BLOG CANDY!!!

TGIF!!!! And what a week it was! I worked a LOT at the school this week, & feel very germy no matter how many showers I take or how many times I wash my hands, lol!! I even bought Vitamin C tablets at the store today!! Hope everyone is staying healthy!!

Well I told you I'd have blog candy for ya!! My counter has hit 50,000 & I'm celebrating!! Thank you to all of you who come to visit!! I never imagined when I started my blog that I would have so many followers & make so many good friends!!! I can't imagine *not* having a blog now!!





So here's the stash, lol!! As you can see it's all Christmas-y so the winner can get started on their holiday projects!! The candy includes:

***4.75" x 6.75" pad of K&Company Peppermint Twist

***4.75" x 6.75" pad of K&Company Christmas Cheer

***High Hopes Herald Angel stamp

***High Hopes Bearly Swooshin stamp

***Making Memories snowflake eyelet charms

***3 pack of Stickles (green, gold & red)

***4 pack of Recollections dimensional stickers

***Studio G sentiment set


I apologize for the crummy picture....I can never seem to get a good pic of my candy!! It's pretty cloudy & rainy today.....not good for picture taking!!!

So......to enter.....please tell me what you are looking forward to this holiday season!! Do you have a vacation planned?? Are you making a special treat?? Going to a party?? I want to hear about your fun plans!!!


If you would like to become a follower.........GREAT!!!!

If you'd like to subscribe to my blog........GROOVY!!!!

If you'd like to help spread the word by posting this on your blog......FABULOUS!!!!


None of it is required to win, but it's always appreciated :)

Anyone & everyone can enter......I am happy to ship anywhere!!!! You have until next week Saturday......HALLOWEEN......to enter!!! I will close the candy at 10:00 CST that night, & I will pick a winner the following day!!!! Good luck to everyone, & thank you again for your visits, your friendship, & your support!!!!!

****this post will stay at the top until the candy closes, so scroll down for new posts****

Christmas treat

SO.....my camera is shot. I had to dig out my old camera because I *have* to be able to take pictures & I just canNOT buy a new camera right now. I will go to the mall next month & ask Santa for a new one, but for now my old one will have to do. I have no idea what the pictures will look like.....so bear with me!! Unfortunately, I lost the cord thingy for this camera, so I have to take my card out & stick it in my laptop to get the pictures onto my computer. Not a problem EXCEPT I use a tripod, so I have to take that bottom thing off each time. Then after putting the card back in the camera, I have to put the bottom thing back ON....what a pain!! I know, I should be thankful I at least *have* a spare camera to complain about, lol!




So here's the card I finished the other day, that I couldn't post yesterday!! The image is from High Hopes & is called Christmas Treat. Don't forget that you can now order High Hopes stamps from 7 Kids College Fund!! You can find this stamp HERE........& you can click HERE to see her whole inventory!! If you don't see something you want, just email her & she will include it with her next order!!! So anyway, I colored the image with Prismas & gamsol, & added glitter to Santa's hat. The papers are SU's Kraft & K&Company Christmas Cheer. I didn't have *anything* to match the Christmas Cheer for matting purposes....52 different shades of red in my file cabinet, & nothing even came close. So I took a piece of SU's Naturals White, & sponged the heck out of it with about 3 different red inks. It's still a bit lighter than I would have liked....I wanted it to be a nice, dark burgundy.....but it worked. I ran the Kraft background piece through the Cuttlebug using my Snowflake folder.....used my Martha Stewart Lattice border punch for the burgundy piece....& added a sheer poinsetta to the corner of the image. In retrospect, I wish I had added glitter to the snowflakes in the background, but I still like how it turned out. Simple, yet festive :)




It is warm here today, but rainy & windy & yucky! I guess it beats the snow that I heard Colorado received over the last few days. I just hope it's nicer for Trick or Treat tomorrow!! Enjoy your weekend, & be safe!! Lots of ghosts & goblins out there tonight & tomorrow!!!

Why me??

Ok, well, finally after a week I got a card made!! That's the good news!! The bad news is.....my camera broke :( After futzing with my computer all morning (I got an error while trying to download the Flash Player update) I finally got it to the point where it *wasn't* giving me an error every time I clicked enter. So I decided to list a card on Ebay before posting my new card on my blog. Well, somewhere between the first picture & the last picture, the zoom broke. NOW the whole thing is broken. It beeps when I turn it on.....the lens comes out....then it goes off. I changed the batteries 6 times....it's definitely my camera :( And I can't afford a new one at the moment.....so who knows when I'll be able to show my card.....sigh....WHY oh WHY does everything break on me at once? And why does it all break when I'm broke? LOL...

SO.....since it happens to be Thursday & I haven't posted a recipe in a while....& nothing else is working....that is what I'm posting today!! It's a great recipe for this time of year!! I don't like pumpkin....yuck...but my kids tell me this is delicious!!!!


MAPLE PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 (8 oz) pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 cup pure maple syrup
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
MAPLE PECAN GLAZE***

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine crumbs, sugar & butter; press firmly on bottom of 9" springform pan OR 13"x9" baking pan. In large mixing bowl, beat cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in condensed milk until smooth. Add pumpkin, eggs, 1/4 cup maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg & salt; mix well. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes or until edge springs back when lightly touched (center will be slightly soft). Cool. Chill. Top with MAPLE PECAN GLAZE***. Refrigerate leftovers.

***MAPLE PECAN GLAZE
In saucepan, combine remaining 3/4 cup maple syrup & 1 cup whipping cream; bring to a boil. Boil rapidly 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened; stir occasionally. Add 1/2 cup chopped pecans.


So does that sound good? Does it sound like a good dessert for Thanksgiving? That's what I'll be making. I made it last year & it was a huge hit. Everyone loved it. I had a Milky Way bar instead :)

Thanks for listening to my woes of the day!! Be sure to enter to win my blog candy above....it ends Saturday!!!!!

MIA!!

I know!! I've been MIA again!! I have been so busy the last few days I just haven't had time to do anything creative! There were a couple of nice days so I had to finish up outside work.....& I've been working just about every day these last few weeks (which is good, of course, except I feel very germy!!) so I haven't had much spare time. Today the kids had a 1/2 day, but then we went to the doctor & in about an hour we have teacher conferences. The good news is hubby is leaving Saturday for a week of hunting so *hopefully* I'll get a quiet hour or two to sit at my craft table!!

But I do want to share a couple more preorders available at 7 Kids College Fund!! Click HERE to order the In 2 Stamps collection! Oh, are they CA-UTE!!! AND.....if you like Penny Black....you'll love the Slapstick stamps! These are red rubber mounted to EZ mount, then stamped with the image. AND....as long as you're there anyway.....don't forget to check out the Christmas Magnolias, the Mo Manning, the Penny Johnson, & the Whiff Of Joy!! Lots of fun stuff available for preorder......I know I have a full list ready for Santa :)

Don't forget to enter to win my blog candy........details above.....candy closes at 10 PM this week Saturday, October 31st!!!

Pink Cat preorder!!!

I just wanted to share with everyone that 7 Kids College Fund has the Pink Cat Studio ITTY BITTY CHRISTMAS set available for preorder!!!! I'm so excited because I've been eyeing this set for the last few days, ever since I saw some amazing stuff done by the Pink Cat dt!!!! I have zero Pink Cat stamps, but I think now is the time to break down & get some!!!!! Click HERE to preorder this adorably fun holiday set!!!!

Devil Tilda

Good afternoon!! I hope you all are having a great week!! It's not very pretty out today, but yesterday was beautiful!! Sunny & 60! I worked yesterday & let's just say we took a few extra recesses :)

Matthew's party on Sunday was a smashing success. Aside from the fact that 2 of his friends had to miss it due to sickness, he had a great time!! Speaking of sickness, I hope everyone out there in blogland is staying healthy!! We had about 20% of our school out yesterday & today. I worked both days, but it was preplanned.....the person I worked for was at a conference.....but I wanted to take a shower when I got home to get all the germies off of me!! School is a very scary place right now, lol!! How is the attendance in your area??

On to today's card! I received my latest purchase from 7 Kids College Fund the other day, & in it was this little cutie, Devil Tilda.



I was in a quandry as to what colors to use for her. I know devils are typically red, but I wanted her to match my Halloween papers & none of them are red!! So I went with orange. She's colored with Prismas & gamsol, & I put some lovely purple Stickles on her devil wings. I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Dusty Concord & Tattered Rose for the area on which she's sitting. Not sure what it's supposed to be.....but it matched the papers, lol! The papers are all Recollections, except for the black which is SU. I went a little crazy with the punches, using both the Goo punch AND the Web punch....how's that for indecisiveness?? Added some sewing.....& some flowers (cut out with my Cuttlebug scallop circle dies) & a couple of Quickutz swirls.



I just love the Halloween Magnolias & wish I could have ordered them all!! But I'm so excited that 7 Kids College Fund is now accepting preorders for the NEW Christmas Magnolias!!!! There are 2 collections this year & they are fabulous!!! Oh gosh, so many to choose from!! I'm pretty sure I will be ordering more than once :) Be sure to check out all the new ones HERE !!!!

AND don't forget that she also has High Hopes stamps in the store now too!!! They are going fast!!! She will be ordering more shortly, & she is happy to special order anything you want so if you don't see your desired stamps listed, email her & she will add them to the next order!

LASTLY.....stay tuned for some upcoming BLOG CANDY!!!! My counter is just about to hit 50,000 & I want to celebrate!! I'm not sure exactly when it will be posted or what it will be......I'm not being secretive....I just haven't had time to get it together yet, lol! But it will be soon!!!

Have a great week & stay healthy!!!

HIGH HOPES is in da HOUSE!!!!!!

The 7 Kids College Fund house, that is!!! Tab got all of her High Hopes stamps in her store over the weekend, so they are now available for purchase!!!!


Click HERE to check out her selection!!!!


Remember, if she doesn't currently have what you want, EMAIL HER & when she places her next order, she will be sure to order it!!!!!

Happy shopping!!!!

High Hopes challenge #49!

Good Sunday morning to ya!! I can't believe I'm up so early considering I actually went out last night!! My mom & I went to a benefit for our local Humane Society. So much fun!! We went 2 years ago too & had a blast, too. They always have the best food & the BEST entertainment!! It's been a long time since I had a night out so I'm glad I could go!!

Today's High Hopes challenge is hosted by Nikki, & she wants us to make a Christmas card using non-traditional colors. I don't know how non-traditional mine is, since I did use red, but paired with blue I thought it was a bit different.



I used Snow Family from the last release in July.....& colored it with Copics. I am slowly building quite a collection of these, so I am forcing myself to use them more!! Of course, I cheat & use them to color images such as snowmen....where there's not too much coloring involved :) The papers are SU's Riding Hood Red & Provocraft (a HUGE holiday pack I got on clearance a few years ago).....& the sentiment is from Inky Antics, which was cut out with a blossom Nestie. I added some poinsettias, some Dew Drops, some swirls & a snowflake charm (bought on Ebay, of course....it's where I buy ALL my charms!). I added Liquid Applique & glitter to the "snow" on the ground....& added some glitter to their hats.




Aren't they the cutest little family??

Please be sure to visit the High Hopes blog so you can ogle the rest of the Divas creations!! And if you play along, be sure to leave a link in the comments section!

Well today is Matthew's birthday party & I still have to decorate his cake & get the treat bags done.....so I'm off for now!! Enjoy your Sunday!!

Go vegan!

TGIF!! And what a surprise.....it's cloudy & rainy!! Where was all this rain this past summer when we *really* needed it??

I still have a load of High Hopes images from the last release that have not seen ink! I decided I'd better get going & use some of these....all that clean rubber is taunting me!




Today's card uses Tom's Plea....I don't think I've ever seen a cuter turkey!! He's colored with Copics & for once I'm actually happy with how it turned out!! The papers are SU's Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Basic Grey Indian Summer, & I *think* the plaid paper is Reminisce, but of course it was a scrap in my pile with no name on it. I added some punched flowers & swirls, some Dew Drops, & the leaf charm is from Ebay. Best place to get charms in bulk!!




