2010 Jack-O-Lanterns

Happy Halloween!

We were inspired by some images we found on google to create these jack-o-lanterns:




Aren't they fun?

Black, White and Red All Over

Hi all!

I hope you're having a terrific Saturday!

A friend and I spent a lovely evening creating at home last night and I made a card for this week's one layer challenge to use red,white and black.



I used my new PTI stamp set Merry Little Christmas and my card is almost a direct lift of one of the designer's cards. So although I can't take credit for the design I still really like it and the colour combo!

Thanks for stopping by.

Fresh Mozzarella with Tomatoes

Last weekend when I prepared my scary lasagna I also made this tomato mozzarella salad.



It is very similar to my favourite caprese type salads and I would make it again. I copied the recipe from a cookbook years ago and am not sure what book it came from now.

Here's the recipe:

3/4lb fresh mozzarella, I used one container mini bocconcini
1lb cherry tomatoes, I used 2 containers
1/4 cup thinlky sliced sun-dried tomatoes(optional and I didn't have any)
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil or chopped parsley(I used a fresh parsley and dried basil combo)
2 T toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds

Dressing:
2 T red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic,minced
salt
1/2 cup olive oil

Cut cheese into 1 inch cubes. I also cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Combine cheese, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and nuts. Mix together vinegar, pepper,garlic, and salt to taste, whisk in oil. Pour over salad and toss to coat well.

Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Red Wagon # 52 - Halloween!

This week Little Red Wagon is getting spooky with a Halloween theme!

And I was inspired by a site I've recently found called Whipperberry to create an embellished pumpkin.

So I dug into my wagon for some ribbon, ric rac and bling, added some paper flowers and here it is:



Please get spooky and join us over at Little Red Wagon this week. We love to see what you make! Be sure to stop by and see all the other terrific creations too!

Halloween Table

We had friends over for dinner this past Sunday and I thought it would be fun to set the table in a halloweeen theme.

I used the Witch Hazel cookie jar my Mom gave me for my birthday as the centrepiece(except its full of candy not cookies!)then gathered up other bits and pieces of halloween stuff I had around.



The tapers I think my Mom also gave me years ago and I had some halloween confetti too.



And I had exactly the right number of wicker pumpkins that I filled with candy and used as table favours!



I did try a couple new recipes too, one was a lasagna and the other a crock pot chocolate cake. I think they both ended up tasting a little 'scary', suitable to the halloween theme but I will not be sharing them here, just too 'ghoulish'! I crack myself up lol!

October 2010 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Hi all!

I wasn't able to participate in last month's blog hop but did create a card for this month's hop! We were to create something to celebrate winter holidays other than Christmas.

So using PTI's fillable frames 4 stamp and die along with enchanted evening ink, I created a Happy New Year card:



Thanks for looking!

With Sympathy - OLW24

I finally had a chance to complete a card for the most recent one layer challenge.

And it was an interesting one, we were to use two of the following; birds, bees, flowers, trees plus a sentiment. I looked through my stamps and found one that has a bird on a tree branch so hopefully that qualifies!



Thanks for stopping by!

Bellarific Friday

Well I'm on a roll here, this is three weeks in a row that I've made a card for Bellarific Fridays over at Bloggabella!

This week we were to follow a sketch so I used it to create this birthday card for my Mom:



Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Friday!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Little Red Wagon Challenge # 51 - Hearts

The weeks just seem to fly by! I can't believe its time for another Little Red Wagon challenge! This week Deanna set us the challenge of using hearts.

I've been wanting to make a banner for my scrap space for awhile and decided to make it using hearts:




The hearts create the base to which I added fan flowers and glittered chipboard letters. A bit of ribbon to tie it all together and voila!



Please join us over at Little Red Wagon this week and show us your creations. We love to see what you make! Be sure to stop by and see all the other terrific creations too!

Quick Pumpkin Muffins

This is a quick relatively calorie-wise pumpkin muffin.

