Initial Picture Frame

I don't think I am completely done with this project, but I like how it's coming along so far.  I think what I would like to do is write important dates on all four sides of the matte and maybe hang it from red ribbon for a pop of color.  If you are interested in making this project you will need:

1 11x14 inch frame matted to 8x10

1 sheet of patterned paper (I used 12x12 scrapbook paper and cut to fit)

1 wooden letter

Glue or glue gun

Remove the matte and glass; set aside.  Replace the matte back into the frame and place the glass over the matte.  Cut your paper to fit into the frame and tape the sides of the paper to the glass.  Place the frame backing back onto the frame.  Glue your wooden letter to the center of the matted 8x10 (you are gluing your letter to the glass).  I choose to glue the letter to the glass for more stability but you could do whatever you like.  It's still a work in progress I think.  I may just leave it as is, it just looks so pretty and simple.  If I do change it I will post pictures for sure :)

What are your thoughts?  

Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are probably one of my favorite desserts to make and eat.  My in-laws have a lemon tree so I was given a basket full of lemons and a request to make lemon bars.  I love coconut so I tried something new with this recipe.  This is a creamy lemon bar atop a buttery crust.  Enjoy!

1/3 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 cup coconut (optional)

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 Tbsp flour

4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel

6 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp baking powder

Beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds.  Add the 1/4 cup sugar; beat till combined.  Beat in the 1 cup flour till crumbly.  Press mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 8X8 inch baking pan.  Bake in a 350 oven for 15-18 minutes.  When done spread evenly the 1/4 cup coconut onto the crust.

In a medium mixing bowl combine eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the 4 Tbsp flour, lemon peel, lemon juice and baking powder.  Beat 2 minutes or till combined.  When the pastry crust is done,  pour the filling on top of the coconut.  Bake for 35 minutes or until center is set.

Out of the oven

Finished product!

TGIF!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's Day!  What did your special someone do for you?  I love Valentine's Day for all the cute things you can make/buy and it gives us a reason (not that we have to have one) to eat chocolate and be spoiled :) 

 I was browsing Michaels.com and I came across two projects that I defiantly have to do (links below).  These would be great as gifts or to keep for yourself.  I also found another project that I am thinking about making as well, it's called a paper wreath.  Looks pretty simple and I have everything I need to make it with so it will cost me $0.  Love that! 

http://www.michaels.com/Cathedral-Lace-Mugs/27422a,default,pd.html?start=19&cgid=projects-homedecor-containersandvases


http://www.michaels.com/Paper-Wreath/e09900,default,pd.html?start=3&cgid=projects-homedecor-walldecor

Have a good day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

 I was pleasantly surprised when I walked into the kitchen this morning and found this waiting for me on the kitchen table.

And inside the boxes were...

Two pairs of TOMS :)  

I do believe, in my eyes anyway that I have the BEST Husband in the world!  Sometimes when you think your Husband doesn't listen, he does ;)

Hope your Valentine's Day is just as sweet as mine.

Roasted Sweet Potato Chips

If you love sweet potatoes, than you just found another way to eat them.  I found this easy recipe for sweet potato chips that you will make again and again!  You will need:

2 large sweet potatoes or yams (about 1 lb.) thinly sliced

2 Tbsp. butter melted

Salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 425.  Spray baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Toss potatoes with melted butter in large bowl; arrange potatoes in single layer on prepared baking sheets.  Bake, turning once, 25 minutes or until chips are crisp.  Sprinkle with salt, if desired.  I also like to sprinkle with cinnamon sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth craving.  These come out perfect every time and they do not last long in my house.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Hope your Monday was a great one!

Cards

One of my very favorite things to do is make cards.  I like to make cards for any occasion, Birthday, Anniversary, Thank you, etc.  I would rather make someone a card than go out a buy one.  I made these cute cards today and are available for purchase.  You get 3 blank cards with envelopes.   If you are interested please leave me a post.  $4.50 + Shipping.

Thinking Of You...

Smile

Thanks

Have a great Sunday!

Black Quilted Watch Strap by Michele

Four years ago I received my very first Michele watch.  Those of you who own one know how fun it is to get different watch straps for it.  Last Christmas I got the Jet Black Glitter strap and I fell in love with it!  I unfortunately had to return it because glitter was falling off of it every time I put my watch on :(  I recently exchanged it for the Black Quilted Watch Strap and I actually think I like it better than the glitter one!

 

Have a fun Saturday!

