A Two Cup Day***

NEED I SAY MORE***

A little something for you ***

I used Anna Wight's set called "Friendly Expressions" and stamped the flower with Memento black ink and colored it with Copics.

A little glitter on the middle of the flowers too. I used circle and scallop oval nestabilities and some wonderful polka dot paper from PTI...

Since it is snowing outside here in London I am springing it up in here***

Have a fabulous day everyone***

Birthday Wishes for my MOM***

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM ***
Mom I hope you have a fabulous day!! We love you***


I haven't used my Kaleidacolor inks in awhile so I thought I would pull one out... I brayered the inks onto a piece of white cardstock and voila!! Instant springness***

I stamped some flowers "by Judith".. in black ink and added a sentiment from PTI***
Some ribbon from Michael's and a little glitter on the blooms. A 10 minute-ish card!!




























Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by***

A Winner***

VICKI AT "OKIENURSE" WON THE TEAM USA BLOG CANDY!!

CONGRATULATIONS VICKI!!

***FOOD***

My husband goes away every year with a group of his closest friends on a golfing junket. They play as many courses as they can and have a great time. Saturday night we a little reunion of the group, wives included...

We had a wonderful meal and everyone got caught up on each others lives.

The menu started off with an antipasti of meats and olives, cheeses, bread...

Then

Pork Tenderloin with a mixed berry cream sauce

Tuscan Chicken with grilled lemons

Wonderful asparagus***

I do asparagus alot! I love it!

Roasted garlic potatoes

Salad with citrus vinaigrette

It was all yummy***

For dessert we had rustic apple tart and chocolate cupcakes.. I have included the recipe below for the cupcakes.

I am not a great baker but these turned out amazing. Really moist and definitely you could eat a whole mess of these.

The recipe is from Bonnie Stern's "Friday Night Dinners" which is a great cookbook if you are ever in need of a book with simple yet delicious menus.

Really Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

2 eggs

1 cup strong coffee, cooled

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 T. vanilla extract or paste

Ganached frosting

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

12 oz. semisweet chocolate

1 t. vanilla extract or paste

In a large bowl combine flour, sugars, cocoa, baking soda and powder and salt.

In a smaller bowl whist together eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla

Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix just until mixed together.

Grease muffin tin or use muffin cups. Pour batter in cups and bake for 20- 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool***

Heat whipping cream in a pot until it just comes to a boil and pour over chopped chocolate. Add vanilla and mix until smooth and shiny. Slather the cupcakes with the ganache and enjoy***

GO CANADA***

ETA!!! AGAIN!! Here it is*** I will pick a winner later on today***



ETA!!! The US won*** This time*** Thank goodness we aren't down and out! Stay tuned later today for what's in store!! I will pick a name at random from this post!!!



Ok so here in our home we are waiting patiently for the Canada/U.S.A. game to start!!

Here's the thing!!

THERE'S A LITTLE CANDY AVAILABLE FOR THIS GAME***

IF THE U.S.A. WINS THERE WILL BE SOMETHING NICE GIVEN AWAY BUT IF CANADA WINS THERE WILL BE SOMETHING "REALLY" NICE GIVEN AWAY***

***GO CANADA***

SSNOTIME127***TABS WITH A TWIST

Hi everyone!! Today's STAMP SIMPLY CHALLENGE is to create a card or project with a tab on it... You know the kind of tab that might be on a recipe card... It doesn't have to be a recipe card it just has to have a tab of some sort! Check out Sharon's gorgeous sample...


Since I am SICK AND TIRED of winter and need spring to be here soon I thought I would create a little pocket for these seeds that I am sending to someone... I simply created a pocket out of black cardstock (taking into consideration the size of the seed packet) . I covered the front and back with some black and white designer paper that I have had hanging around forever!! I placed the TAB, which happens to be a Stampin' Up punch on the top of the seed packet and attached some wonderful ribbon from Sharon's Ribbon Store... I also added some Butterscotch stickles to the centers of the flowers.

You can just use the tab to pull the seed packet out of the pocket.

The sentiment is from a set designed by Anna Wight and I thought it appropriate for this project!!

Check out all the other TAB - Y creations from the design team!!

Julie - www.outtoimpress.blogspot.com

Tammy - www.stamphappy-tammy.blogspot.com

AJ - www.thewillowgarden.blogspot.com

Jennifer - www.thebuckstampshere.blogspot.com

Deb - www.deborahlynnesdreamincolor.blogspot.com

Jenny - www.onekraftykat.blogspot.com

Barb - www.barspaperpursuits.blogspot.com

Barb - www.barbschram.blogspot.com

Deb - www.debneerman.blogspot.com - our guest designer this month

.

A balloon for you***

I just LOVE this little guy*** Those EYES***

I stamped him with black archival ink on watercolor paper and colored him and the balloon up with Tombow markers.

Cut him out with a deckle edged nestabilitie and matted the image to green and blue paper. The designer paper is from my bit bin.

The image and sentiment are from C.C. Designs called "tweet-ies".

Have a fabulous day!!

Happy Birthday***

I love this new set from Papertrey Ink called "Through the Trees". I stamped the trunk in dark chocolate ink and used a combination of different green inks to stamp the leaves.

I used a Lyra pencil and some gamsol to rub in a little grass so the tree wasn't floating***

The sentiment is stamped on cream cardstock and mounted to some dark chocolate cardstock. I popped it up with some dimensionals.

The designer paper is also from PTI***

Thanks for stopping in and have a great day!!!

***FOOD***

We celebrated my Mom's birthday this past weekend and we cooked up a delicious dinner that all enjoyed. The flank steak was courtesy of my brother and sister- in - law marinated in wonderful spices.

Scalloped potatoes

Baked Asparagus with grape tomatoe compote

Sauteed Cremini and Portobello mushrooms with garlic

Ceasar Salad

Fresh bread and a huge chocolate cake made from scratch!! It didn't turn out too bad!!

The scalloped potatoes were made from a recipe that Anthony Sedlak from "The Main" did on his show and I just had to try them. They were DELICIOUS!!! Check out the recipe and give them a try... Simply decadent and simply amazing!!!

World’s Best Scallop Potatoes

5 tablespoons butter, divided
5 large russet baking potatoes, peeled and sliced into 0.125 inch thick rounds
2 cups half and half
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
pinch of ground nutmeg
2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter the inside of an 8 x 8 baking dish with 1 tbsp butter.
In a large pot set over medium heat, melt remaining butter with half and half, garlic, nutmeg and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.
Add potatoes, and bring to a boil. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until potatoes are slightly tender.
Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish, smoothing as much as possible. Cover potatoes with cheddar cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Let potatoes cool slightly before serving.

A gift for a special someone***

I tackled my first PURSE project***. I found this pattern HERE for the purse itself... The instructions were simple and easy to follow and the purse came together easier than I expected.

I had some material left over so I made a zippered pouch as well.

I am having so much fun with all this sewing!!

Enjoy and thanks so much for stopping in***

SSNOTIME126***PURPLE AND GREEN***

Hi there!! Sharon's
STAMP SIMPLY CHALLENGE for this week means using PURPLE AND GREEN in your creation***

My paper looks kind of blue in the photo but it is purple... A dark purple and a light purple.

The background text, the leafy image (stamped in Tea Leaves ink) and the sentiment are all Papertrey Ink, matted to dark purple paper. The sentiment is stamped in black and two square purple pieces from Stampendous flank either side.

Very simple and quick to put together***

Check out all the other fabulous creations using this color combination and if you play don't forget to use Mr. Linky on Sharon's site so that we can see what you have created...


Julie - www.outtoimpress.blogspot.com

Tammy - www.stamphappy-tammy.blogspot.com

AJ - www.thewillowgarden.blogspot.com

Jennifer - www.thebuckstampshere.blogspot.com

Deb - www.deborahlynnesdreamincolor.blogspot.com

Jenny - www.onekraftykat.blogspot.com

Barb - www.barspaperpursuits.blogspot.com

Barb - www.barbschram.blogspot.com

Deb - www.debneerman.blogspot.com


Thanks SO much for stopping in and have a great weekend***

Valentine sweets***

This was such a fun project for Valentine's Day***

I used the template and instructions from Kelly Lunceford's site. Check out her blog HERE and just go to Tutorials and it will be there with all the dimensions. The nice thing is that it comes together with one sheet of 8 x 11 cardstock.

The paper is My Mind's Eye and the "Sweet" image is Inkadinkdo. A fun box to stuff with chocolate!!!

