Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thankful

Today I am Thankful for this technology that lets me connect with wonderful people across this country and across the seas.  I have made so many "friends" through this medium.

I am Thankful for the the many men and women who are willing to give up their family time to ensure that I have the freedoms that I take for granted too often.  I am Thankful for their loved ones who carry on at home without them.

I am Thankful for The Toad who may grumble about the fact that the office was suppose to be "his" space but is now over taken with my crafting stuff.  And the fact that he is willing to bail me out of creative jams, more often than not.  And most importantly, that he understands my need for creativity. Even when I undertake yet another venture.

I am Thankful for the Kiddos.  Who knew that being a mom would be my greatest pleasure, my biggest frustration, and something I wouldn't give up for anything?!!  I am Thankful for the sweet hugs I still get. 

I am Thankful for the fact that I could just write a whole essay for what blessings I have.  How lucky am I?!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Still in the Kitchen

Hey Peoples!!  Are you all ready for Thanksgiving?  Lucky me, my mother in law does all the cooking for Thanksgiving.  Which means I don't have to have my house clean (yet).  And I don't have to stress on whether the turkey is moist enough.  Or if there is enough dessert. 

But I am requested to bring one recipe every year (and just so you don't think I'm a total slacker, I usually bring some type of dessert too!!).  Many years ago, I found this recipe in a book titled The Little Book of Christmas Joys.   This is a FAVORITE with all the family. It's quick, easy and soooo yuuummy!!  In fact, this was made last Friday for the oldest Kiddo's Thanksgiving feast.  And it will be made again tomorrow for our dinner on Thursday.

Rosemary's Cranberry Salad
Ingredients you will need

Pretend there is some OJ in the picture

Wash and sort your berries.  I ALWAYS have a few of these bags in my freezer.  One:  if there is a shortage, I have my supply for the year.  Two:  this would make a WONDERFUL summer salad too!

Can I just share the fact that I "borrowed" this colander from my mother when I had my first apartment?  She passed away 13 years ago from breast cancer.  I love this.  It is a daily reminder of her. 


Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice

Hmmmm....Now that I'm on a nostalgia kick, I believe this little strainer was "borrowed" at the same time.  How the heck did my mother ever cook after I moved out?!


Peel all but one orange and cut them all up.

Ya know, my mother must have had one heck of a shopping spree after I moved out.  The knife is an old stake knife that I borrowed too.  And, huh.  Whadda ya know.  That cutting board was hers too. 

The funny thing is, my mother was not known for her cooking.

Grind the cranberries and oranges in a food processor or food grinder.




Add the drained pineapple.  I grind it again.  Just in case someone doesn't care for the bigger chunks of pineapple.  Also grinding is easier than trying to stir in the bowl!!



Add the sugar.  The recipe (to follow) calls for 1 pound of cranberries.  I guessamate.  Sooo, I'm generous with my cups of sugar! 


Yep.  I just throw this in the food processor too.  Easy to make sure the sugar is blended well.  I fill my processor literally to the brim!!


Combine OJ and the reserved pineapple juice.  Sprinkle some unflavored gelatin on top.  Heat until it is completely dissolved. 



Add the gelatin to the fruit mix.  Believe it or not, I do NOT do this in the food processor.  By this time, I'm pushing the limits on having a major explosion of cranberries all over my counters.  I pour it into the serving dish I am going to use and then add the gelatin and mix it thoroughly.  (This would be the time to fold in the pecans if you are using them.  While I like pecans, my family prefers this recipe without them)

Chill until set. 


Rosemary's Cranberry Salad.  Yield:  16-20 servings

1 pound cranberries                                                        2 cups sugar
4 oranges, one unpeeled                                                 1/2 cup orange juice
1 15-ounce can crushed pineapple                                  3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
    packed in juice                                                           1/2 pound pecans (optional)

Wash and sort the berries.  Peel all but one orange and cut up all of the oranges.  In a food grinder or food processor grind the cranberries and oranges.  Add the drained pineapple, reserving the juice.  Stir in the sugar and mix well.  In a small saucepan combine the reserved pineapple juice and orange juice.  Sprinkle the gelatin on top and stir.  Heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved.  Add the gelatin to the fruit mixture.  Fold in the nuts (if using). Pour into a pretty dish (the recipe actually says to pour into a greased 3-quart mold.  Personally, I could never get the thing to release pretty.  So I opt to use a pretty dish).  Chill until set.  ENJOY.

I would love to hear of any favorite family recipes that you might have!  I am ALWAYS looking for something new to add to our family gatherings (or just week day dinners!)

I have some other CRAFT projects in the works on my desk just waiting for me to finish.  I made the mistake of going into the playroom yesterday.  Let's just say I now have a truck full to take to the local thrift store, a garbage can full of trash, a recycle can full, and a pile to give to the school.  Aaannnd, we still have one more corner to go!! Good grief!! Was this ever a job long over due!!

Till then.....remember~~exploring creativity is a journey that can be found in so many areas.  Try something new today.  Whether it be in the kitchen, your craft area or on the computer.  ENJOY





Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pioneer Woman....

I am NOT!!  LOL!  I just love Ree Drumond, aka The Pioneer Woman. I love how her sense of humor comes out in her writings.  I love her photographs of life on the ranch.  They remind me of growing up in Wyoming. With real cowboys and wild mustangs too.  I love how she showcases her cooking and does not apologize for using fat, beef, and the yummy stuff (and the fact that she takes all the photos herself).  To me, she is personable.  Not afraid to tell of her so-called faults and mistakes.  I am incredibly envious of the lodge kitchen and her own kitchen.  Both of which I envision to be larger than my entire house. 

But I thought I would try and channel her with today's post.  Let's just say that there are MANY miles between California (me) and Oklahoma (Ree). 

Remember the Denmark Paper Doll the youngest Kiddo had to make?  Well, along with the fact report and the paper doll, comes the "make an ethnic dish" from that country to share at the Ethnic Feast.  Once again I'd just like to thank Mrs. M. for assigning the Kiddo a country that uses common, off the shelf ingredients.  Mind you, all the food made also has to be vegetarian or made with meat substitutes.  Just to add to the fun!!
After some research, the Kiddo and I settled on Danish Peppernut Cookies to make. 

Ingredients you will need:

                                   

In a large sauce pan mix the sugar, corn syrup, milk and shortening. 


Bring to a boil and after it cools, add the spices and baking powder



Stir in the flour







Chill for a couple of hours.  Roll out a 1/4" rope on a surface dusted with powder sugar.  Ignore the part of the directions that say to cut the cookies in 3/8" segments and bump it up to 2" segments



Also ignore the instructions that say to bake on greased cookie sheet and use parchment paper.  That way you don't have to wash the cookie sheets!!

Sprinkle with some more powder sugar




And dress the Kiddo up to look like a darling Danish boy!!




I must say that these turned out pretty yummy!! They are a "hard" cookie. Like a biscotti. Or, that is how ours turned out!! I think they are designed to dunk in coffee or hot tea.  Maybe someone of Scandinavian decent could let me know.  Personally, no one in this family has had any problems just munching on them!!  The cardamom and anise give these a nice flavor. 

Danish Peppernuts

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark-colored corn syrup
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon anise extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
14 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
Sifted powdered sugar

1.  In a large saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, milk, and shortening.  Bring to boiling.  Remove from heat and cool about 15 minutes.  Stir in anise extract, baking powder, vanilla salt, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.  Stir in the flour until well mixed.  Cover and chill about 2 hours or until easy to handle. 

2.  Divide dough into 24 equal portions.  On a surface dusted lightly with sifted powdered sugar, roll each portion of the dough into a 1/4 -inch thick rope.  Cut into pieces about 3/8 inch long (or 2 inches like us!).  Place 1 inch apart on a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper)

3.  Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 10 minutes (5-7 min was better in my oven) or until lightly browned on bottom.  Immediately remove and cool on paper towel (once again, I just used my cooling racks).  Makes 8 cups of cookies (thirty-two 1/4 cup servings)

*****************

Now, I don't want you to think that I never take pictures of the oldest Kiddo.  He is at the age where he really doesn't care to pose for his silly mother.  But I did manage talk him into letting me take this quick photo of him kinda dressed as an Indian for his 8th grade Thanksgiving feast.  Basically, the kid wore brown shorts, a light tan t-shirt turned inside out to hide the graphics.  I kinda/sorta made an arrowhead he had into a necklace and a cheesy headband.  "Mom.  Could I be one of the Hopi gods tomorrow.  Me:  Dude.  It's 8:30 pm. Just how am I suppose to come up with an elaborate costume NOW?  "Yeah.  I  guess.  Can I have a large feather that looks like an eagle feather in the headband?  Me:  Bud.  It's 8:35pm.  I have some chicken feathers I think.  You get chicken feathers.  Deep heavy sigh...



Love, The Pioneer Woman Wannabe.  (snort)......


Monday, November 15, 2010

Darcie's Song

Hey People!! You are just going to LOOOOVE what the E-Team has to share today!!

Today I've TWO projects to share using Darcie's Cardinal Ornament and Darcie's Meghan Acrylic Ornament Frame.  Between the two, there are so many possibilities that my brain is about to blow a fuse!!



I'll begin with the card.  The base is a top folded piece of Pure Luxury.  The rich red paper is from My Mind's Eye Holly Jolly.  That is mounted on a small mat of basic black.  The frame was stamped with Stazon Metallic Gold unto TenSecondStudio's Pearl Metal,  I then used my paper stump and refiner to recess the back of the frame to add depth.  The music block was stamped onto a scrap piece of vanilla with Distress Ink in Antique Linen and sponged lightly around the edges with Distress Vintage Photo.  Using my stampamajig, I stamped the sentiment with Distress Fired Brick.  The sentiment panel was adhered to the metal using Sticky Tape

The cardinal was stamped onto another piece of scrap vanilla Pure Luxury and sponged with Distress Wild Honey on the beak (I just used the edge of a foam piece) and Fired Brick. The image was then clear embossed and cut out.  The branches are from a Martha Stewart punch.  The Toad (who is becoming my life line when I get stuck on cards) came up with the idea to add the white embossing powder sporadically on the branches to give them the look of having been snowed upon.  I used my Versamarker randomly on the branches and then heat set the white embossing powder.  Tiny 1/2 pearls were customed colored with my Copic marker to make the berries.  The elements were adhered to the metal using Tombow Metal glue.


Here is a close up showing the depth of frame and layers




The ornament is a "shadow box".  The base acrylic layer was covered in the same Holly Jolly paper as the card. I used Glossy Accents to adhere the paper to the acrylic.   I again stamped the music block from the Cardinal Ornament set onto vanilla Pure Luxury with Antique Linen.  I traced around the inside of the oval frame and cut and sponged around the edges with Vintage Photo.  The Noel sentiment was stamped using Fired Brick.  Two layers of chipboard and the other acrylic later were glued together using more Glossy Accents.  

The front (and back) of the ornament were traced onto more Pearl Metal and cut out using paper snips. I cheated just a bit on the stamping of the music.  The included music sheet in the stamp set was just this  much to small to go to the edges of the ornament and was lacking in length also.  So I pulled out a larger music sheet stamp, from Stampendous, that I have in my collection and stamped the notes again with Stazon Metallic Gold.  The metal was adhered with Tombow Metal Glue on the back and Sticky tape on the Front (I wanted to see if there was a difference in how they stuck the metal to the chipboard.  The sticky tape obviously sticks right away and doesn't leave much room for jiggle, if needed.  The glue seems to be holding just as well, but requires a bit of time to set.  If you try to rush it, the metal can slip off.  Ask me how I know!) 

