Pinnacle's Orange Whipped Vodka ~ Creamsicle in a Glass

I have taken some time this summer to really "test" out a few more of the Pinnacle Vodka flavors.  I have discovered yet another delicious combination that creates a drink that tastes just like a creamsicle, which are the orange and vanilla flavored popsicles.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. Pinnacle Orange Whipped Vodka
• Crystal Light Lemonade 
• Ice

Fill your glass with ice.  Pour orange flavored vodka over the ice.  Fill the glass with lemonade.  Stir.

This is a delicious, refreshing drink we have enjoyed all summer!

Pinnacle's Caramel Apple Vodka ~ Caramel Sour Apple Martini Recipe

I love Pinnacle vodkas.  If you haven't seen them, they have flavors ranging from marshmallow to cotton candy to fruit flavors to strawberry shortcake and much more in between.  I was excited on my most recent trip to the liquor store to discover a new flavor, Caramel Apple.

Though Pinnacle provides an entire list of recipes, I have not seen recipes for this particular flavor, so I did a little experimenting.  Here's is my version of a Caramel Sour Apple Martini:

Ingredients:
1 oz. Pinnacle Caramel Apple
1 oz. Midori
1 oz. Sweet & Sour Mix (I use Dailey's)

Pour all ingredients into a shaker over ice.  Shake until the condensation reaches the top of your shaker and pour into your favorite martini glass.

Which Pinnacle vodka flavor is your favorite?

Organizing My Girls' Hair Bows ~ PINspiration Blog Hop

I am so excited the PINspiration Blog Hop hosted by Disney Living is back up and running!  Pinterest is a place I have really found so much inspiration from crafts to exercise to holiday decorations and so much more.  I love having a place to share some of the things I have found and created!  You can find all my boards from Disney to crafts to recipes and more at Pinterest/BethDoda

I have recently been on an organization kick.  I am not sure why all of sudden I feel the urge to get all this done, but for whatever reason, I have!  My number one place to find organization ideas that do not necessarily cost a lot has been Pinterest.  I have created a board of all the organization ideas I have found, many of which I react with, "Why didn't I think of that?"  I especially love when I find an idea that uses things I already have around the house.

That's right, they even wear bows when we are all dressed
to watch a Patriots game!

Glass Etching Tips Using Your Cricut

Wine glasses I etched with a princess theme

My newest craft obsession (yes, obsession) is glass etching.  I had the materials for months to test this project out but never dared hop into it.  Well, I finally one day just did it, and in all honesty, I cannot believe how great it looks and how easy it is!  I have etched glasses, vases, plates and well, you get the point.  Anything glass around this house, I have etched.  They make great gifts at very reasonable costs.

In order to etch glass, you will need a few materials:

Run Like the Wind Digital Scrapbook Kit Giveaway at Pursuing the Magic

Over on my Disney blog today, I am giving away a brand new digital kit by Capturing Magical Memories.  It is called Run Like the Wind and is great for preserving those runDisney (or any running) memories and photos.

To enter for your chance to win this digital scrapbook kit, head over to 

Pursuing the Magic

Good Luck!

Mousescrappers Template Challenge #135 ~ Dumbo the Flying Elephant

The template challenges at Mousescrappers have really gotten me motivated to get scrapping.  I was so excited to see the new template for this week's challenge.  Even better, I just purchased Capturing Magical Memories "See an Elephant Fly" bundle, and have been itching to use it!

In case you missed it, I shared a cute little story to go along with the main photo in this layout for the Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.  You can read all about it in my post Best Buddies.

If you are looking to see more of Mary's kit (and all the other great materials she has created), head over to her Mousescrappers store.  Everything in his layout was from her kit, but I had plenty more to choose from!   Being new to digital scrapping, I was just excited to get this much on there!  Mary has an alphabet, papers and plenty of embellishments in the See an Flying Elephant theme.

Digital Scrapbooking Here I Come!

So I have always said, I will not convert to digital scrapbooking until I use up a significant amount of the paper and embellishments I have on hand.  I have more materials than I could probably use in a lifetime of scrapbooking.  We'll just call it a rookie scrapbooker mistake on my part!

I recently took part in the Mousescrappers Minnie Marathon.  Though I didn't end up completing all the projects, I did complete a few!  I thought I would share a couple today and then this week give you more details into how I created them.  But before I share them, I have to send out a huge thank you to my friend, Mary, at Capturing Magical Memories, who also just happens to be a designer for Mousescrappers as well.  I had never participated in one of these speed scraps and was completely overwhelmed (meaning, I was not nearly as prepared as I thought I was!  I'll know better for next time!).  I sent Mary a panic message to which she responded and got me back on track and excited to keep trying.

At Capturing Magical Memories, Mary shares so many great layouts for all areas of Walt Disney World.  She is very inspiring. I owe her a huge thank you for letting me ask her a million questions and she responding everytime with an invaluable tip or just words of encouragement.  So without further ado, here are my two very first digital layouts:

I will share more details this week on where I found the pieces I used, the templates and what specific challenge I was given for each one.

Have you converted to digital scrapbooking or do you prefer traditional?  I think I will end up being both!

MouseScrapper's Speed Scrap Minnie Marathon This Weekend

Since I am so far behind with my scrapbooks, I decided to join in my first speed scrap.  Well, let's just say, being a traditional scrapper (I haven't converted to digital yet!), this has been quite the start to my weekend!  There have been four challenges, of which I have completed three.  Since I haven't even completed three in the last six months, I am considering this a success . . . so far!  I will be trying my best to complete the fourth one from today and keep up with the challenges handed out tomorrow.

Have you joined in this weekend?  Even if you don't have time to join in, head over to see all the amazing layouts everyone has shared!  They are quite inspiring!

Head over and join in the 

MouseScrapper's Speed Scrap Minnie Marathon!

Even better, my friend, Mary, of Capturing Magical Memories and MCDigital Designs is one of the MouseScrapper designers.  In honor of this weekend's marathon, her entire store will be 40% off!    You can find her designs at the 
Capturing Magical Memories store at MouseScrappers.com

Creating Cricut Wall Decorations for My Nephew's Hospital Room

My two year old nephew, Dustin, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  (You can read more about what our family has been facing in my post Team Dustin ~ Prayers and Pixie Dust)  Being so far away from him, I had to do something to feel like I was helping, since I couldn't be there in person.  I decided what better way to send a little love than to create some wall decorations for his hospital room.  His two favorite characters are Elmo and Mickey Mouse.  I have all the Disney cartridges, so the Mickey ones I got right to work on.  I had no Elmo or Sesame Street cartridges, so I headed right to eBay and ordered every one I could get my hands on.  Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of the Mickey wall hangings because as soon as they were done, the kids and I headed straight to the post office with the wall hangings, as well as a collection of different things they could use to hang them on the walls (I wasn't sure what the hospital allowed, so anything I found from 3M products to tacky putty, I bought!).  But I used my Mickey & Friends Cricut Cartridge to create Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald.

Disney Character Cricut Cartridge Reference List at Pursuing the Magic

Today, on my Disney blog, Pursuing the Magic, I posted a list of all the Disney characters available on Cricut cartridges.  The characters are listed in alphabetical order, followed by each cartridge you can find them, as well as how many images available for that character.  It is a great reference if you are looking for someone specific for one of your Disney projects.

To check it out, head over to 

Disney Character Cricut Cartridge Reference List

at Pursuing the Magic

A Virtual Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower with the Magical Blogorail

Today, I am joining in the fun of a Magical Blogorail Special Edition loop.  We are sharing some fun ideas to host your own Winnie the Pooh baby shower.  Head over to check out everything from invitations to gift ideas to cakes, party favors and much more!

A Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower

A Few Disney Princess Scrapbooking Finds (and a couple of good buys) at Joann Fabrics

Come link up for the Tiggerific Tuesday Blog Hop  . . . or Bounce hosted by Magical Mouse Schoolhouse, Return to Disney and Mouze Kateerz.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers.

Today over at my Disney blog, Pursuing the Magic, Mary from Capturing Magical Memories and MC Digital Designs is sharing her safari-inspired scrapbook layouts.  Her posts have really given me some inspiration to get going on my scrapbooks.  So armed with my 10% off my entire purchase coupon for President's Day, my daughters and I made our way to Joann Fabrics to get a few supplies I needed to work on our Kilimanjaro Safaris scrapbook page.  When I got there I found a couple of exciting things, which doesn't happen too often at our Joann's because it is really small and rarely stocked.  (Though they just completely redid the store, so I am hoping that means lots of new products to go with the new look!).

First, they had several of the Cuttlebug embossing folders on clearance, so I was able to pick up a few I did not have.  I actually only own two, so I am excited to add the argyle embossing folder ($2.67), as well as the complete Freshly Picked set ($8.97 for 4 embossing folders in 2 different sizes), to my collection.  Maybe it is a sign I need to buy the Freshly Picked cartridge!

