WOW!! My Card was featured on the SCS Stamping Bella Forum!!

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Featured card 11/15/2008

I am stunned that my card was picked to be the featured card for this challenge!  I guess I felt like I've been playing with the "big girls" when doing these challenges.  I do my card and post it, then stare in awe at what everyone else has done.  I've been learning how to use copic markers which are really intended for serious artists, but many stampers have been using them to color in images with great success.  The markers are alcohol based and are easy to blend and shade with and they don't pill up the paper like water based markers.  There is a lot to learn about when using these markers and I am just at the very beginning.

Last night I made frosted sugar cookies from a recipe I found on the blog Real Mom Kitchen.  I'm not sure what I did wrong this time, but I was not able to roll these cookie and cut them out.  The dough was way too soft even after refrigerating for 4 hours.  So, I took my ice cream scoop and make drop cookies with the dough.  I made the chocolate frosting included with the recipe and they were YUMMY!!  I'm going to make them again and see if I can get the dough right.  They'd make awesome Christmas cookies.  

After the kids went to bed, I decided it was time to replace all the missing/ broken strings on my harp.  I was dreading it.  Replacing harp strings isn't easy and I was trying to think if there was anyway I could pay someone to do it for me.  I found a harp teacher here in Baltimore that I want to begin lessons with and try to get back up to speed, but I knew I had to get it tuned and back in shape.  The first string gave me trouble, but after that I got the hang of it!  They went on really quickly and not one single cuss word flew out of my mouth!  

This morning Hannah had her weekly ballet and tap dance lessons.  She is a little behind the other girls in the class, partly because I didn't get her in lessons before now.  She went for a few months a couple of years ago, but then we quit because it was just too much to do when I was working full time.  Today they added a bunch of new steps to the routine and she was really struggling.  I grabbed a pen and scratch paper out of my purse and began to write down the routine.  The songs are "Maria" from The Sound of Music, The Parent Trap theme song, and the Hannah Montana theme song.  We actually have all of those sound tracks on iTunes so I thought I'd pick up a pair of cheap tap shoes on the way home from lessons and practice with her at home.  What a blast!  I also found some how to videos on YouTube for us to practice along with.

Aaron went into his office this afternoon to work on the book chapter that he is writing.  I can't imagine having to do something like that.  I am a horrible writer and have never liked writing papers or anything for that matter.  When he writes, it is almost like a composer writing a symphony...my writing is like playing chopsticks on the piano.  My grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc. is not what it should be after all my years of education.  He on the other hand is an amazing writer.

Since Aaron was gone the kids and I went to the Towson mall this evening.  He, like most men, can't seem to enjoy going to the mall just to look around.  I was shocked that the place was packed!  I expected this kind of crowd after Thanksgiving, but not now.  Hannah and Nathaniel had Chick-fil-A  from the food court for dinner and I opted for a 1/2 turkey sandwich and a cup of Maryland crab soup from the deli.   I think that Maryland crab soup may have to be my all time favorite soup!  It is like a vegetable beef soup but spicy and with crab instead of beef (obviously).  Seriously, if you haven't had it yet, you have to try it!  After dinner, I made the mistake of letting the kids walk down the wing of the mall with the Build A Bear store.  They already have like 3 of these things, but each time they see it they want another one!  This time, Hannah saw that they had a Hannah Montana bear and a High School Musical bear.  I had a REALLY hard time saying no.  It's tough being a mom!  The trip must have worn them out because they didn't argue with me when we got home and it was time for bed.

p.s.  this is how we solved the crickets eating the dog food problem.  Wal-Mart $20!

Here is the sketch for the Bella challenge this week.  We are to make a card and use this sketch as a template then post it to the gallery on Splitcoast.  Here is what I came up with:

Happy Friday!!  I am excited for the weekend to be here because that means Hannah will be  home to have fun with us!  I really miss her when she is at school and I know Nathaniel does too.  He will frequently ask "Where is Hannah?", "When is school over?", etc.  It is so sweet to hear things like that.  

It has finally begun to get a little chilly here in Baltimore.  Yesterday when I picked up Hannah from school it was foggy and she asked "Mom, how come it is so hard to see out here?"

Wednesday I tried out a chocolate chip cookie recipe I found on the blog Coconut & Lime called Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The cookies were great, Aaron ate them almost faster than I could snap a picture to post!  One problem...my cookies were flat!  The picture posted with the recipe show nice puffy cookies.  Hmmm...  I guess I don't know what I did.  I'll have to research that problem and get back to you.

Yesterday I had a craving for a Runza.  I worked for Runza Restaurants for 3 years while in high school and college and they are so yummy!  With no Runza anywhere near here, I decided to make my own.  I used a Runza recipe found at Pieces of Earth.

Aaron added Havarti Cheese to his and ate with mustard.  Hannah just ate hers and Nathaniel, well Nathaniel didn't.  We tried everything but he didn't like it.  I know Runzas aren't for everyone, but those of us who like them, LOVE them!

Yesterday 

Aaron had an "administrative" day and didn't have to officially go into work.  He wanted to go for a hike at Oregon Ridge Nature Center, but I,  like always, think I have a better idea.  One of the neighbor ladies had suggested a park called Meadowood.  It was a beautiful park with sport fields, a playground, and a walking trail which we thought was 8 miles long.  We knew it would be a long 2+ hour walk, but we were up for it.  Well, we soon discovered that the trail was not 8 miles long, it was 0.8 miles and felt a little cheated.  We returned to the map and sure enough we could see where the "." used to be but apparently it had fallen off.  So we headed to Robert E. Lee park to find a forest trail to hike.  The bridge connecting the parking lot to the main part of the park was closed due to structural problems, but we found another path to walk on.  Apparently it used to be a road through the park but over the years was closed and not maintained.  It brought us through a gorgeous neighborhood with beautiful older homes with estate size properties mixed in with a few more modest homes.  

After we returned home, I decided to try a devils food cupcake recipe from a blog that I found called Cupcake Bakeshop .  The directions were different than most in that it states to place all ingredients in the bowl except the eggs and mix.  It was odd not creaming the butter and sugar first.  They came out okay, however I prefer more chocolate taste in my cake and a less sweet frosting.  They were good, just not the best.   

Well here I go with post #2... I have been making a lot of cards lately and not scrapbooking much at all.  I found these stamps that I absolutely love at Stamping Bella and have become such a fan!  I have begun to participate in weekly card challenges at Split Coast Stampers and love how it pushes my creative side!  I am currently working on another challenge and will post the results when I am done.

This has been a fun week for us so far.  On Monday Nathaniel and I picked up our clay animal figurines from a Free Fall workshop that we attended at Baltimore Clay Works.  We had so much fun getting our hands dirty and creating as a family.  Unfortunately Aaron's creation didn't make it to the kiln.  We were able to pick up Hannah's dog, Nathaniel's elephant, and I made a triceratops.  Aaron had made a beautiful brontosaurus but I think the neck was too long and skinny to hold up.  

After picking up our artwork, Nathaniel and I headed down to Locust Point to the Baltimore Cupcake Company.  It was such a cute place with wonderful cupcakes!  Nathaniel picked out the "green one" which happened to be key lime.  I think he liked the taste at first, but then the sour hit him and he changed his mind.  "I didn't pick this one, mommy!"...  So I traded my peppermint patty cupcake and ate his key lime.  Either way I was happy because they were both yummy!!

That evening we had a pizza bake off between Aaron and I.  Aaron got his dough recipe off of youtube and I found mine through google and it was called Jay's Signature Pizza Crust.  I think we both agreed that my pizza was better.

My pizza:

 

Aaron's Pizza:

I will get caught up on yesterday and today later...  I have plans to get a dog food container as how I noticed last night that our cricket problem may be due to the open dog food bag...  Did anyone know crickets like dog food?  Who would have ever known!  Seriously! 

Well my plan was to create a beautiful blog before I started posting, but I have a feeling there is a large learning curve to this blogging thing.  Who knows if I will ever start writing!?!?  So here I go...  

I have a love for creating things, being crafty, artsy, trying new things, BUT I lack creativity.  Make sense?  Probably not.  I have the urge or need to be creative, but can't come up with many concepts on my own.  My left brain seems to step in and start questioning what my right brain is doing.  I have art in my family tree, but I also have a logical, scientific gene that God has given me.  I am a pharmacist by profession which doesn't entail a whole lot of creativity.  In April of this year, I have had the opportunity to stay home with my children and to feed my need to create.  I have been exploring the many things I never had time for while I was working 40 hours a week.

I love cooking, baking, scrapbooking, card making, playing the harp and just about anything else that challenges my right brain.  I guess I'm a Jill of all trades, master of none.  Most of my Blog will probably be things I have copied but I will try to be original.  I guess that would be my goal.  To make those wires in my brain connect so that I can be a chef...not just a cook.