5 Easy Recipes to Cook for the Family – Crockpot Style

We all know that figuring out a meal for the kids (that’s somewhat healthy) is always a challenge after a long day. This is one of the reasons that we all love the crockpot!

I have put together a list of tried and true recipes for when you need some inspiration:

1) Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue from Allrecipes.com

I tried this recipe out a couple months ago and was amazed at how tender the chicken was. I know that there is some discussion as to whether you should throw frozen chicken breasts into a crockpot or not…I did with this recipe and it turned out great. You can’t go wrong with bbq chicken sandwiches. Pair that with some salad and or green beans and dinner is done!

2. Bachelor’s Creamy Pumpkin Soup from Allrecipes.com

This is a new must-have at our Thanksgiving dinners but I don’t know why you can make it year round. The recipe calls for you to cook it on a stovetop but why not throw it on low in a crockpot? I switch out the water for chicken broth to add a bit more flavor. If you want to make it healthier, substitute the heavy cream for milk and some greek yogurt. I have also added chunks of sweet potato and/or butternut squash to this recipe. YUMMY!!

3. Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwich from Chef-in-Training.com

I have only made this once before but it literally keeps popping into my head so I’ll be making it again very soon. This was incredibly easy and so good. The leftovers are possibly even better! If you want to go low carb, throw the chicken onto some romaine lettuce and there you go ~ a delicious salad.

4. Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef from Sixsistersstuff.com

The great thing with this recipe is that you can throw a ton of veggies into it so you don’t have to eat the rice. I think you should add mushrooms, red bell pepper, asparagus, string beans and more! It’s a good base recipe to allow you to play if you have time.

5. Mom’s Lentil Soup – from Yankeeteatime.com

The first time I made this, I didn’t do it in the crockpot, but again, there is no reason that you can’t.  This soup has protein, fiber and will FILL YOU UP!

Mixing it up

Avery panel for Flying Buttress Girls’ Bags

Zoe Panel for Flying Buttress Girls’ Bags

Fuchsia Mona Lisa panel for Flying Buttress Girls’ Bags

One of my favorite trends this Spring is to ‘mix-it-up’ and pair different patterns together. Here are a few different panels that look great together when put onto a Booie Bag or a Tommie Tote.

Drink Holder Gift Basket {4 Tweens}

What a great idea and read! Enjoy!

 

Drink Holder Gift Basket {4 Tweens}.

Children’s Spring 2013 Trend Recap – Part Deux

Welcome to Part 2 of my Spring Children’s Trend Report (you can read part 1 of our Children’s Trend Report here). There are tons of cute clothes and accessories for your tween daughter out there! Writing this has me itching to go on a shopping spree so consider yourselves warned.

Stripes - I’m definitely enjoying the spotlight that stripes are receiving these days. A classic for a reason!

Sweet Skirt from The Children’s Place $($16.95)

Pink striped top from Gap Kids ($16.95) that also follows the mixed patterns trend.

Striped top from Janie and Jack ($32.00). Does it come in adult sizes? 

Striped Top from Janie and Jack

Yellow - This color is king this spring!

Yellow Cardigan (with stripes!!) from The Children’s Place (Currently on sale for $20.00)

The yellow Lily panel from Flying Buttress will snap onto any of your Flying Buttress bags to update your look in a snap. 

Yellow Lily Panel

I love this one-piece swimsuit from Justice! ($39.90) 

Yellow Bathing Suit from Justice

Nautical - No water required.

Again…where can I get this in my size?? A sailor skort from The Children’s Place ($16.95)

This skirt would go great with this sweater from Gap Kids ($44.95)

Banana Bread Baby has this great dress on Etsy ($55.00) 

Nautical Dress by Banana Bread Baby

Mix Master - I have always loved the idea of mixing patterns and my friends and I dubbed it the “funky mis-match” way back in 2002 (yikes, that was a long time ago!). It is tricky to do well so here are some suggestions:

The Retail Therapy Couch Blog put together great trends recap in which she put together some outfits. I highly recommend checking it out. Here is my personal favorite of her outfits: 

From Retail Therapy Couch

Janie and Jack has a beautiful dress with mixed patterns ($59.00) 

Mixed Pattern Dress from Janie and Jack

Plaid and Stripes skirt from The Children’s Place ($16.95)

And of course with our Booie Bag ($38.00) and Tommie Tote ($30.00) you can mix and match all of the panels to create thousands of combinations. My current favorites are the red “Mona Lisa” ($10.00) with the zebra striped “Zuri” ($10.00) 

Girls Bags from Flying Buttress

Zuri

Now, we just need warmer weather.

Children’s Fashion Trends for Spring 2013

One of my favorite parts of working in the fashion world is viewing the updated trend reports. This Spring’s trend report was no disappointment. I have put together all of the trends I saw in a two-part series. And I have to give a shout out to my favorite summary from Red Tricycle.

Here is our first installment of the Spring 2013 Trends:

1. It seems every brand has created a cute Graphic Hearts Tee. A few of my favorites:

• Hello Kitty from The Children’s Place
• A funky one from The Children’s Place
• A feminine one from Land’s End

2. As you know our logo is based on a butterfly so you won’t be surprise that my favorite trendy graphic for Spring is the butterfly! Here are the favorites:

• Again from The Children’s Place a cute option in purple
• I love the draping effect on this cute top from Kmart
  

  Butterfly Top

• And for the outdoorsy girl, here is an adorable butterfly top from Gander Mountain
  

  Gander Mountain Butterfly Top

3. Two tone leggings! I love this trend, what a fun way to mix up an old (and comfy!) basic. Here are the faves:

• From Blumarine – pricey but soooo cute! 
  

  Blumarine Two Tone Leggings

• Sequin leggings from Joe Fresh
  

  Joe Fresh Sequin Leggings

• These have faux leather to “make” the two-tone look
  

  Lester’s Two Tone Leggings

4. The denim trend is obviously our personal favorite trend since all of our handbags, tablet sleeve and lunch bags are made of denim! Here are some cute clothing to match our bags:

• These jeans from Gap Kids marry the graphic heart and denim trend perfectly.
• Tilly’s has the perfect shorts for summer.
  

  Tilly’s Denim Short

• I want this adorable denim jacket from The Children’s Place in my size!!!

Follow our blog now so you receive the second installment of our trend recap!

10 Pinners to start following

With Facebook, Twitter and all of the other social media sites out there, sometimes it is hard to sort through all of the clutter. That is why I have put together a list of my favorite people to follow on Pinterest.

• Cool Mom Picks (coolmompicks) will always show you the newest and the greatest gadgets and trends for children and their moms. You’ll soon see why they have over 12,000 followers. Currently they have 2,500 pins that you’ll love scouring.
• Irene Cole (sweetieyee20) is a photographer with a fantastic eye and a new mother. This combination will give you great ideas for kids and great design and photography ideas. With 570 followers and over 2,500 pins there is a lot of inspiration here!
• Lindsay Newton (pinkfabby) is a girl who loves all things pink and all things fabulous. If they are fabulous AND pink, even better! Her fashion style is classic, feminine and she shows a great mix of high and low fashion. Over 1,200 pins on everything from DIY to cooking to fashion trends.
• Kimmy Erin (kimmyerin) has recently joined pinterest but you’ll enjoy getting in on the ground floor with her. She is an LA-based stylist whose style has a touch of boho chic. My favorite board is “my style pinboard” because you see what she actually we wears. The best part is you’ll get a heads up on the contests and giveaways that she regularly promotes.
• Flying Buttress (fbbags) is an obvious choice! We focus on party ideas, tween trends, makeup tips and girls bags. You can always count on vibrant colors, great party ideas for girls and on-trend pins.
• Cynthia Maxwell (cynthiamaxwell) is a place where you will go to see all things beautiful. It’s amazing how you her page always seems clean amongst the constant stream of pictures. You will quickly see why she has 7,300 following her 3,200 pins.
• Katrina (kparkhill) is a teacher with devotion to Twilight and Hunger Games. She is a wealth of information in her 2,600 pins and 491,000 followers agree! You can find ideas for holiday decorating, home organization or activities for your child.
• New Dress A Day (marisalynch) is an amazing story: Marisa was laid off from her job and feeling down so she went back to an old hobby from which she had always found joy – sewing. Since she didn’t have any money for fabric she started buying super cheap (usually ugly) pieces of clothing at thrift stores and re-vamping them to wearable and envy-worthy duds. She has some great DIY crafts, recipe suggestions and gift ideas on her page. She has almost 800 followers and 450 pins available for browsing.
• Nancy Boes (nancy1761) is another pinner with a variety of categories. You can browse through food, home decorating and travel ideas…it’s almost like a wikipedia made of images. She has 443,000 followers so you know that she is doing something right!
• Ree Drummond (thepioneerwoman) is another giant of Pinterest. She started as a food blogger so you can count on her for great recipes. She is also a mother of four so you can refer to her for some educational tips and fashion suggestions for real moms.

Hopefully this will help you cut through the clutter and you’ll get straight to the pins that interest you most!

Top 8 Things Teen Girls Need to Have for Back-to-School

It’s Back-to-school time! The leaves on the trees will be changing color soon and what a perfect example of how we live today. These days it’s all about choice and transition. And now our choice doesn’t even have to last an entire day. More and more companies are designing products that can easily and quickly change looks.  However, we all know that as much as things change, they stay the same. Read on for some of our favorite innovative and classic items that will get you ready for back to school.

 8. Lip gloss in a sheer color. No matter how long a school day it has been, the powers of a pretty lip-gloss always work. Our favorites are: Clinique Long Last Glosswear in Bamboo Pink ($15.00) and Revlon Super Lustrous in Foiled ($7.00).

7. You care. Let your best friend know with a BFF necklace. They always make you feel as good as they look. There are some really fun new styles out. Some of our favorites are pieces of pie (so none of your BFFs are left out), Yin and Yang and sprinkled donuts.  One brand we love is Dogeared. All of their dainty jewelry is unique yet timeless, especially the Loving Heart necklace from the Best Friends collection. Check out our Pinterest board for even more ideas.

6. A Flying Buttress bag is the perfect bag to tote around your school supplies. Our favorite is the Booie Bag, the extendable strap allows you to wear it as a cross-body bag or on one shoulder. But the best part is that there are snaps on the outside of the bag onto which you can attach various ‘bag bling’.  Flying Buttress has over 30 different “panels” allowing you to change the look of your bag easily. You don’t have to pick between a cheetah print bag or polka dot bag. And every day your handbag will go with your outfit for a polished look. Another great option is the Yummie Lunch Bag for your lunch. Why be boring when you can have your lunch bag match your outfit.

5. Emi Jay hair bands are our new favorite girls hair accessory. They are so cute they double as bracelets especially when layered with multiple colors. We all hate when you can’t take your hair down because then it leaves a weird looking crease. These don’t leave a crease in your hair – so feel free to mix it up! We also love the new Goody Spin Pin – stop putting all those bobby pins in your hair and just use one! The craziest way to change your hair without going to the salon is to add some color extensions from Snazzy Lites. It’s a great way to show school pride.

4. Mogo sunglasses have an awesome selection of bright and basic sunglasses with shapes and size for everyone. What’s even better – you can attach decorations to the sunglasses for a little extra bling.

3. What is your favorite pen? We all have a favorite. So make sure you stock up on yours before the year starts. My favorite right now is the Uni-ball Jetstream ($25.00 for 12). Also, check out the Pen Addict blog for a regularly updated list.

2. Tom’s shoes are the perfect way to look cute while giving back to the world. We love that they have such an inspiring vision. Our new favorite is the Wool Dot Youth Cordones as they are perfect for Fall ($42.00) You’ll feel good and you will look good as well.

1. All you really need to have a good time going back to school is a positive attitude and a willingness to learn new things!

Party hard (and easily)

Who doesn’t love a fun party? However, throwing a party can be pretty stressful. I have recently discovered that Pinterest takes away A LOT of that stress. I have been gathering some ideas on my Pinterest board for the last few months and here are a few of my favorite ideas: – Pamper party: what … Continue reading →

A lovely little note

Pink and Fabulous

We are ecstatic to be featured on one of our favorite blogs, Pink and Fabulous! We love pink and she loves pink and shows you why you should also!

Enjoy!

http://pinkandfablife.blogspot.com/2012/06/your-little-lady-will-love-this.html

Our Website

Welcome to our website! We are so excited to launch our website at http://www.myflyingbuttress.com. So far we have received a lot of fantastic feedback. Please keep it coming!