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Let Your Happy Shine! / A Social ShareIt

January 27, 2013 By Laura 2 Comments

I’ve been spending lots of time painting lately.
I can’t tell you all how much I love just sitting, and doing artwork. Any kind of artwork. Drawing or painting. It doesn’t matter.
Hours will escape me. But they are such happy hours.
Without the drink. Ha ha.
O.k., maybe sometimes with a drink. If it’s weekend night. lol

It seems I must love creating. Because I seem to make a great big mess in the process, every single time, that I have to clean up.
I sure am looking forward to that art studio being ready, for me to move right in!

Oh, the happy hours I will spend there!
And I won’t have to pick up projects I am working on, before I’m actually done.

Of course, there are many things that make me happy. So many.
I was thinking a lot about that kind of thing, all throughout painting this little piece I’m sharing today.

Do you know those kind of people, who just always seem to radiate happiness? Surely there are people like that in your life. I know there are some in mine.
They are the ones that are just always smiling. Always hugging. The ones that light up when they see you, and are eager to talk to you. They make you feel so special, just the way you are, for who you are. And yet, you see them the same with others. Or the kind of people who you can just watch from afar, and see they are finding the real reasons to celebrate life, right there in that moment. What a blessing they are to know, and have in our lives. What good examples for us all, too.

They are the ones who inspired this piece I painted. The ones I am personally blessed with in my life. But also the ones you know.
Or strangers we all happen upon in the course of any day, who we noticed made others smile or laugh around them.

Knowing first hand how it feels so nice, to be a part of their happiness, should inspire us to let our own, SHINE a little more, onto others.
I know I personally am not always beaming happiness! I can let the little things get me down. The things I know will be all but forgotten, tomorrow.
Maybe some are just better at believing that in the moment, and letting those little things go sooner. So I don’t think for anyone of us, it’s a matter of pretending.

It’s a matter of choosing joy, moment by moment.
And letting it SHINE, to show our love, and help lift others, who may truly be facing bigger problems than our own, that day.

Being able to shine our own happiness for others more often, when we can, is probably a matter of choices too. Don’t you think? To me, I think happiness derives for anyone from always counting your blessings. From knowing God, and having a great relationship with Him. It comes from truly loving those in our life who we have to love in our life, while we do! Our families and friends. And it comes from our own unique gifts, that we DO all have. (I’ve talked about that soooo many times, here on the blog.) Everyone has at least one gift, they are meant to use in their life. But all of these things I mentioned, I think are gifts in and of themselves, given to us by God, to know happiness. When we accept them for all that they are, we can’t help by SHINE HAPPINESS, for a time.
Why not shine it on others, and spread the love and joy?

So what have I been painting? Well, I’ve been working on some more ‘Social ShareIts’.

Do you know what our ‘Social ShareIts’ are?

You see them all of the time on Facebook, and maybe Pinterest or Twitter or other social networks. I just named them, for me. : ) I’m talking about those little mini-posters/pictures, that make you laugh, or smile, give you an A-HA moment, speak to you in some way, or just have a message you want to spread. So you ‘like’ them or ‘share’ them. Well, I am having so-much-fun, creating our own line of them. Many will be illustrated by me, maybe painted, drawn, or using some other mediums. Others may be using my own photographs I took, and adding text in Photoshop. Or at times, I may use stock photography. And, some will be complete graphic design work. Whatever I feel like doing, in the moment. I find joy in creating in many ways, and I just go with the flow.

So I’ve told you about the inspiration behind this one.
Here is the finished artwork for you . . . . . .

I hope you like it. It’s watercolor paint, and an art pen.

How do you TAKE any of our ‘Social ShareIts’?

I SHARE them with you, to take for yourselves, so that you all can SHARE them with your family and friends on Facebook, or where ever. I often will do a post like this one you are reading, here on our blog, if it was a real creative process, or I have a bit of inspiration behind the work, to tell you about. So you can just’save the image’ from here, and use them as you will. But easier, I will always put them on our blog’s FACEBOOK PAGE, for you to to be able to click SHARE from there. That way you will be SHARING it with your friends and family on Facebook as well. So please be sure you are following us there on Facebook, to see our Social ShareIts as they come out, or any other projects or recipes we are sharing, by click HERE and clicking the LIKE button. If you look under PHOTOS there at our blog’s Facebook Page too, I am building an album named ‘House Of Joyful Noise Social ShareIts’. So you can grab them from there also, or our board under the same name on Pinterest, any time as well.

