The Celebration Begins!

Don't ya just love a good party!? I so love celebrating and am so happy to be part of Sharon's Stamp Simply celebration! What a fun time! This will be a week filled with so many fun challenges...that will hopefully help to get us ready for gift giving this season!....and so many goodies! :)


One quick note: If you are looking for a low down of the weeks festivities you can find them here.


Sharon has some blog candy to give away today so be sure and sign up for that one. I think you will find it to be JustRite........hmmmm....... ;)


Janine has a wonderful challenge today and will also be offering blog candy. All you need to do for that one is play. It's a win, win. What are we doing? Well, baking cookies! Can I tell you how many I have eaten in the last 24 hours! Oh my heck! Just taking one for the team.


So here's the deets....A Cookie Recipe Exchange. So all you have to do is bake some cookies and package them up. We're all into seeing how you are going to give them away this year.


I kept mine super simple. Hey...we're still Stamping Simply.... ;) I wanted to also include a package to give the recipe. I love getting the recipe when I get cookies from someone. It's awesome to be able to make them again.


Here are my projects.... Here's one of just the gift bag full of all the yummy goodess!



You gotta love that JustRite Stamper! I used it for my recipe card holder as well.....



Here's the inside of my card holder....



I created a pocket inside of this one to stick the recipe in. I made some of my favorite peppermint cookies. Here's the recipe:


Peppermint Cookies


Ingredients:
1 C unsalted butter {room temp}
3/4 C powdered sugar + a little extra to roll cookies in
1 large egg yolk
2 large egg whites
2 1/2 C unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C finely crushed hard peppermint candy


Directions:
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and beat. Add egg whites and beat...mixture will look grainy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually beat into sugar mixture. Stir in peppermint candy. Roll into ball, cover in plastic wrap and chill one hour. Butter baking sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Form 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Flatten with a fork and bake until cookies are golden brown about 20 minutes. Yields 30 cookies.


Can I tell you how much I love peppermint....add a little chocolate and it's a little piece of heaven!


You can check out the rest of the samples for Janines challenge:
AJ Otto
Deb Saaranen
Darlene Pavlick
Barb Schram
Jerri Kay

If you are playing along be sure and either link your blog address at Janines website or you can upload to SCS using the keyword SSC08.


I can't wait to see what you all come up with and I look forward to sharing this fun week with Sharon! :) Congrats on your million milestone! You are amazing and I am so happy that you inspire us each day! :)


Hope you all have a great day! I will post you soon! :)




JustRite Stamper
Basic Grey dsp
White card stock
Nestibilities smooth and scallop circles
SU scallop border punch
sticky pearls
twill tape from Walmart
Ribbon SU
Riding Hood Red ink SU

A Recipe & A Blast From The Past

Hey all you happy stampers! How's your weekend? I was planning on posting something for you today but then we woke up to the most beautiful snow! We've had so much playing all day!

I wanted to share the gumbo recipe with you guys....if I don't do it now I will completely forget! And let me share that with recipes I am not a follower if I am not baking. I will try to get as close as possible but some of it is just to taste. So here goes.....

Chicken Gumbo...but for Thanksgiving it's Turkey Gumbo!

You will need:
Chicken/Turkey I have no clue how much...I usually will pick up a roasted whole chicken from the grocery and use this. With turkey leftovers it's just whatever we have left.
Sausage about a lb
flour
oil
2 bell peppers
onion
2 celery stalks....the veggies are a guestimate as well....chop all veggies
salt
cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
Chicken stock...probably about 8 to 10 cups....if your gumbo gets dry you can always add water. If you don't have chicken stock you can start with water.


Directions:
Cut the sausage up. I cut mine down the length of the sausage and then again in half...brown in a saute pan, remove and drain. Saute the veggies in this pan.

While those are cooking, in a dutch oven put about 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup flour. You want to brown the flour until it's dark...I like dark roux...
***easy trick...you can buy roux at the grocery store. I've never used it so I can't say how it tastes but I do realize that making a roux is a bit of a pain! ;)

Once your roux is ready, add the veggies and meats, the chicken stock, the bay leaves and salt and cayenne to taste. Bring this to a boil and then reduce the temp and cook the heck out of it all day! ;)

Ok...you really only need to cook it for an hour or so, but it will taste better the longer you cook it.

Serve over rice and top with Gumbo Filet powder...that is optional but I LOVE filet on my gumbo! :)

This is really an easy one. The hardest part is the roux...again, you can buy it at the store which will cut down on the cooking time.

Ok...and on to a blast from the past. I pulled this one out to share because I thought it would make a nice stocking stuffer for a little girl.....

....You would need to change the sentiment, but how fun to create this and then stuff it in a stocking! The tin is a paper doll holder. You could put anything in it. This is one of the little Altoid tins that I picked up at Gina K. The stamp set is also from Gina K...it's one from Melanie Muenchinger 'What's In Your Tin'.
Inside, there are paper dolls, chocolate, a paper ring, pinwheel. So many fun things.
I created mine for a get well, this is the poem inside.

By switching a few things you would be ready to go. The little tins themselves are only a couple of bucks and the little nuggets fit perfectly in them. Even to fill them with chocolate they make a perfect little something for a teacher or child....anyone that you might want to give a little something more than a card.

Hope you enjoy the gumbo! ....and that you have a wonderful day! :)

I will post you in a bit...Sharon's celebration begins soon!


Altoid Tin Gina K
What's In Your Tin Stamp Set Gina K
DSP from Papertrey Ink
Misc ribbon...papertrey, SU...
Heidi Swapp charms

More Rub Ons!

Happy Saturday! :)


I decided to create another EPLS with more rub ons....before I put them away! That's quite the concept...actually putting something up when I am finished! ;) Here it is......

How cool is this card! ...and by that I mean the whole card....minus the rub ons and embelli's is a die cut from this awesome place called Creative Cuts & More. I absolutely LOVE this! The possibilities are endless! I opted to keep it simple....a little bit of rub ons on the side and the sentiment....some rain drops along the scallop border and a BEAUTIFUL ribbon from Strano Designs....LOVE their ribbon.....and I totally should have titled this post 'THE ENABLER'! ;)

How easy is this! Why am I keeping it sooooo simple....as in 'Stamping Simply' ;)......

Did ya know????

The ever so talented and SUPER sweet Sharon Johnson has hit the MILLION mark on her blog! Wowzers! Time to celebrate! :) The festivities begin Monday December 1! It's a week long challenge, CANDY fest! :)


I am so excited for her! ....And really looking forward to all of the fun games and challenges! :)

Ok...off to fix lunch...so what can I do with turkey now???????? lol! I will share my gumbo recipe with y'all sometime this weekend. I LOVE making gumbo out of the turkey!

Hope you are having a great weekend! :) I will post you soon!

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A Unity Design Team Call

You know how much I LOVE working for Angela at Unity Stamp Co.! She's such a sweetie and the whole gang is so much fun to work with! Well, if you would like to join us read this........

Unity Stamp Company

is accepting applications for a ROCK STAR Scrapbooking Design Team, to compliment its existing design team.

Using Unity product is encouraged, but not required.

Please email Angela a link to your blog and also TWO of your stellar layouts that best represent your style. Your name, address, and a small paragraph about yourself would be appreciated.

Send your submissions to: angela@unitystampco.com

All submissions are due December 20, 2008

Requirements:

1.) Mandatory Blog updated TWICE, using Unity of course, on a weekly basis.

2.) Eight prjects per month loaded to your blog AND Scrapbook.com or Two Peas AND Splitcoast Stampers (SCS) and weekly participation in the SCS Scrapbook challenge.

3.) Participation in Hip Hop Thursday blog hop and at some point during the event a bit of conversation.

4.) A clear link on your blog to Unity Stamp Co. Blog and Website. As well as a list of the Unity Stamp DT members. Keeping it all full circle.

5.) It is mandatory that any EXCITING UNITY NEWS (ie: Kit of the Month, New Releases, Hip Hop Thursday, New DT Members, Guest Designers are announced on each DT Members blog on the date of occurence.

6.) Extra project requests from Unity will be made of the ROCK STARS. Angela may need projects done in a timely manner. (ie: idea tag samples, or other special projects for expos, CHA, Special BOARDS for Stores, etc.).

7.) REQUIRED Monthly Submission into magazines

8.) Six month term renewable upon request/review. Benefits: To be given per request.

Angela is looking forward to seeing your submissions!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day! :) I will post you in a bit! :)

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A Stamp Simply Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving! :) So how was it? Are you totally stuffed? I am heading to bed after this post...of course, I should be heading out for a 10 mile run with all that we've eaten today....OOC....out of control! ;)

Just in time for Thanksgiving, Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge is here! This week...create a 'thank you' card. That's it....no other restrictions apply! ;) Are you game? If so, and you plan on uploading to SCS be sure and use the keyword ssnotime63.

