Nihao, Cupcake!

Project Life 365: Week 6 - Experimenting a Little

 

Here we are at yet another Project Life post - #6 for 2013. I'm so excited to be keeping right up to date with my goals for this year. We were even away for this 3 day weekend and although I didn't post early as I had hoped, I am still meeting my end all deadline of Monday night.

Week 6 was the most ordinary week I've had so far so no inserts! I did a lot of word stickers and I'm back to writing directly on my photos after using the computer to journal on my photos last week. 

I was inspired by Design Editor's Project Life layout here where she included a 6x12 photo across the bottom of her spread. When I got my photos printed I ordered a couple of them in the 8x12 size with the plans of trimming them down and including one or two in my spread across the bottom, however, as the week got away from me I ended up completing my spread without including one and was ready to save the enlargements for something else when I remembered my intentions for 2013:

 Thrive! Experiment! Be Grateful! & decided I needed to EXPERIMENT with this new layout idea and rearrange some of my photos and work in my enlargement.

So for the first week my photos are not chronological at all! And that is OK because I had fun and this arrangement flows much better than my original layout. 

And I'm proud of myself for experimenting!

Have you done any experimenting in your Project Life album so far in 2013? What new techniques or even very simple new ideas have you tried? Who is your Project Life inspiration? Let us know in the comments so we can check out your new tricks or inspiration!

Oh and I almost forgot - I included two pelicans in my spread this week - can you spot them (one is far easier than the other to find)? They are my current favorite bird. I'm loving watching them whenever I am at the beach or seaside. They are so cool.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

And in case you missed my Pinterest boards last week, here they are again...

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, gohere. 

Project Life Freebies on PINTEREST

And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

 

My Green Smoothie Recipe

 

Excuse the sloppy, messy photo. The day I planned to take this pic, we had a little "smoothie mishap" and I was in a rush (of course), so rather than clean it up and reset everything, I decided to take the pic "as is" and "keep it real." I am far from a perfectionist in many aspects of my life - as much as I'd like to be (sometimes). 

In my Goals & Intentions post early last month, I said that I wanted to give green smoothies a try for at least several days in a row. It took me until about week 3 of January to finally remember to look up a few recipes, buy ingredients and then finally make a batch in the mornings before I left for the day. I'm so glad I did!

After a little experimentation, I came up with a recipe that I really like.

 

MARGIE'S GREEN SMOOTHIE RECIPE (EDITED on 3/6/2013)

1/2 of medium to large cucumber peeled & sliced into 1-2 inch pieces

3 cups loosely packed kale leaves (I like to use Trader Joe's ready to use bag) - spinach would work as well

1 small apple peeled, cored & sliced into 1 inch pieces

1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1-2 inch pieces

1/2 cup of blueberries

1 cup water

1 medium banana

juice of 1/2 or 1 fresh lemon (you could add lemon zest as well)

NOTE: Currently I am borrowing a blender and a food processor neither which are high powered, so I will give instructions as I make my GREEN SMOOTHIE each morning.

In food processor add cucumber, kale, apple, carrot, blueberries & water, Pulse until it reaches a grainy texture. I pulse until my bits won't get any smaller. My food processor (on loan) has its limits!

Transfer cucumber mixture into blender with banana & juice of one lemon (juice of 1/2 lemon works fine too), blend until smooth.

 

 

There is nothing like starting off your morning with a tall glass of water and one of these green smoothies. My husband and I have really grown to look forward to them every morning. Since I first made them mid to late January, we have only missed a few days when we've ran out of a key ingredient. They are much more palatable than we thought they would be and go down very easily.

We have been making smoothies for breakfast for years. As our awarness of different nutrition facts have grown, our smoothie recipes have evolved. Before trying green smoothies, we were making mixed berry, banana (optional), non-fat Greek yogurt smoothies (no sugar or juice).

How about you? Do you have a favorite GREEN SMOOTHIE recipe to share? I'd love to hear about it and what you like about it.

Now, I'm off to make my morning smoothie!

Last Minute Inspiration for Valentine's Day

via theberry.com

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Look at this adorable idea I found on Pinterest this week! So easy and cute.

Need more great Valentine's Day ideas? Check out my Valentine's Pinterest Board for lots of creative Valentine Pinspiration! I've been pinning like crazy!

In fact, I've pinned all of the ideas we're using to celebrate. Want to see?

We are going to celebrate this morning by making these pancakes:

via www.joybx.com

I experimented over the weekend and found I could achieve a very similar effect using a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. My recommendation is to start with a small hole and if your batter doesn't come out smoothly, you can make your hole a little bigger until you find the perfect size. They turn out great! So fun! 

I'm giving all three of my boys their own Valentine's FLIP BOOK. It was a free download at YOU ARE MY FAVE. An adorable blog I've recently discovered. I sat up tonight before bed, binding one flip book using the Japanese book binding technique which was fun but not worth doing for the other two flip books. So I managed to "bind" those with one brad. The hardest part was poking a heavy duty needle through all that cardstock (all of my mini hole punches are still in storage). I even broke two needles in the process! 

It was so fun though trying out Japanese book binding. I plan to do it again soon. I've been feeling so crafty lately. I love it! More projects I'm going to have to share SOON! 

I hope you have a love filled Valentine's Day. Thanks for stopping by!

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 5 [Journaling]

Welcome to Week 5 of our Project Life! I always feel so satisfied when I finish up my layout for the week. How about you? Are you managing to keep up or are you finding it more of a challenge as the weeks move on?

This was a huge week of activities for our family. I don't think I even realized that until I sat down to put my Project Life spread together.

Although, I would prefer not to have inserts every week, I have yet to complete a week without one (except perhaps week 1?). And this week I have TWO pages of inserts. The first one is a Design A page that I am folding in half.

Here is the front fully open. Both events covered on this side are about my oldest son. The other side (not shown) are all photos taken by my oldest son on his weekend away.

This insert is Design D. It will remain as a full 12x12 page. Both sides are events that involve my youngest son. This side is the process of making his birthday cake as well as photos taken after a ceremony for him at our church.

This side is all photos of his birthday party. The clear acrylic banner on the bottom middle photo was not adhered when I took this photo so it is a bit wonky - sorry about that.

Trying out a little font fun with my letter stickers and numbers.

I was going to do a little more journaling but in the end just decided to leave both of these cards as sort of decoration. I sketched the pin and bowling ball for the fun of it. You can see residue from other things I was considering adding to the card.

Here is the final page of the week's spread. It covers a field trip I chaperoned for my middle son, journaling from my two youngest kids (my oldest son did some journaling about his weekend away on the other page) and more pictures from the weekend's big events.

I often wonder if I should include so many photos from one event or if I should just do a separate scrapbook page. I think of this as a photo album combined with a journal of sorts. When the kids were all little I kept journals for each of them where I wrote about current milestones and other things they were doing. As they got older and busier, I stopped keeping these up. I think of Project Life as our family journal with photos. A Commonplace Book, of sorts, like my oldest has to write for English class. Click on the link and check out the history. Very cool!

Here is a little detail I added. The acrylic tag is Basic Grey and the heart is from  a pack of stickers I picked up a couple of weeks ago and I don't remember the brand.

I added the Martha Stewart BON VOYAGE sticker to cover up the trash can eyesore. The trash can is still visible but kind of blends into the photo instead of sticking out like a sore thumb like it did before I added that sticker.

I bet you were wondering if I was going to use any of my own stamps in this week's layout. Well, I didn't want to disappoint anyone, so here is the laptop - designed by my 8-year-old. To see all 15+ stamps I made go here, to see my "HOW-TO" post, go here.

The conversation bubble is from a Basic Grey embellishment pack. I used the backside because I much prefered it plain white. Ignore that third "l" on the end of "calll!" Just a little oops I decided to ignore. Or perhaps that is how aliens spell "call"???
Ahh! And yet another stamp of mine! I used this one to make a pattern for my date/title card that I have turned into a "week in review" card.

 

 

JOURNALING for PROJECT LIFE

Thanks for stopping by! But before you go, I was wondering how others keep track of their journaling. Do you write it on journaling cards as the week goes on or do you have an app for your iPhone or do you use some other method? I've been using OhLife.com's emails for the past two years or so, but have only recently downloaded the info and printed it out to include it in my album. I've heard a lot of buzz about DAY ONE, so I am considering that option. I do not have an iPhone yet and only have an old iTouch without a camera so I wonder if it would be worthwhile for me. I do use a MacBook and I've heard it can be used on a laptop just fine. Let me know if you have any thoughts on DAY ONE or any other journaling system. I'd especially love to hear if you have any good journaling tips.

 

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Do you have a Project Life board on PINTEREST? If so, leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation. If you'd like to check out my Project Life board, go here. 

Project Life Freebies on PINTEREST

And here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

PHOTOSHOP TRICK

I'm sure many of you Photoshop users out there already know this trick but since I only just discovered it myself (FINALLY!) yesterday, I thought I would share. In order to blur out peoples' faces or other private information, you just need to use the SMUDGE tool which can be found in the BLUR Tool (drop down menu on the side bar. 

It is far easier than all the other attempts I had made in Lightroom or in Photoshop up until now. And while we are on the topic, if anyone out there uses LIGHTROOM and knows a quick fix for the same thing there, please share!

 

Can't wait to see your lovely pages. I always feel so inspired after Project Life Tuesday.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

 

How We Will Celebrate Valentine's Day on Thursday

We will be making these pancakes. I found the idea here. Loving the simple DIY projects on this blog.

 

I used this free download, to make these for all three of my boys. They love flip books. I just changed the last page.

 

They will see these 

Family x 12 Blog Hop - February 2013

Hello! And welcome to the February FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop. We are a group of bloggers who are committed to taking one photo a month of our families. For accountability & inspiration, we share them during our monthly blog hop. This project was originally inspired by Tara Whitney. If you'd like to join us, please send me an email (link on my blog sidebar).

If you were thinking to yourself that this photo looks as though it is missing someone, you'd be right! Our oldest son was away for the weekend for a school trip! Of course we are sad that he missed out on this milestone for our youngest, but it was too good of an opportunity with all of us dressed up not to take a photo. And we have some good opportunities to get all of us together this month and next! Fingers crossed, I remember to take advantage.

Next on the list this month is PATRICIA.

FEBRUARY Blog Hop Participant list:

Margie         http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Patricia  http://patoliveira.wordpress.com/

Carol Ann     http://www.scrappingthoughts.com

Ruth         http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Blog Happenings this week:

* I'm doing my best to get my Project Life layout for Week 5 done and posted by this evening (or Monday at the latest).

* Plans to share my first project of my 24 Projects in 12 this week.

* A post on my Valentine's Day plans. (Check out my Valentine's PINTEREST page for inspiration.)

* And hopefully a recipe from my Try One New Recipe a week challenge as well as my Green Smoothie recipe.

Goals & Intentions 2013 // February Update

The last time I posted about my goals & intentions, I was doing weekly goals in order to accomplish my goals for the year. As I suspected, it takes too much time to update my goals weekly so I have decided to switch to a monthly update which I intend to publish the first week of every month throughout this year.

This post is heavy on words, light on photos. Much of the text (in black) is copied & pasted from two of my other GOALS & INTENTIONS posts to give a bit of background. Some of it has been edited out for brevity sake. If you'd like to see everything that I wrote, visit the original posts here and here.

In my last GOALS & INTENTIONS post here, I had planned to do the following:  

GOALS for Jan 14-20

*Make GRATEFUL label for Project Life Album - had thought I would design the label in Photoshop and print out on Avery inkjet adhesive paper, but some of my Photoshop skills escaped me so I opted for stamping on these Marthat Stewart for Avery 

*Create LOGO for 24 Projects in 2013 - working on that this week, I'm making good progress - YAY!

*Yoga x 2 - every week except last week due to birthday party planning, religious milestone and a bad cold; Cardio 5x - Yes; Run 1 mile - take feet pic - I have switched this to exercising outside twice a week & I do take feet pics each time. Only once did I forget the camera.

*Set up documentation system for Recipes - YES! I'll be sharing more of these soon. Here is my post introducing my system. & Running - same as above, I've switched to outdoor exercise including once a week hike - all outdoor exercise has food photo to document. I will post a monthly grid of feet photos as my documentation - coming soon.

*Complete Project Life Week 2, post on Sunday - I've done this every week so far. The past two weeks (3 & 4) I have posted on Monday night, my true deadline, but I do strive for Sunday.

*Make 10 Stamps (I am the most excited about this one!) - DONE! I ended up making at least 15 and have many ideas written down for more. To see all the ones I've made, go here. To see my HOW-TO post, go here.

*Try a green smoothie 2+ mornings this week - DONE! I'm not sure if I started this the week of Jan 14, but I did the following week and now I have one almost every day. I'll share my current recipe here soon.

*Make one new recipe this week - YES! So far, I haven't missed a week. Last week, my husband was the chef of the new recipe, though I think I made something too. I've taken photos of every new dish and will not only put them in my mini-book but will publish a monthly grid here. I better get on that! So much to share!

*Take one photo with the LOVE of MY LIFE - I have been doing this. I do think I missed at least one week. Problem is, I am not liking the photos. We have been taking them all of ourselves - we're need a little variety. And I just realized we were all dressed up the other day and missed that perfect opportunity. I'll do better in February. Let me know if you have any creative ideas for self-portraits with more than one person in them. Perhaps I should refer to my own SELF TIME MADNESS PHOTOS.

YEARLY GOALS

1) Complete two projects a month in 2013. These can be any type of DIY project. [some ideas: make my own stamps - DONE, art journal, make my own stencils, make another felt monster in partnership with my 7 year-old designer, Braden, sew something - DONE, I'd like to do one photo book (I think about these a lot and never complete), t-shirt - DONE, some Xmas DIY project, Japan travel journal, mini book, etc.]