I sprinkled some of Martha Stewarts Snow Glitter in the recess of the shadow box and then stuck the "cover" of my ornament over the top using more glossy accents.  The edges of the metal were then burnished with a paper stump.  I then used a combination of a black sharpie and marker to go over all the outside edges of the ornament to blend them together. 

The poinsetta was stamped with Archival Jet Black ink onto another scrap piece of vanilla and colored with Copics.  It was cut out and covered in Distress Rock Candy stickles. Again, Tombow Metal glue was used to adhere it to the metal.




If you haven't stopped by the other Team members blogs yet, you will want to head over there right away.  AND make sure you leave a comment on the EP blog!! I hear there is Darcie goodies to be given away!!

And! This is where the goodies would be!!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! I hope this little hop by the E-Team inspires you to EXPLORE some
CREATIVITY!!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Kiddo Creations

Hey People!!  Not sure how it got to be Thursday already, but I'm glad that this weekend is almost here!!  I got a BIG BOX OF GOODIES and I cannot WAIT to start playing with stuff!!

There has been creativity going on here.....just not mine.  The Kiddos have had projects due and once again, Mom's "junk" adds those little "extras" that kick up the projects up a notch!!

First up:  Oldest Kiddo had to make a project from the Renaissance era.  Of course, being a "manly boy" he went for a weapon of war.  A siege tower to be exact. 


I'm not sure why I don't have any pictures of the actual work of creating this.  Heaven knows, all the Popsicle sticks, glue, felt, etc., were on my kitchen table for two weeks.  My best guess is it is due to the fact that this was a project that I had very little to do with.  The Toad helped the Kiddo design this and they worked on it together.  Sometimes while I was at work.  Or while I was making supper.  Whatever.  I failed to document the actual creating. 

This picture does not show the cool details on this project.  Like the drawbridge that drops down.  Like the floors between the three stories that have these itty, bitty little ladders that lead to the next floor.  I really should have taken more pictures of the project itself. But I'm lazy.  And it is 7 am and my hair is drying all funky because I'm trying to post instead of taking care of my looks.  Ahhhh!!  The sacrifices one makes for her blog followers!!  

Hehe.

Next project.  Each year at our little school grades 4-6 have an "Ethnic Feast" instead of a Thanksgiving Feast.  Each kid is assigned a country and must do a report of some type giving details of their country.  My Kiddo was assigned Denmark. Thank you Mrs. M. for not assigning my kid a country I don't even know how to pronounce.  In addition to a "fact sheet" on Denmark, the Kiddo had to dress this paper doll in the ethnic costume of his country.  



  I now know that I need a Big Bite.  My cropadile did not reach the center of this paper doll to place the jumbo eyelets that the kid was using as "buttons" on the vest.  Actually, the Kiddo is probably glad I don't have a Big Bite.  He had waaaaayyyy too much fun pounding the eyelets with the hammer.  Let me confess here that I have TOTALLY forgotten how to set eyelets the "old fashioned" way.  Didn't bother to look it up.  The Kiddo just smashed those puppers in the paper and got them to stick.  Works for me!

The finished project and the proud creator:


Well, that's it for me today!!  I get to spend the rest of my "day off" volunteering at the school, grocery shopping and trying to find an ethnic Danish dish that I can make for the Ethnic feast next week.  Oh yeah, and maybe sneak in some play time with my new goodies!! hehe!!!

Thanks for dropping by again today!! Remember that the day is not complete without some type of creativity!! 

Monday, November 8, 2010

MISTER Old Fart

Hey Peoples!! It's a dreary, rainy Monday here.  The moisture is desperately needed, so I won't complain (too much).

Thought I'd share the last of the cards I made for all the birthday's that we celebrated while in Solvang over the weekend. I'll share about the trip in another post.  Like I mentioned before, most of our friends and family tend to look at life from a snarky (but fun!) point of view.  Once again Bugaboo Digi's came to my rescue.  Here is my Old Fart for an old Fart!


Pretty self explanatory.   Sized and printed the Old Fart onto Georgia Pacific 110# and colored with my Copic Ciaos.  My printer liked this paper better, but I have to say, I much rather use Gina K's Pure Luxury.  What a difference!  This paper bleeds with copics, so it wouldn't do for a one layer card.  The texture is not as smooth (or luxurious, hehe) as the Pure Luxury.  BUT!! It did the job. 

The image was matted onto SU's Night of Navy.  The design paper is from Making Memories Just Chillin' pack.  Another mat layer of Night of Navy.  Base is a 5 1/2" square made of SU's Kraft (now called Crumb Cake, I believe).  The buttons are from Basic Grey's Granola line (I think.  I have had them in my stash forever).  They look much darker in this late night photo than in real life.  I added some hemp twine and adhered them with glue dots. 

The inside: 


Hate to cut this short, but I need to get my rear in gear and get ready for work!!  Thanks for stopping by again today!!  Remember~~make time for creativity.  It makes the world go round!!  Till next time......

Friday, November 5, 2010

Birthday, Shmirthday

WoooHooo!! This is card number 2 of the three needed by this weekend!!  I'm on a roll!!

I decided to show my true colors on this card and go with a snarky attitude.  Unfortunately, I don't have many snarky stamps.  Seriously, people.  This is a sorely lacking market in the stamping business.  Think Maxine.  Think Erma Bombeck.  There are those of us who think life is too serious as it is and prefer to lighten things up!!  Give me the demented, the snarky, the FUNNY stamps!!

Ahem.  Anyhoos!!  Since I have very few snarky stamps, I went on the hunt for some digital stamps that might fit the bill.  Found what I was looking for at Bugaboo Stamps.  Even better, Jodi is having a 50% off sell on all her digi's (I am not being asked, paid, compensated for this plug.  Jodi has a wide variety of digi stamps and I'm all about letting you know about good deals!!)  I will admit that with my limited computer skills, it took me a bit to get my images from one place to another, but if I can do it, ANYONE can.  It also helped that Jodi has a tutorial on opening her files into a word document.  If you need help, check it out here.

And this is what I came up with!! 


I printed my  4"x4" image out on Gina K's pure luxury (though my cheapo printer does not like the weight of this paper!!) and colored it with various copics (just a note for those of you who might be new to my little corner of blog land.  I know that there are those who list the markers that they use to color.  You will never find that on my blog.  I grab, scribble on scratch paper, lay down, pick something else, and in all honesty, have no idea what markers I finally used in my project!!).  The image was layered onto SU's Eggplant Envy. The sentiment was computer generated (this image actually comes with the sentiment "One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor", but I wanted to personalize this for the birthday gal!!), printed out on Georgia Pacific #110 paper (which my printer liked better).  I cut and embossed the sentiment and mat layer using my classic Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities.  Very light sponging was done along the edge of the sentiment and the main image using Distress Ink Dusty Concord.

The image and sentiment were then layered onto SEI "Black Orchid" paper. I couldn't get the black embossing on this paper to show up without a glare!!   My base is once again, Gina K's pure luxury, cut to a 5 1/2" square. 
Supplies:  Stamps:  Bugaboo Digi, computer generated sentiment.  Paper:  Gina K's pure luxury, SU Eggplant Envy, SEI dp. Ink:  Distress Ink Dusty Concord. Accessories:  Spellbinders Classic Circles, copic markers

I think once I figure out this digi thing, I could have lots of  fun with them!! It's nice to be able to resize your image to fit the project.  Explored something new today.  And that, my blog friends, is what it is all about!!

Thanks for dropping by again today!!  Off to switch the laundry and onto card number 3!!  Till then.......