Love Your Mother

Coffee Gift Set

2012-02-03T06:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!! Today I want to share a coffee gift set I made for a very close girlfriend of mine. I bought a template from My Time Made Easy for a coffee cup take out holder and to-go coffee cups. I fell in love the first time I saw these templates!! And I love they are available in svg format because I can cut them with my Cricut. I used the Free To Be Me 12x12 super paper pad from My Momenta for embellishing.

I was drawn to this peace sign patterned paper and the matching embossed peace sign cardstock. The bright fun colors are perfect for a birthday gift. The embossed cardstock looks great when sanded. I took my nail file to the paper and just sanded slightly.

I used my Cricut to cut all the flowers and added lots of buttons and fun baker's twine!

The coffee cups are made using the template and I snagged 2 lids from my local coffee shop to finish them off. I found some single serve coffee packs at Target and added those, plus some chocolate, to the cups. Some caramel coffee syrup and a Starbucks gift card round out the gift.

And I had to make a matching card! I paper pieced the cupcake using matching Momenta paper. And added a birthday vellum sparkly sentiment.

I really enjoyed making this gift. It took some time but it's so satisfying when the whole project comes together. I hope my girlfriend liked it! I will be making more of these for my coffee loving friends in the future!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you're having a great Friday!

CR84FN Color Challenge 47

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone, Happy Wednesday! Today is my last day of freedom...tomorrow I go back to work. I have been off work since my ankle surgery, which was back in December. I have been crutch free for about 1 1/2 weeks and things are going okay. Physical therapy is painful but i'm told that is to be expected. So here's to getting up before the sun rises to get my workout in, packing my lunches again, and jump starting my work brain. Wish me luck!

I participated in the CR84FN color challenge again this week...isn't this color combo pretty??

Here is my card...

To be honest, I think it's a little plain. I feel like it's missing something but i'm not sure what. Stamping? Butterflies someplace? I just wasn't sure, so I left it alone. I made some rolled flowers from plain cardstock, the scalloped flower was punched with my scalloped circle punch. I must remember to do that again.

I do like the sentiment, it's from a Papertrey Ink stamp set that was long forgotten in my stamp drawer. Here's to finding lost treasures!

Hope you all have a great Wednesday...thanks for stopping by!

Cake Batter Bark

2012-01-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

Bark is a pretty easy sweet treat to make. If you can melt chocolate, you can make bark. And by starting with the basics (chocolate, white chocolate) you can create so many different combinations of deliciousness. I made toffee pretzel bark a while ago that was pretty darn good. And I just made this bark, cake batter bark, that was pretty darn good too!!

There is actual cake batter in the white chocolate part of the bark. It's only a few tablespoons but it's enough to catch that cake batter taste. This is a fun twist on the traditional chocolate bark recipe.

And I think the sprinkles add so much to the presentation. It reminds me of birthdays and cake and fun and rainbows and unicorns and all that is right in the world! So don't skimp when adding the sprinkles.

Here is the recipe. I saw the original recipe on the How Sweet It Is blog and I modified it a bit for my tastes.

Cake Batter Bark
modified from How Sweet It Is

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 oz white chocolate chips
3 tablespoons yellow cake mix
rainbow sprinkles

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using the microwave, melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Melt for 60 seconds, then stir. If more melting is needed, melt at 30 second increments until chocolate is smooth.
3. Spread the melted chocolate on the parchment paper. The chocolate will not cover the entire cookie sheet. Spread evenly.
4. Place cookie sheet in fridge for 15 minutes or until chocolate hardens.
5. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave using the technique above.
6. Add 3 tbsp cake mix to melted white chocolate. Mix until all lumps are gone. Let this stand for 5 minutes.
7. Spread white chocolate on top of semi-sweet chocolate on the cookie sheet. Spread out until the edges of the two chocolates meet.
8. Generously sprinkle the sprinkles all over the top. If needed, press the sprinkles down a bit into the chocolate before it cools so they stick.
9. Refrigerate until chocolate sets.
10. Break into chunks. Store in airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!!!

CAS-ual Friday challenge #37

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am back with another CAS-ual Friday challenge! This one is a sketch challenge and I couldn't wait to dive in.

Here is my card...

I used the Kaleidoskope Pyramid paper pad from My Momenta, a Papertrey Ink sentiment and a random button and my beloved baker's twine.

I cut the doily with my Cricut. I purchased a bunch of svg doily files and I love using them!

That's all I have today. Hope you are having a great Saturday!!

2012 Desk Calendar

2012-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Do you have a 2012 calendar yet? Yes, I realize it's almost February. But it seems like come the 1st of the year, I am always scrambling for a new calendar. I discovered a free calendar download on the Very Merry Vintage Style blog and immediately saw potential. When I received my first Momenta products in the mail, I started making this 2012 desk calendar.

This started out as a $1 wood frame I bought at my local craft store. I used the Free To Be Me super paper pad and started altering it. I mod podged the base of the frame with paper and then fussy cut some flowers to add.

My life is not complete until I use baker's twine on my projects, so I added this banner with twine in the corner.

And some glittery letters!! So I don't forget what year it is.

After printing the calendar on white cardstock and cutting it out, I alligator clipped all the months together and attached to the middle of the frame.

When I am finally able to get back to work, I plan on having this bright fun calendar on my desk at work. It might make the transition back to work a little bit easier.

This project was my first on the My Momenta blog. Don't forget to check their blog everyday, there are new posts by all the designers on a daily basis. Lots and lots of inspiration to be found over there!! And did you know you can design your own alphabet stickers at My Momenta? Check out the video HERE and you can email Momenta for a FREE pack of stickers to try it out yourself! Pretty cool stuff.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Moxie Fab Trigger Tuesday

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to play along with Trigger Tuesday at the Moxie Fab World blog this week. This challenge was posted a while ago, but I've been discovering all sorts of new blogs and challenges lately!! Here is the trigger photo...

I made some of these pom pom decorations for a daughter's 7th birthday party and think they are so fun!! They also immediately made me think of a Bo Bunny stamp set I have collecting dust. So I pulled out that stamp set and some acrylic paint. I've also been seeing all sorts of wonderful mixed media art pieces in blogland lately and it made me want to get out my acrylic paints. I used the paints with my stamp and came up with this card.

It's a little bit messy because of my stellar acrylic paint technique but I like it. I chose to pair the kraft and white with purple and blue, my two favorite colors. And maybe secretly because I have purple baker's twine I wanted to use. Or perhaps my love for baker's twine really is no secret?

The sentiment and little swirly-do stamp is from Papertrey Ink. I didn't quite know how it was going to stamp over the acrylic paint, but it did just fine!

I loved this trigger photo and hopefully will be playing along with more Moxie Fab challenges in the future. Thanks for stopping by today, Friends!

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

2012-01-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

Since I was confined to crutches all of December and much of January, I haven't been baking. No holiday baking, no Christmas cookies, no homeade garlic rolls...nothing in the kitchen department. And boy, have I missed it. This past week I have been trying to get around more without the crutches and thought it would be a good time to try out some easy recipes in the kitchen. My husband came home with fresh blueberries from the market this week (huh?? fresh blueberries in January??) and I figured it was now or never to bake something tasty. Enter the Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast cake...

I made this for my kids as a special breakfast treat. It does taste amazingly like cake and won't become an everyday indulgence. But it was delicious and appreciated by my kiddos!

I ended up using frozen blueberries because my kids ate the fresh ones so fast I couldn't get my hands on them. And I didn't have buttermilk. So I made my own. You add 1 tbsp vinegar to a 1 cup measuring cup. Then add milk to reach 1 cup. Let it sit for about 10 minutes and use that as a substitute for the buttermilk. My kids have already requested this again for breakfast so I think it was a hit.

Here is where I found the recipe: Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake.

Expect to see more baked goods in the future! I think my baking days are baaaack!!!

Runway Inspired Challenge #4

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am really on a challenge kick lately. It's been really fun finding these new-to-me challenge blogs and playing along. Today it's the Runway Inspired Challenge #4. And it's all about rainbows.

Christopher Kane Resort 2012

Here is what I came up with...

I love cupcakes!!! Although from the looks of it, that model above does NOT love cupcakes as much as I do. I also love my Hero Arts cupcake stamp set. So glad I dug it out of my stamp drawer this last week. I have also been doing some simple paper piecing. It works out great for me since I don't have any copic markers to color images with.

And yes, big shocker...I used baker's twine!

What a fun challenge!! I also spent a whole bunch of time on Pinterest looking at rainbow inspired things. Now i'm tempted to make a 10 layer rainbow cake, string together some rainbow earrings and paint a huge rainbow on my daughters bedroom walls. I think i'm going to busy for the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by today!

CAS-ual Friday challenge #36

2012-01-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! Today I decided to play along with CAS-ual Friday's challenge. And it was a fun one!

The project has to be black and white...and nothing else! This is all because tomorrow is penguin awareness day. Who knew? Here's my clean and simple, black and white card...

Both stamps are from Papertrey Ink. I love that oval background stamp. And somebody needs to tell me to STEP AWAY from the baker's twine. I just got a bunch of new colors from The Twinery and that's all I use right now!!!

And a black button and some black pearls to round out the card.

Hope you have something awesome planned for this weekend. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, my son has basketball pictures, my good girlfriend is having a 40th birthday party Saturday night and the NINERS play football on Sunday! It's going to be a good weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today!

CR84FN Color Challenge 46

2012-01-19T11:54:00.000-08:00

Since I am still sitting here, nursing my ankle, trying to wean myself off crutches I decided to check out some bloggy challenges to pass the time. I loved this color combo and decided to give it a whirl.

And here's my card!

I had to rummage around my scrap paper box for both yellow and pink. Yellow is not a color I use that often. The striped paper is Echo Park and the other paper is Crate Paper. I have been enjoying this Hero Arts cupcake stamp set I stumbled upon in my stamp drawer recently.

The sentiment is Papertrey Ink. I love it because it's so versatile and could be used for many different occasions!

That's what I got today!! Do you ever do any challenges from challenge blogs? Which are your favorites? I need some new challenges to keep me busy today.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Ghiradelli Chocolate Boxes

2012-01-17T14:53:00.000-08:00

I have some fun treat boxes to share with you today. These Ghiradelli treat boxes are designed to hold 3 or 4 Ghiradelli chocolate squares and would make a fun treat for Valentine's Day!

There is a great tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers and instead of reinventing the wheel, I am going to send you over there for the tutorial! Please go HERE. I used kraft cardstock for the base and some fun My Momenta papers for embellishing. The papers are from the Free To Be Me 12x12 Super Paper pad and are perfect for Valentine's day. I also added some Flutter epoxy stickers to the front tab.

The front tab I adhered with 3-D foam squares so I could tuck the front flap under it.

When the box opens all the way, you can see the chocolates!

They are the perfect size for Ghiradelli chocolates, but you could also add so many more treats. Maybe some Valentine M&M's or gumdrops or conversation hearts or...or...

I hope you try these little boxes. They are quick and fun. You might even be ambitious enough to make them for your child's classroom this Valentine's day!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Friends and Cards

2012-01-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have had the pleasure of making quite a few good friends through this crafting hobby of mine. Way back in 2008 (I think?) I met these two women on a scrapbooking message board...Beth and Joni. I had the pleasure of meeting Beth and her whole family in 2009 and 2010 when they were in Southern California for spring break. And I almost had the pleasure of meeting Joni, who is a fellow runner, at a half marathon race in Southern California but I was stuck in the bathroom line (nice, huh?!). I met Diane through Beth, and she is quite the amazing paper crafter as well. It's really so much fun meeting these talented and creative women from all over the country!

Beth suggested we start a card making swap/exchange. I'm not sure we have an official name for it yet. But each month, one of us sends the other 3 a kit to make a card. You can send any supplies and the recipients have to use at least 4 things from the kit. This month Beth sent us some fabulous Valentine's Day themed goodies in our card kit. Everything was so great that this card literally took me about 10 minutes to create.

Isn't it all pretty!!! She sent some My Mind's Eye papers, felt hearts, punched heart borders, beautiful pink lace, pearls, and some super fun clay hearts her daughter made!! Aren't the clay hearts so sparkly and pretty?

She also stamped a bunch of sentiments that would work with the theme, I chose this simple Love Ya sentiment.

