series: Posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

Today is the last day of the Welcome to Autumn series, AND it is the first day of Autumn!
(I accidentally missed the fifth day, so today there will be two posts. Be sure to check out today's other post)

Above are the colors that I think are really big this fall. Trust me, this girl did her research!

I have been really into fashion lately, and this year, colors are the most important part of Fall fashion.

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#1. Wine or Oxblood

This burgundy color is so perfect for Autumn and has been one of the favorites on the runway. It is very wearable and goes great with black.

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#2. Deep Teal

Dark teal is a deep, neutral hue that is the perfect color to wear for a date night. Pair with purple, royal blue, black, or charcoal gray.

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#3. Dusty Orange

Orange is a Fall classic, but this year it's darker and more sophisticated. Try pairing the dark orange with a gray-blue, or with other neutrals like mocha or black.

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#4. White

This year, white is being worn all seasons. Try layering white together but adding different materials and textures for variety, like a white fur vest.

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#5. Dark Mustard
A cozy, Fall classic toned down (like Dusty Orange) to a sophisticated hue. Try pairing with brown, ivory, or teal accent pieces.

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#6 and #8. Pink
Believe it or not, pink was a huge color on the runway this Fall. Try pairing Rose Smoke with Wine, and Hot Pink with black and gold.


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#7. Mocha
Browns found their place at the 2012 runway. Try pairing the Autumn classic with chocolate brown, charcoal gray, or teal.

That's all folks! Thanks so much for reading my blog, and have a wonderful Autumn!
xo. Kate

3 ten minute costume ideas {Welcome to Autumn}

Today is the last day of the Welcome to Autumn series, and it's also the first day of Autumn!
(There will be two posts today, because I missed one during the week)

Today I am going to share with you three (super easy) 10-minute Halloween costume ideas, plus the diy headpieces for it!

 1. Alien Okay so I think this is just the easiest kid costume ever. For the antennae, wrap a pipe cleaner around a pencil. Slide it off and hot glue/super glue big pom poms to the end. Now wrap the other end of the pipe cleaner to the headband, and do another antennae. Now have your child (or yourself ;)) wear green.

 2. Animal Ears kids love being cats, dogs, foxes (above), bears, and pretty much any animal you can think of for Halloween. Make any kind of animal ears by stitching/gluing felt shapes together, stuffing them (for the whole 3D look ;)), and gluing them to hair clips.

3. Pumpkin so I'm being a pumpkin this year. Too old to dress up? Never. Haha ;)
I didn't want to wear a big stump hat with leaves or anything like that, so I glued fake leaves to a headband. I think it turned out super cute, plus it cost me $0.

I hope you can use these ideas for your kid's costumes :)
xo. Kate

maple walnut pumpkin pie. {Ms. Morgan's Reality Check}

For the fifth part of the Welcome to Autumn series, my friend Ms. Morgan will be sharing hot to make a delish maple walnut pumpkin pie! That name just screams Autumn to me!

(I missed yesterday's post, but tomorrow there will be two posts! Tomorrow's the last day so I promise it with be spectacular!)

---

As soon as Autumn comes around and canned pumpkin hits the shelves I start stocking up. You can't find it any other time of year. So the first shopping trip I saw pumpkin on the shelf I bought a few cans. Tonight I made a variation of traditional pumpkin pie. 

Instead of simple evaporated milk I used sweetened condensed milk. 

Instead of a traditional crust I used graham cracker crusts. 

And to top it off a brown sugar walnut crumble top. 

Yum.

Yum. 

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Walnut Topping:
1 (9 inch) Graham cracker pie crust or unbaked pie shell
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, maple flavoring, ginger, nutmeg and salt; mix well. Pour into pie shell.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F; continue baking 30 minutes.

In medium mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in nuts.

Remove pie from oven; top evenly with crumb mixture. Return to oven 10 minutes. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store covered in refrigerator.

---

Thanks so much! These pies look totally amazing.

