2011 October

Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap with Jodi of Sweets & Shutterclicks

October 20, 2011 2 Comments

Hello dolls!!!

It’s Thursday again and time to meet a NEW Bloggie Bestie!

Today we’d like to introduce you to

Jodi of Sweets and Shutterclicks!

She has quickly become a sweet bloggie friend and a top-notch commentor here at Truly Lovely!

Please leave her a little bloggie love here, then pop over to her place where I’m sharing a brand new quick and easy Halloween craft!!

Here’s Jodi….

Hello out there all you lovely blog readers!

My name is Jodi and I run the blog Sweets and Shutterclicks.

I am a stay at home wife/small business owner/photographer student/blogger all rolled up in one! I am from the midwest, and I love cupcakes, cameras, music, my husband, my friends, starbucks, and blogging!

I have just recently restarted my blog (almost 2 months ago) and I have learned so much since I have come back. I mainly blog about my life and what im learning as a photographer, I do giveaways as well as review products I buy as a crafter/photog/housewife.

Not only do I run Sweets and Shutterclicks, I have an etsy shop called CraftyCakeGirl.

When I was younger my mom taught me how to crochet and it just kinda stuck with me. Mainly what I have up in my shop right now is hats (its the perfect weather for it isn’t it?) But I have long term plans to expand with lots of other handmade goodies.

I really would love to build my own website and sell through that.

Just so many plans in the works

I wanted to share a few of the things I have made.

I make hair barrettes as well…

Lately since the weather has been turning colder I have been focusing on hats, I make them of all sized and shapes!

I love that I’m a Bloggie Bestie!

Kassi’s blog is one of my favorites.

I hope everyone’s week is going wonderfully and can you believe its Thursday already? Where is the time going!

Thank you Jodi! Isn’t she lovely! I really enjoy her blog and all the pretty photos she shares! Hope you’ll pop over to check them out!And thanks for blog swapping with us today! If you’d like to be a future Bloggie Bestie on Truly Lovely click here for more info. Have a lovely day dolls!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie

Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap with Jodi of Sweets & Shutterclicks

October 20, 2011 2 Comments

Hello dolls!!!

It’s Thursday again and time to meet a NEW Bloggie Bestie!

Today we’d like to introduce you to

Jodi of Sweets and Shutterclicks!

She has quickly become a sweet bloggie friend and a top-notch commentor here at Truly Lovely!

Please leave her a little bloggie love here, then pop over to her place where I’m sharing a brand new quick and easy Halloween craft!!

Here’s Jodi….

Hello out there all you lovely blog readers!

My name is Jodi and I run the blog Sweets and Shutterclicks.

Not only do I run Sweets and Shutterclicks, I have an etsy shop called CraftyCakeGirl.

I really would love to build my own website and sell through that.

Just so many plans in the works

I wanted to share a few of the things I have made.

I make hair barrettes as well…

Lately since the weather has been turning colder I have been focusing on hats, I make them of all sized and shapes!

I love that I’m a Bloggie Bestie!

Kassi’s blog is one of my favorites.

I hope everyone’s week is going wonderfully and can you believe its Thursday already? Where is the time going!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie

Girlie Skull and Crossbones Jack-O-Lantern

October 19, 2011 8 Comments

Halloween is nearly upon us!!! Only a week and a half away now!

It’s one of my favorite holidays! The candy, the decorations, the costumes!

Carving pumpkins, though, has to be the ultimate Halloween activity.

A couple of years ago…

Before this Truly Lovely blog, my college roommate, Charli, and I carved up a lovely pumpkin. A Girlie Skull and Crossbones Jack-o-Lantern, or Jill-o-Lantern as it were, with a hair bow!

Isn’t she fabulous!

We found a picture we wanted to imitate online, blew it up on the computer and printed it out.

Then we traced it with a pencil onto our pumpkin and cut it out.

Definitely an easy and fun way to get a unique Halloween Jack-O-Lantern!

It’s still one of my favorites from Halloweens past!

What about you?? Are you carving pumpkins this year??

Do you have a favorite method for getting a fun Jack-O-Lantern?

Linking this here and here and to these.

Filed Under: Holidays, Kassi Tagged With: Halloween

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

October 18, 2011 15 Comments

Have I got an easy, quick, SUPER tasty recipe to share with you lovelies today!!!

I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE my crockpot!

The hubs and I both work full time Monday-Friday!

Can I just say, THANKS for the schedule post options in blogger, or this lovely blog wouldn’t amount to much!
Several evenings a week, we’re out riding, or at the arena roping…

So we don’t get home until even later.

That’s where my sweet crockpot comes in!

Recently I found this recipe in an old cook book I received as a graduation present from high school…

The hubs and I both love it!

So here it is for you lovelies to enjoy too!!!

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Ingredients Needed:

4-6 frozen boneless chicken breasts

16 oz. jar of your favorite salsa

1 cup sour cream

1 cup grated cheese

small flour or corn tortillas

(I prefer flour for this recipe)

Place the chicken in greased crockpot.

Pour the jar of salsa over the top.

Cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 8-10 hours.