I can't wait to check out the other girl's blogs to see what they created using the same supplies. I am so thankful for these scrappy online friends! If you want to check out their creations, go to their blogs:

Beth
Joni
Diane

Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

Bunco Girls

2012-01-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!!! Over the new year's weekend, Citrus Tree Studio had a really fun crop. And I actually got some layouts made. One of the challenges was to create a layout using confetti as your inspiration. So I pulled out this great photo of all the girls I play bunco with. We usually have a theme for our bunco nights and this night was white trash. One of the girls had full arm sleeve tattoos (fake, of course) and was wearing a hairnet and smoking a fake cigarette. And many of the girls were on a softball team together called Jugs and Thugs, and they wore their shirts. There were also trucker hats, bump-its, and red solo cups. SUCH a fun night!!!

I used some Crate Paper paper that I had forgotten about and I created lots of confetti up in the corner with circles, brads, buttons, gems, and stickers.

I also added this small banner and I love these big puffy thickers!

What do you have planned for this weekend? Any confetti fun?? My son's basketball game got cancelled so now we have a wide open Saturday. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and thanks for stopping by today!

Love Cards

2012-01-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

I have some cards to share today. All were made with the Citrus Tree Studio January Kit, which I love. Have I mentioned that yet, ha ha!! The kit came with some fun Technique Tuesday stamps which are perfect for Valentine's Day or pretty much any other occasion.

I cut the flower shape on my Cricut, then crumpled up the paper in my hands. I then straightened out the paper, inked the edges and layered the flowers using 3-D tape.

I love white ink on black cardstock! Here is one of the fun sentiment stamps.

One more card, this one I punched squares with my old school Creative Memories square punch and used my butterfly punch. Pulling out all my punches made me want to run (or more realistically, crutch) to Michael's for a new punch. There are so many new fun border punches!

Some small rolled flowers and another fun sentiment!

And yes, it really is that nice in my backyard right now. The weather here has been amazing. Before my kids went back to school, everyone has been wondering if this was summer break or winter break??? I am still on crutches right now. I'm trying to take things one day at at time and starting to walk on my foot more (in my walking boot). I'm hoping to ditch one crutch permanently...and then 2 permanently. It's not going as quickly as I'd like it to, but again...one day at at time.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Love These Girls

2012-01-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone! How was your weekend? Ours was pretty low key, my son had a basketball game, my daughter had a birthday party to attend and we watched a whole bunch of football. Sunday while my daughter was at her party, my husband and I took my son to a sports bar and grill to get dinner and watch the Bronco/Steeler game. The place was packed and SO rowdy!! I couldn't believe how loud it was inside, I guess it's been a while since I've been out. My son was covering his ears the whole time, it was kinda funny. And he learned some new interesting words (even through his covered ears)...which was kinda funny also. Ha ha!

Okay, on to the layout. This is another one I created using the January Citrus Tree Studio kit. Lots of love for this kit!

These photos are from a hot night in Palm Springs two summers ago. We were there to celebrate our friend's 40th birthday. 4 couples smashed into this van, heading out to paint the town. We had such a fun weekend! And when I mean hot, I mean hot. At 10:00 at night it was still 95 degrees out!

I loved the little envelopes that came with this kit, as well as those heart stick pins and the fun doily clear stickers!

And i've been into cutting flags into my patterned paper recently. I think its a fun look and another way to extend my banner/flag obsession.

Valentine colors don't have to be just for Valentine's day photos! The colors of this kit can be used for almost anything. So head over to Citrus Tree Studio and grab a kit for yourself!

Hope you all had a great weekend and Happy Monday! Thanks for stopping by today...

Citrus Tree Studio January Kit

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

The January kit from Citrus Tree Studio is here!! And it's a beauty! It's called Be Mine, Valentine and it's full of My Mind's Eye papers and tons of fun embellishments. As much as I love the holidays, it was so refreshing to create something non-holiday colors.

Oh reds, pinks, and whites...how I love you! I really loved the colors of this kit. This layout is about 2 good friends of mine that I met when our girls were in kindergarten (Hi Mary and Bess!!!). I was actually inspired by the color of our cocktails, I thought it went so well with the colors in the kit. And I like the black twine in the kit, I decided to just throw it all over the layout!

The banner is cut from patterned paper, I love that so many manufacturers have banners in their lines right now! The kit also includes some fun clear stickers with doilies, flourishes, and rhinestones.

And this kit is packed with goodies. I made 3 layouts and 4 cards and still have stuff left over for more! That's it from me today. Happy Friday and I hope you all had a great week. Thanks for stopping by, today!!

Holiday Card Album

2012-01-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about the holiday is getting holiday cards in the mail. I love that so many people send out photo cards, I love seeing how everyone's families grow and change!! When I was laid up, on the couch this past December one of my favorite parts of the day was when my husband went to get the mail. He would come back with a stack of cards everyday and give them to me to open. I loved opening each and every one! So when we cleaned up after the holidays, there is NO way I can throw any of those fabulous cards away. I have seen a couple of different versions of Holiday Card Albums on pinterest. So I decided to whip up my own version.

I had some 12x12 sheets of chipboard that I cut down just a little bit bigger than my biggest card. I cut some Pink Paislee paper to the right size and modpodged it (is that even a verb??) to the chipboard pieces. I then just made a super simple title page.

I punched holes in the chipboard. I lined up each holiday card to those holes and punched holes in each card. I searched around for about 30 minutes looking for jump rings and then attached the whole thing together into a book.

I put our family card on the first page because honestly, I always think i'm going to make a layout using our own holiday card...and I never do. Now it's nice and safe in my album.

I love how it's big and the cards all all different shapes and sized and stick out all funny, but are still contained in the book.

I am so happy to have these all in one place!! I know I have a few previous years of cards stashed someplace. I really need to find them and make books for each year. I know they will be fun to take out over the years and look through them. And it was a fairly easy project. The biggest pain was just punching the holes in all the cards. But well worth it.

Hope you're having a great first week of 2012...thanks for stopping by!

2012 Goals

2012-01-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

Do you make resolutions at the beginning of the year? I don't make resolutions, but I usually have some goals that I want to accomplish. And this year all my goals revolve around my new ankle. I have many many things that I want to do this year with my fitness and running but I dare not say them outloud. Because I have absolutely no idea how my rehab is going to go. So, with that being said, I do have some sayings and quotes that I want to be reminded of as this year and my rehab progresses.

Over at Citrus Tree Studio, one of our crop challenges this past weekend was to create an artistic trading card (ATC) that has our resolutions or goals incorporated. I ended up making 4 ATC's and stringing them together like a mini banner. I plan on putting this someplace I can see it everyday.

Each ATC has a quote that I want to remember as I journey through 2012, in my quest to be fit and healthy again.

I used some embossed cardstock that I sanded, some Jillibean Soup scraps, Jillibean Soup letters and sprouts, and some random flowers I found in my stash.

I strung them all together with some twine from my stash and added some random buttons!

I love how this turned out!! Just little reminders that I can't do it all in one week or even one month. Slow down and take some time to enjoy the journey. I know I sound so much like the Biggest Loser show right now, ha ha!! Which starts a new season this week and I can't wait. Bob Harper is rad!!

Do you make resolutions? Goals? Do you write them down? I hope your 2012 is off to a great start. My kids go back to school tomorrow and our routine/schedule begins again. I think we are all looking forward to it.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Citrus Tree Studio New Year's Eve Crop!

2011-12-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Happy New Year's Eve! Do you have big plans for tonight? Are you going to get dressed up and hit the town? Or stay in your pajamas and eat popcorn and watch movies on your couch? I am more the stay home with friends and family type of girl for new year's eve. If you have some time this weekend, please come over and check out the Citrus Tree Studio New Year's Eve Crop going on right now. Lots of fun challenges were posted this morning and you have until Monday to create projects and post them in the gallery.

Here is one of my challenges, the Number Game. You will need to use a number in the title of your layouts.

I used lots of Jillibean Soup on this layout. I love how many of their lines coordinate. I think I used 3 different lines on this layout. And I still love their corrugated letters!! And their kraft tags.

I also love their big punchout sheets with fun embellies like photo corners and saying stickers and journaling sprouts.

I also pulled lots of buttons from my stash and used my favorite baker's twine.

So if you have some time to get crafty this weekend, please come check out the crop! There are layout and card and altered challenges, so i'm sure there will be something that will catch your eye.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Snow Day

2011-12-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

I have one more project to share that I created using the December Blue Hills Meadow kit. The Kaisercraft Photo Display was our product spotlight and I used that plus the kit to make a fun home decor piece.

I used the same stand that I altered for CTS a few months ago (you can see that project HERE). I painted the display white and picked the aqua/red/white papers from the kit. I really love that color combo! I decided to use some snow photos from our snow trip a few years ago to make a Snow Day themed display.

All the big chipboard pieces are from the kit. What a fun embellishment! I also used some baker's twine to string along the top and bottom of the display. I just added dots of glue along the way and the twine adhered just fine.

And my favorite snowflake cut from the Accents Essentials Cricut cartridge. I strung them on some baker's twine for a fun snowflake banner.

We rarely see snow. It doesn't snow in Southern California and frankly...it's SO cold. Ha ha! These photos are from a trip 3 years ago and we haven't seen snow since. I think another snow trip could be in the works for this winter. How do you think i'd do in the snow on crutches?

Citrus Tree Studio is having a New Year's Crop this Saturday!! Please come check out all the challenges and games. They will be posted Saturday morning and you will have all weekend to complete them. It's going to be fun!

Hope you are having a fabulous week so far. Thanks for stopping by!!

My Exciting News!

2011-12-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

I am so excited and thrilled to share with you that I got chosen to be part of the My Momenta Design Team for 2012!!! My Momenta is a scrapbook manufacturer who provides great papers and embellishments of all kinds. They also have Create Your Own Sticker, where you can personalize any of their alphabet fonts using your own computer and home printer. This will be my first manufacturer design team and I could not be more excited. Please go check out the announcement and all the other amazing designers I get to work with HERE. And if you want to see some great projects, visit the My Momenta blog HERE. And become a follower, too!

That's my big news, I cannot wait to get started! We had a great time yesterday celebrating my son's 10th birthday with lots of video games, new board games, Key Lime Pie, and me limping around trying to take photos of him. Apparently turning 10 gives you the right to say NO to Mom when she's trying to take photos of you. Hmmmm....I might not like this double digit thing. Ha ha!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

The Morning After

2011-12-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! If you celebrated Christmas yesterday, I hope it was a wonderful day with friends, family, and lots of goodies to eat. I didn't get as many photos as I wanted. It's hard to crutch around with the camera to get just the right shot. But I did get a few. I didn't want 2011 to go down as the year with no photos.

The day before Christmas...sitting on my butt, watching football while my kids go absolutely crazy!!

Christmas morning...Santa always leaves M&M guys in the kids stockings and this year he left stockings in their stockings!

My son turns 10 today and for his birthday and christmas (I hate to combine birthday/christmas gifts, but this was a big one) we got him an iPod touch. He was thrilled!! Poor kid has some road rash on his chin from an ice skating fall 2 days ago.

And Miss Kayla got an ipod shuffle that she absolutely loves. Here she is getting an ear bud lesson from dad. Note she is already wearing a new shirt and new flower headband.

My sweet kids! Yes, I am holding myself up on the wall. Not easy to pose on one leg without my crutches. Aren't their smiles precious...ha ha! Cal Berkley shirt thanks to my oldest brother and his wife who are Cal Alumni.

Playing Just Dance! When their cousin came, all three of them were rocking out.

And here they are with their cousin. Remember those invisible ink games and activity pads from long ago? My husband found them and they all played with those for quite a while.

And lots more presents, family, drinks, good food and Just Dance games. I have to say a HUGE thank you to my sweet husband. He did everything yesterday from cleaning the kitchen, making the turkey, getting the house ready for family, and cleaning up after. He has been pretty amazing this whole time i've been off my feet. I'm a lucky girl!

Hope you had a great holiday weekend. I will be back soon with some REALLY exciting news! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays!!!

2011-12-24T10:40:00.000-08:00

I wanted to drop in this morning real quick and wish you all a very Happy Holidays! I appreciate you all and have come to think of you as my 'friends'. I appreciate every single comment you leave and love visiting all your blogs as well. Thank you for a fun 2011 and I look forward to sharing and being inspired by you all in 2012!

Have a fabulous holiday with your friends and family and i'll catch you all on the flip side!

Kayla, Kevin, Molly & Harbour...Christmas 2010

Happy Holidays!!!

Rolled paper ornament

2011-12-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

I have one more Pinterest inspired ornament to share. It's a rolled paper ornament that ends up looking like a big flower. All you need is double sided patterned paper and/or cardstock and a glue gun. I think the glue gun is key, I know I didn't have any other adhesive to hold this all together.

