Contributor Spotlight & ‘Your Great Idea’ Link Party

Contributor Spotlight & ‘Your Great Idea’ Link Party

ByMariel

For the next several Saturdays, I’m spotlighting the wonderful contributors I have here at ‘Or so she says…’. I really, really love my gals. They’re all super talented and great to work with, so it’s easy to brag about them.

Today I want you to meet Jeanie of Create and Babble. Jeanie is Ms. Crafty, herself. She can turn something boring (and usually really cheap) into a work of art, with her eyes closed. It’s always such a treat to see what she comes up with! Jeanie specializes in home decor, wedding projects, and creations with the Silhouette.

Come check out some of my favorite blogs posts of hers and get your party on at the ‘Your Great Idea’ link up!

Gingerbread Crumb Cake
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Gingerbread Crumb Cake

ByMariel

I’m a huge fan of fall flavors… apple, pumpkin, caramel, ginger, you name it. My sister-in-law, Bonnie, who has fabulous recipes (my favorite cinnamon rolls and chewy cereal treat!) hooked me up with this new favorite, Gingerbread Crumb Cake. So, Dan is funny. He will basically only eat chocolate desserts, so if I make anything non-chocolate, i.e. Gingerbread Crumb Cake, I’m on my own. So, I have to plan my non-chocolate dessert making very, very carefully. Will I be able to keep myself from eating the whole thing? Do I know anyone in close proximity who will help me eat this? Can I find some privacy to eat a third helping, if I so choose to? … lots to consider.

I’m currently working with a personal trainer, a rock-hard body building chick, who kicks my trash on a regular basis, which I seriously need. I have been allotted Sunday as my ‘free day,’ where I can eat what I want. That’s it. So, I make my chosen dessert Sunday (after planning it all week), and eat it Sunday.

cereal bowls for kids
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The BEST Cereal Bowls for Kids ~ I’m Serious.

ByMariel

Is it weird to do a blog post about cereal bowls? Um, probably. But, we all use them, so it can be relevant, right?

Okay, so with six kids I am frequently replacing my glasses (broken), sippy cups (lost), silverware (in the sandbox), and cereal bowls (used to hold random food bits to lure wild animals into my yard.) I tell you what. It’s a little crazy. If I’m out of small spoons, I just need to take a trip to my back yard. I’m sure to find a few. I think I actually have an Instagram pic of my sippy cups find…

homeschool resources
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5 Favorite Homeschool and Educational Products and Resources

ByMariel

I have a deep love for educational products and resources. Deep. I enjoy learning right along with my kids and finding (or creating) ways to make it fun. Anyway, with homeschool in full swing, we’ve been getting lots of use out of some super great homeschool and educational products and resources.

Here’s my current faves:

Daily Writing Prompts – The Teacher’s Corner has a fabulous list of daily writing prompts for every day of the year. What is super cool is that they are all relevant to the actual day, so let’s see… today is September 17th. There are 3 choices of writing prompts. One is about how today is the day the constitution was signed and asks kids to learn and write about one of the amendments. Another is about how September 17th is citizenship day and write what it means to be a good citizen. The last is about how today is the day NASA introduced the first space shuttle, and then a thought provoking question about that. Good stuff, I tell ya. So, not only are they getting handwriting practice, but they are actually writing about something educational.

chicken alfredo
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Chicken Alfredo ~ My Husband is Obsessed!

ByMariel

So, this is actually an old post. I mean REALLY old… one of my firsts on the blog! The pictures were literally so horrible that I can’t imagine that one single person would ever want to make it. But, since the recipe is a fave in my house, I figured it was worth a little redo and re-post.

It’s not reasonable to go to Olive Garden every day, so every woman needs a fab and easy chicken alfredo recipe. I found this one online, way back in the days, can’t remember where (I think maybe All Recipes or one of those big collection sites.) But, it’s fabulous. My husband, a self-proclaimed alfredo snob, swears this is his favorite. He says just as good, probably better than the O.G. Whoo! That’s always fun to hear. 🙂 Served with a green veggie and some garlic bread… mmm, baby.

gift ideas
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The Ultimate List of Gift Ideas!

ByMariel

Remember Gift Idea Central?? I’ve had it up on the blog, then I took it down for a while, and NOW it’s back up… to stay!

