Free Printable Calendar

A blog I love amd go to for everything party, is giving you a FREE printable February Calendar!  Its cute and not loaded with design that will drain your printer of its ink! Gotta love that!

Go here to download and print yours!
Thanks Kim @ Tomkat Studio

Meet the Family

Me - not the best, digitally mastered photo of me....but that's about all your gonna get.
I ♥ photography as long as I am behind the camera!
I'm a wife, mother, homeschool teacher, soccer mom, and daughter of the Highest Priest.

My handsome hubby...and Bug.

' Bug - the youngest, curious as in Curious George, loves food, loves her mamma until daddy comes home

B - The oldest aka The Teenager. Artist, homeschooler

J - middle child, soccer player, has a sweet tooth like no other

Emma - the cutest, softest, sweetest little pint size lap dog

Not pictured:  2 ferrets, and many goldfish.  That about sums us up!

Sweet Valentine's Day Ideas

Is your Valentine a bookworm? My son has become one in the last few months.  It was a struggle to get him to read at the beginning of 2nd grade, but once he found books he likes, he can't get enough.  He reads in the car on the way to school.  He reads on the bus.  He sneaks in a read in the moments just before his nightly "tuck in"....I think I shall craft him a Valentine Bookmark.

I've seen some darling bookmarks in my adventure around the WWW. Here are the ones I marked on my TO DO list:

Craft your bookworm a sweet corner bookmark out of  heart printed paper.  So sweet....so easy.  This one seems to be right up J's alley as far as "cool" goes.  One must remain cool in the 2nd grade. No girly bookmarks, just cool ones.  I think the corner bookmark is the way to go for him.
Heather at The Creative Homemaker has a super simple tutorial. Check it out...they have several adorable ideas, search their Valentine posts for more. 

Amy gets my heart strings everytime I browse her site!  She's so talented...and offers some of her designs for FREE!  Like these oh so sweet owl valentine bookmarks!  Download the PDF, print on cardstock, add a ribbon or don't add a ribbon, adorable either way!  I ♥ owls.  I ♥ Amy at Living Locurto. I have to admit, this ones just for me and my heart.  Maybe the teen B will ♥ owls too.

These Rose Bookmarks look complicated...but don't let them scare you.  The petals are hearts! Disney Family has the full step by step guide...plus more of your favorite Disney Character crafts... you can thank Belle for the Rose Bookmarks.  Too young to read yet, but little Bug will appreciate a pretty flower to hold, then pull apart as curious lil Bug's tend to do.
Happy Reading!

Banana Nut Bread

Awhile ago, hubby and I were on a search for the best Banana Nut Bread recipe.  We tried many, to include a recipe hubby was able to get out of a little ole' lady we met in the grocery store.  To this day, we have yet to find THE ONE.  However, this one is holding us over for the time being.  And by holding us over, I mean we've stopped searching.  This is a recipe I found at Real Simple (long time ago) and changed the nut type to walnuts. 

FYI:  I like this recipe best in muffin form, hubby prefers loaf form.  Either works, just be sure you grease well.

Go Here for printable recipe card. 
may need to shrink to fit (4X6 size card)



Banana Nut Bread

1 yellow box cake mix
1 pkg Banana Cream instant pudding
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas, mashed
4 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all ingredients well
Pour into greased loaf or muffin pans
Bake at 350° for 40-45 min
Toothpick will come out clean when done

Ebates

Have you heard of Ebates?  I started using them years ago, not thinking much of it. They had some great coupons for some of my favorite stores, and I dig a great coupon.  Then I got my first BIG FAT CHECK, as Ebates tends to call them.  $15 that check was, and all I did was go through Ebates.com to shop at all the online stores I typically shop at.  Through the years, I've been off and on with the remembering to go to Ebates.com first.  This past Christmas I was really on it...and really doing some online shopping as well.  Free shipping day was big in my checking account this past Christmas!  I now await another check...looking for at least $20!  That should buy me a new sumthin sumthin!  And to think, I earned that by clicking the mouse.  Now if only  they'd pay me for each click....

So, here's the part where I tell you to go sign up.  I am giving you my referral code...use it! 

Go Here.

Finally....

I am finally the author of my very own blog.  I spent so much time stuck on a name for my very own blog, that I never once thought about what I would write once I got here!  So, here I am ready to take this journey somehwere...faith, crafts, things I love, family, home-making, being thrifty, and a little bit of everything else.   

I love crafts.  I love paper. I love photography.  I don't scrapbook.  I should, and you will tell me I should...I know, I can hear it now.  Or maybe I just hear the others who have already told me I should scrap.  Even my husband has encouraged me to scrapbook.  I just don't do it.  I think its all the organizing and filing of photos that discourages me.  Not to mention, 95.5% of my photos are digital. 

♪♫ Living in a digital world.
     And I'm a digital girl.
     You know that we are living in a digital world.
     And I'm a digital girl.  ♪♫
If Madonna had only known.... And yes, you will have that song stuck in your head the rest of they day.  Try singing Barney or Elmo songs...that might help. 

As I was singing my material Digital Girl song, you were trying to tell me to digital scrapbook weren't you?  Well...that's on my craft bucket list.  I've done some reading, and I have Photoshop.  That's about as far as I have gotten with that.  If you stay long enough, maybe you will see me mark digital scrapbooking off my list. 

So, join me on a little adventure as we explore to the end and back of the WWW (world wide web) aka Internet via Google.