Peonies!

Our peonies are on the east side of the house and in the shade so they bloom later than usual.





Last week, because of the heat they all bloomed! So I cut a bunch for the house, love them!

Hello!

Since I still had scraps of paper from My Mind's Eye Bloom & Grow line left I decided to create another card based on CPS Sketch 122.

I used one of my Cuttlebug embossing flower borders then blinged it up. Hello was created with Prima stickers and is popped up over the ribbon. Couldn't resist adding a Prima flower to the ribbon too!

Chicken Fettucine Alfredo

For dinner before her graduation, Brittany requested Fettucine Alfredo. Later she said she was kidding but I took her seriously and went browsing the internet until I found a recipe I liked. I first looked for light recipes, but while I'm sure they were good, the ones I found didn't really result in a true Alfredo sauce. So I decided if you're going to make Alfredo it would have to contain the butter and cream!

I found the recipe I made at MealsMatter.org. The recipe says it tastes the same as what you can get at Olive Garden........I'm not sure not having had it there, but this version is very good.

In place of the heavy cream, I used 5% cream which I think still provided the creaminess needed for Alfredo sauce. Then I added a bit of nutmeg too. I served the fettucine with caesar salad, another of Brittany's favourites, and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.



Chicken Fettucine Alfredo

1/2 c. Butter

1-2 cloves Garlic, minced

1 pint Heavy cream

Pinch ground black pepper

3/4 c. Parmesan cheese

1 box Fettuccine pasta

1/2 lb Chicken, cooked, chunked

1. Melt butter in lg skillet over medium-low heat.

2. Add the garlic, cream, and pepper and bring mixture to a simmer. Turn heat down if it reaches a rapid boil. Add cheese and continue to simmer for 8 minutes or until thick and cheese melted, stirring constantly.

3. While sauce cooks, cook fettuccine per package instructions.

4. Cook chicken chunks marinated in your favorite spices/sauces on a grill or in skillet.

5. Pour alfredo sauce onto noodles to absorb sauce. Top with chicken and fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Use It Challenge # 16

I started my card for this Use It challenge on Friday night and finally finished it today.

This week the challenge was set by Kay as follows:

1. Use something inspired by nature.
(flowers, trees, animals, etc.)

2. Use polka dots.

3. Use your favorite embellishment.

4. Mail your creation to someone special.

And here's my card:



The Prima flowers and flowered paper by My Mind's Eye, their Bloom & Grow line, are my bow to nature. I added a strip of dotted(and striped paper) from the same paper line. One of my favourite embellishments, bling, along with the swirls embossing completed the card.

Now who shall I mail it too?

Prom!

The evening after graduation, Brianne went to her prom with her boyfriend Jesse.

Here's a few pics:

A couple of close-ups to show off her hair.







Brianne and Jesse.

Graduations!

This has been a busy week for us, both of our daughters had graduations. Talk about a time of transition!

First was Brittany.



She graduated from Grade 8 and received a class award for her accomplishments in history.

Way to go Brittany, we are sooooo proud of you and the young lady you are becoming.


And second was Brianne's high school graduation.




Brianne graduated with honours, received an Award of Excellence in french, the Edna Haviland Chemistry Award for highest grade in a university level chemistry course and finally received the Governor General's Award for highest average in all grade 11 and 12 courses. During presentation of these awards Brianne was described as a brilliant, bright student with a natural ability who remains modest and considerate of others.

Again we are sooooo proud of Brianne and her accomplishments! She worked very hard on her studies while in high school and it was very gratifying to see her work recognized. Congratulations Brianne!

Ian and Nicole's Wedding

Our friends, Dave and Kathryn's son got married this past weekend.

Although Steve wasn't the official photographer, I think he was dubbed the official paparazzi! He did take well over 300 photos!

Here's a small sampling of them:

Two Cards One Sketch

Tonight I created two cards based on CPS Sketch 121.

