Craft Room Update

Finally! I've been trying to post this photo since about 7 a.m. this morning!

I'm so excited to show you a portion of the flooring that went down last night in my soon to be craft room. Todd and Scott (one of our friends) worked on it and had it done in about three hours. It would have taken Todd much longer to do it on his own as he just doesn't have the correct equipment. We may have to purchase a table saw when we are ready to lay the flooring in the rest of the house. Anyway, the color on the flooring is pretty representative of what the color actually is. The walls...not so much.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get good pictures of the room once it is done as my camera just doesn't like to take those wide angle photos. I know...I could buy a new lens, surely Todd will think it is necessary in the whole scheme of things...right?Hopefully I will figure something out as I really want to share with you all.

So, we were hoping to get the trim back up tonight and maybe put together some of the IKEA furniture but it ends up Todd has to work some overtime so I guess not BUT that is okay...I'm just so excited to be this far!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Happy Grad

Well, we made it safely past Monday and have landed at Tuesday. Today, I hope, will be a day of work in my craft room. Hopefully we'll be putting down some flooring...yay! We'll see if it actually happens though...lol!

Today's card is made with a new SU! single stamp called Happy Grad (go figure!). Obviously, I felt the need to have it since Jon will be graduation in just a couple of months. This was my swap card for stamp club. It is kinda funny because I always tend to go clean and simple with my swap cards...I think it is because I run out of time to get them done though! Anyway, the patterned paper is from To The Nines and I just added a punched star/circle/brad to spruce it up a bit. Easy, but I would definitely send these out and probably will with Jon's friends graduating too.

Today is Tuesday so that means it's How To Pray For Your Children day. We are on week five, so here you go:

1. Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in Live.
2. Pray that they will have a hatred for sin.
3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty.
4. Pray that they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their lives: Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical.
5. Pray that they will have a responsible attitude in all their interpersonal relationships. (Daniel 6:3) What this one is saying is pray that our children will take their responsibilities and relationships seriously. This is about character. And, I must say that this is a hard one to teach. I believe this is caught not taught, meaning they will see and do what I model. I will personally be praying over the next week that I am a good example in this area of my kids lives so that they can see what it is to have a responsible attitude in their interpersonal relationships.

Well, that is it for the day everyone! So now I want you all to and have a wonderful day!

What's for Dinner Tonight?

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and got lots done!

Today's recipe is probably more of a lunch recipe but if you were to add the walnuts and apples as suggested you could have this for a light dinner I'd think. Research is showing that walnuts are good for your blood pressure, they have omega-3 fatty acids, and have fiber. I really like walnuts and bought a bag of them at Costco...just a little (1/2 oz) handful of the walnuts and a yogurt keep me satisfied in the morning until lunch time.

Chicken Salad
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 0 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

We lightened up this sandwich favorite with reduced-calorie mayonnaise and sour cream. For a Waldorf-like chicken salad, stir in 1/3 cup of diced apples and 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts.*

Ingredients
3/4 pound(s) cooked chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup(s) celery, finely diced
1/3 cup(s) dill pickle(s), or sweet gherkins, finely diced
1/4 cup(s) reduced-calorie mayonnaise
2 Tbsp reduced-fat sour cream
2 Tbsp parsley, fresh, chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
Instructions

* Place all ingredients in a large bowl; mix until blended. Yields about 2/3 cup per serving.

Notes

* *Could affect POINTS values.


I am absolutely going to make this recipe this week. I think I'll put it on a bagel thin. If you haven't tried these thins you absolutely must. They are ONE (1) weight watcher point per thin and are completely YUMMY! I like to have them with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and some Laughing Cow French Onion Cheese...that sandwich is only 3 points!

Anyway, enough about food, have a wonderful Monday and I'll see ya tomorrow!

Uplifting

Just poppin' in for a second to show you a card that I made. I was at the Card Patterns blog and just loved the simplicity of the sketch for this week so I had to participate.

I don't really have anything to say about the card...okay, I can't really say anything about the card but I hope you like it!

See you tomorrow for What For Dinner Tonight?

