Hey, everyone! Happy Monday, Lu here! Hope ya’ll had a wonderful weekend… I’m back today to do LOTW, which is always so much fun for me.  Tough choices, but still… I love it! I’ll tell you what else I love, as I have a hard time resisting this little guy & his mama’s awesome layouts, lol! Congrats to be2be (Winston, too, of course) and their best buds layout:

 I’ve been following Winston since he first appeared in the gallery in early September. He seems like such a rascal & is a bit irresistible, I think! Oh my… the pics of this little dude just cracks me up! Now, how cute is he snuggling up to Richie Rich? But this guy has some antics, and I’m hoping to see more “In the Life of Winston” in the gallery! Once I get past the pics, I love to study the “just so” touches of be2be. For this layout, I love how the colors from the Richie Rich doll are echoed by the colors & elements of the Festival kit, (available as a free download at the Shabby Princess site). I love the clean simplicity and use of negative space. That is a technique that I’ve rarely attempted, much less mastered, lol! So I always appreciate it when I see it. What works so wonderfully here are the colorful buttons that reinforce the multi-color polka dot paper, the accent paisley paper joined directly to that adorable photo, as well as the pins to secure it.  I struggle with “keeping things simple” (just ask my husband), but love the impact that it makes. In their own unique way, be2be’s layout’s stand out & speak volumes… just check out her gallery to see what I mean. Congrats again, be2be! Can’t wait to see what Winston has been up to, lol!

Thanks to everyone posting all the fantastic layouts in the gallery this week, we love perusing every day to be inspired & see what is new! Have a wonderful Monday…  and check back in with us for tomorrow’s Product Spotlight. Happy Scrappin’!

LuLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Happy Friday, everyone! It’s Lu today & I’m bringing you another sweet & spicy recipe! I am definitely in the mood for fall now… and that has me craving comfort foods! I have such a sweet tooth, and even though I don’t care for pumpkin pie, I  found a wonderful recipe for Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes on allrecipes.com…. and WOW! These little gems are tasty! They are delicious by themselves, but when you dollop them with cream cheese frosting… all I can say is, you better make two batches because they go quick. Here’s what you’ll need:

Pumpkin Ginger Cupcake Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 (3.4 oz) instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

 and…

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

Cupcake Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper liners.  In  a medium bowl, whisk together the first (9) ingredients.
• Beat together the butter and both sugars, until light & fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, until each egg is blended. With the last egg, beat in the vanilla & pumpkin puree.
• Stir in the flour mixture, until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
• Bake for approximately 20-25 minures, or until tops are golden & spring back when lightly pressed.
• Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Now,  you can either stop here & start enjoying or… you can proceed to the next step, the cream cheese icing! While the muffins are cooling down, now is the time to whip up the cream cheese frosting (also from allrecipes.com). If you plan to have the cream cheese icing with the cupcakes, it’s a good idea to go ahead & put out the cream cheese blocks & butter along with the cupcake ingredients, to come to room temperature at the same time.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 (8 oz)  packages of cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting Directions:

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese & butter, until creamy.
Mix in the vanilla, then gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar.
Store in refrigerator after use.

As fall is something worth celebrating around here, I sent these cupcakes to work with my husband to share.  He said everyone in the office just raved about them (then he asked me where I bought them, lol).  Just like with my chai tea post, I thought this was a great opportunity to show off the Fall Festival Confection Collection! The cupcake wrappers (shown in my photo at the top of this post) are the perfect attire for these sweet treats!

 These cupcakes are perfect for school bake sales, Harvest dinners (they’re already on my menu for this year) or even a weekend breakfast/brunch. I love to bake up muffins for the girls… However they are served, they’re sure to please!  I’ve created recipe cards for both the cupcake & the frosting. I used the AUTUMN MEDLEY kit in the design – and don’t forget, it is on SALE this week only as the Shoppe’s product spotlight!  Just click on the image to download (or click HERE)… and enjoy!

Just a note:   the allrecipes.com logo is being used with permission…actually – it is a requirement in their licensing that we include it on the recipe cards as well as here on the post.  Just wanted to let you know in the event you were wondering why there is a logo on one of the cards :o)

We’ll see you back on Monday with our LOTW… Have a wonderfully “sweet” weekend!

LuFood Stuff, Free (not desktops), Uncategorized 5 Comments

 Happy Fall, Ya’ll! I just couldn’t wait to say that, lol! It’s Lu here & I’m happy to be bringing you this week’s Product Spotlight, Autumn Medley. 

 You know, I actually felt a slight touch of fall in the air for the first time this week. Kinda early for me, too, but I was glad to feel it. The brilliant blue skies, the bright splash of orange color on the pumpkins, the golden shimmer of sun through the leaves… I love it when I see a breeze come through the trees & the leaves start swirling around towards the ground. I usually don’t stand still long enough to catch those moments often, but when I do~ I just soak it up. And that’s what this kit reminds me of, beautiful autumn afternoons.  It’s one of those kits that I want to squeeze in all the papers & elements at once, lol! I’ve comforted myself with the notion that rather than put everything on one page, I’ll just create more pages & spread it out… 

Isn’t Autumn Medley  just gorgeous? As with all SP’s products, there’s a lot of versatility to create a wide variety of  layouts. Don’t miss  the wondeful sale at  The Shoppe  to catch this fabulous kit for $5.96!

Have a wonderful Tuesday… and join us again tomorrow for another inspiring Tips & Tricks!

LuProduct Spotlight, Uncategorized 7 Comments

Happy Monday, everyone! This is an extra special Monday, as we’re moving our LAYOUT OF THE WEEK posts from Saturdays to Mondays, and I am honored to select this week’s layout. No matter which day we host LOTW… it’s always a tough decision!  But as soon as I saw this one, I just fell in (ladybug) love, as it has all of my favorites! The color red, ladybugs, and a darling little princess. How utterly adorable is she sleeping peacefully on her sister’s pillow? The journaling tells the whole sweet story.  Congrats to acmckelvey and her ladybug love:

For me, it’s just the perfect amount of everything: a precious photo, great color scheme & balance, wonderful titlework, awesome little details & descriptive journaling. Come to think of it, this talented lady has had a streak this week (Hey! I’m a poet & didn’t know it!!)…  Check out her gallery & see what she’s been up to lately. Congrats again, acmckelvey… enjoy your gift card to the Shabby Shoppe!

And a big thanks to everyone again for all the amazing layouts,  keep fillin’ up the gallery, ya’ll! Can’t wait to see what I fall in love with next! Check back in with us tomorrow for Kylie’s  Product Spotlight… until next time, Happy Scrappin’!

LuLayout of the Week, Uncategorized 8 Comments

Happy Friday, ya’ll! It’s Lu & I’m here to do my first food post! I’ve been really excited about this, because I wanted to share both a recipe & a hybrid-of-sorts gift idea.

With the seasons starting to change (not for me, but for others), my “tastes” start to change as well. I start craving comfort foods, steaming cups or bowls and yummy spices! One thing I discovered awhile back was Chai tea. I know this is nothing “new”, but it was new to me. And one thing I particularly love about it is, the recipe combinations are endless… it’s all about customizing (one of my favorite words). I have read recipe after recipe, experimented & tweaked,  and tweaked some more. Finally, I’ve come up with a recipe that suits my palette, to a tea (lol). This is what you’ll need for (2) mugs of tea:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 2-3 black tea bags
• 2 tsps ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4  tsp allspice
• 1/4  ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of evaporated milk, half-n-half or whole milk (equal qty to water)
• honey to taste
• optional whipped topping
• a small whisk or milk frother

Directions:

• Pour water into 2 quart heavy saucepan.
• Add tea bags (with spices) & bring to just a boil. Add milk & heat thoroughly, do not allow to boil.
• Turn off heat, discard tea bags & add vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Now, my favorite part… the froth! Roll your whisk briskly between your hands to create the froth in the saucepan. It’s so much fun! Personally, I’ve found that evaporated milk “froths” better than just whole milk, lol.
• Add honey to bottom of mugs, pour hot tea milk over to dissolve and stir.  You can also top it off with some whipping cream. That’s it… enjoy!

I have to tell you though, as much as I enjoy my Chai tea, it’s a bit of a time consuming process. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m all about the experience of a thing, but I’ve got laundry to do, you know? I decided that I needed to streamline my procedure a bit, so I decided I’d make my own tea bags. This way, I can create my own little concoction without having to measure spices every time! I ordered these press ‘n brew tea bags, they come in different sizes and quantities. I also ordered some Darjeeling loose tea leaves & filled the bags with the tea leaves and the spices. You don’t have to that, you can throw in tea bags & the spices separately, but I prefer not to swirl spice “sediment”. It’s a texture thing. I can’t eat mushrooms, either. But back to the spices…as for the ratios, I do not care for too much spice (I can’t take the heat, lol) so you may find my recipe a bit subtle.  By all means, add to or take away to suit! 

You could just stop here & really enjoy your day. Or you could share the love! I found this mixture on ALLRECIPES.COM  & thought it was a wonderful gift idea. I made some up and used the cute little tags from the Fall Festival Confection Collection.  Aren’t they just the perfect touch? Puts me right in the mood for fall (and officially, too, as the first day of autumn was yesterday)! On one side, I have my greeting and on the other side I put the ingredients & directions.

These would make a wonderful hostess gift for any holiday parties in the not-too-distant future. Or hey, you could just mix it up & keep it on hand for yourself, lol!

I also created these recipe cards for both my “traditional” chai tea & for the gift tea mixture, hope you like them! Just click the image to download, or click HERE.

Just a note:   the allrecipes.com logo is being used with permission…actually – it is a requirment in their licensing that we include it on the recipe cards as well as here on the post.  Just wanted to let you know in the event you were wondering why there is a logo on one of the cards :o)

Give these little recipes a try, it’ll start your weekend off right!  And don’t forget to check back here for our first Monday LOTW (moving from Saturday)!  Have a wonderful & relaxing weekend!

LuFood Stuff, Hybrid Projects, Uncategorized 10 Comments