ScrapFest 2013 - Third and final day

ScrapFest 2013 is now just a memory - what a fun weekend, even though we were missing friends who couldn't make it this year.  I did run into Jennifer, a Flickr friend whom I met at last year's ScrapFest.  Here we are in Spellbinder's aprons that they handed out to the early birds:

 

I saw her when ScrapFest opened today at 11a.m. and never again the rest of the day!  We had different strategies since this was day 3 for me but her only day attending.  Too much fun at the Waterpark, Jennifer!!

Here are some of the projects I made today:

Upper left - WeR Memory Keepers, right Simple Stories, Bottom - Graphic 45

 

Layout by Reminisce

 

Layout by BoBunny

 

I also picked up a layout from PaperWizard with a bunch of layered die cuts for a Mickey Mouse page and a Christmas layout from Bazzill.  I didn't take the time to make either project since the hours were fewer today for make 'n takes.  Sometimes at the end of ScrapFest, vendors will have giveaways.  Well, the only booth to do anything was Graphic 45 - as the last group at their booth, they gave us extra sticker sheets and tag bases for the tags we made.  I managed to make it to every booth participating this year, even Buttons Galore where they made earrings with buttons (I just took the free buttons).

 

So, until next year - that's it from the Mall of America and ScrapFest.  Thanks to all the vendors who came to meet and greet all the eager crafters who spend their hard earned money on their products.  It's not cheap for vendors to participate and we appreciate them!!  And thanks to Archiver's for producing this event - their employees work hard to make it run smoothly.

Have a crafty week and thanks for stopping!!

ScrapFest 2013 - Day 2

Back after another long day of crafty fun at ScrapFest 2013!  Thanks for stopping in to check it out.

I was at the make 'n take booths at 9 a.m. while friends Barb and Jayne (lucky ducks) were in the Tim Holtz class.  When they finished class at 10:30, Barb and I went on to more make 'n takes while Jayne went to another class.  After lunch Barb ran home while Jayne & I visited more booths, then the three of us went to a class featuring Hero Arts stamps - yay!  The instructor came from Archiver's staff but Meg was very enthusiastic and a good teacher.

Here are the class projects - two cards and a journaling card.  Sorry for the darkness in the corner of my photo.

We had lots of neon inks and daubers to use so everyone's projects varied based on the colors they chose.  I couldn't resist using a lot of purple, my fave!  Oh, and we got some great goodies plus I won a prize (prize on left below and class goodies on right):

Here are some of the make 'n takes I did:

Upper left Doodlebug, right Spellbinders, bottom Me and My Big Ideas.

Upper left BoBunny, right Mark Richards, Bottom left can't remember, right Lawn Fawn

 



 The Mark Richards card was supposed to have gems all around the circle but I couldn't bring myself to use them that way (saved them for something else - LOL).  Just loved the Lawn Fawn card - the trees were stamped in the same Mason jar we used yesterday but upside down!!  Brilliant, eh?

 

Left Petaloo, right Basic Grey

 

I also did two scrapbook page layouts but they didn't photograph that well so I'm not including them here.  So, I managed to do 11 of 23 booths again today.  Pretty good since I had a class in there too!  Some booths were doing the same project as yesterday so I was able to visit a couple booths that I missed yesterday.

 

Here are Barb, Jayne and I after a long day of ScrapFest - we still look pretty chipper, eh? 

  

Final day tomorrow and the hours are a bit shorter  11a - 4p.  Hope to see a few more friends and visit booths I missed the first two days.  Thanks again for stopping!

ScrapFest 2013 - Day 1

Hello everyone - Greetings from ScrapFest at the Mall of America!  Three days of scrapbooking and card-making fun in our fabulous Mall.  Last night Barb E. and I met after work to pick up our badges (a badge is needed to participate), grab a coffee at Starbucks, and shop at Archivers.  This morning I was by myself (well, besides all the other participants - LOL) at 9 a.m. doing make 'n takes at the various vendor booths while Barb was with her son.  Then she joined me for the afternoon and we did more projects.  There are fewer vendors (23) than years past so the lines are long and the waits can be lengthy.  Some of the wait times are inordinate given the project being done - you wonder what can take so long!  I stood in one line for 20 minutes and didn't advance at all - I gave up on that one!!

