What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm Loving . . . This Strawberry Patch Candle.

I'm Loving . . . These Nature Valley Granola Thins.  My mom bought a few boxes and gave them to me for the kids to try.  Well, I hate to tell you this mom, but the kids aren't getting any :-)  They are SOOOO good!

I'm Loving . .. . This Song by Casting Crowns.  It is "Glorious Day".  I actually didn't care for this song a whole lot until I heard this version.  Now, when it comes on the radio - I turn it up and sing along with it.  Go ahead, take a listen (make sure and pause the player at the bottom of the blog)



I'm Loving . ..  that my 1/3 of my kitchen cabinets are painted.  It's going a lot faster than I thought it would for which I am grateful.

I'm Loving . ..  the rain that is hitting the window this morning.  I'm not a huge fan of rain when there is still snow on the ground but this morning, I'm enjoying the peacefulness of it before the house wakes up. 

  I'm loving . . . my little family.  Two little boys and One very wonderful husband makes this girl one lucky person!!

Take time to think about the things that you love today - those little things that bring a smile to your face and remember to be thankful for even those little things!!

Too Cute Not to Toot!

Last week I mentioned that I haven't had time to do many crafts lately and I've been thinking about how to go about getting some things done I want to make.  I was saving ideas that people post but than get overwhelmed with how many I have saved.  So instead, I went back to my very first "Too Cute Not to Toot" post and am just going to start working my way through some of those ideas.  Yes, that means that I'll be making some Halloween things now but that will be nice when it comes to Sept/Oct - I'll have some new decorations to put out!  I'm excited about this idea and think I can really work to get some things done plus, I'm sure there will be some new ideas (like the first one below) that I'll make now but otherwise, it's back to the beginning!  I plan on posting my own tutorials along the way along with my "make it easier" ideas since I tend to do things the hard way first LOL 

I saw this posted on a blog I follow and thankfully she linked back to the tutorial - I LOVE this idea as a baby gift!  I'm hoping I can make it to Hobby Lobby to get some supplies for two upcoming showers!  Check out the easy tutorial over at Life Sweet Life

One of the blogs I follow, Bake at 350, gives a ton of ideas on how to decorate cookies (and more!).  I have yet to try these but it is on my to do list.  Because I so enjoy looking at her posts, I thought it was about time I share her talent with you.

Check out the full post here

Craftomaniac gives a really cute (and "cheep" - sorry . . ) idea for an Easter Craft/decoration.  Yep, it really is time to start thinking about Easter :-)

She also shares this really cute St Patrick's Idea for Pots-of-Gold for the kids (and for mom too!)

All I'll say is that, if you come to my house later this year, you will see this idea on the door from Peppermint Plum

I know you will all think I'm crazy but I really like this idea from Home . . Is where they love you for creating a faux animal head to hang on the wall.  I love how she painted the ceramic piece white.  Some day, in my dream home, I will have a "cabin room' - this would make a fantastic addition to that room.

Sometimes I post ideas for you to enjoy and sometimes I post them as reminders to myself of something I want to make and this is one of those!  I love jewelry but seldom get to wear it or purchase it - it always seems like an extravagance for some odd reason BUT I really like this ring and I would love to make some of my own jewelry.  Great Oak Circle gives a great tutorial for how to make this awesome ring.

Food is a craft too, right?  One of the items on my 40x40 list is to learn to make the perfect cheesecake and it looks like What Megan's Making has helped me out a little with this post!

That's all for this week!  I usually try to hit up all of the Monday link parties to grab more ideas but yesterday was a little busy so I'll plug those into next weeks list!  Enjoy :-)

Homemade Pizza Crust

Make sure and check out the adoption blog fundraiser for a friend of ours by clicking here - there are a lot of great items up for bid March 6-12.

Pizza Crust

I've been experimenting with homemade pizza crust and tried a new one recently.  It is by far the best one I've tried.

Best Pizza Crust

3½ c. flour
1 c. warm water
2 T. yeast
2 T. honey

¼ c. olive oil

½ tsp. salt

Pour warm water into a bowl. Add honey and salt. Mix until well blended.
Add the yeast and mix. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup
of flour and the olive oil. Mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour
and mix well.

The dough should turn into a ball. If it is too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at

a time. If it is too sticky, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

Once the dough is balled up, place on a floured surfaced and knead for 1

minute.

Place in a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.

After about 45 minutes, the dough should have doubled in size. Punch it
down.

Let it rise for another hour. The dough is now ready to be rolled
out. (You can let it rise once more and punch it down again if you’d like!)
Roll out the dough on a clean, dry surface. Use a rolling pin to flatten it out
to about¼ inch thick.

Take a fork and puncture holes all over the dough
to prevent bubbling. Brush with olive oil and Italian seasoning. Add your
sauce, cheese, and toppings!

Bake pizza at 450 degrees for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown

My Notes:  This was so easy to make and the honey will adds to the flavor.  It turned out fantastically.  Next time, I will make some garlic butter to brush on the crust after baking (like Hungry Howie's) for a little more flavor!  I did try this in my bread maker the first time and was so mad that it didn't turn out . . .until I realized I forgot the oil LOL  The second time I did it by hand and it really was very easy to do so plus I had more control on the time table with this one too. 

I grabbed this recipe from Oopsey Daisy.  Make sure and check out more recipes over at her blog. (Plus tons of other great ideas!)

Week #5 Challenge - Organizing Photos

It is that time of week again - time for another weekly challenge!  Toni over at A Bowl Full of Lemons is really helping all of us reach those goals of organizing our homes.  So far we have:

1) Made a Home Management Binder (done!)

2) Created a Launch Pad (done!)

3) Made a Recipe Binder (done!)

4) Set up a Gift Wrap Station (in process!)

5) Organized Our Kitchens (in process!)

If you click on the link above and go to the right sidebar of her blog, you will find all of the weekly challenges given.  Just "click" on the one you are interested in and see all of the inspiration!

So, this weeks challenge is Organizing our Photos.  Ironically, I started on this a little on Saturday but decided to save it for the evenings since it is such a "mindless" activity.  So, yes, I'm taking this challenge and hoping to get at least the digital section completed this week! 

So, what do I use currently?  First, I just download all of my pictures from my camera to my laptop.  I pretty much stopped there as far as organization but I really like the idea that the guest blogger gave in today's challenge.  I've seen a similar idea on other blog sites as well.  Andrea really explained it well and gave clear pictures to show exactly what she does once a month.  From there, I normally upload photos into Snapfish for the sole purpose of ordering photos for my Father-in-law.  He requested printed photos about a year ago so, I try to print the best photos for him once a month or every other month.  From there, I also burn a CD of photos for my parents as my mom creates a scrapbook for the kids as well.  (Thanks mom!) Wait, there's more LOL  I also upload all of my pictures into Memory Manager from Creative Memories so that they are ready to scrapbook digitally and, finally, once they are in memory manager, I download a copy into my external hard drive.  I know, crazy, isnt' it? 

What I haven't liked is that I end up uploading/downloading a ton of pictures that either aren't good or that I will never use so I wanted to find a way to better manage my prints before I start uploading them places.  One of the things I plan on doing each month is creating a folder to save the photos for my FIL and for my parents so that I can just grab those instead of every single photo. 

Andrea also share the way that she organizes her photos for page layouts.  She gives some great ideas here as well.  Unlike her, I am a person who scrapbooks 90% of my photos and they must be in chronological order or it drives me insane.  As I've mentioned before one of my goals is to be current on all photos by the time I'm 40 (my lovely 40 x 40 list!). 

If you have been struggling with photos take time to read Toni's post - it might get your mind moving.  She also has a give away posted as well (which for once I'm not entering since I already sell Creative Memories items) 

I will post an update later this week to share what I've accomplished and I'll also share a little more of my goal for getting and staying current!!

A Blog Auction for the Boersma's Adoption

As I've mentioned a few times, my husband plays guitar in a group called Alive!.  It is a Christian group that travels to area Churches for full concerts as well as Praise and Worship Services.

Alive! Website

One of the singers, Jill, and her husband are in the process of adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia.  Jill's sister, Betsy, is also in the group and has created a blog where she is hosting a blog auction to help raise funds for the adoption.  She has received so many items from gracious donors and now needs bidders!  The auction opens today and runs through March 12th, 2011.  You can check out the full list of items and place your bids by checking out Bring my Nephew Home.  I have posted a small sample of the items below but there is so much more than just these few items!

There are several hats and other baby items up for bid - I love this Sock Monkey Hat!

Lia Sophia Jewelry

Bow Holder

Concert Tickets

As I said, that is just a sneak peak - head over to the Auction Site and check out all of the items available. 

