Fall Tag Banner

Hi friends.  I'm slipping in here with this Autumn project before November is over.  I know many of you are already on to Christmas projects, but I march to the beat of a different drum. :)  Many thanks to Keri at Pressed Down, Shaken Together for the idea and tutorial for this banner.  Keri also has a great tutorial for a Christmas tag banner.  I apologize for the poor quality of my pictures.  The light in my living room is terrible.  The wall paint doesn't even look like the color it really is.  Not that you're here to see my living room wall paint anyhow. lol

 After I saw the picture of my banner I decided that I wanted to add a piece of a flourish die cut to the pumpkins to look like a vine.   I was too busy lazy to take a new picture.  Sorry. 

 I'm linking this to:
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Anything but a card
Crafty Purple Frog Challenge - Use orange
 Terrifically Thrilling Thursday at Shelly's Images - Anything Goes

Blessings

• I've lost 40 lb. now!!!  That's 80 lb. total lost since I was on a high dose of Prednisone long term.
• Christmas music - I love it and couldn't resist any longer.  I've been singing all day.
• Rice cheese - A great alternative when you have food allergies.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

To Trick or To Treat?

Hi friends.  I hope you all had a good weekend and were able to squeeze in some crafting time.  My eyes are coming along, but still very painful if they get too much light, so I'm not taking time to comment on blogs yet.  But I am briefly visiting a few blogs each day now as long as I have my  dark glasses on, so I'm making progress.

The  digital tree image and bats on this card are freebies from Create with TLC.  The digital sentiment is a freebie from Artifact by Rebecca.  The moon is a circle that I cut out and inked and the background paper is some Basic Grey from my stash.  I used some vintage seam binding for the bow.  I cut the tree and bats out by hand.

 Here's a close up that shows the awesome texture in my vintage seam binding.  I love how it is frayed with age.

 And a close up of the sentiment.  I want to be sure everyone can read it.  It's such a great sentiment. :)

Challenges:
Create with TLC - Use their tree image
Allsorts - Halloween
Basic Grey - Autumn/Fall/Halloween
Di's Digi Designs - Halloween
Fashionista Friday - Spooky Halloween
Delightful Challenges - Halloween
Inky Impressions - Trick or Treat: Halloween Spooky
Crafting for All Seasons - Halloween or Color Challenge
Just Some Lines Saturday Challenge - Halloween

Blessings

• Phone time with my mom
• Family night
• My computer.  Not being able to use it very much lately has made me realize how much I depend on it for so many things.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Autumn Leaves

This week is whizzing by. Thanksgiving day will be here before I know it. The card in the photo above is a napkin card. They're a fun change from stamping once in ahwile. I'm not sure if you can see in the picture that there is a bit of glitter on the card. (If you click on the photo of the card and look at the larger size photo, you can see the glitter.)


I have two more recipes that I want to share with you for Thanksgiving.

Never Fail Pecan Pie

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup dark corn syurp

1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup pecan halves

1 unbaked 9" pie shell

Combine eggs, sugar, corn syurp, flour, salt & vanilla. Stir in pecans. Pour into pie shell. Cover pastry edges with foil to prevent excess browning. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 min. or until golden brown. Yield: 6-8 servings


This next recipe is from our friend kathy and we all fondly call it "Green Goop". I've seen similar recipes called Watergate Salad, but Kathy's recipe has a different ingredient and is much better.

Kathy's Green Goop : )

4 serving size instant pistachio pudding

Mini Marashmallows, according to how many you like

1 lg. can crushed pineapple

1 cup sour cream

12 oz. cool whip

Mix all ingredients together well and chill overnight.


If you have any questions, email me at webe34him@bellsouth.net or leave a comment.


Have a terrific day!!!!


Inky hugs!
Shelly

Thanksgiving Preparation

Are your plans all made for Thanksgiving? My sister-in-law always very graciously hosts the family dinner at her home. We're invited, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to bring yet. I guess I better find out pretty soon. : ) Usually she asks me to bring squash casserole, because my mother-in-law loves it. Today I'm going to share my recipe for squash casserole with you and give you several links to other blogs that have some great Thanksgiving recipes and crafts.


