the daily X

This Week Layout

I wrote a blog post back in February about the things I learned that particular week. You can see it here. I knew I would eventually turn it into a layout and include photos from that week. Here is the layout...

The layout is 6x12 and I used a typewriter font on my computer to print out the journaling. I then went back and wrote additional words and scribbled directly on the journaling strips. I love this look of emphasizing things I wrote. The stars are from Pink Paislee and the patterned paper is My Mind's Eye.

Photo Walk | Spring

Last week Mr. X and I took an evening walk around our neighborhood with our new Canon Rebel T4i. The trees are absolutely beautiful this time of year. It's almost magical. I used Rad Lab filters on all the photos.

Project Life ~ Week 17

Welcome to week 17 of Project Life!

This week is another favorite. I loved all the photos and had fun with the journaling and embellishments. Everything came together so well. I know I'm still a little behind but weeks 18 and 19 are in progress and should be finished this weekend. Totally not stressing about it.

Here is a closer look at the left side. I used Rad Lab on the upper left and lower right photos. The filters really bring out the colors and I'm debating whether or not I should buy it. Right now I'm just using the free trial. It is pretty RAD.

I swear my cat Leroy could be a cat model with that perfect pose.

My favorite part of the left is this card. It's one of the folded in half journaling cards and I added the stamp, border and patterned paper to the outside. Inside is some journaling on our life right now. 

Here is a closer look at the right. This is the weekend we painted our bathroom and celebrated my little brother and sister's 8th birthday. 

I used the paint swatch as a journaling card. I just cut the bottom off.

My favorite part of the right side is this card. I just love the wooden 8 from Studio Calico and the 'TODAY WE...' stamp is from Dear Lizzy.

A Day In The Life Layout

My Day In The Life photos from JANUARY finally made their way onto paper this weekend! Woot, woot!

I love scrapbooking pages like this. Lots of photos from one day in our life. Makes me wish I scrapbooked like this 15 years ago. How cool would that be to see a snapshot of your life in your younger years? Can you imagine?

For this layout I started with a piece of heavy, textured, 8.5x11cardstock to document the day (see last photo below). Since I was working at home this day it was easy to just have the paper out and jot down notes throughout the day. (I wrote on the non-textured side of the cardstock.)

The photos were all taken with my iPhone and Canon Powershot. I created a collage using Picasa and printed at home on 8.5x11 photo paper. I cut the photo collage into strips and single photos and adhered them to the textured side of the cardstock. I added letter stickers and strips of this awesome paper from the Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic collection.

The silver stars are from Basic Grey and I think I need to get me the gold stars now. They are really nice and shiny. The grey and white striped tape is an older fabRip from Studio Calico.

I added more strips of the yellow paper to the journaling side to tie it all together. 

Happy Mother's Day

My Mom makes the tiniest chocolate chip cookies. I mean TINY. They are crispy and delicious and you can't eat just one. They are so good. I have friends that love her cookies and my brother has had co-workers request cookies be sent from Illinois to Oregon. And she's done it. It's crazy, but they are that good. 

I've tried to make them many times before and of course I could never get them that small. Except yesterday. I wanted to give my Mom and Mother-In-Law each a small batch for Mother's Day. And finally, yesterday morning, I got it right. They were still not as tasty as Mom's, but they were good.

Thanks, Mom, for bringing me into this world. For raising me to be the person I am today. For loving me unconditionally, through good times and bad. And thank you for teaching me how to make the best chocolate chip cookies ever.

Project Life ~ Week 16

Welcome to week 16! 

This week I started to get ready for our Kentucky Derby party, witnessed a ton of rain, cuddled with a kitty, and spent some quality time with Mr. X in the car.

Life. I love it.

The 'You & Me' heart was made with my Silhouette Cameo and vellum paper. Super simple design to make. I swear that machine is the best tool ever.

This week was also the Boston Marathon bombing. Mr. X and I watched a lot of news during the week and I took a few photos of the TV with my iPhone. The little date flag on the bottom left photo was cut from a Project Life card. 

Is it Saturday yet?

This weekend's to do list is short...a trip to the vet because our cat lost her canine tooth (??), two lunches with two moms, laundry, then nothing. I'm excited. The past few weekends have been busy and I like my weekends not so busy.

This weekend I want to catch up on my photos. This album has been neglected too long and I have so much to add.

