Carmelized Apple Tart

I don't have much to say today, I have been working really hard on finishing up some projects and starting some new ones.
I did however have this recipe pop into my e-mail today and couldn't resist sharing it. I am so hungry!!! Definitely can't wait to go apple picking.

Caramelized Apple Tart - it states it serves 8 but not in my family ;)
This came from Martha Stewart http://www.marthastewart.com/

Serves 8

All-purpose flour, for dusting
Pie Dough, or 1 unbaked store-bought refrigerated pie crust (7 1/2 ounces)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
6 (about 2 3/4 pounds) Rome Beauty or McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 8 wedges

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a floured work surface, roll out pie dough to a 1/8-inch thickness (or unfold store-bought dough). Invert a 9-inch plate on top of dough; trim dough around plate with a sharp paring knife to form a round (discard scraps, or save for another use). Refrigerate until needed.

2.Assemble the tart in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Press softened butter evenly into the bottom of the skillet, then sprinkle with the sugar. Arrange apple wedges in a circle around edge, then fill in the center with remaining wedges. Place skillet over medium heat, and cook until sugar mixture is light amber in color and bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes (syrup might brown unevenly).

3.Transfer to oven; cook until apples have softened, about 30 minutes. Carefully place dough round on top; bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.

4.Let cool, about 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of skillet; invert tart onto a serving platter. Replace any apples that may have stuck to bottom of skillet; drizzle with any remaining pan juices. Serve warm or at room temperature.



All I can say is mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :)



Cheers

How important each day is....

It took me about 36 years to realize that I shouldn't wish away my life. Do you know how you go to work on Monday morning and can't wait till Friday, that was me totally. That is until I realized I was wishing so many days of my life away. I now try to make the most of every day I have here on earth.

You're like where is she going with this...well yesterday I received a call that just made this point all the much clearer.

My sister had some friends over on Saturday night to her new home. They sat around chatting and her and one other girl in her early 20's were talking about how precious life is and that you have to cherish every moment. My sister has no idea how this conversation started or why they were talking this way, not exactly Saturday night fun conversation.
Anyway fast forward to Sunday morning, the girl my sister was chatting with woke up with a really bad headache. After a few hours with this headache she asked her boyfriend to take her to the hospital. They did a cat scan and rushed her to a bigger local hospital, she had bleeding in her brain. They rushed her into surgery and there she had some complications and her heart stopped for about 7 minutes. The doctors managed to revive her and stopped the bleeding in her brain but she has not awoken, she is on life support!

This 23 year old girl that was vibrant and fun on Saturday night is clinging to life.

Not the most uplifting post I know but if anything I hope it makes you hug the one(s) you love and realize that every minute is precious and to make the most of all the time you have.

Cheers

Pumpkin Head

I had so much fun putting this card together. It was just listed in my Etsy shop

I love this mans voice

I just love John Mayers voice and I fell in love with this song, just wanted to say :) Here is a link to the song
http://www.johnmayer.com/whosays/

Yellow feature

Today I am doing a color feature. The color today is yellow, and the reason I chose yellow is because of the beautiful glorious day we have had. From what I understand we can expect wonderful days for the next 5 days or so. It was almost 90 degrees yesterday and today wasn't that far behind, absolutely crazy! If this is the logic I used to determine which color I feature than I hope you like blue because we are supposed to be in our rainy season. I am NOT complaining :)

Just kidding on the blue!

So here we go with the YELLOW feature!

http://www.luxedeluxe.etsy.com/

http://www.luizavizoli.etsy.com/

http://www.jlperillo.etsy.com/

http://www.howfab.etsy.com/

http://www.fantella.etsy.com/

http://www.dpholkdesigns.etsy.com/

http://www.angelicafranssen.etsy.com/

http://www.zafirenia.etsy.com/

I love the color yellow, it is such a happy color for me. If you love these items as I do be sure to visit these great Etsy shops.

Cheers

Coupons, School, and more

Ok so it has finally hit me too!! The cold I mean ;) I can honestly say I am not as big a baby as one husband I know but I can be a whiner, lol. I am going to try my best not to.

Tonight it is parent teacher meetings, normally it would be exciting, you know meet the new teacher but he doesn't have a new teacher. Same as last year. It will be exciting though to see what he will be up to this year. I can' t get over how much he has changed in one short year. His reading skills are really a lot more developed than I ever thought they would be. I can't get over how much fun it is to have him read me a story. Also from what I have heard they are starting a new math curriculum this year which will include algebra. Never in a million years did I imagine my guy in grade 2 would be doing algebra.

