A Fresh Start and a Winner

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was very nice, pretty low-key actually. We did however, get a brand new Computer! Thanks to my mom. Aren't mom's the greatest?! I'm so excited, I feel like a kid in a candy store. We've gone from Window 2000 to Windows Vista; from a big bulky monitor to a widescreen flat screen monitor. Hey, we can actually roll down the top on the roll top computer desk! The best part I think is the new All in one printer that came with it. Now I can scan my cards and photos, instead of having to wander through the house trying to find a place where the lighting is decent enough and then having to download the photos etc. I'm sure many of you can identify with my former plight and understand the delight of the scanner! We actually got two of them, because my mom bought one and then we got the PC package and it came with one as well. Don't tell my husband; but I think I like the other one better (the one we didn't hook up yesterday)...so guess what he gets to do this evening.
Anyways, so I've been playing a bit this morning; but I did manage to make a card really quick for you. I wanted to make something for SCS Chalk pouncing technique today. I thought it seemed so cool; and it is. I really like doing things that look fabulous and you only have to use a few supplies, and simple supplies at that!The recipe for my card is at the end of today's post. I was happy with the way it turner out,except for the cut out flower, I glued the petals a bit wonky; but what can you do, onced they are glued, right?! I'm going to try to make another one and put it in my SCS gallery later this afternoon.
And now, for the exciting news of the day (as if the new PC isn't exciting enough!!) It's time to announce the Blog Candy winner. The lucky number (chosen randomly by my very own little girl) is #5. That's Vanessa. Vanessa did KWerner's Color Inspiration Challenge this week and designed a very cute card, which you can see on her blog
Congrats Vanessa. I just need you to send me an email and let me know your address, so that I can mail your goodies to you this week.
Thanks to everyone who participated. I really enjoyed looking at everyone's creations.
Well, that's all for me today. Tomorrow is the first of the month, so you know what that means...time for the monthly blog change. Guess I know what I'm going to work on this afternoon! Have a great day and as always, thanks for visiting with me.

Card supplies:
Really Rust, Mellow Moss and Whisper White Card stock
Fine Lace, Fresh Cuts Stamp Sets
Mellow Moss, Border Blue, Really Rust Classic Stamp Pads
Versamark
Stampin Pastels

Weekend Challenges

Good Afternoon All,

I had actually thought about taking a bit of a break from stamping today. Then I started blog hopping around, and got inspired. The next thing I knew, I was stamping away!
The colors I chose were Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate and Pretty in Pink. I used the Puppy from the Penny Black Critter Party set, and the cupcake from the Sushi Bowl set (Stampendous)I stamped all the images in Close to Cocoa and then watercolored with pencils. I made the background on the Pomegranate Piece with the Simple Stripes background stamp. Just stamp it and then turn the paper and stamp again...voila, cute little squares. The SCS limited supplies challenge this week is to use brads as your only embellishments. Well, I kinda blew that by using the ribbon. Definitely been on a ribbon kick lately...will have to try to make something without using ribbon. Now, that will be a challenge! It's also time for Stamp Something's weekly challenge. This week you have to make something that is Red, White and Blue; but it can't be a card. Not really sure if I'll have a chance for this one or not...
Anyhow folks, that's all for me today. Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to leave me your links for your creations this week for Blog Candy, no later than Monday morning 10:00am.

Color Round Up #13

I'm back again! Here's my post for this week's Color Round up for K Werner. The colors were River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White. Hmmm, another challenge with Wild Wasabi...popular color for this week. Ok...that's it for me today,I promise!

Just in case you don't like mine...

Here's another blog candy give away. Check out Renee's blog

Just in case you've forgotten......BLOG CANDY!!!!

So far not a lot of response to my offer of blog candy, therefore I thought I'd post the info about it again. (It's free stuff folks!)
All you have to do is complete a challenge this week. Whatever you want, SCS, Kwerner, Mojo etc. Post a link to THIS post (not the original blog candy post) with a link to your creation. I will announce the winner Monday morning at 10:00am

More New Creations

Good Morning Everyone!

