This week's Midweek Throwdown for OWH is a Tasty Challenge! Make a card involving food. Well, apparently that is a challenge for me since I realized I did not have one stamp in the food category! So this is all I could come up with, a bit basic, but, it is what it is!










The ingredients for my card - scrap pp (Basic Grey), Dies (Nestabilities), MS bakers twine and cupcake embellishment, Cake Time! stamp (Purple Onion)

This is the book I am reading right now, borrowed from my daughter-in-law, Alexa. It's nice to have someone to swap books with.

Had another nice, but hot weekend. On Saturday, our middle son, David, texted me from Atlanta to say he would be coming by to watch the USA/Ghana World Cup game with us. And, that he would be bringing 2 people with him. So, I quickly made some fresh salsa, and pulled together a few other items. When I heard the car door shut in the driveway, I was pleasantly surprised to see the other "people" were his brother, sister-in-law, and of course, sweet baby Caroline! We had a good time, good food and, of course, adult beverages. Gotta love adult beverages!

Here is this week's OWH sketch:











And, my card:










Supplies: pp: K&Co Itsy Bitsy Baby Girl, stamp: Purple Onion, dies: Nestabilities, Papertrey Ink.

For any of you that stumble into my little blog world, whether by accident or on purpose, you know that my scrap/cardmaking style is pretty much clean and simple. The design for these cards is just that -- from the Clean & Simple challenges on SCS. Three strips of patterned paper, rounded on one corner, and embellish!










These lovely birds were found on my birdfeeder yesterday morning. We do get a lot of colorful birds down here. I believe they are Black-Headed Orioles. If I am wrong, please enlighten me! Now we wait for the annual appearance of the Blue Bird -- it's quite a beautiful sight! Have a great weekend!

Had a wonderful weekend with my son and his family in Atlanta. We went to dinner on Saturday evening and then a Father's Day brunch on Sunday.

It seems everytime I am ready to post, my internet goes out! We blame it on the fact that the utility lines in this area are all exposed -- not buried.

Anyway, here is this week's OWH sketch:











And, my card:








The supplies used: Quickutz embossing folder, Inkadinkado stamp, buttons, MS bakers twine. The large stamp was heat embossed and trimmed.

Last week, I posted this photo of my favorite quiche recipe:










Here is the recipe:

Hash Brown Quiche

3 c shredded, frozen hash browns
thawed and drained
4 T butter, melted
3 large eggs, beaten
1 c half & half
½ c diced cooked ham
½ c diced green onions
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Press the hash browns to dry them. In a 9” pie plate, toss the hash browns with the butter. Press into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake 20 – 25 minutes at until golden brown.

Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Pour egg mixture into crust.

Bake 30 minutes, until quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.

Enjoy!

This is just a simple card I created for my husband for Father's Day.















And a photo of the quiche I made this week. I know what you're sayin' "It's just a quiche"! But it is so yummy, 'cuz the crust is made from shredded hash browns!










We're off to Atlanta tomorrow to visit Sweet Caroline!

The Midweek Throwdown challenge from OWH this week is to go thru your stash and use bling on a card - not glitter, though. No glitter can be used on cards for OWH.

I am not a huge bling-a-de-bling-bling person, but I did manage to come up with a card. This doesn't mean I don't have bling in my stash - I just don't use it a lot!

Found some Stampendous Dot Sparklers, satin trim, and a butterfly that I had already punched out of handmade paper. Also, used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher on the corners. Gotta use that thing more often.

It's been a while, but I actually created a layout today! I am an extremely slow scrapper and sometimes I just need a challenge to get motivated. As I only started scrapbooking in 2003, I had tons of photos to work with. The latest challenge from the Scrap that Baby! site is to do a layout using a baby and his favorite things. Unfortunately, CJ is only 3 months old, so I don't know if she even has a favorite yet! But, I did find a photo of was my oldest son (he's now almost 32 years old) and his Pooh Bear. I still haven't figured out how to take a better shot of my layouts, but, here is it is:











The design of this layout came from an old Scrapbooks Etc. magazine.

Not much went on here over the weekend - 'cuz it's too freakin' hot! Yeah, I know, that's what happens when you live in the deep South. Right now it's a sultry 98 degrees! We did manage to enjoy the Sox and the Celt's games though!

Using old pp scraps, I managed to create this card using this weeks OWH sketch.

My card:













OWH Sketch:













Off to the veranda to read (and sweat). Perhaps I'll have an adult beverage to make it a bit more tollerable!

Just a quick posting today with a patriotic card in honor of Flag Day next week:

Today started with a fun-filled appointment at the dentist for a cleaning. All is well, except for the fact that they recommended a mouth guard for 5 decades of grinding. I thought I only did it as a child, but they could tell I was still a grinding. Will I be running to CVS for a generic mouth guard? Au contraire, mon ami, I must have a custom fit appliance! Ah, well, I don't want it to get any worse.

The Midweek Throwdown from Operation Write Home was to create a masculine card, which I really struggled with. But, here it is:



















I will leave you with a recipe for meatloaf, yes meatloaf. I have finally found a recipe that I really like. It was the recipe of the day at allrecipes.com yesterday.

MEATLOAF

1 egg
3/4 c milk
1 c shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 c quick cooking oats
1 t salt
1 lb. ground beef

2/3 c ketchup
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 t prepared mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, cheese, oats, and salt. Add the ground beef, mixing well, and form this mixture into the meatloaf. Place in a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

In a separate, small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Stir thoroughly and spread over each meatloaf.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

The only change I made was to add 1/4 cup chopped onion. The original recipe was for mini meatloaves. Next time I make it, I will use less sauce, though. It was quite tangy! But, it is definitely a keeper!

The inspiration for today's card came from a February posting of the all in an inch blog. I used wicked old pp, a Stampabilities heart stamp, and satin ribbon. The label frame behind the heart was cut from the Slice Noteworthy design card.













That's all for now -- off to go sit on the veranda and start a new book.

While always on the hunt for new card-sketch sites, I was directed by Just Jingle this morning to Skipping Stones Design. Thanks, Jingle! Love the sketches and inspiration.

I chose a sketch from the May 11 post to create a birthday card.



















The sketch:



















As I, obviously, don't need all of the cards I create, the majority of my cards are placed in a box for Operation Write Home.

Not much else goin' on in our little lives right now. We are rabid Boston sports fans, so we watch whenever we can. Ain't easy livin' in Georgia and being a New England sports fan! Tonight it will be the 1st half of the Sox game and then on to root for the Celtics. It kills me that we have to wait until 9:00 for the game to start. Don't get me goin' on the fact that we to cater to the West Coast fans when it comes to game times! We have to wait for them to get home from work, but we have to stay up until midnight! Uggh! Just say'n!

Okay, I'm done with my rant!

This card was made using the OWH S&S Sketch #20. The stamp has been sitting unused on my scrap counter for close to a year. It is by Dawn Houser - Inkadinkado. I found it at Tuesday Morning - can't go wrong for a buck, right? I stitched around the image and added a bit of Martha Stewart bling. PP is Dream Street, which has been sitting in my stash for longer than I'd like to admit.

In an attempt to get back into the swing of things in regards to scrapping, I created a layout using expectant parent photos I took of my son, Alex and his wife, Alexa a month before CJ was born. The inspiration for this layout came from a beautiful layout created by Lydia, whose blog is called Scrap Notions. Hers is a bit classier than mine, but, I'm still happy with it.














Unfortunately, I was not able to update my blog yesterday, but should have. Yesterday would have been my mom's 85th birthday. This was her engagement photo, taken in 1946. So, Happy Birthday, Ma! Love ya!

with a heavy heart

With a heavy heart, I am back from a month-long trip to Texas.

After a ten-year fight, my wonderful sister and best friend, Patricia, lost her battle with cancer. It first began as breast cancer and thru chemo and radiation, she conquered it.

The next time it reared it's ugly head a few years later, it showed up in the liver and spine. Again, thru chemo, she fended it off. Last April, she came to my son's wedding in Savannah, and looked like a million bucks.

A month later, three tumors were discovered in her brain. Her doctor encouraged immediate radiation. Unfortunately, the radiation was so aggressive that it began to destroy her speech, memory, and motor skills. After Christmas, her health started to fail. I was so glad I got to spend time with my sister, Patricia, before she left us.

Although, I could be biased, she was the most talented and creative floral designer, I have ever met. I cannot tell you how much I will miss our hour-long conversations -- 3 times a week!

On a happier note, she was absolutely delighted that our grand daughter, Caroline Jayne, was born on her birthday.

Anyway, here is one of my favorite photos of her, taken in Cancun in 1996.


















Thanks for reading my tribute to my sister.