Not your typical Birthday Card...

I love stamps that let me color. Guess I've never grown out of that coloring-phase :)

This card was for my Mother-in-law who loves to curl up with a good book and a cozy blanket. Not the traditional looking birthday card, but it suited her well.

Only a few days before Christmas - enjoy.

Christmas Thanks

Knowing we'll be in the middle of a move while trying to enjoy the holiday season has had me think ahead for what I can do now to help make then a little smoother. One thing I thought was to get my Christmas Thank-you card done ahead of time. That way, the kids can write & get those off in the mail in good time. With being away from family again this year, I know it's important for my kids to remember to pause and give thanks to those that took the time to think about them and purchase something specifically just for them. It's so special to them to think that Grandma & Grandpa were thinking just of them when they searched for their gift. Makes me smile too!

How's your preparations coming along? It's nearly time.

Blessings to you & your family as you savor this celebration of Christ's birth.

For this card I used my new border punch (love it!) just under some Basic Grey DS paper. The little bee is colored with Copic Markers and I've used the Stampin' Up! "Family Phrases" - thank-you as the sentiment. I also stamped (in Versamark, hard to see in the photo) on the confetti tan cardstock to give a bit of texture to the top half of the card. A couple eyelets on the side & the card was complete.

Screamin' COLOR!

If this color doesn't scream color I don't know what does. Vivid & bright and almost difficult to look at! LOL. My daughter's friend loves bright colors (just imagine that this card would match her bedroom perfectly! WOW.) so we went as bold as we could. The little chick is colored with Copic Markers and the papers are all from Stampin' Up! The ribbon is from my stash and that stash is so big & unorganized I only know if it's NOT SU - LOL... and in this case, it's not.

Being away from home and only having what I brought can be really limiting, but also forces me to work with what I have. I've really missed my cuttlebug (won't leave home without that next time!) as well as a number of my punches. You can't take EVERYTHING... but it was SO HARD to choose!

Enjoy your day!

☀

It's a birthday

How is your "hustle & bustle" month starting out? Have you made a point of going slow or do you like to bucket-up and enjoy the crazy ride that it can become! Our month will certainly be that! C-R-A-Z-Y!! We're still in Arizona (I still post DAILY on our family blog www.thegraysadventure.blogspot.com) and will be moving back to the frozen north in a few weeks. So we will be moving about 4 days BEFORE Christmas. yeah, that kind of crazy. But you know what, just like everything else, you take it a little at a time. I know I need to get my shopping done and gifts wrapped before we leave, we have a little tree set up here with handmade decorations that we'll continue to make while we're here and simply set that back up in Fort Mac. It's all good. We've all ready been invited out for Christmas dinner - isn't that awesome. All those little details get sorted out, so why lose energy worrying about it all. :)

Being here, there & everywhere the past seven months (WOW, have we been gone that long!!) I've still been able to get birthday cards made & mailed out (*TOOT, TOOT!*) although I cannot claim they were all ON TIME, they were all sent out. These ones were for my sister-in-laws who both have November birthday's. I was able to use one sheet of 6x6 Basic Grey design paper and make two cards. Each slightly different.

Merry Christmas

☀

Very simple (has been my theme again) - I did a little paper-piecing on her apron and some sponging around the edges (I thought it matched well with the sponge effect that was already on the DS paper). I also pulled out my dew drops which I so love. I was able to order some more while I've been down here, so you'll be seeing them on my cards again. Still haven't found anyone in Canada selling this gems!

Basically the same card. Same "tag" and expression, but on this one, I added her birthday 'date' on the side and used the dew drops above her.

Simple.

Another page.

I love this paper!!!

quick view.

rubons and stickers on photos.

a trio of bling under the hands photo :)

Every wedding has to have some bling!

The Lost files....

I found some more pages to that album I did last summer....

I'll post them over the next few days so you can have a quick look...

then back to cards :)

.j.

More paper piecing

The simplicity of a 3x3 card.

The speed of stamped design paper, cut out.

The joy of using up design paper scraps!!

The fun of doodles.

Simple. Quick. Fun.

♥

.j.

Winter Trees

Another Kim Hughes set Winter Trees.

My son actually sat with me (age 10) and stamped along side of me, giving me insight and ideas. His snowman had a hand drawn/colored pink cameo scarf (too cute!!). This was for a challenge over on SCS, but I didn't write down for which one. HA. It was a sketch challenge I believe. :)

At any rate, it was a bit of inspiration that I needed to get going.

Have you ever checked out all the sketches that are available over on SCS?

Check them out HERE.

I can't say this is my favorite card. I flubbed up while inking the grey layer and so had to use buttons to hide the error. I didn't want to try to sew through all those layers (half laziness, half fingertip survival) and so I used linen thread through them before hand (a little illusion there for you ladies!) and then used glue dots. BUT... the knot at the back of the button was too bulky... and so it goes. Not good. BUT, the snowman IS cute.... and it reminded me how much I love the look of paper piecing. :)

Not to mention that I was stamping with my buddy... so it was all good! :)

♥

Forgotten Thanks.

I forgot to thank all you ladies that took the time to vote for Tania for the Scrapbox over on Splitcoaststampers. What an exciting week that was to watch the votes roll in. No. She didn't win. CLOSE though... the dream for that scrapbox continues....

Admittedly, this is still one of my all time favorite stamps from Stampin' Up! A retired hostess set. I think it was way back when SU gave a special stamp to workshops over a certain amount. At any rate, although it's been "de-blocked" and tucked into a CD "container" (do you call them containers?? Hmmm?) I still pull it out again and again!!

I am missing my cuttlebug and trying to create texture through design paper and layers. Although my last post I was using those mini 3x3 cards & they were simple and I was OK with that. Move up to the typical card size and I have to fill that baby up! LOL.

I used SU Markers on the stamps to get the multicolored images. Oh, and my favorite ribbon of all-time (thus far) is SU's taffeta ribbon. YUM-MY!

What are you doing this weekend?

.j.

Cute.

Simple.

Easy.

What's better than that?! :) I made a number of these little cards to have on hand. Seems like far too many people are sick these days... great little card to give with a box of tissue to someone with the sniffles, or a pot of homemade soup to someone with the flu.....

Been trying to stamp some cards for my bin, it's been depleting lately with very few additions! Hopefully I'll get some stamping time in over the weekend....

what are you working on?

.j.

This set is made with Kim Hughes 'Comforting Hugs'.

PLEASE VOTE!!!!

Ok, Tania Smith (aka CEDARGIRL) has entered a contest on Splitcoaststampers to win an amazing Scrapbox! SERIOUS STUFF! You should see her entry & the effort she put into it - AMAZING!!! You can read all about it HERE. After you read that, you'll want to VOTE FOR CEDARGIRL!!!

SO -- please click HERE and vote!!

How amazing would it be to win one of these!! GO TANIA GO! GO TANIA GO!!

Remember on the poll her name is CEDARGIRL!!!!

You have until Friday, October 16th to get your vote in before NOON!!

THANKS!

and the stamping continues.....

I also ordered some stamps from Papertreyink. This stamp image is from an adorable set called Everyday Button Bits. Seriously, how cute is this set?! My photo has a yellow haze to it (bad lighting), but I wanted to take a quick picture to share with you :) I can't say I'll have something to post & share every day, but I'm hoping the lull isn't too long in between. I ordered a few more sets, so I hope to have some time to play over the next few days and hopefully share some more. We're off to Disneyland next week, then family is coming to visit while we tour the Hoover Dam and spend some time at the Grand Canyon, so no stamping.. but then I'll return & pull it all out again. Also have my eye on a few stamps over at Whipper Snapper!!

Hope you had a great weekend!! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone....

.j.

I stamped, I did, I did!

We are having the time of our life - wow, what a fantastic adventure!! We do write a DAILY blog over at THE GRAY'S WILD ADVENTURES!!! so check that out if you're interested in what we're up to (and why I'm rarely posting here) HOWEVER... today I decided to pull out my gear & do some stamping. I have ordered from some stamp companies here in the US that I don't order from when I'm in Canada due to the shipping & duty fees and it's been so much fun!! It's giving me the needed inspiration to stamp again. I had to get a couple of birthday cards done, so I thought I'd take a quick pic and show you. A wee bit fuzzy, but I don't have my lighting stuff here, so it was just put on the counter & snapped :)

This stamp is called Owen The Owl and it's from Cornish Heritage Farms by Kim Hughes. I purchased a few of her sets, so as I play, I'll hopefully be able to post & share. We're in this vacation home for two months before moving to the next place, so it gives me a bit of time to catch my breath, relax...and stamp! :)

Not sure if anyone is still out there, if so.... say hello :)

enjoy your weekend,

.j.

Animal Sample - Chickens - Animals - Gallery - Retail: English

Animal Sample - Chickens - Animals - Gallery - Retail: English

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a stamping break...

Just wanted to let you know our adventure has begun and we are on the road. I've started a new blog for that adventure:

www.thegraysadventure.blogspot.com if you're interested :)

Hopefully I'll still have some stamping & scrapping along the way and I will post that here. But in the meantime, you can catch our family on our Wild Adventure!!

.j.

A father's Day Card - or - a quick layout idea! :)

We are in Fort McMurray right now for a little over a week.  Getting stuff out of storage that we want to sell and getting those last minute things done before the big trip.  Also a few things still to get done with organization for home-schooling.  Very excited about it this year (is that because it's my first year?) but also very overwhelmed with it all.  Thankfully there's others out there who remember their first year & they have given me such help!  (thank you Tania, Lila & Diane!!)

Stamping time has no existed these last few weeks.  It seems that the end of summer comes far too quickly & then it's so busy.

This is a card I haven't shown you yet - one I had to do in a panic as Father's Day was fast approaching and I needed to get it in the mail!  I actually like how it turned out.  I used a photo from a special time and layered it and then used stickers to "write" the sentiment :)

Hope you're having a great week!

.j.

Orzo with Parmesan and Basil

I had never made orzo before going to my sister-in-laws house & tasting this amazing dish. Kids loved it as did all the adults! A keeper FOR SURE! Have you tried Orzo before? It's found in the pasta section & looks like chubby rice :)

Orzo with Parmesan and Basil

3 TBSP. butter

1-1/2 cups orzo

3 cups of chicken broth

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

6 TBSP chopped FRESH basil (or 1-1/2 tsp dried, but TRY TO GET FRESH!!)

salt & pepper to taste

2 tbsp. plain yogurt (thinned with a little milk)

Melt butter in skillet over med-high heat. Add orzo and saute 2 min. until slightly brown. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer until orzo is tender & liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Mix in parmesan and basil. Season with salt & pepper. For a creamier pasta (YES!) stir in 2 tbsp. plain yogurt thinned with a little milk. Enjoy!

Getting ready....

We head out today....I'll post when I can along the way if I can find Internet access, otherwise, chat when we're back. How's the back to school planning & prep coming along? Get those cameras charged & ready to snap those back to school photos!! :)

This is the start of the actual wedding day. I used the threading water punch on the main photo & down the edge of photos on the second page. That's her father "looking" at her on the balcony.
Enjoy your weekend!
.j.

Another page

Just a quick post to show another page...
It's our 15th wedding anniversary today, so we'll be celebrating & then tomorrow heading out to Alberta...might be posting next time on the new Mac! :)
OK, I just searched to post a pic of hubby & me and there isn't one to find! Not good. ONE of us is always behind the camera! Must get the kids to take more pics of us!! :)
enjoy your day!
.j.

Film strip

Have you ever made your own "film Strip" with the spiral punch for Stampin' Up? I think it's a cool idea so I played with it a bit on this page when the wedding party went to the Lava Tubes. I love Tidy Alphabet stamp sets as I find it so nice to stamp, trim, mat and trim ... and use! I added eyelets (hard to tell on this paper) around the photos here & there in pairs along with stamped and cut out words.....the design paper was busy enough so I wanted to keep it simple.
I will be starting a blog (soon I hope) of our family adventure of travels....I'll let you know when we get that up & running if you want to follow us around :) We've got a fabulous vacation home booked in Lake Havasu City for 5 weeks and it is SWEET! Amazing pool (the kids will FREAK!), love it. But first we'll do California and Disneyland...fun to get it all planned out and start booking things, makes it seem very real! :)
.j.

Japanese Chicken Wings

We made this a couple of weeks ago and the kids kept walking into the house saying WHAT SMELLS SOOOOO GOOOOD? :) Mom's love to hear that!

JAPANESE CHICKEN WINGS

3 lbs of chicken wings, tips removed (I used the dumettes)

1 egg

1/3 cup of flour

1 cup of butter

**I ended up needing more egg & flour, but I think I had more than 3 lbs of chicken.

SAUCE:

3 TBSP. soy sauce

3 TBSP. water

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

Cut wings in half. (obviously skip this if using drumettes) Dip in slightly beaten egg and then in flour. Fry in butter until deep brown and crisp. YUM. Place in shallow roasting pan. Mix all sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken wings. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour baste wings with sauce during cooking. So easy & delish! Kids & hubby LOVED them!

Beach Day

I loved how this page worked out(yes, still the the wedding album, I do not even know these people, LOL). Isn't that rub-on from Stampin' Up (12" flowers) fabulous?! Made me hunt for more of these rub ons (Thank you Marie!!! She sold me FOUR SETS!!) I think if you click on the image it's bigger? Does that work? I added stamped images as embellishments. I also used some linen ribbon and stamped treasure on the end (with StazOn) with a little collection of buttons on the end. :) Simple & pretty...and I love the paper!
Picking up a new Mac laptop on our trip to Fort Mac - yahoo. I'm sure I'll be on a steep learning curve, so if you have any tips for me...BRING THEM ON!! leave me a comment if you have one, love one, or have any tips for me on WHICH one you'd recommend :)
.j.

In the thick of planning....

Life has been crazy. So busy planning, and booking, and getting very excited about the trip. Leaving on September 16th...and that is coming up quick! We're heading back to Fort Mac next week to go through storage stuff - the 'ol sell, sort, what to take, what to store...won't be fun. But I'll be singing "Pleeeease release me let me gooooooo" as I fling stuff we DO NOT need. Wow, we hold on to stuff for so many reasons besides NEED.
I haven't had any more stamping time, but I will continue to show you some pages from the wedding album. I'll try to send a bit more often, than just the recipes on Wednesdays :)

How's your summer going? What have you been working on?
This page was SIMPLE! They were photos she wanted to include, but we were really hard to trim down & work with. I ended up just matting them, and using chipboard elements.
Enjoy your day,
.j.

Chocolate Pavlova

Pavlova is one of our favorite desserts - so yummy & so light. I came across this recipe in a cookbook that also had a chocolate layer....will HAVE to try it!! It does take TIME, not a last minute throw-together dessert. But looks like it's worth the effort. :)

Chocolate Pavlova

3 large egg whites

3/4 cup superfine sugar (I use regular, just takes more beating)

1 tsp. white wine vinegar (I use regular 'ol vinegar)

1 tsp. cornstarch

FILLING:

1 pound (16 squares - WHOA!) semisweet chocolate

1-1/4 cup heavy cream

GARNISH:

4 oz semisweet chocolate

1 pint fresh strawberries

2 oz white chocolate

1 cup fresh raspberries

The process:

Preheat oven to 350. Draw a 9" circle on a piece of waxed paper and put upside down on a baking sheet.

Beat the egg whites until very stiff, gradually beat in the sugar. Fold in the vinegar & cornstarch.

Spread the meringue over the circle on the baking paper. Make a large hollow in the center of the meringue.

Bake for 5 minutes then reduce oven temp to 250 and bake for 50 minutes more. Set aside to cool slightly. Carefully peel away the waxed paper & let the meringue cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In the top of a double-boiler set over simmering (NOT BOILING) water, melt the chocolate. Heat the cream in a pan until almost boiling. Gradually whisk the cream into the melted chocolate until smooth. Set aside for 2-3 hours to thicken but not to set completely. Stir occasionally.

Put the meringue on a large serving plate and carefully spoon the filling into the hollow. Garnish with chocolate curls, chocolate dipped strawberries.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chippers

Haven't tried these, but they looked yummy.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chippers

1-1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp water

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (mini)

1 cup butterscotch chips

3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted

The process:

Preheat oven to 375

Mix together flour, baking soda & salt

Beat together butter, sugars at med. until light & fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla & water

At low speed, beat in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time until soft dough forms. Fold in choc. chips, butterscotch chips & nuts.

Drop batter by rounded tsp onto ungreased baking sheets 2 inches apart.

Bake until golden, 7 minutes.

Makes 4 dozen.

Chocolate Orange Muffins

MMM-MMmm Good!

Chocolate Orange Muffins

2 cup flour

1 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup of granulated sugar

1 TBSP. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 tsp. grated orange peel

The process:

Preheat oven to 400. Mix together flour, chocolate chips, sugar, baking soda & salt. mix together orange juice, milk, oil, egg & orange peel. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture all at once to well, tossing with a fork until dry ingredients are just moistened (do not over-mix). Spoon batter4 into prepared muffin cups. Bake until tops are firm & golden - 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

ENJOY!

A new family favorite here!

It's Wednesday, right?

Wow, does time ever go by in a blink! We were down in Nanaimo for the {partial} week and although it was a "working holiday" it was great. SO wonderful to see David's folks - love my in laws!! Miss them terribly & I'm thrilled to hear them already chatting about plans to visit us down in Arizona this November - waaaahooooo! We got lots of what needed to be done - done. This is good. We're back in Vernon now, David is back in Fort Mac and now the plans of when to leave and how to go are in full swing. Life is good!
Here's another page in the album I did. The house that they stayed in looks FABULOUS! Check out that pool - amazing. She had a ton of photos of the wedding. I simply asked her to go through and put them into groupings for me as to which ones she'd like to see on each layout spread. I told her I couldn't make any promises as they were all 4x6 and many were difficult to trim down, so that helped immensely in deciding what photos to use. Here again SIMPLE was the key. I used the fabulous THICKERS, love those, on this page for the main title. I used black vinyl. The 'together' was just script print stickers I used to form a word. I'm going to be looking for creative ways to use up letters - watch for it! LOL. A couple chipboard expressions on page on, a rub on flower on page two....simple, simple.

Hope to get some cards stamped up this week as well - a few to get out in the mail so perhaps you'll see some cards slipped in here & there amongst the scrapbook pages. How's your summer going thus far? Enjoying the heat?! :)

.j.

Summer Fun.

While poor hubby has been commuting back & forth we have sure been enjoying the Okanagan weather. The salt water pool is such a bonus!!!

.j.

Beer Tasting.

No, not me. :) One of the days they all went & tasted different beers....great that she was able to bring back a coaster (actually two) that I was able to encorporate into this page. I used my slit punch to create the scalloped edge on page two and used my circle nestibilites to create the rings. Simple. Simple. Doing a whole album in basically a WEEK I had to go simple! I matted nearly all the photos in black (using one of my all-time favorite scrapbooking tools - Perfect Layers!!) to keep it uniform through-out. This was a "rats I already put the pages IN the album and I'm too lazy to take them back out to take the photo!" HA. So, picture has a bit of a blah layer on it, this is why :) I thought too if the bride wanted to, she could journal under or around a couple of these photos to personalize them and add some of her own thoughts... would be cool.
.j.

Snorkeling Fun

I don't normally use the pre-made embellies, but the lady who had me do this album for her had a few items she hoped could be included. These were some of them (hard to tell with the poor photo quality -- sorry!), but there's a little snorkel mask and wave on the first page and a little outfit & swimming turtle with bubbles on the other. It stretched me and that is a good thing! :) You can't tell (again the photo!) but on the first page there's a picture that looks all blue. It actually says ALOHA. They found that written in rocks under the water - very cool!

On this page I also used my flexible ruler from Bo-Bunny...Great gadget for making wavy borders!!

Well we're on the road today - back to the island for a final trip to finish up house stuff. THEN IT WILL BE SOLD! Ahhhhh.....that will feel lovely! So it'll be a lot of sweat & man-hours at the house, but it'll also be great to see family again.

enjoy your day,

.j.

New Week.

Hope you all had a great weekend. WOW was it hot!! LOVE it.

Crazy busy week for us as we head back to the island to clean up the hard and let go of the house! The sale is finalized on the 31st - waaahooooooooo! So I'll pre-post a couple while we're away and show you more of the album.

One thing that you'll notice is *missing* is journalling. I knew that was not something I could put in after a little tea time with the mother about their trip. Too personal, and I didn't know them. So, if they wanted to, they could go and write in afterwards..not sure where though? so I tried my best to let the photos tell the story....I thought it was so cool how they formed their initials with shells on the beach !!

Have a great week!

The wedding Album

So I have never made an album for anyone. Honestly, didn't do much scrapbooking myself, but for a few years ago, and even then, not much. I love it, and this has me TOTALLY inspired to get going on my own pages. I've been having fun. I've shown you the few pages I've done for myself {finally}, but now I will show you the pages from this wedding album I worked on. The hardest thing for me was that I had NO idea who these people were and ALL the photos were printed 4x6. Challenging! I typically like to use my printer and print a bunch of different sizes....cropping I find, at times, loses the scenery - which is needed {especially when your wedding is in Hawaii!!). So I'll share with you today my "title page". I was stumped. It was a tiny wedding (group of 11 of them - family & 3 friends), no wedding invitations, and nothing to necessarily document/save. So I took a collection of photos (at random) that I thought were cute and scenic and made a collage of sorts for the title....need to state too that I just used my point & shoot little camera to take these photos, so they won't be fantastic, but hopefully give you an idea of what I did :)

I used some stickers on the photos (top corners), a rub on at the bottom and the Hawaii & congratulations are stickers (that I do love!!) and a couple SU punched out flowers with white brads in the center....

K, it was 34 yesterday and we lived in the pool so today it's suppose to be about 31 so we're hitting the beach after lunch. Hoping to get this album DONE today...we'll see!

Enjoy your weekend!

.j.

Got Game?

We took the kids to play tennis for the first time. What fun! Lots of running to fetch balls over the fence, lots of laughter & lots of memories. The makings of a perfect day!

Here's the full layout....

This little close up shows a lot of embellishment & detail (I had fun playing & adding this & that, here & there) -- I added a polka dot rub on (SU) to the pink layer, rub on (SU) to another {cheap} metal tag -- and a little doodle of the dots by hand, below is a sticker on the photo 'treasure', and a few silver star eyelets. too busy?

Here are those yummy vinyl Thickers again. Behind I used SU's rub-ons (stars) to dress up the background a big.

Fun time,

.j.

Photo Card

What do you do when you have no time to stamp a card? Well... have you tried just grabbing a photo? K, my photo OF the photo isn't great... but you can still visualize the idea, right? Matted photo on some design paper. Eyelets, taffeta ribbon (Stampin Up! love that ribbon!!)... done. :)

Been a very busy few days.... still working on this wedding scrapbook (I'll get those photos uploaded here soon).... so just popping in quick with a VERY quick card!! And no, my {older} brother doesn't typically walk around with a bottle of rum around his neck, my Dad's 60th birthday party was pirate themed (you can see how well me and my younger brother participated in that! LOL) Hope your week is going fabulously! Drop me a line.

.j.

Pecan Bars

OK - these are amazing. Seriously, candy! My daughter loves baking and she's terrific! She made these and the pan was nearly CLEANED OUT by the end of the night!

Pecan Bars

1-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 cup brown sugar, packed & divided

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup pecans

2/3 cup butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter - beat 2-3 minutes.

Pat into ungreased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

In a saucepan, combine 2/3 cup butter & remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cook until bubbly & stir one more minute.

Pour over crust & spread.

Bake 18-20 minutes until surface is bubbly.

Remove from oven & spread with chocolate chips. Let stand 2-3 minutes & then spread. Cook & cut. With the heat, we ended up putting the pan in the fridge to firm up the chocolate :)

ENJOY!

.j.

Calgary Zoo

I had so many photos I wanted to use on this layout. I had to keep Ali Edwards' words in my head - YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SCRAPBOOK EVERY SINGLE PHOTO! Do you struggle with that? My Mom had asked if I was going to just do a small album on the zoo. Now I could have, I had that many photos, but there was NO NEED. I decided I would simply print the photos and put them in a flip album so the kids could go through and see all the creatures & moments and just do a 2-page spread in my album. Here's what I came up with:

The full spread:

I reprinted my photos to wallet size so I could fit a lot on my pages.

I used chipboard from my stash, already colored, and used them for a colorful title: Calgary Zoo, creative aren't I! LOL.I used my cuttlebug die for all the circles, and the threading water punch for the scallop along the bottom. The design paper had polka dots, so I went with it! :)

I used SU's punch for highlighting a couple of the favorite creatures - prairie dog here... ...and the red panda here.

I'm looking forward to scrapbooking the adventures as they arrive....

.j.

simplicity works.

This is a *VERY* simple card. And...it works. Some sponging, some layering, a little paper piercing at the bottom - done. When I need a card quick, this is the type of card I can make in under 10 minutes -- perfect! :)
I've been very busy scrapbooking the last few days. I'm doing a scrapbook for my Mom's co-worker. She wanted to scrapbook her son's wedding (in Hawaii) to give to them next month for their Canadian wedding reception. SO... I have been offline for awhile and pumping out the pages. I will post them in the next couple of weeks. Been quickly snapping photos of the pages (so quality will be questionable!), but I do still have a few pages of my own to share with you.
How's your summer going?

Curried Rice Salad

I made this for the reunion, I loved it. Rice was a bit mushy (would use a different kind next time).... but the overall TASTE was Mmm-Mmmm-Good! ;-) I love salads in summer weather... cold dinners are delish - let me know if you have a salad to share, I'll try it out FER SURE!!! K, try this one:

Curried Rice Salad

2 cups cooked rice (best made the day before)

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 tsp. curry powder

2 tablespoons salad oil (I used olive oil)

2 cups frozen green peas

1 cup mayo

Mix rice, celery, onions, frozen peas, salad oil, vinegar & curry powder. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Add mayo. Can be pressed into a mold and when chilled turned onto a large platter (can't do this... grosses me out for some reason to have MOLDED salads.... dunno??), served on lettuce leaves or just as is (I'm an AS IS kinda girl, LOL!)

Enjoy!

.j.

Father's Day Page

We celebrated Father's Day a week early this year. It was great to scrapbook recent photos... I'm loving this *new* way of doing things! LOL.

The quote on top: "Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy!"

That big Happy Family on the bottom photo is actually a beautiful rub-on. The arrows directing the eye to follow Simply The Best are punched out using my cuttlebug and arrow plate.

Don't want to spend a fortune on metal edged tags? Check out your local Staples or Walmart. I got a package of about 25 for $2.50! Sweet deal. I just take off the metal ring on top, and replace it with lovely ribbon! And, yes... I finally added a touch of my own handwriting!!

I love Thickers, and these ones I got for Christmas, vinyl. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I used a sticker to go on top of a SU metal edged tag and loved adding a few dew drops, they're so yummy and I need, need, need more colors!!


We also went & played tennis this day so I did a page that co-ordinate with this page, but didn't treat it as a two-page spread. I'll share that page with you soon...

Enjoy your day,

.j.

Broccoli Salad

My Mom had a little family reunion last weekend and she wanted everyone to have a break and asked me to cook a ham and make some salads & deliver them to everyone on Saturday for dinner :) What fun! This is always a favorite at our house, so I thought I'd make it for the group!

Broccoli Salad

1 head broccoli

1 bunch of green onions

1`-1/2 cups chopped celery

1/2 cup crumbled bacon

1-1/2 cup green grapes

toasted slivered almonds

sunflower seeds

raisins

Dressing:

1 cup mayo or salad dressing (Miracle Whip)

1 Tablespoon Vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

Mix all together and enjoy. :)

Blah.

Today is a blah day. We drive Daddy back to the airport to leave. Never fun. Never easy. BUT, we're so thankful he only goes for 7-8 days now instead of 12 or 13!! Count your blessings, right! I thought I'd share with you my blah card. YUP, I have them too. :) It was a card I saw that I loved & tried to re-create it (k, mine is totally different) with what supplies I had brought with me. IT DID NOT WORK. At least it's not what I was going for. I'm not sure if it's just that I don't like all those scalloped squares, or that they are mounted on black, or that my white is stamped (I wanted white embossing powder)...I'm thinking it's the celery base WITH a celery square - too much. I dunno. It's just blah.

and I'm not sure I could do anything to "de-blah" it. LOL.

.j.

Simplicity Stuggle.

I struggled a bit with this page. I wanted to force myself to have some empty spaces. I found a layout in CK that I liked and used as a foundation to my pages, but then didn't know where or how to do my journalling (hmmm....one l or two?). It is in fact on the back of this page. Not good. I know, no one will really ever PULL out a page, but it's in there. Journalling is one of the things I struggle MOST with. Just not sure where to place it on a page, how much to say... I'm a rambler :). Bet you already figured that out! ANYWAY.... here's the spread:
Base is a rich regal blue textured paper from Stampin' Up! I used a rub-on (SUPER STAR) for the photo of Joshua running in the top corner. I also used a rubon from SU on little Sarah as a dressed up clown to add a little whimsy. The title is made from "Thickers" (love them and must buy more). Along the bottom I added little bits to a couple of the photos: stickers and rub-ons. What a fun day that was, the homeschoolers put on an amazing event!!

Here's a close up. I used a few buttons along the title bar, the date is on a little piece of vellum, and I used the threading water punch (fiskars) for the scalloped edge.

Hello Monday.

.j.

It's a girl! :)

My Mom's boss's wife's son. HA, how's that for a mouthful. My Mom knitted a beautiful sweater for her and wanted me to make a card for her. She said that Mom wasn't a too girly girl, but how could I resist pink! :) So I tried to tone it down a bit with some greens and browns. Anyone remember that design paper from Stampin' Up!? LOVE IT, still have some as I bought a bunch of it when it was retiring! :)

Stamp Sets - Bundle of Joy, In the Stars

Paper - Pink ?? (the new (now old) In color) -- KICKING myself for not buying more of this. I think this is SU's BEST pink THUS far. *sigh*, some mellow moss in there, and white.

I used the word window punch (folded over) for a little homemade embellishment with a brad through it. The ribbon is the gorgeous taffeta ribbon from SU (my favorite ribbon "series"). I ran the base of the card through the cuttlebug using swiss dots, again my favorite folder.

what do you think? Photo is a little off, artificial lighting in my room...

.j.

Found.

I finally found some time to scrapbook last weekend, what a treat! I loved this photo of the girls I took at the park randomly a couple weeks ago. Yes, it's the same photo, I just enlarged one to a half page size and then put the smaller one in the corner. I love layering and then adding embellishments until it looks and "feels" good :)
I had this paper that came with a few punch-outs. I didn't use them all as some of them said things like, my girl...not my girlS! :) But I did use the beautiful wordage, the 3 small circles on the side of the smaller photo (using pop-up dots). The smaller photo is also popped up a bit with stampin' dimensionals.

The brown leafy is a rubon from Cactus Pink letters I had. The circle/crown was in the punch out package that came with the paper. Love how easy it was to co-ordinate everything :)

I used my slit punch to make the scalloped edge below the enlarged photo, another little brown flower rubon from Cactus Pink and then the big flower is chipboard from Stampin' Up! I covered it with Basic Grey papers (oh I love their yummy papers!!) After trimming the edges, I took a sandpaper block and sanded all the edges smooth - prefer that look than the "trimmed" look.

It always feels good to get scrapbooking again....even in a very cramped space! :)

Is anyone else scrapping these days? What are you working on?

.j.

Hugs & Kisses Cheesecake

OK, I really should have a photo for you, but we ate it! LOL. We love cream cheese, but they can be so expensive to make. MOST of the recipes I have call for 3 packages of cream cheese - OUCH. I love this one as it only calls for ONE! :) And it's still the perfect size for company.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake a.k.a Hugs & Kisses

1 package cream cheese, softened

1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk (I make my own)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. flour

1 cup chocolate chips

oreo cookie crust (I'll use graham crust if that's what I have on hand)

chocolate glaze

whipped cream

chocolate curls

The process:

Preheat oven to 350. Beat cheese until fluffy, gradually add sweetened condensed milk - beat until smooth. Add egg & vanilla and mix well. Toss chips with flour and fold into cheese mixture. Pour into crust (use a spring form pan). Bake 35 min until center springs back when lightly touched. Cool. Top with glaze, whipped cream & chocolate shavings.

Chocolate Glaze:

Melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup whipping cream. Cook & stir until thickened. Smooth over cake immediately. makes one pie or double for largest spring form pan (I use this recipe with the med. sized spring form pan)

enjoy! It freezes beautifully!

.j.

A new week.

Our weekend became a bit of a long weekend as we celebrated my younger brother's birthday last night. I hope you all had a wonderful father's day weekend. I am happy to announce that I *finally* found some stamping/scrapbooking time over the weekend... yeah, finally a few things to share with you. Now that I'm no longer a stampin' up Demonstrator, I am able to play with whatever I want & not care about whether it's retired or not! LOVE THAT! Still one of my favorite stamps it this set, The Art of Life. This is a very simple card. Simple layers, simple edge sponging and a simple photo punch (from Basic Grey paper).

During our transition here, I will need to make oodles of thank-you cards to everyone that has helped us along the way. We are hoping to do some planning this next week... very exciting!!! :)

have a great week!

.j.