1. THE WEDNESDAY DAUGHTERS | Meg Waite Clayton: I’ve not yet started this book, but this book had my attention when I read that it was a story about mothers, daughters, and secrets…and the fact that it’s set in England didn’t hurt, either. 2.  THE SILVER STAR | Jeannette Walls: With the massive success of The Glass Castle, I knew that The Silver Star would be a book I’d definitely be interested in reading.  This story about “an intrepid girl who challenges the social injustices of the adult world” promises to be a good read. 3. THE TURK WHO LOVED APPLES | Matt Gross: This is the book that I’m currently tearing through and I’m enjoying it so much.  As someone who would love to spend all of her time traveling and visiting new places, this book is really speaking to me.  4. WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD | Susan Crandall: I’m about one third of the way through this book and have found it to be a captivating read.  So much happens in so few pages, it has definitely kept me intrigued.  The book is told from the perspective of a child, which can make the story seem so much more heartbreaking in places, and more adorable in others.  A great read so far.

But as if those weren’t enough books to keep me busy, I’m also reading some other books to help me improve my skills in different areas.  Let’s call this my professional reading, shall we?

1. PLATE TO PIXEL | Helen Dujardin: I’ve been eying this book for months and months and clicked the “add to cart” button and ordered it.  It’s a gorgeous book filled with extremely helpful tips on taking beautiful food photography.  2. WILL WRITE FOR FOOD | Dianne Jacob: This book has actually been on my Kindle for months and months…it’s just that I forgot I’d ordered it.  While searching for a different book, I came across this one and started reading it.  It’s filled with great ideas for improving your food blog, your reviews, and even ideas for cookbook writing.  (Not that I have ANY interest in that at all…..*liar*….) 3. START. | Jon Acuff: This book was all the rage at Blissdom this year.  My Instagram feed blew up with images of the cover and at first, I thought, they’re just promoting it because they’re at Blissdom, and that’s just what you do.  Then I started hearing about people reading it who hadn’t been to Blissdom, and they were impressed.  So, I downloaded a copy and started reading.  It’s an easy read filled with inspiring ideas to help you escape being average and start being awesome, in all areas of your life! 4.  FOOD STYLING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS | Linda Bellingham & Jean Ann Bybee: While I’ve only skimmed this book so far, I can tell it’s going to be a great resource book for me to keep on hand.  Filled with tricks and tips that will help the food you’re photographing come across better in the images, this book is a real asset to all food photographers.

I’ve also got some great cookbook suggestions that will be releasing this summer, but you’ll have to check out the magazine to hear about those!

Happy reading!

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Now, on to today’s post.  If you read the summer issue of the magazine, (and if you haven’t, you can read it here), you saw an article contributed by Thuy Bui of My Paper Pinwheel.  When discussing in what way she’d like to contribute, Thuy threw out the option of creating little care packages for kids going away to camp this summer.  I instantly thought it would be a great idea, and she ran with it.  Together, she and the amazingly talented Bridgett Edwards of Perideau Designs came up with the perfect printables to send with your favorite camper this summer.

Aren’t these adorable? I love the color combinations that Bridgett chose to use, the blue, green, brown, and pop of red and orange from the campfire, the whole thing just works.  If you’d like to download this entire collection including large note cards, small note cards, s’mores gift tags, and encouragement cards, for FREE, click here.  Bridgett has graciously agreed to share the entire collection with all A Sweet Spot: Home Magazine readers for free.

Many thanks to Thuy for styling, photographing, and writing the article featured in the summer issue, and to Bridgett for designing such an adorable printables collection.

The post Free Designs: Camping Kit Collection appeared first on A Sweet Spot Home.

Click the image to be taken to the issue…enjoy!

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This “recipe” really couldn’t be simpler. It’s basically just assembling the ingredients, and the only cooking you have to do is grilling the slices of bread…super simple.

Ingredients
cherry tomatoes, quartered
mozzarella cheese, cubed
olive oil
chopped basil
baguette, sliced
butter, for baguette
salt and pepper

Directions
1. Slice your baguette and spread both sides with butter. Grill over medium heat until browned.
2. In a bowl, add cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.
3. Drizzle cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese with olive oil and then add chopped basil.
4. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This can be made ahead of time, as the flavor improves with time.
5. Spoon cherry tomato mixture over sliced bread and serve.

I didn’t include amounts in this because it’s really up to your preferences. I prefer more mozzarella cheese than some people may, so I used one container of cherry tomatoes and half a package of mozzarella cheese (not shredded). You can’t mess up this recipe, so tailor it to suit your preferences!

Here’s a pinnable image if you want to save this recipe for later.

Have a great weekend!

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Pound Cake Cupcake recipe: The Nesting Project
The only change I made was to add 10 medium-large chopped strawberries and increase the baking time by about 5 minutes.  After washing your strawberries, make sure to pat them dry so that you don’t add any unnecessary liquid to your batter.
Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting: allrecipes.com

And, here’s a “pinnable” image to make things simple for you…

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It seems a strange question for me to be asking when the title of my post obviously refers to ice cream…just stick with me, for a moment, though.

