More Raspberry Tart

Here's another beautiful card inspired by one that caught my eye on SCS. I just LOVE this new Raspberry Tart paper from SU! The color combination (Rose Red & Cameo Coral) is unusual, but it really works and helps me think outside the box. I intentionally left off the sentiment on the front of the card so it could work for any occasion. The Raspberry Tart paper will be available when the new catalog is released in mid-January. So far, I've seen lots of beautiful samples using new stamp sets and accessories, so start getting excited!!!

HELPFUL HINT: Our retired Purely Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon blends beautifully with this paper if you don't have an exact match (which I didn't) - I was very excited!!!

Buzzin' Back By!

Well, here's another CASEd card from SCS - that's all I seem to be good for these days! I'm just thrilled to be creating SOMETHING!! This little set is going to be so much fun. I have loved every color combo I've seen it used with on SCS. I have lots more cards to make . . . I know everyone at Bailey's school (where the mascot is the hornet) will want cards with these little impostors on them! Thanks for stopping by!!

Just Buzzin' Around!

I was tempted not to get this set, but then I remembered that Bailey's school mascot is a hornet, and I thought these little bees would pass. And I have found so many cute cards on SCS! Thanks for looking today! Have a great weekend!

Spring/Summer '09 Preview!

I finally had a moment during the Christmas busyness to try out some of my new goodies from Stampin' Up! The BEST thing about being a demonstrator is getting to order items before they are available to the public. I fell in love with the new Raspberry Tart designer series paper that will be in the Spring/Summer '09 catalog. It looks so much like a Vera Bradley pattern and combines Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, and Cameo Coral. I usually have a terrible time picking out new stamp sets that will be popular and versatile, but I could tell right away that A Little Somethin', one of the new Level 2 hostess sets would be a hit! This extremely simple card (created by Vera on SCS) would be perfect to demo at a workshop or to make in bulk to have on hand for any occasion.

Happy Birthday, Bailey!

My sweet daughter, Bailey's birthday is December 27, which can be a little tricky when trying to plan a birthday party! This year, we decided to invite a few friends to see the new movie, "Despereaux," and then walk to the new ice cream shop nearby. Since I only needed eight invitations, I made them and I just love how they turned out! They were very simple - popcorn boxes from World Market (although I have seen them at Target and Party City), microwave popcorn, and a card with the party info that I printed and attached to basic gray cardstock. I thought the card needed something so I stamped it using the popcorn stamp from Treat Yourself in Barely Banana. Happy 8th Birthday, Sweet Bailey!

"We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a happy new year!!"

Love and blessings from the Lemmons family!

Peace & Joy & Love & Cheer

I found this beautiful framed art piece by Julie Case on SCS and couldn't wait to make it for Christmas gifts. It's not hard, but it took me awhile because, for some reason, EVERYTHING takes me awhile! My friend, Rebekah, set me up with all her Big Shot stuff so I could make it. I think I'm going to have to break down and buy some more dies - my Top Note is getting lonely :) Thanks for checking out my FOURTH POST of the day - can you believe it? I think this might be a sign of the Apocalypse!! Merry Christmas!

Reindeer Food

OK, I feel like THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!! Well, maybe not the smartest, but definitely the LUCKIEST! I heard about this idea rather randomly and thought it was a great idea for Bailey's class Christmas craft, but it wasn't until I made one and saw how completely adorable it is that I felt so happy I could hardly stand it! Inside the brown paper bag is "Reindeer Food" which consists of dry oatmeal with a little glitter so the reindeer can see the food from the sky (of course!!) - the kids can sprinkle this in their yard on Christmas Eve so the reindeer will have something to do while Santa unloads those presents! I traced Bailey's hands and used the cut-outs as the antlers and punched circles in white, gray, and red for the eyes and nose and VOILA!! I can't wait to make these with the kids tomorrow - I hope they like them, too! Merry Christmas!!

Precious little penguin tag

I am so glad that I stumbled upon the blog, StampWithHeather!! I have found more amazing projects on her blog lately, but this little punched penguin is probably one of the cutest! I lucked out and found penguin Christmas wrapping paper in the $1 spot at Target, so I couldn't wait to make some of these adorable tags to match. Heather even has an easy-to-follow tutorial on her blog - very nice! I think I used almost all of my punches for the penguin, but my favorite part is his little hat which is made from a 1 3/8-inch circle, a 1/2-inch circle, and a word window punch piece. I want to make a snowman, too, and put this little hat on him! Hope you like - thanks for stopping by!! Merry Christmas!!

Today's second post - a Christmas miracle!!

I am still completely in love with the Top Note die, but I hadn't used it in awhile, so when I saw this beautiful journal on SCS, I couldn't wait to dust it off! This is an easy card to make, but very impressive in person. I used my 1 1/4 inch square punch and placed 12 squares on a piece of copy paper, them ran the paper through the Cuttlebug with the Top Note die. I embossed the patchwork piece with the Swiss Dot embossing folder (my fave!) and embossed the Baja Breeze background with the snowflake embossing folder. I LOVE how the two embossed patterns look together. A little ribbon, a little Hodgepodge Hardware, ba-da bing - a beautiful Christmas card for a dear friend! Merry Christmas!!

If you haven't seen the blog StampWithHeather, you are truly missing one of my favorite blogs! Go right now and check it out - go ahead, I'll wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Don't you LOVE IT?!?!?!? This little tag caught my eye and I couldn't wait to make it. It uses the ever-popular scallop circle punch in a cool new way! So, I made a bunch to put on the plates of cookies I made for some of the teachers and staff at Bailey's school. They are getting Peppermint Chocolate Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, Espresso Chocolate Cookies, Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Almond Pound Cake Cookies with Strawberry Jam. Whew! I've been baking like a crazy woman! I hope they love their treats and their cute tags, too! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Comfort Food ROCKS!!

OK, so many of you know I love to try new recipes, but I've been in a cooking rut lately . . . until I found THIS recipe in December's "Southern Living" magazine. Breakfast Enchiladas - what could be more wonderful?!? So I made them tonight and they WERE wonderful, and I wanted to share a bit of the wonderfulness with you! I tweaked the original recipe a bit to suite my taste, so here it is:

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Breakfast Enchiladas

1 (1 lb.) package ground pork sausage
2 T. butter
10 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. salt
8 (8-inch) soft-taco size flour tortillas
Cheese sauce (see recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees - cook sausage in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, 6 to 8 minutes or until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink - remove from skillet and drain well - wipe skillet clean - melt butter in skillet over medium heat - add beaten eggs, salt, and pepper and cook, without stirring, 2 minutes or until eggs begin to set on bottom - gently draw cooked edges away from sides of pan to form large pieces - cook, stirring occasionally, 4-5 minutes or until eggs are thickened but still moist (do not over stir) - remove from heat and gently fold in 1 1/2 cups cheese sauce and sausage - spoon about 3/4 cup egg mixture down the center of each flour tortilla and roll up - place, seam side down, in a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish - pour remaining cheese sauce over tortillas - bake for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly - serve with desired toppings (I garnished with sundried tomatoes)

Cheese Sauce

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
1 (8 oz.) block Cheddar cheese, shredded (DO NOT USE preshredded cheese - trust me, it make a HUGE difference!!)
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chilies
3/4 tsp. salt

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat - whisk in flour until smooth and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute - gradually whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 7 minutes or until thickened - remove from heat and whisk in remaining ingredients until cheese is melted
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I think this cheese sauce would be delicious with macaroni or other pasta, or to make cheese grits. So many possibilities!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged!!! I haven't stamped much lately - I've been working on Chris's grandmother's calendar for Christmas and scrapbooking since the mood hit, so I haven't made any cards or much of anything else! But I had some alone time today, so I had to get some Christmas cards made and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out! The scalloped one was inspired by an e-mail I received from Archiver's. What a GREAT (& super simple) way to use SU!'s Carousel Notes! The second one is a complete CASE of Holly McMillen's awesome cool punched Santa! If you got SCS's e-newsletter last week, you saw the link to the scallop Santa ideas on the website. This was my FAVORITE one!! I also needed a gift card holder, so I CASEd this idea from Mish Mash and Annie B. Very simple and beautiful! I just love it when an idea comes together! Have a blessed Christmas season!

