I heart faces - Anything But A Face

I have been following I Heart Faces on Facebook but have yet to jump into one of their challenges. So with the newest challenge "Anything but a face" ending tomorrow, I decided why not start this week! So here is my entry. This was taken Saturday while we were having a unusually cold and rainy SoCal day.

Imagine Digital Art Review

Last week I saw an awesome deal come through my email box from TheDailySave.com. I have bought many deals through them and was very excited about his one. It was to take one of your own photos and turn it into a 14x14 gallery wrapped canvas from Imagine Digital Art. Well you know I have really jumped into my photography the past several months and thought this would be wonderful. Turn one of my photos into a canvas..sweet!

So I bought the deal and when I was ready to order I read the ordering instructions from TDS. However for some reason it just didn't make sense to me so I decided to call the shop. I reached a message machine and left all my info. The next day I received a call from Liliana. I explained that I bought the deal and was just wondering how to order online. She was very sweet and knowledgeable. She explained how to order online and then suggested that I can simply email her my photo and she would work with me step by step through the process. Perfect!

I right away logged on and sent her my picture. Within an hour I was surprised to get a reply email from Liliana with not one but two proofs. She advised me that because of my original photo size a 11x14 canvas would benefit my picture more. Also to not obstruct my signature the proofs had a black gallery wrap, but if I wanted a true gallery wrap she could work on the image. I didn't even think of my signature nor did I really care about it, but she did. I replied back to her that I would like to try the full gallery wrap but if it would distort my picture than the black wrap was fine. I totally at this point trusted her professional judgement and was excited to see what happened next.

A few hours later once again Liliana had sent me a proof of what the 11x14 true gallery wrap will look like...it was perfect! She had "re-created" some of the imagine so that it could be wrapped and yet not lose any detail. I replied that I loved it and to go ahead and print. She printed it and mailed it out on Friday (yesterday)...and I just got it in the mail today!

This is the photo I sent her (minus the copyright watermark)

....and this is what I got in the mail....

Gorgeous right!! I had such a wonderful experience with Liliana and Imagine Digital Art I just had to share it with you all. I am over the moon to have one of my photos on canvas to hang in my house.

Imagine Digital Art is a local Southern California business located in Chula Vista. They not only turn your personal photos into beautiful canvases, but you can browse their other site full of wonderful photos and art work from local artists and photographers and have a canvas made just for you. For all my out of State friends did I mention their shipping is FREE! That's right..FREE to everyone in the US.

So if your looking for a wonderful, customer friendly and technically experienced shop to turn your beautiful photos into works of art, pop on over to Imagine Digital Art and give them a look.





*Disclaimer - I was not solicited by Imagine Digital Art to write a review. I was not given any free product or money to write a review. As a satisfied customer I wanted to share my positive experience with others. All claims and statements made are mine and mine alone and are unbiased.

Foto Friday - Fort Rosecrans Cemetery

This week and hopefully every Friday I am happy to join Household of 6 Diva and her Foto Friday. This week her theme is Shadows.



"The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree". ~Thomas Campbell





"Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored". ~Daniel Webster

C's First Dessert - Sweet Berry Shortcakes

C made her first dessert all by herself the other night. For Christmas she received from her auntie Audra the Pink Princess Cookbook. Since we were making Puff Pastry Empanadas for dinner I put a sheet of puff pastry aside for her. She had so much fun and I enjoyed watching her. I think we might have a pastry chef on our hands...lol Here is the recipe so you can share it with your little princess. I also recommend this book for all pretty princesses. The ingredients are simple and the directions are easy to read.

Sweet Berry Shortcakes

Ingredients:

* 1 sheet puff pastry dough
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
* 2 tablespoons sugar

For Berries:

* 2 cups blueberries and sliced strawberries
* 1-2 tablespoons sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

* Whipped Cream

Thaw puff pastry for 10-15 minutes
Preheat oven to 375

The directions says to open a sheet of pastry and on a floured work surface gently roll out and smooth pastry. (I did not do this...skip to next step)

Use a cookie cutter to cut out pastries. (C used a medium size flower cutter from my bento supplies)

Place flower pastry cut outs on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush each flower with the melted butter and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

While pastry is baking in a medium bowl add your mixed berries. Sprinkle with sugar and add vanilla. Toss gently and set aside.

When baked pastry flowers are cooled begin the building fun! Layer the flower pastries and berries any way you want and garnish with whipped cream. I help C make the one for the final picture but she made everyone else's plates and she had a blast!

Puff Pastry Empanadas

A few nights ago I was watching the Food Network with hubby (I think it was Diner, Drive in & Dives but can not be certain) I remember watching someone stuffing a puff party square. I turned to hubby and said "I can do that with taco meat and cheese...like an empanada!".

This was the best thing I have ever eaten...really! The puff pastry makes it fluffy and light while still a little doughy which I love. The meat was spicy and the cheese melty. Plus you can add whatever else you like inside..onions, jalapeños, cilantro, ect.

Here is my super easy recipe your family will love!

Ingredients:

*3 Puff Pastry Sheets(I used the frozen from Trader Joes..two sheets per box)

* 1 lb Ground Meat

* Shredded Cheese

* Taco Seasoning

* Egg

* Parchment Paper

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 400

* Cook ground meat according to directions on taco seasoning packet.

* Thaw puff pastry sheets for about 10-15 minutes then cut sheets into four squares.

* Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

* In a small bowl whisk egg, set aside

* Fill each square with a small spoonful of meat, cheese and any other extra you like (diced onion in picture above).

* Egg wash the inside edges before folding into a triangle. Crimp with a fork.

