a few faves

1. Vintage Wallpaper Magnets by Tefi

2. Fabric Deco Tape - Pink and White Polka Dot from sugarbsupplies

3. Oh So Sweet Little Blush Pink Coin Purse by LoftFullOfGoodies

4. Hermes Rocket Portable Typewriter from fifisfinds

5. Embroidered Floral Eyelet Trim Slip by aslipshop

6. Vintage Pink Sugar Tin from sirhenry

7. Peony and Lotus Clutch by redrubyrose

8. Pear Polka Dot Fabric Ribbon from knotandbow

9. Apple Green Wrinkle Scarf by WhiteMoth

LINK with Love

Have you heard about LINK with Love? I am loving this movement. It is all about "Linking with Love" - giving credit where credit is due. Sadly, I have seen some of my tutorials completely lifted (pictures and text) with no credit given. I am always happy to share my content and pictures-- just ask, or give a link back :)

From the LINK with Love website: "It is our goal to inspire positive change in the way art, photography, design, words, music, film and ideas are shared on the internet. We believe that intellectual property needs to be handled with love and respect. We believe in the goodness of people. We believe in the power of the internet. We believe that Maya Angelou was absolutely right when she said "when you know better you do better."

We need your help. We need your support. Learn more. Spread the word. Post our badge on your sites to show that you LINK with love."

Confetti Windows :: New in Shop

So, remember the intro to my December Daily last December? I had tons and tons of Christmas-color hole punches from punching journals and wanted to incorporate them into my journal. I love, love, love how it turned out - I have not ever seen anything like them (after searching all over the www) and recently decided to make more - and they are now available in the shop. Custom sizes and color combos are also available.

These super colorful "windows" are perfect to add texture and whimsy to your art journals, mini albums or scrapbooking pages. The confetti moves freely in the window, so it is always changing the look of the page. The paper punches include vintage papers, new papers, old magazines, scrapbooking papers. All punches are from leftover scraps of paper - so they are being "recycled" into this fabulous confetti!

The windows come with no holes punched in the side, so you can punch them to fit in your journal or use clear adhesive to adhere to a page. They are completely transparent, so you can see bits and pieces of the image or page underneath.

Sneak Peek

A sneak peek: getting ready to put some new goodies in the shop.

Food: Fresh Pesto

My affection for pesto began several years ago when one of my sweet friends brought me real Italian pesto - all the way from Italy. I've bought it in the store before. It's pretty good. But I knew I had to try making my own someday. So I did last week. It was amazing. My hubby and I were talking the other day about "Why have we not had a garden and also grown fresh herbs every summer before now?!" My basil plants are still out of control and I can't keep up with keeping them harvested. So, I found a recipe in my canning magazine for pesto - perfect to use up all of this amazing basil.

I changed it up a little bit, added extra freshly-grated parmesan and used walnuts instead of pine nuts. I also cut the recipe in half so I wouldn't use all of my basil at one time (I know, I said I needed to use it, but the idea of completely using up all of it at once...). You can freeze this yummy-ness for up to 3 months. Perfect to take the summer taste into the fall months.

Homemade Fresh Pesto (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Canning Magazine)

1-1/2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup walnuts

2/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

In a food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until nearly smooth. Stop and scrape the sides as necessary.

Place in airtight container and store in refrigerator for up to two days.

I planned on using mine right away or freezing it. You can place 2 Tbsp. in a ice cube tray and freeze them. Then place in a freezer safe container and you have individual portions ready to go :)

Faves: Labels

So I have to admit. I am obsessed with labels. I love them. There is SO much you can do with them. Of course, use them in art journals, mini albums, use them to make a greeting card, or to address an envelope. Dress up a flower pot with writing what it is on the label, or writing an encouraging word or Scripture. Label your notebooks or books. Not to sound cliché, but the possibilities really are endless ;)

I did a little search on etsy and found all of these lovelies. Vintage (Dennison!) labels, new labels, fabric labels, masking tape labels. These were a few of my faves. Check out my favorites in my etsy shop for some more, including some rubber stamps of labels. I recently ordered and received this one and this one and love them.

Any other ideas on how to use labels? :)

1. Cotton Label Sewing Tape from sugarbsupplies

2. Decorative Kraft Adhesive Labels from saratops

3. Etiquettes Label Stickers from WonderlandRoom

4. Red Border Label Stickers from WonderlandRoom

5. Beautiful Border Labels from littlehappythings1

6. Blue Bordered Labels and Dennison Seals from juliecollings

7. Frame Label Adhesive Masking Tape from WonderlandRoom

8. Red Border Index Stickers from WonderlandRoom

9. Red Vintage Dennison Gummed Labels from juliecollings

Week in the Life :: Friday

Wrapping up a Week in the Life today! :)

Today: Up at 6:30am. Got to go back to sleep for a little bit while my sweet hubby kept the babies. Up for good at 8:30am. Breakfast of cheerios and blueberries again. Cleaned the house top to bottom (!!) all morning. Joshua in the sling, Jimmy my helper. Got a fun package in the mail after winning a blog giveaway. Checked in on email real quick. Lunch of PB&J (we eat a lot of that around here ;)). Biz (our miniature schnauzer) always hanging out under the table looking for fall-out food. Naptime. Rob's parents arrived for the weekend. Brought Jimmy a new bike after his old one finally gave out. He was elated. Fun family hang out time. Got Joshua to bed. Went on a date night with my hubby (!!) for a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse followed by dessert at Applebee's (l.o.v.e. their maple butter blondies). Forgot my camera. Oh well. Loved getting to talk, restaurant-hop and enjoy a quiet meal and dessert together.

