Sketch Class Starts Monday!

Don't miss our most popular class! Sketchapalooza starts this Monday (March 2nd) and the classroom is already open! :)

Here is what you can expect during the Sketchapalooza Class:

• A full FOUR WEEKS of class running from March 2nd until March 30th
• Detailed sketches made exclusively for you by our design team
• A full 20 sketches (5 per week!)
• New this class! Several double page sketches and more photos per sketch
• Challenges with prizes each week of class
• Plus tips and tid-bits to keep your creative juices flowing
• Fabulous creative examples for each sketch by our talented design team
• A private class forum with lots of support and friendly conversation
• Self paced class - do as much or as little as you would like
• A PDF file including all the sketches from class for you to keep for future reference
• Graduation crop with challenges, games and prizes
• Plus a few surprises :)

Interested? Just use the button in the right sidebar to sign up! Hope to see you there :)

Card sketch and inspiration

Happy Friday! Here's a card sketch for you to try. I love using sketches to get cards and layouts finished quickly. If you use this sketch to create a card, we'd love to see it! Share a link in the comment section so we can see.

Here's a sample I just created using Sheila's brand new "celebrate" stamp and papers from Paper Popsicles:

Here's a sample by Jayne Jones:

I hope you have a great weekend!

Some cookie inspiration!

If y'all are anything like me, the pages shared last Friday made me seriously crave a fresh bash of cookies! Just in case anyone needs some extra prompting to pick up that mixing bowl and spoon, I thought I'd share my all-time favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies. This recipe uses shortening instead of butter, and I have found the results to be extra chewy and delicious! Enjoy!

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 cup shortening (I use Crisco butter flavor)
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 (6 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 cup)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 375ºF.

Combine shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into shortening mixture until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet on a cooling rack. Remove cookies to rack to cool completely.

Let the good times roll!

Mardi Gras is coming up on February 24...time for a little fun! While I've never been to the event, the colors, excitement, music and costumes are certainly appealing.

Here are a couple of sites for you to enjoy:
http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/ to learn more about Mardi Gras.
http://www.tabasco.com/taste_tent/menu_planning/mardi_gras.cfm for some Mardi Gras recipes.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/mardigras/ for children's crafts.
http://home.howstuffworks.com/mardi-gras-crafts.htm/printable for more children's crafts.

Hope you enjoy creating a little Mardi Gras fun at home!

Featured Scrapper!

Today I want to feature a fun scrapper we have gotten to know through several classes at Feeling Scrappy...Heather North! Here's a little bit about her so you can get to know her as well.


Here is Heather with her son:



How and when did you first start scrapbooking? From the time I was in high school I used to put stickers and pretty notepaper for my "journaling" in the magnetic albums I had my pictures in, so I would say I have been scrapbooking since I started taking pictures. I "officially" started scrapbooking after my second son was born. I asked my DH to get me some scrapbooking supplies for Christmas just before he was born and about a year later I started.

What is the most important aspect to scrapbooking to you? Keeping the memories. By looking through my scrapbooks I can relive all the wonderful times in our lives. It is a record of our lives. I love that! When I am old and my memory fails I can look through the books and remember. When I am gone my children and grandchildren will have a glimps e of our lives and who we were.


What are your favorite pages to work on? Anything new...new places we have visited, new puppy, new friends, new scrapbooking store. :o)

What if anything do you find hard to scrap? Christmas. We celebrate at least Christmas with at least 4 families each year, that adds up to a ton of pictures and pages to create. Somewhere along the way I got burnt out on doing Christmas pages.


What kind of camera do you use? Do you love it or hate it? I love my camera! It is a Cannon Powershot. I looked at getting a rebel, and would still like one, but I enjoy how easy mine is to use while still giving me great results.

What do you enjoy most about scrapbooking? "Me time". Whether I am scrapbooking with my BFF, a room full of strangers or all by myself, I find that scrapbooking "recharges my batteries" and fills me somehow. I also LOVE the friendships I have made because of scrapbooking.

Tell us a little about your family. I have 2 boys, 12 and 9 years old, a Boxer (mix) Dog, a Ferret, and a wonderful Husband. We moved from Northern California to Southwest Washin gton almost 2 years ago and love it up here in the Pacific Northwest!


Tell us about the things outside of scrapbooking that you enjoy. Every Tuesday that I am free I go to the local Stamping/Scrapbooking store and participate in the dollar demo. I make a card for $1, and it is helping me get a little more comfortable making cards. For some reason scrapbooking comes easier than card making. Doing the card sketches on FS has been helpful also. I LOVE sketches. I also enjoy going to my Ladie's Bible Study once a week. There is something so precious about getting together with other women, sharing our faith, joys and dissapointments.When we lived in CA, my DH & I built a hobby room in the garage to share. Giving up that room was one of the hard things about moving. My DH promised me he would build me another room when we moved into our new house, and he did! I love having a room I can retreat to and can stay as messy as I need it to.

