Prettie Wednesday, Paper Piecing!

German Phrase of the Day: Die Sonne ist sehr hell. = The sun is very bright. At least...I hope it is nice and bright while we're here in Spain!! ;-)

It's Wednesday, and you all know what that means! It's another Prettie Wednesday challenge. This week's challenge was issues by our illustrator Joni. She is one talented lady....just wait until you see the newest stamps she and Christie cooked up. I can't wait to share them with you! I love everything they've created so far...and the new ones are just as cute!!

For today's card I used Flutter By, one of my current favorites. I stamped her in Brilliance Black ink onto stamper's select white, then colored her in with my SU! markers. Next, I stamped again on my patterned paper (something I picked up at Mike's back in February) to give her a pretty splattered dress. Then, I masked her legs with my eclipse masking tape and stamped the certainly celery oval for her to stand on. Lastly, I went over her beads, flower and the butterfly with some stickles to make her sparkle. Cute, no??

The card base is Perfect Plum an dthe matting is certainly celery. I added some celery organdy ribbon and then stamped the greeting with perfect plum ink on the patterned paper.

Have a wonderful day everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Flutter By from Paper Pretties
CS: Mike's patterned paper, stamper's select white, certainly celery, perfect plum
Ink: brilliance graphite black, perfect plum
Acc: SU! Markers, stickles, organdy ribbon

TFL!

Sympathy card

German Phrase of the Day: Ihnen Frieden und Komfort wünschen. = Wishing you comfort and peace. I don't make sympathy cards. When one is needed, I use a Thinking of You card because I like that better...makes me feel less bad I guess. But, I LOVE this new Free with 3 set from GinaK!

For this card I started with the focal image. I inked the flowers up with my Certainly Celery, Regal Rose and Apricot Appeal markers, huffed, and stamped. These flowers are so pretty...and I know they would look great with different techniques such as poppin pastels, chalkboard, etc - which I hope to get to when I get back. But for this first use of them I wanted to start simply. After stamping the flowers, I stamped the greeting with Basic Gray ink over the stems, then mounted it onto Certainly Celery and Regal Rose cs.

The next layer is some Certainly Celery prints DSP with the same flower image stamped in certainly celery ink repeatedly to add to the background. I like the way it turned out. I clipped the corners then sponged the edges, then adhered this to some Pretty in Pink CS. I added the silver brads in the corners, then tied the pink gingham ribbons around it before adhering to the Regal Rose card base. Finally, I popped the central piece up with pop dots and added the flowers with bling center that I got from Gina last month. I like how it looks like it's another flower on that stem going over to the side.

Have a wonderful day! I'll be back home again soon.

Supplies: (all supplies from Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: Comfort & Peace from GinaK Designs
CS: stamper's select white, , certainly celery, pretty in pink, regal rose, certainly celery prints DSP
Ink: regal rose, certainly celery, apricot appeal, basic gray
Acc: pink gingham ribbon, flowers and bling from GinaK, silver brads
TFL!

Nestabilities card

German Phrase of the Day: Wir sind am Urlaub in Spanien. = We are on holiday in Spain. Today we should be making our way down the coast past Valencia after having spent yesterday in Barcelona. Can't wait to tell you all about the trip when we get home!

Today's card was designed by Irina, my downline's downline. She teaches classes in the San Jose area, and when I was back there earlier this month she did a great class on using nestabilities for a small group of us. I love how elegant this card looks, an dthe embossing from the nestabilities adds so much. Did I tell you all I bought a cuttelbug while I was there? I had a 50% off coupon from Mike's...so how could I resist? It's waiting for me to return.

To see some more cards created by Irina be sure to visit her blog...she's an amazing artist!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by!

TFL!

Egg-citing News!