Happenings in the House!

We had a wonderful week with lots of little things thrown in for good meause - a new car, a family fun day, a little bit of the stomach flu (ok that isn't so wonderful LOL)!  So . .. here's some pictures from the Happenings in this House this past week.

 On Tuesday, we made a trip to the doctor for Nate to have a check-up.  Both boys loved playing in the sad little play house that is in the corner. 

 Than from there, we headed to the dealership to check on a car for Darryl . This is what he ended up getting - a 1995 Grand Am.  It is actually really nice and is in better condition than a lot of newer cars.  He's pretty happy with it (and so am I!)

 Ummm .. Just Josh :-) LOL

 If you have followed me for long, you will start to see a pattern with this boy and his PJ's.  I think I know what he is going to be when he grows up.  Can you guess?  I say a life guard - he likes to take his clothes shirt off.  What where you thinking??

 Darryl had an audience while he shaved on Thursday morning.  Than, Josh got to use aftershave and brush his teeth with dad.  He was pretty excited to be part of the whole process.

 Before you go any further in this post - take a real good look at those baby curls; all of that adorable fine sweet hair . . . .mullet and all.

Because . . .. Nate got his first haircut on Thursday. And he D.I.D. N.O.T like it LOL  Wow.  He was screaming so hard he broke into a sweat. And so did we !!!  I was singing all kinds of songs and Darryl was clapping his hands but it was all to no avail.

 How sad is that super adorable face???

 And there's the new haircut - such a little boy!!

 Our next stop on our family day was the Golden Coral for lunch - it was a buffet place that Darryl had wanted to try.  Josh loved it because he got to pick out his own food. 

 Nate decided he loves onion rings LOL

 Than we finally made it to the Children's museum for the first time and the boys loved it.  We were there for well over two hours and they weren't ready to go!

 Josh wasn't into fishing but he used the fishing poles and wood blocks as drums.  We were pretty impressed and he went from one log to the next keeping perfect rhythm.

 And, of course, he found the train set.

 This was one of Nate's favorites - it is like a giant Light-n-Bright.  He did great at putting the pegs into the wall too.

 He also liked the elevator. 

 How Cute is that kid???

 Hahaha - we were "sneezing" and knocking down the towers we built.  I laughed so hard at Josh which made him laugh even harder.

And I'll end with this one . .. this is how I found him this morning . . .the pattern continues :-)

Hope you all had a wonderful week too :-)

Creative Memories Spotlight

In this weeks spotlight I want to show you a few of the bundles that are available right now.  This is a great way to get the product that you want for a lesser price. 

Bundles of Joy - Little Boy

The first bundle includes this new "Baby Boy" 12x12 album.  If you purchase this album along with 2 packs of white pages and 2 packs of page protectors, the cost is only $62.00.  The retail price of those items would be $83.00. 

The second bundle is a great addition to the above scrapbook or for any scrapbook you are working on now!

The Rugged Baby Boy Arrival pack and . .. .

The Rugged Baby Boy Celebrate Additions can be purchased together for $18.00 and you will also get the Sky Blue Dual-Tip Pen for Free.  This bundle would retail for $21.75. 

Personally, I am so glad that they have come out with some new boy items that are a little more "rugged" looking.  I prefer the more muted colors.  Both of the above Addition packs are also available digitally for both the PC and MAC Versions of the Creative Memories Digital Software.

Bundles of Joy - Little Girls

There is also a bundle deal with the new Baby Girl album as well - again, purchase the album, 2 sets of white pages and 2 sets of page protectors for $62.00 (regular retail is $83.00)

And there are also two Baby Girl Additions Packs that, when bundled, includes the Pink Dual-Tip Pen free for $18.00 (A $21.75 value)

The Fabulous Baby Girl Arrival Pack and . . .

and the Fabulous Baby Girl Celebrate Pack

Both of these packs are also available for the PC and MAC digitally to use with the Creative Memories Software.

The Nancy O'Dell Hummingbird Hope Bundle


This pack includes:  The Hummingbird 12x12 Hope Album; 12x12 page protectors; Hummingbird 12x12 paper and photo mat pack; Hummingbird Tape Runner; Black Duel-Tip Pen and Expressions of Life Vellum Accents.  The price of this bundle is $84.25 (valued at $92.25)

You can access these products as well as all of the other Creative Memories Products through my personal Website.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Thank you and have a creative day :-)