Thursday, September 30, 2010

Free October Desktop Calendar

Rather than focus on Halloween, I went light and easy fall this month. I love this little owl. Look for him to appear more. Since I am always promoting digital scrapbooking, I thought it might be helpful to start sharing where I found my sets in case you are digital scrapping, too!
Features Fall Frolic set and the title font is Bosshole from Kevin and Amanda

* If you are new to the site, I do a desktop calendar every month. Just click on the photo to enlarge it and then right click and save as desktop background. I hope to see you on the site before next month ;)

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Fall Decor: Mantle

While my daughter was napping, I busted out the tubs of fall decor. My husband called it "second Christmas" which was a subtle sign that I better not buy more this year. So, I decided to try and use things differently that I have in the past which will feel fresh and new to me.

Here is my 2010 mantle- new and improved! I included my Ragamuffin Garland on the mantle rather than a traditional leaf/berry garland and I love it. It is a little softer and allows more room for stuff!Here is the mantle from last year- I used a couple of key elements again, but changed many of the items. The turquoise star now resides on the front porch and of course the picture of my little girl has been changed out!
Here is a close up of the left side- I pulled out frame I already own and just put new fall prints inside them. The picture on the right is Spring colors, so I just made it Sepia to match better. The middle picture is from Thanksgiving last year in her pumpkin pie "thankful" dress. I am hoping that will fit as a shirt this year. I've heard that works with A line dresses!

The right side includes nothing new- all of these items I owned. Many are from Hobbly Lobby or Michaels. The Harvest sign has a metal wire to hang it from the wall but I just bent it down into the berry arrangement. Easy! The cornucopia is stuffed with brown tissue so that I only put fall items you can see inside of it.

On the hearth, I added my largest orange and grapevine pumpkins. I would like to add a few more white ones here. Maybe I'll buy real ones at the grocery store so we don't have to store them until next year! ;)
How does your mantle look for Thanksgiving? Leave me a comment with your link so that I can see them all and get ideas for next year! Happy Fall Ya'll!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Pretty Me

I bought this cute dress online at the PrettyMe shop on etsy. I fell in love with the color palette and am having pictures made in it late next month. I am hoping they will be our Christmas pictures. What do you think, can I pull off these colors and make it Christmas?
Knowing what I had in mind for the dress, I emailed the Prettyme shop and asked for 4 small fabric samples to match the dress. She totally obliged and I was able to make me a matching Posie Pin. How divine!
Here is the cute dress shop and here are directions for making your own posie pin.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Friday's Foot Fetish: Ruffles

I have worn Born shoes for many years- they are always comfortable and have one unique element to them.
This Spring and Summer they were all about ruffles.
So many cute options.
Many of them are too tall for my now, but maybe others can wear a good heel.
All of these are on Zappos and some are on sale.
I bet they'll all be on sale in the next few weeks!


Thursday, September 23, 2010

Yummy Carrot Cake

I made Pioneer Woman's Carrot Cake for a football viewing party this weekend. It was good!
It isn't super sweet, more like a spice cake. I think if I make it again, I'll add more goodies to the cake- shredded pineapple, nuts, and raisins. But, the icing. Oh, the icing. Good stuff!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Fashion Trends: Never Say Never

There are a good number of fashion trends I told myself I would not do, i.e. neon colors, leg warmers, body suits, skinny jeans. My thought was that once you see a fashion trend come back from your childhood, you don't participate the second time around. Then it happens.... you don't participate, you are no longer trendy, you are old. I have fought the skinny jean for a long time and then the jegging (jean legging) until today. I gave in and bought a very comfortable pair of jeggings. With all of the tunics out there, I keep passing them by because a long tunic and boot cut jeans on someone 5'3" isn't cute.
Now that I have my own pair of jeggings, I can begin tunic shopping for fall!
I bought this pair from Macys and got them half off!

Do tell, any other jegging girls over 30 out there?


Sunday, September 19, 2010

Easy ABC Flashcards

This is my sweet daughter Abby Lu. She is in the "sponge" stage where you can tell she is processing everything I tell her. So, I'm carefully monitoring my husband's mouth (ha!) and using our time together to teach her. I found these flashcards online and decided her and I could start practicing our letters and sounds.
I used my scrapbook software to resize these to 4" x 5" and fit 4 onto a page. I color printed them at Kinkos since we were out of colored ink. I used my paper cutter and corner rounder to cut each of them out.
Rounding off the corners makes such a difference!
Since the back was solid white, I decided to pair these up back to back to save space and make them more exciting on the back.
So, we now have 13 flashcards ready to be laminated at Kinko's! I showed them to Abby Lu during snack time and she was interested and signed or verbalized some of the words!
Sweet Shoppe Designs where I found these is my favorite online scrapbook store. You'll find so many cute options on their site, so be sure to look around!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Friday's Foot Fetish: Studded Flats

I love all the leather studded stuff coming out for fall- the bracelet selection at cheap places like Sam Moon and Charming Charlie is wonderful. These charcoal studded flats would like wonderful with all that jewelry. I think these could easily be dressed up or down and they come in brown and black, too!
Studded Flats $89 from Eddie Bauer

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

2010 Scrapbook

I have been using digital scrapbooking software for a few years and I have never made a real scrapbook with it.... until now! I made both my Mom and my MIL a book of Abby's first year and had so much fun I've decided to do 2010 in a 12x12 book for my own family.

Here is a sample page from February- left page
right page....
I used Shutterfly for the first two books and was impressed with the quality, price and the speed at which it arrived at my doorstep. They run sales on photobooks quite often, too!

Between blogging my family life and scrapbooking it, my daughter will have every notable memory of her childhood recorded!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Knob-o-Rama

I recently sold my daughter's chest of drawers and her changing table and converted to a larger dresser, the HEMNES from IKEA. It is double the storage which we needed and a great size and height to serve as her changing table for a few more months. But, it came with gunmetal knobs that don't match her current of the toddler decor I have planned for her. Look a what a difference these crystal knobs make. I like the vintage knobs paired with the clean lines of the more modern dresser.
As my daughter would say, "ta-da".

I bought these and have bought other knobs on eBay. It is really the way to go- all 12 knobs were under $40. They are $8 or more a piece in the stores. You'll find lots of inexpensive options and can buy just the number you need.



Friday, September 10, 2010

Friday's Foot Fetish: Rain Boots

We've been on vacation as a family all week and had Tropical Storm Hermine join us. I've never wished for a cute pair of rain boots like I have this week. The storm came out of nowhere and my vacation daily agenda which includes the forecast for the day had no mention of rain. I therefore had only sandals packed!
These boots from Kamik at Zappos would have been so cute with my capri pants tucked into them and all of my final summer t-shirts.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

New Candle I'm Loving

Yummy! I am loving Yankee Candle's new scent BE THANKFUL. It truly smells like Thanksgiving- warm, apples, vanilla, a little buttery. It may still be 100 degrees outside, but it is a cool crisp autumn day in my house!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Easy Pork Empanadas

As a born and bred Texan, I really hesitate to call these empanadas. They are really good, but not traditional empanadas. Ironically, I pulled this receipe from a newspaper in Michigan while traveling on business. Michigans consider this an empanada!
Pork Empanadas

Mix together:

1 cup pulled pork (I buy it pre-done and refrigerated in the meat section of the grocery store)
1 T diced green chiles
2T taco sauce (found on the mexican food aisle)

Scoop meat mixture onto biscuits stretched out
Fold biscuit over.

Brush 1 beaten egg or melted butter over all biscuits to help with browning.

Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes.

These are great alone or dipped in salsa or queso!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Friday's Foot Fetish: Sanuk

When I was 32 weeks pregnant we husband and I took a trip to Hawaii. We didn't pick the timing, it was an amazing all expenses paid incentive trip my husband earned from his employer for his sales that year. We had a wonderful time, but at 32 weeks pregnant, I was so tired trying to do anything. My feet were killing me and then in a little store for surfers, I found Sanuk sandals. The most cushy comfortable shoes ever. I bought them in white and wore them the remainder of the trip. Since Zappos carries them, I now own them in brown and turquoise also.


This is my favorite pair- Yoga Mat is the name. They are $26 a pair. The whole bottom part is cushioned, seriously cushioned. I wear these when cooking in the kitchen on the hard tile, at the grocery store, to the park, and most places I can get away with. I wore them for 8 straight weeks at the end of my pregnancy! They have more than just solid colors- these are really cute brown zebra print Sanuks.

Or, these gold ones. I really like the strap configuration.


But, these? What were they thinking? I don't need tube socks attached to my flip flops thank you very much. Just plain weird.








Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September Desktop

Enjoy this month's desktop!
Just click to enlarge and then right click to save as desktop background. Enjoy!