Heartfelt and Handmade by Mari K

TOTALLY A-MAZE-ING CARD 1

2012-02-23T05:00:00.001-05:00

I just got the new Totally A-maze-ing stamp set from Stampin' Up! and I couldn't wait to make a card with it! My son has been getting invited to tons of birthday parties now that he's in school and I thought this set would make really cool birthday cards for the kids. I also got the Big Top Birthday DSP and the little maze games that go along with the stamp set. Here's how my first card turned out:

Front

Inside


I made it so the game can be removed for even more fun!

I apologize that the photos aren't the best, I'm trying to hurry and get all this done before the babies wake up from their nap which should be any second now!

PORTLANDIA {CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS RIDICULOUSNESS}

2012-02-22T09:29:00.001-05:00

My newest obsession, a ridiculous show called Portlandia. My husband made me watch it and I thought it was so dumb. So what did I do, I watched more and now, I'm obsessed. Ridiculous!

WOYWW #142

2012-02-22T09:20:00.001-05:00

Welcome to another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday post. I think I've got a good mess going today! Even though I haven't much time to work on projects, it's been a busy week for my workspace, 3 boxes of Stampin' Up! goodies came this week! Yikes, I went a little nutty during Sale-a--bration this year! I think I've got 12 new sets, many of which were FREE! Is there anything better than FREE stamps in the mail? I think not!

     My first photo here is the overflow of my workspace, I've once again begun taking over the dining room table. At least I waited until after dinner last night! I was updating my stamp inventory, which gave me the idea for yet another ambitious project. I wanted to list all my sets on a page of this blog so that when I have to do a Stampin' Up! party (I'm a demo by the way) I could direct the hostess to a list of all the sets she can choose from for her demonstrations/ make and takes. That's an easy project, but then I thought it would be even better to make a card featuring each set to show an example of what can be done with it. Great idea, but who knows when it will actually get done.
      The other two photos are of my actual desk, I have a few cards going on at the moment. I haven't really had time to sit and work for more than a few minutes at a time so I have just bits and pieces of things going on, hopefully they'll all come together soon and I'll have some finished products to show you!

     Want more messy desks? Hop on over to the Stamping Ground, there's plenty more where this came from!

PROJECT LIFE WEEK 15 {FEBRUARY 12- FEBRUARY 18}

2012-02-19T05:00:00.002-05:00

This week's PL is a little different, all of the pictures are actually just from one day, Sunday. We Baptized the girls and I really wanted to include all the pictures of our family in the album. It was such a special day it needed more than just a few pictures. (Plus I had a nasty cold all week and wasn't really taking any other pictures anyway so it kind of worked out perfectly).

I used an 8.5 x11 to display the girls Baptismal certificates.

I didn't want to get too pic heavy in this post because all of these pictures are already posted here. But I did want to show this LO just to show once again how versatile PL is and how EASY! What would have taken me hours with traditional scrapbooking only took minutes, and it still looks great.

I love this pic of Madison, she was watching the snow fall.

PROJECT LIFE WEEK 14 {FEBRUARY 5- FEBRUARY 11}

2012-02-18T05:00:00.002-05:00

Before we get to this week's PL post, look at my little cutie pies! That's Sophie bug on the left and Lily bean on the right! Aren't they getting so BIG! I can't believe they are 3 months old now! They are smiling and laughing and we are having the greatest time with them.

OK, onto this week's PL, week 14 already.

Page 1 LO

Page 2 LO

Summary of the week and the photos I chose.

Collage of the babies room I made on my phone.

This is the column that my FIL wrote about Madison- you can read it here.

I tried to dress this blank grid journaling card up with some stamping.

I love this picture of the kids playing together- and the mess they've made.

TABLE TALK WITH DEACON MIKE {WORKING INTO THE HEART}

2012-02-17T08:45:00.022-05:00

Sometimes my Father-in-Law writes about me too :)

WORKING INTO THE HEART

     Growing up in a predominantly male household, my 3 younger sons did not quite know how to react when their older brother got married and there was now a female in the family (for some reason they didn't consider their mother a female!). Then Madison came along, and to have a very tiny female as part of the family really put the pressure on them.
     But, both Mari and Madison have worked their way into their hearts, and the 3 boys love them both dearly. Mari and Madison did this by NOT forcing themselves to be accepted, but simply being themselves and letting the boys come to the realization that, "Hey, maybe they're not so bad after all."
   This is the same way God works on us. God would never force Himself into anyone's heart. As I learned in science, when force meets resistance, something has to give.
     With God (and with Mari and Madison) resistance gave in to the force of love. Once we open our heart to the love and peace that is God, we, too, come to realize, "Hey, maybe God's not so bad after all."

-Deacon Mike

PROJECT LIFE WEEK 13 {JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 4}

2012-02-16T05:00:00.002-05:00

Here is week 13 of our family's PL album, Jan 29-Feb 4th.

Page 1 of LO

Page 2 of LOL

I love taking pictures of the girls all snuggled up together. This was the day I took them for their first walk. Since the double stroller is still at my moms I had put them both in Madison's stroller.

STAMPIN' UP! WORKSHOP on FEB. 23rd

2012-02-15T10:12:00.000-05:00

Here are two of the card samples for my upcoming Stampin' Up! Workshop. We will be making the second card at the workshop. Both cards feature the new Mixed Bunch stamp set and coordinating punch.

WOYWW #141

2012-02-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

It looks like we've rolled around to yet another Wednesday which means it's time for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday post. OK, I'll admit it, this is what's on my workdesk Tuesday, but the mess will still be there when this post goes live on Wednesday! My parents kept the babies tonight since it's Valentine's Day so I've had a few hours to work at my desk. So wonderful! Hubby and I did spend some time together this evening, we had a nice dinner and are going to watch some T.V. soon, but I think we were both enjoying our free time. He's been playing the Wii, and as I said I've been crafting.
The first picture is of some catalogs and magazines I have gotten some recent inspiration from. The second picture is just some of my my mess, my calendar, unfinished thank you notes, ink that needs put away, etc. The third picture is of my desk halfway through my projects tonight. Notice the glue gun? That means I've been making rosettes! The only way I can get those little buggers to stick is to hot glue 'em!

And here are the 2 cards I've gotten done so far, I'm hoping to be able to make a few more before the kiddos all come home tomorrow afternoon.