In the last hour of cooking, add the cup of sour cream.

Scoop onto your tortillas, top with cheese, then I pop mine in the microwave for a few seconds to melt the cheese…

And that’s it!! Dinner time!!!

What’s YOUR favorite crockpot recipe??
Links appreciated…

Happy Tasty Tuesday!

Linking this here and here and to these. And to the CSI Crock Pot Challenge!

Filed Under: Recipes, Tasty Tuesday

Fancy This Features #46 and a Winner

October 17, 2011 4 Comments

Well hello there Monday. Where’d you come from…

Sheesh. Weekends go by TOO fast these days!

We had a LOVELY weekend with the family, so a post will be coming about that soon!

But for now, our features from this last week’s Fancy This Fridays!!!

HAD to feature this FUN spider web pillow cover! It’s nearly Halloween after all…

BUT also… This was Lesley of Freaking Craft’s FIRST envelope pillow!

She’s up and coming peeps… Be sure to check out her blog!

Check out this fun Halloween idea!!! I love getting snail mail!!!

Halloween Happy Mail from Sky at Capital B.

Just fix up a little pumpkin, some sticker faces and send it to a friend!!! LOVE it!

And finally… How about one unrelated to Halloween…

I HAVE to have one of these purse organizers from Carlee at Ladybird Ln.

You just roll it up and stick it in your purse!!! What a GREAT idea, right!?!?

Here’s a featured on Truly Lovely button for you dolls!

I also featured a few over on our Facebook page, so if you were featured there, we would love for you to have a button as well!

By the way… DO you like our Facebook page yet???

It’s growing fast! Lots of fun happens over there that never makes it to the blog!

We wouldn’t want you to miss out!!

Now… before you go…

the winner of the Breast Cancer Awareness Mini Necklace from

Summer at Made by Munchies Mama is…

Who is….

CONGRATS Aimee Lee!!!!

Since you’re email was not attached to your profile, you have 48 hours to email us to claim your prize!

trulylovely.laney@gmail.com

Have a lovely week dolls!!!

Filed Under: Fancy This Fridays, Features

A Little Bloggie Housekeeping

October 13, 2011 8 Comments

Hello dolls! Happy Thursday!

I’d like to take a second and reacquaint/introduce you to our Bloggie Bestie concept.

Every Thursday, we host a Bloggie Bestie, which if you’re new here, is a blog swap where we introduce you to a FABULOUS blogger, while we’re guest posting over at their place.

We feel like it’s a great way to meet new bloggie friends, and to introduce those new friends to our readers.

It’s a win/win in that we also get to meet THEIR readers!

Which is always so fun!

Some weeks we have trouble finding people who want to participate… Others we find lovelies who line up to share with you dolls. SO… just a heads up, the plan right now is to do a Bloggie Bestie every week. On weeks… Like this one….
Where we don’t have anyone scheduled, you might pop by to find a fun post, a project, a giveaway…
Or some other lovely surprise!

So… In the meantime, if you’re interested in being a Bloggie Bestie, we would be thrilled to have you!!! Just leave your email in a comment or shoot us an email at trulylovely.laney@gmail.com!

NOW… I would like to give a SHOUT OUT and say a HUGE TRULY LOVELY thank you to the sweethearts that contributed to my birthday giveaway last week!
All of these lovelies have been Bloggie Besties at Truly Lovely before… And are NOW real, true friends that I am sincerely hoping to meet in real life one day!!!

Ami of AliLilly

Kristine and Britney of J&Ms Eye Candy

AND
Ali of Our Happily Ever After and Lil’ Crazy Designs.

Thanks girls!!! You rock! And thanks to all who participated in the giveaway by entering, sharing and what not! We love you guys!!!
Speaking of GIVEAWAYS… Have you entered this one yet?You WILL want to win it! I promise!

See you back here tomorrow for Fancy This Fridays!

Filed Under: Bloggie Bestie, Fancy This Fridays, Friends

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

October 12, 2011 18 Comments

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I love me some Pumpkin anything… haha.

SO to celebrate Halloween month, and my birthday month of course…

I would like to share with you my recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

Ingredients Needed:

Spice Cake Mix
1 can of pumpkin puree
1 cup apple sauce (veg. oil substitute)
Other ingredients needed per the cake mix instructions
(Mine called for three eggs and 1 1/3 cup of water)
Cupcake liners of course!
Icing
Ground Cinnamon

Mix up your cake mix according to the directions, substituting the apple sauce for the oil called for in the recipe.

I’ve said it before… But apple sauce makes for a more moist and healthy treat!

Plus, it’s kind of fun to add apple sauce to fall recipes anyway, don’t ya think!

Then, once your cake is all mixed up…. Add the can of pumpkin and blend it in.

I used the smaller can of pumpkin puree because my husband is a little less nuts about pumpkin then me… And let’s face it…. Somebody needed to help me eat all these… haha!

For more of a pumpkin flavor, you can use the larger can of course!

Then you’ll want to carefully spoon your mix into your cupcake liners!

AND if you’re like me and run out of cupcake liners because you realize the mix is going to go a little further than you thought… haha! you can also make a small cake.