You can find all of our buttons for all of the places you can follow House Of Joyful Noise, are below this post, as well as at the top right of the blog here.

Now, go out there today, and make the world a brighter place!
I’ll do my best, too.
Thanks as always, for coming by.

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Chicken and Salsa | Super Simple, Super Delicious | Slow Cooker Recipe

January 21, 2013 By Laura 1 Comment

I’m about to rave about this meal, and I have countless reasons why. It’s been a favorite of our family’s for quite some time now. We all really love it. When we have a very busy scheduled day, this is most always what I plan for supper, because it’s that easy and fast, to prep any of it. Like, ridiculous. Especially for the amazingly delicious meal that it is. It can actually be made and ready in 2 to 2-1/2 hours cooked on high, if you’d like. Or, you can let it slow cook all day. Either way, it’s super quick, easy prep-work, and pretty much ready to eat when you are.

Here’s a few other reason why I love it: You don’t have to handle raw chicken at all! I don’t know about you, but I’m just not particularly fond of touching raw chicken. I will, and I’m not real freaked out. But I’d rather not if I don’t have to. And with this meal, I don’t have to! It is sooooooo good, and it’s so healthy too!
It has 4 out of the 5 food groups in my book: protein, vegetables, grain, and dairy.

You need a slow cooker of some kind. So I hope you have one.

This is the slow cooker we have. It’s a GE 6 Qt. Digital Slow Cooker, and I LOVE it. It holds enough to cook at least 2+ full meals for our family of 6.
The container lifts right out of the heating element, to be put on the table, and it’s super easy to clean as well.

So many different bursting flavors, with every bite.

Let me show you how easy this is to make. Even the ingredients are minimal.
Chicken breasts, a jar of salsa, brown rice, and shredded cheese.

The pre-packaged chicken is our trick. There are 2 breasts in each wrapper. Just cut open the end of each package with scissors, drain the excess water, and dump the chicken into the slow cooker pot. We make up to 8 breasts at a time, for a batch that last for at least 2 family (of 6) meals, and usually more still left over. The 2 breasts in each wrapper are sometimes attached to each other, so I just use a fork and make sure they are all open and spread well in the pot.

Then you just cover all of the chicken in salsa!
Now, just because I have my little ways of doing things, I actually put a little layer of salsa all over the bottom of the pot first, put in the chicken, and then pour the rest of the salsa over the top.
But that’s it!

Then I set the slow cooker. I can set it to low, and let it cook for 5-6 hours or whatever. Or if it’s a last minute idea, the chicken will pretty much cook in 2 or 2-1/2 hours on high.
Now here’s an extra step that I personally do, because I want the chicken as flavorful as possible: As soon as all of the chicken is cooked (it is so tender, it’s crazy), I take each cooked breast out at a time, cut it into chunks on a plate, and scrape it back in the pot. Repeating for each breast until it’s all cut up. Leaving it all simmering in there with the salsa just adds that much more tastiness.

We like to have this chicken and salsa over brown rice. (It’s healthier than white. We’re all about whole grains around here.) So here’s another speedy trick . . .

Boil-in-Bag Brown Rice, in 10 minutes. No measuring! We need 2 bags.
But gosh….could it be any easier? Take the bags of cooked rice out of the water, let drain for a sec, snip off the top, and dump it in a bowl. Done!

At the table, we each just sprinkle some cheese on top. Because it’s just all so good together.

The chicken comes out so unbelievably tender, and so tasty with the salsa juices and bits of salsa vegetables. It’s perfect on top brown rice.
And the sprinkle of cheese on top makes a fabulous meal, even better.

I never really feel like I put any time worth mentioning, into making supper, when I make this meal.
And yet, we’re all around the table eating delicious food together, and talking about how good it is.
Try it on your family, and let us know what the reviews are.
We’ll be surprised if you all don’t love it too.

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Home Improvement Reveal; A Dream Come True; Part 1

January 15, 2013 By Laura 9 Comments

I have had a childhood dream, that has never faded away. Not even with the passing of decades of years, this dream has lived through.
Well, that childhood dream, is about to come true for me.

♥ I am getting a completely customized art studio! ♥

It’s in-home, and already in the works. I thought I would take photos of the progress, in case some of you might enjoy watching it come to life along the way.

