chocolate eclairs

These are one of my all-time favorite desserts. They are oh-so-good!!

Cream Puffs

If you are having company I would maybe double this. The filling recipe to follow could probably fill 3 of these batches and the frosting would cover 2-3 of these batches. I like to make a batch of cream puffs day sometimes when I make all this, then fill them with left over filling and frost them, because they are so good fresh.

1 C. water

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. butter

1 1/4 twice-sifted flour

3 eggs

1. Heat water, salt and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until butter is completely melted and water begins to boil. Add flour all at once, beating constantly until thickened and smooth.

2. Place dough in mixing bowl (kitchen-aid or bosch preferably). Add eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Dough should be soft and be able to hold a form, but not runny.

3. Place dough in ziplock bag and cut a corner off, leaving a hole of about 2-3 inches to pipe out 3-5 inch logs. Place a few inches apart on greased cookie sheets.

4. Bake @400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

See more pictures and slightly different recipe here.

Filling

small box of cook and serve vanilla Pudding

1 Tbsp. butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 quart whipping cream (with sugar to taste)

1. In saucepan mix vanilla pudding according to directions. Melt butter in mixture while hot.

2. Transfer pudding to mixing bowl (again, preferable a kitchenaid or bosch) and begin to mix mixture and cool it down. Add vanilla. Once mixture is cool enough to not cook the egg when added in, add egg:)

2. In a separate bowl whip whipping cream until thick and holds forms well (add sugar to taste as you are whipping it).

3. Fold whipping cream mixture into vanilla pudding mixture.

Inserting filling into cream puffs

Either slice puff pastry in half and spoon filling in the middle, or pipe filling into the center through a whole (pastries will be very light, airy and have plenty of storage room in center for filling : d )

Frosting

You can use your favorite chocolate frosting recipe. I used this one:

1/2 C. butter

1/3 C. cocoa powder

1/4 C. evaporated milk

Box Powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1. Melt butter (on stovetop or in microwave), then stir in cocoa powder. Transfer mixture to mixing bowl if it is not already in one.

2. Stir or mix in evaporated milk. Then mix in powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Feel free to add more or less of any of the listed ingredients. This is a very forgiving and easy recipe that can easily be adjusted to your liking.

Pipe or Spread onto tops of eclairs and ENJOY!!!

happy fourth

Hope you all have a great Independence Day!

Image and craft how-to here.

For the fourth we will be enjoying some smoked BBQ pork, pasta salad, green salad, and chocolate eclairs. Mmm, mmm. Recipe and pictures to come.

Here is a link to a great photo tip for fun with sparklers and cameras. We used it last year and I can't wait to try it again.

(Above: I made my husband be do this- he hates photos:) )

digital scrapbooking

Have you joined in on digital scrapbooking yet? Have you wanted to learn about it, but don't know where to begin??

Here are some of my favorite sites to help you start your journey:

1. thedailydigi.com I love their site and their blog. They are one of the best FREE resources out there when it comes to filling in the blanks on learning how to digi-scrap and where to go to get started. They are always featuring different designers and have tons of great tutorials to help you learn the ins and out of digital design (not to mention they have a great store too).

2. jessicasprague.com Jessica's site is great too. So easy to navigate, so much useful and helpful information, awesome classes, and great products. Click here for a list of classes she offers. I took two of her photo editing classes and thought they were a great value!! Right now she is offering a FREE computer tricks for cards class.

3. Ali Edwards There is no denying this girl has mad skills. I love her style and have no idea how she manages to do all she does. But she is pure inspiration!!

Those are my top three sites for information and resources.

Now, when it comes to scrapping style, I want to be Jaime Choi from three paper peonies.

Her work speaks to me and I want all of my scrapbooks to look like just like hers. Lucky for me she sells templates and quickpages. Did I mention she has lots of great freebies as well? I am in the middle of trying to figure out how to be original and more like her at the same time:)

Another site I really like for digital scrapbooking materials is Digital Design Essentials. I really like their designs and they always have some sort of good deal going on.

Want more? Here are some other places I frequent from time to time:

shabby princess

two peas in a bucket

house of 3

shabby miss jenn designs

digi scrap addicts

o scraps

sunshine studio scraps

the digi chick

donna downey

designer digitals

The digital scrapbooking world you will find can quickly overwhelm you because it really has exploded. My advice? Find your style, stick to it, let it evolve, and keep it simple. Don't get too busy trying to download every free thing you can find out there, you will get lost in a virtual abyss. Just have fun.