This is a Thank You card for our neighbors, Bob and Gail. They have been so wonderful to us since we've moved here. With hubby working 2 jobs and me taking care of the babies, and having been pregnant for 13 of the 18 months we've lived here, we weren't really prepared to keep up with all the yard work and such. Bob mows our front yard for us and he snow blows our driveway and sidewalk in the winter. It has been such a big help to us!

This card was based on one I saw in this month's issue of Stampin' Success magazine (shown in the first pic of this post).

When I started the 2nd card I wasn't really sure where I was going with it, I just knew I wanted to play around with the Twittwerpated DSP some more. I ended up with a Mother's Day card. And see, there's my little rosette!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy WOYWW!

SOPHIE AND LILY'S BAPTISM

2012-02-13T20:25:00.000-05:00

Sophie and Lily were Baptized yesterday. And just like Madison, they were Baptized by their Grandpa which made it an even more special day. Their Godparents are my brothers-in-law, Dave, Adam and J.C. and their Godmother is J.C.'s girlfriend, Nicole. Most of our family couldn't be there due to the weather (they were all snowed in!). It was still a lovely day and we enjoyed getting to spend time with those that were able to be there with us.

The girls did very well during the Baptism, Sophie only fussed a little, and she pooped in the middle of it, lol. Other than that they were just perfect. I think Madison stole the show though. She was absolutely adorable in her little white dress!

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

The cutest 15 month-old ever!

Sophie and Lily

Love him lots!

Zach loves his sisters so much.

What a handsome guy ;)

Aunt Nicole and Lily, Mommy and Sophie

Lily being Baptized

Sophie's turn.

This is right about when Sophie pooped.

Daddy and Lily, Mommy and Sophie

Daddy, Lily, Grandpa, Sophie and Mommy

Proud Grandpa

The Godparents- Adam, Nicole, J.C. and Davey

My family

My parents

My Godmother and her husband

All the girls

Mama (my mom) and Madison

TABLE TALK WITH DEACON MIKE {LITTLE TUGS AT THE HEART}

2012-02-10T22:38:00.000-05:00

For those that don't know, my Father-in-Law is one of the Deacon's at our church. Every week he writes a column in the church bulletin (or the receipt as we like to call it, lol). I'd say about 75% of them are about Madison, and now the twins. I can't read his column until we are in the car leaving church because about 90% of the time they bring tears to my eyes! I wanted to share the latest one about Madison- since he uses my kids in his column I'm hoping he doesn't mind me using his column on my blog!

Little Tugs At the Heart

My princess, Madison, is now walking, which means she is exploring everything and everywhere. While she is not talking much yet, she still manages to get her message across. She'll point to something and say, "eh." I'll look at her and say, "Grandpa doesn't know what you want." So Madison walks to me, grabs my pant leg, looks up at me with those big beautiful eyes, pulls me over to what she wants to show me, will then put her hand on it and again say, "eh!" I just smile and say, "Okay, now I get it." It doesn't matter if I'm sitting down or working on something; when Madison does that, it's like she's tugging at my heart and, of course, Grandpa gives in.
In this hectic world of ours, it is so easy to give God just a little piece of our life, and yet, God will get His message to us. Our God may be pointing at something we are to do and we, because we are so busy doing 'our thing' may say, "We don't know what you want." So, God will have to grab us by the hand, put His loving presence in our hearts, pull us to where He wants us to be and show us what He wants us to be doing. God will tug at our heart until we can finally smile and say, "Okay, now I get it."

Madison, Grandpa (Deacon Mike) & Lily

PROJECT LIFE WEEK 12 {JANUARY 22-28}

2012-02-10T12:57:00.000-05:00

Here's another week of my PL album. This was a pretty busy week, Zach went to his first friend from school party and Sophie had her first visit to the emergency room.

Madison hit Sophie in the head on Saturday night and being that she is so little and Madison hit her pretty hard we thought it would be best to take her to the ER to get checked out. She was also acting a little funny so we didn't want to take any chances. Luckily she had no concussion or anything, they said she was just a little dazed and could be that way for a while. By the next afternoon she was back to her normal self.

I put the discharge papers from the hospital in an 8.5 x 11 page, along with her hospital bracelet and added some chipboard letters just to dress it up a little.

This is the 2nd page from this week's layout. The top pic is Sophie sleeping in the little "nest" Daddy made her out of some blankets. On the bottom there is a collage I made on my phone of all that day's chores.

I needed something to go on the back of the 8.5 x 11 so I printed out a screenshot of my facebook page for the week.

MOMMY MOMENTS #1

2012-02-08T13:27:00.000-05:00

It always amazes me that after all the years of babysitting I've done and with 4 kids of my own now, there are still things that surprise me. My latest surprise - purple poop. And I don't mean, oops someone ate a crayon yesterday purple poop. Last week the girls all had a terrible stomach flu. It started out with Sophie and then 12 hours later Lily got sick and 6 hours after that Madison got sick. And for some reason Madison had purple poop the whole time she was sick. It actually made changing all those diapers a little more interesting and we had a good laugh about it, especially Zach. Just when you think you've seen it all...

WOYWW #140

2012-02-08T05:00:00.042-05:00

Well it looks like it's Wednesday again already! Time is going by so quickly, which is kind of a good thing because I am ready for Spring! I was lucky this last week to get some crafting time in.

Such a happy mess :)

Poor little Sophie has Colic and we've tried so many things to calm her down with no luck. Then one night last week I met a woman that saved us!! I was in Wal-Mart studying every baby bottle they had, pacing up and down the aisle when this dear woman asked if I needed help. I told her about Sophie and she said her son had had terrible Colic until they tried these anti-colic bottles. She said after 2 feedings with them he slept through the night and never had another crying fit. So I of course bought them. I rushed home to get them sterilized before her next feeding and she did great with them! She slept 5 hours in her bed that night! She still has some minor crying spells, but nothing like before. If I ever see that woman again I might just kiss her! So now that we are sleeping more and are more relaxed I'm actually finding time to do things again! Here are a few of the cards I've been working on and my happily messed up desk:

This was based on a card in the SU! occasions mini.

This was just experimenting with the new Edgelits dies.

This darn rosette was such a pain! I had never made one so teeny and may never again!

Last week we also went and picked up the 2nd crib for the nursery and finally got the girls' room all finished. All 3 of them are in one room, but it's a fairly large room (it's actually the master) and is almost set up to be 2 rooms,which works out perfectly. Madison will still be able to have her own space within the room. Here are some pictures of it:

This is the crazy upstairs bathroom. It's not finished yet, I still have tons of fish to paint. The walls are basically going to be covered in bright colored fish. It looks really crazy but the kids love it! Our downstairs bathroom is much calmer.

