Saturday, April 30, 2011

iScrap Event - Freebies, Challeges, Products, and more!!!



I'm so excited to share with you the iScrap event from ScrapDelicious. We have lots of stuff in store for you on this month-long adventure in celebration of International Scrapbook Day, ScrapDelicious 1st Birthday, and just in celebration of our site and its designers! This is going to be a pretty big post, so I hope you will stick it out and join us at ScrapDelicious!


1. To begin, the designers have 40 gifts for you! ScrapDelicious is now 1-year-old and we have some great presents for you to celebrate! The trick is that you have to find them! So, check out THIS THREAD to begin your scavenger hunt! But make sure and do it soon - the gifts will disappear before Friday, May 5th.

You are looking for little present gifts like this (there are several present images, but they are similar to this - just different colors and sizes):



And somewhere you will find my little gift among the 40. It will look like this:





2. There will be several challenges/workshops during the month of May. Make sure you check out the store, homepage, and forums to see it all. I'm so excited to be bringing the MY FAVORITE THINGZ Challenge to ScrapDelicious, just for the month of May. To see all the details and hear about the FOUR bonuses you can get by participating - please visit the forum HERE.





3. ScrapDelicious has a wonderful workshop called My Creative Life that shares ideas for your Life 365 Projects. If you haven't seen it - you should check it out. Each month the designers create kits that go along with My Creative Life - or you can just purchase it seperately. I'm excited to have participated in 3 of the 6 collaborations this month! They are available with the other designer collaborations through May. Then I will offer them seperately in June. But I hope you'll check them out - they are amazing! My parts are below - click on the links to take you to the whole kits!

iCreate



iLive iLaugh iLove




iPhotograph - Coming the last week in May!!!



Make sure you come and visit and see all the happenings at our iScrap Event! You won't want to miss it!

Friday, April 29, 2011

High/Low: April 29, 2011 + Freebie



My LOW this Week is that I'm just kind of been a little depressed and not feeling well this week. Hopefully I'll get over it and get on with my life. :)

My HIGH for this Week is that I had a special hour or so this morning with Beth. We woke up early and watched Prince William and Princess Kate get married. We just had a sweet conversation and it just thrilled her that she was seeing a REAL prince and princess get married. It was adorable!


I have a freebie for you today - a stacked paper from my GiggleZ & CurlZ!

Have a great weekend!




DOWNLOAD LINK

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Recipe Thursday - Resurrection Rolls



Each Thursday, I am going to be sharing a recipe with you!
I will pick a recipe from my collection and I will be sharing where I got the recipe and everything. But I am going to include my own photo of the finished food, the original recipe, and try and share the things I changed when I made it!

I would love your help too! If you have a great recipe, especially week-night dinner recipes (but I would love all kinds of recipes) - please share it with me, by emailing me at dedesmith32@gmail.com. I will try it out and feature it on my blog! If you have cooking tips or anything else in regards to cooking and food - please email me!


This week's Recipe:
Okay, I know that I am completely late on this one. But I really had to share this before I forgot. So make sure you use it next year! This was the HIGHLIGHT of our Easter festivities this year. My kids LOVED IT! It was the perfect object lesson and it was just wonderful to share the Easter story with them. We did them before our church service and it was just a great way to start the day! We were all amazed how well this works and it will be an annual tradition for my family from here on out!


Resurrection Rolls
by Jennifer Schmidt from Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
8 large marshmallows
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons white sugar


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F on lightly grease a baking sheet.

Separate crescent rolls into individual triangles. (I used 2 triangles per roll)

In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar.

Dip a marshmallow into melted butter, then roll in sugar mixture. Place marshmallow into the center of a dough triangle. Carefully wrap the dough around the marshmallow. Pinch the seams together very tightly to seal in the marshmallow as it melts. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat.

Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.


Make sure you seal the seams really well. If you don’t, the marshmallow will ooze out the sides, which is just fine in our home. You have the option of making the rolls bigger by using two crescent roll, but still use one marshmallow. This way, the marshmallow won’t come out at all. Have the kids play around with making these. On some of them we wanted the empty tomb effect, so we left a little part of the roll open but made sure the side had a little lip to contain the melted mallow.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Wednesday Sayings - 4/27/11



Each Wednesday, I am going to be sharing a quote/saying with you!
I am a collector of quotes/sayings/scrapbook titles, etc. and I love to hear new ones! So, each week, I will share a quote/saying with you that I hope will inspire you and make your day a little better! If you have any great quotes/sayings - feel free to send them in to me at dedesmith32@gmail.com - I would love to use them!


This week's quote:

It's Spring Fever...You don't quite know what it is you so want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!
- Mark Twain

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Life 2011: Week 17




Monday, April 18, 2011


I think the kids were excited to go back to school today and tell their friends about our adventure. They were actually pretty happy when they came home and are adjusting well. Actually much better than I am. I am just dragging my heels and I'm trying to get everything done and in order and failing.


Tuesday, April 19, 2011


It's always such a delight to babysit Mallory. She and I had a great time laughing and playing and I love that she will now go to me and not have any anxiety!


Wednesday, April 20, 2011


The kids love to watch Joey play games on his computer - especially JJ. They sit and watch him and ask questions. They will probably be gamers pretty soon. Portal 2 was released today and Joey couldn't wait to get home and play!


Thursday, April 21
, 2011


My week has consisted of a lot of procrastination and trying to get laundry done, the house picked up, and my design commitments done. I'm afraid that my computer has won out and I at least got some design stuff done - the house, laundry and everything else.....well, let's just say I hope next week is better!



Friday, April 22, 2011


The kids had some fun Easter parties at school today. When I saw this hairstyle, I knew we had to try it and Beth completely fell in love with it. It was perfect for her Easter Egg Hunt at school. Her teacher and her friends just raved about it and Beth definitely didn't want to take her "Egg Tails" out tonight.


Saturday, April 23, 2011


Another really cold day for soccer, but Beth played a really great game. I do wish we had a bit better team, but at least she is having fun. She definitely loved that all of her family got to come to her game and loved snuggling in a blanket with her daddy during breaks!


Sunday, April 24, 2011


The kids weren't very cooperative with pictures today, but they did look really cute in their new Easter/Church clothes. We even did an updo on Beth's hair for the very first time and of course she loved it. We had a wonderful morning with a small easter egg hunt in our house, and oohing and awing over their small treasures in their baskets. We also did "Resurrection Rolls" for the very first time and it was a huge success. Definitely a keeper for our Easter Traditions. My little Easter Tomb Craft was a big hit in Primary today and with my kids. We talked a lot about the Savior today and I hope that the kids will treasure the story and remember it. Beth got the Tangled DVD in her Easter Basket and we watched it for Family Movie Night. LOVE this movie!


And here is my weekly layout:


COMING SOON!

Friday, April 22, 2011

High/Low: April 22, 2011 + Freebie



My LOW this Week is that I am still recovering from my vacation. Isn't it strange how we can go on vacation and then when we get home we actually have to have recovery time?

My HIGH for this Week is that its Easter Weekend! No real plans except to be with my family. :)


I have a freebie for you today - a stacked paper from my Spring DreamZ!

Have a great weekend!




DOWNLOAD LINK

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Recipe Thursday - Chicken 'n Stuffing in the Crockpot



Each Thursday, I am going to be sharing a recipe with you!I will pick a recipe from my collection and I will be sharing where I got the recipe and everything. But I am going to include my own photo of the finished food, the original recipe, and try and share the things I changed when I made it!

I would love your help too! If you have a great recipe, especially week-night dinner recipes (but I would love all kinds of recipes) - please share it with me, by emailing me at dedesmith32@gmail.com. I will try it out and feature it on my blog! If you have cooking tips or anything else in regards to cooking and food - please email me!


This week's Recipe:
Here is another wonderful crockpot and comfort food recipe! Is there anything better than having dinner cook all day and you just have to serve it up at dinnertime?


