Family Portraits

It was one of those spur of the moment kind of things. I called up my awesome and amazingly talented friend Tara, and asked her if she could snap some quick family pictures. Matthew was being "dificult" (to say it nicely) and Zack wiped out on his bike on the way to the creek but over all they turned out pretty cute. So I thought I would share a few of them here with you...

EnJoY!

***HeatheR***

watermarks

I have been having fun creating some watermarks for friends recently. I thought I would share some of my recent work. What's a watermark you ask? It is a digital "stamp" to put on your images, so as things get passed around the web your info will always remain on the photo. Watermarks are commonly used on photography images and on photos of original craft projects.

To see My watermark and my friend Kris's watermark click HERE

Need a cute/elegant/profesional watermark? I'd be happy to create one for you for $5.00 or I can always be bribed with scrapping/stamping goodies, or even just chocolate! LOL

EnJoY
***HeatheR***

Ice Cream Cake

I didn't want to pay 30.00+ for a Ice Cream cake at one of those yummy but expensive Ice Cream shops, so I thought I'd try making one. I searched the 'net and couldn't find a recpie that I liked, & I figured "it can't be THAT hard" so I set out to make my own.

{Ingredients}: brownie mix, 1-2 kinds of ice cream (any flavors- I wanted a Snickers cake so I bought a snickers Ice cream-with vanilla base- and a chocolate one). Jar of sundae topping, tub of whipped topping, candybars, and a spring form pan.

Grease your spingform pan well, bake brownies in pan according to directions. Let cool for a couple hours, when cool cut top 1/2 layer off (this will be the middle layer of your cake) Don't worry too much if it crumbles a little, I found that after I cut through the brownie I put a large plate on top and fliped it upside down to seperate the layers w/o it breaking apart.

Spoon SOFTENED Ice cream on top of the brownie layer. (I kept the ice cream in the fridge for a couple hours and it was perfect) I topped this layer with carmel...

***NOTE*** Carmel does not freeze (OK maybe you all know that, but I didn't.) Don't use too much or you will end up with carmel oozing out the side of your cake! I also sugest freezing the icecream layer for a bit first, because my carmel kinda sank into the ice cream.

Freeze this layer for a couple hours or till firm.

Then add another layer of brownie, carmel and ice cream. Again freeze for several hours or overnight.

Scrape sides of spring form pan and release latch. The cake should come out pretty easily. (notice the oozing carmel?)I used whipped topping to "frost" the cake, and topped with drizzled carmel and chopped up snickers bars.

Yummmmm

You could easily make several different variances using different ice creams, candy, cookies, or even fruit!

EnJoY!

***HeatheR***

Summer BINGO

Are your kids already bored, do you have to fight with them to do their chores and not watch hours and hours of TV? This is probably the best summer idea I have ever seen! SUMMER BINGO! The idea is originally from Stacy Julian, you can see her version HERE.

SUMMER BINGO! Ok basically it works like this, every Sunday each child gets a new card. The card has various activities on it, from boredom busters, reading, and chores. Thought the week as the kids complete an activity & they get a sticker from me. They get a ticket for each BINGO and 5 tickets if they get a blackout by the end of the week. Tickets can be used for various “prizes” such as a popsicle, or a trip to the park all the way up to having sleep overs and even earning money. (a motivator for my 11 year old).

I decided to keep our bingo cards hanging on the back of the pantry door. I already had this nifty little basket on the door (that really wasn’t being used) so I decorated a couple Pringles chip cans to hold the kids tickets (this makes a nice spot for everything to be kept together…and it looks pretty darn cute too!)


**Of course this can be simplified it doesn’t HAVE to be all cute, heck print out the cards on paper and magnet it to the fridge, the point is playing the game, having fun, and avoid hearing the “I’m bored” mantra!**


I did make a few changes from the original, one being I added chores to the bingo card. You can find Stacy’s BINGO card HERE ready to fill in the blanks and print. (Don’t ask me what the J21 and TT mean I have NO clue…I meant to delete them off and forgot-oops) the younger kids cards are the same where I made my oldest’s a bit different. Some of the activities I did for the younger kids were…

clean your room, read a book outside, play outside for 1 hour, vacuum a room, play dress up, play Wii for ½ hour, do something kind for someone else, make something in the kitchen, make nature art, wash 2 windows, make up some kind of water game, clean bathroom mirrors, play a board game, take a bike ride with Zack, Take a nap (love this one!), do a chore of moms choosing, make your bed every day, play hide and seek, draw/color a picture, sweep floors, build a fort, no arguing for a whole day (love this one too!), play a computer game for ½ hour, write a letter and mail it, build something out of blocks, practice sight words, dust, wash the van, play dinosaurs outside, play in the sprinklers, brush teeth every day, etc...

Many of my oldest’s activities were similar but some were a bit different like...

take M&A on a bike ride, run around the block 3x as fast as you can, make something out of legos, clean the bathroom, empty/laod dishwasher, gather cloths for wash, Mop, read a book to M&A, plan and cook a meal, Play at the pool w/ a friend, make a scavenger hunt,



I made a total of 8 cards for each kid, to get us through the summer. I mixed and matched the activities so each week were a bit different. I do wish however I added a *wild* square on each card that could be used for “anything” maybe something I come up with or the kids come up with on their own.



