Stamping and Stuff

I've Moved!

2007-02-11T15:31:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-10T23:34:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-02-10T11:07:00.000-06:00

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!!

2007-02-08T17:04:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-08T08:11:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-07T09:09:00.000-06:00

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!!!!

2007-02-06T08:42:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-05T12:10:00.000-06:00

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??

2007-02-04T22:12:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-04T08:33:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-03T11:28:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-02-02T12:01:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-01T20:32:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-31T08:28:00.000-06:00

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!!

2007-01-30T08:40:00.000-06:00

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!!

2007-01-29T21:22:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-01-29T10:38:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-01-27T14:20:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-26T16:13:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-01-26T12:46:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-01-24T21:20:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-01-23T23:10:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-01-22T16:00:00.000-06:00

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!?!?!

2007-01-22T08:14:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-21T15:21:00.000-06:00

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.

2007-01-21T12:54:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-01-19T08:46:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-01-18T12:53:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-01-17T22:07:00.000-06:00

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

2007-01-17T12:09:00.000-06:00

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!

CC97: cocoa plums

2007-01-16T08:41:00.000-06:00

The color challenge today was inspired by Stampin Up!'s enchante papers. I had them lying on my stamp table and my new SAB set was there.....and they just went together! So check out the challenge thread here!

My first card was this one...it was made to fit into SU's small open end envelopes. It measures 3.25x6.5. I used a pale plum cardstock as the base. (It would be cut 6.5x6.5 and then folded). I cut a strip of the enchante papers and then a strip of close to cocoa slightly wider. I left one side of the cocoa a little wider than the other and used my paper piercing tool to pierce a line down that edge.

For the main image, I inked up the stamp with my pale plum and sage shadow markers. Then I held it at arm's length and spritzed it with stampin mist. I stamped it on the cardstock then to give it a bit of a watered appearance. Then I stamped the words across the stems. I used a sponge with pale plum to sponge the edges and the Heidi Swapp distressor to distress the white. I layered it on close to cocoa and put it on dimensionals. Tied the narrow organdy and assembled it.

My second was a quick pocket note. I punched a scalloped oval out of enchante papers and then mounted that on SU's cutie pocket notes. (These are available in the current mini catalog and come with matching envies.) Then I stamped the image on vanilla cardstock and punched it out with the mega oval punch. I stamped the greeting, then layered it onto the scalloped oval. I tied some reinker dyed sage grosgrain ribbon along the bottom and secured it with glue dots. Quick and Easy!

That's all for today! I have a shaker card in mind....maybe I'll get some time today to do that! Thank you for the tutorial suggestions, please post one so you can with the post-it note holder!

Two More Samples

2007-01-15T21:14:00.000-06:00

I made these for some of my blog readers. The Basic Grey Blush holders were made for the two ladies who participated in my diamond fold book contest. The Skate Shoppe holder was made for the SWEETEST woman who mailed me Target $1 mailboxes. Thank you for being so supportive! I cannot express how much it means to me to hear that people like my work (and my cooking!). Thank you!

Post-It Note Holder Tutorial

2007-01-15T20:52:00.000-06:00

So here it is! This is my tutorial on post-it note holders. I learned how from this thread on Splitcoaststampers.com. Please let me know if there is anything that doesn't make sense!

Supplies:
Cardstock
Paper trimmer with scoring blade
Post-it note pad
Embellishments (optional)

Step 1: Cut cardstock to 7 ½ inches long.

Step 2:
Cut cardstock to 3 ½ inches wide.

Step 3:
Score cardstock at 3 ½ inches and again at 4 inches.

Step 4:

Fold cardstock on score line. Then flip it over and fold the other side, both sides should be folded in towards each other.

Step 5:
Put adhesive all around the back of the post-it note pad.

Step 6:
Place post-it pad on cardstock with even border of cardstock all the way around. It should fold together like this once it is in there.

Step 7:
Embellish as you like! I used narrow organdy ribbon, my mega scalloped circle punch, dimensionals, Happy Harmony from SU, and a sentiment from Wordsworth.

And here is the final product! These are really simple, make great gifts, and can be dressed up many ways!

I will be giving this one away to one lucky blog reader. All you have to do is post a comment on this tutorial and tell me what you would like to see me do a tutorial on! Please, let me know what I do (or may what I can learn to do) that you would like to see a step by step tutorial on. I will choose a winner Wednesday, January 17th at 10pm. Your suggestion must be posted before 9pm CST.

Enjoy!

Scrap Pages - here they are!

2007-01-14T17:27:00.000-06:00

Okay, here are two of my favorites from last night. OH! And I got 8 pages done, not 7! Not the best speed....but that's ok. It was fun. We're going to a different place on Feb 10th, but this time I'll be the lone paper scrapper with a bunch of digiscrappers around me!

This first page is made from my favorite picture of the boys in a long time. Mamak took this when she did our family photos this year. We have a Christmas Jammie tradition; the boys always get matching Christmas Jammies. This is the first year that Andy *sniff sniff* couldn't have matching ones. He is too big, and had to get them from the boys' section. Anyway, I used black card stock as a base. Then I tore the edges on a piece of Basic Grey (black tie, maybe??). I mounted the photo on a piece of basic grey. I cut strips of black cardstock to go under the photo as an accent. I used a Making Memories white rub on and my white gel pen to title and journal it. That's it! I told you I was a simple scrapper!

This second page uses a picture from Matthew's work Christmas party this year. It was our first experience getting dressed up for a work function outside of a military ball. I used Basic Grey Fruitcake papers along with basic black cardstock. I accented it with basic grey wholy cow rub ons. Again, pretty simple!

I have a few more I'll show you later. The post-it note holder will be up tonight or tomorrow, so keep checking back! Hope you aren't too cold wherever you are.....we have ice on our trees here! We're gonna have some baked potato soup to warm us up!

Design Teams??

2007-01-14T10:04:00.000-06:00

So I am not good with the idea of submitting to magazines. I can't take the pressure of waiting and rejection and all. But I was thinking I would love to try my hand at applying for some design teams. Anyone out there know how to do that? Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. Thank you!!

Oh....and I got 7 pages done last night, I wish I had gotten more though. But I was slow to get started, I think because it has been SO long! Mamak says she wants to go a few more times before she leaves me, so hopefully that will help me get more caught up.

I'll take a few pictures on some of favorite pages from last night. Since we're in the middle of the Icy Blast here in TX (insert huge eye roll here), most things are cancelled today. Maybe I'll use my time wisely and get some stuff done! We'll see how that works out!

I am gonna crop today!

2007-01-13T10:34:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it! I haven't cropped in so so long. I hadn't even gotten prints made of my digi pics since April!!!

Anyway, mamak and I are going to Recollections for a crop today. We'll head out sometime early this afternoon and it's over at midnight - I don't know if we'll stay the whole time though. I am going to be paper cropping and she is bringing her laptop. I get twice the space to spread out though.....heehee! We might look kinda dorky with her and her laptop to digiscrap, but it's really about spending time together anyway.

I can only scrapbook outside of my home. Is that weird?!?! If I am here, I would rather make a card or whatever. Scrapbooking is a labor of love for me. My husband really likes that I do it, and I like the end result, but I don't necessarily enjoy doing it. I have a 3-ring binder with layout sketches. Some I have found on the Internet various places and some that mamak has made for me. This has made it so much easier for me....and I like my pages a lot more too!

I just take whatever pictures I want to use on a page....flip through the sketches in my binder and pick one....then I go from there and choose papers and embellishments. It means that some of my pages are just variations on the same layout, but I don't care! I am not an original, innovative scrapper by any means. I just want to be able to get some pages done, like the end result, and have a book for posterity. With the binder, I can do mostly pages I end up liking and they are quicker to make. So I get more done.

Since I only scrapbook outside my home, I do not stamp in my books either. It's just too much to haul ink and stamps as well as all my scrap stuff. So I rely mainly on rub-on letters (mostly from Making Memories) for my titles. It may not be that fancy, but it works for me!

Right now, I have 3 scrapbooks I am working on. One is the ongoing book of the boys. I don't really have any time frames on those, just when one is full - I start another. I have an 8x8 book that is of Matthew and I. Anytime we do things without the kids it goes in there.....it's not very big, lol! And lastly, I have a book of me. This was mamak's idea and I think it is by far my favorite book to work on - and not for the reasons you'd think! Since I am the only female in this house, this is the only book where I can let all the femininity flow. It has lots of primas and floral papers! I really enjoy getting to use all the girly things in my book.

Anyway, perhaps I will share a few of my favorite pages from today when I get back. They won't be stamping related.....and they probably aren't that great, but I'll share a few if you want to see them!

Sketch Challenge 106

2007-01-11T22:12:00.000-06:00

So I got a little carried away with the sketch challenge this week. I made 3 cards today with it. It was a perfect sketch to easily incorporate some patterned paper (which I have a hard time with). And I had tons of scraps of pretty papers from all the frames I have done. What a perfect way to use some of them up!

First I did this elegant Easy Elegance card. Like I said, if this set is out on my table (which it still was from this weekend) then I use it. I just can't stop. I should put it away. Anyway, I stamped the flower multiple times using a blender pen dipped in cranberry crisp reinker and a mellow moss marker to ink it up. I sponged creamy caramel around the edges and put the sentiment on in chocolate chip. I used Basic Grey Blush paper leftover from mamak's journal. I tied chocolate chip ribbon onto a pewter swirl clip and stamped paisley on the cranberry cardstock using versamark. I love background stamps, but I almost always use them with versamark. I like them to be the background, not the focus.

Then I decided to do a more whimsical card with a little sparkle. So I got a scrap of Basic Grey Gypsy paper leftover from a frame and used the Simply Said stamp set. I don't think I've used any of the other florals from that set aside from this one. I just love it. And, both the Gypsy paper and this stamp, scream for glitter. So I used my 2 way glue pen and traced the flowers on the paper and glittered those. Then I glittered the flowers on the stamped image as well. I punched the ticket corner punch and put some of the cute colored brads in the corners. I still have tons of ribbon that I dyed with reinkers a few months ago, so I had some cool caribbean to match it. Both of these cards used sentiments from A Muse, I love their sentiment stamps!

Well....I didn't intend to do another, but there were 10 minutes left of Grey's Anatomy so I threw a quick one together. This uses another scrap of Basic Grey's Blush paper. And my other favorite, cool caribbean. Jackie G got me the Wishing You the Best Ronald McDonald SU set as part of my Secret Sister gift so I had to break that out for this one. I stamped it in cool caribbean and then colored the flower in with a pretty in pink marker. Then layered it on a chocolate chip circle and popped it up on dimensionals. Super quick card, but I think it's pretty cute.

So that's my sketch challenge day!

MMMMmmmm......

2007-01-11T08:19:00.000-06:00

Who doesn't love macaroni and cheese?!?!? I got this recipe from my Grandma. Mamakimberly made it for me when I had my wisdom tooth pulled....it was so yummy! I don't eat kraft mac&cheese, but this is divine! And it isn't hard either! I hope you enjoy it!

Macaroni and Cheese

2 c uncooked noodles
4 c milk
½ c flour
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese, + 2 oz
½ t salt
3 T maragarine

Precook noodles til slightly tender (approx. 4 min).

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat milk to medium (don’t boil!). Add flour, salt, maragine, and 8 oz cheese. Stir/whisk until cheese is mostly melted. Pour into 9x13 pan with noodles. Top with extra 2 oz cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 min.

I hope to get a card up this afternoon as well. Also - this weekend, a tutorial on post-it note holders!

CC96: brights!

2007-01-09T15:53:00.000-06:00

I am so bad with bright colors! I think it is my least used color family. I like things other people do with them, but when I sit down with them......they do not inspire me! Well, I found this lovely pink passion crushed velver ribbon the other day. So I decided I had to work that into the color challenge this week so I would make myself use it! I just grabbed this combo from the color wheel.

I made this card using the Sketch Challenge 104 as a layout. I used the markers to ink up the flower stamp and only inked halfway down the stem so it wouldn't curve too much. Then I punched it out with a mega oval punch from marvy. I put the sentiment on after that (a muse sentiment stamp). Using the 2 way glue pen, I put Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the flower petals. This add so much!! I did my usual giga scalloped circle punch and pierced the scallops and ringed them with the Sakura white gel pen. I love that look! I put it on dimensionals and mounted it on the other paper.

The paisley is stamped in gable green on white cardstock. I stamped linen in versamark on the lavender lace cardstock. I used the word window punch to punch pink passion tabs for the embellishments. The card looked a little empty and I thought these would finish it off. I used mini brads to adhere the prima flowers. This finished off the card. Like I said earlier, Bold Brights are hard for me. I usually go for the darker colors and more.....elegant?....styles. So of course, I am not happy with it. But it's ok!

I also found the best thing today! I was at Hobby Lobby and they had all their Christmas stuff 80% off. Well, I got a few things and then I stumbled across thesekits by colorbok. They had all kinds; frames, trays, etc. I saw these where you cover the wooden letters to spell words. All I could find was NOEL, but I bought all three! I don't care much for the papers they used - but I just stocked up on Basic Grey Fruitcake that was being clearanced somewhere else! For $4, I got the whole kit!! The letters alone would cost more than that by themselves!! What a STEAL! I am so excited! I will probably make one for our house, but the other two sound like Christmas gifts for next year!! I only saw NOEL, but I will look again later to see if I can find anymore. They had JOY and I would really like that one too.

Happy Birthday To Alex!!

2007-01-08T09:18:00.000-06:00

So my middle baby boy is 5 today! As of 5:01 am, he is 5 years old! All my babies are growing up! Alex is my little Superman. He got lots of superman for Christmas and his birthday - a superman bike, a superman fake computer, superman figurines, etc. Alex has been in love with Superman forever, I think. This will be our 3rd birthday in a row that is Superman themed. He has been Superman for 3 years in a row for Halloween. We have Superman, muscled Superman and even muscled Superman Returns (they are different shades of red and blue, ya know!) costumes. Alex informed me today that he wants to be a Superman Expert when he grows up. I think you are already there, Alex!

Here are his cupcakes for his party today. This is the first time I have made the dessert for one of my boys' birthdays. Usually their Aunt makes it or we buy it. But this year, it's superman cupcakes. I borrowed the icing thingie from my sister, Tamara, and ice them. Hope it looks alright! It was my first time using one of those things!

And also a little stamping related item as well. These are the cards I made for my Lostie Secret Sister last round. She says "Dude!" all the time, just like me! So when I drew her name, I knew I had to make some Dude! cards! These were made using the Do The Hula stamp set from Stampin Up! The first one I made using old olive and cool caribbean. I used the Heidi Swapp distressor on the edges of the caribbean layer. Aida cloth background stamp on the green background. I printed the words on white card stock using a beachy/surf font I found on the computer. I then used my aquapainters to color the tree. The surfboard card uses cool caribbean

and cameo coral. I colored them using the aquapainter as well. They are pretty simple cards, but I wanted to do something with the DUDE theme for Anna.

Hope you all have a great day! Color Challenge tomorrow!!!

Happy Early Birthday Alex!!

2007-01-07T21:04:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow is Alex's 5th birthday! I told him I would make him his favorite breakfast - Streusel Coffee Cake. Of course, he informed me that he'd rather have toast and eggs (fried - with the runny yolk - YUCK!). Oh well! I'll still share the recipe with you! It's so easy and I totally stole it from Bisquick. It is really really good too!

Streusel Coffee Cake

2 c bisquick baking mix
2/3 c milk
2 T sugar
1 egg

Topping: mix until crumbly
1/3 c bisquick
1/3 c brown sugar
2 T margarine or butter
½ t cinnamon

Heat oven to 375. Grease 9 in round pan. Make topping; reserve. Stir ingredients until blended. Spread in pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake for 18 to 22 min (until toothpick can be clean of batter).

Anyway, we're having his party tomorrow evening. I hope it goes well!

Well, we're out of it....

2007-01-06T21:25:00.000-06:00

The poor Kansas City Chiefs. They made it the wild card game today because last week they had to win and like 4 other teams had to lose. It happened! And they blew it. Oh well, it's not like I expected them to win. They always blow it!

But we did have some yummy eats with Mamak and her family! Matthew made guacamole and it was awesome! And he made crab cakes! He never cooks.....he can mess up bisquick pancakes! Anyway, it was fun and yummy.

I did finish the last of the sympathy cards I had to make. I used the Sketch Challenge from this week to get me started. Of course I had to use Easy Elegance....because it was out on my table. If it's out....I reach for it, lol! I just love that set! I also stamped linen (my favoritest background stamp aside from paisley) in the background using sahara sand ink. I like to repeatedly stamp off my flowers for the bouquet kind of look. I used the coluzzle cutting system to make my circle....the good thing about this is that I cut the circle in half and just made two cards while I was at it. Now I have an extra for my box whenever I need one.

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

**oops! Forgot to say that the patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Blush line!**

I finally made a card......

2007-01-05T23:08:00.000-06:00

but it was not for a good reason. My great grandmother (my stepdad's grandma) passed away in her sleep this morning. She slipped into a coma on Thursday and passed away Friday morning. She was 99 years old. While I am very sad to see her go, I know she was ready to be with Jesus. She was a wonderful lady.

