HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

Just because I found  humor in this, I totally copied this from an e-mail that my cousin sent to me.  It's not as if I'm going to follow this advice, although  I do like the one about the gravy!  No, I'm going to stick with my program as much as possible. 

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS


1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnogoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!


3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.


4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.


5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?


6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.


7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.


8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards, dude!!


10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:


"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate and wine in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"


Have a great holiday season!!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas !!!

Texas Tuesday December 7, 2010

Hello everybody!  It seems like forever since we've had a Texas Tuesday come around, but I guess it's because of the hustle and bustle of the holidays being upon us.  I was glad to make it through Thanksgiving before starting to concentrate on Christmas. So much to do, so little time. But I love these posts - they keep my creative spirit alive and well and that makes me challenge myself to do more and better.  Thank you all for being my compadres in this great tradition we've started. 

I've been thinking that we Texans never get to see much fall color unless we take a drive to Lost Maples.  Around here we have cedar, live oak, and Spanish oaks in the majority, with an occasional madrone or redbud.  The cedars and oaks never seem to put on a show, but ever so often, the Spanish oaks will pull out all the stops and provide us with some decent fall colors to admire along the hills.  They seem to hide all their glory until the last minute, then when you least expect it they pop out in beautiful gold and burnt orange and an occasional red.  Luckily this is one of those times. 

My card today is my own interpretation of our Texas fall colors.  I selected a Bazzill card base in a sort of beige tone, then decorated it with a rosette of a orange patterned cardstock surrounded by leaves that resemble our fall foliage.  Since Christmas is right around the proverbial corner, I selected "believe" as my sentiment, stamped in Memento Potter's Clay.  Simple, easy, and a fun reminder of what Fall is like in the Hill Country. 

I almost decided not to close this post on such a somber note, but I wanted to remind you that today is the 59th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  I was lucky to have been able to visit the magnificent island of Oahu a few years ago and one of the must-sees on my list was the Arizona Memorial. The memorial has fascinated me since childhood.  I was awestruck by the serene calm that exists there now as I thought about all of the souls that were lost on that long ago day.  Evidence of the attack can still be seen and the great ship still weeps oil.  Seeing floral tributes strewn on the water brought tears.  Please take a moment today to remember our brave fighting forces of yesteryear and those who serve today. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Texas Tuesday in Red, White and Blue

Happy Texas Tuesday, Everybody!  This time I've got something to celebrate! One of the young men in our family has just returned to his base in Italy from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.  He's in his second hitch in the U S Army and has been in both Iraq and Afghanistan during his tour of duty. We are so proud of his service and very, very grateful that he has returned safely.  He will be back in Texas for a month's leave in mid-December which means he will be able to celebrate the Christmas holidays with his wife and child.  That's a whole lot to be thankful for.  He's a proud Texan and plans to return here after his military career ends. I decided to do a Red White and Blue Texas card to celebrate his homecoming.  I used the Deadbeat stamp with all of the city names, and combined with the "if you're lucky enough" stamp. I cut the sentiment apart so I could use part of it on the inside of the card.  The card base is from Lasting Impressions for Paper and it has a tone on tone checkerboard pattern outside with white on the inside.  The other cardstock was recycled from my scrap paper stash.  I just hate to throw away large scraps, and this time they came in handy.  The stamping is done with Memento Danube Blue.  The ribbon is AMuse. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by.

Another Texas Tuesday!

Another Texas Tuesday! Hope everyone is enjoying this cooler Fall weather, although yesterday afternoon felt more like Summer had returned. This week my mojo was on vacation and I had a hard time getting what I wanted done.  Something told me to do more to this card but I didn't want to gussy it up any more so I quit while I was ahead.  I started out to make a tribute card to the Singing Cowboys in old western movies.  I found this cowboy silhouette on the Silhouette website, thought it was cool, so I downloaded it.  I also found a die cut of barbed wire and got that too.  The more I looked at the cowboy, the more it reminded me of a modern-day singer from Texas.  Can you guess who?  How about George Strait.  And he's a real Texas cowboy - he rides, he ropes, and he sings.  So I guess this is my tribute to George Strait card.  I used a kraft card base and grunged up the edges a bit with some Memento Rich Cocoa.  I added a strip of Tim Holtz tissue tape for some musical whimsy and a bit of barbed wire in the upper right corner.   Other than the tape, it's all cardstock from my stash.  I couldn't find a sentiment that worked for me, so I left that off. (Sorry Mark.  Reminder to me - get more Deadbeat sentiment stamps!) 

I try to keep a good selection of pre-cut card bases on hand, so I grabbed one of those in the kraft color.  I pulled out some black and cut out the cowboy, then some white for the barbed wire.  I don't know about you, but I've never seen white barbed wire, so I figured I could color it a bit with Copics.  I chose C3 (Cool Gray No. 3).  Now that I think about it, I've never seen silver barbed wire either - most of what we have around here is just plain old rusty.  But the gray seemed to go with the card.  So there you have it.  Thanks for dropping by for a peek.  Everyone have a great Texas Tuesday.

October 19 Texas Tuesday Challenge

Wow has this year flown by!  Here is is mid-October.  Halloween is right around the corner with Thanksgiving and Christmas not all that far behind.  Today is October 19, which is my Dad's birthday.  He would be 97 years young if he was still with me today.  Sadly we lost him in 1995, and that's a part of how I came to make my home on Lake Travis.  But that's a story for another time.  Dad was a natural-born Texan, born in 1913 in the farmland southeast of Austin near Creedmoor.  He had four siblings.  The whole family picked cotton to make a living during the depression years.  My Dad had a talent for painting and a great eye for colors. (Wish I had inherited more of that talent! LOL!) He put his talents to good use.  During WWII he was in south Texas at a small airfield called Moore Field, where he painted all sorts of things on airplanes from the tail numbers to the scantily-clad ladies that were on many of the warbirds' noses. Being a Texan, he loved the Spring when the wildflowers bloomed and bluebonnets were one of his favorites.  I created this card with him in mind. The stamps are all Deadbeat Designs, of course.  I used the small two-piece bluebonnet stamps for a background on white cardstock. I fussy-cut three of the next larger size bluebonnets and popped them up on the edges of the larger stamp. I created a hand-written banner with the song title written in. (please don't giggle too loud at my poor attempt at something like calligraphy - handwriting is not one of my strong suits.)  Although it doesn't show up too much in the photo, I distressed the edges of the stamped image with my brand new paper distressing tool and added a bit of Tangelo Memento Ink around the edges of the card base to give it some dimension.  I also grunged up the banner with the same ink.  Other inks used were Bamboo Leaves, Danube Blue, and Tuxedo Black, all by Memento.  Hope you like the card and thanks for stopping by. And, Happy Birthday, Dad!

Texas Tuesday Challenge

Happy Fall, Y'all!  Are you enjoying this little spell of cooler weather?  It was 57 degrees outside this morning here - sweater weather for me!  It's Another Texas Tuesday!  I can't believe it's that time again, but it is.  I've been thinking about getting a headstart on my Christmas cards this year and what's better than a Texas-themed card?  I took a look in ny stash of Deadbeat Design stamps and this lil snowman stood out.  I added the lil Howdy flag to give him something to hold on to.  Stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored with Copics, and to make him sparkle a bit some Stickles added on the edges and on the snowdrifts. The background paper is from a lil stash of AC Patterned Paper called "merriment".  The card base is Neenah super-smooth white. Hope you enjoy looking at it and thanks you for stopping by.

Texas Tuesday Challenge - Better Late Than Never

"Better late than never."  I heard that saying a lot growing up. I'm not sure if it's an old Texas saying or not, but it fits here. I have been w/o internet access at home for the last week and a half thanks to a lousy wiring job from the box at my house to the pole at the top of the driveway.  And thanks to the tropical storm that blew through here a week before last, plus probably all of the other rain we've had over the last year or so, the connections were shot.  I missed the Texas Tuesday deadline yesterday, so I guess this is Texas Wednesday for me.  I hope all of you are enjoying this "fall" weather.  Personally, I'm looking forward to highs in the 70's.  I had a great time with my friend Beth at the CKC convention in San Marcos last week.  We attended some classes, got a boatload of great ideas, saw a ton of great scrapbooking stuff, a bunch of which came home to live with us.  We finished up about 3PM on Saturday, and decided we should take advantage of being on the south side of San Marcos and take a drive further south to New Braunfels.  I'd never been to the Scrapbook Haus, and it was a real treat!  I picked up a few new Deadbeat stamps while I was there and this card is the result of one of them. I really like the Texas collage.  It has all things Texan in it, including a teeny armadillo!  The base card is Bazzill in a burnt orange, the mat is some scrap that came from a 6x6 paper pad.  I stamped the design on Neenah Super Smooth white cardstock and colored it with Copics.  It looked a little plain, so I distressed the edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink.  Hope you like it. I'm going off to check the other Texas Tuesday bloggers to see what everyone else had done.  Thanks for stopping by! 

