Peaceful Poppies

Since it didn't take all day yesterday to finish cutting the last of the die cuts my sister is using in her mini album for the Nashville Train Convention Workshop, I had just enough time to create a card for the sketch for the day.  In the end, I decided to use product from the Peaceful Poppies Bundle and coordinating Designer Series Paper so I could have it do double duty......it is now the Make N Take for the March 28, 2020 D & D Papercraft Event.

When a new Stampin' Up! Catalog is released I always looks for stamp sets and bundles that can create cards for more than one purpose.  I was telling my stamp club on Saturday that I read many years ago that when you buy a non-consumable item, like an expensive machine, the Cricut, or framelits.dies, etc that you should make sure you use the product ALOT.  Each time you use the non-consumable item, you figure it will cost you $1.00.  I use this thought process when I purchase stamps as well.  So if I purchase a stamp set for $23.00, like the Painted Poppies set I used for the flower and leaf in this card, I should use it at least 23 times.  That is fairly easy to do when you are using stamp sets that are primarily salutations, but it occasionally gets boring when you are not creating for stamp clubs or workshops.  

Even though I have way too many flower stamp sets, I couldn't resist this one!  The Designer Series Paper is what sold me on the set, as well as the ton on Pinterest ideas I found using the set.  Since I am using the Painted Poppies Stamp Set, along with the salutation set that coordinates with it, Peaceful Moments for both the workshop and make n take for the March D & D Papercraft Event, I easily kept to the idea of using it more than enough times to justify its cost.  

Not sure what kind of crafting trouble I will get myself in to today!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Recipe Wednesday & Cricuting Palooza

Been a busy few days with my Cricut Air 2 pushing out a bunch of die cuts for my sister.  She is creating a mini album out of chipboard and Stampin' Up! products to teach a workshop at the National Garden Railroad Convention in Nashville, TN late spring.  I created about a dozen die cuts for the album for accents; include the Grand Old Opry Stage, cowboy hat, microphone, camera, skyline, and of course a train for the cover.  It has been a lot of fun locating ideas for trains as well as the city of Nashville and some of the places we will go to for tours and entertainment.  It should be a great week, since we will not only be spending the week with my sister and brother in law at a train convention, some both guys LOVE, but the Country Music Awards are being held the weekend before we leave Nashville!  All I can think about is running in to Luke Bryan or Carrie Underwood!

I have been keeping with trying new recipes and updating some of my old ones for our dietary needs so today I am sharing an adaptation on a Beef Stroganoff Recipe.  Here is my rendition.....

The first time I made this recipe, it called for the ground beef to be cooked up and I changed it to include meatballs when I had some of my meatloaf mixture that didn't fit in to my pan.  At that time I didn't have sour cream, so I left it out (and the calories!) and we still enjoyed it even with the changes.  ENJOY!

Meatball Stroganoff

1-1/2 lbs lean ground beef                   1 egg                                         

1 small onion, diced                            ¾ cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 clove garlic, minced                         8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons flour                             2 cups beef broth

Salt & Pepper to taste                        2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 tablespoons fresh parsley               ¾ cup sour cream

Package of egg noodles

Combine ground beef, egg and seasoned bread crumbs.  Roll in to small meatballs and brown in pan.  Removed from pan and drain fat.  Add onions and mushrooms to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add flour and cook one more minute.

Add broth, Worcestershire Sauce, salt & pepper and bring to a boil.  Add meatballs back in to pan.   Reduce heat and simmer on low for 10 minutes.  Cook egg noodles according to package directions.  Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and parsley.  Serve over noodles

Yield:  4-6 servings

Now back at it cutting the last of the sky line dies out!

Happy Crafting, and Cooking!

Card Samples and a Recipe!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

It rained here for most of Saturday and even yesterday was on the dismal side, but dry.
Saturday four friends came over for Stamp Club.  They made six cards using ONE sheet of 6 x 6 Retired Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up!  Once the pieces are cut to size, the cards came together fairly easy and I think everyone was happy with the results. Here are the cards we made:

Since it seems we never have time to catch up, I invited everyone to stay for brunch!  As some of you have asked, do I make all of the recipes that I "share" on Facebook.  No, I don't, but I like to save them to my page in case I need a dessert for an occasion, but this year I am trying to make a new recipe or two a week.  Saturday I made this "Amish Breakfast Casserole".  Easy to put together a head of time with simple ingredients most people have in their pantry and refrigerator each week.

Hope you try it and enjoy it as well all did!  Enjoy!

Amish Breakfast Casserole

1-pound sliced bacon, diced                       1 medium onion, chopped

6 large eggs, lightly beaten                         4 cups frozen shredded hash brown

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese                          potatoes, thawed

1-1/2 cups 4% cottage cheese                    1-1/4 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion over medium heat until bacon is crisp; drain.  In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients; stir in bacon mixture.  Transfer to a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.

Bake uncovered, until knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

**Sub any other meats you prefer such sausage or ham.   

Yield:  12 servings                    

Dancing with the Stars Review........and a card

Words cannot do justice to the experience of seeing the pros from Dancing with The Stars this past Wednesday Night.  The hubby and I saw the show at the 1600 seat American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA.  If you have never seen a performance there, check them out.  It is a great venue with no bad seats and they have a ton of shows for all ages.

Kate Flannery was the contestant from the last season that performed at our show.  She is from the Philadelphia area, and did a great job sharing the Emcee duties with Val Chmerkovskly.  Yes, I did check and that is how you spell his name🌝  She performed in three numbers with Paska, her partner last season, dancing choreographed numbers from the show.

Sharing some pictures from the show.  Everything was fantastic and I am amazed that they perform on a stage and not a dancefloor like on the show.  They had two levels to the stage, which made me nervous as they did dance quite a bit on the upper level, and then would come down stairs on either side of the set to the main stage.  Lighting was amazing as well as the music and of course the dancing.

If you look closely on the next photo, you can see dancers on the upper set.

Finale with confetti just like when the winner is announced!  People gave them a standing ovation, hence so many heads in the picture.  

It was  GREAT show and I highly recommend it.  The professional men pulled women from the audience to sit on chairs while they danced around them and I NEVER heard an audience laugh so loud and get in tot he show.  They were all great sports and it was a nice interaction with the audience.  I still am amazed at how they can dance for almost TWO hours with only a 20 minute intermission.  

So our January adventure is over for 2020 and we are looking forward to our Spring Training trip in March!

So back to everyday life, I am sharing a new card with you today.  I made it in to a wedding or anniversary card.

Again, so simple using coordinating papers and created my own tag.  Pulled out my QuicKutz dies and found this heart that I still LOVE over 15 years later.....

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!

One More Sleep!

The day is almost here when we use one of our Christmas Gifts......
Seats at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster to see "Dancing with the Stars LIVE" show for tomorrow night.😀  We ordered these many months ago, around the time the winner was announced for the fall season.  I am so excited to see these dancers LIVE and am sure they will not disappoint.  Look for a recap on Friday, as we are staying overnight and spending some time in Lancaster on Thursday before we head home.

My card to share for today was so simple.....I think I use that saying every day!  Doing this challenge of using a sketch to make a card or two at least five days a week has shown me that you can make a simple card in less than 30 minutes.  So why continue to spend upwards of $5.95 for a card at the gift shop?  All of the cards I have been making are from leftovers form scrapbook pages I have completed.

This card is a little different, since it uses one of the retired Designer Series Papers from Stampin' Up!  One of the things I continue to love about Stampin' Up! is that all of the products coordinate.  Their cardstock and stamp pads match and their Designer Series Papers list which colors to use to match everything perfectly!  

When I purchase Designer Series Papers, I make sure I keep the lightweight cardboard at the back of the pack, as Stampin' Up! lists all the colors that coordinate.  Make is easy peasy to create professional looking cards that are simple to create.