2) Share more about my process and my creations on my blog. - so far, so good. Need to do more of thise but I feel like I am so busy creating things that there isn't time to blog about it. Not to mention taking pics of the process, editing those pics and getting them ready to upload, takes up lots of time too.

3) 30 Days of Cupcakes - this is something my husband has been bugging me to do. Actually, he wants me to do 365 days of cupcakes, but I have totally refused that one. I'm still not ready to commit to 30 days of cupcakes. I will do 12+ days coming up soon if all stars align. Stay tuned!

To see more of my CUPCAKES click here or visit MY SET on Flickr.

4) Run 1 Mile Everyday for 30 Days - I'm not sure how this one will work. I may have to make it 3 times a week for four weeks or something like that as running may not fit my schedule. I typically exercise at the gym and so even though I won't be running, I will still be exercising. I have to ruminate on this awhile and see what I will be happy with. But one thing I do want to do is take a photo of my feet (wearing my extremely cool new workout shoes) at every place I run (I saw this on Elise Blaha's blog and thought is was awesome)! As I mentioned above, this has changed to exercise outside 2+x/week. And document this by taking a feet photo. So far, almost all of these photos contain more than one pair of feet, so I've had a lot of company. I plan to share a grid of all my feet photos each month. So, January's will be coming soon!

5) "Compete" in one or more FUN RUNs in my community. Hopefully, the next one that comes up. There was one I wanted to do last month and I am still regretting not going for it. I let laziness & (Southern Cal) cold weather get in my way. I just heard about a color run coming up next month that we'll do if the schedule allows. You wear white and people along the way throw colored chalk (or something similar) on the runners and by the end each person is very colorful. It reminds me of the Indian Festival in Varanassi. It will make for some awesome photos!

photo credit: johnbrew (click on his name to see his flickr photostream) 

photo credit: johnbrew (click on his name to see his flickr photostream) 

 

6) Project Life - 52 weeks - Blog About It weekly - this may mean just one quick photo of my two page spread because I often think showing all the details, taking the photos and uploading is very tedious and since this is mainly just for me and at this point I don't have a ton of regular readers (or NO regular readers-let's be honest!), who would I be doing it for anyway, right? The minimum of one photo will be a way to keep myself accountable and track my progress. I've been doing far more than one quick photo of my two page spread! What happens to me? I just can't stop myself. It is just so much fun, but I do reserve the right to go back to one simple photo if needed.

To see all of my posts about PROJECT LIFE, click HERE.

7) Try One New Recipe a Week - I have a love/hate recipe with cooking and sometimes baking. I hate being responsible to cook dinner for my family every night. Luckily my husband likes to cook and lately he's been able to help me carry this burden. I hate thinking of new meals Every. Single. Day. that my whole family will eat and like (doesn't happen often) and that I think are healthy enough for them to put inside their bodies. YES! Though many of the new recipes have just been ones for the adults in our home to eat. But that's OK. It has been fun.

8) One Family Photo Each Month - I'm so glad I've kept this up for the past almost two years. I'm not sure I'll continue on with the FAMILY x 12 blog hop, though it is an easy one to organize. Seems a shame not to. So far so good, though our one photo is missing Reece because he was away for the weekend. That will be rectified this month. Our February blog hop is almost here - this Sunday, Feb 10 (which is also Chinese New Year aka: Spring Festival)

9) More photos of Me & The Love of My Life - see my comments above.

Well, there you go! My February Goals & Intentions update! Oh and I should mention that my guiding words - THRIVE! EXPERIMENT! BE GRATEFUL! have been directing me. It has made a huge difference. I haven't been this productive and disciplined in quite some time. And the next step is to share the fruits of my labor with you all here.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long winded post. If you've made it this far, let me know how you are doing so far with your goals & intentions in 2013.

 

 

Perspective in Photography & PINTEREST Love for Valentine's Day

Sharing my take on last week's assignment in the Art of Composition photography class at Big Picture Classes. We were focusing on WHITE SPACE or NEGATIVE SPACE. Our midweek challenge was to make something look small by using a lot of negative space (top photo) and then make something look big by filling the frame. 

I also added point of view to the equation. Looking down upon something makes it appear smaller than the viewer, looking up at something makes it appear larger.

What do you think?

Now for some PINTEREST LOVE just in time for VALENTINE'S DAY

Check out my Valentine's Day board here. Follow me & I'll follow you back! It's always fun to have more friends on PINTEREST. More inspiration for all!

And my HOLIDAYS THAT AREN'T CHRISTMAS BOARD that is so chock full of Valentine goodness I had to start a totally new board just for my Valentine pins. Again, check it out here and follow me and I'll follow you back! 

And link me to your Valentine's Board in the comments. I'd like to check it out for more goodies to PIN!

GOALS & INTENTIONS 2013 UPDATE

I'm working on a goals & intentions update as well as several posts to share the projects I've accomplished in Janaury. I've even got a few new recipes to share. Stay tuned! 

Thanks for stopping by.

#ME: Now [February 2013] & 52 Lists 2013 Project

The 52 Lists Project article has moved to my new site, Nihao, Cupcake! Click here to be redirected to this article on my new site.

 

2013 Project Life 365: Week 4 [My Workflow]

Week 4 and I'm keeping up! Hurray! It was a little touch and go this week with a birthday party and a religious milestone this weekend but I've pulled it off. Yay, me! 

In order to make my goal (posting by Monday night), I had to save my WEEK in REVIEW card for later. All the journaling is done, I just have to transfer it.

Again, I used a lot of my stamps that I made a couple of weeks ago. To see most of the stamps I've made (15+), go here. For a How To tutorial on how I made them (so EASY & cheap!) go here.

I seem to be adding inserts every week even though, as a rule, I've been trying not to. We had a birthday on Wednesday & I wanted to include a current event, so I suppose it is to be expected.

I bought some American Crafts Slick Writer pens and I am loving them.

First of all, I like my writing so much more. Weird, I know, but it is true. The only other pen I find that does that is a Sharpie but an ordinary Sharpie is too thick for typical use.

Secondly, it works on those Martha Stewart kitchen and office labels that are moisture resistant and don't smudge. I haven't used the pens on my photos yet. But that will come very soon!

A few things to note on the right hand page: I used another couple of my stamps here - the camera that you also saw in my layout last week.

Here is the left side of my insert. To make the insert I took Design D Page Protector and cut-off the right two vertical photo pockets. I save all of the pockets that I cut off and save them to use in other layouts.

On the right side of the insert things worth noting not mentioned elsewhere are a very old circle sticker from a Creating Keepsakes Kit of the Month designed by Ali Edwards on the lighthouse photo at the bottom. And another one of my homemade stamps shows up again - the starburst stamp that I also used in last week's layout posted about here.

Here I used a Project Life Grid Cards to make my own filler card. I used a cat eye stamp pad to make this pattern that I originally saw on a throw pillow a friend of mine in Beijing (who has started her own textiles company) designed and created. 

