who doesn’t love Mac N’ Cheese, right?

well… you REALLY have to love cheese to love this recipe – it calls for 2 1/2 pounds of it!  but it’s soooooooooo delicious… our entire family absolutely loves this meal and we never need anything to go with it! (but, being the “balanced meal freak”, i can’t not have a veggie with this!)  not to mention it makes a GIANT 13×9″ pan full, so we usually end up having it on a Friday and then eat it for the rest of the weekend!

i stumbled onto this little gem on Pinterest; i was looking for a really good, REALLY CHEESY mac n’ cheese.  i had to browse through several before i found this one, courtesy of The Hungry Mouse.  it was like a “EUREKA!” moment… as soon as i saw “2 1/2 pounds of cheese” i was like, YES.  anything that involves 2 1/2 pounds of cheese can’t possibly be anything besides the best meal. ever.  i mean, just look at all this cheese:

!!!! !!! !!!!

as Mouse says in her post, “resist the urge to jump in the pot and swim around with your mouth open.”  i almost did.  it’s a good thing she put that warning in there because i was really about to.  it seriously looks like a small, velvety yellow cheese hot tub on your stove.

when it came to my version of this dish, i only changed it minimally – instead of the taleggio, fontina and cheddar cheeses that Mouse uses in her recipe, i used fontina, cheddar and mozzarella.  i couldn’t find taleggio.  guess you have to go to one of those fancy cheese places to get that or something – WalMart and Albertson’s did not have any when i was shopping for this meal.  i *DID* also add a little touch of my own, though, again being the “balanced meal freak” i couldn’t stand that there wasn’t going to be any meat as a part of this meal so i reached for my secret weapon… BACON.  i added a whole package of Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits in with the topping mixture.  everything is better with bacon.  even chocolate.  just trust me on that.

here is the recipe for Mouse’s Ultimate Mac N’ Cheese.  she has FANTASTIC step-by-step directions with pictures.  even the least kitchen-savvy peeps could make this – it’s really easy.  and i love the sprinkling of wit that Mouse uses throughout the post as well.  it’s like dinner theater except you have to make the dinner yourself and you get the entertainment before the meal, but nonetheless an excellent post and a phenomenal dish.  she has TONS of other great recipes too, so if you like to cook, you should definitely check out her blog:  The Hungry Mouse.

well, what are you waiting for?!  go make this right now!!!  2 1/2 lbs. of cheese!!!  and don’t forget the bacon 

it’s Wednesday!!!  got another super fun Perfect Sentiments challenge for ya

a sketch!  i almost ALWAYS use a sketch for every one of my projects!  it really helps me to get everything planned out and have an idea of how the finished product will look.  this is a really great sketch for a Christmas theme!!  the bow offers a lot of possibility and the way the background is broken up you could really make a lot of use with the space.  our FABULOUS design team did exactly that for this week’s challenge – there is such a great variety of styles, colors, and themes from every one of our designers — go check their creations out then go on over to Perfect Sentiments to find out how to participate in the fun and maybe become one of our “Perfect 3″ !!!!  here are links to everyone else’s blogs – i’m mixing it up this week! – in no particular order

** TERE **   ** ABBY **   ** STACEY **   ** KIMBERLY **   ** SARAH **   ** JAN **   ** ROCHELLE **   ** THERESA **   ** SAMI **

this week’s sponsor is Pattie’s Creations!!!  a random winner will receive one free digi from Pattie’s Creations Etsy shop!  there are a ton of really cute designs to pick from!!  pay her a visit if you’re looking for some really sweet digi stamps for your collection

and now, for my little piece of inspiration!  i went way outside my box on this one and FINALLY pulled out the heat gun i have been hoarding, brand new in its box for no reason whatsoever.  i totally went for it and did my first heat emboss… that’s why it looks a little messy 

i do really love it  i am pretty impressed with how heat embossing turns out and it definitely wasn’t as scary as i thought!  i’m definitely going to be using it in more of my projects  the bottom layer of paper in the center is actually a “specialty” paper that is an antique gold color – very shimmery and adds a bit of detail to this card – there was absolutely NO way i could take a good enough picture to represent that!  :(

thanks for stopping by and make sure you visit Perfect Sentiments as well to see what’s new and check out more details about this challenge!  also, the Perfect 3 for last week’s challenge are up!!! three very talented ladies – make sure you scroll down a little to see their fantastic entries!