I kept mine super...SUPER....simple! :) When all else fails....pull out the rub ons! ....or when you are looking for quick and easy! Here's my card......

With the exception of the dew drops this card is all SU. The paper is Kiwi Kiss dsp. I also used Kiwi Kiss card stock. The ribbon is Kiwi Kiss...it's double sided which is super cool....although I have yet to use the other side....

I have determined that green is my favorite color....well, specifically Kiwi Kiss! I LOVE this color! It's so calm and soothing..... :)

Check out the rest of Sharon's team......
Becky Oehlers
Dee Jackson
Janine Orchard
Julie Koerber
Tammy Hershberger
AJ Otto
Cathy Tidwell

Hope you all are doing well and that you had a wonderful (Thanksgiving) day! :) I'm off to sleep! :) I will post you all soon! :)

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Hip Hop...

....Wednesday! Just shakin' it up....since we'll all be elbow deep in turkey tomorrow! ;) Of course since I'm cooking over here...I'm pretty much elbow deep in everything else currently!

So for this hip hop AJ challenged us to make some sort of 'gift' something or other....because I am elbow deep in cooking....does anyone else start a couple of days before Thanksgiving?...I've got pies....and cornbread....sooooo much cooking to do! .......... I had the cutest little gift bag...well, it was started....and then finished by the ever so cute Hayden! He mucked it all up! Goopy little fingers....I had the candy bag sitting in it...he wanted the candy....you get where this is going.....and if you don't.....take a look at this.......

Ok...so I wasn't that far into this one....but with so many pies and corn bread dressing to make....and a carpet that was in desperate need of cleaning! ...I'm doing cards! ;)

I am using Bitty Christmas Tags for this one. One of my Unity favs! :)

The paper is My Minds Eye. The snowflake is SU. I colored this little guy with my Copic markers....

...and the last one.....................

That's it for me....and for Hayden's creations for the day! I can't wait to see what he creates next! ;)

Hop on over to the ever so fabulous Robyn Weatherspoon to see what she's up to and I will catch up with you all in the SCS forum!

Have a wonderful day! :)

Inspiration Tuesday

Happy Tuesday...and can you believe that there are only two more days to get ready for Thanksgiving! I'm cooking this year so that means time to head to the kitchen. I LOVE cooking for Thanksgiving!

Today is Beate's BIC challenge! Take a look at this beautiful picture.....

My card for today is super simple. This is the perfect week for EPLS! ...so much shopping and cooking and cleaning to do! I picked one of my PTI sets for this one....
The paper is SU. I used black Brilliance ink and then embossed the image...then I sponged it with more mustard, pumpkin pie, and really rust ink.

Be sure and check out the rest of Beate's team....

Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Dawn McVey
Silke Ledlow
Susan Roberts

...and of course our fantabulous leader, Beate Johns ! Be sure and use the keyword BIC33 if you are uploading to SCS.

I hope you are all doing well! I will be post you soon! Have a good one!

Is That Christmas?

Of course! You see, today's challenge is to create a Christmas card using 'non-traditional' Christmas colors. I LOVE that! I'm thinking based on what I am seeing at the stores this season this thought is spreading! There were so many beautiful colors on wrapping paper and ornaments...everywhere!

I pulled out my Bitty Christmas Tags from Unity for this one. I still haven't made a tag with this set! I really need to work on that...

The paper helped out a ton on this one! If you want quick...pull out a little dsp! This is from My Minds Eye...I picked it up at Eclectic Paperie. I colored the little snowman with my copics and then added a little distress ink to the edges. The ribbon is PTI. Then a little champaine dew drops.

Be sure and check out what the rest of the gals created...
AJ Otto
Brooke Lien
Jeanne Streiff
Maren Benedict
...Amber is still recovering...

That's it for me. I am off to do a little cleaning. I really need to just finish the entire basement today! Maybe if I just get it all done at once I will actually feel like I've accomplished something!

Hope you all have a wonderful day! I will post you soon! :)

Stampin' Simply

It's time for another fun challenge from the ever so talented Sharon Johnson! This weeks challenge is to stamp on ribbon. You can get the full deets over at Sharon's blog. I started with one thought but my sewing machine wasn't cooperating. Ever have one of those nights? So I ended up pulling out some twill and an old Unity KOTM and this is what I came up with...



