Photographic Treasures

I don't have much to show you today.

Just a little page I did for a Digi Dares challenge.

I've only done a handful of Digi Dare challenges over the past few years, but I've always liked how my pages turned out. And they were always pages that I wouldn't have thought to make on my own. That's what is always so fun about challenges.

The prompt here was to scrap something treasured, with the word "treasure" on your page. You were to dig into your stash and scrap with some old kits. I chose some kits that weren't too old, but were ones I had purchased but not used yet. You know what I mean, you fellow addicts.

Oh Snap Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Felicity and Veneer Alpha by Mye DeLeon
DoodleBug by Dawn by Design; Penny by creashens; These are the Days by Fruitloop Sally

Thanks for stopping by!

Crafty with Rainbow Loom

Are you familiar with Rainbow Loom?

Do the interlocking designs amaze you?

Do you have little rubber bands all over your floor like I do?

Several months ago I became aware of rubber band bracelets and the Rainbow Loom.  I keep hearing from different people how HUGE the Rainbow Loom is right now, although I haven't really seen evidence of this first hand. I do know that a couple of first graders are into it (mine included), and I know that there are lots of videos available that show you how to make different things. TONS of videos. And a lot of those are made by kids. I love it!

When we made our first bracelets, even the very simplest design fascinated me. Now we have made even more complex creations and I'm starting to understand how it all works. I was surprised that boys, and even men, are into this stuff. I think it is because of the mechanics of it. It really is fascinating how you can take these individual loops and make them form something solid.

Simple Bracelets

 

 More Advanced Bracelets

Rings

I think part of this Rainbow Loom craze is the challenge to invent a new bracelet that no one else has made. So, we're working on that.  Now, I think I'll go look for rubber bands to pick up off the floor. There are always more that you missed. Thanks for stopping by!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I can't stop making these peanut butter cookies.

I've actually come across several similar recipes recently, but this is the one I've been following:

Flourless Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies from myrecipes.com

I've tried several different versions using: natural peanut butter and unnatural peanut butter; white sugar and brown sugar; and different mix-ins. Natural peanut butter gives a much better flavor, but the cookies can fall apart easily. I didn't really arrive at a preference for the sugar, but if I've got brown sugar on hand, I'll gravitate toward that. Depending on how thick your dough turns out, it might be hard to incorporate a whole cup of chocolate chips. You can cut back on those and still have great cookies. Heck, you could probably leave out the chips all together and just have a peanut butter cookies. But I've never done that myself.

The cookies pictured above have chocolate chips, M&Ms and Reeses Pieces. The most recent batch that I made (and was my most favorite) used brown sugar, half natural peanut butter and half unnatural peanut butter, and chocolate chips only.

I want to make more. Happy baking!

Layouts to Share

Here are a few more pages. This first one has some pictures from the park. Nothing too special, just some everyday memories.

Punchfetti 3, Hello solid paper Add-on, And Kit, Fruity Kit, Hei Hei kit, and Torn Bits 5 by creashens
Sup? by Karla Dudley

The tree outside our porch had acorns for the first time. I thought that was pretty special in itself. And another first followed: a squirrel. By the second visit of the squirrel I finally put the two together: acorns bring squirrels. Does that flower on the page look familiar?? I actually made this layout first and liked the flower so much I copied it over to the layout up above. The joy of digital.

And Kit and Add-on, Hello Add-on Papers, and Torn Bits 3 by creashens

And here are some Elf on the Shelf pictures. I am almost done scrapping 2013. I think I just have a few more Christmas pictures I want to scrap and another school activity.

Paper Piecing Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Festive and Bright by Create Wings
Winter Friends by Create Wings; Love Letters by Dream Big Designs and Little Rad Trio

That's all for now, fellow skin tubes. Thanks for stopping by!

New Recipes

I have tried a few more new recipes that have turned out well.

Baked Chicken and Cheese Taquitos from Just A Taste. I used corn tortillas, and even after letting them soak for 30 seconds or more, I had trouble getting the tortillas to roll without splitting. It was quite frustrating, and I think I even cried and/or yelled a curse word. BUT the chicken was really yummy. I kept sneaking bites of it as I was putting the taquitos together. I did not use cumin in the chicken, though. I don't like the smell of it.  So my chicken was flavored with the onions (which I actually let caramelize a little), garlic, lime juice, paprika, salt and pepper, and a dash of coriander. I actually made this chicken filling a second time tonight for burritos. This chicken is scientist approved!

Yellow Curry Chicken with Basmati Rice from Just A Taste. The scientist really liked this one, but it was a bit too much for me. I think the coconut milk sauce was just too much. I had leftover rice to eat with this, so I didn't actually make the Basmati rice.

Creamy Chive Potatoes from Annie's Eats. This was a nice substitute for mashed potatoes. I overcooked the potatoes because they were done before my meat was done, but I really loved the flavor.

Quick French Dip Sandwiches from Kitchen Simplicity. This was a really easy meal. I think the garlic and cheese on the bread was what really made this recipe. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but I'll make it again. The scientist liked it more than I did. The thyme in the broth was very strong, despite the fact that I only used half of the called for amount.

