Tara Anderson + Mimosa giveaway!

Thanks for all your great input on Tara's guest blogging last week. It sounds like you loved having her as much as we did! She's got fantastic style and a great eye. We were inspired!

I'm sure you're all anxious, so here is our winner, using random.org.

Congratulations to Robin!

We all want to give that panna cotta a try too! Send over your mailing info to seiblog(at)shopsei(dot)com and we'll send along your prize. Thanks again to everyone!

Tara's Giveaway!

I just love the Mimosa collection! The citrusy shades, the chartreuse greens, the pleated ribbon, perfect for summer! I had this photo from a recent trip to a ranch, and since the photo was so simplistic I wanted the colors and design to mimic that simplicity. My color combo: green, white and brown.

This page was super easy to create!! Here's a few tips for 'lifting' this page:
• I hand cut various lengths of paper strips and sewed them onto the cardstock.
• The lime green ribbon was already pleated, so I just took a small piece of ribbon, overlapped the ends together and sewed the center of the circle, to create a pleated flower. (I also ironed the flower on low-heat to flatten a little)


• I used the polka-dot stamp, and stamped randomly over the paper on the bottom of the page with a lime ink block. I wanted the green to fade into the white cardstock.
• Before adding the photo, I sprayed a little black paint on the page.
• Add the photo, then the frame and leaves, and finally the flower last.

Happy scrapping!!

Thank you so much for spending the week with me and I had the most wonderful time being the guest blogger for SEI!! xo~ Tara

The giveaway from Tara includes a yummy assortment of Mimosa summer goodies. Leave a comment telling Tara what your favorite post was and why. The giveaway will be open until Sunday, August 16th at midnight. It includes the following:

• Mimosa Shimmer accents
• Mimosa ribbon
• Mimosa Frames & Tags
• Mimosa Clear Stamps
• Mimosa Assortment Pack

My Favorite Summertime Photos

If you could only describe summer through photographs, what would they be? Watermelon? A pool party? The beach? Here's a few of my favorite photos from this summer, as seen through the view finder of my cute little 1950's camera!










These are all true ttv photos. Through the Viewfinder photography (TtV) is defined as taking a picture of any subject "through the viewfinder" of any camera with another camera. I love the results I get, a digital image with the look of a vintage photo. I use an Anscoflex and sometimes a Duraflex camera. It's definitely become one of my favorite hobbies!!

Hi again!! Want to join me for dessert?!!

Panna Cotta is quite possibly one of my favorite desserts to make because it's so simple and yet elegant all at the same time! It's a very easy and quick recipe, my Grandma would say it needs a pinch of salt, but I've never added it (shhh... don't tell on me!) and I still think it tastes perfect every time!

Panna Cotta
Ingredients:
• 3 T. milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge.)
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
optional* raspberries, blueberries and almonds

Directions:
1.Pour milk into a small bowl, and stir in the gelatin powder. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
2. In a saucepan, stir together the heavy cream and sugar, add the milk/gelatin mixture and set over medium heat. Stir until gelatin has completely dissolved. Bring to a full boil, stirring consistently, and cook for about 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and pour into six individual ramekin dishes.
4.Cool the ramekins uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving.
5. Spoon the berries and almonds on top of the panna cotta and serve.

It's the most wonderful dessert! Hope you enjoy the recipe!

Ideas & Tips for the Perfect Picnic

I adore picnics. Always have, since I was just a little girl playing make believe picnic on the living room floor. So, I thought it might be fun to take a peek into my picnic basket, and talk about a few extra details for creating the perfect picnic. To make my job of CPO (chief picnic officer) a little less stressful, I head to the grocery store the day before to pick up all of the food. Yes, I like to keep it simple!


My favorite picnic food? I follow a guide line of:
• 1 main dish (cold fried chicken or sandwiches)
• 1 salad or side (pasta salad with veggies)
• 2 fruits (watermelon and berries)
• 1 dessert (glazed doughnut holes or fortune cookies)
•2 drinks (iced tea and lemonade are my favorite!!)

* I also add in a Tupperware container full of snack foods like; sliced deli meats, crackers and spreadable cheese for the kids.


