Bacon, Potato and Corn Chowder

I just made a yummy recipe which I found on Shari Carroll's blog for Shari's Tator Soup! I changed it a tiny bit, so I'll post it the way I made it, but be sure to head over to Shari's amazing blog. She is one of the designers on the Holiday Card Class at Onlinecardclasses.com.

http://shari-design.blogspot.ca/2012/10/homemade-potato-soup.html?m=1

Shari's Tator Soup: Serves 8 (guys)

Potatoes (7-8peeled and diced)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 chopped onion
Bacon (5 slices uncooked or 10 slices pre-cooked) cut in 1/2" pieces (I actually used 1/2 c precooked crumbled bacon that you buy in a bag from Costco)
1 cup of frozen or canned corn
Smoked Paprika
Garlic seasoning mix
Milk (amount can vary) ( I use 1%)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Potato flakes or flour mixed with water to thicken
Shredded cheese and French fried onions for garnish

Crisp bacon and onions in the bottom of a stock pot. Add potatoes and chicken stock and enough water (if needed) to cover just potatoes. On medium heat, cook till corners of potatoes become slightly rounded (about 1/2 hour). Add corn (i heated it a bit first. Add spices and milk (i also added a bit of cream) to potatoes and return to heat. Once hot, sprinkle 3 tbsp. of potato flakes (or add flour/water mixture) to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish as desired

This was amazing!

Holiday Card Workshop Day 1 Card #2

 

For the second card for Day 1 of the Holiday Card Workshop at Online Card Classes I followed the wonderful tutorial and masked a piece of white cardstock, stamping 3 different sized snowflakes above and below the mask in several different colors of ink.  I then used Evergreen Bough Distress Ink and sponged some color over the snowflakes.  After removing the mask I scored slightly inside the white area above and below, across the paper and stamped my sentiment and then added some red snowflakes for a pop of color. Of course, I added some Stickles for some sparkle!

 

The tutorial shows how this card can easily be used to make a 'cheat sheet' to make quite a few cards very quickly.  I definitely plan to go back to do that!

Holiday Card Workshop Day 1

I signed up for the amazing Holiday Card Workshop over at Online Card Classes, and it is awesome! So many fabulous ideas and wonderful video tutorials!!

On day 1 there were two cards featured- the first is a cute 3x3 card and envelope. I used green cardstock topped with a square of plaid Christmas paper, with a stamped rectangle featuring a Hero Arts Christmas owl set, which I coloured with Prismacolor markers. I used 2 small hearts and chalk ink for a little border and stamped faux red stitching across the top and bottom. Lastly I embossed a snowflake, cut it out and popped it up with foam tape.

 

I didn't have the score board to create the envelope as the instructions suggested, so I cut a piece of 5x5 paper, laid the card in the center of it, diagonally, and traced around it.  Then I scored the lines and folded the corners in, attaching 3 with washi tape and rounding the corner of the envelope flap. Perfect!

 

Hope you enjoyed these cute cards and be sure to check out this wonderful class!

Recent card making!

I just wanted to share some cards I've made recently that haven't been for any challenges. Just ones I've made while sitting down to play!

Happy Halloween!

I really can't believe Halloween is almost here! I hope it won't be too cold for the little ones... We have snow here in Calgary, and it seems to be hanging around.  I'm just not ready for winter!

Sweet Sunday has a sketch I thought I'd use this week to make a Halloween card for my sister and niece. I keep all my Halloween papers together so I can grab them when I want to do a page or card. I layered them on the card base, highlighting the middle square with the silvery Tim Holtz metallic stain. I stamped, colored, and cut out the little ghouls and layered them on top, popping up the girl in front. Then I cut out a circle digi stamp and die cut 2 banners, sponging with Distress Ink.

Hope you all have a happy Halloween!

Inside

Swinging Birgitta

My daughter, Amie, is loving Kindergarten, and is very excited to go to the first birthday party of the school year. For her little friend's birthday card I chose a digi stamp of Swinging Birgitta and the Swing from All That Scraps, which I coloured with Prismacolor markers. By the way, they have an amazing gallery of cards to get inspiration from!!  I cut the swing off the branch and used bakers twine for the rope and then popped the swing and the girl up with foam tape. I used Cosmo Cricket paper and the sketch from Sweet Sunday.

 

Easy Oven Apple French Toast

We had 1/2 a loaf of leftover cranberry white chocolate bread in the fridge and I thought it would work perfectly for a French toast dish! I used a 8" square pan and cut the bread into cubes, then I peeled and chopped up an apple and layered it over the bread. I beat 4 eggs with 1 cup of vanilla almond milk and added some cinnamon and then poured it over the bread mixture. I let it sit for the eggs to soak into the bread while the oven heated to 350*, but you could also do it the night before. Bake about 30 minutes until the apples are tender and the egg is cooked in the centre of the dish. I served it with maple syrup and whipped cream. Yum!