Planes Trains and Automobiles - TP - mini album

Yup - you read that right! This album is made from up-cycled toilet paper rolls!  These rolls are perfect to create little pockets for tags and just the right size for wallet sized photos.  

Planes Trains and Automobiles - perfect for the summer vacation, or the little man in your life this mini-album is the right size for wallet photos and boasts 8 full colour pages of handmade embellishments and journaling spots for you to customize.  As well as 4 pull out tags for hidden stories or extra photos.

I will be teaching this class on May 22nd at Auntie Em's Scrapbooking in Cornwall at 6:30.  Seats are limited so contact Emma today to reserve your spot!

Adorable Mini Album

Join Lorena on Wednesday May 22nd and create this adorable Mini Album.  Perfect for the special little man in your life or a new mother - or for Father's day or to record some of your adventures in.  Full of bright primary colours, airplanes, and boats.  This album boasts an incredible 8 pages and 4 double-sided tags for your wallet photos or journaling. You will never guess what this is made from - great upcycle project. You and your little ones can make these together - all summer long!! Please bring your tool kit including pop-dots. The class starts at 6:30pm and the cost is $25+HST. Please call to reserve your spot.

Love my Maggies!

First of all I want to thank Janet for her kindness - you really made my day when you sold me all of your Magnolias, you have such good taste and its sad that you are giving up paper crafting, but you will enjoy the next journey in your life, I just know it!

I've been eyeing up all the blogs and YouTube tutorials on how to colour clouds with Copic markers ... there are so many different options out there, it was tough for me to choose one that I liked best.  I am so impressed with the way that Annika Ryan colours, and her clouds just made the most sense to me here is her YouTube tutorial Annika Ryan - YouTube. 

So, as I've been driving for the past week I have been looking at the clouds on the horizon and *noticing* the colours, and thinking about where the darker parts are, the light hits them etc.  Yeah, can you say I live an exciting life, hahaha!!

Well here is the result, I coloured up a couple of Maggies - the Tilda is supposed to have a bow behind her, but I fussy cut that off, and the swing stamp only had the small piece of a branch it attached to, so I added in the tree trunk to ground it, and little bit more branch.  I used Magnolia papers, doohicky's, and the gems are also Magnolia.

 

 

If you like this card and especially the clouds, let me know, I might be able to put together a class for Auntie Em's in June!!

Four

I was searching for a title for this layout - and then it hit me, four ... simply four, that's how old she was when I took this photo.  I love the way the ruler turned out.  The background page is from the Ledger Pad from Prima - I'm really loving that pad, there are 48 sheets of varying colours which make for great backgrounds or cut-outs for the Julie Nutting dolls.  For the rulers I used gesso (black for the one on top, white for the bottom) and I added Inca Gold to highlight the numbers in red, and gold for the remainder of the ruler.  The roman numeral was from Finnabair's Mechanicals collection which I added gesso and then gelatoes.

Short and simple - sometimes the best things are left simple.

Sunrise Sunset collection and a farewell...

Oh how I love the colours in this collection from Prima - Sunrise Sunset.  I love combining it with black and ivory too.  I know that Finnibair combines a lot of metal in her projects with her line.  Here are a couple of layouts I put together at the last all day crop at Auntie Em's

Notice that light bulb?  It came with something else written on it, not sure what  but it didn't work for my layout, so I used rub-ons to put my humor onto my layout.  

I love my retractable awning!  This page looks thick, it's not.  All the flowers are Prima, but not a particular collection, they were pickings from the "candy bar" as were the leaves! The photo is of a butterfly that was fluttering about on the Lilac tree in front of my Parent's home on the one week a year that the lilacs actually bloom.  Not my favorite tree, as they only bloom for one week and look terrible for the other 51 weeks a year.  Anyway, this photo is kinda bittersweet, as I spent my last day at that home last week.  We had to sell my family home after my parents passing, and it closes next week.  Goodbye old house, you will be missed, but your memories will live strong in my creations!

Love my Prima Stamp!

Woohoo, I finally got one!  A Julie Nutting doll stamp from Prima!  Emma got 6 different ones into the store last week and as soon as they came in they were sold out!  I'm waiting for the next shipment to get the rest of them.  In the meantime I put together two quick tags using the Sunrise Sunset collection for the dresses, hairband, and banners.  I used my Copics to colour the girls and add a little detail to the pockets and neckline.  I also used the Tags that are being sold with the doll stamps - they fit perfectly!

It's a Rat Trap - well it was a rat trap - I am loving my new obsession with transforming mouse and rat traps into art.  I used the Prima Lyric line for this, and a very vintage pink flower from my stash - can't even tell you what year it's from, but it's probably as old as my kids!!

Be kind - leave a comment!

Shower the bride!

One of my besties is getting married in a few weeks - this weekend was both her Bridal Shower and her Bachellorette.  While I've never been to a Bridal Shower before, I knew I had to make something for her that would be extra special.  I have this die that has been begging me to create with it, it's a Stampin' Up framelits die called Dress Up.  Add in some fantastic Prima flowers, a doily and some Perfect Pearls and there you have it folks!  I added a 'diamond' pin for the engagement ring - I don't know that Jenn even noticed that part :)

How to eat for under $0.50 a serving

I love to cook, I love to prepare food, I love to experiment with different food combinations and spices.  I will follow a recipe, but not to the letter, it is my practice to look at 2 or 3 recipes for the same dish and take from each and come up with my own. This scares some people.  It is unbelievable to me how many people don't use the kitchen in their home.  I am dumbfounded at the amount of prepared foods and convenience foods that are consumed by some families.

It amazes me how many people these days do not eat home cooked meals. Has society given up on passing down the knowledge of how to cook, how to prepare a meal, how to spice and get creative with food? When I grew up I watched my parents cook every night. Every meal was prepared. I could count on one hand the number of times a year that we would eat out. Now, I can't say that about myself, I can count on one hand the number of times I eat out in a week; including my trips to Tim Hortons or when I'm 'on the go' and out shopping and I just grab a wrap.

Today I made Chicken Noodle soup.  When I say I 'made' soup, I mean I made 14.5 Litres of soup!  I do it in the stock pot.  I bottle it in mason jars for a quick home made meal, or when I am working late for my husband to serve to the kids. My husband who considers himself to be 'unable' to cook ... he can, it just takes him longer and it frustrates him, the time management and planning of it.

So, here is my breakdown of my soup - I don't really have a recipe, but I keep to the same basic ingredients.

Chicken Noodle Soup
6 Chicken Thigh
8 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 head of celery, chopped
1 onion chopped
2 bags of fine egg noddles
10 Litres of water
thyme
poultry seasoning
parsley
black pepper
bay leaves (1 per litre of soup)
Epicure dry chicken stock
salt

I keep the drippings and stock when I roast chickens - fat and all and any left over chicken.  I put it into a Ziploc and into the freezer until I make my soup.  Cook chicken thighs in oven - remove skin, bones and fat and discard.  Tear chicken into manageable bite sized pieces.  Saute the carrots, celery and onion in olive oil.  Combine all ingredients in stock pot except egg noodles in stock pot, simmer on med-low heat for 30-40 minutes.  Boil egg noodles for 3 minutes (do not overcook), drain and add to stock pot.  Bring to a rolling boil and divide into mason jars.  Total preparation and cooking time 2 hours.

 

Here is the amazing part - the cost of this project:

Chicken                                                  $7
Celery                                                    $2
Carrots                                                   $1
Onion                                                     $0.50
Chicken drippings and leftover chicken      $5
Egg noodles                                            $2
Spices/electricity/water                            $2.50
Total                                                       $20.00

The ingredients produced 14.5 Litres of soup which is 43.5 servings
This gives a cost of $0.46 per serving!

I challenge you to go anywhere and get a serving of chicken noodle soup for under 50 cents!