I was in kindergarten, when I decided I was going to be an artist when I grew up.
That plan never waivered all through my schooling years. As a kid, I used to see little empty shops with real estate signs around town, and dream of what it would be like, to have my own studio space in there. When I graduated from high school, I went on to commercial art school for the next 3 years. In the past 22 years since then, I have been a freelance artist and photographer. Following art school, in my early 20’s and back home, my parents were kind enough to give me an extra room in the house for my drawing table and such. I probably did 100 commissioned, illustrated large portraits out of that little room. And I’ve had a cozy little in-home photography studio in our finished lower level here, for many years, until a year ago. But never….anything like this, that I’ve got coming.

Between Michael and I, we always have (all kinds of) projects going on. All over the house. And because I haven’t had a dedicated space, I have craft supplies stored all-over-the-house too. It is a wild-goose-chase to ever find what I need, when I need it. Let me show you just a glimpse of what I mean.
But before I do, TAKE NOTE: *In these photos below, I had already started pulling stuff out, sorting, throwing away, and packing stuff up – for the new studio in development. So these areas have never looked like this big mess, unless you looked behind the curtain into the closet or in the cabinets.

But anyhoo, this is one end of my former photography studio in the lower level of our home. You can see, one closet that’s been chock full. Those shelves were packed. So frustrating finding anything, or getting anything out. Much is already pulled out of the closet you see here, and on the floor and in bins now, not visible in the photo. Across from that closet, is 2 floor cabinets, with drawers, which have stored more craft supplies.

Another cabinet upstairs in in the corner of the school room by the back door, holds yet more supplies.

But wait…..there’s more….
Our cramped little laundry room on the mid-floor, has still-more-supplies.

And, there are various other little places around the house, where there are tools and whatnot.
So as I’m sure you have gathered with just this much observation, that there is great need, for ONE LARGE STUDIO, that is organized, functional, and inspiring, to do our thing.
Art is a huge and active part of our lives and work fields.

This space in the upper level of our home, is where the new art studio will be. There is mega natural-light, and it is 12′ x 22′. The ceilings are 8′ high. That’s great space!
So this is the view walking into the room.

It’s funny how this came to be. We have been trying to work on our unfinished house for the past 6 years. It’s been held up many times, due to finances, or lack of time. And then it was held up for a bit more, while we re-pondered our original plans, and the intent of each room in our home. The girls’ rooms have been done for quite some time, and I do plan on sharing those. But we realized that this one great big space that we had planned on making the boys’ room to share, would be of much wiser use, as the art studio that we desperately need. It would be much more appreciated and well-used, on a daily basis. Although it’ll be my studio, and I’ll be spending the most time in it, it will actually be a great space for all of us. It is such a grand space, that even Michael will be able to do his sign work in here as well. The boys will still get awesome rooms, but of their own. But much of this space, will be a new art studio. We’re back on track to finishing it now until it’s done. And it’s well on it’s way, as you can see.

The opposite end; which will actually be used for another purpose, and I will tell you more about that at another time.
I know none of these photos are pretty or exciting now – but they will be. Right now, it’s a matter of imagination. : )

The other side of the room, the long way.
On the left is the entry door.

Viewing from the end we first saw, back towards the entrance.

This wall, seen when you first come into the studio, is going to be great. The single window on the far right, is actually going to be replaced with a picture window, which we are removing from a side of the school room downstairs (which will become a wall.) We have regretted putting that window there downstairs. It looks out at nothing, gives us no natural light, and would be of more use and more attractive as a wall. Deciding we need one of these windows to be larger up here in the studio-to-be, gave us the perfect way to make use of the one we take out downstairs. However, even with the windows, it is going to be a very functional area to work, as well as have a whole lot of storage and work space

We are still in the planning stages as far as design and layout.
But here’s what I can tell you for sure:

It will be all white: walls, ceiling, table tops, shelving, cabinets, etc.
- There will be splashes of color everywhere, from the supplies, materials stored and organized, much out and accessible, as well as the artwork we create.
- It will have natural pine floors.
- It will have specialty lighting installed, for dark days, night-time work, and photography.

