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Monday, August 15, 2011

Freebie: Reward Stickers

My daughter has learned the word "No" in the biggest way. "No, I don't want to clean up my toys", "No! I don't want to take a nap!", "No! I don't want to hold your hand in the parking lot!" Siiigh. I tell you, if you have a child you probably know this all too well, if you have more than one child I have a new respect for you and please give me pointers! If you don't have kids, you probably still all of your hair and you still have some free printables you can use! We came up with a deal, for every good day where she listens and picks up her toys before bed she will earn a ribbon. After she earns 5 ribbons she will get a prize. I cut them out and ran them through our Xyron sticker maker. She was super excited today to earn her first sticker and I was super excited that she was more cooperative! We will see what will happen the next few days since as Yanna said "5 DAYS!? That is a LOONG Time!" You too can reward those you are proud of with these fun stickers. Great for teachers too!! Enjoy!! You can find these free printables Here.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Inspiration: Martha Stewart Chocolate Cookie Icebox Cake

Martha Stewart and her team are always amazing to me. What a great idea for a cake! If you have weeks like I do, especially like the one I had this week! You know what it is like to want to be able to do a special desert for your family outside of a scoop of ice cream or a pudding cup (poshified: added sprinkles of course). Icebox cakes go together so quickly, you just won't have that excuse anymore and you will look like a champ when you bring something like this out. I have made icebox cakes with graham crackers and strawberries which is also delish! But, come on, chocolate chip cookies! Yes Thank you! You can find the recipe on her site Martha Stewart.com . If you are short on space in your freezer you can cut down the recipe I have also made individual icebox cakes which works great for space as well! So stop licking your screen and make it! I in the meantime will attempt to make this with every cookie I can think of! Wish my hips luck!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Photography Tips and a Free Printable!

I have been so honored by the response to my photography on both my shop and my blog! Thank you so much. I have been asked a number of times of what my secret was and thought that it could be a cool blog post! I have always loved photography from very young. My first camera when I was a child was a 110mm Rainbow Brite. Now if you are reading this and do not know what a 110mm camera is, that is forgivable. Now if you are saying, "who is Rainbow Brite?" ahem! Anyhoo... My father kept me up-to-date with my camera equipment throughout the years from space-age looking gadgets to your basic manual SLR. (He shares the same passion for photography as I do!) I always wanted to keep learning. So I took classes in college, and to be honest, hated them! I loved the exploration and figuring out for myself what worked and what didn't and coming up with my own ideas. Taking classes got me to over think exposure times, proper lighting, types of photography...So I tried to deprogram myself a bit and go back to what I like. I worked with an automatic film SLR camera for the longest time which I loved. But then I started to drool over the new pro digital SLRs! I figured that getting one of those you can't possibly take a bad picture. LOL, well granted it is great to have a great camera, but you still need to know what you are doing. And now, these days, they are so many great cameras out there that are so affordable. I love my big DSLR but lately I have found it easier to travel with my husbands smaller point and shoot which takes just as great pictures. The only difference being the ability to have full control.

One of the biggest tips I have for everyone would be to use natural light whenever possible. Harsh flashes throw off the balance of your picture and washes everything out. You will often notice the background being really dark and the subject being washed out. Instead take pictures outside in the shade or even better on an overcast day. Also try taking pictures by the window. If you have to use a flash, try using a diffuser. You can also use a reflector to add lighting to your subject. The other day I was making strudel and had a pizza pan on the counter. My husband walked into the kitchen to talk with me and his blue eyes really popped! So I used the pizza pan yesterday when I took pictures of Clara! Check it out! So hey, you can always be creative with equipment.


I like keeping the background simple or to blur it to really keep focus on the subject.