I remember many summer vacations to her home in Colorado. She is the grandma of the "Grandma's Cookies" recipe I shared earlier. I will include it again in her honor. Grandma Lucille was a sweet woman who always included my sisters and I. I know that she lived a full life and that it was just her time. I am glad that it was peaceful and I know that she is in Heaven. Please keep my stepdad and his family in your prayers as they lay her to rest.

Grandma’s Cookies

Ritz crackers
Almond bark (white, milk, or a mixture)
Peanut butter

Take ritz crackers and make into peanut butter sandwiches. Heat almond bark until melted. Dip cracker sandwiches into melted chocolate. Let dry on waxed paper. Freeze. Eat them!

I made this for one of my sympathy cards I need to mail out to my family. I wanted to use the well-worn words because it just seemed like a nice soft match to the sympathy theme. It really looks best stamped on white or vanilla cardstock. Because it is such a finely cut stamp - it needs to be on one of those cardstocks to really catch the detailing. I went with one of my favorite stamp sets, Easy Elegance. Even though it is retired, I just haven't been able to part with it. I stamped linen on white cardstock and then inked up the flower stamp with markers. I used the paper piercing tools to make faux stitching. I thought the black velvet ribbon added just the right touch. It felt good to stamp today - and not something that I had to make assembly line style.

We have a WINNER!!

2007-01-05T21:55:00.000-06:00

Well, my husband just picked a number out of the posts on the Picture Frame Giveaway post. So we have a winner!!

Drum roll please.........

Monika/buzsy !!!

You are the picture frame winner!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

This was Monika's post:
What a great project! Thanks for the tutorial. I love that paper you used. So elegant.Happy New Year and happy stampin'!

Thank you everyone for posting such sweet and supportive comments! When I started this blog, it was because Mamakimberly wanted me to. I really didn't know if anyone would be interested. I am so happy to see that some people actually read it! And I am so thrilled to have my work featured on SCS!

Monika - please email me with your address so I can send you your frame!

***I apologize for the post time of 9:55pm, I swear my computer clock says 10:01!!***

Blush Journal

2007-01-04T12:11:00.000-06:00

Most of you have probably heard of Mamakimberly. She is my sister, Kimberly, and that is her SCS name. She is my blogmaster/photographer/computer techie guru/etc. She is also probably my best friend. And she's leaving me!

She is actually moving overseas. Instead of living 5 minutes away, she will be oceans away. I know it is for good reasons and I know it is what she has always wanted. But I don't want her to go! I am living in a complete state of denial. We don't discuss the move at all, lol! Good way to deal with it, huh?

Anyway, she told me she wanted a journal for her purse. We had gone shopping together after Christmas and she had purchased one at Barnes and Noble. She tried altering it and it didn't take. (Wrong kind of surface for mod podge, I guess!) Anyway, I decided to make one for her using the Blush Basic Grey to match her little notebook. Well, apparently there was a run on the Blush paper at Recollections...they only had a few designs left. And of course, not the one I wanted!

So I went with another sheet I had and made this for her. I used Basic Grey Wholy Cow and Making Memories rub-ons as well. I try to mod podge over the rub ons, just to make sure they won't peel off later. I ran some black grosgrain ribbon along the seam to make it pretty and that's it! Oh yeah, I got the journal at Target - I wanna say it was about $3.99 or something. It has pocketed dividers inside as well.

It's UP! It's UP!

2007-01-03T14:18:00.001-06:00

I am so excited! I've been working on this for awhile and now it's up! I did a tutorial on how to make altered picture frames. I used frames that I purchased at Michael's for $2.99. They are fairly easy, wonderful to personalize, and usable! Fits all my qualifications for a great handmade gift! Anyway, I will put the tutorial on my blog as well, but not til later this week. Here is the link for the one posted on Splitcoaststampers.com.

Jackie G inspired me with these frames. She brought one as a door prize to a stamping event here in the DFW area. I fell in love with it and decided to try my hand at it. I have made several myself and I taught a class here at my house on them.

I also wanted to share two more that I did for Christmas gifts. I made these for my little brother and sister. Since my brother is in college, I wasn't sure if he would really use anything I could make for him. I figured that if I made it kind of "manly", and put a picture of my boys in it, he might put it out in his dorm room or something. He seemed to like it, not that he would tell me if he didn't, but at least he acted like he did! I think the paper I used on his was Arctic Frog - although I have had it for a long time and I am not entirely sure.

I also made this one for my little sister. I absolutely LOVE how this turned out, if I do say so myself! You can't really see it, but it has so much sparkle! I found a use for stickles that nothing else beats....I outlined the flowers on this Basic Grey Lilykate paper with Stardust Stickles! I did it AFTER I modpodged the paper. I tried using Dazzling Diamonds glitter from SU, but it just kinda flaked off.....the stickles stuck on there much better. I am happy to say I found a good use for the stickles - Thank you again, Jackie G! Beth seemed to like her frame as well. She loves lime green and I figure what 17 year old girl doesn't like a little sparkle?!?! Since her frame was kinda girly, I didn't put a picture of the boys in it. I left it open so she could put a picture of her and her friends or something in it.

Anyway, I am so excited to have my tutorial on SCS. This is the second tutorial I have done for them. I always feel like I have learned so much from that website....it's weird to teach something there. In honor of this event.....I have a FREEBIE! I am going to send one of the frames that I made to a lucky blog reader! Here are the details:

Respond to this post by 10pm (CST) Friday, January 5th.

Tell a friend about this giveaway!

My husband will pick a number from the replies and that will be the winner!

This is the frame you will win!

Another Letter

2007-01-03T09:02:00.000-06:00

I made this for my sister-in-law.......actually, she's my ex-step-sister-in-law.....so I'll just say I made this for my friend. Cause that's what we really are now. Anyway, she is moving into her new house this month. She'll have her very own stamp/crap room! Of course she is doing a pink motif.....so I made her first little decoration for her new room! I am finally seeing her today so I can finally post this. It was her Christmas present, but we haven't been able to get together until today. I hope she likes it!

I got this T at Recollections. I mod podged it and adhered the polka dotted paper. I did the paper so the lines would be diagonal - this way there would be more room for error when lining it up. I then painted the sides and back gray (and the edges) using Making Memories scrapbooking acrylic paints. (I cannot love these more!) Then I mod podged the whole thing and added some embellishments. I made sure I got a nice large jewel in the center of the flower layers, Tiff loves her bling. I used different sizes of primas to layer for the flowers and then some ribbons. I stuck them down with a combo of crystal effects and Pop Up glue dots, I didn't want those suckers coming off! And that's it!

Hope y'all have a great day!

Help!!

2007-01-02T20:26:00.000-06:00

So I know a lot of you have seen these already. I found these adorable, just BEGGING to be altered, mailboxes at the Target $1 spot last week. Well, here's my problem. I only got a few....and I need a few more. I wanted to do them for my nieces. I need at least one more to do them. And of course, both Targets by me are all out! Anyone live near a target that has more?? Or have some they can spare?? If so, please email me and we can perhaps work something out! I'll decorate one for you and mail it back to you....or I can make you another freebie.....or something! Anyone???

***UPDATE***

Thank you so much to everyone who offered to mail/check for more mailboxes! I love stampers! Y'all are so stinking nice! I did get a lovely stamper to mail me the extras I needed. THANK YOU so much Laurie!!!

CC95 - nice and easy!

2007-01-02T09:18:00.000-06:00

I decided to make the first color challenge of 2007 nice and easy. I am using one of my favorites from the last few months. I have one card on here already with it. I thought to start the new year off right, we should have an easy combo so we can all feel accomplished right away!

You can view color challenges, specifically this one, here. The gallery for them can be found here.

This is the other one I had already done with these colors. Of course, I used paisley, paper piercing and a scalloped punch......cause I don't think I can make a card with out them! Oh, and dimensionals too! I had to use my coluzzle to get the circles the right size. On the card with the white base....I arranged the circles so I could do it with just punches instead. I knew I'd be doing that card in bulk and I didn't want to do that many circles with the coluzzle, as it is time consuming. I love the 2 way glue with Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the penguin's belly. It is so sparkly and just the right accent for that little guy.

The white base version will be perfect with "thanks" stamped across the bottom. I will send those as Thank You's for Alex's 5th birthday party next week. He loves penguins, so it really fits him.

Anyway, I hope this challenge helps you start off the new year with something you are proud of!

And a huge thank you to those of you that posted regarding my killer cold. I am feeling much better and am hopefully on the mend. Now I have to workout for the first time in two weeks, I may not be feeling so great after that!!

CHEESECAKE!

2007-01-01T20:48:00.000-06:00

I love cheesecake.

In fact, I don't like regular cake at all. So we had cheesecake for our wedding cake. With all the toppings on the side. That way, you could choose what topping you wanted....or none at all.

I came across this recipe about 8 years ago. I love it. It is really simple and tastes DELICIOUS! The white chocolate chips ( and I am NOT a white chocolate fan ) totally offsets the cheesecake flavor and is the perfect accent. Give it a try, you'll love it!

White Chocolate Cheesecake

2 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
½ c sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 c white chocolate chips
1 ready to use chocolate or graham cracker pie crust (9 in)

Mix: cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer. Add eggs and mix again. Stir in 1/3 c white chocolate chips.

Pour into crust. Sprinkle with remaining white chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 35 mins or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

Sick Sick Sick....

2006-12-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

I am tired of being sick. I am on day 10 of mucinex and sudafed. Not getting much out now....just all that pressure. Methinks that is not a good sign. I also got a fever today. How irritating! We have NYE plans with mamakimberly and her family. You know.....the kids camping out in the toy room in a tent, lots of glow sticks, sparkling cider...the works! (we like to live on the wild side, don't we?)

But right now, I am feeling SO yucky! Of course, cause the dr is closed til Tuesday. I can go to urgent care.....but it's a $50 copay instead of $20. I think I'd be fine if it weren't for the fever. It's gonna cramp my party plans.

At least we don't have karaoke this year....I am not a good singer on a normal day, but I'd be terrible right now, lol!

Hope y'all are having a better New Year's Eve than me!

2006-12-30T12:01:00.000-06:00

Now that Christmas is over....I can share this! I made it for my Mom and Stepdad. I wrote a lot about the year+ that we lived with them while my husband was deployed to Iraq. I wish that we still lived close to them instead of several states away. We really enjoyed their visit this week, but it is never long enough.

I used Basic Grey fruitcake papers on this. Along with primas, mini brads and Basic Grey Wholy Cow rub ons. I think they really liked it.

Hope you are all enjoying the last of the holiday break. I am still sick......I think it might be time for the doctor. After 9 days on mucinex and sudafed every 4 hours, shouldn't I be better? I don't think I should still feel like my face/head might explode from all the pressure. Of course, the doctor isn't open until Tuesday. So I'll have to wait until then. Or pay a $50 copay to go to an urgent care place...I think I can wait it out!

Pink! Isn't it pretty!

2006-12-29T23:54:00.000-06:00

So this is totally not stamping related. But I got a pretty new pink phone! Mine was making weird noises and we were due for a free upgrade. So here it is! It'll be here Tuesday and I can't wait! It's the Motorola L2. I could have gotten the L6 version....but it was boring black. I loved the pink, it doesn't have a camera.....but I never used that anyway!

So that's my news for today. I promise a project....maybe I'll even *gasp* stamp a card!....tomorrow! I hope you are all geared up for New Year's!

CONTEST winner!

2006-12-28T08:53:00.000-06:00

Well, I totally forgot to announce this on time! There was only one entry before the deadline, so the winner is MaryR (this is her SCS name)! Here is her book:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=427652&cat=6640

Please email me your address and I will mail you your goodies, Mary!

Also, there was another entry that was just past the deadline. I've got a goodie or two for you, just for participating! So frannyb, please email me your address and I'll send you a little something as well!

Thank you so much for playing.....and for reading!

Apple Pie....YUM!

2006-12-27T10:29:00.000-06:00

I love apple pie. A warm slice with ice cream....it's the best! I made two for Christmas dinner dessert. I use the pillsbury pie crusts, I made my own before....and it's just not worth the effort! They taste pretty similar, and it's so much easier! Last year, my dad got me the Pampered Chef apple corer, peeler, slicer thingie. I love it! It makes apple pie making a snap!

Here's the recipe I use....it's from my mother.

Apple Pie:

1 1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 T flour

salt

1 t cinnamon

Put bottom crust in pie plate and poke with fork. Combine all ingredients and mix. Add 5-6 granny smith apples (6-8 small ones). Mix together and pour into pie crust. Put top crust on. Brush with milk and sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake for 10 min at 425. Then lower temp to 350 and bake for 45-50 min.

Music.....

2006-12-26T16:58:00.000-06:00

So I added music to my blog today. Is this annoying? Please share your thoughts. I don't wanna make my blog irritating to pull up. Thanks!

****UPDATED*****

Okay, music removed. Thanks for the feedback!

So are ya shopping today??

2006-12-26T12:25:00.000-06:00

I am a true glutton for punishment....I took the 3 boys out shopping bright and early this morning. We got all the sale Christmas goodies. Lights for the house, wrapping paper, ornaments, etc. The boys each got something with a bit of their Christmas money. They were really really good too. And poor Adam was even a good sport about it. He tripped and fell into a dining room chair last night and bit almost through his cheek. He's ok, just a little puffy today. Really freaky though, you know how mouth wounds bleed so much.

Anyway, I had another Christmas gift to share with you all. I made these for my stepmom. I had intended the C to be for her office/stamp space at home and the H to be for her classroom at school. I made them with paper from the same line in case she wanted to display them together (which she said she does, so I am glad I did it that way!)

They were plain white wooden letters I bought at Michaels. I traced the letters onto the back of the patterned paper. Cut them out and modpodged them on to the letters. I sanded the edges and then sponged classic ink on to them. (I used vintage violet for these.) Then I sprayed them with sealant. (I use Plaid clear acrylic sealer - matte.) After that I just decorated with ribbons and flowers.

Please remember the diamond fold book contest ends tonight at 10pm CST. So far there is only 1 entry!

Okay, I am off to take my cold remedy cocktail again....I am really tired of being sick!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

2006-12-25T09:39:00.000-06:00

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We have been up since 6:30am....the kids were a bit excited! We've had coffee cake, opened presents and now we are watching the burning log channel (the boys find this very boring - they do not get why we like it, lol!)

I thought I would share another Christmas gift today. My Dad asked for something to keep his cards in (I am always giving him extras from stamp camp, etc for him to use). Of course I had to make him a tin! Now, I've never made a Man tin before....I really didn't know where to start! I picked some "manly" basic grey papers and painted the top navy blue. I put ribbon around the tin, but use a bit of hemp as well. I also knotted hemp on the handle instead of lots of ribbons.

I've never done dividers for inside a tin, but I whipped these up late the other night. Very, very simple. I cut cardstock to 4 1/2 x 6 1/2. Then I used SU's large oval punch. I wrote the category on the oval and glued it one the cardstock. Quick, easy, and serviceable.

I am going to take my cold cocktail (mucinex, sudafed and tylenol - yes, I am still sick) and then start on some of the cooking. I promise to wash my hands lots and lots. I'll make Matthew make the stuff I actually have to touch.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

2006-12-24T10:11:00.000-06:00

and I'm sick! My face hurts from the sinus pressure. I am going to try and take it easy today and rest so that I'll be ready to cook tomorrow.

I thought I would show you one of the smaller gifts I made yesterday. My sister/blogmaster/digi-guru, Kimberly, asked me for one of the mini notebooks I make. She wanted one to carry in her purse and she asked for pink and turquoise. Well, I hope it fits those colors, because I think it's really cute!

I make these by using little notebooks that come in a two-pack at Target. I modpodge the notebook, put paper on, and then modpodge over that. Embellish as you like! I wanted to add a K to hers, and I think I made this way harder than it had to be, lol! I stamped the K in versamark on the paper I wanted to use. Then I embossed it with clear ep. I cut it out and ran a chocolate chip marker around the edges. Then I modpodged it onto the notebook and modpodged over the top. There is definitely a better way!

I also made a little beaded RSVP pen to match. Cause who doesn't want a matching set? For these, I cut a strip of paper and put red liner tape (or o'so sticky strip) on the back - one strip on both sides. I unstick them and then adhere them to the outside of the pen. Then I cut a piece of o'so sticky paper and stick that around (very carefully!) the patterned paper. I rolled it in mini micro beads (from queen pennywise) and then I sprinkled glitter over it to fill in any gaps. This makes it beaded AND sparkly!

Make sure you take time today to think about the Reason for the Season - it's not ALL about the presents!

Holy Schnikes!!

2006-12-23T22:26:00.000-06:00

Seriously! Whew, what a day! I have been holed up in my stamp room most of today working on Christmas presents. It was my goal this year to make all my gifts (since I wasn't making Christmas cards). Well, of course I waited til the last minute and am totally rushed! I even knew what I wanted to make for each person....but I am a terrible procrastinator. But like Tiff (my sister-in-law) says....I do my best work under pressure!

I already made about half the gifts, as I had to mail those. But the rest....well, almost all of them got made today. I think I had one of those done earlier this week.

