Beef crap...

By now you all should know that Tuesday is movie day. Ruthann and I take turns cooking dinner and dessert and we watch two movies, one for dinner, one for dessert. I don't think it's a competition between us but I do think we like to "wow" each other. My "wow" was a two inch peppercorn steak I grilled. Hers was a beef dish this Tuesday that just blew me away. It was one of those dishes that even when you're full you still want to eat because your tongue is just so very happy with it. She explained when she brought it in the house that it had gone through several 'titles' while it was becoming the wonderful dish it turned out to be. And she said she couldn't repeat the recipe. At the time I was ok with that - after I tasted it, and especially the next day when I had it for lunch, that was unacceptable. I e-mailed her that she HAD to rack her brain to remember and to write down the recipe. We must have that again for lunch. I include here her e-mail to me (I said I would not edit, but I guess I lied, the asterisks are mine).

"To Brooke, Laurie and Sue, I have lunch once a week with a girlfriend. It was my turn to take lunch yesterday and I think I hit on a bit of a treasure. At least Cindy thought so. Okay, so did Jim and I. It really kinda rocked. I told her I wasn't sure what all I put together because I had no planned ending place for this meal. You may be able to pick that up from reading the recipe below. If you wonder what "that beef base stuff" is, I get it in the cooler dept. at GFS. It is like a bouillon base, but WAY less sodium and a much more realistic flavor since it is actually made from roasted beef drippings. They make chicken base stuff too, but use roasted chicken instead, as that stands to reason... Well, when you're hungry, try this out sometime. By the way, before you get up from the computer, check out Cindy's website listed below. She makes awesome cards and lots of other creative stuff. She will custom make stuff too. She's brilliant!! Brooke, this is the one who knew Creighton from CAT.
You start with a big a** piece of lean red meat. Slice it kinda thin and cut that into strips. Brown each piece on both sides. Add salt, pepper, basil, parsley, lotsa garlic and a sliced onion. To the meat juice that cooks out, add a spoonful of that beef base stuff I told you about. Stare blankly at the stuff in the cupboard and wonder what else to put in it. End up adding coriander powder and a little bit of cinnamon. Cover and cook for a while longer, adding another sliced onion because the first one disappeared. Refrigerate over night. The next morning, get it out of the refrigerator and stare at it for a while, wondering what to do with it. Go to the store and buy sour cream and mushrooms. Mix the cold sour cream and some more of that beef stuff, then throw in the "to-this-point-unnamed" stuff. Heat it up and add the mushrooms at the last minute. Boil up the last handful of noodles you have in the cupboard. Bake up some crusty bread. Place this all in your car and drive to my house to feed me. End up calling it Beef Stroganoff, 'cuz that sounds better than That Beef Crap I Threw Together."

An ode to Ruthann

By now you all should know that Tuesday is movie day. Ruthann and I take turns cooking dinner and dessert and we watch two movies, one for dinner, one for dessert. I don't think it's a competition between us but I do think we like to "wow" each other. My "wow" was a two inch peppercorn steak I grilled. Hers was a beef dish this Tuesday that just blew me away. It was one of those dishes that even when you're full you still want to eat because your tongue is just so very happy with it. She explained when she brought it in the house that it had gone through several 'titles' while it was becoming the wonderful dish it turned out to be. And she said she couldn't repeat the recipe. At the time I was ok with that - after I tasted it, and especially the next day when I had it for lunch, that was unacceptable. I e-mailed her that she HAD to rack her brain to remember and to write down the recipe. We must have that again for lunch. I include here her e-mail to me (I said I would not edit, but I guess I lied, the asterisks are mine).

"To Brooke, Laurie and Sue, I have lunch once a week with a girlfriend. It was my turn to take lunch yesterday and I think I hit on a bit of a treasure. At least Cindy thought so. Okay, so did Jim and I. It really kinda rocked. I told her I wasn't sure what all I put together because I had no planned ending place for this meal. You may be able to pick that up from reading the recipe below. If you wonder what "that beef base stuff" is, I get it in the cooler dept. at GFS. It is like a bouillon base, but WAY less sodium and a much more realistic flavor since it is actually made from roasted beef drippings. They make chicken base stuff too, but use roasted chicken instead, as that stands to reason... Well, when you're hungry, try this out sometime. By the way, before you get up from the computer, check out Cindy's website listed below. She makes awesome cards and lots of other creative stuff. She will custom make stuff too. She's brilliant!! Brooke, this is the one who knew Creighton from CAT.
You start with a big a** piece of lean red meat. Slice it kinda thin and cut that into strips. Brown each piece on both sides. Add salt, pepper, basil, parsley, lotsa garlic and a sliced onion. To the meat juice that cooks out, add a spoonful of that beef base stuff I told you about. Stare blankly at the stuff in the cupboard and wonder what else to put in it. End up adding coriander powder and a little bit of cinnamon. Cover and cook for a while longer, adding another sliced onion because the first one disappeared. Refrigerate over night. The next morning, get it out of the refrigerator and stare at it for a while, wondering what to do with it. Go to the store and buy sour cream and mushrooms. Mix the cold sour cream and some more of that beef stuff, then throw in the "to-this-point-unnamed" stuff. Heat it up and add the mushrooms at the last minute. Boil up the last handful of noodles you have in the cupboard. Bake up some crusty bread. Place this all in your car and drive to my house to feed me. End up calling it Beef Stroganoff, 'cuz that sounds better than That Beef Crap I Threw Together."

If anyone can duplicate this dish from these instructions, please e-mail me, I have blog candy for you. (You will need to figure out what the "to-this-point-unnamed" stuff is though.) So, Ruthann, this card is to you from my taste buds.

Paper: Martha Stewart Playful Blue, Bazzill; Stamps: Magnolia Tilda with 3 Flowers, Gina K A Beautiful Life; Stickles: Yellow, Spiced Marmalade; Copics: [Skin E00, E000, R20][Hair E33, E30, E21][Shoes E34, E31][Clothes Y38, Y35, Y32][Flowers YG67, G24, YR20, YR000]

Reduce, reuse, recycle...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - You know all those catalogs that you didn't order but show up in your mail like magic? I keep a stack of those next to my craft desk all the time. I use them for glueing, glittering, stamping, and cutting with my craft knife. I use the pages at the end to "stamp off" my stamps to clean them. I use pages to overstamp something. They make a nice cushion for rubber stamps with no foam. As each sheet becomes contaminated, I tear it off so I have a clean sheet to work with. We do recycle excess catalogs but a few in your craft room come in handy.

MSL Challenge - Turquoise & Brown

This challenge was a stretch for me. Brown and turquoise isn't my favorite combination so I struggled. I do like this Maggie, she looks so 50's. I don't know the name of this image, she was included in an image swap.
Paper: DCWV Linen Closet; Stamp: Magnolia; Cuttlebug Stylized Flower Folder; Spica: Gold; Cloud 9 Clear Epoxy Sticker; Smooch Illuminate; Diamond Glaze; Copics: [skin R20, E00, E000][Hair E37, E35, E34][Clothes Y28, E44, BG15, BG23, BG32, E44]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - You know all those catalogs that you didn't order but show up in your mail like magic? I keep a stack of those next to my craft desk all the time. I use them for glueing, glittering, stamping, and cutting with my craft knife. I use the pages at the end to "stamp off" my stamps to clean them. I use pages to overstamp something. They make a nice cushion for rubber stamps with no foam. As each sheet becomes contaminated, I tear it off so I have a clean sheet to work with. We do recycle excess catalogs but a few in your craft room come in handy.

A day in Central Illinois...

The pelicans are massing on the Illinois River not far from our house. All the sandbars are full with beautiful white bodies and more are arriving everyday; they soar in big circles all along the river, turning in and out of the sun, appearing and disappearing as they circle. Makes a girl run off the road while driving and watching. Luckily I haven't seen that on the news as a big distraction causing accidents. The hummingbirds are migrating and we're having daily battles over the Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle. We don't put up hummingbird feeders since we grow so many plants just for hummingbirds. But when they start to migrate we get them in bigger numbers so I like to put up a couple of feeders for a few weeks so they save their energy. Instead of fighting over resources, they can fatten up for the long trip to South America. The motorcycle races were this weekend. You can always tell that summer is over when the bikes come to town. Streets are closed for a time due to the bike parade. Even tho we live 40 minutes from Peoria, the races are evident here by the number of bikes we see riding along the river. The River Birch is dropping leaves, slowly now, but the drop will pick up as the days get shorter. Of course, the heat is still oppressive; the rain only seems to make the air thicker and harder to walk through. All in all, it's a great time of year and we're looking forward to cooler weather and roasting hot dogs in the fire ring.

A day in Central Illinois

The pelicans are massing on the Illinois River not far from our house. All the sandbars are full with beautiful white bodies and more are arriving everyday; they soar in big circles all along the river, turning in and out of the sun, appearing and disappearing as they circle. Makes a girl run off the road while driving and watching. Luckily I haven't seen that on the news as a big distraction causing accidents. The hummingbirds are migrating and we're having daily battles over the Dropmore Scarlet Honeysuckle. We don't put up hummingbird feeders since we grow so many plants just for hummingbirds. But when they start to migrate we get them in bigger numbers so I like to put up a couple of feeders for a few weeks so they save their energy. Instead of fighting over resources, they can fatten up for the long trip to South America. The motorcycle races were this weekend. You can always tell that summer is over when the bikes come to town. Streets are closed for a time due to the bike parade. Even tho we live 40 minutes from Peoria, the races are evident here by the number of bikes we see riding along the river. The River Birch is dropping leaves, slowly now, but the drop will pick up as the days get shorter. Of course, the heat is still oppressive; the rain only seems to make the air thicker and harder to walk through. All in all, it's a great time of year and we're looking forward to cooler weather and roasting hot dogs in the fire ring.

This card has no provenance. I can't find the notes on the ingredients. It is a Kenny K image and I'm off to buy a few more since I've colored at least one of every image I have. The paper was Making Memories Cheeky. The hearts are Fiskars, the tag is Spellbinders as are the die cuts behind the image. The red die-cut was embossed with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder. Can't help you on the copics. I thought I saw this young lady on her way to school last week when I went for groceries so this is a back-to-school tribute.
I wanted to thank everyone who has left a comment on my cards. I treasure each and every one.

SSCC #4 - Paper Piecing

So, I'm sitting reading my e-mail Monday morning, checking the new blogs I follow and much to my surprise, I have a challenge card due for Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central in TWO days... Normally, I'm much more on top of things, it comes from being an administrative assistant for so many years. I have calendars, lists, white boards, and automatic reminders and I forgot this card. Luckily for me, I had a card on the drawing board. The image was stamped and cut out, the background and card base were put together so I just restamped the image on two pieces of patterned paper. I cut the overalls out of one and the parts of the blouse out of the other. I colored my original image's skin, hair and shoes and then I pasted the pieces I had cut out over the appropriate parts of the image. The flower is from a set of dies from PaperTrey, layered with a Stampin' Up sentiment that was touched with Red Spica. The tiny flowers on the umbrella are from my stash. When I ordered them back in the day, they looked a lot larger on the computer so I seldom use them, but they worked well here. All in all, for last minute, I'm pleased with this card.
Paper: Making Memories Cheeky; Stamp: Magnolia Tilda with Umbrella, Sentiment: Stampin' Up; Martha Stewart Border Punch; Papertrey Flower; Copics: [Skin R20, E00, E000][Umbrella E30, E31, E33][Shoes Y26, E43][Hair Y23, YR23, E35][Ruffle RV29]; Spica: Red, Buttermilk, Gold

Troublemaker

I just got my new Magnolia Bon Voyage stamps from stampingscrapping.com and I've been in my craft room all day working. Ok, so I only got two cards done and this isn't one of them. This one does, however, use a new Cuttlebug Heritage folder. This makes a really special and quick background and combines well with the Spellbinder Oval dies. I plan to use this exact same card without the image when I finally get my McGill Flower Punches. Wouldn't this look wonderful with a couple of peonies on it? Maybe as a sympathy card. I think the McGill flowers are going to be so spectacular that you won't want to combine them with any images. So, to this little imp. I'll be posting my Maggies soon, but I tell you, I'm captivated by these little girls. So, I just keep downloading and coloring. Any comments would be much appreciated. Good or bad, all criticism is constructive.
Paper: Stash; Stamp: Kenny K Digital Stamp; Cuttlebug Heritage Embossing Folder; Spica: Blossom, Clear, Silver; Distress Ink Weathered Wood; Spellbinder Classic Ovals Large; Copics: [Skin R20, E00, E000, BG15, BG000, R12, E11][Pants R81, R83, R85][Top GY06, YG09, R83, R85, R81][Hair E33, E21, E30][Shoes T1, T3, T4][Ice Cream RV02, E34][Outline N1, N0, 0]

Magnolia Stamp Lover's Challenge - Edwin

This is the card I created for the Magnolia Stamp Lover's Challenge on Edwin. I like the way the Cuttlebug Allegro Embossing Folder emphasized the guitar. Simple, but elegant. If you haven't joined an MSL Challenge, please do - you can find them here.
Paper: Stash; Stamps: Magnolia Guitar Edwin, Sentiment - Kraftin Kimmie; Spellbinder: Petite Ovals, Petite Scalloped Ovals, SpellbinderTag; Cuttlebug Folder - Allegro; Spica: Clear; Copics: [Skin E11, R11, E00][Hair E37, E35, E34][Shirt B91, B93][Tie B63][Pants T2, T4][Stool E57, E59][Guitar E55, E57, E50][Shoes B95, B97, White Opaque Pen]

Disappearing tomatoes...

OK, so I'm sitting at the computer this morning very early. My husband has already left for work and I'm still in my jammies. Out of the corner of my eye and through the window I see a car stop very quickly in the road and back up. Being a curious sort, I get up and look to my left out the window and I see a guy in the car looking at something in our back yard. Now, we get all kinds of critters in our yard so I walk down a level and out the dining room to to the deck and look into the back yard. There, I see a doe with the fawn that used to be really cute feasting on my cherry tomato plants. We figured the tomatoes had been decimated by the deer because one of the Topsy Turvy containers hanging from the deck is too high for rabbits to reach and something had really done a "Cilco" job on it. (Cilco is our local power company. When they trim a tree around a power line, they really hack the heck out of it. They rarely look like trees again, most look like hairstyles from Mad Magazine.) So, it's nice to have proof that the fawn that used to generate an "awwww" from me is now reduced to that $%^&*)%$#%^&*($#$%^&&* deer that's eating my tomatoes.

Disappearing tomatoes

OK, so I'm sitting at the computer this morning very early. My husband has already left for work and I'm still in my jammies. Out of the corner of my eye and through the window I see a car stop very quickly in the road and back up. Being a curious sort, I get up and look to my left out the window and I see a guy in the car looking at something in our back yard. Now, we get all kinds of critters in our yard so I walk down a level and out the dining room to to the deck and look into the back yard. There, I see a doe with the fawn that used to be really cute feasting on my cherry tomato plants. We figured the tomatoes had been decimated by the deer because one of the Topsy Turvy containers hanging from the deck is too high for rabbits to reach and something had really done a "Cilco" job on it. (Cilco is our local power company. When they trim a tree around a power line, they really hack the heck out of it. They rarely look like trees again, most look like hairstyles from Mad Magazine.) So, it's nice to have proof that the fawn that used to generate an "awwww" from me is now reduced to that $%^&*)%$#%^&*($#$%^&&* deer that's eating my tomatoes.

This is another of the Kenny K digital stamps that I'm working my way through. I should save them for challenges but there are so many images that I won't run out of coloring material for a while. I love the fact that I can use colors I wouldn't use on my more traditional stamps, purple hair can be normal with these. I'm new to "grunge" and heavy metal but these chicks aren't. So, while I'm outside my comfort zone and a little old to be knowin' how these girls dress, I'm having fun with them. And I will be paying more attention to the teens at the mall and the movie theatre. Now, I'm waiting for Kenny K to come out with some hunky boy images so we can mix and match. I'd especially like to see some boy Gothik Angelz on the lines of Twilight hunks and matches to the Glam Gang.

Paper: Digital/Stash; Stamp: Kenny K Digital Stamp; Spica: Silver, Orange; Copics: [Skin E00, E000, R20, B16, R43][Top YR18, YR16, YR15][Pants YG97, YG95, YG93][Bracelets E70, YG93][Shoes YR15, T3, T6, YR18, YR16, YR000][Hair E33, E50, E51]

In the good ole' summertime

I did this card for Kenny K's Kraft Girlz In the Summertime Challenge. I think the clothes qualify for summer even though girls are wearing next to nothing all year around now. Another stamp designer that I've fallen in love with is Kenny K. He runs the gamut from cute to goth and in-between. I have four grandchildren, two boys and two girls and, although the youngest probably won't be excited about these images, the other three will be. In fact, I will grab one of the goth girls for my oldest grandson's birthday in December. I really like the way the coloring came out in this image, but hate the way the scanner picked up the acrylic block on the right. It says "I love being a girl". I tried to take a picture of it, but the acrylic keeps reflecting light and the fact that I put shiny silver cardstock under it didn't help. But I am very pleased with the coloring. I've been taking an on-line Copic coloring class and I must say, it has improved my blending skills and taught me some new tricks. The background was both "dotted" and sprayed with my airbrush. I also reversed the image so the spray can was on the other side - this was done by checking the mirror image in my printer's settings. I'm going straight back to my craft table and color another of these images (I just bought 3 to start because I wasn't sure I could do them justice). I would love to hear your comments, have you colored Kenny K's ladies? Do you love them?
Metallic Rub-on; Copics: [Skin R20, E00, E000, G05, R83, N0, BG0000][Clothes - Top BG02, BG07, Pants T1, T3, T4][Hair RV00, RV02, RV04][Can N5, N2, BG07, BG02][Shoes E35, YR16, YR14, E97, YR01, E55, E99, 0][Outline BG0000, BG000, BG01, BG02, 0] Rhinestones were from my stash.