Going to be a cold day today, perfect for crafting!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Snowy Saturday & Sunday Clean Up

The weather gurus were "right on" with the winter storm this past Saturday.  The snow started right around 10 AM as predicted and we ended up with about 2" total when it was over, with a slight period of change over to a freezing mix before it was all over.  We made the right decision and didn't clear the driveway like some neighbors did when the snow was over, but waited until Sunday morning.  They are still dealing with ice on their driveways whereas we were able to snow blow the driveway and it melted yesterday afternoon.  WIN WIN for us!

Surprised that  I didn't get as much done when it comes to crafts on Saturday.  Just a lazy day of doing not much at all except watch it snowing.  Sunday was a little better as I pulled out my Cricut and started working on the die cuts for my sister Nashville Train Convention mini album.  I am so happy for her as she already has five signups for the event this coming June!

Friday I did pull a sketch out and created the following two cards.  Sweet & Simple as usual.  ENJOY!

Again I searched through my pattern paper scraps to find some coordinating papers to create these cards.  Found some enamel "dots" that I had like forever that coordinated and used them instead of brads.  I am getting a ton of use out of my stitched dies framelets that I recently purchased.  

Been also working on the workshop samples for the D & D Papercraft Event coming up March 28th, and still have more die cuts to cut out for the Nashville mini album.  Hope I have time today to make more cards!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Will It SNOW tomorrow?

Decided not to gamble with the weather tomorrow and postponed my card class until the following Saturday.  Most of the predictions for winter weather so far have fizzled out so far, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  Hopefully they can all make it next Saturday and the weather will cooperate.

It was a busier than normal day for me yesterday, as I not only make my cards from the sketch I selected, but I also completed one of the cards and started the second one for the workshop I plan to teach at the March 28th D & D Papercraft Event.

LOVE LOVE LOVE
The Painted Poppies Bundle and Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up's Spring Mini Catalog.  It is very easy to create simple cards using the Designer Series Papers and one of the salutations  that come with the coordinating stamp set, Peaceful Moments.  I am always looking forward to making some quick and simple cards, and like to have a wide variety of salutations to use.  I rarely ever get rid of stamp sets that contain a large variety of salutations.

So back to my card created from the sketch of the day!
Here it is:

On this card, the salutation is from my new stamp set, Peaceful Moments, and I pulled out some of those rarely used brads to accent the scalloped circles on the card.  Basic, simple, yet a very cute card you can use for any occasion, just change your salutation.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  I will return Monday with a new card made from a sketch I selected.

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Sketch & A Recipe

Not much to report today, so I am sharing not only the card I created from a sketch yesterday, but a favorite soup recipe.  This recipe is quick and easy, and can be heated in a crock pot.  This is what I plan to make tomorrow for our evening Soup and Chile Social at our Community Clubhouse. I double this recipe when I make it in the crock pot for a larger group of people, and almost always have NO leftovers!

                                       Bacon-Cheeseburger Chowder

1-pound ground beef                                      1-pound potatoes (about 2 medium)

1 medium onion, chopped                                      peeled and diced

1 medium red pepper, chopped                       1-1/2 cups water

1 garlic clove, minced                                     1 beef bouillon cube

3 tablespoons flour                                         12 oz Velvetta cheese, cubed

2-1/2 cups milk                                                 3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

In a large stock pot, cook beef, onion and pepper over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until beef is no longer pink and onion is tender.  Drain.  Add garlic to beef mixture and cook 1 minute longer.  Stir in flour until blended.

Gradually stir in milk  Add potatoes, water and bouillon, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Add cheese, stir until melted.  Sprinkle servings with bacon.

Yield:  6 servings

January 15th card:

Another simple and easy card to design using scraps of paper and some of those embellishments you have laying around.  Turn in s a masculine card by using buttons in place of the flowers.

Even though I think I can keep up with making a card (or two!) each day, I decided to allow myself to take a break over the weekend if I need to.  My Stampin' Up order arrived yesterday and I am anxious to start working with the Painted Poppies Stamp Set & Dies and the Peaceful Poppies Designer Paper.  It is absolutely GORGEOUS and I hope to create a Make N Take sample and Workshop for the March 28th D & D Papercraft Event.  Stay tuned for more details!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

YIKES.....Getting Backed Up

I have to chuckle this morning as I type this post.  Don't know how I ever got any crafts done when I was working a full time job!  As I sat at my craft desk in the morning room yesterday, I had no room to put the cards I was suppose to be working on!

Monday I decided to use the sketch I posted to create the 24 cards I put in our event goody bags for our June event.  Of course there are other things going on, like grocery shopping, laundry and a trip to the clubhouse to exercise, so I never finished all those cards.

Yesterday the sketch I selected worked well with a white card base, so I pulled out a packet of 8 blank cards with envelopes that I received as a Christmas gift, finished one for today's post and now have 7 more prepped to finish.  I guess I better finish at least the 7 cards from yesterdays sketch so I have room to work on the one for today!  I am a mad woman right now, not just making two cards from each sketch, but a bunch more since I LOVE working with these sketches.

Tuesday January 14th card:

This card can be used for not only Valentine's Day, but wedding and anniversary as well by just changing the salutation.  PLEASE do not give up on making this card is you do not have the Top Note Die to cut out the pattern paper.  A rectangle would work well and if you have a corner rounder, you can use that to make the corners round.  Think outside the box😀

Have a great day & Happy Crafting!

Donna

Crack Chicken Noodle Soup

What happened to the "Sketch of the Day" you might be asking?
I will attached that photo in a few minutes, but first I want to share another hobby of mine, cooking, specifically finding new recipes and trying to make them healthier.  This "soup" recipe is really more of what Rachel Ray calls a "stoup", something between a soup and a stew!  NO crackers or bread needed with this one, that is for sure.  DELICIOUS on a chilly winter day.  It is not 100% healthy, but then how many recipes are these days.  I did make a few changes which I noted* at the end of the recipe that lowers the calories a little and the taste is still excellent.  This one will stay on our rotation throughout the winter!

Crack Chicken Noodle Soup

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped                          2 tablespoons olive oil

8 oz. spaghetti noodles, uncooked                       1 (32 oz pkg chicken broth

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated                               1 (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled                  1 cup of half and half

½ yellow onion, diced                                          1 (1 oz) pkg dry ranch seasoning mix

2 carrots, diced                                                     salt and pepper to taste

2 stalks celery, diced

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat and sauté onion, carrot and celery until softened.  Season with salt & pepper. 

Add dry ranch mix and cook 1 minute, stirring until veggies are evenly coated, then

Add chicken broth and cream of chicken soup. 

Stir together and mix in spaghetti, bacon and chicken, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, or until noodles are cooked and veggies are tender, then stir in cheddar cheese and half-in-half. 

Cook for another 3-5 minutes, then serve and enjoy.

***** I subbed skim milk for half & half & added one more cup of chicken broth, using the lower sodium.   Also used real bacon bits instead of cooking up bacon.

Sketch for Monday January 13th, 2020

I really enjoyed pulling out some discontinued Stampin' Up cardstock and Designer Printed Paper to create this card.  In fact I liked it SO much that I am making 24+ more of them for the goody bags for our June D & D Papercraft Event.  Yes...….we have a March 28th event which is sold out, but the goody bag card for that event is already completed!

Simple and easy card you can make a bunch of in a short time with left over scraps you might have from scrapbooking!

Enjoy and Happy Crafting!

Donna

Three + for a Monday Morning

It was a quiet weekend on Waxwing Circle.
So quiet I don't know what I did on Saturday besides work on some cards and relax.  Even though the Eagles didn't make the playoffs, I still enjoyed the playoff games this weekend.  Football has been in my blood since high school and through college since I was the member of a marching band during those years.