So last night, sweet Barb brought me some fresh gladiolas from Jerry's where she works in the floral department.  And in purple, my favorite color!  Here they are:

Aren't they gorgeous?  Really brought a bright spot to my kitchen!!

Here are my shopping finds at Archivers - they had a nice selection of Lawn Fawn so I bought a couple clear stamp sets and some dies & embellies, some paper pads and a ScrapFest die cut.

 

I even had a 40% off coupon so got a nice deal on one of the stamp sets.  Aren't those sequins cute?!

Barb and I waited in the Lawn Fawn line for probably about 45 minutes but the wait was well worth it.  Here we are waiting alongside the Rainforest Cafe (this may look familiar to some of our friends, like Robin, who've visited us):

And here's the Lawn Fawn booth with Kelly Marie and Britta (some of you will remember Britta from the Hero Arts Flickr group) leading the make 'n take.



And here are my completed projects for the day:

Starting at upper left - Lawn Fawn, Karen Foster, Graphic 45, Epiphany Crafts.  Love that Lawn Fawn Card designed by our sweet friend, Nancy K. who couldn't be here - darn!

At top some Graphic 45 stickers, a Lifestyle Crafts Project Life type card (with the washi looking striped stuff that's their sticky paper you can die cut - very fun), & a Project Life page with all sorts of fun inserts.  The photo of Barb and me was a freebie from Archiver's memory lab.  And at lower left a mini book made of envelopes from Prima, embellished with their flowers.

Upper left - Me and My Big Ideas card, then a tag from 7 Gypsies, lower right a card from Fancy Pants, and lower left a fun BoBunny library pocket card.

So that's it for Day 1.  Eleven out of 23 booths doesn't sound like much for 8 hours but the waits were long and I did break for lunch and a coffee - LOL.

Have a great night and happy crafting!

Another Christmas card!

Hi all - was thinking about my new Hero Arts goodies and wondering what to do for the current contest which runs through September 30th.  The challenge - to be inspired at Hero Arts and to use items from the new Holiday & Stamp Your Story catalog.

I just loved Jennifer McGuire's blog post the other day featuring Concentric Stamping.  Link here to her technique article with video.  I really wanted to try this technique with my new stamps.  Here's the card I created:

My focal point is a paint splotch from the cling set AC027 My Notebook (love this set!) and from there I built my concentric design using clear stamps from CL725 Borders and Arrows.  I used Hero Arts Soft Granite and Soft Pool inks, plus Tim Holtz's Picked Raspberry Distrss ink.  I decided this looked like a snowflake so made it into a Christmas card!  My sentiment is from a new holiday clear set CL722 Merry Christmas Messages, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  There are so many great sentiments in this set; I can see myself using it often this season and for many to come!

Too bad my photo isn't very vibrant on this cloudy day - I matted my stamped piece with a thin black mat and then a raspberry one (they're kinda blurred together in the photo with the raspberry looking a bit brownish- darn).  I used foam tape to pop it all onto a Tide folded card from Hero Arts (a fave color).  I decided to leave off any bling - this will be a nice flat card for holiday mailing!

Concentric stamping is tons of fun - hope you try it soon!  Of course, Jennifer did some careful drawing of pencil lines before she stamped, while I just eye-balled it.  I don't have a good eraser and couldn't find my vanishing line marker - oh well....  It's not perfect but I like the effect!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

A Scramble and a start on Christmas cards!

Hi all - hope you're having a crafty weekend!  My day started with working until noon.  Then I raced home to get in on Kailash's Scramble which began at noon and lasted until 1:30.  Luckily the theme - use washi tape - was one I could get into quickly!!  Archiver's had a sale a bit ago on washi tape and I bought a bunch to fill up one of those dispensers.  My Mind's Eye has a series of tapes in a tube which coordinate so well - I bought a set with some pool colors to go with Hero Arts pool folded cards (the one below is Tide).  The clear set I used for the heart and sentiment is one from Hero Arts for Operation Write Home - CL582 Year Round Sentiments - just love the hearts and stars on that set.  I used this set for the last Scramble 2 weeks ago and it was still handy on the craft table - hmmm, does that mean I didn't clean up from the last Scramble??!  Oops...  Finished it off with some BoBunny gems & a pearl.

 

Then I was excited to finish the card below which I started last night.  I used stamps just received from Hero Arts' new Holiday and Stamp Your Story catalog.  So many great stamps but I restricted myself to just a few (after all ScrapFest is only 2 weeks away so I need to save my shopping $$).  Couldn't resist the Canvas Background CG621 and Joy Burst K5852 along with some clear sets I haven't opened yet.  Oh, and a fall leaf too... did I say I was trying to save $$??

 

Some non-traditional colors for Christmas but I was playing around with some Copic markers, coloring a few quilt images that Heather Maria sent me.  (Sorry, Heather - didn't finish that card yet...).  Those colors found their way onto the JOY image and I pulled them into the card base (Hero Arts) and patterned paper (Doodlebug) too.  I covered the JOY word with Rock Candy Distress Stickles - what a nice crystally shine they give!  With that shine, I left off any other bling.  Was excited to get this small start on my Christmas cards - how about you, do you have any done yet?

Happy crafting and thanks for visiting!!

Happy Mail and a poppy card

Lucky me - another day off after Labor Day!  And what a beautiful day, weatherwise - sunny but not too hot.  I used the day to get a thank you off to Heather Maria for this great batch of goodies I received from her last week. 

Heather stamped some quilt squares to color, die cut me a "Wedding Vow" silhouette (how intricate!!) and some library pockets, included some purple washi and dazzlers, colorful brads, and a blazing poppies stamp.  But look at that ribbon scarf she knitted!  What a beauty!!  I can't wait for it to cool off here so I can wear it.  And what a gorgeous card - just love the twine and buttons!

After I hit the post office with a package to Heather, I ran to Archiver's for some fun new Lawn Fawn embellies, had lunch at Smashburger, then came home to make a card using my new Blazing Poppies from Heather.  It's by IndigoBlu - just love this image!  Here's my card:

Don't think I did it justice but I colored with my Copics, matted it on a piece of Basic Grey paper and popped it onto some Hero Arts celadon layering paper.  Sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear set CL661, It's Your Day.  Added Doodlebug pearls to the poppy centers.

Thanks for stopping!  Hope you have a crafty week!!

Celebrating 50 years of Barbershop Harmony with Dad

Hi all - it's been a while again, oh well...

Today I'm celebrating with my dad who received his 50 year membership pin from the Barbershop Harmony Society.  It's because of Dad that I began singing barbershop harmony back when I was 16 years old.  His then chorus director, Hank Aronson, was my high school choir director.  I have many fond memories of going to his shows and chorus gigs out in the community (like the Holmen WI Corn Fest).

Here he is back in 1963 - he had bright red hair then, not that you can tell from the old black and white photos from those days!  He sang with the Coulee Chordsmen of LaCrosse WI at that time.  And then a photo from today, with my mom and our friend Doug who presented the 50 year pin (Mom pinned it on).

 

 

We had lunch at the Covered Bridge, a bar/restaurant halfway between my house and the parents' house.  Doug's wife Connie, a dear friend with whom I sing in the City of Lakes Chorus and who directed my first Sweet Adelines' chorus in Eau Claire WI rounded out our party.  She brought a lovely bouquet for mom for supporting dad all these years!



 

Yesterday my sister Tami was visiting me; she couldn't make it to lunch today but we each made a card for Dad.  Here's my card:

I used my Silhouette to cut a barberpole, some musical notes, and the 50.  The barberpole is part of a file Design ID #43667 by PPbN Designs called "haircut barbershop set" and the notes came from Snapdragon Snippets Design ID #37681 called "music notes".