Last minute Valentine's Day gift ideas

Don't know what to get your special someone for Valentine's Day?  I found some cute ideas that might help you along.

Personalized Coupon book - Vouchers of love

 www.gifts.com

http://www.gifts.com/search/product/Personalized-Coupon-Book-Romantic-Gift-Vouchers-Of-Love?ideaID=16106&prodID=401980

Emma Teapot

www.potterybarn.com

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/emma-teapot/?pkey=cvalentine-gifts

Colby leather toiletry case 

www.potterybarn.com

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/colby-leather-toiletry-case/?catalogId=91&cm_src=AutoRel

Have a great day!

Valentine's Day cards out of paint strips

http://living.msn.com/home-decor/valentines-day-crafts-3#7

I might have to make these next year.  Such a cute idea.

Happy Thursday!

Coconut Banana bread

The first time I had coconut banana bread was when I went to Maui last year for my 30th Birthday and boy was it good!  My Husband and I drove up the coast of Maui and we stopped at this beautiful lookout where down below you could see a group of dolphins playing in a cove.  There was a lady that had a food truck and was selling fresh golden pineapple that she had personally grown and coconut banana bread.  When you bought a pineapple, she cut it open and gave you a fork and a straw to eat and drink from the pineapple, heaven!  Here is my version of coconut banana bread. 

2 sggs

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil or 1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup mashed bananas

1/2 tsp. coconut extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Mix flour, coconut, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and oil or butter.  Mix well.  Stir in mashed bananas and coconut extract.  Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir until combined.  Spoon into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.  let stand 10 minutes and remove from pan and cool completely.  Just FYI, I used 1/3 cup vegetable oil and it turned out a little dry.  Maybe next time I will add a touch more oil to the mixture. 

Yummy!

Hope your Wednesday was a fantastic one!

SMASH* by K&Company

Blogged a few days ago about a SMASH book (they also refer to it as a SMASH Journal) K&Company came out with and I went to Michaels today and purchased one.  They have about 5 or 6 different SMASH Journals you can buy, I purchased Mod Style.  All have a design on the front cover, different patterned and colored paper, and each book comes with a pen/glue stick in one.  They don't have many embellishments to choose from, less is more I guess?  I purchased SMASH stickies, it's 70 pieces of little sticky notes that have different sayings on them.  I believe the book was $12.99 and the stickies were $1.99, not bad.  I'm excited to start this project!  I will be going to Disneyland soon and I will have tons of mementos to bring home. I would usually just scrap book stuff like that but now I have the SMASH book!  

 

Hope you had a fabulous Tuesday!

Other uses for a Jewelry tree

Here is my second post for the day.  Since I pinned my jewelry onto the pin board, I was wondering what I could do with the jewelry tree.  Here are two uses I thought are cool for reusing a jewelry tree.

1. Use in the kitchen for a dish towel holder

2. Create festive centerpieces 

What do you think?  Have a happy Monday!

Pin Board Jewelry Holder

Hope everyone had a fun Super Bowl Sunday!  I wasn't really rooting for any team in particular, I just like to watch, drink and eat Super Bowl food :)  Anyway I know I didn't post anything yesterday, shame on me but my goal today is to post two things.  Here is one so far.
 
I used this pin board for notes and quick reference phone numbers but after seeing creative ideas on Pinterest, I decided to use this for my jewelry.  Don't you just love Pinterest!!  I was using a jewelry tree but got so sick of everything getting tangled together.   Now I need to figure out where to hang it....

Love it!

Gooey fudge brownies with chocolate fudge frosting

This recipe was supposed to be Marshmallow brownies but I did a little experiment and I have to say it turned out delish!  You will need:

1 box of brownie mix

1/2 bag of Stacker Marshmallows

1 container of Chocolate fudge frosting

Follow the directions on the box to make the brownies.  Preheat oven to 325 for glass pan, 350 for dark pans.  Grease a 13x9" pan.  I layered half of the brownie mix on the bottom of the pan and placed the marshmallows on top and then I layered the other half of the brownie mix on top of the marshmallows.  Bake for 28-30 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.  I used about half of the fudge frosting.

The marshmallows in this recipe made this the gooey part of the recipe because they completely melted into the brownie.  If you like, put a slice into the microwave for a few seconds and top with vanilla ice cream, yuumm! The brownies are a bit rich so a little slice will satisfy your craving.  Enjoy!

Have an excellent Saturday!

