ten on tuesday

1. I am *really* excited about this. And even more excited to see some friends on that list:)

2. My Week in the Life album is up on the Ormolu blog today, happy that this project is all wrapped up now:) Now I am waiting for December Daily, ha!

3. I finally made this a couple weekends ago and I am kicking myself for waiting so long. Seriously...it is pretty amazing, and do I even have to tell you that it didn't last very long? When it comes to baked goods, we are a bunch of vultures in this house;)

4. Last night I tried a new recipe, a vegan one, Pineapple Quinoa...the family was a little nervous about it...but it got 2 thumbs up (from everyone but K, but he is really really picky, so he doesn't count!). I am excited about eating the leftovers for lunch:)

5. By the way...did you know quinoa was pronounced like keen-wah? I have been pronouncing it like quinn-noah. oops;)

6. Shaun and Aislynn like to tease me and they call quinoa birdseed;)

7. My Dad is coming in to town this weekend! Yay! I am excited...I haven't seen him since last October.

8. Little Miss A is turning 6 in less than 2 weeks...whoa. We are just having a little family party for her, but I am looking for inexpensive gift suggestions for a smarty 6 year old girl. I was thinking about some easy chapter book series...suggestions, please?!
9. This will be the "cake" at the party. Except the birthday girl demands chocolate  and vanilla ice cream...and sprinkles, of course;)
10. and how about a few recent pins? How awesome is this idea? I think I know a couple of kids who might be into this;) I am also thinking this would be fun too...you could even do one for colors or numbers?

Happy Tuesday, friends!

make it monday: key lime pie

If you have ever been to a restaurant in Florida, particularly a touristy one...it is almost guaranteed that key lime pie is on the dessert menu. After sampling *lots* of them, I thought I didn't really like key lime pie...and then one day it occurred to me that I just haven't had THE key lime pie...the one that you finish off (every last crumb) and say now *that* is how key lime pie should taste. Shaun and others in my family insist that Publix, the grocery store here, has a good one, but I didn't quite think so. I thought I could make a better one, and Shaun challenged me to do just that. After scouring the internet for recipes and reading reviews of them, I found one that looked promising, but it called for a store bought crust, which wouldn't do at all;) So I found a homemade graham cracker crust to go with my filling, and homemade whipped cream:) I am happy to say that this one was great! I don't know if it is the best recipe out there, probably not, but it is the best key lime pie we have had:)

And you will just have to excuse the picture...I tried to get a more clean looking piece, but this was the best...and I was being a bit impatient because I really wanted to eat it:) I told myself I would get a better picture later in the weekend, but somehow the whole pie was gone before I could do that;)

so here you go:

Key Lime Pie

Crust: 

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9-10 large crackers)

6 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup of sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Crush graham crackers until really fine (You can place them in a gallon size ziploc bag and roll a rolling pin over the bag).

3. Mix ingredients together. in medium bowl.

4. Using the back of a spoon, press into 9 inch pie dish. Make sure to press up the edges as well, making it nice and even all across.

5. Bake for 7 minutes.

While your crust is baking, you can start on the filling.

Filling:

3 cups sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup key lime juice (in my grocery store it is with the juice boxes/bottles of juice)

1 tbsp grated lime zest

1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl.

2. When crust is done, let the oven come down to 350 degrees. Pour filling into crust.

3. Bake 5-8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of the pie.

4. Chill pie thoroughly and cover with whipped cream before serving.

*We probably had it in the refrigerator about 3 hours before we ate it...but after the kids were in bed, Shaun and I snuck another piece and that piece was so much better, I think because it had longer to chill?

Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste to get those pretty flecks!)

1 tbsp confectioners sugar

1. Before making whipped cream, I always stick my beaters and bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

2. Add all ingredients into bowl, beat until stiff peaks form...but don't beat it so long that it looks like butter;)

Enjoy!

sources: Pie Filling and Crust

photo friday

I am slowly starting to get back into the routine...last week with Kieran threw us off, but I am determined to get back into the groove. Which means picking up the camera more. This is a pretty K picture heavy post, but he is who is around most of the time now...and he doesn't complain about having the camera around;)

Here he is driving his cars. You can tell by his face he is making "vroom" sounds:) I was asking him what color each car was and apparently they are all green;)

We went to the beach Sunday. It was short lived because a thunderstorm was looming and the water was filled with sea weed:( We picked up our kayak from my in-laws beach house and Shaun and Aislynn took that to the beach while Kieran and I drove. Kieran went back with Shaun and took a shovel (or "shubble") with him and Shaun said he kept dipping it in the water to help him paddle;)

Proof that Aislynn be a nice big sister....she picked out this Thomas book and asked Kieran if he wanted her to read it, which of course he did:)

:)

Can't you just see the stinker in this guy? It is a good thing he is cute:)

While A is off at school, he likes incorporating her toys into his play...like using her little dog house for a house for the trains.

or using the mail truck to give a twist to pony rides;)

We headed back to the beach after school yesterday because it was such a beautiful day. It was amazing the difference in sea weed...there was hardly any!

K and I drove while A and S brought the kayak...

This is my new favorite picture. See how clear the water is? It was so pretty and the temperature was perfect too!

