Happy Dancing

Happy Dancing

Monday, October 28, 2013

CARD DIVAS' MEETING

Here are the pics from our MEGA fun night of wonderful creativity and delicious food and treats at Mel's house. These were the cards we created:







Mel's favors and decorations:









Our outstanding server (Mel's husband) and the food:


WONDERFUL Port Wine from Trader Joe's

Shari's Berries - YUM!



Pork Loin Roasts - DOUBLE YUM!

Mel was kind enough to share this AWESOME recipe plus her scalloped potatoes recipe:

APPLE STUFFED PORK LOIN ROAST

1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled cut up and thinly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, cut into thin strips
2 T packed brown sugar
1 T mustard
Spread:
2 cloves  of minced garlic
1 t dried rosemary
1/2 t dried thyme
1 Hormel Pork Center Cut Loin Filet (Original) 24oz

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute sliced apples and sliced yellow onions with garlic infused olive oil until al dente.  Stir in brown sugar and mustard.  Set aside.

Combine garlic, rosemary and thyme in a small bowl.  Cut lengthwise down the roast almost to, but not through, bottom.  Open like a book.

Spread apple mixture evenly onto one side of the pork roast.  Close halves; tie roast at each end and once in the middle with kitchen string.

Rub the spread on the top side of the roast.  Cook for 1 1/2 hours at 350 or until center reads 155 -160 on a meat thermometer.  I usually go until it reads 165.  I get nervous about doneness with pork and this recipe seems to lend itself to staying moist and tender.  


SCALLOPED POTATOES

4 medium to large potatoes sliced
1 large yellow onion sliced
1 large can of Cream of Mushroom soup
Milk

Layer the sliced potatoes and onions in a casserole dish.  Mix the can of mushroom soup mix and milk (filling half the large can as a way of measuring).  Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 or until desired doneness with the potatoes.

Kim's New Toy!


Katie made that cute little milk box favor of all of us, too!
I gave it to my lovely MIL and she loved it!

....and a few more Halloween cards I made in years past:



Finally, this is the birthday card I made for my dear son this week:




I LOVE these SU circle thinlet cards!!!

Friday, October 25, 2013

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS

MORE CARDS FROM DEBORAH WRIGHT

Here's a card that made me smile BIG time:


Such a GREAT idea for all of the pet lovers out there
who take pics of their four-legged members
of the family! Click HERE for the
original Pinterest source...
and here's another card by the same
talented paper crafter, Deborah Wright,
that caught my eye on her site
called Wrightcrafty with


My parents' wedding anniversary is on
February 14th. Her card below will be cased
in 2014 by me for sure! Thanks
for inspiring me, Deborah!!!!!


 Such a great use of the SU Thoughts and Prayers set
as an anniversary or Valentine's Day card!



.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

MY 2013 HALLOWEEN CARD




Here are the details: 
I scanned the background after using
Post-It notes as a mask to create the rectangle of script using SU's
French Script stamp. Then I ran all the cards through the printer and

it printed the background on each one so I didn't have to stamp all 26
of my Halloween cards! Then I stamped the tree from SU's Branch Out,
used Martha Stewart's bat punch, added adhesive gems for the eyes,
used Batty for You stamp set for the cat stamp in the center,

used the leaves stamp from the Branch Out set --- stamping twice
with Pumpkin Pie and twice with Rich Razzleberry. I added Stickles 
Perfect Copper glitter glue to the trunk on this card, too. 

Friday, October 18, 2013

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS

There's something about tone on tone cards that make me happy! I saw this lovely creation on Pinterest by the talented Deborah Wright and her blog Wrightcrafty. I knew I had to use her card for inspiration to create a sympathy card for a dear friend:

and here's my card:



Inside Sentiment
(from SU Petite Pairs)
Spellbinders Labels 3 set was used
for this project.

...and I saw this oh! so cute
idea on Pinterest:

Perfect for our friends who just became grandparents in October! Cute pumpkin decorating idea! #Halloween

Our friends just became first-time
grandparents to Oliver
and I dropped off this set for them:


I bought a set of three hats at Target for $5.99
and got the pumkins and pacifiers at Safeway.
My dear husband used a 1/2" drill bit
to create the hole to insert
the newborn pacifiers.
Can't wait to be a grandparent
myself one of these days!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

HALLOWEEN TREAT MEASUREMENTS


Love this treat made by one of my
talented Card Chick buddies, Mel!
The test tubes can be bought at Cranberry Hill and I
also found them by Martha Stewart at Michael's.


Cut a piece of medium weight card stock
that measures 4" wide by 11" long

Score along the 4" side at:
1 1/4 and 2 3/4"


Score along the 11" side at:
3, 5.5, 6 3/4, 9 1/4 and 10.5"


Use a 1" punch and add
sticky tape as shown.

Fold along all score lines to the center
and adhere sides to create the box
to hold the test tube.

A coordinating panel of DSP can be
added to the top panel
(1 1/4 x 3")
and to the bottom front panel
(1 1/4 x 2 1/4")

Monday, October 14, 2013

A THANK YOU


I have a friend who really enjoys classical music and is quite knowledgeable about the stories behind the music and composers. When he discovers new pieces, he makes a CD for me and always makes another one for my mom! Thank you, Larry, for those random acts of kindness! He says that he and his wife enjoy the thank you notes I send...and here's my latest one that is on it's way to them. The sentiment was done on my computer. I cased this card below from one that I saw on Pinterest from the {Simply Creative} blog.


For the original source, click HERE...and here's another pic:


I love this color gradation idea! You can find a nice tutorial HERE with all of the details provided.

Friday, October 11, 2013

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS

The traditional method for making criss cross cards looks like this:


...but I just came across a VERTICAL version:



Splitcoast Stampers provides a tutorial with a video HERE for both versions, but for the vertical version, start out with two 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" pieces of cardstock. Score both pieces at 4 1/4" then continue with the tutorial at step 2 below.


Supplies
  • Two 4 1/4" x 11" pieces of cardstock for your card base
  • One 4" x 5" piece of patterned paper
  • One 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" piece of cardstock for insert
  • One 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" piece of neutral cardstock for insert
  • One 1 1/2" x 12" piece of colored cardstock for card band
  • Ink
  • Stamps
  • Adhesive
  • More paper for accents
  • Corner rounder
  • Embellishments

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1

Score both 4 1/4" x 11" pieces of cardstock at 5 1/2".

Step 2

Take one scored piece and cut it diagonally from center top to the bottom left. 

Step 3

Take the other piece of scored cardstock and cut it diagonally from the center top to the bottom right. 

Step 4

Add adhesive to the rectangle back of one of the cardstock pieces.

Step 5

Tape both pieces together. Make sure both long edges of the diagonal sections are on the bottom.

Step 6

Cut the patterned paper in half diagonally.

Step 7

Adhere it to your card front. I used double sided patterned paper (Dashing, from Stampin' Up!). The dotted paper is on the back of the striped design.

Step 8

Add Sticky Strip™on the bottom of the middle panel, as well as on the bottom of the triangle flap that will be on top of the card. 


Tape the card base together and set aside
.

Step 9

Take both pieces of cardstock for the insert and use the corner rounder on the top corners.

Step 10

Tape together.

Step 11

Stamp and add tab and other embellishments as needed.

Step 12

Take the 1 1/2" x 12" piece of colored cardstock and score at 5 5/8" and 11 1/4".

Step 13

Add Sticky Strip™ to the end of the strip with the small 3/4" scored section. Tape band together.

Step 14

Decorate the card band.

Step 15

Slide your band over your card.
Your card is finished!

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