SUPPLIES:

• Cardstock – Bazzill Basics
• Patterned Paper – Basic Grey, Flair Designs
• Specialty Paper – Miss Elizabeth’s
• Ribbon, Pearls – Michael’s
• White Embossing Powder – Martha Stewart
• White Sakura Gelly Roll pen
• Stamp – Inkadinkado
• Marvy Uchida heat gun
• Die Cut – Echo Park Snowflakes by Echo Park @ Silhouette Online Store

i am so excited to be back with another Paper Lovelies kit release!

this month’s kit is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S !!! !!! !!!  we are featuring the “Western Romance” line from Webster’s Pages this month – this kit is just stuffed with soft, floral-ish, vintagey goodness!!!  there’s also a smattering of Studio Calico papers in there as well, and they really coordinate so well with the Webster’s Pages.

isn’t it lovely?!

the photos really do this kit absolutely no justice – Carrie is an amazing kit photographer, but no matter how she lays everything out you still just don’t get the full effect!!!  the papers are all double sided, which makes it really hard to choose which side you want to use because they are all so pretty – the colors are stunning in person, the vintagey details and fun extras really make this kit worth the $15 (+ shipping!) !!!

with this kit, you will get:

• (1) sheet each double-sided 12×12 paper from Webster’s Pages “Western Romance” — Gratitude, Sweet Romance, Date Night, Country Fresh, Diecut, Line Dance, Love Letters
• (1) sheet each double-sided 12×12 paper from Studio Calico “Classic Calico” — Woodgrain One, Letterset, Star, Folio, Newsprint
• (1) artisan pin from The Girls Paperie
• (1) Princess Petals from Webster’s Pages
• (1) Say it in Crystals swirl from Prima
• 16″ (in) gold trim from Webster’s Pages “Western Romance”
• 16″ (in) sheer rosette ribbon trim from May Arts (olive)

SOOO MUCH PAPER!  and some really great embellies that ice the cake!!!  they may already be sold out by the time this post goes up – it seems like they always go SO FAST!!!

oh!  and there’s a surprise bonus, too!  from now until the end of the year ALL proceeds from Paper Lovelies’ kits will be donated to help Katie Renz and her family.  Katie is a fellow scrapbooker/cardmaker who was diagnosed with Gastric Cancer last December.  she has a beautiful family and an AMAZING husband who updates her blog for her regularly, keeping her crafty friends up-to-date on how she’s doing.  some of the posts are absolutely heartwrenching to read about what she is going through – but she is such a fighter and is surrounded by so much love!  you should definitely check out her blog: Katie’s Paper Haven.  and yes, ALL (100%) of your kit purchases will go toward Katie and her family.

now on to the cards i made with this kit!  oh, i should mention, you need to visit our other designer’s blogs for more inspo!  they are all so talented, and everyone came up with great examples for this month!!!

** ILENE **   ** KASSIDY **   ** CARRIE **   ** AMBER **   ** SARA **   ** LISA **

so purty!!! 

the second was made for Travis’ coworker, Mike, and his new wife, Erin… this paper really invokes a “wedding” theme really well!

i really enjoyed working with this kit this month!!!  i still have TONS left, too, and i keep trying to figure out what i’m going to do with it!!!  my friend Amber said, the other day, “You always have some project going on, don’t you?”  yes, YES, i have a problem with too many projects!  i really hope to be able to use more of this kit on some of the stuff i’ve been cooking up!  stop by Paper Lovelies and see if you can still snag one!!!

also, the Perfect 3 are up over at Perfect Sentiment – along with the random prize winner!  go take a peek and see if you are the lucky winner  i’ll be back tomorrow with another Perfect Sentiment Challenge!!!

thanks for stopping by

SUPPLIES:

Card #1 – “You’re My #1″ 

• Patterned Paper – Webster’s Pages “Western Romance” from Paper Lovelies Nov. 2011 kit
• Flower – Webster’s Pages Princess Petals from Paper Lovelies Nov. 2011 kit
• Button – Webster’s Pages designer button from Paper Lovelies Nov. 2011 kit
• Bling – Kaisercraft from Paper Lovelies’ Aug. 2011 kit
• Doily – Dollar Tree (personal stash)
• Sentiment – K & Co. (personal stash)
• Ribbon – Offray (personal stash)
• Gold Uniball pen (personal stash)

we’re back with another challenge at Perfect Sentiments!  

we had a really amazing turnout for our 2nd challenge over the past week!  there were a lot of really great submissions!!!  thank you everyone for coming out and playing along – you all did a really great job and i hope you will join us on this week’s endeavor!

