Birthday Card

Thank goodness for Sheetload card layouts!  LOL!  It's a great resource for quick, simple cards.  The paper on this is SU as well as the stamps I used.  Candles were colored with Promarkers and SU markers.

Bugs and Kisses

Two really quick cards today.  I love this little bug and the saying "Bugs and Kisses" .  The bug and the mailbox are digital images.  Paper is SU.

Sometimes simple is best, don't you think?  Since these are going into my Cards for Soldiers box, I'm trying to design some cards without any dimensionals behind the images to save space.

Both of these were inspired by an issue of Sheetload cards from 2009.

One Hour Challenge Recipes

Woo-hoo!  My carpenter only has a couple of minor touch ups to do on Monday and he's completed his part of our remodel project!

On Wednesday, I will EMPTY OUT MY CRAFT ROOM COMPLETELY! And the new floor tile will get installed on Thursday.  I'm so anxious to get this all behind me so I can enjoy my room better.  Right now there's carpet on the floor. (who knew I'd be scrapping back here? lol!) The carpet has been damaged by my never ending supply of glue boogers I seem to have when I use my ATG gun.  I chose commercial tile to replace it so I can just sweep up paper scraps instead of getting down on my hands and knees to pick them up!

Friday, the rest of the house will get new floor coverings too.  It's going to be so very nice to have nice clean carpeting again in the living room and bedrooms!

Knowing that I'll not have computer access or a room to craft in for at least three days, I got my challenge recipes done a little early and decided to just post them now.

 I downloaded the Stove Top image and resized and printed it.  The blue swirl is from Cindy Loo, the chicken and the lettering is from Block Party.


The carrot and onion on the next page is from the Savory cartridge.

PORK CHOPS AND STUFFING
3 bone-in pork chops
1 jar Heinz pork gravy
½ cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 box Stovetop Cornbread stuffing

Pat pork chops completely dry.  Brown on both sides in
a tiny bit of oil.  Remove from skillet and place into a
greased 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Pour gravy over chops.

Saute onion and celery in drippings left from pork chops.

Prepare stuffing mix according to box directions, adding
about an extra ½ cup water.

Spoon mounds of stuffing mix onto pork chops and bake
uncovered at 350° until the chops are tender.

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CHICKEN AND NOODLE SOUP

1 Smart brand chicken
3 cans Swanson chicken broth
dried parsley

Place in pressure cooker and cook at 10 lbs. Pressure
for at least 30 minutes.  Or, place in stockpot and cook
until chicken is tender.

Remove from the pot, cool and debone.  Add meat
back to broth and add:

1 onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, sliced into rounds
2-3 stalks celery, sliced

Simmer just until vegetables are almost done.  Add
about ½ package of dried egg noodles and cook
until noodles are tender.










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CARROT-SQUASH CASSEROLE

1 ½ cups sliced, cooked carrots
1 ½ lb. Squash, diced and cooked—I use yellow squash or zucchini
1 small onion, diced
1 small package cornbread dressing mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
½ cup milk
1 stick oleo, melted

Mix together the soup, sour cream and milk.
Layer squash, carrots and onions, and ½ of the dressing mix
In a greased casserole dish.
Pour ½ of the soup mix over this layer and repeat –reserving
a little bit of the dressing mix.
Put remaining dressing mix on top and sprinkle with melted
oleo.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

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LEBANESE GREEN BEANS

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cans green beans, undrained
1 large can tomato sauce
Allspice

Brown meat with onions.  Add green beans, tomato sauce and a generous
dash of Allspice.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes for flavor to develop.

Monkey Birthday Card

The monkey is a Dustin Pike digital image colored with Promarkers.  Computer generated the sentiment and added a few doodledots.

Another 3-Squares Card

The paper is SU, the mouse is one that I picked up in a bargain bin somewhere, and the coffee cups and saying are part of a set I picked up at Hobby Lobby a while back.

I think the little mouse is excited and happy to be going on a coffee run!  Either that, or he's already had waaay too much caffeine!

I inked the edges and used my Promarkers to color the images.  Punched the sentiment with a SU punch and I was done!

Good Luck Card

Last year I bought a stamp set from SU named Card Games.  At the time, it seemed like a set that I'd use a lot but I've struggled trying to find a good way to use the images of the Jack, Queen and King card faces.  Today it occurred to me that I didn't have to use the entire image so this is what I came up with.

I stamped the image and punched it with a 1" punch, layered it onto the black cardstock and then punched it out again using an 1 1/4" punch.  The sentiment is one of my old Studio G stamps.

Apple Card

This card was inspired by one of the old Sheetload e-zines.  I miss seeing those every month; they were always such a good source of inspiration for card making.

Tart & Tangy stamp from SU
Apple and polka dotted paper from SU
Spiral punch and 1 1/4" punches from SU
SU watercolor markers used for stamped image

I left the inside blank and inserted a sheet of white paper since the card base is colored.

Elephant Card

The elephant is a Dustin Pike digital image that I colored with Promarkers.  I computer generated the sentiment on the front and inside.  The background paper is SU.

The inside sentiment is: " ...Just opened this card!  Have fun on your birthday!" and I stamped and colored a little image of a cake slice with a birthday candle.

I really, really enjoy using the Promarkers!  They have so many colors that it makes doing shading a snap!

Cookbook Poem

I found a yellowed copy of this poem in my old recipe box.  It was cut from a newspaper but I have no idea how many years ago!  I know for sure I had it in there in 1989 because I included it in a family cookbook that I compiled for our annual reunion.

                                               TWO GREAT BOOKS

                                The two greatest books ever published

                                Are the Bible and the family cookbook.

                               Their pages are filled with ideas

                               If we’d but take the time for a look..

                              The cookbook shows food for the body,

                              Which we can’t possibly do without.

                              The Bible provides food for the soul,

                              Which we can and should learn more about.

                              Neither of these books can be helpful

                              If they gather dust upon the shelf.

                             Combining the two will bring long life.

                             Follow them and take care of yourself.

One Hour Challenge Recipes and Page

Both of these recipes have probably been posted on here before but I knew I'd get requests for them once I posted the recipe album page.

Mexican Fiesta Dip Mix

1 T. chili powder
2 tsp. Dried parsley
1 tsp. Sugar
½ tsp. Plus 1/8 tsp. Garlic powder
¼ tsp. Plus 1/8 tsp. Onion powder
¼ tsp. Plus 1/8 tsp dried cilantro
1/8 heaping tsp. Cayenne pepper
1/8 heaping tsp. Salt

Combine well.

To make dip, mix with 1 cup of
Mayonnaise and 1 cup sour cream.

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 This recipe was shared on the Cricut MB last year just before Christmas.  I believe it was called Reindeer Dipping Sauce.  I made some of it up for gifts.  Everyone raved about it!

Pretzel Dip

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz. jar yellow mustard
2 T. grated horseradish**
2 T. worcestershire sauce

Mix together, Makes 3 cups.
Store in refrigerator.
Use as pretzel dip or for sandwich spread.

**Grated horseradish can be found in
the refrigerator section at the grocery.

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On the recipe page, I used Graphically Speaking for the sombrero, Old West for the cactus, From My Kitchen for the pretzel and a SU punch for the Rolodex edge.

The background paper is Kitschy Kitchen by Melissa Frances.

One Hour Challenge Recipes

Baked Zucchini

1 lb. sausage, browned
1 chopped onion
poultry seasoning
garlic powder
1 package Pepperidge Farms Seasoned Stuffing Mix
parmesan cheese
1 large zucchini

Cut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out center and fry with meat, onion and seasonings.
Put stuffing mixture into a large bowl, add mixture from frying pan and cheese.
Mix well.  If too dry, add a little hot water.
Fill both halves of squash with the stuffing mixture. 
Top with more cheese.
Wrap each half in foil and bake on a cookie sheet at 375° until squash is tender.

Here's how I usually make this:

I chop up smaller sized unpeeled zucchini and cook it with the sausage and onions.  Mix it with the stuffing, seasoning and cheese.  Place it into a greased baking dish and bake until hot throughout.  I even just cook this in the microwave.

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Susan St. James Casserole

1 cup dry barley
1 1/2 cups water
chopped onion
chopped tomatoes
chopped bell pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of oregano

Put barley in 2 quart casserole.  Add waater, salt, oregano and vegetables.  DO NOT STIR.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes; then stir and serve.  You can use almost any vegetable that you prefer in this.

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Today's Cards for Soldiers

It's been a struggle to keep making cards during our remodel job!  Who knew it would seem so unsettling to have your house turned upside down?  lol!  Today, the wood in the living room got painted and the house reeks from paint fumes.  My personal items are  in boxes, some stored in my husband's shop building and some stacked in different corners throughout the house.  Lucky for me, the kitchen and my craft room, although dusty, are totally intact, at least for now!

So, I forced myself to stay back here and concentrate on trying to relax and make cards.  I sure didn't come up with anything fancy!

Inside it says "but how do you mail a hug?"

The coffee cup is an image I colored with my Promarkers at stamp club.

I saw a card like this in the March issue of Cards magazine.

Another card based on one in Cards Magazine, March issue.

I made the sillouette card in blue also with a boy figure on it and did multiples of each of these designs, otherwise, I'd have had a major nervous breakdown while dodging the carpenters today!  LOL!

Altered Notebooks

Whipped these out this afternoon to go with the decorated boxes for the grandkids.  All the papers and embellishments came from Paper Wishes.

Decorated Cricut Boxes

After storing all my cartridges, handbooks and overlays in plastic containers (you can see pictures in a post I did earlier this week), I couldn't decide what to do with my empty boxes.  As much as I hate to admit it, I tend to keep stuff "just in case".  Our garage and storage area in my husband's shop building are full of things that we just can't seem to toss. 

Today, I decided that I'd try and embellish one to see if it turned out looking okay.  So, I took a deep breath and went to work!  LOL!

Here are three that I did for my grandkids to use for trinket boxes.  It was a lot easier to cover them with paper than I thought it would be, too.    I followed some measurements that were posted on Custom Crops.

My oldest is really interested in music and very active in her high school band.

The youngest girl loves fashion and clothes.

Evan, the middle child, is into skateboarding and typical boy things!  I figured he'd appreciate these embellishments since he's inbetween two sisters!  These are some of the things I picked up at Arlington last summer at the scrap book convention.  They're perfect for this kind of project.

These boxes were just too good to throw in the garbage but I also didn't want to just stick them on a shelf somewhere to take up storage space.  Now that I've used these three I feel fine with my decision and will keep my eyes open to finding other good uses for the remainder.

Brenda's Mac & Cheese

Footballmom shared this recipe with the One Hour Challenge.  I came up with this as my layout for it.

I used Mickey Font for the title; recipe cards, salt and pepper shakers and the cheese pieces are From My Kitchen, the mouse is from My Community.  Background paper came from Farmer's Market stack.  I added lots of doodledots and a little flower sticker to break up the large white area in the corner of the recipe card.

The title's letters are all shadowed with Promarkers.  The dimension doesn't show up well in the photo but it made a BIG difference; it makes the letters look like they've been pop-dotted off the Crushed Curry paper!

One Hour Challenge Recipes #2

These are a few of my "emergency recipes".  All pretty good and you can keep the ingredients on hand for a fast meal anytime.  Fred worked for Halliburton for over 30 years and I had to have recipes that I could have a meal on the table in under 30 minutes.  There were a lot of nights that he'd just have enough time to run home, eat a bite and go right back to work.



Ham and Potatoes Au Gratin

2 cups of cubed ham
1 package Au Gratin potatoes

Prepare potatoes according to package directions.  Stir in cubed ham and bake until potatoes are tender.

This can be made in the microwave too.

