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New Shop & Blog Launch

January 13, 2010 2 Comments

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While hubby’s been out of town as at a training conference, I’ve been a busy bee!

The new Simply Sweet Creations blog and shop have now been launched! Yay! The shop only has a few listings but you have to start somewhere. Right? And I promise there will be much more to come.

The new shop URLs are http://jhrivers.etsy.com/ or http://www.etsy.com/shop/jhrivers

You can also access the new jewelry blog here: http://simplysweetcreationsblog.blogspot.com/

New Newsletter:

If you’re interested, I’ve added a new newsletter to go along with the new blog. I’m not sure if I noted previously when I added the business blog or not, but in case I didn’t, I should note: Each of the three blogs has it’s own separate newsletter. So if you’re subscribed at Simply Sweet Home, you will only get Simply Sweet Home Updates. If you want be subscribed to 2 or all three of them, you will need to subscribe separately at each blog.

The Simply Sweet Creations newsletter will only come out once a month (unlike the SSH newsletter which comes out once a week). And it will include the latest post updates, new products, and sales. Also, if you subscribe to the newsletter, I’ll occasionally send out special coupon codes and subscriber-only sales. (If Hubby were here he’d say, “Oooh! How exclusive!”) And since Simply Sweet Home is my main blog, sometimes I’ll send out similar offers to the SSH subscribers as well.

New Button: Also, I was asked if there would be a new button for the shop. The answer is yes. You can find the new button code right beneath my Simply Sweet Home Button, or you can get it from the new SSC blog. Thanks to everyone who decides to display any of my buttons on your page. I really appreciate the promo!

Sneak Peak at Future Listings: I’m planning to add new listings gradually over the next few weeks. Here’s a sneak peak of some of the things I’ll be adding in the near future.

-Jerri


Filed Under: announcements, crafts, jewelry, Simply Sweet Creations

Business Card Giveaway

January 12, 2010 38 Comments
The great people at Uprinting are offering us another great giveaway, and I’m very excited about this one! Uprinting will be providing one Simply Sweet Home reader a set of 250 business cards, and for hosting this giveaway, I’ll be getting 250 business cards as well.

This is such an excellent prize. No business is complete without a business card, and I’m looking forward to getting some professionally printed cards for my new jewelry shop.

And if you don’t have a business, you can still take advantage of this giveaway. You could use these to promote your blog, use them as Mom-cards, or a simple calling card to hand out to friends and family.

Here are the details on the prize:

250 Business Cards for one (1) lucky winner
Size: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)
Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
Shipping: Winners are required to pay shipping costs for their prizes.
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents due to shipping costs.

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post telling us how you’d use your 250 business cards. Deadline to enter: January 17 at 10PM.

Additional Entries: Please note the changes in the number of extra entries for this giveaway.

-Three entries for following me publicly on blogger.

-Two entries for joining my feedblitz mailing list, or 5 entries if you are already a member prior to this giveaway.

-Two entries for subscribing in a reader.

-One entry for following or subscribing to my new business blog and one entry for subscribing to Simply Sweet Creations.

-Five entries if you visit my shop and make a purchase.

-Two entries for following me on twitter and/or becoming a fan on facebook.

-One entry for tweeting about this giveaway.

-Two entries for writing about this giveaway on your blog and linking back to Simply Sweet Home.

(Just leave comments for each additional entry, and please leave a user name/link or something so that I can verify. Thanks!)

Other Rules:
-Don’t forget, if you don’t have a blog or a profile with a visible email address, please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you if you win. (Can’t stress this enough!)

-Jerri


MckLinky Blog Hop

Click here to see the entire Giveaway Blog Hop List….

Filed Under: Giveaways, Sponsors

Shepherd’s Pie

January 12, 2010 8 Comments
There’s nothing like a little piping hot comfort food on a cold winter’s day! And since it’s been so cold this past week, it seemed like the perfect time to share my recipe for Shepherd’s Pie. I must admit, though I’d heard of this, I had never tried it until I got married. My husband told me that it was one of his favorite dishes and requested that I make it some time, so I gave it a shot. Boy, have I been missing out all these years! If you’re missing out too, you should really give it a try!
Recipe for Shepherd’s Pie:

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (Dale’s would also be great!)
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen vegetable combination, thawed (you can also use canned or frozen veggies)
2-3 cups mashed potatoes.
1/2 cup- 1 cup of shredded cheese.

