Rabu, 31 Oktober 2012

halloween

Halloween 1985 with my older sister. She was Little Bo Peep and I was a ballerina or fairy or something. All I know was that the costume was pink and frilly and I loved it :) My mama still has this old costume up in their attic - maybe one day my sweet little one will want to wear it (if she likes pink and frilly ;)). I love, love, love looking at our old Halloween pictures - go here to see last year's post - my sisters and I were dressed as Crayola Crayons. What fun memories :) Happy Halloween :)

Selasa, 30 Oktober 2012

Food: Beer Bread

This past weekend was cold and dreary- perfect soup weather! We were at a pumpkin patch for a good part of the afternoon and I hadn't planned accordingly to get a loaf of bread in the breadmaker (it takes 3 hours!) to have with the soup (white chicken chili, super yummy). I needed a bread recipe. A fast one. I had made a bread like this before at a family gathering and quickly looked one up and found this one over at food.com. Super quick - it was ready in an hour! The recipe calls for beer, but you can also use sprite or ginger ale :)
Beer Bread - adapted from food.com
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted (don't have a sifter? spoon the flour into the measuring cup)
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 oz) can beer - or use ginger ale or sprite
1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients together. Add beer (or ginger ale or sprite) and mix well. Pour (more like spoon) batter into a 9"x5" loaf pan. Pour melted butter over top of batter. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown on top. Cool 15 minutes, then slice and serve. Enjoy!
P.S. More details on yesterday's post soon... If you follow me on Instagram, I posted more of a sneak peek yesterday ;)

Selasa, 23 Oktober 2012

Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to #11, tberg! I will be emailing you shortly. Thanks to all for playing along :)

Senin, 22 Oktober 2012

christmas goodies

Working on listing these holiday goodies in the shop today: preorders for the 2012 Holiday Journal Kit, an add-on paper pack, journaling cards and handmade epoxy embellishments :)

Jumat, 19 Oktober 2012

Giveaway: Hand in Hand by Jenny Doh

I am always on the lookout for fun and creative projects that I can do with my sweet kids. I was so excited to receive two copies of this fabulous book, Hand in Hand: Crafting with Kids by Jenny Doh. The book is full of fabulous and creative DIY ideas - ranging from fairly simple to do, to more complex. Ideas such as a "first quilt,"an ABC photobook, a family banner, tissue paper lanterns, and much more.
The book shares ideas from twenty top bloggers, including Ali Edwards, Amanda Blake Soule, Pam Garrison, and Dana Willard. Want your own copy? See below to enter the giveaway for a copy of this fabulous book! :) Even if you don't have kids, this book is full of fabulous ideas and great inspiration - to use yourself or with the children in your life - a niece or nephew, grandkids, or family friends! :)
One person will win a copy of the book Hand in Hand: Crafting with Kids by Jenny Doh. Giveaway will run until Tuesday, October 23. I will post a random winner some time on that day. International entries welcome.

To enter: 
+ Simply leave a comment. Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner.
+ For extra chances to win: Blog, FB or tweet about the giveaway (with a link to the giveaway). Leave a separate comment for each way you spread the word (leave one comment if you blog about it, leave another comment if you FB about it, leave yet another comment if you tweet about it :)).

Disclosure:
*I received two copies of this book free of charge from Lark Crafts - one for review and one to give away. All opinions expressed here are my  own.

Senin, 15 Oktober 2012

monday

Savoring a few quiet moments this morning while my hubby takes the boys to school and my sweet girl is still asleep. The laundry is humming away in the washing machine, the dishwasher is half full (the other half is still on the counter ;)), and I have this bread rising on the counter to go with this soup tonight! It's a dreary and overcast Fall day, and I love it - the perfect type of day for snuggles with my younger two, and getting things done around the house. 

Finalizing a meal plan to make a (much needed) trip to the grocery store - going to stock up on meals for the freezer by making a bunch of recipes from this new book.  

