Why Boredom & Redi-Whip Don’t Mix

unless you want some good laughs…..

Reader Appreciation Giveaway

As of late, I’ve been so delighted/honored by the amount of new followers and readers I’ve been gathering!  It makes me so happy to know that my work is liked (or at least tolerated!  LOL).  This little gig that started out as a way to outsmart a message board has become a very special creative outlet for me. I’m sincerely grateful to all you who read/follow me!

So, just to share how much I appreciate you all, I’m doing a Reader Appreciation Giveaway.

Last night, I made two pair of earrings.  One pink, one turquoise.  I will give them both away (this blue pair though, you might have to come pry from my fingers…..I’m kinda partial to this pair!  LOL).

One pair will be for a reader who is an existing follower only.  Please leave a comment saying you are an existing follower. 

The second pair will be given to anyone (existing and new followers/readers).   For the second pair, just leave a comment!

Giveaway is open through April 1.  Winners will be announced April 2 (first winner to respond will have first color choice).  

Have a great day!!!

Tantalizing Tuesday - Rustic Strawberry Pie

Before too much longer we’ll be having fresh local produce!  Oh, I’m getting so excited (that’s the only part of summer I really like). 
In anticipation, I wanted to share my recipe for a Rustic Strawberry Pie.  I call it rustic because the crust is very very soft & flaky.  But that also means it’s very hard to work with.  And it doesn’t roll out perfectly like a traditional pie crust.  But boy does it taste good :).
Wash and slice 2 medium apples and 1 lb strawberries.  Set aside.
In food processor (or in a bowl using a pastry cutter) put 11 Tbsp butter.
Add 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup powdered sugar (yes – that’s one of the best parts!)
Pulse until nice and crumbly.
Add 1 tsp vanilla and slightly less (1 tsp less) water
Pulse again until dough pulls into a ball.
This is the point where we get rustic.  I quit trying to even roll it out.  Using my hands, I use half the dough and form a ball. 
I use my Pampered Chef pie crust roller and roll the crust flat on the bottom and up the sides.  You can use your hands if you don’t have this roller.
Set crust aside.
Using a Dutch oven (yes, mine is well loved) or large sauté pan, melt 2 tbsp butter. 
Add sliced apples, 1 cup sugar, pinch salt and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.  Let cook over medium heat about 5 minutes.
Add sliced strawberries.  Add 1 tbsp corn starch and let cook about 2 more minutes until thickened.

I cook the filling first for two reasons.  First, it cooks off a lot of the excess liquid from the fruit so that it is less likely to spill in the oven (since I’ve started doing this, I’ve not had a pie boil over).
Secondly (especially with apples) when they are cooked prior to being in the crust, the pie doesn’t have to be in the oven as long and the crust is less likely to be overcooked.

Fill crust with filling.
 
Using your hands, flatten out the remaining crust (similar to working a pizza crust).  Place on pie.  Sprinkle with sugar (I really like Turbinado sugar – it’s a very coarse grain for great texture).
Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Serve with fresh whipped cream. 

Sometimes….

less is more…..

(and yes, I did make a card! – but note the simplicity :) )

DIY Shimmer Spray

Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels and other glitter sprays are very popular right now. 
I have one problem (well, a few, but mainly one) with them.  I’m cheap!  I don’t want to spend $8 on a bottle of the stuff that doesn’t last that long.  So, my creative brain decided to try making some myself.  Now, I’ve seen many ways to make them, but none suited me.  But I will share what does suit me.
First, I don’t like the color.  If I use a shimmer spray, it’s solely for the purpose of applying shimmer, I don’t like the color added.  Thus, many of the products (and the ways to make them) don’t work for me.  Secondly, the reason I don’t like the color is because of the spottiness of it.  The more colorless sprays don’t appear as “splotchy” so I can handle them a lot better.
Okay – I’m done rambling, here is how I make them.
Buy a spritz bottle (I picked this one up at my Craft Warehouse for $1.39).  You also need a bottle of metallic paint.  I had these on hand, about $1.
  Squeeze just a little into the bottom of the bottle.  Basically just enough to cover the bottom, but not really any depth (the more you add, the more likely the nozzle will clog).
Fill with water.  Put lid back on.
Gently roll bottle in hands until paint is mixed with water.  (You will need to do this everytime you use it).
I have made gold, silver & red metallic (red metallic paint).  I much prefer the color neutral gold & silver to the color.  But that’s just me.  You can buy the metallic paints  in many colors, thus you can make many shades. 
One bottle of paint for about $1 will make at least 20 bottles of shimmer spray I would guess (I haven’t done the math, but I would say between 20 to 50 bottles).