Directions: Heat the oven to 400°F. Cook the beef in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often. Pour off the grease. Meanwhile, make your potatoes. (I like to use homemade, but if you’re in a hurry, try instant potatoes.)
Stir the beef, soup, Worcestershire and vegetables together and pour into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Spoon the potatoes over the beef mixture. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly browned.



-Jerri


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I’m posting a link to this post on the following sites: Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed With Grace.
Homemaker Mondays is hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemade Haven.
Tasty Tuesday is hosted by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.
Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land

Filed Under: casseroles and quick meals, Recipe of the Week

Preview of Simply Sweet Creations Shop & Blog

January 8, 2010 4 Comments

Hello everyone! If you’ve looked at my profile in the last several months, you probably noticed that I have a blog listed under my profile, in addition to this one titled, “Coming Soon.”

Well, the blog that’s “Coming Soon” is going to be a blog where I’ll be sharing jewelry I’ve made and other craft projects I’m working on. The name of the blog is…..you guessed it: Simply Sweet Creations. I’m also opening my own shop on etsy where I’ll be selling jewelry and other items. I’ve been planning to launch this for months, but things just kept coming up. But now I’m ready to take the plunge and add some items to the shop.

The shop is going to start out small. I have a ton of stuff that I’ve made, but I know it will take a while to get traffic, so I’m planning to add more stuff gradually. I also have a ton of ideas for new things to make in the future, but I’m on a tight budget right now, so I have to be a little selective of the materials and things that I buy.

I hope to open the new blog and shop up to the public in the few days. When I have it launched, I’ll be sure to post the links here so that you can come take a look at my items, and I look forward to reading your comments. Please wish me luck in this new endeavor, and don’t forget to tell your friends about it!

Today I’m giving you a small preview of my items. As I look through my stock, I see huge variety of colors and styles…I’m not even sure what to feature! So please bare in mind this is just a small preview!

-Jerri


Filed Under: Business, crafts, jewelry, Simply Sweet Creations

Work at Home Wednesday: Sock Sachets

January 6, 2010 3 Comments
This week I’m letting my resolutions and goals for the year begin, which includes coming up with a new schedule for my blogging and working to make this site a little more organized and structured.

On Wednesdays my plan is to do posts dealing with work at home topics. This could be anything from housekeeping tips and household projects to organizing or craft projects and even business ideas, tips, etc.for work-at-home-moms. And if I’m able to stay consistent with it and people like the future, I may turn it in to a linky event. What do you think?

For today’s post we have a simple and frugal project, and if you’re a packrat like me, you’ll definitely appreciate this. If you have old socks or baby booties around your house, why not turn them into sachets?
Sachets are so great to place around your home and in drawers for a fresh and pleasant scent, and by using socks or booties, you can save money and even create a personal keepsake.
Just take a really cute baby booty or sock that your child has outgrown and fill it with a little potpourri. (Find this at Wal-mart or the Dollar Store.) You could also use other scented items, including spices from your pantry. Cinnamon or nutmeg would be nice, and I read about an example where they used oregano & basil…interesting!
Or you could use anything else around your house with a pleasant scent. We had some lavender scented bath crystals, so I used some of these to make a sachet. Also, if you’re allergic or don’t like scented potpouri, you can put baking soda inside your sachets. There’s no fragrance to irritate you, and it will help deodarize your drawers and home.
After you’ve filled your sock or booty, tie it up with a cute ribbon. It makes a great keepsake for your home, or you could use them as gifts. Grandmothers would love to get one of these, and you could always add a couple of these to baby shower gift basket.
If you don’t have any kids, or you’re not too concerned with making anything cute, this is also a great project to use with just plain old socks. (You know the ones that should have been thrown away months ago!) Just take some scissors and cut off the toes off the sock (basically halfway between the toes and the heel. Then fill the sock with desired fragrance, and use a ribbon to tie it up, or tie the sock in a simple knot.

Does anyone else know some of some frugal craft or household projects made with things found around the house? I’d love some new ideas!

-Jerri


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I am pleased to link up this post at the following:
Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family
Hooked on Fridays at Hooked on Houses
DIY Monday at A Soft Place to Land

It’s So Very Creative hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Make it for Monday hosted by Cottage Instincts
Made it Mondays hosted by The Persimmon Perch
Making the World Cuter Monday hosted by Making the World Cuter
Make Your Monday hosted by Twice Remembered
Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Between Naps on the Porch

Filed Under: cleaning, crafts, Home/Garden, Work from Home

Jane’s Cornbread Cake

January 5, 2010 1 Comment
While Hubby was out of town on business he visited the family and returned home with a recipe for me to try. I’ve been told that this cake is called cornbread cake because it looks like cornbread and is cooked in a cornbread pan. For me, this cake didn’t turn out exactly right. The taste was okay, but the consistency was a little gooey like a brownie (despite cooking it longer than instructed to try to get rid of the gooeyness).

I’m guessing that I should have used an iron skillet rather than the 9×13 pan in the instructions. (Come to think of it, my hubby’s relatives probably have a 9×13 pan made of iron.) Anyway that’s the only reason I can think that it didn’t come out right for me. But when made properly I assure you it’s excellent. My husband is not a sweet eater at all, so if he liked the cake enough to bring home a copy of the recipe for me to try, that really says a lot, and he did seem to like the taste of mine as well.


Recipe for Jane’s Cornbread Cake:
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup oil
1 cup nuts
4 eggs lightly beaten
1tbsp vanilla flavoring

Directions: Mix all ingredients. Pour into 9×12 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for minutes.


-Jerri



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I am pleased to share this post at the following events:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed With Grace. Homemaker Mondays is hosted by 11th Heaven’s Homemade Haven.
Tasty Tuesday is hosted by Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.
Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family.
Do It Yourself Day is hosted by A Soft Place to Land.

Filed Under: desserts, Recipe of the Week

Assessing 2009 and Goals for 2010

January 1, 2010 1 Comment
Goals for the Home:
Last year I created a list of goals for 2009 with mixed results. My husband getting laid off from his job prevented us from doing a lot of the home improvement projects I wanted to do, although we did manage to get a couple of things accomplished.

For this year my goal is to come up with a regular schedule for household chores–nothing too exact–just a basic schedule of what I want to get done each week. And I also need to go through the entire house to do some assessing, reorganizing, and general maintenance.

Finally the room in our house known to us as “spare-oom” has recently become the “junk room.” So one of my main projects I need to work on is getting it cleaned out. And then I need to go through the stuff in our outbuilding and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. (I’m not looking forward to this at all, but I know it’s got to be done!)

Financial Goals:
Again the whole lay off thing prevented us from reaching our financial goals of paying off some debts last year. So we’re going to try again this year.

Business:
One goal we have for our business this year is to set up scheduled time. In the past, we haven’t kept a regular schedule, so for this year we need more consistency. And we also have a goal to set up at least one regularly scheduled meeting at our home or another location each week.

Cooking & Diet:
I did well with my goal of making at least one new recipe each month, and some months I was able to do more than one. I will try to continue on with this goal in 2010 because I love cooking, and I love discovering new favorite recipes for our family.

Also, I’ve gotten out of my meal planning habit, though I’ve managed to get back on it in the last few weeks. So this year I need to work on this more.

My husband was recently diagnosed with diabetes, so this makes my need to meal plan a lot more crucial. And due to his condition, he was placed on a diet, which doesn’t depend so much on restricting foods as it does on restricting portion sizes, carbs, and calories, so this year I’ll be working on sticking to the diet that the dietitian has given my husband. And I also need to work on my own diet and take vitamins.

Exercise:
My husband has set some diet, excercise, and weight loss goals for himself. So I’m going to try to help him (and help myself) by exercising with him and doing some excercise on my own. My husband plans on exercising 5 times a week, so I’m going to shoot for 3 times for myself.

Crafts:
Last year I started making jewelry. I had planned on opening a shop a few months ago, but I never got around to it. So this year it’s going to happen for sure! I also want to try my hand at a couple of other craft projects this year, I have several different things in mind, one of which is mod podge. I’m always seeing the cutest decor projects made with that stuff. And then there are a lot of other things as well.

Blogging & Office Hours:
As I look at the blog, I think it lacks cohesion and is a bit unpredictable, so I’m thinking of trying something new for this year. Just as I do my recipe at the beginning of each week, I’m going to try to do regular features for the rest of the week. I’ve sorta tried to do this in the past, but I just didn’t stick with it. So now I’m giving it another go.

I also need to have scheduled blogging time. I often get on the computer for hours at a time and have no idea where the time goes or what I’ve even accomplished. So this year, I’m going to try to keep better track of what I’m doing with my time and to be more consistent with posting, commenting, twittering, etc.


Spiritual Goals:
In the past few months we’ve started going to a new church, and each week my husband and I discuss the lessons and sermons together. We want to continue with this in the new year and also work toward having a better relationship and just being better people.
Happy New Year! And Good Luck With Your Goals & Resolutions!

-Jerri
Filed Under: About Me
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