Follow me on Bloglovin'

As many of you know, Google Reader is will be gone from the 1st of July and as from that date, you will lose the list of blogs you follow. I moved to Bloglovin’ and love it. 
You can easily transfer the list of all the blogs you already follow so you don’t miss out. Here is how to import all the blogs you follow from Google Reader to Bloglovin’ …
Don’t forget to follow Basement Chronicles :)

Top 12 projects of 2012

As many other bloggers and scrapbookers, I decided to look back and choose my favorite projects for 2012. I skipped the last year but I picked favorites in 2010. This time I chose 12 because why not? Click on each one to get to the post with more details and pictures.
Few notes. This year I made a lot of cards and enjoyed making them. I made quite a few layouts about myself. I included one spread of Take 12 but I love the whole project. I didn't finish alll layouts yet but hope to do that in the next few weeks. My favorite projects from last months all have something cut with my new Silhouette Cameo. I really enjoyed using it and look forward to use it more in 2013.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking and Happy 2013!

P.S. Are you picking favorites? If yes, leave me a comment and I will be happy to check them out.

P.P.S. I am linking with December Layout Love linky over at Purple Mailbox. Ashli's blog is one of my favorite blogs that I discovered this year. If you never visited her, you just have to! You are up for a treat!

Blog maintanence

I did few small changes to my blog layout. I added social media buttons to the left side bar just under the profile. I have links to my Facebook page, Pinterest, Flickr and RSS feed. Thanks to Kira from Her New Leaf for the great instructions and for the link to the adorable icons based on the Pantone Color of the Year made by Isa Maria.

I plan to do few other small changes but in general I like my layout with clean background. I admit that I don't appreciate blogs with busy backgrounds and especially with music playing. I am curious, what blog features do you find most annoying and what you find helpful?

11.11.11

For few weeks now I was thinking about doing something special with the kids on this day. Special and simple and not very time consuming. I decided to go a time capsule similar to this

Source: kellicrowe.typepad.com via Maya on Pinterest

For now I decided to include the following:
1. Mini album with pictures from the day
2. Pictures of the girls assignment notebooks
3. School papers with the date
4. Gas and basic grocery prices
5. Printouts of random emails from Ofir's and my inbox
6. "Me, right now" questionnaire (still looking for something interesting)
7. Kids height, clothes and shoe sizes
8. Eli's handprint
9. What we ate for dinner
10. Anything special that girls want to include

What do you think? What you would include in the time capsule?

P.S.
Me, this morning: Lila, can you bring some papers from school with today's date? I want to make a time capsule
Lila, with cynical expression: Really?? And than we will dig a hole and bury it?
Me: No, we will put it on a shelf
Lila, starting to like the idea: Ah, ok.

September 1st 2011

Another 2 months passed for me like blogging doesn't exist and it is OK. We had a great summer. Grandparents visited us for 3 weeks, we made a 7 days road trip to Niagara Falls, we skated, participated in drama and ceramics workshops, read books, watched TV, played video games and enjoyed the summer. 2 days ago we came back from the last summer trip to north Wisconsin. The girls tried white water rafting for the first time and we all enjoyed hiking and discovering numerous waterfalls of Marinette County. 

Today the girls are back in school so it is just me and Eli for now. Hopefully September will bring me more scrapping time and maybe some time for blogland. There are so many things I want to do this year. One of them is to improve my photography skills. Lately I am getting more and more disappointed with the pictures I take. I feel that I am not satisfied any more by just any picture, I want a good one. Those are definitely not the best but here they are - my 8th and 5th graders, ready for the new school year.

Other things on my min:
  - decide how to scrap our road trip to Niagara Falls,
  - United Stated of Fiskateers event in WI on November 5th. Finally, Fiskateers event that is close to me. I can't wait!
  - Scrapbook Express Design Team Call  - if you would like to be a part of the Design Team, give them a try! Heather and her team are very generous. Designing for the scrapbooking store is different than designing for the kit club. You have so much more freedom to decided what you want to do and to pick your supplies. It was a great experience for me! Read all about the DT call here.

Happy new school year for all the moms that sent their kids to school today!

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!

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.

Celebrations, shopping and blogging

First of all I want to say Hi and Welcome to my new readers that come form Shimelle's class. If you don't know what I am talking about I will talk about the class later in this post.

We had a jam packed weekend. On Saturday grocery shopping, baking, cooking, shopping for wigs and fabric and costume sewing. All these were preparations for the Purim party that our friends hosted. We had a great time at the party - yummy food, great company and lots of loud and happy kids. 

On Sunday I went with Ella to hear Megillah Reading and after dinner we went shopping. The girls said that they need clothes. Lila is always ready to go shopping, but not Ella. At age 9, Ella is still not a big fan of shopping so I didn't want to miss an opportunity to buy her new clothes for Passover and we went. We spent 5 hours shopping at Old Navy and Kohl's with a short break at Qudoba. We had Eli with us - I came home exhausted! At least all 3 of them have new clothes for Passover, we just need to find a matching cardigan for Lila and shoes for Eli.

