Scrapbookin'

These chilly, late nights are perfect for a little scrapbooking.  Who doesn't love these fun fall cut outs?  There are so many hundreds of different kinds of scrapbooking supplies.  One has to be careful.  They are very expensive.  My motto is, "Don't buy them if you don't already have a project in mind and a time set up to finish it." 

Love the little rake. I am confused by the puffy leave bags. It might be hard to close the album. I am sure they will flatten out.

 The sticker kind are the best because you don't have to worry about them shifting around.

 I found some old wedding pictures in a drawer and decided I would breath some new life into them with some scrapbooking magic. My albums are always out and ready to be looked at. The kids really enjoy looking at them or the funny comments I might write. With this digital age it is still nice to have a hands on photo album to flip through. I also feel like I can check out my fun sticker collection. Best of both worlds.

 There are so many fun things to do with the paper as well. The seasonal variety packs are awesome for crafts. I like to do simple, Victorian paper cone ornaments and fill with candy at Christmas, but you can do it for any occasion.

Below you see The Kit and Chick logo Tee Shirts. Are they cute or what. They are simple and to the point without being wordy. You can't go wrong with pink and black. Have a super Friday!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweater Weather

Happy, officially, Fall!!!!

 I love this time of the year! There is so much excitement in the air .Everything starts up again. New opportunities to make new friends and learn new things. My wedding anniversary is September 10th,  My hubby got me these gorgeous roses. They smell heavenly!
There was a first frost this morning, I am not sure if I am ready to say goodbye to summer. I did decided it was time to pull out some fashionable boots and put the flip flops away. I was also happy to pull out the comfy fall sweaters. They just make you feel all safe and cozy. However, the weather can still spike up to eighty degrees in the afternoon. That is a killer. Button up sweaters that are able to be opened or taken off are best for the Boston, September weather. I got pneumonia twice when I was a teen because of bad sweater decisions. Sweating and then getting chilled throws the body into a tizzy. So, it is best to wear sweaters with caution..........or it may cost you your health.

 Fall is also a good time to pull out the old crock pot.  During the Spring and Summer it sits on the counter and collects many assorted food items.  There was rice, ice tea packets, candy, that I was hiding from the kids and forgot where I put it, almonds, rice, some elastic bands and a shopping list.   I guess the crockpot was a receptacle to throw all the stuff that was on the counter, for a quick clean up. Anyway, she was cleaned out and I decided to make this seasons first chili. I used couple kinds of beans, a jar of salsa, hamburger, spices and half a box of whole wheat ziti to make it a little more hearty. It was also an incentive to get my little ones to eat it. They hate the bean aspect of chili.

Here is the final product. Of course, in reality, it was completely smothered with cheese. I found that is a great way to hide the beans from the whiny little guys. A big hunk of garlic bread tops it off for a hearty,  autumn meal. I posted this funny Spongebob sweater song because I agree with it's message. lol.

Mary's Salsa

 Thanks to Mary, a very talented lady who made salsa from her garden. She had a very successful tomato crop this year. Thanks so much for sharing.

                  Beautiful, so jealous!

I hope she sends me a jar!!!!!

Nice work! This would have taken me a week.  She said it took a couple of hours.  She is a pro.

Lunch Box Love

 Yesterday, was a scorcher...actually,  it was just sticky and muggy. We took a walk to the park but stopped into the little corner store to get slush. Such a simple recipe, ice and flavoring but it really does the trick on a hot day.  However, I prefer to eat it with a little wooden spoon rather than the the straw/spoon. Just thought I would give a shout out to Richie and his (so much cheaper than ice cream not to mention less fattening), Italian Ice.

 Fall is just around the corner and I decided to share some neat back to school items. My husband has a huge lunch box collection from the seventies and eighties. I picked out a couple that I thought were the best. Who didn't love the Partridge Family? Actually, I preferred the Brady Bunch. It was more entertaining for kids.

 Then of course we have KISS. They were amazing. The face make up was a stroke of genius. Just think of it, with the dubbing technology most performers use in concert these days, band members wouldn't need to show up. They could have body doubles. Really who would know. My hubby saw them a couple years ago and said they looked great.  One must admit, most folks gets a little bummed when they see their idols aging. It is a reminder that we are aging as well. Everyone should have the option to wear clown make up.

                                       I actually used this Bee Gees one in high school as a joke...sort of.  Made me want to throw an old banana in there and leave it in the car over night or longer. I can still smell that stale lunch box smell after neglecting to clean it out after a week of school vacation. Little kids(as well as teens) and perishable foods is a bad combo. I think this is the main reason you rarely find the thermos in vintage lunch boxes. I think they just became too moldy to salvage and it was easier to bring a dime for chocolate milk from the cafeteria.

 Awwwww, retro Candy Land. This one is so sweet. What a bummer it would be to find a squished tuna sandwich and an apple. It should be filled with jelly beans and candy canes.

This little green lunch box is a little fisher price toy, I believe from the late fifties. It was amazing to find it with the little thermos inside. Then finally, we have the classic plaid thermos. I wish we had the plaid lunch box that went with it.  People have really improved upon the school lunch concept. I imagine paper sacks sales are way down. They have so many creative solutions with insulated bags  to adorable Bento Boxes.  Hopefully, it will encourage American kids to develop better eating habits for the future.

Summer Fun

 I am pleased to say we have been very busy this summer, enjoying life and it's simple pleasures and everything summer has to offer. I am sorry I have been unable to focus on blogging but there is only so much beautiful weather before the long New England cold arrives. Above, you will see a really cool sand sculpture. It was on Onset Beach, Onset MA. I believe it might be left from the movie Steve Carell was filming there. The whole Onset Villiage was transformed into a really fun, tacky beach town with fake storefronts bearing inflatables for swimming. I wish it stayed that way but the movie sets disappeared as quickly as they arrived.