Being a baby is so tough sometimes ~ Sophie Grace


Hubby brought me roses just because!

Grandpa & two of his favorite girls- Madison & Lily

PROJECT LIFE: WEEK 11 {JANUARY 15-21}

2012-02-02T11:52:00.001-05:00

PROJECT LIFE: WEEK 10 {January 8-14} and WOYWW #139

2012-02-01T08:00:00.002-05:00

Today's WOYWW isn't about my workdesk but about how I've been spending my time instead of crafting.

Lily Anna

Here's how my mornings start: after diaper changes for all 3 girls Madison gets a sippy of milk and a toddler cereal bar to hold her over until the twins are fed. They both get medicine in the morning (different meds and different doses of course, otherwise it would be too easy!) They also use different bottles and eat different amounts! (I have a dry erase board on the fridge where I write all the twin's info, otherwise I would be totally confused at 5:00 am when they wake up!)

OK, so it's not a picture of my desk, but that hasn't changed one bit since last week and I figure no one wants to see the same picture again, so how about a cutie pie instead! Plus she's half the reason my desk hasn't changed since last week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's another Project Life post, this one is of week 10, January 8th-14th, 2012

One of the things I love about PL is that it's set up to capture everyday life. With my traditional 12x12 layouts I often found that I was focused more on the special times like birthdays, vacations, etc. simply because there just wasn't time to scrapbook the everyday. With PL it's so easy, and I think it will be great to look back and see how things really were when the kids were little (so I can show them just how much laundry I did, lol). While big events make great memories, it's the little things I cherish, like a picture Zach drew or remembering how Madison loves to line her Sesame Street characters on the 2nd shelf in my craft corner, or how Sophie's little eyes bug out whenever my husband talks to her, or how Lily's diapers always fall down giving her a plumber's crack. PL makes me look for the greatness in our everyday life and I love that.

That's Sophie with the bug eyes and my little Lily bean with the remote! That girl LOVES watching TV already! Not cartoons though, she likes the Today show and the Bachelor (like mother like daughter I guess). I took the picture of Zach one night before dinner, he was laying on the couch about to fall asleep. I made him sit up so he would stay awake for dinner. I went to get dinner out of the oven and he was sound asleep- with his finger in his nose. And the picture of Madison is her with my mom's pillow. Mom stayed here a few nights to help with the babies and left her pillow here. Madison carried it around with her for days.

This is a copy of the note that Zach's teacher had to send home because he had been misbehaving all week. I just used a regular 8.5 x11 page protector and added a little piece of a page from a smashbook to it.

The pediatrician always prints out growth charts for us so I stuck the ones from this week's visit in the other side of the 8.5 x 11 page as well.

This page has Madison brushing her teeth for the first time and a picture of the best candy bar I've ever eaten! (It's from Target)

I got the smashbooks date stamp. I like how it has different phrases you can stamp along with the date- it also has a blank if you want just the date.

AS PROMISED: BABY PICTURES!

2012-01-27T02:28:00.000-05:00

1 DAY OLD- MY 1ST TIME HOLDING BOTH GIRLS

DADDY & SOPHIE

LILY & SOPHIE {2 DAYS OLD}

MADISON MEETING SOPHIE IN THE NICU

SOPHIE UNDER THE BILI LIGHTS

SOPHIE DRESSED TO GO HOME {2 WEEKS OLD}

SOPHIE

LILY'S HOME- FINALLY TOGETHER AGAIN! {3 WEEKS OLD}

MY ATTEMPT AT A CHRISTMAS PICTURE

ME AND MY GIRLS

CAN'T WAIT UNTIL WE GET OUR MINIVAN!

SANTA! {A.K.A. PAPA}

CHRISTMAS MORNING

LILY

SOPHIE

MADISON LOVES LOOKING AT OUR PL ALBUM

SOPHIE {2 MONTHS}

LILY {2 MONTHS}

SOPHIE'S NEST

MADISON SLEEPING IN HER BIG GIRL BED

A FEW THANK YOU CARDS

2012-01-27T02:12:00.000-05:00

My first orders of Cards for Claire are finished and ready to be delivered! I am so thankful to everyone that's purchased Cards for Claire so far! If you haven't seen the post about this cause, please go here.

Cards for Claire: Variety Pack 1

Along with the cards for Claire I have been making some Thank You cards for my Mother in Law. These are the last 2. I decided to use some colors I usually don't pick (had to get out my Stampin' Up! Color Coach). I wasn't sure about the color combination of the first one, but I think it turned out ok- Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Cajun Craze and Very Vanilla.

This was just another card I threw together with scraps from the other two. At first I was mad that this rectangle got cut all crooked (waste of paper), but I thought it would make a perfect window. I used Stampin' Dimensionals to make it pop up and just stamped a sentiment and added some Pearls, couldn't have been any simpler.

*all products used are Stampin' Up! except for the embossing folders and Nestabilities dies

PROJECT LIFE WEEKS 1-9 AND A VERY LATE BABY UPDATE &WOYWW 138

2012-01-25T06:45:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to start sharing my Project Life album! (If you don't know about Project Life you need to go here). But first, a baby update!

The twins are here! They've actually been here for over 2 months now! (I'm a little behind). They were born on November 19th after 23 hours of labor- NO pain meds either! Lily was born at 7:20 a.m. and weighed 4 lbs. 11 oz, Sophie was born at 7:29 a.m. and weighed 3 lbs. 15 oz. They were almost 7 weeks early but were born very healthy for as early as they were. They still had to spend some time in the NICU though. Sophie was there for 2 weeks and Lily was there for almost 3 weeks. I am so glad to have them home and they are doing so great! It's a lot of work keeping up with a 6 year-old, 14 month-old and TWO 2 month-olds, plus all the housework (you wouldn't believe the amount of laundry I have now!). Somehow I still manage to get a little craft time in there too (hubby calls it my "paper therapy"). When I get to grumpy he sends me to craft corner to "work it out", lol. And I guess that brings us to Project Life.

I first heard of Project Life (PL from here on) right before Madison was born and thought it was a wonderful idea but wasn't sure it was for me. So I followed some PL blogs and continued to try to catch up on my traditional scrapbooking which was already 3 YEARS behind! Once I found out I was pregnant with twins I knew there was no way I would ever get caught up so I decided to finally jump into PL and I am so glad I did! I started my album the week of Madison's 1st birthday and I have had no trouble keeping up with it. Here are some photos of my first 9 weeks:

NOV. 6-12

NOV.6-12

NOV. 13-19

NOV. 27- DEC. 3

DEC. 4-10

DEC. 18-24

DEC. 25-31

JAN. 1-7

I'm hoping to do a weekly PL post with a little more detail, and I'll get another post up soon with some more pictures of the twins and Madison too, but my laptop stopped working (Madison knocked in the floor one time too many) so I am sharing hubby's computer.

