Gluten-Free Pan Fried Catfish

Golden pan fried catfish fillet with crisp baby greens and brown rice.

One of the juicy, inspiring gifts of an empty nest is the big sky freedom to pull up roots and wander. And Darling, have we been wandering. We are gypsies. Moving six times since selling our family home back on Cape Cod five years ago, each time moving south, migrating west. Each time selling off more books, discarding the outworn. Until we reached the sea again.

After years of oceanic dreaming I finally call the beach my home.

I wake to the rhythmic crash of the waves. I open windows and fill the rooms with sea glass sunlight and salt air. My pillows and bedding smell like surf.

I can breathe here. I can paint here. I can cup my hands and carve the space to imagine new things.


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Papertake Weekly - Sketch Week

Hi everyone! I hope you were lucky enough to enjoy a 3 day weekend and that you had nice weather for the unofficial start of summer. It was actually snowing here on Saturday night, believe it or not! YUCK! We've had a very cool spring this year and I'm ready for some warmer weather! I just know that summer is going to hit hard when it finally gets here.  With it being Tuesday, that means it's time for a new challenge from Papertake Weekly! This week is sketch week! I love sketch week! Dawny is the sketch Queen!!  Since it's the last Tuesday in the month, that means we're being sponsored by the awesome Simon Says Stamp!!

For my card today, I used #377 Traveling Tilda (isn't she just the cutest little thing???) from the Bon Voyage collection at Magnolia-licious, along with #525 Spring Fence. I don't see the full size available right now, but you can get it in the mini version!! I changed it from a spring fence to a summer fence by just covering up the daffodils with some tiny flowers. They are colored with Copic markers, and Tilda is fussy cut and popped up for dimension. These yummy papers are from Raspberry Road and they're double matted with Bazzill card stock.   The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and  I also added some Kaiser flat backed pearls. That lucious bow is made with May Arts Silk Ribbon from Stamp and Create.

So that's it for my card today! Sure hope you pop over to Papertake Weekly and check out all the amazing creations from the rest of the design team! Then we'd love it if you'd grab your paper and glue and join us in the challenge! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!!

Birthday Cake Card for BBTB2

Happy Monday and happy Memorial Day to those in the USA.  You may have arrived here from fabulous Theresa's blog if you are following the monthly Bitten by the Bug 2 blog hop.  If you are just dropping by, continue on the blog hop when you leave my blog - after you enter the BLOG CANDY giveaway.  This week's challenge cut at Bitten by the Bug 2 is  the birthday cake from the Celebrations cartridge.  I love this birthday cake - it is one of my favorite cake cuts.  And even though there are newer birthday cartridges, I still love this "go to" original Cricut birthday cartridge!

I designed my card in Cricut Design Studio, welding two of the cake shadow cuts to create the base card and cut the card in aqua Bazzill cardstock.  I used the Hide Select Contour feature and removed the cut space inside the tray legs on the the shadow, creating a solid, one piece shadow cut.  Using Imaginisce B-day Bash line I cut a base layer in chocolate birthday candle cardstock.  I build the rest of the cake on the chocoate birthday candle layer.

The top layers of the cake was created in three layers: back layer in lime green Core'dination cardstock, main cake layer in Imaginisce B-day Bash cardstock, and gold tray layer cut in metallic cardstock.  After affixing the three laters together I tied a length of red Imaginisce ribbon around the cake and added the Happy Birthday phase (cut from the Batman cartridge) to the front of the cake.  I then used pop dots and attached the cake to the base card.

I cut the background cake layer in smooth white cardstock and affixed it inside the card and added another Happy Birthday cut.  This is the perfect surface the shape on which to write a personal birthday message.
To finish the front of the card I added two of the three candles from the cake cut.  I also added an Imaginisce cardstock embellishment birthday cake to the top of the cricut cake - turning my cake into a four tiered cake!!  The cake was then blinged out with various sizes of gems.

Did I mention BLOG CANDY and blog hop???  Thanks to the AMAZING CUSTOM CROPS I have wonderful blog candy to offer you!  How about a $20 gift voucher for shopping at Custom Crops???  I would love that so I bet you would too!  All you have to do to be entered into the random drawing for the blog candy is

1. Be a follower of this blog, and

2. Leave a comment under this post.  

I will be posting the winner on Thursday.

When you finish the blog hop you may want to hop by Custom Crops and check out all of their new in stock items.  You may also be interested in their DVD, Cricut for Beginners, a wonderful DVD which teaches you to use all of the features on your Cricut.

Now that you have enjoyed (??) my blog post, you have become a blog follower, left your comment below and taken note of the Custom Crops it is time to continue on to the next stop on the blog hop.  You are off to see the lovely Penny of PenniAnnie's. Enjoy the rest of the blog hop and if you have not already done so, please drop by Bitten by the Bug 2 look at all of the design team projects.

