Saturday, January 31, 2009

Baby Emma is finally here...

Emma Katrice
She is finally here... All 7 lbs. 12 ozs. 20-1/2 inches of her!
She is so beautiful and sweet and she is our Princess!
Emma is a very special baby~ She still has two Great, Great Grandparents living!
We can't wait to get that picture taken!!!
Emma with her Great Grandparents Shumate, Chase (my son) and Daniel!Chase and Daniel grew up together like brothers,
so Emma will be very special to Chase!

This was a good day!
January 30, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Mac N Cheese~ Looking for the perfect one....

Mac N Cheese
I have been in search for the perfect Mac N Cheese recipe... I have made recipe after recipe but until tonight I could not make one better than my Aunt Shirley's. I always wanted Aunt Shirley's recipe, but she was one of these cooks that she never knew what she put into anything. She just went to the fridge and started dumping ingredients into a bowl. Therefore... No recipe! I was blogging with a dear friend RR Mama and she told me that she had a great Mac N Cheese. Well, of course she sent it to me, I made a simple adjustment that I had found that was a special ingredient and here it is........
RR Mama and MamaE's
version of Mac N Cheese!!!!
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
  • 8 ounces Cheddar Cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
  • 8 ounces Velvetta Cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
  • 4 slices American Cheese, cut into pieces for top
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 inch baking dish and set aside. In as saucepan, cook macaroni according to package directions, drain. Return macaroni to saucepan or other bowl.
    While macaroni is hot, add the Cheddar Cheese and the Velvetta Cheese to the bowl; stir well. Spread the macaroni mixture in the prepared baking dish.

    In a bowl whisk together the milk, sour cream, eggs, butter, and salt. If you drop a little salt as I did........... add a little more!!!!!
    Pour the milk mixture over the macaroni. Add the cut up American Cheese on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
    Makes 8 servings or at my house 4 servings!!!!! MEN
    I am trying this again next week with pepper jack cheese!ENJOY!!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

I Love Old/New Wall Curio Cabinets to Decorate with.....

I don't know what it is about curio cabinets... but, I love them.... New, old, stained, painted, traditional, vintage and ones barely hanging on..... as long as it will hold my "stuff" I love them! And excuses... I can make excuses to my husband to purchase another for the wildest reasons.... Oh, I need this one for a project that I am thinking of doing in 2012 and Whitney (our daughter who is still in college) needs this beauty for her house, and this one is for Santa Claus and all of his glitter dust! Well... you get the idea! I LOVE A GOOD cabinet! I hang them everywhere .... and my favorite spot, over our toilets! I always had a hard time decorating over the toilets until I started putting up my little cabinets. Perfect for storage, especially if they have doors, AND they can really add a tremendous amount of punch to a small space! Cheap cabinets can be found everywhere. I actually found this one at a yard sale for $19.00 and I know at the stores you have to pay at least $79.00 or more for this size. Sometimes a little muscle grease has to go into cleaning them, but it is well worth it!
Wall Curio Cabinets can truly be a big bang for your buck!
Try it!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Coffee Filters, Not just for coffee....

COFFEE FILTERS:
Not just for making coffee...
I found this and just had to share!
Coffee filters ..who knew! And you can buy 1,000 at the Dollar Tree for almost nothing.
1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China . Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.
9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.
10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters.
13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, french fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.
14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

Monday, January 26, 2009

Strawberry Cake and Old Recipe Cards......

Aunt Olie's famous Strawberry Cake recipe
Recipe card from my mother (My favorite cookie)
This recipe was given to me by my
husbands (Reid) mother at a recipe shower that
was given for me by his Aunt MaryLouise.
What is it about old worn out recipe cards that we love so much? I was cleaning my office/studio yesterday and stopped to go through my old recipe box. Oh, the memories!! I could actually smell Mama's Thumbprint Cookies and taste my Aunt Olie's Strawberry Cake! The recipe cards are worn around the edges, not only from my use, but theirs. I can just imagine Aunt Olie in the kitchen, watching us as we all played outside, just a fussing because it was to hot for her strawberry frosting to stay on the cake. She would say later to all of us, "Well, it won't be pretty, but it sure will be good" as we gathered around the table! I grew up with the best cooks, all good southern cooks, using fatback and real butter.
This is Aunt Olie's Strawberry Cake recipe~ I hope to publish a cookbook one day as I have been working on it for years. With many of my recipes, like this one, they have a story.
I hope you enjoy it!
Strawberry Cake
*Growing up we all have special people that show us love through feeding us. As a child, that person for me was my Aunt Olie. She really was not my Aunt, but she loved me unconditionally. She was there for my two cousins, my sister and I. Whenever we needed her (and our parents too) she was there. A trail ran through the woods from our backdoor to hers. We could actually smell when she was cooking something special and always being curious, our little feet scurried to her kitchen. Afternoons after school she kept us and soon as we were off the bus, she had cornbread, vanilla wafers and peanut butter, and to drink ~ buttermilk waiting for us. We grew up singing “Cornbread and Buttermilk makes us fat. Where in the world are the other girls at”. Never understood it, but it was part of Aunt Olie. This strawberry cake was also Aunt Olie. I loved her very much and I still have the original recipe she gave us written on the back of an old Christmas card.

1 Box White Cake Mix
1 Box Strawberry Jell-O Dissolved in ½ Cups Cold Water
1 Cup Wesson Oil
4 Eggs
½ Cup Frozen Strawberries, thawed and mashed

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into 2 well-greased cake pans and bake at 325 for 30 minutes.
Strawberry Frosting:
1 Box Powdered Sugar
½ Cup Margarine
½ Cup Frozen Strawberries, thawed

Mix powdered sugar and margarine well. Add strawberries. Spread frosting between layers and on sides and top of cake. Refrigerate.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Using Bounce Dryer Sheets Around the House....

Did you know that Bounce dryer sheets will….
*Chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them.
*Will repel mice.
*Take the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often.
*Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.
*Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.
*Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.
*Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.
*To freshen the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.
*Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.
*Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce before beginning to sew.
*Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.
*To freshen the air in your car - Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.
*Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.
*Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.
*Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the lose hairs.
*Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.
*Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.
*Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.
*Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.
*Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.
*Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them. It will keep them smelling fresh.
*Wet a Bounce sheet, hose down your car, and wipe lovebugs off easily with the wet Bounce.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Makeover for Fireplace Mantle....

It was time for a change for the fireplace mantle....
I used my Red Candle Holders and Sphere from Hobby Lobby....
My beautiful Wooden Trinket Box from Big Lots filled nuts and vine balls......
Readers Digest Books from Thrift Stores, Yard Sales, Goodwill and wherever else I can find them for .50 cents or less.......
And to finish it off~ Beautiful dried Boxwood topiary that I found at a wonderful antique store between Atlanta and Auburn University on I85.
So.... How do you like it?
Would you like to come into this room,
cozy up to a warm fire with a book?
Or.... Do I need to change something?
I am always open to new ideas!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Valentine ~ You Won My Heart....



My Valentine ATC inspired me to make this Chatter Knob Hanger. I found this vintage photograph of a soldier and I took a old bingo card to create this wonderful piece.
It was hard to get a good picture and if you are wondering what the drippings are ...
It is BEESWAX!!!
I love to use it to finish off my pieces!
It will be on my ETSY soon.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Adoption, UGA, Coach Mark Richt and Role Models....

As a fan of the UGA Bulldog's but, mostly Coach Mark Richt, I was going through the video's and found this. I wanted to share this with everyone. I am so proud of the Coach that represents one of our State's teams. He is a great role model to the players and a great role model to all of the other College Coaches in America!

The Richt Family's Life-Long Commitment

Please turn off my music at the very bottom before you start...

Monday, January 19, 2009

Erma Bombeck "Family" Chatter Knob Hanger...

Another Chatter Knob Hanger~
This one about the Family with a Erma Bombeck quote!
I had fun with my new sewing machine stitching away!
I also finished this one with a layer of beeswax, one of my favorite finishes!
It hopefully will be listed on Etsy tomorrow!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Chatter Knob Hanger to Encourage ME....


1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always;
pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I am using this verse as my verse this year to lean on.
For me, It seems to fit well with everything that is going on around us.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

ATC Valentine & Directions...

This is the Valentine that I gave my Sweetheart last year! It is an Altered Art Trading Card. To make it, I scanned one of my vintage bingo cards and made it into a smaller scale to fit onto my ATC (altered art trading card). I then copied it onto a khaki colored paper, cut and sanded the sides and then I inked the sides to make it look even older. I then took two old pictures of us growing up dressed as sailors which was a perfect fit together (how amazing that we were always a perfect fit together). I ran them through photoshop to scale them to size and clean them up. I then copied them to a matte photo paper and then cut them out just like you would a paper doll. I decided to use Pop dots to make the photos pop up. I then made a ticket that said, "You won my Heart" on my computer using printshop. I attached the ticket and the jewels. Used a little more inking for aging and put an eyelet in the side to add some more bling. Before I added the bling, I decided to coat the card with a coat of beeswax for more aging. I allowed some of the beeswax to bead for effects. For more color I wanted to use red beads, heart and dice to finish off my project! To say the least ~ Reid loved it! But being Reid~ He loves everything I do! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful Valentine!

Bringing Georgia Gals together with the Georgia Award...

Kymber at A New Day Dawning also chose to share the Georgia Friends Award with me. Thank you Kymber, I always get so excited when I see your name on my comment list!!! You are the best and so is your blog!!!! Susan at A Southern Daydreamer started this award to bring all of the great Georigia bloggers together. The rules are simple…… NO RULES. Simply pass it along to a few of your blogger friends from Georgia…. and tell them to stop in at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/ and say hi! She has a great blog and it is so awesome to go there and have a list of your Georgia blogging friends.
And I want to send this award to three of my friends~

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Journalism Workshop 101...