Texas Tuesday Challenge

"Texas Our Texas", our State Song. I used Zing embossing powder to bring out the lovely details in this Deadbeat Designs stamp, then added Distress Inks in various colors to blend in the background. Added a bit of Signo Gell White ink to the star to make it stand out a bit. Hope y'all enjoy looking at my card.

Y'all get ready for some rainy weather the next few days. It will be a good time to stay indoors and do crafty things. Hermine is on her way, and we are hoping she moves through quickly and doesn't do too much damage, although the NWS says we will be under a flash flood watch beginning later tonight and to expect 3-5 inches of rain over the next couple of days. That should bring the lakes up and make all the creeks run. Take care out there if you have to get out in the weather.

Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day Weekend! Back to the grind tomorrow.

It's Texas, It's Summer, It's HOT!

The weather has tempted us a few times in the last week.  There was a touch of fall in the early morning air.  Just a tiny hint of things to come.  But now we seem to be back to our regular summer weather patterns with highs in the 90's.  We have 93.5 on the thermometer right now. At least it's not 106 like we had a couple of weeks ago.  Is anyone interested in what heat can do to canned sodas?  A couple of Friday's ago, a friend of mine ran across a special on diet sodas at the local store and bought 4 12-packs. She took 3 of them in the house and left one in her car to bring to work the following Monday. It was one of those weekends where we had 100+ temperatures both days. Too hot to go anywhere, so the car sat in the driveway for 2 days in the hot sun.  When she next went to her car to come to work she found that several of the cans in the 12-pack had ruptured.  The ones that didn't had both ends puffed up from the pressure. Not a good thing to find diet Dr. Pepper all over the interior of the car when you need to leave for work.  We estimated that the temperature inside the car probably got to around 180 degrees.  It's no wonder we hear of tragedies every summer of chilcren and pets left in hot cars.  If the heat can do this to a canned soda, imagine what it does to a living, breathing being.  Evverybody be careful out there!

Texas Tuesday - 08/17/2010

Welcome! This is my first post for the Texas Tuesday Challenge. I practiced several techniques before I actually chose a final design to share with you.

When I saw the Lady Bird Johnson quote stamp on the Deadbeat website, I knew I had to have it. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Johnson once and she was a true Texas lady. My DH has even more connection with her. He worked at a local grocery store when he was a teenager and met Mrs. Johnson when she shopped there. Well, they didn't exactly "shop". Mrs. Johnson and her beloved kitchen foreman at the LBJ Ranch would bring in their monthly list and store employees would fill the order while she waited for it and the foreman oversaw the preparation of their prime beef. Each time she was most gracious to each and every employee she encountered and became friends with quite a few including the DH. A few years back, the DH was playing in a Fredericksburg Polka Band and they were invited to play at the Christmas tree lighting at the Visitor's Center for the LBJ ranch. The Johnson family always turns out for this event. The DH was able to have a good visit with Mrs. Johnson. They talked about old-time Austin and how they both missed it.

Enough reminiscing for now...on to my card. The card base is from my stash of paper. I think it is an S-U color. I used Neenah classic white for the mat. Stamped the flowers with a Snow White Adirondack dabber, then grunged it up with several colors of Distress Ink using foam blending pads. Finally, stamped the quote in Jet Black Archival Ink. I almost gussied it up with some Glimmer Mist, but decided against that. I decided I wanted to stick with the muted tones.

Hope you like the card. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Summer!

No picture to see today, but I did find this cool quote on a FB page:

Thought for the day:

The Wizard of Oz is now 71 years old. Today, if Dorothy were to encounter men with no brains, no hearts, and most of all no courage, she wouldn't be in Oz. She'd be in Congress.

