I'm Lovin' It! - Tumblr Blog {and Giveaway}

Welcome to the Party!!


I run across somre really great stuff in blogville every day. Some I share the links on twitter and on facebook. But what I really love is my Tumblr Blog aka "TidyMom Finds"!! It's my "notebook" of sorts to keep track of all the awesome things I see around the web!

I love the simplicity of Tumblr, you can easily add great links while you are web surfing, because they provide a button you can put in your tool bar that says “add to tumblr” --one simple click and it's added - you can even have it tweet the post automatically to you twitter account if you want.

If you're ever wondering what great things I've found when I'm out and about on the web - just check my "TidyMom Finds" link...it's at the top in my toolbar.

**Edited to add------Today(Friday) is Mega Swagbucks Friday
If you signed up for Swagbucks and keep forgetting to use it, today would be a good day to jump back in! Ditto if you have to sign up still.

I've talked about Swagbucks before and I'm really loving all the Amazon gift cards I'm accumulating (I will use them for Christmas shopping)

***********
I have a treat for you today!!

This week I'm a featuring one of my favorite shop's and have a giveaway !




Snootie Patootie is owned by mother and daughter team, Judy and Robyn. At Snootie Patootie you can find great gifts for every occasion or for yourself. From children’s clothing, products by Little Giraffe, jewelry, Vagabond House pewter, and stylish bags, you can find them here. You can also follow them on twitter and facebook!


Would you like to win a $50 Gift Certificate code to use at Snootie Patootie?

******GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED******
congrats to Nancy of "How To" Homemaker

You can enter a few ways:

1. Link up your blog post to I'm Lovin' It this week (Make SURE your post has a link back to here...if it doesn't your ineligible to win)
2. Don't have a blog or post to link up?.....just leave a comment telling me what you are LOVIN' from Snootie Patootie!!
3. Tweet or Facebook about the party and giveaway (be sure to leave a comment telling what you did)

*This giveaway will close on Wed June 9th, 5pm CST.

What is I'm Lovin' It Fridays? get all the info, how to's and button here

Now let's see what you are loving this week!!

This post was sponsored by:


want to see your ad here? contact me





Don't miss a post subscribe via Rss Reader or by E-Mail

Angel Food Patriotic Delight {dessert}

In honor of Memorial day I have a super easy patriotic dessert to share today! This would also be great on Fourth of July or any other festive gathering during the summer season.

You know I'm all about simplicity, so when the awesome people at Lucky Leaf offered to send me some more of their fabulous pie filings and a few simple recipes that would look fantastic on the picnic table on Memorial Day, of course I said YES!

Memorial Day is day to remember the men and women who served and sacrificed to protect and defend our country. This weekend, we remember you.

How great does that look?!

Impress your friends and family, they'll never guess how easy it was, and you will have a show stopping dessert!

Less time in the kitchen...........means more time in the FUN!

Angel Food Patriotic Delight
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

1 prepared angel food cake
1 (3 oz) package of instant pudding (prepared)
1 (8oz) tub of whipped topping
1 (21 oz) can Lucky Leaf Apple Pie Filling
1 (21 oz) can Lucky Leaf Blueberry Pie Filling
1 (21 oz) can Lucky Leaf Cherry Pie Filling

• Prepare pudding according to package directions (I forgot to put milk in the picture above).
• Tear cake into bite size pieces.
  
• In a large bowl, gently mix the cake, pudding and whipped topping.
• In a separate clear bowl, spoon 1/3 of the cake mixture. Top with Lucky Leaf Blueberry Pie Filling. Layer second 1/3 of the cake mixture on blueberries. Top with Lucky Leaf Cherry Pie Filling. Repeat layers using final 1/3 of the cake mixture and ending with Lucky Leaf Apple Pie Filling.
  
• Refrigerate.
• Serve with additional whipped topping if desired.

**MY TIP - you could easily make this a little on the lighter side by using the sugar free pudding, low-fat milk, light or fat free Cool Whip and sugar free Angel Food cake (Walmart sells them in their bakery)

Be sure to "like" Lucky Leaf on Facebook and sign up for the Lucky Leaf Recipe Club to have recipes, time saving tips and specials sent direct to your email that will make your mouth water.

I wish you all a very relaxing Memorial Day holiday !

I'm sharing this recipe at Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam Mouth Watering Mondays and Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Tastes.

and




This post was sponsored by:


want to see your ad here? contact me

Disclosure: I was provided free samples of Lucky Leaf product from the manufacturer or representing PR agency for the purposes of writing this review. No monetary compensation was offered or accepted for this post. The opinions above are my own.

Don't miss a post subscribe via Rss Reader or by E-Mail

May Sponsor Shout Out!

It's time to share how grateful I am for the sponsors who have been so generous and supportive to TidyMom during the month of May! Show some love to these fantastic people and click over to their sites!

************************************

Photography Haven

A resource blog for tutorial, free and for purchase textures and actions as well as workshops for photography and editing to help both new and seasoned photographers.
Amanda provides Photoshop Element tutorials twice a week with step by step screen shots. Once a month she provides a video tutorial.


Amanda is also offering Photoshop Elements workshops . She is offering 3 two- hour online classes; Beginners, Intermediate and All About Actions. Each class is only $25 and includes access to private video tutorials that Amanda has created.

Snootie Patootie

is owned by mother and daughter team, Judy and Robyn. At Snootie Patootie you can find great gifts for every occasion or for yourself. From children’s clothing, products by Little Giraffe, jewelry, Vagabond House pewter, and stylish bags, you can find them here.
*Keep your eyes peeled for a great giveaway coming up soon.




Eclectic Whatnot

is owned by Ruthanne, a homeschooling mother of five. It gives her the opportunity to combine two of her new-found loves - photography and sewing. Her shop features shabby, chic and just plain fun camera strap covers and aprons {and more to come!}. Her sewing is fueled by good coffee, streaming episodes of 24 and show tunes





The Rusted Chain

Beki Hastings began making custom jewelry in 2003.

Her designs feature the best of timeless elegance and trendy looks, with the end result being quality jewelry that will look as new and fresh years from now as it does today. Each piece is custom made using sterling silver, natural stones, and the finest components. Her products include hand stamped jewelry, earrings, brooches, and hair accessories.




ColorIncProLabs

a full-service digital photo lab and offers a wide variety of other products such as quality standard prints at low prices (express prints are only 19¢), albums, photo books, greeting cards, color corrected printing and even12 x 12 scrapbook size pages!

Everyone can get 25 (4″x6″) prints FREE if you use the code tidy10!

Click here to enter to WIN a Gallery Wrap Canvas (ends 5/25)




RemodelingThisLife.com

Emily mostly writes about simplicity and frugality. She touches on organization, decluttering, and ways to simplify. She documents her family’s journey of downsizing to a smaller home and a simpler life, while sharing ideas for living fabulously without spending a lot of money.




PhotoJewelryMaking.com

is a family owned and operated business that makes making your own photo jewelry at home fun and easy! This is such a fun idea for making creative personalized gifts. Another AWESOME way to show off the ones you love most.



Designs By Jessie

is a shop full of gorgeous fabrics made into, camera straps, camera strap covers, iPhone pockets, Notebook covers, CD visors and more!

Once again, THANK YOU to all of my sponsors this month!

You really are the best!

If you are interested in advertising on TidyMom.net, please contact me at tidymom{at}charter.net{dot}net

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

Don't miss a post subscribe via Rss Reader or by E-Mail

365 Project ~March 2010

Wow, March came and went with a blink of an eye didn't it?

I realized I didn't get a chance to post my 365 project mosaic from March!


(you can click the mosaic to see more detail of each picture if you wish)

I am REALLY enjoying taking a picture every day, it makes you stretch your abilities, try new things and look at things a different way.

As I approach my 100th day this weekend, I have to say, I've been quite impressed with myself!
There's only been a day or two that I've though "ugh, I need to take a picture".....most of the time I'm excited about it. Funny thing is, the days that I feel the most uninspired and think I have just NOTHING to shoot, are the days I seem to come up with some of my best shots!!

Flickr has such a GREAT community of people, who give me support, inspiration and encouragement. They are the reason I keep going!!

So how about you guys? Any of you doing a 365 project?

If not, you can start ANY time! If you want to get better at your photog skills, or just want a really neat way to document your year, I encourage you to give it a try!! If you aren't sure about how to do it, or how it works, just let me know.....I'd be happy to help you out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I'm wrapping up March, I'd also like to give a big shout out and thank you to the top 6 referrers to TidyMom in March

The Nester - that girl LOVES these

Blue Cricket Designs - I was THRILLED to swap blogs with Becca here.

Bake at 350 - I'm still in AWE of the cookies Bridget sent for my birthday!

How Does She? - These 3 talented girls impress me every day!

320 Sycamore - I'm ALWAYS amazed at the ideas Melissa shares!

Living Locurto - The talent this woman has is UNBELIEVABLE! The freebies, the downloads, party ideas and have you seen her meal plans? She even has a printable shopping list for each weekly meal plan!

You ladies are all AWESOME and make me smile every day! ♥

****REMINDER****

Don't forget to share what you are loving this week!!
The linky party starts this evening (Thurs) - I usually have it up around 10PM CST.

Not sure what it's all about? Click here to read more!!

~ Don't miss my Current Giveaway - Zicam Cold Remedy ~

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

Thank you to TidyMom Sponsors

I would like to take a moment and give my sponsors the credit they deserve. They support me and give me the opportunity to do what I love most: share the things I love with you. But most important, they offer some really beautiful things.

Check out what these fine groups have to offer.



Beki Hastings began making custom jewelry in 2003.

Her designs feature the best of timeless elegance and trendy looks, with the end result being quality jewelry that will look as new and fresh years from now as it does today. Each piece is custom made using sterling silver, natural stones, and the finest components. Her products include hand stamped jewelry, earrings, brooches, and hair accessories.

Beki is offering a 10% discount at The Rusted Chain to all TidyMom readers thru the end of April!
Just use the code tidy10 when you check out to receive your discount!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amanda, is a stay-at-home mom of four children. She started buying Usborne Books in 2003, joined the company in 2006 and by April 2007 had been promoted to supervisor.

Usborne Books and More are award winning, high quality educational children's books for all ages. With over 1400 titles, we have something for everyone!

80% of our titles are priced under $10

"The future of our world depends on the education of our children. UBAM delivers educational excellence one book at a time. We provide economic opportunity while fostering strong family values. We touch the lives of children for a lifetime."

Visit Usborne Books and More and buy $85 worth and receive free books and qualify for two customer specials.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PhotoJewelryMaking.com is a family owned and operated business located in Michigan. It is the world's largest photo jewelry supplies super store, offering a large selection of photo jewelry making items, offering wholesale photo jewelry pricing to everyone. They work hard to bring you new photo jewelry making supplies and new Italian photo charm making supplies and kits each week.

Photojewelrymaking.com makes making your own photo jewelry at home fun and easy! Many of their customers have even started their own small businesses making and selling photo jewelry to clients!

Click around PhotoJewelryMaking.com and try your hand a new project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Jessie is a mother to 3 wonderful boys, with a very supportive husband, and a very hyper puppy. She is an entrepreneur, crafter, inventor and engineer. Most importantly....she is just a girl, playing around with pretty things that make her happy..

Designs By Jessie is a shop full of gorgeous fabrics made into, camera strap covers, iPhone pockets, Notebook covers, CD visors and more!

Click here to visit Designs by Jessie to see all of her yummy designs!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Liz McIntyre of Foster, Rhode Island purchased Brown & Hopkins Country Store in 2004, and is honored to carry on the tradition of the oldest country store in continuous operation in the United States. The store now specializes in primitive and country home accessories, reproduction furniture, and period lighting.

If you're lucky enough to live near or visit Rhode Island, you can browse two floors and discover wonderful gifts candles, quilts, framed prints, and more! Of course, you'll still find old fashioned candy (still some for just a penny!), gourmet specialties, yard goods and an assortment of antiques. From the potbelly stove (retired, but still admired) to the old wooden floors and beamed ceilings, Brown & Hopkins maintains much of its authenticity and continues to attract people from all over the country to its doors.

If you're not one of the lucky ones who can visit Brown & Hopkins in person, you can shop their online site and purchase many items that can be found in this historical landmark.

Liz invites you to visit often ~ truly step back in time and experience for yourself good old fashioned charm and hospitality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanya's goal of Lucky Girl Design Studio is to make your blog or website reflect your personality and make it feel like home!

Visit Lucky Girl Design Studio now!
Everything in the studio is 15% off thru April 11th, 2010

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you’ll take a minute to look around at each of these wonderful places. These are all small shop owners who are trying to stay afloat in our economy and I wish each of them the best.

If any of you out there have a shop you’d like to advertise with me, I have some slots available, so please contact me by email for my current rates - I LOVE supporting small business and my friends, I do more than just put your button on my sidebar!

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

Raspberry Filled Vanilla Cupcakes

So last week I showed you the cookies I made for Easter.

But Sunshine wanted cupcakes.

I wanted simple.

I was originally just going to make Vanilla cupcakes with Vanilla Butter Cream frosting.

But I thought that sounded a little boring......

what could I do to "kick it up a notch?"

When I thought.........RASPBERRY FILLING!!

These were really easy when I used the secret trick of making a box mix taste like homemade!

French Vanilla Cupcakes

(print recipe here)

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe French Vanilla (this is my FAVORITE vanilla cake mix)

3 Large Eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted (use butter not margarine....trust me on this!)

1 cup of water

Directions

Melt the butter in the microwave.

Add cake mix, eggs and water to the butter in large bowl.

Mix on low for 1 min. Then mix on high for 1 min.

You will be amazed that your batter is nice and thick and creamy - not thin and runny like it is when you follow the box instructions.

Fill cupcake papers - tip: use an icecream scooper! - One scoop is just the right amount per cupcake!

Pop them in the oven on 350 for 20 minutes.

Let cool.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the raspberry filling

Raspberry Filling

2 full cups frozen unsweetened raspberries, thaw with 1/4 cup sugar (or thaw sweetened raspberries with out adding sugar, unsweeted was what I had on hand)

1/3 cup sugar

1-1/4 cups water*

6 Tbsp flour (or 3 T. corn starch - I didn't have corn starch)

1 tsp lemon juice

In a medium sauce pan, combine water*, sugar, flour and lemon juice and mix well. If there is any juice in your raspberries, drain the juice and add to water = 1-1/4 liquid. (I didn't have much juice at all, but if you by sweetened raspberries, they may yield more sauce.)

Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens.

Cool completely.

Stir in thawed raspberries.

Yields approximately 2 cups of filling.

(I made 1/2 of this recipe because I didn't want to fill all of my cupcakes.)

Filling your cupcakes

1. Bake cupcakes and cool completely
2. Cut out a small cone shaped section in the center of the cupcake
   
3. add raspberry filling to the hole
4. replace the tops (just do the best you can- they don't have to be perfect)
5. Now they are ready to frost.

Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup real butter (not margarine) *room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
1/4 - 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
paste food coloring

Thoroughly cream butter and shortening . Beat in the vanilla. Add sugar, one cup at a time until blended. When the sugar is completely beaten in and the sides of the bowl are scraped down, add the whipping cream, beating at the highest speed until super fluffy, about one minute.

If you wish to add color to your frosting, like I did, use the gel paste food coloring. It's stronger and more vibrant. Add frosting to a pastry bag with your favorite tip and frost! I only filled 1/2 of my cupcakes, so I frosted the filled cupcakes in white frosting with sprinkles....the cupcakes with the pink and yellow frosting do not have filling.

(print full recipe here)

If you enjoy filled cupcakes, you may want to check out the Chocolate Strawberry Filled Cupcakes I made.

I Heart Faces is hosting

My Story in Photos: Dessert Edition

I'm sure there will be some AMAZING recipes and photos!!

I'm also linking this post to Sweet Shot Tuesdays!

I'm sharing this recipe at Bake at 350, Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam Mouth Watering Mondays and Tuesdays at the Table, Cupcake Tuesday, Foodie Friday Make Ahead Meals (Cakes) recipe exchanges, and Kimba's DIY Day, and Strut Your Stuff and Spring Fever Friday and Tip Me Tuesday,

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me



Don't miss a post subscribe via Rss Reader or by E-Mail

I'm Lovin' It! ~Easter Cut-Out Cookies

Welcome to the Party!! I'm Lovin' It is a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate things that makes us happy....things we are loving! Please share anything from a new(or old) product, to a recipe, a picture you took, a project, or even your children or family.....really anything that you would like to share that you are loving right now!!

First I have a bit of business to address........

• You may want to pop over here to see if you were the winner of The Rusted Chain Giveaway {hint, there's a little something for everyone!}
  

• Did you see who was the guest poster here on TidyMom yesterday? Stephanie of Somewhat Simple posted a few great projects you can see here and I will be guest posting on her AMAZING blog today(friday)!!.......so when you're finished here, hop over to Somewhat Simple and say hello to me over there and take a look around while you're there!!

This week I am loving the Easter/Spring cookies I made!

I used my Butter Cookie recipe and decorated with Royal Icing and sprinkles.

I owe some BIG thanks to Bridget for all of her wonderful tips on Royal Icing!.....
if you've never decorated cookies with royal icing, or would just like some tips from a pro.....Bridget has a few fantastic posts .....

Royal Icing 101 and Royal Icing 102

See that cute green egg with the yellow hearts?

Learned how to do that snazy trick from Sweetopia here

you'll never guess how easy that was!

and I think these little chickies are my favorites!!

Bake it Pretty has an awesome video on how to roll out cookie dough!
see the video here.

I'm not very steady with my piping .......but click the picture below to see my cookies from last year!

This was my first attempt at royal icing......not bad, but I think I've improved some!

Over the weekend I got together with a few friends to show them how easy it is to decorated cupcakes!! - didn't they do a fabulous job?.....You can see more pictures on Angie's blog. - I'm going to warn you though, she shows you how messy I am when I decorate! LOL

Check out these great parties that I linked this post to:
Bake at 350, Strut Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff Easter/Spring, Ultimate Recipe Swap,

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

***************

Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address in the MckLinky form below (need help with finding the permalink? click here to see a great post Darcy wrote on this!)
   
2. Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is loving today and have an opportunity to contribute! You can use the code below to add the banner to your posts or blog if you'd like.
   
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what makes a party fun!! You don't want to come to a party and have no one talk to you!!
   
4. Let me know if you have any questions, problems or need help!
   

MckLinky will stay open until April 4, 2010 11pm CST.

<a href="http://www.tidymom.net"><img border="0" src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k190/tidymom/my%20blog%20stuff/layout%20stuff/Imlovinit_button.png" /></a>