Hello Card

I sent this little beauty (the picture really doesn't do it justice) to a friend who has having a house warming this past weekend that unfortunately I wasn't able to attend. This is probably the most decked out card I've made. I used light blue card stock as the base, light pink card stock for the loopy things, the hello spring paper (again) for the the hello, 2 flower stickers and 4 rhinestones. Dang...that was a lot to type...ha ha. My inspiration came from this card on the Archiver's website.

Rainforest Pyramid

A couple of weekend ago I really just wanted to get out of town for a little bit. As of lately, anytime I plan to go out of town something always comes up and my plans get cancelled. So going down to Moody Gardens was a nice little day trip. I've been wanting to see the bodies exhibit for a while and when I found out it was at the discovery pyramid I knew I had to go! Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in there, but we also stopped by the rainforest pyramid where I was able to take pics! Yay!

I think the only time I had been to the rainforest pyramid was on a school field trip and I guess I had completely forgotten how hot and humid it was in there. Needless to say, I don't think I could survive in the real rain forest...ha ha. Hope you enjoy the pics below from the Rainforest!

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Roasted Strawberries

I went all out for this breakfast! Ha ha. It was just a normal Sunday, but what can I say sometimes I feel like being fancy :) I've been wanting to try roasted strawberries ever since I saw this post from How Sweet It Is.

First, I loooove strawberries!

Second, I looooove pancakes!

Third, I hate syrup (I know I'm crazy).

My favorite pancakes are chocolate chip. When I say chocolate chip, I'm talking about so many chocolate chips in them that they are pretty much molten pancakes...mmmm. Well I'm trying to eat a little healthier these days and had some fresh blueberries in the fridge and decided to cut down on the chocolate and add the blueberries. Let me tell ya, that was a fabulous combo!

Then the strawberries...yummy! Since I hate syrup, I have to find a way to moisten my pancakes (hence the abundance of chocolate mentioned above). These roasted strawberries were a really nice addition to the pancakes. The juicy little berries added just the right amount of moisture. To make them I used a little less than half a carton of strawberries. I cut them in fourths, mixed them with some olive oil and salt. I know salt sounds weird, but it wasn't bad. You only use a pinch. However, next time I think I may leave out the salt and roast them without it or with a tiny bit of sugar. Then you bake them on 375 for 20 minutes. Eat them by themselves or over pancakes, either way they are really good.

p.s. If you ever have left over pancakes DON'T THROW THEM OUT! They heat up really well in the toaster. I was able to snack on these all week without them getting soggy/chewy :)

Ticket Stub Collage

I go to a lot of games, concerts, rodeos and everything else in between...ha ha. I thought it would be fun to make a collage of some of my ticket stubs and since I had an extra frame lying around I thought now would be a great time to check that off my list!

These date back to August 22, 2009! ha ha It's an important date to me ;) It's also the date of the huge ticket smack dab in the middle of the whole thing...ha ha...anyone wanna guess what it is?!?! I still have enough stubs left over that I could make another one, but first I must find another free frame :)

Taco Salad

What do you do when you don't have anything to eat and no intentions of going to the store?!?! Well I decided to make my own taco seasoning in order to make a taco salad. Now I don't have a lot of spices stashed away so I combined already mixed spices that had the ingredients I needed.

Taco Seasoning:

1 tablespoon Salt Grass steak seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons Joe's BBQ Cajun rub
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

After mixing all the seasonings together, I put about 3 1/2 spoonfuls over my browned hamburger meat along with half a cup of water. Then continued making it like regular taco meat.

Taco Salad:

Contains shredded spinach leaves, taco meat, shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips. I don't know how much of each thing I used, but it came out to be the perfect portions.

This was probably the spiciest taco meat I've ever had. My suggestion to someone who doesn't like really spicy things would be to leave out the red pepper flakes. I still have some seasoning left and can't wait to make tacos with it again!!

Have you ever made your own spice mix?  

Laundry Wreath

I've seen a bunch of different crafts and wreaths made with clothes pins and I knew I wanted one to go above the washer and dryer. I finally got around to making one and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

I used a 12 inch box wreath form and alternated putting the clothes pins on the last row and the second to last row. I made the laundry flags with just regular craft paper and stamps and strung them over kitchen string. Honestly, this was probably the easiest wreath I've made! I like that it adds a little bit of color to an otherwise boring room :)

The Avengers

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This was an exciting movie! I had seen all the movies leading up to this one, but I have to say out of all of them I forgot more out of Thor than any of them. The certain memory lapse had me confused at the beginning, but I quickly remembered.

