Swirls, Fall Leaves and "Thanks"

Hi Everyone!

If you're a paper crafter, I'm sure you've made a card or a project and looked at it and thought..."Meh...it's ok; but not my favorite" and then you put it down and look it the next day and you think, "Wow...that actually turned out pretty darn great!"
Such was the case with this "Thanks" card. I used some rich fall distress inks: Rusty Hinge, Crushed Olive, Dusty Concord and Walnut Stain.

I used the Leaves Background Stamp from Simon Says Stamp which I heat embossed with Versa mark and white embossing powder. and then used my ink blending tools to blend in the distress inks over the embossed pattern. I used my cuttlebug with my swirls embossing folder for the second layered piece and then blended the same distress inks across that as well.  I stamped the "Thanks" sentiment, which is from an older Hero Arts and Basic Grey set "Special Lace" that I've had for a long time.

Anyhow, that's all for me. I'll be entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week for the "Thanks/Thanksgiving" challenge. 

Have a great weekend!

Easy, Cheesy Tortellini with Homemade Croutons.

Hi Everyone!

So today I have a super easy dinner to share with you. This one dish pasta supper only takes about 40 minutes from oven to table; and 30 minutes of that is in the oven. Honestly, I almost didn't post it because it is ridiculously easy to make! However, I figured everyone can use a quick, no stress dinner idea for a busy weekday night.

Ingredients: 

-- One bag of cheesy tortellini (or beef and cheese, which is what I used)

-- Marinara sauce of your choice, or a homemade sauce of your choosing.

-- Extra grated cheese of your choice 

-- Croutons: 

                Leftover (preferably stale sub rolls or french bread) cut into cubes

                Olive oil and preferred seasonings. I used salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian Seasoning

Directions:

-- Preheat oven to 400

-- Heat your sauce to a low simmer in a saucepan on the stove. You don't need to boil it or anything...just warm it up a bit.

-- Add the desired amount of tortellini to your pot. (I didn't use the whole bag) and stir together.

-- Transfer the mixture to an appropriately sized casserole dish. Cover and bake for 20 minutes

-- While the tortellini is baking, make the croutons by tossing your bread cubes with some olive oil and seasonings. You don't want to soak the bread in the oil, just enough to give it a nice crispiness in the oven.

-- At the end of the 20 minutes, remove the dish from the oven and uncover it. Add the grated cheese to the top of the tortellini and then top with the bread.

-- Return the dish, uncovered this time, to the oven for 8-10 minutes to melt the cheese and crisp the croutons.

Enjoy!

Well....maybe

Hi everyone!

Good morning. I've had some words of encouragement over the last few days that have inspired me to perhaps not give up on my blog just yet. Thank you to those who reached out to me to give me hope. I took some time over this weekend to just have fun in my crafting room to create for the joy of creating, with no other pressures; and it really helped me put a few things in perspective.
First, sharing the things I've created, or recipes I've made and lessons I've learned along this journey of parenting makes me feel good. I may not be getting hundreds of views on a post; but I'd like to think that maybe the 20 people or so that see a post enjoy their visit to my little blog.
Secondly, I believe it challenges me to do my best work; and motivates me to try new things as well.
I could go on and on with more explanations; but I think I'll just keep this simple instead.
I will continue to blog and share my crafts and creations as time and desire allow. However, I have decided to just not worry about stats and views and comments etc. I will also no longer be following a set schedule of posts. If I have a craft to share, I will. When I have a recipe to share or parenting post to share, I will do that as well. I may blog once a week, three times a week or it may be 2 weeks between blog posts. I feel like I need to make my blog work for me instead of being a slave to my blog.
I will continue to travel around blog land and comment as I can as well. I believe in sharing love and giving people a reason to smile.

Ok, so...with all that in mind, I do have a card to share with you today.This card is for week five of the October Viva La Verve sketch challenge. (Let's not dwell too much on the fact that photography is NOT my strong suit!)

I used Verve's "You and I" stamp set and coordinating "I heart You" dies for this card. I made used distress inks (Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, Tumbled Glass and Mustard Seed) to watercolor the background piece.
The rest of the card came together pretty much as it appears. I stamped the "U" with seedless preserves distress ink and heat embossed the "Thank" with Versa Mark and Ranger White embossing powder. I added shimmer to the hearts as well as the U with my Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen.

Finally, before I go, let's talk about challenges. I have decided that I am going to limit the number of challenges I enter to five. The challenges I enter are the ones I find over at Paper Playful. In addition, for every challenge I enter, I will visit 5 blogs and leave comments. I think visiting 25 different blogs is sufficient for doing my part in spreading the blogging love. As I said before, I would very much enjoy the return of blogging love; but am no longer going to let it impede me.

With that said, here are the challenges for today's card: (These are from the list of Sunday's Challenges)
I may come back and post 2 more when Monday's Challenge list is posted.

1. Viva La Verve Week 5
2. 613 Avenue Create: Anything Goes with optional Thank You.
3. Little Patch of Crafty Friends: Anything Goes


I hope you all have a fabulous day. If you've taken the time to read all of this today, I thank you for your continuous support.