Here is a castle my boys made. The little bridge was created by weaving seaweed. So much integrity. The sea swallowed it up in a mater of minutes. The kids said seeing it destroyed was the best part.

 Here was a movie truck from the film being made. It was so exciting to see the stars in real life. The movie production part seemed long and tedious. I guess acting is hard work. Who knew?

 Here is a cute praying mantis, actually it was quite ferocious not to mention big. Wouldn't want to find that in my car while driving....eeek!.

 Here are a few of my cherubs frolicking at the beach in Marshfield, MA. We really lucked out with beautiful weather by day, crazy thunderstorms by night. The perfect combination of fun and excitement.

 Cute baby foot prints. My baby is almost two and totally loving the beach.

 Below we see one of the boys body surfing. They bought boards but the ended up not being used. The kids said they couldn't go as fast with them. It was a great sea weed free day.

 This was a visit into Boston to see the Tall Ships. They had so many cool and beautiful boats. We got to climb aboard one from Canada. It was so impressive, not to mention clean. It was a beautiful day for an activity like this. It was neat to see people from all over the world gathered here for the this event. Security was extremely tight though,. I guess that was encouraging, eliminating any chances for danger to occur.

 Here is a beautifully colorful picture of friends listening to the sailor tour guide.

                                                              Some sort of bomb holder.

 Here were the flags in the entrance to the port that leads to the cruise ships. I wish I was going somewhere exotic.

                                                                     Patriotic Blythe. Love her!!!

Here were some cute little candles filled with colored rice that the kids made. They were the perfect thing for the picnic table after a long day at the beach.

Nyan Cat....Weird????

I had to make a  birthday cake for my seventeen year old son.  I wanted to do something that would really make him smile. Like many teenagers, he likes  the Anime/Japanese comic book subculture and video games. I thought the perfect thing to make was a cake of the musical meme called Nyan Cat. It is a little cartoon of a cat with a pop tart body meowing a happy tune. Confused??? Yeah, so was I  but I decided to make the cake regardless. I used pre-colored fondant because it was quick and less messy. I hollowed out the first layer of yellow cake and filled it with rocky road ice cream...of course.

 Then I put on some chocolate frosting and another later of chocolate cake. Then threw it in the freezer to harden up.

 Finally, I frosted and decorated it . It came out really cute. Going with Japanese theme I made assorted candy sushi with cereal and marshmallow for the first batch.  You can use prepackaged rice crispy treats and fruit roll ups and candy, I used sour strip candies in this picture but had to stick it with frosting. The fruit roll ups were so much easier to use because they can bend and stick. As for the birthday dinner, I am just going to order pizzas, and make an antipasto salad. Most teens aren't fans of  sushi or tempura, at least not my boys.

 I got some lemon filled, lemon cup cakes as well as black forest cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I bought these, I couldn't resist. Isn't that a cute train candle holder? It is very old and there is a little circus animal in each one. I was so happy to find this one intact. I have seen others but they are usually missing the caboose.

 I am also, breaking out this adorable vintage birthday table cloth. It is a reprint of the paper ones they used to sell at party stores when I was a child. I remember getting the same table cloth in paper with sweet little paper baskets which we filled with M and M's. I am putting a clear plastic cover over it because I don't want ice cream stains. It was a gift from Chick. She has such great taste.

 I love to use these for kids birthday parties. These are one of my prized possessions...really. It is a collection of Flinstones cartoon glasses with cute little scenes and phrases. Who doesn't love little Pebbles and Bam Bam? The great thing about these glasses is, they used to be jelly jars. What a great promotion not to mention a super incentive to eat peanut butter and jelly every day. I am pretty sure they are from the sixties but it might be earlier. How about these fun, bendy straws. I love the colors not to mention the throw back cover art, I had to buy a couple of packs. I am thinking of root beer floats.

 Finally, here is the very catchy, very strange but cute Nyan Cat video..............now you can be hip too. Don't blame me if it gets stuck in your head.

This n That

Look at these pretty painted bunnies! We have them all over the place here in Dedham painted by local artist.  They are to showcase Dedham pride as well as an art awareness campaign. They are really fun.   

 The harvest has officially begun. Here are a few potatoes and chives from my garden. The potatoes were effortless. I plan on doing up big barrels of spuds for next year. You can use repurposed trash barrels and end up with fifty pounds of spuds. I was skeptical but now I am sold. Besides, who doesn't love the versatile potato?

I had to go to a cookout today so I decided to bring my very easy layered, cake pudding whipped cream dessert and some cone cup cakes. I saw this wonderful new product at the store. It is by Dunkan Hines. It is a can of frosting starter and you then add the coloring and flavoring from a huge variety of packets. You sprinkle it in and mix. I chose mint green. It was fantastic and so easy.

 Nex,t I took cones and filled them with cake batter. I added a bulls eye candy but in the future I would use some chocolate chips on the bottom. The carmel was a little too hard to chew in the cake.

 Then I frosted them and decorated them with pearls and sprinkles. I love the cone cake idea but know I understand they are difficult to travel with. These look like a mess. The reason is because they are top heavy and tip over. They were a cute basket weave frosting pattern but they got destroyed. Oh well, the kids still loved them.

Finally I made fruit kabobs. I put a candy fruit slice on the end for color. However, I realized after, that they could be dangerous for kids. Someone could run with them and stab themselves. Popsicle sticks would be a much better choice in the future.