The outer layer is made from 2 inch squares and the inner layer consists of 1.5 inch squares. I rolled each square into a cone and secured with hot glue. I cut a small square of scrap paper and started assembling the outer 2 inch cone layer. Then added the 1.5 inch layer. Just keep adding cones until the whole circle fills out.

The only problem is the colors don't look like a Christmas ornament!! I used some My Little Shoebox holiday paper and by the time I got it all assembled, it turned out sooo pink and green. I love the colors, but not very holiday-ish. For the center I looked bits of cut ribbon and just keep adding loops until the center filled out. Then added a button and twine!

I love how the center turned out!! It would look great on a card or layout, too. Can't wait to make another one.

Are you all prepared for the holidays? We are done shopping and now need to wrap, wrap, wrap! We are also trying to plan out Christmas dinner as we are having all of my husband's family here for presents and dinner. My kids are off the wall excited for Christmas right now!

Have a great Wednesday and thanks for stopping by!

Snowflake Ornaments

2011-12-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

Oh Pinterest, how I love you! Just like the other 20 million people who discovered Pinterest this year. I love being able to have so much inspiration in one place. Come over and follow me if you're on Pinterest (HERE). A few weeks ago I was searching around for some paper ornament inspiration and kept running across these snowflake ornaments. They seemed fairly easy...cut strips of paper, fold the ends together and then string them together in a circular fashion. Great explanation, huh???

Here they are!! I started with some Pink Paislee Snow Day papers and started cutting. I cut strips 2 inches x 4 inches. I think each snowflake has about 18 strips. I then folded them over to create loops. I punched a hole in each end and strung some baker's twine through all the loops. Then I just pulled the baker's twine tight and tied a knot. Done!

I love the double sided paper and how you can see the different patterns from all angles. Here's a close-up.

And my favorite snowflake cut from the Cricut makes another appearance. I love this snowflake! I cut a few in descending sizes, layered them and added some stickles. And a matching button in the middle.

I only decorated one side because I hung them on my tree and you can only see the front. But you could make them a bit smaller, add a center to the other side and string them together to make a garland. I think that would be very pretty! My daughter even got in on the fun and made a couple. It was a great project.

Happy Monday!! We had a pretty low key weekend. Lots of football watching and my kids and I made cookies yesterday. Actually, they made cookie while I supervised from my chair. It worked it great, they did such a nice job working together and making cookies. I was quite impressed. I think I need to kick back more often and let them do the dirty work, ha ha!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

More Treat Bags

2011-12-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

I was really ahead of the game this year. Because my ankle surgery was the first week of December, I spent a good amount of time before that making treat bags, goodie paint cans, and other small gifts for teachers and other people. I was so so happy I did that! This week my husband needed some treat bags for co-workers and I already had them made. The last thing I wanted to do this week was crutch around and try to make treat bags.

Here are the ones I made for my husband. He filled them with those Lindor truffles...so yummy!

I used bag templates from My Scrap Chick and cut them using my Sure Cuts ALot software (SCAL) on my Cricut. So so easy!!! I used kraft cardstock for the base, My Little Shoebox papers, baker's twine and some fun jingle bells I found at Michael's.The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

I used the baker's twine to tie the jingle bells on. I knew my husband would just love to carry around some jingling treat bags, ha ha!!

Today was my kid's last day of school, they are so excited to have 2 weeks off!! And I got my cast off today. My incisions are healing very well and my doctor decided to put me in a boot instead of a cast. I still can't walk on my foot, but I can take the boot off to take a shower. I CAN'T WAIT for a real shower!!! It's the simple things that make me happy.

Happy Friday everyone!

Teacher Gifts-Decorated Nugget Tins

2011-12-14T09:18:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for a fast easy teacher gift? Time is running out to make something for those great teachers who spend so much time with your kids. Even though we contribute to the class gift, I always like to make them something special from each of my kids. And since this year i'm not baking, I put together some store bought goodies with a dressed up tin.

I purchased the clear paint cans at Michael's, they are the smallest size available. I bought the Hershey nuggets chocolates at Target. I cut patterned paper into 7/8 inch x 3 inch strips. Once all my strips were cut, I wrapped them around each nugget and secured with my hot glue gun.

I decorated the tin about halfway up from the bottom. No need to cover it completely because the decorated nuggets inside add to the visual interest of the paint can. I wrapped some baker's twine around the can and decorated the top a little bit.

It's just a little something extra to let the teachers know they are appreciated!! My kids will make a card to go along with the tin. So if you are scrambling for something to make the teachers in your life, run to Michael's and get some of these paint cans to decorate!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Just You And Me

2011-12-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday!! Did you all have a great weekend? Is your holiday shopping complete? Did you bake holiday goodies this weekend? Can you believe it's only 2 more weeks until Christmas??? No need to panic, I keep telling myself. No need to panic.

Here's a layout I made using the December Blue Hills Meadow kit from Citrus Tree Studio. It's primarily a holiday themed kit, but there is so much more you can do with the great colors in this kit.

I thought the blues and aquas and reds in the kit went well with the blue sky in the photo. The photo is from a camping vacation we took last summer. My daughter took the picture, that's why the angle is so funky! I really like the thick twine in the kit, I just used dots of wet glue to shape it into the swirls and heart on the page.

I will definitely be doing that technique more! It added a fun twist to the twine on the page.

I will be back later this week with some fun holiday decor, some ornaments and more goodie bags to share!! Thanks for stopping by today!

Gift Card Holder

2011-12-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!! THANK YOU to all the well wishes I received about my surgery. I survived my ankle surgery and it wasn't all that bad. It was first thing in the morning and I was home by 1pm. I did wish that I could have brought my camera into the operating room. That room was pretty awesome. There were huge TV monitors all over and all sorts of crazy equipment. And along one side of the room was this super long table that was organized with all sorts of scissors and knives and doohickeys and thingamajigs to use for the surgery. I wanted to take photos so badly! Yes, i'm a crazy scrapbooker. Rumor has it my doctor has some photos of the surgery and I think I want to see them. I think that might make me crazy for sure.

So onto prettier things, like this gift card holder. I used the Blue Hills Meadow December kit from Citrus Tree Studio to make this aqua, red, and white inspired project.

I glued two pieces of cardstock together to make the base of the holder. I then embellished with the December kit. I love love love this snowflake cut from my Accents Essentials Cricut cartridge! I dressed it up with some stickles, a button and baker's twine.

I also added this tag along with more yummy baker's twine.

The cardstock insert inside is just wide enough to hold a gift card. I attached the gift card with a little bit of adhesive and the insert pulls right out.

I love having gift card holders already made and ready to go. Because inevitably I will need one at the last minute and now I have one I can just grab and go. I love being ahead of the game!

Hope you all had a great week. I will be spending my weekend with my foot propped up, trying to find pain meds that work, and doing some online shopping with my husband's laptop on the couch. Hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by today!

Reindeer On A Stick

2011-12-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Wednesday! Today was my last day at work for a while, since tomorrow morning is my surgery. I have to be up at the crack of dawn and to the hospital by 5:45 am. I guess the early bird gets her ankle fixed? Anyway, here's a crafty food project my kids and I did this weekend. My son this was his favorite food craft we've ever done!

We dipped NutterButter cookies into chocolate candy melts. Then added M&M noses, white chocolate chip eyes and broken pretzel antlers. Reindeer on a stick!

After the first couple of cookie fell off the sticks into the melted chocolate, I got smart. I dipped each popsicle stick in melted chocolate, then put it inbetween the two cookie layers. THEN froze the cookies, undipped for about 20 minutes. I only took out a few cookies at a time for dipping and yeah! No more cookies falling off the stick.

I love how each one is different, how some have green noses, and how they are perfectly imperfect! We had so much fun making these. My kids seriously had me on my toes getting the pops out of the fridge fast enough to dip. And have you even dipped a NutterButter cookie in chocolate? Why oh why have I never done this before? Delicious!

Hope you're having a great week! The next time I blog...i'll have a bionic ankle! Okay, maybe not. But it will be fixed and i'll be on my way to healing. Thanks for stopping by today!

Bag In A Box Tutorial

2011-12-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

Tis the season for holiday crafting!! I have a fun tutorial today for making a Bag In A Box. I first saw this tutorial over at Splitcoaster Stampers a while ago. It's a cute little bag/box that is perfect for giving away some treats or goodies this holiday season. Do you want to make one? Let's get started.

You will need:
-patterned paper and cardstock (if desired)
-strong adhesive (I used the double sided red sticky tape)
-something for making score lines
-embellies, including ribbon or twine

First, cut a square of cardstock 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. You will only see this cardstock by looking into the box, it won't show on the outside.

Score each edge 1 inch in. Then score a diagonal between all corners.

Fold on all score lines. On the diagonal score lines, bring the point in towards the middle of your square.

Adhere all corners with strong adhesive, forming a box.

Cut a piece of patterned paper 5 1/2 x 11 inches. Add adhesive to one long side and one short side.

This will be the wall of your bag. Set your box on the long side of the paper and start rolling it up in the paper. If you want the seam in the back of the bag, start rolling your box halfway up one side. I hope this photo demonstrates that!

Start rolling your box along the adhesive edge of the paper, taking care to keep the bottom of the box lined up with the edge of the paper.

Press the adhesive and paper together tightly as you go. Here it is, all rolled up!

This is what it looks like inside. You can see the color of the box from the inside.

Cut a strip of coordinating paper 1 inch x 11 inches. Roll it along the bottom of the box using the same technique. This adds a nice border at the bottom of your bag.

Punch 2 circles from coordinating paper. Fold them in half and add to the top of the bag. Punch holes in the half circles. Embellish the front of the bag as you wish. Use the ribbon or twine to squeeze the bag shut and secure the top. Here's my finished bag!

See how the top comes together?

I used Echo Park 'Everybody Loves Christmas' paper and stickers, Twine from The Twinery and a sentiment stamp from Papertrey Ink.

I had so much fun, I made three of them!

I had a fun time embellishing the front of each bag differently, but with the same basic style. Inside these bags are Ghiradelli chocolates and Lindor truffles. They are fairly roomy and you can actually fit quite a few treats inside! They will be perfect for co-workers and neighbors.

If you find some time to make some of these fun bags, link me up. I would love to see what you've created. Happy Holiday creating and thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Baking Ideas

2011-12-03T17:12:00.000-08:00

One of the things I will miss the most about being on crutches this holiday season is baking. I know I won't be running around the kitchen baking 14 different kinds of cookies, 3 kinds of holiday bark, plus cupcakes and caramel corn. My waistline might actually like me after the holidays this year! But I still wanted to share some of my favorite holiday recipes in case you need any ideas.

Candy Cane Biscotti. My FAVORITE recipe from last year, they are delicious.

Candy Cane Kiss Chocolate Cookies. All the holiday flavors of Hershey kisses are in the stores now and the candy cane flavored ones are my absolute favorite.

Santa Hat Cupcakes. These were a huge hit with my kids!

Sugar Cookie Pinwheels. So festive and fun to make!

Peanut Butter Truffles. You knew I'd have a peanut butter recipe on here. When you package these up pretty, they make a great hostess gift.

Whoopie Pies. Another treat that can be packaged up individually and given as gifts.

Monkey Bread. Perfect for Christmas morning.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls. Also perfect for Christmas morning!

Cranberry Bliss Bars. Better than the ones at Starbucks.

Soft Garlic Knots. These would be so good with Christmas dinner.

If you want the recipe for any of these goodies, click on the red link and it will take you to the original blog post. I am going to miss holiday baking this year, but hopefully you all will keep the tradition alive. I'd love to hear if you try any of these recipes!

Thanks for stopping by today!

An Ankle Update

2011-12-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I used to run. And I used to do boot camp and all sorts of other fun stuff. I used to complete marathons, run with friends, take spin classes, get up at the crack of dawn to swim, and try to avoid weirdos at the gym on a regular basis.

San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon, under better circumstances!

Until I busted my ankle earlier this year. I rolled my ankle on a run and ended up severely tearing a major ligament and tendon. And I ended up in this for 6 weeks:

And it was hard. It was really really hard. I went from being a very active girl to doing absolutely nothing. I even had to wear that boot when I was sleeping. I went through physical therapy for 8 weeks and slowly got back to walking, swimming, and a bit of biking. But I never got back to running. Running just made my ankle hurt so so much. It turns out, my ligament and tendon never healed. They never stinkin' healed!! My options are to live with the pain and loss of activity or have surgery to fix the problem. I'm going with surgery.

