November 30 Day Challenge

I'm finally getting around to posting the cards from the November challenge. This month, our challenge was to use something from our own stash that we had never used. Keri did this adorable shaker card using her Lawn Fawn Coffee stamps and dies.

I decided to use my new stitched Quilt die from My Favourite Things. I love my paper piecing and even though it takes a bit of time to put together, it was pretty fun to be able to quilt and not have to pull out the sewing machine.

So I originally gave it to Keri without the kitty but I thought it looked too one dimensional so I quickly pulled out another previously unused stamp set from MFT and coloured and popped up a little kitty so the theme of the paper was more obvious.

And I stamped the inside to tie it all together....

It was fun to work with some new items. Heaven only knows I have plenty to choose from. I'm off to make my turkey soup.

Jersey

Look familiar? This is Jersey, one of the 3 sponsored pups from the Loonies for Lindor charity scrapping event. And she just happens to be Lindor's grandpuppy from her daughter Eden.

The eyes are different but she still looks like my girl. Jersey is in Advanced training to become a service dog. The fundraiser also sponsored brothers Jovi and Java. Hopefully they will make a family very happy one day soon.

Rally Obedience

As we are nearing the end of 2016, I'm starting to revisit my 16 in 16 list, and one of my goals was to get another Rally Obedience title with Lindor. Although we still have one leg (one trial at one show) to go to get our Intermediate CKC Title, we have enjoyed taking lessons and practising and becoming more familiar with the sport. It's really incredible what the dogs can accomplish and so cool to watch the other handlers with their dogs. It definitely strengthens your bond and the labs especially love to be out and about working.

Lindor doesn't look too thrilled about her ribbons but I was happy with scores of 93 and 96. Maya decided to get into the photo shoot and show off her nice new haircut. She feels like a velour blanket. So soft. There was a little pudge under that fur though so we'll have to work on that over the winter.

ADS Auction Wrap Up

I got to hang out at Conestoga Mall yesterday handing out Auction prizes to the lucky bidders. It was a lot of work but we raised $3800 and that makes one family that much closer to getting a lifetime companion and assistant to help make their lives a little easier.

Max was the sweetest, softest Golden Retriever I ever met. I just wanted to smuggle him home. He is just about to be recalled to start his Advanced Training and his lovely handler will have to send him on his way.

What a great service the puppy raisers do for the community and so difficult to let these babies go.

Harley is a big ole yellow Lab that looked up everytime the Mall Custodian wheeled his garbage cart past.
He is currently in Advance training...

It was a busy day at the Mall and lots of people stopped by our Booth to chat and ask questions and make a donation. It was encouraging and made the Auction work that much more worthwhile. Now its on to the Christmas baking.

October 30 Day Challenge

It's been so long since I posted, even the format of Blogger has changed so its another technical learning curve for me.  We have been doing great on our 30 Day Challenges, in fact, we have been exchanging our cards AHEAD of time but I haven't gotten around to posting because I've been busy with this....

I was the ADS Online Auction Chair for 2016 and it was a big job soliciting donations and uploading photos and descriptions of the 110 items but it was a big success and the main part of the Auction ended last night so now I should have time to catch up on other pursuits.

So on to the October challenge. We both used Fall themed items. I borrowed the Lawn Fawn pie stamp and came up with this....

using this stamp set...

I apologize for the over-exposed photos but it's winter, what can I say?

And Keri used a Penny Black stamp set featuring hedgehogs but I couldn't find an image on the Internet to show you. Here's her card....

She also used the circle die cutouts from Your Next Stamp. A super versatile item to have and can create many different looks by changing the background paper.

So there you have it. I'm back at least for the time being.

Cooked Cabbage

So I had a weird encounter at the grocery store the other day. I was stopped chatting with a friend in front of the cabbages and this lady joined in, assuming we were talking about the many uses of cabbage. One thing led to another, my friend bailed on me and I was caught talking to this Polish lady for about 20 minutes. She told me everything I needed to know about cooking cabbage so I felt I had to give it a try.
Tip #1 - use purple cabbage
Tip #2- fry bacon and don't dump out the grease, YIKES!
Tip #3 - add a splash of malt vinegar
Tip#4 - add a tsp of sugar or a few plums (whaat?)
Tip#5- a little bit of grated ginger adds a nice taste
Tip#6 - cover and let it steam
Tip#7- if you get gassy, add some peppermint, if you don't have any, break open a peppermint tea bag and stir it in
You get the idea. I actually ran into her 2 more times even though I was hiding in the pharmacy. I got a small history of Poland while I was doing my grocery shopping. Oh well, I just think she was happy to share her wisdom in the culinary dept etc.

So I kind of based my recipe on this and then added a few of her suggestions....

Cooked Cabbage
1/2 red cabbage coarsely chopped
4-5 slices of bacon
1 large onion diced
1 tsp sugar
salt, pepper, dash of paprika and onion powder/garlic powder to taste

Fry bacon and then add onion and cabbage and spices. Cover and steam and occasionally stir for about 20 minutes or until tender. This was really good and I didn't need to use Tip #7

Freshly Made Sketches

I'm back with my favourite Sketch site. I like clean and simple cards with not too much frou-frou and this fits the bill to get the mojo going. I borrowed a cute Gina Marie Onsie die from my friend and before you know it, I had whipped up 4 baby cards.
Here's the Sketch 259...

And here's the card I made based upon it...

I think it would work great for a boy!