Clear Dog Album

I love these clear albums and since I take so many Princess pictures this was a cute little album to make to showcase some of her pics. Here are some of the pages of the album:

Organizing Scrapbook Albums

When you've been scrapping for as long as I have you have a ton of albums to organize. I used a circle punch to put a small description of each album and used fibers or ribbon to attach to the album. This way when they're on a bookshelf you can see the theme of each album.

Scrapbook Pages as Wall Art

I did these a few years ago, but still love them. You can find these shadowbox frames at Michaels or AC Moore. I love getting some of my favorite photos in larger sizes and just added scrapbook paper and embellishments. I've done these as gifts and they don't take long and really add to any room in your house. Here are two of my favorites, with pictures from our wedding. I figured since our Anniversary is coming up would be the perfect time to highlight these.

Organizing Small Rubber and Clear Stamps

I love finding new organization ideas that work for my craft room. I found this idea years ago, don't remember where, but so glad I found it. The unlabeled album is a mix of manufacturers, I love this so much I may break up some of my bigger sets and organize them like this. I got the binders at office depot and the baseball card clear sheets Kyle picked up for me at a sports store.

Favorite Long Island Places

I've lived on Long Island almost all my life and I love living here. Missed it so much those two years we lived in Vegas. I love acting like a "tourist" sometimes in my own area. So here are so must sees if you are visiting my lovely area

1. Long Island Aquarium - located in Riverhead so you can stop at the Outlets and do some shopping while in the area and if it's summer you can visit the waterpark and cool off. Since I'm a big animal lover, it's no surprise this is at the top of my list of places to visit.

2. Wineries - We have some amazing wineries here on Long Island. Definitely worth to visit one or two of them if you're in the area. You can also check out the wonderful farm stands located on the east end of Long Island while visiting the wineries. Some of my favorites are : Lenz Winery, Jamesport Vineyards, Pindar and Duckwalk.

3.  Montauk Lighthouse - Montauk is beautiful, you can get a hotel on the beach, shop in cute little shops and tour the lighthouse.

4. The Sunken Forest - Perfect quiet place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. This is a beautiful nature preserve that if you love the outdoors you really need to check out.

5. Gilgo Beach - Awesome beach bar and beach, perfect spot to relax

6. Fire Island - Visit the lighthouse, the beautiful beaches, perfect spot to spend the day by taking the ferry here. Tons of fun restaurants and bars, can't go wrong on a beautiful warm day.

7. Farms and farmstands - I love going to get fresh fruits and vegetables and some farms let you pick your own fruits and veggies.

Stuffed Eggplant

I made extra of the filling to use for another night for a pasta sauce, this is one of my favorite things to do to make dinner easy to make on days that I work late. I love eggplant and this was wonderful.

• 2 medium - firm eggplants
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp rosemary chopped
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups of your favorite red sauce
• 1 tsp chopped basil
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Cut the eggplant in half, score the flesh and cut around the eggplant leaving 1/4" border around the skin. Scoop out the flesh
3. Chop the flesh, season with salt and leave on paper towels to drain
4. Coat the inside of eggplant with olive oil, salt and pepper
5. Cook 15 minutes, remove from oven and reduce heat to 350
6. Heat olive oil in pan, add beef and brown.
7. Crumble in eggplant flesh, garlic, salt and pepper and cook till softened about 8 minutes.
8. Add tomato paste, sauce, rosemary and basil. Let cook about 5 minutes.
9. Scoop into eggplant and top with mozzarella cheese
10. Bake about 10-15 minutes till cheese is melted

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These are a favorite in my family and so easy to make. You can make these with any of your favorite cookie recipes. I made this batch with chocolate chip cookie dough. This batch makes a lot of cookies, so I also made some as regular cookies without the peanut butter cups inside.

• bag reeses peanut butter cups
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray mini muffin tray with cooking spray, also prepare a few cookie sheets if you decide to do the same as I did and make some regular cookies with this recipe
2. Cream the butter and sugars till combined.
3. Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined
4. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix till combined
5. Stir in chocolate chips
6. Roll dough into small balls and drop into mini muffin tray bake 8-10 minutes
7. As soon as you take out of the oven, push a peanut butter cup in the center of each.
8. Let cool slightly before running knife around edges to remove from tray and let cool on cooling rack.
9. If making as a regular cookie bake about 8-12 minutes.