Next week I will have the surgery. The recovery is 4 weeks of no weight bearing on my foot. That means a cast and crutches. Maybe I can trick out my crutches with christmas lights? Then 6 weeks back in that beautiful boot. And also lots of physical therapy to get back to walking. And biking. AND running. Because I have races to run, dreams to chase, marathons to qualify for, soccer balls to kick with my kids, tidepools to explore, hikes to accomplish and much much more.

So send me some good vibes next week and hopefully my surgeon has an extra dose of his Wheaties the morning of my surgery. Thanks for listening and stopping by today, friends!

One more project

2011-11-30T21:03:00.000-08:00

I have one more project to share from the November Citrus Tree Studio kit. I loved the blues and purples in this kit, so pretty and wintery without being too Christmasy.

Lots of distressing on this card, with a big bow and some buttons. I loved the punch-out tickets that came in the kit!

I hope you're having a good week so far. Lucky me caught my family's cold (a family that is sick together, stays together) and i've been battling it all week. I am hoping to be better by this weekend, we have holiday decorating and shopping to do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

2011-11-28T20:46:00.000-08:00

Be honest. You didn't think I could go this long without posting a recipe involving peanut butter and chocolate, did you. I've got a nice easy recipe today that involves one mixing bowl, an 8x8 pan and mini peanut butter cups. Did you know Reese's now sells a bag of mini peanut butter cups with NO wrappers?? That's right, no more wasting time unwrapping those little suckers before throwing them into ~~my mouth~~ the mixing bowl.

These bars are a nice combination of a blondie base and peanut butter cups. It's quick and easy and would look lovely on your holiday cookie platter.

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

adapted from Cookies and Cups

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

1 bag mini Reese's peanut butter cups

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray.

2. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix well.

3. Add baking soda and flour. Mix until just combined.

4. Add peanut butter cups and mix until well incorporated.

5. Spread evenly in 8x8 pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

6. Let cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

How was your Thanksgiving?

2011-11-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't plan to fall off the blog world like that. We have had a busy week! We were traveling to my mom's for Thanksgiving and my son came down with a fever the night before we were going to leave. He ended up being okay to travel but then my daughter had an earache. And then my husband came down with it. Despite that, we had a nice holiday and saw most of my family. We also went to see the new movie Arthur Christmas which was super cute! Now I have one day of rest/regrouping/taking care of sick husband before work and school starts on Monday.

How was your holiday? Did you brave the stores on Black Friday? Or shop from the warmth of your computer chair? Either way, you might need a holiday card to give with your holiday gifts you just purchased.

I used the November Citrus Tree Studio kit for this card. I love those Thicker letters, such a fun pattern! And here is something new I learned. If you string a button backwards and tie the bow behind the button, it looks pretty cool when you attach it to your card with the bow in the back. I learn something new everyday!

I hope you had a fabulous holiday weekend with your friends and family and maybe the new friends you made standing in line at 4am Friday morning. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Christmas Day

2011-11-21T19:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday before Thanksgiving!! What's going on with you for the holiday? Are you traveling? Cooking? Baking? Getting together with family? I am very excited to have a short work week and I get to see most of my family this week. And I get to eat tons of yummy food, it's a win-win for sure.

I do feel a bit strange sharing a Christmas layout with you in November, but i'm sure I will get over it. This was made with the November Citrus Tree Studio Kit, A Heartfelt Christmas.

That is my daughter's favorite face to make when she's messing around or just doesn't want to smile for the camera (which actually is alot of the time!). I couldn't decide which photo I liked better, so I used both. I loved the punch out banners that came in the kit, so easy to add a banner to your layout.

And those delighful stick pins that I love so much, I love using them to make flags!

This kit really put me in the holiday spirit! Do you know what else put me in the holiday spirit? Having only 1 more day of work this week, yeah!!! I hope your holiday plans are coming along, whatever you have on your schedule. Thanks for stopping by today!

S'more Cookie Bars

2011-11-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

A few girlfriends and I have been getting together for a baking night. We meet at someone's house and bring 1 or 2 recipes to bake together and try out. It usually involves a yummy cocktail and lots of flour, sugar, and chocolate. Last night I brought a new recipe I wanted to try, S'more Cookie Bars. You know, graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallows...all the good stuff in a pan. No more gathering wood for the campfire, people!

Oh, these bars were sooo easy to make! But they were soooo hard to cut into presentable squares. When I make them again, I will put the pan in the fridge and let them really harden up before cutting into them. While they look a mess, they taste fabulous.

I did use marshmallow fluff for the filling. It's not easy finding real marshmallow fluff on the West Coast. It's typcially an East Coast thing. I was lucky enough to have a jar since a friend of mine brought me some from Boston. But I think marshmallow creme would work the same.

These are a definite treat. So ooey and gooey and just really delicious. Please go to the Lovin' From The Oven blog for the recipe: S'more Cookie Bars. Now just don't ask me about the fudge we attempted to make. Maybe it was too many mojitos...

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate!

2011-11-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

I love taking my time to make a card. I love the whole process, picking out paper, pouring a glass of wine, finding matching embellies, picking out just the right sentiment, listening to 80's alternative music, layering papers, all of it. But seriously, sometimes you just need to make a quick card. Because there's laundry and dishes and work and school and cleaning and Pinterest and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And there's no time for layering and picking and finding.

I found a sheet of My Mind's Eye banner stickers and clapped my hands with glee. Add some baker's twine, pre-made flower embellishments and a stamp...and you got yourself a quick card.

There's my quick card! Now I can go catch up on my Beverly Hills Housewives, what is up with Adrienne's extensions this season???

Thanks for stopping by, friends!

Wine Bottle Tags

2011-11-14T21:02:00.000-08:00

With the holidays approaching quickly, I am always looking for a fun, quick way to dress up a hostess gift. My husband is a homebrewer and homebrew always makes a nice hostess gift. Wine and vodka (for those martini lovers, I know you're out there...) are nice too, depending on your vice. And a bottle tag is a great way to dress up those bottles!

I used the November Citrus Tree Studio kit for these bottle tags. And they are very easy to make. All you need to do is measure the length of your bottle and the length you want hanging in front (as bottles are not all the same dimensions). Also measure the bottle width. Cut your paper the appropriate width and add 2 inches to the height you want. This will account for the score line and the hole punch. For these tags I scored the paper 2 inches in and used my 1 inch hole punch.

Then all you have to do is embellish as you wish!

Some ribbon, matching patterned paper, and a holiday sticker is all I needed for these bottle tags.

Now I already have 2 tags for the holidays. I'm thinking of making some for Thanksgiving, too. Because wine and homebrew is appreciated any time of the year.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Giant Rainbow Cookies

2011-11-12T16:47:00.000-08:00

Everybody needs a good chocolate chip cookie recipe in their recipe box. A good chocolate chip cookie recipe is a great jumping off point for all different kinds of cookies, including M&M cookies. And these are some of the best i've tried.

So these aren't exactly GIANT but you could definitely make them bigger. When I baked these for a party, I was trying to get a certain amount so I could make sure everybody had at least one. This is a great chocolate chip cookie recipe and those M&M's just add a great pop of color.

I have quite a few CCC recipes in my recipe folder, and this one is currently on the top. I can't wait to experiment with it more by adding different mix-ins. Add in some holiday M&M's and these would look great on a holiday cookie plate!

Please head over to the How Sweet It Is blog for the recipe: Giant Rainbow Cookies. Take a second (or a few hours) to check out this food blog. It's one of my absolute favorites!!

Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

Santa Knows

2011-11-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

Are you in the holiday mood yet? I can't even walk through a store without being hit with holiday decorations, goodies, and music. This month's Citrus Tree Studio kit, A Heartfelt Christmas, is sure to put you in the holiday spirit, too!

Isn't this a fun color combo for the holidays? I love the addition of purple and blue for the holidays. Santa also bring my kids M&M guys for their stockings, he has since they started getting stockings. I used my Cricut for the doily up in the corner.

And a few of my dwindling stick pin stash to make these fun flags!

I am in the mood for some holiday baking! My to-bake list is overflowing, as usual. I will have to figure out a way to cut it down a little bit. Are you feeling the holiday spirit yet?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Favorites Card

2011-11-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

For the card contest I was participating in, I had to make one last card, just in case I made it to the final round. The card was supposed to contain some of our favorites...favorite manufacturer, favorite technique, and favorite tool. See if you can guess what I used.

Pretty obvious I used tons of Jillibean Soup!! The paper, the corrugated letters and the corrugated shape are all Jillibean Soup. I will never get tired of their products. For my technique I used lots of layers. I'm not even sure that's a technique, but that's my story and i'm sticking to it. My favorite tool is my Cricut, which I used to cut the doily. I love my border punches, which I also used on this card.

I am down to my last stick pin in my stick pin stash. I need to start looking around for more of those, they are a fun embellishment!

Thanks for checking out my final-not-so-final card. Happy Tuesday!!

Lots of Thank Yous

2011-11-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Sunday everyone! We had a gorgeous day yesterday for soccer and today...it's pouring rain. My son has basketball tryouts today. Thankfully that will be inside.

Speaking of thankfully, I would like to THANK all of you for voting for me during the Practical Scrappers card contest. I didn't make it to the final round but I truly appreciate all the votes and the time you took to check out my entries. Thank you friends!

And speaking of thankfully again, do you send thank you cards? I make a big deal to my kids about sending cards after their birthdays and the holidays. But do you know what? Even though I love to make cards, I don't always get mine in the mail. Bad scrapper!! I know how nice it is to get a thank you in the mail. So I was determined to send some cards out this year for birthday gifts. So I pulled out a bunch of 6x6 paper pads, their scraps and got started.

For these, I used Bo Bunny papers, baker's twine, U.B.U. stamps from PSA Essentails, Hero Arts thank you stamp and some random bling. Easy to layer, tie, stamp and complete!

Here I used Pink Paislee Hometown Summer papers...

And here I used My Mind's Eye papers...

By using the same card design, I was able to create 6 cards in a short period of time. I used materials that would be almost flat so I could actually send these in a regular envelope. While I love making cards that have lots and lots of layers, sometimes I need one to actually fit in a regular envelope!

I hope you're having a great weekend so far, Enjoy your Sunday!!

November Citrus Tree Studio

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!! The November Citrus Tree Studio kits go on sale tomorrow, but i'm going to give you a sneak peek today. This kit really put me in the mood for the holidays and it was fun to pull out photos from holidays past to create some layouts.

I created a photo collage at Walgreen's of random photos from Christmas morning. I printed it out 8.5x11 and then added it to a 12x12 piece of cardstock. Some fun tags, baker's twine, and journaling spots round out the layout.

Now that I look at this layout, I'm thinking it needs a title. At the time, I decided to use the title on the journal spot as my layout title but now I don't think it works. The layout looks a little bit naked to me. Should I go back and add a title? Across the top? What do you think?

Anyway, stop by Citrus Tree Studio tomorrow for a full reveal of this kit and there is another kit being offered this month. Lots of goodies going on sale tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Friday!

Mexican Egg Muffins

2011-11-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

You can still vote in the Practical Scrappers card contest...please go ***HERE*** to vote! You can vote until Thursday!!

Since I'm sure some of us have over-indulged in Halloween candy and treats over the past few days, I thought I would post a healthier recipe. Please, don't fall down from shock. I do try to eat healthy 80% of the time so I can indulge the other 20%. But lately it seems like those percentages have flip-flopped and i'm trying to fix that. I found this recipe on one of my favorite healthy living blogs, Beth's Journey. Beth has lost a ton of weight using Weight Watchers and exercise and has some great recipes on her blog. This is one of them.

I like eggs for breakfast but my typical-last-minute-freak-out-i'm-late-for-work routine in the morning doesn't always leave time for me to whip up some eggs. These egg muffins are easy to make the day before and they store well in the fridge. Just heat them up in the microwave, and you're set.

These are egg muffins with black beans, red peppers, a bit of cheese, salsa and onions (if you like that sort of thing). They are great for breakfast or lunch. I took 2 to work, heated them up, threw them on a tortilla with some extra salsa and enjoyed them for lunch. With all the sweets i've been eating lately, a nice protein rich breakfast is what I need in the morning!

Please visit Beth's Journey for the recipe AND a great photo tutorial: Mexican Egg Muffins. Who knew that my cupcake pan could create something savory and delicious too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Girly, You Rock!

2011-11-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday! I have a card to share today that will be perfect for a thank you card, a thinking of you card or just a thanks, friend card. I love these handwritten sentiment stamps from Papertrey Ink. I think it's my most used Papertrey set.

I used the Hometown Summer papers by Pink Paislee again. I really love the bright, fun colors of these papers. And this is a great example of a ribbon bow that I struggled with for 15 minutes. I just never got it to look 'just right'! Sometimes you just have to let things go, ha ha!

Thanks for stopping by today. We are knee deep in Halloween candy at our house. But don't worry, I confiscated all the reese's peanut butter cups from my kids, just in case something was wrong with them. You can never be too safe...

Holy cow...Top 5!!

2011-10-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am excited and thrilled and shocked to say that I made it to the Top 5 of the Practical Scrappers card contest!! There have been so many wonderful cards displayed over the last few weeks. Thank you for all your votes so far, they are so appreciated! I seriously never thought I would make it this far.

This week we needed to create a card using a rainbow as inspiration and that included dry embossing. I pulled out all my Papertrey Ink cardstock colors and started pulling what I needed to complete a rainbow. I don't have any embossing dies, so I decided to use my Scorpal to create score lines as my background.

I punched 1 inch circles from all the cardstock colors and made rolled flowers for each rainbow layer. I painted stickles inside each flower for a little bit of glitter and shine. And I couldn't resist adding some baker's twine!

Now is your chance to head over to Practical Scrappers and check out the other amazing top 5 cards. Each one is wonderful, I really loved seeing what everyone did with the rainbow inspiration this week. Don't forget to vote for your favorite!!

Thanks for all your support and for stopping by today!! Happy Monday!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

2011-10-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday! I have a delicious, quick, easy recipe to share today. Tis the season for baking with pumpkin and this recipe brings together 2 great flavors, pumpkin and chocolate. It's an easy one-bowl one-pan recipe.

These are moist, dense bars with bits of chocolate throughout. I love the pumpkin flavor and the chocolate really kicks it up a notch. It is a great flavor combination.

If you eat these right out of the oven, you will be treated to warm, dense cake and melted chocolate all over your fingers. If you let them cool, cut into squares, and bring to your favorite pumpkin carving party, you will be treated with compliments and requests for the recipe.

Please head over to the Two Peas and Their Pod food blog for the easy recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars. The hardest part about the recipe is remembering to take out the butter and let it come to room temperature. Make them for your next fall get together today!

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great weekend!!

You Are So Sweet

2011-10-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Have you voted yet? In case I hadn't mentioned it, I'm in this card contest over at Practical Scrappers. And I need your vote. Please head over to THIS POST to vote for your favorite card.

In the meantime, here's a little card to show my appreciation for all your votes!

So yummy Bo Bunny papers, ribbon, bling and a fun doily. Do you know where I get all my doilies? The cake/baking aisle at Michael's. They have packs of 30 for $2.99. Now that's a steal.

Thanks for all your votes, I truly appreciate them. And...Yeah for tomorrow being Friday! Thanks for stopping by, friends.

S'mores on a Stick

2011-10-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

So...what do you think? Of my new blog design??? The fabulous Kristine Davidson designed the header for me and helped me with the redesign. I am very happy with the results, thanks Kristine!!

And next...what the heck is a S'more on a stick? Well, it's two graham crackers, chocolate, marshmallow all dipped into chocolate and served on a stick. Does it get any better?

Here they all, packaged up to take to a fun Oktoberfest party. And i'm going to show you how to get to this packaged point.

What you will need:
1. Graham crackers
2. Hershey chocolate bars
3. Big marshmallows
4. Chocolate for dipping
5. Sticks
6. Sprinkles for decoration

First, assemble your s'more using one big marshmallow:

Put this in the microwave for about 10 seconds. The marshmallow will get all gooey. Press the two crackers together and smash the marshmallow. Push your stick into the gooey marshmallow. Line them up on a cookie sheet or cutting board and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Melt your dipping chocolate. After taking the s'mores out of the freezer, dip each pop into the chocolate, coating them completely. I had to use a spoon and spoon chocolate over some of the parts that didn't get dipped. After dipping, place them on waxed paper. Then decorate with fun sprinkles. Look at these sprinkles...fun halloween colors and in test tubes? So cute!

Here is the finished product!

I used popsicle sticks for some of them and bbq skewers for some. I prefer the bbq skewers, but both worked just fine!

I had to place them in the fridge to get them completely set. I then packaged them in cellophane bags and they were ready for the party!

These were a great project for the kids, too. They had a ball putting together the s'mores and decorating with the sprinkles. And they were a big hit at the party. Delicious and festive! You could customize these for any type of occasion, birthday, halloween, Christmas, baby showers...the list goes on.

S'mores on a Stick...try them today. A shout out goes to Tidy Mom for giving me the great idea. Thanks for stopping by today!.

Top 10!!

2011-10-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to learn this weekend that I made it to the Top 10 in the Practical Scrappers card contest!!! And I want to thank all of you for voting for me, I really truly appreciate every vote. So thank YOU!

This week's card was really difficult for me. It needed to include a chevron pattern and stitching. I searched through every single piece of patterned paper I had for something with a chevron pattern. Eventually I found some scraps that were shoved way at the bottom of a bag. Thank goodness for scraps!! And stitching is something I rarely do. So, with my chevron scraps and a needle and thread, I created this card.

I had that one green strip of paper with the chevron pattern. I paired it with some other patterns from the same collection, Oliver by Basic Grey. I also added some non-traditional stitching on the tag.

I used my circle punches to create this 'flower'. I used my scissors to cut into the circles and then sorts fluff up the flower petals.

Please head over to the Practical Scrappers blog and you can check out all the cards in the top 10. At the end of the blog post there is a poll for you to vote for your favorite. So please check out all the beautiful cards and then cast your vote. Easy peasy!!

I hope you all had a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by today!

Ain't nothing but a Bling thing

2011-10-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everyone!! It's been a long crazy week and i'm very happy it's Friday. I have a quick share today. It's a card I made for the Scrapbook Express blog challenge to use bling. Why, yes...I think I will use some bling.

These are papers from the Hometown line by Pink Paislee. I tried to focus on the greens and blues in the paper and I really love this card turned out. The bow is sitting just right, I love when they do that. Sometimes I spend 15 minutes trying to tie a darn bow, but this time it came together so nicely. And that big bling swirl...LOVE!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a fabulous fall weekend!

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

2011-10-18T17:06:00.000-07:00

Who likes candy corn...raise their hand. For me, it's not my favorite candy. Give me some chocolate or a peanut butter cup or some swedish fish. But not candy corn. But some people LOVE it. I mean, really really love it. I've seen lots of candy corn treat recipes lately but these really caught my eye. They were so much fun to make!!

The recipe is a basic sugar cookie dough which is then divided into 3 sections. One section is colored orange. Using a loaf pan, you layer white dough, orange dough, white dough. What you end up with is something that looks like this.

Slice a piece off the end, and then start cutting triangles.

Bake for 7-10 minutes and then cool. How cute are these little cookies!

I then melted some white chocolate and dipped the big end in yellow sugar sprinkles. And then they look like real candy corn.

I really loved making these. And they are delicious, little bites of sugar cookie with white chocolate and sprinkles. These would look great on a platter for a Halloween party or on a cookie plate for a neighbor!

Here is the official recipe from The Adventures of Sweet Sugarbelle: Candy Corn Cookies.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Round Three!!!

2011-10-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Thanks to YOUR votes, I made it to Round 3 of the Practical Scrappers card contest!! Can I get a whoop whoop??!! This week our challenge was to make a card using flags or banners and using the word happy. Here is my card...

The paper is Pink Paislee Hometown, I just love the bright colors. I cut the doily on my Cricut with my SCAL software. I got the svg files free at My Grafico. The round stamp is from Papertrey Ink.

I made the flags but cutting scraps and wrapping them around decorative stick pins. I then added a bit of baker's twine!

Thanks so much for all your votes, I appreciate every one of them! Now...I get to ask you again. Please go HERE at Practical Scrappers to check out all the cards this week and vote for your favorite. And you CAN vote every day this week!!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with a Streusel Topping

2011-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love sweet breakfast. Okay, I do enjoy good scrambled eggs every once in a while but sweet breakfasts are where it's at. Pancakes, waffles, cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins...all winners in my book. And these sweet muffins are a great fall way to start your breakfast. Maybe not every morning, but they sure are a nice treat.

The recipe I used called for pecans in the topping but I didn't have any on hand. But I'm sure they would be a great addition to the sweet and crunchy topping.

Now wait a minute. Where's the cream cheese? It's a fun little surprise inside the muffin and believe me, it's absolutely the best part!!

These are a great way to start the day, especially if you have a breakfast sweet tooth like I do. Do you prefer sweet or savory breakfast?

Please head over to the Brown Eyed Baker's blog for the recipe: Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great Saturday!

More Hayrides and Halloween

2011-10-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

I have a few more projects from the October Citrus Tree Studios kit, Hayrides and Halloween. I really had fun playing with the mistable ribbon and the October Afternoon Sprinklers mist. I think I finally might like mists!

I took a long strip of the mistable ribbon and started twirling/pleating it in my fingers. Along the way I added dabs of fabric glue. When the ends came together, I had some fun flowers. I then misted the flowers, added button centers and added them to my page!

I really loved that devil costume my daughter wore last year, so appropriate. LOL!!

And I also made some fun Halloween tags this year with the Add-on stamp set. I loved this little bunny all dressed up!

These will go on our neighborhood Boo Baskets this year! That is something I hope to get done this weekend. My kids love the boo-ing tradition. If you don't know what boo-ing is, check out this. We've done it every year since we moved and it's so much fun.

I hope you're having a great week so far!! In case I haven't already mentioned it a million times, I am in a card contest...and you can go HERE to vote for me!! Even if you already voted this week, you can vote again.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Cookie Dough Toffee Dip

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who voted for my card!! You can continue to vote all week, even if you already voted. Please go to THIS POST for all the information and a look at my card!

Now, on to the good stuff. The really really good stuff. I always like to bring something new to my bunco group. We are a group of 12 who get together once a month to play bunco and chat and eat. We mostly chat and eat, let's be serious. This month I really wanted something different and I've seen Cookie Dough dip on a few different sites. So I combined a few of the recipes I found into this one...Cookie Dough Toffee Dip.

Oh my, this is not for the faint hearted. It's chocolate chip cookie dough with toffee bits in a smooth dip. It's amazing. It's fantastic. It's the reason stretchy waistbands were invented, i'm sure of it.

I served it with graham cracker sticks, pretzels rods, animal cookies and vanilla wafers for dipping. The cute graham cracker sticks were by far my favorite to use for dipping. Although the vanilla wafers were a close 2nd place!

This is best made and shared with friends and family, because having a whole bowl of this in my fridge might lead me to be permanently wearing those stretchy waistband pants.

Cookie Dough Toffee Dip
adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

8 ounces cream cheese, light or regular, softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup toffee chips

1. Add cream cheese, vanilla extract, powdered sugar and brown sugar in a bowl. Mix very well until smooth.
2. Add chocolate chips and toffee chips. Mix well.
3. Serve with your favorite dipping utensil. This may or may not include a spoon.

If you find it too runny, add some more powdered sugar. Serve at your next get together and watch it disappear.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello Fall and a Vote

2011-10-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday! It's a beautiful fall day here today. It's sunny but a bit crisp outside, the weather was absolutely perfect for soccer games yesterday. Even though summer is my first love, I have to admit I am liking the cooling down. We got all our fall and Halloween decorations out this weekend and have been slowly decorating the house. Now to decide what we are all going to be for Halloween!

I have a fall card to share today, made with parts and pieces of the October Citrus Tree Studio kit.

The 'b' sides of the American Crafts papers in the kit have a great fall feel to them. Pretty oranges and blues to work with. I added a tag with my sentiment (those alphas are from the kit, aren't they fun?) and some orange ribbon and twine!

And I couldn't resist rolling some paper flowers...

And here is some fun news...I made it to round 2 of the Practical Scrappers card contest!! And this Fall card is my entry for round 2. If you have a chance to check out all the entries, please go here: Practical Scrappers Round 2 cards. If you like my card, I would love to have YOUR vote!! You just need to leave a comment with my name in the comment section. And you can vote EVERY day this week, so bookmark the site and go back everyday to vote. I would really appreciate your vote if you like my card. Thanks so much!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you all have a relaxing Sunday!

Hayrides and Halloween

2011-10-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's the first of the month and you know what that means...new Citrus Tree Studio kit! Hayrides and Halloween is perfect for all your fall and Halloween pics and projects. I loved playing with this kit. My favorite thing?? The mistable ribbon and the October Afternoon Sprinklers mist. So much fun to play with.

