Tuesday, June 30, 2009

ice cream...

Who doesn't love ice cream?  We certainly do!!  Last summer we made our own ice cream several times...the quick and easy way - in a ziploc baggie (keep reading for the recipe)! se_buttons_layeredandpapered

Of course I had to take lots of pictures of the process...from the ingredients, to the shaking (and dancing, and goofing around), to the pouring out into bowls, to the adding of many various toppings and eating approaches.  Seriously, we had so much fun...and just thinking about it makes me want to do it again.  Tomorrow.  Yep, we're making ice cream tomorrow.

I just loved this Cosmo Cricket paper line - it just makes me happy...and that's why I used it for this spread!  (please ignore all of the magnets holding the pages onto the board for the photo...rainy days/dark clouds are not my friends for taking pictures of layouts!)

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I tried a couple of fun new techniques on this page too...here's a peek at one of them - covering buttons with patterned paper!  A little mod podge, some flat buttons, a sanding tool, and patience - that's all it takes to make your very own unique accents to coordinate perfectly with any patterned paper! :o)

P.S. Here's how to make the ice-cream...you know you want to...and it's the perfect 4th of July treat!!

Ice Cream in a Ziploc

What you'll need:

  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk or half & half
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 6 tablespoons rock salt
  • 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc) 
  • 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
  • Ice cubes
How to make it:
  1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
  2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
  3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
  4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
  5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!
Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

**You are going to want to dig out your winter gloves before making this...trust me...especially if you're making it with your kiddos...which means YOU will be shaking several bags of ice all by yourself! :o)

Monday, June 29, 2009

hello...

Do you love thickers as much as I do?  And how about glitter...are you a fan?  If you are, you're going to L-O-V-E the newest GLITTER THICKERS! :o)

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For a supply list and more info., visit the American Crafts Blog.

Have a happy Monday!  :o)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

we have a champ in the house...

Meagan's softball team has had a great season.  They have played hard and practiced a lot.  It all paid off at the tournament held on Tuesday night (finally...after being rained out for over a week).  They played a game at 6:30 - a nail-biter (it was all about the pitching) - and won.  So they advanced to the final game played at 8:15.  This game was much faster-paced and lots of fun to watch. 

The girls put their hearts into each and every play - and came out on top!  I completely forgot to get my camera out for the first game - and by the time I remembered to go and get it during the second game it was getting dark...so the pictures leave much to be desired, but I'm still glad we have them to document her big night! It was especially fun to have Grandpa and Grandma, some Uncles, an Aunt, and lots of cousins at her game - thanks for supporting her, guys!

 

 
 
 

woohoo Dodgers! :O)

somebody's been sleeping in my bed...

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apparently THREE "sombody's"

...and they are still there!!! 

monkeys.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

meal planner...

A couple of months ago, I had finally had it with dinner time.  I was tired of making a meal only to have each and every child turn up his or her nose and proceed to pour a bowl of cold cereal, pop in some toast, or grumble all night because they were hungry.  So I printed up a weekly calendar and let each of the older kids plan a week of meals - the catch was they could only list meals made at home (no eating out) and they had to eat whatever they planned.  It was actually quite successful - plus it made grocery shopping easier - simply because I knew what I was going to be preparing all week long - it wasn't a day-by-day thing. 

It was a complete coincidence that I was given an assignment to create a meal planner for the Making Memories blog.  (or was it?!?)  I put together this fun meal planner binder for the blog, and now we've been putting it to good use here at home! 

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There are several sections: menu calendar,

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shopping list,

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favorites (one page for each person to list their favorite meals),

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coupons, and recipes...

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I created the meal calendar and shopping list on the computer so I could just print out a blank sheet for each week.  I'll save the used pages in the binder to use in the future - an easy way to organize shopping lists for each week and have a menu to go along with it.  I'm already loving how organized I feel by using this system!  If you're interested in the calendar/shopping list, you can download my blank templates here just let me know (either by leaving a comment with your e-mail address or e-mailing me) and I'll send them to you - apparently, the link I had set up to download them isn't working right... 

Please check out the Making Memories Blog for more information and links to the supplies I used.

And if you have any fun recipes to share (especially for picky kids), I'd love to hear your ideas! 

Have a happy Tuesday! :o)

Saturday, June 20, 2009

rain, rain, go away...

