Best Wishes Card

The sheet music background is a free clip art image.  I over stamped the leaves images and added a black metallic butterfly done with Stampin' Up's Elegant Butterfly punch.

The colors don't show up well in the photo.  It's a very light grey layer, black, then a dark grey base.  The butterfly is not variegated colors.

You can see in this photo that it's metallic black 
cardstock.

My Version of a "Spectacular" Card

This was such a cute idea when I saw it on Pinterest that I had to do my version of  The Spotted Chick's card.

I used MTC to cut the eyeglasses and the bow tie from the Billionaire cartridge.   After an unsuccessful search for a package of googly eyes in my craft room I decided to just use the owl eye circles on SU's Owl Builder punch.  Then I added white highlights with a gel pen.

The bow tie is pop dotted; the sentiment was printed on my computer.  The eyebrows and mouth were drawn by hand with a Stampin' Up marker.

Live Happy Card

For this card I used a Tim Holtz stamp, tore the edges around the image and a stamp from Stampin' Up's You're Lovely set.

The ink is Stampin' Up's Crushed Curry.

The nested butterflies were done with Elegant Butterfly  and Martha Stewart punches.

Bitty Punch Card - 30 Minute Card

It takes only a few minutes to assemble this card.
The flowers were done with a Bitty Punch and the centers were done with a white gel pen.

Embossed and Inked Card

Using only a portion of a large embossing folder, I imprinted the swirls onto the lower left corner of the card front.  It was inked with Bermuda Bay ink using a round dauber.

The flowers were punched with a Bittty Punch and also inked.  Adhesive pearls were added to the centers.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

Hello Card

This would have been called a 30 Minute Card if it hadn't taken me so long to find the frame embossing folder.  Recently I made card stock folders for all my embossing folders and did some rearranging of the folders and dies.  I forgot where the smaller embossing folders were!

I used a Sizzex embossing folder for the frame, Swiss dots folder for the background  and Fiskars threading water punch for the scalloped pieces.  This card was inspired by one seen online.

Four Clocks Card - 30 Minute Card

I stamped the sentiment and trimmed it by hand to follow the contour of the image and show the orange plaid piece on the inside bottom edge of the card.

The clocks are clip art images.  Two of them are pop dotted for dimension.

30 Minute Card

A good way to use up some individual sheets of double sided designer paper.  Cut a 3 1/2" x 5" rectangle.  Cut it diagonally.  You will need two pieces done that way for each card front.

This is an A2 sized card.  The darker green mat is 4" x 5 1/4" so that a small amount of the white card base shows around the outer edge.

The scalloped circles are 1 3/4" and 1 1/2" Stampin' Up punches.

Dragonfly Card

The cutout area on the left front side was done with a Martha Stewart magnetic punch.  I traced the dragonfly and cut it using MTC.  The sentiment was computer printed.

MDS Butterfly Punch Card - 30 Minute Card

Stampin' Up decided to drop their MDS digital program from their product line.  I bought it when it first came out and never was able to get it installed on my computer, but, I bought their files that I knew I'd use a lot and they work just fine in MTC software.

The butterfly is one of the digital punch images.  I used MTC to cut the rectangle as well as the butterfly.

The patterned rectangle and the butterfly cut out are pop dotted for dimension.  The sentiment was printed on my computer.  Some adhesive pearls were added and the card was complete.

Crazy Birds Card

The images are Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and colored using Promarkers.

 The sentiment was printed on my computer.

Polka Dot Flower Card

The flowers and leaves are digital images from Stampin' Up, Blossom Builder punch and Fun Flower shapes.

It's not evident in the photo that the darker turquoise square has been sprayed with Glimmer Mist and has a metallic sheen.

Three Windows Butterfly Card

In my opinion, this is one of the pretties cards I've made in a while.  It was inspired by one seen on a Stampin' Up blog.

Using MTC, I spaced three 1 1/4" squares on a piece of cardstock measuring 5 1/2" x 4 1/4", the size of an A2 Card.  This was used as a mask to sponge the background.

While the mask was in place, I stamped the butterfly images on either end, then removed the mask and stamped the full butterfly image on the center square.

The sentiment stamp came from a Stampin' Up set that matches the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.  The inside sentiment says "Joy, Love, Hope, Fun".  I randomly placed those stamps, leaving plenty of area to add a signature or a personal note.  Eggplant Envy was the ink I chose.

Pink And Green Butterfly Card

The pink butterfly is a Silhouette file.  I used the Stampin' Up Elegant Butterfly punch for the smaller vellum shape and mounted it with a flower done with a Bitty Punch from green metallic card stock and a large gold brad.

Bird Builder Punch Card

Stampin' Up bird builder punch was used for the embossed birds.

Another card that is quick to assemble making it perfect for multiples.  There is ample room at the bottom to add a sentiment.

30 Minute Card

Another card inspired by one seen online.  I used Stampin' Up Whisper White ink on the background.

The flowers were done with Petite Petals stamps and punch.  The centers were colored with Stampin' Up markers and topped with an adhesive gem.

The sentiment stamp came with a card making magazine from the U.K.

30 Minute Card

I captioned this as a 30 minute card but you can make multiples in that length of time.

30 Minute Card

A super easy, quick card that's a good way to use up scraps of designer paper.

The designer papers were cut 1 1/8" x 5". 

I used my Cameo to cut the base for the sentiment and added a paper flower with a pearl for the center.

Smile Card

This card was inspired by one seen on a Stampin' Up blog from the U.K.

 I used a cloud file done by Bird and my Cameo and printed the sentiment using my computer.

 A scalloped edge punch was used on the bottom edge using a dark grey ink to match the bottom mat.

Using Photo Printed Paper - 30 Minute Card

Many times when you buy a large stack of paper you wind up with what I call photo printed sheets.  They're reproductions of actual items like the rocks on this card front.  One good way to use them up is to do a play on words to fit the image.

The sentiment is a combination of stamp sets, mounted on stacked punched circles and pop dotted for dimension.

I was inspired by a card seen online.

Three Roses Die Cut Card

It seems like forever since any new cards have been posted on here.  It's been a rough July for me; not feeling well at all, and just now feeling up to doing some crafting again.

The rose die used on this came with a card making magazine from the UK. 

The background on the card appears to be embossed in the photo but it's actually white on white die cuts of the rose itself. Two of the roses are glued onto the center rectangle and the top one was pop dotted for dimension.

It took quite a while to get the die cuts done and assembled.  There are a total of 14 die cuts on the card front.  Now I remember why I bought an electronic cutter! 

Three Mugs Card

The mugs were traced and cut using Make The Cut software.  The heart was done by inking only a portion of a stamp I've had for years. 

The sentiment was printed on my computer.

This should have been a 30 Minute Card, but Suddenlink internet service went off!  All together I spent about 2 hours to complete four of these since I couldn't get online to find a clip art image to trace!

Little Leaves Note Card - 30 Minute Card

Sizzix Little Leaves die was used for the branch.  It's pop dotted for dimension.  Pen stitching was done around the outer edge of the die cut layer.  This is a blank note card.

30 Minute Cards

 The embossing was done with a Darice folder named Cross With Script.  I found it at JoAnn's.   It's embossed on mica paper and mounted on some cardstock.

Super simple card.  Just another piece of mica paper that's embossed then embellished with a few paper flowers with pearl centers.

I really like the embossing folder.  It will be easy to cut the embossed design into sections and use them as card sentiments. 

Today's Kitchen Experiment

A friend told me about this recipe.  She made it a while back and enjoyed it so I decided today to experiment with it for tonight's diner.  I used a single Smart Chicken breast.  They're always so large that one is plenty for the two of us.

The original recipe says to put chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot then top it with the dry stuffing mix.  Add a can of Cream of Chicken soup mixed with sour cream on top of the dry stuffing and cook 4 hours.

Stuffing mixes are a great time saver but lack the flavor and texture of real homemade dressing.  I sauteed sliced celery and diced onions to add to the mix. I also added some chicken bouillon for more flavor.  Then I decided I better write down the changes I made to the recipe in the event we like it well enough to make it again.


CROCKPOT CHICKEN AND DRESSING

1 large boneless chicken breast
1 package Best Choice Cornbread Stuffing Mix
1 2/3 cups boiling water ********
¼ cup butter
celery
onion
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 tsp. chicken bouillon powder
½ cup sour cream
½ soup can full of milk

Set crock pot on high.

Saute diced onions and sliced celery in a small amount of oil until tender.

Add vegetables to stuffing mix along with boiling water, butter, bouillon powder, sour cream and ½ can Cream of Chicken soup.

Place chicken breast in crock pot and cover with stuffing mixture.

Cook on high until chicken is fully cooked.

Stir together remaining soup and the milk to make sauce to pour over the stuffing mixture when ready to serve.

*****reduce the amount of water so that the stuffing won't be too moist ****

Giving Comfort Cards

Giving Comfort is a charitable organization that provides comfort kits, cards and support for cancer patients.  Since OWH is shutting down after next month, I decided to switch gears and make cards for Giving Comfort.

I'm finding it extremely difficult to find sentiments suitable for cancer patients.   Google search, Pinterest and going back through the photos of cards I've made in the past didn't yield many.  One of the best is a stamp from Papertrey Ink.

Chicken Tetrazzini for Two

Every time I decide to make chicken tetrazzini I have to go search for a recipe.  It's a dish that I really like but don't make often because I'm not too sure that DH even likes it. 

I jokingly said that I've been playing the home version of Iron Chef.  Rather than being given a mix match of ingredients to concoct a meal, I'm going through the cabinets, refrigerator and freezer, taking stock of what's on hand and making a meal.

Tonight I found a large can of chicken and that inspired the tetrazzini.  There was also a portion of a can of cream of mushroom soup in the freezer that needed to be used, and a jar of pimentos I'd had on hand for a while as well as a half box of spaghetti. There was a small portion of Velveeta cheese and some Parmesan that I'd grated and had left over from another meal last week.  So, it was just a matter of tossing it all together!

Chicken Tetrazzini for Two


1/4 box Ronzoni spaghetti
1 can cooked chicken --  I used chunk white meat
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
1 jar pimentos, drained
dried parsley
1/2 cup small cubes of Velveeta
3/4 cup good quality grated Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti according to package directions and drain, reserving 1/2 to 3/4 cup of the pasta water.  I add the water drained from the canned chicken to the pot.  It adds a lot of chicken flavor to the pasta.

In a nonstick pan, heat the soup, reserved pasta water, cheeses, pimentos, parsley, and chicken.  Add cooked pasta and serve.

Bird On Wreath Card

This card was based on one seen on a Stampin' Up demonstrator's blog.  She made the wreath using jute cord formed into a circle.  My version uses circles cut from kraft paper using my Cameo and MTC software.

The bird and branches were done with the Bird Builder punch, the sentiment was printed on my PC and then mounted with the Word Window and Modern Label punches.

The background was scored using Martha Stewart's scorboard.  It's a 4 x 5 1/4" rectangle scored at 1/2", 1 1/2", 2 1/2" and 3 1/2".

Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos

Okieladybug posted this recipe idea on Facebook.  I like chicken.  I really like Mexican food.  I had all the ingredients on hand.  I had to try it.

The chicken breasts I used were frozen but they cooked just fine in under 4 hours.  The easiest way to shred the chicken once it's cooked is to put it into bowl and shred it using your mixer.  I have a Kitchenaid and I used the beater, not the dough hook.  It was shredded in about 20 seconds.

I used flour tortillas since I had them and they needed to be used and I did brush them with olive oil before baking. 

Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos

    2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
    1 teaspoon chili powder
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    1 teaspoon cumin
    salt + pepper
    8 ounces cream cheese
    ⅓ cup water
    1 to 1 ½ cups shredded colby or Mexican blend cheese
    12 6 inch corn or flour tortillas
    optional: cilantro, salsa, sour cream, or other toppings as desired

Instructions

Mix chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste, cream cheese, and water in a medium mixing bowl. Pour half of the mixture into your crock pot, place chicken in crock pot and pour remaining mixture over the chicken.

Cover and cook on low 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Minutes before serving, remove chicken from crock pot, shred with two forks, and return to slow cooker. Give it a stir. Cook about 15 minutes longer.

Preheat oven to 400. Here is a great trick to keep your corn tortilla from falling apart. Place 1 corn tortilla on a skillet, put about ⅛ cup cheese on the corn tortilla. Warm the tortilla until the cheese melts, remove tortilla from pan. Melting the cheese on the corn tortilla will keep it from falling apart in the next step.

Place about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture onto the middle of each corn tortilla that has the melted cheese on it or a flour tortilla.  Top with 1-2 tablespoons shredded cheese. Roll tightly and place in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. If using corn tortilla brushing some olive oil over them will help with browning and crisping.

 Bake 10 minutes, until tortillas are slightly browned and shredded cheese is melted. Serve with desired toppings and sauces.

You can see the entire recipe and instructions on Made from Pinterest.

30 Minute Card -- Get Well Card

Just a quick layered card using a couple of Cuttlebug folders a punch and stamp.

Hello Card

Now that I'm concentrating on making cards for the local nursing homes I can finally use up the supplies on hand that weren't suitable for OWH cards.

Split Gothic Folder Card -- 30 Minute Card

The background was embossed with a Gothic folder and then cut down and split into three sections to allow the colored cardstock to show through.  Splitting the embossed area gives it a totally different look and one more good way to utilize an embossing folder.

I used Hallmark Card Studio, Nokia Brush HMK and Bernhard Modern fonts to print the sentiment.

This is the twelfth, and final, Father's Day card layout I made for the local nursing homes.  There are two of each style, one for each of the homes in town.

Father's Day Cards

This is a repeat of a layout done in the past.  I changed the colors and inks and it looks quite a bit different.

The football is a Silhouette shape cut from paper printed to resemble the texture of an actual football.

Inside sentiment: "Kick off, kick back and enjoy your Father's Day"

My goal for the weekend was to make a dozen different Father's Day card layouts for the local nursing homes.  With these two, that's eleven down and only one more design to come up with.

30 Minute Cards -- Father's Day Card

Just a couple of stamps and a clip art image of the fish.  The fish and the circle image are pop dotted for dimension

30 Minute Cards -- Father's Day

Thank goodness for Pinterest!  This week I took some cards to the local nursing homes and found out that they were in need of cards for Father's Day.  Pinterest provided a lot of inspiration for cards that I could do quickly and looked really nice.  These came from The Cutting Cafe.

 There are only two nursing homes in our town and I didn't want to take them any duplicated cards.  I'm making two of each design, one for each nursing home.

The jean's pocket is clip art, re-sized and printed using Hallmark Card Studio software.  The hearts were done quickly using Make The Cut software; some of them are pop dotted.

The sentiment was also printed in HCS and punched with a 1" circle punch then mounted on a 1 1/4" scalloped circle.

Zesty Grilled Chicken and Veggies: Seasoned Grilled Potatoes

The Seminole Nation has been hosting some cooking demonstrations.  The nutritionist works for the Chickasaw Nation and comes up from Ada once a month to present the demonstration, give us hearth healthy, diabetic friends recipes and food facts.

Last night two of the recipes were Zesty Grilled Chicken and Veggies and Seasoned Grilled Potatoes.  All of the recipes she prepares are simple and use ingredients available locally.

We all enjoyed tasting the food and I stopped on the way home to pick up the squash and pepper to prepare the chicken and veggie recipe for our dinner tonight.

ZESTY GRILLED CHICKEN AND VEGGIES

10-12   wooden skewers
1 lb.      chicken tenderloins, boneless, skinless
1/2 c.    Zesty Italian dressing, fat free
3 T.       Olive oil
1 tsp.     Garlic poswer
1/2 tsp.  Rosemary, dried   ----  I used basil instead
1/4 tsp.  Salt
1/8 tsp.  Pepper
1            Zucchini, sliced 1'2" thick
1            Yellow squash, sliced 1/2" thick
1            Onion, medium, sliced 1/2" thick
1            Bell pepper, red, seeded, cut into 8 wedges
16          Mushroom buttons

1.  Soak wooden skewers in warm water for 30 minutes.

2.  In a gallon zip top bag, mix chicken and dressing, seal bag and turn to coat, refrigerate for 15 minutes.

3. Drain off marinade from chicken and thread chicken onto skewers.

4.  Cook over medium high heat on grill 5-6 minutes on each side, until internal temperature reaches 165°

5.  Place all vegetables except onions into another gallon zip top bag, add oil and shake to coat.

6.  Mix seasonings in a small bow, add to vegetables and toss to coat.

7.  Spray both sides of onion slices with cooking spray and grill until done.

8.  Place the zucchini and squash onto a preheated grill, thread mushrooms and pepper onto prepared skewers.  Cook until brown and tender.

She gave us a good tip on grilling onion slices.  Peel your onion and then poke toothpicks into the sides.  This will hold the onions together while on the grill plus the toothpicks mark the thickness of the slices.

***since I only cook for the 2 of us, I used a boneless chicken breast cut into strips and cooked all this on my Cuisinart indoor grill.  I did not use skewers, just laid the sliced vegetables onto the grill, and omitted the mushrooms entirely***


SEASONED GRILLED POTATOES

3 T.    Water
1 lb.    Potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/4" slices
2 T.     Margarine
2 tsp.   Garlic powder
1 tsp.   Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp.    Cornstarch
1/8 tsp. Cayenne pepper

1.  Place potatoes and water in a large microwaveable bow.  Cover and cook on high for 6 minutes or until almost tender.

2.  Drain off water.  Let stand for 2 minutes.

3.  In a gallon size zip top bag, add the cooked potatoes and margarine, toss to coat.

4.  In a small bowl mix the seasonings, add to coated potatoes in the bag and toss again.

5.  You may place potatoes on a plate for coating to set.

6.  Place the potatoes on the grill and cook on medium high heat 5-6 minutes until potatoes are tender  and brown.

The cornstarch in the recipe give a crispy crust on the potato slices.