Baby Bib Card

I found the CUTEST baby card on Patty Bennett's blog and I couldn't wait to make it for a friend of mine who's expecting a little girl soon. We're both Vera Bradley fans, so when I saw this cute little outfit, I had to buy it for her. Love those Java Blue colors, and Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip coordinate beautifully. I hope she likes her gift . . . and the card!

Have you ever had one of those brilliant ideas that just made you happy every time you thought about how absolutely SMART you are?!? Yea, me neither, until today! I have a GIANT stash of card fronts from three years of demo swaps and, while I have gotten rid of a bunch, I still have a bunch that I couldn't bear to throw away but that I just don't have room for anymore. So, in a moment of shear genius, I decided to turn them into full cards and donate them to our local Ronald McDonald House. How cool is that?!? I hope the guests enjoy sending them to loved ones back home.

I took the cards to RMDC today and they were very appreciative. If you have any extra cards you'd like to donate, please consider taking them to this wonderful place.

Gobble, Gobble!

Chris's cousin's sweet daughter, Lainey, used to call goggles "gobbles," and I always laugh when I think of that. It was so cute! She's older now and says it correctly - so sad!! This is a card I found on-line last year and just LOVED because it used SU!'s new scallop circle punch! Even though the Apple Cider Designer Series Paper is retired, I hope you find some inspiration in this simple Thanksgiving card. Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving Blessings

I decided this year that instead of getting out the Christmas decorations right after Halloween, I would make some things for Thanksgiving. My family and I have so much to be thankful for and I wanted to take time before the holiday madness begins to really focus on our blessings. I copied this project from the cover of this month's "Stampin' Success," and I am very proud of the way it turned out. When my family comes over for Thanksgiving dinner, this will be the focal point of my decorations. Have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving, friends!

Color Challenge

Kristina's Color Challenge this week was Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand, and Whisper White. I was surprised I even had Sahara Sand, but luckily, I had enough to make this card. I love the spotlighting technique and it really jazzes up a card in a very simple way. Thanks for looking!

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas . . .

So, if you've got a little time to kill and 23 friends to help you ;) why not make this adorable Advent calendar!! It's made from a 24-cup mini muffin tin and 24 cute squares made by me and my fellow SU! demonstrators. We got together to assemble the entire project for our holiday party, so there was lots of good food and great conversation. Each square is 2 3/8" x 2 3/8" and has a magnet cut to the same size on the back to hold it on the tin. Each of the little cups can be filled with candy or other prizes for your sweet little ones to uncover each day of December till Christmas. It is the neatest idea, but I'm so glad I didn't have to design and make 24 different squares for the project or my brain would have exploded!! My square was a little Santa tag that I found on-line and I love it!! I think the silver Hodgepodge Hardware buckle is the best part! Very simple and fun! I hope to post more Christmas projects as I get into the spirit so check back often. Have a blessed day!

The best shrimp ever!

I don't usually post recipes on my blog (or take pictures of my dinner!), but this is too good not to share! I watched the "Barefoot Contessa" over the weekend and she made onion rings marinated in buttermilk with a flour/cornmeal coating. They looked so good that I thought that same coating might be delicious on shrimp! So I followed the recipe exactly substituting a pound of peeled, deveined, tail-less shrimp for the onion, and OMGosh - it was FANTASTIC!! I wish I had bought another bag of shrimp!! We wolfed it down in no time - here's the recipe so you can try it, too!


1-2 pounds peeled, deveined, tail-less shrimp
2 cups buttermilk
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (medium) yellow cornmeal
1 quart vegetable oil (I used peanut)

Combine the buttermilk, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Add the shrimp, toss well, and allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes. In a gallon-size Zip-lock bag, combine the flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F in a large pot or Dutch oven. (A candy thermometer attached to the side of the pot will help you maintain the proper temperature.) Working in batches, lift some shrimp out of the buttermilk and dredge them in the flour mixture. Drop into the hot oil and fry for 2 minutes, until golden brown, turning them once with tongs. Don't crowd them and don't overcook them! Drain on paper towels and ENJOY!