Digi Day

I just wanted to let you know that Little Dreamer Designs has a gorgeous kit this month. Just a reminder that her kits are purchased by a monthly subscription. I just love her designs.

 

Michelle created another beautiful kit. It was made to celebrate all the beautiful women in our lives. It is called She - A Tribute to Her. You can check it out Here.

 

This is my little B about 5 years ago. I love this picture of my little guy. Now he barely fits in my lap. *Sigh* Right now I'm in the trenches of motherhood, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Credits: Little Dreamer Designs-She, Splendid Fiins-Staple and Date Stamp

 

I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring. I know we are. We have a big Summer coming up and we're excited!!

PB&Js for the Freezer

I got a small freezer for my birthday. Who asks for a freezer for their birthday anyway? One clue, I'm getting old. ;) I've had fun finding recipies and building our food storage and trying to simplify my life using the freezer. I know Pinterest is full of freezer ideas but I wanted to share my favorite ideas with you.

 

When I'm in a pinch, I love being able to grab a sandwich out of the freezer for the kids. I can put them in their lunch bag in the morning and they are thawed and ready to eat by lunch time. These are similar to the Uncrustables brand you find in the stores. The great thing about these are they are so much cheaper and made at home. Win-win.

 

Supplies: Peanut Butter, Any Fruit preserve you want (we like grape or strawberry, homemade would be awesome), one loaf of bread (white or wheat), and a crust remover and sealer. I found mine a couple of years ago. I doubt you'll find this exact one at the store but you can find it on ebay. I know The Pampered Chef makes a really cute one too.

 First, one loaf of bread will make 12 sandwiches. That includes the end pieces. I usually do a half a loaf at a time. Spread each slice with peanut butter keeping it mostly in the center. Remember the crusts get cut off so they don't need PB. The reason both sides need PB is to decrease the chances that the jelly will soak through the bread and make it soggy. It makes a nice little pocket for the jelly to hang out.

 Next put the preserves on only half of the slices laid out. Again, keep it in the middle. Go ahead and sandwich the two sides together.

 

Next, use your cutter. On mine the white part cuts the crust off and the red part seals the edges.

 Here it is cut out. Don't throw away the crusts. You can process them into bread crumbs, they make a quick snack for the toddler tugging at your feet, and they are great for the birds or ducks. :)

 

Lastly, wrap each individual sandwich in saran wrap or individual baggies, then put them in a larger freezer bag.

 

Easy Peasy. Quick. Tasty.

 

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!

 

Love,

Monica



February Birthday Cake of the Month

For my birthday my sweet mother-in-law gave me a new subscription for The Food Network magazine. I had been without my beloved magazine for at least a year. Darn budget. But alas we have reacquainted. I love that mag. Because getting back to life after Christmas took me some time, I finally was able to sit down with my January mag.

Notice in the upper right hand corner. Yep, that's a cake. One of the reasons Erica and I have posted less frequently is the fact that we have both been dieting for the past year. Dieting and baking do NOT go hand in hand unfortunately.

 

Well, dieting does not take my love of baking away. I was excited to see this article and found myself at least a monthly post for you. Any excuse for me to bake a cake, right? No one in my house complained. I missed January so I'll get that one next year. But without further ado I introduce February's Birthday Cake of the Month!

 

Chocolate Blackout Cake

This cake is a chocolate lovers dream! It i a chocolate cake with a chocolate filling, frosted with a whipped ganache, then topped with ganache. Holy yum. I was content with one piece but I may have "tasted" the ganache a few times. Ganache is awesome. Chocolate+Cream= Awesome. 

A view of the inside. 

Pre-frosted layers.

 

Lucky for you, you can find this recipe on The Food Networks website. Now go make one but make sure to have some recipients to give some away to!

 

Happy Monday!

 

Love, Monica

Digi Day

Since my last Digi Day, things have changed in my digital world. After being part of the Jessica Sprague Creative Team for 3 years, the admin of the site decided to disband the team and let individual designers control their own teams. I was sad for it to end. The great thing is other doors have opened for me. I've joined two other teams and am excited to continue sharing my work.

 

Also, last year I started Project Life but didn't quite have my heart into it. I wanted to try again this year because I love the concept so much. So far, so good!!! I'm on week 8! I'm doing more a Project 52, week by week. The awesome thing, is I'm doing more of a hybrid style. So I'm dabbling a bit with paper and glue again. That has been a lot of fun. I will share more of that soon.

 

When the CT was disbanded everyone quickly jumped onto other teams. I kind of took my time. I needed the break and I needed to stand back and assess what I could handle. The opportunity came for me to join Little Dreamer Designs with Michelle Coleman. She has a subscription based product. You can subscribe month to month or a 6 month subscription. It is so reasonable priced and you get a super packed gorgeous kit. These things are huge!

 

February's kit is just gorgeous. Seriously. It's beautiful. I loved playing with it. You can still pick it up through the end of this month.

You Are Loved by Michelle Coleman

February 2013 Collection

 Gorgeous, right? You can find it HERE.

Here is my layout using this beautiful kit. I love the little details; stitches, glitter scatters, twine. I fell in love with the grey heart background. Her texture on the paper is just amazing. I'm a scrapping nerd, right? ;) This photo is one of my all time faves of Ben. I captured him in a giggle. Oh how he has grown.