I've always been a little bit afraid of misting, but I loved this stuff. It was easy, sprayed well, and dried so quickly. And I quickly became addicted.

Look at that fun ribbon! I added some texture by pleating it and adding it to many parts of my layout.

There are so many fun elements to this kit. I had a ball scrapping these older Halloween photos.

Hope you are all having a great week so far! Thanks for stopping by...

Bottlecap necklace tutorial

2011-10-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I enjoy making little unique gifts to put in my children's goodie bags for birthday parties. As they get older, they grow out of the little plastic toys that usually come in goodies bags. For my daughter's party, I wanted to make something that would be unique for each of the girls but still something that tied them all together. Does that even make sense? Anyway, I've wanted to make bottlecap necklaces for a while and this seemed like a great opportunity.

Here's what you need:
1. unused bottlecaps (my hubbie is a homebrewer, so we have tons. You can get them off etsy or the internet)
2. mallet for smashing
3. heat gun
4. small images or fancy paper for inside bottlecap
5. Dimension Magic (or possibly Glossy Accents?)
6. tiny drill bit or nail/hammer
7. cord or chain for hanging (from Michael's)
8. jump rings (from Michael's)
9. something for cutting 1 inch circles (die cut machine, punch, etc.)
10. Mod Podge

First, smash your bottlecaps using the mallet. I put the bottlecaps on my cutting mat and smashed them while the mat was on the floor.

Then using your heat gun, heat up the seal inside the bottlecap. When heated, the seal becomes soft and you can pull or scrape it out of the bottlecap.

Using my Cricut, I cut a 1 inch circle from white cardstock. I stamped my image and colored with watercolor pencils.

Using mod podge, adhere the circle inside the bottlecap. Let this dry completely.

Add the dimensional magic to the bottlecap. Fill it up all the way and make sure there are no bubbles.

A few ways to insure no bubbles are to store the bottle upside-down before using it. Also, squeeze out a tiny amount of liquid in the bottle onto a spare piece of paper to get all the bubbles out of the tip. If you do get a bubble, pop it quickly with a safety pin or something sharp.

The dimensional magic will appear cloudy. Let this dry for at least 24 hours. And this is when I started having problems. Turns out the ink and the watercolor pencils smeared and yellowed when the dimensional magic was totally dry. I didn't have any other ink. I also heard that Copic pens don't smear, but I don't have any. So I ended up laminating the stamped circles before adhering them to the bottlecap. I know, total overkill. But it worked and the ink/color stayed true.

My husband then punched holes in the bottlecaps using a nail and a hammer. You could certainly use a drill bit, but we didn't have one small enough. Add the jump rings to the holes in the bottlecaps and string your cord/string through. You are now done!

To personalize them a little bit, I added another jump ring to the bottom and a different colored flower charm to each. My daughter got to pick which color went to which friend. She really enjoyed that.

The dimensional magic really gives these a nice shine and cover. You can't really see that from the photos. They were a fun item to add to the girl's birthday goodie bags! Now I want to experiment with other inks and markers. It's got to be easier than laminating the circles. These would also be cute with just pretty patterned paper in the middle. No need to worry about ink and pencils.

There you have it, bottlecap necklaces. Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy Sunday!

2011-10-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday to you all! We survived my daughter's sleepover last night. It was very fun and the girls were all actually asleep before 1am. I consider that a success. My only problem is the night was SO much fun she wants to have another one, preferable tomorrow! Ha! I think we need some recovery time first.

I'm sharing a card today that I made for a World Card Making Day challenge at Citrus Tree Studio. It's all about the fancy edges.

I punched the edge from cardstock and added it to the inside of the card. And added some of my beloved baker's twine.

I also entered this card into the Practical Scrappers card contest. And guess what? It made the first round cut!! If you like the card, I would appreciate your vote. Go to this blog post: Practical Scrappers Card Contest and vote for me. All you have to do is leave a comment in the comment section with my name. Thanks so much for your vote!!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Another busy week ahead for us...thanks for stopping by today!

Toffee Pretzel Bark

2011-09-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

My to-bake list is a mile long. I always get so excited for fall and the holidays, I love to bake for friends and family and neighbors. I bookmark recipes all year long and usually end up with so many recipes I don't know where to start. I've had this Pretzel Toffee Bark recipe on my list forever it seems and I thought I needed to test it out before making it for friends and family. Because that's the kind of girl I am.

The great thing about making bark is it's fairly easy. If you can melt chocolate, you can make bark. This bark is a layer of dark chocolate that is mixed with toffee pieces and pretzel pieces. It's then covered with white chocolate and toffee and pretzel pressed into the top. It's easy, it's fast, and it's delicious. Perfect for holiday gift giving!!

I cannot recommend this bark enough. It would be a refreshing change from peppermint bark over the holidays. Although I do love peppermint bark too! I made this bark with some girlfriends one night and it's so easy you can make this AND enjoy a watermelon martini at the same time. Here is the official recipe, from the Brown Eyed Baker food blog: Toffee Pretzel Bark.

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by!!

Scalloped Circles

2011-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

From the first day I bought my scalloped circle punches, I've been in love. I have the 3 inch and 2.5 inch punch and I use them all the time. I have seen these grid/block design layouts and I finally got around to trying one. And I brought out my trusty punches to help me out.

I used some lovely Lost & Found My Minds Eye papers that I purchased from Scrapbook Express. I love the matching buttons and bling and labels that go along with the papers. My favorite is the big bling/pearl swirl.

No wait, I think the buttons are my favorite!

I love the blues and greens of this line, makes me think of the beach. Do you think I could take my scalloped punches to the beach? That would be awesome, my two favorite things in one place. I'll try not to get sand in them.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Cards with Scraps

2011-09-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with my scraps. I love to save them to use for a rainy day, but it rarely rains in Southern California. I hate to store my scraps and then I forget I actually have them and then end up in the recycle bin anyway. So in an effort to tip the scales more toward love, I decided to tackle my scrap pile. And make some cards.

First up...Bo Bunny scraps, Papertrey Ink sentiment and using the Cricut for that strawberry!

Isn't it cute with the added bling? Bling makes everything better.

Next up...Echo Park scraps, lace paper scrap and more Papertrey Ink stamps.

Yes, bling does make everything better!!

Hope you all have a happy scrappy Monday!!! Thanks for stopping by today...

My Heart

2011-09-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

Want to see what my heart looks like? It looks like these 2 cuties...

They like each other, it's proof!!! Actually, i'm kidding. They really do like each other. I am lucky that they get along so well. Most of the time. Kayla thinks Kevin is AWESOME and he watches out for her on the playground at school. Although he's getting too cool to admit that.

Lots of fun shapes...rectangles and flowers to make a banner...

A big circle and flags for more embellishing...

Hope you're having a great Saturday! We have soccer, soccer, and more soccer today. Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

2011-09-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Oh, Pumpkin. It's the quintessential fall flavor. Making pumpkin muffins in the spring just doesn't seem right. But come September, pumpkin is the hot flavor for sure! And I jumped right onto the pumpkin bandwagon to make these great little cheesecakes.

These little cuties were made in a cupcake tin. You add the cupcake liners, drop in a gingersnap for the bottom crust and then fill with pumpkin cheesecake mix. So easy!

Add some whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel and you got yourself a nice little pumpkin treat. To kick off the pumpkin season!

If you are in the mood for some pumpkin baking, check out some of these recipes. I can personally vouch for them all.

Pumpkin Spice Granola

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pumpkin Scones

Happy Fall Baking everyone!!

More Soup for Me

2011-09-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Is it fall yet in your neck of the woods? It's not really fall here, still hot and more hot. But it is cooling down a bit at night, which is definitely nice. And my husband made Chicken Tortilla Soup tonight for dinner and it was fantastic! Here is the link to the recipe we used: Chicken Tortilla Soup. So good, even better as leftovers.

And here is another kind of yummy soup, Jillibean Soup!

It's Dutch Mustard Soup again and some fun corrugated cardboard shapes!

One more ~~bowl~~ card for you...

Yes, i'm still madly in love with Baker's Twine. The Twinery has some new colors out that i'm dying to get my hands on!!

Hope your Tuesday was fabulous...Thanks for stopping by!

Hammock Time

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday! When I was on my scrapbooking retreat last weekend I brought along some Jillibean Soup papers I've had for a while and haven't had the time to play with. I really loved this Dutch Mustard soup collection when it came out earlier this year. And I finally had a chance to use it for something.

We had a great camping trip to the Sequoias last summer and this is just one of a zillion photos I took on that trip. This hammock is always a big hit when we are camping!! I love all the letter stickers and embellie stickers that come with the Jillibean Soup lines.

Lots of fun punchouts and shapes as well. I *heart* Jillibean Soup.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I met up with some girlfriends this weekend for a baking and martini night. I can't wait to show you what we made!! Thanks for stopping by today!

Twix Caramel Brownies

2011-09-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

I found something out this week. Brownies are hard to photograph. But I also found something else out this week. They are EASY to eat!!!

Bites of twix cookie bars mixed in with rich chocolate and pockets of caramel. I'm not making this stuff up, people. Look at the caramel.

These were super easy to mix up. It's a one-bowl recipe and they bake in about 25 minutes. They would make a great Saturday night movie night treat! Here is the recipe from the Two Peas & Their Pod food blog: Twix Caramel Brownies.

Enjoy your Saturday, friends!!

6x6 paper pads

2011-09-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

When Scrapbook Express got some My Mind's Eye 6x6 paper pads in stock, you better believe I grabbed them off the shelves. The worst part was trying to decide which ones to get. I love love 6x6 paper, they are perfect for cards. And cards I made (too many cocktails at scrap retreat = making lots of cards, not layouts). These papers are from the Honey Cake paper pad.

I layered the different patterns, added the circles with my trusty punches, a ribbon bow and i'm done. Do you like that the sentiment is off centered? See previous statement about cocktails.

And one more...this time using alot of the yummy orange in the papers.

I love this fat polka dotted ribbon from Bo Bunny. Love that it's got polka dots on both sides so when I tie a bow, I don't have to fiddle with it to get the pattern on the up side. I know, my life is rough.

Definitely check out all the great new My Mind's Eye papers at Scrapbook Express. And don't forget they are having a Design Team Call RIGHT NOW!! Go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Chalkboard Wine Glasses

2011-09-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have found a new crafty obsession...chalkboard paint. There are so many fun chalkboard ideas on Pinterest and the in blog world, I knew I had to find some and play with it. There are two kinds that I found. One is actual chalkboard paint. It comes in every color, including black. The other is chalkboard spray paint. I found mine at Joann's, they also have it at Home Depot and Michael's. The spray paint gives a nice even smooth finish and I knew I wanted to use it to make these...Chalkboard wine glasses.

I masked off the area I wanted to paint with masking tape. I then covered the entire glass with newspaper. Then I followed the instructions on the can and sprayed! I would have a tutorial if I had thought of it before I actually started spraying. But I was too anxious to try it out. I now want to turn every surface in my house into a chalkboard.

These were a gift for a wine loving friend. I also made her some chalkboard coasters which I will be posting a tutorial for soon. I see lots of homeade holiday gifts in my future!!

Happy Tuesday!!!

Altered Layout Stand

2011-09-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!! I was on a scrapbook retreat this past weekend and always have so much fun with my girlfriends. And I actually did get some scrapping done. That's always a bonus...on a scrapbook weekend. This month at Citrus Tree Studio, I got to play with a fun altered item. It was the Kaisercraft Layout Stand and let me show you what I did with it.

I covered the stand with blue cardstock from the September Citrus Tree Studio kit. I painted the back white and covered it with a thick layer of Stickles.

I then decided to use the cardboard insert that came in the packaging to create a frame for the stand. I painted the cardboard with stickles and paint and then added my layers, photo and flowers!

I just love these colors, they are perfect for a beach photo of my two cuties.

Lots of rolled flowers and inked and crumpled leaves!

This was such a fun project. Not only do I now have a layout stand but I also have a piece of artwork for my living room. This would make a great gift for a friend or family member. And with the holidays coming up (yes...the holidays are coming!!!), it's a great idea for a gift!

Thanks for stopping by today...Happy Monday!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know what you are thinking...enough with the peanut butter and chocolate already!! Well, i'm sorry to say that I cannot stop. I am obsessed with the most wonderful flavor combination in the whole world. And here's another thing I'm obsessed with...

My new coookie scoop!!!

I recently went to a Pampered Chef party and despite the fact the host treated us to the most wonderful cocktails and I seriously forgot what I ordered until the day it arrived, this little gadget made it onto my order sheet. I love this thing. How did I live without it?? Evenly shaped cookies, no finger mess...it's genius. And so are these cookies.

It's a classic peanut butter cookie recipe with the addition of chocolate chips. Does it get any better?

I think not, unless you are using your brand new cookie scooper. That makes it a whole lot better.

Please go to the How Sweet It Is blog to see the recipe I followed: Puffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

September Citrus Tree Studio

2011-09-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Happy September! Okay...Happy 6th of September! The new kit at Citrus Tree Studios is here and it's a beauty. It's called Annie's Attic and included paper and chipboard from Grant's Studio, Bazzill paper flowers, Pink Paislee alpha stickers and more!

Here is my first layout:

Yes, i'm still scrapping photos from our trip to Maine last summer. I have so many good ones that need scrapping!! I added some paint to the base cardstock using some bubble wrap as a stamper. I also added some inking around the edges and I love the glitter butterflies! I also tried layering some baker's twine behind the flower. What do you think?

Here's one more...mmmm...beer...

These were photos from the Sam Adams brewery in Boston. We spent a fun afternoon tasting beers (my kids even got some fun root beers to taste). The best part? We took the train, so no need to worry about driving home.

I hope to have a few more projects using this kit to show you this month. I have sketch challenge going live on the 10th, so check back for a CTS sketch challenge! Thanks for stopping by today...

Cards for Labor Day

2011-09-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day everyone!! I hope you are all enjoying your day off. We are taking it easy as my little one is getting sick. I'm not surprised, since they just started school. So her and I decided to do some crafting this morning. Citrus Tree Studio has a facebook page and there was a fun card challenge this weekend. It was to use a Paper Crafts sketch for a card. We were all over this!

My first card was based off a sketch by Betsy Veldman:

I used some Crate Paper that i've been hoarding for a while now. Pretty colors! I used a sketch by Lucy Abrams for this next card:

And here are the cards that my daughter made. She used the same two sketches, plus a third.

She was especially proud of the one front and center. She loved layering the squares and picking out and attaching the brad to the middle of the flower all by herself. We had fun crafting together!!

Hope you all have a great Labor Day...thanks for stopping by!

Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups

2011-09-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Have you seen all the Halloween candy in the stores already? And the Halloween decorations at all the craft stores? It's crazy how early everything is out. I did hear there are already Christmas decorations at Costco, but I haven't witnessed that myself. Something about fall and the holidays makes me want to bake. Even when it's still 90 degrees out. Luckily for me, these little goodies didn't even have me turning on the oven.

Don't they look all sweet and innocent sitting on that plate? Like they want to be friends with you and you're not going to be able to say no.

But when you really break into these bad boys, get through the outer shell, you will realize you may have more than what you bargained for. Cookie dough AND peanut butter in these chocolate cups?? Yes, please, and thank you!!!

All this and I didn't even have to turn on the oven. Do you want to try these? Please go here: Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups. You can thank me later.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Papertrey Princess Challenge

2011-09-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

I am posting my Papertrey Princess challenge today! It's an easy one, I hope. My challenge is to make and use a banner on your card. Easy, right?

I decided instead of the typical type of banner I usually make, I was going to try a sentiment banner that's kinda popped up and triangled on both sides. Okay, that doesn't even make sense...here's what I mean:

I used a piece of long thin rectangular paper, cut the ends into triangles and then folded it on itself.

When I finished this card, I realized that I didn't do any stamping!! I had some stamps right on my desk and planned on using them, but I never did. Okay Papertrey Princesses...let's see a banner. It can be a traditional style banner or a sentiment banner or a banner using hearts, the sky is the limit!!

And if you want to check out all the princesses, their blogs are in my right sidebar. Lots of great talent and inspiration to be found at those blogs!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Another Altered Frame

2011-08-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday everyone! In my neck of the woods this weekend it was hot hot hot!! My kids were red faced by the 3rd minutes of their soccer games. We spent all day Saturday on the soccer field and all day Sunday at the pool. It was nice!

I have another altered frame to show you today. I made THIS ONE for my daughter and took some inspiration from that one for this one. Scraplifted myself, I guess you might say.

This was another dollar frame from the craft store that I had in my stash. I used some great Bo Bunny Crush papers to make this one pink and black and super girly. I am in love with these rolled flowers and I seem to be making them quite a bit and putting them on everything. I also used some Smooch accent ink to rim the flowers.

I used my Cricut to cut out the triangles for the banner and the curly pieces. I am loving my Cricut right now, too!!

Lots of my favorite things on this frame right now...bling, rolled flowers, ribbon, and baker's twine!!

And if you are looking for a great design team to be part of, please check out Scrapbook Express. They are a great store and are having a Design Team Call right now!!!! Please go check out all the details HERE. You don't want to miss this opportunity.

Thanks for stopping by today, friends!!

Last layout with CTS August Kit

2011-08-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!! We start soccer season tomorrow morning. Bright and early, we have a game at 8am. The Blue Lightening and Purple Pandas will be looking for their first wins tomorrow!

I have one more layout I did with the August Citrus Tree Studio kit. I loved this kit!

So, I confess. I take photos of myself in the bathroom mirror. I was just messing around one afternoon with my small point and shoot camera and found myself with all these self portraits. The lighting was totally off, that's why my face looks orange. It's not from too much self-tanner. But I thought they were cute and I rarely scrap myself, so I used them.

The kit came with a big sheet of all these little words. I used some that I thought described me. I especially love the 'candy' sticker.

And I used every single last stick pin flag that came in the kit. LOVED them!!!

Hope you have a great weekend! If you are a East Coaster, good luck this weekend with Hurricane Irene bringing her wrath down. Stay safe!!!! Thanks for stopping by...

White Chocolate S'mores Gooey Cake Bars

2011-08-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Did that post title catch your attention? I think i'm in trouble. All summer...I didn't feel like baking. At all. I didn't want to turn on the oven, or dirty a bunch of dishes. I had games of tag to play and sunshine to enjoy and bikins to fit into. Plus I didn't feel like being in the kitchen after I cleaned up dinner, since after dinner is when I usually ~~ignore my children and~~ bake. But the feeling is coming back, the itch to bake. And that's when the trouble begins! I started off the baking season with a bang...these little delicious bars.

If you have never been over to the Picky Palate food blog, you are missing out. Her recipes are easy and delicious. In the most ooey, gooey, marshmallowy, sticky, best way imaginable.

Layer of cake, then graham cracker, then white chocolate, then marshmallow, then cake again. These were a pretty great way to get back into the kitchen!! Please head over to the Picky Palate blog so you can try these for yourself: White Chocolate S'mores Gooey Cake Bars.

Sidenote: Make sure you spray the pan really really really well with cooking spray. I did a decent job and the bars were very sticky and hard to get out of the pan. There was some collateral cake damage on the sides...but don't worry I found them a good home. In my belly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Packaging up treats

2011-08-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Remember this post a few days ago, about Back To School Treats? Some of those treats would be nice teacher gifts, perhaps, for the first week of school. And when you spend the time to make some homeade treats, you want to package them up all nice and pretty!

I used the PSA Essential Super Star set for this bag and card. I repeated the apple stamp all over the card and added a fun You Rock sentiment. And a big tied red bow because I think they are pretty.

I also stamped the apples to tie in the gift bag. Some baker's twine and matching yellow paper round out the bag.

See my fun uneven stamping? I was trying to make it look uneven and distressed. Really, I was. I also double tied my baker's twine. Because you really can never have too much baker's twine. So make something yummy, then package it up all nice and yummy. It's a win-win.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Birthday Goodies

2011-08-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday night...all is quiet in the house...another work week, first week of school for my husband (he's a teacher) and my kids, new teachers and new homework, soccer scrimmages, first soccer games on Saturday...This coming week will be busy busy busy I am sure. So i'm enjoying the quiet while it lasts.

If you have a Cricut and you have the SCAL software, I highly recommend the templates from My Scrap Chick. She has a set of bag templates that I use all the time. In fact, here is one now!

I used the Confetti line from America Crafts to decorate the front of the box. I love the AC lacy ribbon and I added some cute Jillibean Soup stick pins!

And a pinwheel on a stick...what says birthday more than a pinwheel on a stick? No??

I love having projects like this already completed. So when I remember at the last minute it's somebody's birthday, I already have a gift bag ready to go. And a pinwheel.

Hope you had a great weekend!! Thanks for stopping by...

Back To School Treats

2011-08-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

Is it Back To School time for you all? With school starting for us next week, i've been going through my recipes to find something special to make for the kids on their first day. It made me realize that I have quite a few good recipes that would make a good treat or snack for your kids. Maybe not everyday, because some of these are definite indulgences. But to surprise your kids with something special after school would be fun!! Here are some fun recipes to try:

M&M Rice Krispies:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars:

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Homeade Kettle Corn:

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies:

Chocolate Dipped Frozen Bananas On A Stick:

Andes Mint Brownies:

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies:

If you want the recipe to any of the above goodies, click on the name link and it will take you my original post where I have the recipe. Even if you don't have kids that are going back to school, there is always time for a little baked goodie in your life!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Father's Day Love

2011-08-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

I know Father's Day was quite a few months ago, but I still had not scrapped our photos from the day from 2010. Yes, I'm behind. Lucky for my husband we were back east for Father's Day. And he got his wish to see the Dodgers play the Red Sox at Fenway Park. It was a great day. We sports bar hopped before the game, waiting out a torrential downpour and had fun sitting by the Green Monster. It was a great day!

I used the Crush line from Bo Bunny, I thought it was perfect for a love layout! I used this August Page Maps sketch for my design:

As soon as I saw that strip at the bottom on the sketch, I knew I wanted to try rolling some paper. I have always wanted to do this paper technique and this was my lucky day.

Isn't that fun?? I loved it. I cut the paper into strips and then just rolled them up tight. I used some Helmar liquid adhesive to hold the end together and it worked great. Hopefully I will remember to do this again sometime!

Happy Wednesday everyone...thanks for stopping by!!

Beach Camping

2011-08-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

We are a camping family. We tent camped for many many years and always had so much fun. My daughter did some of her first crawling in a tent. We've had great trips to the beach, Mammoth Lakes, Sequoia National Forest, Lake Tahoe. A few years ago we invested in a used pop-up tent trailer and we are loving it! We spent the last weekend beach camping with 3 other couples. It's so fun camping with friends because my kids have friends they can play with and the adults actually get some adult time. It's a total win-win. We used to have to watch our kids every second when camping so it's nice they are older and can sorta do their own thing. Don't worry, we still feed them.

Here are some pics from our weekend...

My daughter (on the right) and a good friend making sand castles...

Husband and Son fishing...

Riding Bikes:

Crazy Boys being crazy:

We got my daughter a wetsuit and we could NOT get her out of the ocean. She was getting pummeled by some of the waves, but would get up and brush the hair from her face and go back out. Check out this series of photos. The first one is her getting demolished by a wave...

Now she's getting up...

Brushing herself off...

And going right back out!!

And don't worry, there were other adults watching in case she couldn't get out of the wave washing machine. She was an animal. I think I should seriously consider some surfing lessons for her birthday. She would absolutely love it!!

I hope you all had a great weekend! My kids have one more week before school starts. Hope you're enjoying the last weeks of summer. Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Make a Grid!

2011-08-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday everyone!! We have new challenges at Citrus Tree Studio this month and mine is a grid challenge. As in...make a grid on your layout.

I used the August Picnic In the Park kit for this layout. I used the patterned paper and blue cardstock to create 3 inch squares for my background grid. I also used some cute flags that came in the kit.

I cut some blue fluffy clouds with my Cricut...

And added a banner! Surprise, surprise!!

Now let's see what you can do with a grid. Make a background grid or a grid with your photos. Upload your layout to the CTS gallery and come play along with us this month!

I am leaving tomorrow for one last beach camping trip for the summer. I will catch up with you all when we get home in a few days. Thanks for stopping by!

Long Tall Cards

2011-08-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

In the August Citrus Tree Studio kit, I received some blank cards. Which I usually love, but these were an unusual shape. They were long and tall. A shape I don't normally make cards with. So I stared at them for a while before I decided I was going to actually use them.

I loved the cute bird stamp!! I cut the clouds from my Cricut, but you could easily cut them by hand. I had to add some buttons, too. Because buttons, much like chocolate, make everything better.

Okay, one more card. I put my border punch to good use on this one.

I ran out of flags that came in the kit, so I made my own using stick pins from my stash and paper scraps. I'm not super happy with the placement of the flags, but it is what it is!!!

Hope you're having a great week so far! I can't believe the summer is winding down. School starts for my kids in 2 weeks and soccer practices started today. Bring on the busy. Thanks for stopping by today.