Our next stop was to find paper for a princess project I am working on for the girls, but I was looking for shades of blue.  I noticed that they have replaced the Paper Company Value packs of paper (I loved these!) with Core'dinations Premium Cardstock.  Within these premium stacks they had several themed sets.  I chose "The Prince," which included 5 sheets of 5 different colors, including the shade of blue I think I need.  Even better than finding the blue that I needed, the "old" Paper Company stacks were in the clearance section for $1.97 for 50 sheets of 8.5x11 paper.  I stocked up on those - they had the color themes Neutral, Brocade and Black & White left.


Finally, no trip to Joann's is complete without a stop at the Disney embellishments in the scrapbook aisle.  I love this section of the store. But today, I was quite excited to find Disney princess embellishments that included Tiana, Rapunzel and Mulan.  It is always easy to find Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, so I was excited to find the Disney Princess Die Cut Cardstock.  This set includes 118 pieces (see photo) and there are two of each image.  There are 10 princesses included in this one set.  The second set I found was a Disney Princess Dimensional Stickers set, which included 5 princesses (Tiana, Rapunzel, Ariel, Snow White and Mulan).  I am just excited to see more princess being included!

 I was excited to find Mulan, Tiana
and Rapunzel included in one set

This is the first set I have seen that includes
all of the Disney Princesses

Now to get to work!  If you are looking for a little scrapbooking inspiration today, make sure you check our Mary's website Capturing Magical Memories and her Etsy shop MC Digital Designs.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches (When It Is Too Cold to Fire Up the Smoker)

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I want to try to use my crock pot more, just for the convenience of being able to get dinner going in the morning and then have minimal work at dinner time and clean up.  For the Super Bowl this weekend, we had decided we were going to make pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.  Unfortunately, it is so cold that using our smoker to smoke the pork would be a lot of work to keep the heat up.  So, we are using the McCormick's Slow Cooker packet, BBQ Pulled Pork.  They have many other varieties, including soups and beef stew, that we have enjoyed as well.

The prep time for this recipe is about 5 minutes. Then it cooks for about 8 hours on low, though you could speed up the process by cooking it on high.  Considering it is the Super Bowl and we do not want to spend all out time in the kitchen or outside at the smoker, this is a great alternative for something that is easy and delicious.  There is even an alternative recipe on the packet to create spareribs instead of the pulled pork.

Chocolate Kahlua Trifle

I know this picture has nothing to
do with this dessert, but I
figure since my kids are dressed in
their Patriots clothes, I can use it
until I get a picture of the dessert!

This recipe is one of the easiest dessert recipes I have that is always a crowd pleaser!  There are so many versions of this recipe online, but this happens to be the one I use and love.  (Pictures coming soon - I will be making this for the Super Bowl this weekend!)

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. Devil's Food Cake Mix
• 1/2 c. Kahlua
• 4c. Milk
• 1 pkg. Toffee Bits (if your store doesn't carry these, crush 3 to 4 Skor bars)
• 2 pkgs. Instant Chocolate Pudding
• 1-8oz. Cool Whip

1. Prepare and bake the cake according to package directions for a 13x9 size cake.  Cool to room temperature.
2. Pierce holes in the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour Kahlua over cake.  Let stand for 2 hours.
3. Cut cake into 8 pieces.
4. Place 4 pieces in the bottom of a trifle bowl.
5. Prepare one package of chocolate pudding according to directions.  Pour over the cake in the trifle bowl.
6. Cover with one 8oz. container of Cool Whip.
7. Sprinkle half the toffee bits over the Cool Whip
8. Repeat steps 4-7 until all ingredients are used.
9. Chill until ready to serve

I recommend giving this at least an hour to sit before serving to give the pudding plenty of time to set.

Easiest Chicken Crock Pot Recipe ~ Garlic Chicken

Photo from Sears.com
Hamilton Beach 6-qt Crock Pot

One of the things I have tried to do recently is make better use of my crock pot.  Using the crock pot gives me the opportunity to make dinner in the morning when two of my three children are in school.  Plus, it makes dinner time an easy clean up!  One of children's favorite recipes is also by far one of the easiest I have created.  The prep time is less than 10 minutes, and even better, I always have these ingredients on hand.