Today I made:
2 wooden letters
1 lunch tin with dividers
2 picture frames
1 3-D cardboard (or whatever it is) letter
1 mini notebook
2 beaded pens

I am probably high on the sealant, etc fumes, lol! Anyway, I am dying to share the stuff I made, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for those getting them. I'll have to wait to share them.

It's getting late and I've still got some embellishing to do. Then I am going to relax with a Mojito. I hope you are all finishing up your Christmas shopping/crafting!

Oh! And I have my first (and only!) entry in the diamond fold book contest! Remember, I must have a link to your entry by 10pm cst December 26th.

More on transparancies....SC103

2006-12-22T11:36:00.000-06:00

Remember how I tried stamping on a transparency and it totally didn't work?!?! Well, the ones I stamped in white craft ink.....they dried! I used one today to try out Wednesday's sketch challenge - SC103. I know it's a little late, but at least I tried it, right? I kinda flubbed the sketch too....it said to have something stamped across the bottom. Oh well, I tried.

So this is a transparency stamped with white craft ink and given over one week to dry. I will try this with stazon one of these days and let you know. I also tried scoring it, gently, to see if it would fold onto the card better. And I stuck glue dots to the transparency to hold it to the card stock behind it. I put them under the panel that is outside the transparency so that they are not visible when the card is looked at. This helped a great deal in keeping a little more "flat".

I also used my very first STICKLES! They were in my Secret Sister gift from Jackie G. I put stardust stickles on the flowers. Just a tip....do not turn your work over and put glue on the back while the stickles are wet. I was not used to using them and totally did this. So that's why there are some strategically placed primas at the top of the scallop punch. I got a smudge of cranberry stained stickle up there. Not cool. I am very excited to have the chance to try stickles, but the jury is still out on how I feel about them. I am a Dazzling Diamonds girl at heart.

Overall, I am much happier with this transparency card. I am looking forward to using the ginormous box I have on many more trials with them. I'll let you know how it goes!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Whew!

2006-12-21T21:51:00.000-06:00

So today was the Lostie Secret Sister package opening. It was so much fun!! I cannot believe how many talented crafters we have in our little group! BTW, the Losties is a group of lovely ladies on Splitcoaststampers that got together because we all watch (and love!) LOST. Now we are just friends who chat online all the time.

Anyway, we drew names and mailed each other boxes and WOW did people really outdo themselves this round! My wonderful friend Jackie G had my name - which is too funny cause we live in the same town (the Losties are from all over the map) and we had actually discussed who we had and what we were getting them, etc. She totally lied to me!!! But it's ok, I forgive her cause she totally rocked!!

I absolutely love all the fantastic things she gave me. My favoritest thing is the 'E' she made for me to hang on the wall. I am already deciding where I want to hang it in my stamp room, it is GORGEOUS! Here are the pics of the fantastic things she made me. The message in the bottle is a gift certificate to the scrapbook store here and the bronze holder has a Starbucks card in it - coffee here I come!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Miss Jackie G!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh boy! It's a contest!

2006-12-20T21:32:00.000-06:00

So I thought I would have a little contest! Just for fun...since I know everyone has so much free time on their hands with the holidays and all, lol!!

Well, here it is! Since I just put up this tutorial on the Diamond Fold Books (aka squash books), I want to see yours!

Here are the details:

You must make a Diamond Fold book and submit it by 10pm (CST) on December 26th.

You must submit it by taking a picture or a scan of your completed book and uploading it to splitcoaststampers, photobucket or another photo hosting site. You must put the link to your project in the comments section.

The prize will be some assorted goodies I came across. There might be extras as I come across them!

Have fun and Merry Christmas!!!

SORRY!

2006-12-20T15:54:00.000-06:00

I am having issues with the way the tutorial posted...I am working on it though!

Ok, fixed now! I hope it is viewable now! Here's another one I made for my husband for Father's Day last year.

Diamond Fold Book Tutorial

2006-12-20T15:19:00.000-06:00

Okay here it goes! I learned to make thesethis summer. I was helping out at a scrapbooking convention and got to sit in on a class that made them. I hope you like them, please let me know if you have any questions!

Diamond Fold Book

Supplies:
2 coasters 4x4 (or chipboard, bookboard, cardboard, etc)
2 pieces of patterned paper cut 5 ¾ x 5 ¾
3 pieces of cardstock weight patterened paper that is double sided (thin will not work for this) cut 7 ½ x 7 ½
Adhesive – mono adhesive or double stick tape, and also something stronger – mono multi or red liner tape (o’so sticky strip)
1 piece of ribbon about 22 inches long ( I prefer narrow organdy ribbons for this)

Step 1:

Adhere coaster to back side of pattered paper. These will make up your front and back covers on your book.

Step 2:
Trim the corners of the paper at an angle so you have ¼ inch at the corner. Do this for both front and back covers.

Step 3:
Adhere opposite sides down to coaster. Only do these two sides. (Top and bottom, for example.)

Step 4:
Use your bone folder (or in my case – pampered chef scraper) and fold in corners. Then adhere those last two sides to the coaster.

Step 5:
Take your 3 squares of cardstock. I usually use 2 that are the same and one that is different. This makes for a nice look when the book is unfolded. Take one square and fold it in half, scoring as you go. Open it up and fold it in half the other way, score again. Open it up. You should have a large square with 4 small squares visible from the folds. Now fold it diagonally in half and score. Repeat this sequence with all 3 squares.

Step 6:
Take one of the folded papers. To fold into the diamond shape, you must fold the 2 solid squares (no fold line dissecting the square) towards each other. You do this by pushing in the triangle shapes in between. You want the two outer pieces to be folded with the triangle edges tucked forward and the one middle piece to have the triangle pieces tucked behind. When you have them into a folded square, score all edges again.

Step 7:
Adhere all 3 squares together. You will put the paper you want to see when you open the book facing you when you stick them together. The two squares that are folded “forward” will be the two on the ends. The one folded “behind” will be the center sheet.

Step 8:
Fold entire book together and score again. You should see the 3 squares in a kind of accordion look now.

Step 9:
Take the front cover of your book. Use a strong adhesive around the edges and a spot in the middle. Lay ribbon across the middle of this cover.

Step 10:
Adhere one end of your diamond folding to the cover. Repeat with the other cover on the other end of the book, but do not use ribbon on this part.

Step 11:
Embellish as you like. I often print photos that I have removed the color from to glue inside the book. I have also cut squares slightly smaller than the ones inside the book, then cut them diagonally and used those triangles to decorate the inside of the book. Have fun with it and make it your own! I can’t wait to see some of yours! Please post here and show me!

CC93 - OOPS!

2006-12-19T14:38:00.000-06:00

Today is Tuesday.....and I forgot! Since Matthew took the day off yesterday, I was all messed up on what day it was. I thought it was Monday. So I forgot to post the color challenge until sweet Melody reminded me! Thanks, girlie!

So here's a quick card I threw together. I've got a sick kiddo today and he wants his nose wiped every 5 seconds. Doesn't leave much time for fun stuff! Hope you are all busy getting ready for Christmas!

I do still plan to post the Diamond Fold Book tutorial tonight.....

Diamond Fold Book Open

2006-12-18T12:06:00.000-06:00

Okay, for some reason when I had this picture in the other post, you couldn't click on it to enlarge it. So I gave it it's own post. Now you can make it bigger! Tutorial coming SOON!

Diamond Fold Book Teaser

2006-12-18T10:55:00.000-06:00

This is what I made at the Diamond Fold Book class I taught last month. I have been promising a tutorial on these and it will be here today or tomorrow! Here's a sneak peek at the finished product. This one was made for the boys' great grandmother.

Happy Shopping Days!

Monogram Class

2006-12-16T00:50:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I am having a monogram class. We'll make 10 cards (2 of each) for $10. These can be done all in one letter or 2 sets of 5 with different letters. I loved this idea when I saw it from Chi Chi Allen this fall and decided I would have a class for these. I think they are cute, simple designs and I hope my stampers like it!

I apologize for the dark picture, it's late!

update

2006-12-15T10:15:00.000-06:00

Well, no news is good news, right? All tests came back fine. The only bad thing is that there are no real answers either. I got more injections so I'll be sore for awhile. I also had a random weird bacteria come up at a questionable number. So we will recheck that in a month. It is really random, but if that's what I have then it's cured by antibiotics and could be the cause of a lot of this pain. So we'll see what comes from that. In the meantime, injections and stuff. Anyway, thank you for the prayers. There were things they want to monitor, but no degenerative types of arthritis found for now.

Today's the day....

2006-12-14T08:16:00.000-06:00

I get to find out the results of all that hideous blood work I complained about. I am so nervous! I kinda feel like I want to throw up. And my appointment with the rhuematologist isn't until 5pm! Good thing I'll be busy today! I've got to run the boys to school, preschool lets out at 12:30 today, I have to run an errand while they are in preschool, etc.

Andy gets to watch the Polar Express and have hot chocolate at school today. I told the younger two that we could do that too after they get out of preschool. So it's Polar Express day here! What fun!

Anyway, if you get a chance to put a word in with the man upstairs today, please pray that everything goes well at the doctors today. And that I can calm down and not throw up.

Teacher Gifts

2006-12-13T14:23:00.000-06:00

I got teacher gifts ready for Alex and Adam's preschool teachers today. I am giving them decorated lunch tins with 10 cards and envelopes inside. The cards are various ones from stamp camps, swaps I made extras from, and other random cards I had. This is the tin Adam chose for his teacher. Since he loves red, he decided that his teacher does too. And this was the only tin I had with red on it. I won't get into how I made the tin, because I already wrote a tutorial on it. You can find it here.

Alex chose this tin for two reasons. He said it had to have green on it (his favorite color) and he liked that it looked like a rainbow. Ok, whatever works! He chose not to have prima flowers on top though.

I hope that they like these, I am always nervous about giving gifts that I made. I mean, I like these, but who knows if other people do! I have sold them in the past ($35 with 10 cards and $20 without) so I guess that means some people like them, right?

How I spent my morning....

2006-12-13T11:08:00.000-06:00

I had hoped to have a lovely stamped creation to show you. But, no can do! Instead, I spent my morning scrubbing blue crayon off of many many different surfaces in my house! Somehow, during my quick 15 minute workout this morning, my 3 year old son found one blue crayon. He, and his almost 5 year old brother, colored a bunch of tile in the entryway, the walls in their bedroom, the wall in their closet, a wall in the hallway, the door to their closet, the bathroom counter, their bedsheets, the chairs in my stamp room and one of my tables.

However did they do this in a mere 15 minutes?!?!?!?! Lovely drawings, like race cars....hand prints with blue fingernails....tic tac toe boards. OMG!!!!!!

So after punishing them and putting them in silent time out (ie no talking) for the duration of the cleaning time, I went to work scrubbing. The Mr Clean Magic Eraser got it right off the tile, bathroom counter, the door and chairs. However, we have non-washable paint in our house. I know, I know...why ever would we have washable paint with 3 boys age 6 and under?!?! Well, it was on the walls when we moved in and we haven't had time to re-paint. It's on the short list for this spring/summer. And it will be washable. Anyway, the Eraser just takes the paint off the walls as well as the crayon. So that wasn't working.

I googled painting over crayon, thinking it might just be easier to patch-paint over it since we're going to repaint soon anyway. Well, it is a more involved process than I thought. But I did stumble across the tip to use toothpaste. So I got an extra toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste (not gel, must be paste) and went to work. It really did work pretty well. It's labor and time intensive, but it worked. So if ever your children color on non-washable walls, use toothpaste! I still have their bedroom walls to work on, but it'll have to wait. I already had a list a mile long of things to do today.

Anyone know an easy way to get crayon out of bedsheets? I found one, but it was quite involved using WD-40 and such.....these were under $20 a set so I'd rather just replace them if it needs that.

***UPDATE***
HUGE shout out to oxy-clean laundry stain remover! It got the crayon out in just one regular washing! YES!

The Letter 'K'

2006-12-11T22:41:00.000-06:00

So I have been so busy trying to get all the Christmas presents done for all the teachers. Andy's teacher has a long last name, so all the kids call her 'Mrs K'. I found this chipboard K at Recollections and thought it would be great for her desk or somewhere else in her classroom. It was pretty easy to make, I did it this afternoon.

I started by picking out some paper (Andy actually picked this paper out). This is from Basic Grey's Urban Couture line (one of my all time favorite paper lines!). I traced the letter on the paper and cut it out. I used mod podge to adhere the paper to the K. Then I mod podged over the paper.

To do the paint, I used Making Memories Acrylic Scrapbooking Paint. I love this paint. It comes in lots of colors, is easy to mix, and dries quickly. I used chocolate on this. I painted the back and all the sides and then a bit on the edges of the paper using a sponge brush. After the paint was dry, I painted the entire thing with mod podge.

Then I just picked some ribbons and tied them on! Really easy, and I think she'll like it. Now the boys each want one for their own names....of course, that means three A's!

Peanut Butter Balls

2006-12-11T19:39:00.000-06:00

Peanut Butter Balls

1 c powdered sugar (sifted)

1 c rice krispies

1 c peanut butter

2 T melted margarine

almond bark or chocolate chips (mix semi-sweet & milk chocolate)

Mix together and cool. Shape into small balls and refrigerate. Dip into chocolate and refrigerate. Eat!

These have long been one of my favorite Christmas foods. Weird because I don't even like peanut butter! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.

My Banner and other things...

2006-12-07T22:32:00.000-06:00

Several people have asked about my blog header/banner (or whatever you call it) and my watermark. These were both designed by my blogmasterguru and sister, Mamakimberly. She is way talented. (Said in a totally Clueless voice.) She is a digi-scrappin guru. You can visit her blog (mamakworld) or her store (plain digital wrapper) and see her stuff. Her store has all kinds of cool digital scrapping things and she can even make your handwriting into a font!

So check her out!

Transparancy Overlay

2006-12-06T23:29:00.000-06:00

So I totally wanted to try this the second I saw this stamp. I finally got around to it today. I am glad I had a box of transparencies that were free.....cause I wasted several! I got this bright idea to stamp it in white craft ink. So I did 6 and left them to dry. I came back several hours later and they were still completely wet. I asked around and found that pigment ink doesn't really dry on transparencies. OOPS!

So then I tried to heat set it....this just kinda warped the transparency. Oh well. I tossed all of those and moved on to a new idea. Ideally, I would use white stazon. But I don't have that (good thing I was putting in an order today - I will have some soon!!). My next plan was to stamp it in versamark and then put white embossing powder on it. This worked, but was REALLY bright white and thick looking. Not really the look I was going for.

My last attempt was white craft ink with clear embossing powder on top. This worked fairly well and is was I ended up using on my card. I put o'so sticky tap (red liner tap) along the sides of the transparency and wrapped the edges around my layer and stuck it down. I liked the end result, but it doesn't really lay flat....at all. I am not wild about that part. I will play with it a bit more and see what I can come up with from here.

I also made the rivet way way harder than it should have been! I used a blender pen dipped in reinker to color the stamp (because of course, I used colors that don't come in a marker!). Then I went over it with a versamarker and clear embossing powder. I think it turned out cute, but silly how much effort went into a small circle.

Ok, it's late and I am tired. We'll see what I can do tomorrow when I am more awake.

Grandma's Cookies

2006-12-06T14:10:00.000-06:00

These are the easiest cookies ever! The reason we called them Grandma's Cookies is that when we were kids, my one Grandma always had them at the ready when we visited. She made them up in large batches and froze them. They are so so good when they are cold! They don't have to be stored in the fridge or freezer, but they are really good that way! I made the stick kind for the boys to take to their classmates. I hope they like them as much as we do!

Grandma's Cookies (Ritz cookies)

ritz crackers (round or sticks)

peanut butter

almond bark (baking chocolate or whatever it's called)

sprinkles (optional)

Make ritz crackers into peanut butter sandwiches. Melt chocolate (I use half white and have regular squares). Once melted, drop cracker sandwiches in one at a time and cover them with chocolate. Use tongs and place chocolate covered sandwich on wax paper. I usually place mine in the freezer to speed the 'setting' time of the chocolate. Then they are ready to eat!

2006-12-06T12:00:00.000-06:00

Whew! I have been having issues this morning and this thing has NOT been letting me load pictures! Anyway, it finally worked so here's my card for the day. I made this last night for my stamp camp this week. I am not totally happy with it, of course! I loved rohla's version but didn't have the paper to do hers. I altered it a bunch to make it work with the stuff I had. I can't ever get that 'happy' to stamp straight. I must have it mounted crooked. And yes, I could get out my stamp-a-ma-jig. I do love that thing, but I just didn't feel like doing that extra step last night.

I've got all the cards done for camp and here's a group photo. For some reason I feel like this is a lame camp. Not sure why. I like most of the cards, but I feel like one is lame. Maybe I'll have time to come up with something different before tomorrow night. I stayed up until midnight getting all the cardstock cut so I am ready. Now I just have to get the boys to help me straighten up the house.....we'll see how that goes! Of course, my vacuum punked out on me so I can't vacuum now. I plan to shop for a new one tomorrow. And it will be bagless! I hate that it gets hard to find the right size bags the older your model gets. I mean, just because I took care of my appliance and it's still running - I can't find bags anymore! So annoying.

Blood....

2006-12-05T12:53:00.000-06:00

I hate to give blood. I don't like shots, but especially now that I get regular allergy shots, I can deal with them. But the whole taking blood out of your body thing.....it's awful.

I had to give blood today for a ton of bloodwork that the rheumatalogist requested. I won't know the results until my next appointment. It was not fun though. The phlebotomist says "Wow, you must be one special lady!" as she lines up empty tube after empty tube for all the different tests. "I hope you have enough blood!" Sheesh! Like I wasn't already feeling freaked about it.

After she did at least 10 tubes worth, yikes!, she asked if I had eaten yet today. Um...no, they told me not to. So she told me to make sure I ate right after this. Well, DUH! I mean, for those of you that know me, I have to eat first thing in the morning.....or I am totally cranky. I had already promised myself a nice bacon and egg (no cheese cause American cheese is nasty) McGriddle once I got finished. I love those things! I never let myself have them and it'll probably make me sick later (all that greasy stuff just doesn't process well for me) but man, was it GOOD!

Can you believe she didn't offer me a cracker or some OJ?!? Oh well. I just hope they got all they needed and that I don't have to do that for a few more years. You'll never catch me at a blood drive. Sitting there letting them suck the life out of you into some tube. Blech! I just can't stand it. I focus on some point in the room and make myself breathe.

Ok, I should be finishing my stamp camp cards right now....

Color Challenge 91 and more...

2006-12-04T22:46:00.000-06:00

So I was working on some cards for my stamp camp this week. I had picked up some of the Basic Grey Fruitcake papers a while back and decided to pull my colors for the color challenge from them. Here is the color challenge for this week! I think this is the first time I have done faux stitching in any color besides white! I think I also accidentally fit the sketch challenge from last week too, lol! It's not my favorite card, but I am extremely limited on my Christmas stamp set choices. I am cheating this year and sending a photo card. So I didn't buy any Christmas stamp sets. Well, the ladies from my class requested a Christmas themed class this month so I had to make due with what I have. I think this is also the first time I have used the Hodgepodge Hardware in a class!

This is another card for stamp camp this week. I did another version of this card last month and just decided to tweak it for camp. I had used black cardstock to stamp the greeting on last time, but I didn't want to do that for class. The drying time for white craft ink is too much for class. So I used a white card base. I cannot remember the last time I used a white base for a card! I am usually a layer freak. I am obsessed with piercing the little holes in the scallops from that punch. Then using the white gel pen to 'highlight' those piercings. I just think it is too cute. I really hope this card doesn't look too simple.

wow....I think I am obsessed with paper piercing and paisley. Almost all my cards use both! But seriously, don't they just work for everything?!?! Ok, I'll have to finish up the other 3 class cards tomorrow cause it's late. Night!

Confession Time....

2006-12-03T15:08:00.000-06:00

So I felt the need to confess something. It has been brought to my attention how organized and neat my stampin space is. Well.....it's just not true, lol! It's usually a disorganized mess. I am afraid my photos were a bit misleading. If you'll notice, some of them have cream walls instead of green. That means they were taken over a year ago. Probably the last time my stamp room was clean, in fact. So I just wanted to get that off my chest. No, I am not that neat of a stamper! In fact, right now, you can't even see the tables cause they are covered with junk. Ok, I feel better now.

Also, I wanted to show off my closet. This used to be a regular closet that had just one rack towards the top for hangers. Matthew put shelves in over Labor Day this year, you know.....cause he needed to do some labor. So now I've got my mailing center shelf, my finished projects shelf, my alterables shelf, and then some 'other stuff' shelves. I love it and it really has helped me get more organized. LOL! Seriously, it has helped the mess in here. Those of you that have been in my stamp room are laughing your butts off right now....but it is better. Honest.

Special Card

2006-12-03T09:18:00.000-06:00

So I got an email that asked Matthew and I to write out something special for our Home Group leaders from this fall at Church. She suggested cream and gold themed stuff and said it could be a scroll style or a card or whatever. Well, of course I had to make a card! I didn't have much time so I reached for the roses in winter! I used vanilla cardstock and tried to stick to soft shades so the vanilla and the gold would still be the focus. I stamped linen in the background in caramel ink, then did almost amethyst roses on top. I used sage shadow for the leaves. I topped it off with some cream organdy ribbon and gold cord. I went around both vanilla layers with gold zig paint pen. This was different for me, I never use gold! I am much more a silver person. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the results, considering I did it at 11:30pm last night. My grandparents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary later this month, I may have to elaborate on this idea for them.

On a side note, bummer that Nebraska lost to OU last night. Cotton Bowl here we come, GO BIG RED!

Sketch Challenge 100

2006-12-01T09:03:00.000-06:00

Well, it is a cause for celebration - this week was sketch challenge 100! I just got a chance to do mine last night. I think this card took FOREVER! I have no idea why, it isn't a hard card. For some reason, it just wasn't happening for me. I chose this paper and then I couldn't find a way to make it work with the sketch. So I came up with this after a little help from Matthew. I am still not wild about it, but it's done! I used the Basic Grey Fruitcake line of paper, I absolutely love everything by them. I tried using a touch of pink from the snowman scarves, but it looked awful. I ended up with that simple 'be merry' panel instead of stamping the words at the bottom right, like I had planned. Oh well, by the time I finished I was just glad to be finished. I know that some people will ask why I don't like it or insist nothing is wrong with it...and nothing is wrong with it, it's just not what I had envisioned when I started. But hey, it's all about trial and error, right?

So I hope you are staying warm...it's a cold front down here in TX. Our heat is kicking on! (that is a rarity down here, lol!) We are enjoying our light dusting of snow - which Andy believes is the First Texas Snow Ever!

My Stamping Space

2006-11-30T16:05:00.000-06:00

I promised pictures of my stamping space today, so here they are! This is my actual stamping area. I have two tables (one 6ft and one 4ft) in an 'L' shape. The ink pads and paper file box are in the center of the 'L' so that two people can stamp at the same time and be able to reach most of it. My husband painted my room a lovely shade of moss/celery green for my birthday present this year. It was a total surprise because I came home after spending a week at my mom's with the boys and there it was! An awesome surprise birthday present!

This is the "office" side of the room. I am pretty much the only one who uses the computer at our house (aside from the boys sometimes) so the whole room is really mine. I am the Correspondence Secretary, as my husband says, so this is my space to keep track of all of that. I love that furniture...I got it at Target when we moved into this house. Simple and easily moved around if I want to change things up. I even built it myself!

This is my work area. I have it set up so I can reach most of my stuff from my chair. I have several of the drawer sets from Walmart and they work great for storing little things like brads, eyelets, and snippets of ribbon. I got the ribbon rack (and the punch one shown in the other photo) from ebay about 2 years ago. They are fabulous. MyCraftSolutions has a great store on ebay with lots of different configurations. They are very very nice and were great to work with. Unfortunately, my area is rarely this clean, lol!

This is a close-up of my ink caddies. I got these from a place called dzyntec.com. They ran a great deal of 10 caddies for $90. They said they were moving to a new location and didn't want to move the inventory. Well, they never reopened that I know of. I love love them though! I have them on an acrylic turntable that they sold. So I have a caddy for each color family. It holds all the ink pads and reinkers for that color family. I also have three more caddies lined up against the wall behind them. I use these for craft pads and other ink pads.

And last, but not least, my stamp storage. I have the crop in style store in style cube storage. I have two that have shelving. One I use vertically for stamping magazines, SU publications, etc. The other I use horizontally for extra cardstock, there is one shelf for each color family and a space for the neutrals and in color as well. The cubes with doors on them are for my stamp sets. I have them semi-organized by type: word sets, floral sets, animal sets, etc. It is not the most efficient way of storing stamp sets, but I don't ever have that many sets so it works for me. I try not to have over 80 or so sets at one time. I find it overwhelming and then I don't use them. So if I find I don't use a set, I get rid of it and get something else. I like to refer to it as recycling. Now most days, you'll find 5-10 of these sets stacked up on my table, lol!

So there you have it! That is my stamping space! I have found that having my own space and not having to put it all away each time (as I would if I was using the kitchen table or something) has been the biggest factor in my growth as a stamper. I don't feel so much pressure to create quickly because I can always leave it and come back later.

Now I promise my next entry will have an actual stamped item in it!!

Comfort Foods

2006-11-29T09:40:00.000-06:00

Another thing I love is cooking. My mom is a wonderful cook, and I have been lucky enough to copy a lot of her recipes. One of my favorite foods is Baked Potato Soup. I just love it. Top it off with some good bread (for dippin') and it is perfect! So tonight, we're having Baked Potato Soup and Yummy Yeast Rolls. Two of my favoritest foods. I thought I would share the recipes in case anyone is interested. I even have yummy pics! I'll have to take one of the soup when we eat tonight, but I'll put one up of the rolls.

