High/Low + Freebie | December 28, 2012

My LOW this Week is

My HIGH for this Week is 

I have a freebie for you today - the next in my ChibiZ Collection - meet IZZY! Have a great weekend!

DOWNLOAD LINK

High/Low + Freebie Posts | Each Friday, I get a little personal and share my high and low points of the week and then I offer a digital scrapbook freebie for everyone to download for FREE.

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Recipe Thursday - Slow Cooker Bacon Cheese Potatoes

This week's Recipe:

Nothing is better than cheesy potatoes! This is even better because you can cook it in the crockpot! Yay!  We served it as part of our breakfast for dinner meal - but it would be a great side dish for anything!

Slow Cooker Bacon Cheese Potatoes
by Camille from Six Sisters

1/4 pound bacon, diced (you can cook it first if you like, but you don't have to)
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 medium potatoes, cut into large cubes
1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
green onions, thinly sliced (optional- but they are so yummy)

I also added green and red bell peppers


Line slow cooker with foil, leaving enough overlap potatoes when finished (this will help the potatoes not to stick to the edges and to help them steam. It will also keep them from getting mushy.). Layer half each of the bacon, onions, potatoes and cheese in the slow cooker. Season to taste and dot with 1 Tablespoon of butter. Repeat layers of bacon, onions, potatoes and cheese. Dot with 1 Tablespoon of butter. Overlap with remaining foil. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or on high for 4 hours).

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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!

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Wednesday SayingZ | Christmas Always

{ This week's quote }
Christmas
will always be
as long as we stand
Heart-to-Heart
and
Hand-to-Hand
- Dr. Seuss -

DOWNLOAD LINK

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! I also create pieces of wordart with these quotes each week and offering them to you as a freebie!!!  Feel free to use them in your scrapbook layouts or just print them out for great wall decor!

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!

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Family History TuesdayZ | Testimony

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.

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High/Low + Freebie | December 21, 2012

My LOW this Week is

My HIGH for this Week is 

I have a freebie for you today - a little SANTA OWLZ! Have a great weekend - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

DOWNLOAD LINK

High/Low + Freebie Posts | Each Friday, I get a little personal and share my high and low points of the week and then I offer a digital scrapbook freebie for everyone to download for FREE.

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Recipe Thursday - Buttermilk Scones

This week's Recipe:

These are amazing scones! They have great flavor and perfect for Navajo Tacos or butter/honey! You could even add a little brown sugar to the dough and it would make the perfect dessert scone! I love that you can make the dough ahead of time and pull them out from the fridge and fry up some fresh scones. I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, who in turn got it from her mom, who found it in a cookbook somewhere. Sorry that I don't know the exact source. Try them today!

Buttermilk Scones

2 pkgs yeast
¼ cup lukewarm water
1 quart buttermilk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons oil
1 ½ teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
8 cups flour

Dissolve yeast and water until bubbly. Combine buttermilk, sugar, eggs, oil, salt, baking powder, soda, yeast mixture, and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth.

Add remaining flour to make soft dough. Raise until double.

Punch down and refrigerate.

Roll out just before frying.

______________________________

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!

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Wednesday SayingZ | Love Listen

{ This week's quote }
Love is what's in the room
with you at Christmas
if you stop opening 
presents and Listen

DOWNLOAD LINK

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! I also create pieces of wordart with these quotes each week and offering them to you as a freebie!!!  Feel free to use them in your scrapbook layouts or just print them out for great wall decor!

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!

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Family History TuesdayZ | Special Memories

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.

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Day of Rememberance

You can donate to the victims through United Way HERE.

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High/Low + Freebie | December 14, 2012

My LOW this Week is

My HIGH for this Week is 

I have a freebie for you today - the next in my ChibiZ Collection - meet JAKE! Have a great weekend!

DOWNLOAD LINK

High/Low + Freebie Posts | Each Friday, I get a little personal and share my high and low points of the week and then I offer a digital scrapbook freebie for everyone to download for FREE.

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Recipe Thursday - Sausage Rigatoni

This week's Recipe:

You gotta love a good skillet meal. The pork sausage adds such a great flavor and this comes together really quickly!

Sausage Rigatoni

by Modern Modest Beauty

Salt and Pepper
1 medium size red onion cut in half and sliced into long, thick pieces.
1 pound of Mild Italian Sausage, casing removed
1 pound of rigatoni
2-3 heads of Broccoli cut into florets
1/4 cup of Olive Oil
2 crushed gloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
2 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of Oregano
Parmesan cheese to ones liking.

First, put a the box of pasta into boiling water that has been salted. 2-3 minutes before the pasta is done add the broccoli with the pasta and cook until tender. Make sure to save one cup of pasta water to help make the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking, cook the Italian sausage and red onion in a larger skillet until the sausage is completely cooked through. Make sure to break up the sausage with a wooden spoon.
For your sauce, whisk in a separate bowl: the crushed garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and oregano.

When your pasta and sausage is cooked through add the pasta and broccoli to the same pan as the sausage and pour your olive oil mix all over and mix well. Add some of the saved pasta water to scrape up all the yummy flavor that stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add some Parmesan cheese and you're done!

______________________________

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!

Read More

Wednesday SayingZ | Christmas Hearts

{ This week's quote }
Christmas is not as much
about opening our presents
as opening our hearts

DOWNLOAD LINK

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! I also create pieces of wordart with these quotes each week and offering them to you as a freebie!!!  Feel free to use them in your scrapbook layouts or just print them out for great wall decor!

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!

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Family History TuesdayZ | Favorite Relatives

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.

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High/Low + Freebie | December 7, 2012

My LOW this Week is

My HIGH for this Week is

I have a freebie for you today - the next in my ChibiZ Collection - meet CINDERELLA! Have a great weekend!

DOWNLOAD LINK

High/Low + Freebie Posts | Each Friday, I get a little personal and share my high and low points of the week and then I offer a digital scrapbook freebie for everyone to download for FREE.

Read More

Recipe Thursday - Chicken Roll Casserole

This week's Recipe:

Do you remember Chicken Pillows?  Well, this is basically that - but casserole style. My hubby loved it better this way. It's a hit!  I didn't have any half-n-half so I actually used whipping cream - but it worked!

Chicken Roll Casserole

by The Daily Smash
 

12 Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese
½ cup half and half

FILLING
4 ounces cream cheese (very soft)
4 tablespoons butter (very soft but not melted)
½-1 teaspoon garlic powder
⅓ cup onion, finely chopped
2 cups cooked chicken breasts, finely chopped
½-¾ cup finely grated cheddar cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons half anf half
½ cup grated cheddar cheese (for topping)

Set oven to 350°F.

In a saucepan, mix half and half , 3/4 cup grated cheese (can use more cheese if desired) and undiluted chicken soup. Heat just until the cheese melts (do not boil).

For the filling --- (make certain that the cream cheese and butter are very soft) in a bowl, mix the soft cream cheese with butter until very smooth, then add in garlic powder.

Add in the chopped chicken, onion and cheddar cheese; mix well until combined.

Add in 2 tablespoons mix to combine (add in a little more if the mixture seems too dry).

Season with salt or black pepper to taste.

Unroll the crescent rolls.

Place 1 heaping tablespoon chicken mixture (or a little more) on top of each crescent triangle, then roll up starting at the thicker end.

Drizzle a small amount of soup mixture on the bottom of the dish.

Then place the crescent rolls seam-side down on top of the creamed mixture in the casserole.

Drizzle the remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with 1 cup grated cheese, or amount desired.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

______________________________

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!

Read More

Wednesday SayingZ | Joy Hope Peace Believe

{ This week's quote }
JOY
HOPE
PEACE
BELIEVE

DOWNLOAD LINK

 

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! I also create pieces of wordart with these quotes each week and offering them to you as a freebie!!!  Feel free to use them in your scrapbook layouts or just print them out for great wall decor!

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!

Read More

Family History TuesdayZ | School Days Success

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.

Read More

Book Review: Stories from the Golden Age

Stories from the Golden Age
featuring the stories of 
L. Ron Hubbard

   
Purchase from Galaxy Press

When you think of the word Pulp Fiction, you probably think of the blockbuster movie, but actually, Pulp Fiction was the literary phenomenon and leading source of entertainment in the 1930's and 1940's that produced thousands of short stories still influencing the writers of today's most popular books and movies--character's like Indiana Jones, Jack Sparrow, James Bond--all inspired by the these pulpwood paperbacks.

Now for the first time since their heyday, Galaxy Press has assembled the largest collection of stories from the most prolific writer of the pulp fiction era, L. Ron Hubbard. This collection, "Stories from the Golden Age", includes over 150 audiobook stories spanning virtually every genre including: scifi, fantasy, western, mystery, adventure and more!
The award-winning, action-packed tales have also been brought to life in cinematically produced audiobook CD collections, performed by an all-star Hollywood cast. So get into the action!

Available in audiobook, paperback and digital download formats.



Review by DeDe Smith

In the last few years, I have become addicted to audiobooks. I love sitting down and reading a good book, but as a mom and a designer, I'm just so busy all the time that I don't get the chance to sit down and read. So when I finally caved into the urgings of my husband and tried my first audiobook, I was amazed at how I could still be engaged into the story and feel it the same way I did when I read a book from my hands and yet, I can still do other things while listening - housework, designing, driving, etc. They are just one of the best things ever invented in my opinion!

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect when I was approached by Galaxy Press to review some of these Stories from the Golden Age on Audiobook. But since they were audiobooks - I gladly consented to give them a try. 

I received 8 audiobooks in total - Beyond On All Weapons, Cattle King for a Day, Dead Men Kill, Hell's Legionnaire, Hurtling Wings, The Crossroads, The Trail of the Red Diamonds, and Under the Black Ensign. I was able to get one story from each of the genre collections and it was so great to experience the amazing variety!

I did experience a little hiccup in the beginning. I received the audiobooks on CD. Unfortunately, I actually did not have a working CD player at the time except for my external CD Drive that hooked to my computer. I figured I would just plug it into the computer and listen to it from there - but the CDs would not let me play them on the computer no matter what I tried. My next option was to take the audio and make it into MP3s so I could play it on my iphone, which was what I wanted anyway, but iTunes would not let me get the audio off. After about a week of struggling with it - my wonderful technological-savvy husband took the CDs and got the audio off for me as MP3s and then I listened to them on my iphone from there. I didn't experience any problems after that - but it would have been easier if these collections would have been available digitally.

After listening to all 8 genres, I realized that I definitely have a preference on what kind of books I like and dislike.  Most of the Pulp Fiction is not exactly my cup of tea, but I really really really enjoyed the Western book - Cattle King for a Day - I'm definitely going to have to pick up the whole Western Collection.

So even though some of it was not my favorite - I still really enjoyed the presentation of these audiobooks. I loved the music and the sound effects and the voices that they used for the characters. It really helped to send me right into the midst of the story! I grew up with my dad telling me about how he would listen to stories on the radio - like Gunsmoke and I always wondered what it was like to sit and listen to a story and use your imagination instead of pictures on a screen to tell you the story. I think these audiobooks are just like those old radio shows. They have the sounds and the storytellers to help you use your imagination. It was so fun to finally get a little taste of the past!

I had never experienced L. Ron Hubbard before and his writing is very engaging and so descriptive. The variety in the different genres still amazes me - so many different cultures and kinds of adventures, and yet the writing is so well done! I felt like I fell in love with other cultures through his words.  I love that there is SO MUCH available - that no matter what kind of books you like - you can find something that appeals to you! 

So I definitely recommend this collection! It was so different than anything that I have ever experienced before and I love that I got this opportunity to try them out. I also liked that the stories were pretty short and easy to get through - and as added bonuses there even short little extra stories added on to the audiobooks that make you want to keep reading more!

The Stories from the Golden Age Collection are exciting tales, full of adventure, romance, mystery, and great storytelling - a little something for everyone!  The audiobooks are superb in reeling your imagination into the story!

Disclosure: I received several audiobooks from the publisher for review, but this did not influence my opinion.

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12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop!!!

So if you are anything like me - time has flown and you can't believe that it is already December! How in the world did that happen?  I am still not in holiday mode, but I'm really trying to get there!  If you are in the same boat as me or are just ready to dig into Christmas Projects, I have some exciting news for you!

I have joined forces with some amazing people @ Honeybearz Designs' 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS BLOG HOP!   

We are already at Day 8, but don't worry you can still join in the incredible projects and presents! So, many designers/bloggers have joined in to give you lots of ideas and projects for Christmas everyday! Make sure you head on over to Honeybearz' blog for all the details, including links to each day and the opportunity to win blog candy prizes! But remember - everyone is a winner because you all get amazing inspiration! So don't miss a thing!

Here are today's projects but remember to visit Lisa's blog to get all the details and links to the other projects:

Lisa Pontious - http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com

DeDe Smith - http://www.designzbydede.com

Heather Wood - http://www.paper-junkie.blogspot.com

Robin Lane - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com

Ashley - http://thebloghopprincess.blogspot.com

Theresa - http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com

I have the great honor of being a Guest Designer for today and I'm excited to share my project with you!

Every year I send out Christmas cards and every year it is a card that I designed and send out to get printed. That means I also get family pictures taken each Fall/Winter for the card.  My family doesn't enjoy that part very much but they are usually pretty cooperative! One of my little brothers and his wife recently started up a photography business - so they did a little photo session with my family over the Thanksgiving weekend!  We did a little trade - he took my photos and I designed some Christmas cards for him to use for his customers.  I did about 8 designs for him and since they were already designed - I decided to go ahead and actually use one of the designs for MY Christmas Card this year!

This was the template design:

I used my Christmas Wrap Kit for the papers and created it so the card was really about the PHOTOS, but left a little room for sentiments! I created this template specifically for a 4x8 card from VistaPrint.com.

I always enjoy sharing more than 1 photo on a card, so this was really fun to use. I created the card so you could use 4 photos - but I was able to customize it to actually include 7 photos for my card!

This is my result:

I love how it turned out - such fun colors and full of my family! 

Now, something for you!  I am offering my template design of this card for you to download today! It is a transparent PNG file, so you will just need to go stick your photos under the PNG file in your graphics program and then you can add anything you would like - text, photos, and other images. Remember my template was created to the specifications from VistaPrint.com to create a 4x8 card. It might not work for other printing companies. Also remember that this is for personal-use only!

DOWNLOAD LINK

Thanks so much for visiting me today! If you have never been to my blog before - I hope you take a look around and come back and see me!

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