Don't forget to check out Ms. Morgan's blog and then come back tomorrow for the LAST day of Welcome to Autumn! xo. Kate

what autumn means... {All Things Blogs}

Welcome to the fourth part of the Welcome to Autumn Series! My bloggy bestie Sarah is going to share what Autumn means to her and lots of other bloggers.

In case you missed it, parts 1, 2, and 3.

---
Hi I'm Sarah from All Things Blogs. I decided to see what autumn means to most people, to do that I asked some bloggers to tell me what autumn means to them.  Let's hear what they said!

"Cool crisp air, opening of the windows, leaves changing colors and falling off the trees, evenings sitting by the fire pit roasting marshmallows, going to football games, going from wearing tank tops to nice big sweaters.  Love it when the fall season comes!" ~Pamela @ Pamela's Heavenly Treats

"Autumn means leather boots, fluffy scarves, and neutral tones.

It means snuggling under a blanket watching the leaves turn to the beautiful shades of fall.

It is busting out your vanilla creme and cinnamon spice candles that you've been impatiently waiting to burn.

It's enjoying your Starbucks caramel latte while wandering through a pumpkin patch, searching for the perfect one to carve.

Autumn is knowing the holidays are coming, and preparing to spend time with the people who make your life worth living.

And lastly, it means devouring that HUGE slice of freshly-baked apple pie made by the sweet old ladies at your local apple orchard." ~ Katie @ Lady Million

"Autumn mean family and peace, joy and love, and I can't wait for it." ~ Danette @ All My Love for All My Days

"Autumn means.. sweatpants, cuddling, drinking hot tea, SCHOOL!, football and leaves changing color. 

Those are all the things I love about fall!

I love wearing sweatpants while cuddling and drinking hot tea at school while watching football and the leaves changing colors outside.

I combined them all into a sentence.. brownie points?" ~ Natalie @ Looking Through The Lens

"To me fall means wearing cute sweaters, warm colours, and looking forward to Christmas around the corner!" ~ Shannon @ Polish and Sugar

"Fall is probably my favorite time of the year, especially the turning of the seasons. I have lived in the North East for almost 10 years.  The changing of the leaves and the release of the heat into cool but not cold temps is so amazing.  My roommate and I typically take a road trip for a day or two upstate into the just to see the beautiful colors of fall. We also take a trip apple picking with our church.  Oh man I love fall.  All of the apple and pumpkin recipes.  Man, i could just keep going." ~ Kim @ SingleDou{b}t

"For me Autumn always has that excitement and slight tension with back to school.  I've almost always been either a student or a teacher and now I work at the local university and run Orientation so Autumn is a pretty big deal in my life.  I absolutely love back to school shopping.  There's something about brand new pencils and pens and folders all perfect and clean and waiting to be used to do something that just feels right.  I enjoy Summer.  I enjoy being outside and swimming and the sun but quite honestly I don't do well in the heat and humidity and I burn very very easily.  In Autumn there's that slightly cooler touch in the air that means you can get out your cute boots and a sweater you haven't seen in months and go out to enjoy the weather before the rain starts.  Around here the rain always starts but September and the beginning of October usually provide enough lovely days that you don't really mind.  It's so much easier to look cute when you aren't sweating isn't it?" ~ Leigh-Ellen @ Little Waterlily in a Big Pond

I love the cool weather, the fall decor, the smell, the feeling of excitement preparing for Christmas, dressing warm, waking up and walking on cool floors, pajama pants, candles, fires, fall hair styles, scarves, fall crafts, and the leaves changing colors.... ~ Me :)

Thanks so much for having me Kate!

burlap pennant banner {Embracing Messy}

Welcome to the third part of the Welcome to Autumn series! Today my awesome friend, Kelsey, is going to share how she made an adorable Fall burlap banner!

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Hello A Creative Cookie readers! I'm Kelsey from Embracing Messy and I'm so excited to be working with Kate again for her fall series! Today I'm going to share a quick little tutorial for a burlap pennant banner. 

