Christmas Cards Set 1

 

Hey crafty friends. Time is going light speed these days even though the new way of life has most of us home most of the time. Why it that? I know when I worked full time as a high school teacher it seemed I was always going 100 miles an hour and thought I had everything in control--LOL 

Then when I went on full time disability I learned a few things pretty quickly. First is that even though I thought I was getting it all done, I wasn't. There were just lots of things that weren't getting done! The second thing I learned was that being home all the time and having more free time means more time to take on more responsibility at home--groceries, cleaning, phone calls!

The 25 Days of Christmas Tags is coming up in less than a week and that means November is going to be a busy month. So I am trying to get my Christmas card made. I am working on making at least four of the same card at a time. 

Today I have the first batch of four cards I made with the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Greetings Mix 1 set. There are so many options in this set, last year I used the same image as tags!

As I write this post I am looking out my craftroom window at the last of the season in my rose garden. One of my rose bushes has 6 buds that have been trying to open for a couple weeks now. As I write this post we are seeing our first snow flurry of the season. It isn't unusual this time of the year to go outside and see a tiny bit of snow on my roses. However, I  think we have seen the end of the warm temperatures so these blooms are now going to be encapsulated in time. Even surrounded by nature that has already had it's fall there is something beautiful about roses in the snow!

VIDEO

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Peace on Earth

I am up on the Studio Katia blog today sharing two elegant and easy to recreate Christmas cards that would be easy to mass product for the holidays.

I used one stencil and got two completely different looks. I blended Distress Oxide inks for both backgrounds, used the same stencil but ended up with two very different looks. 

Head over to the Studio Katia blog for more photos and to see what I did to create these two cards. What products and techniques did I use?

Thank you so much for stopping in today and we'll see you next time!

Rainbow Joy Snowflake

 

Happy Friday!

I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog showcasing some brand new dies. I'm also sharing some tips on how I ink blended over die cuts with precision by doing some simple masking. I hope you have a chance to pop over and say hello.

I ink blended with Distress Oxide inks by carefully masking off each section of the snowflake.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Boo-day

Happy Friday!

I am up on the Studio Katia blog today with a Slimline Halloween Birthday card?
It is so fun to create birthday cards with a Halloween theme for friends and family who have a birthday near the spooky holiday.

 All of the details and are over on my post on the Studio Katia blog!

It is Thanksgiving here in Canada this weekend, it's looking a bit different this year.

Thank you for stopping in today, have a good weekend and stay safe!

Light Houses

 

It's the last day of the month and that means it's time for the 12 Kit of Occasions!

This month Kim Heggins, Cupcakes, Cards & Kim, is our hostess and she created a fabulous kit with a theme we have never featured before--Light Houses! She sent the most darling die cut images to play with, adorable papers from the Doodlebug Design Anchors Aweigh collection and some punny sentiments too. So lets get started with what you came to see here today...

Here is a look at them all together!

Thank you Kim, this was such a fun kit to create with and gave us a chance to create one more time for summer!

Please make sure to head over to the 12 Kit of Occasions blog if you haven't been already and see what the rest of my teammates have created with the September kit and also to see the complete contents of the kit!

Just One Layer

 I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today. 

I used just one die from the newly released Autumn Breeze Plate layers set. The entire front of my card was ink blended with Distress Oxide inks which brought out all the gorgeous details from the die. 

All of the inks listed below were used in different variations to get these rich vibrant fall colours! 

Red gold metallic watercolours were splattered over the panel before it was adhered to a card front matted with gold polished foil paper.

The sentiment is from the Pumpkin Lacework stamp set, gold embossed on dark brown cardstock.

Looking at colours like these makes it easier to accept that summer have come to an end and sweater weather is here!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Cabbage Rolls

 Hi there, a bit of a departure today from cards.

Autumn is definitely here, like I said before the summer switch turned off overnight and fall set in.

These tress were 100% green yesterday, I have a feeling they are going to turn fast. I wouldn't be surprised to see them all down in a couple weeks before the Canadian Thanksgiving--lol!

I had quite a few requests for a recipe for the Cabbage Rolls I posted the other day. The recipe was my grandmother's. In Slovenian she was my Stara Mama and she always called me Teresi, I think she wished my name was Teresa! LOL She was an amazing cook!

The recipe was never written down, my mom just taught me how to make them. So I wrote down how they are made and I'm sharing today.

CABBAGE ROLLS

1 large cabbage
2 pounds ground pork
1 1/2 cups uncooked converted rice
1 large sweet onion, chopped 
1 - 2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jar sauerkraut
1 large can of tomato juice  
Salt
Pepper

1. Wash cabbage and cut out just the core of the cabbage about a half inch deep
2. Put cabbage in a large pot core down in a couple inches of water. Bring to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes. 
3. Using tongs loosen the leaves from the cabbage one layer at a time. Set aside. Keep leaves that are ripped and cut up to use as bedding for your cabbage rolls. 
4. Par boil rice, drain and set aside to cool. 
5. Set up your casserole dishes by putting some of the steamed cabbage and a bit of sauerkraut on the bottom of the dish. 
6. Put meat, onion, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cooled rice and combine well. 
7. Add one scoop at a time of the mixture into the cabbage leaf right close then the core roll forward tucking in the edges so there are no holes and roll up. Lay into casserole dish. 
8. Top the cabbage rolls with the remaining sauerkraut and any extra steamed cabbage pieces. 
9. Mix 1 cup of tomato juice with a 1/4 of water and pour over the cabbage rolls. 
10. Seal the casserole with foil. Bake in a 350 F over for one hour checking every 10 minutes after the first half hour. Enjoy!

The cooked cabbage rolls freeze very well up to a year if sealed well. I personally like them better the day after or when I defrost them and reheat. Put in a casserole dish over a bed of sauerkraut or a bit of tomato sauce or juice for moisture, and reheat for 30-40 minutes.