4-20-09

I had a little creative streak this weekend. I found this great vintage image at http://www.scrapologie.blogs.com/ and I love it. She has some fun images on her blog. I am loving vintage images lately. I also used the CPS sketch for this week.



I created these two items for challenges at the Just4Keeps forum. Amber and I took that picture of ourselves on the ferry when we were going to Disney World when I visited her in December. We had so much fun.

I love using orange if you haven't been able to tell. This card was fun and fast. Except for the buttons it was completely made out of scraps. Even the white cardstock I used to make the card base was a scrap that was laying on my desk.

Now for those of you who read my blog to see what is going on with Levi and not just to see what creative exploits I have been up to. Levi had a rough week last week. He was really fussy and would get himself worked up and start breathing funny. I was not very excited about this and we had to have a couple extra visits from his nurse. But after getting some medicine in him and a little extra loving he was back to normal by the weekend. Thank goodness. He still is getting me up a couple times during the night, but I think I can learn to live with that. Here is a sweet pic of him Sunday at church. He is wearing an adorable t-shirt my friend Peta made him. I think he looks rather dapper and I can't wait to scrapbook that picture.

Fresh Strawberry Cake

With spring starting strawberry prices are great and this makes me happy because I love strawberries. With that in mind Steven and I made this amazing cake last night for our friends Brent and Marybeth. It was so stinkin good I just had to share. I found the recipe in a church cookbook from Arkoma First Baptist Church. It is my friend Sarah's grandma's recipe. Got love recipes that get their start like that.

Fresh Strawberry Cake

1 box white cake mix
1 box strawberry jello
1 cup oil (we used applesauce)
4 eggs
1 big cup crushed fresh strawberries

Mix all ingredients well and bake at 350 for time said on cake box. (I actually had to cook the cake for 45 minutes)

Icing
1 lb powdered sugar
3/4 of a stick of butter
1/2 cup of crushed fresh strawberries

Mix icing ingredients well. Pour over cake while cake is still hot. Take fork and punch holes in cake and let icing soak in.

This recipe actually takes a pound of strawberries between the cake and the icing. We capped the strawberries and then mashed them with my potato masher.

This was so yummy. I am pretty sure they might serve this cake in heaven.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter

Well, I hope everyone had a great Easter. We had a lot of fun. My parents came up to visit and brought my nephew Logan. Unfortunately, they did not get here in time to go to the Easter Egg hunt at church so Logan had his own personal egg hunt in our front yard. Uncle Steven hid the eggs and then Logan went to town hunting. He is so sweet, he took all the candy and put it in my candy dish so he could share. He isn't really much of a candy eater. He prefers tomatoes (I am not joking).



Sunday morning we all went to church together. Levi wore his overalls Miss Marie got him for Christmas and his new cowboy boots. He did not wear the cowboy had to church. It would have been hard to get that hat in his car seat. We just borrowed it for the picture. He is pretty stinkin cute isn't he.



Here is a close up of the boots.





Hope everyone else had an equally great weekend. I should be off to pick up my house. We are having company for dinner this evening.

4-1-09

Well we are busy busy busy around here. Can't wait for Easter. That is our coming out date, by that I mean when Levi and I start getting to come out of the house. I still don't take him out tons of places because it is hard and he is getting heavy to lug around, but we will get to start going to church on Sunday mornings again. I am so excited about that. He has a super cute little overall outfit our friend Marie gave Levi for Christmas that he is going to wear with his new cowboy boots. Yes I will definitely take some pictures so everyone can see how super cute he is. He is starting to look like a little boy and not a baby anymore. :(

I have been doing a little crafty stuff here and there as usual. I finally finished the cart cover I was making for my niece so I feel free to do other projects now. I haven't figured out a good way to photograph the cart cover yet, when I do I will post a picture. I have been working on that thing forever it feels like.

