Winner of Challenge #2 - Fall Favorites

Here's wishing everyone a BOO-dacious Halloween full of tasty treats and frightful fun!

Thank you so much to all of the talented scrappers who participated in this week's challenge! All of us on the design team have been truly wowed by the caliber of pages that have been shared for each of the challenges so far!

The lucky winner of the random drawing for the amazing prize package this week (isn't it great that everyone has an equal chance to win?) is...

Kendra! :)

Congratulations, Kendra! Please send us an email at feelingscrappy@yahoo.com so we can get your prize package in the mail! (For the sake of timeliness, we ask that you please contact us by Monday at the latest, or we otherwise will draw another winner.)

The design team would like to give a shout out to Megan, who really caught our eye with her awesome take on the challenge!

Be keeping an eye out for our next challenge to be posted Friday, November 7!

Pretty Pleats

There are lots of things you can do with fabric on your layouts.
Here's just one fun (and easy!) idea using fabric on a card or a layout.


Supplies needed:
All you need is a scrap of fabric (can come from old clothes or new from the store)
and some adhesive (I used Photo Tape-it has a nice strong hold).


Directions:
1. Run a strip of strong adhesive across the card or page
where you want your fabric "curtain" to go.


2. Scrunch the fabric a bit as you stick it down on the adhesive.


3. Trim the fabric on the edges and bottom as needed.


4. Cover the scrunched up part with ribbon or paper (or even another strip of fabric.)
That's it! Embellish and finish your card or layout.


If you try this idea out, we'd love to see it! Just leave a link for us in the comment section.
Have a wonderful day!

WW Caramel Apple Salad

Apples just scream fall to me, so today I thought I would share another apple recipe with you. Unlike Amy's to-die-for Deep Dish Apple Pie (yum!) mine is for those watching their waistline :) I will warn you though - everybody I have made this for LOVES it including my dh and kids, so it is not just for dieters!

Caramel Apple Salad
1 can crushed pineapple in its own juice
5-6 granny smith apples pealed and chopped
1 small package of fat free, sugar free butterscotch pudding
1 full container of fat free cool whip
1/4 cup of nuts (I use pecans)

Mix all ingredients together, cool and enjoy! Easy huh?! I do not know the calorie count on this but for those that follow weight watchers it is only 1 point for 1 full cup. Can't beat that! :)

Silly fun!

To get us all conditioned for pumpkin carving this Halloween, I thought I'd share the following link to carve your very own pumpkin online to share with friends and family! This is great fun for adults and children alike. After you're finished, you even have the option to print a template of your pumpkin to use when carving your real pumpkins this year. Cool! Here is the link. (You'll have to sign up for an account with Better Homes and Gardens if you don't already have one.)

Happy carving!

Last-minute costume ideas

Short on time and needing a last-minute costume idea for yourself or your kiddos? Fret no more! I've done some legwork for you to find some great sites with tons of ideas and how-to's to get you outfitted in no time!

Parents.com has tons of really cool costume ideas for kiddos, and many can be put together in an afternoon. I thought the section on costumes made with stuff you probably already having lying around the house was really clever! (On this same site there are also some really cute ideas for pumpkins and other Halloween decor and treats that I highly recommend as well.)

Disney Family.com has some really cute costume ideas that include some great last-minute and no-sew options. Check it out! In searching through this site, I stumbled upon the cutest idea to use empty gallon milk jugs as lanterns. We always have tons of empty jugs around here, so we will definitely be making a couple of these! Here is the link to this project.

I hope you find these sites helpful as you make those last minute plans for a frightfully fun Halloween!

Challenge 2: Fall Favorites

It's time for another challenge! (And another great prize!!!)

Today, I want to challenge you to create a layout showcasing something you love about fall. Anything that reminds you of fall would qualify-apples, the pumpkin patch, the changing leaves, a favorite recipe, etc. For me, it's my winter coats, scarves and hats. I know, I know...those are WINTER items for most people. But not for me. I eagerly await the fall day that is chilly enough to pull my goodies out of the closet. I'm sure there are people who might giggle seeing me in them when it's not even snowing. But I don't care. They are comfy, warm and fun to wear.

What reminds you of fall? Create a *new* page and share it with us in the comment section and you might even win a prize! Scroll down for the very cool prize Jayne is offering for a lucky person participating this week.

Here are the pages we created about things that remind us of fall.

Amy's Page:

Becky's Page:


Jayne's Page:

Stacey's Page:

The prize for this challenge will be this awesome Daisy D fall package of goodies!

