My Pink Stamper Winter Challenge

As you may have noticed from previous posts, I am a huge fan of Robyn's work at My Pink Stamper.  I have learned a lot from her site and have been very inspired by her creations.  This week, she is having a Winter Challenge (check out her site to see the details).  I've decided to create a Winter card using my favorite Cricut cartridge ~ Everyday Paper Dolls, as well as the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More and Lyrical Letters cartridges.  It is hard to believe that summer has past so quickly and here in NH we are heading toward fall and winter!  Here's my creation, enjoy!

By the way, did you enter a project in the challenge?  If you didn't, you should!  You can win a set of Robyn's new stamps called "Winter Punnies."

Disney/Pixar Cars Cricut Cartridge Review

My brother and sister-in-law just sent my son a few little school things for Joey's first day of kindergarten.  So I had Joey help me design and make a thank you card using my Cricut machine.  I found the Cricut Cars Cartridge a few months ago in the clearance section at WalMart, which was very exciting.  My son is absolutely a Cars fanatic ~ he has a Cars bedroom, probably has collected every single die cast car from the movie, and has had a Cars themed birthday for his last 4 birthdays.  Needless to say, this Cars cartridge has come in very handy.

One of the best things about this particular cartridge is that it includes just about all the characters, other than specific piston cup racers, from the movie and for most characters there are at least two different versions you can create.  In addition to the characters, there are a lot of accessories including street signs, road pieces, and different popular sayings and symbols from the movie.  For example, if we look at the character "The King," you can create 3 different versions of him, his name, the Piston Cup and the Dinoco sign.  Each character comes with several accessories, which I love!  Now the only negative I find with this cartridge is that the characters are extremely detailed, which means cutting out a lot of very small pieces and finding where they fit in.  This means in order for me to be able to create them, without making myself crazy, I have to make them large, since my smaller Cricut machine does not cut as precisely as a Cricut Expression would (I am hoping to upgrade to one soon!).  So with that in mind, the card I created is very large to accommodate the large vehicle my son chose to decorate his thank you card.

In order to create this card, I also used the "Mickey Font" Cricut cartridge.  I created a license plate with the word "Thanks" on it.  Surprisingly, the Cars cartridge did not come with the license plate option. It seems it would fit in perfectly.

An Early Halloween ~ Part 2

It is hard to believe that we are rounding the corner to fall.  Our summer in NH has been one of the best I can remember in a long time.  As I mentioned in part one of my Halloween posts, with three kids, I have to create cards (or anything for that matter) when I have time and feel inspired.  Surprisingly, the other night I was feeling inspired to create some Halloween cards for my nephews.  Maybe it was the cool fall-feeling night or that I noticed the days are definitely getting shorter, but either way, Halloween was on my mind.

In my last post, I gave the directions to make a quick Halloween card using the Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge without making a paper doll.  This cartridge is worth purchasing, just for the numerous accessories!  For this card, I created a paper doll dressed as a ghost as the main image for the card and accented it with other accessories from the cartridge.  I also used the Cricut Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge to create the tag.

Materials:

Cricut Machine

Cricut Cartridge Tags, Bags, Boxes & More

Cricut Cartridge Paper Doll Dress Up

Black cardstock
Purple cardstock
Flesh colored cardstock
Yellow cardstock
Provocraft "Trick or Treat" patterned paper
"Happy Halloween" stamp
White gel pen
Yarn

1. Create a 5x7 card using the black cardstock
2. Cut a 4.5"x6.5" rectangle from the patterned paper
3. Using the TBBM cartridge, cut a 2" circle tag with hole from the yellow cardstock
4. Using the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge, cut a 4" doll from the flesh colored cardstock
5. Using the PDDU cartridge, cut at 4" out of white cardstock a ghost costume
6. Using the PDDU cartridge, cut at 4" out of purple cardstock a trick or treat bag (you will need to select Headwear, shift, Frankenstein)
7. Using the PDDU cartridge, cut at 4" out of black cardstock a cat (you will need to select Accessories 2, shift, Frankenstein)
8. Using a gel pen, color the cat's eyes and outline its features, as well as outline the words "Trick or treat" on the purple bag
9. Put all the pieces in place on the patterned paper and attach it to the black card

My Pink Stamper Website ~ I Love It!

One of my hobbies is paper crafting.  I say paper crafting because I love making cards, scrapbooking, and pretty much anything else you can make with paper!  I own a Cricut machine, which I love and have gotten much more use out of it than I thought I would.  The thing with my Cricut is the more I use it, the more I want to use it!  I recently created Little Mermaid birthday invitations for Hayley's birthday using the Disney Dreams Come True cartridge, thank you cards for Hayley to send out after her party using the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge (you can see my previous blog to see these) and just before our last trip to Walt Disney World, I created a countdown to Disney chart using the Disney Mickey Font cartridge.

Countdown to Disney Chart

One of the sites I take most inspiration from is My Pink Stamper.  Robyn creates many different projects to showcase some of the different Cricut cartridges and posts videos of how to recreate these yourself.  Her most recent project uses the Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge, which by the way is one I look forward to adding to my collection one of these days!  The great thing about her videos, since I am fairly new at using my Cricut, is that I get some very creative inspiration on exactly what I can create.  But also, Robyn gives great descriptions on what each cartridge can actually do.  The Sweet Treats cartridge is a perfect example.  This wasn't a cartridge that caught my eye at first, but after seeing her most recent project, I went to the Cricut website and checked it out.  Now, I can't wait to get it!  Plus, I am not familiar with a lot of the card making and scrabooking tools, which she describes all the things she uses in each of her videos.

Another great thing about Robyn is that she is always having giveaways.  Her most recent one is a Cricut Expression . . . I've already done what I need to do to enter, but to make sure you get your name in there, go to My Pink Stamper and read about the giveaway!  When you get to the site, don't forget to check out her amazing stamp sets, which coordinate with some of the Cricut cartridges.

Do you own a Cricut machine?  Which cartridge is your favorite?

A New Recipe ~ Blueberry Almond Buckle

When I was younger I never wanted to learn to cook or try new recipes. Growing up my mom always made big meals that usually were already on the table when I got home from school. Because of my participation in sports, I was never home in time to help my mom, and honestly, I was fine with that. I did love to help out with holidy baking and it was my job every Thanksgiving to make the Lemon Meringue Pie, but I just didn't have any desire beyond that to learn how to cook. Luckily, my husband loved to cook. When we met he always was the one to cook me a nice meal, and even when we were first married, he did all the cooking and I did the clean up. This all changed when I was home on maternity leave for my son, Joey.

Hayley and Emily Helping in the Kitchen

Being home, I discovered the Food Network. I now find it very comical that I loved to watch the cooking channel, but it never struck me to try to make any of the meals. I mostly watched Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals. Probably the fact that it was "quick" meals was what drew me in. At that point in my life, I had a career that I invested 100% of my time and energy into. I was at work early and stayed late. I brought work home and worked on it at night and weekends. I hadn't worked yet as a mom, though my priorites changed quickly when I returned to work. One night when my husband came home, I told him that he should try one of the Rachael Ray recipes. Now keep in mind he would work all day and come home and cook. Looking back now, I can't believe it never struck me to do the cooking! But I digress, his response to me wanting him to try a recipe was, "Why don't you?" It was that moment that I realized there was no reason why I shouldn't be doing all the cooking. So the next day Joey, only a few weeks old at the time, and I ventured out to the local Barnes and Noble and bought the only Rachael Ray cookbook they had "30 Minute Meals Volume 2." I taught myself to cook from watching different cooking shows, mostly Rachael Ray, and this one cookbook. Since then I have purchased many, probably too many, cookbooks and find a lot of joy in cooking and testing out new recipes. Of all the cookbooks I have purchased that first one is still my favorite and I make recipes from it at least once a week.

So my endeavor today was to find and test out a new recipe. Blueberries were on sale at Hannaford and I wanted to find a way to use them. I had also picked up the free (if you spend $25) recipe book "Fresh" that Hannaford publishes every month or two. If you've never picked one of these up before, I highly recommend it. In this issue was a recipe for Blueberry Almond Buckle. I had all the items on hand, so the decision was made - Blueberry Almond Buckle it would be! The girls helped me make it, and it was delicious! This recipe is definitely going into my recipe book!  Of course, it never struck me that this was a fruit dessert.  I thought it was a type of breakfast bread, so I served it to the kids for breakfast ~ they were quite excited to have "cake" for breakfast!

If you want to try it out, here's the recipe: Blueberry Almond Buckle

The great thing about recipes on Hannaford's website is that you can add the items from the recipe directly to a grocery list that you can then print out for your grocery shopping trip, you can scale the recipe to the right servings for you, and you can save your favorites to your "Recipe Box" right on their site. Of course, that means you have to log in, but certainly it is worth it.

Let me know if you try out this recipe or test Hannaford's online recipes.  I would love to hear what you think!

Wii Fit for Mom and the Kids

My husband thought last fall investing in Wii was a great idea. I wasn't so sold on it, especially, when for our anniversary he decided to give me Wii Fit Plus for a gift. Hmmm . . . was he trying to tell me something? Maybe it was all the times I mentioned I needed to lose my "baby" weight, and let me just mention that my "baby" is now 2. I was quite skeptical at first about just how effective this would be. It was still a video game in my mind and I really wasn't sure it was worth the money. Besides, when would I ever have time to workout with it? There would be no way I could use this thing without the kids wanting to participate too.

For those of you who have not tried Wii Fit Plus, let me just say they proportion your Mii (that's what your Wii character is called) to you. Once you stand on the balance board, it weighs you, which was surprisingly VERY accurate, gives you your BMI and then adjusts the shape to your Mii. Well, the first time I tried it, though I have a few extra pounds, I was in the healthy range and my Mii stayed pretty much as is. Just to see what would happen with my husband, who has a "few" extra pounds, I made him try it (yes, made him). Well, I never laughed so hard as when that little Mii just ballooned up. My husband did not find it so funny, but he got over it.

The first few times I used Wii Fit, it was after the kids went to bed, so I could actually concentrate. I mostly just played the games, such as Snowball Fight, Table Tilt, etc. These were fun but doing just the games, I really didn't see any significant change in my weight loss or fitness level. Then I discovered the Aerobics section of the program. There are running activities, Rhythm boxing, step aerobics and hula hoop. I figured Hula Hoop would be the easiest, so while feeling very confident, I chose Super Hula Hoop. Let's just say, to my surprise, it was a workout! Then I started exploring the Yoga and Strength Training sections. These have some great exercises too.

I got to a point that I wanted to start working out during the day. At night, I was really too tired and after the kids go to bed, it was the time for my husband and I to have time together to relax. Well, the first few times with the kids, ages 5, 3 and 2 at the time, was not fun and I certainly did not get much of a workout in. The kids would try to get on the balance board with me, or someone would have to use the potty, if you have kids, you know the story. It became so frustrating that I knew I had to come up with something. As you will see a very simple thing turned into my Wii Workout Saver!

By chance my parents had come over one night and Joey asked them if they wanted to play Wii Bowling. My mom said yes and Joey decided she couldn't play until there was a Mii set up for her. Well, the next day, Joey asked if he could make a Grampa Mii, which led to making a Mii for just about every family member we have. First let me say, this process was hysterical because the kids worked together and made everyone very "accurate"! It was interesting to see how they view each of our family members. My sister in law Kelly made out the best ~ she is the tallest and thinnest of all the Miis. The kids loved this process so much, that now anyone who comes over is automatically inducted into our Mii family. When my newest nephew was born, he was added that day. Who knew that this would become the best thing for my Wii workouts!

One morning I decided I was working out and the kids would have to occupy themselves for 30 minutes. As I started the Snowball Fight activity, I, as well as the kids, started noticing all the Miis they created were the ones I was throwing snow balls at. The kids started to see which family members were in the game and which ones I would get first with a snowball. They were all especially excited when their own Mii popped on the screen. When I did step aerobics, I was surrounded by family members, to which on one occasion Joey said, "Uncle Jeff is really good at this!" Of course, it was just the Uncle Jeff Mii, but I was fine with that. Let's just say I can now get in full Wii workouts because the kids spend the entire time looking for family members, who I am riding by on the bike, who I am hitting with snowballs, or who are throwing balls in the air for my Mii to juggle. It is amazing how this one simple little thing has allowed me to get in a 30 minute workout every day I want!

