Cookies and Buttons and Hot Dogs, oh my!

I had a very productive food – related weekend. I’m having a fiesta type thing on Wednesday evening. I’ll be having several peoples over to my house for a jewelry party. If anyone that’s reading this wants to come, please do so, I don’t discriminate! This week is going to be a busy one for me, and don’t worry folks, I’ll be blogging the whole thing for your excitement. So because I don’t have that much time this week to be making the treats for the night, I decided to get a jump on things and make them today. Also, I’m telling you about the food we made for Sunday dinner – a great accomplishment! Here we go.

On my beloved Pinterest, I found a recipe recently to make the JDawgs secret sauce. So, finally on Sunday, I decided to make it. I had all the ingredients, and it was so simple to make! Here’s the recipe:

¾ Cup ketchup
¾ Cup brown sugar
¼ Cup honey
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp onion powder
Combine ingredients in a saucepan

Heat to just boiling on medium heat.

Drizzle over your favorite grilled hot dogs.

Enjoy!

Yum! It’s actually really good! It’s not quite exactly the recipe, it’s a little thicker, but it tastes just like it and its super good and sticky, like the sauce is. So good.

I made cookies for my Wednesday shindig. I tried one and it was hard, though, so I don’t know if I’ll be using them.

I made Kiss buttons. When I found the recipe for this, they said to use Hugs instead of Kisses, but I don’t like Hugs, so I just used what I liked.
Recipe:
You’ll need: Square pretzels, Hershey’s Hugs or Kisses (depending on your preference) plain M&M’s. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the pretzels on there, top them with the Kisses.

Bake for 4-6 minutes until the chocolate is shiny and soft but not melting – they need to still hold their shape. Carefully place the M&M in the center of each hug and press down to spread the chocolate. Allow to cool completely. Enjoy!

So I had a pretty busy day, food-wise. But thank goodness, I only have about 1 more thing to bake, and then I’ll be totally ready. I’ll blog about those later!

I've been working on IKEA...all the live long day...

I am making all sorts of changes to my house right now. I have a shindig on Wednesday (details to come!) so this is the perfect excuse for me to get things finished. Husband spent all day painting the last tiny bit of hallway/ceiling, and I decided to put together all the IKEA furniture I bought. I started the day bright and early with making myself this bookshelf:

Nice, eh? When we first moved in, I brought a billion books, games, DVD’s, etc, and Husband brought…well, himself. And some clothes. Finally a couple of weeks ago, out came all his stuff. Apparently, it was all hiding at a friend’s house, and he finally brought it. It required us to get a new bookshelf for all his books, but at least now I don’t just think he’s a drifter, going to kill me after we’ve been together for a while. So after putting together the bookshelf, I populated it with our books. You can tell the difference between mine and his books: my books are awesome and fun, great to read and his are all…educational? That’s ok, I’ll stick with my own stuff.
After the shelf cleaning and putting away of things, we got to work on the new chairs I bought. My house has only 6 places to sit in the front room, and (fingers crossed!) more people than that will show up. So I bought some cheapie chairs from IKEA, a little assembly required. They didn’t take that long to put up. Here’s some in the process:

And here it is, all done.

I chose red and black chairs, to match the colors of the kitchen. Like that matters in a chair. But with these chairs, the couches, and some barstools from the kitchen, I feel confident that I can provide seating for those that come to party.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted. And for some reason, my knees got all tore up during the day of putting things together.

Look how sad they look, all red and sore. They’re still a little sore today. Luckily, I rarely have to get on my knees during working hours, so I think they’re healing.

And there it is. My day of assembling, cleaning, and organizing. I feel pretty good about all that I accomplished, but boy am I glad it's over!

Foto Friday

COME ON!

How cute is that?

Mini Corndog Muffins

I have again, found a recipe on Pinterest to make. Mini Corndog Muffins. Yum! I should have included a picture of how they were supposed to look on here, but I didn’t. But I’ll show you my pictures, and they will suffice. The recipe for this is impossibly easy, so I’ll just explain. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use a cooking spray and coat a mini muffin pan. I used the box of Jiffy Cornbread Muffin mix, which is so easy. Cut a hot dog into 6 1-in pieces. Follow the instructions on the box to make the mix, and put a tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Insert a hot dog piece into the middle of the batter. Cook for 18 minutes. Let sit in muffin pan for 5 minutes, then remove and enjoy as you would a regular corndog!


Ok, there’s the recipe, and now, here are my pictures. This is what they looked like going into the oven:

And here they are after I cooked them:

 

And now, the issues. I don’t know what I did wrong, but getting these little suckers out of the pan was freaking ridiculous. I don’t know if I didn’t spray enough or what, but holy heck. This is what they looked like after my attempts to get them out of the pan:

So yes, they were tricky to eat, but still delicious. I enjoyed, and totally recommend them for everyone!

My Dinner with Zeke

Last night, I went to dinner at my brother and sister-in-law’s house. We had a little BBQ, they, us, and their son, Zeke, who you guys were introduced to a little bit ago. This post is basically a recap of Zeke’s antics – he is the craziest little kid ever. As soon as we sat down, he asked if I wanted to see his sunglasses. Well, of course I did. And naturally, snapped a picture.

Pretty snazzy. Of course, then, I wanted to get a picture of the 2 of us, since I had my glasses as well. After the previous picture was taken, he ate the chip in his hand. It was a jalapeno chip, which he didn't know, and his mouth was burning. It was sad and funny at the same time.

These are our serious faces, because we’re too cool for school. His is better than mine. Then dinner started, and he was just such a card during it. As he was talking, I kept thinking that I should write this all down, because I’d forget it, but then I was like, there’s no way I’ll forget this stuff! And of course, come this morning, I can’t even remember the funny things he said. Dang it! It was funny, that’s all I can remember. He kept drinking his soda, and then spitting it back into the cup. I don’t know why, he just kept doing it. I caught a picture at some point.

Of course, he’s laughing, because he thinks its hysterical. He kept trying to talk over everyone, of course, and his stories didn’t make a lot of sense, but he thought they were hysterical, and would laugh for like, 10 minutes. He gave me a tour of the house, making sure to show me the bathroom, in case I needed to use it at some point. I thought that was a nice touch. When he showed me to his toy room, he opened the door and said “Toy Room!” with a little fanfare, which was very nice. We went inside at some point, after dinner, and Husband put on a Spongebob Snuggie he found in the house. Of course I had to take a picture of it.

Fancy! During the conversations inside, Zeke went from person to person, brushing our hair. I don’t even know why, he just did it. Finally, he (and his parents) walked us back to our home, and Zeke rode his scooter. He was very speedy. We ran into some neighborhood hubbub, an elderly man in our neighborhood had some sort of accident, so the ambulance and fire trucks were there, and a neighborhood gathering of sorts happened near the outside of the cul-de-sac. Zeke found a little girl about his age, and she had a scooter as well. They had scooter races all around the cul-de-sac, and did for a few minutes, until an accident occurred. She, somehow, fell off the scooter, and scrapped up her forehead, knees, and hands. She was only wearing a tiny swimsuit, so more skin to be exposed to the concrete, frowny face. But that quickly put an end to all shenanigans, and the group dispersed.



So there it was, my dinner with Zeke. I’m sure that with him living so close to me, there’ll be more of these, so look forward to the whole series!

A Carnival, a Carnival

I've never been one to go to ward events. Of course, I've only been in a singles ward for things, but still. I never went to any ward activities, and while I did go to FHE's, it was only when the activity was a fun one that I went, never for the service projects or boring-sounding ones. I know that's not what you're supposed to do, but I'm just not that into doing the boring stuff. But with the move into this house a half a year ago, Husband and I decided that we'd be going to ward activities, and trying to be as active as we could. Now, this was a valiant effort. We went to the ward Christmas party, but we only stayed long enough to bring our assigned food and eat dinner. And then there have been a few party-type events since then that we've had plans during, and couldn't make it. Today, there was such an event, and finally, we made it!
Husband was originally supposed to go out of town this weekend. But then he woke up not feeling well, so he didn't actually go. So I dragged him to go to our wards event - the YW Camp Fundraiser Carnival. I know, that's just what you should do when someone isn't feeling well, right, drag them to such an event? But he wasn't like, sick, he just had some odd pains. (not his appendix, I asked. That's the only pain I know of in a specific area) So we go to the carnival, and I feel a little out of place, because we don't have any kids, which is mostly what the carnival was aimed at - bringing your kids to have a good time. Husband was mad, he really didn't want to be there, but I didn't want to go alone, because that just seemed crazy. So we just kinda...hung out for a bit...walking around...looking at stuff. We shared a slice of pie, bought tickets, and surveyed the land. As we walked by a game, a fellow ward member started chatting with us, and asked if we wanted to play the game. Originally we resisted, but then we got a little change of heart, and we played. The game was Ping Pong Relay (I think, I don't remember a name) and it went as such: You and a challenger (so, me and Husband) each get a ping pong ball. Starting at a line, you use your breath to blow the ball across the finish line, and hopefully stay in your lane. Of course, the game is meant for little breaths and little people. We finished the game quickly, with bruised knees, and a lot of laughs. My ball went out of bounds once, but I was told I could quickly guide it back in. So when I tried to gently put it back into play, it accidentally crossed double lines of play and knocked out Husband's ball. So I win! And not by cheating, despite what you might hear.
After the Relay, we made our way through the other games. We did ring toss, beanbag toss, Bingo, horseshoe toss, a water shooting game, and the balloon animals. Husband got a sword, and I got a purple elephant, since that's what color elephants are. That's what I tried to convince the kid standing in line behind me, but I don't think he believed it. Here is the elephant:

Snazzy, eh? I appreciated the work put into him. Then we hit up other booths, the photo booth (which, the pictures of that will be to die for, I can just feel it. I'll put them on here once we get them from the photographer) and we also watched a Candy Cannon, which is exactly what it sounds like. Its kind of like an exploding pinata that shoots a far distance. Glorious. I just realized I should have got a picture of that, but oh well. In case you're wondering, yes, we were the only adults playing these games. Oh well.
After the Candy Cannon, there was about 20 minutes left of the carnival. Originally, we had intended to stay 30 minutes, but I think we were there for about 90...whoops!
As things were winding down, we started a children-wide balloon-sword fight in the middle of the gym/carnival. And yes, we were the only adults in this fight. As I didn't have a balloon sword, I was mostly just standing there, clutching my elephant while eating my ice cream cone. My nephew, Zeke, came up and asked for my elephant. I was suspicious, and I said I didn't want him to hurt him. He assured me he wouldn't, so I handed it over. HE DISMANTLED IT! What a tiny jerk! So I thanked the carnival gods that there was still 10 minutes left, bought another ticket, and hopped in line at the balloon stand. I got another elephant balloon, but this time, orange.

Looking good, eh? We then took our leave, and came home. We emptied our pockets of all of our stuff we won, which was mostly Frooties and rings that didn't even go halfway down our pinkies. I should have taken a picture, I'm just realizing, but oh well again. So, there it is. Our ward carnival experience, which was a lot of fun. Husband even had a good time, despite his reluctance to come along. I don't really mind that we were the only adults playing and having a great time, but I wonder what the other adults thought, if it made them want to join in the fun. Maybe next time, they will!

A Hatless Bird

Well, friends, this is a sad day. After 2 days of the hat being on our new stuffed pheasant friend, the hat is off. I suppose today is the day the owner noticed that the hat was on. And instead of finding it funny and leaving it on, the hat is off. It's next to the bird, on a little statue-type thing that's on the desk, but sadly, our friend is hatless. But lets not be too sad about this, and don't worry, friends. I have other plans for this. This is far from over.

Fancy Bird

I don’t know that I would classify myself as a prankster, but I do enjoy a good prank every now and then. The latest one I’ve pulled is a doozy.
There’s a guy (who I actually don’t know) that works in my building. He has a stuffed pheasant on his desk. I see it every time I walk past his office. Since the first day I saw it, I’ve had a really strong desire to put a hat on it. Ideally, I wanted to get a top hat for it, and add a monocle, to make it a really fancy bird. For weeks now, I’ve been plotting this. Mostly I was trying to figure out where I could get the stuff to make this happen. Finally, I went to Hobby Lobby, I figured they had doll stuff there, so I could get something to make my dreams happen.
I went there over the weekend, and was sad to discover that there were no top hats or monocles. Come on! How is there nobody that wants to make tiny fancy dolls? Alas, I had to change my plan. I, instead, chose this hat:

It’s pretty chill, but I still like it. So finally, yesterday, it happened. Chelle and I were walking downstairs, for a drink, and we saw the office was empty. So I ran back to my desk, grabbed the tiny hat, and ran back to the office. Adrenaline running, I hurried and climbed up, put the hat onto the bird, and stepped back to admire my handiwork, as Chelle kept watch. We didn’t want to be caught, of course! So I hurried and took a picture, and we left. As soon as we walked away, and I was looking at the picture, I noticed it was blurry – in the excitement, I shook while taking it. So on the way back, again with Chelle as guard, I slowed down and took a better picture. And now, I present to you, Slightly Less Fancy Bird:

Genius! I don’t know that the bird’s owner will ever find out it’s me, but if he does, I don’t think it’ll matter. If he finds this anything other than funny, it’s probably best if we aren’t friends anyway. But hopefully he sees it and laughs. I laugh literally every time I walk past it.

A Second Original

Good news, everyone! I finished my second card! That’s right. With 25 days to spare, I have finished both of my cards! Woooo! There’s not really a lot of things to say about the card here, so I’ll just tell. Of course, I had help from Chelle yet again (someday I’ll be able to do something crafy without the help, but for now, I’ll stick with getting the help I need).
Anyhoo, this is my girl card (so it’s purple, see? That’s a girl color) and I used my trusty Cuttlebug that I got for Christmas from Chelle to make it. The Cuttlebug is what I used to make the bigger white piece here – it has the embellishments on it, if you can see it. So here’s the Cuttlebug at work –

And here’s my finished card!

And, because I did it last time, here’s all 10 cards:

Looking good, eh? I’m pretty proud of it. It took me all day to make my 10 cards yet again, but the time, it was a much smoother operation, so I feel better that I’m getting better at it. I didn’t really have anything to count my time, so I can’t say exactly, but it did take me quite a while. I assume that 10 cards will always take me a long time, which is fine, but I’d like to feel productive during the hours, not always fretting about if what I’m doing is wrong or right. I felt better about this group of cards so I feel good about them all. And now I’m looking forward to sharing with others, and seeing what they came up with as well!

Storage Creations!

Even though I just redid my scrapbook storage on Sunday, I have once again changed it up. It occurred to me a couple of days ago, that when I moved everything upstairs, I neglected to move all of my homemade card boxes as well. I was looking at my storage place, and couldn’t figure out where I’d be putting them. So after much deliberation (can’t believe how much work I put into something no one but me even remotely cares about) I decided just to get another storage cube, a shelf for separations, and go with it. So last night, made a quick jaunt over to Target, and got another one. I set it up (Ok, Husband helped, I can never get the pins (to connect the storage cubes and make them never separate from each other) to go in, I can’t push them all the way through), got the shelf put in, and voila! I have myself a new card shelf. Observe!
Very lovely, yes? I know. And while I do think it’s weird, having an odd number of storage cubes, so far, I have nothing to put in another one, so I’ll have to wait until I obtain more supplies before I get another. I don’t want an empty one; it’d be the most weird. And I’m sure when I get more items, and add to my structure, I’ll take more pictures and post them. Because, you know, this type of thing is so thrilling. *wink*

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Pinterest is my downfall. All right, that might be a little dramatic, but oh heck. There are too many recipes on there to try, too many cute things to frame and put on the walls, too many fun projects that I want to do. So, naturally, I keep saving all of these recipes…and hairstyles…and pictures…and everything for a time when I can justify using it. Luckily for everyone, such a time has happened today!

Yesterday, Chelle and I were talking about tonight’s Stamp & Chat, and who the hostess was. (As I’ve said before, the hostess has to bring treats) Chelle mentioned that she was the hostess. Well, I had found this recipe for Mini Oreo Cheesecakes on Pinterest a couple of days ago, and have been dying to make them. So, I asked if I could bring the treats, that way, I can make them and enjoy them, but have a purpose to make them, so that they’ll get eaten. Otherwise, they’ll stay in my house until I eat them all in a shame spiral, huddling in the corner of the kitchen. It’s just not pretty.

So I made these last night, and I took a couple of pictures of the step-by-step stuff, and I’ll include the recipe, of course. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of them after I got them out of the muffin pans, but I think you guys can deal with that. So here’s what my batter looked like:

And here’s what the cheesecakes look like when I took them out of the oven:

And here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

22 Oreos: 16 left whole, and 6 coarsely chopped
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature (Neufchatel is fine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 275 F.
Line 12 standard muffin tins and 4 ramekins (or 16 muffin tins, if you have them)
with paper liners.
Place 1 whole Oreo in the bottom of each lined cup.
Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium.
Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
Pour in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, scraping down
the sides of the bowl after each addition.
Beat in the sour cream and salt.
Stir in chopped cookies by hand.
Pour the batter into the prepared tins, filling each almost to the top.
Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, 22-25 minutes.
Cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, on a wire rack,
and then transfer to a plate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours

See! Super easy. I sadly didn’t get a chance to try them last night, because I took them out of the oven at like, 10:05, and got them into the fridge by 10:30. But I had some of one for breakfast, and I felt pretty happy with it. I just hope other people like it, at the S&C tonight. Fingers crossed, everyone!