This journaling card again uses two of my homemade stamps (that can be seen here): the zig zag/chevron stamp & the pot stamp that I created to add to my New Recipes 2013 mini album I talk about in these posts.

I'm not very good about including current events, but I've fixed that here. I googled Presidential Inauguration and clicked on IMAGES in the top menu bar. I selected a couple of my favorite photos & graphics and printed them out a bit smaller than 4x3, trimmed them down and adhered it to one of the Journaling Cards from my Clementine Core Kit.

After I took the original photos of my layout this week, I realized I had a screen shot from Jan 24 saved on my desktop. I printed it out on to white cardstock, trimmed it down and slipped it on top of this Clementine Core Kit filler card. I love how it worked out. It often annoys me to "waste" a pocket on a filler card - I have this urge to personalize it or add a cherished photo. "Just" a filler card feels like wasted high value real estate.

Anyone else feel the same way?

This might be my favorite journaling card of the week. Again I used my zig zag/chevron homemade stamp by stamping the image on the top and the bottom of a Project Life Grid Card and by masking the center to save space for my words. To mask the middle, I simply took a scrap of 4x6 photo, laid it across the Grid Card and stamped on top of the card and the photo leaving a crisp straight line. I then used black ink to stamp those words on top of the orange zig zag/chevron pattern. Those alpha stamps were only $1.

Here is another favorite filler card. Again I used a Project Life grid Card. I used some very old rub ons for the word and added with staples some Tim Holtz Filmstrip Ribbon. I LOVE this stuff. Every time I have a good coupon or I find it deeply on sale, I buy some. I think I have 3 or 4 packages of it and I will keep buying it. I don't ever want to run out! It is awesome. I may add more to this card like a simple black outline, but there is something I do like about it so far.

I wanted to highlight the amazing creativity of my oldest son pictured below that card (on the sewing machine). His determination and his creativity and his endless supply of grand ideas amaze and (sometimes) exhaust me. I have to find the right place in this layout to include all of my thoughts. Again to get this post out by my deadline, I had to wait on that.

Here is an extra photo I added on the left hand side of the main layout for this week. I taped on an extra photo pocket with some washi tape I bought in Japan. I didn't get it on totally straight. I may have to re-do or figure out a better technique. Like maybe adhering two smaller pieces like hinges.

And here is the underside. 

What I will do differently or more of next week: COMPUTER TEXT on photos. I wanted to do that this week, but I printed my photos out before I realized I forgot! 

Continue to add more stories and journaling.

Write down what kids say on a journaling card in that moment, add a date stamp and slide into the day's pocket in the next week of my Project Life Album.

To see all of my Project Life layouts of the past few years, go here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Check it out for lots of PL inspiration! Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

PROJECT LIFE on PINTEREST

Follow my Project Life board on PINTEREST. Leave me a link to your board in the comments and I'll follow you back. I love finding more friends to share inspriation.

Here's a link to my PROJECT LIFE FREEBIES board as well.

 

PROJECT LIFE WORKFLOW

And for those that are interested, here is a quick summary of my Project Life workflow using Lightroom. Though it would be applicable for lots of other photo organizing software.

My Project Life weeks go from Monday to Sunday

1)   Typically throughout the week, I upload my photos into Adobe Lightroom.  Before I upload any new photos, I make sure I KEYWORD and RATE (1-3 stars) all of my photos. Lightroom automatically leaves your last group of uploaded photos together until you upload more photos, so it is easy to see if you have finished rating and tagging your photos before you upload more photos.

2)   SUNDAY night I make sure all of my photos from the week are uploaded into LIGHTROOM. I make sure all photos from the past week have been tagged with KEYWORDS and RATED with stars.

a)    My very favorite photos get rated with 2 or 3 STARS. Photos that I like but aren’t my favorite get a 1 STAR. I use a rating system similar to that taught in  Stacy Julian’s FINDING PHOTO FREEDOM class at Big Picture Classes.

b)   I tag all photos that are RATED with 2 or 3 STARS. LIGHTROOM makes tagging photos with KEYWORDs (as well as RATING with STARS) super easy. You can KEYWORD and RATE photos in bulk by highlighting a large group and simply typing in your KEYWORD once or simply choosing the number of STARS you want to rate your photos and tapping that key. For RATING photos you do not even have to have your cursor flashing in a cell. Your photo(s) just has to be highlighted and it will automatically be rated with the number you tap.

1. I KEYWORD at least one photo a day  as “POTD” which stands for Photo Of The Day.
2. The other KEYWORDS I use are peoples’ names, locations, “Photos I love,” etc.

3)   I have set-up my LIGHTROOM to create SMART FOLDERS. This means it takes my search criteria (i.e., KEYWORDS & RATINGS & CAPTURE DATE RANGES) and makes folders for me automatically.

1. I make a COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) Photo Center SMART FOLDER each week. Each folder is named 2013 PL365 Week X. The criteria for its photos are: 2 or more STARS, Capture time of one particular week’s date range, KEYWORD: POTD (NOTE: I downloaded free Plug-Ins that allow me to upload photo files from my LIGHTROOM catalog directly to my COSTCO (or SHUTTERFLY) account.

This means that the photos I want are automatically added to these folders, so all I have to do when I’m ready to print, is click on my SMART FOLDER, double check that I have KEYWORDED & RATED all my photos from the week and then click PUBLISH.

4)   On Monday, I visit my COSTCO account or SHUTTERFLY account and order the prints for the week. I typically pick up my photos from COSTCO on Monday afternoon. (Though last week they printed them too dark so I’m looking into a local photo developer that should do a great job! Not to mention I have gift bucks for that store from Xmas! Yay!)

5)   Then I place my photos into the seven pockets, and keep the others in case I decided to fill the smaller pockets or create an insert.

6)   Throughout the week I place memorabilia in the current week’s pockets (the week following the week with printed photos). I put Wednesday’s stuff in Wednesday’s pocket, etc.

 

This week I felt like working on the floor!

7)   I finish my layout by Friday night or Saturday morning and so I can photograph my layout in natural light the next day. My personal deadline is to have my photos ready to post by Monday night to link up at Project Life Tuesday every Tuesday morning. This gives me a day or two extra in case I need it (like this week with a birthday party and special religious milestone).

 

NOTES: I do not plan out my week ahead of time. I like to put all of my photos in at the same time and move them around as I add journaling cards and other “stuff” so that the album is mostly chronological yet still makes sense and looks pleasing.

Please let me know if you have any questions. How does your workflow differ from mine? Any good tips or tricks you’d care to share??

 

Lego Ninjago Birthday Cake

I wanted to share the fruits of my hard labor from the last two days, this Lego Ninjago birthday cake for my youngest son's 8-Year-Old party. I searched high and low for a DIY how-to but I didn't find anything. I did find a mini-fig mold but the lowest price I could find wass $35 or $40 which isn't really worth it for a one time endeavor. So, I was on my own to design this one.

The perspective is a little off. Mr Ninjago is a little shorter & squater than he should be, but oh well. I think the frosting adds ten pounds, much like a camera! 

The birthday boy was happy and that is all that counts!

For a look at Part 1 of the in-depth process of how I designed and made this cake, go to this post. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow (3/9/2013).

Looking for a DIY Valentine idea for your Lego Ninjago fan? Click here to see what we are doing.

Click here to see the Lego Ninjago-inspired Birthday Party invitations we sent out.

DIY Ice Cream Cake (much easier than you think)!

Ice cream cake "frosted" with vanilla ice cream.

My sister-in-law just emailed me to ask me how to make an ice cream cake. After I was done writing her back, I realized I should share that information here. It's really quite simple and much easier than it sounds.

1) make sure your freezer is turned up high (do this several days in advance since it takes that long to get the temperature up there).

2) make your cake 24 - 48 hours ahead of time so it has time to freeze well (I've never done either of these first two things so my cakes melt quickly - in the top photo notice the red dots - they kept sliding down the side of the cake so they are all willy nilly).

3) Make your cakes (I'm assuming round layer?), freeze them (wrap in saran wrap so they don't dry out)

4) Get a half gallon (approx 500 ml) of ice cream & put it in an (ideally) chilled bowl. Soften it with your hand mixer until it is soft and the same consistency as icing (roughly). (If you are worried that a half gallon won't be enough, get a second half gallon just in case.)

Ice cream cake "frosted" with cookies & cream ice cream.

5) With a spatula frost the frozen cake layers the same as if you were frosting it with icing. If it starts to melt and become too runny, throw it all back in the freezer (but this usually doesn't happen).

6) Once your cake is "frosted", put it back in the freezer until it is firm (wait as long as possible). Remove to decorate with ordinary icing (i.e., write "Happy Birthday" or pipe fancy stuff around the edges).

TIP: Be careful, if you tint your icing with Wilton icing colors (or likely any other food coloring) and your "frosting" (aka: ice cream) begins to melt, the colors will run. Same goes for sprinkles. The longer you can keep the cake well frozen, the less running you will have. But not the end of the world. Get a good photo, and then who cares. The kids don't. They just want to eat it.

To see everything on my blog related to cakes/cupcakes, including lots of fun decorative cake/cupcake ideas, click here.

Soon I will be publishing a "how-to" post on making a Ninjago Mini fig cake using my own design. You can use the process I will demonstrate to make any kind of 2 dimensional personalized cake you can think of.

And if you have any questions, please let me know! ENJOY!

2013 #Project365 A Week in Photos

I'm linking this beach photo at Simple Things for Simple Things Sunday. I love that we are close enough to the beach that it can be our destination for a quick weekday run. It doesn't get better than that.

                           

 

I'm entering this amusing photo of Nicholas over at Weekly Top Shot, a new photo linky I found this week. It cracks me up but it is soooo him. Reece & he were filming a gift for Braden. Nicholas' character speaks in a British accent and tells the audience a story as he sits in his La-Z-Boy by his hearth sipping apple juice out of a crystal goblet with a book in his lap.

I'm linking this photo up at Nihao, Y'all. 

 

My 365 Photos from last week. You may notice there is more than one per day. But once I get going, I never take just one! So far, I haven't missed a day. Loving it.

Since were are on the subject of photos, I know many use Instagram. Here is a great article about using it safely, click here.

2013 New Recipe #2: Healthier Yet Still Delicious French Toast and PB & Chocolate Chip French Toast

Today we decided to try a new breakfast recipe. Something simple. A new recipe for french toast. In the end I made up my own recipe, combining a few different ones.

9 whole eggs

2 cups non-fat milk

1/2 cup 2% milk

2 T real vanilla

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 shakes (pinches) of nutmeg

1 loaf of whole grain bread

Whisk all the ingredients in a 9.5 x 13 baking dish. Soak bread individually and cook over low to medium low heat until golden brown and cooked through. Keep warm in 250 degree (low heat) oven until ready to serve.

FUN VARIETY on this recipe: PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCOLATE CHIP FRENCH TOAST

Spread one slice of bread with peanut butter. Sprinkle with semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips. Top with another slice of bread. Soak both sides in egg mixture for 30 seconds or so. Cook as above. It also helps to press the sandwich flat with your spatula.

YUM!! Kids love this one.

TIP: Try taking the lid of a large dutch oven or frying pan (if it has a dome shape), and cover your french toast. This helps hold the heat in and cook it through the middle. Therefore, you can use a lower heat and still cook the middle without burning or over cooking the outsides.

This fun version was inspired by a dish served at one of our favorite Western breakfast places in Beijing, ELEMENT FRESH. The dish, called The ELVIS PRESLEY, was a Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast sandwich. Apparently, Elvis Presley loved Peanut Butter & Jelly French Toast sandwiches. Not sure why Element Fresh changed it. Perhaps the banana fit their clientele better? 

At any rate, any of these versions (PB & Choc Chip, PB & Jelly or PB & Banana) make for a fun variation of this breakfast favorite.

How To Make Your Own Cool Stamps from Craft Foam - Super Fun, Super Easy & Super Cheap

I've wanted to make my own stamps for quite some time. There are all sorts of ways to make them. Some require special materials and tools that can be a little pricey and take some practice to get right. So to begin with I decided to try something cheap and seemingly easy - Adheseive Craft Foam stamps made from foam sheets like these.

You will need:

1) a sheet of ADHESIVE craft foam

2) an idea for your image, shape, etc. (a notebook to jot down ideas or sketches)

3) a pencil

4) graph or grid paper (optional) to sketch your design or make a template

5) scissors - smaller, very sharp scissors are best for small details. You could also try using a craft knife in which case you would need a self-healing cutting mat. 

6) clear stiff packaging or a clear acrylic frame

I made all of fifteen stamps shown in this post from this one piece of craft foam and I still have plenty of foam left over for more. This sheet cost me .79 cents at Michaels.

As you can see, for most of the stamps, I drew the image I wanted directly onto the craft foam with a sharp pencil. If you make a mistake, it erases easily and any residue will not affect your stamp.

For some of my ideas, I sketched them in a notebook first or wrote down possible ideas in list form.

Once I was happy with my design, I cut them out with large scissors and then went back for "fussy cutting" with a pair of smaller scissors. I do not recommend the scissors you see in this photo. They are not very sharp but they did an adequate job. My favorite scissors are still in storage so I don't have access to them now. I suspect scissors like them would work much better. Or I want to try out a craft knife on a self healing mat and see how that works out.

Designs with simple shapes seem to work very well. I saw this camera on the side of a coffee mug and drew it on grid paper (Project Life grid card). Then with a few cuts at the corner of the craft foam, cut these rectangles out. As you can see, I drew on the details and then cut them out with my tiny scissors.
For the circle in the center of the camera, I really only cut through the top half of the craft foam which made for some nice detailing.

You can see on this To-go Coffee Cup, I just barely etched a line between the cup and the lid, but surprisingly this is all it took to add the little bit of detail.

Although I didn't do a very good job of an even impression with this stamp, you can see that hint of a line which is all it needs to loook a little more realistic. 

Here is a template I used for the starburst image. I used a project life grid card and sketched out my lines, for a couple of them I used a ruler so they would be straight.

I cut out the necessary rays, using part of the label from the craft foam to make sure the pieces didn't fall away (since all the cuts join at the center of the starburst).

I traced around the template on to the craft foam.

I adhere each foam shape to something clear and stiff to make a stamp. For this sunburst, I taped the template to the back side of my plastic and stuck the foam pieces over the template on the other side, so they would fit together perfectly (or as perfect as possible).

For this stamp, I had some leftover packaging - basically a clear plastic box, so I stuck my shape to that. The clear box is a little flimsy for my needs though it works adequately.

Here's a picture of it in action. 
For the rest of my stamps, I wanted something stiffer than the clear packaging, so I bought myself a 4x6 clear acrylic table frame. I think it was around $2.50 and I had a 40% off coupon! I ended up breaking off the back piece (that folds over) as well as the small piece on the bottom (it is turned side-ways in this photo), so I could use the three pieces independently. I also bought a clear acrylic box frame (comes apart in two pieces with 3 sides each that can be broken apart). I love using something clear so that I can see exactly where I am placing my stamp.

I hope that is clear. 

To review:

1) Transfer your design on to a sheet of adhesive craft foam. Start in the corner or close to the edge to save the rest of your foam for other stamp designs.

-you can do this by tracing a template cut from cardstock or by drawing directly on your craft foam

2) Cut out your design using sharp "fussy cutting" scissors or a craft knife and self-healing cutting mat

3) Ahere your foam shape onto something clear, plastic & stiff (up-cycled packaging or an old clear acrylic frame you don't need any more).

 

Go HERE if you'd like to see all of the stamps I made last week.

Go HERE and HERE if you'd like to see them in use in my Project Life layouts of the past two weeks.

I hope to be making more things with my homemade stamps and when I do, I'll be sure to post at my blog. I'm thinking more Project Life journaling cards and title cards, patterned paper, a card -- any other ideas? I might have to pull out my art journal and experiment.

Please let me know in the comments here or via email (link on my blog) if you have any questions about how I made them! And if you make your own stamps, please come visit me at my blog, Nihao, Cupcake!, and leave me a link so I can come see what you made.

2013 Project Life 365: Week 3 {Why do I love this project?}

Another week and I still love this project! I have read quite a few blogs recently that declare their love for this project each and every week.

But why do we love this project?

I think it is because it gives us an excuse for playing with and spending time with our photos & memories each & every week! It breaks it up into small digestible bites and pieces that can be finished in a short period of time which allows us to feel a sense of accomplishment with a small amount of effort & time.

I'd love to hear why you love this project. Tell me in the comments.

This week I used a lot of the homemade stamps I talked about in last week's Project Life post.

After I finished it, I still needed to add an insert to include the invitation I made for my son's 8th Birthday Party (a post coming soon with more details - it is one of my 24 Projects in 12).

It made more sense then to change out the photo of the invitation in process (bottom right photo of left side of layout) for a different photo. I chose to add the one of my son below since I love how he is so intently concentating on getting his homework done.

This is actually two photos one atop the other.

I had been having difficulty fitting all the photos I wanted into my layout, so I ended up cutting my son out of one photo and placing it on top of a photo of his homework assignment (the colorful map).

I think it turned out kind of cool. He looks almost super-imposed over the map. It helps that the photo of him was blurry to begin with. That makes it kind of pop off the page.

I thought the photo of the invitations in process made more sense above the actual finished invitation. That background paper is made from a pattern of one of the stamps I made. Go to this post to read more about the ten craft foam stamps I made (Super Fun & Super Easy) and to see the lotus root stamp that I used. I'm not sure I love how the paper turned out. But I'm glad I've started to experiment. I envision making a lovely pattern with the lotus root stamps. I'm sure I'll find something I like eventually. 

Here is the other side of the insert with the invitation. I printed out entries from my Oh Life account. (Oh Life is a free service you sign up for. They send you an automated email once a day and you email back anything you'd like to remember about the day. SIMPLE!) This is the first time I have used any of my entries and I've been keeping an Oh Life journal (of sorts) since May 2011. I plan to do it more often since it was so easy to do.

The row of cameras are also another stamp that I made. Surprised?! Ha! Again, I don't love how they turned out. A little too messy. And I think I would have liked them in black or grey. 
Here is a journaling card I made from a photo I took of footprints in the sand. It didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. You can't tell from this photo, but the writing is actually very difficult to read atop the footprints. (Much like the writing over the Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches.) I may try it again and lighten the details of the photo. I also want to re-write the journaling since I think it looks too messy - but that is another story!! I rarely re-do things so I may not get around to it, but I sure am tempted because I was so excited about this idea.

Here is a Project Life Core Kit - Clementine Edition journaling card. I added a "coffee cup to-go" image from another one of those stamps I made that I keep mentioning. Again I wish I could position the writing differently than I did, but I don't want to waste my journaling cards, and the sentiment is exactly right, so I will leave this one.

Another card that uses another one of my new homemade stamps. This is a starburst stamp the same size as a 3" x 4" Journaling Card with Grid Design. I was inspired by an image in the Seafoam Core Kit.  I hope to try it again in a different color. I'm not sure I love it in black. I had fun with this card by messing around with my son's water colors and adding a little circle sticker in the center.

EDITED TO ADD: This journaling card. I don't know how I missed including this one when I originally published this post. I love creating stuff like this with my kids. So fun!

And the last card I will highlight uses yet another stamp that I made. Notice the city skyline at the bottom of the card. I drew the moon on after the fact and colored in the windows and moon using more of my son's water colors. 

I had a more difficult time this week finishing up my layout. I am going to try and finish it a little earlier in the week this time. We have a busy weekend ahead and I'm afraid if I don't do it by Friday, it isn't going to get done. I'm still finding my rhythm this year.

I also want to post about my Project Life photo workflow, but again that will have to wait for another week.

I have a Ninjago mini-fig cake to make, Ninjago cupcakes and a party to finalize. So lots more fun stuff to share on the blog coming up soon but also many busy days ahead!

EDITED TO ADD: If you would like to see how I made the stamps in my Project Life layout this week, please visit this post here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday. Don't know what Project Life is? Go to Becky's blog for more information.

EDITED TO ADD: And a fun Proeject Life freebie card I found here. It's a 5 Faves Right Now card. A great addition to any Project Life layout.

Three Years Ago Today... Life in Beijing

Grabbing lunch with Mom & Dad at a Vietnamese restaurant in The Place (it closed this past summer 2012 just before we moved home).

Paul has a Vietnamese coffee to finish off his lunch.