Well of course I've made another example with my new stamps! I've not had any in so long, that I'm like a kid in a candy store. This card is also for SCS color challenge this week and yesterday's sketch challenge. I used Penny Black Critter Party set and watercolored it with inks and aquapainters. I love my aquapainters...use them all of the time. I am going to upload it to my SCS gallery as well, so you can check there for all the supplies etc. Today's SCS Ways to Use it challenge this week is to use birds. Mmm, going to have to raid my supplies on that one. Really not sure if I have any bird stamps?!
Also in case you missed it yesterday, SCS Wednesday tutorial was for scratch and sniff cards. This is a fairly easy technique and does work well, just make sure you use sugar free drink mix. Otherwise, you'll be preparing creme brulee on your cards!
I did not forget Thursday's recipe this week. It is posted below.
Finally, before I leave for the day, lets chat about GH for a few mintues.
From what I understand, Carly is not going to be pregnant; but somehow Jax will find out about her and Sonny anyways. Jury is still out on the whole VM issue. Rumor has it that it's come down to a money issue (doesn't it always!)Apparently Big Daddy Z thinks that Claudia needs to prove her loyalty by becoming involved with Ric! BTW, what do you suppose is going to happen when Claudia finds out about Jake and who the baby daddy is?!!
Be sure to tune in today for Jason Cook's first air date (and scene with Maxie) as Dr. Matt. DOOL fans will be sure to enjoy seeing the "original" Shawn and Belle on screen together again.
Have a great day and thanks for visiting with me!

Recipe Thursday: Spanish Ham and Cheese Quesadillas

For this week's recipe, I decided to go with a Rachael Ray 15 minute meal. With all the hustle and bustle of the summer, I figured a quick meal was in order. Hope you like it.

Quesadillas:

4 Large Flour Tortillas
Cooking Spray
1/4 cup Spanish Olives with pimiento, chopped
8 marinated mushrooms drained and sliced
Flat leaf parsley, a handful chopped
8 slices Serrano ham or Prosciutto
1/2 pound Fontina cheese, thinly sliced

Salad:
1 small shallot, grated
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Hearts of Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/4 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
4 roasted Spanish piquillo peppers, or 2 roasted red peppers
1/4 cup sliced toasted almonds

Preheat oven to 250. Preheat a foil lined baking sheet in the middle of the oven.
Preheat a skillet over medium hight heat
Spray tortilla lightly with cooking spray and place in hot skillet.
Heat until it starts to blister, about 1 minute, then flip it over
Top 1/2 of the tortilla with one quarter of the olives, mushrooms,and parsley.
Top with two slices of cheese and ham.
Fold the tortilla over and cook for another minute on each side to melt the cheese
Transfer to warm oven and repeat with remaining tortillas and filling

For the salad, combine the shallot and the vinegar and whisk in the Olive Oil
Combine the Hearts of Romaine, cucumber, peppers and almonds in a bowl and toss with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper.

New Stamps!

Good afternoon everyone!

Well, as promised, I have posted an example with one of my new sets. This Sushi set is from Stampendous and I bought it after having seen so many really cute samples on Cambria's blog (Love her work!!) I have to say that I did thoroughly enjoy playing with this little fish set and I will definitely be using it a lot here in the near future! I wanted to keep with a water theme for this particular card, hence the variety of blues here. The images were stamped and then colored in with watercolor pencils and my aquapainters. For the castle and the fish, I cut those out and adhered them, rather than stamping straight on the blue paper. I also got the Critter Party Set from Penny Black. Those darned Hedgehogs are just too adorable. I uploaded the sample that I made with that set to my SCS gallery.
Yesterday was SCS color challenge to use Wasabi, Teal and White. I never would have put those colors together; but I admit I think they look fabulous together. I'm going to try to combine that one with today's Sketch Challenge and hopefully get it posted for everyone tomorrow. Remember, SCS challenges count towards your chance for Blog Candy this week!
I realized over the weekend, that I had completely forgotten to post a recipe last Thursday. I shall be posting one tomorrow, so be sure to stop by and see what's cooking!
Have a great day and as always, thanks for visiting with me!

Good news...bad news (and don't forget about Blog Candy!)

