4 years later....

Clearly blogging has not been a priority for me...

But now I've started a new and improved blog that has a shorter url and should have must-see posts up any minute now...

Heartgooves.blogspot.com

Come visit!

That Last Post was Funny

So, I kept up with Dec Daily approximately one day after my last post. I haven't given up yet though! My system for keeping up has become sticky note messages on each page of my album and a pile of stuff on my desk I want to include. I feel good that it will still be meaningful, but I may not have as much play by play journaling.  I'm still going with the idea that it's ok to share a story everyday, rather than a detailed account of what happened that day.

Hope to get some done so I can share soon!

Keeping up

It's a Christmas miracle!! I've kept up with Dec Daily so far. That may be the only thing I've kept up with lately (the pile of laundry on my bed can attest to that), but I feel pretty good about it :)

I've posted the photos of my progress on Flickr if you want to check it out.

December Daily

I'm trying my hand at documenting each day in December, a process widely known as December Daily, a concept started by Ali Edwards several years ago. I've always wanted to participate, but am usually so behind with life, I never get around to it. I figured now is as good a time as any to jump in since time in the day does not seem to be increasing and the years are flying by!

I managed to complete the foundation pages, which is set up pretty much just like Ali's.  The digital overlays from Designer Digitals make it pretty easy to design. I may need to remove some of the extra elements as I go because the album is already overflowing and I haven't started adding anything yet!

I used a We R Memory Keepers 5.5 x 8.5 leather album that I had on hand. In fact, I did not purchase anything new for this album other than the overlays. That may or may not be an indication that I have way to many supplies laying around.

So, without further ado, here is my December 1st spread...

One thing that has really helped me feel like this is a do-able project during this busy season is Ali's suggestion to pick one story each day and tell it. It helps to narrow down all of the life stuff to focus on any holiday activities we may have done such as Advent calendars. Little gems come along like the sweet card M made for me which I added by just punching holes in it.

Hopefully I will be able to keep up and post my progress, but I'd better not make any promises :)

Share

A couple of recent layouts I created made with Studio Calico kits.

Recipe ~ Pumpkin Crunch

This is one of my favorite fall desserts, it is very quick and easy to make. Even if you aren't a fan of pumpkin (like me, I wouldn't eat a slice of pumpkin pie if it were the last pie on earth) you should try it out. This is especially good to take to a gathering if you wind up in charge of dessert.

Pumpkin Crunch

1 box yellow cake mix

1 15 oz can solid pack pumpkin

1 12 oz can evaporated milk

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar (I have used splenda for this and it works great)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 c chopped pecans (optional, it tastes great with or without)

1 cup butter, melted

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9x13 pan.

*Combine pumpkin evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Pour into prepared pan.

*Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Top with pecans.

*Drizzle melted butter over top.

*Bake at 350 for 50-55 mins or until golden brown.

*Cool...serve chilled. Top with cinnamon whipped cream or cool whip.

Cinnamon Whipped Cream

2 cups whipping cream

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

*Whip all ingredients to desired consistency...it will take 5 or more minutes with a mixer, so be patient.

***Tip: Chill the bowl for your mixer before you add ingredients and it won't take as long to whip up:)

Check this out

Here's a great giveaway on Elizabeth Kartchner's blog...check out theDecember Dailykit offered by Studio Calico and Ali Edwards. I would love to win one of these!!

December Daily Kit Giveaway

Be sure to check it out!

Share

Made this last week. I love this picture of the kids taken with Instagram. The patterned paper (Sassafrass Lass) made it so easy to add a couple of embellishments and journaling. I was done in about 20 minutes! Which is saying a lot because I can wind up spending hours agonizing on where to place everything.

Hope to have some time to get some scrapbooking in this weekend. I'm still working on a big basement painting project that has been going on for months, so I should probably finish that first:)

Crafty Clearance

I'm cleaning house people! I will be listing all remaining stock of HeartGrooves Papercrafting on Etsy over the next few days at rock bottom prices! Do I sound like a used car salesman yet? :)

Seriously, I am really wanting to clear this out and move on with my life. I may or may not rekindle the HeartGrooves flame someday, but right now, I have to focus on other things. I will still take custom orders as time allows.

