Family, Adventures, and Gadgets Collide

I often come up with some grand ideas for little craft projects, but just as often those grand ideas become just that ... IDEAS. However, I do occasionally have a spark of an idea and come out with a grand result. (Or at least I think it's grand.) And then, there's other moments. The moments when my life is a whirlwhind but I have to create a little something for a specific something or sometime. So tonight I thought I'd share with you a couple of lil' somethings. First up, these fun little lovelies that I created for each of my daughter's 16 soccer teammates. Frontal view Backside The pictures really don't do these fun little keepsake ornaments justice. It was the end of the "Wildthangs" soccer season and time for their team hurrah. So, amidst all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the Christmas holidays, I decided that I would make each of the girls a little something to remember their season. I started off with the clear craft or...

Jen over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is hosting a Mister Linky's Tasty Tuesday recipe exchange. So I thought I'd join in on the fun and share a recipe. You should join in on the fun too and link up with one of your favorite recipes. One of my favorite desserts to eat make is a Sopapilla Cheesecake. I first tasted this melt-in-your mouth dessert when I first started teaching about nine years ago, but unfortunately I missed out on the recipe. Then, lucky for me, one of my current co-workers and dear friends made the same delectable dessert and brought it to, you guessed it, a teacher's luncheon. Don't worry she shared her recipe! I'm just spreading the love! Sopapilla Cheesecake: INGREDIENTS: 2 bricks of cream cheese, 2 cans crescent rolls, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 stick melted butter, sugar & cinnamon to sprinkle DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9x13 baking dish. Spread one can of crescent rolls across the bottom of the pan. I like...

One of my favorite gadgets, Animoto ! " Animoto automatically produces beautifully orchestrated, completely unique video pieces from your photos, video clips and music. Fast, free and shockingly easy. " (from the Animoto website) I discovered Animoto at my Library Conference in Houston last April. (Read about the perks of this coference here and here .) Since then, I have used Animoto to create several videos, including one for my dear Dad on Father's Day. But my newest use for Animoto has been creating mini videos with my Animoto iPhone App! LoVe It! I can take pics with my phone, upload them to Animoto directly from my phone, and it spits out a  fun little video to share with others. Check out the video below. It was all done from my iPhone!!!

I love this time of year: baking yummy goodies, spending time with family, listening to holiday music, giving presents, and one of my all time faves is to "pretty up" the gifts before giving them to others. You have to admit, handing out pretty packages makes the giver feel proud and the receiver feel SpEcIaL. I especially enjoyed fancying ( I know, not a real word) up the gifts this year using my Cricut! The possibilities are endless!!! Enjoy this mini-video from Animoto  that I created with the pics of my specially wrapped presents! MeRrY CHRISTmas!!!

Okay so I'm NOT the gingerbread man! However, I've been invited by a friend to run the Cowtown half marathon in February. That's MORE than 13 miles! I may play indoor soccer and work out a bit here and there, but I am NOT a runner! Not yet anyways, but I did make a commitment to train for the HALF marathon and run it in February. Yes, I am crazy! And the craziness was in full swing this morning when I met a group of friends and ran 5 miles in the frigid, misty weather at 7:45am. Let me repeat that: I got up at 7 o'clock on a Saturday morning, met some friends, and ran the entire five (yes, 5) miles in the cold and rainy weather. Have I mentioned before that I really HATE cold weather?!? But I did it! I ran five miles this morning! We'll see how I feel tomorrow! :-) I'll keep you posted on how the training goes. Oh, and check back soon to see the lovely little creation that I made for each of my daughter's outdoor soccer teammates . You'll love it...

I m ade these fun festive ornaments today while staying home with my poor sick daughter. Two years ago I bought these fun silver photo ornament frames at Target knowing that I could come up with something cute to put inside. Well now that I have my Cricut (see my Black Friday post) I can create all sorts of little lovelies. They will make great gifts or fun decor on a beautifully wrapped present. You can make some too! See my simple how-to steps below. (My apologies for the poor photo quality, but I'm a bit too lazy to transfer pics from my digital camera. Instead, I used my precious iPhone and emailed myself the pics. :-)   First, I started with these supplies: I used the Cricut Designer's Calendar Cartridge to cut the snowflakes from the blue textured scrapbook paper. Traced and cut out the ornament shapes from the pink cardstock, and then brushed on the silver paint. Next, I layered the snowflake on the sparkly pink paper and then I slapped on one of my cute e...

First, I should warn you. Today's blog is not for those with a weak stomach! It was nearly a year ago that I blogged about having the Holiday Blues , and low and behold today my daughter wakes up with a stomachache. Yes, this means that I have to stay home with her again this year and deal with vomit! If you recall from my Holiday Blues post, I do NOT handle vomit. Lucky for me, the first time she wretched this morning (in the kitchen), my husband had not left for work yet. In fact, he had the pleasure of seeing it all unfold. Thankfully, I am blessed with a husband who makes an excellent nurse (and clean-up crew!)!!! Hopefully, she'll make a quick recovery and we can get some holiday decorating done.