My Favorite Planner!

I'm just popping in with a commercial break . .  LOL!  Seriously though, every year I renew my goal to be better organized, to actually show up at appointments on the right day and time, not a day early or 2 hours late (I've heard stories, not that I have first-hand experience here . . .), to remember birthdays, publication call deadlines, release days . . . you get the picture right?

Well, last year I discovered momAgenda and I nearly shouted for joy!!  Not only do they make planners that you are not ashamed to carry or be seen with (check out all the great colors), but the very cool thing is that each weekly 2 page spread gives you a space for your appointments and up to four children, allowing you to manage multiple schedules with ease! Now my children are a little young yet to have complicated schedules so while I may not need all the spaces for them, I use them for different things - sometimes, each DT has their own space, or some weeks, it's church, homeschool and stamping - it's totally up to you!!  And I love that there are monthly calendars also so that you can get a glance of your whole month!  Also, the back is filled with lots of neat list making/organizational helpers!

Right now you can get some great deals of 2010-2011 planners - 35% Off all momAgenda Desktops at momAgenda.com! but you can also Take 10% off all orders of $65+ at momAgenda! Code: MOM10OFF65 Offer Expires 12.31 or Take $10 off all orders of $75+ at momAgenda! Code: MOM10OFF75 Offer Expires 12.31.  FYI - I bought the Chocolate one this year! :)

Let me know if you use them - I'd love to hear how you make the most of your momAgenda!   Ok, back to stamping stuff! :) 

Thrifty Finds

The boys and I found a little family thrift shop on Monday as we were waiting for the girls who were at their American Girl class (which they LOVE - they are doing Molly this year and learning all kinds of neat stuff about WWII).  The thrift shop was tiny but I was able to find a few treasures that I thought I'd share today.

First up, these adorable little tin molds.  I love these cute little tins!! I've seen people use them to store buttons, glitter, etc.  I love that idea but open containers of buttons and glitter in a house with small children is dangerous - lol!  Maybe I'll just save them until the children can be trusted!

 Next up, I like to use small wicker or wire baskets to store my stamps and small paper pads in.  Lately, I've started to store my stamps in them according to design team - I have a basket for each company and just love seeing all the yummy stamps and goodies all together.  Well I needed one for my Mint Motif stamps and  found this cutie for $1 - score!!  Oh and see some of my new goodies?? There are new stamps in there but I made sure I covered them all up .  . . soon I promise! :)

Last, my favorite find of the day  . . . these oh so cute and oh so collective Glasbake mugs.  I've learned that they were a Lipton soup mail-in ad campaign in 1965. I just love love the style and colors!! I got all 4 mugs for $7 - pretty great!!  Only thing is, now I'm addicted to these - I want more! LOL!

I'm stamping away these days getting ready for new releases . . . stay tuned!!  Thanks so much for visiting today!

More FUN News!!

This seems to be the day for exciting news doesn't it? I've had a secret for quite a while now that I have been bursting to share . . .

Several months ago I picked out some of my very favorite cards and mailed them off thinking, well if you never try, you never know! The day I received an email from Susan Opel tell me that I won a category in Paper Craft Magazine's Stamping Royalty contest was SO exciting!!  I squealed so loud my children all came running . . . what Mom???  LOL!  What an amazing feeling - I am so honored and amazed to be in such wonderful company (the other winners are all fabulous!!)! 

The Nov/Dec issue of Paper Crafts Magazine will have all the Stamping Royalty cards in it and I am anxiously awaiting my tiara!! (Seriously, I think I'll wear it to bed for a week - ha ha!)  I want to encourage all of you there to SUBMIT when you see contests or publication calls!  You can't win unless you play and you just never know  . . .

One other fun tidbit I found out today, my little birthday card for Alma last week won me honors as the Swanky Stamper of the Month for June at The Cat's Pajamas!  How FUN!!  Thanks so much Alma!!

I'm having a great day! Wishing you the same!! :)

CKC Manchester

Just popping in with a quick picture of the make & takes at the Paper Crafts table today. Actually, there was one more that I didn't get to photograph but the cards were just adorable and very creative - imagine using letter stickers on cards?!! Fabulous! 