Garlic Chicken in the Crock Pot


Ingredients:

Disney Scrapbook Layouts ~ It's All About Pirates

This is one of Mary's
Pirate Scrapbook Layouts

Every month on my Disney website I run a monthly series, in which I invite Disney bloggers from around the web to share their perspective on a new topic.  Today at Pursuing the Magic, Mary of Capturing Magical Memories is sharing her tips and scrapbook layouts for preserving your pirate photos and memories from Disney parks. To see her creations, head over to

In Pursuit of Pirates Part #3 ~ Getting Pirates on Those Pages

MC Digital Designs

I have been very lucky over the past year to have connected with a lot of bloggers online.  As a member of the Magical Blogorail, I have been blessed to have crossed paths with Mary of Capturing Magical Memories. Being that I am SO far behind with all my Disney scrapbooking, I have really enjoyed visiting her blog to see her original Disney scrapbook layouts.  She is very inspiring to say the least and it gets me motivated to get going on my scrapbooks.


So when Mary decided to start her own Etsy shop, I just had to share her creations with you!  To see her shop, make sure you head over to 

MC Digital Designs for Capturing Magical Memories

Her shop description is "Disney inspired digital content designed to make and preserve memories. Specializing in digital scrapbooking material and invitations."  I love her 12x12 scrapbook paper, which is themed around many of our favorite Disney characters, such as the Fab 5, Little Einsteins and Disney Princess, and well known Walt Disney World spots, such as Main Street, U.S.A and Crystal Palace.  She also has invitations, thank you notes and holiday cards to name a few of her other offerings!

To see her creations at work, make sure you are following her at Capturing Magical Memories.  He work is creative, original and very inspiring!  

After you check out her shop, let me know which is your favorite.  I happen to love the Sparkly Starry Princess paper.

My Top Five 2011 Posts

This year has had a lot of ups and downs for our family.  My poor little blog here has been sadly neglected, though I hope to change that as we head into the new year and we get a fresh start.  I have a lot of projects ready to go, now to make the time to create them and share them!

Here are my top five posts of 2011:

#5 Retired Disney Cricut Cartridges
I have finally collected all the Disney cartridges.  If you are still looking to purchase any one of these cartridges, I have still seen some available on ebay, as well as Cricut.com itself.

Getting Organized ~ Using Your Cricut to Label Your Totes

Joey's Totes Labelled for His Toys
Cricut Cartridge Used ~ Mickey Font

This year, I discovered how to cut vinyl with my Cricut machine.  I since have become a labeling machine, especially when it comes to my children's toy totes.  In order to cut vinyl, you do need to purchase the Deep Cut Blade Housing (this comes with the needed blade).  You also need to purchase the sheets of vinyl, which, for the Cricut brand,comes in several colors:

• Billiard (green)
• Burnt Umber
• Chocolate
• Cotton
• Dark Blue
• Gray
• Ice Blue
• Latte
• Light Brown
• Lime Green
• Peacock Blue
• Raven
• Rose Pink
• Ruby Red
• Yellow

A Tote Tip for Getting Organized in 2012

This is about 1/10 of the number of totes we have!

As we start to put away all the new things that Santa and family members have given to our kids, I am always looking for ways to keep their toys organized, yet have them easily accessible when they want to play with them.  I actually purchase totes for each type of toy for the kids' rooms.  This has become a great way to keep things organized, but yet have all the pieces they need to play something all in one place.  Totes can become a very expensive investment, but I was given some advice by one of the associates at our local Wal-Mart.

I had been looking for totes to organize my scrapbooking paper.  There was only one left of the particular type I was looking for. When I asked an associate when they would be restocking the totes, she gave me the best advice.  She said that if you go to Wal-Mart.com, you can order totes by the case.  Not only can you get multiples of the same size, but they have never been opened.  This means that they won't be dusty and scraped up from sitting on the store shelves.  She also added that by purchasing them by the case, they are much cheaper than buying them in the store.

I raced home to see just what they had online.  I was quite excited that the online selection was of course much more diverse than in store.  On the particular item I was purchasing, I saved $1.50 per tote purchasing it online instead of in the store.  Even better, I used the "Site to Store" option, meaning as soon as they were in, Wal-Mart e-mailed me my pick up slip.  I drove to Wal-Mart and picked up my totes, which meant no shipping costs.  I used this method for the kids' toy totes too, which I bought by the case.  The particular type I purchased had six to a case.

In the end, I probably won't need to buy any more cases that include six of a particular size, but it is definitely a cost effective way to get started with your organization if you are looking to purchase totes.

How do you keep your kids' toys organized?

Make sure you check in tomorrow to see how I use my Cricut machine for come quick and easy labels for our totes!