In The Pink

Christmas/ Wedding announcement done!

 Just wanted to share my Christmas card for this year. It will also double as Ted and I's wedding announcement  :)

 

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Yummy Cheesy Crescent Casserole

 

This casserole is super easy and really delicious!

 This is a perfect weeknight go to because it is so fast and easy to make!

Cheesy Crescent Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb ground Chicken (or beef or turkey)
1 small onion diced
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1 8oz can tomato sauce (I used Hunts with Basil, garlic and oregano)
2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 cup (1 8oz package) Daisy Light sour cream
2 cups Velvetta Cheese shredded
1 can reduced fat Pillsbury crescent rolls
2 tbs butter melted
1/4 cup grated parmesean

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 Degrees
2. Brown Chicken and onion until beef is no longer pink
3. Add garlic, cook for a few more minutes
4. Add Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste
5. Drain Chicken
6. Mix in tomato sauce
7. Spray a 2qt baking dish with cooking spray (I used my 9X9 baker)
8. Add Chicken mixture
9. Combine sour cream and Shredded cheese
10. Spread over Chicken mixture
11. Lay crescent rolls over top, pinching seams together
12. Mix melted butter with parmesean cheese
13. Spread over top of crescent rolls
14. Bake uncovered at 375 for 20-25 minutes

 

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think. Feel free to post your revisions. 

 

Mandy

Encouragement.....Pass it on!

 So I was at the gym the other night. Tired because I had worked way too many 12 hour shifts that week. But I was determined to finish my workout with the Elliptical machine. By the time I was done, I was beat and so ready to go home. As I started to leave the guy on the machine next to me smiled big at me and said "Thank You!" When I asked what he was thanking me for he replied "Keeping up with you kept me going, and I really needed that tonight. Your determination pushed me to finish."

  Wow! I was so honored to be his inspiration! You never know when you can be an example for for someone else. Never know what they could be going through. 

  So remember no matter how tired or drained you feel; you might just be the person that others look to for inspiration to keep going!

Mandy

Win a Silhouette Cameo and classes at Jessica Sprague.com!!!

 Go here to enter to win a Silhouette Cameo and Jessica Sprague classes!!!!

Here are some projects you can make with it!   And when you want to learn how to use it, you go to Jessica Sprague.com to figure it out!  If you win the bundle you are so set!!! So go enter for your chance to win!

Mandy

Soar

So I recently got my second chance to go to Ireland. I was so excited to go back to my ancestrial home. The first thing I thought when I found out was I can go back to fly hawks!  This is Skellig, he was the hawk I flew in 2007 on our first trip. I took this photo with him on my arm. This was the EPIC event of my trip! On the trip in December I got to fly a hawk named Joyce and Ted got to fly Wilde. Both of them named after the famous authors. This is the cover of the Memory file I have been working on. 

 

I broke out my favorite pink mat and glimmer mists to color the files. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added tons of 4X6 page protectors with brads and washi tape. All the papers you see are from the Heidi Swapp No Limits collection and the Color Magic Memory files are Heidi as well. Actually everything is Heidi except the brads and bakers twine that are Teresa Collins. And the alphabet letters from Pink Paislee. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only did we get to fly our old friends the Harris Hawks, but we also got to fly Dingle the European Eagle Owl. He was huge!!! 3 times the size of the hawks, but so sweet and gentle.

 

I loved the new Heidi Swapp instaframes! They are so much fun and I can't wait to get my hands on the mini ones that are supposed to be coming out at CHA this month! There goes all my overtime from last week.  ;)  Better save my pennies!!!   Mandy 

Time for Girls Night Out!

Jennifer's bachlorette party is tonight. Watch out Houston!

 

I just wanted to share a little giftie I made for all the girls attending the event. I got the frames at Ikea and made 12 of them for under $40. I was pretty pleased with the deals I found at Ikea and JoAnn's fabrics. 

The theme is "High Heels and Cocktails", I'm sure it will be quite the wild night!

 

Mandy

Ummmm Can you say HOT?!?!?!??!?!?