Here is a preview of items to be listed:

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm planning some great recipe posts, so stay tuned :)

Share

Thought I would keep this posting thing going by sharing some recent layouts. I went through a great creative spurt a few weeks ago and got lots done. These were a couple of my favorites.

I am in love with the iphone instagram app used to capture this great photo of M on the diving board...to bad I don't have an iphone and have to steal Bill's when I want to use it!

Hope you have a great Monday!

Honesty is the Best Policy

Upon my triumphant return to the blogosphere, I have decided to put myself out there warts and all. So, when I tell you about M's bday party, I'm not going to just show you the picture of perfectly cute cupcakes and talk about what a fantastic time everyone had.

I'm going to go a little deeper and tell you what a pain in my butt these cupcakes were to make. Hopefully my lessons will help you along the way should you ever decide to make similar cupcakes.

The first thing you should know, if you are making ice cream cone cupcakes, never overfill the cones with cake batter. They will explode. I guaruntee it.

And then, once your realize you have 9 kids coming to you home expecting cupakes, don't try to just trim off the exploded cake parts then go ahead and dip them in the frosting. Unless you want cake/frosting casserole. Lastly, marshmallows make terrible clouds when the rainbows are a very flexible candy that will be sadly listing by the time you eat them.

Then, once you come to terms with the fact that you are not Martha Stewart and that kids will gladly eat cake/frosting casserole any day and will just eat the rainbow candy off the tops before anyone even realizes your cupcakes aren't perfect...you can have fun at the dance party!

All in all it was a great party, we blasted some Justin Bieber and danced the night away :)

A great party for a great 6 year old!

A Few Months Later...

I thought since I joined Twitter, I should be a better blogger. As history reveals this may or may not work out for me :)

Anyway, in case you were wondering what I've been up to all these months here are a few highlights:

We spent lots of time at the pool this summer.

Bill and I went to see U2 in concert...it was pretty awesome!

Molly had her dance recital...always a yearly highlight.

Emily celebrated her 8th birthday which I still can't wrap my mind around!

Parker started middle school. Again, blows my mind.

  Molly started kindergarten and Emily started 3rd grade...everyone got to experience new schools this year which has been really good.

  Oh, and it was the hottest summer I can remember...this was in my van at 10 am in August. Yikes! Our AC will never be the same.

So, there you have it. All very good reasons (read:excuses) for not blogging :) If you want to follow me on Twitter, I may have something to say! @bethcrd

Happy Easter!

I hope you had a wonderful day!

Recipe Thursday: Chicken Lettuce Wraps

 

I found this recipe on my favorite recipe website Tasty Kitchen. It is from sweetpeachef (I used her photo) and let me tell you, this is a good one. It takes longer to eat than it does to make and my kids love it so much I have to double it for our family of 5!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

• 10 leaves Bibb, Iceberg Or Romaine Lettuce
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 1 pound Ground Chicken Breast
• 1 whole White Onion, Chopped
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
• 2 teaspoons Fresh Ginger, Minced
• 2 teaspoons Rice Wine Vinegar
• ½ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes
• 8 ounces, weight (1 Can) Water Chestnuts, Chopped
• 3 whole Green Onions, Chopped

Wash lettuce leaves, drain and set aside. Leave them whole. You may cut out the spine if you prefer, though this is not necessary. If you have little ones eating this, the lettuce can be difficult to manage, so try it on flour tortillas, it is really good as well.
Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes, breaking up the meat into small pieces. Add the onion, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar and red pepper flakes. Cook until the meat is well browned and the onions are translucent.
Add water chestnuts and green onions and cook for 1 minute longer, just until well mixed.
Spoon meat mixture onto lettuce leaves and enjoy!

I serve this with rice and steamed sugar snap peas and we never have leftovers :)

2 in 2...it's a record!

 I have gotten 2 layouts done in the last 2 days, and am posting about them 2 days in a row!!! If I get nothing else done this week, I can call it productive :) This layout is based on sketch #2 from KP's class mentioned in the last post.

