Let's talk, girlfriend.

I made this with a Bella stamp I bought eons ago and have yet to play with. I love not having to always use my Stampin' UP! stamps right now. The pressure is off to be totally Stampin' UP! oriented, as I am in total hobby demo mode right now. Not that I still don't adore all things Stampin' UP! My willpower to quit ordering stamps esp. from SU! is very weak, but I am trying. I have sold so many of my older and hardly used stamps this year, trying to weed out, keep only what I know I will use for my son's scrapbooks, and cards I know I will make. I have also gone on a total Papertrey Ink spending spree which I never thought I would do. I never thought I would be into acrylic/polymer stamps, as most of what I had seen before (Close to My Heart and other companies) just weren't the quality that SU! rubber stamps were. Plus I didn't think anyone's images were up to par with SU!'s either. I still think SU!'s stamp sets are the best. There is so much variety, but I am loving Papertrey Inks stamps too for their clean lines, great sentiments, and use for gift packaging. Plus PTI's acrylics are so good at inking up well with the Classic inks. I love them.
I am also trying to get a few more Bella stamps to use for things, which Stampin' UP! hasn't an equal for. I love the Bella girls. They are fun and they have some images which are useful for some of the people in my life I want to make cards for. So I am trying to acquire a few of these too. I have the Cakeabella, Chefabella, Minivanbella, and javabellas. I just bought clickabella, scissorbella, and huggybella. Next on my list is kinibella, walkabella, and teachabella. Great gifts in the plans here.
Well enough of my ramblings. I am supposed to be stamping some notecards for a friend to use to write scriptures and lines of favorite hymns on . Gotta go.

Criss cross recipe card

Here is a criss cross recipe card holder. Using the new From the Kitchen of set from Stampin' UP!, I whipped up some great recipe cards, and this cute little holder. I bring food to church once a month, and usually I am asked for a recipe. I decided I needed to make some recipe cards so that I have them ready. These are actually for a lady at church who asked me for some chicken casserole dishes. My mom made the best chicken casserole when I was growing up. This is her recipe and it is sooo super easy. Best of all it is quite yummy, can be made even for a formal meal, and freezes well so you can make it ahead. Yeah, Baby!!

Chicken casserole:
1 8 oz. package of Pepperidgefarm stuffing mix
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of finely chopped celery
1/2 cup of finely chopped onion
1 c. chicken broth (you can use what you cooked the chicken in)
4 chicken breasts (large) cooked and chopped or shredded
1 can each of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup. You could also use cream of broccoli instead of cream of mushroom.

Saute the onion and celery in butter until soft. Add to whole package of stuffing mix. Set aside.
Mix the chicken, soups, and broth together in a large mixing bowl.
In a 9x 13 inch casserole dish, cover the bottom of the pan with about 1/3 of the stuffing. You want to save at least half for the topping, so don't be afraid to just lightly coat the bottom of the pan.
Spoon in the chicken mixture on top of stuffing mix. Then top this with the rest of the stuffing.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 min. It should be bubbly around the edges and very hot in the center.
Serve with mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, hot buttered rolls, and a yummy dessert.

You are invited... to dinner

Here is an easy invite I made for asking friends to join us for dinner sometime. This way they can hang it on the refrigerator and know there is a date they need to keep.
I used the new Mark the Date set, as well as Full Calendar. I love these two sets together. Both are very affordable and offer a wide array of uses. The Full Calendar set also goes with the Calendar background stamp. Think of all the quick and easy calendar sets you could make for Christmas gifts. How about announcing a due date for a new baby? Hmmm, how about marking the date or reminding someone of an important appointment? Ask someone to lunch, make a birthday card or anniversary card. And it would work to make cards for holidays too. There is enough room around the months to use small stamps to decorate, and I just stamped off twice to add a sort of light blue watermark that says Bon Appetit on the calander itself. I'll check off the date and such with an orange checkmark to mark the date.
The calander fits on a 3 1/2 inch square piece of paper perfectly. See I just took all the guess work out of this set.