Tell us something about yourself that your Feeling Scrappy friends do not know. I really want to start blogging, but I am not very computer savy and I don't really know where to begin. Any good suggestions?

Here are a couple of Heather's favorite layouts:





I hope you enjoyed getting to know Heather!! Have a wonderful day!!

Milk & Cookies Inspiration

We thought it would be fun to share some layouts centered around milk and cookies with you today. We hope they inspire you to make a similar page or at least to bake up a batch of warm cookies :) We'd love to see any pages you have created revolving around this theme! Feel free to share your layouts-old or new- in the comment section. Have a wonderful Friday!

Amy's Page:
Jayne's page:

Stacey's page:

3D photo technique

Megan, our very talented guest designer for January and February, created the following how-to for all of us this week. This is such a fun technique, and we hope all of you enjoy it!

1) Gather your supplies: 2 identical copies of your photo, foam adhesive, craft knife and craft mat.

2) Take one copy of your photo and using the craft knife, carefully and precisely cut out the object you want to be 3D from the photo.

3) Back the cutout photo with foam adhesive.

4) Make sure all the backing is off of your foam adhesive and carefully place your cutout photo directly over it's mirror image in the uncut photo.

5) The result will be a 3D effect with the focal object coming out of the photo.

6) Use your photo on a layout!

The winner is...

We hosted a little giveaway over the weekend and our winner is:

HollyM said...
Oh how pretty! Thanks for the nice giveaway! Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!
February 15, 2009 5:16 PM

Congratulations Holly! Please e-mail your mailing information to me (feelingscrappy at yahoo dot com) and I will get your bling in the mail right way! :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love eating soup in the winter...it's so warm and comforting! Here's an easy soup you can cook on the stove or in the crock pot that's pretty healthy (at least until you add the chips and cheese! LOL) I usually make this with chicken but I have also used leftover turkey! Yum! I hope you like it!


Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves-minced
2 chicken breasts
1 cup frozen corn
1 can drained and rinsed black beans
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp Worcester sauce
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp fajita seasoning
1 cup salsa (or you can use a can of diced tomatoes and green chilis)
4 cups chicken broth
Optional-1 TBS diced jalapeños

Directions: Combine all ingredients in the crock pot. Cook 8 hours on low. Shred chicken. Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro. A squeeze of lime is good in it, too. Also, I usually taste and adjust the seasonings a bit about an hour before eating. Add more spices according to your family's preferences.

Valentine's Day Bling :)

I thought it would be fun to offer up a little something to add some sparkle to the scrapbook pages you will be making soon of your Valentine sweeties. I will randomly select a winner on Tuesday morning from those who leave a comment here.

Have a great day! :o)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I would share a little Valentine's day history and a few fun facts with you today. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for a chance at some Valentine's day scrapbook bling!

• Long before St. Valentine lived, February 14th had strong links with fertility. The date traditionally is known for when birds choose their mates.


• Roman festival of Lupercalia used to be celebrated on February 15th where young men held a lottery to conclude which girl would be theirs.


• In Medieval times, girls ate bizarre foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future spouse.


• In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that the first unmarried person of the opposite sex you met on the morning of St. Valentine's Day would become your spouse.


• The first Valentine gift was believed to be sent by Duke of Orleans to his wife, after he was captured in 1415.


• 73% of Valentine Day flowers are bought by men, whereas women buy only 23% of Valentine flowers.


• Around 3% of pet owners prefer to give Valentine gifts to their pets, as they are more grateful than humans!

Hope you all have a great day celebrating the loves of your life!

Some sketch inspiration for you!

If you're in the mood to scrap and need a sketch to kick start your creativity, you've come to the right place! Here is a sketch I created, along with the design team's examples. This sketch is a perfect example of how versatile one sketch can be.
And don't forget: it's only a little over two weeks until Sketchapalooza 3 starts on March 2!Regardless of whether you're a seasoned sketch veteran or a newcomer to the game, we hope to see all of you there!

 

My page

Jayne's Page

 

Creamy Italian Chicken

I have seen several different varieties of this dish floating around but here is mine - I adapted it to fit my family's taste by adding onion, garlic, mushrooms and wine. I like to make this on a cold winter day when I have scrappy plans because I can put it on in the morning then forget it which leaves more time for scrapping! Gotta love that :)

Creamy Italian Chicken

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 stick of butter
1 package of dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 can cream soup (I use chicken or mushroom)
1 8 oz package of cream cheese (at room temp.)
1 package of fresh mushrooms (sliced)
1 bunch of green onions (chopped)
2 Tbs wine or cooking sherry (optional)
Crushed garlic to taste

Cut chicken into pieces and place in crock pot. Melt butter and pour over chicken. Sprinkle with packet of dressing mix then add onion, mushroom and garlic. Cook on high for 4 hours (or longer on low) Mix soup, cream cheese and sherry together and stir into chicken. (I shred the chicken at this point also but that is optional) Cook an additional 1/2 hour or so. Serve over pasta, rice or toast. (We like it on toast) Enjoy!

Here is a layout I did for my Kitchen Keepsakes album about this dish:

Computer savvy scrapbooking, part 2

I know I can't be the only one spending this weekend putting together Valentines for my kiddos' school friends, so I thought I'd share an online find I made earlier this week to punch up your projects. These little digital Valentine tickets available through the Memory Makers website are absolutely darling, and they are just the perfect touch for all of the sweet little projects you might have in the works!

Have fun!

Computer savvy scrapbooking!

In the last year or so, just as much as my trimmer and adhesives, my computer and photo editing software have become two of my secret weapons for creating dynamic pages and projects. There is so much fun material available on the web to punch up your projects, so this weekend, I thought I'd share a couple of my recent finds with all of you!

If you haven't checked out the photo collage templates available for free through the Scrapbooks Etc. website, head on over! By arranging your photos in these templates and then printing out the finished product, you can adhere your collage to your layout, and with a few embellishments, you are all set! It is amazing what a time-saver these are. There is a super step-by-step tutorial available that walks you through how to use the templates, but I assure you that once you've tried them out a time our two, you'll be using them like a pro all on your own!

Love is in the air!

Everywhere you look, love is in the air! We thought it would be fun to share some "love" themed pages today. My page is a bit more light hearted about my daughter's kissy face. Jayne and Amy have wonderful and beautiful sentimental pages they have created. We'd LOVE to see any pages you have created revolving around this theme! Feel free to share your layouts-old or new- in the comment section. Have a wonderful Friday!

Project Highlight - Lee Currie

Today I am sharing the binder and dividers that Lee made in our From Mess to Success class last month. In addition to being a very talented lady, Lee is a really uplifting and interesting person. I encourage you to check out her blog Lemons2lemonade after you have a look at her work below!

Good old-fashioned comfort food!

Even here in the typically sunny South, it's been an unusually cold winter. I know during these dreary days, sometimes a hot bowl of comfort food is just what the doctor ordered! This chicken and dumpling recipe (if you make this recipe, you have to promise me to try saying dumplin' without the "g" at least once - lol!) has become one of our family's absolute favorites when it comes to cold weather fare. Enjoy!

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken -
1-1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 leek, sliced in half moons
1 rib celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 sweet potato, peeled, cut into large chunks
2 parsnips, peeled, diced
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 qt. low-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. each chopped fresh sage and rosemary

Dumplings -
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 T. Parmesan cheese, grated
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
2/3 cup whole milk
3 T. unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375 with rack in the center. Cut chicken into large pieces. Combine flour and salt, cayenne and pepper in a resealable plastic bag. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. In a deep oven-proof pot, heat 1 T. vegetable oil over med-high heat. Brown half the chicken; transfer to a plate. Brown the rest of the chicken in 1 T. oil; remove. Reduce heat to medium. (Be sure to SAVE you dredging flour.)

Sweat vegetables and bay leaves in 1 T. oil until softened, 5 minutes. (Sweating means to place all of it in a pot with the oil, stir to coat, and then cover and cook, stirring occasionally. Basically a combination of sauteeing and steaming.) Deglaze with wine; simmer until nearly evaporated. Stir in remaining dredging flour to coat vegetables. Gradually add broth, stirring until smooth. Cover pot and transfer to oven; cook for 20 minutes. (While stew is in the oven, make dumpling dough.)

For the dumplings, blend dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Heat milk and butter until butter melts; blend into dry ingredients.

After you remove the stew from the oven, stir in the chicken, lemon juice and herbs, then bring stew to a simmer on a burner. Shape dough into small balls (I use a small ice-cream scoop, like I use for shaping cookies) and drop the dumplings onto the simmering stew. Return pot to the oven and braise until dumplings are cooked through, about 20 minutes. You can test them for doneness with a toothpick. When it comes out clean, you're set!

Valentine's Day is approaching!

Valentine's Day is coming up and so I wanted to share a couple of sites all about love. There are lots of ideas for dates, gifts, recipes and even free e-cards to send. Hope you find something fun!
Lovingyou.com
Printables (from Lovingyou.com)
123 greetings.com