B-Movie Star

I wanted to show you my newest kit - just in time for Memorial Day . . . and later Independence Day! See how that works! And also let you know that there is a huge sale going on over at Designs In Digital this weekend. My store is 30% off everything all weekend long!!!! Whoo Hoo!  Get on over there and take a look around, maybe pick up a few things . . . it'll be FUN!

So here's the new kit. I'll have some layouts later, and maybe a little freebie in the near future!!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!! And most importantly - thanks to all the Military Men, Women and their families!!!

Cheers!

I ran across this today, and I just love the idea. I love doing little kind annonymous things like this - it probably gives me way more happiness than the person who is on the recieving end - that is the great thing about kindness though, it comes back to you so quickly and is usually doubled in size.  If you want to download a free copy of the Kindness Lolli-Flowers head over to kind over matter and you can, as they say, "Leave them around town, on door steps, you or your children can pass them out to your neighbors, give them to your grocery store or post office clerks, teachers - & the list goes on! Just print, cut, insert your favorite lollipop -- & give!"

So simple and wonderful - head over there!!!!

At the florists where my niece bought me some flowers they included a bottle of room spray. You can choose whatever scent you like and they will create the spray for you. You can take your bottle back and get refils when you run out. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, so I researched how I could make my own. I found this recipe at Re-nest and it's very simple and you can personalize it to whatever scent you like.

• 1 oz gin, vodka, or rubbing alcohol
• 6 oz filtered water
• 20 – 40 drops of essential oil (any scent you like!)

Simply mix in a spray bottle and spray around for instant freshness. This mix will keep well for at least a month.  I've been using bergamot, which smells very orangey and citrusy - it's cheerful and clean smelling without being overpowering, but I think Jasmine would be nice, or lavender for a bedroom would be relaxing - and since you're making your own, you can change it up whenever you like!

This has been the month to celebrate at our house! Okay so we've had um . . . three birthdays (one turned 18!),  mother's day, a high school graduation, a House Party, a Project Grad party,  and now school and this crazy month is over which is a reason to celebrate!

For Gabby's graduation, she wanted the theme to be "colorful" and if you know Gabby, you know she lives her life full of color, so it was completely appropriate. It also made decorating pretty easy - since everything went!

We got this great idea to make a rainbow cake. I would give you the link to the blog where I originally got my idea, but yesterday my computer had a hiccup and wiped my profile off the computer, which erased all my bookmarks and favorites and shortcuts and all those things you come to rely on daily . . . sigh.  I have the technology, I will re-build, but it's going to take a few days, so I apologize to the originator of this idea for not giving credit.

First we made white cake batter (which turned yellowish because we used the egg yolks because we figured we're dying it anyway who cares!)

and then we separated it into seven different bowls. One by one we added food coloring. There is no set amount of coloring to use - just add slowly until you get the color you want.

We used the gel type of food coloring that is supposed to be used for icing, but it makes deeper and brighter colors than the liquid kind.

Stir the color up well

You can make your rainbow cake with as many or as few colors as you want. We pretty stayed with the standard ROY G BIV palette.

Next we oiled our pans and cut out wax paper to fit the bottom of the pan.  After that, you spoon in the batter, but don't stir it up.

There is no right or wrong way to put the colors in. You can try to make a pattern if you like - we just randomly put the batter in like a crazy quilt of colors. We made a three layer cake and no layer looked the same.

When the cakes were done baking, we frosted them with white and decorated them with colored M&Ms. Gabby thought chocolate went better with cake than skittles, although you could use those, or lifesavers, or necco wafers, or fondant or whatever the heck you want. You must forgive the blurry photo. Seriously, in all the celebration craziness there were no photos taken of the finished cake that looked decent. If it makes you feel any better I have one photo of myself with my daughter on her graduation day and it's of her and I in the kitchen behind the cabinet fixing food for the party. Um yeah. That really sucks.  So anyway - note to self - take time to remember to take the photographs!!!

