Food Friday

It's Friday!

Yay!

Will you be participating in any fall activities this weekend? October is just a day away and there are pumpkin patches to visit, apple picking to do and sprucing up the house with autumn decor!

Another thing I like to do when the weather starts to get chilly is to bake and cook! I've got a ton of recipes on my Pinterest bulletin board that I can't wait to try. Lots of sinful desserts made with pumpkin puree! And now that the temperatures have fallen, I don't have to worry about heating up the house!

Anyway, this past week I've tried three new recipes that you may enjoy.

Quick Quinoa and Turkey Taco Stew

This recipe is from Green Lite Bites and tastes a lot like chili. It's very good for you, filled with nutritious quinoa and lean ground turkey in place of hamburger. I made this for my lunch this week and haven't gotten tired of it yet! The recipe calls for a packet of taco seasonings, but if you want, you can easily make some of your own. All Recipes has a list of ingredients which is much less salty than the packaged taco mix from the grocery store.

Mushroom Bolognese

This yummy recipe comes from The Italian Dish. I love the flavor that the mushrooms and red wine create. If you are trying to eat less meat, mushrooms are a great substitute. So what did my boys think of it? My husband's not a fan of fungi, but was able to pick them out. Our son, even though he likes mushrooms, he wasn't completely sold. Bolognese has a stronger flavor than the tomato sauces we usually serve. I think he will grow to like it. Many new tastes require some getting used to.

White Cheddar Chicken Pasta

This Homemade by Holman recipe was an easy home run! What's not to like about cheese, chicken and pasta? It's similar to macaroni and cheese with an adult flavor from the dry white wine and herbs! Another thing I love about this dish, there's enough for another night since there's only three of us! Got to love a night off from the kitchen!

I hope you see a recipe here you would like to try. If not, try Food Gawker! It's similar to Pinterest, but it's all one big bulletin board of food! Warning...don't visit if your on a diet or hungry!

Have a great fall weekend!

Kathy :)

Making the Team

Well...Hellooooooooo!

Today's a great day! The sun is shining! I get to work on a scrapbook page using a cool new digital kit from Two Peas in a Bucket and I finally get to show you one of the cards I submitted to Bella Blvd. that earned a spot on their fabulous new team! Yippee! This week on the Bella Blvd. blog they have been introducing the team and showing you two of the projects submitted by each gal. Today is my introduction day and I hope you can take a moment to hop over and see my cards!

Here's one of my Bella Blvd. card submissions...

These two owls are quite a hoot! So cute! I had to create a card just for them!

This patterned paper was perfect for showing off my love of stitching on projects.

I created this 'together' flag with a sticker and toothpick. One of the little owls volunteered to hold it for me! ;)

I used the 'Finally Fall' collection from Bella Blvd. for this card and the others I submitted. It's really an amazing collection! I got into my grove with this line and had a great time with it.

Kathy :)

The Burning House

Hi!

Have you heard of 'The Burning House' project from 'The Anthropologist' site? It's a photographic documentation on what people would bring with them if their house were to burn down.  It's intriguing to see the photos of items that people of different age groups, etc. have taken. It made me think about what I would bring and I thought I'd participate and take a photo.

After saving ourselves and if it were safe to grab other items my list would be...

1. Our pets, two parrots and two cats.

2. My purse containing car keys, id, money, and a supply of crucial medication.

3. Our wedding album and memory books.

4. Christopher's precious artwork...hand print.

5. My iPad. A useful tool with contacts and information. It would also give us something to do in a shelter.

6. Lastly, I would grab as many of my antiques as possible as long as it was safe to do so.

So, what would you bring? If you decide to take this exercise and blog about it, let me know, it would be interesting to see.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Kathy :)

Together

Hey!

I'm in my office this morning checking e-mail, posting a card share on my blog and stalling...I don't want to clean house! I really enjoy a clean house, but I hate the work it takes to get there! Who likes cleaning anyway? And it's not just the work I don't like, it's how fast the work gets trashed! My sweet boy will come home after I've been cleaning all day and put both hands on the front door leaving prints on the glass I cleaned only hours before! Then the dear boy goes to the coat closet to put his shoes away, which is so cool of him, but proceeds to leave a bunch of playground sand on the floor!

Then there's our furry cats! Have you seen a photo of them? I'll attach one at the end of this post. Anyway, they are extremely furry! It makes them the softest lovable little beasts, but the fur! It's crazy how much fur wafts around in clumps and gets everywhere, even in the freezer! Just how furry is it? It's soooooo furry that I often have to vacuuming the walls! Yep! Little clumps stuck to the walls! It's insane! If we didn't love those two little fur bags...well you know where they would be! On the curb with their kitty dishes! The ones with the little fishies on the bottom! :)

Okay, enough complaining. And whining. I have it good! Real good...to live in such a lovely home and have such 'huge' problems! ;)

Onto my card...

I like this card! Isn't the little house adorable? It's a chipboard accent from the 'Finally Fall' collection from Bella Blvd.

Everything on this card is from the line except the craft string bow and the little button I added to the house!

A little stitching, some pot dots and ta-da! I hope you like it! And I hope it gets you to go to your crafty space to create something fun. No, you don't have to clean the house! ;) You can put that off for a few days, or another week! :)

Here are the fur boys! This photo was taken yesterday morning. They're in my craft room. They're here this morning too looking much the same! I joke about them being so helpful and full of energy! ;) I herd the two of them up to my office in the morning saying,"Come on boys, let's go work!" Then I follow behind them as we make our way up to the attic where they take their spot in the morning sun! It's a tough life!

Well, whether you clean, craft or take a nap with your lazy beast, I hope it's a wonderful day! :)

Kathy

My Happy Place

Hello!

Hope you are enjoying your Sunday. I've been a real hermit this weekend which is a nice way to spend a weekend when the weather is foul. I've been enjoying my latest book, The Dirty Life, on farming, food and love. If you've ever dreamed of what life on the farm would be like, this book paints a realistic picture! It's all the goodness you can imagine with endless back breaking work!

I've been creating a scrapbook page this weekend too. It's about one of my new favorite ways to spend time...on Pinterest!

I've been at it again, sitting at my craft table, playing with paper and browsing Pinterest at the same time!

For this page, I printed a screen shot that shows all my bulletin boards...and me! ;)

I used a little of this and a bit of that to create this page. The pink polka dot background paper is new from My Little Shoebox and the rest is old supplies I've had around for many moons. There's paper from my scrap bin, buttons from jars and a scattering of brads. Oh, I did use some washi tape for the first time! Hey hey!

I employed my beloved Silhouette for the title and sub-title, used a couple border punches and some thin metal dies including Spellbinders . My usual arsenal of tools!

Speaking of dies, did you know that Two Peas in a Bucket is now carrying My Favorite Things thin metal dies? Indeed they are! And a lot of their stamp sets too! Woot!

Another thing I've been up to this weekend is cooking! I'm trying a new recipe that I got from Pinterest! Where else? :) It's simmering on the stove as I type this post. After I've given it a taste test I'll tell you know which recipe it is and if it's worth your time. For now, I'll share the dish I had last week for lunch.

This is so yummy and healthy! It's Quinoa Salad with Black Beans, Avocado and Cumin-Lime Dressing from Eating for England. I bought some seriously delicious tomatoes for it. They were a medley of pear and cherry tomatoes in yellow, orange, red and a deep red. Oh they were like candy! Anyway, love this salad. It will be a regular for me during warm weather.

Okay, I'm going to have check on my food...I hope it's good or who knows what will be on the menu for lunch this coming week?!?! ;)

Kathy

Trick or Treat

Hi!

No tricks...just a crafty card treat for you this Friday! :)

I'm at it again, playing with the Bella Blvd. 'Too Cute to Spook' collection. Havin' a spook-tacular good time!

I love this sticker with the creepy little houses! In my stash I have some of these fun little plastic ghosts that's perfect to creep out this neighborhood just a little more! I used some small straight pins to make the little flags. I've been using toothpicks, but for this card, I needed something a bit smaller.

What do you think of this little bat? Fun little addition I think!

So, what kind of plans do you have for the weekend. I have the typical mix of errands, crafts and relaxing planned. Oh, and just maybe I'll get a goody box at the door? New supplies to play with? That would make the weekend pretty cool! We'll see. I hope you have an enjoyable weekend!

Kathy :)

Autumn

Hello!

Isn't this a fabulous time of year for crafting?!?! I love all the rich vibrant colors of the season! And then there are pumpkins, leaves, hay stacks, Halloween spooks...the list goes on and on!

Here's my latest fall craft...a hybrid card created with a new digital kit from Two Peas in a Bucket called 'Autumn Leaves' by Polka Dot Pixels.

I was really excited to see this kit includes a couple little pennant strips that I could use to make flags...because you know I can't get enough of them!

I used a favorite Papertrey Ink die for this leaf sprig made with this cool green hounds tooth print from the kit.

I don't talk about pop dots much, but they're used on nearly every one of my projects! I got to have the texture it creates along with the dry embossed circle I used to frame my accents.

Have you seen the new design team introductions happening at the Doodlebug Designs blog? They started yesterday and feature three designers a day until Monday. Today is my day and I couldn't be more excited to be introduced with two of my favorite artists! What an honor! Anyway, if you'd like to know who those artists are or learn a thing or two about me that you didn't know before, head on over!

Kathy :)

Stretch Your Sketch

Hi!

How are you this fine Tuesday? You all know Jennifer Gallacher, right? She's at Two Peas in a Bucket teaching a monthly class called Stretch Your Sketch? Did you know these classes are free? Yes, indeed! It's a great opportunity to see how Jennifer creates her amazing pages and how to create different looks with the same sketch.

I had a ball with Jennifer's sketch, turning it and tweaking it a little to make it my own.

Here's what I came up with...a beach page from our annual summer trip. There's Christopher taking to the waves with his boogie board.

I used the '100 Days of Summer' collection by Collage Press for this page. I've completee three projects with this line and I can't get enough!

I think this accent is darling and I love how the little dude is wearing goggles just like Christopher!

I hope you have a little time to hop over to Two Peas in a Bucket and take Jennifer's class and see the amazing page she created!

Kathy :)

Boo!

Boo!

Did I scare you? Okay, so my little ghost isn't the scariest of Halloween spooks! :)

Yesterday I posted a summertime card and today it's Halloween. I guess that's what happens when we're a couple days away from the official start of fall.

I couldn't wait until I got my Design Team box from Bella Blvd. to start having fun with their collections! And I didn't have to because the last time I was at Archivers, I picked up some of the 'Too Cute to Spook' goodies. Look at these fabulously colorful and fun Halloween prints!

This conversation bubble is part of the sticker sheet in the collection. I thought it would look cool to add a button.

This little ghost is a Silhouette die cut. I couldn't leave him alone either...I added the bow! Maybe that's why he has that shocked look on his face!

This lovely spider was at the bottom corner of this orange patterned paper and I made sure he made it onto my card!

Oh, if you stopped in yesterday I mentioned that I have been trying some new recipes on my boys! Thank goodness a lot of the recipes I find on Pinterest are good ones or the boys might not be so cooperative!

This is a very simple dish called Pasta with Shredded Chicken and Rosemary. It's just that! Well, and a bit of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. It got a thumbs up!

This recipe is perfect for any left over chicken or rotisserie bird you pick up on the way home. I cooked some chicken in six minutes on the George Foreman grill...so that's another option! As for the rosemary, we have a large bush in our yard...what could be more simple?

A final note about this recipe...it calls for 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary. Since I think fresh rosemary is quite fragrant, I used one tablespoon and it had plenty of rosemary flavor. Anyway, this is a perfect dish to experiment with so enjoy!

Kathy :)

Sweet Summertime

Hello!

Wow, it's amazing how one weather cruddy weekend can make summer seem so long ago! It's been cold, cloudy and rainy the past couple days and I'm anxiously awaiting the sun to make its return today! It's kind of weird going from the 90s everyday to this gloomy soupy stuff!

Anyway, I have a summery card share. So if your weather is kind of crumby too, you can gaze at my card and think of warmer days!

I created this card with the '100 Days of Summer' papers from Collage Press that I used recently for another warm weather card. I love these fruits! Nothing says summer like a slice of juicy red watermelon!

I added a trio of colorful buttons from my stash...one of my go-to embellishments. And a little die cut butterfly.

I have to throw in some stitching! :)

I made this little tab with one of the patterned papers...the one with all the adorable cut-out cards.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed your weekend so far. My hubs and I were childless Friday night and all day yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it! We went out to dinner last night to a new place we've been wanting to try. Oh it was soooooooo very good! They set a new standard for sea scallops!

I'll be back soon with more crafty shares...and I have a couple new recipes the family tried last week that I want to tell you about!

Kathy :)

Genuine

Hi!

No more design team announcements today! Ha! Today I actually have a crafty share for you!

Here's my guy! A real down to earth, genuine sort of layed back person! I'm so lucky to have him as my better half! :) I snapped this photo while on vacation in Charleston this summer.

This is a hybrid page created with a totally cool new Two Peas in a Bucket kit called 'Just Be'

by Dianne Rigdon. These colors are fabulous, aren't they? You should see the array of scrapbook pages the Digital Creative Team came up with for this kit! There were so many different themes!

My favorite paper in the bunch is this text design!

I created most of the accents for this page using the kit. And I got a little help from my favorite Spellbinders dies and border punches!

