Thursday, December 23, 2010

Owen and Santa

Owen's school had it's first annual Breakfast with Santa fundraiser last weekend.  It was a great success.  There was a pancake breakfast in the gym, pictures with Santa, 3 different craft station areas, and Mrs. Claus' Bakery.  Owen loved the pancake breakfast (his favorite food) and even sat well with Santa for a photo (first time without Mommy right beside him).  He passed on the crafts and went home with daddy while I volunteered at the bake sale.  I had brought in a big box of baking, and we had lots of other donations too - (3 tables worth) and all of it sold.  It was a very successful fundraiser - I suggest it to all of the PSA parents out there....

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Cards

Every Year I say that I will make a  few Christmas cards each month and then by November they will all be finished and ready for me to mail out.  It never happens.  I was so behind this year, I only made a few cards (teachers gifts mostly), but here they are....


Tuesday, November 30, 2010

New Baby Box

A very close friend of our family is expecting her first baby in early January.  I am really excited and made this cute (I think) little box.  I popped a Walmart gift card inside for Diapers, as I always give  a new mom diapers, but as she lives in Alberta - I wasn't paying postage on diapers!!  She is expecting a girl, so I hit winners and picked up 3 fabulous outfits to go with the present as well.  Girl stuff is sooo cute!  Loved the vintage look of the paper.  Funny thing is that I made the box a while ago and then saw a card made from the same paper on my crafty buddy Kim's Blog - great minds and all that.... 

Monday, November 29, 2010

Finished Birthday Calendar


This is the finished Product of the calendar I featured at our monthly 'Crafty night'.  It is a perpetual calendar as it has dates, but no days of the week.  You can put down Birth dates beside the corresponding date and each month as you flip your calender you can see at a glance whose Birthday is coming up.  I just love the usefulness of this calendar.  I laminated mine, so that it can be used for a long time, and it can just be written on with Whiteboard ink.


I also want to send out a great big thank you to my crafty ladies what a fun night as usual!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Birthday Calendar preview

As promised for my crafty ladies - this is a bit of a preview of the birthday calender we will be making this weekend.  This is just a preview - the finished product will be much more detailed (including all 12 months!)

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Book #132

As most of you know, I took up a challenge at the beginning of the year to read 144 books is 2010.  This works out to 12 books a month!  Believe it or not I am on track, I am in the middle of book #132 which is what I need to be by the end of November - If I can get in another 1- 2 before the end of the month that will take off the pressure for December.  Of course this means my crafting has fallen behind, but I have just really been in a 'reading' mood this year.

For those of you who have read the Twilight series and Sookie Stackhouse series, I have another FABULOUS vampire 'porn' (that is what I like to call it!) series.  It is the Black Dagger brotherhood series by J R Ward - I couldn't put it down.  It starts with the book 'Dark Lover' (they all have lover in the title) and there are 8 so far.... Hope you enjoy it....

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Stampotique - Girly Girl Challenge

I am entering the card below on the Stampotique designers challenge . It is a 'Bella' (can't get much more girly than that!)as I don't have any stampotique stamps YET....

The pants that she is wearing are cut out of the same paper as the background.  I colored her top with prismacolor markers and then 'stickled' it.  I love the bright spring colors mixed with the earthy green - all colors that we will not be seeing for a while here in Halifax! I'm not sure what flavour her Martini is, but if it is pink it has to be girly, fruity, and fun.  Cheers!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Daylight savings My A$S

I have to admit - I love to sleep.  Have never been a morning person - even as a child my dad would wake me up on Saturdays to see if I wanted to watch cartoons with him - I would opt out!  My poor father....  On the other hand I am a night person and as many of you know suffer from insomnia, which makes those mornings all the more difficult.  Previous to having a child, Daylight savings was my second favorite day of the year - rivaled only by Christmas!  It even beat out my birthday.  Unfortunately, no one told me that Daylight savings no longer exists with small children - they sleep x amount of hours no matter what the clock says. Why did no one mention this phenomenon?  I must admit it is my biggest disappointment with motherhood (admittedly my life is pretty great if that is my disappointment!).
So here I am blogging at 1AM with no sleep in sight knowing that my precious son will be up in 5 or so hours no matter what the clock says!  Not that I want to rush time (he is growing up way to fast as it is) but I do wonder if he will sleep in during his teen years?  Believe me I will not be one of those moms (like mine) whipping open his door at 10 AM telling him he is sleeping the day away, but knowing my luck (when it comes to sleep) it will be the other way around....

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Helpful Epicure hints

I have posted this before, but made a couple of little updates for those new to my BLOG...

At many of my parties people say they wish they could remember all of the little 'tips and ideas' I give, so here you go.... 