Altered Wood Frame

2011-08-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Last month I made this banner for my son. And wow, was my daughter jealous that it wasn't for her!! I promised to make her a banner for her room, but I wasn't feeling another banner. So I dug through my box of stuff to alter (I know you have one, too!!) and found some wood frames I had been hoarding. I just can't walk through Michael's and NOT pick up a few $1 wood frames. I dug into my Pebbles Ever After papers and I got to work!

I cut out some balloon shapes on my Cricut to make the petals for the flowers. I added some Stickles on the edges for a little bit of glitter. I hand cut the petal and made lots of rolled flowers for the centers of the bigger flowers and for the corner itself.

At first, my daughter was upset I wasn't making her a banner. Because it just wasn't FAIR. Does everything have to be fair in your house? I swear, my kids will count the chocolate chips inside their cookies to make sure it's all fair. But as the frame came together and I added more flowers and pearls and bling, I think she changed her mind.

I dug out a big chipboard K from my stash and painted and stickled it. That's what really brought a big smile to her face, because now it's HER K frame. And she loves it. While she can be a tough critic, the huge smile on her face when she appreciates and likes something is well worth it!

happy Sunday Everyone!

August Citrus Tree Studio Kit

2011-08-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for another fabulous Citrus Tree Studio kit?? This one is called Picnic In The Park and it's fabulous!! It has lots of Bazzill textured cardstock, Girl's Paperie Jubilee paper, Echo Park Country Drive paper and some great embellishments. I loved it!

Aren't those big vintage letters fun?? Such pretty colors in the kit. I cut all the hearts with my trusty George Cricut cartridge and put my Martha Stewart butterfly punch to good use.

And even in 2011...my banner addiction continues. And look at these ca-ute little flags!!!

I have many more projects to show you with this kit. I made 3 layouts and 2 cards and I still have scraps to play with. Yeah CTS!!!

Hope you had a great week...Happy Friday!

Thank You PSA Essentials!

2011-08-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

I was honored and flattered and super excited to be asked by Libby to design for PSA Essentials last August. I've had tons of fun playing with their Peel & Stick stamps. There are so many designs to chose from, there's a stamp for every occasion! With their stamps I saw my designs on the Home Shopping Network and scored my very first magazine publications. It's been a really fun year!! While my design term is coming to and end, I still will be a contributor to the PSA Stamp Camp blog. So keep checking the blog, there are lots of fun blog hops and giveaways coming up.

Here is my last project for PSA...recipe cards. Very appropriate considering how much I love to bake. These cards are 4x6 sized and I printed all the recipes on my computer right onto cardstock. I loved going through all my stamps and finding a stamp to match each recipe.

First up...Cran Raspberry Fizz. This drink is a favorite for bunco nights! I used a stamp from the Life's a Beach collection.

Here's a fun recipe for Halloween. I used their great Skelanimals stamps. These are too cute!

And a great chocolate cookie recipe. The ingredients are on one side and the instructions are on the other side of the card, I couldn't fit it all together. The stamp is from the Smirk Many Moods set.

Wouldn't these be a fun gift for a bridal shower?? Some great recipes to get the bride started off right. You have to package them up all nice and cute, right? These 4x6 cards fit perfectly into a glassine bag and look great with one of PSA's custom kitchen stamps.

You can get any name customized on the stamp. Maybe even get the bride-to-be her own stamp, too!

A big thank you again to PSA Essentials for having me on their team. They are coming out with some new exciting products in the future, so keep your eye on the Stamp Camp blog!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monogram Cards

2011-08-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday everyone!! We got back late last night from an amazing weekend in Vegas. We celebrated my husband and my 40th birthdays. He turned in April but my birthday isn't until October. But we decided to celebrate together this summer. Best decision ever!! I think I need a week to recover.

Today I want to share some simple monogramed notecards I made using PSA Essentials NEW monogram stamps!! The sets have 5 different letter designs to be used for anything and everything. Here is my card set.

I used the scalloped monogram 'C' and my trusty punches to create 2 scalloped layered circles. I also used my Martha Stewart punch to add some detail to the bottom of the card. These seriously came together very quickly and now i'll have some great notecards whenever I need them. And you know I couldn't resist making a box for my cards!!

I used my PTI Captured Card case template to create this box. Perfect fit for the cards!!

The PSA design team was generously sent some great Helmar adhesives that I used on these cards. I used the Zap Dots to create a little height with the monogram and their 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to put together the box. Great great adhesives! I am looking forward to using more of it.

I hope you all had a great weekend! I will be back with some more scrappy stuff this week!

Marbled Cheesecake Brownies

2011-07-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody!! As you read this, I am sipping a nice cold cocktail by the pool in Vegas with my most favorite besties in the whole world. I am enjoying a kid-free adult weekend with my closest friends and family. But I would love to share this recipe with you, it's a favorite around here and always wins rave reviews...Marbled Cheesecake Brownies.

It's a great combination of brownies and cheesecake. They are moist with a nice crusty crust over the top. Oh man, these are good.

If it's not 110 degrees at your house and you want to turn on the oven this weekend, make these!! You won't be disappointed.

Marbled Cheesecake Brownies
from the book The Great Big Cookie Book

Chocolate Batter:
8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup butter
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Plain Batter:
4 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9 pan with waxed paper and grease the paper.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat.
3. Meanwhile beat the eggs until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat until blended. Sift over the flour, salt, and baking powder and fold in.
4. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla extract. Set aside 2 cups of the chocolate batter.
5. To make the plain batter, cream the butter and cream cheese.
6. Add the sugar and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs, flour, and vanilla.
7. Spread the unmeasured chocolate batter into pan. Pour over the cream cheese/plain batter. Drop spoonsfuls of the reserved chocolate batter on top.
8. Swirl the mixtures to marble. Do not blend completely.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until just set. Uncold when cool and cut into squares.

Happy Brownie Baking!!

Wednesday Challenge

2011-07-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday!! If you are looking for a fun challenge to jump start your scrapping mojo, look no further. Scrapbook Express has a new challenge every Wednesday. This week it's all about shapes...

The challenge is to use a big shape somewhere on your layout. I used a big circle to draw attention to my photo. I also added a handmade flower and some fun bling!

The papers are from the Pebbles line called Ever After. I love the pink and greens together and the felt embellies are so darn cute!

So come on over to the message board if you are itching for a great scrappy challenge!

Kids Crafts-Solar Flare Shirts

2011-07-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

My daughter is a big crafter. She loves it all...scrapbooking, coloring, drawing, writing stories, fuse beads, making jewelry, sculpty clay, baking, everything. Her and I were looking through a kids craft website trying to get some new ideas. And we ran across these shirts...Solar Flare shirts. She immediately wanted to make them so we gathered up what we needed and ran with it.

What you need:
1. White t-shirt
2. Fabric spray paint
3. 1 cup Flour
4. Measuring cup
5. cardboard
6. squeeze bottle

We got the shirts, fabric spray paint, and squeeze bottle at Michael's. Now this is an all day project. There are long stretches of time where you have to let things dry. I had to temper my kids expectations a little bit, these aren't going to be finished in 20 minutes.

Ready to see our shirts come to life? Okay...here we go!

Put the cardboard between the layers of your shirt.

Put 1 cup of flour into a big measuring cup. Add enough water to make a paste that will be fluid enough to squeeze from a squeeze bottle, but not too drippy.

Add the flour/water mix to a squeeze bottle. Let your kids squeeze out their design on the front of the shirt. I had my kids draw out the design on paper first, just to get them thinking about it. Otherwise I'm sure the designs would have been all over the place. Keep the squeeze bottle low to the shirt and squeeze slowly.

Once your designs are all complete, lay the shirts in the sun for about 4 hours. The flour/water designs need to dry completely. My daughter insisted they were dry after about 20 minutes, but you really need to let it dry!

After the designs are totally dry, you are ready for the fabric spray paint!

These spray bottles were super easy to use. Pick your colors and start spraying your shirts directly over the flour design.

Now...let that dry. Pure torture for my kids to have to sit through another drying phase. Luckily, we had popsicles while we waited. Once the paint is dry, you need to peel off all the flour. This wasn't super easy. We had to bend the flour designs so they cracked, then peel the hard flour. My kids were very patient with it and actually did a great job getting all the flour off.

The goal is for the design to pop off the newly colored shirt. What do you think?

Kayla's shirt turned out better and I think it's because she wasn't so heavy handed with the spray paint. She did more of a light spray while Kevin really saturated his shirt with the spray paint. Next time I would have him go easier with the paint. But they both really loved how they turned out!! Kevin's looks more like a tie-dye shirt and he thinks it's cool you have to find the hidden design.

So there you have it, Solar Flare shirts. It was a really fun craft and my kids had a ball. Let me know if you try it with your kids!!

Christmas In July

2011-07-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! And Happy Christmas in July!! Citrus Tree Studios is having a crop this weekend...

Come on over to the message board and see all the great holidays layouts and challenges. The crop started this afternoon with 4 challenges being posted tonight. My challenge is how to make the easiest treat bag ever! Cute penguin not included...

There will be more challenges posted tomorrow morning and you will have until Sunday night to get any or all challenges completed. I will have a gift tag challenge tomorrow, so please stop by and say hi! Lots of great prizes to be won.

Hope you had a great weekend. And Merry Christmas!!

Sweet Bookmarks

2011-07-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday everyone!! I have been on vacation for the last 5 days, visiting family. We had a great trip and I am hoping to get my photos downloaded and edited soon. I hope to share some on the blog! Now I have to get my brain ready to go back to work tomorrow morning. No easy feat, that's for sure.

I have some bookmarks to share today that I made using the American Crafts Confetti collection. I loved the colors (I think I say that all the time!) but didn't really have any birthday photos to scrap. So I made some fun bookmarks for my kids and myself.

I cut long rectangles and rounded the corners and went from there. I used my Cricut to cut the sweet treats and added some jewels for sparkly accent. I didn't want these to be too thick, because they are supposed to lie flat between the pages of my favorite book.

My kids like them, too!! I hope you've all been having a great summer. I am hoping to play catch up on all your blogs this week. Thanks for stopping by!

Lovely Cousins

2011-07-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday Everyone!! How is your summer going so far? This week has been kinda cold and drizzly, but the weather seems to be looking up for the better. Yeah for summer sun!

I have a layout today that uses some of my favorite photos. My sister-in-law took these photos of my kids and my niece during one of their visits. I enjoy using wallet sized photos on my layouts because I can add more photos and not be crowded. Wallets are the best for that.

I used the American Craft Abode line for this layout, I love the bright colors. And I love how the opposite side of the papers have a solid color that coordinates. So easy to put together a layout with these papers! I made some rolled flowers for the tag and added lots of jewels around the layout.

And more doilys cut with my SCAL software!

I love how close in age all 3 of these cuties are. I hope they group up to remain great friends! Hope you're having a fabulous Friday!! Thanks for stopping by!

July Citrus Tree Studio!

2011-07-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

If you are a Websters paper lover, the Citrus Tree Studio July "Memories of Longwood' kit is for you!! Here are a few cards I made with this kit.

How much fun is that lobster paper? Totally reminds me of my Maine sister!! The only thing not from the kit is the ribbon. And I got super excited when I found that ribbon in my stash bag and it matched. It's the little things...

One more card using the pretty greens and blues...

Come on over to Citrus Tree Studio and check out all the DT creations. There is also another fun kit available this month called Summertime Fun you might want to check out!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

A Boy Banner

2011-07-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I make alot of crafty things for my daughter. It's so easy with all the fun flowers and girly scrapbooking stuff out there. But I think my son feels a bit left out (even though he would never admit it). So I resolved to make him something that wasn't girly but he could have in his room. I ended up with this name banner. The colors of the Good Day Sunshine collection from My Mind's Eye was perfect. As was the paper with guitars, and woody beach cruisers!

I used a Little Yellow Bicycle chipboard banner album for the base of the banner. Lots of mod podge and patterned paper later, the banner came together.

I used my Cricut and the George and Accents Essentials cartridges to cut all the shapes. The font is from the Cuttin' Up cartridge.

Do you want to know the hardest thing about this banner? Getting a good photo of it!! Everyplace I tried to hang it was just plain wrong so I had to put it on the ground. That concrete sure is beautiful, isn't it???

My son was fired up when he found out this was for him. I was so happy to hang it in his room wherever he wanted it. He will be 10 in December so I wasn't sure if he was going to be 'too cool' for it or not. Thankfully, NOT!!

Hope your week has started out great! Thanks for stopping by...