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.

Yummy Yeast Rolls
1 dozen

¾ c milk
¼ c margarine
2 lg eggs
1 tsp salt
¼ c sugar
3 c bread flour
1 pkg SAF Gourmet Perfect Rise Yeast (I use red star from Costco)

Combine yeast, 1 c flour and other dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Heat milk to 120-130 degrees. Combine margarine (room temp), dry mixture, and milk in mixing bowl on low speed. Beat 2-3 minutes on med speed. Add eggs; beat 1 minute. By hand, stir in enough flour to make a soft dough (I don’t use as much as the recipe – too much will leave your rolls very dry.) Knead of a floured (use flour sparingly) for 5-7 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Add additional flour if necessary. (Mine is always kinda sticky – if you add too much flour, they will be dry when cooked.)

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease all sides of dough ball. Cover; let rise until double in size. 20-30 minutes (I double this time with the yeast I use.) Divide dough into 4 balls – divide each ball into 3 balls. Place in a greased 9x12 pan. Cover; let rise @ room temp. 30-40 minutes ( I double this time as well if they haven’t risen enough – they should be up to the top of the pan at the very least). Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter when done.

I sometimes bake mine for 35 mins at 325 so they get done all the way through and don’t get too dark on top.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and I will try to take a pic of the finished soup later this evening.

Up next.....a photo tour of my stamp room!

Hard Day...

2006-11-28T20:54:00.000-06:00

I am working on a tutorial for a Diamond Fold Book. I will be teaching a class on them this Saturday. I was hoping it would be up tonight, but it may be a few days. I have been having bad back/hip pain for awhile now. After seeing several doctors, having x-rays, an MRI and various injections....I scheduled myself an appointment with a rheumatologist. That appointment was today.

Wow, I am so overwhelmed. I had an injection in my hip today. I was given all new meds. I am also going to get some mega blood work and such done. It is most likely some kind of arthritis. He kept saying I was too young to have this (I am 28). Of course, all the doctors thus far have said this is what it could not be because I am too young. Well, we'll know for sure after the blood work what type of arthritis it is and then how to treat it. He is also encouraging me to try a new diet - little to no trans fats. This means that my 3 favorite foods - milk chocolate, bread (specifically, yummy yeast rolls), and steak - will not be for me. I will definitely need to think this one over for awhile. I almost think I'd rather be in pain and be able to eat chocolate!

So anyway, I am going to go process this with my sweet husband. I might get the tutorial up tomorrow, but we'll see.

2006-11-27T23:11:00.000-06:00

Here is my color challenge card for this week on splitcoaststampers. It is CC90: blush blossom, true thyme, and cranberry crisp. Since I was short on time this week, I brought out my all-time favoritest set.....Roses in Winter. I just love this set. Especially with the rock and roll (where you ink it up in one color and then roll the edges around in another color) and smooshing (stamp your image and then smoosh it 1/4 turn in each direction for a smooshed, soft look) techniques. I am pretty sure I learned both of these from StamperSharon - one of my stamping favorites. I think it really softens the roses and makes the look. I stamped the sentiment a tad bit crooked, which will of course drive me nuts.

I tried the paisley stamped in blush blossom first, but it just wasn't working for me. It is very unlike me to stamp it in a dark color on light cardstock, but for some reason it just worked here. I am not thrilled with this card, but I really really wanted to use my new velvet ribbon from Starlitstudio ebay store.

Also, there is a way way awesome prize to be given away during CC100! We are getting closer, ladies! It is so unbelievably awesome too! I will be so jealous of whoever wins this awesome prize. Leigh O'Brien is designing it right now and I'll have some teaser pictures soon!

Ok, that's all for tonight.

My Stamping History

2006-11-27T17:45:00.000-06:00

So I was thinking maybe I would share how I got started as a stamper. I owe this obsession to my wonderful sister (and blogmaster guru), Kimberly. Exactly 3 years ago, Kimberly showed up at my house (we were stationed at Fort Hood, TX at the time) and said we were going to stamp. I had looked at the catalog before but always said "why would I make this when I can buy cards??" Little did I know....

I have always loved cards. In college, I frequented the "out of the blue" section at Hallmark. I loved those 'for no reason' cards. I love e-cards. I just like cards. I am often not good at saying heart to heart things aloud, but I can write them down. So I like cards.

I have never thought of myself as artistically inclined. I cannot draw. I have never done anything artsy in my life. I do love color and I think I have an eye for color combinations...you might not think so....

Anyway, back to how I got started. I had just had my 3rd baby boy in 3 years. I was very worn out and desperately in need of some outlet for myself....one that did not involve kids! I think that Kimberly came at just the right time, divine intervention perhaps. I don't know, I just know I needed an outlet and she showed up. I loved it the very first time I tried it! Kimberly just brought a few cards down and we sat at my kitchen table and stamped. I was hooked. I made her start a Stampers 5 club so I could start my collection. I made most of my Christmas cards that very first year. They weren't good, but I started!

Just a few months after that, my husband was deployed to Iraq for a year. I moved back to live with my mom while he was gone. I didn't want to be by myself with the boys. They were 3.5, 2 and 6 mos when he left. I stored all my stamp things in rubbermaid tubs in the corner of my mom's kitchen. I stamped more and more as the months went on. It was a wonderful escape for me from the stress of being a single parent and missing my husband. I made lots of cards that I sent to him while he was gone. He has a box where he has saved every card I ever sent him.

About halfway through that year he was gone, I took the plunge. I signed up to be a Stampin Up! demonstrator. I had a pretty good start with demonstrating. Then we moved again and I had to start all over. I never really got any clientele after we moved. I've not done a workshop in almost 2 years. I do have a regular group of stampers who come to Stamp Camp once a month. This fall I have tried to start having more classes and so far it has gone pretty well! I am trying to find a way to use my hobby to help out a bit with finances.

I learned all I know about stamping from Mamakimberly or the internet. I have Beate Johns to thank for my introduction to Splitcoaststampers.com, the best stamping website ever! I was on a yahoo group with her and she mentioned this site. I joined in January 2004 and have loved it ever since. So many talented artists in one place! I think that I truly grew as a stamper when we moved back to Texas about a year and a half ago. I got my own stamp room then and it has really helped me tremendously to have my own stamping space.

So that's my story! I will be forever grateful to my sister Kimberly for introducing me to Stampin Up! and rubber stamping. I know it has helped me through a lot of stressful times in my life....divorce (not mine!), unemployment, deployment, etc. It is a wonderful outlet for me to creatively express myself. I view it as therapy. I think that Kimberly came along at just the right moment for me, and I love her for sharing it with me.

wow! that was alot longer that I intended. If you got through all of this, thanks for reading my story!

Mixer Day!

2006-11-27T09:30:00.000-06:00

I am so so excited! Today my new mixer arrives! I have been borrowing my sister-in-law's kitchenaid mixer for the last few weeks. I finally blew out my cheapie wedding gift mixer and decided it was time to move up. I cook all the time, so I know I'll get a lot of use out of mine. I scoured the net and finally landed on this one. And I got the steal of all steals on it too! It had an amazon.com coupon and a kitchenaid rebate. So, I got the 350 watt 5 qt kitchenaid for $154. It usually runs for $349. It is already back up to $259 on amazon. Woohoo for good deals! I am so excited and I can't wait for Mr. Brown to come! And it's not even stamps he is bringing! I might have to think of something to mix up tonight, just to give it a test run! Any suggestions??

Test Pic Post

2006-11-26T23:23:00.000-06:00

Okay, this is just a test to make sure I know how to post a picture. This was the color challenge from last week. I was just finishing my display for my upline and this was my last card for her. (I do displays - 25-30 cards with one stamp set - several times a year. This just shows the versatility of one stamp set.) Anyway, I love the scallop punches I swiped from mamak. And the idea of piercing holes in the scallops and then using the white gel pen to highlight the holes is so cute!

However, I have a hard time when I do the paper piercing all the way around a card....seems like I always get 'off' somewhere and my holes aren't lined up just so. Oh well! Someday I'll get that figured out.

So welcome to my blog...

New Blog

2006-11-26T22:58:00.000-06:00

So this is my new blog. My sister Kimberly, or Mamakimberly as some of you might know her, decided I needed one so here it is. I guess I will be blogging my stamping adventures. I don't know that anyone is interested, but we'll see! I am not sure how much stamping I'll get done this week, as I have a class Saturday. But I'll be sure to post about what we're doing for the class!

testing....

2006-11-26T22:38:00.001-06:00

just testing....