living artfully

happy birthday, lolly!

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday... Happy Birthday, Lolly! Wishing you a lovely day and a wonderful year!

Steve and I wanted to do something really meaningful and special for his mom, so we put together a mini scrapbook album. Steve was so cute, helping pick out what papers he thought his mom would like best. Then I took over to create the album. I love how it turned out and hope she likes this keepsake album!

 

 

 

 
 
For this project we used the Making Memories Noteworthy line. It was really fun to select the photos and put this mini book together!

Happy Birthday, Lolly! We love you!

i'm dreaming of a white christmas

Yes, we're in the middle of my favorite season and it was a gorgeous fall day today... But I can't help it! I can't stop thinking about a white Christmas!

We're putting up a white Christmas tree this year and I am so inspired...
 
(nyclq)

 
(eHow) 

 
(GertrudK)

And since we're doing a white tree, I would love to do a white and metallic theme with all our Christmas decorations!
 
(CelebrateDesign)

 
(SophieRoseDesigns)

 
(Crate & Barrel)
 
 
(The White Company via Apartment Therapy)

 
(nyclq)

Oh so lovely! I'm still on the hunt for mercury glass ornaments and candle holders, apothecary jars, glittered pine cones, white stockings, and fake snow to fill vases. When can I start decorating??

homemade fall decor

There is something about the crisp fall weather that inspires me to focus on warming up the house with seasonal touches. Normally I put out store-bought decorations, but this year a challenge at the Paper Posies site inspired me to make these items with their October 2009 kit.

 
The pumpkin garland is an idea from Lisa Dickinson and I thought it was too cute not to make! The patterned paper is adhered to pumpkin-shaped chipboard, then embellished and strung onto burlap cord. 


And this paper wreath is now decorating our kitchen. For this project I free-hand cut about 50 leaf shapes from patterned paper, rolled them a bit, and attached them to a styrofoam wreath with Zots. A glue gun would probably offer better adherence if you have one. Lastly, I just added some flowers and a burlap cord to hang from the top. 

Love having reminders of fall in my home!

 

paper posies - november

October absolutely flew by and it's time for another gorgeous Paper Posies kit! The new November kit is full of the prettiest fall colors...

 

Should be great for fall pages and versatile enough for girlie or vintage pages, too! The Design Team gallery is really lovely and it was an awesome surprise to see that Amanda Probst from CK is this month's guest designer. Check it all out on the Paper Posies website or their blog!

pumpkin oatmeal cookies

Another weekend, another pumpkin baking recipe! It's way too cold outside for October, so we did a little baking to warm up the house and continue the fall spirit.

Today we baked Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with raisins and walnuts. If you love traditional oatmeal raisin cookies, these are a great twist for autumn months. Nutmeg and a touch of clove make these cookies spicy, while the oats and walnuts add a deep, nutty flavor. Perfection for the fall!



 
1-1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon clove
3/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1-3/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup raisins

 
Makes approximately 24 medium-sized cookies.
 
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
3. Add shortening to dry mixture and stir until mixture is crumbly.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together egg and pumpkin.
5. Add egg and pumpkin to mixture and stir well.
6. Stir in rolled oats, raisins, and nuts.
7. Scoop cookie dough onto un-greased baking sheet, allowing room for cookie to spread slightly as it bakes.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 11 to 13 minutes.
9. Once done, remove cookies from oven and place on cooling racks.
10. Enjoy!

 

our bumblebee - rocco

So because I am his "mama," I think Rocco is absolutely adorable in his new Halloween costume. Unfortunately, even a size small is way oversized on our little guy!

 
 


The headpiece constantly slides off and he can step right out of the bumblebee shirt. But gosh do I love him in his costume! We got the bee costume at the local Halloween store and this is the smallest they carry. So I guess I'm heading to Target later this week for a different extra-small size costume!


 
 

new scrapbooking class

Yesterday, I began my journey in Ali Edward's new class with Big Picture Scrapbooking: Yesterday & Today. I have always been immensely inspired by Ali, her work in Creating Keepsakes, her books and her blog. So I am very excited to be spending the next 13 weeks taking this online course with Ali.

Week One involved 3 important but challenging tasks. We each made lists of our essential stories, the stories about ourselves and our lives that we would want documented if we were gone tomorrow. Our second task was to take this list and categorize each story as either "yesterday" or "today." Doing this exercise was extremely eye-opening. Despite the hundreds of pages I've made (and still love), I have very few that tell my own story in a meaningful way. I can feel that this will be my first step toward adding more meaningful and daily stories to our albums vs event-based scrapbooking. There will always be a place for layouts about events and fun/random pages, but what about the stories and feelings that will still matter 25 or 50 years from now?! I am so excited for this growth and evolution.

Our final task was to review our old scrapbooking albums and create a list of observations - what we love and what we would change.  I learned a lot about myself and my style from this exercise.  Do I love the designs with tons of different colored and patterned papers, which I selected to match the colors in the photos? Not as much, because it competes for attention with the photos and words. This exercise is teaching us to focus on what matters: photos + words. The design part is definitely fun, but my goal is not to let the heart of the layout suffer. You don't have to scrap a certain way just because it's trendy or you saw it in a magazine. This was another eye-opening exercise and I think it will help me to release some pressure and change my thoughts on how I scrapbook for the better.

Registration will only remain open until late tomorrow. I initially hadn't planned to take this class but decided at the last minute to join... and am so glad I did! If you're hesitating like I did, I definitely recommend you sign up and join us on this journey!

mr. & mrs. - our wedding scrapbook

After much hard work over the last six weeks, I am so happy to say that our wedding scrapbook is nearing completion. Before I finish up the album, I thought it would be fun to take a few pictures of the layouts. The album will be 48 layouts in total and here is a sampling of about half...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Professional pictures are by Beth Engel, along with pictures from our friends and family. I tried to keep the designs of the layouts fairly simple, so that the pictures stand out and so the album doesn't look "trendy" in a few years. I am really happy with how it turned out and have enjoyed reminiscing about our wedding while making this album!

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

It's cold and raining off-and-on here in Milwaukee, the perfect excuse to bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

This recipe is adapted from one online, but I've made a few changes and they turned out delicious!  These cookies have a different texture than your typical chocolate chip cookie; they are firm, but cakey and moist on the inside. This cookie is all about the pumpkin and fall spices of cinnamon and nutmeg, with just a hint of sweetness from the chocolate chips. Such a treat on a fall day!

 
1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar (or 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup Splenda)
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1-1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

 
Makes approximately 24 medium-sized cookies.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar together.
3. Beat in egg, pumpkin and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
5. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix well.
6. Add chocolate chips and stir thoroughly.
7. Scoop cookie dough onto un-greased baking sheet, allowing room for cookie to spread as it bakes.
8. Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 22 to 24 minutes.
9. Once done, remove cookies from oven and place on cooling racks.
10. Enjoy!

world cardmaking day

Tomorrow is World Cardmaking Day! As someone who is primarily a scrapbooker, I've also enjoyed my fair share of cardmaking.  Check out the details and celebrations at the World Cardmaking Day website.  And to leave you with some inspiration, here are a few "thank you" cards I've made...