Don't Eat the Fortune Cookies (a tutorial)

I mentioned here about my first date with my husband at an Asian restaurant. So when we celebrated his birthday (which also happens to be a celebration of our first date), I made fortune cookies for him. Not the edible kind; these were made out of felt.

This was an easy and fun project and one I knew he would appreciate.

First I typed up and cut out fortunes and messages for him

First you cut circles out of felt. I made them about 1.5 inches in diameter but would recommend 2 -2.5 inches.

Then I laid a small piece of thin wire across the circle

I covered each piece of wire with a small piece of felt and glued it on with foam/felt glue

Place message inside, on top of the wire

Fold circle around the fortune/message

Fold in half again

Finished product!

I placed them in a Chinese takeout container

~Angela

A family on wheels!

I'll let the pictures tell the story, but to sum it up, my little girl LOVED rollerskating. We all did. We love adventures and FUN and this was both!

 

the smallest little skates I've ever seen:)

putting on the skates

our family on wheels

a little rest at the end was well deserved

~Angela

A Day at the Beach

We enjoyed our first day at the beach this year. The sand, the sun, the cool water of Lake Michigan...refreshing and so, so fun.

I still hear my daughter's shrieks of laughter as I look back at the pictures.  

It is these simple memories I love the most. I'll let the photos tell the story...

Daddy pushing the stroller to get to the shoreline (a workout and a half)

our little corner of the beach

something about these chubby little feet that just makes me smile

throwing sand

oops! Sand in the hair!

 

swimming in a dress...why not? One little girl was too excited to take the time to put a swimsuit on



Running along the dunes

~Angela

I Will be Present in the Moment

I take photos because I want to remember. And write because it’s therapeutic; it’s my way to wind down and relax. I love to share ideas and projects that inspire me. I love to create. In addition to scrapbooking (which I already do), I recently started blogging (obviously). Both blogging and scrapbooking help me document the moments, and create a record for my family (and online readers) that we are making the most of life. They also take up a lot of my time. Because now in addition to writing my own blog, I have been invited to guest post on other blogs, enter contests on other blogs and follow more blogs than I have hands and feet. So this new hobby has become one of the most time consuming hobbies I have.

I justify the time spent in my art room arranging photos and the time spent hovering over my computer, uploading pictures and typing away because I enjoy it. But it’s ironic that my blog “The Simple Things” about Simplifying my life/Enjoying the simple things in life has not simplified my life at all. And I don’t want to miss out on creating more memories and enjoying life’s moments because I am too busy recording every single moment of my family’s life from behind the camera, thinking about how I will turn this into a blog post or a scrapbook page layout later. I want to enjoy these moments through my own eyes. I will -occasionally- leave the camera behind. I will focus on the memories as we are making them, not in how I will document them later.

I will be present in the moment.

I originally wrote this as an entry for a contest at Real Simple.com.

~Angela

Super SIMPLE Recipe: Taco Casserole

This recipe started out when I planned on making crock pot spaghetti but the only ground beef I had was seasoned for tacos, so I improvised. And this is a new favorite recipe for my family.

Ingredients:

Box of noodles, cooked and drained

1 lb ground beef or turkey, browned, drained and seasoned with taco seasoning

2 cans Fire Roasted Tomatoes (like RoTel, but I substitute generic)

2 C shredded cheese.

Put in a crock pot on low for 4 hours (or high for 1 hour).

Easy, right? And tasty!

~Angela