grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Handmade Ornament Ideas

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I signed up for the Arkansas Women Bloggers handmade ornament exchange and immediately thought what on earth was I thinking? I had to come up with a homemade ornament idea just when my mind felt tired and blank. Ornament.Exchange.Remorse. With only a couple of weeks to made final edits and get my manuscript to my editor, I was doing everything except what I should have been doing. (Not gonna lie, it feels good to say my editor even though there’s always a chance she may return the thing back marked “lost cause”.)

Anyhoo.

I was matched up with Jessica who blogs at Life With the Bauer Bunch. Jessica, a small town Arkansas girl, is super busy working and raising three kids. She blogs about motherhood and figuring out life as she goes (her words). Jessica is real and normal and reading her blog is like visiting with my best friend.

I finished my edits, my manuscript has been sent and I managed to make an ornament for Jessica too. The season of eternal holiday magic.

Here it is.

Handmade Christmas Ornament

Jessica and her kids seemed to like it. Whew:))

I sort of cheated because I’ve made this ornament before. You can get the basic pattern HERE. I changed up the process somewhat by using scrapbook paper instead of vintage book pages, and I Mod Podged it to make it a bit more substantial. The buttons and rick rack are vintage. I used glitter glue instead of real glitter which is not so messy.

Now for my surprise.

Alicia who blogs at Simple Words by A drew my name. Alicia and I met last year in Helena and even canoed the Mississippi River together without incident, a bond not many people share, right?

canoeing the Mississippi River

A self-proclaimed crafter and apparent overachiever, Alicia sent me two handmade ornaments. (Sorry, Jessica. You got shortchanged…)

handmade ornaments

Her gift included a sweet, handwritten letter. When was the last time I received a letter?

The ornament on the left is filled with Hemingway quotes because she knows now much I love Ernest Hemingway. Very thoughtful! The fun ornament on the right is covered with a soft red and white yarn. Both really boosted my holiday spirit.

Now if I could just get my Christmas tree up!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis url=”http://wp.me/p58902-1aU”]#Homemade #ornaments = holiday spirit! @SimpleWordsbyA @thebauerbunch @ARWomenBloggers [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Celtic Women – It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

 

 

and there was this one time I went to a blogger conference…

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Why you should attend a blogger conferenceI recently attended my second Arkansas Women Blogger conference (AWBU). As soon as I unloaded all the swag from my car (more on this later), I flopped on the bed and began to think about all the things I had learned, the items I want to follow up on, the magic of the weekend. Really, it was a magical blogger weekend. I jumped in, held on, absorbed as much as possible, hoped I took enough pictures and notes to remember everything later, then returned back to real life while everything percolated.

And ideas do percolate.

There are ideas still swimming around in my brain from last year’s conference.

After spilling thoughts onto my journal for later reference, I came away with these top five reasons to attend a blogger conference. (These reasons apply not only to bloggers but any profession, any interest, every person.)

  1. Get out of your comfort zone! This is a big one for me. I’m an introvert. I prefer quiet. A group of bloggers is NOT quiet. Attending last year’s conference was a big step for me. Returning a second year and agreeing to speak on a panel about writing was huge. If you stop and think about it, the things we truly want probably are outside our comfort zone, otherwise we’d already have them.
  2. Educate yourself. Technology constantly changes. While I write this, new widgets are being designed and introduced. There is much to learn in any field and people ready and excited to teach. You’ll be surprised to realize you have things to share too. If you don’t learn and evolve, your skills will quickly become stale and irrelevant. You may become irrelevant…
  3. Become inspired. Life will thumb its nose. You’ll second guess yourself. Why the heck would anyone want to read anything I have to write? You’ll run out of ideas. Your ideas will become same ole, same ole. Conferences will motive you, remind you of the reasons you love writing (or whatever your skill, hobby, business, etc.). You will leave excited to do your job better.
  4. Make connections. Writing is solitary. Sitting behind a computer all day, talking only to yourself and your pet can make a person crazy. Know what I mean? Meeting other people who can talk non-stop for an entire weekend about a mutual passion is beneficial. You will make friends and have people to bounce ideas off. Your world will expand.

