Hey, can you send me your address (again)??

I'm certain that if you looked through my phone, you would find the title of this post throughout my text messages. In fact, last week I was standing in line at the post office and I needed my friend Jamie's address.  Crazy enough, I asked her probably a month ago, and probably a month before that! I'm HORRIBLE at putting addresses in my old address book.  Maybe because we were military and moved a lot, so did our friends, I either ran out of room or lined through too many.  So I quit.  And yes, I know there are cell phones and iPads.. I have them both.  Jamie actually texted me "you know you could just add this to your contacts on your phone, right?" :) yes, yes I do...

BUT, if I had been keeping track, I wouldn't have had the need to make this adorable address book. Right? :)

So a month ago I had ordered these mini journal books from my mom.  (They're 4.95+ s&h/tax for a 2pk).  I haven't seen too many ideas with them on Pinterest but I bought a few pks to decorate and try to sell on my etsy shop. My other idea is to make a book to keep track of silly things my kids say.  Yesterday Eli said "Drew, if I'm going to be pushing you down, you need to wear a helmet" :) LOL!

Anyway, back to the journal.  First I used the chevron background stamp inked with the illuminate ink.  I didn't get the whole journal covered so I used the pistachio pudding (sweet Sadie) washi tape. Easy cover up :). Then I used crumb cake ink to stamp a few different hellos, hey, hi theres on the background. I also stamped the starburst from the kinda eclectic set in crisp cantaloupe.  Can you see the words?

My mother has always told me less is more, but for some reason I kept adding here.  And I'm so glad I did.  (No offense mom!) :) The Swiss cheese looking strip of crisp cantaloupe came to me right at the end and I'm excited with out it turned out.  I just took a scrap piece of CS and went to town with the 1/4" circle punch.

The pistachio pudding embellishment is not current and I'm bummed about that.  That's the hard part about getting attached to certain Stampin' up! products... Some never make it back the next year. They're fired.. Get the boot.. See ya Pluto, you're not welcome..  But with the old gone, new room is made.  The house is from the new hostess set this year called Life's Adventure.  I LOVE this set. In fact, I love all the hostess sets. Some of the best I've seen in recent years.  

The inside pages I stamped again with the starburst and letters from a retired set.  Some pages only got one page - because frankly, I don't know anyone who's last name starts with an X :)

Or a Q ;)

I hope you enjoyed this and were inspired to make your own.  If you don't want to make one, you can always visit my etsy shop. Christmas is coming up soon!  Also, if you don't have a current demo or you don't have a demo in your area, check out Cathie Lester in PA.  She's awesome and just so happens to be my mother.  You can shop with her here :) 

Thanks for stopping by - off to get the banana bread out of the oven <3 it smells ah-mazing! 

-Holly

A gift for new friends

Our former next door neighors moved out Thursday and to my surprise, the new neighbors were here yesterday morning.  I knew I wanted to make a welcome gift, but thought I had more time than 24 hours! Haha! So since we have more zucchini than I know what to do with, I decided to make chocolate chip streusel zucchini bread. This is by no means healthy! You can find the recipe Here

I'm very excited because they have 3 kids and the youngest is a 3yo old boy.  Eli just turned 3.5 the other week so we are happy! Looks like they'll be playmates! 

I knew I wanted to use the house stamp from the Life's Adventure set.  So after I baked the bread,  I let it cool for a few hours.  At first I colored 5 houses side by side, but that was too big of a tag, and honestly, I didn't like the colors of all 5 houses. Not only did they not coordinate, they looked nothing like the painted lady houses from Full House. That's what I was envisioning I guess :) haha!

So I decided on a single house.  When I went home to my parents last month I found some cool paper in my moms craft room and she was sweet enough to let it go.  I knew it'd look adorable with the bread because it has a newspaper print.  Breakfast food wrapped in newspaper print - sounds like "morning" to me :)

So I cut a piece of thick brown cardstock I had from some packaging and covered the bottom of the loaf. I wrapped it in parchment paper and then the newspaper print. I like the layered look.  I also wanted to make sure to have food safe paper touching the bread.  I dressed it up with some ribbon. I really like the look and almost wanted to wrap our loaf up too just to look at it.  Maybe if it were too pretty to eat, I'd just look and skip the calories! :) 

This seriously is so yummy! The streusel is about an inch thick!

The neighbors loved it though so that made me smile. I love giving and sharing with others. I think that's what it's all about.  And Jesus said--love your neighbor! <3

Thanks for stopping by :) 

-Holly

Gardening leads to a basil abundance... Which leads to Creamy Lemon-pesto Chicken & Linguine

We are having a wonderful year for gardening. Well, at least I think we are :) this is our first year having a garden since we have been married so we don't have anything to compare it to.  This is what we started with - just a small chunk of the fenced in area of our yard. 

Eli had a fun time planting seeds 

We are definitely rookies with the whole process and we have learned a lot.  We say a lot of "next year we will do this.. Or plant this and not this..." But overall it's has been a fun journey. Peas, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, corn, zucchini, squash, watermelon, carrots, potatoes, and even strawberries (nothing this year, but they're going to be ther next year! 

Oh yeah, and HERBS!  

We started with an entire row of herbs. Most if which I'm not sure I would've used.  I think I went a little packet crazy when we first went to Home Depot. I bought dill, thyme, oregano, parsley, basil and a few others. After a good month and a half nothing was coming up so shawn tore them out and re-tilled.  That's when he found this massive boulder:

Well no wonder! So, at this point we figured we buy herbs already started and go from there.  We well brought home three SMALL 3-4" pots - one each of Greek basil, oregano and parsley.  The basil had a few plants in this pot, so we divided them up... What a crazy idea haha.  Now look at the abundance of basil we have!! 

