Amy Grant - Better Than a Hallelujah

Amy Grant was being interviewed on FISH 104.7 this morning and she sang this song in the studio and I just loved it. I love Amy Grant anyway but this song really touched me. She sang a couple of more songs - I have to get this CD !!

2010 Movies - so far....

So far this year, I've seen 19 new movies. Now these are not all new releases but rather they are movies I have never seen before. I am not counting movies I watched this year but have already seen before (such as Breakfast Club, Wedding Singer, etc).

My fave so far... "It's Complicated". Great cast, great story, great movie!

My least fave so far..."Ghost of Girlfriends Past". I was so disappointed in this movie. It didn't look all that great but I figured, hey Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Breckin Meyer, Emma Stone, surely this great cast can make the movie good, right? wrong!! As much I as love all four of these actors, this movie was (in my humble opionion) downright awful - awful. I can't believe these talented actors/actresses agreed to even do this movie - they must have had some might bucks thrown at them.

Anyway....here is my 2010 movie list and ratings so far this year.

Date . . . . . . . . .Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . Rating
01/01/10 The Princess & The Frog . . . . . . ♥♥♥♥
01/03/10 It's Complicated . . . . . . . . . . . .♥♥♥♥♥
01/04/10 The Soloist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥ 1/2
01/07/10 Extraordinary Measures. . . . . . . .♥♥♥
01/13/10 Revolutionary Road. . . . . . . . . . .♥♥♥
01/15/10 Avatar - 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .♥♥♥♥♥
01/16/10 Yes Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥♥
01/18/10 The Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥♥
02/06/10 National Treasure 2 . . . . . . . . . .♥♥♥
02/06/10 Julia & Julie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥♥♥
02/28/10 Before&After (M Streep) . . . . . . .♥♥ 1/2
03/13/10 Up in the Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .♥♥♥
03/21/10 Ghost of Girlfriends Past . . . . . . .1/2
03/21/10 Snow Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥
03/26/10 Frost/Nixon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥♥♥
03/26/10 Goonies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ♥♥♥
03/27/10 Shutter Island. . . . . . . . . . . . . .♥♥♥♥
03/27/10 Be Kind - Rewind . . . . . . . . . . . .♥♥

Around the World - Progress Report 2

This is really working up pretty fast. I guess because I am enjoying making it so much - I can't wait to see the finished product! I haven't made an afghan/blanket in a really long time and this is reminding me how much I love to make them!

Anyway, I've completed the first color set - all pink shades - the next will be shades of green.

Squares completed . . . 25

Squares to go . . . 1, 048

Around the World - Progress Report 1

Well...I got the first round of color done on my Around the World blanket. I read a lot on Ravelry about when someone makes a project like this how much of a pain it was in the end when they had to join the pieces and weave in the ends. I never understood that. Whenever I've made any kind of project, I've always joined and weaved in the ends as I went along. I guess I thought everyone did that. I'm self-taught, it just made sense to do it this way to me.

Sunday Message

A man (who happens to be LDS) created this for his daughters but I love the beautiful message and the song. Have a beatiful Sunday and give God the praise today!

New Project - Around the World Afghan

I know... I know... I should not start a new project, I already have more than one in progress and I have several others in mind but when I saw this pattern, I just fell in love with it.

For several years and I mean SEVERAL, I've wanted to make a crochet blanket that had the look of a quilt, I just loved all the colors and the patchwork design of the Around the World Quilt.
So...I now I had to pick out the yarn, but didn't want to buy it unless I could find EVERY color I wanted to use. My first choice was Dark Horse Fantasy. I love this yarn, it is super soft and washes well. But the skeins are about 3 oz each (and I need 8 oz of each color) so I would have to buy 3 skeins of each color. While the price per skein is reasonable, I'd spend about $10-12 on each color I needed.

So... I then decided to check out my 2nd yarn choice.I decided to use Vanna's Choice (Note: Usually I can get this on sale for $2.50 a skein, normal price $2.99 at stores where I shop) I often found 2 shades of each color, but I needed 3 shades of each color. I went to several stores, the last being Hobby Lobby and I was surprised at how little Vanna's Choice they had.

Well...my friend Susan (who is not a crafter at all!) happened to be with me and said does it have to be that brand? I said No, but I the other one I wanted would make my blanket too expensive, and I really loved Vanna's Choice and now I didn't know what brand to seek out (I didn't want to use Red Heart because, although I love Red Heart, it just wasn't the texture and colors I was going for).

Susan went to Hobby Lobby's own brand called "I Love This Yarn" and helped me pick out the colors I was seeking. It was the same price as Vanna's Choice and was just as soft, if not softer. Much to my surprise, we found every single color combo I wanted. I hadn't planned on buying all the yarn I needed but since all the colors were there and I only needed one skein of each color (besides black), I got them all - the total $41 - not bad for an ENTIRE Queen size blanket.

So I got home and couldn't wait to start the first and center square. So the picture above is the starting point - Square 1...only 1,072 more to go (ay, ya, ya!)

They're Always After Me Lucky Cupcakes

I love St. Patrick's Day! I was trying to think of something to take to work as a treat today and came up with this idea. I didn't have time to do anything from "scratch" but these are "home-made". To me, the two are different - from scratch means you used butter, milk, eggs, flour and make a cake - homemade means you may have used a cake mix. While all things you make from scratch are home-made. Not all things home-made are made from scratch. But I digress...

I came up with the idea to make "They're Always After Me Lucky Cupcakes"

I used a white cakemix and baked them in paper shamrock cupcake holders - then poked holes in it after letting them cool. Mixed green jello with 1 cup boiling water and 1/2 cup cold water and pour through the holes in the cupcakes. I then frosted them with canned icing (yes, canned icing which I seldom use, but I did say I needed to make them quick). I added a bit of the dry green jello and some green food coloring. Topped with a bit of green sugar and then some Lucky Charms!

I think they came out Magically Delicious ! Hope my co-workers enjoy them.

Osmond Brothers !!!

Lynn and I got tickets many, many months ago to go see Merrill Osmond who was going to do a show back in November, but sadly for health reasons he had to cancel.

But...luckily he, Wayne and Jay all came to the Anderson Theater this yesterday and gave a wonderful show... They started with "Down By The Lazy River" and ended with an encore of "Are You Up There/I Believe"

Afterwards, they did a little meet and greet and we got to meet them and talk to them for a while and they signed a photo for us (my scanner isn't working so I can't post it yet). But you know how Lynn and I are - we stay until they make us leave just about it. So we hung around and took a few more pictures (which I will post later). Well before they left, I heard Merrill say "Are we going to do some group shots?" and heck, Lynn and I jumped at that !! So here we are.

I wish they could play here every night !

Here is the picture of us when they played here March 21 2008 (almost exactly 2 years ago) when Jimmy, Jay and Wayne were here (not very good quality since it was taken with my camera phone)

Two New Recipes

I love to try new recipes. This week I found a couple that looked super easy and super good and I was right on both cases.

First up: Tex-Mex Shells & Cheese from Kraft.com

Great Texas horny-toads - this was good. It was just the right amount of spice with the right amount of cheese - it made plenty too - I had leftovers for lunch and for dinner the next day!

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 pkg. (12 oz.) VELVEETA Shells & Cheese Dinner
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Mexican-style diced tomatoes, undrained
1-1/4 cups water
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1) Brown meat in nonstick skillet; drain.
2) Stir in shells, tomatoes and water. Bring to boil; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 15 min.
3) Add Cheese Sauce; stir until blended. Top with shredded cheese

How simple is that? Give it a try - sometimes simple recipes are the best !

Second Up: Cream Cheese Danish

Now, the other recipe, a dessert, I have been wanting to try for months. During Thanksgiving, I was browsing through my mom's cookbook and there was a handwritten one in there from my Aunt Wanda - who I think is an excellent cook and one of the best bakers I know! It was for a Cream Cheese Danish. I copied it down and after I got home, got busy with the holidays and totally forgot about it, until... I stumbled upon Gourmet Mom-on-the-Go's very similar recipe. The only difference... she added cinnamon (which I only thought would improve my aunt's version)

Ingredients:

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
¾ c. white sugar
2 (8 oz. each) packages cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla

Topping (if desired):
¼ c. white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1) Unroll and press 1 crescent roll package on bottom of greased 9 x 13 cake pan.
2) Mix together 2 packages cream cheese, ¾ c. sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla and spread on top of crescent roll.
3) Unroll and place 2nd crescent roll package on top of mixture (sealing pieces together).
4) Mix ¼ c. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle on top.
5) Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Cool and enjoy !