Sunday was unbelievable!  So warm that we sat on our front porch before lunch for awhile enjoying the spring like weather.  No coats needed, and the only thing that made it still seem like winter was the breeze at some times.  Errands were taken care of and we had a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Leftovers for lunch today!  YUMMMMMM

Here are the cards that I created with the sketches I found on Pinterest.  I have attached the ones I did on Friday, Saturday and yesterday.....with an extra on Friday since the sketch used the 6" x 6" paper and cut it for two cards.  This upcoming Saturday in my card club we will be making SIX cards from one 6" x 6" piece of patterned paper.  Of course the pieces used are smaller, but still dominate on the cards.  Will be posting these after the club is over, sometime next week, so be on the look out.

Friday's cards:

Saturday's Cards:

Sunday's Card:

Happy Crafting!

Laundry & grocery shopping is done so off to select a new sketch and get creating!

Donna

Simple Cards for a Friday

So yesterday I was SO excited to finally blog again that I shared the card sketch for today as well as the past few days I have been creating them!  Instead of skipping today, I took the sketched and made the samples and decided to share and maybe take a break tomorrow.  It is just easier not to rush to get one done, since I limit myself to being on my laptop in the mornings only.

My sketch arrived in my email today!  I subscribe to daily emails from a handful of Stampin' Up Demonstrators and Jackie Bolhuis at www.klompenstampers.com is one of them.  Her Peaceful Poppy on line class is my inspiration for the workshop I will teach at our March 28th D & D Papercraft Event.  So to my surprise when I read her email today, her sketch design made it easy to create two very simple cards from a 6" x 6" scrap of paper.  Here are the samples I just completed.  Took me less than half an hour and again you can use any greetings/salutations you might have.

These cards could be "spiced up" a little with the use of ink around the greeting as well as around the outside of the card if you desired.  They were SO EASY that I pulled out another 6" X 6" scrap of patterned paper and made two more.  

Total cards made in 2020 so far is 49.

Happy Crafting!

Happy New Year 2020 - a week late!

Hoping that three times is the charm!

You can tell it has been TOO long since I blogged when I write up a post and when I go to save it, it disappears, TWICE!

I decided to start blogging again, making no commitments to the number of times, other than it will be often than last year.  I hope to not only blog about the crafts I am working on, but the trips we plan to take now that this is the first full year of our retirement.

As of this morning, a week has been book at Phillies Spring Training in Clearwater.  We will be taking the Auto Train both ways this time and as before will be taking in three games, all in Clearwater.  We hope to touch base with a friend of "the boy" aka my husband, who spends the winter in Florida.

Most of our June vacation is also booked as we plan to attend the Garden Train Convention in  Nashville.  We will be staying at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center which is the largest hotel and convention center under one roof in the country (7th in the world).  We will be spending the week with my sister from Virginia and brother in law, which will be a lot of fun as well.  My BIL is actually building a garden train in his back yard and just finished one that runs around the top of their family room.  My sister was accepted to teach a Mini Scrapbook Workshop for woman at the event, so I will be there to help her!  So proud of her!

Another reason I want to start blogging again is to share a new project I started the other day.  How many of you pin items on Pinterest and then never do anything with them?  Well my "Card Sketch Board" is packed to the gills with ideas, so I decided to try and commit to creating a card a day from this board.  It has been a lot of fun the past few days, and I really make at least two of the same sketch each day.  We all know that you can get two card bases out of a 8-1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock, so why not make two right away?

My goal is to use up some of the scraps and card bases I have laying around.  This year my friend and I plan to try and find more businesses besides her office and a local gift shop, that will carry our cards to sell.  Who doesn't want to buy a homemade card and to not have to spend upwards of $5.95?

So as I create cards from the sketches on Pinterest I have saved, I will share them with all of you in hopes of you pulling out your scraps and start creating.  Remember, all cards can be changed for your needs by using different sayings.  Have fun!  Enjoy these samples😀