Inky Antics' Halloween Tags

Today I have some fun tags to share with you that would be darling tied to a basket filled with Halloween goodies. I learned this technique WAY back in the '90's, when I first learned about rubber stamping.

To create my tags, I colored on a piece of acetate with Dual Brush Markers and then spritzed with water. I "smooshed" my tag into the spritzed color and let dry and then stamped with Inky Antics rubber stamps and permanent black ink and colored with Irojiten Pencils then blended with Gamsol.

Then I just jazzed each tag up with some designer paper, ribbons, and white gel pen. I used Xtreme Adhesive for the papers and ribbon.

Created with Inky Antics' Halloween Monsters HoneyPOP set:

these next two with Autumn Fields Stamp Set:

Pinned It Made It Monday Week 39

**I just noticed this didn't go live Monday...


This week's Pinned It Made It is from THIS pin...Chicken Fried Rice. I made it without the chicken as I needed it as a side dish. It was okay, but kinda bland.

Pinned It Made It Monday Week 38

This week's pins come without pictures of mine. I have a few recipes/ideas to share with you that I have pinned and made/done, but forgot to take pictures before the food was eaten.


Oven Brown Rice
I can never get brown rice to cook right. This was perfect! Doing it this way every time.



photo courtesy: More Than Heels

Canned Banana Peppers
I used this recipe even though mine were hot yellow waxed peppers (that look like banana peppers and were not marked right...they are HOT!) These actually are not all eaten, but all in the basement stored.

Photo Courtesy: Cucina Kristina

Chicken Taquitos
The flavor of these were really good, however, the corn tortillas were a bit tough. I froze some, so am going to try frying them, rather than bake and see if that helps. I have a feeling the filling may come out, we'll see.

photo courtesy from: Made From Pinterest

and then one non food tutorial I did:
How to Crochet a Magic Circle

BFB A Love Undone

A Love Undone by Cindy Woodsmall is by one of my favorite authors and she did not disappoint.

This was a completely different type of Amish story than what I've read before. In this story, Andy an Amish husband and his young son have been deserted by mom/wife years before. Jolene is engaged to be married when events change her life completely.


As their lives entwined, I liked how you thought something was going to happen and then there was a twist and turn and you weren't so sure. It was very hard to put down this book and I read late into the night more than once.

• More Info
• Author Bio

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Stationery Caddy

Our challenge for the Cutting Cafe this week is to use the Stationery Caddy Template and Cutting File, Coffee Cup Holder, or K-Cup Holder. I had fun creating one of these Stationery Caddies before for my DIL here and this is the one I created for this week's challenge. For this box, I used the 3 boxes in the front option. One of the fun things about this template is that you can personalize it to meet your needs. I thought I had some little tags to put in one of the boxes and they weren't in my tag box, so I must have used them all. I think I will make some up and put them in the box that has the adhesive.

I didn't get a separate photo of the postage stamps, but they were my inspiration for the colors of  designer paper I used. Here is a picture of them from a website:

To make sure this box is sturdy and stays together, I used Tombow's Xtreme Adhesive. Super strong stuff that I love for projects like this.

Regina will have all the DT's creations on the blog HERE on Sunday. Stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win 3 files of your choosing.

Frugal Friday 9-19-14

*rec'd tomatoes, green pepper and jalapeno peppers from friends
*downloaded books from Bookbub
*watched show with Aaron on Netflix
*gallon of 2% for $2.99
*made my own version of V8 juice ~ 7 qt
*made homemade pizza sauce ~ 11 pt
* made homemade tomato soup ~ 17 pt (I have made this before and it is better than any brand I've ever bought)
*cohosted another Ladies Night Out and brought home leftovers: smokies, lots of generic lemon lime soda, potato chips, dips, salsa: the theme was tailgating
*we made homemade bar soap again as we were getting low. Scented this almond with some scent I purchased for free on Amazon with my swagbuck points
*picked up a basket, tin with painted yellow flowers, silk daisies, and 2 mugs for under $3 for my next sunshine basket I create
*used swagbucks to get curtains for 2 windows and 2  shelves for my craft room for free!
*had a girl's day out with a SIL and my DIL and we split a large meal and one brownie and had free ice cream
*rec'd a lovely totebag from my SIL
*canned hot banana peppers
*made jalapeno jelly
*learned about Savings Catcher from Walmart. Signed up and entered a receipt and earned 54¢ back (if you go to Walmart and then enter your receipt it will check to see if the price was cheaper somewhere else that day. If it is, they will send you an e-check. You can accumulate the savings and print when you want to use at Walmart)
*bought Oreos for 1.99 each! They are $5 where I live. Bruce's bd is tomorrow and we are making homemade Oreo ice cream
*took advantage of Swagbucks Walmart $5 gift cards on sale for 440 pts instead of 500 points. Was able to get 5 of them
*watched a movie for free on Hulu

Pinned It Made It Monday Week 37/Sunshine Basket

I'm a day late with my pin this week. Too much was going on yesterday to get this up even though I already had this project done.

This is another Sunshine Basket. There is no one pin that this is fashioned after, but the idea. You can go HERE to see my Sunshine Inspiration Board, as well as just search for Sunshine Box or Basket.

This is my 3rd basket that I've created, and I am so enjoying collecting yellow goodies and filling a personal basket to fit the person I am giving it to in hopes of adding a little sunshine to their "cloudy" days. Each person I have given to so far have either had cancer, a death in the family, or some really hard stuff going on in their lives. I think this would even be a fun basket to receive "just because". I know it would brighten my day just knowing someone was thinking of me and cared enough to add some love to a gift. What I like about this project is that there is no right or wrong way to make it, no limit to one's creativity or imagination.

I started off with a basket that I picked up at Goodwill for 50¢. I try to find really nice, sturdy baskets that the receiver can then use again for personal use or to fill with goodies and pass on to another. I look for anything yellow whenever I am out and about shopping that can be added in and then when I know who I am giving it too, add some more personal type items that I know they will enjoy.

I like to make these baskets as frugally as possible. I was able to get the mug & dish towel on clearance for 50¢ each. The notecards were created from printing for free HERE and adding some of designer paper from my stash to pretty up.

Also included is some fun yellow pkg'd candies, straws (because everything is more fun when drinking through a straw Ü), homemade lemon biscotti, lemon zinger tea bags, pretty pencil, yellow Bic Pen, sticky note pad, microwave popcorn, and lemon scented hand soap. The pretty ribbon tied to the basket was free as it was used as gift wrap on one of the wedding gifts of B & K's and she's not fond of yellow so let me have it. It was the perfect accent to tie the basket off.

This lovely basket went to my SIL. Saturday, she as well as my DIL had a girl's day out in GI and we went shopping, out to lunch, shopping, had our nails done (a first for me) and more shopping. I was able to pick up a few more yellow goodies to get another head start on a basket for when the occasion arises. After I know who it will be going to, I will add more personal goodies to it as well.

Tombow's Challenge: Books

This month's challenge is hosted by Jennie and the theme is books! Here is what Jennie said:

“Since September 6 is Read A Book Day and September 8 is International Literacy Day, I want to do a book related challenge. It could be a bookmark, use book paper, a quote from a book, etc.”

I love creating with book pages and am glad I have an excuse reason to do so again. Ü

Here is a quick and simple card using a page from an old book, This card uses a daisy from the PreColoured - Fall Flowers & Paper Pricking Template Sheet set from FredSheSaid. I used Tombow's Mono Adhesive Permanet for all my adhesive putting the card together.

As with all our challenges, there is a prize to be one to one person who plays along with us in our challenge. Be sure to stop by the Tombow blog for all the details.

It will include:

XTREME

MONO Multi Liquid Glue

Foam Tabs

We will NOT have voting this time, Tombow will select a winner at random. The Winner will be announced 9/24.

Pinned It Made It Monday Week 36/ Hop with Guest Designer Diana Larson

This is my Pinned It Made It plus Tombow hop. I am pinning myself here. I loved THIS banner that I had made and decided to make one for this hop as well.

