Food

Project Life on HSN

7 · Mar 20, 2013 · 5 Comments

Project Life // I used to be a CRAZY scrapbooker! I spent a fortune on all kinds of scrapbooking supplies and then subsequent storage containers for said supplies. I've spent many a weekend with my house looking like a scrapbooking store exploded in my house. As much as I loved the creativity of documenting my families life this way, I started to feel bogged down by the process. As the styles changed, it became popular to have just one photo per 12×12 page. Holy smoke… it would take over an hour to work on one page and cost upwards of $10 per page some times. It was CRAZY!! Several years ago, it just became too much and… I quit. I gave away my fortune in supplies to a friend and turned my back on the art form. In turn, I have not documented my families milestones or day to day life since then. Sad, I know!

I've been a Becky Higgins fan for YEARS. I have all of her early books and have followed her career for sometime. Successful women have always intrigued me, and she has always been such an inspiration. Even with that, I was not ready to jump back on the scrapbooking bandwagon with her new adventure, Project Life. I didn't even look into the whole concept. The idea of a whole new scrapbooking system, made me break out in hives just thinking about it. Yea, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl. As thrilled as I was for Becky, I just couldn't jump on board. Then I started to see all of the fun projects cropping up on Instagram and Facebook. Everyone it seemed was using Project Life. Good friends of mine, Catherine from Design Editor and Rebecca from Simple as That… Busy ladies, were making these super cute layouts and documenting all of their fun memories with Becky's new system. Maybe, just maybe, I could tackle the years that have stacked up, unorganized with this system. Maybe, just maybe I could organize my families memories without heart palpitations, without spending a fortune on supplies, without taking over an entire room of my house with supplies, without alienating my husband with the mess and the time it took away from our family. Maybe I could DO THIS!

Right about the time I was ready to jump on the bandwagon, American Crafts contacted me to see if I would be will to review the new Blush Edition of Project Life. Little did they know I had just spent about a month preparing myself to enter the world of memory keeping once again. It was PERFECT timing. I had also just ordered some of my Instagram feed from Origrami and was SUPER excited to find that my prints would work perfect with the Project Life format. I set to work, and had a ball working on my family's memories stress free, mess free and super quick. Here is a video on how to use Project Life…

How fun is that? You can put as much time and effort into your book as you want. Here's how my first few pages turned out…

You can play around with designs if you like. I did add a few little elements with stamps and some washi tape, but I'm going to leave it at that. There is really no need to make this a complicated process…

I had so much fun yesterday working on this project and I can't wait to continue catching up on my family history. You can too, with Project Life. There are some pretty cool things coming up for Becky and her crew this spring. One of those fun events is that Becky Higgins is bringing two of her Project Life kits to the Home Shopping Network on March 25th!! Both of the kits will be at a fabulous value price, so you don't want to miss out.

Stay tuned to American Crafts and Becky Higgins this spring, there will be more amazing announcements that you won't want to miss!

This is a sponsored post by American Crafts

Spring Hop // Egg Boats for Easter Brunch

1 · Mar 19, 2013 · 13 Comments

Spring Hop // Can you feel it? Spring is in the air. The world is waking up with all kinds of fun new ideas. I've teamed up with some talented ladies this week for a fun Spring Blog Hop…

All this week we will each be sharing a fabulous new spring craft or recipe and then at the end of the week on Friday, it's YOUR TURN to share your fun spring ideas! How fun is this?! I am adding my Egg Boat recipe to the hop. It's a perfect new recipe for your Easter brunch this year…

Your guest will fall in love with this new take on eggs and toast. Not only that, but it is a snap to make and presents really well. You can find the recipe here.

Today you will also find a fun Spring take on the chocolate chip cookie from Buns in my Oven…

cadbury creme egg stuff cookies

Yesterday, we had a couple of fun posts from The Motherload and The Pennington Point…

Peep Martinis and Chalkboard Crosses

Tomorrow we will be inspired by two of my favorites… Amy from Positively Splendid and Liz from Hoosier Handmade. Make sure you see what they have up their sleeve and then come back on Friday when Friday Flair will be turned into an even bigger Spring Hop with all of you!!

Cre8time Movement // Vanilla Bean Cake

0 · Mar 18, 2013 · 2 Comments

Cre8time Movement // As long as I can remember, I've been a creative type person. To a fault really… If I haven't created something for awhile, I get a little cranky. Ask my husband… he has finally come to terms with this crazy creative side that I have. I know that if I'm feeling a little stressed or blue, all I need to do is find a project to work on. I've dabbled in many different mediums; yarn arts, paper arts, cake decorating, beading, vinyl arts… You name it, I've probably dabbled in it. When Michaels approached me to share about the Cre8time Movement, it was something I knew I could easily get behind.

The bottom line is, our lives are busy. The older we get, it seems the more responsibilities we have and the time we have to be creative starts to disappear. We get bogged down with school, soccer practice, dance rehearsal, dinner, house keeping, work, church… I could go on and on. The first thing that seems to go is our creative time. For me that wasn't a good thing. I have an deep seeded need to create and when I can't, I'm not happy. I'm going through the motions of life, but the joy I find when creating something for or with my family is truly missed. That's what the Cre8time Movement is all about. It's about reclaiming just 8 hours a month to do something creative. Here is a video that explains it all…

Michaels challenged me to reclaim my 8 hours, which wasn't too hard considering I'm a creative blogger. Regardless, I was game in hopes that it will inspire some of you, my favorite friends, to do the same. Here is what I created…

A fun cake for my little guys birthday. I know that Michaels will always have what I need when it comes to my cake decorating needs. I made just a basic white cake with my Simple Vanilla Buttercream frosting with a special addition. I will have the new recipe along with some cake decorating tips later this week on Thursday. I just love how it turned out. My little guy was in awe and I love that he knew that I created that cake just for him.

Are you like me? Do you require some creative time in your life? What inspires you? How are you going to reclaim your cre8time?

Disclaimer

This is a paid post sponsored by Michaels Craft Stores

Friday Flair Link Party // Leprechaun Trap Edition

1 · Mar 15, 2013 · 46 Comments

Friday Flair Link Party // Who's ready for the weekend? Well before we can start the weekend, we need to have a little Friday Flair action! This week we've been having a fabulous time in Colorado visiting all of my favorite places while the kiddos are on spring break. First stop was the fabric shop where my Mom works, Snappy Quilts… best fabric shop in Denver! We've also had to partake in some of our favorite eats here in Denver. Cafe Rio, SmashBurger and Pinkberry to name a few. All of the fun places that we don't have in Lincoln. It's so funny what you look forward to when you return home. We're heading back to reality soon, but we are going to live it up as long as we can.

This week's inspiration photo comes to us from Not Martha…

img source // leprechaun trap cake from not martha

I thought this Leprechaun Trap Cake was just too cute. Megan, the genius behind Not Martha created this fun trap that I'm sure will ensnare anyone's imagination! You should go check out the surprise inside!

Let's Get the Link Party Started

Ham and Cheese Egg Boats // Recipe

1 · Mar 14, 2013 · 12 Comments

Spring Egg Boats // Have you ever had an ah ha moment that makes you feel pretty silly? When I discovered this recipe a few weeks ago, my first thought was… Holy cow, why didn't I think of that!! I've been making all kinds of egg / bread dishes for years. Why hadn't I ever thought of just putting the egg right into the bread itself and baking it just like that. Total paradigm shift for me. What I love most about this recipe is how easy it is to make and yet it presents really well. This would be a fabulous Easter brunch dish idea, your guests will think you are a culinary genius! Yet it's simple enough for an easy weeknight meal as well. It's the best of both worlds.

Ham and Cheese Egg Boats

This recipe is an adaption of a recipe originally found on Spoon Fork Bacon.

Large loaf of french or sour dough bread

6 eggs

1/4 cup whole milk or cream

Tabasco sauce to taste

1 cup of diced ham

3/4 cup of shredded cheese (I used an Italian blend of shredded cheese but cheddar would work fine too.)

Goat cheese (optional)

Directions

Cut a long narrow trough in the bread and scoop out a bit of the bread to make room for the egg mixture and set a side. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, Tabasco (I usually put in about 6-10 dashes, but that's up to your taste), and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese. Once the mixture has been whisked well, add the ham and carefully pour into the bread. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the egg boat. If you are a goat cheese lover, you can add some little dollops of goat cheese on top as well. I love goat cheese but other members of my family do not. So, I made one with and one without.

Now to bake this, if you are using a full size french loaf can be a little tricky. The loaf does not fit on a traditional baking sheet, so I had to improvise. I turned the baking sheet over and then used aluminum foil to create a baking dish for the loaf. That way if there were any spills, the foil would catch the mess and the inverted baking sheet provided stability. It worked like a charm.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until the egg has fully set. Let the egg boat cool for 10-15 and then slice into sections for your family or guests. I served mine with a lovely salad of mixed greens, tomatoes, goat cheese and pine nuts with a bright lemon vinaigrette.

Now that I've found this gem of a recipe, I can't wait to try all kinds of different variations. I can see all kinds of fun combinations with mushrooms, spinach, sausage you name it… Anything that would normally work in an omelet would be lovely. What combination would you try? Leave a comment and share and let's see what other amazing ideas we can all come up with!

Food

Let's Get the Link Party Started

Ham and Cheese Egg Boats

Directions

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