Love Banner

I made this out of scrap paper that I had from previous uses.  Michaels.com layered four pieces of paper on this project, I only used two.  I have a heart punch that I used on the outer circle and punched hearts all the way around.  I cut four smaller circles out of different paper and glued that to the center of each large circle. I found  letters that I had and used those for the word "love".  Since the letters I used are black and white I thought black and white ribbon would tie it all together perfectly. 

Have a great Friday!

Love Banner by Michaels.com

 Found this really cute banner on Michaels.com.  Click the link below.  I am going to try and recreate this and I will post a picture of my Love Banner.

http://www.michaels.com/Love-Banner/28024,default,pd.html

Happy Friday Eve!

Pictures

OK, so most people would post pictures of their children.  I don't have kids, I have dogs.  I wanted to share with you some of my favorite pictures of "my children".  

Indiana Jones, Short Round and Chewbacca

Hope everyone had a fantastic Wednesday!

Breakfast box

My Sister-In-Law Morgan is moving to California on Wednesday to start an internship with NBC, yeah!!!  I made her this breakfast box to send a little piece of home with her.  I took a box and wrapped the bottom half with brown and pink polka dot paper.  I lined the inside with tissue paper and used paper shreds for the bottom.  She loves Mimosa's so I went to World Market and bought a jar of Red Raspberry jam and found a bottle of pre made Mimosa.  It has the champagne and orange juice mixed together! So cool!  Haven't tried it so I hope I get a good report from Morgan about it.  In the box, I also put pre made crescents , the homemade orange flavored sugar cookies I made the other day, napkins and plastic knives so she has something to spread the jam with.  

Sad to see her go, but excited for her to venture out on her own.  I hope this journey leads you to where you are supposed to be, good luck to you Morgan.  You will do fantastic! Xoxoxo

What kind of "food" box will you make?  Send me a picture of yours.  I would love to see your ideas.

Happy Monday!

Orange flavored sugar cookies

I didn't have vanilla so I took the ordinary sugar cookie recipe and made orange flavored sugar cookies with orange flavored glaze.  Orange extract is pretty powerful so I had to make sure I put in just enough, just to get that little hint of orange.  You will need:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup butter, softened, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 1 egg and 1 tsp orange extract

Preheat oven to 375.  In small bowl stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder, set aside.

In mixing bowl cream, butter, and sugar until smooth.  Beat in egg and orange extract.  Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.  Roll rounded Tbsp. (or larger if you like) of dough into balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Makes about 30-40 cookies depending on how much dough you use for each one.  My batch made 32 cookies.

For the glaze, you will need:

1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp orange extract and 1 Tbsp. water

Whisk together until combined.

You may have to use more water or extract (if you like) for the glaze. As always, taste it to make sure it's to your liking.  If it needs more extract, by all means add it.  I suggest using 1/2 tsp of orange extract at first and then add more from there if you want more orange flavor.  Using my whisk, I drizzled the glaze onto the cooled cookies.

I was impressed that my Husband ate three last night, I wasn't sure he would like them.   You will enjoy these, if you like orange flavor anyway.

Have a Sunday funday!

Lucas and Juno: Special bond of a rescue dog and dying boy

 I came across this story on MSN today and I wanted to share it with everyone.  Click on the link below.

Lucas and Juno: Special bond of a rescue dog and dying boy

SMASH Book

K&Company a few months ago came out with a SMASH book.  You can watch a video on youtube on the SMASH book.   Hmm, what will my next project be?

Happy Saturday!

 

Chicken, hominy and green chili stew

Love my slow cooker!  I made this the other night and it turned out delish!  I added 3 chicken breasts, 3 cans of hominy (we love hominy) and 1 can of diced green chilis and 2 cans of chicken broth.  I have also had this with squash and that was delicious to.   Salt, onion powder and garlic salt to taste.   Cooked for 6 hours on high.  Finished product below.  You can add whatever you like to this.  I personally would like more spice, but husband has a sensitive stomach so I have to watch what I put into my meals.  Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

TGIF!

Bridgewater Candles

I was introduced to Bridgewater Candles last year when I received one for Christmas.  I received the "Welcome home" scent and highly recommend it.  I found out for every candle purchased, Bridgewater makes a donation to feed an orphaned child for a day.  Do your good deed for the day, visit their website www.bridgewatercandles.com and purchase yours.

 

Happy Friday eve!

Where do I put my gum..

