Blog Hop #8

Welcome to Mingle With Us Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.
Each week we will choose one blog at random to spotlight at the next week's blog hop.

Our guest host this week is Doberman's by the Sea.

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and our guest host in the fourth spot.  Then, link up your blog's main page.

Have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="All About Being Inspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!  We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other.

Dairy-Free Berry Cupcakes

 

These little treats are perfect for the lactose-intolerant cupcake lover! Just recently, I learned that my son has a milk allergy so I have been looking up some new yummy recipes that I can make for him. Not only is this recipe healthy but it is delicious too!

I got the recipe from this cute cupcake book:
500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need

Dairy-Free Berry Cupcakes Recipe:

2 1/2 cups mixed fresh berries (blueberries, strawberries, cranberries, blackberries)
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
4 tbsp vegetable oil
2 lightly beaten eggs


For the topping:
1/2 cup mixed berry jam


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 12 paper baking cups into a muffin pan. In a food processor, puree 1 1/2 cups of the berries until smooth. In a small bowl, lightly crush the reserved berries with a fork. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar and baking powder. In a large bowl, beat the oil and eggs. Add the pureed berries and mix well. Stir in the flour mixture until combined. Fold in the crushed berries.
Spoon the  batter into the cups. Top each cupcake with a teaspoon of jam. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack.


Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

ENJOY AND BE INSPIRED!

Spring and Your Preschooler

If you are like me, I am constantly looking for ideas to keep my little toddler busy. We were in the dollar store recently and I came across foam Easter shapes...bunnies, eggs, tulips and chicks! Right beside them were foam stickers. My son is 1 1/2 now and is in love with markers and stickers so this was the perfect craft for him and me to do together.

For way under $5.00 you can embellish, design and create these little Spring masterpieces for    everyone's Easter Basket! They are EGG-CEPTIONAL!

We had so many supplies we were even able to package them up for some friends when we went over their house for a playdate!

BE INSPIRED!

Blog Hop #7

Welcome to Mingle With Us Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.
Each week we will choose one blog at random to spotlight at the next week's blog hop.

Our guest host this week is Ladybird Ln.  They have a fabulous giveaway going on now that ends Friday.  You have to check it out!

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and our guest host in the fourth spot.  Then, link up your blog's main page.

Have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://happy-go-lucky-harvey.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Happy Go Lucky" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!  We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other.

An extra measure of Grace

Have you ever been surprised by a conversation that just happens to occur when you are least expecting it? I recently had a thought provoking conversation with a person I admire. He has a wonderful way with people while being totally honest. He says what is on his mind and does not mince words. However, he has this way of doing it that still lets you know that he respects you. He does not anger quickly and is good at holding his tongue. He is a man that never exalts himself. Some of these qualities are ones that I wish I was better at myself. I asked him how he manages to deal with people in such a thoughtful and calm way. What he said really made me think. He told me that when someone is in one's family we have to offer them "an extra measure of Grace." That took me by surprise, hearing that come from him. So I asked him what exactly he meant by that. He explained to me that his thoughts were that when we are in a family we have to allow some extra room for people we love to mess up. We know they are going to mess up, they say things they don't mean, they act in ways that are sometimes unloving and they get us angry. BUT...they are our family and we have to allow them to mess up and be themselves, even unloving sometimes. What we have to do is give them "an extra measure of Grace." We are still going to have them as our family and we are going to have to continually deal with them, so this is his perspective. I thought about his perspective and the more I thought about it, the more I loved it. Imagine if all of us always allowed others that "extra measure of Grace?" Our world would be a different place! Our families would live in harmony, our friends wouldn't get angry at us when we overstepped our bounds, our children would forgive us more readily when we make mistakes and we would be more loving toward others even when they acted unloving. I actually like this idea! I have not been able to stop thinking about this concept since he verbalized it. I guess I have always had the thought that I would always forgive others but to extend that "extra measure" when I felt angry was something I had to get my head around. So what is Grace? Grace is favor or forgiveness we receive when we are not worthy of receiving it - the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God. So can we offer Grace to others? Can we offer free and unmerited favor to someone that has made us angry? This is a huge challenge I will make to all of you reading this post. Can you remember that it is your choice to offer favor to someone in your family or one of your friends (or this is even harder) to an acquaintance, coworker or even a stranger when they offend you? Can you put aside your anger or resentment towards those that you love and even those you aren’t feeling love for and offer them that extra measure of Grace? I never said this would be easy but I did say I would challenge you with this. You can change the course of all of your relationships from here forward. I hope you accept my challenge today and remember to “offer that extra measure of Grace.”

Blog Hop #6

Welcome to Mingle With Us Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.
Each week we will choose one blog at random to spotlight at the next week's blog hop.
Our guest host this week is Organized Chaos.  She is new to blogging and shares some great craft ideas and yummy recipes.

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and our guest host in the fourth spot.  Then, link up your blog's main page.
Have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="All About Being Inspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!  We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other.

Blog Hop #5

Welcome to Mingle With Us Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.
Each week we will choose one blog at random to spotlight at the next week's blog hop.


Our first guest host is Melanie from Creative Art & Design:

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and our guest host in the fourth spot.  Then, link up your blog's main page.


Have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="All About Being Inspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!  We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other.

Blog Hop #4

Welcome to Mingle With Us Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and link up your blog's main page. Then, have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!
 

Each week we will choose one blog at random to spotlight at the next week's blog hop.

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="All About Being Inspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!  We are so excited to find new blogs, share great ideas, and inspire each other.

Party with Dr. Seuss!

It's Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd! How about a few creative ideas for hosting a child's birthday party inspired by Dr. Seuss himself?

This was a beautiful and tasty cake created by one of the hostess's friends. It is covered in red, white and blue fondant!

I had the pleasure of attending a Dr. Seuss 2nd Birthday Party a couple weekends ago! The decorations were bright and characteristic of the style put forth by Dr. Seuss. The games were right on target with a Pin-the-heart-on-the-Grinch and the cake was amazing! Could any little one ask for more?

Cut out hearts and put each child's name on it.
Blind fold them and ask them to Pin-the-Heart-on-the-Grinch!

With professional face painting and a whopper of a goodie bag, I'm hoping my friend Maribel will throw me a party sometime soon! Kyler and Luke, you have a very special mommy who is immensely creative! Many thanks to Maribel for these photos and allowing all of our readers a glimpse into her wonderful party planning mind.

There I am face painting one of the little munchkins. Notice the bright colored lanterns and hat giveaways!

BE INSPIRED!

Magnetic Book Mark

This magnetic bookmark can be made for teachers, at Mom's groups or just for your favorite bookworm! Have fun with stamping, layering, cutting and pasting with as few or as many materials as you wish!

As some of you may know, my Nanny is a super-stamper and card maker! She gave me this magnetic bookmark and I thought it was a really cute idea! I love that it doesn't slip out of my book when I am reading because of the magnets. See image below!

I hope this is a little tid-bit of inspiration that you can take with you today!

BE INSPIRED!

The things we value

If you have been following our blog, you will know that for my daughter, Valerie's, 30th birthday, I provided her with 30 gifts that went along with 30 letters to her that I personally wrote about things I have learned over the many years I have lived. These are the things I want her to remember and to pass down to her children and her children's children. It was quite an experience getting this together. There were so many thoughts that I had that I wanted to share so I had to condense them to the really important ones. Perhaps I will ask Valerie to list them for you so you can read down the titles of them to see my thoughts. As I was writing these letters, I really came to think about what it was that I valued. We go along in our lives living every day and not always reflecting on what it is that we value most. So this was a great exercise for me, as well as a marvelous gift for my daughter. I would love to encourage all of you to start a little journal and start writing down your thoughts about life and what YOU value. You may eventually want to share this with your children as a timeless rememberance of who you are and were. You can compile it into a book or even illustrate some of your ideas. For me, I included a gift that represented each thing I valued. One of the most interesting parts of all of this I would like to share with all of you.

On Valentine's Day, I decided to give Valerie a letter about Love. Along with this letter came a small gift, a heartfelt gift. This gift was a small gold locket with a small diamond in the center given to me by my parents when I graduated 8th grade. It is now "vintage" as I guess I am becoming... slowly, I hope. I was really excited to give her this gift but the little voice inside of me kept saying "will she like it? will she think it is just a piece of junk? " As doubts poured through my mind Valerie came over to visit that same day. Unbelievably, she announced upon her arrival "Did you see the February Martha Stewart magazine?" I had it but did not have time to read it yet so she grabbed it an opened the page to an article on "Vintage Lockets." You cannot imagine my shock given that she had no idea of what the gift was that I was preparing to give her. She excitedly showed me the beautiful lockets on each page and announced that she was going to be searching for these lockets because she liked them so much. I was ecstatic, to say the least! I totally agreed with her that we should try to find one and it would be fun looking for it. Inside, I was laughing and praising God that He had revealed to me that when I do something out of love there is no reason to doubt my actions. When love is our motivation there is little that can go wrong. So I waited for the "big day" to offer my gift of love to her along with my letters. She was so surprised and we both had a great laugh and shared a lot of love that day.

The other day I stopped over her house and there she was, wearing the little locket I gave her. At that moment, I realized that the love my parents gave to me was being passed down to the next generation.

P.S.
If you are interested in seeing the Martha Stewart article on vintage lockets, see below:
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/love-tokens-pretty-vintage-lockets

Blog Hop #3

Welcome to Mingle With Us Thursday Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and link up your blog's main page. Then, have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!
 

Each Friday (for the upcoming three Fridays--Feb. 11, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25), we will choose a random blogger who participated in our blog hop and that lucky winner will receive a GIVEAWAY provided by us.

This week will be our last giveaway.  The winner of the giveaway will be able to choose from one of the following pendants.

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="All About Being Inspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!

Thursday Blog Hop #2

Welcome to Mingle With Us Thursday Blog Hop

Hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades.

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and link up your blog's main page. Then, have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love and follow new blogs.  We always follow back!!
 

Each Friday (for the upcoming three Fridays--Feb. 11, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25), we will choose a random blogger who participated in our blog hop and that lucky winner will receive a GIVEAWAY provided by us.

This weeks giveaway is a four pack of stamps:

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="All About Being Inspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/blog-hop-button-175.gif" /></a></center>We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 12

I LoVE YoU BeCaUse...

For a super special Valentine, you may want to grab hold of this sweet little idea. I found a bunch of fun Valentine colored paper and cut them into the shape of hearts. I wrote "I Love You Because" on the front of each and then on the back put the reasons why.

Use tape to adhere these little hearts all over the house and the one you love will be in for a surprise as they wander around doing their daily activities.

(Or, you may put them into a jar and pull one at a time.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

BE INSPIRED!

"Hearty" Soup for your Man!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and this "Hearty" Soup will keep him coming back for more! This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine and is a definite keeper!

Ingredients:

•3 links of sweet italian sausage
•1 medium yellow onion--diced
•2 stalks of celery with the leaves--sliced thin
•1 can of reduced sodium chicken stock
•1 can of reduced sodium beef stock
•1 can of lentil soup (we used Progresso)
•a bunch of fresh kale torn into bite size pieces with spine removed
•a bunch of fresh spinach
•2 teaspoons of olive oil
•salt and pepper
•2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large pot. Remove sausage links from casing and brown in pot while breaking into small pieces with a spatula. Once browned, add onions and celery and cook until softened (approximately 5 minutes). Add lentil soup, beef and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Then add kale and spinach and cook until wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Finally, add red wine vinegar and mix in.

Serve and Enjoy!

BE INSPIRED!

Welcome to Mingle With Us Thursday Blog Hop

hosted by All About Being Inspired, Happy Go Lucky, and Moms of All Trades

Join in on the fun by following the hostesses in the first three spots and link up your blog's main page. Then, have some fun reading new blogs and and making new blog friends.  Remember to show some love andfollow new blogs.  We always follow back!!

Each Friday (for the upcoming three Fridays--Feb. 11, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25), we will choose a random blogger who participated in our blog hop and that lucky winner will receive a GIVEAWAY provided by us. To claim your giveaway, please check out our blogs on Friday to see if your name was chosen, follow up with an e-mail with your address and we will send out your free gift. 

This weeks giveaway is this blue and pink scarf:

 

Grab our button if you want to share our blog hop with others.  There will be a new list every Thursday, so be sure to come back every week.

<center><a href="http://allaboutbeinginspired.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="allaboutbeinginspired" src="http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m13/harveyusn/BlogHopButton1-1.jpg" /></a></center>

We hope you have fun and thanks for joining us!

A Sweet Idea

If you are feeling artsy and crafty and want to make a Sweet Treat for your Valentine this year, this idea is super easy and way cute! This sweet indulgence is simply a Hershey bar wrapped in fancy paper and embellished with silver ribbon and puffy, glittered heart stickers. 

I picked up most of the materials at A.C. Moore and bought the Hershey bars and silver ribbon
at Walmart!

 

Find an assortment of paper that reminds you of Valentine's Day, cut a length long enough to wrap around your candy bar and apply a small piece of Scotch tape to hold it together. 

Voila! There you have it...almost done! Now cut another piece of paper that contrasts but matches the one you already have wrapped around your bar. Tape and then apply ribbon and stickers. 

Here are a bunch of my finished products! Hope you enjoy!

BE INSPIRED!

Shortbread Heart Cookies

Today I made a most delicious February treat--Shortbread Heart Cookies! All-in-all, they took me a bit under two hours to complete. I found the recipe for the cookie at Martha Stewart, however, I made my own icing (just a basic confectioner's sugar icing). The dough for this shortbread is super-duper easy! 

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• ALL OF THE ABOVE FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH. FOR THE ICING, I USED A SIMPLE CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR ICING RECIPE FROM MY HEAD. CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR, BUTTER, MILK AND WATER TO A CONSISTENCY OF YOUR LIKING.

 Directions:

1. Combine flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until just combined. Do not whip. Add vanilla; mix. Add flour mixture; mix on low until dough starts to come together. Transfer to a floured board; knead into a ball. Wrap in plastic; chill 30 minutes.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out heart shapes using a 3-inch heart cookie cutter. Place hearts on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. (I only baked mine for 16 minutes) 
3. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Shortbread Hearts - Martha Stewart Recipes

  BE INSPIRED!