AMuseAPalooza Pajama Party

Last night was the Pajama Party on the AMuse Lounge. Such fun to stamp and chat. Our hostesses did a fab job of providing 4 great summer-themed challenges. The first one was to create a card inspired by the word "HOT"! I decided on a BBQ card. Here it is. That little BBQ pit is so stinkin' cute!


The second challenge was a beach party card! I decided to use the “BEACH” sign that was in last summer’s stamp release and changed it to “PARTY”. Added the little cabana and a sunny sky to complete the scene.


Challenge #3 was a water-themed card. I again chose a beach scene. The little BEACH sign points the way. I had to have some surfboards to and a fence to stand them against. The wood for the signpost and the fence were done with the Modern Wood Block stamp and I trimmed pieces to make the parts. The surfboards were done with black embossing power first, then colored with PearlEx paints to make them sparkly.


The 4th challenge was summer food. When I was a kid we had an A&W Rootbeer stand near our home. It was always a treat to go there on a hot summer evening and have a root beer float. Although those long ago floats came in frosty mugs, the Milkshake stamp was as close as I could get in my stash of stamps.


These online events are always so much fun. It's the fastest 2 hours to spend stamping and online chatting. As usual I spent more time watching the chatting than I did stamping so I had to do the cards later. I guess I'm not much of a multi-tasker.

Over on the Amuse blog, the sneak peeks of the newest release are on. The stamps are for Halloween and Christmas and as usual they are SOOOOO CUTE! Check them out if you have time.

Rock Star Sighting

Music, Music, Music! From Rock 'n' roll to country, to John Phillup Sousa, he's tunin' up for the start of Aquapalooza.

Glenda's Challenge

This week, Glenda's blog challenge (http://papersscissorsrocks.blogspot.com) is to create a card with a free-hand element. This sounded like fun, so I decided to play along. It's way too early for summer, but we hit 91 here today. The heat made me want a nice lemonade. I had a House Mouse stamp on hand with cute little Mudpie relaxing in a glass of lemonade, so that's what I used for the card front. Along with the H-M stamp, I chose an AMuse sentiment, and AMuse paper for the base card. The striped matte is from my scrap box. Inside the card is another AMuse sentiment - "sending you sunshine". I added a little AMuse sheer polka dot ribbon just because I could. The free-hand element is the faux stitching around the edge of the die cut done with a black Copic Multiliner. This was a nice challenge because it let me practice with my Copics. Thanks, Glenda, for another super challenge idea!

Armed Forces Day 2010

Tomorrow, May 15 2010, is Armed Forces Day. President Harry Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service to our country. Armed Forces Day was announced on August 31, 1949 by Louis Johnson, then Secretary of Defense. This replaced separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force Days. It also stemmed from the unification of all of the Armed Forces branches of service under one department - the Department of Defense. If you know a service member, or if you had members of your families who are currently serving or have served, please think of them tomorrow and if possible, thank them for their service and sacrifice to keep us safe. Without regard to current politics, our current armed forces are volunteers, and many have made the supreme sacrifice of their lives in service to our country. I believe they deserve our deepest gratitude and our prayers for a safe return, whenever that might be.

Challenge #3 - Fave Flower

I'd have to say my fave AMuse flower is...the poppy. No, it's the chrysanthemum. Wait, no it's the poppy. Ok, it's a tie, so for this challenge I picked the poppy. Black and white Petite Gingham cardstock for the base, then I layered the poppy on red and black cardstock from scrap stash. Added a piece of striped twill, but not sure if it might be too much for this card. The poppy was colored with Copics. I didn't add a sentiment yet but I think this card would be good for birthday, thinking of you, or other cards.

A Muse Challenge #2 - Repeat It

I'm feeling much better about this now and I think I like how this card turned out. It's a little iffy on the rules - I didn't exactly use an AMuse image, but I did use AMuse paper and an Amuse sentiment. The "repeat" is the 3 butterflies. Moss card base, stamped Hero Arts Long Stemmed Poppies with Memento Cottage Ivy ink. Used a large Martha Butterfly punch for 3 butterflies - one in yellow polka dot, one in Chiffon Pink, and one in Robins Egg Blue (all paper by AMuse). Added the Happy Spring sentiment and a bit of green bling to accent that. The butterflies were attached to the card using 1/8" sookwang tape. This one qualifies for a 5MQ stamp of approval. Easy, easy, easy to assemble!