30 Minute Caramelized Shallot, Spinach and Goat Cheese Garlic Butter Pasta from How Sweet It Is. This was REALLY good! It came together quickly, although it was a bit hectic. I was trying to watch both the shallots and the butter at the same time to make sure neither burned. And I was also cooking up some chicken in another pan at the same time too. But everything came out great! The goat cheese on top was so good! This is what I call a really fancy recipe because it has shallots AND goat cheese AND garlic brown butter. And even though it was fancy it was actually pretty easy.

Thanks for stopping by!

New Layouts

More layouts to share. That's what a scrapbooker has. This is a fun layout I put together for one of the birthday challenges at Pixels and Company. This was the Post(est) with the Mostest challenge, in which you try to make a layout with a large number of things on it. I used confetti scatters, and there are 435 pieces of confetti on the page.

Punchfetti No. 1, Hello Kit, and Wonderfall Kit by creashens; Cardstock Essentials 3 by Karla Dudley

The birthday festivities at Pixels have been really fun. There are lots of chances to scrap and win $$ to the store.

This is a just-for-fun layout in honor of Valentine's Day.

In Love Journal Card Templates by Scrapping with Liz; Happiness Collection by Gina Marie Huff
Everyday Essentials Papers by Gina Marie Huff

This was the big assignment for first graders: to host an imaginary travel to someplace in the world and learn about that place. It was really fun! We went to Stromboli, Italy, also known by some as The Octopus Volcano (according to a video we saw in YouTube).

Happiness Collection and Everyday Life (leaf) by Gina Marie Huff
Double Monthly Challenge Templates 13 by Scrapping with Liz

This is a local park with a really big slide that you can go down on a piece of cardboard. We've actually only been there a handful of times, so this was the first time I've scrapped it.

Happiness Collection by Gina Marie Huff; Daily Life Templates 2 by Scrapping with Liz

That's all I have today. Thanks for stopping by!

Hey, Daddio, do you read my blog?

This was the very last Month of Challenges layout. The challenge was to scrap a scanned photo. I scanned these pictures back in 2012 and have been meaning to scrap them ever since. The page is simple, and I like how it turned out. In the interest of getting the page in on time, I went simple with the journaling. These were words I frantically scribbled down as my dad talked about these pictures with me on the phone. I used a retro styled kit. The pictures were taken in 1969.

Grandma's Dresser and RetroMod by Sahlin Studio; I Kissed a Frog by Pink Reptile Design;
Winter Woodland Templates by Scrapping with Liz

I even tried to find a font that matched the "Super Sport" emblem on the car, but had to give up. The Corinthia font I used matched OK, but not perfect.

image from classicindustries.com

The photographs did not include a great image of the emblem, but I do believe the above reproduction matches the car in the picture. This is a tiny view of the emblem, blocked by my dad's leg.

Happy scrapping! Thanks for stopping by.

MOC is over!

Ah, the Month of Challenges is over.  Here are a few of my last layouts.

This one was a photoless layout challenge. I wasn't sure what to do, and then I heard this great quote from Joyce Wans on an episode of The Digi Show. I love how this page talks about the kind of person I am not, but in doing so illuminates the kind of person I am.

Project Care, Lost and Found and Hoppy by Valorie Wibbens; "DSPTLP" Template by Amy Martin;  Hipitty-Hop
Alpha by CD Muckosky; Macine Stitch by Julie Bullock; Quote by Joyce Wans on The Digi Show

This challenge was to scrap a "bad" photo. These photos weren't especially bad, but I was not particularly pleased with them. One had really bright flash, one has Miller's face down. One was dark with motion blur. I didn't really have much to say about each individual one, but together they made a nice page about play.

Cleaning Bug by Pink Reptile Designs; H Is For Happy by Kaye Winiecki; This Moment by Sahlin Studio
Wonders of Motherhood by Little Butterfly Wings; Sweet and Simple Album Templates 2 by Scrapping with Liz
Quotation from Dr. Seuss

This was a challenge to use five alphas in the title work. Not really my thing, but I forced myself to do it. I like how it turned out. The quote is from an E.E. Cummings poem.

Sweet Storytelling and This Moment by Sahlin Studio; Celebrate Softly, Free Spirit, Stand Tall and Hipitty Hop
by CD Muckosky; Diptych by Paislee Press; Hey, Mister by Karah Fredricks
Laugh Out Loud Alpha by Pink Reptile

This was a color challenge with a color palette of browns, greens and orange. I admit ... I slapped this one together in about 10 minutes. Maybe I can use it in the future for something meaningful.

Hello Fall by Sabrina Dupre; Capturing Fall Lilypad Collab; Capturing Fall Template by Amy Martin

And these next layouts weren't for MOC. This one is about going to a corn maze.

Buttercup Kit by creashens; Oscar Alphabet by creashens; Facebook Free template by Scrapping with Liz

Fun times at a play park.

Snickerdoodle, Woodchuck Alpha and Twinkles No. 1 by creashens
Cardstock Essentials by Karla Dudley; July 2013 Challenge Freebie by Amy Martin

That same play park at a special evening event.

Solstice Papers, Chevron Stitches, You Kit, Wonderfall Kit, and S'more Please Kit by creashens
Double Monthly Challenge Templates 5 by Scrapping with Liz

I think I have one more MOC layout to share, maybe on Wednesday, as an experiment. But that's about it for today. Thanks for stopping by!