Here is one of the cards I made for the Hippity Hop Easter class from Lisa Pace's blog

Steven thought I was silly with my sentiment, but I thought it was clever. Her stuff is so cute and fun to make.

This is a gift box I made. It is so simple and turns out so cute. You can get the template at the Got Crafts blog. I will definitely be making more of these. This one had a gift card in it for Steven's grandpa. His birthday was last week.

Around Christmas I picked up a new hobby, making jewelry. I wanted to make a few pieces for Christmas gifts. Now I am hooked. I have decided I like doing just about any craft project that I can finish in a couple hours. This is a bracelet I made for a friend's birthday. I am loving the pink and green color combo lately, as you can tell from my current blog colors.

I have a couple other things I have worked on, but they are either not finished or I just haven't taken a picture yet. We'll save those for another blog post. I did want to share a cool site I found the other day. It is called Simple Mom and she has some cool stuff on there. I was really impressed with her menu for the entire month of April and loved the discussion she posted about Facebook. Cool stuff, you should check it out.

I feel bad for leaving Steven out of my posts, but he is just up to his normal this time of year, getting ready for the Easter program at church. They always do such a great job with this program and I love that it is broken up in parts. It is kind of like a mini-series. Levi and I will be there with bells on. You should come too!

Well I should go get around and get started on the things I need to get done today.

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Baby's First Shoes

I did it! I finally found a pair of shoes I think Levi can wear. You have no idea how hard it has been for me to not be able to buy my baby shoes. I love shoes, but they are so rigid usually that you can't get them on his crooked little feet. So this week I orderd these for him this week from the Curious Workmanship Etsy shop I found.

Aren't they adorable. I love Etsy. You can find just about anything there. You can see on the right some of the things I have seen there that I think are super cool.

Other happenings at our house. I signed up to take another online crafting class. Lisa Pace is teaching one called Hippity Hop Easter Workshop. You should check out her blog. There is some cute stinkin stuff on there. I will post some of the projects I do as soon as I get some time to work on them.

As for Steven. I know I rarely talk about what is going on with him. Right now he is out in the living room playing Burnout Paradise and listening to the basketball games. Our internet has been acting up lately and so he has been spending some time getting that fixed. So here is to hoping the internet doesn't shut down in the middle of me posting this.

Well I guess I am off now. I am hosting a Scentsy party this evening so I should go finish getting ready for that.



Hope you are having a great weekend.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

OK so just a quick post before I go hit the shower and get my day started. (Yes I know what time it is.) My friend Brent posted this hilarious song on his blog this morning . You have got to go check it out. I was laughing so hard.

Well, I am off. I have tons of phone calls to make and a house in terrible need of a good cleaning.

Have a great day.

I know! I am going to have to start updating my blog more than once a month. I did update my header banner.

Let's see, what have I been up to the past few weeks.

I made these muffins for a friend's birthday. They were so good and I substituted applesauce for the oil and that makes them really healthy as well.

Orange Almond Streusel Muffins

Streusel Topping
1 tablespoon Original Bisquick® mix
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons sliced almonds
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Muffins
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening or cooking spray, or line muffin cups with paper baking cups. In medium bowl, mix 1 tablespoon Bisquick mix, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 2 tablespoons almonds. With fork, cut in butter until crumbly. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, mix orange peel, orange juice, 1/3 cup brown sugar, the oil, almond extract and egg. Stir in 2 cups Bisquick mix just until moistened. Stir in 1/4 cup almonds. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle with streusel topping.
3. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan to cooling rack. Serve warm.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Increase orange juice to 3/4 cup; decrease oil to 2 tablespoons. Bake 14 to 16 minutes.

I have done a few cards here and there and I made my friend Lisa a bracelet. Unfortunately I don't have time to post pics of everything right now because I have to to go run and take care of some Pampered Chef stuff. That is what I have been the most busy working on lately is Pampered Chef. I feel like I have shows all the time. Luckily none this week just stuff to deliver.

Hope you all are having a great day.