22 recipes | rice noodle salad

20 May 2014

Rice Noodle Salad with prawns and Thai dressing by Gordon Ramsay

I made this for lunch one week day for my mom and I.

And it was super flavorful and a huge hit. The dressing is a combination of sour and salty, with a punch of spicy from the red chili at the end. I made one serving and thought it would be more than enough, but my mom and I ended up finishing most of it, with only a small serving leftover.

Delish!

AmeliaWrites-22recipes-ricenoodle

Recipe from Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite

14 down, 8 to go.

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The 22 recipes are part of my 22 list, a list of 22 things I’m working to accomplish while I’m twenty-two. Check out my other 22 recipes here.

Project Life 2014 // week 7

15 May 2014

Week of: 10 February to 16 February 2014

What happened this week: Went on a girls’ date, IKEA, and the Air Show.

Techniques: As you might be able to tell, my new-found love for stamping on photos did not stop at week 6 and totally spilled over into week 7. That, and Kelly Purkey’s alpha stickers on my photos. Perfect combination. Plus, I just had to find a way to include my new Kelly Purkey stamps into the spread.

Other familiar things this week included Instax photos and a trimmed Project Life Design C page protector insert.

I also included a die-cut of the free printable that my friend Vanessa made of her amazing script writing. Love it.

Here’s the full spread with the front of the insert:

And the back of the insert. Nothing too fancy here.

I made a flap for the top photo of the insert because I had too many photos and wanted to include them all!

Thoughts: You know how there are some weeks where you just adore the color scheme? Yeah. That was this week for me. The colors of the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer kit + Maggie Holmes Flea Market kit worked nicely for an (unintentional) mint and pink color scheme so I just rolled with it. I liked how it fit the Valentine’s Day feel too.

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Supplies used: Project Life Dear Lizzy Daydreamer mini kit, Maggie Holmes Flea Market mini kit, Studio Calico Atlantic 6×6 paper pad, Project Life Midnight edition, printable from Vanessa, Kelly Purkey alphabet stickers, Kelly Purkey Documented clear stamps, Kelly Purkey Bon Appetit clear stamps, Basic Grey enamel dots, Dear Lizzy Daydreamer wood buttons, Studio G clear stamps, Amy Tangerine Remarks stickers

Tools: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, Becky Higgins Project Life Design C page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Becky Higgins die set, Sizzix Big Shot, Tsukineko Brilliance ink in black

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

22 recipes | banana bread

13 May 2014

Banana Bread by Bake House

What do you do when you have a comb of ripe bananas in the kitchen?

Make banana bread!

I tried this banana bread recipe after having it on my Pinterest board for over a year. I know, don’t judge. I pin much more than I actually get to try the recipes. But better late than never, for sure.

I omitted the cinnamon chips, but the amount of bananas used made this bread delicious and moist, with added crunch from the walnuts. I also love that I don’t have to use the mixer to make this. It made for a filling breakfast/snack for a couple of days before it was wiped clean! Yum.

13 down, 9 to go.

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The 22 recipes are part of my 22 list, a list of 22 things I’m working to accomplish while I’m twenty-two. Check out my other 22 recipes here.

The Gift of Mothers

11 May 2014

Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

Proverbs 31:28

Mothers truly are God’s gift. They never stop giving, and their sacrifice of love and care is immeasurable. Such a profound glimpse of the same love that Jesus shows to us.

So to mothers, because you hold your children’s hands for awhile, but their hearts forever – happy blessed Mother’s Day.

And to my mom who does all that and more, thank you + I love you.

Friday Favorites no. 024 | links from the week

9 May 2014

So many wall art ideas, not enough time (or space).
Heather’s open and honest post about reading the Bible.
Thinking of trying these salad dressing recipes.
Such a cute and quick DIY project.
Overall good blogging and business advice from Bethany.
Being inspired by this new magazine. Can’t wait to sit down and savor it in detail.
Better get on this list while I’m still twenty-something.
Pros and cons I can relate to.

The stress levels around here are a little bit high, with final assignment deadlines looming.

But on the bright side, I’m totally embracing the fact that it’s Friday.
Have a good one! xx.

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Life is often full and busy. But I like to take time to enjoy some of my favorite things. So Friday Favorites is a weekly series where I share my favorite(s) for the week. Check out my other Friday Favorites here.

Project Life 2014 | week 6

8 May 2014

Week of: 3 February to 9 February 2014

What happened this week: Ran several errands this week, sent a friend off to National Service, and attended the Air Force Family Day.

Techniques: Besides including instax photos, I tried several “new” things – including a trimmed Project Life Design C page protector as an insert for all my extra 4×6 photos, stamping on my photos with Brilliance ink, and saving memorabilia in the form of our Family Day passes.

Here’s the full spread with the front of the insert:

And the back of the insert:

I used grey washi tape to seal the pocket with our passes so they wouldn’t slip out, and used my Tiny Attacher to staple an October Afternoon die cut label to the insert.

Thoughts: I was a little nervous about stamping on my photos at first because I was afraid the ink would smear. But Brilliance ink did a really nice job. Just give everything a little bit of time to dry. Since it worked, I actually really love the look of stamping on my photos and will definitely do it again. It fills up the white space in photos very nicely.

I also used quite a bit of kraft (from Maya Road) on several pockets to bring the whole spread altogether. Again, I love using coordinating papers from one collection to help the spread come together in a snap!

This was such a fun week and I’m so glad that I have memories recorded!

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Supplies: Studio Calico woodgrain geotags, Studio Calico wood veneer, Maya Road kraft tags, Amy Tangerine Draft clear stamps, October Afternoon Travel Girl tidbits, Dear Lizzy Daydreamer Project Life mini kit, Project Life Midnight edition core kit, washi tape, Doodlebug enamel dots, Studio Calico Atlantic 6×6 paper pad, Studio G clear stamps

Tools: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, Becky Higgins Project Life Design C page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, American Crafts 2-inch scallop punch, Tsukineko Brilliance ink in gold and black

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Creative Conversations no. 003 | chatting with Lauren Hooper

7 May 2014

When I first discovered Lauren’s blog, she had just announced her move to South Korea. Immediately, I felt a connection to her through her posts because we both do Project Life and I am dreaming about teaching abroad someday too! I love that we have several things in common, including our love for creativity. It is such a pleasure having Lauren on the blog today, despite her busy schedule with making necessary preparations for the big move. Read on and be inspired by her creativity!

Tell me about yourself. Hi! I’m Lauren from This Handmade Circus. I’m 25, I’ve been married for 4 years and currently live in Georgia, but we are preparing to moving to South Korea this summer for teaching jobs. I really love any kind of crime TV show, I am unashamed about my addiction to Young Adult Fiction novels and I could eat soup at every meal. I truly believe laughing should be an Olympic sport. And I once tried to not buy anything for a year to see if I could recycle, do without or make it myself. Also, I want to make ALL the things.

What is one weird or interesting fact about you? In college I owned a hedgehog named Stella.

What do you do to express your creativity? I seriously have creativity ADHD. I have a crazy huge pile of unfinished projects because I see something and immediately try to make it. I have used my love for making things to decorate our entire home, our wedding, most gifts I give are some kind of DIY, I record our life with scrapbooks and photo albums. I try to find a way to use my hands as much as I can in whatever project, event or idea I’m working on.

How did you get started doing this? As a kid I owned EVERY art kit there was. Light Bright, Spirograph, sand art, anything Lisa Frank, Spin art, felt coloring pages, paper bead rolling. I loved it all, I wanted to learn how to do it all and still do! Which is my greatest weakness/strength. I am constantly learning new techniques and trying new things.

What do you love most about what you do to be creative? I love the finished project. I love being able to display something that I’ve handmade and use it as a way to remember a time or event or emotion and enjoy it.

Who or what inspires you? I am so in love with blogs and Pinterest, but sometimes I think they un-inspire me! I have to be really careful as sometimes I will confuse ‘inspiration’ with just wanting to make what someone else did. Which there is nothing wrong with, because there are some awesome things out there! But, I really love solving problems. So I draw a lot of my ideas from finding a need and filling it with a DIY project. Like with my washi tape box. I needed somewhere to store all my tapes and had found some things I liked but weren’t perfect for me or were too expensive. So I made something all my own and it was the best feeling and it sparked a ton more ideas for future projects.

How do you stay inspired? What do you do when you feel stuck or uninspired? When I do feel stuck, I go to the greats. I can always find an idea or a million from Elise, Caylee, Elsie and Emma, NaNa, Heather. I will force myself to create a Pinterest project if I really am stuck and just need to start a new project, which will in turn get my going and spark some interest in something and next thing I know I’m convinced I can make an entire quilt in one night. (this may have happened recently….) I also am in crazy love with the Better Homes and Garden DIY magazine!

Why do you do what you do? What motivates you to be creative? Again, I think a lot of the projects I do are to fill a need. Like decorating our home. One of my biggest passions right now is scrapbooking and doing Project Life. PL keeps me being crafty on a consistent basis and helps me record our life, which is so, so important to me. But, I also have a constant need to create. I love working with my hands, choosing color schemes and spray painting things.

Describe your creative style. Ack. This is too hard to answer. I constantly go back and forth from loving white space and minimalism and then back to being in love with all the fantastic products out there and loving color too much! I like layers in projects and I like a good focal point. I think my style has been changing a lot recently and I like that, I just haven’t quite landed on words to describe it yet.

Name your top five favorite tools or products.

Micron Pen
Hole puncher
Paper cutter
Tape runner
Washi tape

I could conquer the world with these 5 things.

Are you an early bird or a night owl? When are you most productive? Mornings are a sin against mankind. Seriously. I work way into the night frequently, but my optimal time is 2pm to about 6pm. There’s something about that afternoon light that gives me superhuman productivity and ideas.

What project(s) are you currently working on? I am currently trying to wrap all my unfinished projects up since were moving! I’m trying to finish my scrapbook from our summer cross country trip, I’m trying to make a ton of mini books about our time here in GA, and I also learned how to crochet recently so I’m trying to get all my leftover yarn made into some scarves (which makes perfect sense since summer just hit), oh and I’m learning calligraphy and working on a few secret blog projects!

If you had to be a color in a crayon box, which color would you be? That tealish, blue color that you actually really like and goes surprisingly well with colors you didn’t expect it to, but you kind of feel like it’s being sarcastic about not being blue but not being green.

If you could possess a super power, which one would you choose? Invisibility. I’m super nosy and want to know all about people’s private conversations and what famous people eat for dinner and what they watch on TV.

What is your favorite quote? This is what I would consider my life verse that I try to live by.

Isaiah 61:1-2

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn.

Thank you so much for having me Amelia! Be sure to stop by the blog to check out project tutorials and other random musings and then join me on Instagram and we can take tons of #whereistand photos!

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Creative Conversations is a blog series getting to know fellow creatives and friends that I’ve made through the internet. Read more about Creative Conversations here.

22 recipes | oreo brownies

6 May 2014

Oreo Brownies by Sugar and Snapshots

As I type this post, I realize that I’ve never made Oreo brownies before I tried this recipe. How is that even possible?!

I love Oreo cookies on their own, with the traditional glass of cold milk. But this Oreo brownie combines the goodness of this cookie and chocolate for an absolutely decadent result. It was so delicious that I made it twice within the same week. It was that good.

Just be sure to follow the instructions carefully, especially when beating the egg whites to get the light fluffiness in the brownie.