Remember these are just little 'extra ideas' all these products can be used in many ways. If you have some helpful hints or favorite easy recipes, please feel free to send them to me and I can pass them on to the group. I must say I have picked up several of these tips from you, my friends- so a big thank you to all of you out there - you know who you are.

Also, in case you haven't noticed yet, if you go to www. epicureselections.com the Click on RECIPES and click on SEARCH RECIPES, if you use the drop down menu, you can choose any spice, dip mix etc. and several recipes will pop up that use that ingredient. That is my First Helpful Hint!!!


*FRENCH ONION or 3 ONION dip mixes - 2 Tablespoons of either is equivalent to 1 package of onion soup mix - use in anything you would use onion soup mix in

*HERB and GARLIC mix : Boil pasta add a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with Herb and garlic and toss - perfect pasta - If you want to get super fancy sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

* Louisiana Hot and Spicy Dip Mix - Perfect sprinkled over sweet potato fries before baking

*Hummus dip mix: Quick and easy salad: 1 Can Chick Peas (can add black beans or kidney beans too if you wish), Chopped Cucumber, some frozen Peas defrosted, Little bit of Mint (fresh if you have it in your garden) sprinkle with lemon juice and hummus seasoning

* Lemon Dilly dip mix: The best in Tuna salad, also great in mashed potatoes

* Dijon tarragon OR Sun-dried Tomato OR Roasted Red Pepper: Make homemade shake and Bake: use one of the aforementioned spices add bread crumbs and salt and pepper to taste

*Pueblo Bean dip mix - add to black beans and a little sour cream - mix up in food processor or blender. Spread on wrap shells top with grated cheese and roll - excellent high protein lunch. I also like to substitute this in lieu of chili powder in most recipes.

* Summer Berry, Tropical OR Lemon Chiffon FRUIT DIP MIXES: Add to Fat Free Yogurt and Fat Free Cool whip then use as a topping for angel food cake. OR pour into a graham wafer crust (you can buy pre made ones at the store) and pop in freezer for a chiffon pie, OR warn some cream cheese in microwave, add dip mix stir and use as bagel spread OR use as a rimmer for drinks like daiquiris or lemonade

* Maple Spice Fruit Dip: mix with orange juice and/or soy sauce and a little bit of oil and use as marinate for salmon or chicken.

*Salsas: use instead of pizza sauce for a Mexican inspired pizza

*Apple Pie OR Pumpkin Pie Spice: Fabulous on porridge, in granola and I use in lieu of just plain cinnamon that extra flavor

*Beef and Steak: our MUCH lower sodium version of Montreal steak spice (and just as flavourful)

*Harissa: Very Spicy - mix with lime juice and olive oil to dip pita OR add to any dish to give it extra kick - use sparingly!

*Taco Seasoning: Use 1 - 2 Tablespoons instead of package mix. Instead of adding water either sprinkle it on your meat 'dry' or use a tomato based product (juice, paste or tomatoes) to make it more 'saucy".

*Tandoori - mix with yogurt and spread on fish or meat - how easy is that!!!

*Chili Lime sansel: cut pita into wedges, brush with olive oil, sprinkle generously with Chili lime (this also works with Greek spice) and bake in oven until crispy. Also yummy on corn on the cob and Pineapple!
You can marinate shrimp in a combo of Chili Lime Sansel and lime juice and then BBQ  - Fantastic

*Red Garlic Sansel- mix with butter and spread on garlic bread OR sprinkle over popcorn OR use as a substitute for seasoning salt.

*Pesto Herbs: Add to Cream cheese or Mayo to spread on bagels, stuff in mini pita pockets, or spread on wrap add some veggies and roll for a healthy and tasty lunch. Adds extra Zip to Tuna casserole - just mix in a couple of dry Tablespoons.

*Focaccia bread spices: Add to some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and marinate Asparagus and then grill asparagus - fabulous! Substitute for Rosemary in many recipes for added flavour.

*Caesar Salad Dressing: Add to ground beef when making burgers OR make your own low fat Alfredo by adding a couple of tablespoons to a can of fat free evaporated milk, a table spoon of butter, some Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste, Also yummy when made up and mixed with Smoked Spanish Paprika and cooked on chicken for a 'smoky chicken Caesar salad'

*Greek salad dressing: mix with olive oil and lemon or lime juice and marinate chicken or pork. A new favorite of ours is Greek salmon: Put salmon on tinfoil, squeeze a little lemon juice directly on fish, mix broken up feta cheese with a little olive oil and Greek dressing mix and spread over salmon - bake or BBQ - it's that easy!

