Greetings!

Double Whammy – a recipe AND a craft.

amycatalogna — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:50:41 +0000

This is an oldie but a goody…I made this a few years ago for a recipe swap that I participated in. So, lucky for you — you get an idea (to start a swap, to participate in a swap, to make a recipe book…) AND you get a great recipe! This is a simple design, but since I was giving a recipe for a cheese “ball”, I thought circles were the way to go. I love the textured paper in the back and I just cut different size circles to make this look:

If you are interested in swaps, check out www.fiskateers.com or www.papercraftsmag.com. It’s a great way to be able to “craft” with others without having to leave your home! You sign up, then send in the correct number of whatever you’re making (which may include everything from recipe cards, to greeting cards, to scrapbook pages) and, in return, you get the same number from other swappers. Very cool!

Enjoy!

Dear Martha, Thanks for the inspiration — again!

amycatalogna — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:58:46 +0000

So, I have a thing for gift-giving…I can’t JUST buy a gift card (although I do love receiving them) and I love to put useful things together to make a nice gift for someone. So when I saw this from Martha, I knew that it would be the PERFECT gift for a friend that just bought a house:

So, off to one of my favorite stores — Dollar Tree and this is what I came up with (sorry for the horrible photo):

So, I found a black pastic bucket (not the beautiful tin one Martha used, but useful none-the-less), and filled it with scissors, spic and span cleaner, clorox bleash, flashlights, batteries, picture hangers, magic erasers, sponges, Execedrin Migraine, and a few other incredibly useful things and tied a pretty (ish) bow around it! All together, it cost $17 including the ribbon, the card, the bucket and the contents! And, best of all, my friend loved it!

Enjoy!

Linking to:

Top o’ the Morning to you!

amycatalogna — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:56:39 +0000

I can’t let a holiday get away without celebrating just a “wee” bit! I wanted to make a little something for the teachers at school…and I wanted to let my 3-year-old help. So, we made loaves of Irish soda bread for the teachers in his classroom:

I wrapped them up with Saran Wrap (now that I think of it, I probably had GREEN Saran Wrap somewhere!). Made a simple card and voila! I used a very easy recipe from www.mommiecooks.com (although I used a little less flour than she did, as the first loaf seemed really dry).

Then, I saw this cute idea from The Decorated Cookie. I didn’t have lollipop sticks, so I improvised, but I think they are pretty cute!

I used Wilton decorating sugar for the marshmallows. I used the scalloped heart punch from Fiskars to make the shamrock. And, God Bless whoever came up with the bag topper — it’s the best. thing. ever. I just used regular snack bags and dressed them up! Yahoo!

And, I’ll leave you with this: May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future – Irish Blessing

Enjoy!

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We have a winner!

amycatalogna — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:04:58 +0000

What fun I had hopping to all the blogs on the OWH Bunny Hop this weekend! Really great inspiration out there! Without further ado…we have a winner:

#43

Doris of http://momsbeenscrappin.blogspot.com/! Congratulations!

And, thank you for all of the lovely comments…I read ALL of them and truly appreciate it!

More later. Enjoy!

Operation Write Home Bunny Hop (giveaway)!

amycatalogna — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 03:29:33 +0000

Hi there! Welcome to my little stop on Operation Write Home Bunny Hop! For those of you arriving from Donna’s blog “Donna Inks,” welcome and I hope you took some time to look around — she has some amazing cards and I hope you showed her love, because she has an amazing giveaway! If you’re stumbling onto the hop right now, you might want to start at http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org to see all the great blogs!

I have said it before, but I will say it again — I am absolutely thrilled to do my small part for such an amazing organization — Operation Write Home’s mission is to support our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them. The OWH website has been redesigned and is amazing (www.operationwritehome.org) – please take the time to check it out — the stories definitely inspire me to jump into action to do whatever I can for these men and women serving our country!

And, if you ARE inspired, please consider making cards (or having your craft group, school class, or scout troop make cards!). Volunteering for this organization is easy — you can do it whenever you like and you can wear your jammies! You can find where to ship the cards (it can be as few as one) and a few basic rules (size, design, etc.) on the website. My son also enjoys coloring in the printables they have for “Any Hero Letters.” There are a couple of deadlines coming up…Easter Cards must arrive at OWH by March 18 and Mother’s Day cards must arrive at OWH by March 31.

Here is the spring card that I made for the hop…I love the flowers that came in a kit — they are distressed and just really beautiful!

This along with others will be sent this week to OWH!

On to the good stuff…leave a comment for me (and if you can, pledge to make and send a few cards). On Monday morning, I will choose a comment at random and you will win a super, surprise prize (it will include some homemade cards for you to use and some crafty supplies). So, show the love!

Now, on to Sheryl at http://sherylscraftingcorner.blogspot.com/. Enjoy!

Craft Fair Goodies

amycatalogna — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:04:46 +0000

I participated in a craft fair at my nephew’s school right before Thanksgiving…I like to concentrate on useful items, price them right, and kind of pride myself on knowing my audience. So, I decided to concentrate on teacher gifts, sticking stuffers/Hanukkah gifts, and seasonal items. It was a great success! I love the little extra money to fuel my hobby, but I also love to hear positive comments about the quality of my work (which I pride myself on) and my ideas (most of which I have seen somewhere else and made my own . Here are a few of the things that I sold:

Click to view slideshow.

The “thank you teacher” boxes are boxes of paperclips, mini binder clips, and notepads which I found for…wait for it…ONE DOLLAR at Office Max, then I added a glue stick as well (there was a space empty). The paper came from my stash, and Michaels/AC Moore. The Post-it note pads are acrylic frames with paper inserted, then decorated — I get the acryclic frames at a local discount store for 2/$1. I attached the Post-its with my tape runner. I got the pens on sale at the time at Staples, but I have recently found packs of two at the dollar store (score!). These were a GREAT way to use up scraps. The bookmarks were super simple, and super cute if I do say so myself. I got the large paper clips in packages of 6 at Staples. Hope these inspire you…enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

amycatalogna — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:38:55 +0000

I love to test my skills and learn new things…in the fall, I took a cake decorating class at a local high school. It was GREAT! I got comfortable for the first time with bags and tips and frosting…really fun. And the teacher gave us some very easy, very useful tips for cakes and cupcakes. Sooooo, when I saw these cupcakes in an issue of Family Circle (www.familycircle.com), I knew that I wanted to try them! I was invited to a coworker’s house for a holiday party and voila! These are what I brought:

Adorable, right?? I love them AND they were super easy. I will say that the recipe on Family Circle is for “from scratch” cake — I used boxed. I DID make buttercream frosting, but I KNOW you could just as easily used canned frosting. I have seen these all over the web and folks have some really creative ideas like baking the cupcakes in mugs or using pretzels (or something else) to make a “handle” on the cupcake to look like a mug. The possibilities are endless! Enjoy!

Chili Cornbread Casserole (yes, please!)

amycatalogna — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:23:30 +0000

Hi there!

It’s been WAY too long since I posted, but that doesn’t mean that I have not been crafty or creative…I have great things to show you! But, I thought I would start out with a recipe that has recently come my way that I LOVE! I will be posting a crafty post tomorrow and am participating in a Blog Hop this weekend (complete with a giveaway), so stay tuned! Enjoy!

I have had this a couple of times, made by a couple of different people (with I am sure a couple of different recipes), but the result is the same — DELISH! This is the recipe that I used when I made it…

CHILI CORNBREAD CASSEROLE

1/4 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 can Hormel Chili w/o beans
About 6-8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese (I use as much cheddar cheese as looks good to me and I LIKE CHEESE)
2 packages (7 or 8 oz.) cornbread mix
2 egg
2/3 cup milk

Brown ground beef in a large skillet and drain. Add the taco seasoning mix, tomato sauce and Hormel Chili without beans (technically, you could use canned chili for this if you were pressed for time!). Place in a casserole dish. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Make the cornbread mix using the one egg and 1/3 cup of milk and pour on top of the beef mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until cornbread is golden. Serve with Salsa and Sour cream on top if desired.

Linking to:

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/2011/02/foodie-fridays-2nd-anniversary-w.html

Back to School!

amycatalogna — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:26:54 +0000

So, I don’t really need a reason to be crafty (it’s Tuesday! it’s morning! You get the idea). However, this year is my 3-year-old’s first foray into pre-school…sooooo, of course, I had to do something to kick-off the school year. I know this idea is not new, and I have seen them all over the internet, so I am not sure who to give credit to, although I did just see them in Creating Keepsakes magazine and that triggered the idea:

I used Rolo’s for the “pencil” part and Hershey Kisses for the points. I just LOVE them and think they are simply adorable! You can see instead of making tags for them (another step I wasn’t sure I had time to do), I wrote wishes for a great school year right on the pencils. And, I also made a couple of fall baggies with the extra kisses for some of the teachers with these quick pencil tags:

A great way to kick-off the school year! Enjoy!

Amy

LINKING TO:

A yummy summer salad

amycatalogna — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:17:45 +0000

I am not a huge fan of raw broccoli (WILL eat it, but don’t love it), but I absolutely LOVE this EASY, delicious, family-friendly salad that I served when we had friends over on Saturday night. I am of the belief that “using what you have” is fine. So, for instance, my mother-in-law (whom I got this recipe from) uses white raisins, but I had regular brown raisins on hand, so that’s what I used.

photo from easysaladrecipes.com

BROCCOLI SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

A decent-sized bunch of broccoli

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup of cocktail peanuts

1/2 of red onion

1/2 cup of mayo

1/2 cup of plain yogurt

DIRECTIONS:

Mix everything together (yes, that is the directions that I have). Make it the day before so that the flavors can mix and mingle. Enjoy!

Linking to: