pocket life week 25: farewell to greece

Today I am posting on the Citrus Twist Kits blog and sharing details about my PL Week 25 using the August kits and wanted to post here as well:

Saying goodbye to Greece was so bittersweet. While we had a wonderful final week enjoying time with family, the beach and little day trips, it was also a difficult ending knowing we would not see some of our favorite people or our favorite place again for a year or more. So the photos are a little bit of all the good of those few days...

I combined the kits with some digital elements and Silhouette cuts. It's true to my style now and using the three together makes my pages feel more complete. I LOVED the exclusive 3x4 cards this month - especially the two I used on this page ("I love you to the moon" and, "This is where I want to be")...

 Greece, you were good to us!

wordless wednesday: silliness at the park...

new blog look and a new pl share...

My blog was just getting tired. The title was perpetually off center in my browser and well, it was just time. So, this weekend I took a few minutes to change it up. I'm not sure if this is the design that will stick but, it feels fresher for now!

Today I'm sharing a new week in my PL album, focusing on our Daily Travels. If you like the idea of incorporating this theme in your own album, Citrus Twist Kits is offering subscribers a new challenge....to scrap those daily travels using the CTK August Kit(s).  We all have MANY things to do in our daily lives, so we want to see what you do in your daily travels.  Post your layouts in the gallery with the title "Daily Travels" and leave a comment here saying you did and we will pick a winner to win a $10 gift certificate to the store.  You have till Sept. 12th to enter. Can't wait to see what you create!

Here is my take on the Daily Travels Challenge from Week 26 using the CTK August Pocket Life and Embellishment Kits:

{Week 26: June 24-30}

This was the week after returning from our big, fat Greek vacation and we were truly on the move! Play dates, restocking groceries, and house hunting...

Trash truck chasing, park time, barbecuing and a flat tire (yikes!)...

August was the final kit in my three month summer stint as stamp designer for the CTK Pocket Life kits. I so enjoyed creating the stamp designs and playing with them each month!

I hope this challenge inspires you to think about tackling a theme week in your own PL album!

I'm linking up to Project Life Tuesday with The Mom Creative today!

recipe: peanut butter cake mix cookies

I pin many things and often in short, furious spurts. Unfortunately, much of the time, my 88 boards serve only as virtual eye candy. Earlier this week though, I pinned a cookie recipe and asked my son if he would like to help me make them soon. "Yes, Mommy! I want to help you bake cookies." Today, we did just that! We had the short list of ingredients on hand and turned it into a fun little morning project while little brother napped.

Ready for how easy this one is? Gather these four ingredients. We also added chocolate chips, per G's request, but they aren't necessary.

Add all of the ingredients to the mixer bowl (or a large bowl, using a hand mixer) and mix on low until incorporated. Then, drop by tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets (G used a cookie scoop).

Flatten each cookie, gently, with a fork in a criss cross pattern.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until just slightly golden brown on the edges.

The result is a slightly soft, slightly crumbly cookie that is packed with peanut butter flavor. Give them a try!

Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies

(Source: Youth Literature Reviews)

Yields approx. 3 dozen

 

1 package yellow cake mix

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy Natural)

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

2 large eggs

Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (check at 9 or 10 minutes to prevent over-browning).

project life: week 29

Moving along and catching up on my multi-week backlog! Just a quick share of my Week 29 today.
This week used a lot of the new Basic Grey Persimmon line, Silhouette cuts and hybrid cards.

{Week 29: July 15-21}

Yet another heat wave, our 7 year dating anniversary, water park fun, buying G's preschool uniforms and my morning coffee ritual (the mug is a cut from 2peas)...

Potty training, Mr. Boom and Jack's Greek name day and fun around the house...

cooking with fage...

 

I was thrilled to be selected for the FAGE Bzz Campaign for a chance to share more about our favorite yogurt. My Greek husband was brought up on FAGE and it is still, hands down, his favorite. We use it for breakfast with fruit and a bit of honey, in smoothies for our boys, to make the best tzatziki and, now, in recipes. The FAGE website has fantastic recipes by top chefs. This one is on my next try list:

Apple and Cinnamon Muffins

4.4 oz FAGE Total Yogurt
7 oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3.5 oz soft brown sugar
1 large egg
3.5 oz butter, melted
1 tsp imitation vanilla extract
5.3 oz chunky applesauce

Combine all dry and liquid ingredients in separate bowls.

Mix the two sets of ingredients together until evenly combined.

Spoon into muffin tin lined with paper muffin cases.

Bake in a preheated oven at 390ºF for 12 – 15 minutes until golden and firm.

Cool slightly and lightly dust with icing sugar before serving.

 

it's a project life blog hop!

Welcome! Today, I'm thrilled to participate in a Project Life Blog Hop with Michelle at Busy Being Happy. If you are here from the hop, thanks for stopping by! If you are a regular reader, hello and please hop over to Michelle's blog to see all of the inspiration being offered today...

Today I am sharing Week 28 in my album. This week was a bit different from my usual as I never once picked up my dSLR (*gasp!*) and had only iPhone photos to work with. I just went with it, used two Design F pages, which work so much better with smaller, lower resolution pics, and decided to use color...and lots of it! On Michelle's blog, I'm sharing a tip on how I choose to work on catch up weeks to get it done fast and still have a pleasing result.

{Week 28: July 8-14}

My CTK design team work for August was done by the time I started playing catch up with this week but, there are actually many sneak peeks here anyway ;) I'm calling this a "kit leftover" layout, using bits and pieces from the past three months of CTK kits, along with some of the Jade digital kit and a few digital randoms. The "My Week in Color" card was from the CTK June PL kit. Cute, right?

We had a zoo play date, drank frappucinos (me and Mr. Boom), cooked a new meal and had a first successful carousel ride...

The kids shared their first ever McDonald's Happy Meal (the story is tucked inside the mini fry container), we saw a fun art installation at a local library, Mr. Boom cleared out some room in our kitchen to dedicate to my scrap stuff, haircut day, a favorite snack and outdoor activities...

Thanks so much for stopping by!

It's a CTK Celebration Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Citrus Twist Kits Celebration Blog Hop!! We have some fun celebration inspiration for you and of course, what's a blog hop without awesome prizes?  This hop is in celebration of our new website.  We would love for you come check it out HERE. We also want to remind you the August kits will be revealed on August 12th!

Citrus Twist has an amazing special going on right now for new subscribers: purchase a 3-month or longer subscription (PL or Main Kit) and get a free goodie bag of embellishments ($20 value).  And if that's not enough of a perk, we also want to remind you that once you have subscribed for 12 months, your 13th kit is FREE (you just pay shipping on the free kit).

Now for the Prizes: Two lucky commenters who hop to ALL 10 design team blogs will be entered to win one of two $10 gift certificates (GC) to the Citrus Twist Store!

You just need to leave a comment on EVERY designer's blog to be entered to win. We would love to hear about something you are celebrating or you can leave us some love. After visiting all 10 DT blogs, come back to the main Blog Hop blog post and comment that you visited each blog and and your name will be entered into our contest. Comments end Monday August 12th. Winners will be announced on the main Citrus Twist Kits blog by Friday August 16th.

Let's get started:
Amelie Mordret
Angie Gutshall
April Joy Hill
Gina Rodgers
Jen Boumis
Kasia Tomaszewska < --- visit here next

Melissa Stinson
Nina Ostermann
Sandy Ang
Waisam Ho
Citrus Twist Kits

Here is my celebration layout I created using the August Pocket Life and Embellishment kits!

Happy blog hopping!

project life: july 4th, revisited...

I'm in catch up mode here and fitting in bits of journaling and creating along with playtime outside, getting G ready for preschool (!!!) and our usual everyday routine. I completed the first two weeks in July this week and have photos printed and ready for the third. Today, I'm sharing my week 27:

{July 1 - 7}

Lots of time with extended family. My uncle was in from California for a visit, we took a mini-vacation to my aunt and uncle's lake house and G met Lightning McQueen!

Lots of photos from our lake trip and a couple of backyard fun photos from the weekend when we returned:

Simple. Done. I used some of my Seafoam core kit, a few pieces from leftover CTK kits and called it finished.

***Please join me tomorrow (Friday) for a CTK Celebration Blog Hop...with prizes! And again on Saturday where I'll be sharing Week 28 and another Project Life blog hop full of inspiration.