Happy Thanksgiving: Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating today!! It is a day of gratitude and do you know what I am most grateful for at this moment - the fact that my husband does all of the Thanksgiving cooking!!

My card of Thanksgiving includes a wonderful sentiment - one that I most definitely could do a better job of living by.


A week or so ago, I mentioned my husband's leftover turkey soup and that I liked it better than the actual Thanksgiving.  It's also the reason that we rarely accept invitations to other's Thanksgiving meals - we wouldn't have the leftovers for the soup!  And I am going to share it here.  There's really nothing fancy about it - it's mostly just dumping in everything you have left over!

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Leftover Turkey Soup
1 leftover turkey carcass2 bay leaves1 pinch marjoram1 pinch thyme1 pinch basil2 Tblsp butter3 Tblsp flour1/4 cup rice1/2 cup chopped celery1/2 cup chopped onion2 cups fresh mushrooms1 handful thin or medium egg noodles1/2 cup chopped parsley3 Tblsp sherryLeftover gravy, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, cranberries, etc.Chicken stock
Take all meat off the bone and set meat aside. Cover with water, add spices, salt and pepper and simmer slowly for 3-4 hours. Remove bones and strain for stock.
Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in stock. (It should be 1 1/2 to 2 quarts, if not, add chicken stock). Bring to a boil.
Add rice, celery, onion and a handful of noodles. Simmer 25-30 minutes.  Saute mushrooms. Add to soup with diced turkey meat, all leftovers, and parsley. At serving time, add sherry.
Enjoy!

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My card uses the sketch from clean&simple stamping. I've used it twice this week - it must be a keeper!

I'm also playing along with Crazy 4 Challenges Thankful theme and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.

• Stamps: Sweet Stamp Shop Fall Gratitude
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Soft Stone
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics, Papertrey Ink Soft Stone (the small shadows)
• Accessories: Hemptique white twine, Neat & Tangled Crystal Clear sequins, Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise button

Clean & Simple Lawnscaping: Sounds Corny

As I got all of my Thanksgiving cards ready to mail, I realized that I had missed one very special person - my sweet 5-year old niece.  In a family of big and tall people, she is a tiny little thing - and unlike the rest of us, has very little interest in food.  So I thought the Happy Feast set from Lawn Fawn would be a fun message for her!


The layout comes from clean&simple stamping.

My choice of paper comes from the current Lawnscaping Challenge to use polka dots.

• Stamps: Lawn Fawn Happy Feast
• Paper: Simple Stories Snap Color Vibe
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Hemptique twine, Papertrey Ink Terracotta Tile button

clean&simple: Happy Fall Y'All

I haven't posted for a number of days...very busy getting my house ready for a large dinner last night. My husband and I don't entertain often, nor are we particularly clean and tidy people - so we have to invite people over every so often just to force us to do basic maintenance.  We painted halls and bathroom, we started a rock garden along our walkway, and about a million other little decorating/cleaning things.

Thank you so much for everybody who thought of this gathering and said a prayer.  It was a very nice evening - great conversation, lots of laughter, but only time will tell if the church's long-term interim pastor said the words that this group needed to hear.  It's been a long and difficult year at this church. A year ago - over 400 at worship, now a good week is 150, and the youth program has been hit even harder.  The group that gathered last night had all been hurt in some way - some left the church, some stayed but not happily - but all still love the church community and all still want to see it grow again. Last night was just a dinner, but it felt like a start!

I was going to skip posting again today.  I hadn't planned on making cards, rather I was going to organize and plan ahead.  One of the things that I did was look at my fall/Thanksgiving stamps in my NBUS stash - I figure I have to get them used in the next week.  With other posts already scheduled - I needed to start today to get my fall stamps used!

This is a Hero Arts set called Happy Fall Y'All (although it also a Merry Christmas stamp).  I liked it for the idea of coloring in the dots - but when it came in the mail, I realized it was much bigger than I had thought!  The current clean&simple sketch gave me room to use it.

When I saw the picture I realized that I hadn't done a very good job of blending the Copics.  I went back to fix it, the cat jumped up while I was coloring and I now have a smear across the card.  So you get to see the non-blended coloring and the original has to go in the trash.  Good thing that cat has a nice purr because this is not the first card she has ruined.

• Stamps: Hero Arts Happy Fall Y'All
• Paper: My Favorite Things Primitive White, Simple Stories Harvest Lane
• Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Copics, Versamark
• Accessories: Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, My Favorite Things Fishtail dies, Sparkle 'n Sprinkle Chocolate Sparkle embossing powder, Hemptique Natural Twine

Dynamic Duos and Merry Monday: An Aqua and Red Christmas

This is my second post today!

I posted a card earlier today that I had made for Merry Monday and for Dynamic Duos, but after I finished the card, I realized it didn't qualify for either challenge - wrong color for one, no circles for the other.  I spent the afternoon at a friend's house, playing with her extensive collection of Stampin' Up stuff and, since it was still bothering me, I did another card!   I also added in the clean & simple sketch challenge.

Now I feel so much better!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Mixed Medley (snowflake), More Merry Messages (sentiment)
• Paper: White
• Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red, Bermuda Bay
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Scallop Circle Punch, ribbon in Bermuda Bay and Real Red, rhinestones

Butterfly with Hope

I love this sentiment from the new set by The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) called All About YOU.  I used it a week ago on this card done all in neutrals.  Today I am brightening it up with this cheerful butterfly from Priceless Joy.


I used the sketch from clean&simple stamping.

It's gotten easy to buy stamps from TAWS - Simon Says Stamp now carries us!!  Just use the manufacturer drop down to go to "The Alley Way Stamps" and you can add them to your cart along with all of your other crafting needs!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Priceless Joy, All About YOU
• Paper: Stampin' Up Island Indigo, Very Vanilla, My Mind's Eye Collectable Noteable Memo
• Ink: Stampin' Up Island Indigo, Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up small piercing template, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal Glitter (adhered to the butterfly with a spray adhesive)

Addicted to CAS: Baubles

This is my second post today!

The current challenge at Addicted to CAS is Baubles.  I actually looked up "Baubles" - yes, I know what it means - but for me, it has always had a negative connotation - like "gaudy".  The dictionaries do say "a small showy ornament of little value".  That gave me "permission" to do what I had imagined.  I have these big gems ornaments that I picked up in a $1 bin (there were 12 on the sheet!)  For my style, they are really gaudy, but I thought on a CAS card, they might work!

And what do you know - I like it!!!  (Sorry for the gray cast on the card.  I can usually get a card to look white, but when there is embossing, my techniques wash it out too much - so I leave it grayish.  Others seem to manage it - any advice??)
Being born and raised as Swedish/German, South Dakotan farm stock - I am extremely uncomfortable tooting my own horn.  But I have to tell you that I got a shout out for the first Addicted to Stamps challenge for this card.  I have to tell you this simply so I can show you the badge and give all of my family and friends a huge laugh over somebody finally officially pointing out my perfectionist tendencies...

My Baubles card uses the Fall to Layout from clean&simple but flipped (and I just realized that I didn't round a corner which would have been nice!)

• Stamps: Technique Tuesday Jingle All the Way
• Paper: Stampin' Up Red Glimmer paper
• Ink: Stampin' Up Concord Crush
• Accessories: Recollections (Michaels brand) baubles, Sizzix embossing folder, Stampin' Up Scallop Border Punch

Peace with TAWS Trees Company

There are so many fun and funky trees and birds in the set by The Alley Way Stamps called Trees Company.  You can tell by the name that it is a lot of fun.  But tucked in the set is also a pine branch and a solid shape that could be a leaf or a pine cone.


I thought that the ornament idea would work perfectly with the sketch from clean & simple stamping.

To get a dimensional effect on the pine branches and pine cones they are inked in a lighter color then thumped with a darker color pen.  As a last step I added some sparkly stickles.

Yesterday I showed you a funky Nebraska photo from my road trip last week.  Here is a classic South Dakota photo...

I grew up in the shadow of Mt. Rushmore and I would think that at some point I would get tired of it - but it still gives me a thrill every time that I see it.  This time was particularly wonderful as it was the first time that my son remembered seeing it. Having said that, he was much more excited with the next stop on our tourist trip - Reptile Gardens!
The Black Hills is an odd mix of beauty and tourist traps.  You have to know what you are getting into when you go there.  You can look at it as tacky, but I prefer to see it as old-fashioned fun.  If you ever go, don't spend all of your time at the tourist traps - you will miss the beautiful Black Hills!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Trees Company, Christmas Magic (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Confetti White, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede
• Ink: Stampin' Up Wild Wasabi pad with Garden Green pen, Soft Suede pad with Early Espresso pen, Cherry Cobbler
• Accessories: Sizzix embossing folder, Spellbinders ornament die, Stampin' Up Soft Suede ribbon and stickles, Theresa Collins Christmas Cottage washi tape

You're a Lifesaver

I love challenges - have I said that before??

First I saw this week's Fall to Layout at clean&simple stamping.  It's my day to post over at The Alley Way Stamps blog and I had the new set Kid 'n Caboodle set out with its charming boat and the sentiment "You're a Lifesaver".  The layout is the perfect sea scene.

Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any better - Fab Friday came up with this color combo!

Here's how it came together...

I have so many people in my life who deserve this card!!
My cutting skills are not great - so I printed out the sketch on regular printer paper.  Luckily it printed out at 4 x 5 1/4" so I could cut it out and have my own template!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Kid 'n Caboodle
• Paper: Stampin' Up Midnight Muse CS and dsp, Island Indigo dsp, Summer Starfruit dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Midnight Muse and Summer Starfruit, Memento black, copics
• Accessories: crochet thread

TAWS New Release Blog Hop

It's one of the special days of the month...the new release blog hop for The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS)!!

I am definitely hopping today...


Check out that face.  He could be angry, or surprise or confused.  I'm not sure how I am going to use this - probably for some nasty "you're not really old" birthday card!!  The frog comes from a new set called Kid 'n Caboodle which is the same type of set as Priceless Joy.
Another new set this month is called Trees Company - trees and birds...could it get any better??  I used a few of the "pieces" to put together this little scene. 
The colors on both cards come from Papertrey Ink: Aqua Mist, Limeade Ice, Summer Sunrise and Kraft.
I used the third new set on Monday's sneak peek post - this set includes my favorite little turkey BIGGED!  I love him so much!!
Here's all the official details on this blog hop:

One person will win ALL 3 NEW SETS!! YEP!! So if you want that person to be you.. all you have to do is comment on the hop! 

Here are ways you can win.. You can pick and choose which ones you want to do.. but the more you comment, the more chances you have to win.. 

1-Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog

2-Comment on the DT girls blogs (below)

3-Post about it on facebook or your blog

4-Like us on Facebook

(leave a seperate comment for each that you do)

 You have until September 30th by 9:30 PM TAWS time to leave comments.

Here are the DT Blogs to visit

Alison
Annette
Arielle
Audrey
Danielle
Jessica
Kim <===You Are Here
Lyndal
Tracy

The layout on the frog card is the Fall to Layout from clean&simple stamping.

The layout on the bird card is from iSpy Sketches.

Have a great hop!!

Awesome Blossom, Colors and Sketch

If you follow my blog, you know I am a huge challenge player.  I really need that starting point.  Typically I start with a need or stamp set and then go looking for sketches or colors to fit.  But this time, I started with the colors at The Play Date Cafe.  It's such a different combination that I typically use and I wanted the colors to be the star.

So...I have a new set from The Alley Way Stamps called Awesome Blossom - big blooms that I could splash across the card particularly given that I had this week's sketch at clean&simple in the back of my mind!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Awesome Blossom, Mad Gab ("snazzy"), Christmas Magic ("very")
• Paper: Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate, Sahara Sand
• Ink: Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate, Sahara Sand, Old Olive, Midnight Muse
• Accessories: Martha Stewart Trio of Butterflies, gems colored with Copics

Never, Never, Never Give Up

This is my second post today.

It's a quick scroll down to The Alley Way Stamps sneak peek!

My teenager is suffering from a serious case of teenager-itis and after a long and difficult talk last night, I wanted to have a card ready to go for him this morning.

There is a perfect digi download over at Word Art Wednesday - it's a Christian group that has weekly downloadable Word Art - Christian and inspirational.  I discovered them through Marlena at Marlena Is Faithfully Crafting - she has wonderful cards and also amazing faith stories to go with each card.

I am still playing with Washi Tape for the Catered Crop Recipe challenge and I got the layout from clean&simple's current Fall To Layout.

• Stamps: Word Art Wednesday download
• Paper: Stampin' Up Soft Suede, Poppy Parade
• Accessories: Woodgrain Washi Tape from Love My Tapes, striped red from Queen & Co., EK Success postage border punch, Tim Holtz embossing folder

Clean&Simple's Fall To Layout hits 200!

Two hundred card sketches from clean & simple stamping!  Wow!  They call them Fall to Layouts and they are definitely that for me.  They have collected past sketches in PDF files and I always have them handy!!

I HAD to play along with the 200th.  But I am also on a mission to use the scraps that I have cleaned off my table while my men/boys are gone.  I did have about 20 punched circles which I have no memory of - luckily, this week's sketch includes circles!!

Here's to 200 more great sketches!!!

• Stamps: Hero Arts Sending You Love (and matching die)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze, Peach Parfait and misc dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade
• Accessories: Stampin' Up embossing folder, butterfly sizzlit, Pool Party baker's twine, Martha Stewart hydrangea punch

Clean & Simple with Summer Starfruit

Our local Hobby Lobby has a half price ribbon sale this week, so I took my swatches of the new Stampin' Up in colors to stock up on ribbon.  I didn't find anything basic - the colors must be too new for Hobby Lobby -  but I did find this wide patterned ribbon...



To put the focus on the ribbon, I found a great layout at clean&simple's Fall to Layout.  I made a 3 1/4" x 6 1/4" card so the ribbon fit nicely down the center.
The butterfly is Summer Starfruit.  It's an interesting color because on its own it looks goldish, next to green it looks yellowish and next to yellow it looks greenish.

• Stamps: Clearly Wordsworth Thanks set
• Paper: Stampin' Up black and Summer Starfruit
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Hobby Lobby brand ribbon, square punch to make the banner, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, misc gems

Jumping on the Hexagon Trend!

There are cards all over blogland right now using hexagons - and I love them!  They look like a comfie quilt - yet most of what I am seeing is still very clean and simple.  Of course, I jumped right on that bandwagon and my hexagon dies arrived yesterday...



I went with this week's very cheerful colors from colourq.  Then, I needed a little help with the idea of a clean and simple quilt - so I went with this week's sketch from clean&simple.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Perfectly Penned
• Paper: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke and Tangerine CS, Daffodil and Pear dsp
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: detail white embossing powder, Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Hexagon dies, Stampin' Up dotted embossing folder, misc twine

Splitcoast Colors with Dessert - Celebrate!!

I am thrilled and honored to be an April guest designer for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers!

 I absolutely love the colors for this week - Peach Parfait, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party - they are so fresh and so festive.  But...I do have to admit that my first card isn't demonstrating a high degree of creativity.

I had already bookmarked this week's Fall to Layout at Clean & Simple Stamping as a must-do, so when I saw that the dessert option for the color challenge was "borders"...and realized that the Fall To Layout was all about "borders" - it seemed like a perfect fit!!

