mini shower

once a month, 'the scrapbook ladies' (julie, sandra, paula, lauri and i) have a potluck dinner to take a break during our all day scrap day. we pick a theme (or not) and each bring something to share.

this month we had a mini-theme.
and a surprise baby shower for julie :)
we all brought mini food. (except julie who wasnt in on the theme... she brought a delicious lemon dessert to her own party ;)i made onesie cookies :)
id been waiting for the perfect excuse to make these!!(i have some extra cutouts in my freezer, and frosting ready to go... if anyone is having a baby shower soon and needs some hand crafted sugar cookie goodness, let me know!)

and here is the mommy-to-be with 2 adorable little helpers :)our april scrapbook potluck is set, maybe a baby will be joining us? or we may just have to wait till may :)

pages

i have a stack (or 2) of scrapbook pages to go into albums. and i will be adding to that stack today.
i get to scrap all day :)
(and have a scrapbook ladies potluck.)
2 of my favorite things... yay!

here are some pages from my latest crops...
(again, i wish i had a 12x12 scanner)
(these pics on the carpet will just have to do...)
have a wonderful weekend!
enjoy the sun!

adventures in cookie decorating

so i tried flooding with frosting a while back.
remember the week of the crazy snow?
when i made cookies, then school was cancelled.
so i made a new batch the following week.
these...
and they actually had school the next day!
so they went in to the teachers :)

there are tons of tutorials out there on how to do this (the flooding).
but i thought i'd share my version.
i am still learning ;)
ok.
homemade frosting (see recipe at the end of this post)...
(i tinted mine a teeny bit blue. and saved some white too)
make an outline with your (blue) frosting.
let it firm up a bit.

then with that same (blue) frosting, add a bit of water a little at a time to make it more runny.
pipe this frosting onto the cookie so that it floods the inside of your outline.
(i used a piping bag and tip for this... though i am on a hunt to find those picnic ketchup bottles to use. not much luck finding those in the winter.)
let this firm up. (i dont remember how long. at least an hour id guess. ill pay more attention next time.)with the original white frosting (that was set aside)... make your design.add sprinkles/sugar crystals/sparkly flakes (that what dave called them) so they stick on the white frosting design and shake off any excess.let them set overnight to dry before stacking them.

here are some i made for lilly's daisy troop.
not enough powdered sugar in the frosting and not enough patience to let the outline set up makes for an actual flood of drippy frosting cookies :)

i had enough that turned out decent.
no complaints from the daisies ;)

The Frosting Recipe Jen uses :)
via The Decorated Cookie
Note: This frosting is similar to royal icing, but I add shortening and flavoring to make it taste delicious. Thus, it dries hard enough to handle and pack when left overnight, but not rock hard, like traditional royal icing. The consistency is NOT the runny kind used for flooding. It's stiffer. Take a spoonful, turn it over the bowl. The frosting should cling to the spoon and slowly fall into the bowl. That's the right consistency.

4 tblsp meringue powder (available at many supermarkets and in most craft stores)
1/2 cup water
6-7 cups confectioner's sugar (may need more or less, see the consistency advice above)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Crisco

Whip the meringue powder and water on high speed for a looooong time, several minutes, until it's fluffy and peaks form. Gradually add the rest of the ingredients to desired consistency. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a month.

My Life People ~Meet Katie!~

the 8th segment of My Life People is here!
starring...

the one...

the only...

Katie!!
(or as i like to say in my head... katie j :)

I sent Katie her questions:
1. How do you know me?
2. Tell us how to make the perfect sandwich
3. What is one life long goal you hope to accomplish?
4. What are you the queen of?
5. Tell me 5 things recently crossed off your to-do list?

and here is what she sent back ;)

Dear People in Jen's Life:
I'm also a person in Jen's life. I started to do my questionnaire and decided my answers were a little bit boring - scrapbooking friends, I don't like them, go to the olympics, queen of talking, to-dos - status report, actuals and estimates, laundry, lunch with jill and dishes - are you sleeping yet? I know I am right - not that these aren't great questions but my answers really are nothing special right? So I thought to myself what can I do to jazz this up? (insert thinking katie here)

And it came to me I could write you a letter and tell you about myself. So let's get this underway shall we...

I should probably talk about what I do first - my business cards say Senior Consultant but let's be real this doesn't say boo about what I do - I'm a Training Project Manager/Instructional Designer - which means I manage training scope, budget, quality, people and schedules as well as I write course ware for these projects. My job sends me traveling and I spend anywhere from 50-75% of the time working where I don't live - case and point the last 2+ years I've been working in Boston for two different clients.
I live in a little bungalow in Indianapolis, Indiana. I have a red door, a ugly kitchen, a garage studio, and a whole wall of photos. Two of my brothers live with me - the Schreve and Jono although Schreve isn't here much. Soon we will have a new short term roommate. Indianapolis is great city - rich in history, arts and nice people - although sometimes I think it lacks some diversity.
I have fractured my skull, I sent 50 postcards to other Katie Joneses in December, I make lists of things to do, I cannot sing on key or with the right words, I have a celebrity crush on jason schwartzmen, and I will talk your ear off if you let me - literally.

Things I love - gum, bowls, cooking, sewing, taking photos, thrift store shopping, the color green, travel, meeting new people, water chestnuts, god, bare feet, recycling, quilts, learning new things, painting, 90210 old school style, handmade things, markers, bikes, family, the upper peninsula michigan, cupcakes, flip flops, friends, polar bears, scrapbooking, old pictures, rugby, olympics, soup and more.

I hope I didn't bore you to death this got a lot longer than intended. But I think Jen & her family are the BEST.

Katie Jones
http://katajone.blogspot.com/

My notes on Katie:
as you can tell. katie is fun. funky. fun. creative. fun. crafty. her crafting style is amazing. from her scrapbook pages, her photography, her sewing, her cooking, her thrifting, her love of taking cute feet and shoe pictures ;) just go to her blog people and see how fun she is. 'best of life seen all week'... the name alone is great!! she has fun where ever she goes!! here are some of my recent favorites from her blog. sleeveface (ha!). eggrolls (yum!). postcards to other katie joneses (how fun is this???) as a fellow crafter, i am in awe of katie's originality. her creativity. her spunk. her awesomeness :) she has a wondeful relationship with her mom and siblings. and she has some great friends in her life. thanks katie, for sharing your fun self with me. you make me smile... and want to get my craft on ;)

weekends :)

i love good weekends.

(and a few good things earlier in the week)

WEDNESDAY: got our taxes done... getting money back, yay!

THURSDAY: picked up our new pre-loved exercise bike, yay!

FRIDAY: surprised the kids and took them to Disney on ice... LOVED it. it was so good :) makes me want to go to Disney that much more.

it started with an 'ice making machine'... as they called it.

cohen was not having that. its a zamboni you know.

(well, technically its an ice resurfacing machine... we will tell him that later)now treat yourself to some GORGEOUS pictures of the show on my friend Arminda's blog.

we were there separate nights, but i think we had the same seats ;)

SATURDAY: a trip to the post office, 2 banks, 2 grocery stores,

girl scout cookies are here!!getting snacks ready for ladies night :)

(i think i need this apron to match my sweater ;)BUNCO with the girls!

(they teased me for not taking pictures to post here... next time ;)SUNDAY: a great church service, a bunch of LBE orders,

Willy Wonka the musical with BradyRaising Cane's dinner after the show... yum.

picked up our new pre-loved treadmill, yay!

i love the weekends ;)

i love anyday really... as long as they are good days.

and even the not so good days i am glad to have.

have a great week!

he said. she said. we said. reveal 2.

wow.
where has february gone?
i know its a short month. but still.

dave sent me his answers to these questions on the 15th.
i havent read them yet.
but i do know that he laughed at most of his answers.
so i look forward to reading them.
or not.

dave's answers are in red.
mine in black. -What quality do you admire most in one another? Which quality can be annoying?

There are many qualities that I admire about Dave, but the one that stands out the most is his confidence. Annoying? Just one? He isn’t the most sensitive person in the world. Or patient. But I do love him as a whole :)

I admire that that she is the complete opposite of me. This quality can be annoying as well.

-I think you should do a video of you two interviewing each other. I would love to see the raw footage of the surprise questions and answers... just a thought..

Good thought Heather ;) I mentioned it to Dave but he didn’t seem interested. I’ll blame it on him this time, but maybe another time we will do some video answers :)

No

-What was your favorite date you went on together?

I loved all 3 of our proms. Getting dressed up super fancy, going out to eat, then dancing all night. I love to dance :) Not that I’d want to recreate any of that now… but back then, those were some of my most memorable dates.

We really did not go on to many so called dates. But the proms were fun.

-How did Dave ask you to marry him?

By slamming the door in my face. No that isn’t how he asked, but I did get the door slammed in my face earlier that evening when I came home from work early and I wasn’t supposed to come in yet. It was Christmas Eve 1999 (or was it 98? is it horrible that I don't remember?) and we (Dave, my sister, and I) had just gotten back from Christmas Eve service and were getting ready to head down to his parent’s house to celebrate Christmas with both of our families. When I came downstairs Dave was standing in the front room and I said… “I have to pee.” Which I did. So I went to the bathroom. (For real… that’s what happened.) When I came out he was by the Christmas tree. Under the tree were a dozen red roses. I said something to the tune of… “oh thanks sweetie!” and I gave him a hug. He then said… “Look at them.” So I looked closer and saw my gorgeous engagement ring tied to one of the roses. We were hugging and he asked me to marry him, then he kneeled and asked me again :) I must not have answered the first time ;) But I did say yes :)

I took her to McDonalds and asked her at the front counter while she was ordering a 6 piece chicken nuggets. She of course said yes...

-How often do you tell each other "I love you?"

Every day. Several times a day. In the morning when he leaves for work. On the phone. Over email. Before we go to bed. Random moments in between. And we even mean it most of the time too ;)

I tell her that I love her as much as I can

Happy Birthday Aunt Melissa!

unassisted 2 year olds ;)

(the 5 year old was grumping about not liking her outfit, otherwise she would have been in the video too.)

Happy Birthday Aunt Mahilly! We love you.

new sport

just the other day dave says... 'hey look. a new sport!'

and he rolls some packing tape across the kitchen floor.

i think he was trying to invent something new for the olympics.

oh sweetie boy.

i'm sorry to tell you, but...

we've been playing that sport for quite some time now.

what do you think i do with 4 kids all day long?

enjoy some pictures.

(taken on thusday, january 7th, 2010.)