Scarfament Swap

Have you ever participated in a blog swap? I mean, not an actual swapping of blogs, I don't know the proper term. It's when a blogger hosts a swap, people sign up, those participating get paired off or randomly assigned someone, then you send your person something and you get something in return. Kind of like that.

Well, I joined in on my first swap and it was put together by the fabulous Danielle over at Take Heart. She hosted a "Scarfament Swap" this past month. You were to spend no more than $20 on a scarf and ornament for another blogger and mail them their goods by Dec. 1st and you would get an ornament and scarf from someone else. Buy it, make it, whatever, just get it there by the 1st.

I was paired up with, Nicole, over at, The Story of a Girl. I was given her favorite colors: purple, brown, mustard, teal. And this is what I came up with:

Clearly I went with the color teal. I hope she likes a little red because I felt it made it Christmas-y. I made the ornament and found that scarf while I was out and about one day. I kind of wanted to keep it. I liked the little sparkle in it - I hope Nicole did. It didn't say anything about liking sparkle, but, it didn't say anything about not liking it either!

And, based on my super helpful comments on my favorite colors (pink, orange, teal, red, black, purple) this is what Nicole came up with for me!

I love them (sorry about the poor photo). The ornament is awesome and is already up on the tree and I can't wait to wear my new fun scarf!

Anyway, all that to say, thanks Danielle for hosting the swap and I had a blast.

The Stache Party

So last week was my dad's birthday and my sister and I worked up a little party to celebrate his many years of life!

I originally saw this photo collage on pinterest and wanted to do it for dad. I didn't even know it came from MS at the time! Have I mentioned how much I love her?

Anyway, my mom pulled some photos together for me and I took pictures of each one with my phone, converted them all to black and white and added a border, then printed them for the backdrop at our swanky venue.

Looking back on dad's pictures, one thing that popped out was his mustache. He's had one my entire life so I thought I would be fun to incorporate the stache into the party decor. Thus, the theme was born.



My sister and I made treats for the party. Lots of mini cupcakes came out of my oven and a few didn't make it to the party - a girl has to taste-test. I used Bakerella's cookies and cream icing recipe (with butter, not shortening) and added some crushed Oreo's to a little of the chocolate batter (in a box) as well as the vanilla batter (also from a box). Folks, I may never make  a standard cupcake again. Those things were delicious. The cookies even kept their crunch.



Anyway, my sister made a variety of fancy treats like peanut butter bites, rolo pretzels and sugar cookies. They were all so tasty. She also cut out mini mustaches and the number 60 so we could top the treats. I think the party table came out pretty cute if I do say so myself!



My sister probably got tons of cute party pics so while she was doing her thing, I chased her kids around trying to get them to pose with mustaches with me for a little photo booth fun.

Side note - do you have the pocketbooth app?

photo from itunes

No!? Go get it now. If you do, you know how much fun that thing is, especially at parties AND parties that have mustaches on sticks!

Anyway, here are just a few of the photo booth pics - there's a whole lot more.



Oh, and the swanky setting? We had it at none other than Jim's Coney Island. I've mentioned it on this blog before and some know it by "Never on Sunday's" but I basically grew up there. I've even ran into my Dad at Jim's a time or two. It was the perfect setting: laid back, the smell of chili dogs and Greek food and just classy enough to not get stares from the other patrons as we ran around covered in fake mustaches!

I hope dad had as much fun at the party than we did planning it!

CrazyJoy = Buy (revealed)

Happy Monday!

I'm sure there was a lot of buying going on over the last few days with Black Friday and now Cyber Monday. I got a couple of really good deals over the weekend but one of my favorite buys came in the mail today. It's a bow I ordered from Lulu & ChaCha.



I found the Lulu & ChaCha through my sister's blog where they're sponsoring this month. They have some seriously cute headbands and bows.

Check out http://www.thejoycottage.com/ later to see her photo and to link up with the challenge.

CrazyJoy =

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Sorry this is late. I've been in and out, enjoying a few Black Friday traditions, eating, decorating and even grabbed a quick nap. It's been a great couple of days!

