new at the Company 4.12

well, it's nearly the middle of April... a few days ago we were having 70ish degree weather... today? with the wind chill it's the mid 30s. ugh. oh well, guess spring will arrive sometime {I hope}. I have some new kits in the shop today. I've had fun doing a few different things & I hope you like them too!

you know I love making the Snippets. Love their versatility to use with about anything... & I have a weakness for different sayings. I've collected quotes for a long time, which served me well when I used to do calligraphy a lot. I also love making Project Life type things for you all {since I can never seem to get it together myself} but I do very much enjoy looking at all the great stuff you create :) Remember these are 30% off through Sunday! enjoy :)

by {becca dickson} see? the weather! crazy, but aren't they cute?

by {claudia harvey} using the Snippets & the Dated kits with the Go kit {how perfect!}

by {me} sorry if that photo is tmi.{& the story below really has nothing to do with my new releases}

...and so begins my rambling

for anyone that's known me over the last few years you know I've been doing weight watchers, I reached my goal weight & became a lifetime member & have kept that weight off for over a year. It's been a struggle. I've been in the process of shopping for swim suits & started taking a few shots from my phone so I could ponder my choices {I know, weird}. But in the process, I found myself berating this & that. Seeing everything wrong. But then, I saw a pic my son took of me last summer. Although I've not really lost any more weight {within 5 pounds} I noticed the differences in my stomach in the 9 months since that picture. I could tell my stomach muscles have toned & pulled in tighter. It made me realize the things I'm doing everyday ARE making a change. There are many days I'm still not happy with my body {I am a woman after all}, but I try my very best to see the positive things. I know I've worked hrd & will continue to work hard for what my body is right now & I'm proud of where I'm at. I always think there is room for improvement & so now I'm really focused not so much on losing any more weight but exercising to make my body better that way. I have to confess, I really did not do exercise while I was losing the weight. I focused a LOT on my diet & it felt to me that was all I could handle at the time. That was fine, but now I feel like I'm really seeing things changing even more for the better. I used to HATE to exercise. Some types of exercise I still hate to do, but I have my trusty treadmill & my headphones hooked to my iPhone & my Kindle with a book & for 45 minutes to an hour almost every.single.day I just get lost in it. Sometimes I just walk, sometimes I run & walk, just depends how I'm feeling. But I do it. I'm hooked. If I don't get to it I feel a little lost. It really is an escape. Something I know I'm doing for myself & no one else. Ok. enough of my babble. Anyway... I guess what I'm saying is just begin. You won't be sorry. Even the little changes really are changing you :)

{robyn}

new releases 3.1 & great inspiration

happy March everyone!!! March is a VERY big month at our house because the littlest person here was born in March & we can't go a day without discussing the birthday. lol.  So it starts in accelerated mode when the actual month gets here :) 

February flew right by, but it was a super awesome month at DHD with all the dollar deals & I thank everyone who filled their carts... I hope you enjoyed it too!  So, a few new releases today... 30% off just today, so grab 'em up along with the other awesome kits that released this week!

one of my favorite things when doing paper layout recently has been to print out little things on index cards & snip them apart for the layout.  I was missing that on my digi layouts, so I made up this kit!  It includes full alpha & numbers, symbols, years, months, weekdays & lots of phrases & words!  There are over 100 pieces in this little kit!

so many people loved the cut it out hand cut clipping masks, I decided to work up another kit of masks.  This kit has layered photoshop files in it, so you can clip separate papers to each layer & it has stitching included too!  transparent .png files are also included!

& now, for some inspiration...

layout by {shannon dombkowski}

layout by {celeste smith}

layout by {me}

little miss had a leap into kindergarten day {they spend half a day in with the kindergarten class to see what it's like.}  she was SO excited.  this little one is very ready for kindergarten!

layout by {me}

February 22 marked my one year of reaching lifetime status with weight watchers. I've spent the entire year at or below my goal weight.  I'm still loving it, it's still hard some days {or weeks} & it's still totally worth it.  I love that I have this special thing that 2 of my sisters are doing & our mom, since we all go together.  It makes it so much easier to keep it going.

well, this afternoon is hair appt day for me & conference day at school for the boys & probably some grocery shopping.  off to try to make my morning at home somewhat productive!

{robyn}

have a healthy halloween

ok, so I'm changing up the final week of the 7 ways to a healthier you this week in celebration of Halloween!  If you love candy as much as I do, you have to figure out some way to fit it into your plan... so here are points values of tons of Halloween goodies that I snatched from the Hungry girl email I received this morning :)... who, by the way, I found out is a huge Cardinals fan... anyone else see that game last night? UNBELIEVABLE!!! I'm still reeling!

