Chicken, Chicken, Winner Dinner

This time it's in a 4x6 recipe card. OPUS GLUEI's challenge this week is to include a chicken in your project.

I picked a recipe card. I've posted this recipe before. I want to get all the most often used recipes I use made into 4x6 cards to help clear some clutter in the kitchen. I have done about 6 and only have a million left to go....

I picked this one to coincide with Chinese New Years.

(I think it's the year of the Rabbit, but I don't have any rabbit recipes. And I don't think I want any.)

Images were found via the internet. I searched on "chicken" and "asparagus". Font is a free one found on DAFONT - Chinaone.

Feel free to download and add to your culinary arsenal.

Jingle Belles and Crafty Hazelnut

Don't fall over.

I have this week's card done.

Yup, it's only Saturday afternoon, and it's done.

This week's challenge was one that just came together easily. And oddly enough, I have, and used, the same image that Hazel used. Great minds and all, you know.

I have started using the HUGE stash of cards/envelopes. I have NO idea why I have so many different sets, but I do. SO, I figured that I may as well start using them. That's why this card has a card front adhered to the white card. Not sure I am in love with it. But, I am going with it. The cards are 6.5 inches by 5 inches. They are bigger than what I have been making. I'll have to find a new storage box for them. Up to now I have been storing them in a Christmas recipe box that I have. But that box won't fit the larger cards. Hmmmm.

Anyway, you can find the challenges for JINGLE BELLES and CRAFTY HAZELNUT on their respective blogs. Just click on their names and you will be magically transported there.

Just another day in the kitchen...

It occurred to me the other day that this might not be a normal shot in another household.

It is in this one.

Makes me smile knowing that I didn't dirty, or clean, all of these brushes.



WOYWW - #86

This week my crafty workdesk is also my office workdesk. I brought some things is to make a card during my lunch break. See my previous post for the card. Oh, heck, go ahead and take a look around at ALL of my other posts if you want to.

One of the 26 Goals (see sidebar) I have for this year is to send out Christmas cards. What better way than to have them DONE before Thanksgiving! So I am trying to participate in a card challenge or two. (See previous post for completed card.) This week I combined 3 challenges into one card. PINK & GREEN, BLING and a sketch.

Hopefully next week you'll see my Studio workdesk again. Cleaner, I hope.

You can see other WORKDESKS from this week HERE.

Jingle Belle's, Pixie Dust and Hazel Nuts

The challenge this last week for Jingle Belle's was PINK & GREEN.

Crafy Hazel wanted us to use BLING.

The Pixies gave us this sketch:

Here's what I came up with (after I rotated the sketch):

I am really liking this MERRY & BRIGHT stamp. I am not quite sure where I got it.

And I made the entry this week with a little time to spare too.



It's all coming together now!

Had fun last night painting with my girls. They have decided that they want to keep an art journal too. So we all painted together. I'll see if they'll let me post pics of their pages.

Milagro Heart Birdhouse

Key to my Heart is this week's challenge on OPUS GLUEI. You would think that with Valentines Day coming up I would make cards.

NOPE.

As I always do with these challenges, I was pondering my project, and then it happened. I went to one of those chain craft stores and stumbled upon a bin of birdhouses. Well, I saw this one and KNEW what my project was going to be.

I gesso'ed the whole thing. (Oops, I thnk I left that part out of my little write-up on the OPUS GLUEI blog.) It felt like it took FOR.EVER for the darned thing to dry. 

While it was drying, I surfed a bit through the Crafty Chica's flickr photos for inspiration. I love her style. One of these years I'll go on one of her cruises.

I found these hearts that she painted. I really like them. I added the rays.

And a bit of glitter.

I thought I wanted the whole heart done up in red glitter, but once it was on there, I didn't like it, so I tried to wipe it off, but it didn't all come off. A thin layer was left in some areas.

This I like. A lot.

So I glittered (with this method) the front and one of the sides.

BUT, I kinda like the painting without the glitter too. SO, I am leaving one of them without the glitter.

Depending on my mood, I can turn it to see either the glitter side or the not glitter side.

WIN - WIN

Use. Practice. Create. & Art Jounal Every Day & Soul Journalling

USE. PRACTICE. CREATE.

ART JOURNAL EVERY DAY

SOUL JOURNALING

ALL of these are linked. There is the obvious connection of ART. But there is also the connection in that they have different focuses which really lead back to the same thing. My WELLNESS. I don't have any illnesses, mental or physical, but I am not as WELL as I would like to be. Not as WELL as I SHOULD be. This is something that most of us have in common.

I have all of these sites linked on my side bar.

Go check them out. You'll feel at home. I just know it.

I am not an artist. But I love creating. I love playing with paint, even though I know nothing of color balance or theory or any of that stuff. I'm learning as I go. No stress. Just fun.

My education is in Mechanical Engineering. It's very structured and there is little room for deviation. So sometimes it is really hard for me to create because I am not a natural artist and my works never don't always look like I want them to. BUT I am learning to accept that. AND I will with the help of UPC, AJED and SJ. Stick around. You'll see.

I have been having FUN making backgrounds in my Art Journal. This bottom one is my favorite one. I started out with something I really didn't like at all. And kept adding paint. I kept adding more layers because I didn't like what I had. UNTIL I tried to cover it up. I had a slurry of Gesso and water from another page and decided to use it on this page too. I didn't have anything to lose, since I didn't like it. The result surprised me. I LOVE it now. See? FUN!!!

Feel free to use these in your works. I don't mind. I'd love to see what you do with them if you do. So let me know...

WOYWW - 85

I know it's Thursday, but honestly, this is what my desk looked like yesterday. I haven't done anything in my Studio, so I figure that it's a genuine photo of my desk from Wednesday.

I am in love with these new acrylic paints. I have only used those bottle that you get in the craft section at Wally-World or Mikey's. You know the ones that cost just under a dollar, or less if you get them on sale. I will still use them, but they dry chalkey. KWIM? WELL, these paints dry smooth. No chalkey feel. And they are thicker, so they cover better. And they add a texture, if you want. I also treated myself to a new set of brushes. Not the expensive ones, but the $5 a set ones. Happy times.

The birdhouse is a recent purchase. I have two others too. But this one is here because it was a victim to my wood chewing pooch. I knew better than to leave it on a lower level in the Studio, but I didn't pick it up. And he got to it. You can't really see the damage. It's minimal. So I have to re-glue the poor thing.

The dinosaur card is a one that my daughter made a while back. Somehow it surfaced over the weekend. I'll probably use it to write her a little note in her backpack or lunch sack.

You can check out more Workdesks HERE.

Wordless Wednesday

26 things to do in 2011

Goals seems so much more attainable to me than keeping resolutions. Don't know why. It's just the way things are with me. SO, I am setting goals for 2011.

26 of them.

I love being able to cross things off of lists, so this makes sense to me. And here they are:

Watch the sunrise on the beach

Visit the VA aquarium

Read 26 books

Have family portrait taken on beach

Lose 30 pounds
Judge the sand sculptures at the Neptune Festival

Ride all the roller coaster at Busch Gardens in a single day
Make Chile Verde from scratch
See the Nutcracker on stage
Go to the beach every week this summer
Read an autobiography
Purge the Studio
.

Send Birthday cards

Send Christmas cards

Take a week off this Summer

Make Melissa a quilt
Wear a sexy dress on a date (with DH)
Art Journal regularly - learning new things as I go

Ride a bus to somewhere. And back
Pick strawberries
Eat less, move more
Take a mini vacation to somewhere in VA
Start a savings tin for Disney 2012
Finish 6 of my unfinished projects

Sew together a journal using paper and fabric
Write this list

}*****{

I've also listed them on the side bar

so I can easily see them and cross

them off when I accomplish them.

Have you set goals for 2011?

Share them and let me know where to read about them.

MAKE A SCENE

This week the challenge at OPUS GLUEI is to make a scene. Right away, I knew what I would do. Make a page in my ART JOURNAL. It's a new thing for me, this ART JOURNAL. I have always loved the arts. Loved playing with paint and paper and scissors. I just can't draw to save my life. I stink at those games where you have to draw a picture and have your team mate guess what word or phrase you are trying to convey. Anyway, I have decided to go forth, and conquer my inabilities.

I have found an online ART JOURNALing class. AND it's free. You can sign up too. GO HERE. Then click on the link in the lower lefthand corner labeled WORKSHOPS. There are three of them. I signed up for all 3. Workshop 1 is in week 3 right now, but you can join in now anyway. Workshop 2 starts in March, and I can't remember when Workshop 3 starts.

Well, W1 instructs us to take copies of older journaling pages we have done and cut/tear them into parts to make new journaling pages. Since I really don't have any older journaling pages, I used images I found online and in magazines. Except for the image of the little girl looking through the keyhole. She is a compilation of images I used from a digi kit I got from the wonderfully talented Ms Gina. (She is one amazing artist. If you haven't been to her site or store, you must go.) She paints and make incredible rubber stamps and cards and layouts and ... Anyway, I had already put these images together for a bookmark I made a while back and thought it would convey what I wanted perfectly.

Imagination Knight

To me, this represents the guardians of our inner childs' imagination. Because if we are not careful, our creativity will be taken away and replaced with mundane adult ideas. Like cleaning and cooking and all sorts of other not-fun things.

