Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, friends!!  My niece, Shelby, stayed overnight last night so this morning we made "nest" cookies for Easter.  I bought Cadbury Mini Eggs to use as the eggs in the nests, I thought they looked so cute.  Shelby loved it!!

Please excuse the poor quality cellphone pictures!

I got the recipe off of Allrecipes.com, but I'll share it here because I made a slight variation (adding peanut butter) to give it a little more flavor.  I hardly ever make a recipe "as printed" - lol!

Nest Cookies

2 cups mini marshmallows

1/4 cup butter

2 Tbsp. peanut butter

4 cups Chow Mein noodles

Cadbury mini eggs 

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together the marshmallows and butter; stirring constantly.  Once melted, add peanut butter (may want to use slightly less than 2 Tbsp); stir until thoroughly melted. Remove from heat and add the chow mein noodles, stirring quickly to coat.

I used my hands to take out balls of the mixture and quickly form into nests, placing them on wax paper that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick spray.  While still warm and gooey, add the Cadbury mini eggs so that they will stick (and stay) well in the nests.  Once cooled, we put them into cupcake liners that we stretched open so the nests would fit.

Sharpie Tie-Dye T-shirts

Recently on Pinterest, I came across something that I thought was pretty cool that I instantly thought my niece and nephew would love.  So, a couple weeks ago we invited Shelby over to spent the night and squeeze in some "craft time"...she loves to do crafts, which makes me happy because I love it too!



You need:
Sharpie markers
Rubbing alcohol
Small dish for the alcohol
Plastic cups
Liquid dropper (medicine dropper)
Rubber bands
T-shirts


Other helpful items:
Paper towels
Wax paper






To contain some of the "mess", I took the lid off of one of my large plastic tubs and put it on the table, we also put a small cookie sheet covered with wax paper inside the t-shirt to keep the colors from bleeding through to the backside of the shirt.


You place the plastic cups inside the shirt and stretch the fabric tight across the top of each cup and secure with a rubber band.  For the pink shirt, we placed and secured each cup and then Shelby used the markers to draw whatever she wants within the shape of the cup.  For the white shirt, we laid the shirt flat with a wax paper covered cookie sheet inside and drew the designs on the shirt, then added and secured the cups once we had our design planned out.

 

Now, the fun begins!  You use the medicine dropper to "drop" rubbing alcohol onto the areas that are stretched over the cups.  As the rubbing alcohol hits the drawing, the colors will start to bleed which mimics a tie-dye effect.  You will want to be careful which colors you put next to each other on the shirt because when some colors bleed together they may turn into a brown color (this happened in one spot on the white shirt).

As the rubbing alcohol dries, you can begin to remove the rubber bands and cups, either to re-position and being adding alcohol in new spots or to remove entirely if the area is mostly dry.  Our shirts came out pretty cool and Shelby had a great time!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of Shelby wearing one of her shirts, but here is a photo of the finished product as it was still drying a bit.

Going off of advice I saw on other websites, we did a heat treatment to both t-shirts to help keep the colors from bleeding when washed with other laundry.  You can do the heat treatment by either putting the completed shirt in a hot dryer (we did this on the anti-bacterial setting, which is really hot!) or by ironing the shirts with a very hot iron, preferably with an old towel between the iron and the shirt (so you are ironing on the surface of the towel).


I have already promised my nephew that we'll make shirts for him soon.  I just need to find a time that works when he can come over for an afternoon of "crafts" and baking!  I can't wait!!!

Lilian Grace Birthday Giveaway.

I am a fan of lots of photographers and photography related websites, and by photography "related" I am referring to those sites that sell cute things that can be used as props (hats, blankets, headbands, tutus, etc) or places that sell Photoshop actions or other things that can be helpful to my photography passion/business.  One of those sites that I love is Lilian Grace, who sells FABULOUS, BEAUTIFUL vintage inspired "props" such as headbands and lace tiebacks.  I love this stuff!  She has a Facebook page and a website that you won't want to miss!  And best of all, right now there is an awesome giveaway going on called the "It's My Birthday (almost) 6K Birthday Party Giveaway!"  If you have a passion for photography, like me, you've got to check out this giveaway FULL of FAB prizes!!!  But if you win, promise you'll share with me! LOL!

http://www.liliangracecreations.blogspot.com/2012/03/its-my-birthday-almost-6k-birthday.html

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Several years ago, at work, our floor had a Chili & Soup Cook-off.  One of the winner's of this contest was a Chicken Tortilla Soup, which the winner happily shared the recipe for.  Unfortunately, somewhere in the shuffle of life, I lost the recipe. But through the wonders of Pinterest, I found a similar recipe and made a few small adjustments...we had it for dinner tonight and it was wonderful!

Now I can't take all the credit for tonight's delicious dinner, because all I did was set out the recipe and all the ingredients (well, those that did not require refrigeration) and let my hubby throw everything in the crock pot this morning.  It was so good, I know we'll have it again (sooner rather than later, I hope!).

So, are ya ready?

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (we left them frozen until adding to crock pot)

2 cans Rotel tomatoes

1 can kidney beans

1 can lima beans

1 can corn (we used reduced sodium)

1 onion, chunky chopped

2 cans low sodium chicken broth

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. cilantro

For serving:

Tortilla chips

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Put all ingredients EXCEPT chicken (and hold the water for now) in crock pot, stir to mix.  Next, add 2-3 whole chicken breasts, making sure to push down in the liquid.  Like I mentioned above, we used still frozen chicken breasts.  Cook on high 6-7 hours or low 8-9.  If soup is too thick, add 1-2 cups of water, if needed (we did NOT).

Before serving, shred chicken breasts using 2 forks or if tender enough all you may need to do is stir vigorously and the chicken will fall apart on its own.

Serve in bowls with crushed tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream.

Project 52 | Week Three

Nothing like waiting til the last minute to enter my week 3 post!  The topic for the third week of the My Four Hens Photography Project 52 is "Inspiration".  Check out the M4H Project 52 Flickr Group to see all the entries!

So my inspiration and one of the major reasons I got into photography is to capture the great memories of my family.  With my photography business, I am able to capture memories for other families as well, and that brings me MUCH joy!

This week's photo is of my dad and my niece...2 of my greatest inspirations!

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Family Fun

I'm entering in the I Heart Faces weekly photo challenge.  This week's theme is "Family Fun".  I chose a holiday themed photo, even though it's nearly a month past Christmas...but this photo immediately came to mind when I read this week's theme.

This photo is of a Grandma (Pam) and her 4 beautiful granddaughters.  All of whom just happen to be extended family of mine!

Project 52 | Week Two

This week's Project 52 topic over at My Four Hens Photography is "Life".

2/52 {Life} - "Life is short and it will be measured not for its length but how many lives you have touched and how many souls you made happy."

I chose this week to represent life in my memories of Karen.  The lesson in the loss of Karen, due to her tragic car accident, is to live each day as if it's your last...and always tell your friends & family that you LOVE them!

This photo showcases a bouquet from my wedding, a photo of me & all my lovely bridesmaids, a business postcard of Karen's from her SF agency and a photo of her & I together on my wedding day.

Karen, I think about you often...I love & miss you, dear friend! <3