This is the first time I have seen this and I thought it was a neat idea.  My husband and I went out for drinks with my Sister-In-Law to this really cool bar/restaurant.  At the tables in the holder with the sugar, were these tiny pieces of paper for you to stick your gum to!  Genius! 

Have a great day!

30 things I love about you mini scrap book

I made this for my husband three years ago when he turned 30 and I love this.  It's a small scrap book that has 30 things I love about my husband.  I had a tin that I had gotten from a craft store that had letters and embellishments in it and rather than throwing it away, I emptied it and used it for this idea.  I covered the top with scrap book paper and used ribbon to dress up the sides.  On the front I printed out a sign that says "30 things I love about you".  Each page is about the size of a small index card and I used different scrap book paper for each page and used little embellishments for each one.  For example I love your laugh, I put a sticker that said laughter.  I punched two holes at the top of each card and used ring clasps to hold it together.

Who will you make one for?

Have a great day!

Cake Pops

Cake Pops are the new thing to make these days.  They are fun and you can make just about any cake recipe into a cake pop.  I recently came across a cake pop machine at Kohls for under $25.00 and I just had to have it!  My first recipe was Rocky Road cake pops and I have to say they turned out pretty good.  The freezer is your best friend when making these.  I put mine in the freezer for a few minutes and it helped tremendously with the cake sticking to the cake pop stick.  If you haven't tried making cake pops give it a try they are a lot of fun to make and you can get so creative with these.  My next recipe, doughnut holes!

 The picture below is what the machine came with.  From the left, cake pop stand, injector for filling your cake pops, 2 pronged fork to remove your cake pops from the machine and 75 cake pop sticks.

Have a fabulous Monday!

Flower vase

Blue flower vase hand painted with orange hearts and embellished with orange "paint pearls" on the top and bottom.  Cute piece for your spring decor!  $5 + shipping.  If you are interested please leave me a post and I will contact you with details.  Thank you for looking.

Have an great day!

Valentine scrapbook page

One of my very favorite things to do is scrapbook.  I as introduced to scrapbooking at the age of 19 and from then on I was hooked.  For the last five years, my Mother-In-Law and I go to the scrapbook show in Mesa, AZ.  For those of you that have been to a show know how fun it is and how many cool new products and techniques you take home with you.  I'm sure I might speak for some people but I kinda wish that the classes weren't so fast!  I am a perfectionist so I get behind in most classes :) 

Anyway, Valentines Day is fast approaching and I wanted to share a scrapbook page I made for this special day. I hope this gets your creative thinking flowing and gets you to make a page for that special someone :)

Have a good day!

Coolest gift

Thought I would share this with everyone.  I received probably the coolest gift from my Sister-In-Laws last Christmas.   A set of the cutest measuring spoons I have ever seen.  I needed measuring spoons for a while and almost went out a bought a set.  Gladly I didn't.  I believe they are made out of porcelain so they are a bit fragile and are hand wash only.  They are still available for purchase at Anthropologie.com.  These may need to be a new addition to your baking utensils.  Have a great day!

Homemade Poptarts

These are so good and simple I just can't believe it took me this long to think of this.  My version of this classic treat is the "semi homemade" way.  This is my husbands new favorite morning treat!  You don't have to follow the recipe exactly how I have instructed.  Play with it and make it your own.  Leave me a post, I would like to hear some of your ideas.  Have fun!

You will need: refrigerated pie crust, 1/3 cup strawberry preserves (you may need more depending on how much preserves you want to fill your poptarts with) or whatever flavor you like, 1 egg beaten for an egg wash and a pizza cutter.

Roll out the pie crust and cut in half, then cut the halves in 2.  You should get four Poptarts out of one pie crust or more if you have a rolling pin.  I don't have rolling skills so I opted out of doing that :)  Spread about 2 Tbsp. of preserves on one side of the halves and fold the other half over.  Do this for each Poptart.  Take a fork and pinch the edges together like shown below.

Spread the egg wash on the top of each Poptart

Place Poptarts on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes (cook time may vary, more or less, just depends on how crispy or less crispy you might want them) or until golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool on cooling rack.  A side note, I like to sprinkle a tiny bit of sugar on the tops of these before I put them in the oven just to give a little extra sweetness.

You could eat them just like this or frost them with a powered sugar icing.  1 cup powered sugar, 1 Tbsp. water and 1 tsp. Vanilla.  You may need to add a little more water.

Finished product!  Hope you enjoy these.  They are so simple to make and so good!