You know how I’m obsessed with reading reviews and finding fantastic products, right? You know how every time one of my six kids has a birthday, I share my fab finds, right?? You know how every Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, there is an entire series on the blog to help you find gift ideas for men and gift ideas for women, right??? WELL. THEN. You know that my Gift Idea Central, the place where I save all of these gift ideas, is the ultimate pin to have on Pinterest.

Have you pinned it yet??

curry chicken
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Slow Cooker Curried Chicken and Chickpea Stew

ByMariel

On a recent family vacation to Bear Lake, my sister-in-law (and lovely assistant), Rebecca, was in charge of dinner for the night. She made this fabulous meal that everyone devoured and I realized this girl has been holding out on me! I instantly demanded she give me all of her good recipes, and like a good assistant should, she did. I guess I’ll keep her around a little longer. 🙂 Anyway, this Slow Cooker Curried Chicken and Chickpea Stew is one of the recipes she emailed me. My kids love Indian food and I love an easy meal in the slow cooker, so I knew this was just the one to try first. Yes, my friends. Yes. It was scrum-diddly-umptious. I’m sure she’s freaking out right now because it probably looks different than her recipe. Last minute, I was feeling naughty and dropped a bar of cream cheese in the stew to make it more of a creamy gravy, rather than a soup. But, it was awesome both ways. We were taste-testing it with the cream cheese and without, and none of us could decide. So, I’ll share the recipe as given and if you want to add cream cheese, feel free. The only other change I made, okay, well two… I forgot to buy onions, so I just gave a few shakes of dehydrated onions. Also, because I don’t do tomato chunks, I used crushed tomatoes instead.

‘Your Great Idea’ Link Party!

‘Your Great Idea’ Link Party!

ByMariel

Hello, weekend! It’s been a busy week, in all aspects. We’ve had some great giveaways on the blog (you can still enter to win the Polaroid Camera and Pick Your Plum Grab Boxes.) We’ve had some great idea posts: Lego Party Favor Bags, Back to School T-Shirt Tradition, and 15 Ways to Save Money on Utility Bills.

As for me, I’ve been spending the weekend up in the lovely Spokane, Washington. Who is on Instagram?? You can follow my adventures on there. Last night, we drove down to Silverwood amusement park, in Idaho. The family had a blast!

Pick Your Plum Giveaway!! Two $50 Grab Boxes!

Pick Your Plum Giveaway!! Two $50 Grab Boxes!

ByMariel

Who loves Pick Your Plum?!? Um, me. There’s a new deal every single day, and it’s always something super fun. Let’s see… I’ve bought shirts, cute mini chalkboard signs to label food, washi tape, fold-over elastic to make hair bands, and so much more. Good stuff, I tell ya. I’m so happy that they invited me to give away TWO Pick Your Plum boxes, filled with their goodies. One for you, and one for a friend. Sound fun??

It’s quick and easy to enter, just click on Full Article to get the scoop…

10 Great Homeschool and Educational Ideas (& Link Party!)
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10 Great Homeschool and Educational Ideas (& Link Party!)

ByMariel

Hello, weekend!  Last weekend I shared 10 Great Back to School Ideas, and since we still all have school on our mind, I thought this week I would share 10 Great Homeschooling and Educational Ideas!  This is a round-up of some of my favorite posts on ‘Or so she says…’ all about fun ways to…

Win an iMac & San Diego Vacation! (Back-to-School Giveaway!)

Win an iMac & San Diego Vacation! (Back-to-School Giveaway!)

ByMariel

Hello, super cool giveaway. That’s all I have to say. Okay, well actually I have to tell you about these rad prizes. Quite possibly the raddest I’ve ever offered! Check it out…

The iMac: 21 .5-inch: 2.7GHz iMac with 2.7GHz quad-core, Intel Core i5 Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz, 8GB (two 4GB) memory, 1TB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M with 512MB

San Diego Vacation: Get Away Today is offering a 2 night San Diego hotel stay, and 2 adult tickets of the winner’s choice to SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, or the safari park. If they book the package in October, kids are free! This package is valued at $500-600 dollars. The package is subject to availability and must be used by October 2014.

The chance to win is probably worth following some super talented ladies on Pinterest, who pin awesome stuff anyway, right?? I’ll say.