I didn't really follow the directions. I wanted a dreamy, oceany background. So I watercolor painted the sky and water. And then I stamped the grid and script. Then used a workable fixative so it wouldn't blur when I used matte gel medium to adhere the images down. I think if it had dried quicker, I would have continued, but I had to wait. Now it's ready for the next phase.

I'll post more pictures as I finish each week's assignments. This was week 1's assignment. And even though the class is in week 3, I'll be working on week 2 now. Cuz I'm a rebel at heart. LOL.

Go forth and create!

Jingle Belles and CraftyHazelNut

By the seat of my pants, here is this weeks entry to the Jingle Belles and CraftyHazelNut's Christmas card challenge. And by the luck of it all, it meets both challenges.

I thought I was going to have to be late for the Jingle Belles challenge because I just didn't get a card done last night. Well, like any crazy good crafter, I carry a tote bag with who-knows-what inside.

I was checking for some red things at lunch to finish making some inchies. Cuz, who doesn't carry a small stash of paper bits, and lo' and behold I found some pre-cut pieces of a Christmas card that I had planned on using for a project a year ago. (Yay for not cleaning out your tote bag.) AND a blank card. AND a pre-colored cardinal with poinsettas. AND a Unity stamp that came with a magazine that I just happened to throw in my bag. Kismet, I tell ya.

So here are the inchie/twinchies (they are in between the two at 1.5 inches) for Jingle Belles AND the Christmas card that was received a couple of years ago for CraftyHazelNut.

Now to finish those inchies....

WOYWW #84

Here we are a week later, and you still can't see the top of my work table.

1. I am WAY behind with this beach project for OPUS GLUEI.
2. I actually packed up the red inchies to work on at lunch. They have to be in the mail TODAY.
3. No further progress on the charms. SIGH.

And that is all for me for this week.

You can see more of this weeks workdesks here.

12 Days of Tags with Tim - Day 7

This was one of my favorites to make. I inked the embossing pad like Tim said to. But I think I inked the opposite side that he did. Oops. I still like the way it looks. I'll be using this method again. I used grungeboard for the flower. I don't have sticky back canvas, and I couldn't find my stash of regular canvas in my mountain of supplies. Figures, doesn't it! I added a leaf. I thought that the two that I hand cut looked good, so three would look better. Right? (Nope, don't have his leaf die either. You'll find that I don't have a lot of the things he used on this years' tags. Or any of the other years' either.) Anyway, I also don't have rock candy stickles. I had some grungeboard that was already cut out, but I didn't like the swirls being white, so mine are green-ish. My letters are chipboard. They used to be light blue, glittered. Now they are alcohol inked brick red. I also took liberties with the dangley bits. The bird is the ONE leftover charm from the charm swap I am doing for the ALL THINGS TIM group on YAHOO. And I had the little piece of music paper leftover from the Day 9 tag. I used my gold leafing pen around the edges and whiz bang, I LOVE the look of that charm. 

And this marks the last tag from 2010 that I completed in 2010. I have one of the last three in progress. You never know when that one will show up here. Could be July! I WILL get them all done...

12 Days of Tags with Tim - Day 9

I changed this one up to a more girlie tag.

12 Days of Tags with Tim - Day 10

Since my neck of the woods had gotten a whole darned lot of un-seasonable snow when I was making this tag, I went with a Let It Snow theme. Seemed like the right thing to do. I like it well enough, but am chomping at the bit to get Tim's snowflake embossing folder. I think it is so much nicer than this one. At least for a tag like this.

A little different view. Shows all the wonderful, fun layers.

I fussy cut the holly leaves and berries. I don't have the punch Tim used. I had to improvise the top portion of black flecks on the snowman. The "Let It Snow" stamp had them around the words and it looked weird just having them around the words, so I used the end of a paint brush and the Archival Ink pad.

Friday Fill-Ins

It's been a while. It's not that I don't enjoy them, I just keep forgetting. Well, not today...

1. It's 2011; I don't know how the heck that happened.

2. Megan has discovered that she loves fried pickles.

3. Thankfully I have my charm and good looks to fall back on.

4. Smiling, loving and appreciating what you have are the best things in life.

5. I am so over the drama.

6. I'm craving a big bowl of beef barley soup.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to some homemade beef barley soup, tomorrow my plans include having a half dozen 11 year old girls over for a Harry Potter sleepover birthday party for Melissa and Sunday, I want to send ALL of those little muggles home and play in my Studio!

Swap-Bot Tiny Tin Swap

I love swapping things. Inchies, matchboxes, ATC's, recipe pages, friendship books, twinchies, handmade embellishments, jewelry, bookmarks ... I've traded them all. There's the anticipation of getting a new treasure in the mail. Not knowing what the creation will look like.