Another baby on the way... for friends

Just in case you thought something different by the title... this card isn't announcing something about our family. Rather, I just found out another friend of mine is expecting this Fall. There must be something in the water. Anyway, I dug out an acrylic set I bought awhile ago and made this card. I think it turned out cute.

Used the new Bali Breeze designer paper, olive, taken with teal and white paper. Pomegranite and olive, and teal inks. Pomegranate ribbon.

color coordination in SU! designer papers

Here are the colors in the new Spring/Summer and Occasions catalogs' designer papers. That should help you color coordinate.



Azure: Brilliant Blue, Very Vanilla
Bali Breeze:Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Taken with Teal
Berry Bliss:Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate,
Cutie Pie: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron
East Coast Prep: More Mustard, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi
Fall Flowers: Old Olive, Really Rust, Soft Sky, Sahara Sand
Flowers for You: Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise
Ginger Blossom: Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, River Rock
Jersey Shore: Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi
Le Jardin: Always Artichoke, Bashful Blue, River Rock, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Notebook: Kraft, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
Olive Press: Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Porcelain Prints: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi
Spring Break: Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky
Spring Fling: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Sage Shadow, So Saffron
Spring Silhouettes: Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi
Western Sky: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Ruby Red, Soft Sky

Occasions Mini:
Afternoon Tea: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi
Summer Picnic: Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

Out on a limb... soft sympathy

I just received my huge Sale-A-Bration order boxes today, so I am going to be busy cutting up my new stamps. In the meantime, I am trying to play with all my new Papertrey Ink stamps that I have bought these last couple of months. Too bad that they have several new stamps coming out on the 15th that I really want too. There is a classic dots background set that looks awesome, and a new scripture set with a beautiful cross with it that looks very nice too. Then they have a very cute Easter label set for packaging up Easter/spring gifts. It is very clever. Sigh.

Anyway, here is a pretty and soft sympathy card I made using the Out on a Limb set from Papertrey Ink. Isn't it pretty. I like the way the layout came out, and the satin ribbon gives it a very elegant look. I am happy with it. I used groovy guava, blush blossom and creamy caramel inks and paper.

Rock a Bye Baby Boy

I made this with the new Nursery Necessities stamp set by Stampin' UP! I love this set. Very cute and works for boys and girls. Really versatile too. I used the retired Fontastic background stamp for the letters, but there is a wheel that goes with the Nursery stamp set too. I think it turned out pretty with the background stamp. I used bashful blue and apricot for my colors since I didn't have saffron designer paper, and then new hostess 6x6 designer prints pad had apricot in it, which looks kind of like yellow against the blue.
Anyway the whole card design and layout is from Notime2stamp from Splitcoast of course. I love all the cards she has done with this set.

I had a very late baby gift to package up and get a card for, so this is what I did.

Valentines ...

Made a few family Valentine's tonight. I am so bummed that all of them are a bit crooked (the layers) and I was trying to be careful. I don't quite know what happened. Made this for my family using Papertrey Ink's Out on a Limb and My Punny Valentine sets. I am so in love with Papertrey Ink right now. And to make matters worse, they are releasing several new stamp sets on the 15th as well as new gorgeous paper, inks, and ribbons in a spring moss and robin's egg blue color. Ugh! I am out of stamping spending money. I am going to have such a hard time sitting there at my computer every night and not ordering. Must have willpower, must have willpower, must have willpower, etc. Okay maybe if I say that enough and pray for self-control I can keep myself from agonizing over that and giving in to temptation to hit the order button.

Anyway, here are a few quick cards I made that I am not very happy with. I was doing so well on the Swell News card I just posted, and then this. Oh well. Oh and they look majorly crooked on this post cause my scan is crooked too. Sorry. I'll try to do better next time.

Swell news for a friend

Hi, Everyone. It's been awhile since I blogged. I found out today that a dear friend is pregnant again, after about 4 years. They had their first about a month before our oldest was born, and went to the same childbirth classes as we did. Their second daughter is similar in age to our second son. They no longer live here in town, but we still keep in touch through the intertubes. I made this card for them tonight.

Used Swell News which is retired. I used real red, cool caribbean, basic grey in paper in inks. I think it turned out cute, and it was my own idea. Wow!!