Busy

I have a card class this weekend so I'll be busy the next couple of days kitting for it. Here are some layouts:


Making Memories, Mustard Moon & October Afternoon. I love this picture of Katrina running. That's her Dad taking pictures of something and he is completely oblivious to her happy little jog behind him.

Scenic Route. This is one of our dogs, Liberty. How nice of Scenic Route to name their paper line after my dog. ;)

BasicGrey. Katrina still likes to wear parts of her costume. The hands praying is just an automatic thing for her. It's nice to see them stop hitting her brother for a second or two.

Rusty Pickle. This is from Christmas 2006. Why didn't I scrap this before?? I have no idea. The Bazzill In Stitchz is my new favorite thing.

Thanks!

My new favorite thing

Trader Joe's Black Pepper Sauce. It's oh so good. I put it on just about anything. I mixed it in with my leftover mac-n-cheese for lunch. Yeah, that's right. We eat leftover mac-n-cheese.


This is one of our new favorite made up dish. It's kind of a combo between a Trader Joe's sample dish and Pei Wei's Blazing Noodles. Trader Joes had this chicken/Cajun sausage mixed with pesto tortellini. It had pesto sauce over all of it. It was ok, but it needed something. It needed Black Pepper Sauce and the ingredients from the Blazing Noodles.

So, here's the ingredients:

Fresh cheese tortellini from Trader Joe's (I changed it from pesto tortellini)
Chicken sausage with Cajun spices (it's REALLY HOT!)
Baby carrots cut in half
Green onions (use the whole piece. I cut it in about 1 inch lengths)
FRESH basil. Don't think you can get away with dried stuff. It won't work.
Cherry tomatoes cut in half
Olive oil
Trader Joe's Black Pepper Sauce

Cook the tortellini according to directions.
Slice up the sausage and throw it in the pan.
Add a little olive oil and throw in the carrots.
Add a little Black Pepper sauce and stir around. Add maybe 2 tablespoons. I don't measure. Add whatever you want.
Let it simmer a bit until the carrots are cooked.
See those big hunks of green? That's basil. I don't chop my basil. I just rip it in half and throw it in.
Rip up basil and throw it in. I use a handful. I don't measure anything.
Add your onions.
Stir everything around.
Add your tomatoes last. You don't want mushy tomatoes. YUCK. You just want them warm and firm.
By now, your tortellini should be done. If it's not...don't add the tomatoes yet!
When your tortellini is done, drain it and mix it in with your sausage mixture.

That's it. Have a big glass of water next to you because this baby is HOT! It's hot, but it's pretty darn flavorful.

Because I have this "thing" for Basil, I even add fresh leaves to the top of the dish I'm serving.

I'll do layouts tomorrow. I felt like cooking today.

Let me know what you think of my recipe. :)

Doodlecharms

showed up at my house the other day. I just got around to using it. :)

yummy dinner

So, tonight for dinner, I made Suzanne's Grilled Italian Sausage and Vegi Panini. Boy, it was good!

I did have to improvise a bit, though. I couldn't find Italian Sausage at Trader Joes, so I used chicken mango sausage instead. I used yellow squash instead of zucchini and I didn't add onions or cheese. Erik hates onions.

I tried to tell the kids they were hotdogs but they weren't believing me. Fine. They can starve!

This is something we'll be having again and again. Well, Erik and I will anyway.

Here are some layouts:

Both of these are using the beautiful new Chloe Marie from Daisy D's.

Scenic Route Appleton. I did this for an AL challenge I'm hosting this month at Peek.

October Afternoon and some older Making Memories. Stamps are BamPop! I haven't decided if I really like this one or not. I hate it when I have a layout that doesn't sit well with me. I've already ripped it apart once. I guess I'll just leave it for now and move onto something else.

Basic Grey Fruitcake and some Making Memories. I love this picture of Katrina. ;)

Doodlebug

That's it for now. I'm sure there is more that I forgot to upload. I'll do it later.

More stuff

More layouts. Two Peas asked me to do some projects with Little Yellow Bicycle. I sure had fun using it.

All the fruit was cut with my Cricut.

I have a thing for vintage buttons still on their packaging.

