Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Somehow, throughout all of the madness and chaos in my life as of late, I found the time to do a few crafty things for Valentine's Day for my hunny-bunny-boo-boo-hubby... hehe.. Ok, so I promise I don't really talk like that... much ;)


I was so proud of myself for creating again that I just had to put off my textbook reading for a few minutes and share it with you guys!


Let's start with the 5-layer monstrosity of a dessert I created! Oh. My. Goodness. Seriously, guys... This dessert was SOOOO GOOD! 

I started out brainstorming a few weeks ago about what I wanted to do for Ryan this year. I try to do homemade gifts as much as possible. I thought about doing some kind of cheesecake, but I've done that before. Then I remembered this heart shaped cookie cake pan I bought at Wal-Mart last year on the day after Valentine's Day for about $4! But, I had already made him a cookie cake with it last year... That's when the ole wheels started really turning. I envisioned this crazy cookie/brownie/cheesecake extravaganza! It seemed so good and simple enough in my head that I just had to do it. (Isn't it funny how easy things always seem.... until they make their way OUT of your head?)

So, Ryan left yesterday right after lunch to study for a test in his night class, and he wouldn't be home until late so here was my window of opportunity! Little did I realize, it was going to take pretty much this whole time to finish this project! 

Enough of the dramatization... Here's the lowdown on what I did:

Layer 1: Chocolate Chip Cookie
I just used a roll of the pre-made Great Value chocolate chip cookie dough.

Layer 2: Cheesecake
This is where I really ran into problems. There are no pictures of the cheesecake layers AFTER cooking, because they were a DISASTER! First of all, they were very thin. Second, parchment paper was a BAD idea... Although it wasn't much better just using cooking spray on the 2nd try. Last, I just need to use a different cheesecake recipe if I ever attempt a feat like this again!

Layer 3: Brownie
I took the easy way out again and just used a brownie mix from a box. Originally, this was meant to be a 6-layer dessert, but after the trouble I had with the cheesecake, I decided one thick brownie layer was a better choice :)

Layers 4 & 5 were a repeat of cheesecake, then chocolate chip cookie on top. Between each layer was filled with whipped topping, which also went on top! So, to total it up on this 1 massive dessert: 2 rolls of chocolate chip cookie dough, 2 cheesecake fillings, 1 box brownie mix, and 1 large tub of whipped topping! Oh, and of course the sprinkles on top :)

I must also mention that I had quite a bit of help :)
Isaac LOVES helping me in the kitchen!

And this was what I had for dessert after lunch today!
I'm telling you... So. Good.

Ok, so that was my biggie project, but I also have to share the cards I made that are sure to make you smile. They are both adaptations of ideas is saw on blogs or Pinterest. Sorry for the poor quality pics. Ryan took them with his phone, and I didn't get around to taking my own or editing them.

From Isaac

... and from Me.
I know, I know... We're a real classy couple ;)

Last Name Family Pictures

I have done several projects over the past few years involving family names and personalized projects similar to the last post, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to post about the others :)

This is a project I put together for Mother's Day 2010. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out!

It worked out perfectly with my family because there are 7 children and 7 letters in out last name :) Each sibling took a family picture, holding a letter of our last name. Then I printed them out and framed them. (This is the one for my mom. I did GREEN for my mother-in-law too, but I STILL haven't gotten a picture of it... UGH.)

We loved these so much, we made copies for our home too!

FYI, here's a little more about what we did: We edited the photos and made them all sepia tone because we liked the way it looked. You could leave them color if you prefer that :) I printed them out as 4x6 prints, then bought a frame from Hobby Lobby that they would fit in. Pick any frame that is large enough, because you're going to have to get a mat cut anyway. Of course, Ryan put it all together for me, and it was really a simple but AWESOME gift!

I know I really need to get better at taking pictures of things I make! I promise to try harder on that in the future!

Family Name Gifts

So, I see I'm starting to average about 1 post a month... pitiful! I'm a little ashamed, but hey! I'm here doing it again :) Christmas was WONDERFUL! We got to spend time with family, and Isaac was old enough to really enjoy it this year. We kept it very modest and low key this year (just like our budget.. hehe). There was a time when I gave presents to everyone in our family, and even other friends and acquaintances, but that time is far spent. Then, we started just giving gifts to our parents and the kids in our families. But now, our family has grown! We have 19 nieces and nephews! Yeah, definitely no way we could even get something small for each of them, so we decided it was better to just skip out on that too. I do have a goal of, one of these years, planning enough ahead to make gifts for all of the kids... We'll see how that goes ;)


Anyway, so this year we did a couple gifts for each our own children, and made gifts for our parents. We have the most amazing parents anyone could ever dream of, so we have to show our appreciation any time we have the chance :)


I wanted to do something personalized, and I had seen several cool ideas of printables floating around Pinterest and etsy so I decided to do my version of 2 of them using family names. Here's what I came up with:

I printed them each out and framed them, but of course I didn't think to take a picture of the finished project. I have definitely not been thinking about blogging much lately (obviously), so it didn't even occur to me that I might want a pic of the finished project. Use your imagination though :)


I think they turned out pretty cute! I also made photo books on Snapfish for each of them using pictures of them with the kids and quotes about grandparents. I might post more about that another time :)


That's all for tonight, and hopefully it won't be another month before you hear from me again!