Blog Candy winner!

Today is the day I get to announce the winner of my Halloween blog candy- wohooooo! Thank you everyone for all your fun memories about Halloween and wonderful comments- I really enjoyed hearing each and every story!

I did the whole random number thing and the winner is..................................................Deirdre!

Deirdre I will get in touch with you and get your address so I can get your Halloween goodies in the mail to you just as quickly as I can. Thanks again everyone for playing along and I hope to do some more blog candy again soon...............Christmas isn't far away.................ya never know?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Anne

Foodie talk today!

Hi all!

Well fall is upon us here in Wisconsin and it's that time of year when my body is starting to crave all those yummy comfort foods. Think pumpkin pie, chili, split pea & ham soup- homebaked bread.......you know what I mean- right? Real food that fills you up and keeps you going. No more grilled anything or a cold salad......I want rib-sticking- can't eat any more- kind of  food!

This last week I have been dying to make some delicious pumpkin cheesecake and have been to 3 different grocery stores in search of canned pumpkin and guess what.............there is NO canned pumpkin anywhere in Wisconsin or Minnesota!! What the heck?  Come on people- you are killing me here......all I need is one little can of pumpkin for one small cheesecake!

I finally talked to a fella at my local grocery store to see what the heck is up with  the pumpkin situation and he explained that there has been a massive shortage due to last years crops being ruined.......so guess what- NO pumpkin cheesecake for me- RATS!! I'm entirely too lazy to actually go get a real pumpkin- carve it up- and then cook the insides just for one cheesecake (waaaaay to much work!) I did a bit of web surfing and found out that Libby's is actually shipping out canned pumpkin this week- many stores will be recieving shipments soon. Wohooo!!

Here is the recipe for that yummy pumpkin cheesecake- and it's super easy and quick to make! Hopefully I can get my hands on a can of that heavenly stuff soon and whip one of these up before I die!

Fluffy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
12 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
1 cup canned or pureed pumpkin
1 graham cracker crust

In large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese till fluffy. Add the sugar and spice, beat again. Add eggs, one at a time just until combined, add pumpkin and mix some more (gently). Pour into crust and bake at 350 for 30 -35 minutes! Cool for 1 hour- then refrigerate for 3 hours!   EASY and soooo YUMMY!

I've been quite into making my own pickled cucumbers recently too. My mom brought me a jar about a month ago and I nearly ate the whole thing in 2 days! (what a pig huh?) They were so good and they are super easy to make. No actual canning needs to get done (lazy again....ha ha) I just make them in the fridge using a clean old pickle/peanut butter jar and it takes about 1 week for them to soak and be perfect!

I use about 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water, pickling salt, fresh dill weed, a clove or 2 of garlic, fresh cracked black pepper, a pinch of celery salt, and some sliced up white onions. I just slice up the cucumbers about 1/8" thick, cut them in half or quarters and let them soak in the brine. I try to remember to shake up the jar when I poke my head in the fridge.....but that doesn't always happen. I just prepared another batch this morning as my hubby and I devoured the last batch in a mere 3 days. I'm also going to try to do green beans this way too. My dear old mom brought me a jar of those as well- oooh they were heavenly!

Hope you enjoy my ramblings about food today.....and if you happen to see any canned pumpkin in Wisconsin please let me know- I'll drive as fast as I can to go get some!! ha ha :)

I just got a subscription to this awesome magazine as well- so many great healthy recipes in there.

Anne

Pumpkins and Spiders

Hi ya all! Just making a few more Thanksgiving and Halloween cards today with my Hero Arts stamps. I'm really getting in the mood with the cooler days and all the leaves turning beautiful colors here at home in Wisconsin.

Up first here is the Thanksgiving pumpkin card. I followed Jennifer McGuires way of doing this to stamp the pumpkins onto water color paper, emboss the image, then color the pumpkins using distress inks. I didn't really like how the distress inks turned out so trashed the first ones and I just used my (gasp) Bic markers instead. Then I took my homemade bottle of gold Pearl Ex powder and Lumiere paint and completely soaked the pumpkins......had to let them dry for about 10 minutes before cutting them out. It's hard to see but they have the most incredible shine on them now! The sentiment is from Hero Arts set "Season of Giving" and the leaves are Hero Arts as well.

