Nikki Sivils/The Twinery Cross Promo &Giveaway

So much fun to get to play with other manufacturers' products! Nikki Sivils has a line-up of cross promos going on this year. Our first one is with The Twinery . . . gorgeous colors and quality-twine to use on our projects. Read to the bottom for the giveaway info.

I've made a couple of different projects with the twine, but this card is what I submitted for the cross-promo highlights:

I cut out the hearts from the Audrey collection cut-ups sheet and then stitched around them with coordinating Twinery twine. Then I stitched around the sentiment as well. I love the extra pop that the twine gives to the card.

Be sure to check out the Nikki Sivils blog and The Twinery blog today and tomorrow for more fun NS/Twinery projects. PLUS, there is a givewaway on each blog so leave a comment on each one and maybe you could win a new Nikki Sivils collection or some awesome Twinery. :)

Let's play ball!

Little League season is upon us. The girls began practices a month ago. They both had their first games last night. I dropped M off at her field at 4:40, then drove Lina to her game in Sammamish. The three boys were with me. DH went to M's game at 5:30.

Lina ready to bat.

DH and I were texting during the games, giving updates to each other. Lina struck out, walked, and then hit a pop fly to the first baseman (who caught the ball). She played center field, getting the first ball hit in the game. She threw it to first but the runner beat her throw. Her team, the Bandits, lost 11-5. But not a bad showing for their season opener. (I actually didn't get to watch too much of the game since I was chasing Merek around the park, who managed to poke himself in the eye with a stick, fall into a dirt pile, and go to the bathroom twice).

M had two hits and two RBI's. She played center as well. Her team, the Diamonds, won 11-10! It sounds like it was a good game.

M's next game is Wednesday. Lina's is Thurdsay. Next week is Spring Break--no games. Then the older boys start their baseball practices the week after.

This is my crazy-busy season. It's taken a few years to get used to the schedule but I feel a little bit less stressed going into this year's season than in years past.

I'm thinking that I might need to employ a babysitter for some of the games so I can actually go and watch the game and cheer the kids on.  (And some days, I may just pray for rain so games are cancelled). Ha!

Run to Become

Saturday our church had a 5k Run to Become for the young women in the area (ages 12-18). I went with Miranda, planning to cheer her on and walk the course.

Mind you, I have not exercised to much extent over the past year. But that's another post in and of itself. The girls and leaders lined up at the start . . . and I started jogging. Slowly, but it was a jog.

And I jogged the entire course. A 5k course. Three point one miles!

Miranda did great! She ran with Libby the whole way. As I entered the gate to the park on my way to the finish, the volunteers manning the entrance said, "Wow! Miranda flew through here. She is a runner!"  I know this was a good experience for Miranda. She hasn't been running much since cross-country last fall. But she still finished the course in about 25 minutes. So proud of her!

The whole purpose of the Run to Become was to help the girls see what they can do. If they have obstacles in their lives, they can set goals and work on overcoming those obstacles, becoming the person they want to be.

It was an amazing experience for me. I cannot believe I was able to jog that entire course and sprint to the end. I encouraged and cheered on the girls throughout the race as I passed them or they were passing me on their way to the finish. So much fun! It inspired me to continue jogging, to overcome my sadness of losing my best friend (who was my walking/running partner).

I feel like so much of the past year and a half has been a fog . . . like I've been just going and going, never quite finding my way. Trying to see my destination, but not knowing what that destination was. Saturday afternoon the girls and their moms gathered together for a dinner and broadcast with church leaders sharing their thoughts and feelings with us. One thing that really stood out for me, was Thomas S. Monson saying, "Life by the yard is hard. Life by the inch is a cinch." One day at a time. Doing our best that day to be who we want to be.

Saturday night DH and I were able to go see the Hunger Games. A quote from that movie seems pertinent to this post: "One emotion is stronger than fear . . . and that is HOPE."

I HOPE to become a better ME.

Together is the best place to be . . .

I am thankful for my parents.

They are amazing people.

I've been wanting to scrap this photo since Thanksgiving.

 The sticker title was perfect to use with the photo. I used a sketch by Jana Eubank, along with the Noel Mignon Homespun kit.

Have a great weekend! Ours will be busy, but that's ok.
It's how life rolls for us in the spring. :)

Ready for the Rodeo . . .

Here is one last layout that I completed with the February Hip Kit.

I LOVE the simplicity of this page.

 I used my triangle pennant and star punches to make the banner. Added in some stitching to hold the banner together.

