Bitten By The Bug blog hop - phone challenge

Happy Monday and welcome to our monthly Bitten By The Bug Blog Hop! Now if you have made it here from the blog of the awesomely talented Krista, then you are on the right track! This week our challenge was issued by the fabulously talented Regina, and she asked us to use this cute phone cut from the From My Kitchen cartridge. As soon as I heard the challenge was this phone, the Christmas song "Santa Baby" came into my head, so that's what I decided on. I took the line "Santa Baby...forgot to mention one little thing...a ring....I don't mean on the phone. Santa Baby, hurry down the chimney tonight!" LOVE that song! LOL! I just used scrap paper for the card along with Bazzil cardstock. All the pieces were cut out with my Gypsy that I got from Hallmark Scrapbook. I'm telling you, it is sooooo awesome not to have to dig through cartridges and change them out! Talk about a time saver! And anything that saves me time is a HUGE friend of mine! The frame the phone is sitting on is cut from the Gypsy Wanderings cart that comes loaded on the Gypsy. The word bubble is from George. I also used a Martha Stewart border punch and some faux stitching.

Now for the fun stuff, the blog candy! I am giving away an assortment of stamped images, including some images from Magnolia-licious , Wags N Whiskers, High Hopes, Belles and Whistles, and even some from the highly sought after Hanglar and Stanglar! You will also receive an assortment of charms, and that's STILL not all! You will also receive a set of cut outs (your choice) from Peggy Loves Vintage! Talk about being able to knock out some fast Christmas cards! Just use the awesome Christmas images from Peggy Loves Vintage, and you'll be done before you know it! All you have to do to win is leave a comment on this post before Midnight Friday night, Dec 3rd. That should allow you to receive it in plenty time to make some Christmas cards with your goodies.

Ok, so that's it for me today. Now you're going to head to the most infamous Donna's blog, and check out her fabulous creation for today's hop! I'm telling you, I sure wish I could make my Design Studio and Cricut sing the way this girl can. She makes the most awesome creations ever!!! Don't forget, if you get lost along the way during the hop, just pop back over to Bitten By the Bug to get back on track. Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon! HUGS!

Flavor-of-the-Month . . . Goin' Retro

For our "traditions" theme, I wanted to share with you guys this very retro Jell-O salad that my mom had on the table at Thanksgiving when we were growing up. Every year, my plate was filled with my dad's smoked turkey, mom's cornbread dressing and this salad.

It's really pretty and a kid-pleaser, too.

I tried to scan my mom's recipe card, but our scanner (despite much yelling and bad language on my part) is not cooperating. So...here is mom's recipe...

Strawberry Creme Squares

2 (3 oz) pkgs. strawberry-banana Jell-O
2 c. boiling water
2 (10 oz) pkgs sliced frozen strawberries (I could only find sliced in syrup, that's ok)
1 (13 oz) can crushed pineapple (only able to find 8 oz, so I guesstimated w/ 2 cans)
1 (8 oz) container sour cream


Dissolve jello in boiling water.

{Don't you love that RED?!?}

Add the frozen strawberries and stir occasionally until thawed. Stir in the pineapple.

Pour half of the mixture into an 8 or 9" square pan. Chill until firm.

Gently, spread with sour cream. (I used an offset spatula....I don't know how mom did it without!)

Spoon on remaining strawberry mixture instead of pouring so that it won't mix with the sour cream. Chill until firm.

{Pls ignore those floury fingerprints on the pan...I guess I was multi-tasking while taking pictures!}

I took a poll on Twitter and December's Flavor-of-the-Month will be...

Cookies!

Share any cookie: decorated, drop, bars, filled...you name it!

{As always, anyone is welcome to link to Flavor-of-the-Month; you don't have to ask. Click here to read through all of the previous posts for instructions.}

Ready to link up? I'll keep the linky open through December 2nd, then close it to avoid spammers.

Thanks for participating...wow...November was so much fun! I loved reading EACH and EVERY one of those pumpkin recipes!!!

Eliza Dushku Updo Hairstyle

Checkout this sexy yet ultra casual updo hairstyle worn by Hollywood celebrity actress, Eliza Dushku.

This type of hairstyle is perfectly suitable for both casual and elegant events.

Some of my fave movies...(in terms of costumes)

1. The Lord Of The Rings

2.Breakfast at Tiffany's

3. The Devil Wears Prada

Sweet Potato Pancakes

At our house, we eat these a lot as breakfast for dinner. For years, I told my son they were "fall pancakes" because I knew "sweet potato pancakes" wasn't going to go over so well. (He's 10 now, so he can handle the truth!)

Call them what you will...they are yummy!

These are made with canned sweet potatoes. They could certainly be made with fresh cooked & mashed sweet potatoes, but it makes me smile buying that can of Sugary Sam's. :)

Sweet Potato Pancakes

1 ¼ c. all purpose flour
¼ c. chopped pecans, toasted
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
¼ tsp coarse salt
1 c. buttermilk (or regular milk)
¼ c. packed dark brown sugar
1 TBSP vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (16 oz) can sweet potatoes, drained & mashed

Whisk together flour, 2 TBSP pecans, baking powder, spices and salt.

Combine milk through vanilla; add to the flour mixture. Stir until smooth. Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes.

Ladle about 1/4th cup batter for each pancake onto a non-stick griddle. Turn when edges are cooked and top is covered with bubbles.