Squash Casserole - Serves 6
2lb. Zucchini Squash, diced
1/4 C chopped onion
1 C Shredded carrots
1 C Sour cream
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 lb. butter, softened
8 oz. pkg. Pepperidge Farm bread stuffing
Cook zucchini & onions 5 min. in boiling water. Drain.
Combine carrots, sour cream & soup. Mix well with squash & onions.
Mix soft butter & stuffing.
Line 8x13 pan with 1/2 of zucchini mixture. Top with 1/2 of stuffing mixture. Repeat layers.
Bake at 375 Degrees for 35 minutes.
This delicious recipe came from my Aunt Diane and has been a family favorite for many years. If you are watching your cholesterol, be sure to use low fat versions of the soup, sour cream and butter. I usually use low fat versions of the soup and sour cream, but for Thanksgiving I splurge and use real butter.
One of my favorite blogs to follow is Heartfelt Greetings. Amy on Heartfelt Greetings has been sharing some wonderful Thanksgiving recipes lately and I'm going to pass the links on to you.
This first one is for Crockpot Stuffing, so you can make extra stuffing without taking up space in your oven.
And this link is for Make-Ahead Gravy. A recipe for delicious gravy that you can make ahead of time, because we all know that there is never enough gravy.
The last link I want to share with you is from Donelda's blog, Wiggy's World. Donelda made some beautiful treats for at each place setting for her Thanksgiving table. When I saw these I thought that they would make nice place cards by adding a name to the tag.
I haven't asked in quite awhile, is there anything special I can pray about for you? If so, please email me at webe34him@bellsouth.net or leave a comment.
Have a fabulous day!!!
Inky hugs!
Shelly

More Fall Fun

I couldn't resist greeting you with this cute scarecrow today. He is from Avon and belongs to my daughter, but he happened to be at my house one day and I fell in love with him, so I took his picture. You'll notice that he's from the south - he says, "Y'all". : )

This card from Becky gave me a good laugh and it had a surprise inside for me too. The little ghost pops up when you open the card. Isn't that neat? I love Frankenstein's clothes. His pants are shimmery and so are the lapels and pockets of his jacket. : ) Thank you for the awesome happy mail, Becky.

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Beauty and the Beast

I figured seeing today is the day for costumes I'd show our little fur babies in their cute costumes. That's Princess in the dress and my granddog, Caesar, in the dragon costume. They are good sports about the costumes, because they really don't like wearing them. They do both love to wear their regular dog clothes though.

I needed to go to the eye doctor today and pick up my new glasses, but I was feeling pretty bad still and didn't really want to make myself presentable. My husband jokingly suggested that I wear pajamas, slippers and messy hair and act like it was my Halloween costume. I gave it some thought, but decided I couldn't, because all of my pajamas have ink and glue stains on them from stamping in them. : )

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Fall Is In The Air

Warning! I'm going to whine a bit here. lol It feels more like winter than fall. Monday night the temp dropped 20F during the night. That put us at mid 60's during the day and mid 40's at night - winter temps for us. I know that's nothing compared to what alot of you are having right now, but it is truely cold to me compared to what we're used to. Even the dog is feeling the difference. Last night before I could get in bed she got herself under the quilt on my side of the bed with her head on my pillow. She was so cute that I didn't want to move her, but she was right in the center of my spot and I was freezing, so I made her a nest next to me with her own blanket. The above photo shows her when she was still tucked in my spot.

This pretty Halloween card is from Lisa. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't show that the pumpkin vines are very shimmery. I like the chalked pumpkins. I haven't used my chalks in quite awhile. I need to remedy that. Thank you for the happy mail, Lisa. : )

Last night I helped my daughter and niece get ready for a costume party they went to. Every time my niece would put her hat or little eye mask on my daughter's dog would bark his head off at her. It was so funny. My daughter missed winning the grand prize for her costume by one vote. Last year she did win it, so it was it was someone else's turn this year. : ) The girls brought gummy body parts candy home to gross me out. It worked. There's no chance I'll be eating those fingers, toes, etc. lol

Have a fabulous day and keep warm!!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

A Creepy Crawly Treat

Wouldn't these spider cookies be fun for a Halloween party or even for a kid's birthday party? My neighbor did her son's last birthday party in a bug theme and these would have been perfect for it. I found this idea on a site, but unfortunately when I went back to the link to post it here today the info was gone. So I can't give proper credit to the person who came up with the idea, but it wasn't me.

To make the spider cookies you use chocolate sandwich cookies, black licorice whips, mini m&m's, and chocolate frosting. Adhere two m&m "eyes" to each cookie with a dab of chocolate frosting. Cut licorice whips into even lengths and insert 3 pieces into each side of the cookie for legs. The chocolate sandwich cookies in the photo have orange frosting, because they are the ones that are sold that way around Halloween time, so watch for them in your grocery store if you want orange frosting. Have a great party!!!

Do you ever get to thinking about the things others excel at that you wish you excelled at? Sometimes God has to remind me that He made each one of us unique. He didn't give my specific insights, gifts and instincts to anyone else. I Peter 4:11b says, "If anyone ministers, let him do it as with ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ..." Remember to thank God for the special abilities that He gave only to you.

Have a great day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly