It’s this easy…..

Today I am pimping out my kid to do a product review and she was more than happy to help me! I received my handle kit from Unity, as well as a few stamp kits and as I was taking them out of the box she wanted to see them. So I took the opportunity to see how easy it is to use the handles and understand the system for their wood mounted stamps.

If it’s easy for my 4 year old then YOU can do it!

First I layed out all 4 handles, marked with A,B,C or D on the bottom corner. Next to them I placed 3 stamps that would fit the A,B and C handles. These are also marked with the letters on the bottom corner. (I left out the big D stamp because I didn’t want anyone to think I was cheating since it’s really obvious to figure out, and her small hands had a hard time with it)

Then I asked her to find the handle with the “A”

Then to find the stamp with the “A”

A little shimmy

A little press

And she is ready to stamp!

So if you’ve been worried that it is too hard to figure out or that it was ackward this should erase all of those doubts!

Now go stamp something!

Mornings are beautiful!

I just wanted to pop in really quick and say “hi”! I had ordered that 9,000 piece Cosmo Cricket scrapbook set from QVC and it came yesterday so I was completely sidetracked by it! Sooooooo pretty! Soooo many items! So many possibilities!

Tomorrow morning we find out what group we will be in at the UW. Another busy morning! But I thought I would show you what I get to see every morning; jammies, bed head and girls full of energy! And yes, Ava plays Yoshi on the Nintendo DS! I felt guilty at first but she is darn good at it! And surprisingly it can buy me some stamping time!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Happy birthday!

Yesterday was Ava’s fourth birthday. Which was a little bit harder because time has gone soooo quickly, I sometimes miss my little baby, all pudgy and cuddly. But I can’t be sad because I love the little girl she is becoming!

The day started out with a giant dragonfly balloon, which she is still playing with today:

And for her cake we got a little curious george topper. And the cake was totally against me, the top layer split in half and then when I was frosting it the cake was crumbling. So I had to spackle the top layer together and the back side with a TON of frosting. So the cake has a really ugly side! But luckily it still tastes DELICIOUS!

And Ava was very excited to blow out the candles, and a really great shot of the ugly side of the cake!

And a cute picture of Ava and Audrey:

And Audrey going for some cake, which she didnt have more than one taste! I’m wondering if she is my daughter……she didnt love the chocolate!

And the funniest picture of them all. First I have to preface this with the fact that Ava NEVER eats this way. She is extremely anal about her food and getting food on her mouth or hands. She bites the spoon when she eats yogurt so it doesnt touch her lips. And she also takes a napkin and cleans the edge of her toast if the jam isnt even. So when I turned around from cutting all the cake I was more than shocked to find this:

Went right past the fork and straight with her hands! She wasnt even this messy as a baby. Totally cracks me up, it must have been REALLY good!

This birthday has been her most exciting for her. A package from Gymboree came with new clothes and panties right before dinner so she tried on her new clothes and hair clips. But I made her change back into her “old” clothes cause I had a feeling the cake might get messy. And she also scored some new music instruments from my mom; a tambourine, CYMBOLS and a TRIANGLE. It is very LOUD!!!!!! But she loves it so I will put up with it.

And soon I will put in my large Stampin Up order and get her a couple sets that she has been eyeing, the bugs and that new set with the rocket. It’s a good thing I’m not a “real” demo cause I don’t memorize the whole catalog.

Anyway, I have 2 projects that I need to do by Monday and then I’m still working on my list of 25. I think I have 18 or 19 left and hopefully I’ll get 3 out of the way tonight! I should have something crafty or card related to look at tomorrow. Thanks for letting me ramble on about my sweet pie Ava!

Because I could watch it all day….

Ok, the link isnt working for me to put the video on my blog. But if you take a hop and a skip over to my family blog, you can watch my oldest daughter Ava being adorable!

Go HERE!

The first dentist trip

Allow me to interrupt the scheduled craft posts for a little Mommy bragging! My girls and I all had a visit to the dentist at the same time today. Sean was with both the girls while I was in another cube getting cleaned.  Audrey pretty much was there to say “Hi” but Ava got the full service! And she did AWESOME!!!!

She has been excited about going to the dentist for months now! There is a Berenstain Bears episode where Brother and Sister go to the dentist, and we have been watching that almost every day now. Ava acts it out and pretends to have a loose tooth, even faking a lisp “I have a looth tooth”. And then she has a Dora book about the dentist that has helped build even MORE excitement. When we told her she was finally going you would have thought we were telling her she was going to Disneyland…..she could NOT wait!

Here are a few pictures of my girls and the big day today:

In the big chair

Starting to get excited:

How Audrey kept busy while Ava was in the chair:

Ava helping use the mirror:

Getting her prized new toothbrush!

And one because she looks so cool!

Anyway, their teeth are tip top and Audrey will get the full cleaning in a year. I on the other hand have an emergency appointment on Friday.  Even though I have no pain in my teeth and my tooth care is great I have about 12 teeth that are VERY bad and cavity filled. It seems my years of abusing myself with my eating disorder have finally caught up with my teeth so some serious intervention is needed. 

It was pretty interesting to me, the Dentist sat down who I had just met and said “We need to talk about your diet”. Frankly it seems that’s ALL I talk about and I felt like giving her a number! Get behind my dietician, trainer and therapist and I’ll see when I can fit you in.

Anyway, my girls did great and I just had to share my pic’s! Hopefully my appointment on Friday will go as planned and my teeth can be salvaged.

My sweet Audrey

My little big one, Audrey turned 2 on November 28th. Unfortunately her and Ava had been sick with a nasty cold for a few days so it was a little miserable for her. She had zero interest in her dinner and spit it all out or wiped it all over her face. And when the delicious Boston cream cupcake came out, she didn’t even taste it. So I thought I would share a couple of my favorite pictures from that night and a recipe!

Here’s my little messy faced Audrey and Ava, who looks a little devilish after the candles are blown out. This picture just makes me smile because Audrey is just SO out of it, and Ava just looks……kind of evil.

And here she is with her cupcake and no idea what to do with it. It comes from partially being sick and us not feeding them sweets very often.  But Ava is old enough to know what to do with a cupcake, after all she has been around the birthday block more than Audrey.

Brooklyn vs Boston Cream Cupcakes
Recipe from ‘Vegan cupcakes take over the world’ by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Cupcake ingredients:

1 C soy milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
2 TB cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C non-hydrogenated margarine softened or 1/3 C canola oil
3/4 C granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract, caramel extract or more vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Whisk soy milk and vinegar together in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.

Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and mix.

In a separate bowl use a hand-held mixer at medium speed to cream the margarine and sugar for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and other extracts, if using. Then alternate beating in the soy milk mixture and dry ingredients, stopping to scrape the bowl a few times.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 20-22 minutes until done. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Vanilla Vegan Pastry Creme:

1/2 C soy milk
1/2 tsp agar powder, or 1 1/2 tsp agar flakes (this is a sea vegetable and can be found in the Asian aisle at the store near sushi supplies and tofu)
4 tsp arrowroot
6 ounces soft silken tofu (about half a package of Mori-nu) gently pressed to remove excess water
1/3 C superfine sugar
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour 1/3 C soy milk into a small saucepan, keep the remaining milk in the measuring cup. Sprinkle agar powder over the top of the soy milk in the sauce pan and cook mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and reduce heat and continue for about 4 minutes. The agar will be dissolved and the soy milk will be smooth and a spoon dipped into the mixture doesn’t have any undissolved agar flakes or powder sticking to the spoon.

Whisk the powdered arrowroot into the remaining soy milk in the measuring cup. Pour the arrowroot mixture into the agar mixture in a steady stream, stirring the whole time. The mixture will cook and get very thick in 1 to 2 minutes and when done it will look like thick pudding. Remove from heat and set aside. Place it in the refrigerator and allow it to set for at least one hour.

Crumble the tofu into a blender, add the sugar, salt and cooked arrowroot mixture. Blend til creamy. Add vanilla extract and blend again. Scrape the micture into a covered container  and put in the refrigerator to chill and firm up, at least one hour.

Chocolate ganache topping:

1/4 C soy milk
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chopped
2 TB pure maple syrup

Bring the soy milk to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. Immediately remove from heat and add chocolate and maple syrup. Use a rubber heatproof spatula to mix the chocolate until it is fully melted and smooth. Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Assembly of cupcakes:

Make a hole in the center of each cupcake by poking with your finger. Very gentle wiggle your finger inside the cupcake to make the hole larger.

Fit a pastry bag with a large round or star tipped nozzle, then fill bag with firmed Vegan Vanilla Pastry Creme. Fill the bag only halfway to make it easy to handle.

Fill each cupcake with pastry creme, trying to get as much filling as possible into the cupcakes. The cupcakes should feel heavier when filled. Remove any excess filling on top by wiping with a knife or your finger. Spread the tops of cupcakes with the chocolate ganache topping. Chill for an hour before serving.

**If you have any questions about the ingredients or about making these, feel free to email me or leave a comment here. These are SUPER yummy, fluffy, rich, dense and just plain good! I hope you try them, and if you do then let me know!**

Sick kids, Audrey’s birthday……a card tomorrow!

Can you believe that I’ve had my hefty box of papertrey and havent dug into it? Yeah, neither can I! But if you had a night last night like I did, then you would know why! And Sean had quite the night too, so hoooray for my hubby!

Ava started to get a cold on Saturday and yesterday Audrey was hit with it. Sniffly, stuffy noses, coughs and fevers…..sad! Last night Audrey was up literally ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!! She was fevering and couldnt breath or get comfy, so instead of having her scream and cry in her crib she was awake and comfortable as can be in the living room with Sean. Ava had a major coughing fit that made her sick and was on the brink of vommitting for an hour. She hasnt thrown up since she was 6 months, so it really scared her. She too was feverish and was a limp rag doll in my arms. But she was happy to have me comfort her and snuggle in her bed so finally I was able to get her to sleep.

This morning when I woke up I was so tired I really wanted to call my trainer and cancel but I knew I had to go. So off I went and when I came home I was exhausted. And just now writing that sentence I had to rewrite it 4 times, my brain is mush. So I need to hurry up.

Anyway, tomorrow is Audrey’s 2nd birthday and I want to make her a card. So I will definately have a card to share tomorrow. We are having tortilla pizza’s, one of her favorite foods, especially if Im eating it! And boston cream pie cupcakes from the most AWESOME cupcake book: “Vegan cupcakes take over the world!” seriously 75 different cupcake recipes!!!!

And quickly, I had to share that my mom got me 2 of the most amazing craft books for my birthday and Im excited to try some new stuff out and show it here! It’s more jewelry and stamping blending and working with plastics, metals and clay! Soooo fun!

Ok, off to bed.

Ava’s first candy

Although Ava is almost 4 years old she hasnt had Halloween candy. And last year we took her and Audrey trick or treating at Microsoft (which we are doing again because it’s warm, safe and awesome!) we had to tell her to TAKE the candy. She didnt know what it was and why she was supposed to take it. She wanted the staplers, pens and paper that were in peoples office, not some silly package. When we got home later, she was playing with her candy, sorting it and having adventures. Fun times.

So this morning we had a bag of mixed mini’s on the counter and she saw the shiny bag and asked for one. Being the generous Mom that I am I decided to give her a mini butterfinger. I unwrapped it and she said “Chocolate, mmmmm yummy!” and then it was gone.

I tried to grab some pictures, they are blurry but super cute. While she was eating it she looked really confused. She was totally analyzing the flavor and texture. And she was sure to not let me know how much she liked it. This is what she does when she REALLY likes something, she pretends she doesnt care.

And then after it was swallowed she looked at me, and her eyes say it all. She LOVED it!

So her first candybar experience, it was successful. And I’m really excited for Halloween, she LOVES her spider costume and Audrey is just as cute as a pumpkin! I’ll definately be taking lots of pictures as they make their way through Microsoft for goodies and then for the party and dinner after.

Of course, then it’s back home for the Gina K party and the MFT party on SCS!

I should hopefully be able to make something fun tonight. This weekend was so busy with my treck into the scary city, and then on Sunday it was more shopping for the girls Christmas outfits and my first trip to the Gymboree outlet. Can you say SCORE?!?!?!

A favorite flower

About 6 months ago I bought Ava some playing cards that had a flower for each letter of the alphabet. She quickly learned all of them, 26 varieties of flowers. And not just memorizing them by the card but recognizing them in the outdoors. I also bought them in large size and have them hanging on a wall in her room from a twill thread with mini clothes-pins. You can see them here, they are 8×10 and so much fun.

One of her favorite flowers to recognize is black eyed susans, and it was a lovely surprise when I found these planted around my gym, ProClub in Bellevue. Every Tues, Thurs and Saturday when I drive in and out I get to see them. They are wilting now but some are still hanging on. So when Gina K released her fall/Holiday collection and I saw the pot of black eyed susans I knew I would have to get it.

Instructions:

1. Starting with a piece of soft sky CS, I paper pierced the top right and bottom left corner by piercing only the every other line of holes.
2. Next I cut a piece of shimmery white CS to 2.5 x 3 and stamped the black eyed susans in brown stazon. Then colored them in with my SU markers in summer sun, more mustard, old olive, cameo coral and pumpkin pie.
3. Using my aqua painter and reinkers in soft sky and close to cocoa I painted a light sky around the flowers and grounded the pot.
4. I then cut a piece of summer sun CS to 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 and used the ticket corner punch on all four corners as well as the corners of the image. I then distressed the summer sun CS.
5. Next I took a piece of chocolate chip CS and cut it at 3 x 3.5 and distressed the edges. Then I mounted all of the pieces together then adhered them to the card with dimensionals.
6. Finally I took the sentiment and stamped it in chocolate chip ink under the image.

I think I will always associate these flowers with Ava. And when she saw this stamp she gasped then said “Those are beautiful black eyed susans Momma!”, and that was just the stamp without color! Wait til she wakes up and see’s it colored in, LOL! Sigh, Im a lucky Momma.

The DEETS:

Stamps: black eyed susans and sentiment by Gina K
Ink: stazon brown, soft sky and close to cocoa reinkers-Su
CS: soft sky, summer sun, chocolate chip, shimmery white-SU
Accessories: dimenionals, SU markers, aqua painter, distresser, paper piercer, ticket corner punch-SU

If you give your kid a camera……

You just might find 125 pictures on it! And about 100 of them were pictures of the tv, LOL!

I have started to let Ava play with our camera, it’s a bit older, as old as she is….almost 4. And its very sturdy, and she is also very gentle with it. She takes surprisingly good pictures for a little girl, and yesterday she snapped away. I thought for fun I would share the 3 that made me smile.

Ava and Audrey both love Curious George on PBS. And there is an episode that Ava especially loves, involving a little kitten named lucky. Naturally, many of the pictures were from that episode.

George:

The cute little kitten, Lucky:

And Lucky with her dog mother: