Beware the Ides of March!

Sorry, I couldn't resist... poor Julius Caesar and his salad dressing never had a chance.

I've been a busy craft monkey (which is only slightly different than a crack monkey, I know this because I birthed two crack monkeys), but haven't been photographing much. THE HORROR! I know! Maybe because a couple of my photo lights crapped out on my and now it looks like I've been taking pictures in the basement (which, as it turns out, is true). I can fix only so much in photoshop...

Whatever... here's a project that I whipped up for a little girl who invited Max to her 6th birthday party:

Journal=$.50, frame=$1.00, photo book=$2.00, paper, tape, etc.=$1.00 total cost=$4.50, if that.

One benefit to crappy lighting? The glitter sparkles! Huh. Who knew? All these people complaining about not being able to photograph glitter; it ain't rocket science, just turn off half your lights. There's my public service announcement for the day ;-)

WOWZA!

Go here immediately and comment on this post. I'm so mad that I work for Craft Critique, because I can't enter, and I REALLY WANT TO ENTER ;-)

Then come back here and tell me how much I rock.

Geniosity...

I didn't think of this, but I'm totally going to do it. It's like they knew I was totally over-run in jars and pics of my kids! SO CUTE!

I made a card

for a friend who lost a good friend. I don't like to make sympathy cards, mostly because I don't want to have to use them. But I really like this new Stampin' Up! set.



I'm keeping her in my thoughts.

SHE SCRAPS?!

Well, no. Not really. I have really good intentions, and a studio full of supplies, but I don't scrapbook. Despite having the world's cutest kids. Until today! I'm in the process of re-doing my (not-so) baby girl's room, and needed something to hang on the wall. So I literally took a page out of my friend Emilie's book (I believe you scrapbookers call it scraplifting), and voila!

Be gentle... it's my first time!

The jounaling reads:
Jenny got a new doll for Christmas, and she hasn't put it down since! She's always carrying "Babies," unless she's pushing her in the stroller, or putting her down for a nap. This doll is loved!

The colors are way brighter in real life, just like Jenny's new room!

Now then, close your laptop and go do something you've been meaning to do but have never gotten around to doing!

The Accidental Meatloaf (RECIPE, sort of)

Last night, I accidentally made the very best meatloaf I've ever had. It's a variation of Emilie's Awesome Meatloaf, but, of course I didn't have any of the right ingredients, so I winged it:

Dana's Oh. My. Word. Meatloaf.
1 Pound hamburger
1 pound breakfast sausage (yes, really)
1/2 bag of herb-seasoned stuffing (the crumb stuff that I always buy by mistake at Thanksgiving)
1 can of Progresso Hearty Tomato Soup
1 onion
a handful of mushrooms

Put the hamburger in a bowl. Cut the casings off of the sausage links, remove the sausage from the casings, and add them to the bowl (the links, not the casings... that would be nasty).

Dump 1/2 bag of stuffing into the bowl (I used Pepperidge Farms because it doesn't have milk or eggs in the ingredient list, but you can use whatever)

Put the mushrooms, onion & tomato soup in your food processor, and puree the daylights out of them. Dump the puree into the meat bowl. Mix everything together with your hands. Just get in there and do it, quit being a baby about it.

Throw the mixture into whatever pan you normally use for meatloaf. I actually packed the mixture into a regular-sized muffin pan, and made meatloaf muffins. I did that because it increases the surface area, and more surface area means more outer crust (<--- see that? that's science), and everybody knows that's the best part. I took the extra meatloaf mix and made meatballs, threw them on a cookie sheet, and put them in the oven at the same time as the meatloaf muffins.

Bake @ 350 F for a while. Like 40 minutes maybe? I took the internal temp of one of the muffins and made sure it was at least 160 F so that nobody would keel over and trace it back to me. I let the meat muffins sit for a while because the side dishes weren't ready yet. Story of my life.

Anyway, had I known how moist, tender and delish this meatloaf would be, I totally would have photographed the process like all those super cool food bloggers do.

You'll notice I didn't use eggs. My kid is allergic to eggs. If you want to use eggs, cut back on the soupy liquid puree stuff a little. I guess. Wing it!

SHE LIVES!

Dude. What happened to January? We're all rebounding from yet another visit from the dreaded stomach bug, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. You know what is pretty? These cards I made. I got my SU! shipment today, and I did something I've never done... I opened a pack of designer paper (Raspberry Tart) AND USED IT. On the very first day it came to live here. AND, even more astonishing, I did not buy two packs of this paper, so I don't have a back up. Granted, I only used a 4" x 12" strip for these three cards, but it's all about the baby steps.



I couldn't decide where I wanted the greeting block, so I moved it around. Oh, and I love this stamp, but I think the flower in the corner is ugly, so I covered it with a bow. Because I can do that.

Here's a close-up:




In continued evidence of my awesomeness, I'm putting all of these in the mail on Friday. They're already addressed and stamped! So there!

I'll be back sooner than later (for real) I have a bunch of stuff up my sleeve!