Chicken 'n Stuffing in the Crockpot
by Diana Rattray from About.com


4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
4 slices of Swiss Cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup (if you follow me regularly - you know that my family likes extra sauce, so we pretty much double the soup every time)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth (I used 2 cups)
1/4 cup milk
2 to 3 cups Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix (I'm a stovetop stuffing girl so that's what I used.)
1/2 cup melted butter
salt and pepper to taste

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper; place chicken breasts crock pot. Pour chicken broth over chicken breasts. Put one slice of Swiss cheese on each breast. Combine both cans of soup and milk. Cover chicken breasts with soup mixture. Sprinkle stuffing mix over all. Drizzle melted butter on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Wednesday Sayings - 4/20/11



Each Wednesday, I am going to be sharing a quote/saying with you!
I am a collector of quotes/sayings/scrapbook titles, etc. and I love to hear new ones! So, each week, I will share a quote/saying with you that I hope will inspire you and make your day a little better! If you have any great quotes/sayings - feel free to send them in to me at dedesmith32@gmail.com - I would love to use them!


This week's quote:

Where is home? Home is where the heart can laugh without shyness. Home is where the heart's tears can dry at their own pace.
- Vernon G. Baker

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Family History TuesdayZ | First Place You Lived

Here is this week's journal prompt :





Each Tuesday, I am going to be offering prompts or ideas. If you don't write in your journal regularly - I am going to encourage you to write just ONCE A WEEK and answer the question/idea that I give on Tuesdays. These ideas hopefully will spark a memory and you will be able to capture that in what you write/record so that it can be left for your children/grandchildren/family/friends. Give as much detail as you can when answering.

Will you do this for me? Will you do this for your families? You can write it down in a journal, you can type it up on a computer or journaling software, you can take a recorder and talk, you can videotape your answers, you can even scrap a page with the journaling. It doesn't matter how you do this - it's just important that you do it. The memories, the dates, the information is the only real thing we can leave to our families when we are gone.

If I come up with other family history ideas - I will be sure to share it here too - and if you want to share with me your ideas - that would be wonderful and I'd be glad to share them here too. Just comment here or email me at dedesmith32@gmail.com.


Monday, April 18, 2011

Is Spring Coming?

After lots of snow and rain here in Utah, I wasn't sure if Spring would ever be here. But I actually saw some flowers blooming and blossoms on the trees as I drove my daughter to school today - so maybe - just maybe - Spring is coming!

I just wanted to remind you all of this kit at Digitals! I love the fun colors and it makes me so excited for Spring! Hope you can use it!

I hope you'll love my 2 products - GET THEM in my store NOW - by clicking on the previews below.






Thanks for your support!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Life 2011: Week 16




Monday, April 11, 2011


Our big adventure today was visiting the "plane museum." The Hill Air Force Base has a great museum of lots of old planes and helicopters and fun stuff. The best part - it's FREE! The kids enjoyed seeing all the planes - JJ especially loved seeing his name on one! They also liked being able to board an old helicopter. It was a great day.


Tuesday, April 12, 2011


Happy 6th Birthday to my Bethie Girl! We had a great day full of going to see "Hop", bowling, and dinner at Olive Garden. We returned back to the condo for cake, ice cream, and present opening. I think Beth had an amazing day and she kept saying that it was the best birthday ever! It was fun to be on vacation and just have the whole focus be on her and not the other life things that seem to be going on at home! We were even able to make her a princess cake!


Wednesday, April 13, 2011


We took a break from adventures and had a nice day in the condo today. We played games, and watched movies, and played the Wii. Joey and I played on our computers and we just had a wonderful day away from work and stresses. This has been such a great vacation for us and we are so blessed to have this travel plan where we can stay in great condos and make homemade food and go on adventures and just be together. We ended the night, having hot chocolate by the fireplace. Kind of a strange thing to do during SPRING BREAK - but the weather was just that kind of wintery day!


Thursday, April 14
, 2011


We visited the Treehouse Museum today. It is such a fun place for the kids and so many things to do. Beth even was brave enough to join in the stage acting of the story this time. She was a singing princess and I think she had fun. Joey surprised us all with a great gift when we got home. He had purchased an awesome puppet theater with 2 stories. The museum was just trying to get rid of it and Joey got an AMAZING deal. It was so fun to see him trying out as a puppeteer! We will definitely have to practice with this one - but so fun! We also made our "dinosaur eggs". It is a new way of coloring eggs and we love it - it is definitely going to be an annual tradition.



