8 things I love: Saturday

. by taraanderson featuring amrita singh jewelry

Oh my! - what a week it has been! I'm so happy it's the weekend, relieved really and even though it's not looking to be a lazy type of weekend - I'll take anything that resembles a less rushed and hectic schedule! I have my fingers crossed that if I can finish all... or most of my to-do list, I'll be able to escape out of the house tomorrow for a little retail therapy. I'm on a mission to find a little black dress and possible a new pair of heels! (I say little but really what I want is a mid-calf length possibly retro inspired dress.) Peter and I have 3 black tie* optional weddings to attend over the next 6 months, it's been quite some time since I've been to a formal wedding. I'm hoping new shoes will be the motivation I need to get moving today on that to-do list!

I'm going to try and pop back in this weekend to post photos. My blog is turning into a 2nd flickr account. ;) xo ~ T

8 things I love: Saturday

easy weekend by taraanderson featuring summer tote bags

It's feeling more and more like the beginning of Spring here! As much as I love my pretty wool coats, black boots and cozy scarves... I wouldn't be opposed to some easy-breezy weekends either. Soon enough!

My weekend includes; cleaning, laundry, having a sweet friend over to check out the new house, and trying to decide on an art project - horses or elephants? I'm so torn and I've been thinking about this since last night and still have no idea which one to use??? To many possibilities! :)

flowers, black stripes & a guest post

I'm spending a little time on my friend Jessica's blog - Scrumdillydilly! Jessica was nice enough to be a guest on my blog over the summer, so I thought I'd return the favor! It also gave me an excuse to buy flowers and put together a new tablescape and I just couldn't resist. :)

This was also probably the most fun with color I've had in awhile! Hop over to Jessica's blog to check out my guest-post!

our Valentines Day

~ in photos! Yesterday ended up being super busy but I did manage to squeeze in a few photos throughout the day!

Valentines tablescape - there's some more photos of our table if you keep scrolling down.

Flowers from the little boy - he smelled all of the flowers before finally deciding on these ones. The sweet part about it is that these don't smell very nice. :))

Bruschetta is always a good choice, it's takes no time to make and looks pretty in a large glass jar!

The Shrimp Fettuccine was wonderful - you can't really go wrong with seafood, pasta and a creamy cheese sauce. I should post the recipe, it's so easy to whip up!

Chase and I had some time to make cupcakes and while they were baking I created these tiny flags with left-over Crate Paper scraps. I'm always looking for any excuse to use up extra paper!

These heart place-cards were a little project I made up for Crate Paper this week! I created a set of 4 heart shaped pockets with every one's initial on the front and sewed a lace/tulle pocket on the back to hold a small 'love-note' written to Peter and each of the kids. Just an extra detail that makes themed dinners so fun!

and I did, somehow, find a little bit of extra time to pull the sewing machine out and make some paper garlands for the kitchen. **the large butterflies are hand cut** I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon making something. I need to come up with a good idea by tomorrow so I can get it photographed by Friday! Nothing like a little pressure to get you moving - right? Happy half-way-through-the-week day!

Monday Menu

it's back! I've been playing with the idea of re-introducing this series of posts and today seems like the perfect Monday!

menu 2-13 by taraanderson featuring plastic jewelry

I'll start the menu for tomorrow since dinner tonight is already over with and it wasn't exciting enough to write about anyway. :)


Tuesday: Valentines Day!!
Shrimp Fettuccine with a Parmesan Cream sauce
Garden Salad
Bruschetta on grilled Sourdough
Chocolate Strawberries & Mini Cupcakes


Wednesday:
Pork Chops w/ pan seared apples
Mashed Potatoes
Garlic Green Beans
Garden Salad

Thursday:
Grilled Eggplant Sandwiches
Broccoli Salad

Friday:
Terriyaki Chicken Thighs
Brown Rice
Peas and toasted Almonds
Garden Salad

Saturday:
French Dip Sandwiches (I make mine in the slow cooker)
Coleslaw with Blue-cheese and poppy seeds

Sunday:
Garlic Herb Strip Steak
Caprese Salad
Roasted Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes (I typically hate potatoes but I made these last month while my sister was visiting and they were, by far, the best potato I've ever had! I hate them a little less now :))

** If you plan on posting your menu somewhere please leave me a link! I love to check out what other people are planning for dinner.... yah I'm kind of nosey like that. I have a very full day planned for tomorrow: Alaina's class play and then Valentines party, Chase's class party, I need to prep everything for dinner, make the desserts, make little-tiny flags for the cupcakes and sew a bunch of garlands for the kitchen, finish a science project with A and write up a post for the Crate blog..... whew! I'm so happy I work well under pressure - I probably shouldn't leave so many things for the last minute either..... Oh well, no one is perfect.

