Ultimate Blog Party 2011!

It's time to get your party on at the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by the lovely ladies of 5 Minutes for Mom.  This is my 4th year to "attend" the UBP (my how time flies!), and it's always great fun for one and all!  If you're new to blogging or unfamiliar with the party, go check it out!

If you're visiting from the UBP, welcome to Simply Sweet Home!  My name is Jerri, and I've been blogging here for three and half years.  The goal of my blog is to share recipes, ideas, and products that can help make your home a simply sweet home!

If you become a follower of Simply Sweet Home, here's what you can expect each week:

Monday - Weekly Recipes

Tuesday - Giveaways

Wednesday - Craft Project / Home Decor / Jewelry / Misc.

Thursday/Friday - Friday Favorites Linky Party

Weekend - Product Reviews and Sponsor Spotlights

Friday Favorites Party

I'd love for you to come back and join in my weekly linky party!  I've been hosting Friday Favorites for 57 weeks, and each week we have 100+ posts linked up.  You can link up recipes, project, tips, etc.----basically anything you consider to be your favorite post for the week.  And each week I feature 5 of my favorite ideas from the previous week!

Follow Me! I'd love to connect with you!

@SimplySweetHome on Twitter.

SSH Fan Page on Facebook.

JHRivers on Etsy.

Subscribe to my RSS Feeds.

Subscribe to my weekly email newsletter.

And I'm now on Pininterest!

Visit My Shop

I also have a shop on etsy called Simply Sweet Creations where I sell jewelry and accessories.  This week I'm offering a 15% discount to blog party guests! Just enter the coupon code: UBP11 at checkout!

Party Food!

Don't leave without having a little dessert!

Today I have some Samoa Cookies for you!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please leave a comment so that I can come and visit you too!

Friday Favorites - Week 57

 

Welcome to week 57 of Friday Favorites!  If you're new here, I invite you to join the party by linking up your favorite post(s) of the week!

 

My featured giveaway for this week is for the fun and adorable book: Big Little Felt Universe.  This is a book of felt patterns and tutorials, and it's a must have for any crafter! Please check it out!

 

Hope you enjoy this week's featured ideas!

  

Snickers Cupcakes from Mama Schell Says

Ruffled Wreath from Barb Wired

Hello Kitty Party from Prunille fait son show

Split Pea Wreath from Little Things Bring Smiles

Chocolate Marbled Banana Bread from The Mixing Bowl Diary

I can't wait to see your posts!  Link up your recipes, projects, tips, etc. below!

I Love Easter Wreaths

Photo Credit: UpTown Originals

Here lately I've been all about wreaths!  Last month I created an etsy treasury of St. Patty's Day Wreaths as well as a Celebrate St. Patty's Day treasury, and so this month I followed these up with a treasuy of Easter Wreaths and another called Celebrate Easter.

Also, this month (actually last week) I joined Pinterest. It's a new bookmarking and social network site.   I've pinned some lovely things for Easter on there as well.  So today I'll be sharing some wreaths from my Etsy Treasury and my Pinterest Page. (By the way, if you're already a Pinterest member or you're going to sign up, please visit my page and follow me, and I will follow you back!)

I hope you enjoy these finds!

Springtime Easter Egg Wreath from A Work of Heart

Easter Wreath from CraftyArtist

Bright and Colorful Easter Egg Wreath from Always Present

Feather Easter Egg Wreath from Every Crafty Endeavor

Spring/Easter Wreath from Loving Every Second

Easter Egg Wreath from Crocheted Creations

Easter Wreath Topiary from Cozy Home Scenes

For more Easter Wreaths, please check out my treasury.

Executive Gift Shoppe Review & Giveaway

My husband has been saying that he wants a business card holder to carry in his pocket.  But we've looked around at all the local stores and had no luck finding one.  So I was really excited to find Excecutive Gift Shoppe.  They are an online retailer that specializes in gifts for men. 

It's a great place to find birthday and Father's Day gifts, and they also have several lines that would be perfect for work related gifts or groomsmen gifts.  Product lines include hip flasks, barware, clocks, sports gifts, and golf gifts, and desk accessories.