German Phrase of the Day: Ich verlasse auf einem Düsenflugzeug. = I'm leaving on a jet plane. We're off again...this time to Spain. We'll be there for a week, but I have a few posts here "in the can" for you so I'm not going totally silent for this trip. I'm so thoughtful, always thinking of you, my loyal blog visitors! And hey...if we have internet at any of the hotels we're staying at maybe I'll even post from the road with some photos! (DH can't seem to travel ANYWHERE without his laptop!!)

Today's card uses another of GinaK's newest releases, this one called Owl Always Love You. I've never been a big owl lover, but these little guys are just too cute! For this card I stamped my owl onto stamper's select white cardstock using Palette Noir ink...and then noticed I had stamped it quite crooked. Being the lazy stamper that I am, I colored it anyway and decided I could just attach it to the card a little tilted. I colored the image with my aquapainter and watercolor crayons. The designer paper (it looks really washed out in the photo but is a little brighter in real life) is some VERY old retired SU! DSP. I thought the pastel colors would be great for a baby card. The base is Bashful Blue and the matting is Certainly Celery.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Supplies: (all supplies from Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: Owl Always Love You from GinaK Designs
CS: stamper's select white, certainly celery, bashful blue, retired SU! DSP
Ink: Palette Noir
Acc: Aquapainter, watercolor crayons, Bazzill polka dot organdy ribbon

TFL!

Queen of the Grill

German Phrase of the Day: Ich bin die Königin! = I am the queen! In our household...I work the grill. My husband does not grill, much to my dismay, so if I want something cooked outside or in, I must do it myself! I was actually bummed when I saw Melanie beat me to the punch with this one...I thought I was being so clever in coming up with the idea, and then saw she came up with the same one! Oh well...guess great minds think alike, right?!? ;-)

I decided to make a tin for the Grill Queen. Perhaps she can keep her matches in it. I started with Melanie's What's In Your Tin Set 1 and kissed it with my Aida cloth background inked up with real red. Next, I stamped the grill with Palette Noir an dcolored it in with my Prismacolor pencils, blending stumps and OMS. I cut out both stamped pieces, then stamped "of the Grill!" from the King of the Grill set and then added "queen" above it from Hip Hop Accessories. To finish off the t in, I adhered some red gingham around the side of the lid. This actually came together very quickly, and I'm quite pleased with the result. Perhaps I'll save it for my Sister-in-Law when she gets here next week...she's also a Grill Queen - and VERY good at it! :-)

We're heading out in the morning at 0 dark thirty (which is REALLY early here since the sun has been rising by 5:30 lately!) Have a great Friday everyone!

Supplies: (all supplies from Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: King of the Grill , What's In Your Tin 1, & Hip Hop Accessories from GinaK Designs, aida cloth background
CS: stamper's select white
Ink: Palette Noir, real red
Acc: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, red gingham ribbon, "Altoid" tin

TFL!

New GinaK Stamps!!

German Phrase of the Day: Ja, gerne. = Yes, that would be nice. (Or more literally translated it means Yes, gladly!)

I was so excited to get home from all my travels and discover that my new GinaK stamps had arrived! YEAH!! Although I am very sad that this was my last release as part of the Guest Design Team, I have had so much fun during my 3 month stint! I strongly encourage everyone to apply for the next round...Gina is such a lovely person to work with, and so generous!! I know I'll be trying out again once I'm settled back in in the states! :-)

The first card I made was with the new King of the Grill set. My dad LOVES golf. He golfs whenever he can, which now that he's retired is fairly regularly. My daughter always asks her Nana on the phone "Where's Grampy, Golfing?" My dad has a green golf bag (at least, I'm pretty sure it's green) so I thought these colors would work well. I colored the bag with Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss markers, and used the 2 grays from the neutral marker set to color the clubs and metal clasps. I stamped the bag first onto stamper's select white with palette noir ink, then masked the bag to stamp the clubs inside it.

I started with an Always Artichoke base with a layer of Mellow Moss stamped with the flannel background in Always Artichoke and then sponged on top of that. The strip of stiped paper is from some VERY old retired SU! DSP, and I used Gina's new masculine bling screw brads to anchor the strip. Originally, I wanted to use the Happy Father's Day stamp on here...but it wouldn't fit and I wasn't feeling up to splitting it into two lines...so I decided to make it a birthday card instead. Guess I'll have to save it for quite a while - or maybe dad will need it for one of his golf buddies!

Ok...more GinaK tomorrow! Off to get my little bug bug very soon. :-)

Supplies: (all supplies from Stampin' Up! unless noted)
Stamps: King of the Grill from GinaK Designs, flannel background
CS: stamper's select white, always artichoke, mellow moss, retired SU! DSP
Ink: brilliance graphite black, always artichoke, mellow moss, going gray and basic gray markers
Acc: GinaK Bling & Dazzle Screw Brads

TFL!

Prettie Wednesday Polka Dots

German Phrase of the Day: Sollen wir uns zum Mittagessen treffen? = Shall we meet for lunch? That is something I don't do over here - meet up with friends for lunch. In California I did it all the time, but it's just not as common here I guess. I'm looking forward to doing it again when I return.

Today is Prettie Wednesday, and 2 weeks ago I issued the challenge to use polka dots in any way on a card, paper, ribbon, stamps, etc. I used a stamp that has some polka dots, as well as some paper with polka dots! It was so nice to get upstairs and stamp again...I really enjoyed myself!

I used the new Rainy Day Friends set from Paper Pretties because I just love stamping Sophia splashing in that puddle. It's exactly what my little Julia bug LOVES to do in the rain. And since I was painting Sophia to look like my little one (who I'm REALLY missing - she's home tomorrow!!) I had to stamp the dog and paint her mostly black...with just a little white on the toes like our Maisy dog. I actually think Maisy might miss Julia even more than we do...she's been moping around bringing us her toys and trying to get us to play with her ever since Julia left! And I added a little sparkle to the puddle using my Spica glitter pens...YUM!

The sentiment is such a perfect one. Perhaps I should make another card like this to send to my mom. Jumping in puddles seems exactly the kind of thing she would love! This card is going to Joni, our wonderful illustrator...so I hope she likes it!! Last week she challenged us all to make a card with Paper Piecing...guess I better get busy!

I hope you all have a very Prettie day! Be sure to drop by the new Boutique and check out all the great new things Christie has been adding. I feel a shopping trip coming on! ;-)

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Rainy Day Friends from Paper Pretties
CS: Bazzill green, Cloud 9 designer paper, Stamper's Select White
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, olive velvet ribbon, spica glitter pen

TFL!

Blog Bon-Bon Winners!

Sorry for taking so long to post this...I'm finally starting to get caught up again! It's been a crazy week around here, but Julia is still on her ausflug (field trip) with Kindergarten so it's been pretty quiet, and I took yesterday off to just rest after driving over 1000 miles in 4 days. I decided I needed it!

So, the winners are post #1 and #15:

#1

Cheryl said...

Happy Birthday to you. Wish I were there to have some of that luscious chocolate cake with you!! the rhubarb crunch doesn't sound bad either. thanks for giving us the gifts altho you give us a gift with every post! HB!!!!
Cheryl Sims

4/15/2008 01:00:00 PM

wins the Serenity Now set

and #15

michvan said...

Happy Birthday!!! Hope you and Amy have a wonderful time in Champagne!!! Love how your card turned out, too . . . might have to get the Swiss dots folder myself, not sure if I can wait to use it til you get back! ;)

Hugs,
Michelle

gets the Ride 'Em Cowgirl set!

Congrats ladies!! Cheryl, please email me your snail mail address and I'll get this out right away. Michelle...I have yours darlin'! ;-)

Ok...Prettie Wednesday is coming up next!

3D Flowers

German Phrase of the Day: Auf der Straße wieder. = On the road again. I haven't been back to my stamp room since Tuesday morning...and it's already Friday! I'm heading out this morning to drive down through the Mosel River valley and then into the champagne region of France with my girlfriend. There will be a little wine tasting along the way. ;-) We're looking forward to having a nice girls weekend like the old days. She and I have been wine tasting all over California, so it's fun to have a chance to do it here in Europe with her.

Here's a card I made for a recent swap...it had to have 3-D flowers. I love these felt flowers from SU!...the colors are so bright and cheery. And it matches this Bali Breeze paper so perfectly! I used a stem from Bodacious Bouquet and the saying is from that wonderful new Occasions Mini set Full of Life. For the leaf, I folded some Certainly Celery cardstock in half then ran it through my crimper. I cut out a leave shape, opened it up, and ran it over my Old Olive ink pad. Cool, huh? I learned that from Patti!

I'll be back on Sunday, hopefully with a new card but no guarantees - I have to help Julia pack for her 3 night "ausflug" (fieldtrip) wtih her kindergarten. I'm so excited for her, and I hope she has a marvelous time! And it means I'll have time to stamp finally!! 3 days of peace and quiet - oh my!!

On Sunday night GinaK is releasing 4 great new sets (one is a new 1 Free with 3 set!) and you are going to love these. If you haven't seen her sneak peaks yet, head on over to her blog to check them out!! I'm hoping my stamps arrive soon so I can play too!! Be sure to attend the release party in the forum over at SCS.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And don't forget to enter for Blog Candy at my previous post - I'm giving away 2 MFT sets so your chances are pretty good!!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Full of Life, Bodacious Bouquet
CS: Whisper White, Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie, certainly celery, Bali Breezes DSP
Ink: basic black, old olive
Acc: Felt Fusion flowers, rhinestone brads, paper crimper, antique brads, crafter's toolkit

TFL!

CC162 Watering Can and Birthday Blog Bonbons!!

German Phrase of the Day: Um 10 Uhr habe ich einen Termin. = I have an appointment at 10am. Actually, I don't...but this is one of the last phrases from last year's calendar. I'm running out of ideas, so if you all have things you'd like to know how to say in German please leave a comment and I'll get it translated (and checked!) for my phrase of the day.

Sorry I'm so late with my post...it's been a little crazy here. It's my birthday, and I had a friend fly in from the US this afternoon. It's been a great day and lots of fun. I made myself a chocolate Devil's Food cake with nice sweet buttercream frosting that turned out perfect, and a very sweet friend even brought me some yummy Rhubarb Crumble (thank you Mirta!!)

In honor of my day, I have some blog bonbons for you all. Christie recently sent me a few duplicate stamp sets, so I have an extra Ride 'em Cowgirl and an extra Serenity Now! set. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will draw 2 lucky winners when I get back from my weekend trip to the Champagne region of France with my girlfriend Sunday night (it will probably end up being Monday morning before I draw the name...so you have a little extra time.) Easy peasy!! :-) Oh...and while you're at it, pick up some more MFT stamps for 10% off and help a wonderful family in need - you can read more about it on Kim's blog!!

On to my card. I started coloring this image last night, but then got tired and didn't finish the card. So this morning after taking Julia to school I saw today's color challenge and thought it would be perfect for this card. I just had to finish coloring the flower on the image with the Guava and Blush and then put the card together. I stamped on whisper white, which really is not a great paper to watercolor on. The color from the crayons moves TOO much on this paper...so I'm not totally happy with it. But, I just love this image from the new Paper Pretties set Simply Special and HAD to use it.

I used Groovy Guava, Blush BLossom and Basic Gray papers, and my Swiss Dot CB folder (LOVE that one!) along with some double-stitched Guava ribbon. I stamped and mounted the image for the inside...and I like how it looks!

Hope you all have a great day, and don't forget to register to win one of 2 stamp sets - my birthday present to you!!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Simply Special from Paper Pretties
CS: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Blush Blossom, Groovy Guava
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, Swiss Dot CB folder, double-stitched groovy guava ribbon

TFL!