Well, the good news is that I finally got my new stamps yesterday from Penny Black and Stampendous. The bad news...no Stampin Mojo today! Been up since 3:00am with the little ones. Ugh! Promise will post some new creations tomorrow. Until then, be sure to check out some of the other blogs listed on the right side. Oodabug Alley, Stamp a little Love and KWerner all have really cute updated cards. If you missed my post yesterday, make sure and scroll down and read it so you can read the information about Blog Candy!!

Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow

Two cards, one video and a surprise.

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was very busy and entailed a lot of furniture moving and rearranging. We are beginning the process of putting my two boys together and getting our youngest one out of the crib. Today will be his first time taking a nap in his big boy bed....I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
I did manage to get a couple of cards done as well, however. The first one was for my Saturday Challenge for Paper Crafts Member Board. I recently signed up for them and have enjoyed my first week getting to know some of the members. I've also joined the Paper Pretties team by joining the Stamp of the Month Club. For $12 a month, including S&H I get a new stamp and they are so cute! I can't wait to get my first one! They also have a weekly challenge, which I will be working on and posting later this week. My second card I have here today is for my sketch challenge from Friday's "Stamp Something Challenge"
And now on to the fabulous news from Friday night....GH took home it's record 10th Emmy win for Best Daytime Drama!!! I was so excited. The Emmy montage totally rocked, and in case you missed it (or you just want to see it again) I've put it here at the end of today's post. Congrats also to the incomparable Anthony Geary for winning his 6th Emmy for outstanding Lead Actor.
So, in celebration of GH's Emmy win and because I'm in such a great mood I've decided that it's time to give away my first BLOG CANDY!!! In order to be entered for blog candy, all you need to do is complete a challenge. Whatever one you want, from whom ever you want. It's completely up to you. Post a comment to THIS post with a link to your creation. I will select a winner next Monday morning at 10:00am. This way you all will have the weekend to do challenges as well. I've posted a picture for you of what you'll receive and as you can see, there's lots of good stuff, so get crafty and creative this week!!
Have a great day and thanks for visiting with me!

Back to Stamping, Beate's Break and the Daytime Emmy's

****update**** Some of my pictures of my cards, seem to have mysteriously disappeared from my blog. Will try to fix and get them back up for viewing. Not sure what that's all about; but I'm sure it's something that I did! LOL


Good afternoon all!

I wanted to have something to post here with Beate's weekend sketch, so that is why it's taken me a bit longer to post today. Well, after two days of making cards without stamps, I must admit I was very glad to get back to my ink pads. It's kind of a trade -off actually. On the one hand, assembling a card that uses no stamps is less time-consuming; but coming up with the ideas and the coordinating elements etc takes FOREVER! Then again, the ideas and elements seem to flow easily together with stamping; but the execution can be a bit lengthy depending on the technique you are using.
So, if you ever think that you are bored with your stamps or you're using the same ones over and over again,take a break and spend a few days making cards without them...trust me you'll look at them in a whole new light!


Today is Friday, and that of course means, it's time for some challenges. This is Beate's weekend challenge. It was fun to make a card using this size. Don't often use this one, and I enjoyed the change. Speaking of Beate, in case you weren't aware, she has decided to take a bit of a break. (well deserved, I might add)Therefore, this will be her last weekend sketch until mid-August. Stamp Something has also posted a sketch for their weekly challenge. I've not completed this one yet today; but am going to try to do this afternoon or tomorrow and will post on Monday. KWerner has also posted her color inspiration challenge. One of the colors is Sahara Sand, which I don't have. I may see if I can find a comparable color so I can play along.
Finally, all my GH fans, don't forget tonight is the Daytime Emmys!! 8:00pm on ABC. I've already told my husband that yes, we are going to watch it in it's entirety! I'm bummed that not more of my GH favorites are nominated (Tyler Christopher, Steve Burton, Laura Wright)Still, can't wait to see the montage they've put together for best show.
Speaking of GH, I wanted to again extend a personal thanks to Sarah Brown (Claudia) for responding to an email I sent her and to thank her for the donation she is making to the "A taste for A cure" cancer fund raiser being held tomorrow evening. Sarah is making a donation in honor of my father who passed away from head and neck cancer on February 29. My mother and I were both honored that our story touched her so deeply and are grateful for her response to us.
That's all for me folks! Have a great weekend and as always thanks for visiting with me!