This time there isn't a new creation, but there is creativity. The swap is for a Tiny Tin filled with tiny things. The challenge was to find the smallest tin you could, and fill it with tiny things.

The only catch was that you could only put one of each thing. I kind of cheated by putting in a kiss brad, a crown brad, a heart brad and a regular brad. But I view them as a kiss, a crown, a heart and a brad. Not to be confused with the heart charm. Which I am counting as a charm. LOL

I hope she likes all of these things. And the extra goodies I put in the envelope for her....

12 Days of Tags with Tim - Day 8

I managed to get them all done by MY deadline (December 31)

This was wishful thinking. I ended up having to deal with some Doggie Drama which took up way too much time and energy. But we are adjusting to having a dog in the house, so I guess that is a good thing.

I did get 9 of the 12 done. I'll post them over the next couple of weeks. I don't want to overwhelm you with too many at once. LOL

I don't have the holiday masks, so I used an old Sizzix die of a tree and made a mask to use. The tree is stamped with a Tim ATC stamp. The music is also Tim's. The snowflakes and "A Merry Christmas" are Stampin' Up stamps. The silver, gold and copper snowflakes are from Tim's snowman die and the paint daubers. The bow on the top of the tree is from my stash.

I really love this technique. I love how the slight overlap creates a highlighted look.

See how flat it is.

I like this shot. That's the real reason it's in here.

WOYWW

My work desk NEVER stays cleared off. I have a very short craft attention span. I have several projects going at any given time.

1. Art Journal
2. Christmas Card
3. 12 Days of Tags Tag
4. Red Inchies
5. Tiny Tin Swap
6. Charms
7. Field Journal

I am learning to accept this about myself. I hope my hubby can too....

You can see more workdesks from this week HERE.

And check it out, it's still Wednesday!

Jingle Belles Rock and so does Crafty Hazelnut - Inaugural Challenges

I DID IT! I DID IT!

I made a Christmas card and it isn't December. I think I'm on a roll. This could be the start of something magical. There is NO end to what I can do. Heck, I might even mail some Christmas cards out this year. Yeah! It could happen....

In case you haven't heard, Lauren and Stef have started a year long challenge to make a Christmas card a week this year. Each week on Jingle Belles, you will be challenged to make a Christmas card. The first challenge is to use something New and something Old.

AND

Crafty Hazelnut has a Christmas card challenge starting up too. For those of you that don't know Hazel, she is one talented card making machine. The first challenge here is to make a Christmas card. Anything goes, as long as it's a newly made card and it's for Christmas.



I used some New paper that I got, the snowflake is New and so are the Perfect Pearls I smeared all over the place. The Changito stamp is Old, as is the cardstock and the Merry and Bright stamp.

I DID IT! I DID IT!

Angel Hair Soup

ANGEL HAIR SOUP

(Picture Source - Kraft Recipes)



1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 small  onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup light Italian Dressing (not fat-free, it tastes too plastic-y for me)

8 cups chicken broth

12 oz. (give or take an ounce or 2) 1inch pieces of spagetti or angel hair (I find it in the Mexican section of the grocery store)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (for garnish) - Optional

Sour Cream (also for garnish) - also Optional

In a blender, combine the tomatoes, onion and salad dressing and pulverize. (blend together - pulverize just sounds like more fun) Pour mixture into large pot. Add chicken broth. (I use bullion cubes and water.) Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, back at the oven, toast the noodles in a flat pan, such as a 9x13. I usually heat the oven to 450 and stir every 2 minutes. Takes about 6-8 minutes to get golden brown.

Add noodles to boiling soup. Lower heat just a bit and let noodles cook. Time varies according to which noodles you use. Check the package.

Serve with cheese and/or sour cream. Or neither. It's all about what YOU like. (or who-ever is going to eat it)

My recipe is a variation of Kraft's Angel Hair, found HERE.

Let me know if you try this out, and what you think about it.

It's a New Year, Baby - And for me that means a New Notebook

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

to you, your family and friends.

*****

I don't know about you, but I like to keep a little notebook in my purse. I jot down odd bits of information. Sometimes a phone number, sometimes an idea for a new project and sometimes a memory I want to keep. Well, this years notebook, at least the one I will start with, is going to be a little Moleskin. I love them. Don't know why. Just do. I made this one my own.

I stamped several different images in several different colors. And then colored the border in with watercolors. I used a workable fixative to seal it. I also used my gold leafing pen to gild the edges of the pages. I couldn't get a picture to show this little feature, but, I think it looks really cool. Trust me on this one.

I even wrote the first note in it. A little bit of gratefulness for the New Year.

What are you doing NEW right now? I know that there are A LOT of resolutions going on, but what are you doing NEW right NOW?