Home from Rome

Roam where you want to....roam around the world. Sorry..I have that song stuck in my head right now, and it just seems to fit my life right now! We just got home from our 3 nights in Rome, and it was fabulous! I have to admit, I was not looking forward to this trip, but we had a fantastic time...I actually wish we'd had just one more day to finish seeing a few things...and I STILL didn't get to have my Tiramisu in Italy. I told dh that means he has to take me back...maybe for our 10th anniversary (although that is only in 2 more years!)

I'll get crankin' in the morning to have something fun for you with the latest Prettie releases...did you all go to the pajama party?? How was it...I wanna know?!?

Ok...going to bed...Guten Nacht! Bis Morgen! (Good night, until tomorrow!)

-Jana

Challenging colors baby card

For our sister swap last month, one of the cards was a color challenge card - using Green Galore, So Saffron and Cameo Coral. Now...I have nothing against any of those colors...but together? I was not sure about that!!

But...I'm happy with the result! I used my SU! Bundle of Joy set (oops...just noticed it's retired...sorry Yvette!) and the great phrase set from the current Occasions mini. I colored the giraffe with saffron and coral using my aquapainter and watercolor wonder crayons, mounted it on Gable Green, and then stamped the stars and moon all over the saffron background. To finish off the card I added some white taffeta ribbon. Overall, I was pretty happy with the outcome! I hope Yvette was too!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Bundle of Joy,
CS: Stamper's Select White, Gable Green, Cameo Coral, So Saffron
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, white taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

TFL!

One more Prettie Peek

Just a quick reminder that TONIGHT is the Stamping In Your Jammies party over at Paper Pretties! You really don't want to miss out on all the fun - so be sure to head over, and tell them Jana sent you! ;-)

This incredible new set is called Made with Love, and it includes Lexie here baking some scrumptious looking chocolate chip cookies, and some fun cute phrases. I needed a quick card last night since dh had just returned (hadn't seen him in over a week!) and I wanted to spend some time with him. So, I used supplies I had out from my January Bella card kit. Made pulling this card together super fast and easy...and still oh so cute!!

I colored Lexi in with my aquapainter and watercolor crayons (I sorta unburried them!) Then I stamped the sentiment for the front (Motherhood and baking go hand in hand) and trimmed it down inking just the edges in some Lovely Lilac ink. The dots on the side? Those are the centers from these wonderful sparkly chipboard flowers. Don't they look cute over there? To finish off the card, I stamped the continued sentiment on the inside which reads: Now if the baking would just lend a hand and do the dishes!

Have fun at the party tonight!

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Made with Love from Paper Pretties
CS: Bazzill wild pansy & atlantic, paper salon designer papers, ultrasmooth white
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, jumbo brads, sparkly chipboard flowers

TFL!

Kindred Spirits now available!

Run, don't walk, to GinaK Designs to order YOUR Kindred Spirit! These incredible new stamps are so very cool...there are 4 super moms to choose from, and the 4 other stamps you saw yesterday on your Journey. Wasn't that fun to see all the different designs everyone came up with for these 8 stamps? I really enjoyed seeing everyone's creations - and you should go back to visit everyone today as well since there will be MORE lovely samples for you to see! Oh...and don't forget the awesome sentiment set that goes with them!!

Today, Maria is on a background from Webster's Pages. I like how the stripes are going the same direction that she is...adds an extra level of movement! I made the photo corners using my 3/4" and my 1 3/8" square punches, since I still haven't bothered to replace my photo corner punch, and at this point I probably won't until after we've moved back to the US this summer. I colored Maria in with my aquapainter and watercolor crayons using Really Rust for her leotard and boots, mellow moss for her cape, and close to cocoa for her skin. She could even be me when I have a really good tan! ;-)

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Super Mom Maria Kindred Spirit from GinaK Designs
CS: stamper's select white, really rust, Webster's Pages patterned paper
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, square punches, artichoke grosgrain ribbon

TFL!

Just another Prettie Wednesday

German Phrase of the Day: Es ist bereits Mittwoch? - It is already Wednesday? I can't believe it's Wednesday already...my life has turned into a blur! I just got home from California yesterday, and tomorrow we leave for 3 nights in Rome. And while I realize it all sounds glamorous...it's starting to get exhausting!!! I really think I'm going to need a vacation from all these vacations - and SOON!

However...that doesn't mean it doesn't have to be a Prettie day! Not only do I have my Prettie Challenge card from two weeks ago...I have a Prettie Peak for you as well!! :-)

2 weeks ago Charmaine challenged us all to color the old fashioned way - with a brush. No fancy schmancy copics (I don't have many anyway) and no paper piecing - just good old fashioned watercoloring. For me, that was a breeze! I LOVE to watercolor, as anyone who visits my blog on a semi-regular basis knows. I decided I'd do a 1-layer card while I was at it...so I stamped Sophia on Stamper's Select white, then colored her with my aquapainter and watercolor crayons. I pulled the ribbon from one of my Ribbon Originals packages, and liked the layered look. I NEVER use staples, because I tend to like my cards more elegant than I think staples can really pull off...but I thought they might work on this one. Overall I was happy with the result - I just hope Christie is too! ;-)

Oh...and I guess I have to issue a challenge this week, don't I?! My challenge to you all is to use Polka Dots. It can be in ANY way...using stamps, paper, embossing, etc. Just include polka dots on a card! I can't wait to see what everyone creates in 2 weeks...and please feel free to play along at home too! Just link up your creations here!

Now for my Peek! Paper Pretties is releasing 3 new stamp sets on Friday night and having a Stamping in Your PJ's party to go along with the release! I'm so bummed I'm going to miss it, so you all have to go in my place and tell me all about it! What is a SIYJ party you ask? It's a fun online get together at the Paper Pretties online Forum where Charmaine will issue a stamping challenge every hour. You have 1 hour to complete the challenge and upload your card. Then, one winner is selected for each challenge to receive a great package of goodies from the Boutique, and one lucky overall winner is selected who can choose any stamp set from the Paper Pretties line of stamps. How cool is that?? You can win free stuff just for doing what you love to do - stamp!

The party starts on Friday April 11th at 8pm EST (that's 2am European time so I'll be sleeping in my hotel room!) so don't be late!

Now onto my card... please meet Rainy Day Sophia from the new Rainy Day Friends stamp set. She comes with lots of fun accessories (go to Christie's blog to see her with a bird on her hand!) and sentiments. For some reason I really liked the idea of this striped paper with her...and I thought the touch of pink for her dress would round it all out nicely. I colored her in with my aquapainter and reinkers this time (my watercolor crayons are buried right now...when I'm home for more than 48 hours I'll have to clean my craft room again!) I stamped the puddle with Bashful Blue ink, then went around the droplets with a blender pen to soften the lines somewhat. I love that technique! Everything else is pretty straightforward.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)
Stamps: Flutter By and Rainy Day Friends from Paper Pretties
CS: Stamper's Select WhiteWatercolor paper, certainly celery, bashful blue, retired SU! dsp
Ink: brilliance graphite black, certainly celery, bashful blue, pretty in pink, summer sun, blush blossom, close to cocoa
Acc: WWC, Aquapainter, ribbon originals, staples, wide celery grosgrain ribbon

TFL!

Kindred Spirits - the Journey

I'm back...just in time! GinaK is releasing an AMAZING new line of stamps at 12:01am on April 10th!! Here is a sneak peak at these amazing new stamps...I hope you like them as much as I do!

My name is Maria and I live in New Mexico. I am actually from Mexico and moved here with my family when I was just a little girl. I don't have any children yet but my husband and I want to have them someday. But I am an Aunt to my sister's adorable little boy. He and I do so many things together. I am his Godmother too. I take him to church with me every Sunday. He's such a cutie pie!

Last week, he came to spend the weekend at our house so my sister and her husband could go away for a couple of days. While he was here, I taught him how to cook a few things. He loved it! I think he could be a chef someday.

One of the things we made together was Steak Fajitas. He loved hearing them sizzle in the pan.

Next time he comes, we will bake cookies together. I love how close we have become. Besides, it's an Aunt's job to spoil her little nieces and nephews!

Steak Fajitas

1 lb of flank steak or skirt steak
1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced with the grain, not against the grain as one would normally slice an onion. Slice first in half, and then slice off sections a half inch wide at widest point.
2 large bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, de-ribbed, sliced lengthwise into half-inch wide strips

Marinade:
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 fresh Jalapeño pepper, seeded, ribs removed, finely chopped (be careful not to touch your eyes or anywhere near your eyes after handling a Jalapeño pepper!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, including stems

1 Mix all marinade ingredients. Set the steak in the marinade and let it sit at least an hour, the longer the better.

2 Heat to high heat a large cast iron pan or griddle. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the steak, frying on each side for 3 minutes, or to desired doneness. 3 minutes per side will yield approximately medium rare doneness for an average cut of flank steak. If pan starts to smoke too much, reduce the heat to medium high. We want the steak browned, not burned. Remove from pan and let sit for 5 minutes.

3 Reduce the pan heat to medium high. Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary. Add the onions, bell peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, until the onions are slightly translucent.

4 Slice the meat against the grain into thin slices. If you slice the meat at a slanted angle, you will be able to get your slices pretty thin. Flank steak is flavorful but can be a little tough, so thin slices will really help make it easier to eat.

5 Serve immediately with shredded cheese, salsa, shredded iceberg lettuce, sour cream, guacamole and warm flour tortillas. (Hint for warming tortillas - put in microwave over a paper towel for 20 seconds on high heat.)

PS I stamped the greeting on the inside this time...I know...not my normal MO - but it worked!

To continue the journey, click here

Awards and confessions...

I have a confession to make. I'm in California. I've been here since Tuesday, but I couldn't say so on my blog because we were surprising my good friend and upline Rachel. She found out Thursday night (our big plan worked and she was VERY surprised!) and so now I can let everyone else know. I'm actually here checking out potential schools for Julia since we are planning on moving back to the Bay Area this summer/fall. Lots of work in the next few months, but it will be fun to be back!

In the meantime, I've received the Arte y Pico Award a few times now. Christie very kindly passed it along to me, as did Charmaine. Love those Pretties!! Thank you ladies!! :-)

So...here are the rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity,design,interesting material,and also contributes to the blogging community,no matter what language.

2. Each award has to give the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog ,so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

I will come back and award this to 5 people soon...my google reader isn't working here, so I can't check to see who's got it and who doesn't (that's also why I haven't been commenting like usual...sorry folks!)

Hope you all are well...and I'll try to post some photos of projects soon. I made a Jan Tink Carousel Notes purse, and some AWESOME cards with a wonderful member of my downline here using Nestabilities and copper paper! Gorgeous!!

Sassy Suzy Says...

German Phrase of the Day: Mein hund bellt. = My dog is barking. Unfortunately, she does that more than we would prefer...but so far our neighbors have been understanding. :-)

Here's a card I made for a recent swap. It's using the Sassy Suzy sstamp set from SU!'s Occasions mini catalog. As soon as I saw the greetings that come with her, I knew I had to have her. I'll use those sayings not only with Suzy, but with my Bellas!!! This greeting for instance ("We're such good friends because Surprisingly you're not intimidated by my beauty.") would be PERFECT with Grumpabella, don't you think?