A scrapbook page I made this day - probably the reason I forgot to frost my cupcakes - see below.

Grabbing a bite at the new outlet mall down the street from the school before their performance.

I totally forgot to frost my cupcakes this day - brain lapse! So at the last minute I had to grab all of my supplies, throw them and my 5 year old in the taxi and frost them in the school's industrial kitchen. Thank goodness we had to be there more than an hour early.

My lair of tiger cupcakes for the bake sale. They are red because it was the year of the tiger and red is the color of celebration and the program was in celebration of Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival.

Children in the cafeteria waiting for their turn to be on stage.





I remember loving this performance. This was back when I loved the school and thought it was a wonderful way to introduce my kids to the Chinese culture. One year later, my feelings had changed 180 degrees!

What a difference THREE years can make!

Check back later today for my PROJECT LIFE: Week 3 post.

Inspired by

Look what I just discovered: a photography project called You Are My Wild found here. It is a group of 15 or so photographers and they are comitted to posting one portrait of one or more of their children each week for one year. They will post it to this blog every Tuesday, set up specifically for their weekly photos.

I'm inspired!

Perhaps I will join along on my own and post here on my blog once a week. Maybe even on a Tuesday. Wonderful idea! Very cool!  

For today I will post a favorite portrait I took of my oldest son late last month (December 2012).

It's a great idea, don't you think?

I've also decided to link up at SIMPLE AS THAT this week for Simple things Sunday and Nihao, Y'all for Sunday Snapshot. It is no simple thing getting a smiling photo of a 14 year old boy - they are not always game for having their photo taken. Though, thankfully, this one doesn't mind!

Perfect Valentine for the Lego Ninjago Fan in Your Life!

Inspired by this on Pinterest, I created this photo as a potential Valentine for my Lego Ninjago fan to give out to his classmates for Valentine's Day.

It's easy to do this yourself. Set up a red piece of construction paper as a backdrop. Lean it against something (in our case it was a flower pot on the table on the back porch), set up your mini-figs and click away. SIMPLE!

I'm going to use Photoshop (PSE) to fit two photos on one 4x6 print, cut them apart and adhere them to cardstock. My son will write a greeting on the back and hand out to his classmates.

What do you think?

TO SEE THE LEGO NINJAGO MINI FIG CAKE I JUST MADE, GO HERE.

Super Fun, Super Easy, Super Cute DIY Craft Foam Stamps

I have been fascinated by DIY stamps for the past year or two, pining to find some creative time and make a bunch. Unfortunately, living in China, getting even simple craft supplies to make some was not easy. I did manage to make one from some adhesive medical padding I found lying around my apartment and use it on a scrapbook layout featured here.

But it wasn't enough!

As part of my intention to make 2013 a year to THRIVE! EXPERIMENT! & BE GRATEFUL! Last week, I challenged myself to make TEN of them from adhesive craft foam. I ended up making FIFTEEN! Yay, me!

And now that I've done it, I don't know why I waited so long to try.

I've been so inspired by the experience that I find myself jotting down ideas and sketches of the next stamps I want to make as well as projects I am going to make with them.

If you've been to my blog this week, you know that I have already used some in my Project Life album here.

Here they are! All made last week.

Lotus Root x 2

Flower Petal also great shape for making patterns

Swirly triangle for patterns

Sunburst Graphic inspired by Project Life Core Kit - Seafoam Edition

MacBook Laptop based off a drawing made by my 7 year old son. He wanted to make his own stamp, so I had him draw a picture and made this.

Easier than it sounds.

Braden's sketch of the stamp he wanted me to make. 

Hexagon - also good for patterns, think honeycomb. I plan to make a honeycomb stamp as well. The possibilities are (almost) endless.

Here is my circle stamp that I made when the circle journaling labels I had weren't cutting it - I made my own out of Avery Sticker Project Paper, White, 8.5 x 11 Inches meant for the InkJet printer.

Here is an adorable cupcake stamp that hasn't even been used yet. But as you can tell by the name of my blog (Nihao, Cupcake!) or if you are a regular reader, you know that I make & decorate a lot of cupcakes, so of course that one is obvious!

A pot stamp to be used on my ONE NEW RECIPE A WEEK cards. You can read about that goal here.

City Skyline - I LOVE this one. Inspired by some adhesive border tape I bought while in Japan. I've always LOVED city skylines. Adorable and so easy to make. Simple lines and cuts.

A zig zag stamp great to use for patterns. When stamped in a row makes a nice chevron pattern/stripe.

I LOVE these little cameras. I made two because when making the original I forgot the stamp makes a mirror image and I wanted the details on the opposite side, but both work great. 
I originally saw the image of the camera on the side of a coffee thermos. I memorized it, jotted it down the first chance I had and came home and sketched it on to a Project Life grid journaling card before making my stamp. It's another favorite! You could totally use this one to make a pattern and create your own patterned paper or title cards for PRoject Life!

And finally, here is the Coffee Cup To-Go stamp. Excuse the poor quality of the photos but I forgot to take a pic of that stamp & had to do it well after the sun went down. Inspired by a similar image on my Starbucks gold card. That one had a circle where I put a star.

 

Let me know what you think! Which one is your favorite? Any ideas for other stamps. I love to add little bits of detail to make them more than just simple shapes. It adds so much character. You will be seeing these showing up in my Project Life layouts and you will be seeing many more of these things as I am filling a notebook full of ideas.

The best part, the sheet of adhesive craft foam I used, (which still has plenty left over to work with), was only 89 cents at Michaels! 

Very soon I will post a tutorial of sorts on how I made these SUPER EASY & SUPER ADORABLE & SUPER CHEAP craft foam stamps, so you can get started making your own. In fact, they are so easy, you probably don't even need my instructions, but I will post any how sharing my process and Tips & Tricks. 

I will also be posting SOON (fingers crossed), projects I have made using them. The stamp you see in the very first photo of this post was made the week before my TEN STAMP challenge week and I used it to make my son's birthday party invitations (part of my 24 Projects in 12 Months goal). So you will be seeing that stamp and resulting project coming up as well.

I also have plans to update my excercise and ONE NEW RECIPE A WEEK challenge too. All are coming along famously. Hurray!

Thanks for stopping by and please let me know what you think about the stamps. And if you decide to give it a try, come back and leave me a link to your stamps and what you made as I would love to pop over and see.

Here is my much anticipated tutorial on how to make these SUPER FUN, SUPER CUTE & SUPER EASY stamps from craft foam.

The Original Treats™ Recipe - Kellogg's® Rice Krispies®

via www.ricekrispies.com

I'm making the original version of these today for Braden's birthday. He'll have a different cake for his party but at home tonight, it's another rice krispy treat cake per request. We did the same thing last year.

The holiday on Monday, his birthday today and my lingering cold has derailed my blog plans for this week, but never fear, I will be back soon with my TEN+ homemade stamps I cannot wait to share and an update on this weeks GOALS. Until then...

