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{DIY} Heat Embossing

August 11, 2013

Ever try to find the perfect cards, thank you notes, or invitations to go with your theme or your personality?  If you’ve ever dabbled in card making but you just aren’t creative enough (like me) to make a professional looking card that doesn’t take an hour to create, maybe you should check out heat embossing.  This is really fun and simple – I wouldn’t have made 50+ wedding invitations by hand if it wasn’t simple!

Heat embossing is a technique using embossing powder and heat to create a raised design on cards.  It sounds like some complicated sort of science experiment, but really it’s not.  This is what you’ll need:

  • card stock (I like to use pre-cut and pre-folded cards)
  • stamps
  • embossing pad (I used Top Boss tinted embossing pad)
  • embossing powder
  • heat embossing tool (I haven’t tried it, but a hair dryer may work just as well)
  • newspaper
  • very fine paint brush

When you’re shopping for stamps, you can find them at a craft store or even the dollar bins at Target.  If you’re making note cards, you can go with a monogram design or just a fun single design on the front like a flower or a leaf.  Here, I made thank you notes with a thank you stamp and a leaf stamp to go with my rustic fall wedding theme.  The embossing powder I used is copper to give a nice shine to my design.

Step 1: Lay out your tools and cover your work area with newspaper.  I like to use a small piece of paper on top of the newspaper so I can dump the leftover embossing powder back in the container.

Step 2: Figure out where you want to place your design on the card.  If you’re not sure, you can try out a few different ways.  That’s the fun of this – everyone’s card can be different!

Step 3: Press your stamp onto the embossing pad and stamp the card stock.  Sprinkle the embossing powder on top of the card stock and be sure to cover the design area.  Then slide the loose powder off the card and tap the back of the card lightly.

Step 4: You may have a few powder stragglers still on your card.  That’s what the fine paint brush is for.  Very carefully, brush off any excess powder from the card.  Any bits that are left on in odd places will get stuck there.

Step 5: Once you’re happy with the design and your powder is where it should be, take your heat embossing tool, turn it on and hold it about 2 inches above your design.  Swirl the tool in slow circular motions over each section of the design until the embossing powder is melted evenly.  This should take about 20 seconds for a small design.

That’s it!  Just let it dry for a few hours and you’re ready to use it.

Check out more from my Frugal Bride series!

Linking up with:
Mad Skills Tutorial Link Party @ Mad In Crafts
Sweet Sharing Monday @ Say Not Sweet Anne
Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party @ Craft-O-Maniac
Monday Funday @ Lines Across

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Filed Under: Crafts, DIY

Paleo Challenge {Week 2}

August 7, 2013

This week has not been as exciting as the last, but we’re still following the diet pretty well.  During Prep Week and Week 1, we were all pumped up to do a whole month of Paleo meals.  Although the meals have been really fun, they are sometimes a lot of work.  The good news, though, is that we did get our grocery bill down a little to just barely over $85 for this week’s groceries.  Here’s a run down of our dinner menu this week:

Monday – Curry burgers topped with a curry sauce, with green apple slices for buns
Tuesday – Korean BBQ Chicken, Fried “Rice” Cauliflower, Korean Spinach Side
Wednesday – Paleo pork sausage stuffing with Butternut squash cube bake
Thursday – Paella with a side salad
Friday – Open
Saturday – Leftovers
Sunday – Chopped salad

To make things a little easier for us, we grilled both the chicken and burgers on Monday and warmed up the chicken the next night for our Korean dinner.  I think the most complicated thing for us still is condiments and sauces.  I tried my hand at making mayonnaise and it just didn’t work out.  I found a healthy mayonnaise option at our Sprouts market so I’ll just use that if we ever need mayonnaise again.  Ketchup is a breeze to make, but I did get organic ketchup at the store as well, just in case we need it.

If you haven’t tried fried rice using cauliflower, I highly recommend it.  It tastes better than the real thing, and my fiancé actually agrees with me!  You can make it any way you want – just process fresh (uncooked) cauliflower florets in a food processor until it looks like rice.  Fry it up in a skillet or wok for 5-10 minutes and then add your favorite ingredients.  We used 1 tsp sesame oil and a couple teaspoons of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos for flavoring.  This is what it looked like part of the way through cooking before the Liquid Aminos were added:


This was tasty as a side, but you can beef it up by adding more veggies like peas, carrots, celery, and bell pepper.  You can also make it a chicken fried rice or add some shrimp into the mixture.  It is amazing!