I found Eli's outfit at Old Navy: shirt and pants

Ella's dress and cardigan are from Old Navy and we found cute shoes at Kohl's. It looks like the dress is sold out online but here is the cardigan and the shoes.

 Lila found a cute skirt and top at Kohl's. We also found a pair of shoes that we both liked (it is not that easy).

 

The only problelm is that Lila is always cold. Passover is in April so she will difinetely need a cardigan or a different top. But I am certainly glad that the most of our shopping is done.

My other happy thoughts are about Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class. It will be the second time I take it and I am looking forward to take it again. The class started today, you can find all info here. I can not recommend it enough.

Fot the next three weeks I plan to learn a little bit more about blogging, spend a little more time thinking what I want from my blog and make new online friends. That's all. Not big plans here.

I can not make a post without a crafty project. I made this layout for Scrapbook Express blog challenge. More old pictures from 2000. Here is something funny. 

Lila is my oldest. She is 12 now, was 1.5 in the pictures.

Eli is my 2.5 years old baby boy.

Lila looks at the layout and says: Eli's hair looks all messed up

me: It is not Eli, it is you

Lila: Ooops. Really??

 

 Supplies: patterned paper, stickers, chipboard letters (Heidi Grace for Colorbok), border punch (Fiskars), die and diecut machine (Lifestyle Crafts)

2010 Top 15 layouts

Happy New Year my dear blog readers!

Yes, I know it is already January 10th, but today if the first time I sit down to update my blog in 2011 and my first opportunity to wish you a great 2011.

Looking back to 2010, we had an eventful December: holiday celebrations, play performances, new IPod touch, ice skating competition (first place!), a trip to Wisconsin Dells and a birthday.


During the last week of December I enjoyed reading all posts by the bloggers that showed their top 10 creations. I decided to do the same. My records show (yes, I keep records) that in 2010 I made 111 layouts and 45 cards. I couldn't narrow down my layouts to top 10 and ended up with 15. I don't know if they are top 15 but they are certainly my favorites. Some of them use my favorite techniques, so use cool new product but most of them I love because they bring special memories. I linked each layout to the original blog post with more details and the supplies.

The dress

Countdown

I've dreamed...

Sweet baby

Blanket for my baby

I didn't blog about this layout yet. I made it for Scrapbook Express progressive challenge last month.

Blueberry hands

Beach bum

Welcome home

Adorable U

October 31

I realized that I never posted this layout on my blog. It is one of the rare layouts with a picture of me. Lila took the picture holding the camera and I decided that it is scrap worthy.

Us

Beauty
(I am proud to say that Nic Howard liked this layout and used it in end of class presentation)

The last project is not a layout but actually 2 almost identical albums, 30 8x8 layouts each that I made for the team coaches. I don't want to share the pictures of the girls so I posted only few sneak peaks here It was very time consuming project but I think it turned out great.

This is officially my longest post. If you are still here - thank you! I really appreciate that!

I still have lots of things I want to share but it will have to wait till later.
Hope 2011 is treating you well!

Celebrating Blog Friendships Blog Hop

One year ago I took a wonderful class with Shimelle called "Blogging for Scrapbookers" . It was one of the best classes I ever took, I learned a lot from Shimelle but I also learned a lot from my classmates. It was a group of smart, talented and inspiring ladies and I enjoyed reading their blogs and thinking what I want for my blog, where my little adventure in the blogging world is going. I added quite a few new blogs to my Google Reader and continued to follow my new online friends.

When I saw that Lizzie is organizing this blog hop to celebrate the blog friendships I immediately said - take me, please. I knew I wanted to be part of this. But as initial excitement calmed down I started to think - what exactly I am going to write about?? I almost sent another email to Lizzie saying - oops, sorry, I really don't have anything to say. But I didn't. Instead I decided that online friendships need to be celebrated. Sometimes our blog readers are the only people that hear our thoughts that we can't share with anyone else.

To celebrate the blog friendships I decided that every few weeks I will share with my blog readers about one blogger that I follow. I will call those posts "From my Google Reader". Some of them are my friends, some of them are my online friends, most of them don't know anything about me. I will start with my friend that I met first in Stacy Julian's "Library of Memories" class in 2007. She is a wonderful, kind and very caring person. Her name is Carrie and you will find her at her blog "Through the Camera Lens". Not always we can find time to meet (but we always enjoy it when we can), but always when her blog pops in my Google Reader I know - I am up for a treat. Sometimes it is one of her beautiful layouts, sometimes it's a new recipe (always accompanied with pictures that make you hungry), sometimes it's a story . There are always cupcakes, lots of cupcakes! And I can no forget about the photographs. I love her pictures and I know you will love them too.

That's it for the first installment of the "From my Google Reader" feature :) If you can find some time to explore Carrie's blog, leave her some love.

Your letter for the prize phrase is "E". From here you are going to visit Karen at Random Reflections.
If you are lost you can always go back to the the start of the blog hop here.