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest

I took this screen shot of my latest Pinterest pins. It's a cool way to get a glimpse of life and freeze it. I may have to print this out and add it to my Project Life album or other scrapbook page. Hmmm...

If you love Pinterest, you will LOVE this article. So many great ways to integrate Pinterest into your online life.

Also, this article on adding a Pinterest button directly to your images if you have Wordpress. Alas, I do not and so far I couldn't find anything for Typepad. Please share if you know anything similar for Typepad.

I'm slowly but surely warming up to Pinterest. Not that I was ever against it but it eats up a lot of time. Figuring out the best way to use it as a tool and not a diversion from accomplishing things! 

How do you use Pinterest to your benefit?

One New Recipe A Week #1: Red Cabbage, Feta & Mint Salad

Back in this post, you may remember that I talked about my intention to try one new recipe a week until I don't want to do it any more. I started last week and I ended up trying FOUR totally new recipes and THREE new recipes of dishes I make often.

I was on fire! I've crashed a bit this week and have hardly done any cooking!

I hope to share at least one recipe a week here and let you know what I thought. I've made myself 4x6 cards to keep track of each recipe, certain details and what we thought of the new dish. I'll share that information here.

DATE MADE: January 10

RECIPE NAME: Red Cabbage with Feta and Mint

WHERE FOUND: O Magazine, January 2013, pg 140

MAKE AGAIN? Yes!

HOW MANY STARS? 4.5

COMMENTS:

This is delicious and very easy to make. ONly a few ingredients needed. I've already made it twice & doubled it the second time. Keeps well. I {heart} the fresh herbs. Great for a picnic. Instructions say to serve warm or at room temp but it can be easily eaten chilled.

This is the second batch I made two days later. This time I doubled it and tossed it before taking the pic.

Let me know if you want the recipe.

This is the card I've made that I will use for my PHOTO ALBUM SCRAPBOOK mini book (a la Stacy Julian-style)

I am coming up with a stamp that I will use to place in the bottom right hand corner to add a little visual excitment to the card. Any thoughts? I want to use it on every card in my album. I like graphics made up of simple shapes. I was thinking maybe a pot with steam coming out or a simply drawn oven. Let me know if anything exciting comes to mind. Remember I have to first draw it and then make it into a stamp - so not too much detail!

You may have noticed the lovely graphic at the top of the page introducing my first recipe. I'm trying to come up with graphics for some of my year long projects (i.e., new recipes, outdoor exercise/hike goals, 24 Projects, etc) to set a theme and add some structure. It may end up being exactly like that with a new pic each time or if I am inspired, I may come up with one logo that I'll use every time.

Hopefully these cards will help me be more purposeful in my documentation of my goals & projects. Planning ahead for these types of projects is new to me. I hope to end up with a mini book or two & progress charts by year's end. More on the details on exactly what I am doing in a future post.

Repatriation: Looking Back on Only a Few Months Ago

Last May I participated in Ali's Week in the Life. My album isn't complete, but it will be someday. Perhaps it will be one of the 24 projects I complete this year.Anyway, I was looking through the files on my desktop from that week and it's amazing to see how much has changed in such a short period of time. Of course it helps that we moved clear across the Pacific ocean and are now living in a developed nation that is not Communist. But admist all the contrasts, there are a remarkable number of similarities!

I still wake up to my smart phone. It is just a different smart phone with no Chinese characters on the display.
This was the view out the window of my gym. I still buy fruit but not from people with large carts on the backs of three-wheeled motor trikes who must flee every time the police are near.
I no longer live in a high rise in the Central Business District of a capital city. Quite the opposite. I live in a single family home in a quiet suburb near the sea - though quite close to a major metropolitan city.
I no longer ride home in ugly elevators ensconsed in fake etched mirrors.
Spring in Beijing is beautiful though very short.

The kids still buy lunch at school every so often but the food now is NOT freshly prepared nor is it healthy. Especially at the middle school. It is atrocious! So they buy most days. No more bilingual menus with typos.
And luckily, no more signs in Chinese warning of the dangers of lighting off dangerous fireworks & crackers.

I must admit there is not much I miss about my life in China. Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing adventure, but unlike other countries I've been (or lived in), there seems to be something missing there. At least for me.

I do miss the friendships. There are amazing people living there. People from all over the world. I do miss being around them. But it is a very different lifestyle. Slower in ways and much faster paced in others.

But all in all, it is good to be home.

I've been working hard making my 10 stamps this week. And I cannot wait to share. I am having SO. MUCH. FUN. Watch for a little tutorial in photos soon.

I also plan to tell you all about the party I'm planning for my son's 8th birthday. Homemade invitations (totally original) and other fun details.

Can you guess the theme? There's been a hint in a recent past blog post. 

Bob, The Wool Monster

Felt is all the rage these days. I must admit, I think felt is very cool. And when I was at the LA County Fair this summer, we learned all about wool from one of the guys in the livestock tent who brought along a bunch of his sheep. He told us about all sorts of unlikely things that are made from wool, like the core of an authentic major league baseball (cut one open and see for yourself!),

And of course cashmere sweaters and pashmima scarves are made of wool. He explained what makes those wools so special and why they are so expensive. We also learned that FELT is made from wool.

I must honestly admit, before my visit to the LA County Fair, I did not know felt came from wool! How silly do I feel? It makes me seem like I fit that sterotypical silly, blonde LA girl or out of touch children in class who are portrayed in the LA County Fair commercials from a few years back (What comes from cows?, the teacher asks. "A latte???" one girl says. Another boy pipes up, "My mom says, 'Non-fat, half caf cappuccinos!'" To see for yourself go here. It's hilarious!)

It seems like something I should have known, but alas, I never really thought about it. And frankly, felt is a craft fabric so it seems too low budget to be made from something so nice.

This is how silly I feel:

And now that I know felt is made from wool, I like it even better than it did before!

When I make my 24 Crafty Projects this year (go here for more details), I plan to make at least one thing from felt. In fact, right now I already have two felt project ideas in mind, so it could end up being more.  

Bob, The Monster, up there, is made from felt (aka: wool). He is the second crafty thing I made after returning to The States (after living in China for four years). The first thing I made, also out of felt, was a Halloween costume for my 6th grade son - the hat & backpack of Finn, from the Adventuretime series on Cartoon Network). 

Anyway, back to Bob, The Monster. He comes from Braden's imagination who originally drew Bob on a white piece of paper with a pencil.

I took that drawing and turned, "Paper Bob" into "Felt Bob".

My most favorite projects involve partnering with my kids.

I did the same for my oldest son's sixth birthday. He drew a picture of a monster and I turned it into his birthday cake. There must be something about my kids & I and monsters and creating stuff!

Bob, is Braden's favorite Christmas present, pilling and all. I'm sure it's not only because I make it for him, but because Bob originally came from his imagination!

By the way, does anyone have any tips on how to get felt to stop pilling? Braden is working on his next sketch of a monster and soon Bob will have a new friend. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different. -Coco Chanel