Ours looked pretty much like this - and it tasted wonderful and everyone loved it! The end!!!

Here's my newest kit - just in time for summer! Lemonade Stand!

I was inspired by the bright fun colors of summer - and I hope you like it too! It's available at Designs In Digital

This kit comes with 12 bright papers (good enough to eat!) they are 12"x12" and 300 dpi.  It also includes one complete alpha - sparkling like lemonade in the sun, and over 30 charming elements that will bring out the best of your summertime photos!

Here's a few examples of layouts done with this kit

I also have another new summer kit - this one is called "Sand Dollar" it's a bit more  understated - more "summer in the Hamptons" ! lol

and don't forget about  "Summer Camp" - a rustic and woodsy kit for your summer fun!

Summer to me, means being outside late, cooking over fires and what better to make over a fire than s'mores!!! The traditional s'more is made by toasting a marshmallow then layering it on top of a square of chocolate between two graham crackers - simple delight!  But, if you're looking to shake things up a bit as summer goes on, there's no end to the s'more variations!

ROBINSON CRUSOES: Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter onto 2 graham crackers, then sandwich 1 toasted marshmallow between them - these can be made with or without the chocolate.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE: Sandwich a toasted marshmallow between 4 thin squares of chocolate and 2 chocolate-covered graham crackers. (consider drizzling chocolate sauce over the whole thing!)

THIN MINT SMORES: Chocolate mints tend to be thin, so they melt exceptionally well. Toast the marshmallow, then sandwich it between 2 thin chocolate mints and 2 graham crackers.

DOWN AND DIRTY SMORE: Place a toasted marshmallow between 2 chocolate-covered cookies (like  Fudge striped Shortbread, Chocolate covered Mint Cookies, Chocolate covered peanut butter Cookies).

OREO S'MORES: Separate the two side of the cookie, having no concern whether or not the white filling  is on one side or the other.  Place a toasted marhmallow between the cookies along with a half of a miniature size Mr. Goodbar.

Feeling a sugar rush? How about a fruity s'more?

TRACEY’S CARAMEL APPLE S’MORE*

1 marshmallow
2 chewy caramels
2 green apple slices, about 1/2-inch thick
Skewer the marshmallow followed by the two caramels on the same roasting stick. Roast until golden. Slide concoction onto one of the apple slices, top with remaining slice.

* (This recipe came from Lisa Adams Book, "S'mores: Gourmet Treats for Every Occasion")

Speaking of Gourmet S'mores, head over here and find even more recipes for highbrow versions of this campfire classic!

As you may have heard there was a lot of trouble recently with a host provider in the digital scrapbook world. Designs In Digital and therefore Sugar Moon Designs was down for several day so if you tried to use the links I provided, they went nowhere! To try to help you out, Designs In Digital is offering a great coupon to welcome back our site and I want to share it with you. Hopefully this will make up for the recent frustration! Now get on over there and load up on supplies! YAY!  Also, I'm leaving up my post and link so you can still download the free quickpage at the end of the post. Thanks!

Since summer is right around the corner I got inspired to make a digital scrapbooking kit based on the theme of  summer camp.  It works great for all those photos of picnics, marshmallow roasts, fishing, campouts and even SUMMER CAMP! Here's a preview of the entire kit. It contains 13, 12x12" papers, 300 dpi and has over 30 elements for all your summer photo needs! It's available at Designs In Digitial - my store has just opened and this is the first kit I'm offering - go... okay finish reading this then go!

It's pretty isn't it? I think it turned out really well - here are some layouts I've done with it so you can get a feel for the kit.

So much fun!!!  And now a little something for you to add on to this kit . . . a free frame and quickpage.  You can see on the layout the quickpage - and I've also included the frame separate so you can use it on a different paper if you like.

Click on the preview image to download the frame and quickpage   Okay, now get on over to Designs In Digital and get the rest of the kit!!!