Study the Masters #25 – Page Editing Tutorial

The 25th layout I’ve done for my challenge was by Mandy Douglass and is found in Creating Keepsakes, March/April 2011, page 39.

I have had so much fun with this challenge because it’s inspired me to use my products from Cosmo Cricket & October Afternoon (these are Cosmo Cricket).  I had been “collecting” these because I was intimidated to use them, but now I’m happy to have them in my albums.

Scrapbook Layout Editing Tutorial

As I’ve promised for a while, here is a tutorial of how I edit my pictures for my blog.  (There are a few ways to vary this, but this is what I’ve found that works best for me).

The first necessary step is to take a photograph of the layout.  I place the page(s) on the floor and stand over them to take a picture.  You have to lean a little bit over them, if you look straight down, you’ll have a bit of a distortion.  For best results, lean until you feel a little burn in your bum.  (It’s a very awkward position).

1)  Load the picture onto your computer and open it in Photoshop Elements (I am currently using PSE9).

2)   If necessary, straighten image first.  Use the straighten tool (highlighted in picture below).  For this picture, I’d first click on the top left corner, then move  my mouse to the top right corner.  When you let go, the program will do the work for you.  (I only do this for about half my pictures).

3) Crop image to slightly bigger than layout.  This is an 8.5 x 11 two page, so I cropped it to 17 width x 11 height (300 resolution).   If you have a double 12x12, crop to 24 x 12.   Click the green check to accept the crop.

 

4)  Make a copy layer of the page.  To do this, you can use the shortcut command ctrl+j.  You can also click the background layer in the layers palette (highlighted below) and drag it to the “create new layer” icon in layers palette (first on left in bottom of palette).

5) Now we will square up the image.  To do so, make sure you have the copied layer selected (should already be).  Click the move tool (the 4-way arrow on the top of the left bar of the screen).  You will need to push the ctrl key as you click on a corner.  This is VERY important because if you don’t, you’ll enlarge/shrink the image proportionately.  Push ctrl & click the corners of the layout that need to be moved to make a square. 

In this image, I’m going to start with the top left corner.  As you can see, I pulled it out into the gray area of PSE in order to get a straight line.  You can take them in, out, up or down as needed to get a square (or rectangle). 

Click the green check to accept the changes.

6)  Re-crop.  If you still have a lot of background on a particular area, repeat step 5 until you are lined up better.

 

7)  Flatten image.  To do so, click the drop down menu box that is on the top right of the layers palette.  It is a small downward arrow with four horizontal lines.  Click flatten image.

8)  Save image.  I often save the image as a psd (the format Photoshop Elements uses), then re-crop to 72 resolution and save again with the same name and “upload” added to the title.  This way I have both a printable version and an upload version. 

Friday Finds: Satin Embroidery Floss

I have another idea I’ve been kicking around in my head.  Occasionally, I find a product I’d like to share (or not share).  I am going to try to make these posts on Friday.  So Friday will sometimes be Friday Finds!!

- - - - - -

A few weeks ago my sister and I were in Michaels and had wandered down the embroidery floss aisle.  I found these satin flosses.  The colors were so vivid and saturated.  I just had to buy a few for handstitching.