   

What you'll need: 

-Burlap

-Acrylic Craft Paint

-Jute String

-Fray Check (Or any other type of anti-fray stuff)

-Scissors

-Paint Brush

-Glue Gun

{Step 1} Cut out your pennant shapes. I just used a ruler to make sure my edge was straight on the first, then used the first triangle to make the others. 

{Step 2} Apply Fray Check to the edges of the pennant pieces. This keeps the burlap from completely unraveling. 

{Step 3} Paint your letters or whatever else you'd like one your pennants using basic craft paint. 

{Step 4} Using the glue gun, I glued the jute string to the backs of my pennants.

And there you have it! Now put this baby anywhere you want! Mine is quite small because I have plans to either use it on a wreath, frame, or jar, but I haven't made up my mind yet! Thanks so much for having me Kate! Be sure to stop by my blog next week for a guest post by Kate and other fun fall posts! 
---
I love this little banner! It would be perfect on a wreath!
Kelsey's having her own Fall series that started yesterday! Be sure to check it out:

Be sure to come by again tomorrow! xo. Kate

pumpkin cookies. {Vintage Sunshine}

Welcome to day 2 of the Welcome to Autumn series! I am so ready for Fall!

--
hello! i'm alyson from vintage sunshine and i'm excited to share a fun fall recipe with you all today. and, so thankful to kate for having me here.

are you as anxious for fall as i am? last week, with the return of the pumpkin spice latte at starbucks, it really got me thinking and craving FALL! i won't even admit how many #psl's i've had so far. iced of course, all of them, because it's still been in the upper 90's to low 100's in these parts. 

last night though, i could no longer resist breaking out a can of pumpkin and baking. i might have turned the ac way down so that it'd feel more like fall while i was baking even. so, i decided to share with you a recipe for pumpkin cookies that my mom used to make when i was little. i've tweaked it a bit over the years and put my own spin on things, but this is the way matt & the kids (and i) love them best!

pumpkin cookies

preheat your oven to 375'.

what do you need? 

-1/2 cup shortening

-1 cup pumpkin 

-1 cup granulated sugar (sometimes i'll use 1/2 cup white & 1/2 cup brown)

-2 cups flour (i usually use whole wheat, but you don't have to)

-1 tsp baking powder

-1 tsp baking soda

-1 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp salt

-1-2 tbsps grated orange peel

*optional: chopped nuts (1c), raisins (1c), chocolate chips (1c), etc.

you'll want to mix your sugar, shortening and pumpkin until smooth. then, toss in all of the other ingredients. that's something i love about this recipe. no separate bowls, etc. it's so simple.

 

growing up, my mom always frosted these with cream cheese frosting. but, since that's so messy and my family loves chocolate chips, i usually add those instead. this time was no different. throw them in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. you can also try the toothpick method, like you would with a cake. 

the other day at target, matt grabbed a bag of pumpkin spice hershey kisses and we put a few of those on top of a handful of the cookies. that's another great thing about this recipe, you can add almost anything you want to it, or top the cookies with something you love.

milk in a mason jar & some pumpkin cookies. delish.

 

these really are one of my favorite cookies. they're SO soft and almost bread like.
i hope you enjoy. and, if you try them.. let me know what you think!

--- Thanks so much, Alyson! These look ah-maz-ing. don't forget to visit her blog, and come back tomorrow for the next part of the Welcome to Autumn series! xo. Kate

My Favorite Autumn Trends {day 1}

Welcome to the first day of my Welcome to Autumn series!

The next 7 days will be all about Autumn, my favorite time of the year! One of my favorite things about Fall is fashion - once it cools down here, I can pull out all my favorite accessories! Scroll down to learn about my favorite Autumn trends.

photo sources: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3
I love big, slouchy sweaters. They are absolutely perfect for Fall!

photo sources: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4, photo 5
How can you go wrong with scarves for Autumn? I have a growing collection and can never have enough. Plus, you can make your own!

photo sources: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3
Boots are just the best. Even though they can be a little on the pricey side, they always add interest to any outfit.

