Easy Homegrown Sprouts

These lovely, crispy and peppery sprouts are a favorite in this house on sandwiches and in salads. After a quick search they can be made at home in 3-5 days. I purchased all the supplies on Amazon (except Ball Mason jars that I already had on hand) and wanted to share the easy and cool process with you.

Lids: http://amzn.to/1PCd7o0
Sprouting Seeds: http://amzn.to/24uJzdw

Soak overnight in a wide mouth mason jar

Rinse and drain at least twice daily (morning and evening) or three times like I did to expedite the growth process

Love seeing something grow and so quickly. It certainly satisfies the nearly instant gratification.

These are wonderful, so refreshing with a little bite and will last for the week of salads and sandwiches. Make sure to store them after rinsing off the hulls and storing them in a air tight container. To get the most water removed, I used a salad spinner and lined the bottom of the container with paper towel to wick away any excess moisture. 

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/enuUiSuE-Ow

Pilot Frixion Erasabe Pens

Aldi's Specially Selected Artisan Berry Crisps

I saw these at Aldi on our recent shopping trip, intrigued enough to bring each flavor home with us for a test drive. Boy, am I glad I did! These are DELICIOUS - crispy, savory and sweet and even more spectacular with a little unsalted butter. 

These are the Goji Berry Pistachio, you can easily identify each ingredient - goji berries, slices of pistachio and loaded with flax seeds and oats. 

Click It Ink Pad from Ken Oliver Crafts

 Ken Oliver was at Inspiration Station in Stafford Springs CT teaching a couple of classes on watercolor technique. The perfect little ink pad to have on the go for all you planner enthusiasts. I bought two of them in Crimson and Lamp Black. Check out how cool these are:

Mega Bold Gel Pen by Promarx

The two pack is available at Dollar Tree, I only saw black ink at my local store but it's possible they might also be available in blue 

The ink is super juicy, not the best to use on the fly or on thin paper but looks like the ideal on mailing envelopes for that extra bold look. Note: the ink needs to dry (longer than regular gel) before it's smudge proof.

CraftMedley Cup Sequins in Rhythm 'n Blues

CraftMedley brand of cup sequins in Rhythm 'n Blues (GC457D) I picked up at Lost and More last week. As many of you know already, I can't pass up shiny objects and especially when they are packaged in color palates like this. I also brought home the purple mix, black/white, greens and metallics (please let me know if you'd like a closer look at each of those).

These are the exact robin's egg blue or if you'd prefer that perfect little box from Tiffany's 

A deep teal 

This color reminds me of the Versace dress Jennifer Lopes wore 

Seafoam on a stormy day 

Blue with a hint of Royal 

Powder or Baby blue, matte 

Holographic over darker blue 

Deep Royal blue

Each palate contains 8 different shades of one color or coordinating colors, total 16 grams of 6mm cup sequins. Want to see the others, just ask and I'll post close up photos of each palate.

Review - Three Food Items from Dollar Tree

After repeated requests, I busted out three of the food items I picked up from Dollar Tree in the last couple of weeks to make a very simple but tasty large appetizer/dinner.

• Francesco Rinaldi Pizza Sauce
• Camillo's Pizza Crusts (2 per pack)
• Hormel Pepperoni

The Palace Buffet - Vernon CT

Admittedly not the best of my food photos but I wanted to do a first impression review of The Palace Buffet that opened on April 1st, 2015 in Vernon CT.

My husband and I were just driving by on a Saturday afternoon when we noticed the flags billowing in the wind a new sign on the storefront so we took a little detour. Paulie went in to check it out while I was vlogging in the car. Upon his return a few minutes later, he gushed at the beautiful sushi on the buffet and said the next time we were in the mood, we should try this place.  Little did I know that the mood would strike us just few hours later, well perhaps 5 or so.

Design Team Etiquette

Some of you might already know that I have been a part of a few Design Teams in the last five years and with one company for the duration so I've accumulated some real world wisdom to share with whomever finds it useful or just anecdotal.

What To Do:
So you have tried out and made it to be a part of a team, to showcase the products of a company that is utilizing the creative juices of it's Design Team to highlight what's new, now what?  I can share with you my honest observations from both the point of view of a member as well as Team Lead and Social Media Coordinator.