Quick card

Good Morning Everyone,

Here is just another quick card I made again without using any stamps. The textured background paper behind the present sticker was made by using the water mist technique with various coordinating inks.
Got a busy day, so I'm afraid that's all for this morning. I will be back again tomorrow.
Have a great day, and as always thanks for visiting with me.

No Stampin' Up and GH news

Good morning everyone!

So, I recently received a challenge to create a card, not only without any stamps; but also with no SU products. My first inclination, was "what?!" Then I decided to pull out my scrapbooking embellishment bag, and my varied assortments of scrap patterned papers etc. After a bit of playing around and a lot of rearranging, this card is what I came up with. I didn't put a sentiment on it; but I think you could use it for just about anything, such as a invite to a weekend at the beach or a summertime birthday. It was easier than I thought, and I plan to try another one later today, using the SCS sketch challenge for today. BTW, if anybody has any tips for photographing cards, I'd love to hear them. I always seem to be lacking in that area.
Now for some GH chatter. First of all, I can't wait to see how Claudia, Spinelli and Jason spend their quarantine. These three are hilarious together. I can't imagine how the three of them keep a straight face while they are filming scenes together. Especially since "oh so serious Jason" is supposedly really "wise-cracking funny Steve Burton!" I also have to say that I agree with Alexis anger at Sonny for not giving up Kristina the way he has Michael and Morgan. Number one it's not fair that he not do the same for her; and number two, when was the last time he saw her anyways? Do him and Alexis even have a consistent custody arrangement? On the other hand, the fact that she's falling for Jerry does make her a bit of a hypocrite.
I've also been trying to find out more info on the Vanessa Marcil interview in Soaps in Depth. Haven't had a chance to read it, yet. Has anyone else? I will keep you posted if I hear anything.
Don't forget the Daytime Emmy's are this Friday. Be sure to check out soapnet for all the pre-emmy chatter and events and also the second episode of Spinelli's "Camera Ready" series.
Have a fantastic day and as always thanks for visiting with me

Color Challenge, Beate's Inspiration and Stamp set ponderings

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I've been busy this morning making these cards to share with you today. The first is my card for today's SCS color challenge. The challenge was to use Soft Sky, Black and Kraft, or you could substitute Bashful Blue and Creamy Caramel. I chose to use the substitution colors because I don't have any Kraft paper and I only have one sheet of Soft Sky left.
I used Caramel for the card base and attached two types ofblue ribbon to the black strips of paper. I stamped the Bashful Blue piece with the "Print Pattern" background stamp. The "Friend" stamp is embossed with black powder to make it pop a bit.I attached to bashful blue piece with Stampin Dimensionals. Finally, I used Simple Sayings II for the bottom saying and stamped it in black ink

Beate's Inspiration piece this week is this picture of this beautiful cake from the Martha Stewart Website. I loved the delicacy of the flowers and the elegant colors of the blue, red and the green. My interpretation focused on the circles of the wedding cake which I stacked with Stamping Dimensionals to give the tiered look. I used Fiskar's border stamps to represent the wavy lines around the center of the cake. I used Prima flowers in the center of the card. The card is made with Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi and Real Red. The background stamps I used were Fine Lace, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, and Basic Backgrounds.
I must admit I am torn about whether or not to stock up on my "In Colors" before they disappear. Are you? I think I'm going to have to break down and get at least a package of Soft Sky and Groovy Guava...maybe River Rock too. Have you all picked out your "Gotta have 'em" sets from the retired list? Surprisingly I am only interested in about three of the sets on there. I would much rather wait and order lots of stuff from the new catalog in August.
Ok, so that's all for me today. Have a fantastic day, and as always, thanks so much for visiting with me. Remember, I'm always happy to hear from any of you and always appreciate any comments that you leave.

Best Friend Butterfly and a New Picture

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was busy on Saturday. We had a social engagement and I posted a picture for you all to see me and my handsome Marine all dressed up. Aren't we good lookin' together
I did get a chance to make a new card also. This is another one using the Garden Whimsy Butterfly and yes, once again I used the Rock n'roll technique. I just seem to be stuck on that technique with this particular stamp. I will be working on some more things this afternoon.
Did you see the link for the retired SU list? Get 'em while they last! There are two sets that I want to have. "Sweet Shapes and Touch of Nature." I've been looking at these two for a while and even though I won't be able to use them in my SU workshops, I still want them. After all, now that I'm sharing more and more of my creations here on my blog and my SCS gallery.
I also discovered that SCS has a new gallery format. It looks fabulous, so be sure to check it out. I've not a chance to explore it in too much detail; but I definitely will later. I also found out that there are two galleries set up for new sets that will appear in the upcoming catalog being released in August. Check out the Party Hearty Set; and the Owl Together. I think they are both so cute and I can't wait to see the rest of the catalog. Maybe there will be some more sneak peeks. I'll definitely keep my eyes open.
Well, that's all for today. Have a fabulous afternoon and thanks for visiting with me!

Busy Busy Busy!

Good Afternoon Everyone!


****Update: (6/14/08...Sat) Just adding my creation for Beate's Sketch and the Stamp Something Challenge. Will post again on Monday. Have a fabulous rest of the weekend.



I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post today; and I don't even have any cards to show you! It's payday, which meant grocery shopping! What an adventure that was with three kids; but hey, at least now I know my offspring aren't going to starve. Trust me,judging by my cupboards, we were well on our way to that very thing. I've also been very busy working on another project. I can't tell you about it just yet; but I will as soon as I can. I'm so excited about it! Well, I did it. I just put in an order for my first non-SU stamps (eek!!) I've just seen so many cute, and fun samples since I've been blogging and blog surfing. I decided that it was time to branch out a bit from the butterflies and flowers that seem to dominate everything I do. I order a set from Stampendous, Penny Black, and Lizzie Anne designs. I can't wait to get them and play, play, play!
As you know today is Friday and that means it's time for challenges. I'm sure the majority of you have already seen Beate's weekend sketch; but just in case. Here it is.
Perhaps you can combine it with Stamp Something's Monochromatic Challenge this week. I am going to try to do a sample today and get it posted; but I may not get the chance...secret project and all. (Not to mention the fact, my house is a mess!)
That's all for me, today! Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting with me.

GH news, and yes, more fresh cuts.

Good morning everyone!

Let's begin where we left off yesterday, and chat a moment about GH, shall we?
First off, I wanted to slap Sonny silly the other day every time he called Spinelli "freak boy." That was just plain mean and as Jason said, completely uncalled for. I am anxious to see if they are planning a more in depth story with Spinelli. I have always thought there is more to him and his past than what we know right now. Speaking of Spinelli, be sure to check out his new web series. "Camera Ready with Bradford Anderson."I'm also glad to see that they apparently are about to focus a bit more attention on Robin's pregnancy and the potential downside of it. Up until now, I think they've kinda glossed over the fact that she's an HIV positive woman who is pregnant. That's a huge factor, regardless of how low her viral count is. That's not to say I want her to lose the baby, I don't. Speaking of baby, Carly pregnant again. Well, let the "Who's the Daddy?" game begin. Countdown to the Emmy's next Friday! Can't wait to see the GH montage for best show.
Now, onto to stamping. This is the last of the samples I made with the Fresh Cuts set.
I used Pumpkin Pie, Real Red and Bashful Blue for my main colors. I paper pierced the green and red stars and then stitched it with White string. (Gotta get a white gel pen!)I used a piece of blue and white gingham ribbon that I found in my scraps, which I thought worked well against the red. Today is Ways to use it challenge on SCS. Today's challenge is "picture this". I was just thinking that I wanted to try to maybe do a layout today instead of a card, so this works out well. Will try to work on later today. Today is recipe Thursday, and I've posted it below in a separate entry.
Have a great day! Thanks for visiting with me.

Spinach Alfredo Pasta

Last night my husband asked me to make a meatless pasta dish. This is what I came up with. We enjoyed it, so I thought I would share it with you all for this week's recipe.

