What's on My Kitchen Counter

This card was made for the Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge last week - I just didn't have time to load it. Last week was a blur! I worked late most days trying to finish up work before a deadline and tried to get some last minute shopping done. I can't wait until I can drive again!!! I love to do the ODBD challenges - they seem to inspire me so easily. I love white with a touch of color (that was from the Twisted Sister Challenge last week - those girls are so fun). The card did receive a tip of the hat in the challenge. Can't wait until next week's challenge. Merry Christmas to all! In all this hustle and bustle - may you see the true gifts of Christmas: God's true and pure love for us all, the delight in a child's eye (even if the child is 60 years old), the warmth of a real hug, the touch of a friend (even if it is an on-line touch), the comfort of a warm hug and a wonderful meal, and the unseen richness of true freedom (of religion, of decis...

I finally got the Cheery Lynn die that everyone has been using - I love the thin spirals and cute little leaves.  I couldn't wait to make a card with it when it came in the mail.  I ordered mine from Our Daily Bread Designs.  This card is also made with a stamp set from Our Daily Bread that was a birthday present from my sweet friend Sue Worthington.  Sue went thorough my comments on various Our Daily Bread cards and tried to find the stamp set I wanted the most before she ordered it.  What a sweet friend!  This card was made using the sketch provided on the ODBD blog - it was the challenge for last week.  I included this card in a Christmas package for my supervisor - she loves purple so we all got her lots of purple things.  Our Christmas party was last night after work.  Our supervisor cooked us all dinner, and it was so yummy.  We had all selected a name out of a box, and we exchanged gifts.  The group bought the...

This lovely beauty arrived in the mail this last week.  It is a kitchen towel and card made by Ann Merry.  Ann is so talented and I covet her kitchen towels.  She has sent me one every year for the last three years and I love every one of them!  Isn't the card cute too?  She is amazing! I was talking on the phone with Sue Worthington (IrishGreenSue on SCS)  last night and I made a bunch of cards while I was talking to her.  I think we were on the phone an hour, but for some reason she inspired me.  My neck still hurts this morning!  Thanks for the Inspiration Sue!!!  Here are the cards I made yesterday (warning - there are a lot of them!).  Here is another.... And another..... And another.... And another.... And this one I made in the morning... I actually made several more, but I am running out of time this morning - got to get ready for work.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I will be ...

This week's teaparty challenge is to make cards with a motorcycle theme.  The cards are going to Neil Klippenstein. Neil is a total inspiration to us all!  His positive attitude reminds me of J.R. Martinez. If you have time, you should watch this clip: http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110923/wpg_motorcycle_folo_110923/20110923/?hub=WinnipegHome Wow!  Is that inspiring or what?  I used Priscilla's Midnight Madness Sketch to make the card.  You can check it out at: http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/ Her layouts are so amazing!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I ate too much as usual.  Right now, my darling husband is practicing frying a turkey in the Infrared Turkey Fryer I gave him 3 years ago. He hadn't even taken it out of the box, but after frying 2 turkeys on Thanksgiving and getting a hole in his fryer - not to mention the over $30 in oil that leaked out of the pot - he finally took the thing out...

This week's Our Daily Bread Shining Light Challenge calls for using something that falls into one of the following three categories: Baubles, Bells, or Anything Clanging I am pretty sure this meets almost all of those! I used Diamond Stickles on that chain so it may fall into the Baubles category (I know it is a stretch but run with me on this - LOL). In the scene where Marley comes to visit Scrooge, the door bell rings - watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGGohTPuOeQ If everyone watched that scene every morning, the world would be a better place! Finally, chains clang or they do in the movies when people drag them like Marley does. I used a Mo Manning image of Marley (isn't it great?) and a wonderful scripture from Our Daily Bread's Scripture Collection 1 (wonderful verses in that set). In the background, I used a page from an old hymnal with the song O'er the Gloomy Hills of Darkness. It was written in 1772 by William Williams (wonder if my DH is...

A few years ago, Kenny and I got this wine on sale somewhere.  I have been hoarding it (I don't know why I was hoarding a $6 wine, but I did).  I needed some wine for a pasta dish, so we opened it up and it was wonderful.  I think the dust on the bottle made it better.  I drank a glass with my Shrimp and Grits martini.  This version of Shrimp and Grits is cheap and easy and everyone loved it.  Here is the recipe: 2 cups water 1 cup milk Tabasco, salt, and pepper to taste Bring to a boil, then add a little less than 1 cup of grits. Stir like crazy and immediately turn down the heat.  Once the boiling stops, continue to stir for a minute and then go to the next phase. Take a frozen bag of shrimp out of the freezer and set the shrimp in a colander with cold water running over it.   Melt 1/4 cup butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the following: 1 Tbs onion flakes 1/4 tsp minced garlic 1/4 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp...

To celebrate Anne (Itsapassion) being the featured stamper this week, I selected this card she made to case: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...v&way=desc I love Anne's card - the texture, the simple and clean lines, and everything else. I thought the canvas part looked like a rug so decided that I would use some burlap looking paper in my scrap pile and make it look like a rug. It took forever to cut around those little string looking things. Then I put it on my first card base which was long. I needed more so I added gems, put on some flourishes, and it still didn't look right. I left it for a few days and then decided to take it off the base. I have no tape right now so I have been gluing everything - taking this little rug off a paper it had been glued to was a total adventure! Oh well, you live and you learn. I used this sentiment in honor of my good friend Samir Paul. Samir likes to talk about life and interesting ways to look at it - which is so wonderful...