Reason Number 4 for attending a blogger conference - Make Connections!5. The swag and food! This is certainly not a reason to blog, but a definite bonus for being an Arkansas Women Blogger. AWBU has supportive sponsors including Riceland, Arkansas Farm Bureau, Great Day Farms, Alliance Rubber Products, Visit Rogers, Petit Jean Meats, Acorn, Arkansas Grown, WetNap and Kendal King Group. Just look at the goodies I hauled home. And this wasn’t all of it.

AWBU Swag!

 

There is guaranteed yummy food where food bloggers gather.

There is guaranteed yummy food where food bloggers gather.

Is there a conference or event you are considering? Sign up. Just do it. Something good will come from it, I promise.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

 

 

Rice Pineapple Tropical Pudding

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Before I get to my Rice Pineapple Tropical Pudding recipe, I want to tell you I spent the past few days with a group of phenomenal Arkansas Women Bloggers (and a couple of dudes) at our annual blogger conference. The entire event was outstanding and inspiring, and I’ll no doubt be blabbing about it for a while. Riceland Foods, one of the primary sponsors for our weekend conference, deserves a huge shout-out.

Riceland was sooooo generous, providing gift bags of rice, rice bran oil, recipes and on and on and on. I’m not kidding, y’all. Once I got back home I dedicated an entire pantry shelf to my Riceland goodies. See?

Yes I love rice. Why do you ask?

The fabulous ladies who planned the blogger conference asked me to provide a dish to share with the group, a dish highlighting Riceland Foods. Let me say right off, this Rice Pineapple Tropical Pudding recipe is simple, but making anything in a new (to me), poorly stocked kitchen (we are in the process of moving) was a foodie challenge.

This was my first cooking attempt in the new kitchen.

I only had one pot. Here it is.

cooking in a new kitchen is interesting!

I discovered rather quickly, three of my four burners have one flame temperature. HIGH. Still, I managed to make the rice, and it turned out perfectly.

And when you only have one pot? You wash it out repeatedly because the same pot is used to make whipping cream.

I love my new deep sink!

Can I just tell you how much I love my new deep sink?

I love my new deep sink!

making homemade whipped cream

making homemade whipped cream

 

Rice Pineapple Tropical Pudding

I only had one bowl too. A large wooden salad bowl.

 

Even though I wagged my dish from home and stored it in the Embassy Suites refrigerator to be eaten TWO DAYS LATER(!), lots of folks asked for the recipe. So here it is. Simple, tasty, not too sweet and a great way to support Arkansas farmers. And we do love our Arkansas farmers, right?

Rice Pineapple Pudding in small servings.

Spooned into little cups so everyone could have a taste.

 

Print
Rice Pineapple Pudding

This recipe will serve a crowd depending upon serving size.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups cooked white rice
  • 4 cups chopped pineapple (or 32 oz.)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 cups toasted coconut
  • 1 cup slivered almonds or chopped pecans

Instructions

  1. Drain pineapple. Chop into smaller pieces so it isn't too chunky.
  2. Mix pineapple, rice and powdered sugar in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat together cream, vanilla and cinnamon to stiff peak stage.
  4. Fold whipped cream into rice mixture. Refrigerate overnight.
  5. Serve very cold topped with toasted coconut and almonds.
https://gracegritsgarden.com/2014/09/rice-pineapple-tropical-pudding.html

Rice Pineapple Tropical Pudding!

Doesn’t it look yummy?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

(Although Riceland Foods sponsored the blogger event, this recipe and opinions are all my own. I was not compensated for this post and made this recipe prior to receipt of all the rice goodies pictured above.)

Please watch this heart-warming Riceland Foods video. You will not be sorry (but have your tissues handy).

Martin Farm Story:

 

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!