Snow Angel

I shared this with some of my friends last year when I did this page. This picture was a happy accident of Laurana. She just wouldn't be still for a pic. Once Scott got the picture, we were impressed we got such a great picture. I just had to get a 5x7 for my page. On this page, I used silver cord, embossed w/ glitter on some stamped snowflakes, added Cuttlebug embossed silver paper, a Word Window punch for a little added detail to the corner of the picture, some snowflake brads. This page was so much fun to put together. I just love it and hope you enjoy it, too.

Homemade Gourmet Special - Last Chance

I am ordering the Homemade Gourmet tomorrow. If you want to get a Pantry Staple of Spiced Dip Mix or Basic Cheesecake Mix, you have to do it now. They will not have them in this size again, since they were only available this month.

There are a lot of recipes for both mixes in the Key to the Kitchen recipe search engine on the Homemade Gourmet website.

Snow Fun

These photos are from yesterday in our back yard. Hubby wasn't able to go to work, so he got to stay home and play. After he cooked a nice brunch (we slept in), we went out sledding, making snowballs, and snow angels. Hubby didn't tell me he couldn't see their eyes for the photo. Their hats are a little big. LOL The snow wasn't able to be packed enough to roll into a snowman, unfortunately. We had a layer of ice in the middle of all the snow. We saved a snowball in the freezer. I am going to pull it out in the heat of summer and let the kids feel it and play with it. They will think it is so fun to have a snowball in the summer! We had a lot of fun!

Menu Plan

I admit it, I decided I like the giveaway for the menu plan posters on orgjunkie.com, so I decided to post my menu for this week.

Mon. - Homemade Gourmet Taco Soup Mix seasoned ground turkey for taco salad, Silky Avocado Dip (also using Taco Soup Mix), tortilla chips

Tues. - Smoked Sausage, bell pepper, onions, green beans, oven roasted potatoes

Wed. - Orange BBQ Chicken, carrots (save some chicken to freeze for a BBQ chicken pizza next week) Dessert - Homemade Gourmet Chocolate Chip Pie

Thurs. - waffles (use a pancake mix), cheesy eggs, turkey breakfast sausage links

Fri. - Homemade Sausage, Pepperoni, & Veggie Pizza (cheat a little and use a premade crust)

Sat. - Homemade Gourmet Enchilada Chicken, Spanish rice

Sun. - chicken and dumplings in crockpot

Go to http://www.orgjunkie.com/ for about 500 different menu plans just this week. Organizing Junkie has so many useful tips. You're going to love her site.

Children's Museum

This page is of pics of Laurana playing in a fun Curious George area and a TV area w/ Pebbles and Bam-Bam. She had so much fun at the museum. I used SU Kraft, SU Marigold Morning, and patterned paper from a stack of paper I got at Hobby Lobby (forgot the maker). I also used alien brads, a space ship brad, square brads, and a swirl clip. The letters were cut with my friend's Cricut.

Christmas Day at Our House

This was made from a kit I got from the crop I went to at Archiver's in Nov. I don't know who made any of the items, except the stamps were Close to My Heart and not in the kit. Sadly, my camera batteries weren't charged and ready for the big day, so I had to get pics of DH later.

Believe

Laurana practically tackled Santa. She ran right up to him and sat on his lap. She was so excited to tell him what she wanted. So, I snapped a photo of her telling him her wishes. Liam was just looking at him and wondering who was holding him. I snapped before he cried.

I used Martha Stewart alpha stamps and the "wishes" was from an SU stamp, gold cord, very vanilla cardstock, black cardstock, patterned paper (from Hobby Lobby, but forget the maker).

Super Girl

This was at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. They had an area that children could dress up as Super Man, Super Girl, or Spider Man. DD got in a taxi that Spiderman was "driving". She loved being able to dress up for the picture. I tried to free hand the Super Man symbol, but I just couldn't get it. So, I googled Super Man clip art and found the symbol. I printed it out, then traced it, cut it out of cardstock. Even though tracing sounds simple enough, it was tedious, because I wanted the symbol to be in cardstock. I mimicked the design on the taxi w/ the black gingham ribbon and tied knots in it every so often to add interest. I love this page and I hope you enjoy it, too.

Mom & Me

This was taken at Liam's birthday party. This is my mom and me. My friend Tracy saw us sharing my chaise lounge and asked if she could take our pic w/ my camera. I'm so glad she did this, because I didn't have any pics of just me and mom for a long time, possibly since my wedding day!

Pantry Staple Special

Homemade Gourmet has a special through 1/31 on two pantry staples. They will not be available in pantry staple sizes after that date, so hurry and get these two: Basic Cheesecake (there are nearly 60 recipes using this mix on the website) or Spiced Dip Mix. Both are $16 each and include a mix equal to 6 individual mixes and a container with a label. For the Spiced Dip mix, you can make a chicken or pork dish w/ just one scoop of it and some apple juice. You can add it to Cool Whip to put on top of Texas Cobbler or Apple Crisp. Cheesecake doesn't have to be a cheesecake. You can make a cheesecake ball to dip graham cracker sticks into it. You can do a layered dessert with it, too. You can make any flavor of cheesecake w/ just a couple ingredients added to the basic mix.

To order, call me, email me at: shaykarena@yahoo.com or
go to my website: www.homemadegourmet.com/ShaySpeer or call me at 812-498-3561


You can also go to the recipe section on the website called Key to the Kitchen for recipe ideas for these. All Homemade Gourmet items come with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so don't be afraid to try it.

HELP!!

Why, oh why is my blog labelling all entries a 3 month photo shoot? I didn't do that. What do I do to get rid of it? When I go into an entry and look at the labels, it doesn't have that listed, but when I look at my blog, it is there.

Paper Christmas Trees

I just love these trees. I just took strips of double sided patterned paper (I used Basic Grey from the Figgy Pudding Collection) and attached them w/ straight pins to a styrofoam tree. On the larger tree, I folded the paper in half, but didn't crease it. On the smaller tree, I curled the paper strips up w/ a bone folder. I used a wide grosgrain ribbon for the topper. I was going to make gifts for people from these, but I never got around to it. I was actually pregnant w/ my 1 yr. old when I made these. I got instructions from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/

Don't ask me where I found the info on there, because I don't remember.

I'm Back!!

I know I have been away from my blog for a long time. I really did not intend to take this long of a break from my blog, but life got crazy. My gall bladder surgery was successful. My hubby had a vasectomy in Dec. My dear grandma passed away Dec. 4. My baby boy turned 1 yr. old! Mom fell down the stairs. These are just a few of the busy life moments that took place.

Here is a pic of Liam stuffing his face w/ his birthday cake.