Kim Hughes was just a pleasure to "work" with and we discovered we both grew up in NY - she in Binghamtom and I in Albany!  I had a rough ride home, stuck sitting in 3 hours of traffic due to a truck fire on the ME Turnpike - yuck!  But it's great to be home safe and sound after a fun day! :)

A BIG Favor

I need a "little help from my friends"!! I entered a contest over at Page Plans to win a Slice - isn't that a cool prize??!! Well the voting begins tonight so might I impose upon you to pop over there and vote? Of course, I would LOVE for you to vote for me . . . but I'll just ask you to vote . . . for me! :) Ha ha! Here is the link.

My cards (2 of them) are in the 3rd and 4th group - and they say Julie M under them. Thanks so much!! I'll see you tomorrow morning for KSS Monday!!

Creative-ness

My friend Vicki from Queen Kat Designs gave me this sweet little treat this week . . .thanks so much Vicki for making my day!! I'm supposed to name 5 people who inspire me creatively - oh my goodness, only 5 really?? I really hate to take the easy way out but I just can't do it!!! Everytime I try to make a list I end up thinking "but I have to add so and so" and then the list turns into my Google Reader list (yes all 209 subscriptions!!) ! So, I really and truly mean it when I say, please check out my sidebar Blogroll and my fellow Prettie Girls, Kitchen Sink Crew members and the SIWL DT who all inspire me daily!!

I'll be back on Monday for KSS day - we've got a fun challenge for you!!!

Our Tree and a Fun Find!

Just a quick pop in on this soon-to-be snowy Friday. We had a quick little storm on Wednesday so my husband was home and we put up the Christmas tree. I know it seems late to most people but we do get a real tree and it's about 3-4 feet from our woodstove . . . so it really wouldn't be a good idea to have it up too early!

Anyway, if you like "designer" trees ours is not for you. I have a large collection of ornaments, some from my grandparents, my parents, some were mine when I was young and lots of new homemade ones from our children - I just love the mish mash of pretty, story-telling ornaments. As you can see the children helped decorate . . . lots of clumps . . . but they had fun and it is pretty!

Now a fun find for you - and it may not be new to some of you but I just love cute little things! Remember I told you about Cath Edvalson's blog Moxie Fab World? Well a few weeks ago her post Five for Friday: Christmas Ornament Parade turned me on to these adorable pendants made and sold by Home Studio on Etsy.

I immediately clicked through and added several cute little pendants and a silver ball chain to my cart. They are made from Scrabble tiles - is that not a great idea!! There are so many cute designs and they are so affordably priced you could have one for every outfit!! Seriously, head over to Home Studio's Etsy store and check out the selection of adorable pendants!! They ship from California, and so far I've gotten them super fast! I just love this cute little owl and there are actually a lot of different owl images, bird images, flowers, etc.

Enjoy!! :)

Storm Pics

I wanted to give you a few images of the storm from the weekend. This wasn't the biggest or worst ice storm we've ever had (not as bad as 1998!) but as of today there are still a few thousand people in Maine and NH without power! I'll leave you with a few pictures I took during and after the storm (hopefully the movie will work!). You'll notice a that we had a big tree in our backyard break right off the top but other than that not much damage.

ETA: I'm trying to get it bigger so you can see better . . . will update it when I figure it out - lol! :)

Update

Another quick post friends . . . we have been without power now since Friday at 7:30 am. As I'm sure most have seen on the news Maine was hit with an ice storm Thursday night and Friday and there are thousands of people without power. My parents have theirs back as of yesterday, my in-laws do not and we were just able to borrow a generator which allows us to run the heat for a couple of hours so that our pipes don't freeze (I was also given 10 minutes to check my email and get "connected" to the world - lol!!)

So friends, I will not be back until the power returns, which some are predicting may not be until mid-week. Please pray, if you have a chance, for all the people without power and the Central Maine Power workers who are working hard to restore power.

We are surviving just fine - our woodstove does a great job keeping the family room and our upstairs heated to around 58-60 and we have also been cooking on it. Water is what we are missing the most but again, we are surviving and thankful we have more than some people!

Hope to be back soon - thanks for visiting and for your kind thoughts and prayers! :)

New from Paper Crafts!

Have you already seen the news about Paper Crafts Gourmet?? It's a fabulous new publication with lots of yummy recipes and even more projects to compliment them! Here's a sample of the types of things included in this issue - just look at these delish-looking biscuits - I'm wishing I had one right now!!

Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits

Alisa Bangerter

This is a perfect recipe to pull out if you are short on time because there is no rolling or cutting. The cheese and garlic add extra kick to a plain biscuit, and kids love them. They are the perfect accompaniment to serve with soups or stews, and are great served with a salad.

INGREDIENTS

2 c. flour

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. butter or margarine

1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese

1 1/4 c. milk

Chives (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until just moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.

And here's a cute little tag project that's is in the magazine:

Enjoy Halloween Tag

Designer: Alisa Bangerter

SUPPLIES: Cardstock: (ivory) Dye ink: (Black) Stewart Superior Corp.; (Summer Sun) Stampin’ Up! Specialty ink: (Mango Lemonade color wash) Stewart Superior Corp. Color medium: (black chalk) Craf-T Products Accents: (black brads) Making Memories; (chipboard bat, moon) Melissa Frances Fibers: (black striped ribbon) Pebbles Inc. Font: (Black Family) www.dafont.com Adhesive: (foam tape) Finished size: 3" x 4 1/2"

1 Make tag from cardstock. 2 Crumple tag and smooth out. Spray edges with color wash; let dry. Apply chalk. 3 Ink chipboard moon; let dry. Chalk edges and adhere. 4 Ink chipboard bat; let dry. Adhere with foam tape. 5 Print sentiment on cardstock; trim and tear edges. Chalk edges and adhere with foam tape. Attach brads. Attach ribbon with brad.

You can order your copy of the Paper Crafts Gourmet by clicking on the link - it's a preorder, so you'll be the first to get a copy!!

I am back from the cruise but still trying to get myself together and back into the swing of things. The worst thing right now for me is that my house keeps swaying - when oh when will those land legs return!?!? :) I'll be back later with my Prettie post for today.

Another Random Post

I am back today with a few pics I snapped yesterday on our trip to the apple orchard. Fun times!!

I love this pic of the 3 older ones running down the lane of trees!

Meanwhile, Aaron was cleaning the ground of all the drops - he must have bit into half a dozen apples - lol!!



















We all had a piece of delicious apple pie for "snack" last night and boy was it tasty!! I used a recipe (I know recipe for apple pie?? but I wanted to try something different) from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. I also tried her Pate Brisee recipe for the crust. Let me just say it's highly yummy but I think I'll stick with my Better Homes & Garden shortening crust - much much easier!! (not sure about the comparison of Crisco to butter either but the MS recipe has 2 sticks of butter!!! No wonder it's yummy!) It did make quite a pretty looking pie though and as I said - super yummy!!

Ok to wrap it up, I was tagged by two of my Prettie Girls, Jodi & Jessie - aren't they sweet?!! :) They know I love them - and meeting Jodi last week was just the coolest!! Can you stand hearing 7 more random things about me . . . if I can even come up with them! So, the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The randomness:

1. I have a "thing" about adverbs . . . why is it so difficult for people to use them correctly? :)
2. I have a "thing" about Comment Verification - strongly dislike it - especially on Typepad blogs! :)
3. I recently started using Facebook - and I'm up to 69 Friends! What a neat idea that was!!
4. I am left handed, not so strange but so it my brother. Both our parents are right handed. Now my children 2 are right, 2 are left (DH is right).
5. I used to have a freckle under my left little toe - it's faded with age, but weird . . .
6. I sleep in my contact lenses far more than I told my eye doctor! (does anyone else feel like eye doctors & dentist are no longer there to "serve" people, but just to make money!!??).
7. In case you didn't notice, I can be a bit cynical at times - lol!

Ok, I'm supposed to tag people . . . I've copped out a lot on this part so I'm going to go ahead and tag all my KSS buddies however I cannot be responsible if they don't participate! :)
Beth Silaika
Dee Jackson
Erika Martin
Jan Tinklenberg
Lori Tecler
Maria Colosimo (Owner)
Nicole Cook
Tammy Hershberger

Have a great weekend!! :)

Look Mom . . . No Pictures!

It was bound to happen sooner or later . . . Baby Boy (aka Aaron) got a hold of my Compact Flash card (for my camera) and slimed it - eewww!!! Memory cards do not like slime! So . . . although I have several cards and projects completed and ready to share, until my new card comes (hopefully early this week) it will be a bit quiet around here.