Here's the recipe:
1 18 oz spice cake mix
1 14 to 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 cup water

Mix all ingredients, bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes 24 very moist muffins.

Calories:97 Carb:17 gr Fiber:.5gr Sodium:140ml Fat:3 gr

One Layer Challenge 24 - Non-Traditional Holiday Colours

Hi there!

Thought I'd pop in quickly with my card for this week's one layer challenge. Jen of Styles Ink is hosting the challenge this week and suggested we create a holiday card with a non-traditional colour as the background, no white,cream, red or green.

I decided to use pink stamped with avocado green accented with pink buttons and a bit of bling!



I'm pretty happy with it!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Saturday!

Bellarific Friday - Kettos

Yea its Friday!

And I managed to create a card again this week for Bellarific Fridays at Stamping Bella. This week we were to use a Ketto stamp, here's mine:




I'm not happy with the blue background shading but oh well it is what it is.

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Red Wagon Challenge # 50 - Something Old/Something New

Its time for another Little Red Wagon challenge! This week it is my turn to set the challenge and I challenge you to use something old and something new on your creation.

I decided to decorate a relatively new birdhouse(inspired by Regan's birdhouse from this spring) with paper I've had for ages and vintage trim:



I also used older flowers and the first border punch I ever purchased, threading water.



Please join us over at Little Red Wagon this week and show us your creations. We love to see what you make! Be sure to stop by and see all the other terrific creations too!

One Layer Challenge 23 - Heavy Metal

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!

I'm back today with another one layer card, this week using something metallic.



This was a very quick card to make, a bit of dry embossing with the gold embossed sentiment finished with a gold rosette.

Love these challenges over at Simplicity!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

We are well into fall and celebrating thanksgiving here in Canada but some of our flowers still make me think of summer.

Here's our french rose still blooming.

The nasturiams look pretty happy!


As do the fushia and begonia.

The impatiens are still blooming although the leaves are starting to go.

Oh, it is fall! Look at the colour on this maple tree.

And of course if Uncle Hans cookies are available it must be Oktoberfest too!

Hope your weekend is 'wunderbar'!

Value Village Finds!

On a whim I popped into Value Village yesterday and left with some awesome finds. A Williams Sonoma cookbook for $4, a Mikasa vase that matches some plates I already have for $6 and something in the photo below:



Did you guess? It is the plates! I thought they would be perfect for our thanksgiving dinner.



The smaller top plate pattern is The Old Mill by Johnson Bros. I looked up some history on these plates and was able to find that Johnson Brothers produced several variations of The Old Mill, blue, pink, green, brown, purple and multi-colored. It was produced from 1952 to 1977. In 1977 all molds, stencils, and records were destroyed. That was Johnson Brothers policy perhaps to avoid falling into the wrong hands and being duplicated by a competitor.

The four plates I found are multi-coloured and show a bit of age but were $3 each!

Then I also found these plates, a perfect compliment to the smaller ones:



These are by Myott Staffordshire and are called Coaching Days. They were discontinued in 1967. I got four of them at $2 each!

And also while I was there I spied a Royal Albert set but wasn't sure about it. I came home, looked it up online then decided to go back and look at it again.

Although it was pretty dirty, there were no chips so I decided to go for it!

Here it is freshly washed:



This pattern is Royal Albert Centennial Rose from the "Centennial Rose Series". It has reddish pink roses in bouquets with a gold rim all around. The cup shape is Montrose. It was produced from 1966 to 1981.




I was able to buy the teapot, cream and sugar, and four teacups for less than a quarter to an eighth of the cost I found online!

I will be stopping by Value Village again soon!

Fall Ella

Well its been awhile but I created a card for this week's Bella challenge to create a fall card.

I coloured Ella Lollipop in colours inspired by the autumn paper by Making Memories:




Can you tell I added a bit of pencil to the image as well? Gotta practice those new colouring techniques!

Thanks for stopping by!