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Rice Pizza

I know this may sound weird but it's really good.  One night I wanted to make a pizza and didn't have time to make crust and let it rise so I substituted cooked Minute Rice.  My son and DH loved it!

1 lb. sausage
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 oz. grated Mozzarella cheese
4 cups cooked rice

garlic powder
paprika
oregano

Cook sausage and drain well. 

In a microwavable container, mix tomato sauce  with garlic powder, paprika and oregano and heat thoroughly.  I prefer to do this rather than using a jar of pizza sauce.

Spread the rice evenly in the bottom of a cassserole dish; top with Parmesan cheese, sausage, tomato sauce and Mozzarella cheese.

Bake until cheese melts.  This can be prepared in the microwave also.

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Barbequed Weiners

2 packages wieners
1 can condensed tomato soup
18 oz. bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce

Mix the soup and barbeque sauce in a saucepan.  Slice wieners into 1/2" thick rounds and add to sauce mixture.  Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally.

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B.L.T. Sandwich in a Flash

bacon bits
sliced tomato
lettuce
mayonnaise
sliced bread

Spread bread with mayonnaise.  Top with bacon bits, lettuce and tomato slices.

Recipes for One Hour Challenge

Carrot-Squash Casserole1 ½ cups carrots, sliced and cooked
1 ½ lb. zucchini, sliced and cooked
1 small onion, diced
1 package corn bread dressing mix
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
½ cup milk
¼ cup margarine, melted
Layer cooked carrots, squash, onions and 1/2
of the dressing mix. In a small bowl, combine
the sour cream, soup and milk. Pour ½ of this mixture
over the layer of dressing mix. Repeat layers,
saving about ½ cup of the dressing mix for topping.
Sprinkle melted margarine over the top and bake at 350°
For 30 minutes.
You can substitute 1 can of carrots, drained and 1 can
of squash, drained for the the fresh vegetables.


Elegant Broccoli
1 pkg. Corn bread stuffing mix
2 pkgs. Frozen broccoli spears, thaed
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 tsp. Chicken bouillon granules
¾ cup milk
3 oz. package cream cheese, softened
¼ tsp. Salt
4 green onions, chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
paprika
Prepare stuffing according to package directions.
Spoon Stuffin around the edges of a lightly buttered
13 x 9 pan, Leaving a well in center. Arrange broccoli
spears in well: Set aside.
Melt butter in small saucepan; add flour, stirring until
smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in
bouillon granules and add milk gradually; cook over
medium heat; stirring constantly until thick and bubbly.
Add cream cheese and salt, stirring until smooth. Stir
in chopped onion. Spoon mixture over center of
broccoli; sprinkle with paprika. Cover with foil and
bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake
an additional 10 minutes. Serves 8.

This was the layout I did for this week and then I forgot to put a recipe on it!  LOL!  Shapes were cut on From My Kitchen.

I Just Ran Out of Room!

My cartridge storage shelves were full before I picked up the five cartridges today that Okie had ordered for me.   She's found a good way to organize and store her cartridges, handbooks and overlays that saves so much room that I picked up the containers and file tabs I'd have to have to do mine the same way.

After getting home from stamp club this evening, I started getting organized and compacted this:

into

.

.

.

.

.

this!

I only own 44 Cricut cartridges, and some of those are Solutions that didn't come with a box.  Up until today they were all stored on two shelves above my work table.  Now, I have all the cartridges in three slim fishing tackle boxes called "Flip Sider" made by Plano and the handbooks and overlays in two 9 Liter Really Useful Boxes from Staples. 

Since I use Design Studio all the time, the overlays are never used and I seldom look at the handbooks either.  I didn't want to take them out of my craft room where I'd have to go searching for them.  Putting them in the two Really Useful Boxes means I can store them in my JetMax cubes within reach.  The boxes have snap on lids to protect the handbooks from dust and moisture too!

Inside the tackle box are 6 rows of little cubbies that the cartridges fit perfectly into!  I used my label maker and put a label on each cubbie so I'd know where to put the cartridge after using it.

This is a side view showing how the rows of cubbies flip up   (I'm sure that's why it's called a Flip Sider! LOL!)

Okie had made dividers for her handbooks/overlay storage so I totally copied hers.  She found some file tabs at Wal Mart that are shiny white paper.  You can write on them with a permanent pen and if you need to change the tab, you can wipe the writing off with alcohol.  I cut cardstock 4 3/4" x 8 1/2" for the dividers and just hand lettered them with the cartridge name.

The tackle boxes are another one of Okie's bargains she found at a local store that sells insurance salvage, returned items from big retailers, etc.  You never know what you'll find when you go there!  I spent $4.88 for each of the tackle boxes,  $9.00 each for the handbook storage boxes, about $2 each for the file tab packages and used 20 sheets of cardstock to make the dividers.  So, for around $40.00 I got all my things stored and best of all,  I got back two shelves in my wall cabinets to use!

Now all I have left to do is to decide whether I want to keep the empty boxes or decorate them for my grandkids to use for treasure/jewelry boxes.  I love the magnetic closure on them and think they'd make really cute boxes to keep on the dressers in their rooms. 



Thirty Eight Cards

Last night I was looking at my paper supply and ran across a large stack of card blanks that I'd purchased at the stamp club garage sale over a year ago. 

When making cards, I tend to use white cardstock and then add a piece of colored paper or cardstock to the front but since I'd had these around for so long it was time to use them up.

I sorted them by color and then, going through my scraps, found papers to use on the fronts.  I cut 4 x 8" pieces of white paper and put that inside for an area to write on.

Most of the sentiments also came from my scrap stash.  Since so many of the sentiments I use are computer printed, I do an entire sheet full of them.  Then I put any leftovers in a scrap folder in case I need one in a hurry.

So, today, not only did I get to finally use up some of the scraps I had accumulated, I got thirty eight cards done!  None of them are very elaborate but I like them all!

Cards for Soldiers

This is why we do the Cards for Soldiers.  A Cricut MB member mentioned that her son was in basic training in South Carolina.  She writes to him often and he told her that a lot of the guys in his unit didn't get mail from home. 

It was getting close to Valentine's day and I'd already sent a box of 350 cards to my unit overseas but I still had about 30 Valentine cards left over.  So, she sent me his address and I mailed them to him.

This is the thank you letter I got from him and 15 of the guys he's stationed with.

It meant a great deal to me that they took the time to let us know that they did appreciate receiving the cards to send to their sweethearts.



I'm getting "punchy"!

So I get a new toy/tool and I feel like I have to use it, use it, use it.  I'm getting punchy from using this little owl!

Underneath the MS branch punch pieces there's a little swirl shaped stamp from SU for the branch.  The tiny hearts are part of the Two Step Owl punch from SU.

The MS branch punch pieces are hard to adhere using glue so I'm really glad that I won a Xyron at stamp club last December!

The owl is stamped with Melon Mambo.  I used the same color for the hearts and the doodledots around the outer edge of the card.

Owl Punch Card

This little owl is part of the Punch Bunch set from SU.  I computer printed the sentiment and cut the "U" with Plantin Schoolbook.   There's a white border done with a Fiskar's border punch under the blue rectangle.  I added some tiny dots with a SU marker onto the white card base.  The paper and ink used on this card is all Ballet Blue from SU.

I love to cook!

It's been snowy and we've been staying pretty much at home this past week.  With our second round of snow falling today, I decided to go to the grocery store...more to get out of the house than because I needed to buy any more food! lol!

While killing time, walking around searching for polenta--which, by the way, must not be a very high demand item in central Oklahoma--I noticed this new product on the shelf and had to check it out.

This is the first time I've recommended a food item on my blog.  But, if you like Southwest style cooking/dips I think you'll like the Sante Fe Blend of the new Philly product.

On the back of the container there's a recipe for chicken enchiladas so I picked up a container of this to experiment with.