Meditating on Psalm 136 - His love is eternal

Thinking about this past weekend - a fun family day to a Fall Festival, a baby shower for a friend, and being with the Church and great friends. 

Thinking on the little things about my three sweet babies and knowing that this season (while tiring ;)) is already going by too fast - one day there will not be Crayola crayon pieces of artwork all over my fridge (and table), or matchbox cars found in random places (I found one in the fridge at the back of the bottom shelf the other day ;)), and I'm going to miss it. 

Finalizing planning for the 2012 Holiday Journals. Working on these all day tomorrow, and super excited about it. 

Lots going on in my head this morning ;)
Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a wonderful start :)

Jumat, 12 Oktober 2012

giveaway winners!

Congratulations to #77 Fiorella and #64 Kelly. I will be emailing you soon! Thanks to all who played along. Be on the lookout for a book giveaway next week :) Have a fabulous weekend! :)

Kamis, 11 Oktober 2012

10-11-12 Day!

It's so fun the day today is 10-11-12! So fun. It's the little things ;) Have a fabulous Thursday!

Rabu, 10 Oktober 2012

Food: Crusty Artisan Boule Bread

I found this recipe via pinterest awhile ago and finally tried it. I researched around the www and adapted this recipe's rise time after reading this recipe. It was incredibly yummy and had that wonderful crackle-like-real-french-bread-when-you-push-on-the-crust noise after coming out of the oven. It takes awhile to make because of the rise time, but it's worth it. This bread is now going to be a staple for my meal plans for the coming winter months. We had it with potato soup the other day and it was perfect. It takes awhile to make (14-20 hours!) because the rising time is so long, so be sure to plan in advance!
Crusty Artisan Boule Bread adapted from Simply So Good and The New York Times
3 cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. yeast
1-1/2 cups water

In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix with a spoon just until a dough begins to form - the dough will be messy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 12-18 hours (the closer to 18 hours, the better - make the dough the night before you want to eat it).

Once dough has risen, punch down. Generously dust a (clean) kitchen towel with flour and shape dough into a ball (boule!) on the floured towel. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for another 1-2 hours.

When dough only has about a half hour left to rise, preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place a 6 or 8 quart dutch oven with a lid (I used my Le Creuset) in the oven as it heats (be sure to use a pot that will do ok in the high heat). When dough is finished rising, remove pot from oven and carefully transfer the dough to the pot - gently pick up the towel and turn the dough over carefully into the pot.

Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for 15-20 more minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't get too brown on top! Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Enjoy!

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P.S. Check out some new mixed paper journals with fun die cut cover tags in my shop :) Go here to see them.

Selasa, 09 Oktober 2012

currently

currently, I am:
+ working on some more mixed paper journals for the shop. I am on a journal kick right now.
+ thinking I need to finish putting together the Christmas 2012 holiday journal kits.
+ looking around my workspace and am pretty sure it needs a good clean (no it doesn't always look like this ;))
+ thinking I have a lot of paper. is that possible? ;) maybe it's a good thing I'm on a journal kick. using it all up ;)
+ debating a meal plan for next week.
+ so glad we are having cooler weather. we had to turn the heat on last night. love it.
+ reminded that I like having four distinct seasons. and while I wish we had more snow here in NC (I know. yes, I like snow ;)), I'm just glad to have cold, which means lots of snuggling up, hot cocoa, and a warm, cozy home.
+ continuing to feel more and more like we are getting into a routine as a family of 5.
+ reminded that I like routine. spontaneity is great, too. but I like routine.
+ enjoying my little ones so, so much.
+ thankful for the blessing of my little (big) family :)
+ will be listing this journal and other similar ones (different cover tags) in the shop this week.
+ this post was inspired by this post by ali edwards 
(how many times can i put "this post" and "by" in one sentence? ;))

Senin, 08 Oktober 2012

a fun little giveaway

I was working on gathering some supplies for some journals I'm working on (yay! I love making journals :)), and thought about how I haven't done a giveaway in awhile :) So, a giveaway. The newest line of Amy Tangerine - "Ready, Set, Go" is absolutely fabulous, so I purchased a few of the new goodies.