I had the opportunity to select some items for review from Executive Gift Shoppe, and I chose 2 different business card holders

I chose The Frame Collection Stainless Steel Business Card Holder and the Stainless Steel Business Card Holder with 6 Internal Compartments.   Upon their arrival in the mail, before I even had a chance to see the card holders, I was already impressed by the appearance of the gift boxes they came in.  With packaging of this quality, I knew the item inside would be very nice.  And I was right!

The card holders are very shiny and sleek with clean lines. And each card holder comes custom engraved.  For mine, I had our last name engraved on them, and it came out looking great.  They're also very professional looking and appear to be very sturdy. 

The one from the Frame Collection is my favorite.  I just love its style and the look of the lines on it.  The style looks very professional.  And it easily flips open and holds 15 cards. 

The second one is a little more plain looking than the first but is also silver toned and looks just as professional. It also flips open with the push of a button, and it actually holds 25 cards.  Another marked difference between these two card holders is that when this one opens, it has 6 compartments on the inside.  I actually chose this card holder for this very feature.  I thought it could be convenient not only for carrying your own cards but also taking cards from other people.

I really like both business card holders that I received, and based on these two products, I have to say that the Exectutive Gift Shoppe  lives up to its name.  And looking over the wide range of items on their website, I think you'll be impressed with them as well.  I definitely recommend them to you for spring and summer gift giving!

Win it!  One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a $25 gift certificate to Executive Gift Shoppe.

Mandatory Entry: To enter, you must "like" Executive Gift Shoppe on Facebook   (and leave a comment letting them know you came from Simply Sweet Home) OR follow @GiftShoppe on Twitter.  Then leave a comment on my blog telling me that you followed. 

Deadline to enter: April 15   Open to the USA and Canada only.

Additional Enties: Leave a comment for each.
-1 if you follow my blog.

-1 if you follow @SimplySweetHome on Twitter.
-1 if  you subscribe to Simply Sweet Home via email.

-1 if you like Simply Sweet Home on facebook.

-1 for subscribing to my RSS feeds through Feedburner.

-1 for sharing this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook.

(Sample Tweet:  I want to win a $25 gift certificate to Executive Gift Shoppe http://bit.ly/fBfNRr  @SimplySweetHome @GiftShoppe)  (Limit one tweet entry per day.)

For hosting this giveaway, I got to choose $50 worth of items from select lines at Executive Gift Shoppe. I was not otherwise compensated.  The opinions are my own.

Spotlight on Birdsong Bows

I'm always excited to introduce you to companies that specialize in teaching you how to make something.  And this week I have the pleasure of welcoming Birdsong Bows to my blog.  They are a company that sells patterns and tutorials for hairbows and accessories.

This shop is owned by Deanna McCool.  Deanna grew up with a love for crafting, drawing, and painting.  Over the years she's taken up a number of  disciplines from pottery and writing to fiber arts.  In 2006 Deanna discovered hair bow design and grew Birdsong Bows with a love for the art and craft of creating beautiful accessories for little girls. As the business expanded, she discovered the joy in teaching others how to make bows and other items, and began writing tutorials to share her knowledge.

Included in Deanna's shop are patterns not just for hairbows, but also felt flower clips, barrettes and tutus.  She offers professional looking tutorials in PDF format with elaborate, easy to follow instructions and even video tutorials.  These are for beginner and avid bow makers alike. And as you can see, these aren't your average bows; they are quite unique, fancy, and beautiful.

Deanna also offers discounts when you purchase the tutorials in bundles.  And if you decide you'd like to set up your own bow shop, she's also got a book of online sales strategies!

Where to Buy: 

BirdsongBows.com

On Etsy

Ways to Connect:

Birdsong Bow's Blog

Birdsong Bow's on Facebook

If you've got a little girl and you love to craft, there's no reason not try your hand at making your own bows, and Birdsong Bows is the perfect place to help you get started.  Please check out Deanna's website today!



Disclosure: Birdsong Bows is a paid sponsor on Simply Sweet Home.  The opinions in this post are my own.  If you'd like to advertise here, please see my PR Page.

Spotlight on Nursing Uniforms

In any profession it's easy to get bored or fed up with your wardrobe, particularly if you have to wear a uniform, and if that's the case with you, the last thing you probably like to do is shop for your work clothes.  Luckily Nursinguniforms.net makes it easy for you to shop from home for your medical uniforms and medical lab coats.