Thankful for a wonderful week. Thankful to have documented it. Yay for Week in the Life 2011. I look forward to seeing where we are a year from now.

Week in the Life :: Thursday

Thursday. Up at 7:30am. Breakfast of cheerios and blueberries. Yummy :) Watered the garden and am still amazed at how everything is growing and producing vegetables. Friend's kids came over to play for a couple hours. Joshua to nap. Made banana chocolate chip muffins. From scratch. Lunch of PB&J sandwiches. Rest time. Snatched Rob (daddy) from work in his office. So glad he works mostly from home. Made a quick trip to Target and Staples to get fresh parmesan to make pesto. And to get a white ink pen. Picked basil leaves and made pesto. Then made dinner using the pesto- pesto and spinach stuffed shells. Joshua to bed. Clean up time, including Jimmy putting all of his stuffed animals on the stairs to go up to his room. Read time with Jimmy. Jimmy to bed. Clean up house and run dishwasher. Blog posting. Almost to bed. Soon. Another great day :)

Week in the Life :: Wednesday

Today was not my best day with keeping up with pictures. Such a crazy busy day that I only captured a few things here and there. Ok though, some days are busier than others, so I guess the lack of pictures captures that. I was able to jot down some thoughts and funny events throughout the day. Thankful for those. Like how my tomato pile on my windowsill is quickly growing. Must get to canning. Soon.

Up at 7am this morning. Made a big breakfast, complete with pancakes, eggs and sausage. Made magic cookie bars for small group this evening. Threw together a grocery list. Went to the grocery- always interesting taking both babies ;) Had lunch. Rest/nap time for the babies. Started dinner during rest time including bread in the bread maker, potato soup on the stove, homemade chicken nuggets and caesar salad. Had some fun time playing with Jimmy throughout all of this after his rest time while Joshua was still asleep. Had some dear friends for dinner. Had more dear friends over for small group Bible study after that. Put Joshua to bed. Small group. Hang out time. Put Jimmy to bed. Catch up chat with my hubby. Off to bed soon. Another great day.

Food: Grilled Veggie Kabobs

I had some fresh summer produce I needed to use up the other day and threw together this recipe. It's quick to make and you can use an indoor grill (I used our panini grill) or an outdoor grill. The veggies cook super fast and are super yummy with just a few ingredients. If you have summer (yellow) squash on hand, I'm sure that would be a tasty addition!

Grilled Veggie Kabobs (serves 4)

1 zucchini

1/2 of an eggplant

1 small onion, diced into large chunks

1 medium tomato, diced into large chunks

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. onion powder

Skewers

Slice the zucchini into 1/2" coins and then cut in half. Slice the eggplant into 1/2" coins and then cut into triangles. Toss all veggies together in a large bowl.

Mix the oil, garlic salt, pepper and onion powder in a small bowl. Drizzle over veggies and toss thoroughly, so that all veggies are coated.

Put veggies on skewers. Cook on grill 5-7 minutes or until tender.

Serve as individual skewers or pull veggies off skewers and put into a large bowl and serve.

Week in the Life :: Tuesday

I cannot believe how fast the days go by. Wow. So today's pictures and events -- Up at 6:30am. Made waffles for breakfast. My wonderful friend came to play with the babies while I got work done. Had chinese for lunch after having a fail of planning a homemade lunch. Naptime. Went to the post office. Dropped by a friend's house to love on her sweet new baby boy. Dinner at Chick-fil-a with my sis and her hubby. Bathtime and bedtime for Joshua. Read time with Jimmy. Bedtime for Jimmy. Work time for me. Waiting for my hubby to get home from a business meeting. Off to bed soon. Great day.

Lovely: An Upcycled Mini

I was at a fast-food joint the other day with my sweet boys and some friends. Jimmy got a kid's meal and the little toy packaging had a fun piece of cardboard in it (am I the only one that gets excited about random packaging like a piece of cardboard?). It was all nice and cut to 2.5"x3.5" which is artist trading card size. Fun! So yes, I saved the cardboard. And then asked my friend if I could have the cardboard from her son's toy package (no joke). She laughed and said of course.

So I cut up some old papers, put some vintage sewing pattern paper on the front, along with some stickers and then added some (new!) washi tape and stamped the inside. I added a jump ring and called it finished.

I started adding pictures in it and writing down little jots here and there. It will probably just be a little book of randomness. Perfect.