*Bouillons: SO much less sodium it is almost unbelievable! Use as base for rice or couscous instead of plain water

*Pepper Jellies: melt and use as glaze on pork or poultry, melt and use for dipping egg rolls and chicken wings, serve over cream cheese or warmed brie, spread on inside of grilled cheese sandwiches - zippy

Some Seasonings to try with specific dishes:
Chicken:  Cuban, Fajita, Greek, Jamaican Jerk, Louisiana hot and spicy, Poultry, Oven roast, Red pepper Jelly, Tandoori

Rice: Kaffir lime leaves, Lemongrass, Mild smoked Spanish Paprika, Spanish Saffron, Star Anise, Veggie Seasoning Any of our Bouillons

Fish: Cajun. Lemon Dilly, Spanish Saffron, Taco, Teriyaki, Thai

Potatoes: Cheese, chives and Bacon, Chives, Curry, Garlic Potato topper, herb and garlic, 3 Onion

Pork: Cuban, Dijon Tarragon, jamaican jerk, Maple fruit dip, Teriyaki

Beef:  Asian Stir fry, Beef and Steak, Cajun, Fajita, taco, teriyaki

Just so everyone knows - I am not getting kickbacks from the olive oil company although I probably should!!!

Hope this is helpful
thanks,
Kelly Eelhart

Friday, November 5, 2010

Stampsmith Oval-icious Challenge

I made this card for the The stampsmith challenge hopefully it earns me some Free rubber!
It may be a little difficult to tell from the angle, but they are Spellbinder Ovals behind the Fairy.  As for supplies.... The solid paper is SU, the patterned from my 'stash', The fairy is from a clear rubber stamp set, but I don't remember what company (my bad!)and she is painted with twinkling H2O's which didn't photograph very well.   Prima flowers, ribbon from Micahels, back oval is embossed with cuttlebug plate.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Crafty Night Project

At our last monthly crafty night , my friend Julie demoed this fantabulous (yes, I said fantabulous) little box of drawers.  We all brought our own paper and embellishments and this is how mine turned out.  I believe Julie has a link to her demo on her blog.


Cute little side drawers


the drawers are made out of match boxes
Supplies:
 4 matchboxes, 2 coasters (Dollarama)

Patterned Paper:  Le Jardin (SU)

Embellishments:  Peeled Paint Distress Stickles, Hodgepodge Hardware (SU), Pearls, Mulberry Paper Flowers (Botique Fleure)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Cowboy Owen

Owen decided that he wanted to be a cowboy again this Halloween.  Easy for me as I made his costume last year!  We just needed to buy a new hat and a new Sheriff Badge and GTG.  I made the Chaps and vest.  Owen had a great time trick or treating, but about 1/2 hour and he was done.  He wanted to eat several of his treats when he got home (what kid doesn't!), but has not asked for them again!  Hope you think he looks as cute as I do...

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Halloween Sari

Last year one of my crafty pals (Julie ) mentioned that her daughter wanted to wear a Sari for Halloween.  It sounded like such a fantastic and original idea that I volunteered to make the costume (costumes, blankets and PJ's are the extent of my sewing expertise!).  I Finally (thanks Julie!) have a picture of the lovely Alex in her Sari, and wanted to show everyone.  Doesn't she look Beautiful?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

My New Friend...

I saw this on a facebook group (moms who need wine...) and I just knew I had to find some.  After much looking there is one store in HRM that carries it.  Needless to say I stocked up.  I brought one to book club, one for my crafty night girls and a few to give away.... (and I may have tried some myself...) The wine itself is petty decent and is best paired with chocolate or something sweet.  Need I say more?

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Recipe Box

Now that I am on a crafty roll, Here is another one of my altered boxes.  I used the same basic principles as the previous box shown by Louise - Sanding and distressing the edges.  I love the butterfly on the front - you can get a jar of them at Michaels (they are in with the Prima flowers) - just remember to bring your 40% off coupon!

Supplies:




Recipe box (Michaels)

Card stock inside - Groovy Guava (SU)

Patterned Paper - loose from Michaels (not sure of name)

Ink: Groovy Guava (SU), Brilliance Cosmic copper - both to distress

Supplies: Glue, Tacky tape, sanding block

Embellishments: Copper Ribbon (Carousel), Butterfly (Michaels), Prima Flowers, Brads (SU)





Thursday, October 14, 2010

I was a Canning Maniac!


 
This past year I got into canning.  Not quite sure why, I thought I would just make a chutney.... Well, I went a little crazy!  (So unlike me I know - ha ha)  I have included some pictures and  links to recipes .  I got most of the recipes off of the Internet, but I 'tweaked' some, so I  have added comments as to how I 'tweaked' .


