and the winner is...

The response to the fudge giveaway was simply astounding. What is it with you people? Has everyone started their New Year's diets already? Thousands six left charming and witty comments, making our judge's job of picking just one out of her food bowl quite difficult...

but (consummate professional that she is) Miss Abbie managed the task without drooling on it or swallowing it.

And the winner is...Bossy! Your box of Fern's Famous Fudge will be making its way across the country from Portland tomorrow...Happy Holidays to everyone!

a holiday tradition and a giveaway

Every family has its holiday traditions, whether it's latkes at Hannukah, or clam chowder on Christmas Eve, or black eyed peas on New Year's Day. In Dave's family, one sure herald of Christmas was the arrival of his mother's fudge. And lest you say, "Oh, my mom/grandma/aunt makes fudge!", I assure you this is not your garden variety fudge. This is fudge so creamy and smooth and light, you'll find you've eaten an entire pan of it before you snap out of the bewitching spell it casts.

I've heard people say that fudge is easy to make, and I agree that on the face of it, it appears to be the case, but in reality, it is not easy to do well. It requires a degree of expertise, and I might add, very strong forearms and wrists to pull off correctly. In this case, Fern (my mother in law) had the expertise, and Ray (my father in law) had the muscle. They made a great team.

Shortly after they passed away, my sister in law entrusted me with Fern's fudge recipe, and I had no idea what path that formula would set me on... now, almost twenty years later, I've made hundreds of pounds of the stuff, with no hopes of slacking off any time soon.

It all starts with a few very basic ingredients: butter, sugar, and milk.

These are brought to a very specific temperature


and more stuff* is added, after which you stir, stir, stir, stir, until you think your arm will probably fall off...and then you stir some more, until it's creamy and glossy and smooth...

(and by the way, that heart really did appear randomly- I'm not that good with Photoshop)


and then you taste it to be sure it's perfect...




and pour it into Fern's original perfect fudge pans.

After it's cooled, you cut it into squares and package it up in nice little square boxes with labels...

(Fern skipped this part and gave it out in pans and tins and whatever boxes she had saved during the year...she was very frugal that way)

and then you send it out to about a million family members and friends, and friends of friends, and kids of friends, and the mailman, and your hairdresser, and the garbage man, and your co-workers, and so on and so on, until you've made about 30 or 40 pounds of it, and you never want to smell chocolate again....and then you taste it to make sure it's perfect, and somehow feel compelled to make yet another batch.

In the spirit of the season, I'll be giving away a box of Fern's Famous Fudge. To be eligible for the random drawing, just leave me a comment, and my trusty assistants will eat draw your name from a hat food bowl.

cheers!

*This is a top secret recipe. My lips are sealed.

here's the winner....

And the Give-Away Day winner is:

Congratulations, Rachael! Drop me an email with your address and I'll mail your little shrine out on Monday!
campcactusmail(at)yahoo(dot)com

Thanks to everyone for participating...Here's wishing you all a peaceful, prosperous, happy and healthy holiday season!

today's the day!

Thanks to everyone who left comments...My team of  impartial judges will be picking the winner this morning, and I'll announce who won later today. Good luck everyone, and Happy Holidays!

I'm a firm believer in the notion that 'tis better to give than to receive, so I've jumped on Sew Mama Sew's Give-Away Day, 2008 bandwagon. Artists all over the blogosphere will be offering up their beautiful handmade goods in a gesture of peace on earth and goodwill to all.

So, here's my contribution:

"love nest"

it's a little mixed media shrine to love and home, made of natural materials and found objects.

here's a closer look:


(no parakeets were harmed in the making of this shrine)


I found the the tiny little heart rock in a delivery of 6,000 pounds of pea gravel delivered to my house last summer. It's about the size of my pinky fingernail...

So, now for the rules:

1. Leave a comment on this blog by 12 midnight, Pacific Time, December 3rd
   
2. One comment per person, please...this is not a Pioneer Woman giveaway!
3. Include a link to your blog in your comment.
4. If you're not a blogger, please let me know how I can contact you in the event that you're chosen.
5. My team of impartial observers (see photo below) will choose the winner's name from a large food bowl, and I will attempt to extract it before it's swallowed.
   

I'll announce the winner on Thursday, December 4th, and I'll ship it to you anywhere in the world next Monday, December 8th.
Good Luck!

And after you're done commenting, pop on over to Camp Cactus, where you can check out more lovely handmade items filling up the studio for our group Holiday Sale this weekend!
See ya...

and the winner is...

Well, the results of the very first (and possibly last) Buenos Burritos giveaway are in. I'm sure all three of my readers are dying to find out which one of you will receive this beautiful, handbound leather notebook with the vintage map endsheets.

After consulting with the esteemed judges, it was at first thought we should judge all entries on artistic merit, then we decided to employ a more efficient method of choosing the winner, so we chose the highly scientific "eenie, meenie, miney, moe" method.

To tell you the truth, the judges and I were exhausted and overwhelmed by the sheer number of entries that came flooding in.
That number, was in fact astounding. After carefully monitoring my email for six days, and obsessively checking the blog for comments, and carefully checking for fraudulent entries that should be disqualified, here is the final tally: zero.

So, if anyone out there wants a lovely little leather bound notebook, I'll be happy to send it to the next person to leave a comment.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go drown my disappointment in some red wine with a side of fudge brownies.

how do you doodle? a buenos burritos giveaway!

She's done it again. Yesterday morning I was minding my own business, meandering aimlessly around the blogosphere, and landed (as I often do) on Bossy's site. I read her post, then the Guess and Press, and then finally moved on to her Favorite Things section, where she talks about...you guessed it: her favorite things.

In the recent past, these favorite things of Ms. Bossy's have included deflated basketballs, Converse sneakers, subways and cinnamon, to name a few. Many of these things we have in common. (Except maybe the subways...I spent way too much time on the IRT during high school) Anyway, yesterday's Favorite Things were little pocket-sized notebooks.


And that brings us back to what the heck it is that she's done again: she's inspired me! I'm a crazy note-taker, jotter and doodler myself, and I've gone through many, many, many little notebooks over the years. So it got me thinking and wondering how many other creative geniuses are out there, doodling away, just pages away from the next Big Idea.



Here's my Big Idea: send me a photo of your notebook(s), and don't forget to include a peek at the inside! The winner will be chosen by our team of impartial judges here at Camp Cactus (see photo below)



Deadline for submission is Thursday, September 11th. I'll post the best ones a week from today, Saturday, September 13th.

The winner will receive this beautiful, hand bound leather notebook, dimensions:4" x 5.5", (unsullied by my crazy doodles) to help you come up with your next Big Idea.



So, I'll be looking forward to seeing your doodles, lists, clippings, and inspiration. Just email your submissions to me at cactuspetunia {at} yahoo {dot} com

And thanks again for the inspiration, Bossy!