This kit has several different alphas. Mixing them together makes for a fun title :)

Hope you are having a great week. Our first day of spring included rain, snow, and hail. But today we had sunshine, so that was nice. Meals are moving along well. The chicken and corn chowder was a hit (and there are leftovers for Thursday dinner so I'm making Farmer's Casserole for breakfast). The big boys liked the meatloaf. It's nice to have some more recipes in our book of favorites :)

Slow Ham, Gouda, and Potato Bake Recipe

I had requests for this recipe, so here you go:

Slow Ham, Gouda, and Potato Bake

4 cups frozen diced hash brown potatoes
1/2 lb. cooked ham, chopped
3/4 c. chopped red sweet pepper (1 medium)
1/2 c. chopped onion (1 medium)
1-1/2 c. shredded Gouda cheese (6 ounces)
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1  10.75-ounce can condensed cream of potato soup
1/2 c. milk
1/8 t. ground black pepper
8 English muffins, split and toasted

1. In a 3-1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker, combine potatoes, ham, sweet pepper, onion, and cheese. Toss together to combine. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, soup, milk, and pepper. Pour over potato mixture in cooker.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 7 hours. To serve, spoon potato mixture over English muffin halves. Makes 8 servings.

(I got this recipe from the Better Homes and Garden Ultimate Slow Cooker 2008 Recipe book).

On the menu for this week:

Monday: Roasted chicken, with sauteed chard on the side (a huge thanks to DH for giving me step-by-step instructions on roasting a chicken. yes, I'm that bad of a cook).
Tuesday: Chicken & Corn Chowder
Wednesday: Branding Day Meatloaf (not sure I like the name of this)
Thursday: Farmer's Casserole
Friday: Susannah's Beans and Rice

Have a good day :)

Sketch Challenge!

I wanted to share a layout with you today using the February Hip Kit and a sketch from Jillibean Soup.

Over on the Hip Blog there is a sketch contest going on right now . . . ANYONE can enter. You don't have to use a Hip kit. And the winner receives a FREE Hip kit! How cool is that?

Here is the sketch:

Be sure to check it out and give it a try. Layouts are due by Tuesday night. You may be the LUCKY one :)

Have a FUN day!

St. Patrick's Day

Hi :) It's St. Patrick's Day . . . and it's snowing here! This morning M and I went to help out at the local 5K St. Patty's Day run. Brave souls to run in this weather. I stayed warm and cozy inside the Irish Pub helping with registration.
I decided to use these photos from last year's holiday on a layout. I love the 3-up photo arrangement and the large amount of journaling space I added to the layout. It gave me a chance to tell a fun story about my kids.

Have a lucky day!

St. Patrick's Day cards and some kits . . .

Be sure to check out the Northridge Publishing CREATE blog today.
Twenty-one awesome St. Patrick's Day cards, including this one I sent in:

Here is another fun card that I made last year:

Also wanted to share with you today the new March Hip Kit that will start shipping out next week:

It is perfect for spring photos and Easter projects. Can't wait to play with it! Oh, and check out the fun embellishment kit:



And if you want some MORE cute spring product, be sure to snag one of Nikki's "Spring Fling" offers. It is a steal of a deal! These are just some of the papers you will get:

Goodness, and looky here . . . I won a $10 gift certificate to Elle's Studio for my Biophysics LO that used their sketch from last week. Whoo Hoo--love Elle's stuff!

Ok, I'm off to start up the crock pot for our Slow-Ham-Gouda-and-Potato-Bake dinner. Have a great day!

Menues and Mojo . . .

Last week I did a great job setting out our dinner menu for the week. I loved being that organized. And I found that it (sort of) spilled over to other tasks around the house. I felt like such a good homemaker.

And then this week, disaster. No menu. Laundry piles. Cluttered counters. I've seen a quote that says something about it's ok for your house to be messy because it shows that it's lived in. Well, that's a really nice thought . . . but I would prefer to have my house somewhat clean and organized.

I've been purging my magazines that have piled up over the past few years and recycled over 100 magazines. I took a huge shopping bag full of clothes to the Goodwill trailor. I cleaned up a corner of my scrap area with a giveaway pile. And yet, it still seems like we have SO. MUCH. STUFF.

I feel a little bit like the snow that is currently falling outside my windows. Yesterday it snowed all day but nothing stuck. Today, it is snowing hard but the wind is blowing and no snow is sticking to the ground. I feel like that in a way because I keep going and going but there's nothing to show for it. Oh, I'm not sad or anything, just telling you how I feel.

Ok, on to something more fun . . . the Hip 2-b Square Design Team was asked to use this Mojo Monday card sketch for one of our cards with the February kit.

I flipped the sketch vertically and came up with this card. Some Mr. Huey mist was used on my canvas butterfly. I made the little banner to house the "dream" sentiment.