The first is a sympathy card. On this card I glimmermisted the chipboard heart in bronze and olive. The pansy paper is by My Minds Eye while the tree stamp is by Imaginisce. I added a bit of Stickles to the tree too. Oh and used a Spellbinders die to cut out the circle.



And the second is a congratulations card. For this card, I glittered a chipboard heart in Martha Feldapar and used some scraps of Prima paper as well as a Prima flower.



I did make both cards a different size and its fun to see the different looks you can give a card even when using them same sketch!

Dinner Outside!

We topped off a beautiful summer day with dinner outside.



It was so nice to sit out there and listen to the water from the fountain.



It was a very relaxing way to start to wind down the day.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!



Brianne found this cartoon and put it in the card she made for her Dad, I think almost every father would appreciate this! And Brittany made Steve a egg mcmuffin for breakfast complete with parsley garnish!

Lilac Festival at the Royal Botanical Gardens

A few weeks ago Steve and I did something I've wanted to do for years, go to the Lilac Festival at the Royal Botanical Gardens. So on a sunny Saturday afternoon we went. And I was not disappointed. Fragrant lilac trees covered the hillside in the Arboretum. Singles, doubles and Asian trees were all out in bloom and the fragrance lingered in the air. Some of my favourite shots are in the slide show below.

Then since were there we also went to the Laking Garden where the perennials, iris and peonies are. With our coolish spring most of the iris and peonies were not yet in bloom but we did get some shots shown below.

Hopefully we'll make it back there sometime this summer to tour the rose and rock gardens!

Use It! Challenge 15

I've been following and participating in Rae Barthel's Use It! blog since she started it a few months ago.

Her challenges encourage us to dehoard and use up those supplies!
So far in some of the prior challenges I've used eyelets I haven't used in a long while as well as a stitching template I bought then hadn't used!

Rae selects a challenge winner each week and last week I won! So this week I get to set the challenge! Ready?

1/Use patterned paper scraps you've had for more than 1 year!

2/Use chipboard - I used one of my many chipboard scroll pieces!

3/Use paint - I painted the chipboard.

4/Use a rub-on - I used some Daisy D's flowers rubbed on cardstock,then cut them out

5/Optional: Use foam dots - These are one of my favourite things to use right now,love the depth they provide.I used them to adhere the rub-on flowers to the card.


And here's my card!



I'd love for you all to play along, please link up your card on the Use It! blog here!

Use It Challenge 14

I finally had a chance to do Joanne's challenge at Use It. She challenged us to:
1. Use pink!
2. Add scallops!
3. Add a tag!
4. Enjoy the creative process as much as the finished card!

I decided to create a card to welcome Brittany home from her Quebec trip tomorrow night and pink is perfect for that. I matched it up with my favourite pink and green patterned papers then used two different Martha border punches to create scallops. I found a Melissa Frances tag that I adhered to cardstock(with the pink layer embossed) to create a larger tag then added some Amy Butler flowers by K and Company. A bit of ribbon completed the tag.

And I'm happy to say that I was selected as last week's Use It winner so look for my card challenge this Friday!

A Dad Card

I dug into my Amy Butler paper and chipboard for this card based on CPS Sketch 120. I edged the bottom of the blue dotted paper with a border punch and popped up the letter a. It still looked like it needed something so I stamped a couple of flourishes and adhered them with pop dots to frame 'DAD'.

A Chocolat Wedding!

This week's Be Inspired is to create a card based on a movie. Well, this got me thinking and thinking and thinking. Finally I settled on the movie Chocolat as the basis for the colour then combined that with My Best Friend's Wedding to come up with 'Chocolat Wedding'!



I used three different embossing folders(swirl, swiss dot and script) to create three cake layers then trimmed each with a chocolate border(looks darker than it is)using a Martha border punch. The top and second layers are popped up on foam for dimension.




I added some bling, a few flowers and completed it with a bit of ribbon.

And it will be the perfect card for a wedding that is coming up. I love it when challenges work out that way!