Tombow is blog hopping with Diana Larson today. The Design Team along with Diana is creating fall themed projects for you. I don't know about where you live, but here we've been having temps in the 30's at nite and 70's or lower during the day. We have even had snow in NE this week! I ♥ fall and hope this doesn't mean we went from summer to winter! I want my long fall months first. Ü

I created this fun BOO Banner using Inky Antics 10710 F Mortimer Mummy image for the "o's". The "B" is from Cutting Cafe's A-Z Huge Letter Sheets file. I used lots of Tombow adhesives:
Mono Glue Stick-adhering paper to chipboard AKA cracker boxes
Mono Adhesive Dots: scallop triangles, sentiment banner, mummy circles to heavy cardstock & B
Mono Adhesive Permanent: straight edged triangles
Mono Multi Glue: tulle & rosettes
Power Tabs: Buttons, Bows, Mummy Rosette pieces and "B" piece

Now how about a chance to win some fun Tombow product. In order to be qualified to win this amazing PRIZE, PLEASE comment on each of the designers projects. Tombow will announce a winner Monday 9/15.

The Prize includes:

MONO AQUA Liquid Glue

Irojiten Color Pencil 5 Set, Sepia

It's time now to head over to the super talented Melissa Cash. If you get lost along the way, here is the lineup for this hop:

Debbie Fisher

Melissa Cash

Jennie Garcia

Marie Browning

Diana Larson

TombowUSA Blog

Precious Remembrance/Tombow Blog Hop Day 3

Today is the last day of the Tombow/Precious Remembrance Shop Hop. I had so much fun creating with the 3 amazing stamp sets they sent the Tombow DT to play with and will be creating more with them in the days ahead. I love their images and will definitely be wanting to add to my PR collection. 

This card is created using the Oh So Fun Stamp Set. I love anything jar related and this is just a fun stamp set! I stamped the jar in black on watercolor paper and added just a little bit of color using Dual Brush Pen #528 to the jar. I colored the banners with #'s 249, 837, and 743 and drew little bows connecting them with # 026.

Now for the amazing prize!

The Prize will include amazing products from BOTH Companies:

From Tombow the Winner will receive:

  Dual Brush Pen Set, 6 Retro

    MONO Aqua Liquid Glue

        MONO Glue Pen

From Precious Remembrance Shop the Winner will receive:

         Coffee Love Stamp Set

         Oh So Fun Stamp Set

         Thanks Stamp Set 

In order to qualify to win this AMAZING prize you must:

1. Comment on each of the Design Team Member's blog post AND the Company Blog post.
2. Like BOTH TombowUSA and Precious Remembrance Shopon Facebook.

The Winner will be announce on Tuesday September 9th. Now it's time to head over to Sue's Blog.

Here is the hop Line Up for Sunday:

·        TombowUSA Blog
·         Marie Browning
·         Rosemary Dennis
·         Lisa Elton
·         Debbie Fisher
·         Sue Lelli
·         Kim Bell
·         Melissa Cash
·         Melissa Chipperfield

·         Geri Freeman
·         Jennie Garcia
·         Andrea Budjack

·         Precious Remembrance Shop

Back to School

The Cutting Café DT is headed Back to School on the 7th. I love anything apple and school related and had so many ideas in my head it was hard to come up with which one to do!

I have seen several cards/projects on Pinterest using a shape that can be folded in half to make into an accordian shape of sorts. I used the Apple Shaped Card Cutting File for my apple, the stem, leaf, and sentiment from Apple Treat Box, and the bracket background piece is from Set of 7 Shaped Cards. Tombow's adhesive made this super easy to put together.

I really like how this turned out and now need to look for other shapes Regina has that this technique could work with. Another nice thing about this is that you can open the apple and it lays flat for an envelope and/or mailing.

Tomorrow Regina will be posting links and pictures of what the other DT members created. Leave a comment on the Cutting Cafe blog and you will be entered for a chance to win 3 files of your choice.

Precious Remembrance/Tombow Blog Hop Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of this weekend's Tombow and Precious Remembrance Blog Hop! If you just came from Lisa's Blog, you are in the right place along the hop. If not, be sure to start on Tombow's Blog so as not to miss any important info and inspiration.

I used the Coffee Love Stamp Set for my project today. As soon as I saw the coffee cup image, I thought of THIS tutorial and knew I wanted to create another one. Oh my! The cup was the perfect size for this project and I love how it turned out. I went with a fall theme in colors and can't wait to fill the cups with treats and give to a special friend.