DMC Satin Embroidery Floss

After trying them a few times, my feelings are mixed.  I found that working with three strands, while easier to keep from tangling, just wasn’t enough for my liking.  But when using all 6, they tangled very easily (much more so than normal embroidery floss).

Additionally, it’s $.99 a skein as opposed to $.35, so it’s nearly 3 times as much.

I guess my final opinion is this:  If you have time to go slowly (because they are very slippery), they are very pretty.  But if you are trying to work quickly, stick to a normal floss. 

But I know, no post is complete without pictures.  So here is one of the cards I used this floss on.

Other Supplies:  My Minds Eye paper, misc bling & cardstock

Glory Hole

On the way home a couple days ago we saw this amazing glory hole.  I don’t know the technical name of the breaks in the clouds where the rays of sun spill though, but I like to call them glory holes.  It reminds me to take pause and remember how Great my God is, and how wonderfully glorious!

Study The Masters #24

Page 24 was inspired by Joey Manwarren.  The original was a digital page.  It was found in Creating Keepsakes March/April 2011, pg 97.

Journaling says:  “It is so awesome to watch you overcome your fears to learn something new.  You didn’t want to climb this, but Daddy encouraged you to, and you Succeeded!!”

Tantalizing Tuesday - Foccacia bread

dI think I have a new “thing” for my blog.  I’m going to try to post recipes and such on Tuesday!  I can’t promise every Tuesday, but if I have a recipe or food picture, it will be a Tuesday post.  (at least until I decide if I like it or not!)
I made focaccia bread from scratch.  It was SO yummy, and I have to say, a very easy bread to make. 

Focaccia bread (from Betty Crocker)
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 pkg yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp)
1/4 olive oil
1 cup very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)
Mix 1 cup of flour, sugar, salt & yeast in large bowl.  And 1/4 cup oil and water.  Beat with mixer on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping occasionally.  Stir n enough remaining flour until dough is soft and leaves sides of bowl.
Use mixer with dough hook and knead 5 minutes.  (or knead by hand for 5 to 10 minutes).  Place in greased bowl and let rise in warm place 1 1/2 hours or until doubled.
Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease two cookie sheets.
Punch dough down and divide in half.  Shape each half into flat 12” round on cookie sheet.  Cover and rise for 20 minutes.
Prick centers of rounds and 1” from edge of rounds thoroughly.
Melt 2 tbsp butter and brush on bread.  Or mix 2 tbsp melted butter, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp basil and 1/4 tsp chopped rosemary, dash of salt.  Brush on loaves. (this part is my variation)
Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. 

Now, for the super yummy part…….we used the left overs for grilled cheese sandwiches.  I keep Harvarti cheese around for just such a thing!  It makes super  yummy grilled cheese on sourdough, but this was super yummy too!!!

Study The Masters #23

Page number 23 is originally by Sara Winnick.  Creating Keepsakes March/April 2011, pg 52.

  Want to know a secret???  Almost all of these papers are Christmas papers (from Cosmo Cricket & October Afternoon). 

Journaling: “When we were at Grandma & Grandpas, you started to make this silly face to me when you didn’t want to do what I asked you to do.  Well, after we got home, you still did it.  Daddy asked you where you got your new glasses, and you said “Macy’s.”

Well, Thank You!

Over the last week, I've had three comments saying I was given the "Stylish Blogger Award"!  I have to say, thank you and I'm honored that you would think of me!!!

But because I sometimes use Autopost to update my blog, I was a little behind in getting this posted....oops....



So thank you to Cassie Ashley & Andi! (Correction - make this 4!  While this post was sitting in autopost oblivion....Briana also passed it along!)  All three girls have great scrappy blogs with lots of inspiring ideas!

So I'm thinking that because I was given the award THREE four times, I should have to pick SIX six blogs to pass it onto instead of just two.

Thus I will pass it onto:

Sally 
Adele
Amanda
Dana
Becky
Christy
Melissa
Shannon

Thanks for stopping by!!