Top with maple syrup....

...and maybe a little more syrup...

and sprinkle with remainder of pecans.


Related posts:

• lemon-blueberry pancakes
• homemade, whole-grain pancake mix

Flavor-of-the-Month link up is tomorrow, November 30th!

Magnolia Christmas frame card with Waiting Tilda and Martha Stewart border

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope all my friends in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And for those of you that ventured out yesterday in seach of the perfect bargain, I hope it worked out for you! Me? Nope, I don't even touch Black Friday. I have to get up for work every week day at 4:30, there's no way I'm getting up that early on a day off. LOL! My sleep is worth more to me than the bargain I might find out there. Now onto my card, this was so much fun and easier than I thought it would be, and I totally love the effect. So I will be making more of these frame cards, that's for sure! I first saw it over on Dawny's blog for our Papertake Weekly challenge and fell in love with hers, and I was lucky enough to have the day off, so I could immediately start on one of these frame cards. You can find the pictorial on how to make one yourelf right HERE. It was put together by our very own talented Claudia for a previous Patertake Weekly Challenge.

I tried so hard to show you the dimension of this with the camera, but I really couldn't capture it very well. The Magnolia house is in a frame that is recessed a full 1/2" from the front of the card. The effect in real life is awesome! I used three different Magnolia stamps which came from Magnolia-licious. I used Waiting Tilda, Large Sled, and #9 house. They're colored with Copic markers and then cut out. The DP is Basic Grey and cardstock is Bazzil. On the house, I added some liquid applicque and some beads for some sparkle. Around the edge of the frame, I added a border made with a Martha Stewart punch, and in the corners, I hid the meeting points with a MS snowflake punch adorned with a Kaiser pearl.

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed making it, and I'd love it if you would try one for yourself. Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today and hope to see you back again soon! Big hugs!

Emporio Armani Spring 2010

Long Hairstyles

Women whose hair reaches to their waist or beyond are faced with a challenge when they want a new and exciting hair style—without cutting away any of their hair! Many styles are designed for medium length hair; to the shoulders is the most common length. Some styles which claim to be for “long hair“ only work well for hair that reaches to the shoulder blades!

Long Hair Cuts

Pictures of popular long hairstyles. See what the latest hair style trends are for women with long hair.

Long Hairstyles

Long Wavy Ish Hairstyle

Sexy Long

Girls nowadays have been so fashionable with their hair styles, I hope these teen hairstyles can give you some ideas .
by the way some of the hair styles are for celebrity hairstyle , the hair styles are : straight, curly, layered,long hair,bangs,bouffant ponytail.

Long Hairstyles

Pictures of popular long hairstyles. See what the latest hair style trends are for women with long

Elisha Cuthbert Short Pixie Hairstyle

Here we have a some beautiful photos of Hollywood actress Elisha Cuthbert, while sporting a delightfully trendy short pixie hairstyle.

This hairstyle is absolutely perfect for Elisha.

Wags N Whiskers Challenge #4

Good morning and happy Friday! This week went WAY too fast for me as I had the week off. Now it's back to reality and work on Monday. Oh well...it let's me buy more playthings, right? With today being Friday, that means it's time for a new challenge at the Wags N Whiskers challenge blog. This week, the challenge is from the awesomely talented Jeanette, and she is asking us to use traditional Christmas colors. I chose to use this adorable stamp, Zoe and Gemma's Snow Fun. Isn't it adorable?? And she' available right now at Wags N Whiskers!

The quality of these stamps are truly remarkable!!! The deep etched rubber makes a fabulous impression! I stamped it with Memento ink and then colored it with Copic markers (pic below for markers used). I also used some white fun fluff on the hats and the snow. I love adding fun texture to my cards, and the grandkids love the feel of it too. I also used a word circle stamp from The Cutting Cafe' called Merry Christmas. It's a huge word circle that comes with different sayings to put inside it. I down sized it just a bit to make it fit the way I wanted to. That's the amazing thing about Regina's digital images. You can resize them to whatever you need for the moment. I love it!!! I just used the outside word circle this time, and cut it out with circle Nestabilities.

Added a nice big red silk bow along with a gorgeous snowflake charm that came from Lacey at Stamp and Create. Oh, and I used one of my new Martha Stewart border punches. Isn't it cool looking? The papers I used are Basic Grey and the cardstock is Bazzil.

That's about it for this card! Please be sure and join us over at the Wags N Whiskers challenge blog and play along with us! The only stipulation is that you must use a Wags N Whiskers image to win. So if you don't have any of the images yet, then what in the heck are you waiting for?? Just go HERE and have fun shopping! Thanks so much for stopping by to see me today, and hope to see you back again soon!!! HUGS!

Little Pumpkin

I've made lots of what I call "baby face" cookies over the past several years....


In the back of my mind, I've always wanted to make a "little pumpkin" version. (As a matter of fact, I just tried to talk someone into them a few weeks ago for a fall baby shower.) :)

Well, my sister was kind enough to oblige me by having a baby on Wednesday!!! Isn't that nice?

Want to see him?

His name is Tony and he is the sweetest! He IS a little pumpkin!




I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was filled with new baby, family, lots of food and football. I am thankful to have a sweet new nephew and thankful for all of YOU. Thank you so much for joining me here on the blog!