By the way, this has only backfired once. During a round of the snowball fight game, I "hit" my infant nephew's Mii character with a snowball and my son let me know that it isn't nice to hit babies with snowballs!

Another little note, I didn't think anyone would want to see a picture of me working out, I know I don't, so the photo above is of my three kids and me.

Hayley's Birthday Cake ~ The Second of Two Little Mermaid Cakes

If you read my previous post, then you know that my kids each get two separate birthday cakes. One is for the day of their birthday and one for their birthday party which usually falls the weekend after their birthday. For this cake, her party cake, Hayley chose the colors she wanted and basically designed the cake. She is a very creative 4 year old, which I love. There are a few mistakes with the cake though. One is the fondant flowers I made, or attempted to make. This summer in New Hampshire was quite humid to say the least and as a result, the fondant flowers did not make it! But, luckily, the candy coral did!

I've made this castle cake using Wilton's Romantic Castle Cake Set, which I have used several times over the last few years. I love it because of it's versatility. There are many ways to build the castles, but the one you see in my photo is as creative as I've been with it. I made the candy coral with royal icing and there is even a piece of coral in the shape of an "H" for Hayley, which she spotted right away. It is the one thing she talked about most when it came to the cake! It always amazes me what my kids find to be the best part of something. It usually isn't what I expect! The bottom layer is a 10" cake and the top layer is a 6" cake. To get the layers tall enough, I torte them and fill them. The bottom layer is 3 layers and the top layer just 2.

I finally found a way to get the towers to stand in the back. According to Wilton's directions, they recommend using candy melts to hold lollipop sticks to the bottom of the towers. I am sure I keep doing something wrong, but that never works for me. So I tried something new this year. I used Royal Icing to stick wooden skewers to the backs of the towers that extended 2 to 3 inches below the bottom of the tower. Now if I were displaying the cake in a place that you could see the backside, this wouldn't work. But since no one would see the back of the cake, this worked perfect. None of the towers leaned, wobbled or fell off (this has happened in previous years!). I was quite excited!

Here are some links to things I used to make this cake:
Wilton Round Cake Pan Set
Wilton Romantic Castle Cake Set
Wilton's Recipe for Royal Icing

Hayley's Birthday Cake ~ The First of Two Little Mermaid Themed Cakes

It is really hard to believe that Hayley has turned 4. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital! But, it is not hard to believe that she chose to have a birthday cake with a Disney princess theme. All four of her birthdays have been themed the same. For her first birthday, she had all the princesses, for her second birthday, it was Ariel, for her third birthday, it was Sleeping Beauty and this year was Little Mermaid again. For birthdays around here, I always have two celebrations. One on the actual birthday with just the five of us and then one on the following weekend which we share with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. It makes a lot of work to make two separate cakes, but it is worth every bit of effort!

For Hayley's actual birthday, she chose to have an Ariel cake. Luckily, I already had the Wilton Ariel Cake Pan from last time and all the Disney Princess and Little Mermaid Wilton colors for the frosting. The best thing this year when making this cake is that my daughter helped decorate it, as well as my husband. It was so fun with all of us doing something together . . . maybe my daughter will be the next Cake Boss! ;-)

Hayley chose to have yellow cake this time around and after frosting the cake, we added the candy seashells (you can see my previous post about making the seashells)around the edge. Of course, as we went to add the "4" candle to the cake, I had to convince Hayley that on Ariel's left eye was probably not the best spot and luckily, since I hadn't taken any pictures yet, I was able to convince her that in the hair would be better!

Here are some links to the items I used to make the cake:
Ariel Cake Pan (by Wilton)
Disney Princess Icing Colors (by Wilton)
Little Mermaid Icing Colors (by Wilton)