I did try and take a picture of the card I made for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge with my phone tonight - the quality is horrible! I posted it on SCS, but can't bring myself to post it here! :) I'll share it here when the flash card arrives.

One bit of Paper Pretties news . . . Christie has extended the HUGE SALE for one more week!! Here's the announcement:

The sale has gone fabulously and many of you will be receiving your goodies in the coming few days! We have been able to clear out alot of our inventory but there is still a TON left that has to go so we've decided to extend the 45% off EVERYTHING sale for another week! I've gotten emails from some of you asking if there was any way I would consider doing this so ... there you go - shop away! Isn't it fun to get new goodies at a great price! Well, now you can for - 1 last week. The coupon code is the same "Labor Day" (case sensitive) and the sale will go on until Saturday, September 13th at 11:59 pm CST. We've got some great new rubber on its way that we need the space for - can't wait!!!

Have a great week everyone!!

Last of the Yard Sale Finds

It was a full day!! Lots going on here - sorry I didn't get a new card made for Prettie Wednesday . . . I'll keep working on that! I did have a chance to finish up an upcoming DT project and am sooooo excited to show you . . . not quite yet though!! :) Stay tuned, it was so fun to work on!!

I wanted to share my yard sale finds from Monday. This 3 older children and I went out on a hunt, it was a bit late to find too many still up but I was so thrilled with my finds!! I definitely have a "thing" for old wooden boxes - lol!

Love this great small wooded box, much like the one I got Saturday only a bit shorter. I think I'll use it for my growing Copic marker collection. I get 6 each month so it's slowly growing out of my present storage!



The box under it appears to be an old file drawer, the labels for the drawers are still inside! Right now I think it will be great to organize all my cards before I take them to the orchard for sale.

Then there was this cute little jar on the "free" table. I love the unique shape and the cute vintage branding on the cap!! Can't wait to find the perfect thing for this! :)

Finally, there was this wonderful antique wicker rocker - how could I pass that up?!! It needs a coat of paint and a new cover on the seat cushion (for this picture, I just quickly wrapped it with a piece of old chenille bedspread I had) but it's so comfy cozy and was a bargain to boot!!

Thanks so much for all your great tips on my cast iron skillet! I have big plans for cornbread tomorrow night!! :)

Yard Sale Finds

Happy Labor Day!! We don't have any big plans but it's a gorgeous day here so I'm sure we'll find something to do! :)

Remember tonight is Stamping In Your Jammies over in the Paper Pretties Forum! The party starts at 8 pm and I'd love to see you there! Christie will be announcing the newest Cutie Pie and there may even be a few surprises! :)

I had a chance to stop at a few yard sales on Saturday - LOVE doing that but I don't get much of a chance these days. I found some neat things I thought I'd share.

First is this awesome windsor chair! Ever since we had our kitchen table custom made by a friend of ours I have been wanting to get the perfect chair for the end - "Daddy's seat." We only needed one since the other seating is a built in bench and a free standing bench. I found this at a yard sale for $5!!! It does have 1 broken rung as you can see but I think I can have that fixed. I LOVE this chair!! It's comfy and the perfect compliment for our farmhouse kitchen table!



I found these 2 baskets for $.50 each - score!! I thought they looked the right size for CD cases and they are - perfect storage now for my Papertrey sets!! The Sugar box was a whole $1 - I'm sure I'll find the perfect thing to store in there soon! :)









This cute set of travel bags was just $2 - won't it be perfect for cruising?!










I have always wanted to buy a cast iron pan and when I saw this square one I knew that was it!! $2 - can you beat it? It's clean and not a bit of rust! Now I need to figure out if I should season it, how I go about that and where I can find an awesome cornbread recipe . . . anyone??








Finally, this baby was another $2 purchase. The woman was selling a bunch of cd's and this was holding them. She seemed surprised when I asked if she was selling the box and said, ok $2? SOLD! :) I may move the PTI sets here and find another use for the baskets, isn't it nice to have options?!

I'm hoping to go to a few more sales today. I'm totally inspired now to find all kinds of neat "junk" to house all my "stuff"!! :) Have a great day everyone!!