american crafts shares

Today I wanted to share with you a couple pages I did with some American Crafts goodies, but first I want to show you a peek at their mid-release:

HOW cute are those bits? I looooooove love love them:)

Perfect for little guys, huh? Actually, I think the color palette is pretty versatile! I can't wait to play with this and there are some new thickers too...foil and glitter in some of my favorite fonts:

What do you think?!

Now onto my pages...

It may be silly to scrap about pinterest, but the Amy Tangerine line begged for me to scrap about something crafts...and the safety pins in the line...I don't know, I like it:) I added a teensy bit of Garden Cafe here too:

I love that yellow chevron paper:)

Supplies: Ash (71708) - Cardstock, Oh Happy Grey Paper (35565) - Amy Tangerine,  Yes Peas Paper (35549) - Amy Tangerine, The Good Life Paper (35543) - Amy Tangerine, Woodness Gracious Paper ( 35555) - Amy Tangerine, Stars, Stripes, and Stitches Paper ( 35550) - Amy Tangerine, Goodness Slate (53249) - Thickers, Wishing (42216) - Remarks, Hi Friend (42214) - Remarks), Good Times (42213) - Remarks, All Together (42219) - Remarks, Garden Cafe Printed Variety Tags (77256) - Bits, Meringue (42211) - Remarks

Here is  a page I made with the Daydreams line. I told you before, but this line is perfect for girlies:) I knew I had to use the banner paper on a birthday page for Miss A. I even made the little owl a birthday hat;)

Supplies: Kraft (71646) - Cardstock, Melon (71033) - Cardstock, Happy Day Paper (35600) - Daydreams, Wonderful Day Paper (35601) - Daydreams, Joyful Day Paper (35603) - Daydreams, Gleeful Day Paper (35604) - Daydreams, Blissful Day Paper (35605) - Daydreams, Fine Day Paper (35606) - Daydreams, Playful Day (35607) - Daydreams, Sunny Day Paper (35608) - Daydreams, Wishful Day Paper (35610) - Daydreams, Chipper (78061) - Details, Smile (42227) - Remarks, Friends (42228) - Remarks, Maple Pineapple (53221) - Thickers

*I love the names of the papers in this collection*

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

scrappy thursday: more september nook

I have a couple more pages to share using the September Nook kit...trying to finish it off before October comes.

I thought the kit was perfect for documenting A's first day of kindergarten. I loved the Websters Pages stick pins and the alphabet tab border sticker for the school theme:) Lots of journaling here, which was basically a copy and paste from my blog post that day;)

This was made using Jessy's September sketch:

I miss my typewriter so much:( I have been doing my journaling on the computer, but it just isn't as easy. And you can see here, the ink smeared on the tag when I printed on it. 

This was the card I made for the Pinspo challenge on the card forum. Remember if you participate in this challenge, you could win a $10 gift card to the Nook!

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I'll be back tomorrow to share some American Crafts projects:)

ten on tuesday

1. I have a page on the Ormolu blog today, here's a little sneak:

2. Yes, I did use some of the September Nook Kit on that:) I have been playing with it a bit more, and have a card up for this challenge. Check out the other cards-WOW...and how cute is the inspiration piece? There is also a $10 gift card to the Nook up for grabs that Jessy will randomly give away to some lucky participant;)

3. I had a page up on the Bella Blvd blog last week...I was so happy to see some fellow Nook girls up there with me:)

4. I have been making homemade bread the last 2 weeks and have my eye on this recipe soon.

5. I made baked oatmeal for breakfast on Saturday and it was deeeeelicious:) It tasted like a dessert;) I made it with apples instead of blueberries.

6. I am sewing up a storm this week, getting some projects done for a craft fair that my sister and I are going to on Saturday. Wish us luck:)

7. Aislynn has been visiting one of the 1st grade classrooms a couple times a week to go to their reading group. The reading teacher and A's teacher have both been great with providing me with resources of how we can challenge her more at home. So proud of our little reader girl!

8. Kieran has been coloring constantly. He loves coloring with markers and making scribbles...like for hours at a time. He tells us what colors he uses and what trains from Thomas are that color-like "this green, Percy." He calls the brown marker chocolate, hee hee:)

9. Black Licorice Caramels, anyone?

10. And a few peeks of the October Nook kit. I got my shipping notice today, so I will get to play with it soon!

and a few of the add-on peeks:

Nice, huh?!

