I've Moved!

Okay, the next goody is that I have moved!!

please go here to see my new site and PLEASE tell me what you think!

If you have a link on your blog to mine, please update it with this web address!!! Thank you ~!!!

http://emilygiovanni.com

Valentine Goody #1

Ok, this is the first of a series of Valentine posts. I thought I would share a few cool things for the upcoming holiday. This is probably my all-time favorite food. I absolutely love milk chocolate and I absolutely love strawberries. So the two of them together is about the best food EVER! This time I made them for our church group and I made both milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Here's how I make mine!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

1 carton strawberries - the riper the better!

1 bag chocolate chips - whatever kind of chocolate you prefer

shortening

wax paper or foil

Wash strawberries and dry gently with paper towels. Set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, put 1 c chocolate chips and 1/2 T shortening. (It may take more than this to cover all your strawberries depending on the size of your berries. This is just the ratio of chocolate to shortening.) Microwave on high for 1 min. Stir and then heat at 15 second intervals until chips are just melted. Do not overheat chocolate. Dip each strawberry in the chocolate and lay on wax paper (or foil) on a plate or baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 min to 1 hr. Eat!

I wanted to show you something new....

but it ain't gonna happen. My Alex is barfing today. Yuck. I do not handle barf well. So probably nothing new today.

But I am working on something really big. At least it is big to me. It probably won't be ready for a few weeks though. I really think you all will like it a lot though.

Actually, let me rephrase that - Mamak is working on something big for me! I am doing very little of the work because I am techie challenged.

Ok, off to do some more laundry.................

BIG NEWS!!

I have been waiting to be able to share this news with y'all! I just became a member of my very first Design Team!!! Gina K Designs has the cutest stamps and pun-ny sayings!! I am so thrilled to be working with her and her images! Besides great images, she is just the nicest person! And she lives in WI, home of the bestest cheese curds ever! Something about that cold, squeaky, saltiness - nothing else is the same!

Anyway, you can view her blog here and read about what is like to design your own stamps. Or you can go view her fabulous images here! She sells other products as well as both unmounted and wood mounted images. Check it out!!

Manicotti and Sick Boy

I promised that recipe yesterday, but I just got busy! My oldest had a cup stacking tournament yesterday and it was a long night! Here's a link to a cool video in case you have no idea what cup stacking is. Supposedly it is excellent for hand/eye coordination. Anyway, this morning - poor guy has a fever. He is so upset because he's never missed a day of school - this kid loves to learn! Anyway, he's home hanging out with me today.

I do have that recipe, I made it yesterday as stuffed shells. I think it really turned out well - two of the boys even ate it! (My boys are SO picky! I can't wait til they become human vacuums like all boys eventually become, lol!) Anyway, the recipe is written as manicotti, but you can make it as either. Enjoy!

Manicotti

1 (8oz) package manicotti pasta
3 c whole ricotta cheese
2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 c grated parmesan cheese
1 T chopped fresh parsley
½ t salt
¼ t black pepper
3 eggs
2 ½ c (32 oz) spaghetti sauce (I always use more cause I love sauce!)

Bring water to boil, add pasta. Cook for 8-10 minutes and drain. Cool on wax paper or foil.
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, ¾ c parmesan cheese, parsley, egg, salt and pepper. Fill manicotti with cheese. (I use a Ziploc baggie with the corner snipped off).
Coat 9x13 baking dish with spaghetti sauce. Place manicotti in single layer. Cover with remaining sauce. Bake for 45 minutes.

This recipe may also be used with jumbo shells, instead of piping the filling in with a baggie, you can just use a spoon to fill the shells.

I WON!

I am so excited! I don't think I have ever won a drawing for anything in my whole life! But I was perusing some blogs the other day and I entered a contest on one. This morning I got an email and I WON! I think I am still in shock, lol! Anyway, since I just got my cuttlebug yesterday - it's the perfect prize too! A Cuttlebug embossing folder! I have only one folder and one die right now, so how exciting is this?!?!

Here is the link to Kim's blog, check her out! And a huge Thank You to you Kim!! I still can't believe I won!




Later today: A recipe for stuffed shells and hopefully something else pretty too!

Color Challenge 100!!!!

Wow, it's finally here! CC100! You can view the Color Challenge and the fantabulous prize here!

Leigh O'Brien made a gorgeous book of all the Color Challenges and it could be YOURS! Here are the two cards I did this week. I won't go into a lot of detail today, cause I gotta get my allergy shot. But, I will review the rolling pin/cuttlebug embossing folders idea. I hate it. I tried and tried. If you want a great ab workout - go for it. But it is HARD to get a good embossed image with this method. You must really spritz your paper and push very hard. And yes, I tried getting leverage, spritizing the paper, and using a mouse pad underneath. It was just plain hard!! But I did end up with a few ok embossings.

