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Thursday, February 25, 2010
FOOD FACE: MAKING FACES AT THE DINNER TABLE

Food Face is mid-size and crafted from hotel-quality, food-safe, high-fire ceramics. It’s individually gift boxed with lots of inspirational (not to mention wacky) food art. This is adorable.....wouldn’t YOU have loved this when you were a kid?

Don't forget the Holy Toast !
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
HOT CHOCOLATEY GOODNESS!





















With it being so the winter season, I love a nice cup hot cocoa.So when I came across a recipe that combines two of my favorite things, cocoa and chai tea as well as one with cocoa and peanut butter, I was ecstatic!
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{Chai Spiced Hot Chocolate}
Yields 1 serving

Ingredients

1 envelope (.55 oz each) Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix
3/4 cup hot (not boiling) water
1 chai spiced tea bag
Whipped Topping
Ground cinnamon, optional

Directions
Place cocoa mix into a cup. Gradually stir hot water into mix until blended. Add tea bag. Let stand 1 to 2 minutes, based on desired strength of chai spice. Remove tea bag and discard.
Top with a serving of whipped cream. Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired. Serve immediately.

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{Chocolate Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate}
Yields 1 serving

Ingredients
1 envelope (.55 oz each) Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix
3/4 cup hot (not boiling) water
1 tablespoon Creamy Peanut Butter
Whipped Topping
Chocolate sprinkles, optional

Directions
Place cocoa mix into a cup. Add peanut butter. Gradually stir hot water into mix until blended.
Top with a serving of Reddi-wip. Add chocolate sprinkles, if desired. Serve immediately.
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There is also a variation of the peanut butter hot cocoa recipe from "The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery", a site dedicated to peanut butter and chocolate lovers. It combines Peanut Butter and Nutella with hot chocolate and damn, it is good. The original recipe called for Jif Smooth peanut butter, but I only eat natural peanut butter and I think it gave it a better taste than the processed kind. The funny thing about this recipe is that there is no other chocolate element other than the nutella

{Peanut Butter Nutella Hot Chocolate}

modified from Hot Chocolate by Michael Turback
Yields 1 serving

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 Tbsp Nutella
1 1/2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter

Directions
In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, bring the milk to a simmer. Add the Nutella and stir with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended. Pour into a mug and garnish with a dollop of whipped cream. Serve immediately.


*PS : I do know that "Chocolatey" is not an actual word, lol *

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Monday, February 15, 2010
DOWNLOAD DAY:FREEBIE ICON SETS  & BUTTONS FOR ALL YOUR SOCIAL SITES

Desktop, Folder and Web icons are a nice way to personalize your computer as well as handy little design tools for your site or blog. I love using them for a variety of things , not just for my computer or site, but they are also good as IM or buddy icons as well as the perfect size for an avatar. The following are some of the more unique ones that I have seen.












Harmonia Pastelis Icons
- Are a very cute set from Rain Drop Memory. They are actually grouped into three folders.. Application Icons, Folder Icons and Regular Icons. Essentially making it easier for the user to know which icons are for what. BONUS, they have created several matching wallpapers (the cloud pic is just one of them!)

ICON DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
WALLPAPER DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
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Handy Icons
- Are a free hand drawn social icon set from Janko At Warp Speed. They come in 4 sizes and have a nice artistic feel to them. He also has another hand drawn set , but we think this one is the best.
DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
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Polaroid Icon
- are social icon sets that look like a Polaroid snap shot from webtoolkit4me.

DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
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Glossy Social
- are social icon sets that look like iphone applications from the same developer.

DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
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Sketchy Icons
- are also hand drawn social icons by Snap2objects. The only downside is that they for the most popular sites.

DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
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Mathilde Sketchy Icons
- is a lengthy(more than pic) social icon set by a designer called Mathilde

DOWNLOAD LINK HERE
(Once there just hit "Download" button on left sidebar)
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Also in a previous post we put a Free Twitter Button and Badge Site for those of you who need or want new Twitter buttons for your site. The html code is even done for you already, just copy and past.

The following are instructions for Windows Users on changing icons.

{INSTRUCTIONS}

  • Click on link and "save to your computer"
  • Once download complete, open compressed zip file with program of your choice.
  • For Windows =Click on file and then click on "Extract File" for Mac there is Free Yem Zip program is you don't already have compression software
  • Once the file is uncompressed, save to desired location. I suggest making a folder called "Icons" to find easily, just in case you want to change them.
  • Then just upload them directly from computer to site or to a picture hosting site such as Flikr or Photo Bucket, then put in the url/html coding for your site.
*If you want to use these for your site, like the twitter, facebook or other social media icons, just save them and hyperlink them to the appropriate url on your page*