There is a fun tutorial today over on the Hip blog on how to stamp and alter the canvas butterflies.

So, back to the menu discussion . . . this morning at Merek's swim lesson I browsed through some magazines and wrote down a grocery list for four recipes to finish off our week. Then we stopped at the grocery store to pick up the items. I'm feeling better about our dinners for the rest of the week. Here is what we (well, the kids) are having:

Wednesday: Oven Baked Panko-crusted shrimp and Spring Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

Thursday: Slow Ham, Gouda, and Potato Bake (slow cooker recipe)

Friday: Chicken-asparagus Stir Fry and Brown Rice

Saturday: BBQ Chicken Pizza

One more thing, do you have any fun plans for St. Patrick's Day on Saturday? I'd love to hear your ideas and recipes :)



In the Biophysics Lab . . .

A few weeks ago my niece, Desiree, posted a picture of herself on Facebook. I knew I had to put a layout together with it. She is so cute and so smart! I used the Noel Mignon Homespun kit along with this week's sketch over at Elle's Studio.

This was a really fun layout--just for fun!--to put together. I loved the colors of the kit and how they matched with the photo so well. All the little embellishments . . . total playtime for me :)

Hope you are having a great week so far. This daylight savings change has been challenging to adjust to, but I love the light later in the day.

A quartet of cards . . .

Here are four cards that I made with the February Hip Kit. I love the many alphas available in this kit! And this ruler paper . . . a favorite!


Actually, this first card has a happy mistake. I trimmed the ruler paper first and matted it on the star paper. But then I realized it wasn't quite wide enough for my card base. So I simply trimmed another ruler from the ruler sheet and added it on the seam side of the card.

The "Congrats" sentiment is on blue cardstock then matted on another ruler frome the paper. I attached the brad to one of the October Afternoon chip board buttons. The little flap at the bottom of the card was trimmed off the SMASH pocket that is under the sentiment strip.


This next card might just be my favorite of the bunch. As soon as I saw the "Special Today" chipboard piece, I thought of adding YOU to it. I added the brad to the center of the "o" for a special effect. Rounding the corners of the card and outlining the YOU letters finishes it off nicely.

Ok, maybe I lied. This might be my favorite card. :-) Just because it has butterflies.

I punched out the butterflies from patterned paper then stitched them to the canvas butterfly.

And see those cute Lily Bee letters? Perfect size for cards! And there are so many of them on one sheet!

My last card is a baby card. It seems I'm always in need of a card for a new arrival. So having baby cards on hand is, well, handy. :) The cute little bear chipboard piece layered on top of the blue doily chipboard . . . and then the bear holding the little flower . . . such a welcome for a new little one. As I was putting this card together I realized how much of the October Afternoon chipboard I had been using on my projects. Guess I like it!

For the banner on top, I simply cut the design out of the tag strip at the bottom of the Echo Park sheet and then stitched to the top of the paper, lining up the points with the paper underneath. A subtle way to add more dimension.

Have a great weekend!

Hunger Games

 So . . . have you read this book?

Me? 5 times. 4 in the last year. Really trying to wrap my head around the story. Get "my" characters in my head.

The movie premieres later this month. I haven't watched any trailers for it yet. Because I don't want the movie characters in my head. I want "my" characters. Does that make sense?

DH laughs at me.

But he made up for it. His work is having a special premiere on Thursday the 22nd. No guests. He declined the invitation because he knew I would want to see it together.

Love him.

So, are you going to the movie? Are you excited about it?

Intro up at Nikki Sivils . . .

My blog post of new projects is up at Nikki Sivils today. I'd love for you to go check it out and leave a comment for me there :)

And because I appreciate you for stopping by here, I'll share with you a project and a peek, too.

I chuckled when Katrina mentioned that Nikki's fans may see some 2-page layouts from me--because the first layout I did with the collections was a 2-pager!

This is a peek of my layout about Krish's jokes he shared with us a few years ago.

Both of these layouts are with the Messages collection.

Remember the Vietnamese chicken noodle soup and Middle Eastern stuffed peppers I mentioned Monday? Well, the chicken noodle soup went over well. The stuffed peppers, not so much. Today we are trying Beef Taco skillet. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one!

I've actually been feeling quite domestic lately in the cooking department. Not only did I make the above meals, but I put together a double-batch of Breakfast Egg burritos on Tuesday. One batch to take to a friend on bedrest for dinner, the other batch for this morning's breakfast. And, on Monday night I make some granola that the kids ate for breakfast yesterday (which was AWESOME because we woke up to SNOW and had a 2-hour delay! LOVE!).