We went to see Magic Mike today at the Alamo. Not sure if you can see the previews in that background are The Village People doing YMCA!

 

LOL  There was not one stitch of plot to this movie, but really is that

why we were there?????   ;)

 

Baby Love

 So I promised you a baby book. Here is the cover:

I used the Baby Steps line from Simple stories. I love that the colors are muted and work with either a boy or a girl. The felt owl came from this Etsy shop:

Heart Felt Creation

They are about a dollar an owl, but oh so worth it! They are thick felt and come in many different colors. The bling is by Prima. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added some digital brush work and a caption to the first picture.

 

There are spaces for 75 guests to sign in. I added a section of journaling cards in divided page protectors made by Simple Stories for the guests to share parenting advice. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there are spaces for two cards with a 4X6 photo underneath. 





I wanted the guests to have their chance to put in their two cents worth on parenting. I know that I would want all the help I could get figuring out these pint sized mysteries. 

I also wanted to give her a place to record important events from the baby's first year, so I utilized the month pages in the collection. There is a place to record the weight, length and important mile stones for each month. Under each one is an open place for a current picture of her new little man.    

I added a pocket for saving cards or other momentos. and addorned the last page with a coin pocket I made on my Silhouette. I couldn't find a cutting file for a coin pocket in the Silhouette online store so I had to design my own.  I hope this book is a hit. I have had a lot of fun designing it!

Mandy

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day!!!

 

Make sure you tell your Dad how much you love and appreciate him!!! I know I'm gana give mine a big ole hug when I see him!  In honor of this day I wanted to share some mini albums I have given him in the last couple of years. I made this album in my Mouse, Paper, Scissors class by Heidi Swapp and Jessica Sprague. This is a hybrid project where you design your pages in Photo Shop and then print them out to make a physical album.  We used file folders to create the "bones" of our album. You can still make this album by signing up to take the Mouse, Papers, Scissors Dad class at Jessica Sprague.com  Here are some of the inside pages.

 

The year before I made another album from the fabulous girls at House of 3. This was another hybrid kit that included large numbers to represent the 5 reasons we love Dad. Of course I have many more than 5 reasons, but I found some great pictures that I wanted to use and tailored the reasons to match the pics. 

 I used acrylic covers and Pink Paislee papers. I didn't want to do too much embellishing since this was for Dad. And most of all I thought the pictures and journaling speak for themselves. I wouldn't trade a million dollars for even one of these moments that these pictures represent.   Mandy

Wedding Guest Book

So my friend Chemise wanted to give her friend Jennifer a Guest Sign In Book for her wedding shower gift.

So she asked me to come up with something to go along with her shabby chic wedding theme. I used album covers and papers from Prima. She LOveS polka dots so this was the perfect album to start with.   I used
Prima flowers, bling, and ribbon. I also added a TimHoltz button and a jewel from the girls from House of Three. This broach came from the PeresianAnthology line. The large flower was one I found at Hancock Fabrics in the dollar bin. It was the perfect size and color to anchor my love bird cluster on the front cover.  

I added some corrdinating House of Three frame brushes to some pictures of the bride 

and groom. I love the added depth and texture you get when adding a fun grungy frame to your picture

before you print it. 

Here I used a brush to add the couples' names to the bottom of the picture. It personalizes the book even more for not one cent more in cost to me. Perfect! I added pages for the guests to sign in of course but I wanted this to be more than just a sign in book so I added plastic photo sleeves for 4x6 photos making it easy for the bride to pictures from the shower later. Plus I added pocket pages for her to save cards from her gifts. To help keep the guests involved I cut cards and shadows with my Silhouette to have the guests write marital advice for the couple. 

 

   

I couldn't help making a dress form embellishment with a Tim Holtz die and some raw chipboard. I added some tulle, ribbon and some bling from the prima ribbon as a necklace.

 

I heard that Jennifer loved the book and one of her shower guests loved it so much that I now have to make a baby shower guest book for her friend. So I will post pics when I finish.

 

Mandy