Ribbon Giveaway

Confession time.... I. Am. A. HUGE. Ribbon. Addict! Aaaahhh! It's true! I have such a hard time walking out of a store with a beautiful spool of ribbon on hand! I'm sure it doesn't help that I have 3 little girls that I LOVE making hair bows, crafts and scrapbook pages with LOTS of ribbon! haha. Well here's a giveaway with some YUMMY May Arts Ribbon! They are giving away 4 spools of ribbon and the best part, you get to handpick them yourself! Hurry! Run! Go enter and win some gorgeous ribbon to play with! If you win you are always welcome to share with me! ;)

May Arts Ribbon Giveaway!:

http://create.northridgepublishing.com/giveaway-friday-may-arts/#comment-251086

Crafting with DCWV

 I haven't been doing much in the way of paper crafting lately. But today I thought I would attempt a project I've been having rolling around in my head for a while. Ever get those? You just finally have to do them to get them out!

My oldest daughter has really been into doing origami lately and taught me how to make the cutest little "balls"! It was so much fun just spending the afternoon having her teach me how to make them! The fun part is they can be made into several different sizes! We made some big ones using DCWV A Type of Art Stack 12x12 sheets. LOVE how some of the pages had embossed images! So much fun to feel the different textures and even be able to see it when up close. We hung a few of these big ones in her room! Such a cute decoration! We also made some smaller ones by cutting down a 12x12 sheet to 6x6's. I thought they would look adorable in my front room! Don't you agree? Did you notice the cute vase? Want to know a secret? I used some Recollections crafting (washi) tape around the top! I'm serious! Now I can customize my vase to match... well, whatever I want! Haha!

                

Supplies Used: DCWV A Type of Art Stack, DCWV The Stack III, DCWV "Quote Stacks"- Home & Family, Recollections Crafting Tape, Stampin' Up! hardware & Bakers Twine

Naming Your Home

HowDoesShe? Did an amazing post here, titled  3 TRICKS to take the WORK out of housework a bit ago. It seemed to hit about the right time for me.  When it comes my home I really stress out a lot about it not being in tip top immaculate shape! I know I'm being a bit ridiculous, especially since I have 3 little girls that love to play and make messes :) But I really tend to work myself up into such a stressed out frenzy over the "mess" in my home. I become overwhelmed and then to top it off I am NOT a fan of  doing dishes or folding and putting away laundry. So coming across this post the other day really hit home! Here's a paragraph that I never get tired of reading:

 "The most important trick to taking the “work” out of housework is ATTITUDE.  If you can shift your paradigm about why we keep house, by altering your attitude, you have unlocked the key to happy homemaking.  Now go back and read that last sentence again.  If you can really do this, it will be very powerful."

   I have that post bookmarked and keep referring back to the other two tricks! One thing I really loved about it was that one of the 3 Tricks is naming your home. I know, I know it sounds a little weird but the idea is that you need to take pride and ownership of your home. For me this is really hard. We have found a few problems with the home we live in and it doesn't exactly fit our family any more.We would love to move and find a better and bigger place or even just build our own home, but that's not something we can do right now. So when I read that, I immediately latched onto that idea, anything to help me out! I immediately asked the girls to help me come up with a few names so we could pick out our favorite one. What we came up with was Cozy Cottage. It works great for our cute little home! So I went right to work at finding a way to create a sign for our new name. I went to the Dollar store bought two frames and then visited a hardware store for some little tiny i-bolts. The rest I had at home!

First step was to paint my frames. They were a red color that was alright but not my favorite. So I spray painted them black. I figured I would give them two coats of paint but when the first coat dried and had a bit of red showing through I ended up really liking that so I didn't do the 2nd coat of paint.

I then got busy on my computer and just using Microsoft Word I created the name and added our address! Very simple! I then just screwed in the i-bolts to the bottom of the big frame and top of the little frame and tied them together with some ribbon. I immediately hung it up by our front
door! I think it looks great! And you know every time I see that name I do feel a bit more pride in my home. :)

Halloween Decor

I've had this one for awhile but absolutely LOVE it! I love Halloween but really don't have much in the way of decorations. I can't ever find stuff at the store that I REALLY love, they always seem kind of cheesy to me. But I do have a stamp set that I LOVE and thought it would be perfect to make something with that! So I ran to the Dollar Store (love it there!) and bought a frame and then came home and starting putting things together. I stamped out the images, picked out some great Halloween paper to go with it and Ta-da! We have a cool Halloween decoration! Of course I couldn't stop there, I had to drill some holes in the frame to do wire through them and hang it up! Simple, fast and easy! Love projects that go that work out that well.

Sihouette Give Aways!

First things first.... I have been making stuff- cooking, crafting, remodeling & even landscaping this summer! So my summer has been super busy! I'm hoping to catch up on my blogging once the girls go back to school at the end of this month! But for now I would love to share with you some sites that are giving away some Sillhouettes! What? You don't know what that is!!?? Well make sure you click HERE to find out what they are! They are truly amazing!

All the blogs listed below are giving away a Sillhoutte! Isn't that amazing!? Make sure to swing in and enter to win one yourself! And don't forget to hang out look around each site, they have some truly amazing crafts and ideas!

• The Idea Room

Mexican Flank Steak with Brown Rice

An absolute favorite of mine!! I found this recipe in a magazine a few years ago and have used it so much that the recipe has seen much better days! So I figured it was time to share it here for everyone and a place for me to store it :)

Mexican Flank Steak with Brown Rice

1 lb. beef flank steak, fat trimmed
3 dried New Mexico or California Chilies, rinsed,
stemmed, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
6 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne
about 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups brown rice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb. red & yellow bell peppers (about 2), rinsed, stemmed,
seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 red onion, peeled and slivered lengthwise
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Rinse beef and pat dry; cut across the grain into 1/8 inch thick slices and place in a bowl. In a blender, cover dried chilies with 3/4 cup boiling water; let stand until chilies are soft, about 15 minutes. Add lime juice, garlic, cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon salt and whirl until smooth. Pour over beef, cover and chill for 30 minutes.

2. In a 3 to 4 quart pan over high heat bring 4 cups water and the brown rice to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is absorbed and rise is tender to bite, about 45 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, pour oil into a 10 to 12 inch frying pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, lift beef from marinade with a slotted spoon (re-serve marinade) and add to pan. Stir until meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Transfer beef to a rimmed plate or bowl. Add peppers and onion to pan; stir frequently until limp, 5 to 6 minutes. Return beef to pan along with reserved marinade; bring to a boil and cook, stirring once or twice, for 1 minute.

4. Spoon rice into four wide, shallow bowls and top equally with beef, vegetables and sauce. Sprinkle with cilantro. Add more salt and lime juice to taste.

Macaroons

Awhile ago my youngest sister came to visit (really to do some laundry ;) ). But she was in a baking mood so she decided since she had never made Macaroons she needed to make some! They turned out delicious! She made the cookies and I drizzled the chocolate over them, have I ever mentioned I'm a choco-holic? ;) We found this recipe off a bag of coconut.

Macaroons

1/4 cup Flour
2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 2/3 cup Flaked Coconut
4 Egg Whites
1 tsp Almond Extract
1 cup chopped Almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt and coconut in mixing bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract. Stir in chopped almonds (optional); Mix well. Drop teaspoon fulls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet, cool on racks. Makes 2 1/2 dozen soft cookies.

Drizzle chocolate over them. (optional)