Create Kate

Lego, lego and more lego!

     It all started with Lego Star Wars. This summer is turning out to be the summer of Lego. Kenzie has fully gone Lego crazy. She has all the little mini packs that are out right now and Darth Vaders ship. My Mom had saved a HUGE container from when I was a kid and it has been in my classroom for years, but I brought it home for the summer and what a smart thing that was! It has brought back many memories of my brother and I playing for hours and hours. we used tosee who could build the tallest house with the most floors- kind of like a Lego treehouse contest. And now, as a mom, I get to experience what my mom got to- stepping on little pieces across the floor. OUCH!

As for Kenzie, she has been building ferries, ships, gardens, towns, houses, you name it. The photo to the right is her Star Wars ferry. They are all lined up on individual seats ready to cross the sea to do battle. I'm not sure which planet they are on- Endor or Naboo most likely.  Next, on her list is some Lego Atlantis although her Mom has been checking out the Lego City houses- how cool are they? Do you have any Lego maniacs? What are they currently building?

Tim as you can see has fully gotten into the Lego as well. He got an Arc-170 ship for his birthday :)

Smitten Kitchen does it again

via smittenkitchen.com

Scalloped Tomatoes! I've got a tomato loving kiddo here who will go crazy over these! Tomatoes, fresh parmesan, fresh basil all mixed with some fresh bread and warm- what's not to love? And her idea to have them for leftovers with a poached egg on top- brilliant!

Beer Can Chicken update

I posted a link on Facebook about two weeks back that I wanted to try making some beer can chicken. Today, I got around to it. Fun and EASY! My kind of chicken. I didn't have any beer in the house so we used San Pellegrino Limonata- worked fine! Now, a few tips:

1. As you can the chicken charred a bit too much on one side. Keep the chicken away from the heat as much as possible. I had two burners on and one off. 

2. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer after about 45-50 minutes. Ours was ready at 55 minutes as I think I had the heat a bit high. 

3. Check your tank before cooking! I had to run over to my very gracious neighbour and borrow his propane tank to finish the cooking. :)  It doesn't take that much propane, but make sure you have enough before you begin. :)

And the result:

MOIST AND DELICIOUS!

Try it- you'll love it! We served ours with some greek salad and fresh whole grain rolls.

Just the photos, thank you very much!

Two more set of Just the Photos templates rolled out today. The first two have been very popular and I am excited about the next two! I have been using these when I create my vacation books as it makes it so easy to get a whole lot of photos onto one page and create an album in no time! And if you buy them today they are 30% (only $2.79) at Design House Digital.

Just the Photos 3 - the Squares 

Just the Photos 4- the Circles

Handy Frames Showcase

Handy Frames Complete Set

Handy Frames Labels

Handy Frames Neutrals

Handy Frames SentimentsHandy Frames Colorful

The Handy Frames package was so fun to work on , but even more rewarding has been seeing the team put these kits to use! I always love to see my kits in use in ways that I never imagined. The creativity of other people always makes me so inspired! Here are some of the amazing pages that the Decorators over at Design House Digital have put together.

Irreplaceable You by Ulla May

I was blown away by Ulla May's artistry in the page above. The soft textures, the photo treatment, the blending and the use of the frame as a center highlight was perfect! LOVED it!

She Rocks by Susan Haglund

Susan used only photos and the frames on top in her amazing page. No paper! It has su ch afun feel to it and the colorful frames work so well with her adorable pictures of her daughter.

Irreplaceable You by Heather Guenther

I love the soft beach feel to Heather's page She chose to use of neutral tan frames to accent all beach tones on her layout. Doesn't her page just make you want to take a vacation? It makes me want to head to the beach!

A Loving Moment by Angie Delgadillo

Angie used one of the plain white outline frames to accent her single photo on her page. What a fun way to use a single photo and make it pop!

Waiting by Kym Tsukamoto

Isn't Kym's page stunning? She used the same frame that Angie did above her but has such a different feel on the stark white background. This would be perfect framed and hung up. Or imagine a whole alm of favourite photos done like this?

The Belly by Jamie Pate

This time Jamie has used the frames on a hybrid page. How cool is this? Also notice that she took the frames and used them all going half off the edges! What a fun idea!

The Handy Frames collection is sure to be a set that get used again and again. As you can see the variations in using the frames is never ending!

50+ Homemade Popsicle Recipes : TipNut.com

via tipnut.com

I've been watching the neighbour kidlets this past week and with this heat, we have gone through popsicles like crazy!! I've made them orange juice popsicles, kool-aid ones and then a mix of jello/kool-aid popsicles. So I went searching for more recipes for next week. I found the motherload- 50 in one place!!! I had totally forgotten about frozen bananas dipped in chocolate- yum!! And strawberry peach pops sound divine. And cookies and cream yogurt pops- goodness me! How about you? Got any favourites?

How cool is this?

via blog.craftzine.com

Craft: blog has been running Star Wars crafts this week and seeing as we have a Star Wars obssessed almost 8 year old in the house and it is summer I thought this would be perfect for her birthday! She wants a Star Wars dress-up party so she can be Princess Leia. They had a Death Star cookie too that I think we'll make for the take home goodie bags. Oooh I' getting excited. Now to just figure out how to make a cake that has a Star Wars them! 

New Products Thursday

Over at Design House Digital (DHD) new products are released on Thursdays. Maryann has some gorgeous beach kits   (the shell/sand dollar brushes are amazing!) that I know I'm going to be using! It's been a beach kind of July here so far! As for me, I have a set of Handy Frames so-called as I hand drew them. They are so fun. I really enjoyed put this set together and hope you like it too! 

 

Handy Frames neutrals

Handy Frames - the frames 

Handy Frames - Labels

Handy Frames - Sentiments perfect for cards and celebration pages

Lots of changes!

I took a year off of blogging and have made it a goal over the next 6 weeks or so to do a re-build of my blog and keep it current with my latest projects and kits. A lot has happened in the past year. I have changed shops and am now over at Design House Digital. I am thrilled to be with Jen and the team and after a few months have settled in now. So, in celebration I have a display of some of newest kits and a coupon code! Enter the code KateBlog at the checkout to receive 25% off all of my products in the shop! This code is good until July 10th.

Onto some of my favourite kits at Design House Digital (or DHD for short)