This weekend I want to put together layouts for these photos I took in JANUARY when I  documented a day in the life. I'm making it happen.

This weekend I want to wear my new green Toms Mr. X bought me for my birthday. They don't really go with my work wardrobe so I need the weekend to come so I can enjoy them!

Saturday can't come fast enough. I honestly hope it rains too because then I don't feel so bad being inside doing crafty things all day. 

7 Things

My birthday was yesterday and Scrapbook.com sent me $5.00 off my order of $20.00. So of course I had to buy myself some birthday goodies today. Here are 7 things I picked out for only $15.00! Thanks Scrapbook.com!!

Summer Stories Die Cut Paper by Teresa Collins

Silver Stars by Basic Grey

Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Phrase Stamp by American Crafts

12x12 Elizabeth Kate Double Sided Paper by Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper

Foil Chipboard Stars by Pink Paislee

Big Words Summer Cardstock Stickers by Bazzill

12x12 Marshmellow Double Sided Paper by Lily Bee Design

Weekend Kitchen | Kentucky Derby Recipes

On Saturday we had some friends over for a Kentucky Derby party. We required hats and bow ties and only served southern food. I had so much fun searching Pinterest and the internet for recipes and putting this menu together. Unfortunately I didn't take photos of everything we served, but I wanted to share links to all the delicious recipes.

Kentucky Burgoo  This was Mr. X's thing. He made it Saturday around 11:00 and we served it around 3:00. People compared it to a Brunswick stew and they loved it. We followed the recipe pretty closely except we used only stew meat, no pork or chicken. Also, no lima beans. Who likes lima beans??

Hot Brown Bites  I made these just before we served the Burgoo. They were very easy to put together and were the perfect little side to go with the stew. So much easier than making large hot brown sandwiches which are a traditional Kentucky Derby dish.

Benedictine Dip  I made this in my Magic Bullet blender instead of my food processor and it was a little watery. I think I was supposed to drain the cucumber after grating it. However, it was soooo good. I served it with pita chips but I think it would be great with anything. Very lite and tasty.

Southern Pimento Cheese  I served this with pretzel sticks and it was excellent. Great recipe to make the day before. I did use a the optional jalapeno pepper and Mr. X loved it.  

Pecan Pie Bars  Pictured above. These were my fave. I thought I had over cooked them but once they cooled they were awesome. 

Mint Julep Cupcakes  I used the frosting recipe and a box of vanilla cupcakes. It was good but it was STRONG. I made mini cupcakes and had to use a very little frosting on each one. 

I also made little ham sandwiches on dinner rolls which were perfect for the people who didn't want Burgoo. In the end, it was a great menu and I would probably do the same next year, minus the cupcakes. My friend brought bourbon balls and that would have been enough with the pecan pie bars.

Project Life ~ Week 15

Happy May everyone and hello week 15!  

Another favorite. I think it's the combination of the colors and embellishments I used that make this one stand out to me. Whatever it is, I like it! 

This week I made some cut outs with my Silhouette Cameo. It was fun to play around and try different techniques. I feel like I keep learning how to use that machine and I love it more and more each time. The "LOVE THIS" arrow below was made with an arrow element and then typing the words inside. Super easy.

Below I typed out "you & me" in Lobster font and cut it out on white cardstock. You can download the free font here. The kraft "LOVE THIS" circle arrow thing you can barely see at the bottom was a combination of drawing a circle, adding an arrow to the center and typing the words on top of the arrow. 

You can see some arrows I added below that were also cut from the Silhouette. I also included one of the cards I made a few weeks ago and added my fortune from a fortune cookie to the bottom. The Kentucky Derby card in the bottom left was from the shipment of glasses I bought on line for our derby party this weekend. Can't wait!

Candy Trees

My little brother and sister celebrated their 8th birthday yesterday and I made them these candy trees for their gifts. They were so easy and fun to make!

I started off with a 4x4 decorative birthday box and styrofoam floral block, both from the dollar store. I also got a bag of this silver stringy ribbon to use as a filler. I shaved the styrofoam down to be more of a cone shape, although it would have been easier to just buy a cone but they only had rectangles. I stuffed a bunch of the silver filler in the sides with some leftover styrofoam that was cut off to stabilize the base.

I purchased the candy at Party City because you can buy individual pieces. Not sure it was the most cost effective way but it kept large amounts of candy out of the house. I'm not saying that I didn't buy a bunch of mini Twix bars and eat them during the process of putting these together. Maybe some mini Snickers, too.

Anyways, I knew I wanted suckers coming out of the top and those were super easy to just stick in. Then I got out my glue gun and started gluing away. I basically started at the bottom and worked my up. You can see below it's not 100% full but I used the silver ribbon to fill in some holes.

In the end I think they looked pretty cute and what 8 year doesn't love candy? HECK, this 33 year old would love one of these for her birthday!

Around Here

We are getting ready for my little brother and sister's
8th birthday. I made some really cute candy trees that
I'll share next week. Chris made them mini-looms.

I'm getting ready to celebrate my 34th birthday which
means new driver's license and waiting at the DMV on
a Friday afternoon.

We are painting our bathroom white. It has been green
for about 10 years and I'm over it. I forgot how much
work it is to paint.

We are making several trips to Home Depot. First for
paint, then for more paint, then for dirt and veggies.
This weekend was beautiful so Mr. X planted in between
painting. 

I made a Kentucky Derby hat in between painting.
I did get a little carried away and just kept adding
more and more but I love it. We are having a little
party next weekend and I can't wait. 

And now we have to clean up from all the projects.

Project Life ~ Week 14

Welcome to week 14 of Project Life! 

This week we welcomed the month of April, another new piece of furniture and attended an antique fair with some girlfriends. It was all good.

I received a cute text from a friend so I took a screen shot of it and applied the 'love this' tag to the side. It came from a journaling card from a Project Life kit I purchased 2 years ago. I just used a circle whole punch to cut it out. 

This week I also used all three of our cameras...the Canon SLR, the little Canon point and shoot and my iPhone. I'm trying to use the SLR more because there is no comparison in the quality. But sometimes it's just not practical. I still love taking photos with my iPhone because it's just so easy and I ALWAYS have it with me.

The photo on the left below is actually part of an invitation to a birthday party but I wanted to save it so I just folded it in half and tucked it in. The 'K' card I picked up at the antique fair and the heart paperclip I found in the $1.00 section at Target. 

Weekend Kitchen | French Onion Pasta

Wow... this dish is delicious and tastes EXACTLY like French onion soup.

Recipe adapted from Stephanie Cooks. Check out her other recipes because everything she makes looks fantastic.

2 cups uncooked fusilli (spiral) pasta
1 cup chicken stock
1 packet Lipton's Onion Soup mix
1 shallot, finely diced
1 tbsp. chopped garlic (I used garlic from a jar)
1/2 cup marsala wine
4 tbsps. cream
1 tbsp. flour
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Cook pasta and set aside. Heat oil and add shallot and garlic. Continue to stir until soft and fragrant. Add the marsala wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any pieces of shallot or garlic. Add the stock and soup mix packet and allow to cook on low for about 20 minutes. Whisk in flour until well incorporated and thickened. Add cream and mix well. Once everything is combined and heated through, add pasta and stir together. Pour into an 8x8 or 9x9 oven safe baking dish and top with mozzarella cheese. Place under the broiler until cheese is brown.

As you can see, we used a lot of cheese. But it was so good and I would probably use the same amount next time. This is the first time I've ever cooked with marsala wine and combined with the cream, you can see below the sauce is like a gravy. So rich and tasty. Mr. X loved it, I loved it and the fact it's pretty quick to whip together, this will definitely be made again. Soon.

Project Life ~ Week 13

Hello Project Life! This never, ever gets old....

Welcome to week 13. Here is the full spread. 

The left side is bits and pieces from the week. We received a huge box of empty beer bottles from my brother that Mr. X cut the tops off for cool looking cups. Should have some up in his shop next week. We also got a new piece of furniture so I added the history behind that onto a sticker I put directly on the photo. Other pieces include a menu from a restaurant I went to for the first time and photos / info on my favorite beer and pizza. Important stuff, eh?

The right side is photos from our weekend road trip to visit friends. I have several other photos I want to add but will probably do a separate layout and add it later. The Bent River coaster was from a place we went to Saturday afternoon. Coasters are a great souvenir to grab on trips and most of the time they look pretty cool.

My favorite photo from the week is this Instagram that I printed in 4x6 format of our friend's little girl. A few embellishments in the corner and I think it looks super cute.