4th of July Subway Art --Printable

It's less than a month until the 4th of July so I've started to get out some of my things and make our mantel a little more patriotic. My family loves the 4th! A great time to remember how blessed we are to have our freedoms,that we live in this great country, to teach our children about how we got our independence,and to show them how to be patriotic! Not to mention the parades, bbq's, watermelon and fireworks that go with it! I'm just sayin'!

I thought my mantel could use a little something different this year so I made a piece of 4th of July subway art! I was happy with it! I think it turned out pretty cute! It goes well beside my apothecary jars all decked out for the 4th!

You can print out your own, too! A printable copy is at the end of this post!Just click on the link
"4th of July Subway Art." Enjoy!




4th of July Subway Art

I have a great recipe to share with you today. It's Cheesecake For a Crowd! It. Is. Yum!
Now, it's not the traditional cheesecake you make in a spring form pan with 4 hunks of cream cheese, so don't let the name fool ya. It's a white cake with a cream cheese mixture on top, but still oh- so- good!

Like the name says, it does feed a crowd. You can get about 24 to 30 servings. I love having recipes like this that feed a lot op people in my file and have acquired quite a few of them now. This is great for pot lucks or parties. That's how I discovered this recipe. I first tasted it when a friend brought it to a bridal shower I was attending. I proceeded to find out who brought it and ask for the recipe.She was happy to share it with me! So, last week I took it to a potluck we had after church and every last bit of it was eaten! Happy Baking! --Recipe is at the end of this post.

I'm also sharing this recipe today for Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage.

The recipe makes 2- 9x13 cake pans! Cakes before the yummy ,topping goodness!

Cakes with the yummy, cream cheese topping goodness!

And the cake below with cherry pie filling, but use any kind you like;blueberry, strawberry, raspberry,etc.!

Cheesecake for a Crowd

1 pkg. white cake mix

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened at room temperature

4 c. powdered sugar

1 pint whipping cream, whipped

2 16-oz. cans cherry, raspberry, strawberry or blueberry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9x13 baking pans.Prepare cake according to package directions, and pour half of cake batter in each pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until cake tests done. Remove from oven and cool completely. Whip cream cheese and powdered sugar together until fluffy. Add whipped cream. Spread mixture onto both cakes. Spread pie filling on top of cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes 24 to 30 servings.

One Smart Cookie

This year we have two girls that we go to church with that are graduating from high school and both of them are "smart cookies!" I had seen some ideas for "one smart cookie" themed graduation parties done with cookie buffets(which I'll file away for my future graduates), so I decided to do a gift version of that. I think it turned out darling!

We still gave the traditional card & money, but added a can full of cookies! I had two clear paint cans, which I found at Michael's, left over from my daughter's b'day party and they were just waiting for something fun like this. It came together very easy: I cut a 12-inch long by 1-inch wide piece of scrapbook paper and wrapped it around the center of the can, attached with sticky strip. The strip didn't go all the way around, so that is where I stuck my center "smart cookie" label. I made the label on my computer, printed it out and then punched out the center part with my circle cutter and then mounted it on a coordinating piece of card stock I punched out with my scalloped cutter. It also has the same type of label on the top of the paint can that says, "Way to go!"(which I, of course, forgot to get a pic of. I do that a lot lately) Then I filled it with my family's favorite chocolate chip cookies! It's just the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. We love those and have been using that recipe for years. I've tried many CCC recipes, but can't find one I like better. You can find it here! I'm happy to say these were a hit with the two graduates!

Teacher Gifts 2011

This past Thursday was my kids' last day of school and I sent them off with little tokens of our appreciation for their great teachers. Seriously,we were really pushing it to the last day to get these to them. I guess because I could never really settle on something I really wanted to give them that was useful and cost effective. We're talkin' four teachers! I had some cute ideas, but I wanted to give something they would really use. So, hopefully they will use the acrylic tumblers I personalized using my Cricut.


I used pink vinyl and the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge......again! I use that cartridge for so many things because I love the simplicity of it. I personalized the tumblers, which came from Wal-Mart, and then added black and pink polka dots. No, I'm not trying to spell a weird word called HARB. This is just my picture of all the tumblers together. Trent has three teachers and Laci has one. When you put them together you get this!


I put some Hershey's Hugs in a cello bag and tied them with a cute polka dot ribbon and put each bag down into the tumbler. The gift bags had cute tags that say, Thanks for teaching! --"Hugs" Trent & Laci. Trent said his teachers said,"ooooh" and "awwwww, it's so ca-ute, Trent." That's my son. Always giving the animated version. Both kids said their teachers gave them big hugs and big thank you's. : )

Laci's Baptism

I know these last few posts have been all about our little Laci, but she's had a lot going on lately. Sunday was a special day for her! She was baptized! It had actually been scheduled for the week before, but she got strep and we had to reschedule it. Everything worked out fine......but their was a little mishap with the water handle for the baptismal font. It broke off! The water kept running and running until our Bishop fixed it with a pair of scissors. Maybe she will remember that and tell her kids of the excitement on her baptism day! Once it was fixed, she was baptized by her dad and confirmed. We are thankful to all those who attended. For some, it was a bit of a drive and we appreciate you coming.

We are so proud of her decision to be baptized and follow the Savior's example, and thankful for the example that she is. She is striving to choose the right! We know that Heavenly Father has a special plan just for her.

She received a little packet of goodies from the primary which included a journal. When she got home she started writing down everything about her baptism, from the water handle mishap to the special song,"Walk Tall You're A Daughter Of God" that was sang for her, to the refreshments we had. She was so happy to be baptized and she'll have her account of it to always remember! Laci was also excited to get her very own brand new set of scriptures!
We love you sweet girl!



This is a picture I embellished with vinyl using my Cricut. It was on our refreshment table along with three vases of pretty daisies, but I never got a picture of it. Thought I would re-create it, somewhat, and share it with you. It was pretty on our yellow and white themed table.

A Time To Dance

Saturday evening we attended Laci's first ever dance recital. It was a great program titled "A Time to Dance." Laci danced her little heart out! Really, she knew her routines well! She did such a good job and I have to say she looked so cute in her dance outfit! Her class performed three dances; two tap and one ballet. All of the Leap of Faith dance students did a great job and it was really fun to watch. Toward the middle of the year for dance, she wasn't sure that she really like it,but she knew that she had to stick it out the rest of the year because she couldn't quit. She was glad she did because she ended up loving it! Laci received a dance medal for her efforts in dance and three bouquets of flowers from us, her nana and grandad, and her aunt and uncle! She was so happy!

Honors Day 2011

On Tuesday I attended Trent's sixth grade Honors Day. He received an award for A-B honor roll, which he has had the entire year, and the Accelerated Reader award for most points in the sixth grade . He is so proud of that award. He has gotten it every year since the fourth grade. This year he ended up with 301 points and 91% correct on the tests! We are so proud of him for working hard and being a good student! It was a great year!We are so thankful that he had good and caring teachers! Now it's on to seventh grade!

Trent with his buddies, who also received awards.