Here is a layout I did for a special book for my grandma a few years back. I did all of the pages for my family, but haven't had time to do much since:(

Now that I am up to date on photos with my recent photobook order, I plan to get back into it.

I'm sure I have missed some great resources out there. Care to share any of your favorites??

Next up: Photoshop Tips.

on printing photos

Remember this post? I am guessing you don't, but a BIG thanks to those who commented because I have taken your advice. I am happy to report I am (pretty much) up to date with my photos being printed out (besides the ones I have taken in the last month).

I went ahead and used Shutterfly. I ordered a variety of types of books so that I could get a feel for what each was like. In retrospect I wish I would have stuck with my gut instincts and stuck with the all black hard-bound for all of my pics, but it was an education and now I know what I want for the future.



Shutterfly was running a promotion for 50% off of their photobooks for Father's Day, and because I was a new member I got 75 free prints. So I got all 5 books and 75 free prints for about $100- a steal in my opinion.

I was really happy with how many options Shutterfly had, how fast they uploaded my pictures, and how easy it was to put a book together.

What I've decided for the future- photobooks are the way to go!! I think I want to go ahead and just do thick 12 x 12's (I decided I would much rather pay for extra pages than have a bunch of little books) and stick with basic black. I will order them whenever they are having a good promotion (I am thinking I only want about 2 big ones each year) and I will back up all my files on cd's for my kids. In the future I would like to order soft-cover books for my kids when money isn't so tight. I am so happy about finding this solution and feel a little relieved even!

I think the smaller soft-cover books are going to be my new go-to grandparent gifts!

Another cool thing about Shutterfly is you can do digital scrapbooking, upload your pages to their website and just have them all printed out for you in book form. I think I may have to do that in the future too. Do you digital scrapbook? I hope to do a post about that soon. Stay tuned:)

photography

I love photography. I've taken a class here and there, and try to read up on how to take better photos whenever I get the chance, but have so much to learn and want a few pieces of equipment (right now I really want this and this) to help me out a bit.

But another favorite way of mine to 'educate' myself on how to take better photos is to subscribe to blogs of photographers I admire. Seeing the world through their eyes helps me envision what is possible with a camera and think out of the box more often.

One of my favorites (not to mention local and I kinda know her... a friend of a friend type thing) is Captured by Mikki. I was inspired recently by some engagements she just shot and wanted to share. Love the colors and the chemistry between these too.



Click here to see more from this session.

members only

What do you think of the new (I think) trend of the shopping websites where you become a member to get exclusive discounts on designer clothes, toys, housewares, etc.? I am a member of four now and while I think it is bad for the amount of time I spend online as well as my "case of the gimmes"/bank account, I must admit I enjoy looking at what sales they are offering.

These are the ones I am a member of:

Gilt Group


Haute Look


The Mini Social


Zulily


(In case you haven't heard of these and want to join- the membership is free.)

Not that I need to join any more, but do you have any that you are a member of and enjoy looking at? I am wondering how big of a trend this is, if it is a trend at all.


In other somewhat related news, I finally bit the bullet and paid for a yearly membership to America's Test Kitchen online.

They are another guilty pleasure of mine. I hesitated to do it for a long time because of how many recipe books, magazines, and just personal recipes I already have. But I have had so much success and so many rave reviews with the recipes I have tried from them. Plus my husband has somewhat of a picky palate and his mom is an amazing cook- and with ATK I always impress them:)

I am always tempted to buy every magazine and cookbook they come out with so I figured the fiscally wise thing to do was to stop buying the magazines and books and become a member of their website. Becoming a member gives you full access to all of their recipes, tips, tv segments that walk you through how to cook many of their recipes, and easy to print, read and follow recipes as well as grocery lists. I think I am going to love it.

a girl after my own heart

Have you seen this blog?

There are quite a few blogs out there similar to hers, but rarely do I feel so connected to so many of the the projects they do and/or feature. I also love her house and her white couches. And she has kids! She gives me hope that my white couch dream may be doable! Here are a few reasons I think she's great:

Her living room. How cute is her house?!


Check out these before and afters!!

Her entryway project. Are ya kidding me? I vow to no longer turn up my nose at particle board furniture.


Her kids' playroom. Love the chalk walls, the organization, and the white couch (brave, brave woman)!


Her adorable laundry room. I might not doing so much laundry walking into a room like this.


Cute bathroom details she made herself! She framed up the mirror, the light fixture is a repurposed piece she came up with and she made the adorable shower curtains!!

There are few things I love more than getting things dirt cheap, repurposing them, and beautifying my home. Thanks for the inspiration Cassity!