I love black and white photography and learned in school that in photography we should look to have a true black and a true white in the composition. Automatic cameras tend to figure this balance out for you. You wont always have a true black or white in your picture and sometimes you will get an odd hue in your picture due to this. So a trick that I have used with my product photography has been to use this card. It has a true black, mid grey, and white stripe. This is great when I just want to take my pictures quickly without a bunch of set up or the lighting is changing often (when  you are outside) then when you bring the picture up on your photo editor you can auto-fix your exposure or play with the histogram. (I play with this often since I like high key photography when you almost blow out your picture with light.) In Photoshop you would go into adjustments and open the histogram. You can then take the black dropper, go into you picture and then click on the black stripe and your picture will adjust and darken to make sure that the stripe is full black. You can do the same with the white dropper and white stripe. Or you can just hit Auto:-) and let it do it for you.

Granted I am sure that there are all sorts of other things you can do to accomplish this. This is just a little trick that I use that seems to work for me when I want to be a little lazy:-) So I hope that it works for you and that I made sense!! I am including the card as a printable for you to use:-) Check for it in my Free Printables!!
Happy Shooting!!



Monday, August 8, 2011

Semi-Homemade Goodness: Blueberry Goodies

I love baking from scratch when I can, but sometimes I just do not have the time. But hey, we can still make things a little more posh! I made a fabulous blueberry sauce for the campout from scratch and decided to use it for just about everything.

Sauce
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup honey
2 tbs orange juice
water

In a saucepan combine the blueberries, honey, and orange juice. I added just enough water to not quite cover the blueberries. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 mins or until the berries are falling apart. Place a colander in a bowl and strain out the large pieces. Squeeze berries against the colander to get more juice out. I then take the sauce at this point and just bottle it. Keep what is left in the colander, my husband loved it on pancakes and I used it for the turnovers! You can then run the sauce through a strainer if you would like it a little more runny. And you can take it one more step by squeezing it through some cheese cloth if you would like more of a syrup.
I bought some small wine bottles at our local winery with some tasting corks to package everything up.


Blueberry Turnovers
I love Pilsbury! They now have turnovers. You can purchase the cherry or apple set that comes with the dough and filling for 2.00 which makes 6 turnovers. Well, as much as I love Pilsbury, I prefer a more homemade filling.I followed the instructions on layout out the dough. I then added a spoonful of blueberry pulp and some sauce. We decided to add some of the cherry filling as well. Fold it over and bake as directed. Done!

For the almond I dusted the dough with cinnamon. Inside, I lightly buttered, sprinkled cinnamon, brown sugar in each. I put a slice of almond paste (I had a bunch left over after the buckle! and it's yummy!) folded the dough over, baked as directed...Done! I mean really how easy! I then put some of the glaze and slivered almonds on top.


Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
If you can do it with raspberries, why not blueberries. And with Good Seasonings homemade salad dressing kit, it is even easier! The bottle has lines on it for the water, seasoning mix, vinegar, and olive oil. Add 2-3 tablespoons of blueberry sauce and finished! The kit cost about 2.00 in most groceries and even comes with a packet or two of seasoning/dressing mix. With the salad we added some dried blueberries on top which made it just that much better!


Blueberry Lemonade
Get ready for this...this is a tricky one. I love Simply Lemon Lemonade. I have two kids to look after and a business to run, so while I am sure squeezing your own lemons would be great. Between lemons being almost a dollar each here and me trying to spare myself some time, buying the juice finished is faster and cheaper! Now here we go. Open the bottle, pour a glass of lemonade for yourself and enjoy. Ok, no that you are refreshed, pour a half a cup of blueberry sauce into the bottle of lemonade. Put cap back on and shake vigorously. Tada! Blueberry Lemonade. I took it one step further and strained it as I poured it into the bottles to get some more pulp out.

So I left the science to someone else and came up with some pretty and yummy blueberry items! It's now blueberry season here, so hopefully for those of you with a ton of blueberries to use up, this will help!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Be Inspired: DIY T-Shirt Makeovers

I really need more hours in the day. So many things to make so little time. I love these DIY T-shirt makeovers!
You can do more with a t-shirt than just turn them into rags when you get a hole and now you have an excuse to stockpile t-shirts when you find a great sale! From beautiful and expensive looking ruffled shirts to scarves, to even underwear?! Who knew!
Beautiful Tutorial Via JaynSarah

 I love Tea Rose Home Blog! Beautiful tutorials on how to make shirts like this.


 Christmas gifts? Via Mamma says Sew

 Via Pininterest Tutorial on Analog Me

Ok, This is crazy! But hey, why not!? Great first sewing project if you ask me. Why? well if they are ugly, who will know? That being said, if they turn out great, will you show them off? If so, you didn't get this idea from me:-) Check out the tutorial on Craftstylish.com

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Posh Picnic Blueberry Picking Party

We started a tradition with my husband's family to go camping and blueberry picking each year. We spend a few days off of the Mohican River, kayaking, float trips, hiking, trying out new campfire recipes and just chilling out. This year I decided to run with the blueberry theme and see what I could come up with. To be honest, I have never been much of a blueberry fan, but after all of the recipes that I found and played with, I am in love! I have already shared the blueberry muffin and the scrumptious blueberry buckle on here. I also made blueberry bars, blueberry vinaigrette, blueberry sauce, blueberry lemonade, blueberry turnovers, sweet and spicy blueberry caramel popcorn, and even homemade blueberry MARSHMALLOWS!! We are particularly proud of the marshmallows, can you tell?
I came up with some new printables for the occasion as well! Two new box designs: popcorn boxes, and base boxes. We also have so new labels, party picks and wraps. As we were setting up the layout the sun came and went as if it was teasing me. "I am going to rain, haha fooled you! no really, I am going to rain...HA!" So, I have never set up something as fast as this. We were able to have it photographed and enjoyed the layout for five minutes before we had to run and save what we could. The good thing was that this was some awesome food to have around as we had to wait for the torrential downpour to finish. I will be putting up some of the other recipes on here soon and the new printables will be available as well!
 Blueberry and Almond Turnovers with printable flag picks.

Blueberry Buckle and Croissant Sandwhiches

  
Blueberry Buckle and Blueberry Sauce 

Blueberry Marshmallow Smore kits in printable base boxes. I actually had Dave make the marshmallows since I didn't trust myself with a candy thermometer! He and Yanna had a great time making them and we all had a great time eating them. They puffed up perfectly over the fire too!!
 
Blueberry Lemonade. This was so yummy, plus who knew that it would make such a beautiful pink color!
Sweet and Spicy Blueberry Caramel Popcorn in printable Popcorn Boxes

Bambu plates and utensils that we used throughout the camping weekend! These worked out so well. 

All in all we had a great time. Maybe next year I will go crazy with the peach recipes!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Homemade Goodness: Blueberry Buckle

OH MY GOODNESS! This is ridiculously good! Plus it isn't hard to make at all. I totally get domestic diva badge towards my domestic goddesship! You will too!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
1/3 cup cold butter
3 tablespoons almond paste

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.

Beat in egg

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Add dry ingredient mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Fold in the blueberries.

Pour mixture into 9 inch cake pan.

For topping, combine brown sugar, flour, apple pie spice, into a bowl.

Cut in butter and almond paste until mixture is crumbly.

Sprinkle over blueberry mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Serve with a blueberry sauce to really punch up the flavor!! YUM!!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A Posh Product: Bambu Disposable Plates and Utensils


I found this amazing product BambuHome.com Bambu Disposable Plates and Utensils. They are plates and utensils made from bamboo veneer. I thought that this would be perfect to use for our camping weekend. They looked and worked great. Plus, aren't the sporks cute!? They are single use, but we found that washing off the plates with a wet soapy cloth extended the use for the weekend. I can't wait to use some of the other products by them! This is definitely something to look into for your next event!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Bright idea! Light bulb vase

Ok, horrible pun, but it really is a great idea! I will have to do this!
I have been addicted to Pininterest lately and keep finding all sorts of inspiring ideas! This one really caught my eye! This is something that will definitely be on my To Do list! There is a great tutorial via ReadyMade Here.


photos via PinInterest
and ReadyMade
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