I knew someday I'd have a use for the blue Bazzill flowers.

Thanks Two Peas for choosing me!

nothing too fancy going on here. This just needed to be recorded. ;)

New and old KI Memories. Also, the font is a KI stamp.

Sweetwater Summertime Blues. I added a little Rusty Pickle.

Daisy D's Chloe Marie. This collection is just so pretty!!

Thanks for your kind comments. I'll be back in a few days.

More layouts

I had a card class this morning. We did summer themed cards. I'll post them next week after my last class.

I've been sick the last couple of days so I only have a couple layouts. Hopefully, I'll get something done tomorrow. I hate being sick and unable to work.

I rec'd a package of new Chloe Marie from Daisy D's today. It is even prettier in real life!!

Pat just got the new BasicGrey Euphoria, in, too.

Here are some layouts:

K&Co, Bo Bunny, American Crafts, vintage Bingo game & tickets. Those yellow accents are cut on my Cricut. Have I mentioned lately how much I like that thing? ;)

Sassafras Lass Robotics. This was an assignment at Peek. Fun stuff!

The font is Technique Tuesday Boulder. I colored it in with watercolor pencils and used a Dove Blender to blend it.

The stamps are 50% off at Peek!

Older KI Memories. I ran the bottom piece through my Cuttlebug. Also, some Pink Paislee. I think this is my 4th or 5th in a series of "Life with Katrina".

My Cosmo :)

I realized the other day that some of my favorite layouts are made with Cosmo Cricket. I have others, but these are my current favs.

More layouts

Daisy D's Lullaby and flowers cut on my Cricut.

Daisy D's Wonder Years and a wee bit of Salt Water Taffy

New Technique Tuesday Splash stamp set


Cosmo Get Happy and a wee bit of Cogsmo

Our new floor

I couldn't stand the smell of the dog pee in our living room carpeting anymore. So, we ripped up the carpeting. I had no specific game plan at the time, I just knew I couldn't stand the dog pee anymore. I've never been a fan of carpeting. It always seems dirty to me.

We priced tile and found it to be more expensive than we wanted to pay at this time. After all, we need to go to Legoland. ;) We decided to paint the cement and buy a box or two of tile a month until we have enough for the room. We figure it will take about a year to have enough boxes.

Removing the carpeting is the easy part. It's the removing of the tack strips, filling in the holes from the nails and removing the glue left from the carpet pad that is the messy yucky part.

After all that was done, we gave the floor two coats of a light colored latex paint. This was not fun for me to do as my arm/shoulder still hurts. Then we kind of sponge painted a darker shade on top of the light shade. When that was dry, we dipped a paint stirring stick in some black paint and kind of threw it around. The kids loved that part.

Once all the paint was dry, we put on 2 coats of glossy polyurethane. It's a shiny floor!!

It's certainly not a traditional type of floor but I like it and most importantly, IT'S CLEAN!!

I think my bright red leather sectional will look pretty cool sitting on it.

And, the whole thing cost about a hundred bucks.

Some layouts...that's all I do anymore

well, layouts and scold the kids. I hate summer. I really, really do.


Love, Elsie Claire

Total mix of stash.


Crate Static

Thanks for looking. :D

Ready for some new Technique Tuesday?

Summer CHA is coming and that means NEW STAMPS!! YAY!!

New Baby set: Cute as a Button. Paper is from Daisy D's and scalloped squares and trim is from my Cricut.

Fun new font: Piccadilly

Jurassic Parts. Love this one!

Under the Sea and My Little Princess. No, this wasn't a set up just to get 2 sets of stamps in one page. This really happened!!

Layouts

I thought I posted this but I guess not. All Bo Bunny. Stamps are Technique Tuesday.

Daisy D's and my Cricut. I'm having fun with that machine. ;)

A layout for my LSS, Pages in Progress. Bo Bunny papers. Font is Quickutz Rockstar.

My arm/collarbone is feeling a bit better. I still can't lift it too high or put weight on it. I'm getting really tired of sleeping on my left side. :P I guess since it's feeling a bit better it's not broken. That's a relief.

Thanks for all your well wishes. I miss you, too, Hilary!!