Have a great time with these colors! And I used the Textile folder from Cuttlebug. It is not one of the newest ones, it's been out for awhile, I think. Hope that helps!

Mailboxes, Marks and Meals

I just realized that I promised my Eggplant Parmesan recipe last week and never gave it! I'll post it right now. This is my most favorite meal EVER! My 6 yo loves it - has since he could eat food. The other two....well, they won't try it, but they don't really like stuff using pasta sauce so maybe when they are older.



Eggplant Parmesan

1 eggplant
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Spaghetti sauce

Breading:
2 eggs
2 T water
Salt
Oregano
Pepper
¼ c flour
1/3 c parmesan cheese

Wash and peel eggplant. Cut into ½ inch slices. Mix middle ingredients together to form a runny pancake batter. Dip eggplant into batter, then cook in hot oil. (4 to 6 minutes)
In large baking dish, pour thin layer of sauce. Place eggplant on sauce, sprinkle with sauce, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers until all eggplant is used.
Bake in oven at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes. (I usually double or triple the recipe - and it is just as good warmed up for leftovers, and I hate leftovers!)


So I know I have talked about how much I hate to have blood drawn. Well, I finally went last Wednesday for my follow-up bloodwork that the rhuematologist wanted. It was awful. I went to a cruddy lab - only to find out there was a nicer one closer to my house. I had to wait an hour. Then they tried to tell me they needed spinal fluid - um no, I've already had this test once and it NOT spinal! I think I'd remember that! Finally get it done and it HURT! I mean really hurt! This is a picture of the nasty bruise I got. Kinda hard to take a picture of your own arm, but I tried. I took this pic today and the bruise is 5 days old. I am such a baby.



And last but not least, another mailbox! I did this one with more basic grey blush papers, but I used those Li'l Davis chipboard letters to monogram it for one of the teachers. Alex and Andy wanted thiers done this way. Okie Dokie, that's fine with me! I think it turned out cute! Now I just need to finish the rest of them!










Don't forget, the 100th Color Challenge for Splitcoast is TOMORROW!!!

What did you do during the Super Bowl??

Actually, I watched it. WOOHOO COLTS! But before it started, I managed to squeeze this in. I have had these Target $1 spot mailboxes for a few weeks now, but I have not made the time to do them. I even had paper all ready to go too. Anyway, I got these two little stamps at Recollections that had a heart stamp (postage stamp) and these little postmarked looking squiggles with hearts in them. I thought they would be perfect for making a little accent for the flag. I put this together for one of the boys' teachers for Valentine's day. I am making them for the boys' teachers and for my nieces. This one used Basic Grey's Blush papers, Joann's stamp, grosgrain ribbon, and O'So sticky tape. I think I will mod podge (under and over the papers) on the ones for my nieces - so they will be a little bit more durable. I have not decided what I will put in them, for the teachers, but I'll let you know!
I cut the blush paper 4 x 12. I put the seam under the mailbox and used the o'so sticky tape on the edges. I held the paper against the mailbox where I wanted it and kinda smooshed it against the screw on the handle. Then I used my 1/2 inch circle punch and punched where it had left a mark on the paper. I then cut a slit from the edge to the hole so I could put the paper on and slide it over the handle. You can't really even see it once it is all put together. I think this worked well. I used glue dots to put the ribbon around the front and back - and started on the underside so the seam would be underneath it. I'll show some more hopefully tomorrow!

YIPPEE!!!! She's doing it again!

I am so excited to pass this along! Remember how I was drowning in ribbon last week?!?! Well, now you can be too! Jody is having another Ribbon Share!! Just go to her blog and you can read about all the details. Let me tell you, you will NOT be disappointed in what you get! Here's a refresher of all the lovely ribbons I got when I did it. Now, the colors vary each time, based on what is availabe, etc. So here's a reminder pic!

Confessions of A Ribbon Addict - read the details here!

Beaded Pen Tutorial

Okay, here it is! These are so easy to make, and they are a great gift! I will let you in on where I get most of my supplies for this before I start the tutorial. The pens you can get a lot of places. Easiest is Walmart - a 2 pack is $1.06. You can get them at office supply stores in larger quantities and they are most likely cheaper that way.

The microbeads themselves you can also get a lot of places. I prefer one place for both my beads and my O'So sticky tape/sheets. I go to PennyWiseArts for all these items. Not only are they a great price there, but they are super nice and helpful too! I have been extremely please with the items I have gotten from them. For the pens I used 1/8 inch O'So sticky tape, 6 x 8 O'So Sticky Paper Backed Sheets, and Mini Micro Beads Clear - CB-1000. I could not recommend this store more, their products are the best, and they have the best prices too!



Beaded Pen Tutorial

Supplies:
Pentel R.S.V.P. ball point pen
O’so Sticky Sheets – piece cut to 2 ½ in x 3 ¼ inch
O’so Sticky Tape (or red liner tape)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Bowl or Container long enough for a pen
Patterned paper (or Stamped paper) cut to 1 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches
Microbeads


Step 1:
Put red liner tape along both edges (lengthwise) of your patterned paper. The side you want to see on the pen should be facing down.









Step 2:
Removed one of the red strips and stick that part onto the barrel of the pen. Then wrap the paper around the pen very tightly. Remove the second red strip and adhere the end of the paper to the pen. Your paper should overlap slightly.















Step 3:
Remove one side of backing from your o’so sticky sheet. Very carefully (when it is stuck down, it is hard to move!) stick this onto your pen. I try to line it up on the opposite side of the patterned paper seam.






Step 4:
Very carefully, adhere the sticky sheet to the pen. When you reach the first edge of sticky paper, start there and remove the other side of backing. The end of you sticky paper should overlap your beginning seam. If they do not over lap, or there is a gap – this is easily fixable. Just cut another strip 3 ¼ inches long and just wide enough to cover your gap. Then stick it on the pen over the gap. This won’t be noticeable when the pen is finished, but a gap would be!


Step 5:
Pour microbeads into container. Drop sticky pen into beads and roll around to completely cover sticky paper.



















Step 6:
Hold bead covered pen over container and roll between your fingers. This helps to get any loose beads off the pen and also kind of “set” the beads into the tape a bit more.








Step 7: (optional)
Hold beaded pen over container of glitter. Sprinkle glitter all over pen as you roll it around in your fingers. You want to really coat the pen with the glitter. Then tap it off several times (or thump one end with your other hand) to shake off excess glitter. I like the glitter because it fills any tiny gaps left from beads. Plus it just makes it sparklier!





That’s it! You’ve got a gorgeous, sparkly, beaded pen!

I made a few more just to show off different papers. In my experience, the darker designs or inks will look better with the beads on top. Lighter ones tends to get a little washed out by the beads. Have fun with it!

**ETA** I was asked how many pens you can get from one container of beads. I purchased a 5 oz bag at least a year ago. I still have over half of it left. I have made at least 30 pens so far as well as a few other projects. A little goes a long way with microbeads. And no, the beads do not fall off when the pen is used. I have some that are two years old and the beads are still on there!

Ribbon Storage, Valentines, and more!

This is kind of a hodge podge post. I've got a few things to share with you today, so get ready! The first is that ribbon storage I have been talking about sharing. I joined a ribbon share and got 30 colors of grosgrain ribbon in 10 yard segments. I looked around and settled on this storage solution. I love how Karen did hers and it was relatively cheap with sales and coupons. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. I only bought one drawer and not all my ribbon will fit. I had about 6 colors left over that wouldn't fit in the drawer. So I either need to buy a second drawer or hurry up and use a bunch of ribbon so I can squeeze more in! Anyway, I totally needed something to fill the space that my background stamps used to fill when they were stacked up....so I put the drawer there. It's right next to me, easy to reach and it's really light so I can just pull it out and hold whatever I am working on right next to it to color match. Anyway, I got the drawers, the white cards and the clips at Hobby Lobby. They were all on the same aisle too.

Next I have a little valentine to share. I made this last night while I watched Scrubs with Matthew. Scrubs is only the best show on tv. It is completely our sense of humor. Anyway, here's a card I made while we watched. I used another $1 stamp from Michael's and Basic Grey Blush papers. I cannot get enough of the blush papers, and Recollections cannot keep them in stock! I used the mega scalloped punch for the striped Blush paper and sponged chocolate chip around the edges. I stamped the image on white cardstock, punched it out with the jumbo circle punch and sponged the edges with chocolate chip. I used markers to color the image. Then I stamped a strip of chocolate chip cardstock with paisley (in chocolate chip ink) and used the paper piercing tool to pierce along the top and bottom of the strip. I added pink organdy ribbon to that and mounted it on more Blush papers (also sponged in chocolate chip ink). Then did some more layering and voila! It's simple, but kinda shabby chic.

The last thing is another little gift set for a friend who is going through a hard time. I used more Basic Grey Romany on this set. Just a quickie Target notebook, monogrammed post-it holder, and a beaded pen. I hope it will at least cheer her up!

And tomorrow - the beaded pen tutorial will be here!!

a truly touching story

I really feel led to share this with you all. I did not know this woman, but she graduated from my high school with my younger sister (mamakimberly). I have been reading this website - mostly kept up by her husband - for the past week, since my mother sent it to me. She is a 27 year old dying of colon cancer. At this point, her family is just praying for peace in her passing. She is on her way to be with Jesus.

