Red, White and Blue!

Belated "Happy 4th of July"!!! I have had an amazing summer so far! It has been FULL to say the least...as you saw earlier I finished making adorable little lamb cupcakes for my friend's Noah's Ark themed baby shower...

The weather for the 4th of July couldn't have been more beautiful! The perfect amount sun so that it wasn't uncomfortable, a nice breeze and a day surrounded by good food and even better company! I decided to contribute to the feast by bringing a sweet treat appetizer.

Red, White and Blue Strawberries!

I decided to put toothpicks in each strawberry to keep the plastic wrap from messing up the white and blue frosting...

 All wrapped up and ready to go!

 This was the beautiful view to watch the fireworks!!!

 Ooooohhh Aaaahhhh! I don't know what was more beautiful, the fireworks or watching the moon come up over the horizon!

 Happy 4th!

Baaaahhhby Shower

Wow! I can't believe we are already in the middle of July!!!! Belated "Happy 4th". The last two weeks (and weekends) have been packed full of work, and summer filled activities...a lot of which has required that I use some some of my creative skills! Yay!

Baby Shower:
My beautiful friend Katie is expecting a boy!!! I was lucky enough to be asked if I would provide cupcakes for the shower...the only guideline? "Making them Noah's Ark themed would be nice"... Let's get started!

Let's make some little sheep and lamb cupcakes!

You will need: Mini marshmallows, cake mix, muffin liners (dark brown), frosting (white, brown and black are needed), chocolate covered almond/caramel nuggets

Mix and bake your preferred cake mix in lined muffin sheets per the instructions (I used a basic Funfetti cake mix and followed the baking instructions for muffins). Once fully cooled, add frosting to the tops of the muffins and apply the mini muffins. I tried two methods...the 1st was to just randomly sprinkle the mallows on...but this resulted in a more flat appearance so I ended up placing each mallow individually to give the body a more puffed/ fluffy look. 

 Next, apply a little bit of frosting on the back of the chocolate nuggets and place on top of each muffin.
 Once the frosting has set for these begin applying the eyes, noses and ears with the appropriate colored frosting.

And there you have it! How c"ewe"t!!!

I initially came across this idea from Pinterest (of course) but here is the full link of instructions and you can adapt as needed: lamb cupcakes

 Oh, for the baby lambs I made some mini muffins with the left over batter and used chocolate frosting for the lamb head/faces! Spread some shredded lettuce on the table or plate to act as grass that the sheep are resting in! Could these be any more adorable?!?

  The dessert table! Yum!

Happy mommy-to-be!!! She loved everything!!!

Ah the sweet smell of confectioner's sugar success!!!

"Smash Book" It!

(First of all I would like to apologize, as I was having computer issues that wouldn't allow me to upload pictures or save my blog work! Hopefully it is now resolved!)
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It's time to get your SMASH on!!!

What is a SMASH book you might ask? Basically, it is a book that you use to place all of  those little pieces of paper, tags, cards, stickers, labels, lists etc. that end up piling up around your house because you can't bare to throw them out but don't really know what to do with them. I have the best intentions to stay organized and I do a pretty good job EXCEPT with little items particularly little bits and scraps of papers...before I know it I have multiple piles all over my house, on my counters, in drawers and boxes, on my bedroom floor...all are items that are special to me, that inspire me or that I want/need to remember but don't really have a place for.

What a "Smashing" idea right?!?! I love this idea and how there are no rules as to what you choose to include or how you want to attach it! The only limits are the ones that you put on yourself! The important part is to have fun with it and enjoy the creative process!

Example: Below is a collection of black pen/ink doodles that I loved and couldn't bear to throw away. In the bottom right corner you can see a little watercolor idea that I ended up liking and in the upper right corner is a picture sent to me that I liked (on the back it is asking me to donate to the cause of wildlife preservation)

I used a hardbound book for my SMASH book but you can use a note book, spiral bound, three ring binder, accordion, handmade or anything else you would like.

I have been collaging and scrap booking for years but it never occurred to me (until recently) that I could use the two together...until now!!!

You can glue, you can tape, staple, sticker or sew...the sky is the limit!!!

Pictures and quotes that inspire, challenge and remind, notes and cards...

To find more pictures, ideas and examples of this SMASH Book idea (click the link) or look it up on the K&C Company's website. They also have brand name products that you can use that are VERY cute! I have purchased a few of the mini themed note pads, tape and a few other products.

and here is an adorable video that gives you a more visual idea of what/how a smash book can be used

http://youtu.be/_PFsArr4Z1s

With all that said and done, the remember that the most important thing to let yourself go/be free and... HAVE FUN!!!

N"oat" to Self

It's that time again...I got another hankering for a spiced up version of oatmeal...I was browsing through some old magazines that I had laying around and came across the original recipe for the idea of "Overhal[ling] Your Oatmeal". It came from Women's Health (and my favorite) magazine. Rather than putting my own spin on it I decided to (pretty much) follow the recipe as it was written in this article.

For one portion you will need:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 egg

1/2-1 cup spinach - chopped

1/2 cup oats - (regular or quick cooking either is fine it will just change the length of your cooking time)

reduced fat cheese of your choice (I used a blend this time but Swiss Cheese is also very tasty)

In a small pot heat 1 Cup of water (for the oatmeal) and in a small skillet put in a little olive oil and heat. 

When the water begins to boil add the oatmeal, and reduce heat stirring as needed.

  

 

As the oatmeal is cooking, chop the spinach into desired sized pieces and add the egg to the heated and oiled skillet.

When the oatmeal is almost finished cooking, add the spinach and cook for another minute or so and remove from heat. Once the egg is cooked to your preference (I like mine over-easy) place it on top of your cooked oatmeal/spinach combo. I put mine in a tupperware container and took mine to work for the morning.

Mmmmm Cheessyyyy!!!

Ha ha! Staying on that positive note, I came across two quotes/sayings that have been very thought provoking and motivational! The first one I came across was at the Oxygen 2012 Women's Conference (see previous post) and I fell in love with it!  

It is just so motivational and captures a lot of how I want to live my life... I like this quote so much that I'm thinking of painting/making my own that will color coordinate with my living room or bedroom (I can't decide which yet!) and I ended up setting this image as my cell phone wallpaper/background!

This second quote by Charles R. Swindoll is just so true! Hope that it brings some light into your life as it did mine. Enjoy!

Oxygen 2012

Last week I attended an amazing Women’s Conference! I debated back and forth about whether to attend or not and I didn’t decide to go until about a week or so beforehand. Recently I had been feeling as if I was going through a very dry spiritual time…nothing I did seemed to be able to shake this “desert place” that I found myself in over the last several weeks. As it turns out, going to Oxygen was one of the best decisions that I could have made to break through this spiritual battle. There were so many messages that really seemed to be hitting home for me and that related to the “here and now” of my life. What an uplifting way to lead into a weekend of breakthroughs. There is something so encouraging about being surrounded by such a diverse group of likeminded "W.I.L.D" women!

Throughout these two days the word “Confidence” kept jumping out at me, tugging at my heart and especially during the last night of worship with the song, “The Everlasting God” based on the 27<sup>th</sup> Psalm where part of the lyrics/chorus are, “I will remain, confident in this, I will see the goodness of the Lord” . I realized that I need to focus on where my confidence stands in God. He ALWAYS has my best interest at heart and I can be confident and trusting that God is using everything that is happening (Or at time when I feel like certain things are not happening) in my life, is being used for my betterment and benefit.

The first evening was a general session in the main auditorium Champion Centre with worship and an amazing motivational speaker Holly Furtick who talked about the “Waiting Room” of your life. She had such a good message and I found out that she has her own blog that I now love! (Check it out at http://hollyfurtick.com/)

The second night started of with an aerialist and worship and then we broke out into smaller more life specific groups (for the married woman, women over 50, the hard-working women etc.). Once again, completely inspirational! One of the many messages/thoughts that I took away from the small group session was that, “It’s okay to say no to good things in life so that you are able to say yes to and have room for big/incredible things to happen in your life”

(Hahaha, yes I did intentionally choose the "Confidence" sign)



AAAAhhhh! I can’t get over how amazing these two evenings were and I can’t wait for next year!!!

Registration is already open for Oxygen 2013!!! You can sign up at: http://www.championscentre.com/oxygen.php

1st Birthday Bash

I can't believe that my youngest little nephew turned ONE already!!! Time is flying by! We had a wonderful gathering with family coming in from all over to celebrate!

The older brother hamming it up for the cam!

I absolutely love that I captured this moment...here I am snapping away, totally focused and out of the blue Gabriel pops into the frame to give his little brother a birthday hug and kiss.

Birthday presents! :)

Making music!