September Tea Party

We had our tea party for the month yesterday and was alot of fun. We went to the Milk n'Honey Tea Room on Busch Blvd. in Tampa. One of our tea ladies actually owns this tea room so she was glad to see us all come to her place. She hasn't been able to go to our monthly teas as much since she purchased the tea room, she has had to work on those Saturdays at her own tea room, lol! Anyway, we had some delightful sandwiches. And the scones were Pina Colata And the desserts were delictable!! Kathy, the tea room owner, (top left) has a little dress up room in the back for the kids and lots of hats hanging on the walls so we each chose a hat to wear and had a group picture taken. My daughter is a waitress there and she was the one taking the pictures and she was talking to me while she was taking the pictures so the look on my face is kinda funny but it was a fun picture, lol!!! We had a great time!

Newest Creation

Good Evening Bloggers! I took a little break from the Halloween banner this weekend and made a really cool necklace and earring set. I needed something to do while I sat in front of the TV and watched all the 9/11 shows over the weekend. I did take time out for a football game in which the Steelers got spanked but this is what I came up with. I purchased this pendant and the four smaller pieces at Michael's in Rockledge, I think, while I was over there for Christmas last year. They were on the clearance rack so I got them for a song and they are PURPLE, well sorta lavender anyway, my favorite color. I have hem-hawed around all year trying to find just the right color combinations to go with it and finally settled on some that I already had. I did find a couple other beads at Michael's the other day that kinda matched so I mixed them all together and VOILA'. It turned out way pretty, I think. A bit to fancy to wear to work probably but it will work nicely for the next tea party, doncha think? Here's a couple of close-ups so you can get the full picture. I am very pleased with the outcome and can't wait to wear it. I have a cream colored dress that it will go nicely with and the tea party for September is next weekend, I better get that baby dry cleaned tomorrow!!! Hope you have a great evening, Hugs, ~Jody

09.11.01 ten years later 09.11.11

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Hugs and Prayers going out to all those directly affected by the events of that dreadful day. We will never forget!

Penne Pasta with Proscuitto Sause

I don't normally post about food but this recipe has been a favorite of mine for a loooong time now. I got the it from the Regis and Kathy Lee show back in 1983, I think and I just love it. I don't make it alot because it is dripping in butter and cream but it came to mind while I was in the grocery store last night so I bought all the ingredients so I could make it tonight. I also got ALL the CORRECT ingredients on the first try from memory, that's saying alot for me, lol! Maybe I have made this a few times. Garlic bread goes well with it. Here's the recipe if you are interested: 8 oz. Penne Pasta (I used Rotini tonight so any pasta will do) 4 oz. Proscuitto (ham) cut in strips (the proscuitto at my store only comes in 3 oz. packages and it was plenty for me) 3 T. Butter 1 Small Onion diced 2 Small Tomatoes diced 4 T. Parmesan cheese 1 Cup Heavy Cream (I used whipping cream because they didn't have a small heavy cream and I didn't want left-overs of this, lol) 1/2 Cup Peas (I used frozen ones because I will eat the rest of the bag) Ground Black Pepper Saute ham in butter and onions. Add tomatoes, peas, cream & pepper in that order stirring after each addition. Simmer until thickened. Add parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. Makes 4 small servings. YUM!!!! Enjoy, ~Jody (NOTE: my apologies for the way this recipe is showing up on the blog. I actually typed it out in normal recipe form and it looks correct on my draft however, when I publish the post it all runs together. I have tried many MANY times to figure out what I am doing wrong with this but to no avail so I guess you'll just have to muddle through. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong, please feel free to leave me a comment on how to fix this, it makes me crazy, UGHHHHH!)

Sneak Peek #3

Good Evening Bloggers, have been putting the finishing touches on panel #2. Sooooo cool!!! I just love the new tokens and adornments that Tim Holtz has out. I was able to pick those up at my LSS last weekend as well as the new Christmas ones too. This panel turned out just as well, if not better, than the first one. The spider webs were embossed with black and the fuzzy orange thread around the outside came in a halloween scrapbook paper pack that I got for free at one of the 'garage sales' that Scraporium has. A lady had it on her table for sale and when I picked it up and looked at it she said oh that's been used, you can just have it! Worked for me, the thread matches the black that my daughter gave me and there is enough to use it two times and I have four panels, all together. I'm thinkin' two orange and two black, whatcha think??? Anyway, here's panel #2 Thanks for stopping by! I'll be working on panel #3 this weekend and I'm sure I'll have to make a trip to Whimsodoodle. They are calling my name and it's only Thursday, lol!!! Hugs, ~Jody

Sneak Peek #2

Ok, so I've spent most of the day in my craft room playing with my new "door decor" today. I have to admit, it is turning out really cute. See what you think of the first panel? The little black caldron I made out of sculpey clay, ha! Even had a handle made out of wire and brown sculpey clay. The little shelf is just a piece of trim molding from the miniatures department and all the bottles were from a piece of scrapbooking paper I scanned and then printed on cardstock and cut each one out. I popped them up with different size pop dots so they would look 3 dimensional. How cute is that???? The eye hook holding the 'W-wicked' token is from Home Depot. The "B" I cut with my cricut and covered it with glitter and then hair spray so the glitter wouldn't get all over. It kinda works! The feathery trim is some yarn my daughter had that she said was to hard to crochet with so she gave it to me. It looks just perfect on there, I thought! On to panel #2.......................... Yesterday, I was invited to Jimmie B's to hear the band "GreenFlash" play. If you don't know of Jimmie B's, it's a beach bar in St. Petersburg. A cool little place to catch some rays, have a couple of cocktails and listen to some really good 'ol tunes. And there's Ms. Barbara jamming to the music. She's the one that invited me. Her husband is Marty, the one in the baby blue shirt. It was a great time. Thanks for the invite Barbara!!! On the way over there, a draw bridge had gone up at John's Pass to let a big boat through. It was cool to see. It's not something that you see every day, at least I don't, so here's a few shots of it. And then we were on our way! Hope your Labor Day weekend is going great!!! Hugs, ~Jody

Sneak Peek

Good Morning bloggers, I have caught the Halloween bug already this year. Seems a bit early but that's ok, it will give me plenty of time to put together my new 'door decor', ha! I ordered some of the chipboard banner pieces from CTMH, actually I ordered two sets. They come in packs of 8 and we, meaning my younger sister and I, were going to split the one package and then we would each have 12. We WERE going to make another set of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas this year but she's mad at me for voicing my opinion on some things, actually pissed off would be more like it. (My family prefers sugar coating everything, me, not so much! I tend to call them like I see them, which, as history could tell, hasn't gone over well with them!) Anyway, don't look like that will be happening now, SOOOOO, I am going to use the left over 4 pieces and make a Halloween banner for my door. I have started so here's a look at the beginning stages. I have a pretty good arsenal of Halloween stuff all the way from Tim Holtz to CTMH to Crafty Secrets, etc. I have chosen inspiration from several different places, too many to mention names, so Thank You all for your inspiration. I'll let you know what it looks like as I go along. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a safe and wonderful Labor Day Weekend, Hugs, ~Jody

Bad News-kinda

Got a bit of bad news today. My sister sent me a text this afternoon and asked me if I had heard the news about Bo? He was my ex-husband, we divorced in 2002, I think it was and I moved to Florida in 2004. I texted back that no, I hadn't, what happened? My family is always keeping me in the loop as far as my ex-husband is concerned. Not sure what that's about but whatever! Well, he passed away last Sunday, August 28th, 2011, unexpectedly the obit said. He finally met his demise. I certainly hope he can put his demons to rest now. Someone who signed his guest book, there were 4 in all, said that she hoped his illness was past him now or something like that. Ha, his illness was alcoholism and he swore he would never quit. Well, it looks like it finally did him in. Sad, what a waste. Me, I'm fine! Like my daughter stated, it's simply just fact, we have no feelings one way or the other!

Saturday Tea Party-Stormy Sunday

Good Morning everyone! It is cloudy and rainy here in good ol' Florida this morning. Remnants of Hurricane Irene, naw, she's long gone as far as we are concerned, just a little thunder boommer moving to the east. I will say we need to pass along a few prayers for all those that did feel the rath of Hurricane Irene. So glad it didn't make land fall as a 3 or 4 storm, they are so scary. Looks like the sun may come out later so I'll just hide out in my craft room until then. We did get to enjoy some sunshine yesterday. The tea ladies and I met for our monthly tea up at Angel's Tea Room in Dade City. What a cute, quaint little town. Soooooo many antique shops and things to look at. The tea was absolutely delightful. The two ladies that were working it did an excellent job of taking care of our every need and the food was divine. Excellent chicken salad and the scones were to die for, yum!!! Lots of food too, had to bring half of it home, but that's ok, made for a nice quick dinner. Oh and I made the outfit too! Doesn't look like much here but the fabric is fall leaves with specks of gold glitter throughout. It turned out really good and it fit so well, almost like it was made for me, ha!!! It was a great day, well worth the trip!! Hope you have a great day as well, Hugs, ~Jody

Shadow Box Card

Hi peeps, long time no blog, I know! I had some computer issues and I finally got all those taken care of so then I was able to get back to creating, yeah! This is a shadow box card that I made for my little sister for her birthday next Sunday. I was inspired by Sari Hanninen from Sweden. I stumbled across her blog a few weeks ago and she had a whole bunch of TH (tim holtz) inspired creations and this shadow box card really caught my eye. The frame on the cover was chipboard cut with my cricut and covered with paper on either side. Then I just poked a hole in the center of it and sprayed it with water from my mini mister. This allowed the chipboard to be torn a little easier and I just kept pushing out until it looked like it was fairly even on all sides. Then I stained the white core parts with TH walnut distress stain. Added some flowers and a bow and a few buttons and a door knob, of course. And know for the inside. The inside is the best part...................... drum roll please Can you see how the right side stands out a bit? It was a bit difficult to put together but once you got the hang of it, it worked out pretty well. I just love how it looks like you are looking in say a store front window or someone's living room window, not that we would really ever do that, lol! I made the 'window' first, then I made a book cover so to speak and attached the window to the back cover and decorated the other side. I used some TH papers, some Heart Warming Vintage papers that I printed free off their website and some pages from an old, OLD book that I bought at a garage sale years ago. The little viles (filled with colored water) and the weathered clock on the left are TH. The other clock is CTMH with some TH arts added on and the rest is just stuff I found in my stash. I heat embossed the happy birthday with black embossing powder so it would stand out. Here's a close up of the two sides. I just love the way it turned out. Need to make one for myself now, ha! Hope you have a good rest of the weekend and an even better week. Hugs, ~Jody