So on top of all the projects I have on the go I have decided to embark on one more. This one has nothing to do with paper though. I have been checking out blogs here and there and love to read them. I happened across one that advises on how to pay next to nothing for your household supplies and groceries using coupons and sales. As a Canadian we really don't have the same kind of system so when I hear people speak of double coupons and match-ups and such I have no idea but considering I live next to a border town I am going to give the coupon world a go. I mentioned this to my sister and she too will work at it with me, like I said to her if I can find a way to spend grocery money on clothes I will do it ;) I can't get over just how happy I get when I get a good deal. You should have seen me when I was in Seattle last month, I was shopping at Fred Meyer and came across Goldfish for a buck a bag, I looked, then I looked again, that can't be right I thought. I picked up 5 bags and headed to Rory at the til. I told him about this and he's like go get more, so a total of 10 bags of Goldfish came home with us that day. When each bag here is on sale for $3.29 that is quite the savings just on Goldfish.

So wish me luck that I can figure out how this all works, and if you have any advice let me know.

Oh and one last thing, I am embarking on my first craft show. I am so excited. I will have more details once everything is finalized.

Cheers

Halloween Etsy Feature

This is a very visual holiday to me, be it with the fantastical (not sure if this is word but I like it, lol) decorations, elaborate costumes or the cute little kids. So rather than doing a feature as I normally do with write ups and such I have decided to showcase pictures, this way I could add quite a few, the link for the sellers shop is below the picture so if something strikes you be sure to visit their shop for more.

http://www.trashybetty.etsy.com/
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http://www.starlight11500.etsy.com/
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http://www.signsofhappiness.etsy.com/
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http://www.sewgracious.etsy.com/
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http://www.realisticflorals.etsy.com/

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http://www.jessejanes.etsy.com/

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http://www.gracieseggies.etsy.com/

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http://www.debinfla.etsy.com/

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http://www.cindysowers.etsy.com/

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http://www.chocolatecanary.etsy.com/

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http://www.backyardprims.etsy.com/

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http://www.annya127.etsy.com/

Be sure to support these great Etsy shops if you are in need of fun fantastic Halloween items.

Cheers

And the winner is.......

Carrie!! I made it fair and had a draw, and it was Carries named picked as the winner.

I will be sending an e-mail immediately following this post. You can now pick any cardset you like from my ebay store.

I would like to thank everyone who entered, I truly appreciate your feedback.

Be sure to continue checking back because I will be adding new cards quite often and again the box set are well below retail, great deals.
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/KriskropMemories__W0QQ_armrsZ1

Cheers all :)

Last chance at the giveaway - on till the end of the 15th

I am having a giveaway on my blog to help me determine which direction(s) I should go first with the types of cards I list in my storefront.

As you know I have started listing the Christmas cards in my ebay store but I have listed fewer than 20% at this time.

Here's where I would love your help. I would like to see if I can find any consensus on the types of cards I should focus on listing earliest.

So all that's needed is your review of the cards I currently have listed. Take a look and leave a comment back here on the blog listing your favorite card and if possible why it's your favorite.
Follow this link to see all the cards currently listed:

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/KriskropMemories__W0QQ_armrsZ1

What will you win - 1 box of Christmas cards, your choice of design delivered to your door.

This giveaway will be on until 09/15 at midnight, you can obtain extra entries simply by checking back because every other day or so I will be adding new designs to the storefront.

We enter the first week of school and already Trevor is home sick. He went to school on Friday with the beginnings of a cold but there was no stopping the kid because was so excited to find out his new teacher, class, and classmates. Funny thing as it turns out everything is exactly the same as Grade 1, same teacher, same classroom, same classmates (oh I lie, he has 3 new classmates). During the weekend we just saw the cold grow progressively worse so today he is home, with H1N1 I am certain they would have sent him home anyway.

I know he is just wanting to see his friends but he is very upset about missing school, apparently he advised us (or so he thinks!) that cold or no cold he will be going to school.

So we did do the corn maze on Saturday and with the exception of the times we let Brendan lead the way we did pretty well and managed our way out in just under an hour. We asked when we entered what would happen if we did get lost, we were kidding of course, the attendants answer was that they would come and find us when they cleared the field, November 1st!!!!, lol, hope she was kidding as well!

I did get another halloween embellishment set done this weekend, it is listed in my Etsy shop. I will be working on a pumpkin, bat , and ghost set next.