I also changed the rules from Stacy’s original, you can download the rules page HERE. Some of the biggest changes were to ticket values. This is what I felt would be a motivator for my kids (we are still experimenting with these rules so they may change as we play the game). There is potential to earn up to 17 tickets a week, I tried gage how often I was willing to do activities and how much they should be worth. Like I said some of this may be tweaked as we play along.


Popcicle-1 ticket, Netflix movie online -2 tickets, go to the park-5 tickets, Dollar movie 10-tickets, Ice Cream cone-10 tickets, Play date with a friend 10- tickets, sleep over- 20 tickets (this was mostly to curb my oldest from asking to spend the night several times a week!) Swimming-20 tickets, lunch “out” 15 tickets, or every 15 tickets = 5.00

Instead of buying a whole roll of tickets (you can find them at Wal-mart for 6.00) I just made my own from cardstock, and paired them with some tickets I already had in my scrapbooking stash. I just bought some star stickers for 1.88 /200 stickers at wal-mart. So far it has been working really well. And the best part were having FUN!

EnJoy!

***HeatheR***

Happy Birthday America!

Happy 4th of July!

Notice my cute new watermark? I thought it was time for something new... I was feeling cutesy today when I made it, but maybe I'll make a couple more to switch in & out dependning on my mood & project!

{details}

{paper} is all from my scrap stash and I have no clue who any of it is by- some of it I think is probably close to 10 years old! {ribbon} red ric-rak -unknown {stamp} Daisybella by Stamping Bella {markers} bic & Prisma {bling} star rhinestones-unknown {punch} star by all night media (its an oldie) & corner by EK Sucess {ink} Versafine- onyx black & cats eye- chesnut roan {stickers} Chatterbox (I love these I'll be sad when I use them all up!) {tools} CTMH edge distresser.

EnJoy!

***HeatheR***

Photographing Stacy & Brandon

I was privlidged to get to team shoot this wedding with my friend Kris. Now I have to say I really dread shooting weddings. But Kris and I had a lot of fun (dispite the pending rain showers, & sprinklers running at our photo location) The wedding was beautiful (you always know its a good wedding if you cry a time or two) and the couple was stunning. Thanks Stacy & Brandon for letting me be a part of your day, and Congratulations!

Here is a SMALL sampeling of some of my favorite photos of the day (when I say small, I mean between the two of us we took over 700 pictures!)

The photographers: Me & Kris

These photos were take by Kris, I had to share a few of my favorites because they were so awesome!

EnJoy!

***HeatheR***

I {heart} books... Black, Red, & White

I have spent the last few months just reading, and reading, and reading some more! It’s been a nice change for me, and I’ve enjoyed finding my love for books again. Three of the books that I have recently read are the “Circle Trilogy” by Ted Dekker. Its written in 3 books

Black

Red

White

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these books! I strongly urge you to run not walk to your library or bookstore and start reading them NOW! I almost dare to say I liked them even MORE than the widely popular (and a bit overzealous teen crazed) Twilight Series. Of course Ted being the clever author that he is makes it so you don’t want to stop reading at the end of White, many of his other novels and series directly tie into the Circle trilogy and will keep you thirsty for more. And as if an additional 11 books that somehow tie into the reality of the colored forest, old earth and the circle isn’t enough there is a new book to bring all the books full circle coming out this fall…

Green

(I’m almost giddy!!) So this summer is my summer of “Dekker” I’m on a mission to read all of his books those related to the Circle trilogy and those independent from it.

The Circle trilogy- Black, Red, & White, a Review by Me {HeatheR}

The series starts out with the first book Black (you must read these 3 books in chronological order, the other series are up for debate as to which order to read them in). The story starts out with Thomas Hunter, a 25 year old, trying to live a quiet life, after making some not so great choices in his past. Thomas is living with his sister while trying to get back on his feet when his past seems to have found and caught up with him. As Thomas is running for his life (literally) he is shot and falls, however when he wakes up he is no longer being chased, but in a strange place- a very strange place indeed. After narrowly escaping the horrific Black forest, Thomas finds himself in a new world called the “new earth” or the colored forest as he likes to call it. The stakes are raised when he realizes that a deadly virus is about to be unleashed on our world, and that the 'Other Earth' is also being threatened with catastrophe. The pace quickens as links and parallels between the two worlds are revealed, and the clock begins to run down for both worlds.

Black, Red & White are full of on the edge of your seat suspense, the story of pure love, and the battle of good and evil. It jumps around from suspense, to romance, to thriller, to fantasy, to war, and most importantly… the heart of man. These books will make you think & look closely into your own heart.

I give the circle trilogy 10 out of 10

EnJoy & Elyron's Strength

***HeatheR***

Photographing Lisa

This has to go down as one of the most fun photo shoots I have ever done! My wonderful friend Lisa asked me to help her take some special photos to give to her Hubby. She has lost a lot of weight this past year (well over 100 lbs! Way to go Lisa!) and wanted to do something a little spicy to celebrate! I'm pretty sure her Hubby was at a loss for words!

EnJoy!

***HeatheR***

A simple card

It has been brought to my attention that it has been a while since I've updated my blog (*wink*) Its been on my to-do list- but wow I didn't realize 3 weeks have gone by...bad, bad blogger! I do actually have several things to share, but just haven't made the time to do it.

So here is a simple card I made, part of it was

actually a make and take at Archiver's but I didn't like it so I took it apart and then embellished it! Sweet, simple & easy!

EnJoY!

***HeatheR***