She has two very young daughters that she will be leaving behind. I am just asking that you pray for her little girls and her husband. Actually, for her whole family. She is a beautiful young woman, inside and out. You can tell how much she is loved by the messages from her husband. This has truly struck a chord with me because of what an amazing witness her story is. I know there are many other people out there similar situations. I am awed by his positivity and his strength in the face of losing his young wife.

Here is a link to her website if you care to take a peek. Please pray for peace and comfort for her in her final moments....

Monogram Post-It Holders

I love post-it holders. My dad gave me a huge stack of post-it note pads when he was packing up to move, so I have lots to make them with! Well, I had several things I was mailing today and I just love to tuck one of these in a package. I mean, you can't be a paper crafter and NOT send a little something, right?!?!

I decided to make these monogram post-it holders. I love chipboard letters for this. But I am cheap and lazy. I didn't want to buy several packages of chipboard letters and then re-cover the letters to match the holders. So I found these chipboard letters by Li'l Davis Designs. They measure about 2 inches in height per letter. But since I am cheap, I didn't want to actually use my letters on this project quite yet. So I laid the letter I wanted to use (in this case, J) chipboard (or undecorated) side up on a piece of chocolate chip cardstock. I traced the letter with a pencil and then cut it out with my paper snips. This way I had a lovely chocolate chip "J" to use and I still had my chipboard too. Which was good because I had 4 "J" note pads to make!

The rest was pretty simple. I used cool caribbean cardstock for the base of the holder and for the scalloped circle. I stamped paisley in versamark for the scalloped circle and then put the "J" on with dimensionals. I tied a little piece of ribbon around the "J" and then also ran some under the scalloped circle. I think they turned out pretty cute! Here is a link to the tutorial on how to make the post-it holders.

That's it for this morning! Off to workout and get some other stuff done. Wonderful stuff coming later. A recipe: Eggplant Parmesan for dinner tonight! (This is probably my favoritest food EVER!). A card: I will try to get the sketch challenge done later today as well! Have a great day!

CC99: Only one MORE!!

So it's here! CC99 is here! Only one more week til I get to give away the AWESOME prize Leigh O'Brien made! And guess what?!?! Besides the fact that you can win it.....you get ANOTHER sneak peek today! Oh yeah, and I'll show you my color challenge card too! I have such a hard time taking photos of dark cardstock. I am getting better, just more fiddling needed!

I used my Big Blossom stamp for the first time. I inked paisley in Not Quite Navy and then kissed the big flower onto the paisley. I stamped it on white cardstock and cut it out. Then I mounted it on Night of Navy cardstock and cut that out so that it had a small navy border for the flower. I stamped paisley in versamark on the Not Quite Navy paper. Then I stamped my sentiment in night of navy on white. I punched that out with the Word Window punch and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy. Then I mounted that on a Night of Navy window punch and then onto the cardstock. I originally had a navy button in the center of the flower, but it just wasn't working for me. I went with a prima and a little bling instead. I thought it was kinda boring so I added two night of navy word window punches in the upper left corner and poked two holes in each. Then I ran some narrow organdy ribbon through those and tied it off. This dressed it up a little.

And here's the sneak peek of the CC100 prize! Leigh is going to have more information on her blog as well.

We have a WINNER!!

I enjoyed reading all of your favorite things over the past few days! There are some great recipes in there as well! There seemed to be some common threads amongst our faves too. Our families, chocolate, stamping, reading, reading blogs, chocolate, etc. Thank you for sharing with me!

And now, for the winner! My 6 yo, Andy, picked the winner for me today!

Ara, you are the winner! Please email me your address and I'll ship your goodies out to you!

Here is what she said:

Ara said...
Wow Emily, another freebie, COOL!!Well, one of favorite things has to be mornings at my house...the kids inner alarm clocks are set for 8 bells, and they sometimes come in earlier, or later, but mostly at 8. And we snuggle and watch Curious George!! It is wonderful!! Thanks Emily for allowing me to share!!Ara
January 27, 2007 11:03:00 PM CST

Thank you all for commenting and reading my blog! Here's to many more hits!

And a little something cool to share with you. My husband asked what we could do to organize my room a little more (He meant it to be helpful, but I thought he was making fun of how messy it is!). So we got a shelf from Target and put my background stamps on it! I love it! Now they are off the table, the are not stacked up - which is supposedly bad for the rubber, and they look so nice! He has promised to figure out my label maker and label them along the side too! He's the bestest! And here's a pic of my new shelf!

So CHA is going on now...

This is only the biggest crafting event ever. It is held in CA and all crafting companies go there to unveil new lines for the next year. You can find out more about what SCS is seeing here:

SCS Blog about CHA

I am way stoked cause of course that means new products and stuff are coming soon! I am most stoked about the Basic Grey. Here's what they are showing on their site right now as far as new paper lines....you know I love this paper!

Perhaps Collection love this one!

Phoebe Line

Scarlet's Letter Collection

Stella Ruby Line and love this one!

Anyway, I can't wait til those hit the shelves!

Can You Believe It?! FREEBIE!

So I just hit over 20,000 hits today! In honor of this momentous occasion, I am doing a freebie giveaway! So you must comment on this post by 9pm CST Monday, January 29th to win!

Please tell me one of your favorite things in your comment. Since my blog is all about sharing my favorite things - cooking and stamping, share one of yours! It can be a food, a stamp, a product, whatever!

The freebie is everything pictured above. There are 2 sets of the Michaels mini stamps (Valentine themed), 2 clear Rhonna Farrer floral stamps and a handful of primas! Please pass this freebie info along to a friend, isn't that what we do when we find out about a favorite thing?!?

January Stamp Camp

Last night I held my monthly stamp camp. We made these 5 cards. I tried to do one 'fun' valentine and one more elegant valentine. We also did a pocket note. I love those! This is a copy of the first pocket note I made, so nothing new there. I did the cool caribbean 'friend' card a few weeks ago as well. Only the Valentine cards and the Birthday Beauty card are new.


The Birthday Beauty card was for my older sister. She bought the set a few months ago and asked me to do something with it. Well, I did this and I am not that thrilled with it. But it was late at night and the mojo just wasn't there. I used bohemia floral paper, chocolate chip and white. I stamped her in timber brown stazon and colored her in with the retired Rose Romance ink. (I hate regal rose and will ever mourn the loss or rose romance, lol!) I sparkled her up with DD glitter on her crown and sash. I had pink circles on her cheeks, but Matthew said that looked stupid. He's a guy, what does he know?!?!


I got ready to do this camp and realized I had NO valentine stamps. So I went to the store. Three of them. Nothing. At least, nothing cute. So I ended up with this $1 stamp from Michael's. It worked. I used Basic Grey Blush paper and blush blossom cardstock. The Mega Scalloped circle is close to cocoa. I used a 2 way glue pen and Dazzling Diamond glitter to do the sparkles. I colored the stamp in with markers. Aquapainters are my coloring method of choice, but they take too long at a stamp camp.


The last card is one that used a previous sketch challenge. I used cranberry crisp cardstock (which I did not realize I was almost out of! My older sister rescued me and gave me 10 sheets so I would have enough.) for the base of the card. I stamped paisley on it in versamark. I used my coluzzle to cut the largest oval out of the Blush paper. I cut the ovals in half to look like a half circle. I sponged chocolate chip on the edges of the circle and the main image as well. I used cranberry crisp, mellow moss and pretty in pink to do the flowers. Linen was stamped on the white panel first in sahara sand. Grosgrain ribbon tied around the main image completed the look. Of course, it is popped up on dimensionals as well. The sentiment "truly, madly, deeply" is from A Muse.


Ok, gotta get ready for hockey!

I wish I could breathe....

I am absolutely miserable. My allergies are on overload right now. They were kinda bad and then I got my shot Tuesday and now it is WORSE! I got a welt on my left arm that is at least 2 inches in diameter. And I haven't been able to breathe through my nose since. Ugh. I called the shot desk at the allergist....apparently I can't handle 3 tenths when they try to up my dose. Um......I thought I was on my maintenance dose - doesn't that mean I maintain the same dose?!?!?!

Apparently not. She said the last time they went up that high I had a reaction too. Fabulous. Unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do after the fact. At least it isn't as itchy today. But I feel like I am in a fog. Even my beloved Zipfizz isn't helping! (Zipfizz is an energy drink powder that you add to a bottle of water. They sell it at costco and it is awesome! It tastes kinda yucky - but I don't do fake sugars, so you might not think it's so bad. But it's fantastic for the mid afternoon pick me up. It isn't loaded with caffeine and it has very few calories. It has lots of B12 which is good for you and for some reason it helps my allergy headaches.)

I did have a stamp camp last night and I'll try to get a pic up this afternoon. I feel bad for my poor stampers, I was so foggy. Good thing it was my regulars and they pretty much know what they are doing by now. We did some cute stuff though. Some I had made earlier this month and some were new. I'll go take the pics and post them for you all.

Good note: Matthew got free Dallas Stars tickets for tonight's game! That should be fun. We're going with some vendor of his company, but that's ok. Hockey is awesome - hope for lots of fights!

Drowning in a pile of ribbon!

Yes, that's me. I am drowning in a pile of ribbon! It's a good place to be though! I participated in a ribbon share with my friend (I say friend cause we've met twice and she's the SWEETEST person ever!) Jody. It's the coolest thing! She gets bulk ribbon and cuts it into 10 yard segments. So I got 30 different colors! Now to organize it! I am working on that part and I'll show you what I came up with (an idea I totally stole from someone else's blog photos) when I get it done.

You should totally check out Jody's blog. She has ribbon shares often, try to get in on one! She's even doing a Prima share right now!! I would love to do that one....but alas, I am being frugal at the moment. **sigh** Maybe there will be a next time! Here's all my ribbon though.....doesn't it look SO PRETTY?!??!


Also I thought I would share the sneak peek at the prize for the 100th Color Challenge on Splitcoast. Leigh O'Brien made this.....and she is one FANTASTIC stamper. Y'all are really gonna want to get in on this one. So keep watching those color challenges so you can find out how you can win it for your very own!!! Just a tiny sneak peek today though........gotta save something for next week, right?!?!

Coaster Gift Boxes and CC98...

Okay, the newest tutorial on Splitcoast is a good one! Another use for all those restaurant coasters that I got a few hundred of. Here is the link for it, please check it out! Taylor VanBruggen wrote this one, and these little boxes are too cute! I'll probably do them as teacher gifts for Valentine's Day.

I tried two today. The first one I did using Basic Grey Urban Couture. I used mod podge to adhere the paper to the coaster (I did find that painting the paper with mod podge and then laying that down on the coaster worked better - the coasters sucked the mod podge up so fast it dried too quickly!). Then I used the crop-a-dial to punch the holes. On this box, I mod podged over the paper as well. I like to do this because I feel it makes it a bit sturdier....then the paper isn't going to peel up - ever! And it won't get snagged on anything either. I used several different ribbons to tie up the sides. Then came the hard part. For me, sticking the bottom on was hard. For the mod podged one, I used the E6000 glue Taylor mentioned. This stuff smells awful. And my stamp room doesn't have the best ventilation and it is small. Stank up the room for hours. And it was kinda messy. I tried something different on the second box. But it did stick.

For the second box, I used the rest of the Basic Grey Urban Couture sheet I had out. (I love that you can get two boxes out of one sheet! - I used a different coordinating solid piece for the bottom square.) The only difference with this box is that I did not mod podge OVER the paper this time. I took them outside and sprayed them with Clear Acrylic Sealant by Plaid. I wanted to seal them a bit, so I tried this. I have to say, looks wise, it is really hard to even tell them apart. We'll see how they hold up. I used Crystal Effects (SU - it's clear strong glue, not sure what other companies call it) to adhere the bottom coaster. It stank a little less and seems to hold just as well. So I say you can use either. I know some people used glue guns for theirs....personally, I hate glue guns and I think stuff falls apart when I use them. But that's just me.

Anyway, thanks Taylor for the fantastic idea. Great present boxes. I love the idea and I think I'll be teaching a class on it in a few weeks.

CC98 was today. I used a color challenge by MyPrecious. Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and Bravo Burgundy. I made a card really quickly last night and it's not so good! It was very late by the time I got done cutting out my new rubbah though. Anyway, I did get to use some new stamps and that was fun! Here's what I made. I'd tell you what I used on it, but I am too tired. If you wanna know, just ask me!

More Scrap pages....

Here are two more pages I did on my scrapping with mamakimberly night. The first is a page of the boys on our first family bike ride (and by family, I mean we walked and the boys rode). They were so cute all decked out in their helmets and bikes. This has quickly become a favorite family activity. I used a layout from mamakimberly and Basic Grey Oh Baby boy papers. Some colored brads and primas for accents. A rub on - not sure what brand - and my zig millennium 05 pen for journaling. The rub on flourishes are american crafts.

The second page is for my book of me. I used a 5x7 print of a photo mamak had taken of me a few months ago. She doctored it a bit in photo shop so my hair is a bit more red and my eyes a bit more blue than usual.....but it looks so pretty, lol! Andyway, I used some more Basic Grey, Blitzen this time, on this page. I used basic black su cardstock to mat the photo. Then some black ric-rac and some faux stitching rub ons. A simple page because I really wanted the photo to be the focus.

Hope you enjoy those! I will reiterate, scrapping is not my strong suit!

I've been tagged!?!?!

So I had no idea what this even was. Hmm.....apparently this means you have to answer some ABC type questionnaire. So here goes nothing!

A - Available or Taken: Definitely Taken (Married 9 years this summer!)
B - Best Friend: Matthew
C -Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of Choice: Water or Peppermint Mocha
E - Essential item you use everyday: allergy meds - thank goodness for Nasonex!
F - Favorite Color: Rose Red
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears
H - Hometown: Omaha, NE - although I grew up in Kansas City, MO
I - Indulgence: Chocolate covered strawberries
J - January or February: January - Football and Alex's birthday!
K - Kids & Names: Andy, Alex and Adam
L - Life is incomplete without?: God and family.
M - Marriage Date: July 11, 1998
N - Number of Siblings: 5 - 1 older sister, 1 younger sister, 1 step brother, 1 half brother and 1 half sister
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: Spiders and being alone at night
Q - Fave Quote: "It's Good To Want Things..." from Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
R - Reason to Smile: My husband and my boys.
S - Season: Fall - I love the colors and pumpkins
T - Tag 3-4 People: Kimberly, Karen and Rachel
U - Unknown fact about me: I am extremely, extremely shy when I first meet people.
V - Vegetable you don't like: Peas, Lima Beans (any of the mushy in the middle ones)
W - Worst Habit: I pick my cuticles.
X - X-rays: spine, toe, wrist, knee, lungs....I think that's all.
Y - Your Fave Food: Rockin Italian food!
Z - Zodiac Sign: Well, I don't do these, but I am an Aries

Okie Dokie, that it folks!

Baked Potato Soup

I have had repeated requests for this recipe. I have already shared it on my blog and if you ever want to see a previous recipe, you can just click on the recipes link on the left hand side of my blog. It will bring up all the recipes I have shared here. Just an FYI! I won't talk about a recipe if I don't share it or it hasn't already been shared, ok? Here's the potato soup one again, though! Happy Football Sunday!

Baked Potato Soup

5 lbs potatoes
1 stick margarine
1 c flour
8 c milk
1 onion, chopped
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg bacon
Green onions, chopped (optional)

Bake potatoes, I do mine in the microwave and then set them aside to cool. Cook bacon in skillet. Then crumble and set aside for topping. Saute onion in large pot with margarine on medium heat. Add milk. Toss flour and cheese together in bowl. Add to pot. Peel and dice potatoes. Add to soup. Stir on medium heat until cheese is melted. Then reduce to low. Serve with bacon, more shredded cheese and green onions on top.

I love bread.

When I am stressed I eat. I am sure that is true for most people. And what do I crave the most (besides delicious milk chocolate)......bread. You will usually see me making the yeast rolls or something along those lines when I am stressed out. Well, these are another favorite of mine. My mom shared this recipe and we used to have it every year for Christmas. They are an old English recipe that has been passed down our family. They are not the traditional fluffy biscuit-like scones you will get in a coffee shop. They are flat and very sweet. Nothing is added to them. You can slice them open or just leave them whole. I like to put butter on mine - particularly the new Country Crock flavored spreads. The honey butter is fabulous. They are wonderful on their own, but you can top them with butter, honey, jelly, or whatever floats your boat.







Scones

Sift: 3 c flour
½ c sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda

Cut in: 1 stick margarine
1 c buttermilk

Knead: 2-5 times. Divide into 4 balls. Pat out to about ¼ in – ½ in thick circle. Cut into 4-6 pieces (triangles – like a pie). Heat griddle to 300 degrees. Fry. NO GREASE!

Makes 16-24 scones

I hope you enjoy these. They are always a huge hit with everyone in my family. Also a little pocket note to brighten your day!

I was requested!

This is so cool! My Dad's new wife emailed me and asked if she could purchase 2 sympathy/thinking of you cards. Her team at work wanted to send them as a group and they asked if she could get them some "emily" cards!! How cool is that?!?! So I am going to make a few today and she is coming by tonight to pick out what she wants.

For some reason I was up terribly late last night and I came up with this card. It really did turn out quite nice, if I do say so myself! I had just seen the LSC99 and wanted to try putting the sentiment as the main focal point. I think it stands out even more IRL, the black stazon I stamped the words in really pops on this card.

I started out by stamped linen on both pieces of white cardstock in sahara sand ink. I sponged the edges with sahara sand as well. Then I markered up the flower and repeated stamped it on the background piece. I decided to distress the edges of the flowered piece and used my Heidi Swapp distressor for this. I used my stampamajig to stamp the greeting and I stamped it in black stazon. I wanted a very thin black border around both those pieces, so I layered it that way. Then I put a bit wider border of bravo burgundy behind the black to make the sentiment more of the focal point. I tried it without paper piercing and it really looked bland. So I pierced it all the way around. That really looked like too much. So then I cut another piece and just pierced the corners and I think that turned out just right.

I stamped the paisley background stamp in versamark on the sahara cardstock and sponged the edges with sahara sand. I used some velvet ribbon I found at Michael's with a pewter ribbon slide from the hodge podge hardware kit. I made sure it wasn't going to slip around by putting a glue dot under it. I think that's about it! I am pretty happy with the results, for once, lol! I'll show you what else I come up with later on!

I think I am a Pin Cushion....

Or at least I am beginning to feel like one. I am finally down to just one allergy shot a week. Great. But they are more itchy than ever. Wonderful. So once a week I get a shot for that. Then I have an itchy lump for a few days.....and usually a bruise after that. Ok, I can handle that.

But I have gotten so many injections for my back issues lately, that I feel like a pin cushion! If it's not a steroid injection, it's some other medicine injection. Or they are drawing blood for some test. I think I probably get stuck twice a week. Some are no big deal, some are really painful. I got a numbing med one today into my lower back. It hurt crazy bad when he did it. Now it is pleasantly numb, thank goodness! We'll see how long that lasts.

I have gone to another (yes, another) physical therapist and feel pretty good about this one. We'll see how that goes. According to her, I most likely have bursitis in my right hip. Which would be why the steroids help that. Unfortunately, they don't know why it is staying so aggravated. She also said I have some type of L5 area issue - not sure what or why - this is where I got injected today. And last but not least, I have some SI joint problems. None of these are the bad kinds of arthritis issues I was worried about, although I do have some arthritis (more than normal for someone my age) but nothing to cause the kind of pain I have. So now we'll try some more physical therapy and see what comes of that.

Oy. A lot of trial and error. With me as a pin cushion. Did I mention how much I hate needles? I used to swear I would only have one baby because I didn't want to have an IV (how naive was I?? like that is the most painful part of child birth!!). I can handle most of the shots right now, some are worse than others, but the giving blood part.....I really can't stand that. I have to go again within the next 7 days....I have been putting it off, but the time has come. I will have to suck it up and get it over with. **sigh** I am so not looking forward to that.



Anyway, enough about my issues....I am so so in love with these pocket notes in the latest SU mini. They are just the perfect size for throwing in a package if you are mailing something to someone. You know how we stampers are always mailing little gift-y things to each other...well, these make the perfect little card to accompany those items! So I made up a whole stack of pocket notes last night. I had to have something easy to do while I watched those horrid American Idol auditions.

Here are the ones I made. I can never make too many of one design, and they had to be simple so I could concentrate on my show (yeah right!). I used more Basic Grey, because I just love all of it. I am so so excited that I am finally using more of my papers instead of hoarding them. It IS getting easier too! I stamped the 'sending you sunshine' in white stazon - it's not quite as bright as I would have liked, but it works. If you have any questions about what I used, just ask!

And the Winner is....

The winner of the post-it note holder from Tuesday's tutorial is Jennie H!!!

This was Jennie's comment:

Love the post it note holder! I am definitely going to make some of these as little gifts! Do you think you could do a tutorial on the RSVP pens to match? I honestly don't know to do these....but would like to give them as a gift to match the post it note holder.Thanks for your blog and sharing your creativity!Jennie H.

Thank you Jennie for reading my blog! Please email me your address so I can send your post-it holder!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful tutorial suggestions. Some of those things I know how to do and some of those I will have to try and learn! Incidentally, the next tutorial I had planned is the beaded RSVP pens! I will try to get it up some time next week. For this evening, I will share a gift set for Alex's preschool teacher. Her birthday is tomorrow and this is what I am giving her.

It is a beaded pen, mini target notebook, and a post-it note holder to match the scalloped shaker card I posted earlier. I hope she likes it!

Scalloped Shaker

This is the beginnings of a gift set for Alex's preschool teacher. Her birthday is tomorrow. I made this using a tutorial I found on GinaK's blog. I think the scalloped shaker is so so cute! I can't link directly to the post, but it's a ways down the page.

Here's my version. I only have the Mega Scalloped punch. I ordered the giga and 4 days later, Joann cancelled my order and said they were out of stock. Bummer! And of course, by then - everyone else was out of stock too! Oh well, someday I'll get my hands on one of those!

I used some Chatterbox paper I had been hoarding, I probably have 5 sheets of this particular design. I just love it. I used bashful blue, old olive and chocolate chip cardstocks to compliment the paper. After following Gina's instructions, I stamped the floral background stamp in versamark on bashful blue paper. I used the linen stamp on the old olive paper (also in versamark) and I sponged both of the edges of those papers with their matching inks. I paper pierced a strip of chocolate chip and used that as a base for the shaker piece. I mounted the olive and a strip of the chatterbox on the chocolate chip and then put the chocolate chip on with dimensionals. I tied a bit of grosgrain ribbon that I dyed using reinkers, then put the shaker piece on with more dimensionals (can you see how much I love dimensionals??). I used an A Muse sentiment in chocolate chip ink along the bottom. Then just mounted to chocolate chip and then to a bashful blue base. I like layers!

I'll share the rest of the gift set later. Hope you all are enjoying your weather wherever you are! Here it snowed and there is no school. Yep. We have a snow day in Texas. I have my sister-in-laws 2 kids so that makes 5 kids age 6 and under. So probably not a lot of stamping going on here today. Here's a pic of our snow! (And yes, I grew up in Missouri so this is no big deal to me.)

****UPDATED****

I think I have confused people into thinking I used the Marvy punch to punch out the inside of the circle. That was my initial idea, but according to Gina's tutorial, you use the coluzzle to cut the inside out. Just a tip!