Here's Tami's card:

We both used a Hero Arts Azure cardbase, a David Tutera red mat, & musical note paper from Authentique.  Tami used banner stamps by Technique Tuesday called Banner Up and some Doodlebug twine.

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend!!

Happy Healing

Hi all - just back from a visit with my parents.  Mom had foot surgery and is recovering nicely.  I helped her for three days with cleaning, cooking and laundry while she watched HGTV - we love that channel, especially House Hunters and Property Brothers!

Here's the card I made for her:

Jayne had done a Scramble over at the Hero Arts Flickr group a few weeks ago using polaroids and angles in the challenge. I had so much fun with them, I just had to use them again for this card.  I used a Hero Arts card base stamped in the corners with a flower from a Hero Arts/Sizzix set called Floral and Soft Pool ink.  The band-aid and foot stamp are from Crackerbox Palace, just purchased a couple weeks ago at a stamp expo.  Inside it says "Hope you're back on your feet soon".  I watercolored the band-aid and feet using a friend's pencils - not even sure which brand.  The little green polaroid frame came in a package of 15 by Studio Calico - just darling - love these! 

Hope you're having a lovely day and had time for some crafting!  I haven't had any time this past week so hope to get some projects started soon!!

We have a WINNER!

Happy Saturday (at least for me)!  Hope you're enjoying your day and thanks to everyone who visited during the Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop!  We had such a great time and thank Hero Arts so much for featuring us this past week on their wonderful Blog!!

Here are the links to start each day if you missed it:

• Day 1

• Day 2

• Day 3

• Day 4

• Day 5

My Hostess sisters really outdid themselves so check it out!!  Also, remember that Hero Arts will be doing a random draw for prizes from comments left on various stops along the way.  Watch the Hero Arts Blog for that announcement.

And now, for the big moment - DRUM ROLL, PLEASE - the winner of my prize:  #190

Research Randomizer Results:
1 Set of 1 Unique Numbers Per Set
Range: From 1 to 213 -- Unsorted
Results: 190

 Thalia said...

Cute card! Great idea and a yummy recipe. Thanks for sharing

July 24, 2013 at 8:35 AM

 

Thalia - please contact me by Saturday 8/3/13 to claim your prize.  Unclaimed prizes will be saved for future drawings, not necessarily on my blog.  Thanks for stopping everyone!!

 

Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop

Welcome - it's day 1 of the Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop!  When the hostesses hopped in January with new 2013 Hero Arts stamps, we had so much fun we decided to do a summer hop in July.  How time flies - before we knew it, we were planning our virtual picnic!!  Each day this week, at least 4 hostesses will share a project and a recipe!  Today's line-up:

Deborah Nolan

Emily Leiphart

Sarah Moerman

Linda Wetterlin (you are here)

Kathy Racoosin

 If you're following the hop in order, you should have arrived from the fabulous Sarah's blog.  You may have begun the hop at the Hero Arts Blog; if not, be sure to visit there.  If you encounter any broken links, please contact blog@heroarts.com to report it.  Hero Arts will award prizes from randomly drawn comments made on ANY of the stops on the participating blogs (including the Hero Arts Blog) ANY day this week.  The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

 

When I think of a picnic I think of a colorful checked tablecloth and ANTS!  Where there's food, ants follow (despite what our banner says - LOL)!!  So, I created a card with a tablecloth background using a fun new brush stroke image from Hero Arts' new Stamp Your Story line.  Several sets have a brush stroke but I used the clear one in CL696 Notebook Essentials, one of my favorite sets in the new line.  It was super simple to create a full line by stamping from one side, then flipping the stamp and connecting it to the other side.  I cut the ants on my Silhouette SD using Design ID 12134 by Hero Arts.  The sentiment is from CL695 My Words - I just love the variety of words and images in this set (also from Stamp Your Story).  The speech bubble is from CG523 Psst! which has 6 bubbles and 3 sentiments.  The paper for the ants is from Basic Grey - I added some googly craft eyes from Michael's using Glossy Accents and popped them up with foam tape.

 





A Perfect Day for a Picnic!!

