Shade Clothing has added a line of holiday graphic tees for this year’s holiday season and they’re only $14.50! It’s always nice to have a few fun holiday things to wear around to get you in the spirit!

I particularly like the first one with the ornaments. The design is subtle yet very festive!

Filed under: Reviews | 1 Comment »

Filed under: Reviews | 1 Comment »

This is a family favorite, particularly at Thanksgiving and Christmas. In fact, I don’t think we ever had it any other time. Without further ado, here is the best cheese pie (not exactly cheesecake) recipe ever.

Cream Cheese Pie

Crust:

Filed under: Celebrations, Routines, & Traditions, Food | 3 Comments »

This is one of the pies I’ll be making for Thanksgiving on Thursday – a Double Chocolate Mousse Pie (recipe from my friend Erica Miller and who knows where else it might be found…I don’t know where it’s originally from.)

Filed under: Celebrations, Routines, & Traditions, Food | No Comments »

The key to a great pie this Thanksgiving is a great pie crust, of course. I went to a little class recently (taught by Erica Miller) about making pie crusts, and I learned some pretty great tricks. Here they are, just for you. (Click here for just the basic pie crust recipe)

Filed under: Celebrations, Routines, & Traditions, Food, Tutorials | 6 Comments »

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            My sister recommended another of Herman Wouk’s books, but as it was only available in large print at the library, I opted for this one instead. I loved it. Herman Wouk is a new favorite author because of his witty style of writing that makes you feel as if you’re listening to a story teller rather than reading a book.

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Like I’ve said before, we’ve had the stomach flu at our house this week, and I have a few tips that will hopefully help the stomach flu pass with a little less trauma for your family.

Filed under: Health, Kid Stuff | 7 Comments »

My friend Marie is hosting her new boutique, Tom & Lucy’s Art Shoppe, in Utah this weekend. Marie is amazing and I’m sure her boutique will be too. If you’re in Utah this weekend (and not sick with the stomach flu), you should try and stop by. Here’s the info:

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I’m a day late with these winners – I was in bed all day yesterday with the stomach flu. We’ve been sick a lot at our house so far this winter. I hope we can be healthy from now on!

Filed under: Blog Giveaways | No Comments »

When it comes to paper crafting, I love to get ideas from other people, especially magazines. That’s what they’re for, right? When I sit down to make a card, I need a healthy stack of examples to sift through and choose from. I don’t subscribe to any craft magazines (yet), but my library does. I check out Card Maker Magazine from my library and take pictures of or scan the ideas I like. The CARDS publication is also fabulous. When I’m ready to make a card, I look through that file on my computer and pull elements from different samples to make my card.

Filed under: Crafts | 8 Comments »

So as much as I love scrapbooking, I just really don’t have time to do it. I’ve discovered that I can only do one or two things at a time – I can either blog or exercise or scrapbook or have a clean house. (I exercised for the first time yesterday in a looong time. I attribute this to my decision to blog a little less…)

Filed under: Reviews, Stuff I Love | 8 Comments »

I am looking for some guest bloggers to help me out while I’m incubating my fetus.

If you would be interested in being a guest blogger on Vanilla Joy and posting about something related to home, family, crafts, and/or kids, email me at kelsey[at]vanillajoy[dot]com and we’ll talk.

Thank you!

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

I have been cooking up a storm lately and learning lots of new baking tricks, so I will have some posts next week sharing some of my newfound knowledge with you. I just have to have yummy food when I’m pregnant so I end up cooking much more than normal. This means my kitchen is always a mess and leads my husband to come up with strange ideas like, “Maybe we shouldn’t eat for a while. I’m tired of the mess.” This was what he said to me last night. Sheesh. You’d think he’d appreciate the abnormally delicious food! We’re both tired of the mess, so maybe we’ll just go on scraps for a while…

Filed under: Blog Giveaways | 48 Comments »

My son and I discovered by accident what wonderful shakers/ noise makers those little packages of scrapbooking embellishments make. The little metal pieces, especially brads and eyelets, make different noises depending on the size and shape, and little hands love to shake and make noise!

Filed under: Crafts, Family Fun, Kid Stuff, Tutorials | 3 Comments »