Anna posted the new crazyjoy challenge word earlier today so I hoped you checked it out. If not, here you go.



I'll see you Monday where I'll post my photo for the challenge.

Until then, here are some new photos over the last few days...






The collages were made with the diptic app using instagram photos from my phone library. I guess I should mention that I'm a little obsessed with Instagram (free) and Diptic (only 99 cents).

Oktoberfest Feasting

As I've mentioned, Oktoberfest was this past weekend here in T-town. The plan was to save money by going during the free-admission time and not eating anything while we were there because we had a German feast to come home to. Such was the plan anyway. We made it inside the gates with seconds, and I mean seconds, to spare. We didn't plan on the traffic and had to run for the gates. Sweet P and I made it through, then Eric and then the ticket-takers started moving out saying time was up and everyone needed a ticket. My mom held her phone up with the time showing there was still one minute to go as she pushed on through. They ended up letting her through - along with a drove of others!

It was a fun start to the event. We walked from tent to tent, hearing various sounds of music and cheering and smelling all kinds of tempting treats.



We hadn't been there 20 minutes before the beer (the husband's beverage), potato pancake and Ludgar's Bavarian cream cheese cake had been purchased.



With full bellies it was time to work a little of those calories off with a little chicken dancing. Sweet P once again wooed the crowds and had everyone around her clapping and smiling.



It was a good time. I think I need one of those German hats for me and Sweet P next year.

The rest of the weekend was filled with family, a lot of football watching and more German feasting. Last week I mentioned a few recipes I wanted to try and I made all but one. I also added one I didn't mention so here's the reviews...

First up, the Wiener Schnitzel and German potato salad.



I tried this chicken schnitzel recipe but used tenderized-boneless pork chops for the meat. The husband said it was the best schnitzel he's ever eaten and that it reminded him of the one he would order as a kid at Ursula's (Tulsa restaurant no longer in business). I thought it turned out pretty good.

Then there's the German potato salad recipe that I mentioned last week. Again, the husband loved it and said it was the best potato salad I've ever made. Personally, I prefer a cold, smashed potato salad but it went well with the dinner.

Next up is the recipe for apple strudel I also mentioned last week.



After I converted everything in her recipe, I decided to use puff pastry instead of phyllo dough. I like puff pastry, it's easy and I'll use the leftovers. Plus, I didn't feel like taking the time to do the whole buttering the 4-5 layers or phyllo. I'm lazy.



The puff pastry ended up working out really well and the strudel was amazing. Really folks, delicious. I used honeycrisp apples inside and topped the strudel with some icing to really take it over the edge in the healthy department.

And, last up, I tried this recipe for homemade pretzels.



They were a huge hit. I read a lot of the comments on the recipe and ended up going with 4 cups of flour and using my kitchenaid with the hook attachment to knead the dough. That thing made this recipe SO easy. The pretzels smelled amazing and were perfect right out of the oven.

The recipe calls for sugar but the husband didn't care for the sweetness of the dough. I didn't mind but will probably use less next time I make them. They were also really good covered sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and coated with melted butter. Such a great treat.

After all the German food cooking and eating I have determined that the German folk aren't too concerned with calories and I'm happy Oktoberfest only rolls around once a year.

Snap Shop - online!

I know a lot of you guys read my sister's blog but for those that don't, I wanted to make sure you knew about her online Snap Shop!

Several of you have mentioned wanting to take her class or knowing someone that wants to and due to the fact that there's limited space available, you just haven't been able to get in one yet. Well, I'm excited to tell you guys that there's still a few spaces left for her first online class! Check out her information page to register.

I have had the opportunity to take her regular, one-day class and also the online version and let me tell you folks, you won't be disappointed. I think the online version has so many benefits that you don't get with the one day session. Like, you get THREE whole weeks to go through all the material. There's so much great information and helpful tips that having three whole weeks to process it all and go back to is really helpful. Not only that, but you get to do everything at your own pace. You can do it after work, on the weekend, whenever you have some free time.

