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Friday, March 29, 2013

Friday Freebies!

It's Friday again and here is your LD freebie:


Click HERE or the image above to go to the LD site. Add the item to your cart and check out. You pay $0!


After you have completed the "purchase", be sure to download the zipped file on the right because the .exe version is not available.


LD's sister site over at scrapNfonts also has a free file for us. Click HERE to go to their Fontaholic blog and get your free Easter Egg Printable Stand.



Silhouette users, don't forget to claim your weekly freebie from the Silhouette Online (Shapes) Store.

One more thing...



Don't forget that there are some great deals to be had over at the LD site this weekend:


Get the entire 7-set Sheri McCulley Cut Flower Easter Bundle for only $11.70 by using the MarchMadness coupon or ....


use the MonsterMadness coupon to take an additional 55% off a $40 minimum purchase.

LD's commercial product sale is also still going on. Get all the details on the Commercial Product Sale by clicking HERE.


Happy Easter, everyone!


HOT DEAL! Bring On Spring bundles 67%-75% off original price!

Seasoned Spring Simple Shape Cut It

If you are new to Lettering Delights, or are building up your collection of LD designs, check out these two bundles that they have just added to their site:


The Bring On Spring Cut It bundle is only $15 (almost 67% off the original $45 price!), while the Graphics bundle is only $10 (or 75% off the original price!). That's not even including the current discount coupons!  You can use the code MarchMadness to take 35% off a minimum purchase of $15 or MonsterMadness to take 55% off a minimum purchase of $40.

Just for fun, I did a search and found some pictures of the cuts that I have previously assembled from some of the sets in the bundle. In case you need a reference of how the cuts look like, here are some samples:

Hi-dee-ho Neigbor

Weather Girls
Bugaboo

Bugaboo

Peep Squeakers
Peep Squeaker


Click HERE to get your Bring On Spring bundles.






Thursday, March 28, 2013

New for MTC users! Silhouette Portrait support in Sil Plugin 3.0

This is for those of you who use Make-the-Cut. You can now cut to the Silhouette Portrait through the MTC program! Andy has released a new plugin that supports the Silhouette Portrait and also allow the choice of cutting by Knife Point.

Download the plugin from HERE and read all about it from Andy's post HERE.

Also, for the general MTC crowd, the latest version of the program is v4.6.1. To find out what new features have been added in the update, just click HERE to read Andy's announcement.


Jin & kids' Craft Room

When I posted a picture of my new chair to my Facebook page earlier this month, I was in the midst of re-organizing the craft room that the kids and I share. The first time that I posted about this room was back in 2011 when I was clearing out the stuff I don't use. Besides being more cluttered now, the room hasn't changed much. The way that it is setup has remained the same but my kids are older and their interests are different. It is time to clean out the room again.

This was how the room looked like back in 2011. Click here if you would like to see that post.


This is how the room looked like when I was still re-organizing and had temporarily moved the kids' table out:


As you can see, I haven't changed the setup at all but I replaced the fabric bins and the rug. The red bins contain mostly the kids' craft supplies while the ones on the right were assigned two to a kid so that they have their own storage space.



I purchased the rug in February while the chair was bought in the beginning of March.


I store all my twine in a little metal cabinet that I bought last year from the World Market. It was on sale for about $20. Not sure if they still sell it in the store but I love how the rolls of twine fit just right inside. The wire cage next to it was also purchased last year but from Target. I keep some of my cards in there but the best part is that I got it on clearance for less than 10 bucks!


When hubby came back from his business trip to Asia last Dec, he came back with a big box of washi tape for me. I managed to shove most of them into a drawer under my desk and the leftovers went into this metal basket.



I have another set of CloseMaid Cubeicals on the other side of the room and sitting on top of it are 3 of these ArtBin drawer cabinet with 30-drawers each. I keep almost all of my embellishments inside. I love that the drawers are transparent so that I can see what I store in them and for those things that are flat, I prefer to stick them on the outside of the drawers to easily locate them.


I keep my ATG tape gun in a flatware caddy with my corner rounder, heat gun, crimper, and glue gun. I store my crop-a-dile in there too. This caddy fits right inside one of the cubbies in the Cubeical.


The kids are very into Ugly Dolls these days and have been painting portraits of their monsters. Panda Girl painted the teddy bear in one of her after-school art classes.


Here's the craft room again with the kids' table in place. Let the mess crafting begin!


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

WOW!! Great Deal on the Sheri McCulley Cut Flowers! ($11+, reg. $31)



So I posted earlier today that Sheri McCulley's new Cut Flowers are out on the LD site but check this out:

LD just added a bundle offer on the collection where you can get all 7 sets for $18. The regular price is $31. If you use the MarchMadness coupon, it will take an additional 35% off the sale price. The final price on the bundle is only $11.70 or over 62% off! Woot!!

Hurry and click HERE to get your deal!

NEW! Sheri McCulley's Cut Flowers



Heads up, Sheri McCulley fans! There are new designs on the LD site:


 

Sheri's art is always so beautiful and this collection is no exception. If you click here to go to the LD site, and click again on the individual set, you will see samples of the finished projects. They are gorgeous! Here is an example:

image from LD site

I love these flowers so much! They are stunning and would look so pretty on the Easter table.

