I've taken a scrapbooking hiatus for a little while... okay, like years.  My laptop died way-back-when and I started using Kevin's old Macbook.  Because Mac is different from Windows and his version of Photoshop was different from mine, I felt like it took me forever to do anything and I got frustrated.  So, I kind of quit. 

But, now that Baby is on the way, I want to get back into it because as we all know... she will be the most photographed child in the world.  For my first project, I am making a custom baby book... here are my first two page layouts.

Kit: Handle with Care by Studio Dawn Inskip
Fonts: Dead Hardy, Bira, Smoke

Today was a great day!  Went for my second anatomy scan (last time they weren't able to get a good look at the heart.)  Baby's heart looks great and we got some cool (okay, creepy) 3-D pics that we weren't expecting.  Then I decided to stop at Subway on the way home to congratulate myself and found out that it's free cookie day!  It just doesn't get better than this!

Well, we're halfway there... 21 weeks down, 19 to go!  And it's time to get to work on the nursery.  Here's my mood board... I call it "Feminine Woodland Creatures".  The color scheme is based on a quilt that my mom made for me about 10 years ago (top left.) 

I came home from Lowes a couple weeks ago with a stack of at least 100 light blue paint chips.  What can I say, I like to be thorough.  Kevin looked through the first 12 in the stack and slapped one down on the table, "This one."  Valspar's Paradise Blue.  I liked it, too, but I was afraid it was going to be too dark, so I chose a lighter one called Breakwater and got samples of both.     

After I got them on the wall, there was no contest.  Kev was right.  (Did I say that out loud?)  The lighter one said "I wanted to paint my daughter's room blue, but I didn't want to be too weird about it, so I went with a 'safe' blue."  The darker one said, "Yeah, I painted my little girl's room blue.  Whaddyagonnadoaboutit?"

Still trying to decide what to do about the chair rail... do I paint the wall underneath white?  The same color blue?  I don't know, we'll see. 

I also found some beautiful sheer fabric that I plan to use as a window valance.  My sewing skills are almost nil, so that should be interesting and generate a lot of colorful language.

We have another ultrasound on Monday... probably the last time we'll get to see our little one before she joins us in June.  Will post pics if we get any good ones!

This is not the first time I have posted this recipe, but I haven't made it in several years.  When I tasted it again tonight, I realized just how good it was... why have I waited so long to make this again??  This time I followed the instructions to bake it and it turned out great.  Nice and crispy!  Still a little messy to flip (I turned it halfway through), but otherwise a quick and easy meal.  Serve with extra salsa on the side!

Today was a good day... it snowed on a weekend!  That doesn't seem very exciting, but for me it is!  You see, I LOVE to bake when it's snowing.  But with my luck, it seems to always snow on a day I have to go to work.  So when I looked at the weather report on Friday and saw that we were expecting snow this weekend, I stopped by the store on the way home and stocked up on butter and eggs.

First I made Chocolate Banana Bread.  Kevin likes to take bananas in his lunch, but sometimes we end up with some that don't get eaten.  So when they're looking a little less than stellar, they go into a ziplock bag in the freezer, so I am always stocked up for banana bread.

Then I decided to make some of his favorite cookies for Valentine's Day.  This recipe is from a cookbook called A Peak at the Springs from the Colorado Springs Junior League.  They were giving out samples of these cookies a couple years ago when Kevin and I went to their Kitchens With Altitude event, which is like the Parade of Homes, but with super high-end kitchens.  I'm not a fan of coconut, but you can't really taste it in this cookie. 

The recipe makes 4 dozen... I asked Kevin if he was going to take them to work and he said "No.  That would be sharing."  LOL  I guess that means he likes them.

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie!

Isn't my little raven the coolest?  Totally free-handed, not that I'm bragging ;-P  Interesting that my raven is better than my oval for the SF pennant.  Simple shapes require an exactness that I don't have. 

I used two new tools in this week's cookie-making extravaganza.

The first was my new Joesph Joseph adjustable rolling pin that Kevin gave me for Christmas.  Let me just tell you that this thing is The.  Bomb. 

I had been using square dowels from Home Depot as my thickness guide, and well, they were getting a little worn.  (Splinter cookies, anyone?)  Originally I wanted an adjustable dough board, but apparently they don't make them anymore, so he found me this contraption.  The 1/4" setting is perfect for cookies, and there's even a 1/8 or a 1/16" for pie crust!  (I guess that means I have to start making my own pie crust now, huh?  Hmph.)

The other tool I used was a heat gun.  Remember the cratering that I've been complaining about?  Well, the Experts say that a heat gun helps with this problem, so I stole (acquired) Kevin's heat gun out of the garage.  It did actually help some, though I did get a little cratering still on my dots, it wasn't nearly as bad as usual. 

I also used the convection feature on my oven to see if I could bake two sheets of cookies at the same time and have them bake evenly.  The answer is yes, but even though the oven adjusts the temperature for you, I found that I needed to adjust the time down as well to avoid over-cooking.  The cookies are a little crunchy, but I learned something.

Hope everyone enjoys the game tomorrow!  (okay, commercials.  I mean, who really watches the game??  Did you see the one with the baby Clydesdale?  awww...) 

Credits / Inspiration

Chic Cookie
The Art of Cookie
Sweet Tweets Online @ Etsy