I’m definitely a coffee fan, but I especially love it when it’s loaded with lots of cream and sugar. When I was contacted by International Delights to help them promote their fun, new website, www.whatsyourid.com, they asked me to select my favorite of all of the delicious International Delight creamer flavors. This wasn’t a tricky choice for me, I immediately went with the Cold Stone Creamery Sweet Cream creamer. Tell me that something will taste just like homemade ice cream in my coffee and you’ll have my attention.

So, being inspired by the flavor of homemade ice cream, I created a Pinterest board loaded with ice cream sweet treats (even some coffee flavored ones!) that you’ll want to try as the weather heats up! Ice cream is always a simple dessert to serve when entertaining, and with just a little added effort you can easily make an ice cream dessert that will impress any guests that you have over.

What’s Your ID? International Delight is looking for their most passionate flavor fans. Put your ID on the map to enter to win a Magical Trip, play games and discover more unexpected delight. Share your ID flavor at http://whatsyourid.com.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Food: I Scream, You Scream for Ice Cream appeared first on A Sweet Spot Home.

The first thing I learned, antiquing can be overwhelming! Walking into a huge building packed to the rafters with more goodies (and some junk) than you can imagine can cause you to panic, just a little bit.  Where do you start? There’s so much stuff that you can’t see anything! But, we worked up a plan of attack and got started.  While I saw many, many things that would work as photography props, we decided to stick with just a few items and head back another day to tackle the props.

As many of you know, our family is currently saving up for a big, BIG family vacation to the UK.  My daughter and I couldn’t be more excited about it, my husband…is along for the ride, and my son…let’s just say the idea of such a long flight is less than appealing to him.  So, when I came across a set of coasters with this image on top, I was instantly curious.

The only down side? I couldn’t see the others! They were tied together tightly with twine, so I had no idea if I was buying 6 different coasters, 6 of the same coasters, one coaster with a picture of London and five other coasters that could possibly be extremely inappropriate…who knew?? But, for $3, my curiosity lured me in and I bought them…and here’s what I discovered when I got home.

Holy moly, it’s London, baby!!!! London, London, everywhere!! My daughter and I were literally squealing with delight (over COASTERS, mind you!).  But isn’t that kind of the fun of antiquing? The find and then the surprises?

This is one of my daughter’s scores.  While I don’t think they are necessarily old, my daughter’s obsession with cows caused me to spend the $5 and get her this cow sugar and creamer set…even though she doesn’t drink coffee.  Not sure what she plans on doing with them, but she was excited as can be to find them!

Seriously, the cutest hat EVER! She’s hardly stopped wearing it since we bought it…it was an adorable find and she loves it.

She’s already asking me when we’re going back…and if you follow me on Instagram, you know there are a few items that I’m kicking myself for not buying.  I foresee a return trip very soon in our future!

The post Out and About: Going Antiquing appeared first on A Sweet Spot Home.

The only down side to decorating with books? Sometimes the colors and designs of the covers can be a distraction and not coordinate with your decor.  A simple fix is to cover your books with fabric.  It’s quick (once you figure out what you’re doing!) and the look is nice and cohesive.

First things first, gather up your supplies…

Next, measure your fabric to be about 2 inches larger than the size of your book.  Make sure you allow enough fabric for the binding to be covered as well.  It’s better to have your fabric be too big than too small, it’s always easy to trim!

Using your hot glue gun, glue down the side of either the front or back cover.  Then, spread your fabric to smooth it out so that you can then glue the side of the opposite cover.  (I should have taken a picture of this…sorry!)

Now that your front and back cover sides have been glued, you’ll want to cut out the excess fabric above and below the actual book.  (I hope the picture above explains what I mean!) The reason for this is so that you don’t double up your fabric when you glue the top and bottom of the fabric onto the book.  Before you glue the top and bottom pieces, make sure you clip out the fabric that’s above and below the binding.  (You can tuck the excess binding fabric in and add a dab of glue at the end.)

After you’ve secured all sides, you can add any lace or trim if you’d like.  It’s totally up to you!

(Because everything looks better on a cake plate, right??)

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It honestly couldn’t be simpler.  Since it’s still really early in the growing season here, I went to my local grocery store to pick up some fresh basil.  The first time I went, the basil looked a little less than fresh, so I passed on it and hoped they’d get some more.  The second time I went, they had no basil at all…so I had to go another route.

This basil paste did the trick…and I love the fact that it’s organic.

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of your favorite extra virgin olive oil, and 1 tablespoon of your basil paste.  Then pour the entire mixture into a food processor and pulse to really boost the flavor.  Next, I pour the entire mixture back into the bowl and let it hang out on the counter for a while.  I have no idea if this helps the flavor infuse even more, but in my mind, it helps.

Finally, pour the entire mixture through a fine strainer, and you’re ready to go.  Your olive oil will smell like a gorgeous combination of olive oil and basil…and it’s heavenly.

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