Baskets, Verve and Christmas!

Hi Everyone!

So sorry for the lack of posting last week. I have quite a bit to share with you today; but promise not to keep you very long. I am sure you are as busy as I am. So, let's get started shall we?

First, I have been so very busy crafting; but I just haven't had a lot of extra time to photograph and blog. The first thing I'm going to share with you is a basket I made for a local charity auction that is taking place in November. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of each item individually; but you can get the general idea from the basket. It has 20 greeting cards and envelopes with assorted gift boxes, a 4x6 note pad holder, 2 3x5 note holders; and 3 post it note holders. If you are a crafter, you KNOW how much time some of these little projects can take. It was so much fun to put this all together; but I was definitely happy to have it completed!

Next, I found some time to make 2 cards for weeks 3 and 4 of the Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge. I didn't realize until after I had made them and put them side by side that are complementary in color coordination! I used Verve Stamps from "Poppy Birthday" for week 3 on the left and then I used Verve Stamps "Medallion" and "Circular Sayings" for week four on the right.

Finally, let's talk about Christmas, shall we?! I have been a HUGE fan of Kristina Werner's Holiday Card Series since she began it a few years ago. I try to create as many cards inspired by her creations as I can each year. I have been so proud of the fact that I am keeping up with them pretty well this year. In addition, I am actually making 2 copies of each card because I am going to use one set for my personal use for family and friends and then the other set, I will be sending as part of the Caring Hearts Card Drive that Jennifer McGuire blogged about a few weeks ago. 

I will be sharing all of the cards I made inspired by Kristina starting Nov 28 for 25 days...so it's kind of like doing my own Holiday card show for you.

In the meantime, however, I did receive my November Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp and some extra goodies including the "falling snow" stencil with some texture paste that I was so excited to use for the first time. So, the last card I have to share with you today is this adorable little card, I put together yesterday afternoon. When I saw the release of this month's kit, I also went ahead and order the teal ink pad and the hot lips ink pad as well; and I am so glad I did. They coordinate perfectly with the colors and papers with this kit.

I can't wait to play more with all the fun stuff in this kit! Here is one last picture showing the close up of the texture paste snow and the glitter I added to the trees. 

That is all for me today. Thanks for sticking with me through the end of this very long post today. I will be back again as soon as I can. Until then, enjoy your day! 

What's For Dinner Monday? Chicken and Sausage Winter Stew

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. The weather is turning a little bit chilly here in Pennsylvania; and fall is definitely in the air. I decided it was finally time to break out a stew recipe. This recipe is adapted from Rachael Ray.  As always, I have included a printable recipe for your convenience as well as including the recipe here at the bottom of the post.

This is an easy recipe to adapt to whatever culinary preferences you wish. It could be made with turkey sausage and chicken sausage for those who don't eat pork for example. Don't leave out the beans, they add a nice texture to the soup. 

Also, this stew really benefits from slow simmering on the stove for about 20-30 minutes before serving. Leftovers are also delicious!

Chicken and Sausage Winter Stew

Ingredients:  3-4 Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into bite sized pieces 3/4 lb Mild Italian Sausage crumbled 3/4 lb Beef Sausage cut into bite size pieces 3-4 Celery Ribs diced 2 small carrots or 1 large one diced  1 small onion or 1/2 large one diced 3 garlic cloves 1/2 cup to 1 cup Dry White Wine 2 cups Chicken Stock 1 15oz can of Cannellini beans drained Seasonings to taste and preference Directions: Heat 1-2 Tbsp of oil in a large dutch oven style pot over medium high heat. Add the crumbled Italian sausage and brown 4-5 minutes Add the beef sausage pieces and continue to brown both sausages for another 3-4 minutes. Remove the sausages to a paper towel lined dish and set aside. Add the chicken breast pieces to the pan, season with preferred seasonings and brown for about 4-5 minutes.  Add the carrot, celery, onions and garlic to the pan and then continue to cook with the chicken for another 7-8 minutes or until the veggies start to soften Return the sausages to the pan Deglaze the bottom of the pan with the white wine, stirring up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan for all that yummy flavor! Stir in the can of Cannellini beans Add the Chicken Stock. You may not need the full two cups. Just add enough to cover all the ingredients or until its as "stewy or soupy" as you would like. Bring the stew to a low boil for a few minutes and then lower the heat to simmer (I put mine between 3-4 on the number dial on the stove) and let the stew and all the yummy flavors just meld together for about 20-30 minutes, gradually lowering the temperature to 2-3

Enjoy!

