Add Whimsey to your outdoor eating area - New Episode of Creative Life TV

In this episode Linda Peterson shows you how to create a table scape for your outdoor eating area with the theme of Watermelons!! Get your creative juices flowing! Ready ...set ...GO!
Click on the play button!

Watch live streaming video from cool2craft at livestream.com

Sweet Treats....for the Dog!

I have no earthly idea what's gotten into me...but I am so totally into food crafts at the moment. There's just one slight problem. Once you make all these delicious delights...what are you going to do with them all? Yes, I know, I suppose I "could" eat them - seriously though....that's ALOT to eat...and Im not really a sweet eater...

So..I have solved the delimma...make doggie treats...she'll love them...I'll get to make them...decorate them....and I don't have to eat them...

So....that's what I did yesterday... because....



I whipped up a batch of doggie treats - healthy-sorta doggie treats with wheat flour, milk, bacon grease and cheese...



MmmmmMmmmm...okay...they did smell good when they baked...



And I baked aLOT of them....

But then.....this happened....



Yep..our goofy Julia...decided that since they we're made with real ingredients, she'd give'm a taste test before she gave one to Maggie our dog....

and here's the verdict......



Maggie has a smile on her face....don't you just love that?

I guess it's all in the presentation....What a great gift for a furry friend!



BY POPULAR REQUEST - HERE'S THE RECIPE!

Cheddar Bacon Bites for furry friends


2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1 c grated cheddar cheese - broken up into small bits
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 tablespoons of hot bacon grease
1 cup of milk

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add milk and bacon fat for form a stretchy dough. 

Roll dough to approximately 1/4" thickness and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter as desired.

Grease cookie sheet with bacon grease.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes and flip and bake an additional 20 minutes.  The bisquits will be very hard when finished.

Cool on a cookie sheet.

Sushi Night at the Peterson's with 9 year old Chef Julia

It's our summer week number 2 with the girls and this year they decided that they all want to take turns cooking one night while they're here. Julia decided she wanted to cook sushi. My first reaction was...HHHmmm...I don't know...that's quite an undertaking for a 9 year old. Last night though, she proved me WRONG! BIG TIME WRONG!!

I was shocked to learn that she googled " sushi", "how to make nigiri" and even watched a you tube video on how to make it....she was totally prepared for this.

Her menu was:

• California Rolls featuring cucumber, crab meat and avocado
• Julia Rolls - a specialty she thought up all on her own which featured crab meat, cream cheese, cucumber and avocado
• "The Lion" Salmon nigiri and shashimi
• "The Palm" Tuna nigiri and shashimi
• Egg Drop Soup

Well...I couldn't pass an opportunity for a photo op...soo...Lights...CAMERA......COOK!

First you start off with the ingredients....



Next you make the rice - I think it's important that you have a really awesome 9 year old chef doing this....



Delicately place your ingredients for your roll....



Roll em up!.....



Cut the rolls and have a really cute Chef present them to the table!!!



And without further adieu....here's the presentation she designed for the table...



I am BLOWN away!!! She did this for the most part by herself. We only helped her minimally.

I was just amazed at the effort, thought process and the googling she did to create such an amazing presentation...

I see lots of yumminess in her future!! GREAT JOB JUGIE!!

Where has craft tv gone? Will it ever come back?

I can't tell you how many emails I've gotten over the past several years and see the many facebook posts wondering where has craft tv gone? In the good ole' 1980's we had wonderful shows such as ABC's The Home Show - which I watched like clockwork every day - on the phone with my girlfriend. I loved every aspect of the show - especially Carol Duvall's craft segments. Then as "WE" finally came into "cool" and had cable installed, I got the TNN Network which featured Aleene's Creative Living and then HGTV appeared with The Carol Duvall Show. Both of those shows ran for years, inspiring us to create and decorate our homes and then all of a sudden...POOF! They're gone! What in the heck happened?

I wish I had a definitive answer to give to all of you. I feel as if we've been dumped off...yes all 80 million of us viewers...left to hang in the balance, dangling and waiting but unfortunately, it will be a long wait, and it's sad that the networks do not see the value in bringing back Creative TV anytime in the near future or at all....so...

is craft TV dead? NO! NO! NO! ...it's just taken on a different format....the INTERNET!!!

So if the networks won't do for us what we want...then we take it on ourselves to make it happen! ARE YOU WITH ME HERE? CRAFTING TV IS ALIVE AND KICKIN!

For the past year and a half, my creative girlfriends, Tiffany Windsor - Producer and Host of Aleene's Creative Living, Heidi Borchers - her equally talented sister and designer along with Creative Muse, Candace Jedrowicz and myself have teamed up to bring you a new crafting TV program EVERY MONDAY! - and NO RERUNS! - These are fresh, inspiring and a great way to start your week!

What's so much better about them you ask? Not only are they all NEW SHOWS each week, these shows run live continuously on each of our websites for viewing on your schedule - so no more having to set your DVR to record them. You can also view your favorite episodes on our youtube and blip channels. It's perfect for everyone's hectic schedule - CRAFT TV IS BACK and BETTER THAN EVER! In my humble opinion!

We also feature a newsletter with a recap of the show and access to all of our project instructions. So please take a moment to log on to http://cool2craft.com and sign up for the newsletter and the monthly giveaways.

We invite you to join us every Monday at NOON eastern on http://cool2craft.com and chat LIVE WITH US while watching the show. No traveling, stay home, stay comfy and have some creative girl chat to start your week on a positive note.

Our channel features 4 unique shows:

Cool2Craft - General Crafts and our Creative Muse Candace J

Inspired at Home with Tiffany Windsor - A creative Lifestyle show featuring crafts and creative ideas for your home

EcoHeidi - Heidi turns trash into treasure and does it in a way that is eco-friendly. She has some amazing ideas on how to craft and be kind to our environment at the same time

Livin' the Creative Life with Linda Peterson: My show combines lifestyle, home and family. I create to remember great family memories and many of my projects are designed to not only inspire you, give you great ideas for decorating, but to help you connect with the people that are most important to you - your FAMILY and Friends!

Shows rotate each week.

How to make Bauble Beads with Friendly Plastic and Glass Marbles

Learn how to make bauble beads with Friendly Plastic and Glass Marbles.  Hosted by Linda Peterson and inspired by Liz Welch.





Be sure to visit Liz Welch at her blog: http://rarelizzie.wordpress.com for lots more yummy inspiration!


Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.