Northwoods Scrapbook

Friday, March 18, 2016

Happy Friday Sweet Friends!!

It was nice as I actually got a little free time this week to work on some projects that I've had sitting in wait. So I thought I'd share some peeks with you today.

ONE

I found some St. Patty's Day cupcake liners and toppers I forgot I'd picked up a while back. So of course Annie & I had to make some fun cupcakes for yesterday's dessert!

TWO

I needed to add some things to some previous years in Annie's school years scrapbook - so I finally took care of some of that.

THREE

I like that there's a spot they can add a photo of baby on the cover.

I found this teddy bear and had to add him to the cover of the baby album. So cute!!

Once I know Baby Boy's name I'll add it to the first page banner (at the top) before giving my Cousin and his Wife the album.

I also started work on the baby boy scrapbook gift I'm making for my cousin's new baby due early summer.

FOUR

I decided to work on some Spring cards and here's an Easter one I completed. I love using many different kinds of materials - lace ribbon, a canvas tag, silk flowers, and of course sticker embellishments. So fun to get creative!

FIVE

I've also been digging through other things I've picked up here and there and I'm working on some ideas for some future projects too! I have fun summer idea brewing for some of these above goodies. ;) Loving the possibilities...

I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Tortellini Soup & Happy St. Patty's Day!

Well we didn't get any of the "snow storm" yesterday, as I mentioned in yesterday's post. However, we did wake up in a winter wonderland this morning. We only have about an inch or so on the ground. I'll say it sure did make all of the trees pretty. I guess it's one way for Mother Nature to dress up for St. Patrick's Day.

view out our living room windows this morning

In honor of our chillier weather at the moment I thought I'd share a cozy and very flavorful tortellini soup recipe.

When we recently had our game night one of the relatives that came over was my Uncle Bob. He's a pretty special dude. He's one of my Dad's brothers and he's a Catholic priest. He's been a priest for about 40 years and recently retired....which just means that instead of working 7 days a week he might work 3 now. Lol! But he's extra special to me in that he also officiated our wedding and baptized our Aaron!

my wonderful Uncle - Fr. Bob

I love that when Fr. Bob officiates a wedding he has the couple face their friends and families to do their vows.

Things are different for him now in that he's no longer with his one large parish and school. Now he fills in where it's needed here and there, and in the meantime moved to his house that he built over the past 30 years. He bought some land long ago in the northwoods and built that house as a place to retire. Lucky for us it's closer to our neck of the northwoods! So when I invited him for game night he was such a lovely guest and brought us some of his tortellini soup as a hostess gift. It's easy and so good - so of course I wanted to share the recipe with you my Friends!

The wonderful gift of Fr. Bob's jarred tortellini soup!

With the garlic and fresh herbs in there - the broth is so rich and flavorful! And then add the fact that it has cheese tortellini thrown in. Holy yum!! ;) Here's the recipe Fr. Bob wrote for me:

Just delicious! And since I have a bit 'o the Irish in me I wanted to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day too. I don't usually make a traditional Irish feast - but one of these days I want to make one of the recipes I always see for yummy beef stew made with stout or guiness! And I also mean to bake Irish soda bread, but didn't get that done this year either. However, Annie and I like our fun cupcakes so that's what we did!

Happy St. Patty's to ye! xoxo

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Well last night they were predicting a big snowstorm to head our way. They actually closed all the schools in our area LAST NIGHT! However, as you can see we just got rain. Our big Lake Superior often buffers us by keeping us more temperate. However, out in the country and other places only 15 to 20 minutes away from us have been getting all the snow they predicted! Some places maybe 6 inches to a foot of snow! Pretty crazy, huh?

So as my kiddos play around our home, or the neighborhood, with their friends - I decided to spread out scrapbooking on the dining room table and give myself a craft day! Woo hoo! Happy Wednesday!! ;)

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Quite a while back I shared the bedding woes my daughter and I had over her bedspread. When she "graduated" from her baby room to big Girl room - she decided that she wanted kind of a Paris/French theme. Her walls were already a neutral color and we both agreed with keeping it that way. We picked out a pretty chandelier and got rid of a ceiling fan light fixture. She has pretty stained glass tiffany style lamps on her dressers. We also accented the room with pictures and odds and ends that said "Paris" about them. But we could not agree on a bedspread we liked to go with the look. She'd just been using old bed covers for now.

We looked through catalogs and online. We looked around several department stores, but didn't find anything we liked. I was drawn to all things toile, as I love how it looks...and I think it would have been pretty to have a bit of something more traditional looking too. But my daughter was drawn more to bold and graphic modern kinds of things. Even though I didn't like the more contemporary look - it was her room after all - so I was willing to let her pick what she wanted. Well she hadn't settled on anything yet, when we both happened to be shopping together in Target for something completely different and spotted the bedspread we ended up choosing. Annie's room is made up of creams and tans with accents of black and hot pink for the French feel. The cover we found is mostly kind of a deep burgundy rose pink color with some blue edging (which is one of my daughter's favorite colors). It kind of has a pattern that reminds me a little of toile, while still feeling more contemporary to my daughter. We're both happy with the result.

Pretty pattern, yet the colors and "feel" my daughter liked better than toile. And every Parisian room should have a big hot pink furry pillow, shouldn't it?

She recently changed her furniture all around so the layout of her room is different than before too.

Love the burgundy velvet piping all around the edge too.

So as you can see....it's not quite toile, but it will do. ;)

Monday, March 14, 2016

Happy Monday Folks!

How was your weekend? Mine sure went by fast! We traveled for some hockey (big surprise - Lol) and enjoyed some lovely weather!! Where we were for hockey it hit 70* on Saturday. I guess back at home here it hit 60* - so lovely all the way around. ;) Then Sunday Annie and I went with a girlfriend of mine and her daughters to go watch our other girlfriend's daughter perform in an Irish dance show. Her daughter has been doing Irish dance since she was very young and she is now 12 years old. Her group was amazing!!! We went out for dinner and just had such a fun Girlie trip!! Now diving into the week ahead...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Pretty foggy this morning. In the 30's - might get in the 40's. Supposed to be a cooler rainy week this week. Still - it's not supposed to be below zero or blizzard (which it has done in March often in the past) so I'm thrilled!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

1/2 piece of toast with peanut butter & honey & cinnamon and some yogurt. Coffee.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Very gray and still a bit foggy. Almost all of the snow is gone now, though, and I mainly only see brown grass - which I cannot wait to see turn green.

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to soothing music and looking through my calendar for the week. I'm also getting out my devotional to do a little time after blogging.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Tidy for the most part, but need to do laundry catch up from the weekend trip.

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Devotional time, workout, laundry and minor cleaning. Work on grocery list too, but I may get to the actual shopping later in the week due to more severe rain predicted in the first part of the week here. I think I can make due with groceries I still have until then. Kiddos have a few sports nights this week, religious education, and I play wallyball with my girls one night. And I'll have the usual caregiving and cooking over the week. The top class that won my box tops contest is getting their ice cream sundae party this week too - so I need to grab the goodies for that and bring them to school later in the week. Busy, but fun stuff!

CURRENTLY READING:

I didn't read much of my Nora Roberts book this last week, so need to get back to it so I can finish it up. Got some fun new Spring magazines so have been reading those.

ON THE TV TODAY:

I know I still have some Greys Anatomy to catch up on and maybe some Amazing Race? I need to check. We've been back to watching Blindspot too. I have some cooking shows taped to catch up on as well.

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: Not sure - but will see what leftovers may still be in the fridge to work with for something

TUESDAY: probably breakfast for dinner

WEDNESDAY: may be picking up subway or something as it will probably be our busiest run around night of the week

THURSDAY: wild rice stuffed pork chops, pasta side and salad

FRIDAY: not sure as more hockey ahead this weekend

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Scrapbooking project that will be a gift for a cousin of mine in the future. Also recipe card project for a friend...and along with that trying to finish up Annie's cookbook scrapbook and organize my recipes better at the same time! (no changes here - still working on all of the above)

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

probably nothing really new but I will share my Uncle's yummy tortellini soup recipe later in the week

TIP OF THE WEEK:

I know this is a smart way to stay on track with eating healthy - and I need to get better about doing it: put healthy snacks, already portioned out in healthy amounts, in little baggies in the fridge or cabinet - as you'll be more likely to grab them if they're ready to go!

FROM THE CAMERA:

We had my son and daughter's hockey. Here's some quick shots from one of my daughter's games (we love #16) - and she even stopped in the middle of the game to wave to me when she saw I had the camera out. Lol!

Beautiful sunset from the car driving to hockey.

My daughter and my girlfriend's daughters getting a photo with the Irish dancer extraordinaire (Maddy) my other girlfriend's daughter. We couldn't take photos during the show, but got this one with Maddy after the show. Then went out for dinner and here's the girls building their own pizzas before they took them to get baked. Fun girlie times!!

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Five on Friday:Spring Joyfulness

Happy Friday to you my Friends!

I'm sorry the busy day got away from me yesterday and I didn't get to share my usual recipe post. I'll be better about that next week! But I did want to join in with my five for this week. I have been enjoying our unusually warm and lovely Spring days here lately. We have been seeing temps and the melting of snow like we usually don't see until late April or into May! I've been loving it and soaking up as many warm rays as I'm able. It has made getting out my bunnies and Easter decorations extra joyful!! So I'd like to share the "Springy" things from around my home.