"Sense"-ational Sundays...

Our senses tell a story. I've committed to recording my 5 senses for the past week to explore my sensory world. I challenge you to do the same. If you choose to do so, just blog your 5 senses every Sunday & let me know, I'd love to read them.

I SEE: the new Luxe catalog
Well, not quite for real, yet...I've seen it on the screen in front of me & in printed black and white proofs and in low res pdf's. 48 pages of goodness. Laying it all out really made me go - wow - I really love Luxe! Here's a sneak peek of the cover. You're really going to notice a unified look from Luxe going forward...you've seen a taste of it with our previews and the postcards. Our new catalog and soon to be relaunched website all have the same contemporary, clean graphic feel. The website is so close to ready I am doing my happy dance!!! I'll keep you posted as to when it goes up.

I HEAR: 80's Movie Marathon
My 4th was a quiet one - I holed up in my studio the afternoon of the 3rd & kicked my creativity into high gear. It's been a while since I've completed so many projects in a sitting and I did it all to my favorite 80's movies to scrap to - all 3 Back to the Future movies, Better Off Dead, Some Kind of Wonderful, Pretty in Pink & Sixteen Candles...

I TASTE: Lemonade & Limeade
Ah, limeade, the taste of summer...I ran to our local grocery store to pick up a few things to get me through the 4th of July weekend & picked up a carafe of Simply Limeade & Simply Lemonade as a treat. I love these drinks but rarely buy them. They tasted so good (especially the limeade), I knew they were going to be my pick for this week.

I TOUCH: Paper Projects
I ended up making several 3-D projects for our CHA booth on Friday - an altered family schedule chalkboard, a covered round clipboard, an altered ideas & inspiration cork board, a tea bag box, a holiday photo frame, a paper mosaic-ed wooden skull & crossbones, a covered tin that holds playing cards, an altered metal spiral notebook, 2 bangle bracelets done up with paisley rub ons. and this keepsake box I made to hold letters and cards.


I used papers from Luxe's Classic Black collections & a raw box from Walmart (I went on a late night run for mini easels & bubble-lopes on the 4th and there it was - $1.97 - can't beat that!) The knob was a gift from a friend who got me this one & a red one from Anthropologie. She knows my weakness for vintage & reproduction flower cabochons & thought I would love these (she was so right - thank you Marina!) I'll share more of the projects I made over the coming days leading up to CHA.

I SMELL: Honey Mustard Marinade
With the coop, we've been so much better at meal planning & cooking at home. The coop took a week off since so many were out of town for the holiday, but no worries, I still have PLENTY of veggies to go through. Actually, it's probably for the best since it will give us a chance to "catch up" on our veggie cooking quota.

So we've started buying the larger packs of chicken & pork chops, prepping & freezing in portions. It's a little extra work, but it's curbing our grocery store visits and we love having portioned, ready to cook stuff on hand. I made my honey mustard marinade for some of our chicken & chops and it made the house smell so good!

Emily's Honey Mustard Marinade
In a skillet squeeze out a lot of honey (I never measure these things - feel free to "eyeball it" based on the amount of meat you're marinating). Cook it on low heat until the honey is liquefied. Add an equal amount of stone ground mustard (I prefer one with whole seeds). Add a couple of spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar and some coarse ground black pepper. Stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Cool and use to marinate pork or chicken - great to grill!