Week 2 is almost complete, and no major complaints.  I did lose some inches from my hips, which is fine, as long as my wedding dress still fits!  Overall, we’re both feeling pretty healthy and happy. Just joining and want to take a look back at my 4 Week Paleo Challenge?  Look below for the links to all my Paleo posts:

Prep Week
Prep Week: Why Paleo?
Prep Week: Meatloaf and Mashed Faux-tatoes
Prep Week: Introducing the Spaghetti Squash

Week 1 Daily Updates 
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4 (My Shopping List)
Day 5 (Paleo on a Budget)
Day 6
Day 7 (Week 1 Lessons)

Weekly Updates
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Follow me on Pinterest!


Filed Under: Meals, Uncategorized Tagged: diet, healty, meals, Paleo

Paleo Challenge: Day 7 {Week 1 Lessons}

August 3, 2013

It’s the last day of Week 1 on our Paleo Diet, and I won’t bore you with a list of all the leftovers we ate today (or our Lunch cheat meal).  I did get to try out a lot of things I don’t normally eat this week and I learned a ton that will help me out over the next few weeks.  I’ve shared a few of them in the hopes that you’ll be able to incorporate them into your own Paleo venture.

1. Think Ahead About Condiments.  This was an important one for us since Jacob kept reaching for the Ranch dressing we still had in the fridge to top every salad he ate this week.  I was fine with a drizzle of Flaxseed Oil and a squirt of lemon on my salads, but I normally don’t go for creamy dressings.  There are some really great recipes out there to make your own condiments that are Paleo-friendly.  Check online or in Paleo cookbooks.  If you don’t have time to make your own, take a good look at the ingredients list on the package and make sure it doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup or anything you can’t pronounce.

2. Know What Your Family Will Eat.  If your family won’t eat something even after trying it once, don’t make too much of it.  Beets, for example, are not everyone’s favorite.  I found this out one night this week and ended up eating the rest of the beets myself for the next 3 days.  I just finished them on my salad tonight!  If you want to try something new, make a little as a side to see how it goes over with everyone.

3. Don’t Overestimate Consumption.  I assumed that since we wouldn’t have any type of fillers like rice, beans, or pasta, we would eat so much more.  I grossly overestimated the amount of food we would actually go through this week and ended up with a ton of leftovers.  This was with two adults taking leftovers to work for lunch all week and two dinners of leftovers.  I still have a package of chicken in the freezer and a whole head of Romaine lettuce in the crisper that we didn’t get through this week.  So, if you’re not sure how much your family will actually eat on Paleo, try to make meals ahead and freeze them or take your meat out of the freezer a little at a time so it doesn’t go to waste.

4. Your Tastes May Change – Plan Cheat Meals Accordingly.  We’ve been eating real food for many months now, but I never really noticed before this week how much my tastes have changed.  I used to salt everything, and when I ate “healthy” packaged meals (years ago) I would add salt to make this tiny meal taste a little better.  Now, everything tastes too salty and too sweet.  Even my one peanut butter cup that I treated myself to today was too salty for me to finish.  There’s 300mg of sodium listed on the package.  Thinking of the microwave meals I used to eat makes me cringe, with double that amount of sodium in each package.

After today, I’ll be sharing weekly on our progress.  When our four weeks is over, I have a feeling that we’ll incorporate Paleo meals into our meal plan as much as possible if we don’t stick with it completely.  If you want to keep up with our progress over the next month, you can subscribe to my blog using the Subscribe form at the right or follow via Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Just joining and want to take a look back at my 4 Week Paleo Challenge?  Look below for the links to all my Paleo posts:

Prep Week
Prep Week: Why Paleo?
Prep Week: Meatloaf and Mashed Faux-tatoes
Prep Week: Introducing the Spaghetti Squash

Week 1 Daily Updates 
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4 (My Shopping List)
Day 5 (Paleo on a Budget)
Day 6
Day 7 (Week 1 Lessons)

Weekly Updates
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

_____
Linking up with:
Sunday FUNday @The Foley Fam

Follow me on Pinterest!


Filed Under: Meals, Uncategorized Tagged: diet, healty, meals, Paleo

Paleo Challenge Day 6 {Leftovers and Cheat Meal}

August 2, 2013

We have leftovers coming out of our ears!  I don’t know what to do with all this food.  We’ve been having leftovers for the past two days.  Usually when this happens, it means that we’ve been eating out for lunches instead of packing them to eat at work.  But not this time.  I’ll end up freezing some of the meat and maybe making stew with the rest.  Hopefully someone comes along soon to help us eat all of this.