I <3 you David Freese :) hometown hero! this guy has quite a career ahead of him!

anyway... back  to the candy! 

Each one has 20 - 35 calories and 0.5 - 1.5g fat (PointsPlus® value 1*).

3 Musketeers Minis
Hershey's Kisses
Sixlets 8-piece tubes
Tootsie Roll Midgees
Whoppers Malted Milk Balls 3-piece tubes

Minis are the small, typically square morsels. The kinds below have 35 - 55 calories and 1.5 - 3g fat (PointsPlus® value 1*) per piece.

Baby Ruth
Butterfinger
Hershey's Special Dark, Krackel, Milk Chocolate, and Mr. Goodbar
Kit Kat
Milky Way
Nestlé Crunch
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Snickers
Twix
 
Snack-size and fun-size candies are usually about 2 inches long and weigh in at around half an ounce. The ones listed here have 60 - 85 calories and 1 - 4g fat (PointsPlus® value 2*) per piece, pack, bag, or box.

3 Musketeers
Baby Ruth  
Butterfinger
Hershey's Milk Chocolate
Junior Mints
Kit Kat (one 2-piece bar)
M&M's Milk Chocolate
Milky Way
Nestlé Crunch
Raisinets
Snickers
York Peppermint Patties

Same specifics as the last list of snack-size/fun-size treats (about 2 inches long and half an ounce in weight), but these are a little higher in stats. Each bar or pack has 90 - 95 calories and 4 - 6g fat (PointsPlus® value 3*).

100 Grand
M&M's Peanut
Mr. Goodbar
PayDay

30 - 50 calories and 0 - 1g fat (PointsPlus® value 1*) each.

AirHeads mini bars
Laffy Taffy mini bars
Now and Later (2 pieces)
SpongeBob SquarePants Gummy Krabby Patties
Starburst (2 pieces)
SweeTarts Chews
Twizzlers Cherry Pull 'n' Peel snack-sized pieces
Twizzlers Strawberry Twists snack-sized pieces

Each of these small sacks has 50 - 55 calories and 0g fat (PointsPlus® value 1*).

Brach’s Candy Corn
Hot Tamales
Mike and Ike
Sour Patch Kids
Swedish Fish

Each  pack has a reasonable 60 - 75 calories and 0 - 1g fat (PointsPlus® value 2*).

Dots
Mini Chewy SweeTarts
Skittles Fun Size

Just around 20 - 25 calories and 0g fat (PointsPlus® value 1*) each.

Dum Dums
Everlasting Gobstopper mini pouches
Pixy Stix (3 straws)
Smarties rolls
 
50 - 60 calories and 0 - 0.5g fat (PointsPlus® value 2*) per pop.

Blow Pop
Ring Pop Halloween
Tootsie Caramel Apple Pops
Tootsie Pops

35 - 50 calories and 0 - 1g fat (PointsPlus® value 1*).

Fruit by the Foot Mini Feet
Fruit Roll-Ups Mini Rolls
Jet-Puffed BooMallows
Pop-Tarts Mini Crisps Fun Size pouches
Rice Krispies Treats Mini Squares
Snyder's of Hanover 1/2-oz. bags
 
Each one has 60 - 70 calories and 2 - 3.5g fat (PointsPlus® value 2*).

Angie's Artisan Treats Authentic Kettle Corn Halloween Snack Packs
Pirate's Booty Aged White Cheddar 1/2-oz. bags
Quaker Chewy Fright Night Chocolate Chip mini granola bars
Sun-Maid Vanilla Yogurt Raisins Mini-Snacks

100 - 120 calories and 3 - 3.5g fat (PointsPlus® value 3*).

Herr’s Chocolate Mini Pretzels Halloween Treat Size bags
Keebler Scooby-Doo! Baked Graham Cracker Sticks packages
Peeps Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pumpkin

180 - 200 calories and 9 - 10.5g fat (PointsPlus® value 5*) if you indulge in one of these tricky treats.

Cheez-It Baked Snack Crackers packages
Keebler Mini Fudge Stripes packages
Reese's Peanut Butter King Size Pumpkins (1 pumpkin, half of package)

happy {almost} Halloween! I'll be attending 2 school halloween parties today, how about you?

{robyn}

lasagna soup & pb choc chip oatmeal cookies

I've been asked by a few people for these two recipes, so I thought I'd share them here.  The lasagna soup we made a week or so ago & it was sooo yummy{& easy}! Definitely good old comfort food!  I found the recipe from Pinterest & the link sent me here.  I doubt that these guys make anything that isn't good... I mean, there mama is Paula Dean!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 ounces broken whole-wheat lasagna noodles (about 4 noodles)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick saucepot or Dutch oven. Add the sausage, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is crumbled and browned, 8 – 10 minutes.

Add the broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended, about 20 minutes. Add the noodles; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly and the noodles are tender, 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in mozzarella, basil, and the Parmesan.  (whole-wheat lasagna noodles take a little longer to cook.)

Nutritional Information:

Per Serving (1 cup) 225 Cal (27% from Fat, 42% from Protein, 31% from Carb); 23 g Protein; 7 g Tot Fat; 2 g Sat Fat; 2 g Mono Fat; 17 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; 4 g Sugar; 108 mg Calcium; 3 mg Iron; 826 mg Sodium; 53 mg Cholesterol  {this works out to 6 ww points+ per cup}

Original Recipe by Paula Deen: Tastes Like Lasagna Soup
Take It Lighter recipe courtesy of Bobby and Jamie Deen, and the Paula Deen Test Kitchen

Servings: 8 cups
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 1 hour

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 c Crisco

1/2 c peanut butter

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 c white sugar

1/2 c egg beaters or 2 eggs

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

1 T. honey

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c whole wheat white flour

3 c oatmeal

bag chocolate chips

Cream Crisco, peanut butter & sugars.  Add eggs, vanilla & honey.  Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture.  Add oatmeal.  Add chocolate chips.  Bake at 325 degrees from 8-10 minutes.

these are a favorite at our house & the recipe has been modified lots, but this is how I made them yesterday & I think these were the best yet!  This made about 3-3 1/2 dozen & they work out to be about 4-5 WW points+ per cookie using the Pampered Chef medium cookie scoop.

{enjoy!}

{Robyn}

week #3... 7 ways

welcome once again to my little bit of healthy tips for the week. I hope you're enjoying & finding my tips helpful to you! This week I thought I'd share all websites. The internet is full of lots of useful information & it seems I'm finding more & more places I want to visit & things I want to try because of what I'm finding on pinterest! So I'm going to show you some sites I've found through there & also a few I've found & use on my own...

this has been one of my constants for logging my miles on my runs/walks over the last several months. I started out using Nike+ & still do, but I've found Nike+ can be very testy & doesn't always want to work, so I found DailyMile & love it!  It's free, you can still use your Nike+ gadgets & it will sync your workouts from them.  You can post your workouts to your facebook page or your twitter account as well {this works great for me, as it makes me feel more accountable}.  I have really found that logging my workouts helps me. I can see the improvements I've made, how much farther & faster I'm going now than when I started.

Lisa Lillian is the Hungry Girl & I love the way she comes up with so many clever, ingenious ways to make favorite foods skinny!  She has several cookbooks & between that, her website, her TV show & her newsletters, you can find TONS of recipes!  Another reason I love her? Everything she makes has Weight Watchers Points Plus values!

Gina has lots & lots of awesome recipes as well. It's really one of my favorite websites to find real food that the entire family will eat.  She also figures all the recipes with Weight Watchers Points Plus values & she also has the "old" program points listed for those of you who were fans. 

this is one I really just discovered over the last few days.  I've become very interested in the idea of clean eating & so have been trying to find different recipe ideas to help me out with heading in that direction. I've found several sites, but this one has some recipes that look sooo good & I'm excited to try them.

this is another recent find that I have tons of recipes that I'm ready to try... lots of family friendly ones!  She not only has recipes, though, there are lots of inspiring posts about fitness & weight loss as well.  I can already tell this is going to be someplace I check in on often!

 

I don't need to eat gluten-free, but one of my creatives for my digital team does & she led me to this website a while back. The whole idea of gluten free living is very interesting to me as well. I'm very interested in the stories that bring people to different ways of eating. Most people that follow a gluten-free diet do so out of necessity & it is so amazing to me how a diet can cure so many things. It's one of my to-do's before the end of the year to try some gluten free recipes.

you totally knew I couldn't do this post without this website, right?  I owe my weight loss sucess in part to this program & this website. It is so truly amazing all you can do if you have access to the tools that are here. Tons of recipes, exercises, success stories, articles, tools like tracking your weight loss, measurements, daily food intake, exercise points earned... so much on one site! One of my favorite things is the recipe builder where you can put in your own recipe, or a favorite recipe from your mom :) & see how many points it has... then you can start changing things up to help it out a little in the points department! So cool. I love going on there & seeing how far I've come.

so there you have it!  7 great websites that can help you on your healthy journey! hope you enjoy :_

{robyn}