Back from another retreat...

I just spent a fabulous weekend in Michigan at a beach house with 4 great friends! I did 12 recipe cards and 18 pages. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Paws Retreat 2010

I just spent 5 days in St Louis with my Paws scrapbooking friends for our annual retreat. Lots of fun and I actually got quite a few layouts done.

This one is from my Florida vacation earlier this year...


This one is for my friend MaryJoy. She lets me scrap photos of her pretty girls...


Mr Stewy was quite mad at me...


and Buster just likes to hang upside down when he sleeps...


Another for MJ...


And another...


Last one...


I hope I can keep my motivation going. It felt really good to scrap again :-)

Photo Swap Layouts

We had a photo swap in my scrap club. These layouts are for my friend Dawn. I hope she likes them. ♥

Almond Pound Cake

This past week when Rick and I were grocery shopping, we picked up a SaraLee Pound cake. It had been years since we had one... and we were both very disappointed in it. It seems to have changed and was dry and tasteless. So today I made this absolutely delicious cake. It's so simple with ingredients that you will probably have on hand.


Almond Pound Cake

Beat well:

1 1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
2/3 c milk

Add:
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick melted butter

Mix well and put into a sprayed loaf pan. Place pan on lower oven rack and bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. Edges must be golden brown. Cool in pan before removing [30-40 minutes] or cake will break if removed too soon.

Variation: Before pouring batter into pan, sprinkle almonds on the bottom.

Enjoy! ♥

It's May!

I'm very excited because this month starts a new beginning for me! More about that later...

I did this layout a couple of weeks ago for my friend Judy. Check out her blog... she has lots of cool sketches.

April 21st

April has always been my least favorite month of the year... and most specifically, the 21st is my least favorite day. Besides the fact that I get seasonal depression in this month, I lost both of my parents in April... dad in 2004 and mom in 2006. Although they passed on different days, my last good-bye to each of them was on the 21st.

Here they are back in their day... quite beautiful people.

This photo was taken in 1988. Things were good then and this is how I remember them most in my mind.

God bless you mom and dad. Thank you so much for being wonderful parents. Everything good inside of me is because of the both of you. ♥

Hash Brown Casserole

On of my favorite dishes to take to a party is my Hash Brown Casserole. Being Easter, I decided to make it a little extra special. It was extra yummy!

First start by coarsely chopped a large onion and two green peppers. Saute them lightly in a half a stick of butter.


While those are simmering away, making your kitchen smell wonderful, into a large bowl dump in one can cream of chicken soup, one can cream of celery soup and one cup sour cream. I also like to add some fresh ground pepper at this point so it gets mixed in well.


I bought really good aged cheddar cheese. After all, Easter only comes once a year. A little of a half a pound was plenty.



Shred a good pile, at least two cups worth.


Add the cheese to the soups and stir well. Next add in 3 pounds of thawed hash brown potatoes and mix again.


Back to the onions and peppers. Add in a stick and the half stick of butter to the pan and shut the heat off as soon as it melts. Stir this yummy stuff into the potatoes.


Use your prettiest 9x13" baking dish :-)


Bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours until bubbly and slightly browned.



It actually got a little bit browner than this photo shows as I finished the baking when I got to my SIL's house. I think sauteing the onions and peppers added a little specialness and using aged cheese instead of of regular stuff gave the dish a nice sharp taste. Worth the extra effort!

Enjoy! ♥

my Grandma

Yesterday, I had a nice visit with my cousin Dee. She gave me some wonderful family treasures. The best was this portrait of my grandma from 1895. She was the only grandparent I ever knew.

Isn't this a pretty little face? I knew by the eyes and the crooked smile that yup, this was her.

And here is the last photo I took of her, not long before she passed in 1990, with Steven cuddling in her lap.


Thanks Dee! I will find a special spot on my wall for her. ♥

Cinnamon Meltaways

I haven't scrapped yet this weekend, but I did bake some fabulous cookies last night.



Cinnamon Meltaways

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
3 oz. cream cheese
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine above ingredients & then add 2.5 cups flour. Shape into 1" balls and roll into cinnamon/sugar. Bake at 350 for 10 min.

♥Enjoy♥

22nd Birthday

I started this one a couple of weeks ago at Mimi's house, but finally put all the finishing touches on it today. It's not my favorite, but it's done.

Got KICK?

I did this one from a sketch from my online friend Kristie. The photos are from my friend, MaryJoy. (MJ... if you see this before May, send me another set to scrap for the swap)

Meow Card

I love following Sketches! {by tamara}. She has great weekly challenges that have been inspiring me lately. Here is the one I've done from her card sketch this week.

Buster's duck

Buster carries this stuffed duck around the house just like a dog. I guess I better had a bit of journaling to this page ;-)
I did this one for a challenge from Sketches! {by tamara} on Facebook.

Snuggle

Here is a layout that I did at my scrap club last night. I used a sketch from PageMaps. I also did this week's Recipe Challenge from Sketches! {by tamara} using felt, embossing and vellum.

A few layouts

Here are a few layouts that I've done so far this year.

This is my favorite. I still have to put a bit of journaling on it in the upper left corner and I forgot to dot the i before I snapped the photo.

This is from a day trip that Rick and I made to the winery in Michigan last fall.

Steven & Genay bought the kitties a laser light for Christmas.

Steven and Genay's 1st anniversary.

Buster playing under mom's hutch and getting into my scrap stuff.

2010

Well, it's been almost a year since I've last posted. My New Year's resolution was to post at least once a week, but since 2010 started very badly, that didn't happen.
Anyway, I am going to try to get the weekly posts going now. So...

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!