And this is my first WOYWW in a looong time! On my work desk are Cards for Claire orders and piles and piles of laundry! OK, the laundry isn't actually ON my desk, but it is keeping me from getting TO my desk!

WOYWW 138

CARDS FOR CLAIRE

2012-01-23T15:14:00.002-05:00

So far we've raised $22.00 for Claire!

I recently heard of the story of a very special young girl named Claire through a friend. About a week before Christmas Claire fell out of a second story window and broke her spine (you can read more about Claire and her accident here). Her family is now facing many challenges and I really wanted to find a way to help, so I came up with Cards for Claire.

Starting today through February 4th I will be taking orders for the handmade cards pictured below. Each card is $2.00 with the proceeds being donated to Claire and her family to help cover medical costs, remodeling of their home (to make it wheelchair accessible for Claire), or whatever other needs they may have during this time. My goal is to raise $100 for Claire and her family over the next few weeks. If this goes well I will come up with some new card designs and do this again next month.

Please read below the photos for information on how to order cards. Normally I don't like to make the same card in bulk, but that was the only way I could think to do this. And now here are the pictures of the cards I am offering:

BD3

TY1

BD2

TY2

TY2 COLOR VARIATIONS

GT1 - SET OF FOUR GIFT TAGS

BD4

I am also offering a variety pack: 1 each of the 6 cards pictured for $10.00 (plus shipping). Use VP1 when ordering.

All cards are $2.00 . Shipping is $2.00 for up to 5 cards and $.20 for each additional card. Cards will be mailed in between cardboard in a bubble mailer to ensure they get to you in perfect condition. Local pick-up or delivery can be arranged in some cases.

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS: Please e-mail me at alamom@rocketmail.com with Cards for Claire or c4c as the subject. In your e-mail please include the card # (TY1, etc) and the quantity you would like to purchase, as well as if you will be paying by paypal or check/cash. If paying by paypal (this is my preferred method) I will send you an invoice from paypal, if paying another way I will send you a reply e-mail with the details of your purchase. Cards will be made as they are ordered and sent out as soon as possible, with all cards being sent out February 11th at the very latest.

*Please note: Colors may vary slightly from what is pictured.

BABY UPDATE

2011-11-15T04:39:00.000-05:00

Today- no yesterday, it's 4am! Ugh! My sleep schedule is so screwed up! Between heartburn, waking up to take my medicine, waking up to pee every 45 minutes, and everything else going on I don't really get a normal night's sleep anymore. A few hours here and there throughout the day and night. I guess it's good practice for when we have 2 newborns in the house.

Anyway- I went to the doctor yesterday and he said everything still looks pretty good. I am 33 weeks today so he said if I go into labor they won't stop it anymore (I've already had it stopped twice, at 23 weeks and at 26 weeks). And he says that could be anytime now :)

I had an ultrasound again today and we got a really great profile picture of Sophie. We couldn't see Lily's face though because Sophie was completely blocking her!

I did work on a few projects today but I can't get good photos right now since it's 4 am and the lighting in our house isn't the best for photographing cards and such. I'll try to get them up later today. For now I'm off to try to sleep for a few more hours!

SOME HOLIDAY PROJECTS

2011-11-14T02:50:00.000-05:00

I finished the mini Christmas album I was working on last night. I think it turned out pretty good. I kept it simple because I knew the kids would be shaking it around since I put jingle bells on the front cover. I didn't want stuff flying off of it everytime they decided to jingle it! The base for the album was a waterfall paper bag album and other than the bags and bells everything I used to make it was from the Christmas Keepsake Box that Stampin Up! gave to new demos in July. (I didn't care for the box itself so I've been using the supplies for other projects). NOTE: I will now be listing supplies used in my projects at the end of my posts.

Jingle Bells

Closed Album


Insert Page

I also made another Christmas card with the Polar Party stamp set. I have to admit this card is mostly a CASE from one I saw in the Stampin Up! gallery over at Splitcoast Stampers. I think I will try to make a few more of these to use as our Christmas cards this year, the only problem is I only have a little of the green paper left from last year and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it again this year, I might have to find something else around here to use.

Today after my husband left for work and took Madison to her grandparents it was just Zach and I at home. He wanted to play the Wii so I had to find something else to do. With the partial bedrest I can really only watch Tv, read, or work on my crafts. Since he had the TV I decided to make some cards. I ended up spending quite a while on 1 card. I made this Thanksgiving card. You can't tell by the picture of course, but it's a spinner card so the Turkey dances! Now I'm having a really hard time deciding who to send it to!

This last card was made by my friend Laura, but I thought it was really nice and it had to take a long time so I wanted to share it:

SUPPLY LISTS

Christmas Album: 2 paper lunch sacks, Jingle Bell Brads- Paper Studio, Stampin Up!--> Holly Berry DSP, First Edition DSP, Wild Wasabi CS, Ivory CS, Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Fabric, Real Red 1 1/4 in. Grosgrain Ribbon, Linen Thread

Penguin Card: Polar Party Stamp Set SU!, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine- SU!, Red Brad, Red CS, Red & Green Stickles, DP from stash.

Dancing Turkey Card: All paper from stash- Green, Orange and DP, Turkey Digi from Doodle Dragon Studio, Copics, Brown Ribbon from stash, 2 Pennies, Nestabilities Small Circle, Stampin Dimensionals- SU!

IT'S BEEN A REALY LONG TIME SINCE MY LAST POST!

2011-11-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

    Wow! It has been so long since I've written a blog post. I think the last one was in July or August! Things got a little crazy around here (and they're going to get even crazier any day now). I was put on bedrest two and a half months ago, I'm now allowed to sit and do a few little things- like getting back to my crafting- YAY! I'm now almost 33 weeks with the twins, we found out they are identical girls. We're really excited and kind of nervous too!
    Zach has started Kindergarten and is doing great! Other than the fact that he can't tie his shoes he's ahead of where he should be in everything. And he has had no problems with his behavior.
    Yesterday Madison turned a year-old! I can't believe how fast the last year went by. The next year will probably go by even faster with 2 more babies in the house! It's hard to believe any time now I'll be delivering 2 more babies, it doesn't seem that long ago since I had her.

    Since I've been able to get back to my card making I have been working on Christmas cards. I only have a few done so far, it's been hard getting back into a creative mindset after laying in bed watching T.V. for 10 weeks! I also just started a mini Christmas album that I'm hoping to get finished tonight or tomorrow. Here are the cards I've made so far:

And here is a picture of the Birthday Girl!

I'm also very excited that I have finally made a decision about getting into making Project Life albums. Project Life is a scrapbooking system designed by Becky Higgins. I discovered it last year shortly before Madison was born and thought it was a really neat idea. I wasn't convinced it was for me though. Over the past year I have been reading blogs by Project Life users, the more I saw it the more I wanted to do it. I haven't ordered my kit yet, the one I really wanted was supposed to come out this month but has been delayed so I think I'm going to go ahead and order my 2nd choice for now just so I can get started with it. I wanted to start the album with Madison's first birthday. I already have the photos and everything ready to go for the first week, I just need the kit so I can add the journaling and put it all together. And I can't wait! (Kits are available on Amazon.com). They also have a facebook page where they offer tips, suggestions and photo of the day ideas. It's a great place to look when your creativity has abandoned you.

In the last year I only managed to make 6- 12x12 layouts and I have photos all the way back to Jan. 2009 that I haven't touched yet! I'm really hoping that with this system I'll at least be able to keep up with our current photos and such while still being able to go back to the older photos too and eventually get all caught up!

July Stampin' Up! Workshop

2011-08-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share a few photos from my first Stampin' Up! workshop. I had it last Friday at my house. It was a small workshop but we had a great time and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Scroll down to see this month's special below the pictures!

Yummies!

The night's supplies

My display board

Door prizes and a few scrapbook pages

And here's the special for August! Buy any 3 Designer Series Papers and Get 1 FREE (hostess DSP and Specialty DSP not included, no limits)

To place an order visit www.marikocjancic.stampinup.net today!

A Very Special Thank You

2011-07-14T23:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we had to stop and see my husband at work. His boss just loved Zachary! She took him to her office and he hung out with her for about 45 minutes! She also gave him a gift, so we made a Thank You card for her.

I was inspired by the card on pg 217 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog (yes, I was able to put the new catalog down long enough to make a card, lol).

Supplies for this card: Versamark and Basic Black (ink), Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive (cardstock), Basic Pearls, Silhouette Sentiments and Confetti (stamp sets), and the Beautiful Wings (Embosslit)

I love the Embosslits! They are so convenient to use, 2 steps in one. They emboss and cut at the same time! No more trying to line up your die-cuts in the embossing folders!

I also got my starter kit! Woo Hoo!! So many goodies in this box! I have started working on the samples for my first Open House, coming up soon, July 29th! So far I have 3 people attending (plus Grandpa who is on kid duty), so there's still room for more. You can read more about it here.

And remember, if you join Stampin' Up as a demonstrator in July, you can get the $99 starter kit. There's more information on that here.

It's a GREAT time to join Stampin Up!

2011-07-05T18:19:00.000-04:00

This month is the best time to join Stampin' Up! as an independent demonstrator.The new catalog just came out and it's full of great stuff!Plus, they're offering the starter kit for just $99!!

Do what you love and make money and friends while doing it! Plus you can earn other great rewards too!

Starter Kit

Friends, Fun, and Fabulous Products!

During July, you can join the Stampin' Up! family as a demonstrator for only $99! This limited time Starter Kit--valued at $185--comes with the following high-quality products:

Easy Events Clear-Mount Set*
Pennant Parade Wood-Mount Set*
Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights 8-1/2" x 11" Assorted Card Stock
Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper*
Chocolate Chip 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon*
Note Cards (20)
Clear-Mount Block C
Blender Pen (1)
SNAIL Adhesive
Business supplies

*Brand new to the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog!

Plus, join in July and get a FREE Christmas Keepsake project kit--a $40 value! Imagine an afternoon spent chatting with friends while creating something beautiful--isn't that what Stampin' Up! is all about? But act now because this special kit is only available as part of this limited-time offer.
As an added bonus, first-time demonstrators can get two free months of Demonstrator Business Web Services (DBWS) when they sign up during their first 21 days as a demonstrator. Subscribing to DBWS means having your own online store, blog, hostess portal, and much more!

Join Stampin' Up! in July and get brand-new products, including an exclusive project kit--all for just $99! Download the starter paperwork now! Contact me to get started today. alamom@rocketmail.com or visit my Stampin' Up! website:
www.marikocjancic.stampinup.net

SO IT'S BEEN A WHILE....

2011-06-12T00:32:00.001-04:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted anything on here. I haven't had very much time for crafting lately either :(

In the last month or so we've been pretty busy. We took a vaction to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, Zach graduated from preschool and we found out we're pregnant, again, with TWINS!

WOYWW #98 & EASTER FUN

2011-04-20T20:36:00.003-04:00

I was very surprised when I saw all the WOYWW posts in my dashboard this morning. I forgot it was Wednesday already! I had lots of running around to do this morning. I was helping the Easter Bunny with his shopping again. And it was a good thing I did! The only thing Zach wanted this year was almost sold out, I got the last one. After Madison and I did all our running and had lunch we went to Zach's school for his classes Easter Egg Hunt. It was fun, but all the little girls love the baby and I'm kind of a germaphobe so I was a little stressed by the time we left, and she got a really good bath tonight.

So I didn't have time to really work on anything crafty today, but I did do some Spring cleaning and furniture rearranging. I cleaned a lot in the kitchen and did some work on my craft area. It was kind of a crazy thing to do, but I think it turned out really well. I have some before and after pictures of the kitchen, and just afters of the craft area since the befores have been posted in my previous WOYWW posts.
I have some items for sale here.

before

I turned the area with shelves into a little breakfast nook, and moved the old table and shelves upstairs to my craft area. Now I have a bigger work surface upstairs, something I really needed. I was also able to put all of my paper under this table so it's not blocking our hallway anymore.

after

my improved craft area

magnetic paint with my Nesties

my huge collection of paper

Madison played in her chair while I cleaned the kitchen.

Zach and Madison at school.

475 COOKIES #6- SUGAR COOKIES

2011-04-20T20:18:00.001-04:00

I have always had a hard time finding a good sugar cookie recipe, a few years ago I found a wonderful one, perfect rolled cookies everytime, BUT since I am making every cookie in this book I had to use their sugar cookie recipe. It was no good. The dough was way too soft to roll, even after being in the freezer overnight! I had to just drop it by spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Needless to say, I;ll be going back to my other, much better recipe. We aren't rating these, they get a big fat zero.