Check back tomorrow for day 2! xo. Kate
Are you ready to welcome Fall? Or are you clinging onto the last hot days of Summer?

chatter pants.

Have you noticed that cute little bar down there?

That's my new Wibiya bar.

My friend Katlyn found this widget and added it to her blog. We chatted a bit using the widget, and then I added it too!

It's super cool. Now I can chit chat with you guys, and you can chat with other readers too! Just click the chat button on the right and then log in through Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or Yahoo.

Plus, the bar is free if you want to add it to your own blog! Just go here.

Happy Saturday!

xo. Kate

Bloggy Hop

Hi friends!

Welcome to the Google+ Blog Hop!  We want to encourage you to use Google+ to help your blog and/or business grow.  This blog hop is designed for YOU to meet new g+ friends, increase the exposure of your blog/business and allow you to "fill your circles" which is definitely something I need to do!

Here are some links to refresh your memory on how to set up and optimize your g+ profile page so that you will benefit from this blog hop.

What Can Google do for You - part 1

Google tutorial

To join this g+ blog hop, link up your Google+ profile page URL (NOT your blog's homepage).  For the "name" section, use your name or your blog's/website's name.  Use your personal photo or your blog's/website's button/logo for the thumbnail picture.  

Important note:  If you have problems linking up your profile page, try linking the "about" section of your profile page instead of the "posts" section.  Also, problems loading a thumbnail picture usually can be solved by loading the picture directly from your computer instead of your g+ page. 

 This blog hop is shared by 6 blogs - 6x the fun!  You can link your g+ profile page at any of the blogs listed below:

 In The Old Road

The NY Melrose Family

A Night Owl 

  A Creative Cookie

Lu and Ed

The Taylor House

Guidelines:
-Please follow all the hosts of this bloggy hop (add them to your circles). You can find their g+ pages at the top of the linky list.
-Please do not link up your blog's url - Google+ pages only! If you don't have one you can make one here.
-After linking up, visit some other links and leave a little love by adding them to your circles!

That's it for now. Happy linking!
(Psst - I'm out of town right now so if you try to contact me, I won't be able to reply for a few days. Sorry!)
Okay, now stop reading and start linking!

Seattle and Victoria

So. I'm going to California on Friday so I thought it would be nice if I posted about my last vacation before I went on to my next. On June 8th, I took a plane all the way up to Seattle...

When the plane landed, we took a bus ride to an Underground tour and learned all about the history of Seattle.

We made a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and bought some delish chocolates...

Saw the Space Needle everywhere we went (more pics of it to come!).

I was always on the lookout for photo opportunities...

We saw the Seattle Symphony...

We went to the Experience Music Project (EMP) museum...

This Dalek was in the museum... I freaked out, I was so excited... Everyone thought I was crazy. You should know I'm a HUGE Doctor Who nerd!

Visited the Space Needle...

It was really high up, and the way the walls slanted made you feel like the building was tipping over!

Went to see the ballet, Coppelia, and there was this work of art hanging in the lobby...

Another Space Needle picture.

Up on the Space Needle for night time viewing! The view was gorgeous and it was freezing up there, at least for this AZ girl.

 Pike's Market...

 The Gum Wall... (Okay, um gross)

 Seattle Aquarium....

 We took a short cruise around the harbor...

 Saw the King Tut exhibit... the last exhibit before it leaves the U.S!

 Took the Victoria Clipper over to Victoria. There was a terrible storm and several people got sick.

We visited the Butchart Gardens...

 And the Parliament Building!

 We drove up to Chemainus and checked out the pretty flowers and the murals. All the houses up there were so cute.

Took a bus back to Seattle...

...and flew home :)

That was my trip in a nutshell... Sorry for the extremely picture heavy post. I couldn't narrow down my photos any more ;) Some of the other places we visited were the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Royal B.C. Museum, and the Museum of Flight. It was loads of fun!

Thanks so much for reading this super long post and congrats if you made it to the bottom! Haha.
Happy Wednesday!
xo. Kate