Thoughts of a Grasshopper

This month I had to bring an appetizer to my dinner group. I'm not very good with appetizers since I rarely have need of them. This is a recipe from Simple & Delicious that I had clipped to try later. It went over well with the ladies I had dinner with and with my kids. I wasn't sure the pickiest eater would like it and while she didn't try it the night I made them, she had it the next day and did like it. That was a huge WOW!! Calzone Pinwheels 1/2C ricotta cheese 1t Italian seasoning 1/4t salt 1/2C shredded mozzarella cheese 1/2C diced pepperoni 1/4C grated Parmesan cheese 1/4C chopped fresh mushrooms 1/4C finely chopped green pepper 2T finely chopped onion 1 pkg. (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent rolls 1 jar (14 oz.) pizza sauce, warmed In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Italian seasoning and salt. Stir in the mozzarella, pepperoni, Parmesan, mushrooms, green pepper and onion. Separate crescent dough into four rectangles; seal perforations. Spread cheese mixtur...

I was asked to make baby shower invitations. I made several types of cards and this is the one that was chosen. The tutorial for how to make the onesie is here . I later made one for me and made a few changes. I used Stampin' Up! buttons to match the cardstock. (I would have had to order 8 containers of buttons to have enough for the order.) I used the linen background stamp and sponged the sides with brown. I omitted the brown CS strip on the sleeves. It is really a cute card and Lauren and one talented lady to come up with it. Stamps: Wild About You CS: Brocade Blue, Close to Cocoa, WW Ink: Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron Misc.: Chocolate Chip marker, dimensionals, buttons, scallop punch, 1-3/8 circle punch, glue dots

Okay, so here's the thing . . . I enjoyed reading the book, which I'll get into a moment, however, two things really bothered me: 1) how many edits they must have gone through. I think it would have been better for me to have a high school student's writing. I can't help but wonder how much was lost through editing. Perhaps things made stronger or toned down some. It doesn't come off as a high school students writing. 2) The comparison they continually made to Anne Frank, Zlata and themselves. While I realize what the kids face today I have a hard time correlating it to either of these young women. The entries are good and when I started reading the book, I thought the writings were pretty in depth for an entry. My journal could stand to be so well thought out. There are many entries that you may be able to identify with through personal experience, what you see in your own area or perhaps what your kids deal with in school. Sometimes I could figure out w...

Cupcakes have been all the rage for quite a while and I finally just made a card with the Hero Arts Clear Design Cupcakes set. I have other cupcake stamps but they are smaller and I don't seem to do quite as well with smaller images. I need to build up my supply of birthday cards. Birthdays are coming and I'm missing them or I remember and I don't have the time to make a card. Sets: Cupcakes CS: Chocolate Chip, Cool Carribean, VV, Real Red, Barely Banana Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cool Carribean, Barely Banana, Wild Wasabi Misc: CE, gemstones, ribbon, glue dots, blender pen, punch, markers: banana, turquoise, regal rose

I finished this book several weeks ago and didn't mention it here. I was reading this while reading The Book Thief . I never finished The Book Thief . I made it about 150 pages in and just couldn't get into the book. It started to improve before that, thus why I made it as far as I did. Onto this book. Very early on in the book I was laughing when the doctor inquired of Oswald how the news of his needing to leave Chicago or he wouldn't survive another winter affected him. I could relate Oswald to a friend I used to work with that was rather crusty so I found him to be a hoot. Jack, the redbird, was fun to read of his antics in the store and things he did that annoyed customers. Patsy was endearing and it was wonderful the way she was taken in and they hid her from authorities, even though they caught on early on and ignored it. The relationship of Patsy with Jack was sweet and when she left to have her surgery, the way she needed to see Jack to go and do well, it r...

Someone I know had twins a few weeks ago and they came home from the hospital this past week. I finally bought some diapers and a couple of outfits yesterday for them. She had a girl and a boy. I recently ordered this set from Stampin' Up! because I know several ladies that are pregnant with twins and I was excited for the verses and congratulations. How cool that they have something for adoption in the set too. I had this sketch idea the other day when I was working on something else. It adapts something I did several years ago. I would like the panel that is placed on top of the three rows to be a little longer, but overall, I really like this card. I never envisioned using the onesie that is in this set, but it is fun to use with the DP. Stamps: By Ones & By Twos CS: VV, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, DP Ink: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue Misc: Brads; black, p...

In the last week or so, I've come up with several sketch ideas. I tried one of them with the peony set but my main image was really too big to make it happen. It took me a couple of days to get this card done. I think I would like it better if I had a small amount of the groovy guava showing on the right side and bottom of the main image. It still is pretty but it looks out of balance to me. Stamps: Pretty Peony, Linen, Sanded, Floral CS: Really Rust, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi Ink: Really Rust, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi Misc: Groovy Guava ribbon, clear dew drops