Tonight I'm taking dinner to another friend (Krish's 1st grade teacher) who had a baby a few weeks ago and is still on the mend. She's getting Baked Ziti and I think I'll take her some chicken enchiladas to have in the freezer for another meal.

I think I've cooked more in the past 3 days than I did the whole month of February! And I kind of like it . . . watch out!

Have a GREAT day :)

Banners, Banners, Everywhere!

Today I have a tutorial up on the Hip Blog. You can check it out there or read through it here :)

It's no secret that I love to include banners on my projects :) Banners have been such a popular element in papercrafting for the past few years . . . and I think they will stick around for awhile.

Here are two layouts that I used banners on. For this first layout, I first placed the October Afternoon letter stickers on the pattern paper then trimmed around them, leaving an extra long length at the bottom. Then I snipped triangles out of the bottom of each rectangle for a pennant shape.

You can also use the corner of a square punch to cut out the notch in the bottom of the shape.

On this layout, I cut out triangles from the star pattern paper and then matted them for extra dimension. Adding the buttons between each triangle makes it look like they are connecting the banner together.

One of my favorite ways to enhance a banner is to stitch along the top.

Sometimes the embellishments aren't "stitchable", so I use a little liquid adhesive and add twine instead.

Hope you have fun adding banners to your projects!

Melanie

Something or other . . .

Last night I had composed this awesome blog post in my head. And now I cannot remember what it was all about! Yikes!

How was your weekend?

Our Saturday was crazy-busy--school projects, camp meetings, bridal shower, pinewood derby, babysitting. So it was really nice to have Sunday to attend church and then come home to relax.

This morning Merek had swimming lessons. He loves it! Which is a total change from last Monday when he would not get in the pool at all. Wednesday he finally got in about 10 minutes into the lesson because I bribed him with a treat afterwards.  Today he just sat right down on the edge of the pool and hopped in when the instructor told them to. He even jumped into her at the end and went underwater! Hoping he becomes a little fish. Because at this age none of our other kids were.

While we were at swimming I figured out our menu for the week (well, technically the kids' dinner menues since both DH and I are on diets). Here's the list:

Monday--Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
Tuesday--Middle Eastern Stuffed Peppers
Wednesday--Beef Taco skillet dinner
Thursday and Friday will be leftovers, or chicken and rice if there aren't enough leftovers.

It makes it so much easier if I have the menu planned out.

Have a great rest of the day! :)

Birthday Cards

I made this set of birthday cards with Momenta products.

I inked the edges of the balloon pattern paper then matted it on the green stripe paper. Some Jillibean Soup corrugated shapes were in a basket on my desk, so I backed them with blue cardstock from a Momenta 5x7 stack. The dimensional stickers are awesome! They have a really nice feel to them and give just the right amount of texture to the cards.

For this set, I used the pink embossed cardstock from the 5x7 stack and paired it with the candle pattern paper. Again, the corrugated shapes added the perfect layered base for the bithday stickers. I stitched along the top of each card, added a piece of blue ribbon, and some SRM stickers to complete the set.

This set brought out a few more things from my stash--the flowers and brads :)  I matted the diagonal striped paper and marigold cardstock on the light blue paper, then stitched around the edges. The sentiment stickers fit perfectly to create the border between the diagonal stripes and the cardstock.

And this last set came together with the scraps of cardstock from the other cards. I zigzag stitched around the yellow confetti paper, then layered the stickers on the cardstock. For a finishing touch, I added the SRM sentiment and border stickers. And a few gems :)

All of these cards are on their way to, Kim, who won my giveaway and chose a set of cards. Enjoy, Kim!


Momenta Products
PA-1123 Vibrant 5x7 Txt Cardstock
ST-2490 Bir Emb PFY Mess Stkr
PA-2386 LPA Pyramid Pad

V.I.C. layout--February Hip Kit

The February Hip 2-b Square kit is packed with great papers and embellishments.

Main Kit

Embellishment Add-on

This layout about my daughter came together easily with the February kit. I drew from her personality to pick out feminine papers and accents for the page.

The embellishments in each kit really help add a finishing touch--the twine, the brads, the chipboard. I like using the tag strips that some of the patterned papers have for an additional pattern on the page, too. To help the V.I.C. letters stand out, I matted them on them pink cardstock.

The original certificate was 8-1/2x11 so I scanned it, then printed it out on 4x6 photo paper. But I still had the small slip of paper that was the original submission for her award and wanted to include that on the page. So I made a pocket for it. I stitched the top of the pink cardstock, then added adhesive to the left side and bottom of the cardstock, giving space to slide the paper in the pocket.

Have a great day! :)