Whenever I visit a thrift shop, I always take a trip down the kitchen isle, to look for things that could be useful for dining outside. Vintage tins make lovely dessert containers. Metal trays are not only useful for serving on, but also to keep glasses from tipping over. Don't forget to look for vintage cloth napkins and blankets or quilts!



A picnic just wouldn't be a picnic without a few fun outdoor activities! I'll pick out a plastic bucket and shovel for each child at our picnic, (the dollar store is your best friend for toys like this!) and then I add just a couple more small items to each bucket such as bottles of bubbles, a jump-rope, a small kite and a book or two for story time!

It takes a little planning, but picnics are oh so worth it!!

Magnets, DIY project

This week, my 4 year old, Alaina, has started Kindergarten! It's so hard to believe that I have a child in school already, but I'm so excited for her. I wanted to create some different magnets for the fridge to proudly display all of her artwork and papers that she'll be bringing home. This project is the perfect reason to get out that over-flowing box of scrap paper, and create something useful and cute!


Repurposed Paper Magnets

Materials needed:
• magnets (I used rare-earth magnets)
• 1 inch circle punch
• little paper scraps & cardstock scraps
• glue (I like E6000 glue for my magnets)
• double sided tape
• Starbucks coffee sleeves


Directions:
1. Punch circles from the coffee sleeves

2. Working with the coffee sleeve circle, use a piece of double-sided tape placed in the center of the circle, and start to piece little scraps of paper next to one another, and some that are overlapping eachother.


3. Trim excess paper from around the circle as you go. (after this step I sewed the pieces of paper together for my magnets) Add a coat or 2 of mod-podge to seal the paper and let dry.

4. Using the E6000 glue, glue on a magnet to the smooth part of the coffee sleeve and let dry overnight.

And presto!! Cute perfectly pieced magnets, and completely made from your leftovers!!

On a crafty note

So, to start this week on a fun crafty note, I thought I would share a new project I've been working on this summer. I keep a shoe box full of magazine clippings that I liked or just found interesting. I love opening the box and rummaging through them whenever I need some inspiration or color ideas. A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to make a little altered book all about vintage items and inspiring design ideas. Really though, I'll make up any excuse just to create a mini book!!




All of the inside pages are made from large index cards, which ended up being perfect, because I could add little notes on them in the white spaces.




I also thought this idea would be a cute idea for organizing wedding/bridal images and ideas, or for recipes and food photos. Maybe some future ideas to play with!!

A little about me...

Hello! I'm Tara, an island girl at heart, now living in the sunny desert of beautiful Arizona! I have a fun and sometimes slightly chaotic household that includes my husband Peter, a crafty 4 year old Alaina, my sweet little baby love Chase, who's 10 months old already, and 2 cute dogs. They're all my very favorite subjects to scrapbook!

I try to scrapbook or to be somewhat crafty everyday, but I also really enjoy spending my time; cooking or baking, collecting books, hunting for buried treasures in thrift-stores, spending time outside with the kids, listening to good music, and having painting time with Alaina. When I have extra time, I create products and other scrapbook goodness for my little online shop called With a Twist. I'm super lucky to be able to work at home doing something I love!

I have a long list of favorites, but here's some of my current loves and inspirations!!: vintage floral pillow cases, bone china, pretty desserts, mason jars filled with green leaves, summer storms, taking TTV (<--through the viewfinder, click for explanation) photos and documenting the everyday little things that make life wonderful! I'm so excited to be SEI's guest blogger this week, and I hope you'll enjoy a peek into my life!

Guest Blogger, Tara Anderson

Next week we are having an amazing blogger, Tara Anderson. Her photos and scrap booking skills are truly uplifting and charming. If you want to get lost in beautiful papers, colors & patterns visit her blog or her Flikr. Personally I'm not too familiar with Flikr, but you don't need to understand it to appreciate Tara's images. Here's a little about her:

Here are some random facts about me:
• I moved to Arizona by way of Hawaii
• I'm a wife and a mommy to 2 cute little kids
• I have a small collection of gorgeous orchids
• I love making pretty scrapbook pages
• there's always music playing in some room of my home
• I have late night peanut butter cravings when I'm suppose to be working
• and my favorite part of the day is when I make dessert!