Bad new: tonight is our planned cheat meal (and DATE NIGHT!) and we’ve really been looking forward to it.  We can’t think of what to eat that we really miss.  It will probably have bread or pasta…maybe a small piece of chocolate cake?  Yes, definitely chocolate cake!  We’ll try to keep it light and not get sick, but with this being our first cheat meal for dinner, I have a feeling we’ll get a little out of control.  Wish us luck!

. . .

After a few minutes of going through our favorite foods, we finally decided on Mexican food.  I had a small cup of Sopa de Albondigas, a Mexican meatball soup, to start.  It was way too salty, but after trying other way too salty things, we figured that my taste buds have changed and I now have a low salt tolerance.  Jacob and I also split a plate of Enchiladas Suizas (chicken enchiladas with a green salsa) with black beans and rice.  We each had a couple spoonfuls of rice and beans and I ended up pulling my tortilla off my enchilada half-way through.  These were small portions, and since I didn’t eat all of my salty soup, I left a little hungry.  Maybe I will have that chocolate cake after all!

Just joining and want to take a look back at my 4 Week Paleo Challenge?  Look below for the links to all my Paleo posts:

Prep Week
Prep Week: Why Paleo?
Prep Week: Meatloaf and Mashed Faux-tatoes
Prep Week: Introducing the Spaghetti Squash

Week 1 Daily Updates 
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4 (My Shopping List)
Day 5 (Paleo on a Budget)
Day 6
Day 7 (Week 1 Lessons)

Weekly Updates
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Follow me on Pinterest!


Filed Under: Meals, Uncategorized Tagged: diet, healty, meals, Paleo

Paleo Challenge Day 5 {Paleo On A Budget}

August 1, 2013

The week is quickly coming to an end and we still have three more to go in our challenge.  Today was great–leftovers nearly all day!  I LOVE leftovers.  It means no cooking!  I was asked today if being on the Paleo Diet gets expensive.  While it does take a bit more to get started (swapping out condiments and spices), it really shouldn’t cost more than your normal grocery trips once you get the hang of things.  Here are a few tips I can think of to help keep your costs down:

1. Meal Planning.  This is a big one because when you go to the grocery store without a plan, you get a bunch of stuff you end up not even using or you have to make multiple trips and fall prey to spontaneous purchases.  Meal planning also allows you to look through your pantry and freezer for things you already have before heading to the store.  But be sure that if it’s not on the list, you don’t buy it!

2. Visit Your Farmer’s Market.  There are usually some decent prices on grass-fed beef and free-range chicken at your local farmer’s market.  Get to know the vendors and you might even get the best cuts set aside for you.  And of course, the veggies are awesome here.  You’ll find the best locally grown, in-season produce at the market.  Wondering where your nearest farmer’s market is?  Find out here.

3. Buy In Bulk.  When you buy your meats, try to buy in bulk as much as possible and freeze it in smaller portions for easy access.  This is where a vacuum sealer comes in handy.  Visit the bulk or bin section of your natural and organic foods market for better prices on nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.

4. Stick With In-Season Produce.  Know which produce is in season throughout the year and plan your meals accordingly.  Produce is usually marked down considerably when it’s in season.  Grab the grocery ad insert in your newspaper or mailbox when it comes and take a look.  Stores like Sprouts or Sunflower Market will have the best deals on produce on their front page.

5. Make Your Own Nut Flours.  If you are planning to bake Paleo treats, buy your nuts in bulk and grind them to flour in a food processor or coffee grinder.  This will save a good deal of money with packaged almond flour going for more than $10 a bag.  If you want directions, check out this article.

So there ya’ go – you don’t have to break the bank to stick with your healthy diet!

Just joining and want to take a look back at my 4 Week Paleo Challenge?  Look below for the links to all my Paleo posts:

Prep Week
Prep Week: Why Paleo?
Prep Week: Meatloaf and Mashed Faux-tatoes
Prep Week: Introducing the Spaghetti Squash

Week 1 Daily Updates 
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4 (My Shopping List)
Day 5 (Paleo on a Budget)
Day 6
Day 7 (Week 1 Lessons)

Weekly Updates
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4

______________
Linking up with:

Thrifty Thursday
Financial Friday
Sweet Sharing Monday @ Say Not Sweet Anne

Follow me on Pinterest!


Filed Under: Budgeting, Meals, Uncategorized Tagged: diet, healty, meals, Paleo

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Hi there!

Hi there!

Hello and welcome! I’m Jen, a proposal writer by day, blogger by night, happy wife and mommy. I live in SW Virginia with my husband, Jacob and our sweet girls, Julia and Jocelyn.

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