Rhubarb, Apple and Vanilla Jam; Rhubarb Cinnamon Jam; and Rhubarb Vanilla Jam


Green Tomato Chutney, Rhubarb Chutney, Spicy Pear and Cherry Chutney and Mango Chutney




Strawberry Rhubarb Compote; and Champagne Pear Butter

  Recipes 
Strawberry And Rhubarb Compote  Substitutions I used: Epicures Star Anise ( a few extra) and left it in the jars because it looked so nice...

Vanilla rhubarb jam Substitutions I used: Caffeine free Tea for My recipe and Epicure Vanilla Beans
 
Spicy Pear and dried Cherry Chutney  Substitutions I used: Epicure Chili Flakes, Epicure Ground Ginger and Epicure Sea Salt in Lieu of the Kosher Salt
 
Rhubarb Apple and Vanilla Jam Substitutions I used:  I doubled the Vanilla beans and used a combination of macs and Golden Delicious apples (what I had)

Rhubarb Chutney  Substitutions I used:  I too use apple cider Vinegar, but instead of •1 tsp each allspice, cinnamon, ginger, I used 2 tsp VE seasoning for Chutney and 1 tsp VE cinnamon

Rhubarb Cinnamon Jam No Substitutions!

Epicure's Mango Chutney I omitted the raisins

Epicure's Green Tomato Chutney  Substitutions I used: I used the apples not the grapes. 
Tonight I pored a jar in mt Multi-pot, warmed it up, added a little white wine to thin it out and added some shrimp tossed in dry VE Curry Dip mix and served it over pasta.  It was Fantastic!

Champagne Pear Butter - I have the recipe if anyone wants it, but I could not find the source that I got it from . I have searched through my favorite canning links, but cannot seem to find it.  I apologise to whomever out there I borrowed it from - I take no credit in it's wonderful-ness (that's a Kelly word).

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

I Couldn't Wait!

As I have many friends (or at least I like to think I do!!) from different areas of my life, I thought I would put in a reading Post.  In February of this year I found a site 144 Books_In_2010 which challenges you to read 144 books (an average of 3 books a week) for the year.  I had been keeping track of the books I had read to that point and have kept track ever since...  Are you ready??  Drum Roll Please... I am at 115 books year to date!!  Not sure if I will make it to 144 (I am on track, but I do a lot of baking in November and December)....
The top 20 books I have read this year (in no particular order are):

Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
 Precious (Push) - Sapphire
Shadow of the Wind - C Zafon

Zipporah - Wife of Moses  -M.Halter
To Kill a mockingbird- Harper Lee
Handle With Care - Jodi Picoult
Blink - Ted Dekker
the weight of silence - heather Gudenkauf
Flowers for Algernon - D.Keyes
House Rules- Jodi Picoult
The last time we met – Cathy Lamb

Slumdog Millionaire 
Rapture of Canaan – Sheri Reynolds
Garden Spells – Sarah Addison Allen
Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger
13 reasons why – Jay asher

Beautiful Child – Torey Hayden
Never Let Me Go – Kazou Ishiguru
Shanghai Girls -Lisa See
The Help - K. Stockett

I'm Back.....

At our monthly "crafty night', One of the girls (Louise) showed us how to cover and embellish boxes.  Well I have been on a tear since then...  I have several different partly finished boxes (I have until Christmas!), but I did just finish and mail off this one.  It is for my Girly Girl Niece, Luca.  Luca turns 5!! This October 20th and I hope she likes this Treasure box.  I also got her the cutest LilyBug-Tutus but I forgot a picture - will add it when I get it....
For the box, I bought a basic wood box with a hinged lid.  I covered the top and bottom with one patterned paper, and the sides with a different, but co-ordinating paper.  I then sanded all of the the sides down and used distress ink to create a 'distressed' look.  The pink velvet ribbon on the lid covers up the hinges perfectly and was the perfect width (took a while to find that let me tell you!)  I distressed the inside of the box and used the same patterned paper from the sides to line the top and bottom inside.  I also used a pink satin ribbon with gold trim to line the inside, bottom sides.  Finally, I used some pink glitter Ritz on the 'squiggly' on the top to help it 'pop' and then used gold stickers to spell out her name.
Here is the box...



Top View has her Name in Gold Stickers

Side View Has Velvet Ribbon on top piece that opens

 I used ribbon around the bottom inside of box

Supplies:
Heart shaped Wooden box (Michaels)

Patterned Paper:Top and Bottom were from 'Once upon a time' pack (Michaels), sides -unknown

Ink:Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Fired brick

Tools: sanding block, glue, tacky tape, glue pen

Embellishments: Inside wired Ribbon Pink and gold (Micheals), Velvet pink Ribbon - Martha Stewart (Michaels), gold letter stickers (Michaels), Glitter ritz- pink (CM), gold glitter - Martha Stewart (Michaels)