 

My recipe came from Dad's sister, my Aunt Jeanette.  Our family loves this salad and it's perfect for a picnic.  When I make this salad, I leave the dressing off - that way people can add as much as they wish and the leftovers stay crisp.

 

 Crunchy Salad - Serves 6

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Accent (optional - it's a brand of flavor enhancer containing MSG)

Salad:

• 1 head of iceberg lettuce
• 6 ounces sliced almonds
• 4 Tablespoons sesame seeds (I buy the jarred ones in the spice section)
• 5-6 pieces of bacon
• 1 cup chow mein noodles (the crunchy ones)

Directions:

• Combine dressing ingredients in a jar or other shaker, cover and shake vigorously to mix well.   Set aside. 
• Chop lettuce and place in large bowl.
• Fry bacon until crumbly, drain well and crumble over the lettuce.
• Toast the sesame seeds and almonds until golden brown (do them separately as the sesame seeds cook a lot faster than the almonds - I know this from experience!!).  Add both to the lettuce and bacon.
•  Add chow mein noodles to salad bowl just before serving so they don't get soggy. 
• Add dressing and toss well just before serving, or leave the dressing off for people to pour onto their own serving and just toss the other ingredients.  Some dieters may prefer a low-cal option so I usually bring along a ranch or fat-free French dressing - both taste yummy with this crunchy creation.

Hope your picnic doesn't have any ants - just hungry guests! In addition to being entered into the Hero Arts drawing, if you leave me a comment (one per visitor please) by midnight PDT on 7/26/13, you will also have a chance to win a Hero Arts limited stock Brush Strokes cling set and a Basic Grey 6x6 Carte Postale paper pad from me. I will do a random draw on 7/27 and post the results. 

Your last stop on today's hop is the amazing Kathy Racoosin's blog.  Kathy always impresses with her coloring skills and I can't wait to see what she's created for our picnic! 

Thanks for hopping with us today and remember to stop by the Hero Arts Blog for more Hostess Hopping tomorrow through Friday.  Have a wonderful day!!

Bowling for Barbershop

Hi everyone - most of the time my blog is about stamping but I have to include the singing part of my life now and again.  Today my chorus, City of Lakes from Minneapolis, participated in a Sweet Adelines International fund-raiser called Bowling for Barbershop.  What fun we had from 1 to 5pm at Pinstripes in Edina MN!!

Here's my team, the Bari Strikers:

I chose that name because I sing Baritone and we, obviously, wanted strikes in our scores.  Well, the strikes were few and far between but we enjoyed our time on the lanes.  There was no competition involved - no prizes awarded based on scores.  It was all for fun.  It only cost $10 per person to bowl three games, including shoes.  And what delicious food Pinstripes serves!  We ordered the chicken avocado flatbread - wish I had a photo of it - yummy!!

When I bowled on a league years ago, I had an average of 151.  Well today, I was glad I broke 300 for my 3 game series!  Guess I should've practiced a bit beforehand!!

After bowling, we headed over to the bocce ball courts - they have three at Pinstripes.  Heidi and I took on Stella and Mary (Heidi's mom).  Elaine had left us and Mary's team hadn't started bowling yet so she joined us at bocce.  I had never played and had a hard time throwing the ball gently!  Many of my throws ended up hitting the back wall - a dead ball - darn!  I got better with practice but Stella and Mary triumphed, reaching the magic 7 to our 2 points.  Here we are:

     

 

Thanks for stopping and I hope you visit the Hero Arts Blog this week for some special fun!

 

Stamping Fun in Bloomington MN

Hi all - I spent much of the day at the Bloomington MN Rubber Stamp Show.  Held at the Ramada Inn near the Mall of America, I had time to make a quick visit to the MOA Archiver's.  There I picked up a prize to offer for a fun event coming next week (be sure to start each day at the Hero Arts Blog). 

Before I talk about the show, here's a card I made for a friend who sprained her ankle last week.  Denise isn't usually a klutz so who knows what happened.  Luckily she didn't break anything and her new puppy she was carrying didn't get hurt at all!!