M

Tried Another New Recipe--Cilantro Cream Chicken

Pinterest gets me into more trouble!  Every time I go there I wind up pinning numerous recipes to experiment with.  Tonight I made Cilantro Cream Chicken.  It's simple to make and, in my opinion, really good.  DH, however, said he "could" eat it again which is Fred-speak for "I really don't like it and don't make it any more."

I used a Smart Chicken breast cut into large cubes. One small red onion and 3/4 of a red pepper cut into narrow strips.

The recipe would make enough to feed at least 6 people so it had to be cut down for just the two of us.

The sauce is unusual looking but quite tasty when you combine it with the chicken, vegetables and rice.

The recipe does not call for salt or pepper but you should add it to your taste.  The sauce tasted really flat until I added salt.


CILANTRO CREAM CHICKEN

    1 & 1/4 pounds chicken tenderloins
    1 cup Italian dressing
     juice from 1 small lime
    1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
    1/4 cup sour cream
    1 red onion, sliced
    1 red bell pepper, sliced


 Combine the Italian dressing, lime juice & about 2 tablespoons of the cilantro.

 Reserve 1/4 cup of the mix to use as garnish on finished dish.

Place vegetables and chicken in separate containers and divide the marinade between the two containers.

 Turn the chicken to coat & marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.

 Add the remaining cilantro to the reserved 1/4 cup of marinade & combine with the 1/4 cup of sour cream. I gave mine a quick blend in my food processor. Chill until ready to serve.

Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Remove the chicken & vegetables from the marinade, discard the remaining marinade.

 Saute chicken until the chicken is no longer pink & juices run clear. Add the vegetables to the chicken after the first few minutes and cook until the vegetables are tender.

Serve the chicken & veggies over rice & topped with the Cilantro Cream Sauce.

Butterfly Card

The butterfly is Silhouette file 19799, pop dotted for dimension and embellished with a tiny flower and pearl.'  I used a 5 1/2" paper doily with a 3" circle in the center cut from patterned paper.  The doily was cut in half and then tinted with Always Artichoke ink.

The sentiment is from a set of stamps that came with a card making magazine from the UK. 

I added some pen stitching with a Close to Cocoa marker.

Baked Onion and Parmesan Cheese Dip

 I made this yesterday and enjoyed sharing it with DH and some friends last night.  Since the recipe makes enough for about 12, I cut it in half.

Baked Onion and Parmesan Cheese Dip

1 large sweet onion, chopped
3 (8-ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, plus more to taste
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425º F.

In the bowl of a food processor combine the onion, cream cheese, parmesan cheese and mayonnaise.  Process until completely smooth.  Add the cayenne and fold in the chives.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Transfer the mixture to a 1-quart baking dish and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. 

Bake until browned and puffed, about 20 minutes. 

Allow to cool slightly; garnish with chopped chives. 

Serve warm with crostini, crackers, or chips.  Enjoy!

Starfish and Seahorse Card -- And Time To Move On

Now that Operation Write Home has announced they'll no longer be accepting donations of cards effective August 1, 2015, I'm having to re-think my card making efforts.

It seems futile to just accumulate a huge supply of cards but I have so many supplies that need to be used up!

I'm seriously considering putting away my paper crafting supplies and going back to other hobbies that I've enjoyed in the past.  And, if I cannot find an outlet for my cards, that's what I'll do.

Making cards has been my primary focus for so long that it's going to be quite a change for me.

I will be making inquiries locally to see if any of the nursing homes or local charity groups might be interested in receiving some cards but have decided that I will no longer devote my crafting time exclusively to paper crafting.  It's been great fun to participate in the OWH effort.  Through making cards I've met a lot of new friends and pushed myself to learn new techniques.

My blog will be changing as I will now post more recipes and perhaps photos of my other creations.

"Swine-Apple"

This popped up on Facebook today.  I want to try it--but without the Creole seasoning added onto the bacon.

"Swine-Apple"

Hollowed out pineapple stuffed with boneless country style ribs then rubbed with homemade seasoning and wrapped in thick cut bacon and sprinkled with a light creole seasoning.

Smoked at 240 average for 5 hours.

"Hello Kitty" Card

Ran across this idea on a Stampin' Up page.  The bow is done with the retired Butterfly punch and a 3/4" circle punch.  The eyes are 3/4" punched circles and the nose is a Small Oval punch.  I drew the whiskers with a Stampin' Up water based marker.