colourQ challenge #318

This week's colourQ challenge colors are perfect for autumn. It's still pretty warm here in East Tennessee, but we have been blessed with some beautiful fall color - the trees have been gorgeous shades of brown, yellow, orange, red, and my 5-year-old's favorite, burgundy! I used PTI's new stamp set, Phrases & Praises, which I already know I'll be using a lot. I just love large script sentiments! I smooshed kraft, honey, and rust inks onto an acrylic block, spritzed the block with water, and then gently placed the block on a piece of white cardstock. It took several tries to get something I liked but keep trying if you do this technique. I stamped the Scripture in espresso and die cut leaves in the other three colors to frame the sentiment. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Cornbread Dressing Casserole

This is my very favorite cornbread dressing and since I can't find the recipe anywhere except in my recipe book, I decided to put it here so all of my faithful followers (Mary Ann!!) will have another delicious Thanksgiving recipe in your arsenal of delicious recipes!!


CORNBREAD DRESSING CASSEROLE

4 slices bacon (you're already hooked, aren't you?)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups self-rising cornmeal mix
2 cans (15 oz.) cream-style corn
1 cup sour cream
1 stick butter, cut into small pieces
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 T. poultry seasoning or dried sage
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees - spray a 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside - cook bacon till crisp, them drain and crumble, reserving 2 T. drippings in skillet - add onion and celery to skillet and cook till translucent, stirring often - remove and cool slightly - combine cornmeal mix, sour cream, butter, eggs, parsley, poultry seasoning and pepper thoroughly - add onion, celery, and bacon - pour into prepared dish and bake for 45 minutes (or longer) till lightly browned or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

colourQ challenge #316

OMGosh!! This week's colourQ challenge colors nearly killed me!! I only had the olive ink pad and my attempt to colors acrylic stamps with markers was, like it always is, disastrous. So, Dusty Durango ended up looking more like Pumpkin Pie, and I subbed an old curry colored cardstock from SU! for Hello Honey. But, if you ignore a few color inconsistencies, I think you'll love this card as much as I do!!! I used PTI's new set, Cup of Cheer, because who can resist a cute coffee set with dies for all those adorable cups!! The sentiment is from another coffee stamp set but I have no idea which one or who made it. I hope you had a great day and that you thanks all those special veterans in your life. They are the reason we are the land of the free!


Edited: I replaced the picture of my card after I stamped in Tim Holtz's Wild Honey distress ink a little bit of steam from the sentiment set I used. What a tremendous improvement this little detail adds! And to make sure the steam fit into the space above the cup, I masked the cup with a piece of paper and perfectly placed the steam.

Celebrate the Magic of Christmas!!

Nothing thrills my little heart more than finding a card on Pinterest that I can actually complete without pulling my hair out and that's what I found today! My sweet daddy LOVES Bill Gaither and his tremendous singing group, and they are coming to town in concert the first of December, so he is getting an early Christmas present! But I needed a masculine Christmas card for his tickets so this is the one I made just now. I love green and blue together, and I just happened to have this piece of patterned paper by Pebbles called Stargaze (there are constellations on the reverse side). The plaid doesn't scream Christmas but with a tree from SU! Lovely as a Tree and a holiday sentiment, it's PERFECT! I used Tim Holtz's Mowed Lawn distress ink and PTI's Hawaiian Shores ink and cardstock. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

colourQ challenge #315

This shouldn't come as a surprise but I had none of this week's colourQ challenge colors!! So I subbed Tim Holtz's Peeled Paint and Mermaid Lagoon and SU! Rose Red and Really Rust - I think they're fairly close. This stamp set is a PTI anniversary set, Funky Florals, that I borrowed from my dear stamping buddy, Leigh Ann. This was a challenging color combo for me and I don't love the way I put the colors together, but craft time is fleeting this week so here ya go! And, as I am prone to do when I'm not super confident with my design skills, I added a few rhinestones. When in doubt, EMBELLISH!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle card

We have a precious little friend in Morgan's preschool class who was diagnosed with leukemia a few months ago. This past week, her treatments were pretty tough on her and she hasn't been able to come to school. We figured she wouldn't be able to go trick-or-treating last night, so we took some treats to her! The owl topper was a cinch to make with circle dies and the Bigz Top Note die. I don't have a white gel pen at the moment (tragedy!!), so I punched a little circle with my tiniest hole punch and adhered it to the black eye circle. Our little friend looked so cute dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle so, today, I made her a little ninja turtle card that I found on Pinterest. I used oval and star dies, an embossing folder, and a few sticker letters. I absolutely love how it turned out and I think our friend will love it, too! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!

colourQ challenge #314

This week's colourQ challenge colors are great (and not just because I have them all!!), especially the Rich Razzleberry, What a great color!! I broke our the vintage SU! stamp sets for my card. Print Pattern has always been a favorite and Batty for You is an old stand-by - so easy and fun to use. I didn't even have to fussy-cut Frankenstein - I used my 1-inch circle punch and it fit perfectly inside the text ring. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you and your little (or big!) goblins have a great Halloween weekend!!

colourQ challenge #313

For my card for this week's colourQ challenge, I used an Amuse Studio's set called Fight Like a Girl and a little birthday set from SU! that my sweet stamping friend, Mary Ann, gave me. I repeatedly stamped the balloons to get a bit of gradation. I don't have Going Gray so I stamped HOPE in Basic Gray and used a strip of silvery gray cardstock to ground the balloons. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!

'Tis the season for pumpkin EVERYTHING!!

So, I know this little gem won't be seen by anyone except my faithful stamping friend, Mary Ann, but I'm sharing it anyway. I just got this cute little stamp from Neat & Tangled and since I am a major pumpkin fanatic, I had to have it! The inspiration for this card came from the company website and, while it took me forever to make, I like the way it turned out. I stamped the image in SU! Early Espresso ink and heat-embossed with clear embossing powder. Then, I stamped and embossed just the pumpkin, cut it out, and mounted using dimensionals. I used watercolor paper and watercolored rather randomly using Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, and Squeezed Lemonade. I used SU! Pumpkin Pie cardstock as the base. Thanks for stopping by, Mary Ann, and have a great week!! :D

colourQ challenge #312

This has been kind of a crazy week, so I had to put my card together rather hastily this afternoon. I hope you like it! The patterned paper is called Pumpkin Patch by Pebbles, and the stamp set is a vintage one from SU! called Batty for You. I added the sequins for a touch of Only Orange and the spider and bat are mounted on Basic Gray circles. Don't you love the googly eyes? They are my favorite! They add just the right amount of movement and dimension. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!

colourQ challenge #311 (part 2)

I felt like I HAD to make a Halloween card using this week's colourQ challenge colors because they are awesome! I love this jar of eyeballs swimming in Kiwi Kiss liquid. The colors on this paper from We R Memory Keepers match the color palette exactly, which is lucky since I still don't have Wisteria Wonder!! I subbed Concord Crush for it, I think. I've been away from Stampin' Up! so long that I don't know many of the newer In Colors. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!  

colourQ challenge #311

Sorry my picture is blurry. I mailed the card immediately so there was no re-doing it. I'm hoping to make a Halloween card with these colors later in the week but here's this one in the event I don't get another one made. This week's colourQ challenge colors are wonderful for the season. I've spent the last week putting out fall and Halloween decorations. They are my very favorite, even more so than Christmas!! It's still pretty warm here in East Tennessee, but that doesn't stop me from making soup and drinking pumpkin spice lattes whenever I can! I still don't have Wisteria Wonder so I subbed Lovely Lilac. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Captain American Birthday Party