Anyhow, for this card I stamped Suzy on watercolor paper and colored her in with aquapainter and watercolor crayons. Next, I layered her onto some Old Olive cardstock. I cut a strip of the Summer Picnic DSP and layered that on my Real Red card (cut the long way!) and then I tied the lovely new striped red grosgrain on before attaching Suzy with some dimensionals. Lastly, I stamped the greeting with Basic Black. A super fast and easy card, but I liked the simple layout and bright colors.


I hope you all have a fabulous Thursday, and I'll have more soon!

Supplies: (all supplies from SU! unless noted)

Stamps: Sassy Suzy

CS: Watercolor, Real Red, Old Olive, Summer Picnic DSP

Ink: Basic Black

Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, red striped grosgrain



TFL!
-Jana

Prettie Wednesday with Masking

German Phrase of the Day: Vielen Dank! = Many Thanks! Vielen Dank to all of you who keep coming back to visit me...it really makes my day to know you all choose to come see my work. :)

2 weeks ago Joanne challenged the Prettie Girls to make a card using the masking techique. I wanted to something cool with reverse masking, etc...but in the end I got lazy! So, I stamped sweet little Sophia here, masked her using my eclipse masking tape, and stamped the oval under her feet to ground her. I know...kinda lame...but hey at least I got it done in time, right?

I used some gorgeous new Webster's Pages patterned paper that Christie sent to me in a recent box. Is she the best or what?!? She sent me this awesome box with lots of yummy designer papers, and some other fun new toys to play with. Boy, did I feel loved!! For the layout, I used CPS sketch #57. I used my CM curvy cutter to cut the paper...just love that thing!

As usual, I watercolored Sophia with an aquapainter and my watercolor wonder crayons (which is actually the challenge for next week...that was an EASY challenge for me!) The oval under Sophia was stamped with River Rock. The card base is a lovely textured Bazzill paper (also courtesy of Christie!) And I dressed her up with a little white taffeta ribbon and some half pearl stickers. I sure hope Julie likes it!

I hope you all are having a wonderful Wednesday (yeah...it's hump day!) and I'll be back with more fun tomorrow!

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Cuddle Me from Paper Pretties
CS: Very Vanilla from SU!, Bazzill textured blue, Webster's Pages patterned paper
Ink: brilliance graphite black, river rock
Acc: SU! watercolor crayons, aquapainter, ticket corner punch, taffeta ribbon, half pearls, CM curvy cutter

TFL!

I could use some Serentiy Now!

German Phrase of the Day: Ja, ich habe gestern ein Paar neue Schuhe gekauft. = Yes, I bought a new pair of shoes yesterday. Actually...I didn't, but I wouldn't mind doing so! ;-)

This card shows what I need to be doing...taking lots of deep breaths! I don't know why I decided to schedule every hour of every day for the next 2.5 months (or so it seems) but I have, so I will need to be stopping to take a deep breath every day!

This card is made with the supplies from my January MFT Card Kit from Paper Pretties. I just love this Bo Bunny patterned paper...isn't it pretty? I used it to make her tank top also. For her pants, I used my new Pink Spica glitter pen, so in real life they are NICE and sparkly!! I colored everything else in with my SU! markers...although I didn't do that great a job. I need to improve my marker technique since I usually just turn to my watercolors!

On this detail photo I held the card at an angle so you can see the sparkle of her pants (trousers for you Brits out there...you can stop giggling now!) Aren't these Spica pens just awesome?? They really give your projects a beautiful sheen! I got mine from Christie...I think she'll be carrying them in the Paper Pretties Boutique soon. :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday, and I'll be back tomorrow with my Prettie Wednesday challenge card, to use the masking technique!

Supplies: (all supplies from Paper Pretties unless noted)
Stamps: Serenity Now by My Favorite Things
CS: Bazzill solids, Bo Bunny patterned paper, us white
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Acc: spica glitter pens, SU! Crafter's toolkit, brads, punched cs, SU! markers
TFL!