Shutterfly will make my Christmas Cards this year!

 Are you familiar with Shutterfly?  If not  and you are going to be purchasing holiday cards soon, you need to check them out.  They have over 700 designs for you to choose from and you can make them from the comfort of your own home.  I have always had great results from using their site.  I love ordering Christmas photo cards and personalized thank you cards from them.  Besides all of their designs, they also offer folding cards, flat cards, different paper types, various colors and styles. 

I love how easy it is to use their site.  They designed it with Moms in mind!  You can have them mail you the cards or they will mail them out for you! You just provide your list of names and they will do the rest!  I have not used that feature but I can see where at times it would come in handy!  Shutterfly ships really quickly, too!


I'm a photoholic. Whew! I feel better now that I said it!  I love taking pictures of my kids, our trips, food (I blog about food), animals, nature, etc.  I'm always snapping photos.  What I enjoy the most is taking Fall pictures of my girls.  This year I took about 400 photos and so far have narrowed it down to 100 top favorites.  I will then make photo books for the grandparents for Christmas.  If you like making photo gifts, Shutterfly has books, calendars and more!  Here are a few of my Christmas favorite designs and styles that they offer: 

 

I love the Holly Photo Frame 5 X 7

 I made one with my girls using the Elegant Stripe 5 X 7 card.  I love the simple stripe.

 

 My most favorite one is the Top Ten Moments.  I didn't test it out but this is most likely the one we will use this year! I'm going to have everyone help me with the Top 10 list! 

Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Shout out Fall Fun!!

I was sent a fun box of Shout products and a card set of 52 Activities in Nature to review from Growing Tree Toys.  Growing Tree Toys sells learning toys for children of ALL AGES.  They teamed up with Shout to work on the Shout Go Play initiative.   

I love Fall! It comes at the right time every year :)  I'm always so ready to turn off the air conditioner and open the windows!  I love how the evenings cool down and the leaves change.  Not only this but I love all the activities that we get to do in the fall, too! 

Shout knows play is so much more than fun and games. Studies show that unstructured play helps kids build fundamental skills like problem solving, coping, and conflict resolution. In other words: play is how kids become happy, healthy adults. Fall has arrived with crisp, cool air and new reasons to go out and play.  So let them go play! The one thing you won’t do is worry about their clothes; play should get messy and Shout can help.

 Fall usually means outdoors! This year we are lacking on the rain but not lacking on the fun! I can't believe that October is almost over! We've been in the leaves, hiking, evening fires, painting, pumpkin carving and plan more like hayrides and more bonfires!  This is also the time for colored hair spray and face paint!

 

These are great activities but some of them can be very messy!  Shout always comes to the rescue!  I recieved Shout Advanced Ultra Gel, Shout Trigger Laundry Stain Remover, and the Shout Color Catcher . I love the Shout Advanced Ultra Gel. It is a real thick gel and you can really work it into tough, ugly stains.  The Shout Trigger Laundry Stain Remover is a staple in my laundry room and is used for those every day messes.

I finally used the Shout Color Catcher.  I've always wondered (and still wonder) how that color catcher sheet works.  To try it out, I did a load of my kitchen throw rugs with a few kitchen dish towels.  The rugs are colorful and the towels are cream color.  When the wash was finished the towels were still cream color, the rugs looked great and the Shout Color Catcher was the color of the rugs!  I do not get  how this product works but it really did catch the color and not allow it to bleed on my towels! My girls do their own laundry so I'm going to show them the color catcher and have them start using it with their laundry. 

Besides the Shout, we also reviewed the 52 Activites in Nature Cards by Growing Tree Toys.  I carry the cards in my camera bag to have them handy on our Fall outdoor excursions.  We homeschool so these cards are come in handy to help fill our outdoor time together and gives us ideas on how to interact with nature. 

 

One of the cards explains that we are a "guest in nature."  Nature is the home to plants and animals.  We should always show respect and be considerate of what surrounds us and to disturb as little as possible.  There are 52 fun cards in this deck.  One of my favorite is to lie down, close your eyes and stretch out your limbs!  Then feel around you and guess what you are touching.  I love this!

Time to get out the bubbles, pack a lunch and go explore outdoors.  Don't be afraid to  let the kids get dirty because if they do you know that SHOUT can help you out! 

I received the SHOUT pack and Activity cards free of charge to blog about the Shout Go Play Initiative.  No other compensation was received. My words and opinions of the products are my own. Try them out to form your own opinions. Thanks to Shout and  Growing Tree Toys Blog..  I'm also an Amazon Affliflate

KT Tunstall Rocks my iPod!