Happy Tuesday:)

make it monday: pumpkin bread

Happy Monday! Today I am going to share one of my favorite recipes. About 3 years ago, I wanted to make something with Aislynn on the first day of Fall, and I had pumpkin bread on my mind. It turned out that none of the grocery stores had canned pumpkin and didn't even know if they would have any by Thanksgiving. This was due to a pumpkin shortage. When I finally did see some canned pumpkin at the fancy grocery store (about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving), I bought the last 4 cans. I didn't end of trying Pumpkin Bread until closer the Christmas that year, but once I did, we had it a lot:) It is spicy and delicious, moist, and tastes even better the next day. Now I make it every year, multiple times, in the Fall, and it is something we all look forward to once September comes.

Pumpkin Bread (makes 2 loaves and 12 muffins)

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce*

2/3 cup water

3 cups white sugar

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour*

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

*The original recipe calls for vegetable oil instead of applesauce and all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour. In some recipes you can tell when there are healthier substitutions, but this is one of the few, that I can do the full substitution and for our family, we can't tell a difference in taste or texture.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray 2 loaf pans (I *think* the ones I use are 8.5x4.5 inches?) with non-stick spray and line one muffin pan with liners. (The original recipe calls for 3 7x3 loaf pans, but I didn't have those!)

2. In large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, applesauce, water, eggs, and sugar until well blended. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended.

3. Fill the muffin liners 2/3 full, and divide the remaining batter in to the loaf pans.

4. Bake for 18 minutes, and check the muffins. A toothpick should come out clean when inserted into the center. Rotate the loaf pans, and continue to bake 28-30 minutes. You may need longer...the bake time is off from the original recipe since I am baking the in different size pans. When a toothpick comes out clean, they are done;)

5. Let cool for a bit in the pan, and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Source: adapted from All Recipes

photo friday

It has been awhile since I posted any photos, so here are some of my faves from the last 3 weeks or so:)

I made a carrot cake for my Dad's birthday and these kids had to lick the spoons from the frosting. K has learned the sound the mixer makes, so anytime he hears it, he comes running saying "want taste!"

reading stories:)

My Dad and K...poor Grandpa had to read the same books over and over again;)

He also had to be a bridge/tunnel for trains:)

Some pictures from one of our beach adventures...Shaun caught this guy, who fearless Mr. K really wanted to play with;)

The moon was out:)

The night before my Dad left to go home, we went to Olive Garden for dinner, and then tried to get some pictures...which all turned out like this one;)

Love that at this time of day you can capture the reflection:)

opening the goods at her party...

Shaun Someone convinced her to have a different cake than the ice cream cake, so I made coconut cream cake per her request.

Hard to believe 6 candles went on her cake this year. I wonder what she wished for? She wouldn't tell me...because it wouldn't come true;)

Move over trains and cars (well, not really) puzzles are a new favorite thing to play with right now. 

James (my step-dad) got this backpack for Kieran, which was SO perfect, since every morning when we take Aislynn to school, Kieran always says "Hey! Where my backpack?" So he adores this thing...like wants to sleep with it in his crib:)

We took a few photos on A's birthday before we went to dinner at her restaurant of choice (Lin's Asian Cuisine). 

Grandma and James and the crazies;)

what 6 looks like:)

painting...it has been awhile since he has painted and I was pleasantly surprised at how little of a mess he made:) He was so cute when he made those little dashes he would say Thomas if it was blue, Percy if it was green, James if it was red...I liked that he was actually trying to paint something this time...last time he just tried to paint his body;)

She was painting Tulips in the Moonlight, and was inspired by this Van Gogh:

She has learned about some artists and one day she asked me if Jackson Pollack was dead. I told her that he was, then she asked me if Edgar Degas was dead, I told her he was. Then she said "who is the other one? He painted Tulips and Starry Night?" I told her Vincent Van Gogh and she asked me if he was dead. When I told her he was, she said "Ugh, all the good painters in this world are dead."

That girl makes me smile:)

and a few more beach pictures:

 A and Shaun came in the kayak, so when they arrived, these 2 ran up to each other like it had been ages since they last saw each other;)

Hope everyone has a happy weekend!