Happy Valentines Day to everyone! Hope your day is filled with pretty flowers, yummy candy and lots of love! xo ~ T

8 things I love: Saturday

. by taraanderson featuring bell bottom jeans

Popping in to say hi this morning!!! I made it through the week, a little more tired than usual, but at least it's the weekend. oh yay! I've plans to work on Alaina's science fair project all weekend and then the kids' Valentines cards for class parties this coming week. There is always something to do!

craft closet - finished.... almost

I'm happy to report that with each day I'm able to sort through and unpack a few more boxes at a time and the house is starting to look more like home and not like a crazy storage facility! I ended up getting sick and spending the entire first week, after we moved, in bed. All that time lost. So, I'm trying to play catch up now and nothing will get you moving faster than having unexpected guests needing to spend the weekend with you! Typically, I hate surprises. I need ALOT of time to adjust to changes but hearing from a good friend yesterday who needs to place to stay while recovering from a recent operation, I decided to put aside my typical freak-out reaction and rather hurry to get the house ready for guests tomorrow! I probably won't be posting much this weekend and throughout next week because of said guests. I imagine I will be spending the majority of my time cooking and cleaning for 3 extra people. I did always say I wanted a house big enough for lots of extra guests!!(I just didn't think it would happen 2 weeks after moving into a larger home :))

Chase and I have been running around putting things away this morning when I passed by my craft room and much to my amazement, it actually looks.... normal. Especially the closet! I got super lucky and have a large walk in closet - perfect for all my stuff! I'll be changing out some of the wire baskets for closed boxes and I still need to thin out my paper collection but I'll get there. Probably not this week but sometime soon I hope! I've also decided I'm in desperate need of a sewing table!

Ok, now back to cleaning house!!

Pretty Party with Crate Paper

hello - hello! I'm back but just making this a quick post today. I wanted to share a couple of projects that I made last week for the Crate Paper booth at CHA. Crate has created 2 new collections and I got a chance to play with the paper & chipboard from the Pretty Party line. It's so wonderfully girly and flowery and just perfect for Spring parties! If you pop over to the Crate Blog and leave a comment on my post today we're giving away one Pretty Party collection!

To go along with the party theme, I created a little party favor, invitation and some pretty confetti - Because I'm convinced confetti goes with everything!

I have my color challenge to prepare for this Friday and I seem to be running a tad bit behind with it. I'm slowly making progress getting the house unpacked but my craft room has been last on the list of things to-do. It's a slow process! xo ~T

8 things I love: Saturday

comfortable by taraanderson featuring leather shoes

The movers are already at the other house with the furniture so that gives me a few quick minutes to post. I'm doing it people, I'm wearing sweats in public. Normally sweats are only reserved for the day that I get out of the hospital but today I throw caution to the wind and wear them anyways! This moving stuff is serious business that requires the absolute most comfortable clothes ever. Sweats my friends, sweats.

xo ~ T

me & Cocoa Daisy

Due to the epic move set for this Saturday, this will most likely be my only scrapbook post for the month. So, I figured I'd better make it a good one! Way back in October I was asked to be a guest designer for Cocoa Daisy and even though December was a crazy busy month, I accepted the challenge. I think working with a kit is also a little more organized too because you only have so many things to work with and then that's it!

Here's what I made with their January main kit!

This layout was all about a strong title and stronger journaling and I just didn't feel that it needed a photo to support the over all feel. It wasn't meant to be a super cutesy layout. (Even though, when both my husband & my good friend saw this page they said the same thing! "Where's the photo?) This layout could not be more appropriate for this week!

I loved this floral paper - it's reminds me of pretty vintage wallpaper and yellow mixed with black and white stripes is always a hit in my book!

I had wanted to create some type of little mini list album and then decided on making one for Home lists. Everyone room in the new house has an index card that I can jot down items that are needed for that room. I think I've filled it since taking these photos over 2 weeks ago!

Had to scrapbook one of the kids' Christmas photos!

The Cocoa Daisy kit came with a package of Sassafras paper flowers (I loved those and was so happy to see them in a kit again!) Instead of just tossing the packaging that the flowers came with, I covered the little paper insert with paper and then sewed in lots of randomly cut pieces of graph and ledger paper. It made a good tiny notebook for keeping track of everything lately!

Well, there you have it! All my scrapbook stuff for the month in one place! I'm going back to packing this afternoon, movers are coming on Saturday and that's only 3 days away!! Wish me luck!