I stamped the coffee cup image with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Ink and then did some shading with Tombow's 026 Dual Brush Pen from their new Muted Dual Brush Pen Set. I also used 947 from the same set to color the heart image from the same stamp set and stamped it on some diagonal designer paper. I love how the image looks like a coffee ring/splatter, but with a heart in the middle. CUTE!

I used Tombow's Xtreme Adhesive to construct the box and to adhere designer papers to the mini coffee cups.

Now for the amazing prize!

The Prize will include amazing products from BOTH Companies:

From Tombow the Winner will receive:

  Dual Brush Pen Set, 6 Retro

    MONO Aqua Liquid Glue

        MONO Glue Pen

From Precious Remembrance Shop the Winner will receive:

         Coffee Love Stamp Set

         Oh So Fun Stamp Set

         Thanks Stamp Set 

In order to qualify to win this AMAZING prize you must:

1. Comment on each of the Design Team Member's blog post AND the Company Blog post.
2. Like BOTH TombowUSA and Precious Remembrance Shopon Facebook.

The Winner will be announce on Tuesday September 9th. Now it's time to head over to Sue's Blog.

Here is the hop Line Up for Saturday:

·        TombowUSA Blog
·         Marie Browning
·         Rosemary Dennis
·         Lisa Elton
·         Debbie Fisher
·         Sue Lelli
·         Kim Bell
·         Melissa Cash
·         Melissa Chipperfield

·         Geri Freeman
·         Jennie Garcia
·         Andrea Budjack

·         Precious Remembrance Shop

Precious Remembrance/Tombow Blog Hop

I hope you are ready from some Fun Ideas and Great Prizes this week from TombowUSA and Precious Remembrance Shop. We will be hopping with Precious Remembrance Shop September 5^th -7^th . If you're here from Lisa's blog, then you’re in the right place,  if not then you may want to start at the beginning from the TombowUSA Blog .

For my first project, I created a card using Precious Remembrance's Thanks Stamp Set and Tombow's Mono Adhesive Permanent and their new Muted Dual Brush Pen Set.

Here is the hop Line Up. Friday:·         TombowUSA Blog
·         Marie Browning
·         Rosemary Dennis
·         Lisa Elton
·         Debbie Fisher
·         Sue Lelli
·         Kim Bell
·         Melissa Cash
·         Melissa Chipperfield

·         Geri Freeman
·         Jennie Garcia
·         Andrea Budjack

·         Precious Remembrance Shop

The Prize will include amazing products from BOTH Companies:

From Tombow the Winner will receive:

  Dual Brush Pen Set, 6 Retro

    MONO Aqua Liquid Glue

        MONO Glue Pen

From Precious Remembrance Shop the Winner will receive:

         Coffee Love Stamp Set

         Oh So Fun Stamp Set

         Thanks Stamp Set 

In order to qualify to win this AMAZING prize you must:

1. Comment on each of the Design Team Member's blog post AND the Company Blog post.
2. Like BOTH TombowUSA and Precious Remembrance Shop on Facebook.

The Winner will be announce on Tuesday September 9^th

^{Now it's time to head over to Sue's Blog.}

Frugal Friday 9-5-14

* I had mentioned on my don't buy anything challenge that I would be buying peaches if I saw a good deal. I scored big time! HyVee had Colorado peaches (the only kind I like to buy) for 88¢/lb! I couldn't believe it AND we were in Kearney that weekend moving Aaron back to college. Perfect! I called my oldest DS to tell him and he had me pick up a box for him and DIL as well. I bought 4 boxes, gave some to Aaron to eat on and canned and froze the rest, plus made jams and jellies you can see on my post HERE.

*used a coupon/code to get 12 free note cards from Shutterfly. I only had to pay shipping. I had done this once before and they were the nicest quality cards. I picked a card template where I could add my own photo. This is a picture of some flowers I had taken a few years back in the fall when visiting my brother and SIL in Geneva. I had gone for a walk with my camera and these were so vibrant and beautiful.

*rec'd free subscription to Family Fun. They always have a lot of fun craft and food ideas

*watched free movie on Hulu:
   The Bouquet

*Entered 4 Kellogg's Reward Codes to get 400 points, then found out from a blogger friend that they would let me do it again, so did

*earned $35 in Swagbucks

*gallon of 2% milk for $2.99

*close dated Mozzarella block for 99¢

*made Monkey Bread and Ham Balls for Aaron to take back to college for some meals. Also sent hamburger and shredded turkey and12 banana peppers with him as he was wanting stuffed peppers. That will help him out with a few meals.

*ate the majority of our meals from the pantry and freezer for even more savings last month
*4 lb sugar 99¢

* Campbell's Tomato Soup 69¢ each and then had a 40¢ off coupon for 3, so that made them 55¢ and 56¢ each.

*Prego Pasta Sauce 99¢ each and then had a 75¢ off of 2 coupon, so that made them 61¢ and 62¢ each.

*chicken breast on sale for 98¢/lb! Great buy! We eat a lot of chicken a lot of different ways.


Please share your frugal tips. I love to learn even more ways to save.

Pinned It Made It Monday Week 35

Happy Labor Day! Last Week was a Peachy Week. I was able to purchase Colorado Peaches (the best kind to get) for only 88 ¢/lb!!

This weeks Pinned It Made It comes from THIS pin. Jalapeno Peach Jam....YUM! I remember having this many years ago (so long ago, I'm not sure where LOL) and remember really liking it. Oh my, it's even better than I remember!

Jalapeno Peach Jam

Ingredients

6 Pounds Fresh Peaches (about 15)
6 Fresh Jalapenos
6 Cups Sugar
1 Large Lemon, juice only (I just used 2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice)
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 (1.75 oz.) package Pectin
                 
Directions

• 1 Wash fruit and jalapenos well. Puree peaches in a food processor until slightly chunky. Some chunks are good. You don't want it completely smooth.
• 2 Process the jalapenos separately until they are a very fine dice.
• 3 Add peach puree and jalapenos to a large pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring regularly.
• 4 Stir in sugar, lemon juice, and pectin. Continue to stir until everything is dissolved.
• 5 Continue to let the jam simmer for another 15 minutes to thicken. Add a small amount of butter which will help prevent foaming. If any foam does come up though, try to scrape it off the jam.
• 6 Boil your jars and lids for ten minutes to sterilize them. Once they are sterilized, use a funnel and ladle to fill each jar, leaving about 1/4 inch of room at the top of each jar.
• 7 Wipe each jar clean and place a clean lid on it. Then screw on the band that holds the lid in place. Be careful. The jar will be very hot!
• 8 Place all the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes to process them. Make sure the simmering water covers the jars by at least an inch.
• 9 Remove the jars and let them cool completely for 24 hours. At that point if there are any jars that aren't sealed well (if you can press down the center of the lid and it pops up) then put on a new lid and band and re-process the jar in boiling water.
• 10 Store sealed jars in a cool dark place for up to a year.

I also canned peaches, froze peaches and made peach seed/skin jelly.

14 qt canned

8 VERY FULL qt frozen (probably more like 5 cups in each bag)

12 pint canned (these are for Aaron to take to college)

16 large jelly jars and 2 regular jelly jars Jalepeno Peach Jelly

16 regular jelly jars of Peach Seed/Skin Jelly

We've already used 2 jars of the Jalepeno Peach! We've had it with cream cheese and crackers, on hamburgers, fish, and last night I used it as the marinade on chicken wings. So yummy!

Cutting Cafe Labor Day Sale

CYBER MONDAY SALE FOR SEPTEMBER 1ST 2014.

Today Cutting Café has an AWESOME SALE - BOGO:

BUY ANY SET AND GET ANY SET OF EQUAL OR LESSOR VALUE FOR FREE..........NO DOLLAR AMOUNT LIMITATIONS AND YOU CAN ORDER AS MANY SETS AS YOU LIKE.

This sale is good from today until 11:59pm September 1st 2014.

NO OTHER OFFERS APPLY AND NO SUBSTITUTIONS

HAPPY SHOPPING............

Go HERE for more information on this awesome sale!