As Seen On TV Stone Wave from Dollar Tree

The first time using this, I gave my YouTube viewers a choice between tree dessert recipes to make on video, the Baked Banana won hands down

I picked up two of these, with the intent to use for French Onion soup (Paulie's favorite) but discovered that there a few enticing recipes that will be highlighted in the coming weeks

Each crock has a vented lid and a hollow handle (to limit heat transfer) but is only intended for use in the microwave. Although I am pretty sure if these were fired in a kiln at 1,200° F the possibility of using them in the home oven exists

One banana, a little brown sugar, a dash of rum, sliced almonds and cinnamon with a pat of butter and 45 seconds in the microwave (recipe called for 30 seconds but the butter hadn't even melted so I ran it for an additional 15 seconds which was perfect). Topped with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream and it was perfect*.
* If you are making this for children, substitute the run with vanilla extract but only 1/4 teaspoon

Review - Scrub Buddy from Dollar Tree

I picked up this single package of Scrub Buddy Extra Quick Eraser at Dollar Tree a while back but finally decided to put it to the test today. I had plenty of gross surfaces to put it to use, just check it out.

This door frame between the living room and kitchen get all of Paulie's grubby paws on it so I had to see how well it would work. Simply run the Scrub Buddy under water, squeeze out the extra and scrub away. Minimum pressure needed to get the job done. As it works, the volume of the 'buddy', I don't know, 'evaporates' so when you've given a significant amount of scrubbing to a portion of it there is nothing left to use. That's not a bad thing, just a heads up that it wears out as you use it. Granted I had a pretty big job between this door frame and the next photo below.

The door knob to the mud room gets a daily work out and it showed it. I was amazed by the difference even after a few minutes of scrubbing. Now that the bulk of the nastiness has been dispatched, I will maintain it on a regular basis to avoid it ever getting to this before stage. Who needs to wait for spring cleaning? I'm getting started NOW! I only got one of these Scrub Buddies so the next trip to Dollar Tree I will be picking up a few more to have on hand. Next test drive is in the bathroom on the floor to ceiling tiles, wish me luck.

Simple Project Each Day in September - Day 17 - IKEA Variera Storage Accordion

The packaging is tiny but heavy because it's all stainless steel

Accordion base and screw on posts 

Simple and quick assembly, no tools required 

Only takes minutes to complete 

Super simple instructions 

No words necessary 

Easy to expand to fit the space 

Or collapse to store away or house in a smaller location 

Collapsed size is under 6 inches long

Collapsed size under 3 1/2 inches wide 

Expands to nearly two feet 

Perfect to store various size lids, pots, anything you'd like to keep vertically

Review - Zutter Innovative Metal Die Clear & Cling Storage Kit

Item # 7630 - Metal Die Clear and Cling stamp magnetic system storage kit.   This kit includes the box, plus a pack of  sheets being 3 Magnetic sheets and 3 protective / divider sheets. It retails for $27.99

Zutter Innovative: Magnetic Storage System Refills http://www.binditall.com/MagneticStorageSystemRefills.html

OfficeMax: BUY 2 GET ONE FREE 

Staples: Really Useful Box 4.0 Liter

Office Depot: HAS A RECYCLED ONE IN BLACK! 

Scotch Pop-Up Tape Handband Dispenser Review

I picked one of these at my local Dollar Tree 

The package contained 1 dispenser and 1 refill pack of 50 individually cut pieces of tape measuring 3/4 x 2 inches (adhesive on one side) 

The dispenser fits comfortably, even on my giant hands, around the palm just above the thumb. Easy to have on while gift wrapping, eliminating that annoying pick-up-put-down of a traditional tape dispenser.

Refills available on Amazon.com for approximately $9.75 for 12 packs of 75 pieces each, that's  900 individual strips of adhesive tape. That should last through the entire holiday gift wrapping season, for the average family.

Video:

RAPESCO AV-69 Heavy-Duty Stapler

This fabulously stable and easy to use stapler is from RAPESCO, available on Amazon.com, at an incredible price 

The purple base's 'wings' snap on for extra stability making it the easiest repeat stapler for those larger jobs - notebooks, handouts, instructions or whatever else you need to complete

Adjustable guide makes repeat project to be consistent without constant measuring 

The push of one button releases the staple reservoir 

Easy to load and close

And even easier to staple, just one finger needed, staple up to 115 sheets of paper

Onboard replacement staples are housed directly under the stapler, never run out in the middle of the job again

Ever have your stapler 'walk' off your desk? This little 'property' window allows you to add your initials 

Keep it simple, funny, witty or be as direct as necessary (respectfully) to let your coworkers know that this one is YOURS!

Would you like to see a sample project?  How about some mini notebooks made of graph paper and craft paper covers?