More Challenges!

This card doubles up for two more LOSTie challenges - one was to make a Friendship card featuring two people or animals on it. So I've got some hula twins having fun in the sun! The other challenge was to make two cards with the same color scheme and patterned paper but different stamps, layout, etc. And up now is the other card that fits that challenge...

This card uses the same paper and colors obviously, but was designed to fit another challenge, Kris' Thirsty Thursday challenge. We had to make a card with a beverage on it, so I of course chose my favorite drink, some margaritas! I paper pieced the glasses to make them more colorful and decorative and then went around the rims with Star Dust stickles as the "salt". I also traced the words "limes" and "margaritas" with my clear Spica pen for some extra sparkle.

Whew! I managed to do 12 of the 14 LOSTie challenges, and did it in only 5 cards! One of the perks of being slow to arrive on the scene - the challenges had all been issued, so I could look over them and see where things could be combined. I had so much fun finally stamping again - I've been long overdue! Thanks Kris!

Supplies: All stamps by A Muse, all ribbon and white cardstock by Papertrey, patterned paper and all colored cardstock by Stampin' Up.

Shouldn't I be Working?

The answer is yes, yes I should! But, I just saw this fun little time-killer on my friend Rachel's blog and thought I'd play around with it!

If you want to play, go to Flickr and enter your answers to the questions below in the search box, one at a time. Choose the picture that most speaks to you from the FIRST page of results that comes up. Click on it and copy the URL, then go over to Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and enter the URLs. That's it!

Here are the questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. Where would you go on your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is the one word that describes you?
12. What is your Flickr name?

And here is me, in mosaic! It's obvious from looking at some of the photos what word I typed in, but others could be interpreted a number of ways. Pretty cool!

1. Jessica, 2. Perfect Steak, 3. Sacred-Heart basilica of montmartre in Paris, 4. Sunny Side Up, 5. John Krasinski makes my loins quiver., 6. margarita cocktails closeup, 7. Bit of Ireland, 8. For A Shop Opening, 9. one with the sea, 10. Lonely Tree, 11. Stepping stones, 12. Irish Lady Stack and Longships Lighthouse

Third Three Challenge Card!

Woohoo! Three more challenges down! There were a total of 14 challenges over the course of the past week and I managed to get 9 of them done with just three cards. Not bad! The challenges combined in this card are:

1. A black and white wedding card. This doesn't specifically say anything about a wedding or love, but I think the French Script background has a romantic feel to it, as do the pearls and ribbon.
2. Use an embellishment you've had for a while but never used. I've had the Pretties kit from SU for a good 9 months or more, but I have a problem with not using things - I don't want them to run out! So I haven't used any of the hat pins or beads in that kit - until tonight!
3. Kickin' it Old Skool - use a product or technique that you used to love but haven't used in a while. Heat embossing was one of the first things I learned when I started stamping and I thought it was sooo impressive. I used it all the time! Now, I couldn't tell you when the last time I heat embossed anything was, so it was time to bring back that old school goodie!

Supplies
Stamps: French Script background by SU (retired)
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Basic Black, Papertrey white
Other: Winter White embossing powder, ruffled ribbon (May Arts I think??), SU Pretties kit

Another Challenge Card

I combined three more LOSTie challenges!!

The first was a limited supply challenge - you could not use ribbon or patterned paper, and could use no more than three stamps. The second was a color challenge - Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip. And the third was a technique challenge using the Thumping Technique. I'd never tried that one before and I think I need more practice, LOL!

Supplies
Stamps: Pretty Petals by SU, sentiment by A Muse
Ink: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip both SU
Paper: Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, all by SU
Other: SU word window punch, gemstone from Michael's

Chatapalooza Challenges

I finally was able to sit down and take part in some of the awesome challenges issued by my LOSTies this weekend. For this card I combined 3 challenges - the first was to make an uplifting card, the second was a sketch challenge, and the third was to make a card with the following components: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue.

I can't say I'm crazy about this card because there's too much Summer Sun on it I think, but I love the sparkly turquoise waves and this little Riley is just too cute!

Supplies
Stamps: Riley by Hanna Stamp, Simple Alphabet by Papertrey, palm tree by DeNami
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Summer Sun, Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, Tempting Turquoise, all by SU, and Papertrey white
Other: SU circle punches, turquoise Stickles, clear Spica glitter pen (traced over the sentiment), piercing tool, dimensionals

Sunrise

Sunrise by Karen Kingsbury

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Another quick and easy read from Karen Kingsbury. I find myself getting sad as I near the end of the Baxter Family books and know I will really miss the characters. I cried a number of times through this book, as I've done with many of Kingsbury's others. I love Katy and Dayne, and of course any book involving a wedding is right up my alley. Got to live vicariously through others, even if they're fictional!

Dessert...

Another recipe to share! I found this recipe for White Chocolate Cashew Pretzel Bars while browsing the Pillsbury website not long ago and knew I had to try it. I was waiting for an opportunity to make them when I wouldn't be forced to eat the whole pan myself - it IS bathing suit season after all! Well tomorrow night a group of friends and I are supposed to go to a Pops Summer Concert and we're all bringing picnic foods to share. I figured this was my perfect chance - bring half to the picnic and make the other half another Chatapalooza indulgence!

These were pretty easy to make (just a bit of waiting for the crust to bake then cool, then for the chocolate/cashew layer to set) and are delicious! They're the perfect blend of salty and sweet. YUM!

I made the crust in my silicone baking pan and it turned out perfectly golden brown on the bottom and popped out with no problems at all, I didn't even use any cooking spray. Since you can't cut on silicone bakeware, I let the crust cool in the pan, then popped it out onto a rack and "frosted" it on there. Worked perfectly! I hope you enjoy!

Dinner...

I love to cook. I really do. I just seem to never do it anymore. Well tonight I made one of my new favorite recipes and figured since this is the closest thing to cooking that I've done in a while, I'll share it! It's LOSTie Chatapalooza weekend which, for many of us, is a great excuse to chow down on junk food! So for my evening munching, I made this Buffalo Chicken Dip with a few variations.

First off, I don't use canned chicken. Both times I've made this, I've gotten Boars Head Buffalo Style chicken breast from the deli. I have them slice it pretty thick, about half an inch, and then just dice that up. It's quick and easy and adds extra buffalo flavor. Of couse, you could also bake or boil some chicken breasts yourself, but really, I can't be bothered with that most of the time. I also tend to go heavy on the hot sauce because I love it and lighter on the ranch dressing because I'm not crazy about it. Because I eat this with an inexcusable amount of Fritos Scoops, I try to lighten the dish by using Neufchatel (sp??) instead of cream cheese, light dressing, and low fat cheddar cheese.

Now, I ordinarily do NOT believe in going low fat when it comes to cheese. To me, low fat cheese usually = rubbery puke. But in this dip, there are so many other flavors going on that you don't even notice it. Plus, the full fat cheese tends to emit an oil when it's melted into the dip and let's face it, that just ain't pretty.

I meant to take a picture to add to this post, but I dug in too quickly. Oops! So the picture on Allrecipes.com will have to suffice. If you decide to give this dip a try, let me know how you like it!

Poor Excuse for a Stamper

I call myself a stamper, but the fact of the matter is, I haven't really stamped much of anything in almost 3 months. My April - June 2008 file on my computer was empty because the few cards I did stamp, I forgot to take pictures before sending them out. Luckily though, I was in a Riley swap with some of my LOSTie sisters and got one of my own cards back, so I had a second chance at a photo. Granted, I received the swaps a month or so ago and just got around to taking a photo tonight, but it's all good because now I can practice uploading a photo to a post. So exciting, lol!

I used Clover Riley for this card, so it's fitting that this little Irish moose be the first card I upload to a blog with shamrocks in the title! A few notes about the card that might not be obvious in a photo - the main image is popped up on dimensionals to give it a little emphasis, and the gold and Riley's hat buckle are colored with a gold Spica glitter pen by Copic. Now for the picture (click for a closer look)...



Supply List
Stamps - Clover Riley from Hanna Stamps, sentiment from $1 clear set at Michael's
Paper - Papertrey white, Stampin Up Brushed Gold, Basic Black, and Garden Green
Ink - Palette Noir, Stampin Up Garden Green, Basic Black, Close to Cocoa
Accessories/Tools - Tiny Bubbles cuttlebug folder, gold Spica pen, paper piercer, dimensionals

Fabulous Banner!!!

Do you see that banner up there?? Just look at it!! It was designed by the fantastically talented Rachel at Hope Stamps Eternal. It barely took her any time at all and it's just what I wanted!

Thanks Rach!! You ROCK!

Starving Artiststamps Blog Candy!

I admittedly am not too familiar with the company Starving Artiststamps, but I think I need to give them a closer look! I found out about their blog from another blog I read and was excited at the blog candy they're giving away! A whole set of tropical/beachy images and TWO sets of Super Fun sentiments to go with it - my favorite sentiment in the bunch? "What happens at the luau stays at the luau!", LOL!!

Visit here to check out the sets and enter to win. All you have to do is spread the word about the company and also post to let them know your favorite sentiment. Go check it out now!

First Post

I'm not entirely sure why I started this whole blog thing. I don't lead a fabulously exciting life, but I felt the need to get in on this blogging action. I don't want to be the uncool kid left out of the pack - been there, done that in junior high, LOL!

I can't say how often I'll post or how interesting I'll be, but I'll be blogging about a mish mash of recipes I try, cards I make, or anything else I feel like talking about, because it is my blog after all! Thanks for stopping by!