love....love.....love.....

I had a fabulous weekend.
Started out having friends over for a lovely night of yummy enchiladas, gooey molten chocolate cakes (you must make these soon!), pictionary and lots of laughs. I looked around and began to think about how all of these people entered my life at all different times and here they are together. The Bairds came and it was such a treat to provide them dinner and fun. For years they gave up their time and opened their home day and night to all of us then high school kids. They saw us through good and bad times, always there to help and cheer us on. I can't imagine having a big group of teenagers at my house every Friday night and then whenever they wished to stop by in between....but they never seemed to mind.  They mentored us, loved us and supported us. In return, they did get the best group of babysitters one could ever find! :)
The Bradfords came, my hubby Josh grew up Big Josh and I have known Angie since she was in high school. The Medina's came and I got to know them before they were ever married while working at Calvary Cypress. Sarah's mom was the teacher cheerleader, always available to provide some sunshine to our days! We had such a fun time hanging out together! I feel so blessed to have all of these people in my life after so much time.
Saturday I finally bought a mat for the Cricut Sally gifted me with months ago. How fun that machine is! I've been cutting fun stuff all day for us girls to use to put together Valentine's while the boys watch football next Sunday. I didn't craft up anything too exciting this weekend but will be back with a couple layouts this week. Rain is on the way this week so I know I will be crafting away to stay sane!
And last but not least, here are some fun things I've seen lately:
this food blog
this tutorial
layouts from all of these ladies...go look for yourself!

Rain = Crafting

It has rained here for four days straight!! My junior highers are climbing the walls and so am I! Only way to alleviate some of the craziness is to get out my craft supplies and try to find some sanity!
Here's the layout I did tonight:

And while browsing at Two Peas in a Bucket I ran across this, this and this......

just the bit of inspiration I needed to keep crafting this weekend! (when I really should be doing homework)

For the love of butter, sugar, a little vanilla, paper, glue and rainy holidays....

There has been lots of baking in my kitchen over the course of the last week. I started out thinking of making a chocolate bundt cake for my friend Marisa's birthday, but one showed up at work for her on Wednesday so my plan had to change. Instead I ended up making chocolate cupcakes using Magnolia Bakery's cookbook. Josh and I visited Magnolia Bakery last summer while in NYC and their cupcakes were delicious! So for Christmas I asked for their cookbooks and they are really well written and great additions to my recipe book collection! I added some homemade marshmellow-like frosting in a pink shade and off they went to school. They were well received and I will definitely make them again!

Then it was onto Red Velvet Cake! Josh's mom's birthday was to be celebrated on Sunday and I figured there was no better time than to try out the Pioneer Woman's Red Velvet Cake recipe. I got up Saturday morning and made the cake and then Saturday night I made the icing and iced it. Well.....it was all going so well until this happened.....

I turned the cake to fix one spot of icing and it ended up on the floor. I could not believe it. There was no saving it and all I could think of was that one full ounce of red food coloring was held in that cake and my luck would be that it would stain my floor. Luckily we were able to get it up off the floor....but it left me with no cake and I still hadn't finished her gift at 11 PM on Saturday night.....with everyone showing up at noon on Sunday. Not good.


But I managed to get up yesterday, whip up a white cake with blackberry whipped cream and a chocolate cake. I finished the gift and the party went on.

For the gift I used the 7 gypsies photo carousel and some patterned paper and photos and put together a fun display for Val's desk at work or to be placed in her home. We had a great time and I will have to try the red velvet cake idea again sometime.

On the creative front, I finished my Sweet Memories album. I'm teaching this at The Scrapbook Garden with my friend Sally on February 20th from 10 am to 1 PM. The cost is $36.We will be bringing yummy cupcakes to eat while creating. If you want to join us please call the store and reserve your seat!

Here's some photos of the completed album:
Sorry for the funky pics...it rained here all day...no sun!

one thick album!

On the scrapbooking/art front, here are some fun things I've seen in the last week.

Shimelle is hosting a contest/ mini album making idea talking about why we scrapbook. If you have ever thought about scrapbooking, recording memories and the time it takes to do so, this video is worth a look.

CHA is just around the corner, this coming weekend and all the latest and greatest in art will be released. Teresa Collins has a great release this time around. She is releasing a home line, baby line and wedding line. Can't wait to start creating with all her new stuff!!

My next projects for classes include a "Document You" album where you can make an album to document the life of someone you love, including all their special memories and likes/dislikes, etc. and a "Thankful 2010" to record things you are grateful for each month in 2010. But for now....I'm off to scrapbook some of my memories for me! Just for fun!

Be back soon....but in the mean time...

don't forget to lick the beaters!

Inspired by.....a new class, a new opportunity to bless others, and new cupcake liners!

Here is the cover of the album for the next class I will be teaching with my friend Sally at Scrapbook Garden in Huntington Beach. Come join us February 20th from 10 am to 1 PM to create an album to hold all your sweet memories! I plan to fill mine with photos of the many birthday cakes my grandma made me (snoopy, cabbage patch kids, Barbie with a real barbie in the cake and her dress was made of icing) and some other fun memories I have as well! You can fill yours with anything you wish! The kit includes a full set of chipboard letters along with a full set of sticker letters and and one each of all that comes in this set of Maya Road cupcake chipboard pieces, plus tons of patterned papers, tags, rub ons, and of course bling in two colors!
I'll share some inside pages and the thickness on this album once it is completely finished!!
Now onto OPERATION VALENTINE!!!
I saw this over on Nora's blog tonight......Operation Valentine!!
It is such a wonderful idea. It allows you to make or buy valentine's for the troops! You can send them to a soldier directly by using www.anysoldier.com (or obviously send one to those you know personally) or you can donate your cards to Operation Valentine and they will send them for you!
Check out the info here ....such a great cause! I will be making valentine's to send soon! I'll post them here before I send them!

I also ran across these super yummy looking cupcake liners tonight on Stephanie's blog. She posted a link and info on where to buy them here, along with a recipe for lemon cupcakes!

I'll be back tomorrow with more inspiration and a recipe for a chocolate bundt cake. It's my friend Marisa's birthday on Thursday and we sure couldn't let her celebrate without a yummy birthday cake! I'll take it to work and report back the reviews on Friday!

Cinnamon Roll Lovin from the Oven

Last night I made the dough for the cinnamon rolls out of my new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
Find it here  and it's a great price right now $11.50!! MSRP is $29.95 and it's hardback!
It is filled with lots of great recipes, but I'm always the sucker for the dessert section.
I've been on a hunt for a good cinammon roll recipe and my search is now over.

These are heaven. Easy to make, you can half the recipe for your own household or make the full batch and share with your entire neighborhood. I didn't have the maple flavoring for the icing (cause I'm not one who loves maple flavor often enough to have it on hand) so I substitued the flavoring for some of Josh's 100% pure maple syrup (shhh...don't tell...it's one of his prized possessions).
I'll definitely be making these again, and buying lots of those round disposable pans so I can make them and give them away as gifts to friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, staff lounge......these are just THAT good.

Coming Tomorrow: A sneak peek at my next class at The Scrapbook Garden in Huntington Beach. Mark your calendar for February 20th from 10am to 1 PM to join us!
It's an album to hold all things sweet :)

The Blog Gets a Makeover.....

Cinnamon rolls rising, blog changing, homework waiting....it's been a busy day!
Be back tomorrow with a review on The Pioneer Woman's Recipe for Cinnamon Rolls!

Facebook Album Featured....

on this blog:  http://www.mannerofthemonth.com/blog/?p=7207

It was so fun making Bill, Amy and the boys the album and fun to see it featured on Mindy's blog!

Now I just have to figure out what I am making everyone for next Christmas so I can get a GOOD head start! <3

A Year of Memories...Photos + Facebook entries = a wonderful keepsake

I have a wonderfully talented cousin who runs Amy McMullen Photography out of Portland, Oregon
http://www.amymcmullen.com/
She has posted photos on her facebook and wonderful entries over the past year and it just seemed fitting to create an album for her family as a Christmas present. So....I pulled all her entries (copied and pasted them into a Word document), printed them out, cut them into strips and matched them up with her photos...then I built her this simple, fun album of memories. Then I shipped it off......
an I'm thrilled that they loved it!
Here's some photos: