Cowboy Caviar

1 can black beans
1 can black-eyed peas
1/2C diced red bell pepper
1/2C diced green bell pepper1/2C chopped onion
2 stalks chopped celery
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small can chopped jalapenos
1 can or 2 tomatoes, chopped
3 sprigs cilantro (optional)
1 tsp sweet basil
1 tsp oregano
1/4C apple cider vinegar
1T lime juice

Mix all ingredients in large bowl (not metal) Chill 2hrs or over night for best flavor.
serve with chips. Donna likes Frito's Scoops the best
submitted by Donna Dorner

A Few Yummy Recipes

Here are a couple of recipes that were sent to me to add to the recipe book that Kathryn

at www.thescrapbeach.blogspot.com

will be starting on the 29th

 

Masala Chai Tea – makes 2 small cups – increase recipe to required quantity

From Margaret Ann Moffat

 1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any unperfumed loose black tea

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn of the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

                                                                   CRAB MARTINI

From Dorothy Long  

1 pound jumbo or regular lump crabmeat
2 lemons, zest grated and juiced, plus juice for coating glass rims
About 1 tablespoon mayonnaise (just enough to hold it together)
About 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
12 asparagus stems, bottom halves chopped, tops left whole
Seasoned salt
4 Swiss chard leaves, to serve
4 whole olives, for garnish
4 lemon slices, for garnish
Water crackers or toast points, to serve

Just before serving, gently combine the crabmeat with the zest,juice, mayonnaise, mustard, and chopped asparagus stems, add seasoned salt, to taste. To serve: spread some seasoned salt onto a plate, rim the martini glasses with lemon juice, and dip them into the salt. Line each glass with a chard leaf and fill with the crab mixture. Garnish each martini with 3 asparagus spears, an olive, and a lemon slice. Serve with water crackers or toast points.

Cook’s note: Don't put this together until the last minute.

Taco Soup

From Carol Hester

1 lb Ground beef

1 Can each: Kidney Beans, Green Beans, Black Beans, Corn

1 lg bottle V-8 Juice

2 pkgs Taco Seasoning

Sour Cream, Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Brown Ground beef and season with one of the packets of taco seasoning according to directions on the package.

Add all ingredents

Garnish with 1 spoonfull of sour cream and cheese

Serve with tortilla chips

Feeling Like Fall

Hey Crafters, Long time no Blog. Hope you are all doing well and starting to get settled in for the fall and all of the cooler weather. We are super excited for the projects that are coming up with Laura at Following The Paper Trail and Kathryn at The Scrap Beach. The Lockers that Laura just finished are adorable and I can not wait to see what her Fall Project is going to be for this coming Friday. Monday night football with Kathryn should be a blast as she continues to work on the pumpkin book. You can find more information on their blogs for up coming projects and ideas.

www.followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com for Laura's shows and at www.thescrapbeach.blogspot.com

I found myself with some time on my hands yesterday, and found these cute pumpkins on the Split Coast Stampers Website and of course I had to make a few for my table decorations. They were super easy, fast and adorable.

I used plain carstock and stamped the leaves on, and then sprayed the paper with a few different colors of Glimmer mist. The Tattered Leaves Die was perfect for the pumpkin leaves, and I cut them out of the Tim Holtz Craft Resist paper and also sprayed them with glimmer mist. I cut thin strips of cardstock, sprayed them with .... yes... more Glimmer Mist and then wound them around a skewer to give them the curl.

You can use the link below to get to the great tutorial on them and give them a try. the only thing I did different from the instructions, was when laying the strips out, I placed them one across from the other to form the circle, and then gathered them from the way they were layered starting from the last to the first. I also put the bottom layers on the brad in the same way.

You can find the instructions here

http://minkimpressions.blogspot.com/2011/09/peter-piper-picked-peck-of-paper.html

We also now have the Crate Paper Farmhouse Collection in stock and are shipping it as fast as we can to make sure you have it in time to Follow along with with Recipe Book that Kathryn is doing. We are also matching the papers to cardstock to have available for you, and that will be available in a couple of days.

Happy Crafting !!

Carol





Distress

Just thought I would share this video that Tim did showing us how all of the different distress items work, especially the new stains. Enjoy and let your creativity go wild

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjpeUEY3Jp0&feature=player_embedded

Birdcage Mini

Gosh, I can not believe that I have not posted on the blog for almost a month. I guess it really is true that time flies when your having fun !! I have been busy trying to get some crafting done, and all the other projects had to take a back seat once we got this new die in from Accucut. I fell in love with it when they released it and now after playing with it .... I love it more.

I had some of the Kaisercraft Blushed paper and thought that it would make a wonderful paper for this mini, so, using that to cover the page, I then added some bulk roses, string pearls, ribbon leaf and a die cut bird that is covered with glossing accents and then sprinkled with glitter while it was still wet. I added a few of the mini tags from the Tim Holtz Mini Tag die and some Bulk Leaves behind the roses.

On The back of it, I cut out a Memory Box Ringed Buckle and tied a pink and brown ribbon in the center. Then I used a Sizzix flower die and cut out three flowers from chipboard, covered them with card stock to use  for mini pictures and then  added some Butterflies from the Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch. I did put some stickles around the edges of the flowers.

This page is cut out of acrylic and then Stamped using the Butterflies cover a card stamp and saddle brown staz on ink. I cut out a small piece of pink paper to make a pocket with and then cut out some tags from the Sizzix Tiny Tags Die. The pocket edge is punched using the Martha Stewart Edge Punch

The Live is stamped onto one of the Mini Label die cuts from Sizzix. Not sure if you can see them or not, but I punched two holes in the acrylic and hung a couple of small charms on each side using a making memories garment pin

This is the back side of the  Acrylic page and there is a pocket that holds two tags . The ticket is from the Tim Holtz Stamps ( we are getting them in ) and the bird is a Sizzix Movers and shapers Mini Bird Cage and Bird die. The Label is another Sizzix Movers and Shapers Mini label die. The word strip on the front of the pocket is a piece of Tissue tape.

This is our mini envelope die that we had made for our thank you notes and the top of it is cut off and glued to the front of the envelope and then there is a mini trifold inside. Add some flowers a bird and poof your done !!

A Double mat with pink and brown, the Accordion fold flower from the Sizzx Tim Holtz die ( the one with two sizes, a bit of bling, ribbon and there ya go

With this page, I cut the bars off of the bird cage page ( the one on the front) and used it to top the page. then punched the woodland branch out a couple of times added a couple of butterflies from the Sizzix Movers and Shapers Mini Butterflies die, some pearls, another Label, flowers and leaves

The little butterflies are the Memory Box Butterfly Delights die. I ran them through my xyron and then before taking them off the sheet, I added glossy accents and glitter, let them dry and then added them around the page. I also run my ribbon through the xyron too

And the last page, uses the Memory Box Arboscello Tree, Sizzix Bird Die, and some of the Bulk flowers and Kaisercraft flowers

So that is the birdcage mini, and we have them all cut out and ready for sale. You will get two of the front pages and then 4 of the chipboard and 1 acrylic page so you can make your own !!!

Thanks for looking !

Take A Moment

Hi everyone! I haven't said much lately but this time of year always sparks me to speak out.
We have just kicked off the summer with the first holiday weekend ...Memorial Day. We fired up the grill...put the beer on ice and invited family and friends for a BBQ. The kids played in the pool if you were lucky enough to have one ...but for kids the sprinkler is always a hit. We enjoy the warming weather and know it will be a few months of sunshine, gardening, tanned skin and kids constantly  running out the door as it slams shut with a BANG!

Now the next summer holiday weekend is approaching...4th of July...which happens to be on a Monday too. So we have another nice long weekend to head off to the lake or campgrounds. Hoping that it won't rain. Even those of us that will be staying close to home will still pray for  nice sunny days in case we want to have another BBQ...After all...isn't that what the summer holidays are all about?

So many of our viewer have husbands, wives, brothers,sisters, sons and daughters in the military. Many of them are in active duty far from home and the manicured lawns and bright beautiful flowerbeds that host our backyard festivities. I would like to ask all of you to please take a few moments to bow your head and give thanks to the enormous sacrifices these families have made so that we can all enjoy the FREEDOM to which we have become so accustomed.. To ALL our service men and women...past , present and future ....
THANK YOU!!!

Now...on that note...there is one remarkable young man that will be working hard to thank our troops. His name is Stephen Goodman. He is a fifth grader from Surprise, Arizona that wants to send a handmade "thank you" card to every actively deployed service person. You can find out all about him and his quest at the link  provided    http://bazzillbasics.com/blog/make-thank-you-cards-for-the-u-s-troops-overseas/. Please visit this site and read about this amazing young man.

This story was brought to my attention by Kathryn from "The Scrap Beach". This Thurs... June 9th ...Kathryn will be devoting her show to making cards for this event. She will be featuring several styles of easy to make but beautiful card for you all to make and send to Stephen's "call for cards". Please join her tomorrow 2-4pm and 9-11pm  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-on-the-scrap-beach. We will be there and we'll have our supplies on hand to make cards right along with Kathryn. Join us for the fun and lets help this young man realize his dream and help push his wish all the way to the stars.

See ya on Kathryn's show. We will show some wonderful papers for this project. Carol will post them in the morning.

Good Nite,
Barrie & Carol