Sunshine Award

I don't know about you guys but I sure am happy it is Friday. The sun is shining a little and we are headed into the weekend...woohoo!

It doesn't happen often but I received a blog award from a couple of friends of mine! Both Jeannette and Carol spread a little sunshine into my life over the last couple of days and sent me the Sunshine Award. Here is what they said...

Jeannette said: Ohhh, what an absolutely darling card. I love to visit your blog, it's so inspirational, and inspiring. You are such an amazing friend to have. Thank you for the joy you bring, so I want to give you the Sunshine Award, please visit my blog when you have a chance. {{Hugs}}

Carol said: this is so pretty. while not my first favorite, pink is right up there with purple and blue. :)

thanx for sharing your incredible talent with us on your blog.

i have an award for you on mine and hope you will accept it. you are an inspiration to me in your stamping and chocolate businesses. thank you.
xox ~ carol.

You both are just so sweet! Thank you!

These are the rules for this Sunshine Award:

1. Put the Sunshine Award on your blog and/or within your post.

2. Pass the award to 12 other bloggers.

3. Link the nominees within your post.

4. Let them know they received this award by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received the award.

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to bring some sunshine to someone else! One of the main reasons I love to STAMP is because of all the wonderful, and talented, people I have met through our love of stamping. I get to nominate 12 stampers to receive this Sunshine Award -- and the nominations are in random order:

Jennifer

Jennifer

Sparkle

Dani

Andrea

Danni

Diane

Jeannette (I'm sending it back to her!)

Carol (I'm sending it back to Carol, too!)

Sari

Lori

Cristina

Each one of these friends, and more, always brighten day. Will you please help me spread the Sunshine and leave a comment for the nominations on their blogs to brighten their day!

You're To Kind

While it is very windy outside this morning the sun is shining and that makes it a wonderful day so far!

Today's card is the other card that we did at stamp club last week. I actually found one like it from a blog that I visit but of course I don't remember which blog as I visit so may of them. I also forgot to take a photo of the inside as it is a little different.

This card is made with several items that are only available until the end of April in the Occasions Mini Catalog from SU!. The pink patterned paper is from the Sending Love Specialty paper pack and the green patterned paper is from the Sweet Pea paper pack. The Occasions Mini also offered Sweet Pea Stitched Felt which is used in the middle of the flower from the Pretties Kit. Now, the flowers in the Pretties Kit are white so I used Pretty in Pink ink and just sponged it on the flower so that it wasn't so start white. The sentiment is from the retired Whimsical Words (SAB 2010) set but any sentiment could be used in its place. I am absolutely loving the 5/8" Satin Ribbon in the OM and I have bought several of the colors. And as for the inside...the Sweet Pea patterned paper is a pocket into which we placed one of the Hugs Sending Love Notes. A Kisses Sending Love Note is on the front. Whew! That is a lot of information!

I got the rest of the trim painted yesterday so last night we put the new light fixture up. I do have to say that this isn't quite the style I had in mind for my craft room but since we only had one area to put a fixture we really wanted to make use of it. We found this light on the Lowe's website and had a little bit of a problem ordering it but as you can tell...it made it to our house. Honestly, now that it is up I don't think we could have picked anything better! The photo also gives you a little hint of the color of the room but doesn't really show it all that well. Next up on the list is to put the new flooring down. THAT I'm excited about too as I love the flooring we chose.

If you've made it this far, congrats! Thanks for reading all that! Now, off you go to have a wonderful day!

Hi!

Good morning to you on this rainy, dreary day here in Washington. While I don't care for the rain the extended forecast shows that after this week we should have some pretty nice weather...yay!

When I made THIS wedding card it was featured on the stamp image's blog and as a treat I got a free digi image from them which is this super cute mouse image. I used a sketch challenge that you can see HERE. The patterned paper is just some I've had for awhile...isn't it cute?

We are almost done painting the craft room. Next up will be the light fixture, then the flooring and moving stuff in. I need to get busy going through all my stuff so that I know what I have, want to keep, and want to let go of. THAT will be quite the chore.

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day! I'm off to get my bootay busy!