Miscellaneous Monday

I have been speaking many times of my craftings. When I’m doing them alone (Not in the craft club, is what I’m saying) I do them upstairs, while watching TV. I originally didn’t anticipate doing this many crafty things, so when we moved into the house, I set up my scrapbook stuff downstairs. I figured, I have a card table set up downstairs, I can do my stuff down there away from everything, but if I stayed downstairs when I scrapbooked, I would never be upstairs! So after many months now of scrapping upstairs, and going downstairs when I needed something, I finally moved my scrapbook storage stuff upstairs. Then it looked slightly uneven, because I only had 3 storage cubes, so I bought another one to even things out, and hold everything. Finally yesterday, I put together the final piece of the puzzle, put my Cuttlebug into it, along with some paper, snapped a pic, and was pleased with the results. Here’s what it looks like now, I like it. It was Easter everyone! Yesterday, we again celebrated the lovely holiday of Easter. To celebrate, the Easter Bunny brought Husband a pretty cute basket (with the cutest baby chick ever, I should have taken a picture) filled with all sorts of treats, specifically tailored for Husband, but sadly, I think the Bunny forgot I lived there too! :( At least I got some candy from the Bunny that lives in my mom's neighborhood, thank goodness! We sat with my nephew Zeke again yesterday, and boy was he on fire once again. He was actually pretty quiet…until about halfway through the meeting, when he was playing with my phone, saw a picture of someone, and said (really loudly) “What a hottie!” We all died laughing when he said it, and hurried to shush him. It’s unfortunate; he always makes me laugh during sacrament meeting. I really need to be better at holding it in. With yesterday being Easter, he was dressed so dapper. I included a picture, so that you could see it too. I know everyone here has probably seen this, but I went to McDonalds on Saturday, and since I wasn’t very hungry, I got a kids meal. I so do love the size of the French fries in the kids meal. I’ve seen it before, but every time I see it, it just gives me the giggles. I took a picture of it, in my hand, and hoped that you can realize the smallness of it. I still enjoyed all 8 French fries that came.

Foto Friday

I love The Hunger Games. The book is phenomenal, and I’d been looking forward to the movie for months and months, so of course when it came out, I went the first night. (Technically second, I guess, because I didn’t go at midnight on Thursday, I went on Friday, but oh well) The movie was really good too. It was emotional (yes I cried), and while the movie does have an awful subject (kids killing each other) they didn’t dwell on it too much, or show you too much violence, which was something I was concerned about.

The movie had some really good lines, but there’s one line in particular that just made me (and everyone else) laugh really hard. For those who haven’t seen the movie, or read the book, I’ll set up a scene for you. (And for those who have…sorry) Katniss and Peeta have been chosen to be the Tributes for their district – District 12. They’ve boarded a train to take them to The Capitol, where they’ll prepare for the upcoming Games by training, etc. On the way there, they’re trying to get some help from their mentor, Haymitch, who is less than forthcoming with details. As they’re eating breakfast, and he’s just giving off smart remarks instead of helping them, Katniss grabs a knife from the table, and stabs the table near his hand. (I wasn’t sure if she was trying to stab him, or just the table to scare him, but that’s not really the point.) Anyway, after she does this, Effie (their Capitol “babysitter” I guess you could say) looks over at them and exclaims, “That is mahogany!” It might not be too funny if you haven’t seen it, but oh man did I die hearing it.

This brings us to the Foto of the week. Some child somewhere got detention for saying the same thing – apparently a student dropped a book, and little Timothy yelled ‘That is mahogany!’ and apparently the teacher didn’t appreciate the humor, and gave him detention. I could never be a teacher, because if that happened in my class, I would have just laughed at the kid and slapped him a high five. But keep on keepin’ on, Tim. The world is a better place with people like you in it.

Thoughtful Thursday

I don’t really have a blog entry per se, but I have a few random thoughts going around in my head, so now you’ll get to enjoy them too,

I am sick of the freeway. I’m sick of construction, I’m sick of it taking forever to get anywhere. Last night, on the way to the RSL game, it took us 35 minutes to get onto the freeway. Technically, 45 minutes, but 10 of those minutes were spent driving from the house to the freeway exit, and then the 35 were spent just trying to get on there. We were almost late to the game.

