Mother's Day

As promised here are some pics of my weekend getaway over Mother's Day weekend with my mom and sister.

This is our cabin at Brown County State Park.

This is one of the overlooks....so pretty!!

We ran into some high water in the area....can you believe it?! On the other side of the main road water was up to almost the top of a telephone poll! There were several roads like this and some people had canoes so they could park at the end of the road and canoe home! I couldn't imagine!

Here we are at one of the local wineries (Oliver Winery)...such a beautiful place! They have flowers, some stone scultures that look like stonehenge (you can see one in the background) and even a picnic area out back! They sell cheese, crackers, sausage, etc. so you could go for a meal or snack! It ended up being graduation weekend also so places were crazy busy so needless to say we did our tasting...bought our wine and booked it out of there for our dinner reservation!

Mom and I loosening up our muscles in the hot jacuzzi...I love those things!!

Our cute matching butterfly socks! Thought it made an interesting picture! :)
Can you guess which feet belong to which person?? LOL!

A wild turkey...this one is a male also called a Tom. It was the best pic I could take as the turkey was starting to run pretty quick!

In front of where we had Mother's Day brunch.

A nest of baby birdies spotted while shopping in town.

The next two pics are crafty goodies I bought on sale during National Scrapbook Day! Underneath the map in the first picture there are two clear packs of Prima paper. If you spend a certain amount you get to pick something out of a box and I got to pick two things. I was NOT walking away from that gorgeous Prima paper....24 double sided sheets FREE!


In town there was a local leather shop where they hand make items and they had these bags of scrap leather for sale so I had to snag the one that had all the pretty colors! Then in one of the baskets there was only one grab bag of hardware so I picked it up too and I couldn't believe some of the pieces! Some are very intricate...hopefully you can click the pic to enlarge and you can see them. Some are just plain but I still think they will come in handy for something crafty!


Well, I better stop there....don't want to bore you too bad with all my pictures! I get a bit carried away at times.
Hope you enjoyed looking at my travels!

-Stacie

A Cool Tasty Tuesday!

While browsing the internet trying to come up with another unique way to use up frozen strawberries leftover from my garden last year I ran across a recipe for frozen strawberry pie. Let me just say it turned out fantastic but you must be patient because after making it you must put it in the freezer to harden. Then before you eat it sit it out 15 minutes to thaw a little. I am not good about letting things sit out before eating because I need instant gratification so we just chiseled away a piece with a fork (you can see the lines in the pic!) LOL!



Click HERE for the recipe from Taste Of Home!

Enjoy!

Goodies in the mail!

I am so happy blogger is back up and running....it sure caused some big trouble the last two days! I think some of my comments got deleted so don't forget to check out my DT card for the No! No! Challenge going on at Stamping Vacation (the post before this one). There is also a competition amongst the DT and I need your help!! Pretty please with cherry on top! :)

Now for the goodies I have gotten in the mail lately.

Rosalee won the giveaway I had for sending a card for Aunt Jeanne. She sent me this goodie package as a thank you. That was sooooooooo sweet and I love it all! THANKS AGAIN!!



This is a package I won from Dawn! Aren't those flowers GORGEOUS? I just love the metal stamps too! I even bought something over Mother's Day weekend I can use them on...will show you that in the future! THANKS DEAR!



The next two photos are from my pal Merry! She made that BEAUTIFUL Bukuro bag (even in my fav color!) and filled it with the bling, ribbon, BIG flowers, a magnet from her travels and those fun magnetic clips! Also a wonderful Easter card with fun eggs on it!


This is a runner she picked up while in Greece! I can't tell you how much I LOVE it! Matches my decor PERFECTLY!! Certainly an item to cherish in my new home! :)
BIG THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!!



Okay, I'm off to do some house shopping....actually more like browsing cause I doubt we buy anything today! Getting ideas for the new bath and kitchen!
-Stacie

No! No! Challenge and Competition

Want an easy challenge? This is it! It's all about what NOT to do... What's a No, no?

EMBOSSING OF ANY KIND
Embossing of any kind is a NO NO! No embossing on your creation. That's it!

This and all entries qualify for the monthly gift certificate drawing over at Stamping Vacation!

We are also having a competition amongst the DT to see how many entries we can get by the end of the month so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE enter as many times as you can until May 31st! It is soooooooooo easy!!

You can go directly to the challenge by clicking HERE!

Thank you!

Here is my card to get you all started!



I used alcohol inks for the background .... such a neat effect!

I'm Back and Tasty Tuesday!

I'm back from spending Mother's Day weekend in Brown County, Indiana with my mom and sister! We all had a really wonderful time...lots of good food, fun shopping and laughter! I hope to post a few pics later on so stay tuned!

Now for this weeks Tasty Tuesday!
One of my husbands favorites and a great Southern breakfast dish!

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy!!



We like to add shredded cheese to ours .... actually we put cheese in just about everything! LOL!



I made some "drop biscuits" from a box. Then all you do is fry up some sausage in a skillet til it is all the way cooked. (Drain if you want less fat) Then sprinkle flour on the top to coat the sausage and add some milk (I don't measure anymore because I have made it so often!) It will get bubbly and start to thicken. I just adjust the thickness and amount with more flour or milk depending on what you like. So super easy! In my travels I have not seen this dish in most places except the Southern USA so if this is a common recipe in your area I would love to know!

For those of you that need quantities of ingredients to get started you can click HERE for a recipe!

Enjoy!
-Stacie

Colored flowers on candle

After trying this technique out in black and white I thought I would step it up a notch and try coloring on my image before doing the transfer. What do you think? I am so happy with how the colors came out!! :)


Challenges:
ABC DT Challenge - April Showers Bring May Flowers
Charisma Cardz - No cards allowed!
Crafty Calendar - April Showers Bring May Flowers
Crafty Sentiments - Flowers
Top Tip Tuesday - Open


I am getting ready to head out of town for the next few days with my mom and sister for Mother's Day weekend. Hope we don't get into too much trouble! LOL! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Hugs!
-Stacie

Backpacking Adventure! Photo Heavy!

Here are some pictures from our most recent backpacking trip. We hike in Hoosier National Forest near Bloomington. We park our car in a lot next to a lookout tower and then we take off from there into the mighty forest! The area where we go is approx. 13,000 acres....yes that is alot of trees!!

Here you can see our "bench" next to the firepit. Also our backpacks that we carry with everything we need inside them. Can you tell which one is mine? LOL! Even though it is small I think it still weighs around 35 pounds...hubbies is about twice the size of mine. Doesn't sound like much but try carrying it for hours going up and down hills! Starts feeling like a ton!



Since carrying everything can get pretty heavy a backpackers goal is to cut back on weight whenever possible so that is where this tiny tent comes in handy. It is barely big enough for both of us but it works.



The next morning we woke up to a temperature of 32 degrees F. Right at freezing and so glad I wore several layers including my long johns! I felt good as long as I kept moving! So we took off hiking in search of mushrooms (wild morels) and geocaches. For those of you that aren't aware of what geocaching is and would like to know please click HERE.

The geocache I found was under a rock.


The geocache hubby found was in a tree hole.


*Some people don't trade but I like to do that so we have a stash of goodies we bring along....this trip I was able to collect a nice lock with key AND a brand new pocket knife still in the packaging! SCORE!!! That is not typical though...we usually only find tiny trinkets like litte kids toys, keychains, bottlecaps....whatever we can find in our junk drawers! LOL!*

It was an excellent year for mushroom hunting!! We found over 350 in ONE DAY!! This is a picture of about 450 wild morels....YUM! And yes, I carried these bags in my hands for miles while hiking...I didn't want anything to happen to them. Very protective of my prized vittles! LMAO!



We were getting hungry and decided to stop for lunch. We found a nice big tree down that we used as a "table/kitchen".



And this is our lunch....thank goodness for dehydrated food!! Add hot water and your good to go! Plus we decided to enjoy some of our hard work and eat a few fresh mushrooms. Those took a bit more work but well worth the effort!



