Cooking Classes?

In an attempt to get myself "out there", I've discovered a newly opened chef's store named Charleston Cooks. It is owned by Maverick Kitchens and offers cooking classes! Since becoming addicted to the reality shows, Master Chef and Hell's Kitchen, I've always thought of taking a couple of cooking classes for fun and to learn different techniques to make cooking more fun. Browsing around the internet this morning, I came across the Charleston Cooks website and class offering list. I found quite a few classes I would be interested in, though the price to take a class is a little pricey in my my opinion. But, I think I will go for it and sign up for a few classes anyway. I'm thinking it would be a great way to meet people and get some "adult time" in my busy, kid-filled life.

Maverick Kitchens : Charleston Cooks

My One Little Word...

I have decided to take Ali Edwards' class, One Little Word, from Big Picture Classes. I've been eyeing it for a few years now and attempted at it on my own last year, but I had no luck. I figured if I was prompted every month to work on it then I may have a better chance of accomplishment. My word for this year is "SIMPLE". There is so much confusion, chaos and craziness in everyday life that sometimes we need things to be more simple. That is why I chose this word. I want things in my life to be more simple.

Halloween's Printer Tray

I received this printer's tray and exclusive Halloween kit from Stampin' Up. It was only offered to new recruits and their uplines in the month of August. I decided to signup again as I still love to use SU products. Most likely, I'll be strictly a hobby demo although I do make cards for sale if anyone is interested. I'm getting ready to start my Christmas cards.

All of the products used in the tray were contained in a kit, which included the Stampin Up set Toxic Treats. The only supply I had to use was Old Olive and Basic Black inks. I put the kids school pictures in the frame. I plan on changing out the seasons so the tray can be re-used year 'round.

Flower Power Simply Sent

While I was going through my craft supplies, I found this old SU Simply Sent Elements kit I received as a demo a few years ago. It was stashed away in a hidden spot and I decided to make some cards with it. The stamp set that was supposed to be used was Wow Flowers, but I don't know what happened to that set or if I even had it at all. The good thing about having a lot of stamps is that you can always find a substitute stamp set that will work.

So for these three cards I used two SU sets - Made for You and the retired set Time Well Spent. The kit contained all the card stock and embellishments needed to make 3 cards of each design. I ran out of the white grosgrain from the kit, so I just used some that I had in my ribbon stash. (Gotta love the ribbon stash.) "Thank You" was stamped in Perfect Plum, "Especially for You" in Gumball Green and the "Good Thing" sentiment in Old Olive. All products SU unless otherwise noted.

Birthday Thank You's

My son's birthday was July 16 and I was in need of some Thank You cards. This is the first card I have made in a while - at least 3 months. The sketch is from Splitcoast Stampers SC39. I thought the layout was simple enough since the card is really from a child and that I like Clean and Simple cards.

I dug into my stash of retired stamp sets and found this one - Wild About You - which happens to be a set my son liked to use a lot. He doesn't stamp much anymore; he'd rather play with his Gameboy or surf the Internet.

The grid card stock is from amuse studio and the rest is all by Stampin Up. The sentiment is Studio G and the Tag Die is from Papertrey Ink. Twine came from my stash.

Dessert

We have been watching Master Chef every week and are getting into it a lot. Many times we see something being prepared and say "I want that now". This week, Josh came back for a second chance in the competition and earned a spot. He made the most stunning Fruit Tart. Yep, we all wanted a fruit tart so I made one yesterday. It came out perfect!

Paper Organizing

I've got two file crates with card stock arranged by color families from 2 different stamp companies. So, I've decided some purging and re-organizing is needed. If I can actually see the card stock then I may be able to choose the colors I want to use. Much better idea for my creative mojo.

CAS Online Class - Day2

This is my card for day 2 of the Clean & Simple Card Making class. The assignment was to create a one layer card. For this card, all products used are from amuse studio. I stamped the two large flowers from the stamp set Floral Duet in Bellini ink onto Sugar cardstock. I scored the cardstock first but did not fold. I masked the score line with post-it notes so that the flower image would have a crisp, clean look. "Thank You" is from the set Hand Scripted and was stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I love how this card came together. The design was created by Julie Erbsole.

CAS Online Class - Day 1

I am participating in the Clean & Simple CardMaking online class - Here - The class was held in January, but can be taken as an independent study. My day 1 card uses Bermuda cardstock and Ocean ink from amuse studio. The card was sized down a bit to make it more square than rectangular. Stamps used were a flower stamp from Studio G and a sentiment by Ali Edwards at Technique Tuesday. I used a post-it to mask the edges of the card and a white signo gel pen to give a little dimension in the blank area. I think this card would be easy to make in multiples and it keeps with the CAS style.

Some pages from my 2011 Project Life album

I am really excited about starting my 2012 Project Life album. Waiting for the pictures to arrive in the mail is nerve wracking. Before I start uploading pages from it, I thought I'd share a few pages from my 2011 PL album.
This first page has random photos of that week - asparagus on sale, autism awareness, glass of Sangria and some artwork Andrew made.

Above is a page showing off Disney Pin Trading

The first week of January 2011 was a huge snowstorm - by SC standards - the whole state practically shut down for 4 days.

My Leap Year Time Capsule

Since Leap Year only happens every 4 years I thought it would be neat to have a time capsule of sorts placed into my Project Life album. This Big Envelope page is from Becky Higgins and is perfect for holding all kinds of memorabilia. Inside the envelope I will put a few receipts, cost of living information, news headlines, stats on each one of us and some candid photos.

4 years from now we can look back in the PL album and read about what was going on in February of 2012.

I like this idea.....

I saw this on Pinterest today and it could be a great idea to store all those scraps I have lying around.

If I had the scraps sitting out I would remember to go for them before cutting into a new piece of cardstock. The original post about this fantastic idea can be found on the Paper Craft Connection blog.....HERE 

I hope I can get started on this project this week!

A Favorite Dessert...

I took the kids to Olive Garden last night. Even though it was crazy busy we had a nice time and Andrew behaved so well. I couldn't leave without having the Tiramisu-it'sbone of my favorites.

New year, new look

It's kind of late, but one of my New Year's Resolutions is to keep my blog current. So there may be some posts of old stuff along with new stuff. Birds are not my favorite, but I thought this template would be cute on my blog.

Card Creations...

I submitted a few cards to a|muse studio Consultant Showcase at the National Convention in New Orleans this coming January. So excited that I am going to be able to go for the weekend. All of the cards I made use a|muse studio products.

Ooops a whole month?

Guess I've been neglecting my blog again. A whole month in between posts is not a good thing. So hopefully, now that school has started back up I will get back into blogging regularly. At least, that is my goal.

Rocket Thank You

This is the very first image from a*muse studio that I've inked up. The rocket was included in my Starter Samplers, but it's also in the Quick and Easy Valentine stamp set. I needed some thank you cards for Andrew's birthday and I thought this was a fun image to use.
All of the cardstock is from Stampin' Up, which I need to use so I can buy new from a*muse studio. I stamped a large circle on the blue base card in a*muse studio Sky ink. The rocket was stamped with Momento Black on white cardstock. I colored the rocket with Copic markers and cut it out and mounted it with 3D dimensional. The red crystals are from Swvorski.

Busy Weekend

We had guests over Saturday night for dinner. Because of the heat, our BBQ was inside, instead of outside. Our friends had a very nice time and it was so good to be around adults for once, LOL. I can only take so much kid talk. I've been working on some pinwheel cards, which I've seen in some galleries on SCS. They were much easier than I thought. Hopefully tomorrow my a*muse studio starter kit will arrive. I've been waiting for it an entire week, ugh! It's going to be fun to play with all the new stuff.

Practicing...

While I eagerly wait for my a*muse studio starter kit, I have been practicing coloring with my Copic markers. Copics are very hot right now as a coloring medium in all varieties of paper crafts. a*muse studio carries a large selection of these alcohol-based markers. My coloring technique is improving, but practice is always a good thing. I may take a class on Copics, but in the mean time I'm going to find tutorials on line.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Today Andrew turned 10 years old. Welcome to double-digits kiddo. To celebrate, we had a nice dinner at Olive Garden, which he talked about all week. With the exception of many visits to the bathroom by Andrew, we all had a nice time. My baby isn't so little anymore.