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping in***

Sweet Baby***

This was a card that I did for my other niece who is due in March! I used rustic cream cardstock as the base and used designer paper from
Making Memories.
The pearl stick on is all one piece... It makes adding bling to your card so easy!!

The ribbon is from Michael's and the sentiment from Inkadinkado.

Love how the card ended up and how fast it came together!!

Have a great day!!!

***FOOD***

Look what we tucked into last night for Super Bowl. We had fresh vegetable with red pepper dip, chicken fiesta dip, devilled eggs, antipasto squares, spicy meatballs, crab and artichoke dip, cheese with curried mango chutney, hummus and a lovely vodka martini to wash it all down. My friend Chris learned how to make the perfect martini and it was fabulous!!

And to top it all off ***THE SAINTS WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great day everyone!!!

Check out a new foodie blog that I found!! www.tastewiththeeyes.com

Some wonderful recipes and pics that will make your mouth water.

More new Zippered pouches***

I bought some new material at a new quilt shop I found here in the city... I made these new pouches for my sister in law and my friend Chris!!!

Simple and fun to make... Lined with a fusible web in between for some substance...

Enjoy***

SSNOTIME125*** FOR BABY***

Sharon's STAMP SIMPLY CHALLENGE this week is to create something for a baby!!

A card, an altered item, a gift whatever you would like.

My niece Megan just had her daughter this past week. We all knew she was having a girl but her and James kept the name a secret.

Well ELLA has arrived !! We are going to see her next week and I wanted to make a little something to put on the gift bag but also something that Megan could put in Ella's room as a little keepsake.

This is a wooden heart from Michael's and I modge podged some paper from Making Memories onto the front and back. I wanted it to have a little bit of vintage feel so I roughed up the edges with a sanding block. I made a scrunched up paper rose out of the same paper and added a few leaves just cut free hand. I used Just Rite alphabet letters to spell out her name onto some rustic cream cardstock from PTI and distressed the edges with Antique Linen ink.



I pushed up the name label in the middle to give it some added interest and used Tombow metal glue to secure it. Some green gemstones were added to the sides as well.

This is definitely not your traditional baby pink trinket. When I saw this paper and the colors I thought of ELLA right away!! It just fit!

Enjoy everyone and don't forget to check out all the fabulous baby projects that our design team has to offer.. And please welcome DEB NEERMAN as our guest designer this month.. I am sure whe will offer up some fabulous ideas as well as some laughter!!


Julie - www.outtoimpress.blogspot.com

Tammy - www.stamphappy-tammy.blogspot.com

AJ - www.thewillowgarden.blogspot.com

Jennifer - www.thebuckstampshere.blogspot.com

Deb - www.deborahlynnesdreamincolor.blogspot.com

Jenny - www.onekraftykat.blogspot.com

Barb - www.barspaperpursuits.blogspot.com

Barb - www.barbschram.blogspot.com

Deb - www.debneerman.blogspot.com

Things to Do***

Good morning!! This is a total PTI project except for the paper which I think is My Mind's Eye... Not sure since I made these such a while ago.

They hold the notepads. I just measured the paper to fit the notepad with a little extra, about 1/8" for the spine.

The image is from Blooming Button Bits and the heart is from Simple Valentine.

The sentiment is from Take Note.

The vintage button and twine are also from PTI...

Have a great day everyone!! Thanks so much for stopping in***

Thanks Darlene***

I received this award from Darlene Pavlick!! Thanks girlfriend!!

I am passing it on to

Pat - The Rubber Maid

Wendy - 2kids, 2 dogs

Deb - Paper, Ink, Scissors & stamps

Julie - Out To Impress

so far!!!

Now a few things about myself!

1. I went to Europe when I was 18 for three months.

2. I lived in Montreal for 6 years.

3. I met my husband on a blind date.

4. We married after only knowing each other for 6 months.

5. We have been married for 25 years.

6. I met my cyber sister last year in Shipshewana.

7. I used to play the piano and can still read music.

8. I am reteaching myself to sew.

***FOOD***

Ok so I saw these muffins on "The Noble Pig's" website this morning and ran into the kitchen to make them and they are AWESOME!! So quick and easy to make and they taste delicious.

Cathy's site is amazing. So many wonderful recipes and pictures... Check it out HERE and be sure to try these muffins. You won't be disappointed**

Have a wonderful day everyone and thanks so much for stopping in***