This is the first assignment of Week 1~
We have to seven different projects like these two before next Monday!
It is hard to imagine how many more layers we are going to put on top of this!
Great Class!
Visual Journalism 101 with Pam Carriker

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

An "Exceedingly Charming" Award...

My First Award
I had to share with you the wonderful surprise I had waiting for me today, Lisa at Antiques and More ( http://antiquesmoreblog.blogspot.com/ ) was sweet enough to gift me with the "Proximidade" Award.

This award is written in her native Portuguese language and it focuses not on the glory and fanfare of blogging, but in the PROXIMITY to one another through this on-line world.
Here's the definition of the award: "Blogs who receive this award are 'exceedingly charming' say its authors. This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Now I will award this to eight very special bloggers who have inspired me to be a better person and blogger.

I chose to select my bloggers from a group of ladies that vary from everyday!
Super MOM's,
a 73 year old grandmother that I admire so much,
a couple of loving sisters,
wonderful Artist,
a Grandmother to the real Mr. Perfect,
Crafters,
Photographers,
A Blogger (who really is a Journalist in disguise) who writes a beautiful obituary to a fly that dies in German glass glitter,
and a Texas beauty whose blogs are constantly being sent to my younger daughter at Auburn University with a note attached saying, "Wow, look at this beautiful role model".
That's what special about blogland,
God leads us to all different types of women to take care of our daily questions if we allow HIM!
The one thing I love about Sue so much~ She loves life, she knows God created her as she is, for a reason and she is happy because of that!
Why can't we all be like that!
Just live a Charmed life as God wants us too!
Tiffany at http://shabbyscraps.typepad.com/shabbyscraps/
Caroline at
http://carolineintexas.blogspot.com/
Please pay them a visit and get inspired!
Blessings!
Yvette

Monday, January 12, 2009

Visual Journalism Class... WOW

As many of you know, I love to take art classes over the Internet. This month I decided to take Visual Journalism 101 Workshop with Pam Carriker. Pam is an incredible instructor who gives you a video instruction at the end of each class that makes her classes so easy, even I can do them!
This is a picture of my pad from my first class~ Blank Page Syndrome~Get Over It!
And YES, I was one of those who was terrified of that WHITE PAGE!
If you are interested in this class or another go to Creative Workshops and check it out. ~ http://creativeworkshops.ning.com/

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Valentine Hangers and Etsy...

Finally... I have started my Etsy store back up!
I am starting it with these four Valentines and
I hope that somewhere they can find a home and
bring someone much happiness and love!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Finally Here... My Favorite Magazines!

Oh how I needed these! In Georgia, we have had so much rain and cloudy days I needed something to really get me going again after the holidays! Well here it is~ Romantic Homes and Somerset Life, my favorite magazines! They both are good, but Somerset Life is one of the best I have ever seen! I highly recommend this issue for anyone who loves art or crafts or even just..... the mention of LOVE! If you need a boost, some inspiration to start creating, run out to Barnes and Noble or JoAnn's and pick up a issue or two (one for a friend who needs some encouragement)! I promise you will be in your art room soon wanting to create something fabulous!
Note to daughter and niece~ Your copies are in the mail! LOVE YOU!


Friday, January 9, 2009

My Verse for the Year~ Praise God Through All Things....

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 God tells us to Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

This is my verse for the year and what a wonderful verse! I know this such a hard time for so many families, many of us do not understand how God can allow so many to hurt and be in need. I know hard times, I have dealt with health problems for years. At times I felt that my prayers had gone unanswered, only to find out later that God had something so much greater for me.

Friends, all I can tell you now is, this verse is so true ~

Give God the PRAISE THROUGH ALL THINGS,

GOD IS TRULY IN CONTROL OF THOSE WHO ARE FOLLOWING HIM!

Don't forget... Turn off my music below before starting!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Chase said, " I put the bad in Carlsbad"....

Chase is in Carlsbad, California visiting his girlfriend Jackie and her wonderful family.
He e-mailed me today and said that his surroundings were absolutely beautiful. With the weather being so bad here in Georgia, raining and the wind blowing so hard that you don't dare to walk outside, I thought I would share a few pictures with you of his adventure.
The picture of Jackie is his favorite of course.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Goodwill and more Valentine Images...

Mr. Blogger turned my picture sideways for some reason??? LOL
$12.87 ~
Yes, that is all that I spent at Goodwill yesterday.
I felt like I was blessed with some good bargains,
seen a couple of friends and enjoyed the shopping!
What a wonderful day!
Now, to create with my findings!
And for you my dear friends, a few more Valentine images from some Vintage Postcards that I have cleaned up through Photoshop for you to enjoy in your artwork.




The Charm House II

Charm House I

I will turn Blessings into Praise!

I will turn Blessings into Praise!