Proof

I always comment about how Rocklin is part child, part monkey. Well, today he proved my point. He earned himself a time-out (which he get for climbing up on my desk while I'm working and he knows better). I put him in his bed and told him I would come and get him out in 5 minutes. Well, about 2 minutes later, I hear a knocking on his door. I go in, and sure enough, he had climbed out of his crib! I put him right back in his crib and grabbed the camera so I could get this on tape. Looks like we'll be switching to the toddler bed a little earlier than I would have hoped! (And it probably doesn't help that I'm laughing at him while he's climbing out!!).

Divvy

So, my fabulous Sister-in-Law, Sarah, has started a new, fun project and has opened an etsy shop! She's making and selling these oh-so-cute-and-sassy cash-budgeting system organizers called Divvy Organizers. They can also be used for organizing bills, coupons, receipts, etc. I have one that she made for me (it's pink with green and yellow paisley accents....SO cute) and I adore it!! If you like to be organized (or if you're looking to get more organized), then I would highly recommend checking out her stuff. Her fabric choices are just beautiful and the quality is awesome. You won't be disappointed!

Front:
Inside:

Go check her out!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=8095150

http://www.divvyorganizers.blogspot.com/

Congrats...

...to AIMEE!

Aimee's name was randomly chosen (a.k.a. Rocklin drew a name out of a hat for me) to win the paper-crafts goody bag! Thanks to everyone who read my post and let me share my love of card-making!

Aimee - be looking for a package in your mailbox soon!

Sharing the {LOVE}

Hi everyone! A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that this Saturday, October 3rd is World Card Making Day! That is so exciting for me because I LOVE making cards! In honor of this fun little "holiday" I thought I'd Share the {love} and do a little giveaway on my blog!

First of all, let me share with you a few cards I made to celebrate.

This first one is a HAPPY BIRTHDAY card. As we all know, I love me some pink! This paper is from Basic Grey. Love the design of the paper and the pop of the bright pink ribbon! I added just a hint of glitter detail around the scalloped edges, but it's a bit hard to see in this photo.

Merry Christmas! Can you even believe that Christmas is only less than 3 short months away? I'm having a hard time getting excited about Halloween this year, so Christmas it is.

Again with the glitter - I added a fun red glitter snowflake as the focal point on this card. (And actually, the snowflake is a Christmas ornament that I picked up last year at Target).

I'm always in need of a good THANK YOU card, so I thought that would round out my cards. This paper is kind of fun - it's from a My Mind's Eye collection. I love the red and bright blue color combo.

And here's what I'm giving away! Just a random assortment of card-making supplies, including the latest copy of Paper Crafts magazine (which I LOVE and get a lot of inspiration from), a Card Pack with 8 blank white cards and envelopes, some Pebbles a.b.c. foam stamps (think: cute Monogrammed cards), some hand made embellishments by yours truly, an ink pad (to ink your card edges) in the color Coffee Bean, and a few other things that I thought would add some pizazz to your cards!

And...I'm including the 3 cards I made in honor of this fun day in the giveaway!

Just leave a comment by end of day Saturday, and I'll pick a winner (randomly, of course) on Sunday! And...if you feel like Sharing the {LOVE} with your friends, post about it on your blog, come back and leave another comment, and I'll give you two entries in the giveaway.

Thanks for stopping by...it's fun to share ideas with all of you. {And by the way, if I don't know you, it's O.K. just leave a comment anyway!}
Good Luck!

So proud of this guy...

Recognize him? You may not if you haven't seen him in a while. It's my sweet husband, Adam. He's been working really hard lately with working out (he's found a new love of running) and eating right. He's lost 54 lbs. since we got married back in 2006.

I chose to post this particular picture because the boy scout shirt he's wearing is the SAME one he had when HE was in Scouts!!! Oh how I wish I fit into something I wore back when I was a teenager!!! I think he looks so cute in it. He went camping with the Scouts in our ward this weekend - where this picture was taken - and had a great time (if you consider listening to 12 year old boys chitter chatter and goof off all night and sleeping on lumpy ground a great time).

So proud of my guy!! Love you, babe. Keep up the good work!!

Buttermilk

Ever had to buy a big ol' jug of buttermilk for a recipe and then never have a need to use the rest of it? Maybe you haven't, but I swear it happens to me every time I need buttermilk. I can't ever find it in a small container and I have very few recipes that call for buttermilk. I happen to have some hanging out in my fridge for another recipe I made last week.

Well, I've come across a recipe from Cooking Light that has solved my problem. Here's the recipe - it makes one quick loaf of delicious bread! Crusty on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. Make it. You'll thank me for not only putting that buttermilk to good use, but also having a fresh, quick, homemade loaf of bread smelling up your kitchen all yummy-like.

It's so easy. It's so good.

Buttermilk Quick Bread
Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)
Ingredients
9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 large egg whites
Cooking spray

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, butter, and egg whites, stirring with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
3. Spread batter into an 8 x 4–inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Nutritional Information
Calories: 137 (0.0% from fat)
Fat: 4.6g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.3g)
Protein: 4.1g
Carbohydrate: 19.7g
Fiber: 0.6g
Cholesterol: 12mg
Iron: 1mg
Sodium: 266mg
Calcium: 48mg

Jean Patterson, Cooking Light, JANUARY 2009

Scrapbook Convention

I've been looking forward to today for about a week now...I went to a local scrapbook convention because I scored some free tickets off of Craigslist. Well, sadly the show itself was a bit disappointing. I'm glad I didn't actually pay for the tickets, but I'll admit it was fun to get out and meet up with an old girlfriend of mine who now lives in Phoenix (who I first met in my Atlanta Singles Ward).

It was nothing like the Creating Keepsakes convention (which I LOVE), but they did have a vendor fair and that is what I mainly went for anyway. I only walked away with a handful of things and spent less than $10 total. Can you believe that? I told my friend Shannon that I'm like a 14 year old girl stuck in a 30 year-old's body because I love all things pink and sparkly - notice all the pink in the picture. Here's what I ended up with:

I did one little make-and-take (the red/white Christmas card) and the rest I bought. The little rolled yards of ribbon were 10/$1 and you can never have too much ribbon. The grab-bags were misc. glittered letters and one was packed full of flowers as well; those were $2 each. I think I'm most excited about the glue adhesive I bought. It's called Beacon's 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue. It was only $3.50 and the lady totally sold me on it. I hope it's as good as she claims it is. Has anyone ever tried it? I'm always looking for good adhesive. I only bought one piece of paper. I really wanted to get some Basic Grey paper (my absolute favorite line of paper), but only one booth was selling it - they only had Halloween & Christmas designs - and I was really looking for paper for every day projects.

Even though it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, at least I got out kid-free this morning and had fun looking around! (And if it were any bigger, I probably would have spent more money, so it's probably a GOOD thing it wasn't all that...haha!).

Speaking of Scrapbooking, did you know that October 3, 2009 is World Card Making Day? Did you even know there was such a thing? I'm excited and better get to thinking what kind of card I want to make! I encourage all of you to do the same...get creative and make a card for someone! To me, there is nothing better than making and sending a card to someone to brighten their day. And stay tuned, because in honor of this fun day I think I'm going to do a giveaway that has something to do with cards when the date gets a little closer!