Pop them in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Mine took about 17 minutes.

When they come out of the oven they are the most delicious Fall orange color!!!

Now… For the topping, I iced each cupcake (and my small cake) with cream cheese icing.

Here you could add some orange food coloring, to make it more Halloween-ish…

Then I sprinkled a little ground cinnamon on top, to round out the SPICE of the cupcakes of course! Again, here you could do sprinkles.. candy corn, sky’s the limits peeps! Go crazy!

And are they delish!

If you’re like me and LOVE you some pumpkin… You are gonna love these!

The recipe makes about 24 cupcakes and one small cake!

So… What do you think? Going to try it out?

I’d love to hear how you like them!!!
Happy October Lovelies!!!

Linking this here and here and to these.

Filed Under: Recipes

Digital Scrapbooking Albums and a GIVEAWAY {CLOSED}

October 11, 2011 54 Comments

Today we’d like to introduce you to Truly Lovely’s newest sponsor!!

Liz is a military wife and mompreneur to three little ones! She is a digital scrapbooker that designs premade digital scrapbook pages for others to use to record their special memories.

Liz shares her designs with the world through her site, Digitial Scrapbooking Albums.

In Liz’s words,

“I believe that most moms have so many important things to do…creating wonderful memories with their families. My goal is to help them finish albums that can be used to remember those precious moments we all work so hard for.”

Liz graciously allowed us the opportunity to review her 249 page bundle of premade digital scrapbook pages! They include categories like, Wedding, Baby, Holiday, Children, etc.

Being that I got married in July I was most excited to try out the Wedding category of pages.

Now… I am not a digital scrapbooker. i.e. I had NO idea what I was doing with the templates or how to get MY pictures into those lovely premade pages… But thanks to the Digital Scrapbooking website where Liz shares a tutorial on using the free photo editing software, Gimp, I was able to quickly learn how to add my photos to the templates and make a beautiful digital scrapbook just like that!

I LOVE the Remember Always page and made one for our sweet

Granny from the Family Category.
There are so many pages to choose from with different looks to fit your style and needs!
I’m excited to try out more pages as time goes on!

With all of the page choices, different templates, layouts, your biggest issue will be deciding which pictures to use for which pages!!
I really enjoyed working with the pages to create my own digital scrapbook!
And I sincerely believe you will too!

Now… A Surprise from Liz for Truly Lovely readers!!!

She is giving one lucky reader the same 249 page bundle that we had the chance to review!

$80 VALUE!

You are going to LOVE it!!

To ENTER the Giveaway please be a
follower of Truly Lovely!

Mandatory entry: Visit Liz’s site

(www.digitalscrapbookingalbums.com) and leave a comment below on your favorite premade pages or storybooks

Additional entries: Leave a comment below for each one completed.
(FYI – If all entries are completed -

You will recieve a 50% discount code via email at the end of the giveaway!!!)

1. Like DSA on Facebook and be sure to say hi from Truly Lovely!

2. Share on your Facebook. You could say something like,
“I just entered to win a fun giveaway from @digitalscrapbookingalbums.com
and @Truly Lovely.” (Make sure the tags work, so we’ll see it!)

3. Follow DSA on Twitter, a hello would be nice here too!

4. Share on twitter. You could say this,
“I entered to #win a digital scrapbooking #giveaway from @digiscrapalbum and @kassarie. http://bit.ly/o0OuBs“

5. Write a blog entry on your blog about Digital Scrapbooking Albums and share the excitement with your readers! (3 Entries if you share the link below!!)

Lots of ways to win!!!
The winner will be drawn via random.org and announced on Friday, October 21st!
So get those entries in lovelies!!!

*I was given the premade page bundle in exchange for my honest review of the product.

All opinions shared here are my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Sponsor Spotlight

Fancy This Features #45

October 10, 2011 3 Comments

Hello lovelies! The start of another week!!!

I had a very nice birthday weekend at my parents house.

Miss Kayli made me a birthday cake!

I got to open some FUN presents!

And had nice road trip up there with the hubs.

Before I get to the features from Fancy This Fridays, I wanna say THANK YOU to everyone who left comments on my cry for fashion help!

I got some GREAT tips and several mentions from other lovelies that I’m not alone!

I THINK I have resolved to try to fit in a couple of WIWW every month from now on.

They serve as a means to push me to do more with what I have.

So look for some of those coming up!

Also!!! TODAY is the last day to enter my birthday giveaway!!!
There’s some AWESOME loot to be won!!! SO go enter!!!

Winner will be announced via our Facebook and Twitter pages tomorrow!!!

Now, onto the features!!!

First, check out how Laurie of Little Blue Chairs took this HOLE in her bathroom wall from this to this.

Her entire bathroom makeover looks great!!

LOVE her wall color!

Next, how stinkin’ cute are these little crocheted yummies from Laurie at Mommy to 4 Princes and 2 Princesses!
ADORABLE! And super soft for the kiddos to play with!

And finally, couldn’t resist a good peanut butter cookie and candy corn pumpkin combo! These peanut butter cookie bites, linked by Aimee at Sugary Sweets sound so yummy!!!