The fine print. :) All layout submissions are due by next Wednesday (October 29th). layouts can be submitted by providing a link in the comment section of this post. All layout submissions must be new and created for this challenge. Our prize winner will be randomly drawn from all those who submitted the completed challenge by the deadline. Due to shipping costs, US addresses only this week please.

A Scrapper You Should Know!

Charlene O'Hara

We were thrilled when Char agreed to be our very first featured scrapper! For those of you that know Char, I am sure you will agree that she is one special lady - full of love with a wonderful sense of fun and exuberance about her! For those of you that don't know her yet - read on to learn more about Char then be sure to check out her blog: http://mom2jwo.blogspot.com

Here Charlene is pictured with her husband Sean and their son Jonah :)

How and when did you first start scrapbooking?
I started the same way many others did - seeing someones Creative Memories album. I signed up for a beginner class and bought the full kit that night. I knew it would not be a waste. This was about 6 or 7 years ago.

What is the most important aspect to scrapbooking to you?
Hands down it is capturing the moments and journaling about them. I love that you can look thru a scrapbook and know the story as opposed to having the photos stuck in an album with no story attached to it. There have been many times I have looked in someones photo album of their last trip, but had no idea what the pictures were really about. Scrapbooking gives you the opportunity to share those memories and keep them preserved as they should be.

What are your favorite pages to work on?
My favorite pages to work on always surround Jonah, our 5 year old son. He is such a character and full of life. I love capturing his personality in my scrapbooks and I want him to be able to look back in the scrapbook and see his childhood moments. I tend to take a lot of photos in the fall because it is my favorite season.

What, if anything, do you find hard to scrap?
This will sound weird, but I can't scrap anything that is based on a sketch! LOL. For some reason sketches freak me out. But I have enrolled in the Sketchapalooza class so I KNOW that will be fixed and I have been warned that I will end up a Sketchaholic! I have done 3 sketches - even blogged about it because it was so exciting - so I am on my way. I also have a hard time scrapbooking anything girlie. Because I have a boy and a HUGE distaste for the color pink, I used to find it hard to scrapbook anything feminine, but Jayne helped me get over that with her Embellish It class, challenging me to use flowers on a page! I loved it and now I have a bunch of prima flowers.

What kind of camera do you use? Do you love it or hate it?
My camera is a Canon G9. It was a gift from a very good (and generous!) friend of mine. I lalalaLOVE it!! I am still learning how to really use it, but I just love the versatility.

What do you enjoy most about scrapbooking?
Re-living the moment! I love the feeling of finishing a page and seeing how great the moment was and showcasing it in my album - forever. Scrapbooking also challenges me to be creative and thanks to Feeling Scrappy's classes, help me step outside the box. I also get to "meet" a lot of fantastic and talented scrapbookers!!

Tell us a little about your family.
I am married to the most amazing man, Sean. We have been together for 14 years, married 11 years. I know this sounds like a cliche, but we are more in love today than the day we walked down the aisle. He is my best friend and although we are COMPLETE opposites, we make a great team. We have 1 son named Jonah. He is quite the character and makes me laugh everyday. He reminds us of our childhoods and lets us re-live it thru his excitement and drive. He is our blessing. I am also very lucky to have wonderful parents who are so young at heart and always there for us regardless of the need. I have 1 sister named Dawn who is a wonderful mother to my 2 nephews - James, 12, the cool skater guy and Ryan 16, the football star. I have often referred to them as "My boys" which has made many think I have 3 boys! LOL. My family is very close and I am very lucky to have them in my life.

Tell us about the things outside of scrapbooking that you enjoy.
I enjoy spending time with my family, watching Jonah play at a park, taking discovery walks in the local greenspace to see what gross things Jonah can find - boys and their bugs, UGH! Just living life to the fullest.

Tell us something about yourself that your Feeling Scrappy friends do not know.
I asked my friends who I met first thru message boards then met IRL later what they realized about me. They said - I am the type of person who wears her heart on her sleeve, shows affection publicly and doesn't hold back ANYTHING. And that is true. I also have a huge fear of spiders. If I see a spider in my bedroom, I will have Sean kill it and then I will sleep downstairs on the couch!

Here are two of Char's favorite pages.

Less than a week!

Sketchapalooza starts in less then one week on Monday, October 27th! We are all super excited about this class! The design team has out done themselves with fantastic examples and I have to say that the sketches are even better then the last Sketch class. You can read detailed information about the class by clicking on the "classes" tab above. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me at jayne@feelingscrappy.com

For those of you that have already signed up, watch your e-mail for your invitation to our brand new classroom forum!

Deep Dish Apple Pie

I find no other dessert says "fall" as much as apple pie. The spicy aroma of this dessert wafting through my house always transports me to my childhood, of the crisp days of fall and enjoying a piece of apple pie a la mode with my grandfather. He has always loved apple pie!

This recipe is probably much like the ones we all grew up with, but with one exception: it is made in a springform pan instead of a standard pie plate. The result is any crust lover's idea of heaven: a crusty, browned pie overflowing with apple deliciousness! Enjoy!

Deep Dish Apple Pie (adapted from Relish Magazine)

Crust:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup vegetable shortening
6 to 7 tablespoons ice water

Filling:
4 pounds tart apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Cinnamon-sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. To prepare the crust, mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir gently and gather into two balls, one about twice as large as the other.
3. Roll out larger ball on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan, with about 2 inches of overhang. Roll the smaller dough ball into a 9-inch circle.
4. To prepare the filling, combine apples, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; toss well. Spoon into prepared crust. Sprinkle pieces of butter on top. Place top crust over filling. Fold overhang evenly around the top crust. Cut 10 to 12 slits in top crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar if desired. Bake about 1 hour or until crust is deep golden and the filling oozes through the slits.

Fall Wreath- easy craft idea

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!

Here's an easy (and inexpensive!) decoration I made for our front door.
DIY Fall Wreath




Materials needed:

Plain grapevine wreath (I used a 10" one but a 12" one would be great as well!)

Assorted fall decorations (pine cones, berries, leaves, etc.)

Hot glue gun


1. Gather your supplies. I bought these for only $5 total at the craft store. The package of fall goodies was on sale for 50% off and I used a 50% off coupon for the plain wreath.


2. Place the fall goodies randomly on the wreath to get an idea of where you'd like the items to go.



3. Using a hot glue gun, stick the items onto the wreath. Feel free to move things around as you work.


That's it!! If you make a wreath for your door, we'd love to see it. Just leave a link to your craft in the comments. Have a wonderful day. :)

Easy Fall Decorating Ideas

There are a ton of ideas out there in cyber space to help you spruce up your home for the season. Here are a couple of sites I'd like to share with you:

Better Homes and Gardens- Yep, a great magazine, but they also have a lot of FREE ideas on their site (there are some pop up ads you have to close out, though). just click through the slides for cute fall ideas.
http://www.bhg.com/decorating/seasonal/autumn/easy-fall-decorating-projects/

HGTV- There's a HUGE list of creative ideas for every holiday here. Check it out!
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_occasions_halloween/0,1788,HGTV_3274,00.html

How do you decorate your home for the fall? We'd love to hear your ideas and see some photos. Just let us know what you do in the comment section and feel free to link to a photo of your ideas.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing an easy and inexpensive fall craft with you. I hope you'll stop on by to check it out!

Winner of Challenge #1 - Amy's Sketch

You all really did a great job with this challenge! Thanks so much for playing along. The prize winner for each challenge will always be chosen at random so everyone always has an equal chance to win! Our winner this week is...

shirley319 said...
I stretched out the sketch for a DPS that I posted to my blog (I never post Layouts there, so this was a first)http://shirley319.blogspot.com/Thanks for the fun challenge!
October 14, 2008 5:15 PM

Congratulations Shirley! Please e-mail me at feelingscrappy@yahoo.com and I will get you all set up for our Sketchapalooza class starting October 27th!

The Design Team also wanted to give a shout out to a few ladies that really wowed us with these awesome takes on the sketch! Great job!

Char's layout
Tracy's layout
Lindsey's layout

Our next challenge will be posted on next Friday, October 24, 2008!

Punch up those scraps!

I am a pack rat by nature, and when it comes to scrapbooking, my stash of scraps is quite impressive! I am always looking for ways to punch up those remnants of paper to use on layouts and cards, and I have found dimensional adhesive to be a great product for this very purpose. It is so easy to add visual interest to otherwise plain Jane paper in a short amount of time and at a small cost. I purchased my bottle of adhesive from my local Hobby Lobby for around $5.

If you have ever worked with Elmer's glue, you will tackle this technique with ease! You apply the product just as you would regular glue from a bottle. One thing to remember, however, is that you should never shake the bottle, as this causes bubbles in your embellishments. Instead, turn the bottle upside down and wait for the product to fill the tip before testing on a scratch piece of paper and then using on your final piece of paper. I chose to highlight the petals of the flowers here.

