Two layouts about the boy and one question to my readers (actually three)

Lately everything on this blog was about the girl. It is time to share something about the boy. I love spending my days with him, although it usually means that I can get nothing done. He is the sweetest little guy. He is also stubborn, whiny and sometimes even naughty 2.5 year old toddler.

I made this layout for the sketch contest at my LSS. I found the sketch challenging but I pull it through. Mainly Basic Grey here with some new Crate Paper stickers.

 I cut out the diamond border form the paper and layered few diamonds using dimensional adhesive.

 Supplies: patterned paper (Basic Grey, Collage Press), stickers (Crate Paper), letter stickers (Basic Grey), buttons (My Mind's Eye)

I made this layout using a sketch from Little Yellow Bicycle blog. Everything here except the small letter stickers is from their Twig collection.

 I have to confess that this "tea party" was completely staged. Eli was playing with the cars on the deck outside. I wanted to make a layout with title "Friends". I grabbed Dipsy and few things from the play kitchen and asked Eli if he wants to feed Dipsy. I was surprised that he happily spent the next 15 minutes fully engaged in the role play. I need to do that more often!

 Supplies: patterned paper, chipboard, stickers (Little Yellow Bicycle), letter stickers (Basic Grey)

Today I started a new class - Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers taught by fabulous Shimelle. Our first prompt was about getting to know our readers. I think I have some idea about who are my readers (Hi, mom!) but it will be lovely to hear from you. If you have few moments I would love you to leave me a comment saying who are you and how did you find my blog. And if you have another minute to spare I will be curious to know what do you scrapbook about. When I think about my layouts, it is clear that 99% of them are about my kids. It will probably stay that way for a while, although it will be really nice to scrapbook our trips and vacations that we took in the past. 

Speaking of kids, it is time to think about dinner. Have a great week!

Happy Passover to all who celebrate!

Ice skating, Passover cards, old pictures and new layout

Is it Wednesday already?? I think I am still recovering from the weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday in Chicago with Lila at the Ice Skating Institute Synchronized Championships. Ofir was out of town so I had to take Ella and Eli with me. Let me just say that travelling with 2.5 years toddler and 9 years old moody tween to watch things they don't care about is fun....  Not! I managed to loose my car keys in the parking lot. Thank goodness for an angel that picked them up and put behind my car door handle and thank for another skating mom that found them there. It was the last competition of the season for Lila. They took the first place in the flight and overall 5th place from 16 teams. They had a fall in the second skate otherwise I think they would place much higher. I decided to splurge and bought a CD with professional pictures. They were so good! Here are 2 of my favorites.

Picture taken by Action Photos

Picture taken by Action Photos.

Don't tell Lila that I posted it online :) I love it! The open mouth is part of the program. They are doing a lot of facial expressions that look adorable on the ice. I guess she is just a little bit slower with closing it :)

Lila's skating improved dramatically this year. I am so proud of her!

Now, when skating season is over, I need to start thinking about Passover. We are hosting the Seder this year. So many things need to be done....

I have few scrappy things to share with you today. I made two Passover cards for Crafting Jewish Style. 

To make the background I cut several strips of paper and distressed the edges.  I cut out the dove from the patterned paper and added it using dimensional adhesive. The ribbon came with my Passover kit. I like that is pink!   I stamped the sentiment inside the card leaving empty space for personal message.

Supplies: patterned paper (Crafting Jewish Style), punch (Martha Stewart), stamps (Papertrey Ink), ink (Ranger)

This card is based on a sketch designed by Anam Stubbington for Crating Jewish Style. I cut out the doves from the patterned paper and added some silver stickles to their wings. Check the Crafting Jewish Style blog to see this great sketch and what other designers made.

 Supplies: patterned paper (Crafting Jewish Style), border punch (Martha Stewart), die and die cut machine (Lifestyle Crafts), stickles (Ranger)

Here is the last one for today. Another layout from 2000. I made it for Scrapbook Express blog challenge that asked to use pop-dots. I love adding dimension to my layouts so that was an easy challenge. I used some old Heidi Grace papers. I love everything she did for Fiskars and what she is doing now for Colorbok.