Here are A and S coming up through the lake. I put the camera away after this so we could all go swim in the gulf. As soon as my foot brushed against a crab, I was out! I have become such a wimp about swimming in the water as I have gotten older!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We have no plans, but maybe we will make it to the beach again. It is so nice this time of year once the beaches aren't so crowded;)

scrappy thursday

Happy Thursday! I have lots of stuff to share today, from the Nook Virtual Crop. I didn't quite get done as much as I wanted to, but what can you do? I am going through a slump in mojo right now...anxiously awaiting for it to return:) Anyways, here is what I have to show you:

This is using the American Crafts Peachy Keen line, which is so soft and pretty. I am not a stamper, so I don't have a big collection of ink/stamps. I used Cat's Eye Chalk Ink to stamp this and it really didn't show up as good as I would have liked. What are you favorite inks to use? I have some staz on, which I do like...

This card is using the new American Crafts Amy Tangerine line. It's funny because I was most intimidated about this line, and so far it has been the only one I have cut into;) I love it...really funky and fresh! Great colors too!

Another AC Amy Tangerine card:)

I made this using bits and pieces of what I had left from the July My Scrapbook Nook kit. I am pretty sure there are some of those left HERE;)

This was my favorite layout I made for the crop. I used Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho...I loooooove this line so very much:) and these pictures, they make me happy!

I used the August Studio Calico kit for this. Oh and this is for you, Shel: take a small bagel, put peanut butter on it, place peas on bagel, devour, lol!

This was for a sketch challenge, and I used Echo Park Springtime for this:)

This was inspired by one of Stephanie's layouts...I used the August My Scrapbook Nook kit for this:)

I used the June My Scrapbook Nook kit for this one.

I have a couple projects to share that I didn't do for the crop, but earlier this week. I used the August Studio Calico kit for both of them:

and this card:

I couldn't resist making another one of these flowers. I also made this for a color challenge on the Nook. The members posted their favorite color combos and we picked one and created cards using the combination we picked. I loved the idea of kraft, green, and turquoise!

Phew, that was a lot!!! As always, thanks so much for taking the time to peek at my projects!

make it monday: ruffled flowers

I received my Studio Calico August kit last week and when I saw the Pink Paislee trim, I knew I immediately wanted to try making those ruffled flowers I have seen. They are so cute and super easy to make, so I decided to put together a tutorial for how I made them:)

 

Ta da! That's easy, right?! Then you just need to add it to your layout/card:)

Hope everyone has a great week:)

scrappy thursday

Good morning! I want to thank everyone for their sweet comments regarding American Crafts. I am extremely excited about this opportunity and all of your kind words just mean so much to me, thank you.

I really do not have much to show you today because we have been battling the 2 year molars. Aislynn really must have spoiled us because I don't remember hers being that bad, but Kieran? It was seriously like a different kid took over him...he sooooooo cranky, inconsolable, he wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, he wanted me to hold him, but would still be fussing. Anyways, he is SO much better now, it's not even funny. I am so glad he is back to his silly self, for the most part!

So on to the scrappy part of the post...we did a card kit swap at the Nook, and Rachel sent me this gorgeous kit, full of Echo Park Be Mine goodness:

I was able to get 3 cards out of it:

I also made this quick card using the August 8th sketch from the Nook, as well as the August kit:

That's all...ha, really not too much to share! Maybe I subconsciously was saving my creative juices for the virtual crop at the Nook this weekend? It starts tomorrow, goes through Sunday. Guaranteed prizes and fun, I hope to see you there!

soooo excited!!!

Friday morning I got the happiest e-mail from Stephanie of American Crafts, inviting me to join their 2011-2012 Contributing Design Team. I had to read the e-mail a couple times (okay, like 5 times!) to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It was sooooo very hard to keep this a secret and I am so happy to see who else I will be working with! I am a big fan of many of the ladies on the team and I am so happy my sweet friend, Lilith, is on the team with me! So excited for this next year, this is really a dream come true for me:)

Check out the other lucky ladies:


INTERNATIONAL                                                                     
Cindy Stevens – from New Brunswick, Canada
Lilith Eeckles – from Bertogne, Belgium
Michelle Clement – from British Columbia, Canada
Piradee Talvanna – from Singapore
Revlie Schuit – from Roelofarendsveen, The Netherlands
Shimelle Laine – from London, England

UNITED STATES
Amy Heller – from Newtown, CT
Cindy Tobey – from Kentwood, MI
Corrie Jones – from Dallas, GA
Heidi Sonboul – from Torrance, CA
Jamie Harper – from Phoenix, AZ
Jenny Chesnick – from Brooklyn, MD
Leah Farquharson – from Lauderhill, FL
Leslie Ashe – from Fort Worth, TX
Mandy Koeppen – from Hastings, MI
Melissa Mann – from Pensacola, FL
Paige Evans – from South Pasadena, CA
Pamella Brown – from Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Rahel Menig  – from Gilroy, CA
Suzy Plantamura – from Laguna Niguel, CA

photo friday

Meet Kieran, the fake sleeper.

One of his favorite games to play right now is fake sleeping. He even fake snores, then you tell him "wake up, wake up!" and he opens his eyes and giggles. Then repeats over and over again:) He is such a SILLY boy, that he even plays by himself (he lays on the floor, "sleeps" and says "wake up Kieran"), ha ha!
Love this age so much...

Would you check out those eyelashes? Handsome fellow;)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!