Finally tomorrow is the final day to enter the blog giveaway, simply scroll down a few posts to see the rules, super easy way to win your Christmas cards for this year!

I will be drawing the winner on the September 16th.

Cheers

Off to the Corn Maze!

Hope we don't get lost.

My Mom, the kids, and I are heading out to Chilliwack to make our way through a corn maze. Here is the design of the maze:

I had a very productive night last night, I finished some cards, a few custom pages, and an embellishment set, now I have to get pics later today before it gets too dark. I am in serious need of a light box!!!

So hopefully I will get around to getting the corn maze pictures and my latest creations posted tonight.

Wish me luck in the maze :)

First week of school

Well we are entering the last day of the first week of school. Getting back into routines has been a little crazy, like remembering oh yeah before I run out the door to work I should pack him a lunch, lol. We will slowly get the swing of things I'm sure.

It would be nice however to know who is teacher is and who is in his class. I don't quite understand why it takes a week to determine this, to me Trevor has basically wasted a week of learning since all they are doing is sitting in a room with the Grade 7 teacher, doesn't make much sense to me given he is in Grade 2, oh well this is the way things are.

We are off to do a corn maze this weekend, should be fun, and it seems as if summer is returning (this week has been very fall like) for at least the next two days. If you have never done a corn maze I highly recommend it, tons of family fun.

I have listed a few new items this week as well in my Etsy shop, this scrapbooking set is one of them, and the plan is to add more and more this weekend.

Also two giveaways going on now. The Christmas card giveaway ends on the 15th so if you haven't yet entered be sure to scroll down to check out the rules (really easy) and a great prize. Also for those of you on twitter,(http://twitter.com/kriskroppin)for the 749th to return the contest tweet you will win a 1 year card of the month membership as seen in my Etsy shop.

Good luck to all that enter.
Cheers

Christmas card blog giveaway still on

I am having a giveaway on my blog to help me determine which direction(s) I should go first with the types of cards I list in my storefront.

As you know I have started listing the Christmas cards in my ebay store but I have listed fewer than 20% at this time.

Here's where I would love your help. I would like to see if I can find any consensus on the types of cards I should focus on listing earliest.

So all that's needed is your review of the cards I currently have listed. Take a look and leave a comment back here on the blog listing your favorite card and if possible why it's your favorite.
Follow this link to see all the cards currently listed:

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/KriskropMemories__W0QQ_armrsZ1

What will you win - 1 box of Christmas cards, your choice of design delivered to your door.

This giveaway will be on until 09/15 at midnight, you can obtain extra entries simply by checking back because every other day or so I will be adding new designs to the storefront.

***Don't forget to check out the Christmas card giveaway below***

Here we are, the last weekend of the summer, it just flew by!

Trevor came up to me yesterday and without knowing it just melted my heart. He says "It was an excellent Summer Mom, don't you think?". I said "it sure was" but curious why it was for him I asked. Honestly I thought he would say something like "because I could play video games all summer long" but instead I hear him say "because we took all those mini vacations and had great family time". You know at 7 I didn't think he would yet appreciate the family time but obviously he does.

He is all set clothing/supplies wise and he is very excited to get back to school. Mostly so he can enjoy recess and lunch with his friends but he also claims he is excited for math too :)

So we are now entering the last year before Brendan too has to start school. Only days ago the government announced that kindergarten would now be a full day rather than the 1/2 day we have always been used to.

I think it's a wonderful idea but there are some that are not too happy with the idea.

I have had a wonderful summer as well, full of relatives visiting, parties, family gatherings, mini-vacations, and just spur of the moment trips to the beach or the park. The weather has been devine (ok maybe a little too hot for a few weeks), it has been the sunniest (is that a word?) on record.

I do however have to say that I am not sad to see this summer come to an end, I love this next quarter of the year, it is without a doubt my most favorite time of year. The excitement of a new school year (ok so that one doesn't pertain to me any longer but it was one of reasons I loved Fall), Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, the smell of an Autumn day, dark nights (love this, makes me feel so cozy and for whatever reason I get more accomplished in the evenings), crisp air, snow, colorful leaves, it's just AWESOME!!!

So that's enough about the seasons and holidays, I just hope as many are as happy as I to go into the last quarter of 2009!

Cheers

Christmas Card giveaway!! Check it out

I am having a giveaway on my blog to help me determine which direction(s) I should go first with the types of cards I list in my storefront.