And not only do they offer great pricing, but they also have a number of cute styles available. Till looking at this site, I never thought scrubs could actually be stylish.  (I'm used to seeing the traditional ones with solid colors or fun animal prints.) However, these definitely aren't your average scrubs that you usually see at your local hospitals and clinics.  In fact, many of these look like outfits that you would wear outside of work. 

I know it's hard to imagine scrubs being fashionable, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.  In fact, this company has scrub tops in tunic and baby doll styles. And then they also have the traditional scrubs in a lot of cool colors and prints as well.

When medical professionals buy from Nursing Uniforms, you'll find that looking incredibly professional while staying true to your unique sense of style is not nearly as hard as it seems. 

Disclosure:  This is a paid post written by me for NursingUniforms.com.  The opinions are my own.

Spotlight on Adrenaline

When thinking of ideas for presents for men, sometimes the new tie or "Best Dad" coffee cup just don't cut it. In fact some men would actually prefer something that can't be wrapped, like a day of fun with the family, or perhaps something a little adventurous.  

I was intrigued when I saw all the gift ideas available at Adrenline for the guys in our lives.  Adrenalin was founded through a passion for adventure. The founders realized that their personal adrenalin adventures were powerful, life changing and a great deal of fun. They wanted people of all walks of life to experience adrenalin adventures for themselves. Whether it was trying a sport that was totally different, challenging, and conquering a fear or team building with work colleagues.

Adrenaline offers over 2,000 exciting experiences and gifts from Sea Kayaking, SCUBA diving, and Mountain Biking to driving Rally Cars, Skydiving, Helicopter Flights and everything in between.  I have friends and family who live to do activities like this, and so gifts like these would be spectacular for them, and just think of the great memories that come from these experiences. For more information, check out Adrenalin.

Disclosure:  This is a paid post written by me for Adrenalin.  The opinions are my own.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes

I originally shared these cupcakes last year as a guest post for the Cupcake Carnival at Attempting Creative.  At first I wasn't sure what I'd make for the event, but after a lot of cupcake brainstorming, I decided to combine two of my favorite flavors which are chocolate and cheesecake.  The end product was a batch of yummy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cupcakes!

I found the recipe for the cupcake somewhere online, and then for the cheesecake topping  I just threw in a little of this and a little of that, and then a little more of this and that, until I had the perfect taste and consistency that I wanted. Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water (or milk)

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all your dry ingredients together (except chocolate chips).  Add wet ingredients.  Beat together on low speed for about a minute.  Use a spoon to scrape down the batter off the sides.  Mix for about a minute on medium speed.  Fold in chocolate chips, if using.  If you aren't using cupcake liners, spray your muffin tin with cooking spray.  Fill your muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full with batter.  Bake for 25 minutes.  (My recipe book says the recipe will yield 20 cupcakes, but I was only able to make 16.)

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Topping Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 16 oz. coolwhip (thawed)

2 8oz. packages cream cheese (softened)

4 tablespoons sugar

1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions: Place cream cheese in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds to soften. (Be sure to check it in 15 second increments and stir if needed.) Add cool whip a little bit at a time. (I added about 4 oz. then stirred, then another 4 oz. and so on.) Blend well together using a spoon or an electric mixer on low. Add sugar and mix well. (Icing should be fairly thick yet creamy, similar to cannoili cream) If you're not using immediately, you may refrigerate, but don't let it set in the fridge for too long, or it will thicken like a cheesecake and it will be more difficult to pipe it).




Decorating:

Make sure cupcakes are cooled before frosting. If you'd like your cupcakes to be cream filled, poke a hole in the middle, about half way through the cupcake. (I used a handle of a wooden spoon.) I wasn't sure how much icing I'd need for decorating, so  I used extra cool whip for the filling, however, I now know that you should have enough icing to frost the cupcakes and to use for filling if you so desire. To do the filling, I just used a small spoon, and dropped the filling in and around the hole.

Next place your icing in a piping bag or a ziploc and apply to cupcakes. Or use a spoon to spread the frosting on the cupcakes. Decorate with chocolate chips. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

I'm linking up to these parties.