 

Well, happy Thursday!! We are getting close to Spring people. It doesn't feel like it here, but it's around the corner right? ;)

 

Love,

Monica

Valentines Day Printable

I made this Valentines printable last year. I wanted to show you how cute it looks on my book shelf. I personally think it's one of the cuter printables out there. Ahem. :)

Anyway, you can still download it if you would like. Just remember to credit House 344 and please don't use it for financial gain.

Download it HERE.
(On my browser for some reason, when I click the link it comes up as an error. Just X out of the error box and in the upper left hand side click on the little downward arrow. It should download just fine.)

Hope you have an awesome Friday!

Love, Monica

Valentines Cuppies

Look what I did! I baked! I made the most gloriously delicious cupcakes. It could be because I've limited myself to one sweet per week and the taste of sugar in my mouth was just indescribable or it could be because this is just an awesome cupcake. I think it was a bit of both.

I've shared this recipe before but if you haven't made it, please do! This chocolate cupcake is my go to recipe. These are just as quick as a box cake but much much more tasty. I promise. :)

These weren't meant to be Valentines cupcakes hence the mismatch yellow liners and Valentines sprinkles. I found the cute cupcake liners at Michael's in their dollar section. The sprinkles were in my stash, I'm pretty sure they are Wilton. See how pretty these turned out?

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine the cocoa, flour, sugar, soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix till combined scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Scoop batter in liners and fill one-half to two-thirds full. (Be careful here!) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until top of cupcake springs back when lightly touched. Let cool completely before frosting. Makes approx. 18 cupcakes.

Note: Do Not overfill your liners on this recipe. They will over flow.

Source: Martha Stewart Cupcakes

For this cuppie I used Martha's Swiss Meringue Buttercream. If you've never tried this frosting before, you have to give it a try! It's so much smoother and much less annoyingly sweet than a regular buttercream. It does take a little more work but it's so worth it. I halved this recipe for one batch of One Bowl Chocolate cupcakes.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
5 large egg whites

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day.

Source: Martha Stewart Cupcakes

What I've Been Working On...

I know I have been missing in action. Life has really been overwhelming for me. I'm not going to go into any annoying details, I know we all have a lot on our plates. This blog started out as being a place for Erica and I to share the things we love and I'm pretty sure it will carry on as time, money, and mostly energy permits. :)

So, at the beginning of the year (can you believe we are in December!!!) Erica and I posted our New Years Resolutions for the world to see. In January I'll go more over my part in detail but one of my resolutions was to finish some major scrapbooking projects that really needed to be done. You can check out my full post HERE. I wrote that I needed to get three done. I finished my Project 365 awhile ago and I'm now on the brink of finishing Maggie's first year album. Woohoo! Let me remind you, she's 6 now. *sigh* But I have 3 more pages, 3!! I'm so glad cause I'm seriously running out of time. I'm forecasting being done today! :)

Here are my recent pages...

LivE Designs- Center of Attention Album Templates (Love these!!!), Splendid Fiins- Very Krafty Neutrals, Office Supplies (staples), Jodi Lee- Vintage Papers, Pink Paislee- Happy Now Elements, PortBeach Elements, Nancie Row Janitz- Vintage Blooms

 

Becky Higgins- Project Life Template B, Clementine Title Card, Glitz Designs- Yours Truly Full Kit (Love this gorgeous kit!!), Splendid Fiins- Office Supplies (My go to staples!), Fonts: Traveling Typewriter, CK Ali's Hand, JSHS Font from Motography, Bebas 

Becky Higgins- Project Life Template B, Blank grid journaling card, Clementine journaling card (re-colored), Glitz Designs- Yours Truly Full Kit, Splendid Fiins- Office Supplies, Fonts: Traveling Typewriter, CK Ali's Hand 

Becky Higgins- Project Life Template A, Glitz Designs- Cashmere Dame (papers and elements), Splendid Fiins- Feedsack Washi Tape and Greyed Out Washi Tape, Fonts: Traveling Typewriter, Clementine Sketch

Becky Higgins- Project Life Template A, Glitz Designs- Cashmere Dame (papers and elements), Splendid Fiins- Feedsack Washi Tape and Greyed Out Washi Tape, Fonts: Traveling Typewriter, Clementine Sketch 

Splendid Fiins- Go Big Template #4, Pink Paislee- Happy Now Paper Pack

Photo by Captured by Adrianne

Awesome, right?! If you noticed 4 of the 6 pages I used the Project Life format by Becky Higgins. I used the digital templates and some items from the Clementine kit. I am super excited about this because I was a bit overwhelmed about getting this project done, doing the designing of layouts,picking out a kit, taking the time, etc., you know the "traditional" way of scrapping. The whole Project Life method saved me. Thank goodness. Next year I have some new projects up my sleeve, all dealing with Project Life. I'm excited. :)

Well, here's to keeping resolutions! Even if they are last minute. ;) Anyone else scrambling to get some resolutions done? I doubt it. Tomorrow I start Christmas projects. Gotta love December!

Love, Monica :)