Used some brown Coredinations paper and SU Espresso cardstock for the base here. The embossing folder is called " Finial Press " and it's from Stampin Up as well. Used my Brilliance pearlescent beige for the shimmery leaves and vintage photo for the sentiment. The little twine bows are glued down using Glossy Accents.

For the spider card I finally made myself use the Hero Arts digi kit called "Spooky cute". I just printed the spider in a word document and then colored it using my Copics cool gray C-3 marker on the spider webs. Got out my Spica orange and black marker and did the spiders eyes orange, and went over the web as well for a bit of sparkle and shine with the black.  Last thing was to put some Glossy accents on the spiders eyes. The fun orange polka dotted paper/grid paper is from Doodlebug and purchased at Archivers. The words on the black paper are a bunch of sentiments from the Hero Arts set " Happy Halloween" stamped in white and embossed.

Hope you like these cards- I really had fun making them! Thanks for stopping by and hope you are getting in the mood for fall or Halloween!

Don't forget to sign up for my "Halloween Blog Candy" here!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Halloween Blog Candy!

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday I thought I would spread a little love and give away some Halloween goodies! One lucky person will win these items and probably a few other fun things from my stash! You get 6 sheets of Stampin Up patterned paper, 6 "A2" card bases that match the SU paper, 1 Northwoods cube stamp with 4 images, and the fun clear stamp set from Stampendous- fun sparkley orange gems, and a black ink pad! I'll probably add some bat die cuts and maybe some ribbon or Stickles as well (I've got soooo much Halloween stuff and I LOVE to share!)

                                                          (click on the picture for a larger view)

                                                          (better picture of the stamps)



To be elegible to win all you have to do is follow these simple steps :


Step 1. Sign up to follow my blog, but if you are already a follower simply go on to step 2 or 3.


Step 2. Post about this candy on your blog if you would be so kind ( I would be great if you would help to spread the word but this is optional of course ) .

Step 3. Leave a comment on this post (feel free to tell me about a favorite Halloween memory or what you like about Halloween now as an adult)- and that's it!

I will leave this open until September 30th and will randomly pick a winner on October 1st. I want to get this in the mail quickly to the winner so they have time to use the goodies!

Thanks for stopping bye and good luck to everyone!


Anne

Northwoods and Graphic 45 Halloween cards

Hi ya all! Been super busy and not had time to post my Halloween projects I did at day 2 of Scrapfest.

So I'll try to keep this short and sweet. Here are the 2 cards I created at the Northwoods class! I love all the sparkle and shine on the ghosts in the pumpkin patch (click on the pic for a better view) and just adore fun the image on the other card! The insides of the cards are decorated to match as well. We got another image to color ( a giant Jack o lantern)  but I brought that one home and still haven't started that one.....maybe I'll get to it this weekend. I got a very nice bag of Halloween goodies and stamps from the this class too- and the owner of Northwoods is super nice- she lives just over the river from me as Northwoods is located in Stillwater MN.

Next up was a really fun Halloween treat/gift bag and a matching card that actually tucks into the folded over flap on the front of the bag. I LOVE this Graphic 45 paper- so many fun posiibilites!

The second day of Scrapfest all of us Hero Arts gals got together to have dinner at the Twin City Grill. We had a wonderful time talking- eating- having a few cocktails, and we also did a small card swap. We each made 2 cards- using either fall or Halloween as our themes. I got 2 gorgeous cards- this one from the super talented Jenn, and this awesome card from Liz. Love these 2 cards and will cherish them forever!

Here are a few shots of all of us eating and chatting!!

And here I am with the amazing Jennifer McGuire!
 

I must admit I was completely wiped out come Sunday after being the the Mall for 2 days straight. But it was soooo worth it. I had an amazing time meeting all my new friends and going to fun classes and shopping!

And here is a card I whipped up quick yesterday for my husbands "40th" birthday! I put it off until the very last minute- so it was kind of my own 60 minute challenge- I'm not kidding either - has was on his way home from work as I scrambled to get something made. You can't really tell in the picture but the whole background on the card is a sparkly gold- I  stamped the leaves with distress inks and then sprayed the cardstock using my own homemade cocktail of gold Pearl Ex powder and Lumiere paint.

Thanks everyone for stopping by and I'll be back to post some more things this weekend!

Inky Hugs, Anne