{TO CHANGE DEFAULT DESKTOP ICONS }
  • Click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and under Pick a task, click Change the desktop background
  • On the Desktop tab of the Display Properties dialog box, click Customize Desktop
  • In the Desktop Items dialog box, select the icon you want to change and click Change Icon. The Change Icon dialog box opens, which shows all icons in the currently selected file. In it, you can specify which icons are shown on the desktop by default
  • To select from icons not currently displayed, click Browse, and in the Change Icon dialog box, navigate to the icons you downloaded, select the icon you want to use, click Open, and then click OK
  • In the Desktop Items dialog box, select the next icon you want to change and repeat steps 3–4
  • When you're finished changing the icons listed here, click OK, and in the Desktop Properties dialog box, click OK to apply the changes

{TO CHANGE COMPUTER FOLDER ICONS}
  • Right + Click the folder icon you want to change and choose Properties
  • The Folder Properties window will now pop-open. Choose the tab Customize
  • Click on Change Icon to open the window for changing the folder icon
  • Here you have a choice to either Browse to a folder containing any .ico files or Select an Icon from the List shown containing default Windows icons
  • Once you have selected an icon as described above click OK
  • Then click on Apply
{TO CHANGE COMPUTER SHORTCUT ICONS}
  • Right-click the shortcut you want to customize, and then click Properties
  • On the Shortcut tab, click Change Icon
  • In the Change Icon dialog box, click Browse, navigate to the new icon you want to use, select it, and then click Open
  • Click OK, and then OK again to apply the change
IF THERE IS ANY TIME THAT YOU WANT TO RESTORE THE DEFAULT ICONS, JUST REPEAT STEPS AND HIT THE BUTTON "RESTORE DEFAULT" AND YOU WILL GO BACK TO THE FACTORY ICONS.

*IF YOU DO HAVE TROUBLE INSTALLING OR USING ICONS, LEAVE COMMENT AND WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER QUESTIONS*

*for personal use only, not for commercial use*
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Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Color Crush: Crème Fraiche


I call this pretty little color story "Crème Fraiche".These are such soft colors, I am trying to decide how to use them for this spring.

Photo: *Lea*
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Monday, February 1, 2010
USPS CUSTOMS : MAKING YOUR EXPERIENCE AT THE POST OFFICE LESS AGGRAVATING

















Going to the Post Office can be aggravating sometimes, especially when you have more "complicated" packages. Wondering which forms to use, what is the price of stamps this week and its made worse when the agent is "less than pleasant".
One of the biggest questions you see in forums is about customs and forms. On one of my numerous trips to the USPS, I had the privilege of waiting in line for 45 minutes, while one agent was on duty( don't ask me why). I flagged down a "supervisor" to complain ( to which they said they couldn't do anything) and decided to waste as much of the "supervisors" time as they were wasting of mine waiting in that ridiculous line. I had an in depth conversation about customs and international shipping thru the USPS and one of the best pieces of info I learned is that there are only TWO customs forms to ship international mail.













The form above is the USPS Customs Form for a package 4lbs and under. It is the ones that with the custom number that starts is LC. The newer ones are all white, they do not have a green background on the left hand side. You may see these a some post offices, but they are phasing them out.













The form above is is the USPS Customs Form for packages that are over 4lbs . The custom number starts with the letters CP.

{TRACK THAT INTERNATIONAL PACKAGE}

You can actually use that customs number as a sort of "tracking number" for your package. THIS IS NOT IN DEPTH TRACKING INFORMATION, like Fedex or UPS would give you. It will merely tell you , when the package was sent out of your local post office, when arrived at the recipient countries customs , when it cleared customs, and sometimes they tell you when it arrived at the recipients postal office. That is it!. One of the biggest downsides to this as well is that they sometimes do not enter the info in a timely manner, yes, even less than when you purchase a regular USPS Delivery Confirmation. So you could have info for the time when it left your post office and then not have any updated info for days, to all of a sudden 1 week later see all the updates ( customs, arrival, etc) inputted in one day.
It is not alot, but it can be useful for the buyer, because isn't a false sense of security better than no security at all? ...... just kidding ;)

If you are mailing "Documents Only", that includes paper products, then you do not need a customs form. This means you can use the Automated Kiosk that some Post Offices have, but I personally like to see them stamp the "Air Mail" stamp on my package, so I usually just go to the desk. If you are ever in doubt about what you need to send international, then go to the desk to avoid delays in your package shipping.

{ORDER CUSTOMS FORMS}
Of course you can get customs forms from the post office when you go to mail your package, but as most people know, the USPS can be annoying and aggravating as all hell. I just like to get in and get out as soon as possible, so for me to do that, I have everything filled out ahead of time, so I can just throw my packages at the agent, pay and leave, lol.
I suggest, going to the USPS website ( links for the forms above) and ordering the forms that you need. There is NO CHARGE for the forms or for shipping, the only downside is that they ship thru USPS the cheapest way possible, which means Parcel Post. So if you need the forms immediately, ask the agent for a couple (or pilfer them from the table with the rest of the forms in office) until your order arrives.


Don't Forget that you can get other USPS Postal Supplies ( priority boxes, forms, etc) for free as well from the USPS Postal Store, so why not order everything at one time!
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