I could hear him singing from where I was working in the kitchen.  I peeked around the corner to see this:

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He was standing on the front porch, under the overhang so he was protected from the rain that was falling, swaying back and forth singing the same phrase over and over again, "Rain, rain, go away.  Come some other day."  It was the cutest thing ever.  I hurried to grab the camera and took one picture (with weird settings) before he turned around and saw me.

I do agree with him though...enough with the rain already. 

I'm really ready for Summer...

9.4339811320566038113206603776226...

I'm fighting a sinus headache today...being lazy...sitting at the computer...and Seth (my five year old smarty pants) walks in and this is the conversation we had:

 

Seth:  What's the square root of 89?

Me:  I don't know.

Seth:  What did you do in high school, anyway??

 

hmmm...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

sick on her birthday...

She's been so excited for this big day...looking forward to turning 12...and she woke up early this am sick sick sick. 

Not a fun way to spend any day...especially your birthday!

She managed some smiles while she was opening her gifts this morning:

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And she did eat a little bit of her favorite breakfast (french toast):

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But we'll be putting off most of the celebrating (and the scheduled shopping trip) until tomorrow or the next day.

Darn it.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

an unbirthday page...

Do you remember the stack of pages I shared here?  I thought I'd start sharing some of those pages here on the old blogeroo...but not all at once...just randomly.

 

In honor of Meagan's birthday (which is tomorrow), I thought I'd share this birthday page - okay, it's an "un-birthday" page, but still...    

I used several of my new favorite products on this page...the new American Craft Rockabye thickers,

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Making Memories Giggle Kids stamps and embellishment 

(the flower stems are stamped and I also used a circle embellishment

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 - the butterfly on the green gingham circle),

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and loads of fun patterned papers that make me happy

Saturday, June 13, 2009

tonight's the big night...

I am so excited to be able to share a few of the projects I've created with the newest Papertrey Ink products - I've been waiting and waiting and tonight I finally get to share them!

Wouldn't you know that blogger is not letting me add images right now?  Seriously, if I had something boring to share, it'd be working just fine.

I'm going to go ahead and post my projects over in the Papertrey gallery, and then I'll come back here and try again...sheesh...I'm so sorry...

Hallelujah!  Blogger is cooperating and actually let me add the photos! woo hoo!

 

Strawberry Jam –

Just looking at this new set, Fruitful, made me want to break out the pectin and whip up some jam. Seriously. The berries, leaves, vines, and cute little sayings are perfect to jazz up your jars - and that's just the beginning...I can't wait to make some cards and layouts with these great fruitful images!

strawberry_jam_jar 

fruitful_jar1  fruitful_jar3

Supplies Used: (coming soon)

 

You Make Life Sweeter Card –

What could be sweeter than a set of cupcake stamps?!? I love all of the options in this set - I bet you could make hundreds of cupcakes and not have two alike...there are just so many fun elements in this set!

cupcake_card

I had so much fun stamping each layer of the cupcake separately and then putting them all together to create this yummy concoction.  I added stickles on top of the stamped sprinkles for extra yumminess. ;)

Of course, I had to break out my swiss dots embossing folder (my fave) and the sewing machine for this polka-dotted card too!

cupcake_card_closeup

Supplies Used: (coming soon)

 

Child of God Layout –

How can you NOT love a set called “Heavenly Medley”? The images are darling and the phrases and quotes are perfect for so many different kinds of projects. As soon as I saw this set, I knew I had to create this page with several of the stamps…love this!

baptism_layout 

heavenly_medley_layout2 

I stamped the "I am a Child of God" image onto yellow paper a few times and cut out all of the little tiny stars.  I added them to the title, the side title, and down at the bottom around the rainbow.

baptism_layout_rainbow

I stamped the rainbow image on four different colors of paper and cut each part of the rainbow out before layering it onto the tag.

baptism_layout_journaling

For my journaling, I included the words to my favorite baptism song:

"When I am Baptized"

You can hear it by clicking on the title...so sweet...I love it.

(be sure to click on "words and music" in the top left corner of the linked page)

 

baptism_layout_cuttitle

I cut this title (and the date) with my Silhouette - and I love it!  The font is really skinny, so I had to be careful when removing it and gluing it down...but I love that I was able to tie it in to the stamped image by using a very similar font...it's subtle, but completes the page.  The font I used for the title (and to type my journaling) is called "Little Days" and it's free too - woohoo!  You can download here.

Supplies Used: (coming soon)

 

I'll add supply lists and more information after the big reveal on the 15th! 

Until then, be sure to keep watching Nichole's blog for the big countdown party!!

Friday, June 12, 2009

giggle kids...

Yesterday, I was going through my e-mails and opened up one from Archivers.  Imagine my surprise when I found this inside:

6

Isn't this the cutest line ever?? 

I love how colorful and playful and just plain fun it is.  I knew a little bit about this line by Making Memories, but I didn't realize it was exclusively available at Archivers.  ANYWAY...See those cute boys on the four wheeler in that layout?  Mine.  All mine. :)

Here's a close-up of the layout...the picture I took before I sent it off.

 best_buddies_layoutb

The orange stars are stamped on white cardstock...and I love that you can see them peeking through from behind the strip of number paper.  Seriously - this is one of my favorite lines ever and I love that I was able to use it and then find it peeking back at me in a random e-mail! :o)

Thursday, June 11, 2009

once upon a weekend...

With Brad's job as crazy as it is right now, we think it's highly unlikely we'll be taking a summer vacation this year.  With that in mind, we are hoping to take several SHORT (1-2 day) getaways.  So this is the first (hopefully of several) mini vacations...a weekend in St. George.

We left after Brad got off work on Friday - Zach threw an absolute tantrum when Brad got in the driver's seat.  To avoid the wailing, we switched places and I drove.  All the way.  It's been a long time since I've driven that far.  We arrived at the house just in time to eat a late dinner and relax in front of the tv's until we fell asleep.

Saturday morning we headed to Snow Canyon.  We had rented scooters specifically for this reason...and it was amazing!  We drove to the top of the trail and Brad took the scooters and the big kids on a long, gorgeous ride:

060609_snowcanyon_scooters

In the meantime, the little boys and I drove back down the canyon to one of our favorite spots:

060609_snowcanyon_sand1 

And here we spent some quality time with our new Target sand toys:

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Which were quickly replaced by new and improved toys...aka sticks:

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After a fun ride, Meagan and Josh joined us in the sand:

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Brad continued to ride the electric scooter for quite a while as we played and got COVERED in sand.  Seriously, it was everywhere!

Brad returned and I was able to take the scooter for a little ride.  When I had filled my thrill quota for the day, riding back and forth on a short piece of trail (because I'm a chicken and I'm afraid of the hills and dips), we decided to go on a little hike.  The little guys had differing opinions as to which way we should go:

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We drove to another favorite spot of ours - I don't even know what it's called, or if it has a name...but we go often.

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and again...without the ring pops in our mouths:

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Both of the big kids took off in different directions - Josh went up and Meagan went down.  At precisely the exact same moment, they each yelled for me to take their picture...and neither knew where the other was.  Here's where they were:

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Meagan had no idea she was holding up her brother! :)

We had to check out all of the little holes and caves we could find:

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The kids walked and climbed and explored and hiked and hiked and hiked:

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Until they were so exhausted this one couldn't walk one more step:

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Monkey see, Monkey do:

 060609_hike7

She thought this chimney coming up out of a "cave house" was really cool and immediately walked over to lift up the cap and peek down.  That's when I told her it was actually a toilet:

 060609_hike8

I know, I'm hilarious.

We decided we were done.  I always seemed to be a few steps behind everyone.  Which is just fine, because then I can witness heart-warming scenes like this:

060609_hike11

After our morning/afternoon of hiking, we decided to go back to the house and relax for a while...but first we stopped at the theater to buy movie tickets.  We just had to see UP...and in 3-D, just because the glasses are so super cool:

   060609_up3d2_filtered

especially with buttery fingerprints all over them:

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and this little guy just couldn't hold still for a picture - he was way too excited!

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After we filled up on popcorn, candy, and rootbeer, we decided to wait a while for dinner, and headed back to the house again.

The big kids broke out the scooters:

while we let the little boys play at the great park that's right behind Mom & Dad's house:

060609_park1 060609_park2

Around 9:00, we headed to town for dinner and a late-night Target run...'cause it's hard to drive by a Target and not stop.

On Sunday, we got up and spent some more time on the scooters and at the park before getting the house cleaned up and getting ready to leave.  Of course, we had to stop by Grandma Jill's on the way home.

Zach had to feed the birds:

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Seth had to play in the dirt:

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Meagan and Josh had to relax and watch the humming birds:

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And Brad and I had to let Josh take our picture when he asked:

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Then we loaded up the van again, turned on a good movie for the kids, and headed home. 

It was a quick little vacation, but we crammed a lot of fun into that day and a half - and we can't wait to go again!