We celebrated our sweet angel baby's 5th birthday a couple of weeks ago with a Captain America party (her choice!). It was surprisingly easy to put together once I narrowed down the list of projects I wanted to complete. Pinterest is both a blessing and a curse. My new philosophy is that I try not to look at the mega over-the-top birthday parties that make me feel defeated before I even start planning. That really helped a couple of years ago when I planned her Very Hungry Caterpillar party. That party could've easily been the death of me because nearly every party I found on-line was huge with elaborate spreads of food representing every single item that darn caterpillar ate!! Let me free you now to actually enjoy your children's birthday parties - YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT ALL!! You only have to do what your kid will really love and you can manage. I PROMISE!! No matter how big or small the parties are, my little one always raves about her friends and family being there. That's what always sticks with her!

 

I have a sweet friend who makes the most delicious cookies so I knew I wanted those. In fact, I planned the date of the party around her availability!! The cake was delicious and made by a local bakery because I once tried my hand at a birthday cake and it was not pretty. I made t-shirts for the little kids, Frisbees as Captain America's shield for everyone, a banner, a wreath, and lots of delicious food! Morgan had a blast and we all enjoyed a wonderfully pleasant afternoon of food and fellowship!

 

colourQ challenge #310

This week's colourQ challenge colors are GORGEOUS, perfect for the get-well card I wanted to make! I love the look of coverplates, but they are expensive and often hard for me to use, so I made this one using my Silhouette. After one false start, I actually have something I can use and I love the way it turned out. Since there was no black in the color palette this week, I used the Splat stamp set from PTI to create a colorful sentiment. I had to substitute Tim Holtz's Festive Berries for Riding Hood Red but the rest of the colors are correct - three out of four!! A banner week!! Thanks for stopping by! If you live on the East Coast, I pray your safe in the wake of the hurricane.

colourQ challenge #309

This week, I am using as my card inspiration a card that Danielle Flanders made for Scrap Expo and Papertrey Ink. It's an amazing technique that is surprisingly simple to duplicate. I had all of this week's colourQ challenge colors, which is a miracle! I stamped a sentiment and flowers from PTI's Mini Blooms stamp set and then cut a cloud shape using a PTI die. I popped up the cloud on 2 layers of dimensionals and that's it. I used Really Rust as the card base and a piece of designer paper to anchor the top (Danielle used washi tape, which is another great idea!). I added a few little pearls and voila! Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

colourQ challenge #308

Last week was a rough one. I was planning my sweet 5yo's birthday party when I got sick with a terrible, awful cough that has kept me awake for many nights and has made my head throb for days. Thankfully, the party came together and was wonderful, and I am now feeling so much better, although I still haven't slept much. I tell you all this to explain why I'm a little tardy to this week's colourQ challenge party (But please check back soon so you can see pics of her fabulous Captain America party.)! I saw the inspiration for this card on Pinterest and just loved the graphic feel an clean lines. The creator of the original used PTI's Circle Scribbles die for her card but since I didn't have that one, I went to the trusty Silhouette store and found a nearly identical file. I love it when a plan comes together (movie reference?!)! Somehow, I do not have Soft Sky cardstock (!!!), so I subbed Pool Party, and I used PTI's Wet Paint stamp set, which is one of my very favorites. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check back soon for lots of party pics!


Edited to add: here's the link for my birthday party post!!

colourQ challenge #307

Big shocker! I had none of this week's colourQ challenge colors! Not a single one, so I subbed SU! Kiwi Kiss and Tim Holtz's Aged Mahogany, Seedless Preserves, and Milled Lavender. I sponged on the Kiwi Kiss and then stamped a floral image in the other colors, stamping several times before re-inking. This simple, one-layer card is great when you need an easy, beautiful card. This Sunday is Grandparents' Day (get on it if you've forgotten!!) so I made this card for Chris's grandmother. There's still time to make something beautiful for the grandparents and great-grandparents in your life so celebrate them this weekend!