Close up of Tom.......





The good news for all you High Hopes lovers is that 7 Kids College Fund is expecting to receive their order any day now!!! I will let you know the minute they are in the store!! Don't forget that right now you can also preorder the Cosmo Cricket kits & papers (I want them all!), the Stampavie Mo Manning, & the Stampavie Penny Johnson at 7 Kids as well!! Just click on the links!!

That's all from me today....I have many errands to run to get ready for Matthew's birthday party Sunday. Yes, it's a week late, but it's a good thing I was late getting it scheduled because I was pretty sick last Sunday. So it all worked out. He & his friends are going to play Laser Tag! We had his party there last year & it was a huge hit, so why mess with success?? Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!! I will be back Sunday with my card for the High Hopes challenge!!

Hanglar Halloween

Hello & Happy Hump Day!! I'm apparently still on the mend from my sickness....today I'm extremely tired & my face hurts, lol. This weather isn't helping....it's cloudy & rainy & about 45 degrees.....brrrr....it's too early for this!!

I was going through my images that people have sent me & found this cutie pie Hanglar! I *love* the Hanglars.....each & every one of them are just too cute!! If anyone knows anyone in Sweden or Norway willing to purchase some of these for me, feel free to send them my email address!!! =)



I used my Prismas & gamsol to color her.....& the layout is this week's Sketch Saturday sketch. I had to flip it to make it work but that's allowed! LOL!! The papers are SU's Basic Black & My Mind's Eye. The sentiment is from Michael's back when they had the little wooden stamps 2/$1 a couple of years ago. I used my circle Nesties to cut it out, & added some green tulle, some Primas & a couple of swirls.



That's it from me today....short & sweet!! I'm going to go have a cup of hot chocolate to warm up before I have to go back out in the rainy cold to pick up my kids from school. We picked out books at our school's book fair yesterday, only to find out today we won a $15 gift certificate to use there! It's a good thing we love books & I'm sure the boys will have no problem picking out a couple more!!! Stay warm!!

Happy Monday, Happy Columbus Day, Happy birthday......

Well, I think I'm *finally* on the mend!! Good grief, I recovered from having a baby faster than I recovered from this sickness I had last week!! I did finally go to the clinic on Thursday & they decided it was NOT a sinus infection like I had thought, but some virus that's going around that they said could last up to 2 weeks!! So....I left....medless except for some OTC stuff she gave me samples of. I guess I should be grateful mine only lasted a week!!

So, as long as I was vertical, I made a card last night. Yep, another Halloween card!!




The stamp is from Penny Black & I think I got it at a rummage sale at my LSS. I colored him with Copics....there was so little to color I figured I couldn't mess it up, lol. The papers are DCWV (orange matte), SU's Basic Black & the adorable paper with the spiders is from Recollections. I bought it at Michael's a few weeks ago when I thought I was never going to get my hands on the Eerie pad! I just couldn't cover up the spiders so the layout is pretty simple. The web in the corner is a Martha Stewart punch from last year, covered with Diamond Stickles. I used my Martha goo punch on the black strip, & added some punched flowers to the corner.




I also added Stickles to the stars on his hat, & used my clear Spica glitter pen for the moons.




Here's a pic of the inside.....the spider stamp came from Michael's & is also from Recollections. I knew it would come in handy for the insides of cards!!



***In other news.....7 Kids College Fund has some fun new stuff available for preorder!!! She has some adorable Stampavie Mo Manning stamps.....AND she will be carrying Cosmo Cricket kits & 6x6 pads!!! I'm so excited!! Of course, I just placed an order over the weekend......so another will be going in soon!!


I want to wish all my US friends a Happy Columbus Day!!! How many of you lucky ducks are off of school & work?? My kids have school.....they're wondering why THEY don't get the day off like so many others, lol. But Matthew is actually fine with going to school today, because it's his birthday!!!!!!! I made him many many chocolate chip/butterscotch cookies yesterday to take as a treat so he was pretty excited. I asked him (sarcastically) if I should make him a crown to wear, & he said "I think Mr. Mueller [his teacher] has one for me." LOL!!!! At 11, I'm surprised that would be something he'd wear. But I guess it DOES let everyone know it's his birthday so they can fawn all over him =) Happy birthday baby!!! I can't believe it's been 11 years since I gave birth to my firstborn.......the one that didn't sleep through the night for the first YEAR!!!!! Maybe that's when my sleep issues started!! LOL!!

