FREE Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Have you ever thought of joining Close To My Heart?  Well, if you have, now is the time to do so...

Now is a great time to join Close To My Heart because when you sign up as a new Consultant between now and March 31, 2012, you'll receive a FREE Cricut Art Philosophy collection!  The collection's retail price of $99 adds incredible value to your New Consultant Kit and will give you hours of creative fun with the included exclusive Cricut cartridge, three coordinating My Acrylix D-sized stamp sets, and three sheets of matching Dimensional Elements shapes.  Already own the collection?  You can always give your free one as a gift or choose to receive $100 in select product credit instead.  Now is the time to embrace the philosophy of fun - Consultant and Cricut fun!


Ask me for all the details, I'd love to have you join my team :)  Ready to sign up now?  Click here for the direct link for you to do so.

Happy Scrappin'

March Stamp of the Month - Potential

Today's post brings you some Stamp of the Month artwork from my friend Lynn.

Didn't she do a great job with this set?  I sure think so!

Happy Scrappin'

Time for more artwork!

I know, you're probably thinking, "It's about time!"  Well, I've been busy and life just happens :)

I happen to have a snow day (more about this later) from work today, so I figured I'd get some pictures taken of all this artwork that's been sitting here just waiting for me.  Now that's done so I can start posting them for you! 

Here is some artwork that I created using the new Footloose paper pack.  I just love the beach and had a lot of fun creating this layout.

Here are a couple of cards.  Don't you just love the shaker card?  It was fun to create.

Then I came up with a recipe card, too.  I have not made this recipe yet but my girlfriends at work have and said it was really good :)

Now, about this snow day...I really did try to go to work, really, I did!  I made it about 15 miles from home (it is about 55 miles to work one way) and the roads were so bad (main highways were not even plowed) so I decided to turn around and head back home.  That alone took me about 50 minutes!  Once I got home, I decided I may as well start blowing the driveway.  We had about 10-12 inches of snow at that point and it was still coming down!  By the time I got done with the driveway, we had gotten about another 2 inches!  I will have to go back out later to do another round, but at least I got that much taken care of.  After the snowplow went by, I had about 4 feet of snow at the end of my driveway!  Wow, we haven't had much of a winter so far, but I guess it's catching up with us now.  Oh well, it's a good day to stay in and create!

Happy Scrappin'

Overnight guests

I had some fun overnight guests on Friday night.  My niece and a friend of hers spent the night with me.  It was my crafty niece and wouldn't you know, she wanted to go downstairs to create something.  She reminded me that I was going to teach her how to make those cute little paper flowers with the Cricut.  Well, how can you say no to that?? 

Downstairs we went and they each created a banner with their name on it.  They picked out their papers, cut their letters out with the Cricut, and Kiana learned how to make her paper flowers.  Then I figured it was bedtime since they had a softball clinic to go to the next day.

They camped out on my living room floor (more fun than sleeping in the bed, I guess).  They slept all night and proceeded to go downstairs to finish up their banners.

I made my Baked Caramel French Toast and then I brought them up to their clinic.  What a fun time it was :)

Didn't they do a great job?  I think they did!

Happy Scrappin'

Another fantabulous weekend!

And YES, fantabulous is a word, I just said so, so it is :)

It was a crafty weekend for me.  I had a bunch of girlfriends over on Saturday for a day of scrapping.  What fun we all had!  Lots of laughs and lots of work done.  Lynn even spent the night instead of driving all the way home.  Now, she's the kind of gal that never comes empty handed, and let me tell you, she provided some of the BEST food ever! 

Sunday was Club day, so another day of crafting for me...WINNER!

Here is what I was working on most of the time - cards for fundraising for my upcoming Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure Walk.  I am so determined to do this and made a bunch of handmade cards to send out.  I plan to get them in the mail soon.

 I even stamped the envelopes.

If you are so inclined, you can even click on the 3-Day link on the side of my blog to donate.  I would be ever so grateful :)

OK, I guess I teased you with the yummy food we had, so now I'll share some recipes.  Here is Lynn's recipe for Zuppa Toscano soup (ever had that Olive Garden?  It's as good or better!)

1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced onion
4 tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 c water
5 chicken bouillon cubes
1 c heavy cream
1 lb sliced russet potatoes (about 3 large)
Bunch of Kale

Saute sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat. Refrigerate while preparing other ingredients.
In the same pan, saute bacon , onion and garlic over low -med heat (about 15 mins until soft).
Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
Add sliced potatoes and cook just until soft, about 30 mins
Add heavy cream, cook till thoroughly heated. Stir in sausage and kale and heat through.

Yields 6-8 servings

Then she also brought a Summer Cooler Punch for us.  Here is the recipe for that, too.

• 1 12-ounce can frozen pineapple juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 6-ounce can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
• 4 cups cold water * 1 liter club soda, chilled
• Ice cubes
• Fresh strawberries (optional)
• Short (6-inch) wooden skewers
• Assorted fruits such as halved orange slices, halved lime slices, orange sections, raspberries, strawberries, sliced kiwifruit, and mint sprigs

Directions

In a large pitcher combine pineapple juice concentrate, limeade, and water. Chill for at least 30 minutes.  Before serving, add Club Soda.

The recipe had you skewer the fruit for each glass, but we just cut it up and added it to the pitcher and let it soak.  It worked great!

Another side note about this recipe...we all decided that the punch just didn't do it for us using Club Soda - we would make it next time using 7-Up or Fresca or some such soda instead.  However, since it was all mixed up, we did sample it adding some Malibu Rum...OMG!  That was yummy!  Since there was some Moscato wine opened up, we also tried it with that added.  Super yummy - our own Sangria :)  Do with it what you will, but let me know how you tried it.

Happy Scrappin'

More birthday wishes, a money bouquet and a recipe...

I have some more birthday wishes to send out - this time it's for my youngest niece for her Golden Birthday!  She turned 11 on Saturday :)  I waited until today to post so I had a couple of photos to share with you.  I just loved her birthday cake cupcakes.  How cool of an idea is that?

Did you notice the bouquet sitting next to her and her cake?  No?  Well, here's a better picture of it.

She wanted money for her birthday (I know she's saving up for a camera of some sort) but I couldn't just give her plain old ordinary cash.  She's my crafty niece, so I had to get crafty, too.  I think my little creation turned out pretty neat. 

I just accordion folded the money and held it all together with floral wire through the buttons - no adhesive whatsoever so it should be pretty easy for her to take apart when the time comes to spend the money...either that, or it's a good way to get her to save her money :)

A card you say?  Oh yeah, I totally scraplifted this one from my friend Lynn!  Thanks for the great idea, it turned out pretty cute :)

I also made these BLT roll-ups to bring along to the birthday party.  They were a fun change from the normal roll-ups that I make.  They were so easy to do, too...just my style :)

I'll even share the recipe with you:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup mayo
Mix together and add:
about 1/2 to 1 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup or so of chopped tomatoes

Spread on flour tortillas (I used about 7 of them, but it all depends on how thick you spread the filling).  Top with shredded lettuce.  Roll up and slice into pieces.

See, I told you they were easy, peasy!

Happy Scrappin'

May and June calendar pages

Here are my calendar pages for May and June...

You may remember my post from last year's birthday, I just had to make a page about all those pink flamingos!

Happy Scrappin'