So I have used someone else's colors and someone else's layout!!  But this card makes me smile!!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Outlined Occasions
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pool Party CS, Peach Parfait dsp
• Ink: Memento black, copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Eyelet Border, Lucky Limeade ribbon and embossing folder, Sweet 'n Sassy Lacey Eyelet Border dies, The Twinery Caribbean Baker's Twine, glue pen and glitter (the confetti on the sentiment)

Coral and Ruby Greenhouse Flowers

This is my second post today -

it's just a short scroll down for the 

Sweet 'n Sassy blog hop!

Two challenges/inspirations came together that caused me to pull out this Stampin' Up set - Greenhouse Garden.  First, I saw Ann's card - such a lovely one layer card.  Then the clean&simple sketch challenge perfectly fit the idea of three flowers! I went for one of my favorite color combo - sadly, now retired...

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Greenhouse Garden, Papertrey Flower Fusion 6 (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Ruby Red dsp (retired)
• Ink: Stampin' Up Cameo Coral and Ruby Red (both retired)
• Accessories: Spica black glitter pen (dotted on the centers), misc gingam

SCS Color Challenge: My Faves

I had sworn that I would not make any cards today - at least until my craft area was clean - which could easily take the hours that I have to create!  But I saw the color challenge at Splitcoast and couldn't help myself: Krafty White Pizzazz.  Kraft is so natural and Pear Pizzazz is so soft and White is so clean!
I combined the colors with this week's Fall to Layout to create this little scene.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Pennant Parade, A Muse sentiment
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, white, Silver Glimmer
• Ink: Stampin' Up Pear Pizzazz, ColorBox Frost White
• Accessories: misc circle, scalloped circle and star punches, oval nestie (to cut the snowy hill), Stampin' Up Embossing Folder, American Craft ribbon, Making Memories bird brad,

Aviary Jingle Bells

I was so excited this morning when, for the first time in weeks, I had an idea and it came together easily!!  I definitely have been struggling.  I'm still making cards and typically happy with the results - but they all seem to be so much work!  So many false-starts and do-overs and try-agains!

It's a good thing that I had the brainstorm this morning, because I actually had an entirely different plan for today's blog post but I am going to need my teenage son to help me with some blog/PC issues before I can post it.  So...here's some blatant self-promotion...

Coming next Friday...a Friday Focus post on Copics!!  I haven't done a Friday Focus in months.  These are posts that cover basic information with lots of tips and hints.  I've done Friday Focus posts on tying bows, embossing folder techniques, shimmer paint and many more.  Now I have a huge post almost ready to go on Copics.  I have photo tutorials of basic coloring, I have downloads of Copic matches to Stampin' Up and Papertrey paper.  And I have many, many links to advanced Copic techniques.  Be sure to come back next Friday!!

But right now, I am more excited about today!  I love the Stampin' Up Aviary set.  Those little guys and their cages can be so cute or they can be elegant.  I decided to embellish their cages and make them Christmas!!

The first thing I saw today was the CAS-ual Friday challenge to make a tag.  I knew right away I wanted to decorate the bird cages from Aviary for the Christmas season.  (Not many people wake up to the thought that they want to add jingle bells to bird cages??!!)

Then I saw the clean & simple Fall To Layout that had a tag and knew that I wanted to make a card/tag set!

Then at the very end I got stuck.  I was toying with a button in the lower right hand corner of the card but it wasn't right.  I looked around my desk and realized how much paper and ribbon that I had out and remembered that the current challenge with The Paper Players is a recipe challenge.  I looked and realized that I qualified except for the punch and one more dsp.  The light came on!!  I have a jingle bell punch and it's the perfect accent.  Then I used dsp for the leaves and it's so cute.  Thank you Paper Players!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Aviary and Great Greetings ('to' and 'from'), Papertrey Signature Christmas
• Paper: Stampin' Up Real Red dsp and CS, Lucky Limeade dsp and CS, Silver Glimmer paper
• Ink: Stampin' Up Real Red and Lucky Limeade
• Accessories: Stampin' Up silver cord, jingle bells and scalloped border punch, Martha Stewart jingle bell punch, green ribbon from Hobby Lobby, silver and red ribbon from Michaels