When I opened it, I decided to taste it on a tortilla chip to see how spicy it is.  Yum!  It would be fine to just use as a dip! 

It seems to me that a recipe is actually a "suggestion" of how you should prepare a dish so I added a can of chopped green chilies and a little extra cheese and made layered, rather than rolled, chicken enchiladas. They're delicious, and using boneless chicken breasts, you can assemble this in about 20 minutes.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to bake in the oven.

This is a product I'll definitely use a lot!



One Hour Challenge Cards

With the remodel work going on at my house, it's hard for me to settle down and craft! It's not that I'm helping them do anything.   My job is pretty much to stay out of the workers' way.  I have been cooking for them to keep myself occupied.  My theory is if I feed them, they'll keep working! lol!

Yesterday it was chili and Chewy Charlie cookies.  The day before I made Banana Nut Pound Cake and they had their lunch downtown.  It's nice to have someone that likes to eat since cooking is something I do enjoy doing.

These two cards are what I was able to sit still long enough to make for our challenge last night.  It's about all I could come up with, being so unsettled.  The paper and stamp I used are from SU.

Today was spent at Lowe's buying light fixtures and, Hooray!, when I got home Dwayne, the carpenter, told me it was okay if I started vacuuming up some of the powdery sheetrock dust.  The vacuum bag filled up really fast.  That stuff is EVERYWHERE!  I just cleaned enough up today to try and keep it from circulating when the heat comes on.  In the next couple of weeks, we'll have new floor coverings put down throughout the house and I won't deep clean until that's done.

My craft room is carpeted now and I can't decide what type of hard surface floor covering to put down in here.  I'd picked out some laminate that's on a roll like old fashioned linoleum but the more I think about it, I don't believe it will hold up in my desk area where my chair rolls back and forth all the time.

A chair mat really won't work well in here either the way I have my countertops and drawer units set up.  So, I'm looking at maybe putting in a laminate that looks like hardwood instead. 

Regular old 12 x 12 commercial vinyl tile is my absolute first pick.  We've put it down in two kitchens, it's easy to care for and wears like iron but I'd have to special order it to get a pattern that doesn't look like a lobby in a business building.

The clerks at Lowe's and the carpet store keep discouraging me from installing commercial flooring since this room is a bedroom.  My stance is that it's my house, my room and I should get what I want.  If we sell the house, the new owner can put down what they want!

OMG! I'll have to pack up and empty my room to get this done!  That I'm dreading, for sure!

My Blog Award!

Amanda over at http://www.stellarscraps.blogspot.com/ was so very nice and sent me this blog award!  I'm so very pleased that she thought the things that I post on here are nice enough that they deserved it!

Thanks so much, Amanda!  You've made my day!

I'm not too sure how much "attitude" my blog has, but ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I have plenty! LOL!



One Hour Challenge Recipes

There's a thread on the Cricut Chat board called the One Hour Challenge.  Several nights a week we post something crafty that we've done and recently a few of us decided we'd do a recipe swap.

Starting this upcoming week, we're supposed to post a recipe that we've scrapped for everyone to see.  If they like it, they'll scrap it themselves and post their photos later.

Last fall I made myself an album of the recipes that I use the most so I created a new binder today to hold my MB recipes.

Rather than purchase an 8 x 8 album, which is what I really wanted but didn't have a coupon for Hobby Lobby and was too cheap to buy, I picked up a three-ring binder at Wal Mart and made this cover for it.

I used Cursive 101 for the title, From My Kitchen for the smaller words and Storefront for the bug head.

Here's the first page with a recipe from a MB member.  Thanks Theresa Klee for sending this one to me.  I love comfort food casseroles like this and will be trying it soon!

The word and hot mitts are cuts on From My Kitchen. Computer printed the recipe and mounted it on a frame from Wild Card.   I cut out an image from a sheet of retro-kitchen themed ones and put photo corners on it and used a couple of Graphic 45 punch outs too.  Of course there's a little Chesnut Brown inking going on and a few lines of doodling on there!