Two sets of goodies, two winners. One winner will win a set of three mini sketchbooks and a bits pack, the other will win a 6"x6" paper pad. International entries are welcome. Giveaway will run through Friday, October 12. I will announce the winners sometime that day :)

To enter: 
+ Simply leave a comment saying which set of goodies you would like to win. Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner.
+ For extra chances to win: Blog, FB or tweet about the giveaway (with a link to the giveaway). Leave a separate comment for each way you spread the word (leave one comment if you blog about it, leave another comment if you FB about it, leave yet another comment if you tweet about it :)).

Jumat, 05 Oktober 2012

New in Shop: Everyday Journals and Embellishment Packs

Everyday Mixed Paper Art Journals as well as new Embellishment Packs are now in the shop. 

The journal is a delightful 4"x6" mixed paper journal ready to record memories, details and thoughts. It is packed full of fun and unique pages - 40 to be exact! The embellisment pack is a fun little collection of odds and ends - perfect to accompany the Everyday Journal, or perfect to decorate your scrapbook pages, mini albums or Project Life pages :)

Rabu, 03 Oktober 2012

Food: Butternut Squash Tart

We frequent our local Farmer's Market a fair amount - always a ton of great local produce, meat, eggs, baked goods, jams, honey, etc.  My sis and I went the other weekend and got a loaf of Asiago bread, fresh squeezed orangeade, and two slices of an incredibly delicious butternut squash tart from one of our fave vendors. After having the tart for lunch, I knew I had to find a recipe to make it! I searched high and low all over the www, and finally found this similar recipe. It was a good starting point, but I knew I wanted to make several changes.
The tart I had eaten was packed with vegetables - butternut squash (yay for this yummy fall squash!), zucchini, yellow squash, onion and and orange bell pepper. I also knew that they used greek yogurt instead of eggs, so I decided to use that and add some softened cream cheese to thicken it up.

So basically, I started with a store-bought pie crust (would rather make my own next time, but needed a short cut), chopped up a bunch of veggies and sautéed them, put a layer of greek yogurt, feta cheese and cream cheese (mixed) on the pie crust, put the veggies on top, and then grated fresh parmesan cheese. Super simple. The longest part was chopping the veggies (which you could possibly prep beforehand?). It was so yummy. The kiddos didn't really care for it ;), but my hubby and I enjoyed it.

Butternut Squash Tart
+ 1 store-bought deep-dish pie crust (or make your own from scratch)
+ 1/2 cup greek yogurt
+ 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
+ 1/4 cup Feta cheese
+ 1 large zucchini, chopped
+ 1 large yellow squash, chopped
+ 1/2 of a medium-large butternut squash, peeled and chopped
+ 1 small orange bell pepper, seeded and chopped
+ 1 small onion, chopped
+ 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
+ freshly grated parmesan cheese, to taste
+ salt and pepper, to taste

Bake pie crust according to package directions. Be sure to use pie beads so your crust doesn't bubble up. Or you could just stick an oven safe little dish in the middle of the crust (I may or may not have done that) if you don't have pie beads. Set baked pie crust aside to cool.

Heat oil in a large skillet and sauté the veggies until slightly tender. While veggies are sautéing, mix together greek yogurt, cream cheese, and feta cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread mixture evenly into cooled pie crust. Top with sautéed veggies. Grate parmesan (to taste) evenly over sautéed veggies.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted on top. If the pie crust edges start to brown too much, cover with foil (I covered mine for the last 10 minutes). Let cool on a cooling rack and serve warm or almost room temperature.  Refrigerate leftovers and reheat (microwave or oven) when you're ready to eat :)