Click HERE to get the new Sheri McCulley Cut Flowers collection and don't forget to use your coupons! Use the code MarchMadness to save 35% on a $15 purchase or use MonsterMadness to save 55% on a purchase of $40 or more.

 


Monday, March 25, 2013

ONE-DAY ONLY! Peep Squeakers Cut It Projects Bundle for $5 (reg. $12)


LD has put my favorite Easter set on sale!


For one day only, get the Peep Squeakers Projects Bundle for $5.00 (reg. $12). The bundle includes the cutest cupcake wrappers, egg holders, and gift card holders that you can use for Easter or all year-round.


Click HERE to buy your Peep Squeakers Projects Bundle and

Click HERE to to see more details of the set and to get your special freebie.  *wink*




Baking Mini Apple Pies with the kids {recipe inside}


We usually dye eggs and bake cookies the weekend before Easter but this year we did something different. I saw this mini apple pie recipe on Pinterest the other day and I have been wanting to make it since. I love any recipes with apples! After making a batch on Friday, I decided that it would be fun to make more with the kids.

I didn't want to make as many as the original recipe so we halved the ingredients. Hubby doesn't like cinnamon so I reduced that too and left out the nutmeg. This is what I thought would work for a dozen mini apple pies:


4 granny smith apples (Too many! 2 would work just fine), flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, pillsbury pie crust)

Following the original recipe, I peeled and cut the apples into small pieces that were approx. 1/2". The picture above shows 4 apples and that was what I prepared but it turned out to be way too many. 2 apples would have been fine. I ended up making a second batch with the leftover apples.

Anywayz....

All three kids were excited to participate but 3 pairs of extra hands in the kitchen are 3 pairs too many. I had to plan hard and organize well in order to execute this recipe with the keen kiddies. :-)

(Note: If you are trying out this recipe for the first time, make a batch by yourself when the kids are in school because you will want to scream and run away when they all start to fight over who gets to stir what or use the same cookie cutter....)

Once I finished cutting the apples and setting them aside, Kid 1 (Panda Girl) got to dump the cinnamon into the flour and mix it in.


While Kid 1 was busy, Kid 2 (Twin B) got to pour the sugar over the apples.


Kid 1 was happy to pour her flour/cinnamon mixture into the bowl next.


And Kid 3 (Twin A) gets to stir!


This is how the apples look like when covered with the cinnamon/flour/sugar mixture.


Using the lid of a large mason jar (I used the lid from a jar of Costco peaches), I cut out 12 circles to "line" the muffin pan with.




Next comes the part that the kids were waiting for- they get to use small cookie cutters on the leftover dough!


See how many hands there are? A lot! LOL! In order to avoid drama, I used a butter knife to score and divide the dough so that each kid is only allowed to cut her own section. Here are some of the cut outs:


While the kids were busy playing cutting with their cookie cutters, I filled the muffin pan with the apples. I had to keep any apple bits from touching the pan because it'll stick. When I made my very first batch last Friday, I had a few that touched the sides of the muffin pan and it was hard to get the pies out without breaking them apart.


Before letting the kids put their cut outs over the pies, I was supposed to place a piece of butter over each pie. I didn't take a picture of that step because I forgot. I only remembered about the butter when the kids were halfway through putting on the pie tops. :P



 Here are the pies with their tops already brushed with melted butter. They are ready for the oven!


Here they are again, all done!




As I had a lot of leftover prepared apples, I made a second batch with Twin B. Luckily I had an extra box of pie crust in the fridge.

Here is our second batch:


Don't they look pretty all together? They were delicious too!


We love these mini apple pies so much that the girls insisted on bringing some to go with their school lunch today. I love that they are bite-size. While baking these with the kids took three times as long as I did when I made them all by myself, I had a lot more fun playing pastry chefs with them. Who knows, making mini apples pies the week before Easter may just be our new tradition. ;-)

toppers from LD's For Peep's Sake Party Printable.

Jin's modified Mini-Apple Pies Recipe:
(Original recipe from Quick &Easy recipes)

This will make a dozen muffin-pan size mini apple pies.

Equipment:
1 muffin pan
1 circle cutter (or large mason jar lid)
2-3 small cookie cutters with cute shapes

Ingredients:
  • 2 large granny smith apples
  • 6 tablespoons of all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cups of sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon (add more if you like the pies to be more "cinnamon-y")
  • 2 tablespoons of chilled butter cut into 12 equal pieces
  • 1 box of chilled Pillsbury pie crust
  • (plus some melted butter for a butter wash) 

Directions:
  • Set oven to 400 deg F
  • Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour in a small bowl.
  • Peel and cut apples to approx. 1/2" pieces.
  • Coat the apples with the sugar mixture.
  • Unroll the pie crust and cut 12 circles with the mason jar lid.
  • Use the cookie cutters to cut from the remaining crust.
  • Line the muffin pan with the cut out circles.
  • Fill with the prepared apples, making sure that the apples do not touch the sides of the pan.
  • Lay a piece of butter on each pie and cover with the cut out shapes.
  • Brush with melted butter and bake for 18-22 minutes.