A woman,wife, mommy, daughter, grandmother that loves all her baby's, life and things that make my heart skip a beat just like a classic black and white movie and as crazy in love with life as one person can be. You'll find that this time around. Things will be about all things I Love. Photography, Artistry, crafting, grandchildren. Annoying adult children that I love to death, to the lil bundles of joy called my grand babies. Things about disabilities and much much more.
It's a sad day. I was trying to update my blogger to make it easier to navigate and try to fix the links of photos that disappeared etc and found myself so very frustrated with it. I went over to my word press account and within the day I had a functioning and much nicer blog put together so I've decided that that is where I will have my blog after all these years. It is sad in a way but word press definitely makes my life easier.
In less that 24 hours people are viewing my blog and responding to it.
Please come visit me at my new home:
Just Being Me
https://grammynhergems.wordpress.com/
For now I will keep this blog up and eventually redirect it.
Thanks to all those who have visited or subscribe. I hope you will come subscribe at the new blog.
Hey Everyone! As promised I wanted to get this post up about my @Influenster @CountryCrock experience #MakeItYours and #spon. I had lots of fun making my cookies.
I always like to do something different than some . SO I went online and checked out some of the cool pins I had on my Pinterest Page. I found it Lavender Sugar Cookies.
What I was requested to do was to try the Country Crock Spread I received a free coupon for in my Influenster box! What fun this was going to be. So I handed the coupon to my son and told him HEY while your at the store will you grab this for me. (YES I'm about saving gas, hahaha) So he said he'd take pics for me!
Prep time:
The recipe called for soft salted butter but of course I was switching that out with the Country Crock spread. The one mistake I made in this recipe was that I should have left the spread in the fridge. I found that using the Spread after leaving it out to soften did not help achieve the fluffiness needed.
So I put the sugar and spread in the fridge and remixing it helped greatly.
Before making the cookies. I prepared the lavender sugar for the cookie as well as making the Lemon zest raw and regular sugar that I put on top of the cookies prior to baking.
For that I used a mix of sugar in the raw and regular sugar and zest a lemon into it. Just enough to give it the consistency of sanding sugar as well as the taste of lemon.
I added the remaining ingredients and followed baking directions. The cookies were a hit and everyone loved them! I did tinker with the recipe a bit because I added the lemon zest sugar and half of them we frosted and half of them we did not for a variety. The frosting was a vanilla frosting. They are so good.
I really enjoyed trying the +Country Crock spread and being a part of the #MakeItYours#spon.campaign at Country Crock. I great big thanks to +Influenster
1 tablespoon fresh or dried culinary lavender flowers*
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened (for this I used Country Crock Spread, leave refrigerated)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Sanding sugar or sprinkles for decorating
1. Use a food processor to grind lavender flowers together with sugar.
2. In a medium sized bowl beat butter and lavender sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add flour and salt and blend until combined taking care not to over mix (dough should be soft but not sticky). Separate dough into two balls and wrap in plastic, flattening each into a flat disc and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 325°F. and line baking sheets with parchment paper or leave them ungreased.
Roll out one disc of dough at a time on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin to about 1/4-inch thick. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters and place on prepared baking sheets. Decorate with sanding sugar and/or lightly press a lavender sprig or leaf into the cookie and top. (To keep shapes intact, refrigerate baking sheet with shaped cookies for 10 minutes before baking).
4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to lightly brown around the edges. Carefully remove and cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
*Fresh or dried lavender flowers can be found in health or natural food stores or in a herb/spice store.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies depending on size.
Monday, March 28, 2016
So much to organize and do around here. Trying to organize my blog, live life and put together content for my blog. Well ISN'T that fun!? It kind of is.
We just celebrated my the littlest grandbabies first birthday. I can hardly believe that he is one. Time just goes by so fast and it goes by even faster as a grandparent. Before I know it. I'll be an old lady and he will be a grown man. WOW.
River @ his first birthday party playing with his
buddy LJ.
They have alot of fun for lil guys!
I do want to tell you about something that makes me feel quite young at heart and I enjoy being a part of so much. You'll enjoy it too!!! I mean who doesn't like trying out new stuff and getting FREE stuff at that? It's a great community with a great bunch of people.. Check it out!
It's Called Influenster and you can click this link to join!
I was so excited to get my #TreatVoxBox from +Influenster
We had lots of fun this weekend trying out things.Started out with the big reveal
Of course I'm a huge fan of Yogi tea so I got to try out 2 new for me flavors Skin Dedox and Healthy Skin.
#YogiTeaMom
The Skin Detox is a Fragrant Rose Petal and Hibiscus Organic Green Tea with Burdock and yellow Dock, Red Clover.
Healthy Skin is Nettle Leaf, Mullein Leaf and Schisandra Berry, Ayurvedic herbs. Cinnamon Bark, Cardamom Seed,fragrant, Cocoa Shells and Vanilla Bean. I loved it This time around I drank it with a bit of sugar and that made those flavors pop even more! Yea Yogi!
I'm saving Skin Detox to go with my Lavender Vanilla Sugar cookie that I made with my @Country Crock that I got as a part of my Treat VoxBox! Blog coming with pics and recipe later. Since the dough is chilling right now.
My daughter chose to try the Hills Bros Cappuccino to start with
This was a hit because my husband wanted one of them and my daughter talked him out of his. He he. I had mine for my 3rd cup of coffee today. There is only ONE problem. One packet doesn't work well in my big cup hahaha. I only had one packet left at that point. Guess it's time to run to the store with my 1.00 off coupon that came in my box!
Since my coffee pot is being rediculas I'm actually going to go to the little store in our neighborhood and borrow their's to make myself and the store owner a cup of the K Cups you see here which are in 4 flavor's Double Mocha, English Toffee, French Vanilla and Salted Caramel. But the other two which is going to be the Salted Caramel and English toffee I am going to use in a few recipes I found at Hills Bro's website
Salted Caramel Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients:
¾ cup flour
1/8 t. baking powder
1 1\4 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons of Hills Bros. Salted Caramel Cappuccino
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped into large pieces
½ t. sea salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 8x8 baking pan with Parchment paper.
Place flour, baking powder and brown sugar in large bowl, mix to combine.
Add the eggs, HBC, vanilla, and butter. Stir until smooth.
Stir in chocolate pieces, spoon mixture into prepared baking pan.
Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 40-45 minutes. Enjoy warm or cold!
(Thank You @Hills Bros Cappuccino for recipe) and
Hills Bros.® English Toffee Cappuccino Apple Turnovers
Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled, cored, sliced thin and cut into small pieces
1 tbsp. lemon juice
¼ cup Hills Bros. ® Cappuccino English Toffee
½ cup sugar
1 package of refrigerated/frozen pie crust dough
1 egg plus one tbsp. of water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine apples and lemon juice in a large bowl and stir. Add Hills Bros. ® Cappuccino English Toffee and sugar and stir until apples are evenly coated. Set aside.
Roll out pie crust dough on a clean, flat surface. Using the lip of a ramekin or a large cookie cutter, press eight circles into the dough. Remove the dough scraps from around the cut circles and form the dough into two balls. Re-roll the dough to create two more circles.
Spoon a small amount of the apple mixture into the center of the dough circles
Next, whisk egg and water in a small dish. Brush a small amount of the egg onto the edges of the dough circles.
Fold the circles of dough in half and pinch edges together. Using a fork, press the dough edges to form a complete seal. Brush each turnover with additional egg wash. For added crunch, add a pinch of sugar to the tops.
Place turnovers on a baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until the edges brown.
(Thank you Hills Bro's for this recipe also)
This one I think I'm going to make for my parents!
While we were coloring eggs Saturday night we decided it was time to make a video and while doing that we gave River his first @Yum V's It's so cute I wish I could share it right now and maybe I'll add it soon because I am editing the video to just that frame so look for it soon His little num num num is just tooo cute!. In the mean time here is a picture of him eating it today
Last but not least was my Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body Lotion Nourishes Dry, Mature Skin. The awesome thing is it did. I even did dishes twice and my skin still feels great! Very velvety and with my RA I was tickled to see how much smoother and firm my hands are today. It has pomegranate seed, apricot kernel oil, shea butter, Organic sunflower and sesame see oil as well as being fragranced with neroli and sandalwood. The combination with the pomegranate is very enjoyable. I couldn't stop smelling my hands. Num Num Num. I was also thinking yesterday I remember seeing some of this in my grandma's collection of goodies once and it is always nice to use a product that has stood the test of time. The company was formed in 1921.
I want to say a big thankyou to +Influenster @HillsBrosCapp, @Weleda @YogiTea @Yumv's & @CountryCrock for the opportunity to try this products for free all reviews and opinions are my own! Your AWESOME!
Well this lil sweetie pie isn't just anyone. It's River my youngest grandson. My daily wake up call. He will be one years old next month and I just can't believe I've not gone on and on about him. We spent the morning listening to music trying to find a particular song of which we still haven't found. Now on to all the other good stuff. Working on my blog trying to find some sponsors and some other good stuff. Have I mentioned that this kiddo. LOVES music. My youtube page is full of his favorites as much as mine. lol
Bear with me while I continue to work out all the good stuff here. It's coming along rather nicely.
We've been very busy around here. Getting our "winter cleaning" done. YES I hate spring cleaning and have a tenancy to do it in the winter time to bring about that fresh feeling during the winter months. Sadly I've not been able to beat the winter cold bugs. We are officially on round two of it despite all the deep cleaning and cleaning out the cob webs we can't help what the kids bring home from school. I love winter time but I truly am looking forward to summer! Last weekend I got my photo studio all set up to take pictures only to discover that my battery was dead on the camera. I decided to see how well an Iphone camera worked in a studio. FAIL my samsung camera phone was 100% better. So I can't give I Phone a good review that is for sure. While it's not a horrible photo it just isn't studio quality. The black glitch in the photo is a cat tearing across my photography background. he he. This is one of the 0-6 month hats I recently made and will have posted for sale as soon as I can get a better picture taken. I love that it is 100% recycled yarns and fabrics. The edging and string part is jean material and the chunky yarn is something someone recycled on our recycle group here in town it literally is many years old but had much life left to it. It was never even taken out of the packaging.
Ironically I am not sure what project we are going to do tomorrow. I'm thinking I need to get some lip glosses made for sale and thought it would be fun to teach the girls how to make it. We have valentines day coming up and of course they will want to work on as well.
Not much else to bring you up to date on till we have our crafting time other than just hoping this horrible cold goes away soon because it is killing my joints. RA is just not much fun at all.
Today was a bit disappointing for me because I had to cancel craft time with my lil charmed ones today. I just wasn't up to it today. I think I might just work with them for 30 minutes a few times this week and watch myself not to get burned out again.
See what doing crafts with 5 kids can do to you?? HA HA
On another fun note. My middle son leaves tomorrow back to job corps. So sad to see him go but so absolutely proud of him. After we drop him off the hubby and I are going to be heading over to the Y to get our membership set up again. SOOO excited for that...
Well have alot on the home front to accomplish before I can go to bed so sweet dreams.
Dena