How To Pray For Your Children

Well, everyone, we made it past Monday! Woohoo! I had a day filled with lots of different things and several of them were quite frustrating so I'm happy to be onto a fresh, new day!

As promised I have a fun boys card for you today. We made this card at stamp club last week, too. And, it is actually modeled after Kyler's birthday card from earlier this month. The main image is Extreme Skateboard stamped off a couple of times at an angle. I just used the "happy birthday" sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes as kind of a skateboard rail to infer movement. The paper is Chocolate Chip and To The Nines DSP. I love the Chocolate Chip buttons but rarely use them so I had to use two different sizes on this card. This is so perfect for the pre-teen or teen in your life!

Sorry about missing How To Pray For Your Children last week. Lets recap and then go over this week's scripture...

1. Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life.
2. Pray that they will have a hatred for sin.
3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty.

4. Pray that they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their lives: Spiritual, emotional, and physical. (John 17:15) It is important that our children (as well as ourselves) have a relationship with Jesus in every aspect of their lives...spiritual, emotional, and physical. I believe this prayer focus goes back to the old saying, "walk the walk not just talk the talk." If you have any thoughts on this please go ahead and leave them in the comments. I hope you'll take the time to pray for your children this week!

As you know I'm working on putting together my brand new stamp room. Well, we painted the walls over the last couple of days and I have to tell you that I didn't love the color to begin with. It is not the shade on the paint chip (too blue) but I think once the trim is painted, flooring down, and my stuff in the room it should be good.

I'm working on something that I will be offering as a class for my local customers in May and I can't wait to show it to you! I know you will all be excited!

But, for now...I hope you have a wonderful day filled with God's love for you!

What's for Dinner Tonight?

Good morning all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Todd and I did some painting in my soon to be craft room. Good news is...it didn't take too incredibly long. Bad news is...I don't like the color. We are hoping that a second coat will make it more the green I was hoping to as I'm not going to paint again so I have to put up with the color.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti Carbonara

POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 5
Preparation Time: 12 min
Cooking Time: 12 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Bacon and eggs never tasted so good! This lightened up version of a classic couldn’t be easier to whip up.


Ingredients
8 oz uncooked whole-wheat pasta, spaghetti
3 slice(s) uncooked reduced-fat bacon, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 medium garlic clove(s), peeled and smashed
1 large egg(s), beaten
1 large egg white(s), beaten
6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese, use half Parmigiano Reggiano and half Romano
1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
Instructions

* Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain and set aside.

* Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet over a medium-low heat. Add bacon and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until bacon is crisp, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove garlic; leave bacon and bacon fat in skillet.

* Add spaghetti to skillet; toss well and remove from heat. Add eggs and both types of cheese; toss well to coat. Season to taste; serve immediately. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

Notes

* *We use two different types of Parmesan cheese for optimal flavor but you can just use one kind if you prefer.

Save a few teaspoons of cheese to sprinkle on before serving, if desired.

Well, I hope you'll try this recipe and have a wonderful Monday and I'll see you back here tomorrow with a fun card for a boy!

Utah Diva's Sketch Challenge

Hey, hey everyone! How have you been? I've been away for a little while as life has been busy. Thank you to my friends who have checked on me!

Today is Utah Diva's Sketch Challenge day and today's sketch is a wonderful one! I've had some problems getting the sketch on my blog but I figured it out for today!

For today's card I used patterned paper from the Sweet Pea pack and the hat image is from the Garden from the Heart set, both of which are from the soon to be retired Occasions Mini Catalog. Get 'em while you can!

I think you know how this all works at this point. You can go back to the UDI Blog at anytime but you are going to want to go to Max's blog to see what she's made with this sketch!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Have a great day!

Happy Wednesday! This week is going super slow so I'm glad to finally be at Wednesday. Today I get to go purchase the paint for my craft room...woohoo! AND, I think we are going to get the table tops/organizing "stuff" from IKEA. Oh, and I'm looking at a new window covering too. Not sure what color to go with on that but we'll see.

Okay, onto the card. What do you think? I used lots of colors and patterns on this card which I don't normally do but I kinda like it. The sentiment is simple and something that can be used for several occasions. Oh, and it is for a sketch challenge HERE. When I need a sketch and the sketch from CPS, Mojo Monday, or one of the other more popular challenges won't work for my image I like to go to Allison's blog as she has challenges listed there everyday. It is a great list!

Alright, I'm off to start my day. I hope your Wednesday is wonderful! See ya all soon!

Easter Baskets

Happy Tuesday everyone! I had a fun day yesterday. We went shopping for the new flooring and light fixture for my soon to be craft room. We came home with some flooring but couldn't get the light fixture from the Lowe's in our neighboring town. I can't seem to purchase it online either so I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. Such a tough life I have, huh? Teehee!

I just thought I'd share with you the Easter baskets that I made for Jon and Kyler this Easter. They were super simple, origami folded baskets. I found the directions for it HERE. The super cute bunny behind is from the same blog and you can find the directions HERE. I bought the super fun basket and egg punch online. I honestly didn't think I'd use it this year due to the fact fact that I just received the punch a couple of days prior to Easter but I think it looks like the bunny just dropped the basket and is leaving. The approximate size of the baskets is 4"x4". Not too much candy and not too little...perfect!

Anyway, I used a full sheet of 12x12 Close to Cocoa cardstock for the basket. The patterned paper is From The Nines (I think). Both the boys really liked them but I suppose that could have been the candy inside too.

So, onto the How To Pray For Your Children for today. I want to mention that I think I'll do these once a week, on Tuesday, from this point forward. This way you can take that entire week to pray specifically in the way that I've told you about for your children. I hope you are all enjoying this little series. I'll re-cap first and then tell you about this week's prayer focus...

How To Pray For Your Children. Week 4 of 12...
1. Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life.
2. Pray that they will have a hatred for sin.
3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty.
4. Pray that they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their lives: Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical. (John 17:15) I hope that you will take a quick moment to read the John scripture I linked you to because it really is excellent. I often pray that my children will have a good sense of humor. We all know that kids are up against so many bad, evil if you will, things and for them to be able to see the humor in situations is a wonderful character for them to have.

Alright everyone...I hope that you will have a super wonderful Tuesday!

What's for Dinner Tonight?

Happy Monday! I hope that you had just an amazing Easter! Our church service was wonderful and our lunch was yummy!

I thought this Lemon Pasta looked delish so I decided to share the recipe with you. I would probably add some chicken with it added just a couple of Weight Watchers points.

If you get a chance to try this let me know how you like it! Have a wonderful day!

LEMON PASTA

POINTS® Value: 6
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 11 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

We revamped this classic by replacing heavy cream with an egg. The dish is light and lemony, a fantastic quick meal.

Ingredients
8 oz uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti
2/3 Tbsp unsalted butter, or 2 teaspoons
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup(s) canned chicken broth, or less as needed
1 large egg(s), beaten
1/3 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste
2 1/2 tsp lemon zest, or to taste
1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
1/4 cup(s) parsley, fresh, minced
Instructions

* Cook pasta according to directions; drain and set aside.

* Add butter and oil to pasta pot; melt over medium-low heat. Add broth; stir and heat through about 1 minute.

* Remove pot from heat and add pasta, egg and cheese; toss well so egg coats pasta. Add lemon juice and zest; toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper; sprinkle with parsley. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

Notes

* You’ll need 1 medium lemon for the zest and juice.

Salvation Is Here

HE IS RISEN!

Utah Diva's Sketch Challenge

Welcome to another week of UDI's Sketch Challenge! Since today is Saturday I bet you didn't think I'd have anything to say about Holy Week, right? Wrong. Think about this today. Today is the day Jesus lay in the tomb. He couldn't have risen if he wasn't dead, right? Today is the proof of his death. A day in the tomb.

HERE is the sketch. There is a twist on the sketch and it is called iris folding but I had no idea what it is and frankly when I saw it I had no interest in doing it so I went without the challenge. This card is made with the stamp set Messages for Mom from the Occasions Mini. I used Cottage Wall designer series paper and the butterflies were made with that paper ran through my Big Shot with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. Oh, the sentiment is from Well Scripted. Do you think I like that set? I use it an awful lot, don't I? I think this card will be just lovely to send to one of my girlfriends, don't you?

To move along in the little blog circle we have going you will hop on over to Max's blog. She always has something wonderful so go check it out!

How to Pray for your Children, Day 3 of 12:
1. Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life.
2. Pray that they will have a hatred for sign.
3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty. (Psalm 119:71) The only thing I have to say here is wouldn't you rather your children be caught doing something now instead of when they are adults? Those times will be excellent teaching moments!

Only one more day ladies! I can't wait for tomorrow!

Good Friday

Morning everyone. Today is the day the world changed, did ya know that? Oh, yes...it is Good Friday. The day Jesus died for our sins. An incredible sacrifice. I just want you to know that if you read my blog and don't understand my belief I would love to talk with you about it. Just send me an e-mail and we'll chat.

Today's project is just a cute little box that I'll use to give a friend a little gift on Easter. She gave up sugar for Lent. I thought I'd give her some yummy sweets on Sunday...this box will work perfectly! I was, literally, just thinking that I have another friend that gave up desserts so I think I'll make another box for her, too. I just used So Saffron Cardstock with some patterned paper from the Pawsitively Prints designer series paper pack. The sentiment is from the stamp set, Well Scripted. A couple of punches gave me the "flower" in the center. Very easy and honestly I really liked putting together this box...it was fun and isn't that a key in stamping? Having fun?

Alright, onto day 2 of How To Pray For Your Children.

#1 was Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life.

#2 is pray that they will have a hatred for sin. (Psalm 97:10). More than just a hatred for sin but a recognition of sin. We are always teaching our children to say please and thank you and to be kind to others. Might I suggest that we also teach them to guard themselves from sin before it happens. Yes, this concept is difficult for little children but as they grow you can start teaching them to recognize sin and to make the decision to remove themselves from the situation before they are engaged in the activity or thought. More than just talking with them about this, model the behavior you wish to see. For example I was watching a couple of TV shows that I found I was obsessing about and really, they were not the type of thing I should be watching (not much is now a days) so I completely stopped watching them. When my boys bring it up I just tell them that those shows were not appropriate (I had to send my youngest away from the room while I watched it...that should have been a clue) and I was placing too much value on watching them so, I was done with them. I don't know that the kids get the idea right now but I believe they will in the future.

Anyway, many blessing to you on Good Friday!

Two-Step Bird Punch

Woop! It is Thursday! Tonight Todd and I will be attending our church's Maundy Thursday service. It is a service that commemorates Jesus' Last Supper. We've never attended before so I'm not sure what to expect but I do know that we will receive Communion (Eucharist). I'm am very interested in what our Pastor's sermon will be about.

Before that, however, I'll be at Care Net and I hope to find some time to dye eggs with Kyler between Care Net and the service. I hope I'm not over planning!

Today's card was made with Techno Stamper's sketch challenge from this week. I'm not sure why but when I first saw the sketch I knew I would want to make a card with it. In fact, I've had it up on my computer each day so far this week so I would remember to make a card.

Anyway, I used the Two Step Bird Punch from the Occasions Mini Catalog along with Sweet Pea Paper from the same mini. I think the splash of Taken With Teal really is striking and makes the bird/branch really pop. What do you guys think? I was happy to find a sentiment to fit in the middle square. We all need more thank you sentiments, right?

I received a wonderful list of scripture from a friend of mine titled How To Pray For Your Children and I thought I would share one each day over the next couple of weeks. I hope you will enjoy it. Feel free to leave any comments about this feature!

Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life. (Psalm 63:1 and 1 Timothy 3:15). I would suggest that you pray that not only will they trust Christ as their Savior early in life but for their own savior, not because you trust in Christ or tell them they should but because they trust that Jesus died and then rose again for them. This may seem like a no brainer but if you are anything like me sometimes a friend has to ask...have you prayed about that before it even occurs to me to do so. Remember God wants to hear all of our prayers...big or small. And really...this is big.

Well, I hope that you see all of God's little miracles today!