For a great friend featuring a fun hAnglar image and a WINNER!!!

Happy Sunday everyone!  Sure hope you're having a fabulous weekend! It's been chilly and rainy here all weekend, so I've taken advantage by getting some crafting done.  Todays card features an adorable hAnglar image colored with Copic markers. 

The cardstock is Bazzill and the DP's are from Kay Miller Designs and Raspberry Road. I think I've put everything on this card except the kitchen sink! LOL! I used a doily cut with a die from Cheery Lynn Designs, the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts spritzed with Glimmer Mist,

The ticket is a stamp and die from Whimsy that I got from Bunny Zoe's Crafts, the banner was cut using my Cricut Expression using my Gypsy and Celebrations cartridge, and the little hearts on the banner are a byproduct of a Martha Stewart heart border punch edged in chalk ink. The pin was made using some beads from Michael's, and the ribbon is May Arts silk ribbon from Stamp and Create colored with a Copic marker to match.

I am entering this into the following challenges:
Lovely hAnglar only- dots
Just Magnolia and hAnglar & stAnglar Challenge Blog - Friends

And I have FINALLY drawn a winner for the Magnolia-licious blog hop! And the winner is......

And #8 is.................

Congrats Riet! Please send me your information so I can get your box of goodies out to you! Thanks to everyone that played!!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Hugs!

Peggy Loves Vintage "what's cookin'?"

Hey everyone! I'm sooooo glad it's Friday! And a 3 day weekend in the States as well! WOOHOO!!  The weather isn't going to be very nice (they're even talking snow for Sunday morning), so I'm planning on staying inside and getting some crafting done. My card today features another adorable vintage image from Peggy Loves Vintage.  All her images are so great for making a fabulous card quickly!  I printed her on Bazzill cardstock and cut her out from the background.  She's popped up from a circle Nestie. The DP's are from Nitwit Collections.

I paired her up with a sentiment from The Cutting Cafe set called What's Cooking. I love using Regina's sentiements with Peggy's images. For the horizontal panel, I used a Martha Stewart border punch, and then edged the vertical panel with some beautiful lace from Bunny Zoe's Crafts. That big beautiful bow was made with May Arts Silk ribbon from Stamp and Create, and the charm is from my stash, so I have no idea where I got it from

A slightly angled pic to help show some of the dimension of the card. Plus it gives you a little glimpse of the inside which is decorated to complement the card front. So that's it for my card today. Please visit Peggy Loves Vintage to see the thousands and thousands of vintage images that Peggy has available. Don't forget to visit her blog and sign up to follow her. She loves to give away free images! Thanks so much for visiting me today and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!!

Graduation Layout for Shelby's Scrapbook

Today I have a quick layout to share with you.  These are the final two pages in Shelby's scrapbook, which will be filled in later with photos from her graduation.  Shelby's school colors are royal blue and white, but as anyone who tries to purchase graduation cardstock knows, most of the scrapping products are black and white, gray and white, or silver and white.  I had a few pieces of graduation paper and cardstock leftover from Ian's senior year scrapbook so I shared with Michelle. 

To the basic gray, black and white graduation colors we added royal blue and white embellishments.  We used two cartridges to cut the Cricut elements on these two pages - Calligraphy for the phrase "Graduation 2011" and Everyday Paper Dolls for the graduation cap.  Both Happy Graduation and grad caps appear on a number of other cartridges, I simply chose these two because I like them.  But if you do not have either of these cartridges do not worry, similar cuts can be found on several other cartridges.

I added floral swirl die cuts to each page - cutting in half a large flower to use half on each page.  The die cut is one that I have had for a while - the last of a series of die cut flowers I purchased a few years ago at Convention.

I added a few rub-ons to the pages - See the "So happy" embellishment above and the phrase "Celebrate You" on the last photo.  I also created a layered blue and white flower to add a bit of girliness to the page!!

Here is a final look a the two pages.  Click on the photos to see them larger.

I will be back tomorrow with one more graduation project to share.  I hope you have a great Friday!

Quinoa Taco Salad

Quinoa taco salad- light, fresh, fabulous.

Looking for a fresh idea for a summer picnic or backyard get-together? This cool and breezy quinoa taco salad might be just what you're craving. Laced with lime juice and sea salt, the combo of fluffy quinoa and ripe avocado, spiked with red onion and sunny sweet pepper, served on a crisp bed of romaine lettuce, is a light and healthy twist on the salsa drenched bean and cheese heavy taco salads so ubiquitous years ago. It's a total win for gluten-free vegans and vegetarians. And let's face it.

Quinoa is much more hip than canned re-fried beans.

