Why You Love Ireland (Bacon)

There are so many reasons to love my gene pool, really. Today, all of you have to admit that we Irish types are really the cat's pajamas in every conceivable way. Even if you only admit it after two green beers.

But there's one reason in particular that you should all love all the red or dark haired, feisty, funny, poetic, sarcastic party-hardy potato farmers in your life even more than you THOUGHT you did.

Bacon.

Yep.

Here's the deal. St. Patrick, God rest his soul, is our saint for today's Saint's Day. For more than 1,000 years, my people have celebrated this day like good Catholics (or in my case, Lutherans), under the vegetarian restrictions of Lent. BUT, because St. Patrick was SO important, what with the snake issue and all, the Lenten rules were lifted for this day, and Irish people ate cabbage and blessed, blessed bacon.

I'm not gonna lie, I do have a suspicion that one of the reasons that St. Patrick was so revered by my homies is because it was a day of BACON in the midst of Lenten deprivation. Try to find fault with that logic.

I apologize to Ireland for breaking this story, but since I just read this book, I now know that lying, and believing lies, kills people, so I'm obligated to tell the smoky, crispy, delicious truth about ba- er, St. Patrick.

Maybe because I unearthed this truth, I had some bad luck with my St. Patrick's Day card. Or wait - I had some GOOD luck. I made a card that I was sort of happy with and I took a picture of it. But I wasn't REALLY happy of it, and it certainly wasn't bacon-worthy.

But then - like magic - it happened. I saw this card and that led me to this blog where I saw a technique I loved! I ripped my clover off my first attempt and used it with this fun sponging and masking technique for a nice, festive monochromatic card.

Stamps: Happy St. Patrick's Day Ink: Basic Black, Lucky Limeade Paper: Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper Accessories: Star Punch, Hearts Framelits, Stampin' Sponge

And yes, it's a four leaf clover, not a shamrock. And that's not because I'm not feeling St. Patricksy - it's because I didn't feel like making a stem, honestly.

First I cut four hearts with my Framelits die, and then I embossed the next smaller heart framelit into each of those. I LOVE embossing with the Framelits!

To make the green gradient, I just masked off a stripe with my big Post-It notes, using my grid paper as a guide to keep them straight. For the first stripe, I sponged a lot of Lucky Limeade. Then I masked a second stripe - hint - overlap them a bit so you don't get white space between  - and sponged a bit less ink. Repeat with a third and less ink. So fun. So easy.

Now, tonight I will be making my traditional, delicious Irish stew. I'd love to share the recipe with you, but I've never written it down, because it just comes out of my soul and into the bread bowls :).

But I do have a recipe for you today. I tried this last night and it's AMAZING. If you have a gluten allergy, this recipe is gluten free. It's Quinoa Mac & Cheese, and yes, of course I found it on Pinterest.

The original recipe is here, but of course I made a lot of mods.

Here's my recipe:

1.5 C. Quinoa, rinsed thoroughly

3C. chicken broth

2 green onions, diced finely, without the whitest parts

1.5 tsp salt (I like Real Salt - it really tastes amazing - try it on a baked potato)

2 C. grated extra sharp cheddar cheese (this is what I used)

Black pepper to taste

Butter

Olive Oil (This is my current fave - met the owner at Central Market)

1 C. half and half

2 large eggs

Panko breadcrumbs

Put a bit of olive oil in your saucepan, add quinoa and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat and cover. Cook for 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is fluffy and tender, like rice.Whisk eggs and cream together in a large bowl. Add cheddar, salt, pepper and onions and mix well. Add quinoa and stir until blended. Butter a 13 x 9 dish and pour mixture into dish. Top with panko. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until heated through. 

It was so completely amazing it almost brought a tear to my eye. 

You know what would have made it better? Bacon. 

God bless my people. And speaking of blessing, here's an Irish one for you..

“May God grant you always...

A sunbeam to warm you, 

A moonbeam to charm you, a\\

A sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. 

Laughter to cheer you. 

Faithful friends near you. 

And whenever you pray,

 Heaven to hear you.”

Loveyameanitbye.