At the RSL game, there was a point where we all stood up, to cheer. I was cheering, and happened to look down, and the lady in front of me was nursing her child. I got to see her boob.
:( I didn’t care for that very much.

Also at the game (what is this, RSL edition night?), one of the players wasn’t playing, so he got to sit in the stands and watch with the rest of us. I so badly wanted to get my picture taken with him, and a handshake, but I tried to work my courage up all night and it never came. I never got to say hello. :(

I did, however, get to be on the jumbotron, which was fun. I was singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ when I was shown.

This morning, a few minutes into my shower, I got a bloody nose. Well, I couldn’t just stop showering and get some tissues, so I just let it flow as I hurried to shave my legs. (It’s skirt Thursday, after all) It looked like the shower scene from Psycho, I was afraid for my health.

My scouts are warming up to me. Unfortunately, the ones that are warming up to me are the ones that leave Webelos in a month. Dang it, I can never win!

I’m 80% sure they gave me a child’s Scout shirt for my shirt. This was made even more certain when the leaders asked me the other day if that really was the shirt they gave me. Uh…yes. And it barely fits, I feel like I should get one that fits adults. I’m looking into it.

I guess that's all I'm thinking for today. Not a whole lot, but thrilling thoughts indeed.

Chocolate Bark

I found a recipe for this in a People magazine the other day. I altered it a little. The original recipe is dark chocolate, and while I love dark chocolate, you don’t find many people that do. So I changed it to milk chocolate, so that more people would eat it. And it is still delicious. And it’s incredibly easy, which is a plus.

Chocolate Bark

2 12-oz pkgs chocolate morsels
1 cup Craisins
1 cup almonds (sliced, slivered, halved, however you’d like it.)

Place morsels in microwave-safe bowl. Cook for 90 seconds, then stir, and heat again for 30 seconds. (This amount of time was enough to melt mine, but if yours needs a little more work, heat in 30 second intervals until it’s melted.) Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet (12x15 is a good size, its pretty standard) and then pour the melted chocolate until it covers the whole sheet. Sprinkle the Craisins and almonds on top immediately, and press into the chocolate a little. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours. Break into pieces. And here’s what mine looked like while the chocolate was still warm and melty:

And here’s what it looked like in pieces (in my Tupperware, of course)

Delish!

A New Frontier

I just joined a card club. That’s right! I joined a card club. Of course, it’s Chelle’s card club, which is helpful, because I need to be walked through all my card makings. This is the first time I’ve ever made a card on my own. I’ve only ever made them at Stamp & Chat, when everything is already set up and ready for me to put it together. So I had to do my own measurements, and choose my own design and everything. Needless to say, I was terrified of this process. I’m not creative on my own, I have to have other people do a creative thing first, and them I’m good at copying them. So after much deliberation, I chose a card. I got a stamp, chose my colors, and came up with….this!
Not too shabby, eh? Of course, I needed remote help, and kept texting Chelle pictures of my card in progress and asking for help/advice. Finally, she helped me get to the end project. And here’s the inside, which I think is amazing:

So cheery! I loved this stamp set, full of tiny cute dinosaurs and fun sayings. I started making my cards during the first session of conference, and after working through both sessions (and listening, of course!) I finished. At 4:00. It took me a full four hours to make 10 cards.

Of course, this means I’m halfway done, I still have to make 10 “girl” cards, but I’m hopeful for the second batch. And I’m hoping, so much, that this second set is easier than the first. I can’t guarantee that at all, but I’m going to have a positive outlook. I'll be sure to post my other cards -as soon as I have many hours to dedicate to it, just in case.

Blocks O Easter

I tell you, with the blogging topics I have, it’s either feast or famine. I’ll have nothing to talk about for a while, and then all of a sudden, I have a billion things to talk about. This weekend happened to be the latter – I have a few things to share. I’ve blogged before about my new Craft Club that we created – we being Chelle, Mama Gren, and I. We did the LUCK letters in March, and decided to do Easter blocks this month. We changed up the format a little, and had the blocks be a little different. And instead of having shamrocks, we have eggs, of course. Here are the projects as we’re working on them:

And here they are, set up on my table:

And here they are, set up on my decorating place (landing? Connecting wall? I don’t know what to call this area!):

They weren’t too hard, yay! It took a bit of time, of course, but I really like how they turned out. And I really like that I can decorate even a bit of my house for every holiday. I can’t wait for May!