We Are

We are counting down the days until the end of school.  Like I've said, my college kid is home.  My two high schoolers have next week and then they're done.  My second grader is done the following week.  It'll be nice to have them all home. . .until I start seeing the evidence that they're home.  So, I give it a week.

I finally managed to finish my sort, purge and re-organizing of the embellishment packs I kept from kits that I pulled the paper from to giveaway.  Finally!  If you've undertaken any kind or reorganizing, you know it's overwhelming.  Stash supplies are no different.  I seriously wonder how I'll remember what I have, and actually use it - being a minimalist in page creation adds to the overwhelm factor.  And kits have spoiled me in not having to worry about what I have in my stash.  But it's done.  Now I need to clear my work tables, otherwise having this reduction in stash, and reorganization of it, doesn't do me any good.  I'm sort of waiting as we tick off these last couple weeks of events that fill my calendar.

• When you have a limited time to shop for an outfit you need for that night and find more things you like than time to try them on.  You fake it, grab and run.
• Super proud of this guy.  Spoke at the end of Mass about his experiences.  Takes more guts than I have.   
• It was almost a good shot.  
• So the "mugging" it look means "stink eye" to one
• Finish line here she comes
• Colfax Half Marathon - second year - time was just over three hours.  Awesome job!
• When you have support at the beginning and the end
• Advancement to Bear
• Dad doing the honors

Happy Wednesday,

We Are

• When you watch a movie you now know the ending of, but left that detail out when you were talking with your mom about.  You're welcome, love Mom.
• Finals be like.
• When you parents find out how many assignments and projects are missing/due, there's only two weeks left until the end of the year, and your GPA is in the gutter.
• Go, buddy.  
• Final - 12 laps.  Three miles.  45 minutes.
• Got the dapper dressing down.  Needed to make time for the "hair flow."
• May Crowning, 2016
• A 5k isn't gonna quite be the training for the upcoming half marathon.  But it was a good time.  #BetterThanNothing
• When you've been grounded from the xBox and your computer, but your parents forgot you have an old iPod.
• The "stare" makes it hard to concentrate.  Translation:  you have the blanket.  You're on the couch.  She wants you to move over so she can sleep next to you.
• My Mother's Day present.  I love her creativity.  It also made for a great conversation piece at brunch.
• Girlie and Grandma
• Getting down to the business of year-end projects.

Happy Wednesday,

Stash Busting

Journaling cards are a fairly new phenomenon in scrapbooking.  Journaling was usually done straight on the page, or a card was created by cutting down scraps and writing on that.  I know, how archaic?  Then pocket pages (i.e. Project Life®) came along and took off and there were cards everywhere:  in sets, in lines, in digital format for your own printing.  I'm not saying they weren't around before pocket pages took off, but they are certainly easier to find now.  And if you're buying a PL set, there are tons in one package.

Like most scrapbooking supplies, I have journaling cards.  A fair amount of them, but they are used more often than not.  It's a journaling card, so I use it that way.  I write on it, slap it down and move on.  I have, on occasion, used it more like a paper block inserted into a grid layout.  But there has to be something more, right?  Well, not as much as you'd think.  Oddly. 

Now these embellish cards (top) may have started off a little more plain than some journaling cards, but I like the idea.  I like adding some pop to them.  The set on the bottom started with printed decoration and more was added to the cards.  In both cases, the cards have more weight, and depending on what you put on them could actually be used as an embellishment, and never even write on them.

This layout uses multiple cards, much like blocks of paper, cut down and used to fill out a grid.  A lot of journaling cards come two-sided.  One side is lined and the other is patterned.  This would be a great way to use up several.

Journaling cards really grew from the need to fill pockets in pocket page albums.  Which is why they now come in a variety of sizes.  

Like I said, I was surprised to not find a lot of ideas on using up extra journaling cards and this layout is another altered-grid way of doing so.  Seeing them trimmed down, just shows that you can use those two-sided version like any other paper you have.

I was hoping to find a mini album created with them, and didn't see one in my searches, but you could totally do that.  Cascade a few of them down one side of a page, use washi to hold them to the page, and put smaller photos, or actual journaling, on them to give you more space - like a flip book of sorts.  Shoot use them as mats for smaller photos.  Or ground a grouping of embellishments.

Have any other ways to use them?

Go.  Create.

We Are

There's a crap ton of stuff heading our way, but I seem to be moving in slow motion about it all.  Except for yesterday, when I put almost 200 miles on my car.  And I wasn't driving to a vacation.

There's Mother's Day (which I spaced out.)  Finals.  A race.  May Crowning.  Communion.  Confirmation.  An AP test.  Staying on one kid's back to get all his school work in.  Speeches.  Story boards.  Moving people back home.  A half marathon (to cheer for, someone else will do the running.) Crazy.  Unfazed.  I'm not sure if I should worry.

• When you need some time with the testosterone in your life.  #TooMuchEstrogen
• When it's a good thing your sister has running clothes to borrow for 80's Workout Day during A Week Without Hate
• When stumbling across photos of chubby faces makes you realize the clock is running
• When you start digging into what you want as your life's work
• When you have no words. . .

Happy Wednesday,

Food for Thought

Now, I love winter.  Love it.  My second favorite season.  But, now, even I'm over it.  If it needs to be cold, it can just rain.  

Yep.  Snow.  It's snowing.  Again.  Today.  Tomorrow.  Sunday.  Joy.  More wet, heavy, crap snow.  I'm watching it fall now and trying to judge when to go cover my flowers.  

The weather has postponed the annual school's Race for Education, but not the half day that came with it.  I'm running up to get the Girlie, later, who has an all-day class this weekend in prep for taking her CNA over the summer.  I think I'll probably have to get the tulips covered before I go.

We are definitely back in the comfort food cooking zone.  Again.  My menu from this week reflected the schizophrenic behavior of our Colorado Spring weather.  It also reflects my trying to cook to work with the restrictions hubby is putting on his eating.  There's no sweets, but not because I didn't make any, I just didn't make any with a new recipe. ;)

This Grilled Greek Lemon Chicken was made when grilling didn't require a parka and an umbrella.  It was light and fresh and moist.  It was Spring over hot coals.  The leftovers made a great wrap with fresh spinach, feta and some leftover sauce from this recipe.

This Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet looked okay; the results were not quite what I expected.  I seemed like it was more a filling for a wrap.  Turkey tends to crumble well, but that makes it hard to eat in a dish like this, which needed something more than mozzarella to hold it together - which is why it felt more like a filling, than a stand alone.  Fresh mozzarella might have done a sight better, being a little creamier when melted.  There wasn't enough seasoning for us.  I salted and peppered the crap out of it, and ended up adding chili powder, because even the pepper flakes didn't do enough.  I'm sure some of the lack of flavor is due to the lean nature of turkey.  With fat comes flavor.  And potatoes in general need more seasoning.  I liked the sweet potatoes, but you'll need a small dice to get them to cook in the time allotted.  I added a couple tablespoons of water to the pan while cooking the potatoes - this helped steam them and brought up the bits of flavor from the bottom of the pan. This recipe is a good base to somewhere, but it requires more work and experimentation than I feel like putting in.

This Salisbury Steak Meatballs with Gravy and Mashed Potatoes was everything the Turkey Skillet was not.  Full of flavor.  Warm.  Well sauced, well, gravied (I ended up adding an additional cup of Beef Broth to thin the gravy.)  I only had a pound of ground beef, so I cut down the ingredients in the meatballs by a third and got 28 meatballs.  The potatoes were creamy and a perfect base for the meatballs.  Raves all around the table.

I doubled this Honey Dijon Garlic Chicken recipe for an in-law dinner night.  They were moist and really flavorful.  I didn't have a stone ground dijon, so I used regular dijon and it worked just fine.  I loved the sauce from the drippings - garlicy without being a punch, mellowed honey and that bite from the mustard.

Pulling this Slow Cooker Bourbon Brown Sugar Pulled Chicken with Bacon and Brussels Sprout Corn Slaw came together faster than typing out its name.  I wasn't sure I'd have time to pull it off since I hadn't defrosted my chicken in the morning.  I did a quick pop in the microwave to get them partially thawed and threw them in the slow cooker.  I had boneless, skinless thighs, so I used two and a half pounds instead of four skinless bone-in (I couldn't find a conversion on how many I should have used.)  This fed way more than six - even with bone-in I think it would have fed more.  They were really flavorful - a sweet, tart bar-b-quey sauce.  The slaw was a nice fresh pop.  It was light and just creamy enough to hold it together.  Fresh corn on the cob is still some ways off for us here, so I pan-roasted some frozen kernels.  I'm sure, second day servings will be even better.  It is a sloppy eat, but well worth it.

I've got dinner and a dessert to pull together for tonight.  A son with a half day to get before heading up to get the Girlie.  Some fun mail is due in today.  There's a few de-clutter spots in the house to deal with.  The 15 y.o. has several things to get started this weekend, and will need much over-the-shouldering to be sure it gets done.  If I manage my time well, I might be able to complete the sorting project still laying where I left it two weekends ago.  

Or I may just become one with the couch.

Happy Friday,

Throw Back Thursday

Last week I spoke about how great the Smaller kit is for creating mini albums.  How wonderful minis are for giving you a great surge of accomplishment.  How fun they are to have around to flip through.  And easy.  So easy!

I mentioned this mini that I did several years ago, using the My Mind's Eye Boo to You line, from the October '09 smaller kit.  The photos are from Halloween 2006, when the kids were just wee ones.  Holy cow!

The album itself is small, maybe 3" tall, from Maya Road, chipboard with a chain to keep the pages together.  It was easy enough to take the album apart and trace patterned paper and cardstock to cover the chipboard pieces.  I alternated cardstock and patterned paper on the facing pages, depending on what looked best with the photo for that page.  I cut patterned paper down to use for small journaling blocks.  I used the B sides, because the patterns on B sides tend to be simpler, but coordinate.  It also means I'm not slowed down by digging through my stash.

Had I been shooting in digital, I would have printed the photos smaller.  As it was, I had to trim them down to fit; no biggie.  Less time messing with photos.  Added bonus, the photos were duplicates.

The rest was embellishing, and even that was minimal on the small space.  I used chipboard images, which were part of the kit.  I just messed around with them to see what worked and where.  The chipboard had an adhesive back, which I powdered (baby powder), where the chipboard hung over the edges of the album so that it didn't stick to, well, anything it touched.  

Journaling and a teeny bit of ribbon.  Boom.  Done.  Probably a couple hours.

With snow, again, moving in. . . Yes.  Snow.  Big, wet, plant crushing, branch breaking snow.  AGAIN!  All weekend.  Gah.  Maybe I'll just watch it fall while messing around with a a Smaller kit and a mini album.

Happy Thursday,