Easter Egg "Hunt"

2011-04-18T13:36:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we took the kids to an Easter Egg "Hunt" at church. It wasn't so much a hunt for eggs, they had different stations set up where the kids got to play games or do a craft and then they got eggs filled with candy when they were done at each one. Zach had a really good time and was really bummed he didn't win the Jelly Bean guessing game because he really wanted the Easter Bunny Gingerbread kit they were giving away. Madison sat on the Easter Bunny's lap but Zach wouldn't go near him. Grandpa and Memaw were there too.

ORANGE WEEK - DAY 2

2011-04-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm continuing my week of using orange in my projects. I made this cute little notecard set. The stamps are from "You're A Gem" and "Tiny Tags" by Stampin Up, I used their Pumpkin Pie ink also. The CS is just basic white and the ribbon is scraps from my stash. I stamped the same sentiment on the backs of the envelopes and made a butterfly sticker to seal the package with, decorated with the same stamps. For the final touch, I stamped the little flowers on a piece of orange CS and adhered it to a clothespin. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to keep this for myself or save it for a gift.

Next week's color is yellow, I'm planning on making another set similar to this for my son's teacher as her end of the year Thank You gift.

And since the color of the week is ORANGE, I thought I'd share this picture of Madison. Notice the orange in her hair. That would be carrots. They are her favorite thing to eat. I have no idea how they got in her like this, it was quite a mess.

ORANGE WEEK- DAY 1

2011-04-10T08:00:00.038-04:00

Sorry for the bad photo, I'm still fighting with my camera! Grr!

I was looking through all of my paper the other day and realized there is alot of colors that I never use. So I've decided that each week for the next however many weeks, I am going to focus on one color, starting with the color I use the least. This week's color is ORANGE. I really don't like orange, I think I only use it at Halloween time, and even then I don't use much. Above is my first card featuring the color orange.

My Hand Dyed Paper

I made the paper by dyeing it with my alcohol inks. Here are the other supplies I used:

Raspberry Alcohol Ink
Orange Sunset Alcohol Ink
SU! Greenhouse Garden Set
SU! God's Blessings Set
SU! Melon Mambo Ink & Paper
SU! Old Olive Ink & Paper
SU! Tangerine Tango Ink & Paper
Orange CS from my stash
Crystal Glitter
Dryer Sheet
Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder

I used the masking and "kissing" technique to stamp the flowers. The Greenhouse Garden is a 2 step stamp set and the only way I can get them to come out right is by "kissing" the stamps together. The only problem is you don'y get the flower center, but the can always be stamped in seperately. I just left them out this time. The sentiment is from the God's Blessings Set and says "Blessings Grow When We Count Them". I also made a matching envelope.

Madison discovered her toes in the bath the other night. She was fascinated by them. It made it a little hard to wash her, but it was pretty funny. She was grabbing and yelling at them. Then I had to get her out of the tub because she was trying to eat them and I was afraid she was going to accidentally put her face in the water.

GOODIES FOR ME!!

2011-04-08T11:00:00.014-04:00

I sold some cards the other day, Yay! So I had a few dollars to spend. I was looking to get some of those old fashioned clothespins so I went to the Dollar Tree (everything's $1). They didn't have the clothespins, but they had some other great stuff. Here's what I got:

They had these super cute snack containers. I had to get them for Madison, they even came with a spoon. These will come in handy when she goes to Memaw and Grandpa's house.

I got this pink basket and the popscicle sticks that I wrapped my ribbon around (that took me ALL day- in between my Mommy duties of course, but it was definitely worth the time). This is what I wanted the clothespins for, but the sticks worked out ok. The only problem is the ribbons will be a little crinkly when I get down to the ends.

I got these adorable little buckets (4 for $1- I got 8 of them). I'm going to use them for the little pieces of my works in progress. I've been just tossing everything into one basket, but things get so mixed up in there I usually forget what I had planned and which pieces go together. I also got 2 of these little trays, perfect for projects that need to dry. I can work on them on the tray and then move it away to dry without worrying about messing anything up. I kind of wish I had gotten a few more of these.

And here are a few of the little buckets, already put to good use.

Going to the Dollar Tree reminded me of when I was little and my Grandma used to take me there. I loved it when we went there, usually on Sundays. She would give me $2.00 and that was so great because I could get TWO things! I've loved paper and markers and stuff since I was a kid and the Dollar Tree always had new stationary or pens or something fun. It was one of my favorite things to do with my Grandma.

EGG CARTON CATERPILLARS

2011-04-08T02:11:00.000-04:00

I'm always trying to think of new things that Zach and I can do together. He's really into Legoes and I'm really not. And the few times I've tried to play with his legoes with him, he really wasn't interested in me joining him . He tells me girls aren't good at legoes. (but if he needs a certain piece he's more than willing to let me dig through the bucket for it!).

So I remembered seeing these egg carton caterpillars in a magazine or something years ago, before I had kids. I told Zach about them and he seemed pretty interested in making them. Really interested actually, he couldn't wait for all the eggs to be gone so we could make them. We finally used all the eggs and got to make these. I buy the 18 carton eggs so we had enough for 3 caterpillars (me, Zach and Hubster- but Hubster didn't finish his yet). They were pretty fun to make and are a cute little Spring decoration. Zach already has plans to make 6 baby caterpillars when the new eggs are gone. The pink one is mine and Zach made the blue one.

After we finished these we got a little silly. I stuck a pom-pom on the baby's nose and we all cracked up. She even laughed at herself when I put her by the mirror. So then Zach had to put one on his nose. Then he GLUED them on his eyebrows too. It was pretty silly, until we had to get them off of his eyebrows.

Sorry the pictures of the kids are so blurry, but they were so giggly they couldn't keep still. You can still see they looked pretty goofy.

MARSHMALLOW PEEP CUPCAKES

2011-04-07T18:47:00.001-04:00

We made these marshmallow peep cupcakes for Zach to take to school. It's his turn to bring the snack. They're supposed to bring a healthy snack, but he's doing his birthday treat (he has a summer birthday so we can have birthday treat on one of his healthy snack days).

I have this nifty little thing I got at Bed Bath and Beyond that takes the middles out of cupcakes so you can fill them with frosting or other yummy things. I used it just to take a little piece out of these then filled the hole with frosting and sprinkled on some coconut that I had colored green with food coloring. Then I plopped a peep on top. Cute and yummy too!

SPRING IS OVER, WINTER IS BACK

2011-04-07T01:49:00.000-04:00

Monday it was so warm outside, upper 60's. Today 35 and SNOW! Blah! I'm ready for it to get warm and STAY that way! We keep getting these little teasers, it will be nice for 1 or 2 days, then we get another snowstorm. I want to take the kids to the park and go for walks outside and open my windows and not have to put the poor baby in her snowsuit every time we have to go somewhere!

Today wasn't too exciting. I went to the doctor this morning and he hurt me, jerk, lol. He was like "This won't hurt at all". Ummm.....he lied. But I'm "healing nicely" so I shouldn't have to see him again.

I spent most of the day working on getting my ribbons all organized. They look really cute now. I don't have a picture of them right now because the camera batteries died so they're charging overnight. I'll try to remember tomorrow.

After dinner we had some family craft time. It was fun and we took some silly pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet, so you'll have to wait to see them.

The picture on here is a digital page I made the other day. I threw it together pretty quickly so it's not spectacular, but those pictures of Madison are so cute they don't need much. Well, it's getting late and I should get to bed, we have to make cupcakes for Zach's class tomorrow and I haves loads of laundry to do (he he, get it, "loads" of laundry? lol), Yeah, it's time for bed!

SIGNS OF SPRING

2011-04-04T22:20:00.001-04:00

This is the oh so yummy carrot cake I made tonight. I had made one of these on Valentine's Day and it was deeeeee-licious! I was at the store buying ingredients for Zach to make cupcakes for his class and I saw this mix. I couldn't resist. We needed a break from all the cookies anyway. I wanted to make it look a little special so I put a cookie cutter in the center and sprinkled some nutmeg sugar around it (the sugar is for coffee, but it's good on other things too). It was a very easy way to dress up the cake.

It was nice and warm out today, but rained all day. I think Madison was really happy to not have to wear her snowsuit and hat when we went out to the store. Since we finally have Spring weather, I started thinking about Spring cleaning. I've been reorganizing my house the last few months so there's not too much to do there. However, my digi stamp files could use some work. In particular my Doodle Dragon Studios ones. I decided to rename them so they are easier to locate. It is going to be quite a job, I have 1,687 of them! (Plus the 40 or so I get new every month as part of my membership) Now I know why Dustin named most of them with numbers, lol. It will be all worth it in the end though.

Here are some new pictures of Madison. She fell asleep in the chair with me today and looked so sweet, I had to take some pictures. We gave our dog a bath tonight and then we let him visit with Madison. She was laughing at him so much! It was really cute, but they were both moving around so much it was really hard to get a good picture of them. I got a few decent ones though.

A FEW UNPOSTED PICTURES

2011-04-04T01:52:00.000-04:00

This is a simple Thank You card I made. I wanted to try partial embossing, the area where I stamped the sentiment isn't embossed but the rest of the card is. It was a little hard to keep the embossing straight and lined up correctly, but I really like the way it turned out. And I happened to find this ribbon in my stash that had the same design as the embossing folder.

This is the Birthday card I made for Grandma Betty (late, of course). It's not totally my fault it's late though. I didn't know when her birthday was until a few days before. I made the card that day, but then it sat on our kitchen counter for about a week until we finally remembered to mail it. The stamps are all from Stampin Up, as is the paper and the embosslit I used to cut out the butterflies. I had just gotten this stamp set and the embosslits, so I had fun using them on this card. I send Grandma lots of cards, at least 2 a month, so I made this a long skinny card for something a little different.

This card also used my new embosslit. The picture didn't come out very good, but it's black, white and red with Diamond Stickles on the butterflies. The black is embossed and sewn onto the red base. You can't see from the picture, but the bow is a double which makes this card too thick to mail. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, I may have to change the bow so it can be mailed at some point.

Well look at that, more of those little butterflies. Can you tell I was really happy with my new embosslit die? This card used some SU papers and some from my stash, the sentiment is from the SU Bliss set. I embossed both of the papers with the same design, and stamped a similar design on the pink behind the sentiment (with versamark). I added some pearls on the sentiment and butterflies and wrapped the ribbon around it.

Hey! No butterflies on this one, lol. My son and I made this card for a Birthday party he went to. The image is from Bugaboo Stamps Bobblehead collection. I believe the puppy is in the farm section. We made the head bobble too. Using some pennies and pop dots and 2 layers, the head really bobbles. I colored it with my Copics and added some brown and red glitter, the paper is from my great $1 bin find at Target and the ribbon and sentiment are just from the stash. I asked Zach if Santino liked the card when he got home. He said I guess so, but his Mommy LOVED it. I only wish I had some heavier cardstock, it kind of warped under the weight of the pennies. Next time I know to use something stronger.

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Catch the Bug- Anything Goes

MADISON PICTURES -- FOR GRANDPA :)

2011-04-02T09:58:00.000-04:00

Here are a few recent pictures of Madison. The pink pajamas with the pandas are my favorite jammies of hers. They were the first thing we bought after we found out we were having a girl. She has just about grown out of them (so sad) so I wanted to get some pictures of her in them. I'm still trying to decide if I want to save them as they are or if I want to cut the little panda out to put in her scrapbook.

She can now roll over from her tummy to her back and from her back to her tummy. She is eating rice cereal and pretty much all of the stage 1 one fruits and veggies. She loves carrots and apples, really she likes everything except peaches. She eats them ok, but makes faces the whole time.

I took this picture the other night. I layed her down on the floor for a minute so I could get a drink and when I came back she was sound asleep. It was so sweet I had to take a picture.

And the last picture is our little monkey playing with her monkey toy. She likes this a lot, but she usually ends up knocking it over and some how laying on top of the toys that hang down. Of course she gets mad about that.

475 COOKIES #5- BUTTERY MINT COOKIES

2011-04-01T13:52:00.001-04:00

These cute little cookies were fun and super easy to make. I'm not a huge fan of mint, but the mint is very subtle so I enjoyed them. I think they could easily be made with another flavor instead, maybe almond or vanilla. Zach gave them 2 thumbs up and 5 stars. I think next time we make these we'll have to double the recipe though. It made about 4 dozen, but they are pretty small. Perfect little bite-sized cookies.

Ratings: 4.5 stars

Mommy: 4

Zach: 5

Daddy: 4.5

**Mari**

475 COOKIES #4 - BROWNIE MERINGUES

2011-03-29T10:43:00.000-04:00

The first picture is of the cookies I made, the second picture is what they were supposed to look like. (without the chocolate drizzle)

These cookies were a pain to make and I was very bummed that they didn't turn out right. I think I needed more salt in the first step (the directions said "a dash") and I think I needed to mix the meringue more before I added the melted chocolate. Hubby said he liked the cookies, and Zach will eat anything called cookie. I didn't care for the finished product that much, BUT the batter was absolutely delicious!!

RATING: 3

Mommy: 2

Zach: 5

Hubby: 3

Difficulty/ Time: 5

OUR BUSY DAY

2011-03-24T22:04:00.000-04:00

Madison had fun playing with her toys this morning. She is getting much better at picking them up and actually interacting with them. She usually pushes them out of her reach after a few minutes though and then she gets mad. A few days ago she started rolling over from her stomach to her back.

We put a TV and DVD player in Zach's "fort". He's been begging us to do this for months. I really didn't want him to have a TV in his room, but since we don't have cable he can only watch DVDs so I think it will be ok. He won't be in there for hours and hours watching TV. He wanted Madison to watch Ponyo with him. She sat for about 10 minutes and then decided she had enough.

We had a crazy dinner tonight. I love to try new things when I'm cooking. I call it my experiments. Some of my experiments have turned out pretty good, and there have been one or two total failures. Tonight's was "interesting". I wanted to make pizza and I love using my waffle maker, so I made pizza waffles. I made pizza dough and cooked it in the waffle maker, then we added our toppings and baked them for a few minutes. Zach ate his totally plain, but said it was really good. Hubby and I ate ours, but both agreed that "interesting" was the best way to describe them.

After dinner I started baking another one of my 475 cookie recipes. Hubby caught me sitting in front of the oven watching them bake while licking the bowl. I'm not sure about the cookies, but the batter in the bowl was delicious!
And after the cookies I made Madison a hair bow organizer. I cut the bottom off of her curtain (they were way too long) and covered a piece of cardboard with it. Then I wrapped some ribbon around it and that was pretty much it. I can't believe she has so many hair bows though! It's completely full and her headbands aren't even on there, she has at least 10 of those too, probably more like 20. (Can you tell that hair bows are one of my favorite things to buy for her?) I'm trying to learn to make the bows, but the ones I tried the other day were a total disaster.

475 COOKIES #3- WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY COOKIES

2011-03-21T12:41:00.000-04:00

The cookie this week was Zach's pick. He had originally picked a different one, but it needed a bunch of ingredients that we didn't have in the house. I really didn't feel like going to the grocery store so I made him pick again. He had just picked out Raspberry Jam at the store and was excited that these cookies were made with it. He said "It's like I knew we need Raspberry Jam Mommy!".

These were pretty easy to make, they had a lot of steps though. I had to melt chocolate for the dough, then melt jam to go on top and then melt more white chocolate to drizzle over top of that. I only have 1 small saucepan so I had to keep washing it inbetween.

Here's the ratings:

Mommy: 4
Zach:
Daddy:

"MOMMY THREW DINNER ON THE FLOOR!"

2011-03-16T20:46:00.000-04:00

Yes, Mommy threw dinner on the floor. Stupid stupid owl potholder! He's cute, but completely useless! And now he's in the trash! As soon as we got home from our day out I started making dinner so hubby could eat before his meeting tonight. I made mac 'n' cheese and homemade chicken tenders (ranch ones for me- one of my favorite things). I was using the owl to get them out of the oven and he's useless, as I said before, so I burnt my hand and dropped ALL of the chicken tenders on the floor. My son thought it was absolutely hilarious. I was not amused in the least. Luckily we had some nuggets in the freezer and the mac 'n' cheese was ok so we still got to eat.

Madison's doctor appointment went really well. She is 11 lbs. 7 oz. and 24 inches in length. The doctor also looked at her ear and it's fine. She said she may be pulling out because she's teething. Madison had to get 3 shots, and last time they bothered her a lot so I'm expecting a long night tonight.

2 of Madison's boo-boos from the doctor

After the doctor we went to the e-quarium. I think Madison liked it. She just kept staring at all the fish, especially some really bright yellow ones.

475 COOKIES #2- CHOCOLATE CHERRY DROPS

2011-03-14T17:00:00.002-04:00

All I have to say about these cookies is "Mmmm Mmmmm GOOOOD!!!"

They were a pain to make and I bought a wrong ingredient, but they are definitely worth it! They have pistachios in them, and pistachios are expensive. I bought the ones in the shells because they were cheaper, but then I had to open them all myself. The recipe called for dried cherries and dummy me bought dried cranberries infused with cherry juice. I used them anyway and it turned out just fine. The chocolate cookies are drizzled with white chocolate and they are just delicious. I don't think I would make these too often because of the pistachios, maybe for special occasions.

Here are the ratings: 4 Stars

Mommy: 5 stars
Zach: hasn't gotten to try them yet (and may not get one if he doesn't hurry, lol) Update: Zach gives them 5 stars and 2 thumbs up!
Daddy: still deciding Daddy gives them only 3.5 stars (because he's not supposed to eat nuts and the pistachios did a number on his poor tummy)

Ease/ Time Consumption: 3 (1 if you buy pistachios already shelled)

NO MORE FACEBOOK, FOR NOW

2011-03-08T22:23:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to take a minute to let all my followers know that you may be hearing a lot more about Zach and Madison over the next 40 days. I am giving up facebook for Lent and my friends and family love seeing all the pictures and stories I post of the kids on there. They'll be mad if they have to go without those, so I've directed them all here until I get back on facebook.

*Hugs*

475 Cookies --- #1 Chocolate Crinkles

2011-03-07T10:00:00.001-05:00

A few years ago I got the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Cookies cookbook. It has 475 recipes in it. Then I was MISdiagnosed with Celiac's disease and sadly packed the book away since cookies were one of the things I could no longer eat. While I was pregnant with Madison I found out that I DO NOT have Celiac's disease and I was sooooo happy! When we unpacked our boxes at our new house I found this cookbook and told my Hubby I was going to make EVERY cookie in the book. From there we decided that each family member would rate each cookie out of 5 so we can eventually compile a list of our family's favorite cookies. I am also going to rate each cookie on ease and time consumption. We are each going to take turns picking cookies out of the book.

I got the first pick and I chose Chocolate Crinkles, we renamed them Zebra Stripes after they came out of the oven though.

Ratings:   3 stars

Mommy:   3
Daddy:     4 1/2
Zach:       5

Ease/ Time Consumption: 1