Pin It, Make It, Share it: Hello There.

Hi Everyone!

I Hope everyone is doing well today. I have been busy with many crafty projects; but also knew I should stop by with something to share this morning. Today's card was inspired by the small picture to the right that I pinned to my "Crafty Inspirations" board on pinterest. The original card was created by Donna Mikasa. You can click the picture and it will take you to the original source.

For my interpretation of the card, I used the Moroccan Stencil from Simon Says Stamp with distress inks on water color paper. I blended Crushed Olive, Tumbled Glass, Fired Brick, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers. I sprayed the paper with some water; and then let it dry.

I haven't used this stencil in a while...almost forgot I had it! It was fun to play around with it.
I added the sentiment from Simon Says Stamp "Square Sayings" I added a piece of Bermuda Bay Ribbon from my stash and then put the background piece on to a piece of Vintage Cream card stock folded to a standard size card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2)

One note before I go:

I am not going to be entering any challenges for a little while. I've thought about this for a while and have debated my thoughts regarding it for a while as well.
On the one hand, I think it's great to have a few people from challenges stop by and maybe leave a comment or two. And, you know, let's face it...sometimes they are the only people who stop by and leave comments. I know I'm probably taking a huge risk by no longer linking to them; and my blog traffic will probably plummet significantly.
Nevertheless, challenges are just overwhelmingly time consuming. Finding the challenges, linking the challenges within the blog posts, then linking my card to each individual challenge. I just don't have time for it right now.
So, I hope you like what I've shared. I hope you might have a few moments to share a comment as well.

Thanks for visiting with me, have a good day; and I'll see you all again soon!

Viva La Verve Sketch Challenges Week 1 and 2

Hi Everyone!

So sorry I haven't blogged anything crafty lately! I have been very busy crafting, however...just haven't had the time to get anything posted. I have been working on Christmas cards which I will be sharing with you in December.
I also decided to play along with this month's VLV sketch challenges. So today, I have two cards to share with you.  For the first week, I also decided to use the optional color challenge of Ocean Blue, Orange and Yellow.
I started with a standard sized card base of Canyon Clay and then added a layer of Ocean Tide. I stamped the background image on Vintage Cream card stock using my new "Eastern Delights" stamps from Clearly Besotted. I stamped them alternatively with Iced Spruce, Rusty Hinge and Scattered Straw Distress inks. I used my blending tool with the inks to add some color to the edge of the paper as well. More layers of card stock and then I ran another piece of Vintage Cream through my cuttlebug with the swirls folder. I used Scattered Straw, Rusty Hinge and Iced Spruce with my blending tools here as well.
The butterfly is from Verve's Blue Sky Set and I cut it out using the "All Aflutter" die set and then colored it in with distress markers. I added a coating of shimmer with my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen and then added the sequins.

Challenges for this card:

1. Crafting at the weekend: Anything Goes
2. Treasured Times: Anything Goes
3. Vandicrafts Artistry Challenge: Anything Goes

Well, if you're still here with me, let's move on to the second card for today. This is for VLV week 2 as well as the October Diva Dare Challenge "Pink Power" This was a harder sketch for me; but I finally put together something I liked. I chose a palette of pinks and greens for this card, with the focus on the pink obviously. I used my Inkadinkado Polka Dot background stamp and embossed it with versamark and white embossing powder. I used the Geometric Rings embossing folder for the circle. The banner across the top was cut using Verve's "Award Banner" die cut. I also used Verve's "I heart U" die set and "you and I " stamp set.
I added some sparkle to the heart with some star dust stickles and some white acrylic paint dots to the embossed area of the circle to finish the card.

Since this post is already really long, I'm not going to link this card to any additional challenges.

That is all for me today. Thank you so much for visiting with me. Have a wonderful day, and I will see you all again soon!