Meatless Monday!

Going out on a limb here, people. But, I was inspired by a new magazine I just received called Organic Gardening. There was an article talking about going "meatless" one day a week in an effort to benefit our health and the health of our planet. There is a website published by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future dedicated to the cause, check it out: meatlessmonday.com

Since I started this blog to post about paper crafting, knitting, cooking, or whatever else floats my boat, I'm going to start my very own MEATLESS MONDAYS! In doing this, I will try to post a nice vegetarian recipe (or link to one) every Monday. If enough people are interested, we can all submit recipes to share! Fun!

Generally, I probably only eat meat once a week, so this will be easy.....

The Crockpot Lady posted this recipe for Falafel. It is delicious! And you make it in the crockpot! And it even comes out crispy with good texture! I made it last night with a friend. Accompanied by a nice quinoa salad (and Margaritas! Nice combo, huh?).


For the quinoa, I simply cooked it according to the package and added a Greek Olive with Feta mix from my grocery store's olive bar! Easy and delicious!

Do you have a favorite meatless recipe? Post a link to it in the comments if you do! My darling cousin, Amy, has her own blog dedicated to Vegetarian Cooking. Check it out: savoringearthsflavors

Have a great Monday!

My First Two-For!

This is monumental! I never really thought I'd ever take on two challenges at once! I mean, sure, I see people doing 3....4...5...challenges with one card, but.....but....it's not ME. So, I'm really proud that I pulled this one off. Honestly, it was screaming to be put up to two challenges!

The first is the CPS Challenge. Here's the sketch:


The second challenge is a color challenge by SPCC:

And here's my take:

Click image to enlarge and (hopefully) show accurate color! I started with white card stock. The blue patterned paper was perfect with the orange and pink flowers, although the blue might not be spot-on. The Princess I colored with Copics and paper pieced the dress. The solid paper is from PTI.

A perfect little card for my kids' first little birthday party for a pre-school friend tomorrow.

A New Challenge For Me: SPCC

Our camping trip has been delayed a day due to weather. We have spent the entire camping season running from rain, so this time we decided to exercise a little control and shift our trip by a day...hoping for more sun.

This gave me time for a challenge! So, I looked one up and found the SPCC Finally Friday Challenge. The challenge is to make a card with a decorative border. I love using my one and only border punch! Plus, I had yet another opportunity to use my new Every Day Button Bits Stamp set from PTI. Win! Win!

Patterned Paper: Vintage Cherries by Graphic 45
Stamp: Every Day Button Bits
Kraft cardstock
New leaf ink from PTI
PTI Buttons

Have a great weekend! Wish us luck for a sunny camping trip!

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Fun

For more WW Wednesday Participants, click here!

Here to Give You a Lift; CPS #129

Well, it's another Summer Time Sunday and we're heading off to swim in a pool and have dinner with family, but I was able to get this card finished first! I like the layout....I knew I could use my new Button Basics somehow!

Here's the CPS Challenge:

And here's my take:

I love how all the balloons are on the same plane, but the strips of paper are askew, which gives it a little "lift". I feel you can't have too many of these "just because" cards on hand, so I made two today.

Alrighty then, off to make some stuffed tomatoes for dinner. Thanks to Taya for the recommendation!

CPS #128

Here's my contribution for this week's CPS Challenge sponsored by Close To My Heart.



It looks so plain and simple, but it took two days of coming back to it to finish! (Click image to enlarge for details) First of all, I paper pieced the cupcake wrappers. Secondly, I Stickled the cupcake tops. Thirdly, I added bling for the cherries. I stamped this image on cheap paper and boy, was that a mistake! I tried to ink the edges and the ink wouldn't even adhere! So, I ended up cutting out the entire image and gluing it orange cardstock. Not too bad.

Thanks for taking the time to look! Have a great week!

Peaches! Get your fresh peaches!

Ahhhhh, the fruits of my labor! We went peach picking for the first time yesterday. Mama's got a new canning pot and is armed with some new knowledge, so let's get to it!

Peaches in hand:

Peaches in pot:

Skins and flesh in simple syrup mixture for iced tea later (trust me, it'll be much needed after all this work making peach butter!

Peaches pureed:


And all done!

My goodness that was a lot of work for such a little output! 4 1/2 pounds of peaches yielded 4 pints of peach butter and almost 4 hours worth of work. It's really tasty, though!

Halfway through the cooking down process I googled how long this process should take. Apparently it's much easier to just throw all the peaches in a crockpot over night and can them in the morning! I'll try that next time.

But, here we have it. Nice, pure, simple Peach butter! Nothing but peaches and sugar!

My mom says I should have been a farmer's wife!

Next up: freezing my homegrown 'maters: