Big sigh of relief - FWF #17

Happy Friday, folks! Hope everyone has had a great week!
At long last, our house is ours again. Yesterday, the last light issue was fixed and the lockbox (containing our house key) was removed. This morning, our designer came with a professional to photograph our kitchen in its uncluttered glory, so FINALLY we can begin moving things back downstairs. I will post before/during/after pictures of the remodel next week.

 

Marika is going to her first sleepover for her soccer teammate's birthday tonight. Half the team will be there and she is very excited to be "camping out" and making s'mores. Soccer friends and chocolate - how much better could it get for a ten-year old? :)

So, it was time to make a birthday card! I liked this sketch from My Favorite Things, because I wanted to showcase a soccer ball (when I did it for the last teammate, she was absolutely delighted). I have my fingers crossed that one day, Unity will create a soccer girl and a softball girl. :)

This stamp of a soccer ball isn't from Unity, but the awesome sentiment is from the March 2015 Sentiment Kit - Blossoming Thoughts and Wishes - carefully selected by Marika herself. The royal blue is for her team color. :)

 



For my recipe of the week, I chose to make Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream White Sauce. It was another winner with the family - everybody wanted seconds! I didn't change anything about the recipe, except to omit the final browning step (I'm always afraid I'll forget and things will burn up to a crisp). I used chicken that I had cooked in a slow cooker (I can usually make 3 meals from one chicken) and will surely be making this recipe again - it was also very quick and easy!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Happy crafting and cooking! :)

Finally using the hood - FWF #16

My friend had a bit of a rough weekend, which is making it feel like a bumpy week, poor thing. So, I wanted to make her a card to let her know I was thinking of her and would be there to help in any way...I used Sweet Sunday Sketch #237...

Although I will admit, I wanted to use Change is a Good Thing stamp set, but I couldn't find it! The upstairs is still a mess from the remodel, but we'll begin moving things back downstairs within the next week... :)

So, I opted to use Tree Love instead...it's a very cute stamp...and I had fun paper-piecing the image together...

For my new recipe this week, I was able to use the new range hood (yippee!) to make Italian Sausage Tortellini, which was posted on Kevin & Amanda's blog. In case you're not familiar with this blog, you might want to check it out - not only does she have delicious recipes, but for crafty peeps like us, she often posts FREE (adorable) fonts and she is a FANTASTIC photographer. But back to the recipe - it was quite yummy! The kids got seconds! I did, however, skip the spinach (to make the kids happy) and I used a whole package of 19 oz tortellini - there was still plenty of liquid in the pan. 

Hope you all have a crafty weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Belated Baby Gift - FWF #15

Happy Friday! One of DaddyDude's colleagues had a baby awhile back, but nobody told ME until one evening - about four months past the fact - when they hosted a work function and I noticed that there was some "baby stuff" laying around. Imagine my embarrassment when I learned they had had a baby boy a few months earlier! So, naturally, of course, we wanted to get them a present. :)

This sketch caught my eye for this week - especially since I had already picked out the Unity stamp I wanted to use...

New Set of Wheels  (http://www.unitystampco.com/shop/new-set-of-wheels) - I love this set! Perfect for baby boys or girls! 

I shifted gears for my recipe of the week and made lemon sorbet. A friend had found the recipe in a magazine but as usual, I made adjustments. I mixed 1.5 cups of sugar with one packet of unflavored gelatin plus 3 cups of water. You cook it until the sugar dissolves; remove from heat. Add one cup of milk with 3/4 cup lemon juice - then freeze the concoction (I did it overnight but it should have been only for 2-3 hours). Using an electric mixer, I mixed the broken chunks untik they were smooth and refroze it. In hindsight, I should have frozen them in individual servings, but this sorbet tasted exquisite with my fresh Meyer lemons. Yum! 

Tween in the house! FWF #14

The day has finally come - there's a tween in the house!!!Yup, she's an April Fool's baby. It WAS her due date, but she had to be induced (also because my OB/GYN was going out of town that weekend and didn't want to have another doctor deliver her). I remember asking the doctor, "Did you HAVE to pick April 1st?" Luckily, nobody has been unkind enough to play a mean joke on her - yet. *knock on wood* I hope that that trend is fading...

I usually make A2 cards, but since I had a specific kit and this awesome sketch (from MojoMonday) in mind, I ended up having to use 8.5 x 11 cardstock (folded in half, of course) to make this sketch work. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about making a bigger envelope - my kid is pretty low maintenance. :)

I used Party Hat Wishes from Unity Stamp Co - Mika wears glasses, so I thought she'd get a kick out of the image. I ended up using three other images from this kit: the party hats, the frame border, and  "Happy Birthday to You" for the inside sentiment. Patterned paper is from MME (cropchocolate oldie!).  

And my recipe for this week...? We're back to cauliflower... (still no range hood!), so I used this Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower...

It was pretty good, but I think my children liked the one with sriracha sauce better... next week - lemon sherbet! :) Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Happy Easter!