I know you've noticed, but I thought I'd make an official announcement to my 5 followers. I'm no longer updating this blog, but feel free to check out my cooking blog: Seriously So Delicious.
If I happen to resurrect this blog, I'll let ya know!
Monday, September 19
Saturday, February 26
Wannabe Girl Scout Samoas
I made this recipe up yesterday and it turned out to be similar to the Girl Scout Samoas cookie, my favorite! Here is the recipe!
Friday, January 28
My Design Thought Process
Have you ever wondered, "How did the designer come up with that color combo?" Or, "How did she know which accessories to use?" I sure have!
So, as I was browsing some of my favorite card designs, I thought it would be fun to share my design thought process with you.
Note: For all of these cards, I used one of the fabulous how-to books from Close To My Heart for the pattern base and then I chose the paper colors, accessories, and distressing techniques to add pizazz to the pattern.
Happiness is love:
Man. This card is one of my top three all-time favorites because it turned out so elegant and sassy cute! I chose my two favorite background and texture papers. I wanted something light as the base color because I wanted the message on the card to be the focus. So, I went with the tan, lined paper. Then I chose the pink polka-dot paper because I wanted the paper to tie into my theme of "love", and what better color than pink to represent feelings of the heart.
I wanted to make the dots on the pink paper pop, so I chose black rub-ons for my two-part sentiment and a black button to help round out the black accessories. Then I covered a bracket dimensional element in a deeper pink paper, to play off the lighter pink polka-dot paper. And finally, I needed some other pops of color, but they needed to be lighter so they didn't draw attention away from the sentiment, which was my focal point of the card. So, I chose a very pale blue paper to cover my heart dimensional element and a cream button to finish everything out.
Then, to give everything a softer look and playing off the tender feelings of love, I sponged the edges of all of the paper and covered dimensional elements with a tan ink.
Now comes the fun part: putting it all together. I decided to attach the papers and the "love" portion of the sentiment first and then play around with the accessory placement so that I could ensure that the focus remained on the sentiment. I absolutely "love" how it turned out! Don't you?
And, finally, I chose the accessories to complement the happiness I feel in this season: cheerful flowers, shiny metals, and warm ribbon. Wouldn't this card add some warmth to your crisp, fall day if you received it in the mail?
Get Well:
My third favorite card of all time is actually quite simple. I've been saving this card to send to a friend or family member whenever they are sick to brighten their day. Luckily, I haven't had to send it just yet. (Phew!)
To put this card together, I thought of what would make me smile if I was under the weather and stuck inside all day. So, I chose happy papers with pops of blue, to bring a little bit of blue sky indoors. I sponged the edges of my papers with a rich, brown ink to match the brown in the papers and then I added pewter accessories to finish off the cheery feeling of the card. (I'm still saving this treasure for the perfect moment to brighten someone's day.)
There you have it--my design scoop on creating three of my favorite cards. It really all comes down to what the focus of the card is: sentiment focus, paper choice to represent a feeling, intended feeling of the recipient, or whatever YOU choose as the focus. Just make sure you play up that focus with your design choices!
So, as I was browsing some of my favorite card designs, I thought it would be fun to share my design thought process with you.
Note: For all of these cards, I used one of the fabulous how-to books from Close To My Heart for the pattern base and then I chose the paper colors, accessories, and distressing techniques to add pizazz to the pattern.
Happiness is love:
Man. This card is one of my top three all-time favorites because it turned out so elegant and sassy cute! I chose my two favorite background and texture papers. I wanted something light as the base color because I wanted the message on the card to be the focus. So, I went with the tan, lined paper. Then I chose the pink polka-dot paper because I wanted the paper to tie into my theme of "love", and what better color than pink to represent feelings of the heart.
I wanted to make the dots on the pink paper pop, so I chose black rub-ons for my two-part sentiment and a black button to help round out the black accessories. Then I covered a bracket dimensional element in a deeper pink paper, to play off the lighter pink polka-dot paper. And finally, I needed some other pops of color, but they needed to be lighter so they didn't draw attention away from the sentiment, which was my focal point of the card. So, I chose a very pale blue paper to cover my heart dimensional element and a cream button to finish everything out.
Then, to give everything a softer look and playing off the tender feelings of love, I sponged the edges of all of the paper and covered dimensional elements with a tan ink.
Now comes the fun part: putting it all together. I decided to attach the papers and the "love" portion of the sentiment first and then play around with the accessory placement so that I could ensure that the focus remained on the sentiment. I absolutely "love" how it turned out! Don't you?
Happy Fall, Y'all:
Another of my top three favorite cards is made for my favorite time of year: Fall. I love the colors of the leaves, the crisp air, and the feelings of warmth from the Thanksgiving holiday. It makes me so happy!
So, I made this card with all of those things in mind. I chose papers that represent the colors of the leaves and distressing techniques to represent what happens to those leaves when you step on them. (One of my favorite things to do!) The two main distressing techniques are: 1) crinkling cardstock to give it ripples and ridges and then I distressed those ridges with sandpaper, and 2) dry embossing lines into the cardstock and sandpaper distressing those lines.
And, finally, I chose the accessories to complement the happiness I feel in this season: cheerful flowers, shiny metals, and warm ribbon. Wouldn't this card add some warmth to your crisp, fall day if you received it in the mail?
Get Well:
My third favorite card of all time is actually quite simple. I've been saving this card to send to a friend or family member whenever they are sick to brighten their day. Luckily, I haven't had to send it just yet. (Phew!)
To put this card together, I thought of what would make me smile if I was under the weather and stuck inside all day. So, I chose happy papers with pops of blue, to bring a little bit of blue sky indoors. I sponged the edges of my papers with a rich, brown ink to match the brown in the papers and then I added pewter accessories to finish off the cheery feeling of the card. (I'm still saving this treasure for the perfect moment to brighten someone's day.)
There you have it--my design scoop on creating three of my favorite cards. It really all comes down to what the focus of the card is: sentiment focus, paper choice to represent a feeling, intended feeling of the recipient, or whatever YOU choose as the focus. Just make sure you play up that focus with your design choices!
Thursday, November 4
Yummy Holiday Treat
A gal that I visit teach brought me the yummiest treat on Halloween. She made a batch of her family's Orange Spiced Nut Medley and decided to bring me a bag full of them. Wasn't that sweet of her?
It was tasty! Here is her family recipe:
Orange Spiced Nut Medley
2 TBS butter or margarine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp grated orange peel
1 TBS water
2 cups walnuts, pecans, or blanched almonds (or do a combo)
In heavy pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add remaining ingredients and stir till nuts are coated. Cook, uncovered, till nuts are toasted and glazed, stirring occasionally. Spoon nuts onto waxed paper and separate with fork. Cool.
It was tasty! Here is her family recipe:
Orange Spiced Nut Medley
2 TBS butter or margarine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp grated orange peel
1 TBS water
2 cups walnuts, pecans, or blanched almonds (or do a combo)
In heavy pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add remaining ingredients and stir till nuts are coated. Cook, uncovered, till nuts are toasted and glazed, stirring occasionally. Spoon nuts onto waxed paper and separate with fork. Cool.
Thursday, October 7
Beach Street Lemon Chicken Linguine
Found this one one of the food blogs I follow. I love lemon, chicken, and pasta--score!
Ingredients:
1 lb. linguine (or fettuccine)
2 T. olive oil
Zest from one lemon
Juice from one lemon
½ c. chopped green onion
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Parmesan cheese
Marinade:
½ c. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, whole
2 T. Cajun seasoning
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. minced parsley
1 T. brown sugar (or more if you like it a little sweeter)
2 T. soy sauce
2 chicken breasts, sliced. (OR 16 extra large shrimp)
Combine the marinade ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Slice thawed chicken (or shrimp). Pat dry and toss in marinade to coat. Refrigerate 1-12 hours. Cook marinated chicken with the marinade sauce in a large saute pan on medium heat until chicken is cooked. If using shrimp, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Be sure not to over cook shrimp.
Cook linguini in boiling salted water until done; drain well and rinse noodles. Combine juice of one lemon, zest, olive oil, green onions, and fresh parsley together. Add hot pasta into bowl and toss well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add chicken (or shrimp) with marinade into the large pasta bowl. Toss in parmesan cheese to taste and serve warm.
Ingredients:
1 lb. linguine (or fettuccine)
2 T. olive oil
Zest from one lemon
Juice from one lemon
½ c. chopped green onion
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Parmesan cheese
Marinade:
½ c. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, whole
2 T. Cajun seasoning
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. minced parsley
1 T. brown sugar (or more if you like it a little sweeter)
2 T. soy sauce
2 chicken breasts, sliced. (OR 16 extra large shrimp)
Combine the marinade ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Slice thawed chicken (or shrimp). Pat dry and toss in marinade to coat. Refrigerate 1-12 hours. Cook marinated chicken with the marinade sauce in a large saute pan on medium heat until chicken is cooked. If using shrimp, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Be sure not to over cook shrimp.
Cook linguini in boiling salted water until done; drain well and rinse noodles. Combine juice of one lemon, zest, olive oil, green onions, and fresh parsley together. Add hot pasta into bowl and toss well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add chicken (or shrimp) with marinade into the large pasta bowl. Toss in parmesan cheese to taste and serve warm.
Monday, September 13
Holy YUM!!!
I want to make these two recipes...pronto!
Chicken with garlic and lemon...my two favorite "flavorings" to cook with!
Tuesday, August 31
Seriously...So Yummy
I should really rename this blog to "Seriously...So Yummy" because I post more food items than anything else lately. Not my fault!!! LOL. Of course it is my fault...it is my blog! I just love food and don't have time to be crafty with paper and such. So, you get what you get.
Anyway, the last post I did was my 200th post for this blog. Crazy. And as I thought about how I got to 200, I realized that most of my blog entries were about food. hahaha. So, let's proceed with the usual...food!
One of my friends just introduced me to this new food blog and I LOVE it! I just had to share a recent post with you, my two's of readers. Now, I love Mexican food and I love crescent rolls, so imagine my delight when I read this blog post in my Google Reader. Take a look at the outcome...
Doesn't that look YUMMY!?!?! (I grabbed this photo from her blog.) And now, my mouth is watering. Guess what I'm making this weekend!
Anyway, the last post I did was my 200th post for this blog. Crazy. And as I thought about how I got to 200, I realized that most of my blog entries were about food. hahaha. So, let's proceed with the usual...food!
One of my friends just introduced me to this new food blog and I LOVE it! I just had to share a recent post with you, my two's of readers. Now, I love Mexican food and I love crescent rolls, so imagine my delight when I read this blog post in my Google Reader. Take a look at the outcome...
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