I'm showing this card as it contains a hint about the prize coming up next week....can you guess?  Anyway I used three sets from Hero Arts: CL613 Thinking of You Kite (sentiment), CL674 Circles (textured circle), and AC026 Brush Strokes (paint splotches) all of which are such fun sets.  I masked off the area for the sentiment on a lilac Hero Arts card base and stamped the circles and splotches in some fun Distress Inks - Salty Ocean, Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord and a Hero Arts Neon Green.  Sentiment is stamped in Hero Arts Navy mid-tone ink - love it!  Then I stamped the heart from Brush Strokes on a piece of patterned paper and trimmed it, popping up with foam tape and adding a gem and Stickles.

So what did I buy at the show?  Lots of stuff I couldn't live without - LOL.  Here's my haul in two groups:

On left - Prima paper, Our Daily Bread bookmark stamps and matching Spellbinders, Memory Box butterfly dies and Crackbox Palace cling stamps (my mom's having foot surgery so I couldn't resist them).  On the right: Raisinboat clear set (darling gumball machine), vellum from Stamp-on-it!, Stamps by Judith & Heather in the upper right corner and B&J Art Stamps in the bottom right corner.  Lucky me - I won a door prize which got me the window from B&J.  The Raisinboat group offers stamp rentals, just like you get movies, through the mail!  They had some adorable sets that I wouldn't want to own but would like for a card or two!  Sorry - I'm too lazy to link to the sources... Hopefully I'll get inky with these soon, except for one which is a gift.

The show runs tomorrow from 11a - 4p if you live in the area and want to check it out.  Thanks for stopping and be sure to pop back next week for more fun!!


Card making and baking can mix - sort of...

My AZ sister and I spent today shopping, crafting and baking.  We had such a great time together!  Tami did the actual baking - her special chocolate chip cookies that she calls "cow pies".  Here she is moving the cookies from the baking sheet to a rack to cool.

 

The first batch wasn't completely cool when I grabbed one - yummy!

So while the cookies bake in the oven, Tami and I are both making cards.   A Papyrus card in the rack at Caribou Coffee inspired Tami to make a button covered heart for her grandaughter Anni.  Here she is making her card - notice anything?

Yes, somehow a pile of buttons found their way onto the hot pad meant to be ready for removing cookies from the oven!!  So when the buzzer sounded, she ran for the kitchen (we were crafting on the dining room table) without her hot pad and had to find another one - LOL!  Luckily there was another pad readily available - no burned cookies - yay!  Here's Tami's completed card - beside various buttons, she added some Hero Arts gems and sentiment from CL342 Everyday Sayings, an older clear set:

I love the sentiment on the diagonal!  Meanwhile, here I am adding Stickles to my one layer for the latest Hero Arts contest, SimpleSummer:

 

And here's my finished card - I used a fun new alphabet set CL699 Sketchbook Letters from Hero Arts Stamp Your Story line along with some graffiti stamps from a new cling set AC026 Brush Strokes from the same line.  Oh - also used some of the new daubers in 3 fun colors - Pale Tomato, Butter Cup, and Tide Pool.

 

 

I don't make many one layer cards so this has been both fun and challenging for me.  Can you see the bitty dots in the buttercup brush stroke?   The dauber ink had pooled on the stamp and rather than try to blot them off, I just let them dry like that - kinda cool effect.  I originally stamped the letters with the Tide Pool dauber but decided to overstamp them, offset a bit, with black for more definition.

 

Hope you're enjoying a crafty holiday week!  I'm off all week from work so am really enjoying time spent with friends and family.  Thanks for stopping!!

Another Granada Getaway

Hi all - yikes, can't believe it's been 2 months since my last post!  Last weekend some crafting friends and I went to the Granada Getaway in southern MN off I-90 near Fairmont.  This was my 3rd time at this event to benefit a Relay for Life team, lead by our friend Karen.  I had to miss last year due to a chorus retreat but when I arrived it was like old home week - I was so glad to be with these 14 other enthusiastic paper crafters!!