here’s another card i never think about until i need one.  and generally only make if i know that i have enough time to make one {i.e., the person is going to have an extended hospital visit… since by the time i usually get around to making it, the person is no longer in need of a get well wish!}  not that i wish that on anyone, but… if you want a get well card from me plan on being sick for at least a week!  the twist this week is to use embossing as a part of your design.  you can do either heat or dry embossing, or both if you’re feeling extra crafty

our fabulous sponsor this week is the lovely and talented Sarah, of “My Little Somethings“!!!  she is offering this little packet of blog candy to one lucky crafter:

(includes 1- SU! Ribbon Originals; 1- scrapbooking adhesive; 2- containers Family Treasures mini eyelets; 1- Prima rhinestone heart embellisment charm; metal tin for altering)

(offer available for U.S. residents only.  must be 18 or older or have parents’ permission… LOL not really, i made that last part up but…)  we’re sorry that we are not able to offer physical prizes to non-U.S. folks right now since the rates for shipping are so high; you can always participate in the challenge anyway though – and vie for the coveted title of “Perfect 3″ or some fab digi prizes when they are up for grabs!

anywhoo.  our design team really came up with some really cute samples to inspire you for this challenge – you can go check out their individual blogs (or the Perfect Sentiments blog!) to see what everyone came up with and get some inspo for your own creation!

• Jennipher
• Sami
• Sarah
• Lynn
• Abby
• Jan
• Kimberly
• Rochelle
• Shelly
• Stacey
• Tere
• Theresa

ta daaa! 

okay so now that we’re done talking about my hair, and you’ve gone and looked at everyone’s beautiful cards you need to create your own beautiful card and upload it to your blog… link it to the inLinks on the Perfect Sentiments blog no later than next Tuesday at 10PM (EST).  can’t wait to see what you come up with!!!

hah.

this STILL cracks me up everytime i watch it.

my friend Amber… babysitting my son Kellan while we were at a wedding last weekend.  i love how at first Kellan is like, “WHAT IS GOING ON???” then about halfway through he starts to get it and then he gets really excited and starts clapping his hands and waving his arms around!!!  too funny.

i wish i had moves like Amber.  

hey everyone!  we’re back again this week with another FABULOUS Perfect Sentiments challenge for you all  we are all really pleased with the turnout we had for our first challenge!!  the “Perfect 3″ creations for Challenge #1 were announced on the site yesterday, so make sure to go check out the winners and leave some love if you haven’t!  every single entry we had was fantastic!!!

this week’s challenge is a “Friendship” challenge – make a card using a sentiment of friendship — with a twist!  use the following image for inspiration to create your card:

GORGEOUS!  i absolutely love this color scheme and there are really so many possibilities for this as inspiration – patterns, textures, colors, theme… you could really do anything with this piece of inspo!!!  i think i’m going to file it because i have several other ideas that would have worked fantastically for this challenge!!

this week we also have a prize to give away in addition to the honor of being one of the “Perfect 3″ – Heart Song Designs will be giving away ONE free digi image to a lucky crafter!!!  they really have some beautiful designs that you could use in your digi/hybrid creations!  their images are perfect for coloring  go check out what they have to offer – they have so many images that would be great for cardmaking

i’m really excited about the card i created for this challenge – as soon as i saw the image in the Silhouette store, i knew it would be perfect for this challenge!!!

i really love gatefold cards!!!  this one is extra fun because you actually have to “unwrap” it to see the message inside  i’m really proud of the way this card turned out, and i can’t wait for an opportunity to send it to someone!  our Design Team really made the most of this one and we have some really amazing cards to inspire you on the Perfect Sentiments blog!

• Jennipher’s
• Sami’s
• Sarah’s
• Lynn’s
• Abby’s
• Jan’s
• Kimberly’s
• Rochelle’s
• Shelly’s
• Stacey’s
• Tere’s
• Theresa’s

go check them out then get crafty!!!  can’t wait to see what you will come up with  you have until next Tuesday (the 18th!) at 10:00PM EST to link your creations up to the inLinkz on the Perfect Sentiments blog for your chance to be one of our “Perfect 3″ and win the free digi from Heart Song Designs.

as an added bonus, i am offering a FREEBIE for my Silhouette partners-in-craftiness!!!  i made the sentiment inside the card in Silhouette Studio (a *.studio file), so if you happen to have it, you are welcome to use this image for your craft projects!  the file comes with both the text and the outline pieces, and you can ungroup them if you need to!  if you take it, please leave a comment and if you use it feel free to link back to this post – i would love to see what you are able to come up with using my first EVER Silhouette freebie

[ click here to download "You Lift Me Up!" Silhouette freebie! ]

thanks for playing along with us on our 2nd Perfect Sentiments challenge!  we are looking forward to all of this week’s submissions!!  have fun with this challenge, and thanks for stoppin’ by   