Houston, We Have Radishes!!

So we've been having an adventure here at Casa Blue. We cleared out all our back flowerbeds and built ourselves some square foot gardening boxes and have planted two of them.

I'm probably on some sort of watch list now though, because the only place you can buy really high quality organic veggie seeds is from these survivalist type sellers on Amazon. I'm surprised some twitchy guy hasn't shown up at my house to offer me a bonus tinfoil hat or bunker building services.

But, those survivalists know what the heck they are doing because our little seedlings are coming up exactly according to plan!

The radishes came up first - 16 per square foot, just like we planned. You plant two seeds in each hole in case one doesn't make it, so we have to remove some of these. But it's so exciting!! (Sorry about the stupid oak leaves.)

We got this great book that we used to make our boxes, and it really is amazing. The guy who wrote it is an engineer, and he cuts all the wasted motion out of the process and makes it incredibly efficient. It's really, really fun.

Here's the book if you feel like getting your garden on.

The way he has you do it you have absolutely perfect soil, so you don't have to worry about the dirt in your yard - all the boxes will have exactly the same magic soil mix.

It's hard not to run outside every five minutes and check the seedlings. I would like to right now, but here I sit.

But today is good for more than just radishes! I have a tutorial in the Weekly Inkling today on Splitcoast! It's one of my fave techniques for marbling paper with Smooch. It's very fun, easy, and a lot less messy than shaving cream, so give it a try after you watch the video! Here's the step by step tutorial also.

And here's Marbled Smooch video.

You can really get super glamorous backgrounds with this easy technique. The hardest part is keeping your kitties from trying to drink your Smooch water! :)

Loveyameanitbye.

But What About The Morning People?

Really.

I know all of you night crawlers are super stoked that you STOLE my hour of light I walk in early in the morning and tacked it on to your prime awake time, but what about ME? Walking in the DARK? Sleeping while it's LIGHT.

It's so not fair.

Plus it gives people heart attacks, stupid time change. No really - it does - look!

It's giving me a brain attack, I'll tell you that.

You can read about it in this book, and why it's so important and not just something we're all being dramatic about.

Hmph.

Well since they STOLE an hour from me, I didn't get as much stamping done as I wanted for VSN, but I did have time to do a few challenges. One challenge was to make a girly spring card. Now I really don't do girly cards very well - I'm more bold than foofy - but I did have fun with this one. I figured cupcakes and a chick flick counted as girly, right?

Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes Paper: Whisper White, Sweet Shop DSP, Attic Boutique Side Notes Ink: Basic Black

So if we all had our hour back, what would we have done with it?

I think I would have played Angry Birds. ;)

Loveyaeventhoughyoustoleanhourmeanitbye.

My Spiritual Gift

You know how some people are just born to do things? Like Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Van Gogh?

Well, I'm not like any of them.

But I do have a spiritual gift.

Enabling.

I can't help it - I just like to find cool things and share my wantmonster with others! One person that I've enabled beyond all reasonableness is my friend Leslie.

God only knows how much I've cost this poor woman over the years in stamps and accessories I've shown her that she HAD to have.

I enabled her into Twitter too. And most recently, Downton Abbey.

But what I want to do today won't cost her a dollar or a minute of her time.

I just want to enable her to have a very, very happy birthday. :)

Thanks for making every day fun from thousands of miles away, friend.

Why a Garlic Press Is Like The Internet

So I was making soup tonight.

Chicken enchilada soup, to be precise. You know - sort of like they have at Chili's?

Anyway, as I was squashing my garlic, I was amazed at what a great job the garlic press does, for such a simple tool.

How DOES it squish all the good stuff out of the little holes and leave the hull in the squishy part? Why doesn't it get clogged up? Why is garlic the perfect consistency for this miraculous little gadget?

I know Alton Brown would not approve of my use of a garlic press, and normally, I completely agree with him - I am not a fan of kitchen gadgets and appliances and do most everything with a sharp knife and a saucepan. But the garlic press, well, that's a unitasker that even I can love. Forgive me, Alton, for I have sinned. It's been less than a day since my last unitasker.

I was thinking about all the things the garlic press has in common with the internet. Gmail is a garlic press - squishing all my email into my box and holding on to the Russian and Chinese spam telling me how interesting my blog is, and how, because of this, I must be riveted by the prospect of making $3000 a week taking online surveys. It's quite good at this, actually. Google search is equally good at squishing out unnecessary trash and leaving me with what I want.

In the stamping world, challenges are a garlic press of sorts. Especially Virtual Stamp Night, where there's a time limit and I have to cut to the chase of designing.

But all challenges do the same thing for me. They peel away all my normal stampy bad habits and leave just a set of simple design rules. I think they always make my designs better, cleaner, less  over thought.

I saw today's technique challenge late last night, and just before I fell asleep I knew what I wanted to try.

The challenge is to use one color of ink, and no coloring. I love to color, so it really was a challenge. But right before the sandman came, I thought maybe what a monochromatic image needed was a really dramatic frame. So here's what I did.

Punchy, eh?

As far as I'm concerned, Poppy Parade is the BLUE of reds. It's perfection. So I used the middle two labels framelits - the smaller one to cut half a label in Crumb Cake cardstock, and both to cut a Poppy Parade frame to go around it. I glued the frame to the Crumb Cake, and then glued that to a white card base and stamped the greeting from Afterthoughts (hostess  set) in Poppy Parade.

That greeting cracks me up.

I think a good half or more of us go to birthdays AND weddings for the cake! :)

I distinctly remember the cake euphoria that set in each time I received a birthday party invitation as a child - do you?

If you squished all the extras out of a birthday party, I think what you'd have left is a nice, fluffy piece of cake. :)

Loveyameanitbye.

What I've Learned From Downton Abbey

Since I may or may not be the last human on earth to become addicted to the show Downton Abbey, if you are actually the last, please come on in, lock the door behind you and start watching it immediately!!

Luckily since I've started late I get to watch the whole thing on Amazon Instant Video, which you can do here. It's free for Season 1 if you're a member of Amazon Prime. Season 2 I had to pay for.

Anyhoo, here are some of the very important things I've learned from watching this show.

• I love John Bates. I need to get Anna out of the picture. 
• It DOES take a team of about 50 trained professionals to clean and cook for a house. So the rest of us can stop worrying about our dust and our laundry and meals and stuff because we just aren't properly staffed for that job. Until we are, we should brook no backtalk about what needs to be done. 
• English ladies really should have been introduced to stamping far earlier than they were, because these broads in the show needed hobbies in the worst way. Seriously - they could have avoided a lot of calamity if they had just been embossing and glittering things. Perhaps all of WWI could have been avoided - just sayin'. 
• I'm glad I don't have to wear a corset.
• Carson and the telephone reminds me of me and Microsoft Windows. Some things never change. 

Please spend some time communicating point #2 to your families. 

Despite not having a trained team of servants, I did clean my office today and realized I'd forgotten to show you this card. It's perfect for the Downton Abbey theme because it features a set that is currently only in the UK Stampin' Up! catalog.

I made it for Beate's fabby tutorial on the Faux Letterpress technique. For the card base, I used Whisper White. I rubbed Sahara Sand ink all over the Finial Press embossing folder before running it through the Big Shot.

For the second layer, to coordinate it, I rubbed Early Espresso ink on the same folder and ran it through with Sahara Sand cardstock.

The main panel features my BELOVED Everything Eleanor set we got at Leadership - it's a sneak peek set from the upcoming catalog. I really like that distressed label shape. I added a few pearls and Pool Party seam binding. Don't you want to squeeeee at that bird? He's as cute as John Bates. Really.

Loveyameanitbye.

Why Are You Eating The Window?

Yeah, so I was working today and I hear a really weird sound coming from the general direction of Maddie.

I look over towards the area where I stamp, and she has her hiney on my desk, both paws up on the window - you know the top of the part that opens where the latches are - and is GNAWING on the metal frame of the window!

I've always said she has pica. She tends to eat paper and dryer lint and weird things when she's being super dramatic about being hungry.

I would say eating the window qualifies as dramatic.

Speaking of dramatic - I decided to add a little drama to the week with an entry for today's Free For All Friday challenge on Splitcoast. The challenge was blue flowers - how am I to be expected to resist THAT, I ask you? I would definitely bite my way through a window to get to a blue flower challenge.

I spent like a squillion hours coloring this tiny image, but I just couldn't stop - it was soooo fun.

The stamp is from Apothecary Art - and I freaking love it. It begged for some blue. What do you think?

Stamps: Apothecary Art Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Early Espresso

Paper: Mocha Morning Specialty, Early Espresso, Whisper White 

Accessories: Framelits - Labels Collection, 

ShinHan Touch Twin Markers: YR29, BR98, BR107, WG1, BR100, PB144, PB70, 

Aqua Painter with alcohol in it, Edgelits - Adorning Accents 

I left the rest of the colors in the sepia range to really let the blue stand out. I think those two ranges are really pretty together. Want to play along? Upload your card to Splitcoast with keyword F4A106 - there's no deadline.

The paper is shimmery in real life - I know it's hard to see here. It's the Mocha Morning Specialty DSP.

Okay now check out what I got today!! This crazy awesome Summer Smooches Bundle!

Look closely at the bottom right past the glare of general awesomeness from the other stuff - see that tiny purse? SQUEE!! That's a Big Shot Die!! It goes together with two tiny pieces of Sticky Strip! I LOVE IT! I've already made a squillion of them!! You can order all this from me starting April 1st, and I'm not foolin'!

My monthly stamp class is next Saturday the 10th - are you coming? I hope so!

Loveyameanitbye.

It's Almost Time For LEAPrechauns!

I looked for a leprechaun stamp this morning. If I have one, it's deep in the recesses of my closet.

I thought that a leprechaun would be PERFECT for a leap day challenge that sweet Lee proposed on Facebook this morning.

Our challenge was to create a card with anything that leaps.

As you can tell, I also don't have lizard stamps, which is too bad, because a leapin' lizard would have been freaking hilarious.

I also don't have Superman who could have leapt tall buildings in a single bound. Of course, that would mean I'd need building stamps, which I also don't have.

Sheesh. You'd think a lady with eleventy squillion stamps would have all these things.

But you know what I can ALWAYS put my paw on???

A bunneh stamp.

Yepper.

And bunnies leap!!!

So here's my challenge card for this special day.

Stamps: Everybunny Ink: Basic Black Paper: Whisper White, Big Top Birthday Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Framelits - Labels Collection

Now who wouldn't want an extra day to enjoy a snuggly little bunny?

A crazy person, that's who.

If you want to play along, upload your leapy card to Splitcoast with keyword SCSFBLY2012 and we'll see you there!

Loveyameanitbye.

If There's a Cure For The Blues, Please Don't Tell Me

Sometimes, people who know I love blue will send me beautiful photos of blue Morpho butterflies. I actually have a framed Morpho on my desk. They are some of the most stunning creatures on earth. They are the world's most perfect blue, with a shimmer - nature's glitter. I would love to see a whole swarm of them in real life.

I was telling someone the other day that where I grew up, we had GIANT butterflies - just huge - bigger than a softball or a good sized Texas grapefruit. They were blue or yellow and they were amazing. Some of the other bugs that weren't nearly as pretty also got frighteningly large, but the butterflies made it all worth it.

When I saw that Moxie Fab world issued a "Cure for the winter blues" challenge, there wasn't even a second's hesitation in my mind about what I was going to do. It had to be the butterfly. 

So here's what I did. 

First, I inked up the butterfly from Wonderful Wings (retired) in Bashful Blue. I stamped off once, and then stamped it on a white card base. Then I filled it in with the same color ink for a shadow. 

Next, I wanted to do a Bokeh effect, because I've been playing with photography Iphone apps, and the Bokeh effect is one of my faves. I read about it for my real photography in this book - Creative Composition. Basically it just means little spots of light. To make my Bokeh, I took a pencil with one of those nice smooth white erasers (I don't use regular pencils outside of this application, so all my erasers are perfect circles) and I inked it on my blue ink pad and stamped all over the card. Then, I scribbled some metallic blue gelato onto the lid of my stamp case and misted it and used that with the eraser - you can see the shimmer in the photo above. 

To color the butterfly, I used a water brush and a PITT artist pen - big brush - to shade it. Then I went back over the dots on the edges of the wings with a metallic PITT pen. It's so shimmery up close - the sunlight kind of washes that out in my photo. I cut it out and I also cut in between the upper and lower wing sections for dimension.

The sentiment is retired, but one of my favorites - it's from Nature's Secret and my beloved Richard Bach. I'm so glad I kept both of these stamp sets.

If there's a cure for the blues, I don't want to know about it.

Loveyameanitbye.

I Have No Professional Training...

I have been pondering crafts this week and various crafty topics.

Then today, I went to the bank to deposit a check from Dell - a result of an accounting mistake on a computer I bought years ago. I'm glad they caught it, because surprise money is never a bad thing, even if it's small.

Anyway, the teller at the the bank started reading my shirt. I had to look down, because I don't really think carefully about the t-shirt I choose before I run out the door at lunch to go to the bank. I usually am pleased if I get it on right side out.

It says: "I have no professional training. I already gave my best. I have no regrets at all."

Do you remember that? Or who said it?

Well, it was this guy.

Yep. William Hung. That's a pic of when he came here to Austin. Yes, I took a half day. :)

 And here he is saying it during his audition on American Idol.

Now that, my friends, is true love. 

He just loved that song, and loved singing, and he clearly didn't define his love for it by what anyone else did or thought - he defined it by singing it to the best of his ability.

After I left the bank, I thought about the things I love versus the things I have professional training for and I tried to find a match. 

I really couldn't. I'm professionally trained in all sorts of things that would bore you right to death if I listed them. 

I would not list "love" next to any of those. 

But I do love the things that I'm a complete bona fide rank amateur at. 

Cooking.

Needle felting.

Remodeling.

Painting.

Organizing colored pencils.

Patting furry creatures.

Walking.

Speaking Pig Latin. 

Tweeting.

Crafting. 

Specifically papercrafting. 

Yeah, I've taken a class or two. But those classes are taught by people like me. People who just love DOING it, and have found some awesome tricks. We didn't go to school for it, or get a license, or have papercrafting insurance or titles.

We just love it. We give our best. We have no regrets at all. :)

I made this card with no training whatsoever. And I have no regrets at all. I already gave my best. 

Stamps: Elementary Elegance (Sale-A-Bration - Free with $50 order), 

Bright Blossoms (Sneak Peek set I got at Leadership)

Ink: Basic Black Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: Framelits, Labels Collection, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, 

Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Watercolor Wonder Crayons

I've been crafting since I was a child, thanks to my mother, and my school, and Brownies and 4H. I'm so excited whenever I see a little girl crafting, and I try to involve myself in things that help girls craft. Especially since I know what a lifelong love and comfort it becomes.

Today, my sister sent me a picture of a purse her sweet little neighbor girl - Chloe - made her out of duct tape. I doubt I ever made anything this spectacular at her age. Or most ages since!

Way to go Chloe! Thanks for keeping the crafty torch burning. I can't wait until you have your own crafty blog. :) I'll read it every day, I promise.

Loveyameanitbye.

And The Cow Jumped Over the Moon

It's raining.

Which has nothing to do with my blog post, but I can hear it and it's bugging me so I had to just put it out there. It's supposed to rain all weekend. I actually took the picture of today's card outside in the rain. I think I caught the last light of the week out there. 

I had some fun visitors last week. Jeanne, Bev & Dina - all Dirty Girls from Splitcoast. 

We got a tiny amount of stamping in in our short visit, and I got to do what I really wanted to do for a little while, which was watch Dina color. 

She does it so effortlessly.

I, on the other hand, do not. 

However, I just need a little practice. What I tried is using alcohol like you would normally use water to paint with. 

First, I scribbled some Touch Twin markers on a smooth ceramic tile. That was my palette - like when you put water based reinkers on a paper plate or the lid of your ink pad. Then, I filled up my Aquapainter with 91% rubbing alcohol and picked up marker ink on it to paint with. It took a little getting used to, but it was really fun. It gives you a more watercolored look than just coloring traditionally with the markers. A little less perfect, more soft and super fun. 

Stamps: Nursery Times Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (stamped off once) 

Paper: SU Watercolor Paper, First Edition DSP, Crumb Cake 

Accessories: Framelits - Labels Collection, Pool Party Seam Binding, 

Edgelits - Adorning Accents, ShinHan Touch Twin Markers: B67, Y34, BR103, BR95, 

Rubbing alcohol, Aqua Painter

This little Nursery Times set is so sweet. It reminds me of the sweet little Mother Goose nursery rhyme book that was such a welcome break from the unnecessary terror and horror of the Brothers Grimm! I'd much rather think about a cow jumping over the moon than some crazy broad turning kids into blocks of ice or popping them in the oven like a chicken pot pie! 

Seriously. Those stories are horrid. HOWEVER, I'm really enjoying their reinterpretation in the show Once Upon a Time - are you watching? It's perfectly creepy and I'm now old enough to only be moderately terrified of a child-eating witch. Moderately. Rumplestiltskin still scares the bejeebers out of me though. Sheesh!

I'm back - I had to go check under the bed for witches. 

This week's Kindle book for me is really great - I can't believe how many books I've read since I got my Kindle Fire! I love that thing. I hate to say this out loud, but I might like it better than my Ipad! HORROR!

Anyway - the book is called Quiet. 

I know - I'm not quiet!! Don't make me pinch you for that brilliant observation! But this book is a great study of how the world deals with extroverts and introverts. 

The part I just read had this great study about babies. They put mobiles over babies' cribs. They measured the degree to which the babies yelled and batted at the mobiles. Surprisingly, the yelliest, battiest babies grew up to be the most introverted, and the quiet babies turned into extroverts. The babies who reacted less, to stimuli were more confident and relaxed, where the other babies were more stressed by the somewhat active environment. Makes sense, but it's the opposite of what you first think when you read the study. 

It's full of great information and I love books on personality and psychology. Now if I could just stay awake more than five minutes after settling down to read, I'd be good! I wonder if there's a book about how to stay awake while reading and watching movies. Let me know if you find one!

That danged cow just starts jumping over the moon as soon as I get comfortable :).

Loveyameanitbye.

Hate To Say It, But It's Not Your Turn

Okay so lately I've been battling Austin right of way dementia.

Not ME - I don't have dementia.

I've taken defensive driving more times than I've renewed my driver's license - let's just leave it at that rough number - and so I KNOW who has the right of way at all times. I also know several obscure traffic laws. But that's for another day.

My fellow citizens of God's Country, on the other hand, do not have a CLUE about right of way.

Let me simplify it for everyone.

You're sitting in a parking lot, waiting to leave. I am on a road which goes past the parking lot. You ready?

YOU NEVER HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY IN THIS SITUATION.

Stay put until the coast is clear. Pretend you are in a grown up version of hide and seek and just sit there, quietly, until all us road types have executed our maneuvers. You have zero rights. You may as well not exist. I don't care if your baby is crying, you bought ice cream, you have a rash, LOST is on, Bruce Willis is at your house, you left the stove on - whatever. Sit tight. Don't make me come over there.

I've been gone pretty much since the beginning of January and haven't stamped in about that same amount of time, so I've been having withdrawals in addition to dealing with incompetent drivers. Today's tutorial on Splitcoast I could not resist though. Beate can always make me stamp my way out of a drought.

The technique uses pastel pencils on black cardstock, and I was ready for some simple drama, so here's what I did.

Pretty, no?

I cut the butterfly from Basic Black with my Beautiful Butterflies die, and then embossed some images in white from Bordering on Romance. I colored them with my pastel pencils - and honestly, it was just a minute or two to color them. The panel behind the butterfly is sticky back canvas that was in my big bag of scraps and the card base is Whisper White. The greeting is from Loving Thoughts, which I got at Leadership.

I love cards that are simpler than explaining right of way to my countrymen. :)

Loveyameanitbye.