After you have applied the adhesive to your paper, allow it to dry completely. (The product will go on white, but turn clear as it dries.) And that's it! You now have a dynamic, dimensional paper to embellish any card or page.

Winter Squash- Sweet and Savory

Every fall, I look forward to winter squash. Acorn squash, butternut squash and pumpkin are our favorites. Acorn squash with apples, butternut squash mac and cheese, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin crunch…I could go on and on!

Today, I want to share two favorite recipes with you using winter squash-one savory and one sweet. I hope you will like them as much as our family does.

Rice with Butternut Squash

*I adapted this recipe from one that I’ve had for years. I am not even sure where I found it. LOL The original recipe calls to bake it in the oven and top it with parmesan. This is our favorite savory squash recipe. Other than this recipe, we usually eat our winter squash topped with butter and brown sugar…YUM!!!

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash (about 1.5 lbs)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage (I actually don’t use this…mostly because I didn’t have any the first time I made it and we liked it just as I made it.)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup uncooked Arborio or other short-grain rice
1/4 cup dry white wine (I’ve used chicken broth instead but it’s better with the wine)
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Place squash on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tender; cool.

Peel squash; cut in half lengthwise. Discard seeds and membranes; cut into 1/2-inch cubes.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 6 minutes. Add garlic; saute 2 minutes. Add rice; saute 1 minute.

Stir in squash, broth, water, sage, wine, thyme, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pumpkin Spice Bread

*I’ve tried quite a few different pumpkin bread recipes and this one always turns out moist and delicious. But in all actuality, it’s not really the one that I make most of the time (because I rarely have fresh ginger and oranges on hand.) It’s definitely a recipe I have to pre plan for and remember to buy those ingredients. This recipe came from a magazine but I didn’t write down which one…oops! I think it might have been from Family Fun but don’t hold me to that!

Ingredients:
Bread:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp baking powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup pure pumpkin
2 eggs
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp grated orange peel

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-1 ½ TBS milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp grated orange peel

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder in a bowl.

2. Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy (a couple of minutes). Add pumpkin, eggs, ginger, 2 tsp orange peel and beat at medium speed until well-blended. (It might look curdled but that’s ok!)

3. Slowly beat in flour mixture at low speed until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake for about 60 minutes or until edges pull away slightly from the pan and the center springs back when lightly touched. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing loaf from the pan to cool completely.

5. Whisk glaze ingredients together. Pour glaze into a small plastic bag and cut off a small corner. Drizzle glaze over bread. Let stand until glaze is set. (Warning-little fingers are tempted to catch the drips from the glaze! LOL)

And I have to include this photo because my sweet hubby had the idea to do this and positioned the fork himself. :)


I would love to hear if you try either of these recipes and what you think. Happy eating!!!

Weekend Fun - Carving Jack!

Halloween is almost upon us and in our house this means it is almost time to carve a pumpkin or maybe even two. I am responsible for the carving in our house and the kids have a ball pulling out all the "goo"! Then we all enjoy some pumpkin seeds warm from the oven. Yum! Anyhow, today I have a few fun websites to share with you.

The following site has all kinds of pumpkin information - from picking the perfect pumpkin to carving it and even taking photos of your finished master piece!
http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/

Here is another one with a bit more "out there" designs :)
http://www.extremepumpkins.com/

Don't want to mess with a real pumpkin? Just play with this virtual one!
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

Happy Fall!

Prize Winner

Winner Chicken Dinner! It is time to announce the winner of our Tim Holtz prize package!

But first I want to thank you all for the support and kind words about Feeling Scrappy's new look and format. We are so glad that you like it and we will work hard to make sure we make this an inspiring place to be! {{hug!}}

And our winner is...

Lee said...
I had a class with Tim Holtz this past summer, he's totally awesome. "Embrace imperfection" is his motto and I'm all over it! I'm still finding my way around my own new blog, but I'll definitely leave a comment, put in a plug (entry) and you're already in the side bar! I'm so happy for all of your success, Jayne. Keep it up :)

Congratulations Lee! Please send your contact information to me at feelingscrappy@yahoo.com by Monday so I can get your goodies is the mail.

Have a great weekend everybody and don't forget the Challenge #1 Sketch layouts are due by Wednesday to be entered to win the prize! :)