Ingredients:

1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly
1 can artichoke hearts drained and quartered
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic minced or pressed.
1 jar Alfredo sauce, homemade or store bought
handful of feta cheese.
1 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper.

Sook the pasta according to directions, just to al dente.
Sautee garlic and onion in 2-3 tbsps oil until soft and tender. Add the spinach and cook for a few minutes.
Add the sauce, the feta cheese, the nutmeg and the salt and pepper.
When the pasta is finished, add it to the sauce and toss gently. If it gets a bit thick, add a splash of milk or two to thin it out a bit.

Late night post

Just a quick picture for any of you late night bloggers. I did this card for today's SCS sketch challenge. It is actually one of two. I posted the other one in my SCS gallery. For this card I used Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Sage and Blush for my color combination. The background on the chocolate chip is print pattern background stamp and I used versamark instead of a color ink. The same for the Rose Red piece. The Sage Shadow and Blush Blossom are stamped in ink with Itty Bitty Backgrounds. The grape image is stamped with Basic Brown ink and watercolored with the same ink as the paper colors. I used some old stashes of ribbon that just seemed to work.
Back tomorrow!

Be Inspired and a Good Day

Here is my piece for Beate's be inspired challenge yesterday. I loved this black and white pillow and immediately thought about how elegant it was. Sometimes I think we tend to forget that black and white is such a stunning, classic combination. Will definitely have to make more of these.Yesterday was a good day and today is turning out well too. We went to the park yesterday and this morning. We painted, played with play dough yesterday. This morning I had the boys tear tissue paper and glue on to pictures (an exercise which helps with fine motor skills). To top it all off, I still managed to get two cards finished and one early this morning. I did the surprise pop up card from Monday's technique challenge and this morning I did yesterday's color challenge using Real Red, So Saffron and Regal Rose. I've provided the links for the cards because I've uploaded them to my SCS gallery instead of here today. I hope you will take a look at them. I felt really good about these cards, because the rest of the day had gone so well and I felt as though I had accomplished more in my mommy world than my stamping world.
Today is sketch challenge today for SCS. I am going to work on that this afternoon and will post my sample, hopefully a little later this afternoon. I think possibly Kwerner will post her color inspiration challenge as well, so keep an eye out for that today.
It's been a while since we've chatted about GH, so make sure and come back tomorrow so we can dish about PC.
Have a great day everyone and thanks for visiting with me!

More Fresh Cuts and Mommy notes

Good Morning Everyone!

Here is another card I made this weekend using my new fresh cut set. I thought the TQ, Celery and Apricot made a nice summer color combination. I am also enjoying my new fiskar's borders stamps which I used here to fill in some of that white space around the edges. I also did yesterday's SCS "surprise pop-up card". However, I didn't like it, so I am currently working on a different one, which I hope will be better and worthy of posting. Trust me, the first one was not! Today's SCS challenge is CC170 using Real Red, Regal Rose and So Saffron. Here is a link to the gallery for samples.
I think I learned a bit of a lesson yesterday; and that is that I think I'm chasing challenges a bit too much. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy doing them, but I noticed yesterday that my boys spent all afternoon watching tv because I was trying to complete a challenge that was frustrating me. With the summer months coming, Reagan will be out of school and I don't want her spending it in front of the television. She needs to continue developing those skills she learned this year. Tyler will begin pre-K this fall and I want to make sure that he is well prepared. To that end, I think I shall be reevaluating my stamping and the amount of time spent doing it. Don't worry, that's not to say I'm not going to do it anymore and that I'm not going to post here. I enjoy sharing things with you and I hope you will continue to visit with me daily. I've just realized that completing an SCS challenge every single day is not what is important. If I have the opportunity to stamp, I will. If not...tomorrow's always another day.
Have a great day everyone and thanks for visiting with me!

MACM and Fresh Cuts

Good Morning Everyone!

Wow, what a crazy weekend for me! Two USMC social functions Friday night and Saturday night. I also became the new Sunday School teacher for the pre-school class at church. I did top to bottom house cleaning on Saturday; and I still managed to get four new cards made! The first one here is for Beate's weekend sketch posted on Friday. It also combines with Stamp Somethings "in the wild" challenge. One thing I did learn about that challenge is that I have waaayyy too many flower stamps. I think the card is pretty self explanatory. I used Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. The dragonfly is stamped in Brocade Blue and filled in using blender pens and stampin' pastels.
I finally got my Fresh Cut set and notes as well. What a blast these are to work with! At first I was a bit confused about the dynamics of the cards and the tear away petals. All I can say is thank goodness for the SCS gallery! Otherwise I'd still be trying to figure them out. There really are some beautiful examples there, stop by and take a look at them if you get a chance. The example I posted here is my first card using this set. I used Pomegranate, Mellow Moss, Saffron, and Not Quite Navy. I versamarked the outside white border and then used sponge daubers for the chalk. Then I took my blender pen and used Saffron ink and just "thumped" around the edges. For the NQ Navy underneath the Saffron flower, I embossed itty bitty backgrounds with silver powder and did the same for the "for you" greeting.
Today is MACM for Kwerner; and try a new technique on SCS. It is a "surprise pop up card" and I definitely will be trying to do it this afternoon during nap time! Check them out and have a great day. Thanks for visiting with me!

Friday challenges and a personal note

Good Morning!

TGIF! It's the weekend, so that means it's time for the Beate's weekend challenge as well as the Stamp Something Weekly Challenge. This week's challenge is "in the wild somethings" and features new designer, Laura Kirste Campbell. She has also donated the blog candy and it's super cute! I will be working on these today and will try to post them hopefully this afternoon. The hubby and I are going to a social function this evening and tomorrow evening, and I need to make a dessert for the one this evening and do a few other things around the house. I'm not sure how much time I will have to stamp today.
The camera battery finally "juiced up" for me to get these pictures downloaded. These were both for Wednesdays SCS sketch challenge. I decided to do one for each type of orientation. The "Best Wishes card" uses Summer Sun, Old Olive and Teal. The background is the Floral background stamp in Old Olive. I two-step stamped the flower from the Heartfelt Thanks set. The first image in mustard and olive (stamped off) and the top image with Tempting TQ marker and Old Olive marker. The border on the Summer Sun paper is from Fiskars clear border stamps in Mustard ink. The prima flowers have Making Memories brads for centers.
The "You make me happy" card actually has no stamps used on it. The background is Wild Wasabi. The patterned paper is from my new DCWV set. I swear, I'm like a kid in a candy store with that set! The center flower is from the "love and happiness" rub ons from SU on Soft Sky paper. A simple pewter brad in the middle of the flower finished it and added a touch of zing.

Now for my personal note: It seems as though there was a bit of controversy surrounding Wednesday's SCS Diagonal Double pocket card. In short, apparently some people felt as though the tutorial was a rehash of one that had appeared at a different time in a different place and that the original tutorial writer(s) were not given proper credit. Many people have weighed in via comments on SCS and Beate's blog about both the controversy and the actions of those who took it upon themselves to point out the discrepancy in a rather uncivilized manner. All I can say and hope is that you all remember that stamping is something we do because we enjoy doing it and we are here to share that passion and hopefully inspire others. While it is nice to give credit where credit is due, sometimes mistakes or oversights happen. Don't attach an agenda or make creativity political, because then we lose the purpose of the craft.

I will try to come back later and post more samples. If not, have a fabulous weekend and I'll be back on Monday (perhaps tomorrow). Thanks for visiting with me. BTW, I hope you all like the new banner at the top. It's my first foray into the world of blog banners. Need to work on it; but for now I think it'll do!

Short morning post

****update**** Well, I got two cards finished for yesterday's SCS sketch challenge. They are actually quite cute too and I was all set to share them with you...and the camera battery died! Will post later this evening or with tomorrow's post. I opted not to do this week's tutorial on the diagonal double pocket card. I may try it later, I just wasn't in the mood to do something that require a lot of steps and measurements. I did add two new blog sites "Dare to Dream" and "Gina P. Crafts". I hope you have a chance to check out there links, their blogs are super!


Not a lot of time to post right now. Am going to try to work on the SCS challenges that I didn't have a chance to do yesterday and hopefully will get them posted today as well. I did post this week's recipe just below. I realize also that it's been a while since I've posted any pictures of the kids, so I've put up a quick slide-show for today. I am also planning to visit some blogs today. I'm always interested in seeing what other people are doing in blogland and will most likely add a few more friends to my blog list today as well.
Ok...off for now, gotta wake up little ones and get going on the day. Bye for now!

Recipe Thursday: Paprika Pork Chops with peppers and onions and pan gravy

Good morning!

This week's recipe is actually something I threw together last night for dinner and it came out really yummy, so I thought I'd share my bit of cooking creativity with you.

Ingredients:

4 Center Cut Pork Chops
salt/pepper/garlic powder
Extra virgin olive oil
1tsp ground cumin
1 1/2tsp paprika
1tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 medium or 1 small onion
1/2 bell pepper, (red and green)

Gravy:
2 Tbsps Flour
pan drippings
Chicken or Beef Stock

Directions:
Preheat oven 375.
Drizzle porkchops with the olive oil and season with salt/pepper/GP and the paprika, cumin, and Italian seasoning on both sides and let hang out on the counter for about 10 minutes.
Heat about 2tbsp olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.
Chop onion, and bell peppers. They should be cut in a rustic fashion, not finely chopped...more like bite-size strips.
Add the vegetables to the skillet and sautee for 3-5 minutes. Add the porkchops and then brown on both sides for 5 minutes each.
Transfer to baking sheet or pan. Top each porkchop with some of the onions and peppers and cover pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake 45 minutes

Pan Gravy:
Once meat has come out of the oven,let it rest while you make the gravy. Return the pan drippings from the browning skillet to the heat and add approx 2tbsps beef or chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute (note: at this point the mixture will become stiff..it's ok!)
Whisk in 1- 1 1/2cups of chicken or beef stock and bring to a boil. Season to taste with S/P.
Lower heat and whisk occasionally until ready to serve.

The all day enchilada!

Who knew 3x3 cards could take so long to make! This was my submission for the SCS TLC 171 challenge. For this challenge we were to make a group of 3x3 cards along with the envelopes and a box for them. In short...the whole enchilada. Well, this project started at 8:30 last night (cutting paper during Deadliest Catch) and am now just finishing today at 3:30!! It really wasn't the cards that were hard. The hardest part were the envelopes. My printer doesn't print on SU paper, so I had to print the template given on SCS and then cut that out and then trace it onto my cardstock and then cut that out. Trust me when I tell you, I am not the world's straightest cutter...not even close. After making two of them, I gave up and decided if I decide to give these to someone, I'll order 3x3 envelopes. Then it was time to move on to the box, which also was fairly straight forward (except for the crooked cutting dilemma again!) I got it put together, and then spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to keep it closed! I finally came up with a solution long enough to take a picture; but trust me it isn't pretty on the other side of the picture! My conclusion after finishing this challenge is that from now, I think I need to steer clear of ones that require more than a single card in the end!
The recipe for the cards is long and extensive. In short, I used Mellow Moss, Ruby Red, So Saffron and navy (non SU)paper. The stamps were Polk dots and Petals and the Riveting set (an old hostess set)
Needless to say, I did not complete the SCS sketch challenge or the diagonal double pocket card tutorial.
Will try to tackle those tomorrow. My stampin mojo has definitely run out for the day!
I did, however, have a chance to watch GH this morning. So, what do you think? Is this whole Sonny giving up the mob real or not? Was Rick right yesterday when he said that it was all a smoke screen? It's odd to see Jason and Sonny on the outs, it's almost like the end of a supercouple!!
I am also really liking the scenes with Claudia and Nikolas. I think they have great chemistry together and am anxious to see how they interact together outside of the doomed halls of Wyndmere; and how nurse Nadine will fit in, if indeed she does at all anymore. I'm done with Carly and Jax fighting also. They need to figure out a way to either work it out or move on. I could go on for a lot longer about the happenings of Port Charles; but domestic duties call. Have a fabulous evening everyone and thanks for visiting with me!