There will be:

- A lot of flat working areas everywhere, for various needs.
- An island block on wheels, with a large flat surface, cubby shelves on the sides, and additional storage inside.
- Custom built storage spaces in various areas for specific supply-organization needs (paper, ribbon-spools, etc.)
- An area specifically set up for photographing anything I need to.
- A large, old drawing table.
- Dedicated seating for the kids, to do their crafting, and sometimes, possibly their school work, too.

In this studio, designed correctly, here are some of the creative projects we’ll be able to do in here, and store all of the supplies/machinery to do them:

- - all illustration work
  - designing
  - crafting
  - scrapbooking and card-making
  - small furniture refinishing
  - sewing
  - sign-making
  - vinyl-work (large cutter/plotter
  - photography

. . . and more.

And here’s my man, who is making it all happen . . . . . .

If you follow us, you’ve seen he’s capable of some amazing carpentry work. One of his greatest builds I haven’t even shown you all yet. But I will in time. Nonetheless, he is capable of making this space into absolutely anything I want it to be. I couldn’t be more grateful. We’re a pretty good team too, and have a lot of fun bringing our little brainstorms to life. He works about 50-60 hours a week, so he works on our house when he has time. Usually the weekends. But it should move along now, I think.

I plan to document the progress of this studio, to share with you all. if you’d like to follow along. Not every little boring step, but a quick update here and there on how things have come along. We would love your input and ideas along the way! We know some of you have creative spaces of your own, as well, and we’re sure you have opinions and advice, that you could share with us.
I have already started a Pin board, just gathering some bits of ideas, options, and inspiration for storage and such. And my brainstorming is on over-drive. As always.

We’re all too excited! It’s not every day a childhood dream comes true.
And by the way, the re-pondering of our home and the rooms/space it offers, will be resulting in ‘Musical Rooms’ of sorts (like Musical Chairs, but Rooms), and some fun redecorating too.
So there is more room make-overs, besides this one, coming as well.
We hope you’ll enjoy following along with us, as we go.
Got any tips or ideas for us already? Let us know anything you’d like to say, in the comments!
And as always, thanks for coming by. : )

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Hello, 2013. / Introducing: House Of Joyful Noise Social ShareIts

January 1, 2013 By Laura 2 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Well now . . . . we’ve all talked about the coming new year enough. Don’t-ya-think? Now it’s HERE.
Time to just LIVE IT, People!

That includes us.
We’ve told you we have some all new and exciting things in store for this year, and I’m about to tell you about one of them.

At the beginning of last year (2012) I resolved to get back to my hand-created artwork skills. Many of you (may) know I went to art school, worked in the illustrating art field for some years freelancing (mostly doing large portraits of people), and then got more and more in depth with photography. Something I had always studied. But in the course of my 13 great years in my (photography) business, I really got away from my love for creating my own authentic artwork. : ( You know….artwork created on paper. With pencils, paints and palettes and other fun tools in my hands. I got to missing it so much, it almost hurt. I’m not kidding. But I had no time to spend with it! No time to really make a mess, and create something – mine. Without my camera. So in 2012, with putting my photography business aside, I found the time! I did. Not quite as much time as I wanted. But I did create a handful of things! Things that I found so much great joy in creating. In fact one of those things turned out to be our #1 most viewed project of the year 2012! Maybe because that one was made with extra love. Or maybe because the world was a little mesmerized with my doodling. (Something anyone can do, by the way. Just give it a go!) But back to the here and now.

This year, I will find even more time, for my artwork. Yes-I-will. And I know I will, because I need to so badly now. The more I indulge in creating, the more I just have to. After anything with my children, or singing a song that gives praise to the Lord, just sitting . . . . and fooling around with different mediums, is way too much fun for me. And therapeutic. And it just puts a happy in my heart and soul, that I would never be able to describe. All is right with the world, when that’s what I’m doing. Hours escape me. (“Really? I should have started dinner an hour ago? What in the world time is it, Honey?”)

Of course, along with hand-created illustration work, I’ll always have what photography and graphic skills I might have too.
And that leads me to what is in all of this for you, this year!

Using any one of those skills, I decided to create a series throughout all of the year 2013, called . . . .

House Of Joyful Noise ‘Social ShareIts’.

What are House Of Joyful Noise ‘Share Its’?
They are those little mini-poster sort of things, that you can share all over your social world.
You can Facebook them
Pin them on Pinterest.
Tweet them on Twitter.
Google+ them in your circles.
. . . or anywhere else you socially network.

I’m going to have a blast, making more and more.

