Pinned it, Made it two times

I waited over 6 weeks for my sweet table console to come in and I must say, I love it! I had the mirror and sewed together simple felt circles for the garland. {My walls are actually a golden/wheat color but this picture does not represent that}. I see the felt garlands all over the internet so I supposed it is Pinterest inspired too.



Close ups...all photos taken with my iPhone and Camera+ app.



I laid out the LOVE printable in photoshop. I used an alphabet from CatScrap Designs {Short Notes by Kitty Designs}. It was inspired by this design found on Pinterest

{source here}

Below is my attempt at Cake Batter Bark. If this is wrong, I do not want to be right. It is that good. I am sharing this treat with the teachers tomorrow at school as dessert for the Catholic School's Week luncheon.


 Below is the original photo from Pinterest, and the recipe can be found here: Cookie Batter Bark.

I just realized that I used crush oreos as my base/crust. I did not re-read the recipe, just did it based on memory. My version is delicious and I am sure this one is too!

 Please join in and share what you have pinned and made!


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Meal Plan Monday - January 30

Review of last week...
I did not make the Tortellini Bake but instead made this mostaccioli . So fast, easy and really good!
The Tortellini Soup was a success. I forgot the garlic and it needed it. I was impressed at how creamy it was. I only had a 5oz. can of evaporated milk so I subbed 2% for the remaining 7 ounces.
I also did not use my sirloin for the recipe listed, instead we marinated and grilled it.

On tap for this week: {took an inventory in my freezer so choices reflect that}
Monday: Smoked Sausage and sauteed peppers and onions. I will make Olivia a burger and I think Shelby may eat the sausage if she dips it in ketchup.
Tuesday: Stuffed Chicken Breasts (frozen premade) and nuggets for the girls. Mashed potatoes and a veggie.
Wednesday: Tortellini Bake, salad, garlic knots...we had those last week and they are so good!
Thursday: Baked pork chops, baked potato and veggie. Ramen noodles for girls (a new fave)

Friday: Spaghetti Dinner at school


Join other Meal Planners {HERE}.

Stay tuned this week, I have lots of Pinned It, Made it items to share :)



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A product recommendation & Pinned It, Made It

After years of reading about this type of paper on craft and scrapbooking blog and sites, I finally bought a pack at the end of last year. I feel it is my duty to tell you that this paper is absolutely WORTH the price! In the past, any of my wonderful digital items would print out BLAH. So blah on regular paper or cardstock and it was always a disappointment.

Now feast your eyes on the cute freebies I printed as a test:

They are perfect! The color and saturation are spot on. Visit Miss Tiina for the link for these cards...along with many more adorable items available in her shop. These cards are sized for Project Life and this is just one more reason for me to feel a tad of regret about not participating.

I also printed some personalized Thank You cards (grey chevron, my name in navy) from the Wedding Chicks. This takes some manipulating but I eventually got mine right by right clicking and saving the image from their site. Then I resized and laid out the two cards side by side on an 8.5x11 document in PhotoShop. This photo is the sample from their site:

And just to keep things real and my Pinterest hobby justified, both of these items were found there : )

Wonder if I should start a linky party for Pinned It, Made It? Yes?

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Meal Plan Monday

Last week went well.
Moving on...

Monday: Burgers, Chips and Fruit
Tuesday: Tortellini Bake {one of my favs!}  ( I will use Spaghetti instead of tortellini), Salad, Garlic Bread
Wednesday: Crockpot Tortellini Soup (from Pinterest)

 (photo from WW)

Thursday: Beef Stir Fry (from Pinterest)
Friday: ???

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Pinned It, Made It - delicious dinner!

Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken. Wow! I made this on the grill tonight {it was worth standing in the rain and cold}. I absolutely recommend it. And I am proud to add this to the Pinned it, Made it list :)

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Insta Friday

Joining Life Rearranged with another week of Insta Friday photos.This is a recap of my week using nothing but my phone's camera.

 I uploaded this week using the Blogger App instead of the BlogPress App. Well, it is not nearly as user friendly so I cannot get captions between my photos. Argh. But here goes: Shelby's basketball game shot with my FishEye lens. Next, crazy hair day at dance class. Yes, those are birds in Olivia's nest of hair. It was also bring a friend day so the next photo includes sweet Emily. The next one is Shelby and her friend Audrey having a sleepover on Sunday {no school on Monday}. And last, my parents sent me a Cookie Bouquet yesterday. So bright, cute and tasty too.

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Pinned It; Made It

I saw this idea on another blog so I thought I'd make an attempt to share what I have actually made a reality from my 1000+ pins. {oh my!}

Here goes an easy one, a recipe. Black Bean and Corn Salad from All Recipes. 