During our hike we found some tree sapling huts. Very interesting! Not exactly sure if they are used and get covered or if people make them to pass the time? Either way I thought they were pretty cool!



Bark falling off a tree....makes a neat picture doesn't it?



Here I am showing off two MONSTER sized mushrooms that I found....they were HUGE compared to what we normally find! This was on our way hiking out of the forest....time to head home.



This was one of the best trips EVER!! Peaceful, relaxing, fun and the perfect weather without bugs driving us nuts!! Hope you have enjoyed seeing some pics of our backpacking adventure!

The last of the graduation party scrap pages!!

I wish you could see some of the facial expressions....especially on the last scrap page! They were hilarious....just use your imagination! LOL!





Thanks for looking at all my scrap pages! I appreciate all the comments you leave for me...they really brighten my day! :)

Hugs!
-Stacie

Smarty Pants and Friends

A few of the younger kids having fun...one was being a complete smarty pants with her ATTITUDE!! LOL!



Here my nephew and I are just hanging out with his friends. I'm the "COOL" Aunt so I get the privilege of talking with the teens! :)

Egg In The Hole!

Did that title get your attention? LMAO! Welcome back to another Tasty Tuesday!

This is a dish my friends mom used to make for us when I was younger. I stayed over at their house many of nights and almost every morning we would get these!



The recipe is simple! Butter a piece of bread on both sides and cut out a circle in the middle (I just turn a glass upside down, press and twist). Throw it in a hot skillet and then crack an egg to put in the hole. I break my yolks cause I don't like them runny but you can leave them whole too. Add a dash of salt and pepper. The top ones have more than a dash but those were for hubby...I don't like as much pepper as he does! Once the bottom is golden brown flip and cook the other side. I also use the little circles that I cut out and add a cinnamon/sugar mixture to them. Kind of a sweet morning treat!

Let me know if you make these and what you think! Good ole' southern comfort food....without the liquor! LOL!

More Family Scrap Pages

Hey Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I wanted to thank all of you that sent me well wishes on my foot....I seem to be healing very quickly!

Some of you have asked how the booth sale went...I am sad to report neither of us sold very much. There were not very many shoppers. They said this is the slowest it has ever been and I do think the raising gas prices, the state of the economy and our weather has alot to do with it! But, even though my mom and I didn't get rich we still learned a bit about how these sales work and gained some experience!

Today I have a few more scrap pages to show you. This is still a continuation of the scrapbook I gave to my nephew in February. I feel odd blurring all the faces because I do not have their permission to post on the internet...kind of creepy looking if you ask me! LOL! These family members are on my brother in-laws side of the family. I only have about 5 more pages to share so hopefully I can get that done this week!




*On the bottom right of each page I stamped "Family" but it is very hard to see*

Update!

Hey everyone! Just thought I would update you on what has been going on this week. I know I promised pics of my backpacking trip and I will still post those but I am just having a hard time finding enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished. I'm sure alot of you know how that goes and I do hope you understand if I am behind on posting or commenting. I also had a little accident a few days ago. I was working out at the property where we are building our new house and managed to step on a board that had a screw sticking out of it. It went into my foot and hurt like crazy but I am doing better than expected...should be back to walking normal by next week! :) Another thing going on is a booth sale this weekend across the street from me at the community center. My mom and I are going to share a booth....our first time trying to sell handmade stuff other than taking some things to my MIL's work. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us!! I have been trying to prepare some other things to sell besides cards so if you don't hear from me the next few days that is why. I will definately be back here on Sunday if not sooner!

Hugs!
-Stacie

Tasty Tuesday and WINNER!!!