Challenge #1 - Cupcake Party

Here's my card for the 1st challenge. Not too pleased with it. I may do another one later and see if I can make it better. Anyway, used a popsicle pink notecard and mounted "cupcakes" on it as if you are viewing them from above. Used Robins Egg Blue, Chiffon Pink, and Moss notecards to make the cakes. Cut them out with a small Marvy scalloped circle punch and bent the scallops just a bit to give them some accents on the edges. Added Amuse stamps using a Versamark pad and white and yellow Zing embossing powder. I just had to add some bling to I decorated the green ones with some green rhinestones that I had in my stash. Not too inspiring, I know, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind when I started out tonight. Enjoy.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

It's Easter Sunday. A time for reflections and for new beginnings. May each of you have a blessed day as we celebrate this time.

Lupinus Texensis - The Texas Bluebonnet, our State Flower. It's also spring here in the Hill Country and our roads are coming alive with color. It's bluebonnet season to start, then the other wildflowers will join in to make a colorful patchwork along our roadsides. It was such nice weather yesterday that the hubby took the Harley out for a ride while I went into town to run errands and visit the LSS. I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pix along the way.

I tried a new project!

I tries something new this weekend. I used Glimmer Mist and Ranger Distress Ink to make a small album. I'd been wanting to try this for sometime now and decided this was the time to dive right in. I'd used Glimmer Mist before but not on anything more than flowers and an occasional card. I have to say this project was fun. I used a Nature packet of chip tiles by Tattered Angels for the basic book. I distressed each page using a sponge dauber (I couldn't find my fat brush! Guess that means I will have to go shopping! Again! LOL!) then spritzed away with Coffee Shop and Wheatfields Glimmer Mist. Added some Prisma flowers with large brads for the centers. I had white brads, but added color with my Copics to match the color scheme on the book. I think some nice sepia reprints of old family pictures will complete the project. Let me know what you think if my first attempt at this technique. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Unfortunately it's back to work tomorrow and playtime will come to an end for a few days.

A Muse Colorful Challenge

After getting the Chrysanthemum stamp at yesterday’s A Muse class, I knew I would have to use it for this challenge. When I dove into my paper drawer, I discovered I was out of my Papaya note cards, but I did have the required Sky Blue and Orange Crush colors on hand. I substituted some S-U So Saffron paper for the Papaya, Also added a bit of the orange petite gingham paper for some texture and a strip of S-U ribbon for contrast. Chrysanthemum colored using Copics ( YG25, Y15, YR65, BG10). A Muse sentiment stamped with Memento Potter’s Clay ink.



After making the Chrysanthemum card, I found I liked the color combo so much I decided to make a second card. I used a Martha Steward punch for the flowers, with buttons by Li’l Davis Designs for the centers. The scalloped edge punch is S-U. Sentiment by A Muse, of course!

January PJ Party Challenge #4

Challenge #4 - Make a card using Red, Black, and White. This one wasn't easy for me for some reason, although I like this color combo a lot. I think it was the last one I did and I was sleepy. But I did have fun at the party. It was a first for me to do crafty things and chat at the same time. I just wish the computer had been more cooperative because I'm just now getting this one posted to the blog and I have one more to do. All of the ladies in the Lounge are wonderful and I had a ball playing along with everyone.

Supplies used: AMuse and scrap paper, AMuse Seaweed, AMuse sentiment "smooches", Marvy heart punches, S-U slot punch, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Q-K Lips die cut.

January PJ Party Challenge #2

This challenge was to make a card for your BFF. I picked the Treasure Chest and the Pirate Girl with the sentiment "You're a 24 carrot friend" - I put her on the beach with the treasure on a little dune. Supplies used: Paper by AMuse and a scrap of red for the sentiment. All images from AMuse. Platinum Stickles for the treasure to make it shiny. Colors by Copic. The sky was done with Rosie's Roadshow Cloud Template, sponge dauber, and Versamark Polar Blue pigment ink.

January PJ Party Challenge #1

Celebrity crush? This will give you some idea how old I really am. I've loved this guy since The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was on way back when.

Supplies used:
Petite gingham paper from AMuse
Red scrap paper and printer paper for image
'Just Ducky' sentiment from AMuse
Lips and NCIS from Quickutz