 Plus I made a card based on the sketch. I love this Cosmo Cricket paper...the one that looks like handwriting lessons.

Look for a new Recipe Thursday post tomorrow! I think posting 3 days in a row is some kind of record for me :)

Share

 I'm taking an online class called Sketchbook 3 taught by Kelly Purkey. This is based on the first sketch which came out a week and a half ago! These pics were a valentines day photo shoot gone awry...but turned out pretty fun :) Hope I can get lots more done, working from a sketch makes the scrapbooking process much faster for me.

All supplies are from the latest Studio Calico kit, Singin' in the Rain. I have subscribed to this kit for a couple of years and haven't had a month I didn't like yet! I've been enjoying focusing more on scrapbooking for fun rather than items to sell. I've put so much pressure on myself to make a success of the Etsy shop and art/craft fairs that I lost sight of why I started all of this in the first place....a creative home for my pictures that records my family's story in an interesting and beautiful way. I only hope my kids don't want to burn the scrapbooks when I'm gone since they always say "Mom's scrapbooking, AGAIN!" :)

Recipe Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie

This is a favorite go-to recipe for me. My kids and hubby all love it and in general I keep all of the ingredients on hand in my pantry. It can also be made a day or two ahead of time and kept in the fridge until ready to bake.


Chicken Pot Pie
2-3 cooked, shredded chicken breasts (you can mix it up and save money by using a combo of  breasts and boneless thighs, just remove any skin before cooking)
1 16 oz bag frozen mixed veggies (I use Hyvee brand)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup Bisquick (I use the heart healthy variety)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

*Cook chicken(boiling works well for this) and shred into fairly small chunks. Mix together with veggies and soup. I like to steam my veggies before mixing, but you don't have to. Put into 9x9 casserole dish prepared with cooking spray.

*Mix together bisquick, milk and egg. Pour over chicken mixture. At this point it will look like not enough breading will result from the amount of bisquick mix you have, but trust me, it will cook up nice and fluffy :)

*Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown on top, usually about 20-30 mins.

I serve this with a green salad. Leftovers of this are great. I have never tried to freeze this baked or unbaked before, so if some brave soul wants to try that, let me know how it turns out :)

Yeah. I'm still here :)

It's been a long winter folks. Very long. I'm thinking my 8 faithful followers are getting pretty sick of checking to see if I've posted anything since Thanksgiving 2010 :) Why haven't I posted since then you ask? I'm not sure, but mainly I just haven't had much to say, I guess. We have had a very snowy winter here in mid-MO and the kids were off of school so much I spent a lot of time entertaining them. I heard we had more than 55 inches of snow this winter and that was before it snowed 2 more times!

So, I think I'm back on track...I've spent some time thinking about what purpose I want this blog to serve, and I guess I'm still not too sure about that, but I know I love to share recipes, crafts/scrapbooks and photos. So, that is likely what you'll be getting! I have a great go-to dinner recipe to share tomorrow....

What are you having for dinner tonight?

Cranberry Casserole

Here is the recipe as promised :)

3 cups tart apples, peeled and chopped
2 cups fresh whole cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup butter melted
1/4 c chopped walnuts

*Heat oven to 325 degrees.
* Mix together cranberries, apples, sugar and lemon juice together. I do this step right in the 9x13 pan I bake it in.
*Mix together butter, brown sugar, quick oats and walnuts. Sprinkle over cranberry mixture.
*Bake for 60-70 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

I often make this in 2 8x8 pans to take to 2 separate dinners. It is so sweet it could even be classified as dessert!

Thanksgiving=cooking yummy stuff

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today is my cooking day :) I'm in charge of chocolate desserts and cranberry sides this year...thought I would share.

Peanut Butter Pie

Help me Rhonda!  Licking the spoon was pure bliss on this one. Recipe here.

Speaking of Rhonda...she's the one who gave me the recipe for Cranberry Casserole...

A very nice alternative to cranberry sauce.  I'll share the recipe in a separate post.

I'm on a peanut butter kick today...this is a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Recipe here. Whoever decided it was a good idea to mix cream cheese with peanut butter is an absolute genius.

Hope you all have a very happy Turkey Day!