The inspiration for a quinoa taco salad was sparked over on the Gluten-Free Goddess Facebook page. Reader (and long distance friend) Patsy commented on a thread about Memorial Day picnic salads, mentioning her current fave, quinoa taco salad. We all perked up. 

Quinoa? As a taco salad? Brilliant. 

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Piano Recital Layout with Quarter Note

I had such a nice time yesterday.  Michelle came over and we worked on her daughter Shelby's scrapbook.  Michelle was very close to being finished with the scrapbook, just six pages to go, which is great since she has to present the book to Shelby on Thursday night (as in - TOMORROW)!  Shelby attends a private school and the parents were asked to present their students a scrap/memory book at graduation.  I was able to help Michelle a great deal, as she was not really a scrapper.  The good news?  Well other than Shelby's book is finished - Michelle is a scrapper convert!!  She is purchasing a Cricut Expression, wants a Gypsy, and is planning to attend the CK Scrapbooking convention that Kathy, Suzanne, Pat and I attend each August!!  Whoo-hoo!!

I wanted to share this layout of Shelby's first piano recital (which also includes a photo of Shelby at her last piano recital!).  This was the first time I had used the Quarter Note cartridge.  I asked for this cartridge for a couple of years before it became a reality.  Ironically, I no longer needed it as much as I had when I was scrapping years of Marching Band photos!  But as I had begged for the music/band cartridge, I HAD to purchase the cartridge.

Quarter Note does NOT disappoint. In addition to a music note alphabet (see the welded letters below) there are a lot of music words, instruments, and symbols.  I am very happy with the cartridge, I only wish I had more opportunity to use the music cuts!

I will try to remember to photograph the other two layouts we made yesterday when I see Michelle to put the finishing touches on the book.  I am very proud of the work she has done on Shelby's book and very excited that she has embraced my favorite hobby!!!

Just Like Dad Father's Day Card - aka My 1st E2 Project

Yes, yes, you read that correctly - this is my first project with my E2!!!  I cut these two cut little dogs using one of the preloaded cartridges - Cricut American Alphabet.  In addition to a classic alphabet, the cartridge has other cute cuts.  Truly I had no idea what I was going to do with the pooches when I cut them, I was simply looking for a simple layered cut to test drive the machine.

I thought the dog was cut, but having no real plan I decided to cut it in two different sizes.  After assembling the layers and sitting the dogs side by side I thought they looked like a dad and his son, hence the father's day card idea. 

I used a Stampin' Up stamp for the sentiment.  I stamped the image on the card front, then I stamped it on a scrap of the same dotted cardstock and layered it over the flat stamp.  I used pop dots for the stamped sentiment as well as the two dogs.

I have a huge learning curve with the E2, but that is simply because I am soooo spoiled with my Cricut Design Studio software.  If the Cricut Craft Room doesn't add E2 and Imagine soon I may be forced to learn to really use my Gypsy.  Okay, I actually know how to use my gypsy, I simply prefer DS. 

Before I close, I do have a word or two to share about the E2.  I love the smooth sound and even cuts.  I love the guides for loading the mat!  I like so many of the features, I have a feeling that my Expression 2 and I are just starting a long, long love affair!!!!

Not Your Typical Sympathy Card

Hello everyone. I have to tell you, I have really debated with myself about posting this card. I really like how the card turned out, but I made this sympathy card for a friend and I did not want her to think I was exploiting her card or loss.
My friend Toby is an amazing woman, mother, teacher, wife, friend, and an incredible daughter. Toby's mother became ill and Toby refused to put her into a nursing home, but instead turned her own life upside down in order to care for her beloved mother. Her mother had been a pillar in Toby's life and Toby became a pillar for her mother. Toby is an example of what we should all aspire to become - completely devoted to those whom we love. I know that I have learned greatly from her example.

Toby's mother recently passed on to her eternal life and I wanted a pretty card for Toby. Toby loves dimension on cards - she is very tactile and likes touching the layers. I chose this card cut from the Cricut Circle exclusive French Manor cartridge especially for Toby. I knew she would be able to touch the flower cut over and over again. I cut the base card, then resized and cut the top layer to add dimension. I added foldered flowers over the cut flower, again for dimension as well as for additional color.

Inside the card I used an old-school wooden stamp to add a verse of scripture..... Toby lives her faith better than anyone I know so I thought she might I appreciate this reminder from Isaiah.

I know that most sympathy cards are not rosy pink with flowers and a bow, but for this lovely friend, "pretty" was perfect.

