Paper Crafting

These are standing accordian style cards that I made for both Emily's apartments. I got the idea from a scrapbook site that I check out a couple of times a year.

Instead of doing pictures I used stickers to decorate the cards.

I was delighted with how well they turned out.

They are double sided so the girls can decide which side to put out or put in an area that is viewed from two angles. Both cards are identical except for the BOO on the front (one is orange and one is purple).

It was supposed to be a quick craft but because the glue took longer to dry than I thought it would the papers, glue and stickers were spread out over the kitchen table for a couple of days.
We ate in the family room because I knew if I put them away they would not ever get finished.

I was delighted with how they turned out as was Alaina. In fact, so we weren't tempted to keep them ourselves I used the leftovers and made two more small cards. These are only one sided. We kept the "h o w l" card and gave the other one away as a Thank-You gift.

(p.s. if you click on the pictures, they will come up in another window so you can see them larger)

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Two weeks ago I made this banner for Alaina's birthday.

these two parts are actually connected, but I couldn't get them all into one shot

so I cheated and rehung it where I could fit the whole word in.

Here is a close-up of two of the flags.

This hanging tag says SEVENTEEN.

There was another tag that says ONE OF A KIND

In the past, to celebrate birthdays, I've decorated doorways with balloons and / or crepe paper streamers or I've written on mirrors with LIPSTICK. I didn't want to blow up balloons this year and I didn't have any crepe paper but I did have lots of scrapbook paper and ribbons and stickers.

I used stickers that I thought described Alaina's personality or characteristics. It was a lot of fun to put together.

Rob thought I was a little bit nuts but when he saw the finished banner hanging on the stair railing, I think he sort of got it...as much as he can.

Finished!

The HALLOWEEN SURPRISE that I've been working on (on and off) since Friday is finished! That means I can put it in the morning mail. Unfortunately, I can't post pictures until I know they have arrived in Logan and Provo.

They turned out as cute as I'd hoped they would and I am so pleased.

Now. . .

on to BELLE

which I would like to have done before we leave for St. Louis

Garage Crafts

I enjoy crafting with paper. My friends and I like to get together once a month and make handmade cards or scrapbook. Right now we are working on Christmas cards.

This morning, I was browsing the web for ideas (I should have been compiling the family letters, but I will get to that after lunch) and I found this video (it's a little long, but funny, nonetheless).

http://www.livevideo.com/video/537FF9DA20B44560845DEE157D1F9DD6/man-made-card.aspx

It made me laugh because it is so silly but I feel better knowing that MANLY MEN can now join in the fun that is Crafting Creative Cards.

HIRO ! ! ! ! ! ! (Ando. . . .)

We had to DVR HEROES last night.

We went to Luigi's for Alaina's birthday dinner, then Rob had mucho work to do (till 2:00 AM) and Alaina had to write an essay that she completely forgot about and I don't watch Heroes without them.

SO.

We watched (while eating Chipotle, sorry, it's a habit).

Our F R E A K Y show is B A C K

Talk to me.

Did Hiro REALLY kill Ando? Has Claire lost all faith in her father? Mohinder ? Really ? Just . Yuck .

Who is bad and who is good. I hate not knowing and don't even talk to me about Peter. Do we like Jessica/Nikki better as Tracy and who the heck is Barbara?

I get so confused!

Although Cristine Rose is one awesome actress, isn't she.

Happy Birthday

Our Youngest Child turned SEVENTEEN today!

Amazingly,

she is not waiting until 8:00 pm to announce

that she is

OFFICALLY

a new age.

She has been known to do that in past years.

In fact, at her party last year she tried very hard to blow at her candles at exactly 8:15 p.m.

Alaina, you let it be known from the very first moment I even suspected that you would be joining our family that we would be in for the ride of our lives hanging on and running to keep up with you.

We have loved the ride so far!

We love your enthusiasm for life. We love your kindness and goodness. We love the way you stick to the commitments that you make and the way you make us stick to traditions (even if we didn't realize that's what they were). We love your intelligence and the unique and creative way that you look at life. We love your self-assurance and happiness. We love the way you support your friends and the way you enlarge your circle to include everyone who wants to join in.

We are so grateful for the strength of your testimony and your deep and abiding love of your Savior, Jesus Christ. We are grateful for the examplary way that you live your life.

Happy Birthday Lainey Lu

We Love You

nothing to see here

BUT
if you pop over to Alaina's blog
http://missalainus.blogspot.com/
(also listed on my links to the right)
you will have a very cool mini-essay to read.
It gives us a glimpse into Alaina's amazing mind

AND

you get the extra BONUS of seeing her art work.


Someday,

ladies and gentlemen,

Alaina is going to get paid for her art

so

I suggest you enjoy it

while it is free for the looking.


Unfortunately, her New York collage is already gone.

See. . .

HEED MY WARNING

and look

before it's too late.

Love Ya Lainey!

(not that I'm playing favorites or anything, I'm just not sure if Alaina has had much traffic and wanted to do a little free advertising for her)

Sweet & Sour Pork

I've been on a cooking kick lately. It's been fun rediscovering that I can indeed follow a recipe and sometimes even improve on it.

I needed to take dinner to a new mom in the ward. I had pork chops in the freezer and sweet peppers and onions from a trip to the farmer's market so with a little bit of thought I decided that sweet and sour pork would be an ideal use of those ingredients. Of course, I made enough for our family to enjoy it too.

If you want the recipe, I'll put it below the picture.

2/3 cup soy sauce

2 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp minced ginger (optional)

1/4 c cornstarch

1 pound pork chops, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup flour

salt & pepper

vegetable oil, for frying

1/3 cup white onion, diced in large pieces

1/3 cup diced celery

1/3 cup carrots, sliced

1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced in large pieces

1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced in large pieces

1 cup pineapple, drained, 1-inch cubes (I had the pineapple drained sitting out but forgot to put it in the pan, OOPS)

I also added 1/4 cup asparagus, 1 inch pieces

1 Tbsp vegetable oil, for sauteing

1/2 tsp sesame oil, for sauteing

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/8 cup honey

In a non-metal bowl, combine soy sauce, garlic, ginger & cornstarch. Mix well. Season the pork generously with salt & pepper. Place the pork in the bowl and toss to cover. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight (or at least 2 hours). I marinated the pork in a rectangular glass baking dish because I wanted all of the pieces of pork to be in the marinade, not just the pieces at the bottom of the bowl.

Drain off any excess marinade and dredge the pork in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. In a large frying pan heat 1 inch of oil over medium high heat. Fry the pork in batches until golden brown. Reserve on a warm plate. I put the browned pork into a bowl and placed it in a warm (300*) oven.

In a separate bowl, combine the ketchup, sugar, vinegar and honey. Whisk to blend and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil and sesame oil in a roasting pan. Saute the vegetables until crisp tender, then add the pork. Cover with the ketchup mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook until the pork is completely cooked.

Serve over rice. We had it with Sticky Rice but white or brown rice would be good too.

I suspect this could be made gluten-free if you already have gf soy sauce and ketchup. Otherwise I would probably not marinate the meat. I would skip the dredging part because I looked online (glutenfreeforum.com) and found that gf flour doesn't brown or thicken sauces as well as glutenous flour. This site suggested just using the cornstarch to thicken the sauce. If you don't marinade the meat, I would just add the cornstarch to the ketchup mixture.