Friday, April 15, 2011


We met Uncle Cody, Aunt Becki, and Mallory at a park in Ogden today for a lovely picnic. I even made some funky deviled eggs with our colored dinosaur eggs! The kids played and we had our lunch before heading back to the condo. We surprised Cody and Becki with their own 1-bedroom condo for the weekend!


Saturday, April 16, 2011


It was a fun day and finally a nice weather. We spent all day with Cody, Becki and Mallory. We had meals, played basketball, played tennis, visited, made mini-pizzas, and played games. It was a great day! I really enjoy having my brother and his wife as FRIENDS as well as family. It's been so great1


Sunday, April 17, 2011


It was so very sad to pack up and leave today. I just wasn't ready to get back to life. As we traveled down the canyon and passed this beautiful waterfall - I just kind of felt depressed. But I'm sure we'll be back. I just really enjoyed being away. We came home and unpacked and tried to get the kids adjusted to being back home. I guess vacation just can't last forever.


And here is my weekly layout:


COMING SOON!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Book Review: Crazy Daze of Motherhood + Giveaway


Crazy Daze of Motherhood by Jane Isfeld Still
Book Review by DeDe Smith



Purchase on Amazon
Please visit the author's website


A mother's day is filled with all kinds of emergencies, from bumps and bruises to hospital stays. Find the perfect way to recover from your own family's little emergencies with Jane Isfeld Still's latest book on the hilarious daily challenges of a mother in the fray. You're sure to laugh and cry as you celebrate the joys of motherhood.

Jane is married to Rick Still, who she believes has the distinction of being the only man in history brave enough to give her earwax candles for her birthday. They had six children in eight years, and while her children were growing up, she discovered she had a great sense of humor. At least that was her take. Rick once said to her, "Honey, you know all those real corny things you say all the time? Who ever thought you could make money at it?" Her son Adam once told her, "Mom could you please stop telling jokes to my friends? It's really embarrassing." One of Jane's philosophies is, "You're not doing your job unless your children are worried about being seen in public with you."


I'm so excited to be able to introduce this wonderfully inspiring book to you! I found it completely delightful and I have to admit that I burst out laughing several times, loud enough to have both my kids and husband wonder if I was just a little crazy. I read the whole thing in one sitting and just enjoyed reading a book that I could totally relate with. Isn't it nice to know you are not alone as a mother?

This book is awesome for all mothers and would make a great Mother's Day gift. I know that any mother would appreciate these wonderful anecdotes about the adventure of being a mom plus, I know we can all use some laughs and this book will definitely bring it out of you!


You can win a fun prize from Jane to help celebrate the release of her book. Just go to her blog at http://www.janeisfeldstill.blogspot.com and become a follower, and then leave her a comment and tell her that you're a new follower. You could win:

1. Mother's Daze basket, soap, chocolate, lotion, decorative candles, and recipe cards

2. Box of blank cards with a smattering of Canadian chocolate

3. Chocolate





Disclosure: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher for review, but this did not influence my opinion.

Friday, April 15, 2011

High/Low: April 15, 2011 + Freebie



My HIGH for this Week is that I'm on vacation with my family and we have been able to relax and play and just be with each other!

My LOW this Week is that we have to go home from our vacation on Sunday - its way too soon!


REMEMBER today is the last day to get my 30% off sale at ScrapDelicious, plus my purchase $10 or more and get GiggleZ & CurlZ for FREE and don't forget that it is also the last day to get Bethie's Room for only $2!!!

I have a freebie for you today - a clustered frame from my GiggleZ & CurlZ!

Have a great weekend!




DOWNLOAD LINK

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Recipe Thursday - Cream Cheese Chicken



Each Thursday, I am going to be sharing a recipe with you!
I will pick a recipe from my collection and I will be sharing where I got the recipe and everything. But I am going to include my own photo of the finished food, the original recipe, and try and share the things I changed when I made it!

I would love your help too! If you have a great recipe, especially week-night dinner recipes (but I would love all kinds of recipes) - please share it with me, by emailing me at dedesmith32@gmail.com. I will try it out and feature it on my blog! If you have cooking tips or anything else in regards to cooking and food - please email me!


This week's Recipe:
This is extremely tasty! We loved it! A great comfort food.


Cream Cheese Chicken
by Janis from Dinner Time Ideas

4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup (I actually added 2 - because we like more sauce)
1 packet Good Seasonings Italian Dressing Mix
8oz cream cheese

Put chicken breast in crock pot. In seperate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the cream cheese together. Pour over chicken. Cook over low for about 4 hours. When chicken is done, shred the chicken into smaller pieces. Cut up the bar of cream cheese, and add to mix. Stir well until cheese is all melted. You could also add a little bit of water or chicken broth if you don't like the mixture so thick.

**If you don't want to do the crock pot, I have heard of mixing all ingredients including the cream cheese and pouring over the chicken in 9x13. Then bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until chicken is tender**

Serve over rice or noodles. YUM!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Wednesday Sayings - 4/13/11



Each Wednesday, I am going to be sharing a quote/saying with you!
I am a collector of quotes/sayings/scrapbook titles, etc. and I love to hear new ones! So, each week, I will share a quote/saying with you that I hope will inspire you and make your day a little better! If you have any great quotes/sayings - feel free to send them in to me at dedesmith32@gmail.com - I would love to use them!


This week's quote:

Do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your children's children.
- Summarized from Deuteronomy 4:9

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Family History TuesdayZ | World Events

Here is this week's journal prompt :





Each Tuesday, I am going to be offering prompts or ideas. If you don't write in your journal regularly - I am going to encourage you to write just ONCE A WEEK and answer the question/idea that I give on Tuesdays. These ideas hopefully will spark a memory and you will be able to capture that in what you write/record so that it can be left for your children/grandchildren/family/friends. Give as much detail as you can when answering.

Will you do this for me? Will you do this for your families? You can write it down in a journal, you can type it up on a computer or journaling software, you can take a recorder and talk, you can videotape your answers, you can even scrap a page with the journaling. It doesn't matter how you do this - it's just important that you do it. The memories, the dates, the information is the only real thing we can leave to our families when we are gone.

If I come up with other family history ideas - I will be sure to share it here too - and if you want to share with me your ideas - that would be wonderful and I'd be glad to share them here too. Just comment here or email me at dedesmith32@gmail.com.


Sunday, April 10, 2011

Life 2011: Week 15




Monday, April 4, 2011


After all the excitement of having so much family here with us over the weekend, the kids had to get adjusted back to our regular schedule and of course they had school today. They pretty much just had to have a nap today and that is a very rare occurrence.


Tuesday, April 5, 2011


Rain, rain, and more rain. We are definitely getting a wet Spring with all of this snow and rain. I think I am much preferring the rain though!


Wednesday, April 6, 2011


It is just a crazy week as we prepare to go on vacation. Joey has been majorly stressed about some projects since we are going to be gone for a week, so he has had to stay long hours and I have been working on finishing up all my design stuff too. We are both just ready to be done with it and go on vacation. We have been taking a little roadtrip to Joey's work a few nights this week to give him dinner.


Thursday, April 7
, 2011


WOWZERS! Just a crazy day. Our schedule was just completely full with soccer game, political meeting, primary activity, scouts, and errands and cleaning. By the end of the day, I was completely bushed!



Friday, April 8, 2011


JJ loves getting to play PLINKO in his class when he gets enough stickers. He brought home a yoyo today and he enjoyed trying to get it to work!


Saturday, April 9, 2011


Final preparations were made today for our vacation. It was a scramble of a day trying to get everything done. Joey has a wonderful tradition of taking the kids to pick out a gift for ME on our kids birthday. Since Beth's birthday is next week on our vacation, Joey took her out today and she brought me home a Willow Tree Figurine. Now I have both the mother/son and mother/daughter and I love them!


Sunday, April 10, 2011


We were so excited to leave home behind today and head to Eden, Utah. It was kind of a wintery-looking day, but I still got excited to see the snowy mountains as we headed out of Ogden and up the canyon. We were even able to check in early and we spent the rest of the day in our little condo, settling in and having dinner as a family. So excited to be here! We watched The Dark Crystal for Family Movie Night.


And here is my weekly layout:


COMING SOON!