Papertake Weekly - Pale and Pretty Pastels

Hi everyone and happy Tuesday! Hope you're having a wonderful start to your week and that your weather is being nice to you! My thoughts and prayers are with all who are being affected by these terrible storms! Please stay safe!!! It's time for a new challenge from Papertake Weekly, and this week Dawny is asking for pale and pretty pastels!  We're being sponsored this week by Wendy over at Digital Delights by Louby Loo! For my card, I chose to use two of my new images from the Butterfly Dreams collection over at Magnolia-licious.  Diana has the most awesome store with the largest on-line selection of Magnolia stamps in North America!!  And I don't know what you think, but I seriously don't know how they do it!! Each new collection just keeps getting cuter and cuter! I used
#370 Tilda holding daffodil, #505 Stone pathway, and the swing is also Magnolia, but I can't find it in the store right now. If you're interested, please contact Diana.

The images are all colored with Copic markers. I have to admit, I don't do pale very well, so I think my coloring leaves a lot to be desired with this one. But I tried. LOL! The swing was masked to stamp the stone pathway over it, but Tilda was cut out and popped up for the dimension. I can tell I will be using the stone pathway a lot! The circle sentiment is from Lili of the Valley, the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the papers are from Nitwit Collections.  The delicious ribbon is May Arts Silk ribbon from Stamp and Create.

That's about it for this one! Please be sure and visit the rest of my DT sisters over at Papertake Weekly to see all their gorgeous creations. Then we'd love it if you'd grab your paper and glue and play along with us! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! Hugs!

Soaring with Florals Embellished & BBTB2

Happy Monday!  I hope this Monday morning finds all of our Midwestern Cricut friends safe and sound.... The weather channel and news channels covered some horrid storms and tornadoes though the middle of the US last night.  That is especially horrid in those areas already suffering though flooding.  I hope that everyone is well.

My friend and design team sister, the incomparable Donna Mundinger, selected the challenge cut this week at Bitten by the Bug 2.  Donna selected this lovely bird from the new-ish Florals Embellished cartridge.  I must say, Hello Kitty and the Disney cartridges have nothing on this bird!  There were A LOT of cuts to assemble for this bird!

First, I have a story to share with you about the Florals Embellished cartridge.  Back in March when I attended the Cricut Circle Crop in Atlanta I actually won this cartridge.  Madge, the fabulous crafter sitting to my right, won a screen for the Yudu Card Shop, but did not have a card shop machine.  Later in the crop I won a Yudu Card Shop.  Madge was a honey and gave me her screen.  I, of course, immediately gave her my Florals Embellished cartridge so that we both had prizes.  I did not tell Madge, until now(!) , that I really coveted that cartridge. 

A few weeks ago when I found out that Donna had selected to use the Florals Embellished cartridge, I immediately searched my usual cartridge sources for the best price on FE.  I found a good price and purchased the cartridge - and I am quite pleased that I did so.  I think this cartridge is going to be fun.

I used four cartridge to create this card: Just Because Cards (base card), Florals Embellished (bird and medallion), Plantin Schoolbook (a welded rectangle), and Martha Stewart Elegant Art (the border on the lower front of the card).  Using design studio I welded a rectangle to one end of my base card and a MS border to the other end.  I made sure that the rectangle and border were the same height/width, that way the center score line on the card remained the same.  I cut the base card in white cardstock, and then I cut the card front only in Basic Grey cardstock. 

I think I am going to love my MS Elegant Cake Art cartridge.  The cartridge has a lot of MS border cuts and different shaped edged mats.  Using your Gypsy, Cricut Craft Room, or DS you can resize and weld the border cuts to your cards or layouts.  Think of all of the MS border possibilities that this cartridge provides.  I feel like even though I may have paid $40 for the cartridge, I saved a mint in MS punch costs!

I layered the bird onto the medallion with pop dot, and I also layered the medallion onto the card with pop dots.  I used Stampin' Up ribbon without a bow.  I like the texture and the color of the ribbon, but a bow would have distracted from the bird.

I finished the card by adding doodle dots to the bird and medallion.  I also added the "post card" scrap and the thin strip of cardstock to the lower front of the card.

My goal for this week is to learn to use my new E2 Cricut machine with both regular and Imagine cartridges.  I will keep you posted on my progress!

Please do take a few minutes and pop over to BBTB2 and check out the teams' projects.   And remember, we would love it if you should decide to play along with us!!

Wootin' Cute Card Box with Forever Young & Kate's ABC's

Hey there!  This is one of my favorite Saturdays of each month - it is my day as the Saturday Designer at  Everyday Cricut.  I created a card box by altering a purse from Forever Young.  I cut tags to use as mats from Sentimentals. I cute this cute owl scene from Kate's ABC's.  And the flowers were from Forever Young. 

For more information on how I made this box and the decorative cuts please head over to Everyday Cricut.  You will also find out a little something about MFK (my friend Kathy).... I just hope that she is okay with me sharing this story. 

I will be back on Monday with another BBTB2 project to share with you!!  I hope you have a great weekend!