So why take the class? If you're like me and have a DSLR and want to take better, more interesting photos of your kids, food, family, dog, cat, whatever, and want to break out of the little green automatic square, that's why. The class covers several different sessions from composition, story telling and making the scary switch from automatic to manual. The thing I really liked about this class is all the terminology is easy to understand. It's not super technical and confusing. After taking the class you'll feel excited and ready to tackle your manual setting! Trust me, I did.

Ashley is offering a discounted introduction rate of $150 for the first month. After that the price will go up to $200. Like I said, there's a few spaces left in her first class so if you want to get in on the discount, register before those lasts spots are taken!

P is For... (part one)

Today is Sweet P's actual birthday but we had her party over the weekend. The house was full of friends and family and she loved every minute of it!

The theme for her party was "p is for..." Her nickname is Sweet P and we just call her P a lot of the time so I wanted to play off that.

Everything was centered around things that started with the letter "p," from decorations to food. Today's post will cover the decorations, everything from pom poms to pinwheels and a whole lot of pink.

Here's the invitation I designed (front)



(back)



And on to the decorations! My mom bought me a 12"x12" paper pad in Martha Stewart's Vintage Girl line and I made just about every single decoration for the party out of the one packet.

 

It came with 3-4 shades of pink glittery paper, pink and white plaid, pink vellum and tons more.

Remember these


and this


Well, I combined the two and strung them together with some twine to make a little banner to hang on the table.



and remember these



They were the little labels for all the food on the table. Since the theme was "p is for" all the food started with the letter p:
   pizza balls (both the pepperoni and buffalo chicken)
   pitas and cheese (artichoke cheese dip)
   pretzels dipped in chocolate and white chocolate
   popcorn
   peanuts
   pineapple kabobs
   pringles
   sweet pea cupcakes with this frosting
   pixy stix
   pink lemonade
   and P's very own "princess and the pea" cake





And I saw this idea and wanted to do it for P. I asked everyone at the party to write one reason they loved her on the card before they left and Eric and I filled out the rest.



I made a label for the front that matches her invitation. I put it in a little nook with a couple of pink pom poms and one of the photos of her from the day she was born. I love that she'll have sweet notes from people that love her to look back on as she grows up!

And last but not least, one of my favorite projects I did for the party, P's paper quilt. I'm not sure if these exist, but I saw this photo originally on pinterest where the girl used fabric scraps and glued them to a canvas to make a mosaic. Since I don't have a lot of fabric lying around and since I had an awesome paper pad full of cute quilt-like paper, I decided to make a paper quilt.

I made a hexagon template with clear vellum and cut out the shapes from six different sets of paper. Then I arranged them on a huge canvas and glued them down with decoupage.



I went through P's monthly photos, most of which were taken by her fabulous Aunt Ashley, and had them printed on 5"x4" photo paper. I used my vellum template and cut each photo out and glued each into the center of the hexagon "circles."



I still have to have her 11 and 12 month photos printed, but you can see the near-finished quilt in the background in the photos but here's kind of a close-up.


The center has a hexagon with her birth date and stats on it that I just printed out on a sheet of white paper and cut out the shape.

So that pretty much wraps up all the decorations and ends my craft streak for the rest of the year!

Tomorrow is part two of the celebration!

Failed Attempts

Confession time.

I took all of last week (and the start of this week) off from my Insanity workouts. The alarm continued to go off but I just turned it off and slept instead.

I planned on getting up at 5:30 this morning to do that cardio thing but sheesh, 5:30 is so early. I hit the snooze again. Maybe I'll try to fit it in this afternoon sometime.

That's not my only failure today. I tried making this recipe, courtesy Pioneer Woman and it just didn't turn out.

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Lesley on Pinterest

That's the photo from her recipe I found via pinterest. Iced coffees are one of my favorite things so I was a little giddy when I saw this recipe. I started the steeping process yesterday then went to strain the grounds but my version just looked like really strong tea. It was not what I had expected.

Now I need a new recipe unless there's someone out there that knows the trick to P-dub's. If you have a great recipe for iced coffees, please send it my way.

Design Boom

I found this site and first thought of my sister because of these...

Yes, those are palette coasters. The packaging is awesome. I love some good, creative packaging.

And then I stumbled onto this photographer, Irina Werning. She takes an old photo and recreates it in her "Back to the Future" series. Here's one that cracked me up:

'mechi in 1990 & 2010', buenos aires
image © irina werning

So, now I totally want to go through pictures when I was little and do this! How fun!

This has been random!

Face Mug = Awesome!

image from holycool.net

I saw this on holycool.net and cracked up. It also made me realize it's almost the second month into a new year and I have yet to eat a donut this year!

I know, hard to believe. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as I was aware of my lack of tasty pastry eating, I started craving donuts!?

Figures, but now I kind of feel like seeing how long I can go without one.


And this is for Sweet P's aunt! (sorry her face is blurry, I was focused on the shirt)

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Reeder App for iPhone

I don't know how I didn't know about this little gem before.

If you read a lot of blogs and have an iPhone you must get Reeder. It syncs with your Google account so you can spend more time reading your favorite blogs when you're away from the computer. Here's a screen shot.

Now when I'm in line at the bank or in the doctor's office, I can spend more time catching up and less time playing Angry Birds.

More Fun from the Giveaway

A while back I won Emily's blog giveaway. Yay for me! I found her blog when she was a guest poster (I guess that's what you'd call it) on my sister's blog and now check it daily.

Side note, do you ever feel like an online stalker when you visit someone's blog on a daily basis but haven't ever met them? Or is that just me?

Anyway, part of the giveaway was a gift certificate to The Vintage Pearl. I used it to get my mom a necklace with little charms. Each charm is different and has the first initial of her five grandkids on it with a little pearl.

I also won a gift certificate to Tweet Baby Designs! Yay!! I LOVE Ashlee's stuff. Sweet P has a couple flower hair clips, a chomping necklace and is now the proud owner of an amber necklace!

Bad picture to show off the necklace, but it is peeking out a little.

And then there's Elizabeth St. Sweet P got a super cute headband and we also got several pinwheels. I think they'll be making an appearance at her first birthday party!!! Is it too early to start thinking about that?

She makes this face a lot and I think she looks just like my grandma.

So, thank you so much Emily for hosting the giveaway and thank you to all her sponsors that participated!! You guys rock!

I Don't Mean to Brag, but...

I won a blog giveaway!!

Emily over at the Anderson Family Crew hosted an awesome giveaway package and I won!

Yah, I'm pretty pumped. It kind of feels like Christmas already.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from Nourish Baby Organics and the coconut stuff is AMAZING!! I wish computers had scratch-and-sniff capabilities so you could smell this. But, until then, you'll have to  trust me when I say this stuff is awesome. Sweet P has been slathered down in the balm and I can't wait to give her a bath to use the wash!!

This picture is a bit blurry but it shows how excited she was about the balm and wash!

Plus, I got to pick out some cross-stitch patterns from Wild Olive!! If you haven't been to her etsy store, check it out. There are some super cute patterns over there. She has some for jordnots - which is Swedish for peanuts, and as some of you know, one of the nicknames for a baby girl is peanut...so, I had to get one of those!! I think I'll make "Peanut" some cute little jordnot dolls or something!

Anyway, here's the wash, balm and a little something I'm working on using one of the patterns:

Thanks again Emily and all your sponsors for doing the giveaway!! I'll share more on my other winnings later.

A Great Way to Bring in the New Year

Kate Spade 2011 Calendar! Love it!

And not to mention the totally awesome iphone cover.

I Like these Glasses

I saw these on the Mrs. Lilian Styling Shop blog and thought they were pretty cute.

Which now has me thinking...maybe a DIY project?

Ooh laa laa...I want!

I saw this Kent and London Alphabet drawers on a typography post on design*sponge and really, really want one. Plus, that whole post is pretty much awesome.

I would also like to decorate my whole house using typographic elements...if not for the husband. He doesn't appreciate it as much as I do. Silly engineers.

Hmmm, now, who do I know that can build???