I drove my own car with trunk and back seat full of stuff - of course, I didn't use all of it but it was there just in case!!  I wasn't as productive as 2 years ago but I managed to finish 13 cards.  Here are some of them:

The facility is so comfortable, both for crafting and for living - cushy beds, big kitchen, lots of craft space & tools.  This year each subgroup prepared a meal for the entire group.  We Twin Cities girls - Bonnie, Julie, Sandy & I - made brunch on Sunday, including 2 eggs bakes, a fabulous fruit/lettuce/granola salad, croissants, and OJ or mimosa depending on how soon one had to drive :)  Thought I'd share the recipe I made - modified from one that Bonnie found:

Egg Bake with Hash Browns
30 oz bag of frozen hash browns (shredded style)
1/2 pint half & half
1 dozen eggs
1 lb ham cubed (I used a 1/4 inch thick slice from the packaged meat dept)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a cheddar/cojack mix)

Butter (or spray with Pam) a 9x13x2 baking dish.  Line bottom of pan with hash browns.  Crack open eggs and place atop hash browns; break the yolks but don't scramble.  Add desired salt and pepper, then top with 1/2 the cheese.  Pour half & half over this mixture, then add meat and the rest of the cheese.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Next morning, bake about 40 minutes at 350F.

I'm sure you could add lots of other things depending on your tastes - mushrooms, switch the ham with sausage or bacon, etc.

Back to the cardmaking - my masterpiece, according to the crafting girls, for the weekend was this flower basket card.

 

My friend Julie found the basket stamp at a thrift sale - it just says by Judith on the side.  I googled and found it here.  I remember meeting Judith and Heather at the Bloomington Rubber Stamp Show last year, now that I think of it!  They have tons of cute basket stamps and many other categories as well.  I stamped the basket on kraft card stock and embellished with brown markers. 

I stamped the dogwoods from the Hero Arts/Sizzix set Antique Flowers and Butterflies three times on a pinkish Basic Grey paper, then trimmed them out and arranged in the basket.  I added some highlights with markers.  The dimension on the handle was achieved with foam tape; I also put some behind some of the flowers.  The tag was cut from a Spellbinders label set and stamped with a sentiment from Hero Arts clear set It's your Day.

I also made my Father's Day card at the Getaway.

 

I used a fun Stamp & Cut Hero Art's set for Archiver's featuring four ties with a matching tie die cut.  I put a diecut tie on the inside of the card but simply stamped the four ties on patterned paper for the card front.  The cute banner and sentiment comes from Lawn Fawn.  The patterned paper came from a 6x6 pad by Basic Grey called Hey You.

After the Getaway brunch I headed to my parents' house for Father's Day dinner.  Here I am with my sweet Dad - he loved his card, of course!

Thanks for stopping!  Hope you had a crafty weekend!!

Crafting is great therapy!

Hi everyone - on Thursday my sister and I hauled out the craft supplies to make thank you cards.  Tami has plenty of people to thank - lovely neighbors, dear relatives and sweet friends who brought food or housed relatives, sent flowers or gave moral support during these tough times.  Tami is more of a scrapbooker than a card maker but she asked me to help her make some cards.  I thought it would be very healing and it was!  I have accumulated many supplies that I leave at her house, plus I usually bring a few stamp sets.  She says she can only create when I'm in the room for inspiration but I'm sure she could do it on her own too!  Here we are creating:

 

Here's about 1/2 of the cards we created together:

 

We used some wonderful Hero Arts clear and wood block sets, especially an excellent 2013 release CL663 Thanks a Bunch.  I had Tami repeat some of the designs if they were going to different areas. Then I stayed busy creating while she addressed the envelopes. And, of course, here's a shot of our messy crafting table:

This mess was over at my parents' house earlier in the week, then I cleaned it all up and created a new version at my sister's house - LOL! And they didn't even mind that I left it messy for several days as I continued creating. We did a lot of running around to the post office, the outlet mall, for lattes, etc. so I didn't get a chance to publish this until today. Crafting is great therapy - it really helped to heal as we personalized the thank you cards for the people who sympathized & shared with us. Thanks for stopping and hope you have a safe and crafty weekend.