New Additions to My Etsy Shop...

Happy Monday! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! I was busy creating new projects for my Etsy shop:

If you'd like to see more, please click HERE to visit my Etsy store. Thanks for looking!!

Have a blessed day!

Quote Sunday

“Some people are thermometers. They merely register what is around them. If the situation is tight and pressurized, they register tension and irritability. If it’s stormy, they register worry and fear. If it’s calm, quiet, and comfortable, they register relaxation and peacefulness. Others, however, are thermostats. They regulate the atmosphere. They are the mature change-agents who never let the situation dictate to them.”

~ Charles Swindoll ~

Recipe of the Week..."Creamy Marinara Chicken Spaghetti"

Here's a tasty dish that's great to serve on a weeknight or nice enough to serve when you have company over for dinner! I like to serve mine with some crusty bread and a side salad...delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked, diced chicken breasts
• 14.5 oz. package dry spaghetti
• 1 jar Parmesan and Romano Ragu
• 10.5 oz. can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 4 oz. sour cream
• 2/3 to 1 cup white wine

Method:
Cook spaghetti according to package directions and drain. While spaghetti is cooking, in a large pot whisk together Ragu, cream of chicken soup, sour cream and white wine. Add cooked/diced chicken and simmer. Add drained spaghetti to sauce and stir until combined and warmed through. Place pasta and sauce mixture into large serving bowl. Enjoy!!

Beloved Pet Photo Tile

Recently the beloved pet of my friend and co-worker, Angie, passed away. Brandi was a beautiful golden retriever with the most soulful brown eyes! She lived a long, full life and was loved by many. Angie gave me a photo of Brandi and asked me to create a commemorative tile for her, and shown above is a photo of what I came up with.

The quote is from Helen Keller and reads "All that we love deeply becomes a part of us." I am selling custom photo tiles through my Etsy store. If interested, you can click HERE for more information.

Wishing you a blessed day!

Quote Sunday

"His heritage to his children wasn't words or possessions, but an unspoken treasure;

the treasure of his example as a man and father".

~ Will Rogers, Jr. ~

Happy Father's Day!

Recipe of the Week..."Crockpot Swedish Meatballs"

YUMMMM!! This is one of my favorite meals!! When paired with a salad and dinner rolls is makes an easy meal to serve on any day of the week, but is also nice enough to serve when you have guests! Here's how to make it:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 of a 28 oz bag of frozen meatballs
• 4 oz. can of sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 package dry onion soup mix
• 8 oz. lite sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 10.5 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 6 oz. dry egg noodles

Method:
Place frozen meatballs in crockpot. In medium mixing bowl whisk together sour cream, cream of mushroom soup, milk, nutmeg, pepper and dry onion soup mix. Stir in drained, sliced mushrooms. Pour mixture over meatballs in crockpot and gently stir to coat meatballs. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours. Before serving, prepare egg noodles according to package directions. Place cooked noodles on a large platter and ladle meatball and gravy mixture over noodles.

Yield: Approximately 6 servings.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Father's Day Cards

Good morning! I am getting ready to go to lunch and a movie with my pal Jamie, but before I scoot I wanted to take a minute to share photos of the Father's Day cards that I made:

This one is for my wonderful hubby:

This one is for my father-in-law:

And last, but not least, this one is for my dad:

The pocket contains a bookmark, (which Mike, Justin and I each signed), that he can use in his Bible. Archery is my dad's favorite pastime, so a Bass Pro gift card will also be slipped into the pocket so Dad can stock up on some supplies!

Thanks for looking! Have a blessed day!

I'm Feelin' Pretty Lucky These Days!!!

I can't believe how lucky I've been lately 'cause I won some more fantastic blog candy! When I got home from work last Friday this wonderful goodie package was waiting for me...a pretty terrific way to start the weekend and a week of vacation, eh??

I won this sweeeeet candy from Gloria at Scraptabulous Studio. (Thanks so much Gloria!! The Boom-di-Ada paper line is some of my fave from CTMH!!!) Gloria is such a sweetheart...she even added two of each of these handmade beauties to the package that she sent to me:

Be sure to check out her incredible blog Scraptabulous Studio...Gloria is super talented and I know that you'll love reading her blog and seeing her great crafty projects as much as I do!

Wishing you a blessed day!

Household Tip: How to Clean Lampshades in a Snap!

I'm on "staycation" this week, so I'm working on some projects around the house, cleaning out and organizing closets, etc. Since I'm in a major cleaning mode, I thought I'd share with you how I clean my lampshades...

The easiest way that I have found to effectively do this is to use a clothing lint removal roller...you know the kind that has the sticky tape stuff that you can peel off after each use. Just roll it over your lamp shade and the dust sticks to it:

You can purchase one of these little gems for a buck at the dollar store and they last for a long, long time! I can usually clean two or three lamp shades before I have to remove the top layer to reveal the next layer of sticky tape:

I hope this little tip has been helpful to you! Wishing you a blessed day!

Quote Sunday

"Everything is a once in a lifetime experience".

 ~ Anonymous ~

Birthday Card for My Brother-in-Law

WOOHOO!! It's finally Saturday!! I've got a lot of organizational projects that I'm working on this weekend, but I wanted to take a minute to post a photo of the card that I made for my dear brother-in-law, John, who is celebrating a birthday today!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, JOHN!!! We love ya!!

The paper is from the CTMH "Good Times" paper pack. I crimped a strip of garden green cardstock and attached it to the card with Glue Dots to cover the seam between the two papers. I then wove a piece of hemp around the crimped strip to form loose loop. I used 3-D dots to attach an embellishment that I made using a scallop punch, a scrap of cream grosgrain ribbon, hemp and a star that I stamped and cut out. I stamped the happy birthday sentiment on a piece of cream cardstock and looped/attached a scrap piece of chocolate grosgrain ribbon to one end with a decorative brad.

Here's a side view of the card, so that you can see the looped hemp better:

Well, I'm off to tackle those organizational projects! First stop is helping Mike clean/organize the garage, which is gonna take a while...

Have a super fun and safe weekend!!

Recipe of the Week...Tasty Tuna Noodle Casserole

Here's a tasty way to dress up a yummy tuna noodle casserole! It's a great budget meal that I'm sure your family will love!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry pasta (your choice: penne, rotini, elbow, bowtie, etc.)
• 1 - 5 oz. can of water packed tuna, drained
• 1 - 7 oz. package Green Giant Antioxidant Blend frozen veggies
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Season All
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method:
Spray a 9" x 13" casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Cook pasta, according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, whisk together soup and milk in a mixing bowl. Now add the following ingredients to the soup mixture:

• Drained tuna
• Thawed veggies
• Onion powder
• Season All

Drain cooked pasta and add to soup/tuna mixture. Pour into prepared casserole dish. In a small mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the tuna/noodle mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly and the breadcrumbs are a nice, golden brown. Serve with a salad and dinner rolls...YUMMMM!!

Have a fantastic day!!

Photo Canvas Clock Tutorial

I recently created this photo canvas clock using up some scrapbook page elements that I had on hand, so I thought I'd type up a tutorial so that you could make one too! (Note: the photo is our engagement picture which was taken in March 1987...gosh, we were so young!!)

Here is a list of materials that you'll need:

• 8" x 10" canvas
• Battery operated clock mechanism
• Wooden letter
• Adhesive pearl gems
• Sentiment stamp
• Scrapbook paper & cardstock
• Paint (or you can mix your own paint by using CTMH create a shade pearl paint and adding several drops of reinker in a color to coordinate with your scrapbook paper)
• Teriffically Tacky Tape
• Liquid Glass
• Broad tip glue pen
• Brown distressing ink pad
• Hemp
• Buttons
• Satin Ribbon
• 8" x 10" piece of chipboard
• Photo anchor and brad
• Sepia or black and white photo
• Sponge brush
• Small paint brush
• Paper trimmer

Instructions:

If you don't have the exact paint color to coordinate with the scrapbook paper that you pick out, you can mix your own shade simply by combining a few drops of reinker to a dollop of CTMH create a shade pearl paint:

There's no exact science to this...just keep adding reinker and stirring with a wooden skewer until you reach the color intensity you desire:

Once you've achieved the color shade you're going for, use a sponge brush and paint the outer edges of the canvas, as well as about a 1/2" around the outer edge of the front of the canvas. Set canvas aside to dry. Also, set remaining paint aside...you'll need it in a few minutes...

Choose a coordinating scrapbook paper to adhere to your wooden monogram:

Turn the paper and wooden letter over on their "wrong" sides and trace the letter onto the backside of the paper:

Carefully cut the letter out. Apply adhesive to the front of the wooden letter and attach the paper letter to the front, smoothing out any air bubbles with a bone folder.

Once the glue has dried, carefully sand the edges and then distress with brown ink. Using the remainder of the paint, carefully paint around the outside edge of the monogram and then lightly dry brush across the front of the letter to add a little extra pizzaz. Wrap hemp around the letter and add a button for decoration. Set aside until ready to attach to front of clock.

Cut your scrapbook paper 8" x 10" so that it will fit on the front of the canvas. (I used paper that had a cream colored border around it, and utilized the border to stamp the "love" sentiment onto). Using Teriffically Tacky Tape, attach paper to the front of the canvas. Measure in about 2 3/4" from the top left of the canvas and 2 3/4" from the top of the canvas and mark with a pencil. Using the mark as a guide, carefully punch a hole through the paper and canvas using a paper piercing tool. Using scissors, carefully make the hole larger to fit the clock mechanism, and attach clock as directed on the clock packaging:

If the clock seems a little loose on the backside, use a scrap piece of chipboard to create a shim to slide under the clock mechanism:

Cut a piece of chipboard 8 1/2" x 11" to attach to the back of the canvas. Before attaching, cut a little flap door into the chipboard, to go over the area where the clock mechanism and battery are located. Use a photo anchor and brad to keep the little flap closed:

Attach the monogram to the front of the clock using Liquid Glass. Cut a cardstock mat for your photo, and distress using brown ink and a little of the left-over paint. Attach photo to cardstock mat. Wrap a piece of satin ribbon around the upper left corner of the matted photo and attach on the back of the mat using Glue Dots. Tie a button to the center of the ribbon with hemp. Using a scrap piece of cream-colored cardstock, fan fold and shape to go around the corner of the photo. Distress "ruffled" element with brown ink and attach to the back of the photo mat with Teriffically Tacky Tape. Attach adhesive pearl gems as shown in the photo below. Attach decorated, matted photo to front of clock using 3-D dots for dimension.

Using more adhesive pearl gems, decorate the border above the stamped sentiment:

Just add a battery and your clock is ready to display on an easel for use! Here's another close-up shot of the finished clock.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! These clocks make lovely personalized gifts to commemmorate special anniversarys, weddings, graduations, births, etc.

On a final note, after much thought and consideration I have decided to no longer sell Close to My Heart products. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a consultant for the past 3 years, but due to time constraints and my desire to work more steadily on creating projects to sell on my Etsy store, I have decided to terminate my contract. The termination will go into effect this Friday, June 10th, so if you would like to place a Close to My Heart order with me, you may do so until that date using the little shopping cart link located at the top of my sidebar on the right. Orders placed through the link will be delivered directly to your home in 3 - 5 business days.

Wishing you a wonderful day!