* Once all empanadas are made brush some of the egg over the tops of the empanadas and with your fork poke holes so they do not explode while baking.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden tops.

* Remove from oven, let cool for a minute and enjoy!!

Seriously it is that simple, inexpensive and so delicious!

This was hubby's with extra jalapeños. 

Downtown San Diego Photography

Convention Center downtown San Diego

Busy in the Gaslamp Quarter

Trojan Horse inside The New Childrens Museum

View from inside the museum

View from the 40th floor of the Hyatt downtown.

Hi everyone! Sorry for being absent the past week but expect this is not be a isolated incident. The next month and half is going to be very busy. We officially have our orders and will be leaving SoCal and moving  across the country to our next duty station. I am actually excited, i'm ready for a change but will be very sad to once again leave my family and all the wonderful friends we have here. Such is the life of the military family. However since we are leaving soon the girls and I have been going out daily and visiting parts of San Diego we have never been. I want to make sure we see and photograph everything so we will always have the memories. One of our latest adventures was to hang out downtown.

I can not tell you how many times I have driven by the Convention Center but never stopped and went inside. So we did and the architecture was gorgeous. We also walked around the Gaslamp Quarter and headed over to The New Childrens Museum. It was a great day full of fun and exploration and we had a blast. Hope you enjoy my shots from the day.

Valentines Day Bento

C got a hearts galore bento for Valentines Day today. Weird thing is that her class is having a party today and my job is to make the sami's for her class. Now you would think that since she is having a party with tons of food, they would not need to bring a lunch...but you'd be wrong, they still have lunch time. Okay then.

So in her LunchBot she has a heart shaped pb&j sami with a vanilla creme heart peep. The other side holds heart shaped babybell cheese, carrots and Clementine. Nice and light so she will not be too full for her party.

So what did you do or make special for today? I would love to see some yummy food links of course! I am still contemplating making cupcakes today...we'll see :)

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Super Bowl Leftovers

We made so much food for the Super Bowl and now we have so many leftovers! So for lunch yesterday I decided to combine some of the yummy leftovers into one awesome dish.

Pictured above is a Cheddar Wurst tucked into a French baguette and topped with homemade chili, shredded cheese and sour cream. Not only was it lunch yesterday, but lunch for today too. Gotta love leftovers!

What are your favorite leftovers?

French Vanilla Cupcake with Whipped Peanut Butter Filling and Chocolaty Nutella Frosting

Yesterday was the Super Bowl and hubby had a few buddies over. For the amount of people we had  we had triple the amount of food. We kinda always go over board on the food and drink when hosting and end up eating leftovers for a week...lol However everything was delicious and hubby did all the prep and cooking. So for my contribution to the party I made cupcakes! I didn't know what to make in the beginning but knew I wanted them to be decadent and had to involve Nutella. Speaking of did you know Feb 5th was World Nutella Day?

We love Nutella. Actually my mom introduced me to Nutella on my wedding day! While we were all getting our hair and makeup done in my hotel suite she brought some prewedding snacks and Nutella was one of the things we had and I have loved it ever since. So one of my most favorite things to eat is a peanut butter and Nutella sami...yumm! Thinking about my favorite sami I decided that was what I wanted to put into my cupcakes. Here is the recipe for you to try for yourselves, it will defiantly be the hit of your party.

Cupcake Ingredients:

* Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake Mix
You didn't think I had time to totally make everything from scratch did you...lol

Peanut Butter Filling:

* 1 cup Peanut Butter (creamy)
* 3 Tablespoons softened Butter
* 2/3 cup sifted Powdered Sugar
* 1-4 tablespoons Milk

Chocolaty Nutella Frosting:


* 4-5 heaping Tablespoons Nutella
* 4 Tablespoons softened Butter
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla
* 1 1/2 cups sifted Powdered Sugar
* 1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder
* 4 teaspoon Milk

Instructions:

Mix and bake cupcakes according to package directions. In a bowl and using an electric mixer, cream the peanut butter and butter together then add the sifted powdered sugar. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you have reached your desired consistency. I used about 4 tablespoons because I wanted mine extra creamy. Using a spatula fill a pastry bag with a round #12 tip or a medium star tip. When cupcakes are cool stick the pasty tip right into the center of each cupcake and gently squeeze the bag. You'll notice the cakes expanding. Be careful not to over fill as you will blow out the cake and or crack the top of the cupcake.

In a separate bowl cream together (using an electric mixer) the Nutella, butter and vanilla. Slowly add the sifted powdered sugar and cocoa powder mixing constantly. Just like the peanut butter filling you will add the milk by the tablespoon until you have reached your desired consistency. Now taste! I originally used 4 heaping tablespoons of Nutella but wanted more of the hazelnut flavor so at this point I added another heading tablespoon.. delish! If your frosting is too soft place it in the fridge to firm up before piping your cupcakes.

Sick Day MTM and Bento

Thursday Muffin Tin Meal Lunch

C's Bento Lunch Friday

 M's Bento Lunch Friday

I have had a house full of sick kids since last weekend. Last Saturday M spiked a fever and was down for 48 hours. C was fine. Then C started spiking fevers Weds night and still is and M has some nasty chest congestion. Just love when they spread it around the house...lol However even with being sick they have had moments of clarity and feeling better, oddly around lunch time so they have made requests for lunch.

Yesterday we did Muffin Tin Meals. C reminded me that it has been a while since we have done Muffin Tin Monday so we had fun with it. Today they asked for bento's and as long as it made them feel better even for a minute I was game. As of tonight they are still yucky but hope we can resolve it soon because Sunday is the Super Bowl baby!!! Keeping fingers and toes crossed for us all...lol