I cannot remember where I picked up this paper....it's actually something I've had for at least a year....I came across some scraps today while I was 'cleaning'...yeah...that didn't work out so well! ;) The twill is from SU, the chipboard heart is as well. The mirror heart is Heidi Swapp. The stamps are Unity.


Be sure and check out the rest of Sharon's team...


Check out Cathy Tidwell’s sample here.
Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here.
Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.
Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here.
Check out AJ Otto’s sample here.
Check out Becky Oehlers‘ sample here.
Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.


Hope you get a chance to play...be sure and use the keyword ssnotime 62 if you upload at SCS so we can all see your beautiful work!


Have a wonderful day! :) I will post you soon!

Hip Hop & New Stamps!

Happy Hip HOP!

....and NEW stamps!

Don't 'ya just love new stamps! Here's one I made with the new snowman set.....

LOVE this little guy! ...but then I'm not so sure I've ever met a snowman I didn't like! ;) the paper for this is Basic Grey, riding hood red and white. The ribbon is Riding Hood Red from SU. The pearls are from my LSS.

Next up is a little scrapbook page I made. Huh??? Yeah, I know...I rarely share these! Actually because I have been so swamped with school stuff I haven't had a ton of time to even create any! Sad...but true! The school stuff is now over...for the most part...so I have more time! Woohoo....but a box full of pictures that need a home!

This set you saw a couple of weeks ago but it's new to me. This is the Our Life, Our Stories kit. I really love this kit. It's perfection! The paper...bazzill for the big 12x12 sheet...I think it's fawn...the dsp is Crate Paper, can't remember about the giant eyelets...something I picked up from Archivers, the ribbon is SU...the kiwi kiss satin....the buttons...I picked up at Michaels.

That's it for my stuff....except that you are now at the end of the HOP!

Blog Candy!

Be sure and leave your comment here to be entered in the drawing for....

Fall Festival!

Hope you all have a hip HOP day!

I will see you in the SCS forum!

Have You Heard Of This One?

Oh my goodness! How much do I love new stamps! Well not only do I have new stamps but they are from a brand new stamp company! Our Craft Lounge. Check out this big dog!

This is from the Pat the Dog set. How cute is he! LOVE him! I tried to channel Jeanne and sponge the sky and grass. She has the greatest tutorial on her blog for this here...she rocks this! I tried. I must confess that I ended up going over all of my grass with a copic marker. Something just didn't look right before. I actually like it this way though...it seems to have texture.

I tried to zoom in a bit to show you the sponging...I'm not sure if that helps or not. I need so much more practice with this. But I love how it looks. Thanks to Jeanne for the awesome tutorial!

Hope you are all doing well! I am finally off to bed! Post you tomorrow! :)

Unity Special

Hey everyone! Check this out!

This is one of my favorite Unity sets! Did you know that the one and only Angela is responsible for this beautiful stamp kit! You can find it here at Unity.

How about I share another little something I created using this set....

So are you guys ready for hip HOP? I am so excited for tomorrow! If you haven't been to a hip hop before you can find out all you ever wanted to know here....so many prizes....so much fun! Hope to see you all there!

Have a great night! I will post you soon! :)

No Ink!

What a drag! Picture this....stamping Sunday night...really enjoying it stuff EVERYWHERE!....then I hear one of the boys running around upstairs. Since it's after 10!...I am a little worried, they've been sneaking into the Halloween candy! I don't even want to go to the dentist for the next cleaning because I'm sure they're gonna have a cavity or 12! Anyway, I had just stamped an image...I dash upstairs to take care of business...

Yup...in the candy! Dang! Out goes the Halloween candy! In to bed! I was so tired at that point that I decided to do the same!

Wake up Monday...go downstairs to find....my Memento ink sitting on the desk....open! OPEN! Ahhhh!

I have NO reinker....it's one of those tiny little dew drop cases...and it's all dried up! Now if I had some SU card stock it wouldn't be so tragic....I can color with my copics with SU ink and card stock...no bleeding....but of course I'm out of it!

Bummer!

Today's card is a simple one....pretty much everything I have made this week has been because of it! Luckily today my SU paper arrives...not sure when my new ink pad gets here. ...if only those were the biggest problems in life! ;)

So here's another EPLS. I used rub ons again and a sentiment from PTI....

The dsp is from Tinkering Ink. The punch is Martha Stewart.

...and the doorbell just rang....it's my SU box! Woohoo! All is right with my stamping world! lol!