The bottom picture is popped up with two layers of pop-dots. The scalloped brown border and the thin border on the top are also raised as well as the butterflies.

Supplies: patterned paper (Heidi Grace), chipboard numbers (Heidi Grace), letter stickers (Basic Grey), butterly punches (Fiskars, Martha Stewart), border punch (Fiskars), pearls (Zva Creative)

Hope you are having a great week!

National No Housework Day Online Blog hop - Winner announcement

Thank you for visiting my blog, reading my post, commenting and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate every single one of them!

I received 66 comments. The random winner of my surprise package is ... comment 11!

And that will be  Josie0602 that said...
Ooohhh that food looks delicious! The only thing I slow cook is pulled pork and I use store bought BBQ sauce so no fancy recipe for me! I need some new recipes!

Congratulations! Please email me your mailing address. (You can find my email in my profile)

March for Babies - April 30

This year my local MOMS Club is participating in March for Babies. 
The march is organized by March of Dimes. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. I am extremely lucky that all my babies and all babies in our family were healthy, full term babies. But I know that there are many many babies that are born way too early, too small and very sick. They need help and their parents need help. That's why I walk in March for Babies and that's why I am asking for your help. You can click on the badge on the left for my personal page and to make a donation. If you are local, I would love you to join our team and walk with me. Let's make a difference!

Friday list

Wow! To be honest I am overwhelmed by all the comments on my previous post! I am always trying to visit the blogs of all my commenters so I spent the good part of yesterday visiting blogs and leaving comments. But it is all good! 

I promised you a picture of the Chicken and Noodle Hamin and here how it looks after spending the whole night in the oven. It was yummy. I think. My littlest picky eater ate some chicken and noodles, my middle picky eater ate a plate after some serious convincing, my oldest picky eater said she would rather starve to death....

So remember, you still have time till Sunday, 8pm Central time to comment on this post if you want to be in the prize drawing. I think I already know what will be in the mystery box - definitely a punch, definitely some stamps and definitely some glittery goodness.

Today I received the last prompt from Shimelle's class "Blogging for Scrapbookers" I didn't follow all prompts as I hoped to but it's ok. I am excited to start the next class "Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers" that starts on April 18th and learn more about blogging and about myself. Here are few scrapbooking happenings that will keep me busy in the next week or so. Hope you will also find something fun from the list.


April 9: Jenni Bowlin is hosting another online crop. I wish I could participate tomorrow, but instead I will be driving to Chicago for the last ice skating competition of the season.
April 12: Scrapbook Express Weekly Diva challenge
April 13: Scrapbook Express blog challenge.I am certainly doing that one - I love pop dots!
April 14: Little Yellow Bicycle sketch challenge. I have some "Twig" left. Hopefully I will find the right pictures.
April 14: Messy Messy Messy challenge at Scrap That Baby. While you are there don't miss Melanie's awesome paper tearing tutorial. Nikki Silvis generously donated the ENTIRE "My Friend Birdie" line to Aprul's winner!

April 15: Last day to apply for Tuesday Trio DT. All info here.
April 16: Tuesday Trio sketch 61 This week the challenge is to add moving elements to the project. I will show you what I did but you should not miss an awesome tutorial by Orli. This girl is so talented!

 Here is the layout I made for Tuesday Trio Sketch 61. Oh, I remember that dress! She looked totally adorable wearing it! The pictures are taken in the field of blooming anemones not very far away from our home in Israel. I printed the title and hand cut the letters. It says "Anemones" in Hebrew.

The doves are mounted on a stripe of transparency. The other end of the stripe is attached with a brad and hidden under the smaller picture. That allows my doves to "fly" above the picture of me, holding little Lila.

Supplies: patterned paper (Creative Imaginations, Jenni Bowlin, Crate Paper), stickers (Autumn Leaves, Me and My Big Ideas), dove punch (Martha Stewart), font Choco from Internet

I had fun working on this messy layout for Scrap That Baby Messy challenge! The white paint reminds of the cottage cheese in the pictures :)

 

Supplies: patterned paper (Sassafras Lass), stickers (Sassafras Lass), felt flowers (Lil' Davis), raindots (Cloud 9), paint

That was a long post! Let's see if I can squeeze some more blog hopping tonight. Packing can wait!

National No Housework Day Online Blog hop

Welcome to the National No Housework Day Online Blog hop! If you have arrived not knowing until now about the hop, no problem...stop by If It's Groovy where this hop starts and work your way through. You may find games, prizes, projects and how do-you-dos along the path :) We would appreciate it if you sign up to keep in touch with us by "following" and would love your comments!

If you arrived here from Michelle's blog Everyday Me, welcome! Hope you enjoyed that stop and the others so far!!!
We celebrate this national holiday by scrapping today and into the weekend with projects that remind us of housework or getting away from it!!! Take the day off, put up your feet and let's hop!

For me housework means first of all cooking. This is not my favorite thing to do. I do like to experiment in the kitchen and try new recipes but cooking the everyday food - not so much. If you add 3 picky eaters that always complain and the never ending piles of dishes by the end of the day - definitely not my favorite thing to do. I decided to celebrate the National No Housework Day by no cooking ... on this day. Instead I cooked in advance. Few hours ago I put a big pot in the oven with Chicken and Noodle Hamin. It will stay there the whole night, cooking in the low heat of the oven. If you are curious what is Hamin you can read about it here and here

 

The recipe I used is from a Hebrew cooking book by Sherry Ansky called "Food". I will do my best translating it in English.

Chicken and Noodle Hamin

Ingredients (serves 6)

6 chicken drumsticks and 6 chicken tights

Oil for frying (I used canola)

2 onions, sliced

9 oz fettuccine pasta

9 oz short hollow pasta (I used mostaccioli)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp sweet paprika

4 medium potatoes

parchment paper and aluminum foil

1. Wash the chicken in cold water and dry with paper towels. Fry in hot oil in a large ovenproof pot until the chicken changes it's color and remove from the pot. Put the onions in the same pot and fry until golden-brown scrapping the pot from time to time.

2. Cook 2 kinds of pasta in boiling water with salt for about 5-8 minutes until it begins to soften. It should not be fully cooked. Drain and add to the pot wit onions. Add pepper, salt and sweet paprika. Mix well and remove from the pot.

3. Preheat the oven to 300F

4. Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices. Arrange in a single layer on the bottom of the ovenproof pot. Season with salt. Add 1/3 of the pasta, chicken and cover with the rest of the pasta. Add 1/2 cup of hot water.

5. Cover the pasta with an oiled circle cut from a parchment paper. Cover with the lid and few layers of aluminum foil.

6. Bake for 40 minutes. Lower the oven to 200F and bake for 6-9 hours.

I am going to add the picture of the cooked hamin tomorrow. Do you have "make in advance", "one pot meal" recipes? I would love to hear!

Meanwhile, please head over to see Misty at  Love to create Enjoy!

Oh, I almost forgot! Prizes! Oh yes! If you leave me a comment I will put you in a drawing for surprise package from me. Not sure exactly what will be there. Maybe a punch or two, maybe some stamps, maybe something else, who knows? I will post a winner on Sunday , April 10th.

Long time no blog

It is probably not a very good idea to stop blogging for 10 days in the middle of the Blogging for Scrapbookers class, but that's what happened. Between my DT assignments, other commitments I took on myself, spring break and life in general, not much time and even more important, not much energy was left for blogging. But I am back. At least for now :) I do have a fun post planned for tomorrow (hint: look for the blog hop button on the right)

Last week I was totally consumed with this project. I committed to make 2 items for the fundraising auction at our local Jewish School. I made a set of Passover cards and a Hanukkah trey, similar to the one I did for myself. The card design was inspired by Nichole Heady card.

Supplies: patterned paper (Colorbok), doilies (Martha Stewart), stamps (PaperTrey Ink), ink (Ranger, Brilliance), dove punch (Martha Stewart), circle and scallop punches (Fiskars), silver pen (Sakura)

I made 10 cards, 5 of each design. Each card was put in a separate bag with a matching closure.

I hope people will like them. After spending hours trying different designs and colors I think they turned out cute :)
I have more than 1000 unread posts in my Google Reader only from my Blogging for Scrapbookers classmates. I feel a little overwhelmed... Let's see how many I can read with my morning coffee.