SUPPLIES:

• Cardstock – Bazzill Basics
• Specialty Paper/Bling – Darice
• Pearls – Michael’s
• Ribbon – Offray
• Font – Rickles (Dafont.com)
• Die Cut – card french corset by Samantha Walker (Silhouette Online Store)

we. are. LIVE !!!!

the first challenge for Perfect Sentiments is underway, and we have all been anxiously awaiting the official launch so you can all come see what Perfect Sentiments is about and get some fresh inspo for your cards and creations!!  we are all about taking cardmaking from the everyday to the extraordinary – each week there will be a fun challenge for you to participate in and make a card you wouldn’t normally make, like a sympathy card, so that the next time you need a card for a specific occasion you won’t have to scramble at the last minute to put one together.  but that’s not all – each challenge will also feature a twist or a boost of extra inspiration!

this week’s challenge is “Lacy Sympathy” – make a card using a sympathy sentiment or theme and  includes lace somewhere on the card.  we have a wonderful sponsor for this challenge as well – Stef from Glitterbabe Digis graciously provided digital images for our team to work with for our first challenge, and is offering a $10 certificate for one lucky crafter to use in the Glitterbabe store!!!  i took the opportunity to peruse her catalog the other night when i was working on my card, and she really has some great offerings that would work well in your print or digital creations.

i think we all had a really great time working on this first challenge – the other designers and i are really proud to be a part of the team and have really been excited about the launch of the blog and our first challenge!  everyone came up with a great example, and there is really a wide array of design styles and personalities on this team, so you should definitely check out everyone’s creations and gather as much inspiration as you can from this talented group of ladies

here is what i came up with (after much hemming and hawing – i had a beautiful vision in my head before i started this but it ended up being something entirely different!):

at first i thought such a bright yellow was a bold choice for a sympathy card, but the more i thought about it i felt like yellow invoked feelings of sunshine and warmth, which is absolutely what i think a person needs when faced with the loss of a loved one!  the lace and embossing really gave this a bit of a softer feeling, and the image from Glitterbabe really brought it all together and reflected the sentiment behind this card.  i had to use my Gelly Rolls on it since i’m not a Copic person (yet? who knows!) but i’m really pleased with the way it turned out in the end, and i’d be really happy to send this to someone to let them know that i’m thinking of them and praying for them through what is always a difficult time for anyone.

but don’t take my word for it – the rest of the design team has come up with some really amazing examples too!  just check their blogs out for yourself!  Abby, Jan, Jennipher, Kimberly, Lynn, Rochelle, Sami, Sarah, Shelly, Stacey, Tere, Theresa and i are extremely pleased to welcome you to Perfect Sentiments and hope to be able to inspire you to create cards for every occasion!  we can’t wait to see everyone’s creations for this challenge!

so what are you waiting for?  get your keister over to Perfect Sentiments and check out the challenge and get the deet’s – then go make a card of your own and share it with us on the blog for a chance to win a $10 certificate for Glitterbabe Digis and the opportunity to be among the first of our elite “Perfect 3″ winners!  the challenge runs until 10PM (EST) on Sunday, October 9 and winners will be announced on Tuesday the 11th!  come help us start our adventure off right!!!

thanks for stopping by  stay crafty!!!

SUPPLIES:

• Image – Glitterbabe Digis
• Cardstock – The Paper Studio
• Lace – Hobby Lobby
• Ribbon – Making Memories
• Brads – Making Memories, The Paper Studio
• Alpha – EK Success
• Gelly Roll pens by Sakura
• Cuttlebug
• Dotted embossing folder – Sizzix

i love the different ways i can use Photoshop!  every once in a while i do a few tutorials from Good-Tutorials.com to learn some new techniques and make something cool.  they really have a lot of great tutorials on their website – worth checking out!

here are a couple of things i made recently:

lol, the last one is for my BFF Ryan – he calls me “bish” and i call him “bush”.  don’t ask why, we’re weird like that. 

i definitely learned a couple of things working with these tutorials!  things about dodge and burn (that i most likely knew at one point and forgot since i rarely use those tools!), and some new ways to use filters to achieve an interesting effect!  if you want to try for yourself, check out Good-Tutorials.com, and also psdtuts+ – both sites have some really amazing tutorials for creating stuff like this and using Photoshop to it’s maximum potential.

**EDIT**
found links for the tutorials i used, if anyone is interested!

• Cardiac Rate Effect – photoshopstar
• Suspended Text Effect – photoshopstar 
• Chocolate Bar Text Effect – textuts
• “Awesome” Wrinkled Sticker – psdtuts+