Hope you are all having a great day! I am off to go through the box and get caught up on some other things. I will post you soon!

A Flash From the Past!

Happy Inspiration Tuesday! Take a look at Beate's inspiration piece for the BIC32...

What an fun piece to work with! As I got started on this one last night I knew exactly what I wanted to do....unfortunately, my card had other ideas! Everytime I started it my ink smudged! After the 3rd time I decided to go in a different direction. I am determined to go back and do the first card but it just wasn't happening last night.

I found this piece of dsp from SU from last year....I LOVED this paper! ...and this card was born....

Rub ons...no smudges! ;) Thanks, Maren for that suggestion! Now be sure and check out the rest of Beate's team:
Charmaine Ikach
Danielle Lounds
Dawn McVey
Silke Ledlow
Susan Roberts

Hope you all have a wonderful day! I am off to hopefully catch up a bit more around here! I will post you all soon!

Monday Throwdown

Happy Monday! I'm finally crawling my way out of my pile of stuff! What a HUGE relief! My card for today is super simple...I wanted simple! We used the CPS sketch for the week found here. I started in one direction and then just went simple...clean....

Super simple! I used my new KOTM from Unity. The paper is PTI kraft and a little piece of white. The dsp strip is from my paper pad from My Mind's Eye...the ribbon PTI and some ruby gems.

That's it for me! Be sure and check out the rest of the gals....
AJ Otto
Brooke Lien
Jeanne Streiff
Maren Benedict

Hope you all have a great day! I will post you soon! :)

One Layer Unity & Blog Candy...Bump

Bump...the last couple of weeks have been insane! Thankfully, our big fall event is finished...with the exception of a few three dozen or so thank yous....I'm bumping this because I completely forgot to put a deadline with this challenge! How about we give it until this Saturday. I will announce the winner then. Looking forward to all of your super cute Christmas cards! :)

Back again!

OhMYGoodness! We spent 1 hour and 28 minutes in a child hair salon this afternoon! Is that even possible? Our appointment was at 4...two at 4 and one at 4:15... I get it...15 minute appt's. Makes sense...their little noggins aren't exactly covered with tons of hair...their boys! But the poor stylist was all alone! Her co-worker ditched her at some point during the day. So there she was trying to make it work! Thank heaven for the slide and all the trains! I didn't even realize we had been waiting that long!

So we are home and I am getting ready to get to stamping. I promised you guys I would share a little challenge and some blog candy. So here I am with the Artisan challenge. Ours was to use rub ons but since it's getting so close to Christmas, let's just make it Christmas cards again. If you use rub ons I'll throw in a bonus! ;) How's that?

First I want to share a little card I made the other day. It's a one layer I made with the Ocean Tides paper from PTI. I made this the same day as the Christmas one I posted a couple of days ago.... The stamp is from Unity's Grow kit. This is one of my FAVORITE kits! I LOVE this big bold flower! :)

But what's wrong with this card.......take a close look at the stitching....holy heck! I think I have broken another sewing machine! Is that even possible? This thing gets so crazy! Skipping stitching...don't even ask me what was going on with the stitches on this card! AH! Craziness! Do you take these things in for servicing? Maybe I should be looking into that! ;)

Anyway...on to the candy! If you are participating, link your card here. You are entering to win this....

Ok, dokey...I need to dash and get some more stamping done! I finished my cards for hip hop. I so wish I could show you now! I used the November kit of the month. SOOOO cute! Now I'm off to work on the Dirty Dozen stuff. That gallery is filling up with some BEAUTIFUL stuff! :)

Hope you are all doing well! Have a great night! :)

Fancy!

It's Stamp Simply time!

This week Sharon's challenge is to create a card using a 'fancy fold' ...you know, something other than the traditional top or side fold. I am keeping it super simple and pulling out an old standby...the matchbook card.

Here's my card....

...sorry...the pictures could be better....MUCH better! It's 1AM at the time I am putting this one together...I'm so tired! You don't want to know! I am hoping to get some sleep sometime Saturday! lol! My coffee high is gone...hopefully, I can make it just a little bit longer!

I used PTI's Merry & Bright Additions for this one. The paper is Basic Grey...picked it up over at Eclectic Paperie....a little SU ribbon and some liquid pearls and ...well, how easy is that!

Be sure and check out the rest of Sharon's team....

Check out Cathy Tidwell’s sample here.
Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here.
Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here.
Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here.
Check out AJ Otto’s sample here.

Hope you are all doing well! I will post you soon! :)