CD Coasters

While over at my house one evening, my sister was venting about how she couldn't find a coaster that didn't stick to the bottom of her glass when she picked it up or one that didn't fill up with water as your ice melted. I told her that I could make her one using an old CD and if she liked it, then I'd make her a whole set.

So... I made her a "prototype" using this pattern. This is a great pattern, well written and works up really fast. It took about an hour to make, at the most and she took it home that night - then took it to work the next day to try out. She loved it. She wanted a whole set (with different colors to match her home decor). I got busy with the holidays and such but finally got around to making her a set. Now one of her co-workers wants a set of her own.

I used Lily's Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn in Softly Taupe and Landscape and and some old bank CDs that I got from a previous job (they were duplicate CDs and we didn't need them so I decided to put them to good use and just as a safety precaution I put a long stratch in each one the day I took I was given permission to take them home)

I was really happy with how they turned out - my mom even asked if I'd make her a set for mother's day and my mom (in general) doesn't usually ask me to crochet her anything, so you know she loved them!

Scrapbook Sketches

I have a ga-billion hobbies. I first learned crochet at the tender age of 9, I started drawing around that time too (although kind of stopped that around the age of 15). In the past I did needlepoint, crewel, embroidery, macrame (yes, macrame!), string art (remember those), hook rugs, punch needle, plastic canvas (never too fond of that look), paint (mostly by numbers). I still like to cross stitch, though haven't done that in a while, currently I crochet, knit and SCRAPBOOK!!

I don't have as much time (or more importantly enough space) to scrapbook as much as I'd like to. I have about 20 + sets of photos I want to scrap.

I am not a fancy scrapper, I fall into the group of scrappers called "simple scrappers" - I like my pages fairly clean and straight lined - not too many embellishments or fru-fru stuff. I like people who can do those kind of more intricate pages and think they are beautiful. I just don't have the time and plus they aren't really "me" - I've always been a plain-kind of girl - like things simple yet elegant (vanilla is my favorite flavor of ice cream so that gives you some insight to who I am)

Well...several years ago I found someone whose style was very close to mine - the very talented Becky Higgins. She then started having sketches of her layouts in Creating Keepsakes magazine and I loved using them. You don't really do the sketch exactly - you take the sketch as a base and build your own idea around them.

You can imagine how excited I was when she came out with her first sketchbook, then later another one. She also has a best of..book (of course I have them all). I use these magazines/books quite often! I also have a binder of many of the sketches from Creating Keepsakes website (most of which are Becky's) and Simple Scrapbooks website (which is now gone - boo hoo - that was my favorite magazine)

Now that Becky H. has left CK and isn't releasing new sketches, I find most of my sketch resources on various Internet websites.

I have been wanting, for quite some time now, to compile the ones I like in one place so I have all the links in one place but I hope other scrapbookers might find this and find it useful also.

I tend to scrap mostly 2-page layouts and in 12 x 12 format so those are the sketches I seek out the most but I can adapt pretty much any layout to fit my needs.

Here are some great ones:

4 x 6 photo sketches (I almost always use 4x6 photos)

8 x 8 sketches

52 Sketches-52 Weeks (1-page)

63 2-Page Sketches

Alison Davis' Blog

Creative Scrappers

Google Images (not a website, per se, but lots of great sketches none-the-less)

Got Sketch? (notice on side bar - have 4x6 photo sketches)

Becky Higgins (75 sketches from her 1st book-posted on 2peas)

Jane Eubank's Sketches

Leisha's Page Plans

Page Maps

Pencil Lines (most are 1-page)

The Scrappiest (mostly 1-page; 1-photo)

Sketch Savvy (great Disney LOs & several 4 x 6 LOs)

Scrapburbia

Simple Schemes (use to be in Simple Scrapbooks-posted on 2peas)

Sketches by Suzy (mostly 2-pages)

Stamping101 WebShot

Stickers N' Fun

I am sure this list will continue to grow. If you know of any other great sketch sites - please leave a comment with the site listed. I always love checking them out.