They will be created with various forms of my artwork….and express quotes of my own or others (credited.)
Some will be hand hand-illustrated. Others will be created with photography or graphic design.
The bottom line is…..If they speak to your heart, or inspire you in any way, you’ll be so welcome to grab them and share them for yourself.

The test run has proved way successful.
(Thanks to all of you, who follow us on Facebook!)
I shared my first two New Year’s Eve morning, and they have already been SHARE’d hundreds of times over. AND counting.
Here are those two – and you are welcome to save them right from here, and SHARE them wherever you’d like.

As they are created, throughout the year, and just as I am inspired to make them, I will share them right here on our blog, and at the various places you may follow us.
(See links to follow us, below.)

There’s SO much more to come, here at House Of Joyful Noise.
Here’s to an AMAZING 2013, to all of us.
♥

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Please come follow me here and there:

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Christmas Eve / Morning – 2012

December 29, 2012 By Laura 4 Comments

With Christmas 2012 behind us, we ultimately decided to blog a little bit of it, before we move on to wrapping up our year of projects for you, revealing a new one, and jumping into the new year with both feet, and some bigger projects than ever, that you are welcome to follow along with us. I cannot wait to get to all of that, and hopefully you all might have some great ideas and help for us along the way. It’s going to be too much fun!

But first, our little Christmas. We try to keep the entire season quite simple and stress-free. (Not always an easy thing to do – right?). We celebrate Advent, we decorate, make some handmade gifts and shop a little, bake, drive around neighborhoods at night with cocoa to see people’s Christmas lights, and stuff like that. We also try to not get too distracted from remembering that Jesus’ birth, and what the course of His earthly life would mean for us all, is the whole purpose of our own celebrations, personally. Some years Christmas Eve and Day is more simple than others, with a little more or less gifts or family/friends around.

This year we went to Christmas Eve Mass, and had a quiet evening at home, with a little festive food spread. While we had bought the kids a few gifts, Michael and I decided not to put them out the night before. First because, one, two, or all of them tend to get up during the night to use the bathroom or get a drink of water, and I really didn’t want them to see anything. Secondly, I was kind of curious what their reaction would be. There have been Christmas’ where the only gifts they received were from extended family and friends. But this year, since this year has progressively gone quite well, and we could afford more, I actually asked them all what they might want for Christmas. That’s something I’ve never actually done. Their requests were easy enough: certain books (Olivia and the Trio), a new basketball (Shane), a Pillow Pet (JackMichael), socks, (socks?), and Patriots or Tim Tebow calendar (Alexis). So we got them those things, and a few more surprises. But when they got up in the morning, there was nothing more under the tree than there had been all week: packages that had arrived for them from other family, and a large gift bag each from a sweet family friend. Still, they were bouncing around the house all happy-chatty and excited because well . . . it was Christmas Day. And they love Christmas.

(After Mass on Christmas Eve.)

But Michael and I were pretty excited, to give them their gifts! So after breakfast and an hour or so of chilling in our pajamas, we asked the kids to go upstairs for a few minutes, until we called them. After the 4 “Why?” ‘s, and our refusal to answer, they went up, and we got everything around the tree. Despite the fact that there is a lot more to our simple Christmas than presents, that happens to be all I took photos of this year! lol. Since I do intend to get back to some major scrapbooking some day, and I take photos of the kids through their childhood for their/our own memories, I always ponder if I should bother blogging these kinds of things. But our oldest (Alexis) and husband say yes – it’s our family blog in the end, and they want these memories a part of it too. Not just all of our projects and things we do. So I put together a small collection of some of my favorite photos of them opening their gifts. Note: I am TERRIBLE with on camera flash. Ugh-hate using it. But the important thing for our family history is having these (any) family photos someday – perfect or not, they will be treasured more and more as time goes on. So I am embracing candid casual photography, to most enjoy these times with my family. There is a little description with each photo. But I’ll also say that aside from what they are sitting in, and a small gift each from us, they also got a few small things together, and one bigger item (which has not yet arrived), and will be part of another post (a major room revamp), coming soon.

If you look through the slideshow, you can use the arrows to go to the next one. Anytime you want to get out of the slideshow mode, simply click ON the photo, and it will close out.

[Show as slideshow]

However you and your family does Christmas, we hope it was beautiful, meaningful, peaceful, and you were surrounded by love and happiness.

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