So this is the picture I had you all guessing on last week. Some really good guesses and I had to chuckle at a few of them too! HEHE! Nobody got it correct though as they are fried dandelion flowers!! Yep, I'm showing my true hillbilly side! LMAO! This time of year we do hunt wild mushrooms (morels) and so far we have found 515 of them!! I will show you a few pictures of those when I post about my backpacking trip! :) In one day on our trip we found 355....we have NEVER done that before so it was really exciting! We have been sharing them with our parents but still couldn't eat them all so I have tried freezing them....we will see how that turns out. Anyways, back to the dandelions. Most people do not know you can eat the flowers. I have also eaten the green leaves but I do not like them because they taste bitter to me like collard greens. They say if you pick them when they first come up they won't be bitter but I still think they taste aweful! As for the dandelion heads you of course want to pick in an area that doesn't get sprayed with chemicals or anything and you pluck them as close to the base as possible to stay away from the bitter green part. Then just soak them in a cold saltwater solution, dry, coat with an egg and milk mixture, then roll in a breading like flour or breadcrumbs....add a dash of salt and pepper and fry them up! And since I don't have a deep fryer....I call this technique SHALLOW fried in my skillet instead of DEEP fried! I only put enough oil in the skillet to cover the bottom so almost like a saute really! Sounds better but I'm sure they are still just as bad as deep fried! LMAO!

Now for the winner! As usual I put all the names in hubby's camo hat and had him pick one and that person is..................drumroll...............................
.......................................................................................................................
BECKY from Scrappin' Becky B.

Congrats!!! Please e-mail me and I will get your prize shipped off!

Carrot Treat Boxes!

I made these carrot treat boxes filled with candy for my two nephews and one cousin that is a girl for Easter. Hence the pink ribbon for the girl! You can find several different templates online but I found this one HERE. Then I added a bunny I cut from a cricut cart! So easy to make and everyone loved them! :)

Challenges:
Crafty Sentiments - Easter Creation
Cute Card Thursday - No Text
Delicious Doodles - Anything Goes
Penny's Challenge - Easter

Church Candle

Stamp is from CowTown Stamps

I have been wanting to try stamping on tissue paper and transferring it to a candle for a long time. I finally had the perfect opportunity to try it out as my mom got accepted into the Catholic church this weekend. I made this as a little congratulations gift. Your not supposed to burn candles with tissue paper so I already had it burned down just enough to fit a tea light so she can still use it if she wants! :)

Challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - No Text
Delicious Doodles - Anything Goes

HAPPY EASTER!!

I made it home safe and sound from my backpacking trip and we had a FANTASTIC time! I have some pictures to share along with details of our trip and I will post those next week. I have also prepared a few craft and food items for this weekend and I will share some of those next week....it has been a little hectic this week but I am slowly trying to catch up on blogland! Not an easy task....so much to see and so little time! LOL!

For now I want to wish everyone a very blessed and Happy Easter!!

Hugs!
-Stacie

Tasty Tuesday and Guessing Game!

First off I have these decadent chocolate chip cookie brownie bars!! Can that dessert get any better? Maybe by adding a tall glass of milk!! Now I have gone out and bought the actual one box mix for this recipe and it makes an 8x8 pan BUT I found another way to make it in a 9x13 pan using two mixes....PLUS....here is the really good part....I was able to make it MUCH lower in fat by using applesauce instead of oil, light butter and eggbeaters! I took them to a basketball party and NOBODY knew they were lower in calories and fat...not even all those men!! :) I didn't add the chocolate frosting as they are rich enough as is and I'm not a huge fan of frosting anyways.

Click HERE for the recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker!

ENJOY!!

Now for the fun part.....a nice little guessing game for my followers! You all know I just love trying to trick you! HEHE! Leave a comment with your best guess as to what I have been eating in the picture below! I will draw a name for a small RAK from my stash next Monday and announce the winner on Tuesday.



I am going on a backpacking adventure the next couple of days but will try to catch up on comments this weekend!

HUGS!
-Stacie

Sailing Birthday!

Stamp is from CowTown Stamps

Today is my dads birthday and I made this card for him! I had a little struggle getting my brayering to not have lines, but I finally figured it out after some practice! Used a die cut for the sun and added a button. Made some knots in twine to look like rope and voila....a nautical scene! :)

Challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - Weather Inspired
Totally Gorjuss - No Patterned Paper
Whoopsi Daisy - Free and Easy

Family Scrap Page

Sew wonderful candy!!

Click HERE for a chance to win!

Ends May 30th!