KT Tunstall
Tiger Suit
Deluxe Edition CD/DVD
Release date 10/5/10

Are you a KT Tunstall fan?  If so here is her newest release! 

 Tiger Suit has 11 new tracks:

• Uummannaq Song
• Glamour Puss
• Push that Knot Away
• Difficulty
• Fade Like a Shadow
• Lost
• Golden Frames
• Come One, Get In
• (Still A) Weirdo
• Madame Trudeaux
• The Entertainer

This gal has ENERGY!  I love popping the cd in and jamming!  Well I have it on my iPod, too, so no CD required there!  I found the songs to be slow and full of deep soul and to crazy and upbeat!  I am surprised at how much I enjoyed this album. I love the electronic edge!  Top 20 is her right now and we can sit back and jam and watch her climb higher to the top! 

Some of the songs were so-so but in my opinion, of course, they were songs that I could easily have playing as background music.  I'm always looking for music that I can enjoy while reading, writing, etc.  This CD fits the bill. I do though, at times, get distracted by her edgy-hoarse "smoky" voice.  I actually love hearing that on women singers! 

DID YOU KNOW:

* KT is a Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum, Scottish-born singer-songwriter

* Tiger Suit first single "Fade Like A Shadow" is already a Top 20 hit at radio.

* KT will be on tour this Fall (10/31-12/1)

* KT's previous hit songs include - the Grammy-nominated "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," "Suddenly I See," Other Side of the World" or "Hold On".

Here are some HOT links:

*  Website: http://bit.ly/KTsite

*  Video: http://bit.ly/KTflasvid

*  Twitter: http://bit.ly/KTtwitter

*  Facebook: http://bit.ly/KTfbook

*  Link to Buy on Amazon: http://amzn.to/KTamazon

*  Album Preview: http://bit.ly/KTpreview

WHERE TO BUY – Tiger Suit is available at a discount on Amazon! Here is a link to the site:

Are you a fan??  If so have your heard this album, yet?  What is your favorite song?

I am participating in the One2One Network blog program.  I was sent a CD to review and am entered to win a gift card.  My own tasty words and opinions are stated here!  Check out her CD and tell me what you think about it! I'm an Amazon Affiliate.

Ovaltine is great hot and cold!

Are you or your kids chocolate milk fans? I'm the occasional chocolate milk fan. If I'm going to have chocolate milk, I'm going all out and get the whole milk, pre-made chocolate milk from our local Farm Fresh store.  I will have a glass once or twice a year just because it it too high in fat for me to drink.  For my kids and husband, they would drink chocolate milk three times a day if they had their way. What about your household?

My favorite way at home to have a chocolate drink is to add rich, chocolaty Ovaltine to my hot cup of coffee. I'm a huge coffee fan! I do not like my coffee black.  I always add a little something to my coffee.  When I need a chocolate kick I add 4 Tbsp of Ovaltine (80 calories) to my cup of coffee and then just 1-2 tsp of milk or creamer.  This is a cheap luxury! The warm chocolaty coffee relaxes me and gives me immediate comfort.

Now when it comes to my children and husband, they love adding their Ovaltine to a cold glass of milk! They, again, could drink this at least 3 times a day and then in between for a snack! We homeschool so they could get in 5 glasses a day *if I let them* which I do *not*. haha

Now why not? You are probably thinking that chocolate milk is just adding pure sugar to their milk!  Well it is with some products but not with Ovaltine.  For us, using Ovaltine is like drinking a glass full of extra vitamins & minerals.  I'm not sure that the husband or children really realize what is in Ovaltine.  Besides getting calcium, Vitamin D, etc from the milk they are also getting 12 extra vitamins & minerals just from adding in Ovaltine.  It is an excellent source of Vitamin E & Iron and a good source of Vitamins A & C.  

Check out my Cooking with Ovaltine and Ovaltine Hot Cocoa Recipe, too!

Would you like to win a Gift Basket full of fun Nestle products?  They sent me a yummy gift basket and offered one for a lucky reader of my blog! 

Giveaway (OVER)

1 Nestle Product Gift Basket

USA only 

Ends November 26

To enter: Leave a comment related to one of these questions:   Are you chocolate milk fans? Do you drink Ovaltine?  How do you like it? Hot or Cold? Do you use it in recipes???  Leave your email address with this entry!

Bonus entries: Once you've completed above entry you can do any of the following for extra entries. Leave separate comments for each one!  G'luck!

