Stampin' Addicts 2012 Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop!

If you've arrived from Twila's Stamp a Little Longer blog, I hope you've enjoyed her lovely creations with the Sprinkled Expressions set as much as I did.  If you are lost, you can find your way on the Stampin' Addicts Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop Chat Thread  which includes the entire list of hop stops in order. Once you've perused my three projects, Lisa will be happy to have you on Add Ink and Stamp where she is featuring the Outlined Occasions set as well---bonus!

For my first card, I used the Congratulations stamp from Outlined Occasions to create a focal point that is highlighted by the new curved edgelit.  Stamped in Pacific Point with Old Olive and Melon Mambo to fill in, the Celebrate sentiment coordinates the different parts of this card. The Sale-A-Bration Kiwi brad is attached to the ribbon with a glue dot. (I cut off each end of the prongs and wrapped what was left around the ribbon.) I love these bright cheery colors with this set.

My second card is the Thanks card my church women's group sent to the troops with a box of cards.  I think it is fun with all the glisteny accents.  Silver Shimmer paper and the Cherry Cobbler glitter glue with the moonlight pearlized accent ink and three rhinestone bling make a clean and simple card shine.

Disclaimer: This card DID NOT go to Operation Write Home.  The recipients of this card are not out in the field receiving mail.  Please don't send glitter of any kind on a card to Operation Write Home because they can not control exactly who gets what card.  I didn't intend to mislead.

The next "card" uses MOJO225, the Mojo Monday sketch for this week, with the LOVE stamp.  I used the Sweet Shop designer series paper and some rhinestone bling.....

With the Peekaboo frames die. :) I really think a card with just the Love stamp and the double Peekaboo frame with the Be Mine sentiment behind it would be great for a class. I just thought of the squinkies and candy and had to try it.  I'll have a few extra pictures for you of how easy it is in my next post next week.

Thanks for visiting, and continue hopping to Lisa Youngs' Add Ink and Stamp Blog, won't you?  She has gorgeous 3D items and a super creative card!

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Sale-A-Brate! Good Times!

Stampin' Up!'s biggest promotion of the year has begun!

Sale-A-Bration

Jan 24 - Mar 31 All Day (Central)

For each $50 you spend, you'll earn a free item from the Sale-A-Bration brochure! Contact me if you'd like to host a workshop, book party or new Express One-Hour Workshop!  There are special hostess bonuses from Stampin' Up! when your party qualifies for benefits at $150 or at $400. 

If you sign up as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration, in addition to the lower $125 price, you'll receive a designer series paper ($10.95 falue) during each month you place an order in 2012!

Here's a Teabag Holder and M&M wrapper I made with the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper available for you to choose when you place a $50 order (before tax and shipping).

Click here for a fun explanatory Sale-A-Bration graphic from Stampin' Up! http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/control/pagePreview?distSiteUrl=http://rhondag.stampinup.net/

I learned so much during Leadership that I am ready to share with you all!

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Back from Stampin Up!'s Leadership Conference and San Antonio Regionals

Wowie, I had a great time seeing my Stampin' friends and Stampin' Addicts sisters while enjoying the sights and tastes of the lovely city of San Antonio last week.

More than that, I enjoyed some wonderful presentations aimed at increasing my enthusiasm and business creativity as well as things to increase my Stampin' creativity.  I hope you'll see a bit of evidence of that both here on my blog and in my local classes. :)

Also, we were asked to share one of our swap cardfronts with Stampin' Up! for the creativity clothesline (my phrase).  They had clothespins for our cards, and they were so fun to view that way.  There was also a card contest, and amazingly, I was one of the winners...Believe it?

See it right there in the middle row? The Kite Spinner you made at January technique class if you attended.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Here's a picture of my name on the list as proof...

Yes, I suppose I could have created a fake list and put my name on it, but surely with 1400 demonstrators and plenty of SU! staff, someone would have told me to knock it off, right? :) You'll just have to take my word for it I guess. Really, they ended up choosing a ~bunch~ of cards as winners, and it helped that I used an unusual set, but I was so pleased to receive the adorable Sweet Shop Designer Series Paper, stickers and brads from pages 32-35 of the Occasions Mini Catalog as the prize.
I'll continue to update this week with sights around San Antonio, fun cards and a new reward program for my awesome customers!  Thanks for checking in and Happy Sale-A-Bration!!!
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Food Friday- Save the Spaghetti!

Leftovers of things like spaghetti sauce, taco meat and chili need not be tossed just because it isn't enough for my husband's lunch the next day.  I just have a small labeled tupperware (or reused spreadable butter) container in the freezer and place the leftover in it immediately after dinner.  No more confusing random containers in the refrigerator that have to be thrown out because noone remembered to eat them!  After the container is full, I just use the frozen spaghetti sauce or taco meat the next time we want to eat it. 

When we have chili on our hotdogs we never eat it all, so there's a chili container in the freezer.  Another thing I noticed is that a recipe of Cranberry Catalina chicken (Boneless skinless chicken breasts with whole berry cranberry sauce, bottled Catalina dressing and Lipton dry French Onion soup) is enough for 8 chicken breasts, and I only need 4 (in truth 3, but my husband usually eats the other one for next day's lunch).  Half of the can of whole berry cranberry sauce goes into a labeled contained in the freezer for use another day.  Easy and both frugal and environmentally conscious. :)

Food Friday-Double the recipe and freeze one

One thing that saves a lot of time for me is to double the recipe when I make certain casseroles and put it in the freezer.  Because our family is a small family of four, I then divide the recipe into three portions.  When I serve lasagna for example, my family enjoys eating it once, but after the second time it is no longer welcome.  Creating three separate pans (8X8 aluminum pans covered with aluminum foil) of lasagna reduces the amount of leftovers significantly and insures that the last bite of lasagna is as fresh and yummy as the first (rather than refrozen after cooking or held a day in the fridge).

I use this technique with lasagna, tater tot casserole, mexican chicken casserole and mexican beef casserole.  I also divide one recipe of sweet potato casserole into two pans because unless you are expecting a lot of people, you just can't eat it all in two days.  It is wonderful to have something in the freezer in case you unexpectedly need to take food to a family in case of sickness or bereavement.

Next week: Reducing waste from chili, taco meat, spaghetti and cranberry sauce.

Food Friday-Back to Back leftover usage

It is common sense, and I should have already thought of it, but making the most of your purchases can be helpful in meal planning and in using up what you have on hand.  My online acquaintance Brie Clark mentioned back to back meal planning recently.

For example, if you know you want to have tacos on Tuesday, you'll need lettuce (usually shredded) and tomato.  You might try to have BLTs or another sandwich on either Monday or Wednesday to use up the produce.  This can apply if you are a small or large family. Large families usually buy a larger package at Sam's anyway right?

Another idea might be to roast a whole chicken on Monday and have it as the main dish. Your leftovers could then be used as topping for pizza, chicken with Alfredo sauce and pasta, chicken pot pie or a chicken soup (Mexican style, Minestrone or chicken with rice perhaps?) later in the week.

With a roast, you could eat it as is the first night. Then make beef burgundy with mushrooms and noodles the next night or have French Dip sandwiches.

Next week: Save time on time-consuming recipes.

Ghirardelli Holder...CASE of my friend Trina Caraway

I modified Trina's cutie pie Convention Roomie gifts to me for Valentine's Day by changing the color and adding a heart from the new Take It To Heart set and the Happy Valentine's Day from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  They are so sweet and quick. You could make a ton of these! :)

Stampin Addicts Technique Challenge 100

The Technique Challenge on SA today is to use several sizes of the Big Shot Framelits to create a project. It is very cute to have several different sizes stacked, but the hearts especially would look great on a vertical hanging heart banner. (On my to do list)  I think one would be cute on the front door. (You could also use L-O-V-E letters on it.)

My card has a folded card base under it that also went through the big shot scalloped heart framelit so it lies neatly glued under the layered top.

LOVE Bling?

We haven't used the mini scalloped envelope for class in a while, so I was excited to use it with this little bookmark tucked inside. You could put a variety of other things inside as well. This intensely colored card is lined in red (in case you're worried about writing on the inside) and has the new Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details on it with the Red Glimmer paper (which is a carryover item and happily, still available!). LOTS of bling and shine!

I saw the white embossed heart tag (though I used different ribbon, stamp, embossing folder and added bling) on Pinterest, and the only credit said "from etsy"-sorry whoever you are friend.

Send Me Soaring Spinner Card

This card is simple enough for classes, but it still provides a lot of fun! When we make this card next Thursday or  Friday, class attendees may choose to use the "Celebrate You!" or "Hope Everything Looks Up Soon!" sentiments instead if they'd rather and even change the kite design, but as shown it makes a sweet Valentine.  It isn't easy to resist rolling the pennies from side to side whatever your age.

The Whisper White background looks nice and crisp against the Wild Wasabi base and grassy hill (Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper). The Pool Party colored sky looks fresh with Real Red and Pretty in Pink as accents and with Whisper White craft ink clouds.  The spinner is SO easy to place on this card. (Punch the word window twice as far in as you can from the top. Then line up the 1/2 inch circle punch and punch as far in as you can from the sides-easy peasy!)  Everyone will be thrilled when things work out this easily!

Stampin' Addicts 2012 Occasions Mini Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Occasion Mini Blog Hop! We're displaying projects made with several of the great new Stampin' Up! dies, stamps and products available starting January 4th.  The mini catalog has a lot of different styles and fun new ideas!

If you've followed the hop in order, you arrived from Twila's Stamp a Little Longer blog and enjoyed her cutie pie creations with the PS I Love You set. Should you get lost or want to chat about the hop, join us on the Stampin' Addicts website chat thread here: http://www.stampinaddicts.com/forums/general-stampin-talk/8666-join-us-2011-occasions-mini-blog-hop.html

I'm using the Bordering on Romance set on page 11 of the Occasions mini.  It has coordinating Edgelits and Embossing edges too which will make for a lot of fun possibilities. My first card uses the MOJO Monday sketch MOJO221.  I like the set with these bright colors, and the new Doily Embosslit sets off the colored circle layers nicely.

The card has a hidden brad which hinges at the So Saffron colored layers.

This next card design is from a swap I received from Melissa Packer. She credited Leslie Miller.  Do you love the fun fold and great use for designer series paper? Pink Pirouette and Pretty in Pink with just a touch of Certainly Celery are so springy and reminded me of dogwood so that's the direction I went for coloring. Then, I couldn't help but add the pink mini bling from the Blossom Builders kit on page 18 to the center of the flowers. (I'll share measurements on Monday.)

On this third card, I used StazOn for a bold outline for the images instead of stamping with markers as I did on the previous cards. I was hoping for a weird retro textile look with this one, but I seem to have just managed weird. :)  My coloring channels cool first grader instead of the cool messy, outside the lines a little look, and my camera is giving me trouble too!  All together now....~imagine~ what I was attempting.... :)

Now you'll want to continue ahead to Cindy's Heart's Delight Cards blog see her gorgeous designs with the Mixed Bunch set.

Food Friday-31 days of meals (41 ideas!)

Planning what to eat when your day is devoted to stamping can be a challenge :), so I'm going to devote a few Friday posts to food planning ideas. 

Perhaps this post can help you think of something to do with whatever meat you have available that day. Jog your memory easily! Be sure to add a fish category if you like fish, and change the ideas for your family's likes.

Chicken
1. Chicken Tacos or Quesadillas
2. Chicken Tortilla Soup (either tomato-y, corn-y or creamy)
3. Herb Roasted Chicken with Potatoes and salad or veggie
4. Chicken Fetuccini Alfredo
5. Chicken Pot Pie/Dumplings
6. Hot Legs (Like hot wings, but I use legs. Our girls have Ritz cracker legs since hot is too hot for them.)
7. Cranberry Catalina Chicken Breasts
8. Lemon Poppyseed Chicken Breasts (with or without honey)
9. Orange Asian Chicken

Ground Beef

10. Stuffed pepper filling (The tomato and rice ground beef filling is yummy.)
11. Cheeseburgers
12. Tacos
13. Taco Soup
14. Spaghetti
15. Lasagna
16. Barbecue Meatballs
17. Chili
18. Tater Tot Casserole
19. Mexican Beef Casserole

Beef
20. Roast and Potatoes & Carrots
21. Beef tips Burgundy with mushrooms and noodles
22. French Dip  Sandwiches
23. Vegetable Soup
24. Steak & Baked Potato
25. Teriyaki Steak Kabobs

Pork
26. Ritz Cracker Pork Chops (Lately I've been slicing pork tenderloin for this)
27. Crock Pot Pork Chops and Rice
28. Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin
29. BLTs (or BLCheese)
30. Ham
31. Ham & Cheese or  Bacon & Cheese Quiche
32. Pulled Pork Barbecue sandwiches

Miscellaneous
33. Baked Potato Soup
34. French Onion Soup
35. Hot Dogs with or without chili
36. Loaded Baked Potatoes
37. Minestrone Soup

Frozen
38. Braum's Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes
39. Corn Dogs
40. Frozen Barber Farms chicken cordon bleu with salad and corn on the cob
41. Coconut Shrimp

Next week: Back to Back leftover usage

October, November and December

Wrapping up the year...I'll try to have some cards for you soon!

August and September

June and July

Father's Day in June, so Dad is the star of this one...

Not sure the Painted Desert is my idea of "the Beautiful" part of America, but it was worth seeing.

April and May

 I decided to skip March rather than make blurry faces. Their friends are smiling and looking at the camera in the birthday party pictures for March.

January, chow, chow, chow, chow, chow....February,

Does anyone else remember the commercial with the lady dancing with her cats?? I love my calendar cats...my sweet girls!

Busy wrapping presents this week, but I thought I'd post my 2012 MDS calendar pages this week.  These are a lot of fun for me to make, and the grandparents LOVE them. And I never noticed the word LOVE in the background of February's Sweet Pea dsp until I worked on this in MDS.

Dyer Sheet Technique Snowflakes

For class this month, I used More Mustard, Old Olive and Real Red for a classic color combination with the dryer sheet technique.  I had too many blue cards, so although it is unusual with snowflakes, it kept us from being bored. For the glitter, we used super fine gold glitter with the dazzling diamonds for a little extra sparkle. I think it is a great look and a combination of warm and icy looking for winter!

The new dazzling details glitter glue made the whisper white snowflake shine as the focal point of the card.

MOJO217 Valentine

We made this card at last night's technique class because a customer requested to learn Poppin' Pastels technique.  Our first Valentine used the sketch from the MOJO Monday blog.  I turned the sketch, and used a heart in place of the button. 

Stamped in Versamark on Very Vanilla cardstock the detailed images were fun to color in Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo and Certainly Celery chalks.