They look like shrubs!!  So I figured it's time I use this! We've made some bruschetta a few times now, but I wanted to try some pesto.  I didn't have pine nuts either but this tasted fine to me :)

 So, in addition to salt and pepper, you will need....

Add the basic leaves, garlic and Parmesan cheese to your food processor. Mix well and then add the oil.  Start with 1/4 c and add the rest as needed. (I used the 1/2 c).  Add s&p and lemon juice to taste.

I was pretty satisfied. This made between 1/2 and 3/4 cup. I will probably double next time and freeze the extra. 

So now the actually dinner. This is a recipe specific for the deep covered baker from pampered chef. Total time from start to finish is about 18 minutes. Perfect for a busy family that wants something quick to make that's still yummy! I imagine you could cook you chicken separately and top it with the sauce.

For this recipe you will need:

You will also need 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (thawed) and 12oz linguine (or spaghetti in my case).

1. Combine butter and flour in a microwaveable dish and wisk until smooth.  Add milk, lemon zest and garlic.  Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stirring every 60 seconds.

2. Add pesto and stir until well incorporated.  

3. Place chicken breast in the bottom of the deep covered baker (layering if needed) and cover with pesto sauce. 

4. (The amazing part) microwave 12-15 minutes (chicken should be 165*).  Meanwhile, cook your pasta.  Then serve and enjoy!

And while I'm at this reeeeally long post, I'll just go ahead and throw a plug in for my sister :) if you don't have a local pampered chef consultant, feel free to place an order with my sister.  She's a mom of three, a high school math teacher and an always helpful Pampered Chef girl!  

pamperedchef.biz/kellysmiach

Thanks for stopping by! I'll post cards next time! :) enjoy!

-Holly

Hi and Hello There :)

I've recently been working on stockpiling for the 2 (possibly 3) consignment shops near by that are wiling to sell my cards.  I'm making the same cards in groups of 8 or 10 just to give myself some quantity to take to these stores instead of just one card here and there.  I'm also thinking of selling packs of the same card for a discount but I'd have to price that out.  They definitely would be on the more simpler side.

So here's the cards I've been working on.  This first one was fun to make.  The side by side comparison shows the original on the left and mine on the right. I don't have any incolor DSP or smoky slate buttons so I couldn't add that.  I just felt it was missing something so I asked some stamping friends online and a few suggested to put card stock behind the letters to make them more visible.  I also chose to use the sequins I just got on my last order.

Sometimes it's great to seek the wisdom of others :) even the bible says a wise man seeks council. 

Really like the final look!

I also make 10 of these pretty things :) my mom was here visitng and she let me borrow her By the Seashore stamp set and the hexagon die. I'm hoping these sell fast.  Afterall, I'm in Rhode Island - the ocean state!

the detail with the ribbon is easy -- just dusted off the good ol' sewing machine :)

I made a few more too that I'll post when I get a good picture.  I'll leave you with the final one I made yesterday.  I have been waiting to try this dazzling diamonds powder for awhile now. I think I am reluctant to use my embossing powders because my little ones don't like the sound of the heat gun.  Silly, I know... But I don't emboss for that reason. Oh yeah, and I'm lazy. :) but I wanted to bust it out and give it a try... I know now that I'll be making more! I used one of the new in colors (blue lagoon) and my stamp-ama-jig to line it up again when I stamped it with versamark.  A little heat n stick and the glitter and voila! One of my favorite cards to date! I also tried a new trick with the pompom made from the seam binding. You can follow the instructions on here (http://pinterest.com/pin/Aze_WQAQgFcAbYmT9KsAAAA/) but I will just tell you now - I used a 1 3/8" circle with a 3/4" circle in the middle.  Otherwise the pompom will be huge and you'll use a ton of ribbon!!

That "hello there" is just plain cute - but even cuter with a little dazzle! 

Hope these cards inspired you! Feel free to check out my shop on etsy - PaperJoyRI

Thanks again for stopping by :) walk with The King today and be a blessing! 

- Holly

Dino-roar birthday!

We arrived back home this Wednesday from 9 days in Pennsylvania (I'll post more on that later).  It's nice to be home again as a family.  I know the boys missed their dad as much as me.  While we were away, we missed Eli's friend's birthday.  He's a buddy from Sunday school and he turned 4 last Sunday.  I wanted to make a quick card to give him at church today so my mom and I stamped a little last night after the kids are in bed.

I knew I wanted to use the dinoroar stamp set - I just didn't realize I never mounted it!  I'm bad at buying sets because I really want them and then I let them sit on the shelf untouched..  Oh well, it's used now! :) When I envisioned this card using the dotted angles stamp for mountains, I never thought to use it in multiple layers. But, I love when things come together unplanned.  Because I didn't cut the crumb cake wide enough the first time, I had to stamp it again and that's when I thought, why not use more than just a straight row?  I love the depth and I think it really makes the scene look prehistoric.  Also, my first choice for the palms was using the flower from the Too Kind stamp set and flip it upside down.  I'm really happy I went with the cut up palms instead.  Easy technique too - just cut leaves and snip them.  

My mom brought her blendabilities markers and I knew they'd look cute with the dinosaurs.  I'm still not sure I have the technique down yet, but my mom does and was able to show me.  I need some practice, but I think I'll like them.

So here's the finished project along with the card my mom made last night.  It was nice to stamp together. I hope we get some more time over the next two days before they head home.  

Jax's card:

Isn't the dimension cool?? :) 

Here's my moms: 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day in The Lord! 

-Holly

(check out my newly launched Etsy shop! www.etsy.com/shop/PaperJoyRI )