1) Follow my blog on Facebook
2) Subscribe to my RSS Feed
3) Follow blog on Networked Blogs
4) Follow on Twitter @Susieqtpies and Tweet 
" Enter to win a Nestle Product Gift Basket! Ovaltine included! @SusieQTpies Scraps of Life -  http://goo.gl/3Xfj " TWEET no more than 1 time per hour please! 
5) Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect
6) Check out the Ovaltine website and come back and share something here (10 entries)
7) Leave a comment on any of my  other post or giveaways and leave comment here. (unlimited)
8) Put my button on your blog and leave link
9) Blog about the giveaway and leave link
10) Leave this giveaway on Giveaway Link ups (unlimited and leave links)
11) Put my blog link on your blog roll and leave link
Thanks and g'luck!!

I am involved in a Nestle Ovaltine  blogging program. I have been given compensation to work with them.  My opinions are my own tasty words and thoughts! Buy the product and form your own opinions! Share them with me, too!

Follow Friday Link up Blog Hops and Giveaways

Happy Follow Friday! You follow me and leave a message as to how you are following me and then I'll do the same in return!  Fridays are a fun day to meet new bloggers!

I"m a mom with 3 girls! We homeschool and they are between 11 and 16.  Here is one of the fall pictures that I took this week.  We had a fun photo shoot! Every fall we go out and take pictures.  We used these as our "school pictures" since we homeschool.  I also use the photos as gifts for the up and coming holidays!!   Do you give photos as gifts?  The grandparents love it!

Here are some giveaways that I have going on! Go enter and claim your 5 extra "Fab Friday Bonus Entries".  You can get these if you have or have not entered, yet! (more giveaways to list, too)

• $100 CSN Store GC Giveaway (11/12)*this gets a lot of entries so join the fun and enter!
• Hair Flairs (10/28)
• Kindle Giveaway: The Waiting Book Tour (10/28)
• Brilliant Lens Cleaner (10/30)
• 5 Book Set Giveaway (11/5)
• FREE WEEK at School of ROCK (10/31)
• Wits and Wagers Family Party Game (11/12) 

Nestle Product basket giveaway 11/26

Here are some follow Friday blog hops that I participate in! Check them out and make new friends!

Don't forget to leave your link below in mine!  Next week I'm going to pick on of the bloggers and feature them on my blog! This will include having their blog button or link up all week, too! G'luck!

For my link up I just ask that you follow me on GFC! I'd love your support and I will give it back.  You can link up giveaways, twitter, Facebook, blog, etc.  Show some linky love!  Thanks and have a great weekend!

Wits and Wagers Family game

WOW! We find a crazy new family fun game!  It is so quick and easy to play that we easily pick it up and play it for 10 minutes or so.  What game is this you ask???  I'm talking about the Wits & Wagers Family by Dominic Crapuchettes through North Star Games, a party game company.

What is up with this party game?? Here is information straight from their website:

A Family Edition of the Most Award-Winning Party Game in History!

Wits & Wagers Family simplifies the rules and scoring system of the popular Wits & Wagers. Now families and kids can get into the Wits & Wagers action! First, every player writes down a guess to a fun question. Then players try to score points by choosing which guess is closest to the right answer without going over. That is it!

The game features 300 new family-friendly questions. And even better than that, Wits & Wagers Family includes Meeples, fun, cute, human shaped wooden pieces that the players use to select which answers they think are correct. Meeples have been a hallmark in European style strategy games for years, but this is the first time they have made an appearance in a party game.

So check out Wits & Wagers Family, the game that combines laughter and learning in a way that all ages can enjoy together!

 My take on the game:  Ok my family has had a lot of fun with this game.  We play it with mainly 5 people, ages 11-40.  IT is one of those really quick games that you can pick up and play a full round in 10-20 minutes.   I was super impressed that my husband knew what the game was when I showed him the box!  He plays games that takes hours and hours to play so I figured this game would be one of those that he would just tolerate to play with his family.  He is the one who has suggested several times to get the game out and play.  My girls and the kitty (below) loves playing, too!

 I'm all about messing with people during games.  This game is all about using your wits or pretending you have your wits about you!  You can really play on people in this game.  There is A LOT of strategy with this game if you want to use it!   It takes playing it a few times to get your strategy groove going.  Now if you aren't into all that and just want to have fun this game then this is for you, too!  I'm about having fun but the competitive gear always kicks in when I'm playing games.  

This is a very simple game to learn.  Everyone gets two cute MEEPLES , both worth different values.  A question is read and everyone playing gets to answer the question on their own answer board.  I love how you use a dry erase marker for your answers!  SAVES ON PAPER! Thank you very much for thinking of this! Then you line up the numeric answers and bet  with your MEEPLE on which answer you think is correct. without going over  the correct answer.  Then MEEPLE points are scored based on the correct answer.  It is FUN to see the answer!  It is awesome to be correct or closes to the correct answer.  Little kids have won this game against adults!  Sometimes the adults over think their answer!

Do you want to win one of these games???  It would make a SUPER Christmas present for any family on your list!  Check it out and buy several copies for all your families! It is the most Award-Winning Party Game in History...now for the whole family! 

GIVEAWAY (OVER)

1 winner 

USA

Ends 11/12/2010

To enter:  #1 Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect and #2 answer the below question in your comment.  The question is one that is in the game.  No cheating!  Don't Google! Just read it and give me an answer that you think it is! (The winner of this giveaway is chosen using Random.org so I'm just looking for fun here)

Question:  What  percent of adults carve pumpkins for Halloween???

BONUS ENTRIES (cause I love playing games and having more chances to win)

1) Follow my blog on Facebook and North Star Games (1 entry each)
2) Subscribe to RSS Feed
3) Follow blog on Networked Blogs
4) Follow on Twitter @Susieqtpies and Tweet 
" Enter to win Wits & Wagers Family Super Fun Party Game! @SusieQTpies Scraps of Life - http://goo.gl/RE1y " TWEET no more than 1 time per hour please! 
5) Visit North Star Games and tell me something you learned from their site 10 entries
6) If you could make up a question for WITS & WAGERS what would it be? Leave in comments It has to have a numeric value of some sort (percents count!) 10 entry points (unlimited entries)
7) Leave a comment on any of my  other post or giveaways and leave comment here. (unlimited)
8) Put my button on your blog and leave link
9) What is your favorite party game/family game?
10) Blog about the giveaway and leave link
11) Leave this giveaway on Giveaway Link ups (unlimited and leave links)
12) Put my blog link on your blog roll and leave link
 

I was sent a copy of this game to review. My take on the game is my own tasty words and opinions! Get the game and see what you think!  The sponsor will mail a copy to the winner.

National Orthodontic Health Month Cookbook Review

Happy National Orthodontic Health Month to all you braces wearing people! We officially have one teen wearing braces. She went from eating crunchy tacos to just eating the taco "guts." She is old enough to be in charge of her own orthodontic care and routine of bands,etc. Every time we go back for her appointments they praise her and are impressed at how quickly things are moving along.

Braces are a huge adjustment for the wearer as well as the cook in the family. Several times I had to change dinner plans because of my dear daughter and her sore mouth. I'm impressed at how responsible she is with them and how she is avoiding things that could cause damage to the hardware.

Did you know that there is a specific cookbook full of recipes for brace wearers?   It has won several awards, too! I was really impressed by the mission of the book! A portion of the proceeds from their book sales benefit the Smile of a Lifetime Foundation, a non-profit group that provides orthodontic scholarships to under-served students. These cookbooks should be in the Orthodontist office! Next time we go back I'm going to show them the cookbook!

The recipes in this  book focus more on "comfort food" vs. "forbidden food", which is so helpful!  When your teeth are hurting you still need to eat!  I appreciate all the recipes and suggestions on "do-able" foods. I love all the tooth trivia sprinkled throughout the book!  The end of the book includes Websites of Interest!  I found that very helpful, too!

The chapters in this book include: 
*Soothing Tips of Difficult Days
*Easy Eating
*Dining-Out is Do-able
* Be-Nice-to-Me-Beverages (great, Mmm Mmm Milk Shakes)
*Bracket-Friendly Breads and Breakfasts (Apple-not too-Crisp & Twisty Soft Pretzels, yum)
*Mellow Main Meals (must have Soft-Crust Pizza and Tender Chicken Pot Pie)
*Very Tender Vegetables (yummy Red Beans and Rice and Three Corn Extravaganza)
*Definitely Deserved Desserts (tasty Sensational Cinnamon Snickerdoodles and Fudgy Cocoa Bites)

Red Beans and Rice


3 1/2 c. water
1-15oz can red kidney beans, drained
1/2 c. onion or 2 T. dried onion
3/4 c. chopped green pepper or any sweet pepper
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. dry long-grained rice
(optional: 2 tsp. dried basil or 6 crushed basil leaves)

In a large saucepan, combine 1 1/2 c. of water with the beans, onion, pepper, garlic and oregano.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer and cook for 20 min. 
Add salt, optional basil and the remaining 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil again, then lower the heat to simmer and stir in the rice.  Cook for 20 minutes, or to your favorite level of softness.  Serves six to eight.

Notes: If you want meat, we did, add in soft chicken and skinless sausage.  Hot sauce really kicks up the dish.

For more information, click and follow on Twitter and Facebook

I was given a cookbook to review and post. I hope you read the book to find out more information and get your own tasty recipes! LINK UP Mardi Gras/New Orleans Recipes