Busy Summer Meal Planning

August 2, 2014August 2, 2014Leave a comment

I was recently thumbing through a magazine and noticed a week of dinner plans.

Each meal was designed to be ready and on the table in 45 minutes or less.

While I like the idea, I looked at the menu and said to myself.

“My family would never go for that.”

Black Bean Burgers with Srirachi Aioli and Greek Cucumber Salad?

Seriously, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

At the risk of sounding horrible… (Healthy Moms close your eyes)

Here’s what my Busy Summer Menu looked like for the week:

Mon: Ham Steak, Cheesy Potatoes, Green Beans

Tues: Fiend for Yourself Night (Baseball Practice, Dad out-of-town) aka leftovers

Wed: Crockpot Italian Beef, Baked Mac and Cheese and because we had three extra teen-age boys show up I added a Wal-Mart Pizza for good measure. (total of 9 for dinner)

Thurs: BLT’s and Chips. (Baseball Practice, Dad out-of-town) Of course, Dad/Grandpa stops by and offers to take me to Cracker Barrel. Who am I to refuse? BLT’s another night.

Fri: Pizza Night (of course!)

Now if this isn’t your idea of good meal planning, please don’t throw me under the bus just yet.

Once school starts, I’ll do much better. (I hope)

Until then, you can enjoy your Grilled Steak Panzanella with Pickled Vegetables and Bourbon Peach Limeade without me.

Day #3 of The Twinery & Serendipity Stamps Blog Hop

July 30, 2014April 20, 201511 Comments

Todays is Day #3 of The Twinery & Serendipity Stamps Blog Hop and my chance to join in.

I love Serendipity Stamps and using twine in my card making. This was a great chance to use both.

“Thanks” Card Directions:

Stamp flower images and leaves onto watercolor paper using black permanent ink.
Water color or color images using markers.
Cut around flowers and leaves.
Paint a thin coat of Diamond Stickles Glue over images for added sparkle.
I started my card by using a 2 1/2″ wide double-sided tape from Kool Tak on a 5″ piece of cardstock.
Closely lay strands of twine onto the super sticky tape to cover the entire piece of paper.
Cut out with a 4″ scalloped square die cut.
Apply die cut square onto cardstock layers.
Glue Flowers and leaves onto front of the card using a fabric glue. Embellish with adhesive pearls. Die cut “thanks” from blue cardstock and add to front of card.

Finished Card Size: 5″ x 5″.

Serendipity Stamps Products Used:

The Twinery Colors Used:

Peach Stripe, Honeydew Stripe, Denim Stripe, Lilac Stripe, Flax Stripe, Natural.

Today’s Hop:

Don’t forget to leave comments along the way for the chance to win some awesome prizes.

A is for Alex

July 29, 2014June 2, 20171 Comment

I recently got the privilege of attending my sweet nephew Alex’s first birthday.

Since the party was a Robot theme…

I decided to make a Mini Robot out of Smoothfoam to decorate his present.

Supplies Used for make the robot: (*affiliate link)

2″ x 4″ x 8″ Smoothfoam block
Hot Wire Foam Cutter*
Silver Paint Pen*
Craft glue
Letter stickers
Googly eyes
Pearl-head straight pins
Bamboo skewer

Trim out 6 pieces from the Smoothfoam block with the wire cutter as shown for a body, head, arms and feet. Paint all pieces silver and let dry.
Paint a wood skewer silver and cut into two pieces for the legs. Insert between the body and feet with a few drops of glue to secure.
Glue the head and arms to the body.
Adhere the eyes to the head, and a letter sticker for the child’s first name to the body. Place the letter “I” sideways on the head to create the robot’s mouth.
Push two pearl-head pins into the top of the head for antennae, each secured with a drop of glue.

My little Robot stands approx. 4″ tall.

This project was created for and sponsored by Smoothfoam.

Disclaimer: This blog uses ads and affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase using one of the links, I receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) that helps offset the costs of maintaining this blog. Thanks for your support!

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The Twinery & Serendipity Stamps Blog Hop

July 28, 2014July 28, 20141 Comment

Are you a Rubber Stamper? Do you love using Twine on your projects?

Would you like a chance to win some free products?

Serendipity Stamps and The Twinery are joining together in a Blog Hop for the next three days.

Every Day a new group of Designers and New projects. Start today’s Blog Hop here.

I will be joining them on Day #3 (July 30th)

Here is a few of the Prize Details:

Serendipity Stamps

To win the Serendipity Stamps Prize of $25 to the Serendipity Stamps website leave comments on all Serendipity Stamps posts each day.

To win the Facebook prize of $25 to the Serendipity Stamps website: like the Serendipity Stamps Facebook page AND leave a comment.

Embossing Clear Scraps Clear Shapes for Layouts and Cards

July 23, 2014October 9, 2015Leave a comment

Did you know that you can emboss Clear Scraps Clear Shapes? (I didn’t until recently.)

For my “Vintage Sisters” layout and “Smile” card, I started with a Clear Shape Flower.

To make the Flower:

I used my Big Shot and a Swiss Dot Embossing Plate to emboss my flower.
I dabbed Antique Linen Distress Paint on the front of the flower (raised dot) and Victorian Velvet Distress Paint on the back side of my flower.

This project was created for and sponsored by Clear Scraps.

Summer Distractions

July 21, 2014July 23, 2014Leave a comment

Summer always goes so fast for me.

It’s always around this time in the Summer that I start wondering what I’ve done.

That’s why I’m glad I take a lot of pictures, so I can look back and remember.

No, we didn’t take a big family vacation. But, we’ve been busy just the same.

33 games of baseball, picnics in the park, swimming whenever the weather

was warm enough, a couple of out of state week-ends trips, unexpected home repairs

and general laziness.

I guess that’s what summer’s really all about. Enjoying life as it happens.

TBT: Serendipity Stamps Heart Scroll Card

July 17, 2014July 17, 2014Leave a comment

This morning I was going through my Pinterest Made by Me Board and changing the

web address on several of my old pins.

The Heart Scroll Card was one of my first pins from a few years ago and I thought I’d share again.

The card uses the Heart Scroll Stamp from Serendipity Stamps.

The heart image was embossed with white embossing powder and shaded after embossed

with pink ink. Simple and Elegant.

Serendipity Stamps also has a thin metal die that matches the heart stamp.

If you’re a stamper and you’ve never checked out their stamps and dies you really should.

A great company to work with. www.serendipitystamps.com.

Simple Decorated Linen Bag and Burlap Utensil Holder

July 13, 2014April 25, 20151 Comment

I recently got the opportunity to play along with a group of Designers using some fun burlap products.

I really love working with burlap. So many ideas, too little time. Here’s a few of the many things you can make using burlap.

My first project is a simple and elegant idea for decorating a plain muslin bag.

Start with a plain muslin bag.
Lay diamond stencil over the bag and secure in place with removable tape.
Stipple over the stencil with white acrylic paint.
Adhere a 1 1/2″ strip of burlap around center of bag.
Glue a thin piece of white lace around the bottom of the burlap strip.
For the heart: Paint a small piece of red burlap with several coats of white acrylic paint, creating the nice soft pink color.
Cut burlap with heart die.
Adhere sheer pink rosette ribbon onto pink heart and glue onto front of muslin bag.
Cut and Decorate a small tag.

The Burlap Utensil Holder uses the 3 1/2″ navy striped burlap ribbon.

Cut a 12″ strip of burlap ribbon.
Fold over one end of the ribbon approx. 1/2 end and glue using a good Fabri Tac glue. I used small metal binder clips to secure the ribbon in place while drying.
Create a 4″ pouch by folding and gluing ribbon. (love those binder clips)Glue a piece of 1 1/2″ burlap ribbon around pouch.
Glue lace over burlap ribbon and tie with a piece of cream crinkle ribbon.
Embellish with a flower and stick pin.
Add a napkin and utensil and your ready to go.