 Super tasty. I added about 2 tbsp. of honey to the dressing. This was even more delicious after about 4 hours in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Pinned it; Made it banner created using Erica Zane's Amused kit from CatScrap Designs.


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monday meal plan: 1/16/2012

To review last week...the chicken dish I was excited about which was a Pinterest find...the chicken itself was delicious but I was not a big fan of the taste of the Philly Creme.

Monday: Making Grilled Citrus Steak from this cookbook with mashed potatoes, corn and burgers for the girls. Its about 45 degrees so I figured it's a good time to take advantage and grill.
Tuesday: Mac n Cheese for kids, Sandwiches for us, veggies and dip for everyone
Wednesday: Tacos with the fixings. (prepared ahead of time on Monday)
Thursday: Grilled Cheese, Chips and fruit
Friday: School fundraiser at a local restaurant



You can find more meal ideas from others HERE. Pin It

still recording 2011

First, I must do this public service announcment. On Thursday, I picked up about 40 printed layouts from Costco. PRINT YOUR LAYOUTS DIGITAL SCRAPPERS! It is wonderful to see them in this format and to be able to share your work with those around you. That is all. Thankyouverymuch.

Last night, my girls' school hosted a Scrapbook Night as a fundraiser. I packed up just my laptop, a few flash drives of photos and a short list of remaining layouts I'd like to complete to round out 2011. I got 4 completely finished and ultimately would like to do about 6 more. If I can do this before the end of the month, I will. If not, I will probably call 2011 good and move on with beginning 2012 pages.

OVO

Hip Hop

Soccer

And finally, Elf on the Shelf.
I made the collage in Picasa. Pretty impressed that I ended up with 15 photos out of the 24 days Tony was with us. Every one of them was taken on my iPhone. Sometimes simple is better.

Do you print your layouts? Do you prefer photobooks or placing pages in a scrapbook?

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Insta Friday: our week in iPhone photos

Prompted by InstaFriday at Life ReArranged, here are my shots. By the way, I am finding this is a good exercise b/c when I need to look back for details for scrapbooking, these jog my memory.

My basketball star made a basket!

New (to us) car purchase. It's a Subaru. Very cool and quite similar to our Highlander actually. No more minivan. Seems odd. End of an era?

Special little girl who made her First Reconciliation on Monday night (a sacrament in the Catholic faith).

SNOW. Huge flakes. It only lasted about 15 minutes and then pretty snowflakes were replaced with COLD temps and fierce winds. Boo.

Not sure which child's artwork this is. I found it in my Photo Stream on my phone but I am sure it came from the iPad. We are in the cloud you know...
Fun surprise. And another reason to {heart} technology.

 Click to join in or view others Insta-Friday pics.

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 Let's see if I can get back in the groove! Nothing special but at least a few meals at home together I hope. I am really anxious to try the new recipe on Tuesday.

Monday: dinner out quickly before Shelby's First Reconciliation
Tuesday: Crispy Chicken with Italian Creme Sauce   

Wednesday: {crazy busy night}reheat chili for the bigs, hot dogs and fruit for the littles
Thursday: chicken sandwiches for bigs, chicken nuggets for littles, salads on the side
Friday: dinner out at a school fundraiser for me, pizza for the rest of the fam

As of Sunday afternoon my brain is starting to clear. I am really hoping for a "do over" on starting the new year fresh! {see the previous post for an explanation. hint: i have a concussion}


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Instafriday 1.6.12

As is my habit, I upload these directly from my phone. This is especially helpful today as I am supposed to be resting after being diagnosed yesterday with a concussion. I "concussed" myself on Sunday (in the words of the doctor) when I stood up under my parents' freezer door full force. I suffered from a headache, mostly severe and non stop, for four days before going to the doctor yesterday. I do not suggest this. Bad news: I have a moderate concussion. Good news: the CT scan revealed that nothing further is amiss. Now I need to rest (after spending the past 4 days of not really doing that at all). I am being aided by some strong medication whose goal is to break the headache. Let's hope it works although each day they are lessening a bit already making living a little more tolerable :)




Shelby after 24 hours+ at the Great Wolf Lodge with a friend.



Post Christmas mantel. Large canvas of my girls arrived last week and it is temporarily resting there. The canvas is gorgeous. Photo by the lovely and talented, Carla Essen.




Stuffing a Build A Bear (kit purchased from my Michaels by MaMa). This required A LOT of hand sewing. You have been warned.



Mama, Olivia and pet...with stuffing still on the table :)



 On Thursday, Olivia graduated from the schools' 14 week DARE program. Officer Petrocelli has been a big hit and topic of conversation at our house. After hearing him speak, I can see why. This is a great, dedicated guy.

InstaFriday originated at Life Rearranged. Visit there to read more or to participate.

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