Project Life: December 2012 Part 2

The weather has been pretty crazy, ranging from snow to rain and then degrees in the 50s during the day and snow at night!  It's been mainly overcast skies, which is terrible for trying to photograph Project Life pages, but we did get a couple of pockets of sun and I managed to get a couple passable photos.  Sorry for the glare and the darkness of some of them.  I've got one more week left in December to share, but am waiting for my friend Jill to send me a picture from her wedding before I share it.  I might actually be able to start sharing 2013 next week!   About time, it is February after all.

December 12-26, with 3 Inserts

We had LB's Godmother and her family over on the 12th for our annual Christmas get together and gift exchange.  We made a quick candy cane reindeer craft and an even quicker ice cream cone tree for a snack.  I used more of the Happy Christmas kit from Crystal Wilkerson & Kristina Proffitt for all the circle elements used for embellishment.

December 12-26, Insert 1

This is Design J and I used it to hold the very first Instagram pictures I've ever taken.  On the front side, the "Happy Christmas", "Love", and reindeer cards are all from the same Happy Christmas kit I mentioned above.  The camera card is Simple Stories and the "Remember" tag is very old K&Company.  On the back the house card is from the Winter Wonderland collection by MME.

December 12-26, Insert 3

Insert 2 is of art work and a program from ER's first grade class.  While meaningful to us, it's not that exciting to look at so I'll move onto Insert 3.  This holds another piece of art but the main reason I included this is the written description on the reverse.

December 12-26, Right Side

The second half of the week is in a Design F.  It has ER's holiday party, the Holly card with the description is more MME and the "Just [Me & The Girls] card for a Mom's Night Out is from Photo Journaler V1 by Gennifer Bursett.  The other cards are from my Clementine Core kit, I added washi tape on top of one to work better with the tree circle, also from the Happy Christmas kit referenced above as is the "Let It Snow" filler card.

December 23-24

Since so much goes on during Christmas I decided to spread things out, rather than trying to pick just one or two photos to represent everything.  I wanted to share some last minute treats we made, that little frame is Studio Calico and a reindeer drawing I had ER draw specifically for including in that slot.  It cracks me up how she writes, "Ho, ho, ho" as "Ho" to the third power.  The date circle, ornament card, and snowman card are all more goodies from the Happy Christmas kit I've been using all December long.  I got a lot of use out it and it was a great purchase!

The rest of the Christmas Eve pictures are in 12x12 Ring (9-4x4 Photo Sleeve) from WRMK.  The pictures are all fairly straight forward from the gift opening time so I just added a filler card in the center from MME.

December 25 - Christmas!

Normally I would not suggest redoing and redoing a Project Life spread but this one gave me a lot of headaches!  It went through several versions but I am finally happy with it.  I even went back to Archivers to buy a second piece of paper from the MME line so I'd have more patterned papers to work with.  I really love the coordinated look and how it turned out in the end.

I used up bits and pieces from the tag paper to embellish a bit and an old tree sticker left over for years in my stash on the center card.

This side was the tough one to put together.  In the end I pulled together Tiny Tales quote and some fussy cut snowflakes for the picture of B walking in the snow.  Side note, the copyright on the quote card said it's from 2003 so I've been hanging onto that for a long time!  It's also by MME and so is almost everything else on the page. I trimmed a bunch of bits and pieces left from the Tag sheet of paper for the embellishments.  I got a lot of use out of that!  I think the poinsettia sticker, the tag and rub-on it's on, the lined card with house on it, and the paper the picture of E in the snow is mounted on are the only things leftover from version 1 of this page.

Linking up at The Mom Creative.

Skinny Taco Dip from Skinnytaste

Over the weekend I tried out a pinned recipe for the first time Skinny Taco Dip from Skinnytaste, when I went to a Super Bowl party.  It was a hit with the other guests, several of whom noted they were happy to see a skinny recipe on the buffet.  It seems we're all still minding our New Year's resolutions to try and eat better!  They especially liked the crunch of the lettuce.  It was all gone by half time.

It's always interesting to see if recipes I find online are 1.) As good as they look or are described and 2.) If their preparation is as described.  I'm pleased to note that both were true for this one.

Here's what I noted while making this dip for the first time, mixing in the salsa and taco seasoning turned the cream cheese and sour cream mixture quite red.  The layered dips I've made in the past weren't as mixed together and the creamy layers were always whiter in than this one.  The red color isn't surprising when you think about it.  Just an observation I had.

This mixture was also thinner than I expected, no doubt due to the lower fat versions being used.  Just mix it up really well with a hand mixer so that it's not too watery from the addition of the salsa.   On a positive note, it did make the dip much easier to scoop.  The only deviation I made from the original recipe was to omit the sliced olives, this was not by design.  The grocery store was out of them and I wasn't going to chop up whole olives.  Since I don't like olives leaving them off wasn't a hardship, but in the future I'd put them on at least half, because I know many who would like them.

The only thing I'd change for next time is to lessen the amount of seasoning.  An entire packet of taco seasoning was a bit much for me.  Next time I'd add half and then maybe a bit more to taste.  None of the other guests though the seasoning was as over powering as I did, so it's just a matter of personal preference.  I also think adding a layer of vegetarian low-fat refried beans on the bottom would be a great addition.  Evn though that would lessen it's skinniness a little bit.

At any rate, this is a great dish for gatherings as it's quick to assemble and makes a large amount.  I'd definitely make this again!  Want to try it for yourself?  Go get the recipe for Skinny Taco Dip at Skinnytaste!

 

Shared at: The Hopeless Housewife, Mostly Food and Crafts, and Dear Creatives.

New Long Baskets for Sticker Organization

I found the best metal baskets in the dollar section at Target and I had to share!  They're in with the Valentine stuff right at the front of the store and are $3 each, totally worth it!  Why?  Because I've been on the search for the longest time for a container long enough to hold my big alphabet packs, like Thickers.  I bought one for my alphabet sticker sheets and one for longer sticker sheets like the ones I love from Doodlebug Design Inc.  It's so great to have things out and handy when scrapping.