As you know I have started listing the Christmas cards in my ebay store but I have listed fewer than 20% at this time.

Here's where I would love your help. I would like to see if I can find any consensus on the types of cards I should focus on listing earliest.

So all that's needed is your review of the cards I currently have listed. Take a look and leave a comment back here on the blog listing your favorite card and if possible why it's your favorite.
Follow this link to see all the cards currently listed:

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/KriskropMemories__W0QQ_armrsZ1

What will you win - 1 box of Christmas cards, your choice of design delivered to your door.

This giveaway will be on until 09/15 at midnight, you can obtain extra entries simply by checking back because every other day or so I will be adding new designs to the storefront.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Cheers

After the wedding feature what should come next?....

Well the Etsy Baby feature of course :)
I have had so much fun searching Etsy for wonderful baby products. I only wish I would have found many of these sellers when my boys were little. Guess I will have to wait until my sister or niece start having the little ones to start my shopping.
I would love for you to take a look at these wonderful products and sellers.

One of the first things you will need for your baby is the receiving blanket and I came across a seller with unique and colorful larger receiving blankets.
Annies Place
http://www.anniesplace.etsy.com/

The blankets shown here measure approximately 35/36" X 42" and are made of a 100% cotton flannel. They are single layer so they will be perfect for all seasons!

***
In my search for baby products I also came across the sweetest blankets, they are called Luvi blankets by Kinderkeepsakes and the assortment available are all so precious I had a hard time picking a favorite.
http://www.kinderkeepsakes.etsy.com/

I think this is my favorite but again I could have picked them all:

It is made from a TY Pluffie (giraffe) and cuddle soft fabric. It has a dark brown color on the outside and soft cream color on the inside. This blanket measures 19" X 19" not including the animal. All of the Luvi blankets are washable and can be personalized, they would make a great shower gift for sure!

***
Again during my search I found another great baby item, the baby carrier soaker bib and this seller has a fun selection of these bibs not in your typical baby colors which is nice. I found when I was looking for baby items I liked to find ones a little unique and these definitely fit in that category. What's even better is that with this addition to the carrier you don't end up with a stained (smelly with milk) carrier, wish I had found these for my dribbly kids :)

I wish I may
http://www.iwishimay.etsy.com/

Here are a couple great ones to showcase here:

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Did you ever find when carring the diaper bag that it was just too big for some trips and never went with your outfit :)

Here is the solution, smaller bags just for a few diapers and wipes but also includes the change pad, what's even better, they are in designs that I wouldn't mind having my everyday purse made out of.

Bundled
http://www.bundled.etsy.com/

This item is called the Quick Trip Organizer.

You can even add coordinating washclothes, just love it!

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If you are looking for the perfect shower gift or New Mom gift look no further. This shop has the most extrodinary diaper and burp cakes I have ever seen.

Baby2B Nashville
http://www.baby2bnashville.etsy.com/

First the Burp Cake,

This cake is made with 66 pampers swaddlers, a baby bottle, and three custom burps. The burps are made with chinese prefolded cloth diapers and have a great softness to them.

Then the diaper cake, this one is so much fun I had to add it to the list:

Made with 66 pampers swaddlers, a baby bottle, three wooden airplanes and yards of ribbon this cake is perfect for a new baby boy!

This shop will make custom creations as well, so again if you are in need of a great gift be sure to check out this shop.

***
Finally Mom needs something as well, sometimes this can be forgotton. I can remember when I would enter the room with the new little guy and it was almost like I wasn't there, I wasn't a jealous Mom by no means but it was noticed, lol.

Here is a great gift for the Mom to be or the new Mom that needs some pampering. This basket can be found at Dragon Faery Naturals, http://www.dragonfaerynaturals.etsy.com/

Every shower should contain at least one Spa gift set like this one:

This gift basket contains one hand crocheted washcloths measuring approx. 9 3/4", Two facial scrubbies measuring approx. 3 1/4", and a hand crocheted decorative cup that can be used to hold cotton balls, Q-tips, or some silk flowers

All crocheted items are 100% cotton.

Also in the basket are two(2oz) moisturizing bath fizzies your choice of scent, one bar of All Natural Peppermint & Pumice foot scrub soap, one bar of All Natural Oatmeal Spice exfoliating soap, and one bag of relaxing Dead Sea Bath Salts (7oz) your choice of scent.

This is when Mom passes the baby to Dad and takes a much earned break!

I hope you enjoyed this feature, I loved putting it together.