I was able to see this movie in XD 3-D. I really don't know what the XD made better, but this was a pretty good 3-D movie. I've said before that I don't care to see movies in 3-D because of the glasses and that they have never really impressed me (except maybe Avatar). The only complaint I have for this 3-D experience was that my glasses had a sharp piece on the nose bridge that bugged me the whole movie.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I even stayed through the credits after hearing on several different accounts that there was something after. Truth be told, I stay through all the credits now just in case. Unless it's a chick flick, there usually aren't extras after the credits in those. Now the extra scene in this movie, I have no idea what it means...if someone has seen it please let me know :) Thanks!!

May Meal - Melt In Your Mouth Chicken

Last Friday night there were huge storms coming through so all I wanted was a simple meal, but something different at the same time. I scrolled through my starred recipes and came across this recipe from Grateful Belly and I knew this was the one to try (mainly because I knew I had all the ingredients). I only defrosted 2 chicken breasts so I halved the recipe.

Melt In Your Mouth Chicken
Adapted from Grateful Belly

2 chicken breasts
1/2 c light mayo
1/4 c parmesan cheese
2 T garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp Tony Chachere

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Mix all sauce ingredients together. Place chicken in glass baking dish (I used a Pyrex pie dish since I only made 2 chicken breasts). Spoon sauce mixture over chicken. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Tips: I made the layer of sauce kind of thick and I think it would have crisped up a little more if the layer was thinner. Also, I would do this on convection bake instead of regular bake.

Overall taste: I liked it. It was a little tangy which was a nice change for my regular chicken routine. I wouldn't consider it melt in your mouth though.

{Grand}mother's Day Card 2012

This card is made with light yellow card stock, the same hello spring paper (where the happy came from) as yesterday, a yellow bow and my handwriting again. I'm trying out new ways of writing on cards and I have to say that I like this one the best. This was another card where I didn't use my Cricut, buuuutttt I did get a new cartridge that I can't wait to try out!

Mother's Day Card 2012

I made this card using light pink cardstock, a flower sticker and I cut out the word 'beautiful' from the Hello Spring paper at Archivers. The handwriting is all mine...ha ha.

The Raven



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Interesting movie. I read some reviews before I actually saw it (even though I really wanted to see it anyways) which probably made me doubt the movie a little and spoiled some stuff for me, but overall I enjoyed this movie. It wasn't scary like I was hoping it would be, but it was defintiely suspenseful. I thought the end of the movie was done really well and John Cusack played the part of Edgar Allen Poe really well (not that I know a lot about the poet but still).

Chili Pepper Candy Cupcakes

My second round of Cinco de Mayo cupcakes were these little fellows. Since I couldn't eat the Tres Leches ones, I set aside 12 plain white cake cupcakes to decorate with candy Chili Peppers :)

I made these peppers using the red and dark green candy melts from Hobby Lobby. They really are my favorite candy melts to use. I drew 8 chilies on a sheet of white paper and stuck that under some wax paper. I did each color separately. So first I melted the red candy and poured it into a plastic bag and cut a very small end off then pipped out the candy over the drawings. As you can see it wasn't perfect, but after doing all of the outlines I went back and filled them in and you couldn't really tell. Then I repeated everything with the dark green. I let them set up for about an hour and then topped my cupcakes.

Not professional by any means, but I do have to say they aren't too shabby ;)

Tres Leches Cupcakes

Happy be-lated Cinco de Mayo! In celebration of this day I decided to make 2 batches of cupcakes :) The first batch was Tres Leche Cupcakes. Why would I make Tres Leches when I can't have milk?? Well the BF loves Tres Leches, so I thought of surprising him with some homemade-ish ones.

What I used:

Betty Crocker White Cake Mix
Betty Crocket Whipped Creamy White Icing
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed mile
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Strawberries

What I did:

Bake cupcakes according to directions on box. While the cupcakes are baking, mix together all 3 milks. Once the cupcakes come out of the oven, take a toothpick and poke holes in the cupcakes. Pour 3 spoonfuls (1 at a time and repeat) of the milk mixture over each cupcake. Set in fridge for at least 1 hour. Once chilled and the milk is soaked up, spread the icing over all the cup cakes and top with fruit of choice and enjoy!

Up next...my other batch of cupcakes!!!