Fanfare Chapstick Holder Card

I realized today that I haven't posted in awhile! Sorry about that! I've had a death in my family, two family birthdays and have been super sick all in the past two weeks. I'm working on posting the information on the Star Wars Lego party I just pulled off, but until I get that done here's something I whipped up today, a chapstick holder card. I used Fanfare paper and stamp set.

Kristen's Cookies

I had a roommate in college who would bake these lovely cookies all the time. Funny, when she would start baking a batch boys would show up at our door. They were magic! They taste pretty good too. This recipe makes a ton, which was good for us, it would feed all the boys and there would be a few leftovers for us. Now that I am a wife and mom they are great for a bake sale.

Kristen's Cookies
4 1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 1/4 cup shortening (I used the butter flavored kind)
5 eggs
1 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 1/4 cup White Sugar
5 1/2 cups plus 2 Tblsp Flour
2 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2 1/4 tsp Salt
1 12 oz. package of Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl, combine vanilla, shortening, eggs and sugars. Blend well. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Spoon dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Makes approximately 7-9 dozen cookies.

Winner!

And the winnner is..... Comment #3 juleless@!

I know that's you July! Email me your choice of either the Thank You cards, birthday card holder, or For You card holder.

May Craft Project: Thank You Cards & Gift Card Holders

May Craft Project: It’s that time of year again to thank our teachers for the great job they did teaching our kids this year. I wanted this month’s craft to be something easy and usable! We will be making a set of 3 Thank You Cards & Gift Card Holders. You could use the cards individually or keep in a set and give as a gift. The gift card holders have a plastic covering to make it easy to slip a gift card inside. They also make great credit card/store reward card/library card holders. I wanted to get this craft day in sooner than later because of everyone’s school ending and summer activities starting so take note on the date, it’s soon!

When: Saturday May 14th
Time: Come anytime between 10:00am and 1:00pm
Place: My Home
Cost: Set of 3 Cards with envelopes $3.00
Gift Card Holder (For You or Happy Birthday) $1.00 each
OR one of each FREE with a $25 CTMH order!
*Host your own craft day/night and get a set of cards and a gift card holder free!

Sign Up and Prepay by THIS SATURDAY May 7th. Call, email, or text me to save your spot!

Don’t have time? I will be happy to make either project for you. Additional charges will apply.

WIN your choice of either project by simply leaving a comment with your name and first part of your email address and which one you'd like to win! Example: Sally S. inky@ I would like to win the gift card holder.

Winner will be chosen Monday May 9th!

You've Taken The Photos, Now What?

At Relief Society tonight we had wonderful instruction on how to take the best photos, and then I gave a presentation on what you can do with your photos. Below is the outline I used. We then made a coaster hanging frame. It was so fun! Thanks ladies!

Traditional Scrapbooking
 Make it Easy: Kits & Idea Books
 Scrapbook only major events (birthdays, holidays, vacations)
 Create one layout a year highlighting the events of the year
Digital
 Make Layouts to add to your traditional scrapbooking albums
 juuliescott.myctmh.com – Studio J: Create for free only buy what you want printed
 See below other sites recommended by Angie Hurst
 Print on photo printer or at Costco
 Bound Books (see suggestions below by Jessica Evans)
 Theme Books – Vacations, Baby’s First Year, Etc.
Blogging
 Easy way to journal. Can be made into a bound book
Gifts/Décor
 Brag Books/Vacation Books
 Calendars
 Framed Photos/Canvas Prints- Cheap way to decorate
 Holiday Décor
 Magnets – Hold artwork, homework, job charts, FHE Chart, grandma’s fridge, Etc.
 Party Invites/Announcements/Cards

Digital Book Suggestions by Jessica Evans:
Tinyprints- So cute! To die for designs, but runs on the high side for cost.
Mixbooks- Has great pre-done designs and fun layouts to create your own. Cost is average.
Artscow- Sign up for thier e-mails and you well get some great prices. Has been known to be a little harder to work with and have a printing problem every once in the while, but the prices can't be beat.
Picaboo- You actually download it to your computer, very cute start page. Prices average. Look on Groupons.com for great deals.
Shutterfly- The one that began it all. Super fun and easy to work with, prices are high. Sign up for newsletter and they do send out some good deals.

Digital download website suggestions by Angie Hurst:
 Summertimedesigns.blogspot.com
 Shabbyprincess.com
 Elegantwordart2.blogspot.com
 Justsoscrappy.blogspot.com
 Brittishdesigns.com
 Scrapmatters.com
 Peppermintcreative.com
 Scraporchard.com

Hormel Compleats Kids Meal Review

A friend told me about a website that you can sign up to be sent products to try and review. I love free stuff, so why not? I got a package full of Hormel Compleats Kids meals. The nutritional stats looked good and they cook in 45 seconds! I was pretty excited to let my six year old try them out and he was excited to try them!

He tried the spaghetti with meatballs first and liked them. I tasted the sauce and thought it was pretty good. Off to a good start. Well, he tried the other three; Beef Ravioli, Macaroni & Beef, and Pasta & Chicken. The verdict? We will not be purchasing them anytime soon. I tried them too just to see what they tasted like and he was right, yuck! Save yourself some money and go with another brand or go with the spaghetti and meatball variety.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Hormel Foods provided samples of Hormel® Compleats® Kids Microwave Meals for me and my family to try. No payment was given and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own.

Babies Babies Babies!

It seems like every other person in our neighborhood has either just had a baby or is pregnant! Just this past week we've had two little guys join us on the street. I only had a few minutes this morning so I whipped up these tags for their gifts. I thought they turned out super cute and matched the bag! They were so easy and fast to make. It's taking longer to post about them then it took to actually make them.

Supplies I used:

1385 White Cardstock

X5764 Pear Cardstock and Z2197 Pear Ink

C1359 Sweet Baby Stamp Set

Z1377 Kraft Color Ready Borders

Hole Punch

1512 Bonding Memories Glue

I cut out a tag shape, then used a scrap of Pear Cardstock to add to the bottom. I used the hole punch to make the polka dots using my left over Pear cardstock. I glued them on randomly with bonding memories glue. I added the Kraft Color Ready border. I stamped the "baby" from the Sweet Baby Stamp set using Pear ink.