Thanks....

I made this little card for my neighbor...I used the Prima Paintable Paper again. This time I water colored first and then added pearl-ex to the flowers to give them a bit of a shimmer. The letters are baked clay..another favorite! The sentiment is from a magazine. Fun stuff!!
I am taking the same approach to cards, as I am to my art...this is just one-sided like a normal layout, not a card you can open.

Wednesday....

got some new shooz!! Ebay has a great selection of random Blythe Doll items, lots of stuff you never knew you needed!
Wednesday's shoes are black sparkle high tops!!
They came with laces that you could not tie, so I added the ribbon.

Trust

This weeks word from OWL is Trust. I was listening to this Jeremy Camp song when I went to create this page. I always need to remember that God is ultimately in control and I need to have faith and TRUST!!!
My favorite part of the song, included in the journaling is
" I will walk by faith , even when I cannot see."
I experimented with LOTS of different random things this time. The background paper that looks like buildings,is a new paper, that you can watercolor in. The word " TRUST" is made of baked sculpty clay!
The music notes are from a cut of vintage sheet music. I had to include this because the whole piece of art was inspired by a song.

Cupcakes Cure Anything!!

I made this the other day when I was feeling sorry for myself. I hate being sick.
I wanted to sand the picture to give it texture, but I could not get it to look right. I settled for "faux sanding" and used a vanilla paint to scruff up the entire page. I have no idea if that is a real technique..:)




Materials:
Paint, magazine clippings, rubber stamp.

Spanish Rice

What would enchiladas be without a kick-ass rice recipe?
This recipe was in Cooking Light, but not listed on their website.
I copied it just how it was in the magazine, they did not list all the ingredients first, they just jumbled it together...

Heat 2 Tablespoons canola oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ½ cup finely chopped onion and 2 minced garlic gloves; sauté 3 minutes. Add 2 cups uncooked long grain rice; cook 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add 1 ¾ cup chicken broth ( I used veg. broth) and 10oz can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained; bring to a boil. Cover,reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
Stir in 1 cup of thawed frozen corn. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

Spinach Enchiladas

The following is a recipe from Martha Stewart's Food Magazine. She had a recipe for home-made sauce as well, but that is too much work!
I also halved the spinach.
Enjoy!!

SPINACH ENCHILADAS


* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 3 cups grated pepper Jack cheese (12 ounces)
* 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
* 1 box (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
* 1 box (10 ounces) frozen corn kernels, thawed
* 6 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
* 16 corn tortillas (6-inch)
* 2 cans of enchilada sauce...I use Herdez green sauce
I use a lot of sauce..I mix in a little with the filling and put some on the bottom of the pan.

Directions

1. Make filling: In a large bowl, combine 2 cups cheese, beans, spinach, corn, scallion whites, and cumin; season with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil two 8-inch square baking dishes; set aside. Stack tortillas, and wrap in damp paper towels; microwave on high for 1 minute. Top each tortilla with a heaping 1/3 cup of filling; roll up tightly and arrange, seam side down, in prepared baking dishes.
4. Dividing evenly, sprinkle enchiladas with remaining 1 cup cheese, and top with sauce. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; serve garnished with scallion greens.

A Little Love...

I actually made this on Valentine's day but it has taken me a little while to put it up here. Keely and I were making hearts with our hands. I thought her little hands made the sweetest little shape.
I wanted to play around with some junk I got with my "Jar of Whimsies".
The little scrabble tile as well as the charm on the bottom are finds from that.

Materials:
Paint, glaze, scrapbook papers (The border is one sheet of double sided paper cut up)

Wandering Aimlessly ....

..is a good thing sometimes!!
I went shopping with my friend Jenni the other day. We don't see each other often so when we do get together we end up kind of lost...a lot. I swear her and I can walk aimlessly around in circles for hours and it's still fun.
I made the below painting to highlight our journey...round and round in circles. We are represented by the paper clips.
I got the "personal object" idea from the Journal Revolution girls..maybe someday I will come up with an idea of my own but for now I will um... borrow theirs:)
I love the idea of an object representing me on a page..I just do not want my actual face plastered on all my art!

This was a great recipe from Cooking Light!! It was fabulous, although, I think I could have done without the tomato juice. I think it was too tangy. Enjoy!!

Quinoa-Stuffed Poblano Chiles

Ingredients

4 (5-inch) poblano chiles
1 1/2 cups water

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons minced seeded jalapeño pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted pumpkin seed kernels
1/2 cup minced green onions
1 tablespoon minced fresh or 1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese ( I used regular cheese)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut chiles in half lengthwise; remove stems and seeds. Set aside. Combine water and quinoa in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 13 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Set aside.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add bell peppers, onion, jalapeño pepper, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add pumpkin seed kernels; saute 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in quinoa, green onions, cilantro, soy sauce, and lime juice. Spoon 1/3 cup quinoa mixture into each chile half.

Pour tomato juice into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; place stuffed chiles in dish. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over chiles; bake, uncovered, an additional 10 minutes or until cheese melts and chiles are thoroughly heated. Spoon tomato juice over chiles.

Valentine Goodies!!

These are mailboxes that I made Keely's preschool teacher's for Valentines Day!
I think they turned out pretty good considering I suck at following directions!!
I found a tutorial here.


Materials:
Paper, modge podge, super sticky tape, ribbon and $1 plastic mailbox!!

OLW.....

This is a challenge from OLW. The word this week was "CREATE".
This was a fun word to use!
I am always so easily distracted....and this layout shows that!! These are all photos of things that create happy distractions in my everyday life.

Materials used:
Acrylic Paint, sparkle water color medium, tape, puff paint, stickles glitter paint and beads.

Roasted Garlic Twice Baked Potatoes

I made this recipe tonight and sheesh it was GOOD!!!
Note the substitution at the bottom. I did not use Velveeta...
I did use bacon for this recipe. The vast majority of my recipes lately are the meatless variety but we do use meat products from Niman Ranch. I feel like we may not get mad pig disease from these guys... Any-who, on with the recipe...

1 head garlic

1 tsp. oil

4 large baking potatoes (2-1/2 lb.)

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut up, divided

1/4 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese

4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, crisply cooked, drained and crumbled

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Cut thin slice off top of garlic head to expose cloves; discard top. Place garlic head on square sheet of foil; drizzle with oil. Wrap garlic loosely with foil. Prick potatoes in several places with fork. Bake potatoes and garlic 1 hour.

REDUCE oven temperature to 350ºF. Cut small slice off both ends of each potato. Cut potatoes crosswise in half. Scoop out centers, leaving 1/8-inch-thick shells. Place potato flesh in medium bowl; mash. Squeeze garlic out of papery shell into bowl with potatoes. Add sour cream, three-fourths of the VELVEETA and the Parmesan cheese; beat until fluffy. Spoon evenly into shells, mounding filling as necessary to use all the filling; place in shallow baking dish.

BAKE 30 min.; top with remaining VELVEETA. Bake an additional 5 min. or until VELVEETA is melted. Sprinkle with bacon.

**Substitute***

Substitute 1-1/2 cups KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese for the VELVEETA, stirring 1-1/4 cups of the cheese into the mashed potatoes along with the sour cream and Parmesan cheese and topping with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese before the final 5-min. bake time.