Yummy Crock Pot Stroganoff!

I'm fixing this for supper one night this week -- sounds Yummy -- thanks Pinterest!

Crock Pot Stroganoff
2 pounds cubed stew meat 1 largish onion, diced
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup 2-4 tablespoons Worcestershire
1/2 cup water 8 oz cream cheese
couple of dashes of Garlic Salt (1 tsp?)

In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients, except the meat AND the Cream Cheese, together. Once combined add the meat and mix together.

Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crock pot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles. Or mashed potatoes, I won't tell anyone but I would really like to not be alone in this.

Baby Shadow Boxes and Fall is finally here!

So happy for the temps to be coming down the last few days. Trunk-or-Treat at Church a few days ago was a lot of fun -- lots of super heroes, princesses, and even some hippies (who I think saved their own clothes from the 60's to wear!), and wrestler Macho Man himself showed! Great burgers and dogs too.

Tripp is here spending the night with us tonight. He hasn't been here since my birthday over the Summer and it sure is good having a 4 year old running around the house playing with his toy soldiers and Wonder Pets!

Today's date is always a mixed blessing -- it is my precious Mother-in-law's birthday and the anniversary of my dad's death. He's been gone 27 years now. Seems like a long time ago and just a few years ago all at that same time. Dad, you are still so missed and loved by so many.

Joe & I will be working at Clark Garden's Bootanical Event on Halloween -- public is invited for the price of $ or can goods (of which our church will benefit as we are one of the local food banks). I'm going to help at the admission gate and Joe is going to man one of the game booths. Last year, they had over 1400 people go through!

Spent time today making Katie & Jason's baby shadow boxes. I placed their going-home-from-the-hospital outfits, a wooden letter for their first name that includes their birthdate and their hospital photo -- I ADORE how they turned out. Now gotta find the perfect place to hang them!

Jason 4th Grade SB layout

Spent the afternoon working on SB layout for my son's scrapbook -- he's 26 now! I scanned Jason's original 4th Grade 'book' he made in school and used it to make a LO. While the pic quality is horrible (the teacher just made Xerox copies of the original) I used colored pencils to add some punch to the black and white images. School Bus cut using the Cricut Potpourri cart. Used Glossy Accents and Liquid Pearls to add some bling and Tim Holtz Distress Ink Wild Honey to around the edges to add more texture. Each 'page' captures Jason's handwriting and his thoughts about his school year-i love it!

Hanging SB pages for display

I've been looking for a way to display SB pages for a little while before they get placed in the books so I can enjoy them more - great find at Ikea - less than $10 - cuttable plastic bead chains and metal clips all hanging from a top metal rod - LOVE IT!

More Disney World

Disney World!

Katie and I shared a wonderful Disney World vacation with our great friends Kyle & Whitney! While the temps were extremely hot, it was so much fun to play all week! So I'm working on my layouts and have decided to divide the layouts according to parks - these first two cover Magic Kingdom and tell how much we enjoyed our trip. I used a 'blooming' photo layout technique in order to get more pics on each page. Love the glitter look courtesy of the Martha Stewart Glitter Markers - so easy to use. Can't wait to get the rest made.

Rudolph (the red nose reindeer that is!)

Finally got Tripp's Rudolph SB pages done! Joe and I took him to see the production back in December at Casa Manana in Fort Worth. We all had such a good time. No picture taking allowed during the performance, but I was able to find 'clip' images from the Rudolph TV show I remember -- all the same characters as the production! Thinking we've got a yearly tradition going now to see the holiday performances at Casa with Tripp (and maybe some more grandchildren someday!). I found a sweet little Santa and sleigh image, colored it with a few Copics and popped it up on dimensionals. Black waxed twine was used to weave through the silver chip board letters (Recollections) to mimic the other reindeer with Rudolph leading the way. Used my Cricut Celebrations cart to cut out the doily mat. Love how this turned out.

Copics - Still Practicing (and will be for a while!)

I'm really enjoying using my Copic markers -- it will definitely take me lots of practice to get the hang of these awesome tools. Not too crazy about the mouse grass or my work on skin tones, but it will get better -- I'm determined. Great digis from Angelique at http://sliekje.blogspot.com. She's got lots of precious images -- such talent. They look great framed in my new Nestabilities from Michaels - great prices when you use their 40% and 50% off coupons!

Special Card for a Special Sister-in-Law

Really having fun with my Copic markers -- put together a card for my sister-in-laws birthday and I really like how it turned out.

PHS Band Reunion

Joe and I had such a good time at my HS Band Reunion. It was held at the Cattleman's Steakhouse in the Historic Stockyards of Fort Worth, Texas. So good to see old friends - some of whom I haven't seen in over 30 years!

Time is Flying - Easter Cards

Oh my goodness, it's been so long since I've posted. But I have been creative over the past few months. I'm getting into Copic markers and tried my hand at making Easter cards for family and friends. Obviously, still need lots of practice blending colors and staying in the correct lines - lol! I also love my Spellbinders Labels. I'm slowly building my collection and am ready to get more soon. I downloaded the Easter digi from Wax Fruit Company.com - love all their stuff! I've also completed several other SB pages for our Vacation 2003 album to the east coast - will post those projects soon. Thanks for looking.

New Technique

I'm really liking this masking / inking technique I saw on a Hero Arts video. I masked off a rectangular shape on the front of my card and used Tim Holtz Distress Inks (broken china and crushed olive) and the ink applicator to 'swirl' the sky and grass onto the card. I then used the same crushed olive ink and a clear stamp from Technique Tuesday to stamp flowers at the bottom of the card while still masked. The butterfly 2-step stamp is from Michaels - I stamped the main butterfly body with TH Worn Lipstick and then stamped the body outline with Colorbox Chalk Chestnut Roan. I will be using this technique a lot more as I love the effect it gives a plain card.

Birthday Card Tutorial

Ok - so this (my first tutorial) is composed of the below 6 posts (scroll down until you get to #1 and then move up). I know, I know - 6 posts!!! that's ridiculous!! This card really wasn't complicated to make - just a lot of steps when cutting, embossing, and stamping on the same project. I think this tutorial would have been better served in a video format. My biggest challenge was writing step-by-step instructions and wording things to make sense. Hopefully, it makes at least some sense.

Let me know what you think!

Birthday Card Tutorial - Part 6

Place "happy birthday" stamp onto card exactly where you want it to be stamped. Use a little pressure to place clear block on stamp and the stamp will stick to the block. Stamp on ink pad and then directly onto card. Be careful not to 'rock' the clear block when stamping or your image will be uneven or even blurred (as mine shows).

NOTICE MY BLOOPER! I laughed so hard when I saw what I had done!!

Enjoy your card!

Birthday Card Tutorial - Part 5

Tape ribbon ends to back of card just at the bottom edge of the embossed section. Use the Bow Easy and remaining satin ribbon to create a small bow (a great video tutorial for the Bow Easy can be found on Stamp TV). Affix stamped image and bow to front of card. I also affixed a plain white piece of cardstock (cut the same size as the card front) to the inside of the card to cover up the taped ribbon and give the card more of a finished look.

Birthday Card Tutorial - Part 4

Leaving cardstock inside die, turn over and emboss using the following sandwich plates (bottom to top) A plate, B plate, paper inside die - blade side up, Rubber mat, B plate, and 2 shim pieces in order to apply the appropriate pressure (I use 2 cereal boxes that I've cut to size). Roll through Cuttlebug to emboss. Remove card from die.

Using Tim Holtz Broken China Distressed Ink pad and sponge applicator, lightly sponge ink onto card edges from outside in using a very light circular motion. This will add dimension and highlight the embossed edges.

Affix stamped image on top of black frame mat.

Birthday Card Tutorial - Part 3

Layer the black cardstock and larger Nest die (blade side down) onto the Cuttlebug using the cutting sandwich plate (bottom to top)- A, B, cardstock, die, C. Roll through Cuttlebug to cut.

Use markers to color tree stamp - lightly spray with water after coloring in order to re-wet surface. Stamp onto white cardstock. Layer stamped image and smaller Nest die using the above sandwich. Cut. *

Birthday Card Tutorial - Part 2

Cut the 8 1/2 x 11 paper in half length wise (at 5 1/2") and fold in half. Use a bone folder to get a crisp, flat fold. Place the top half of the card (make sure you're using the bottom half below the fold as this is the front of your card) inside a Cuttlebug embossing folder - I used the Argyle folder. Make sure to line up embossing folder very straight and even with the top edge of the card (see pic). Emboss card - use the following plates to make the embossing sandwich from bottom to top - A plate, B plate, folder with card, B plate.

Birthday Card Tutorial - Part 1

For a special friend, a special birthday card. As this is my first attempt to do a card tutorial, you will have to excuse the "mish-mash" posts. I've got to figure out how to decrease the amount of pics. So in the meantime, this tutorial will involve several posts in order to get all the pics in that I wanted.

Let me know what you think.

Supply list:
White and black cardstock
Green satin ribbon
Fiskar's paper cutter
Martha Stewart scoring board
Creative Trees - Hero Arts
Marvy markers - brown, green
Stampabilities - Happy Birthday stamp
Spellbinders Nestabilities - Labels Fourteen
Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder
Bow Easy (see note on post 5)
Memento ink pad - Tuxedo Black
Tombow Mono tape runner