The final adornments for the page are a few buttons and a paper daisy, all from my stash.

So, we're finally getting a bit of fall weather this weekend. Yesterday was 90 some degrees and today we're looking at 60 something! Wow, what a change! And it's a rare weekend alone for my honey and I! I guess we're going to have to dig out a couple sweaters before we head out to dinner!

Hope you enjoy your weekend! Any plans you want to mention?

Kathy

 :)

More Happy News!

Hi!

Pinch me! How often does a gal get to announce that she's made a design team two days in a row?!?! I'm jumping up and down for joy!

It's such an honored and privilege to be part of Doodlebug's first design team! I've been a huge fan of Doodlebug Designs for a long time! I'm so excited that I get to work with such a successful and amazing company along side some very cool and talented ladies!

Aphra Bolyer (LA)

Blog: http://www.aphradeedesigns.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth Carney (WA)

Blog: http://www.elizabethmcarney.com/

Jessy Christopher (Malaysia)

Blog: www.teacherjessy.blogspot.com

Jing-Jing Nickel (MN)

Blog: http://thislittleartofmine.blogspot.com/

Kandis Smith (ID)

Blog: http://www.mycreativetreasury.blogspot.com

Kathy Martin (NC)

Blog: http://www.card-blanc.blogspot.com

Lori Allred (Coordinator)

Blog: http://www.allreddesign.net

Melinda Spinks (Australia)

Blog: http://thescrapfarm.blogspot.com

Monique Liedtke (Netherlands)

Blog: http://moniquesscrapbook.blogspot.com/

Nancy Damiano (NJ)

Blog: http://www.thepaperorchard.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Buice (AL)

Blog: http://mybitsofsunshine.blogspot.com

Rosangela Philippsen (Brazil)

Blog: http://www.scrapbyrophilippsen.blogspot.com/

Sherry Cartwright (TX)

Blog: http://itsawondramouslife.blogspot.com

Tiffany Hood (UT)

Blog: http://www.rhinestonesandribbon.blogspot.com/

Wendy Sue Anderson (UT)

http://wendysueanderson.blogspot.com

Well, after I return from cloud nine, I'll pop in to share some crafty goodness with you! :)

A big thanks to all of you for your congratulatory wishes of yesterday! You really made me happy and excited!

Kathy :)

Big News!

Hi!

I'm so happy you stopped by today because I have some happy news to share with you! It is my honor and privilege to be part of the first Bella Blvd. design team as a card designer! Woot woot! I'm really looking forward to working with the fabulous Bella Blvd. collections, owner Stephanie Hunt, Design Team and Special Projects Coordinator, Laura Vegas and all the wonderfully talented gals on this new team!

Without further ado, here are the amazing ladies I'll be joining...

Wow! Lots of names I recognize and a few that I can't wait to get to know! Here's to a wonderful year!

Kathy :)

Vintage Goodies

Hi!

If you visited my blog last Saturday, you might have read that I was on my way out the door to go on a vintage treasure hunt. I did and I found some adorable things!  And this morning I took a few pictures to share with you! Some of these pieces will be listed in my Etsy shop and if you have any questions about any, leave me a comment. Let me know if there's something you collect that you want me to keep an eye out for. I treasure hunt as often as I can! :)

Aren't these little baby shoes adorable? And this little 'Baby Deer' box? I'm smitten!

I'm also enamored with old tins. I especially like this Hertz 'Song Food' tin. It used to be filled with canary seed that promised to make your little bird sing!

These are a fun find! Glass measuring cups!

You can never have too many old wooden boxes! There's a million different ways to display your favorite vintage finds! I always look for the dove tail corners...boxes aren't made like that anymore!

You can also never have too many old jars! I have dozens in my craft room to hold all kinds of embellishments! It's hard to see in this photo that it's an old Jumbo Peanut Butter jar. The elephant on the front is so cute and the bottom reads, "All the children like Jumbo!"

Oh how I love this old metal basket!!! I don't think I'll be able to part with this one! ;) Again...a great way to display your vintage treasures, like these little baby shoes. And how pretty would it look filled with some fruit or some autumn gourds!

You may be wondering what I do with all these little nick knacks I find? I've always loved antiques, but there was a time I didn't bother purchasing them because I didn't know what to do with them. Well, just like the little basket and shoes above, I simply set these pretties on a book shelf as is. This little basket would look cute placed on a stack of books!

So, the next time you find yourself at a yard sale or the flea market and you spy a cute old relic, buy it! Don't worry about what you'll do with it! You'll find the perfect perch!

Kathy :)