A song in my heart....

I saw a cute challenge while I was surfing yesterday. Of course, I can't find it now but the challenge was to make a card for a song. With a nod to my friend, Diane and apologies to my "practice husband", I offer this card. The song I picked was "True Love Never Runs Smooth" by Gene Pitney. I still play his music today; he had a great string of hits in the 60s. When I was married to my practice husband, there were numerous times I wanted to find a truly good voodoo doll and fill it up with pins. Fortunately for both of us we are now married to other people, I found my prince and he found someone to make him behave. I am very taken with these Kraftin' Kimmie stamps, they appeal to the dark side in me. They were designed by artist Annie Rodrigue who must also have a dark side.

Paper: Stash; Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie, skull stamp unknown; Distress Black Soot; Spica Clear, Lilac, Cloud 9 Design Hearts, Martha Stewart Ribbon, Copics: [Skin R11, E00, E000][Hair BV04, BV01, BV00, BV13][Eyes RV000][Clothes T2, BV11, BV04, BV01, T3, BV13, BV02][Doll R12, R21, R22]

Reconnecting...

I had a wonderful surprise phone call this morning from a young man I used to work with. He left our company to work elsewhere but kept in touch. He was married a while ago and in catching up with his life today I learned he's moving to Miami, FL and having a baby. What a lot of changes all at once. I envy him his discoveries...a new city, and new climate, a new addition to his family. And, of course, I'm thrilled for him. His journey is just beginning. Fatherhood, what a wonderful time in his life. I wish him and his wife the very best and, of course, we will stay in touch. Just before I received this phone call, I was reconnecting with my friend Jo in Florida (strange, wouldn't you agree?). She's headed for Sanibel Island and after some heavy remodeling at her place, contacted me about hotels on the island. While we aren't experts on Sanibel, we have been there a number of times.

Reconnecting...

I had a wonderful surprise phone call this morning from a young man I used to work with. He left our company to work elsewhere but kept in touch. He was married a while ago and in catching up with his life today I learned he's moving to Miami, FL and having a baby. What a lot of changes all at once. I envy him his discoveries...a new city, and new climate, a new addition to his family. And, of course, I'm thrilled for him. His journey is just beginning. Fatherhood, what a wonderful time in his life. I wish him and his wife the very best and, of course, we will stay in touch. Just before I received this phone call, I was reconnecting with my friend Jo in Florida (strange, wouldn't you agree?). She's headed for Sanibel Island and after some heavy remodeling at her place, contacted me about hotels on the island. While we aren't experts on Sanibel, we have been there a number of times.

I finally had time to ink one of these Whimsy carousel horses. This is from the Chrissy Armstrong Collection and is called Party Pony. Since I've started coloring with Copics, I look at stamps differently. I have been keen on stamps I think would be fun to color with Copics. I have the entire carousel collection and will be getting around to using the rest soon.
Paper: DCWV Blossom & Butterflies; Stamp: Whimsy Party Pony; Crystal Stickles; Kaiser Pearls, Gold, Blossom, Melon Spica; Diamond Glaze; Copics: R81, G40, G82, R83, R85, T1, B000, Y28, YG25, YG23, N0. The bow was tied with a BowEasy and the button was covered with Crystal Stickles as was the edge of the image. The balloons were covered with Diamond Glaze. If I ever color this image again, I will color two and mount the second over the first with popdots. Hope you like her.

SSCC #3 - Color Inspiration

I must have looked at this picture for 30 minutes before a card "jumped" out at me. I love the headboard here and I remembered a stamp set I haven't used yet. I purchased it to make a card for a great friend who was into quilting but before I could make the card, she changed her passion to weaving. I was a day late and a dollar short, I guess. But I had the set to use on this card so, I combined the squares with the color...Check out the new Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central Blog here. and came up with this card. There is real sewing thread wrapped around the spools. This was a fun card to make and I hope you like it.

Paper: Bazzill & Stash; Stamps: Magnolia Dinner Tilda, PaperTrey Quilter's Sample; Stickles: Orange Peel, Crystal, Yellow; Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss Embossing Folder; Spica: Clear, Pink; Offray Ribbon colored with Y19; Sewing Thread; Copics: [skin R20, E00, E000][Hair E37, E35, E34][Spools E34, E43, YG93, YR18][Quilt Squares YG93, Y19][Scissors T3][Shoes T4][Clothes R81, R83]