12/10/98

8/26/09

Enjoy your day all!! And thank you for being patient while I slowwwwwwly recovered! LOL!!

Down & out.....

Hi all....

Just wanted to peek in & say I'm sorry once again for my absence.....a sinus infection has me down & out, to say the least. This is what Michael was battling last week & what he eventually got meds for. Now, I *know* sinus infections aren't contagious, lol.....we are just the 2 lucky ones in the family who suffer from them. This is my 4th day & I'm not getting any better, so I'm going to run to the clinic today to get some meds. Thank goodness for the Aurora Quick Clinic right inside SuperWalmart!!


I also wanted to let you know what fun stuff Tab has added to her store!!! She has some adorable mini Inkadinkadoo Halloween & fall stamps AND some of last year's Magnolia holiday stamps, including those cutie pie elves from the Jingle Jangle collection! You can check out everything she's added RIGHT HERE!!


Ok, now to drag myself into the shower ......it's been a few days & I'm a scary sight, lol!! Hopefully I will be on the mend soon.....I have wayyyyy too much to do to be sick! My son turns 11 on Monday & I have a heap of things to get done!!!

Warm wishes

LOL....I stamped this image last Tuesday. Then all the sickness happened, & when I went to finally work on the card today, I forgot what I was going to do with it!!




Oh yeahhhhh......Ila's fabulous sketch on her Magnolia blog....Sweet Magnolia's!! THAT'S what I was doing! Ok, then......I knew I *had* to use my new Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper....I'm so glad I bought 2 pads. I shoulda bought all they had!! I got mine at my LSS because I had a credit (free stuff!!) but you can buy all the Eskimo kisses paper & accessories at 7 Kids College Fund HERE. I used SU's Riding Hood Red & Pink Pirouette for the mattes. The image is Tilda & Edwin on Ice.....colored with pencils & gamsol....added glitter to the snow. The sentiment is from Studio G.....the snowflakes in the upper right are Spellbinders, the one in the lower left is a Martha Stewart punch....all are covered in Diamond Dust. Oh!! And this is the first time I used my Martha icicle punch!! That will get a LOT of use in the coming months!! I did leave off a few optional parts of Ila's sketch, but I think I'll be using this one again!! She always has the greatest layouts on her cards!



A close up of the warm & fuzzy pair.....




And a close up of the snowflakes. I wasn't too sure as I was cutting out the dies that they were even snowflakes!! I was getting some funky shapes!! But I guess when you put them all together, they resemble a snowflake :)

Thanks so much for visiting....on to my next project, my High Hopes challenge card for yesterday!! Hopefully it won't take me another week to get that done!!!! Hmmm...the theme is lots of layers. Think they'd notice if I used this card? LOL!!!

High Hopes challenge #47

Hello all!! Welcome to another Sunday!! I didn't get around to making my card for the High Hopes challenge yet, due to all the sickness in the house, but I wanted to share with you what it is. Our challenge this week is "Lotsa Layers".....doh!!!!!! Sooooo up my alley & I couldn't get a card made yet??? Well, I'll be sure to do one this week! Heck, ALL my cards have a lot of layers so I simply must join in!!

Meanwhile, be sure to take a gander at all the Divas cards HERE. They are just delightful!! And a big welcome to our 2 new guest designers Michelle & Jeannette!! How fun to have you playing along with us!!!

So what are your plans for today?? I *have* to get Matthew a hair cut....he's starting to look like Cousin Itt....& we have to start our wreath selling for Cub Scouts. Brrr.....it's chilly today.....the last thing I want to do is walk around knocking on our neighbors doors!! We also have to finish up Michael's homework from last week....wow, there sure is a lot for just 1st grade!!

Today is my hubby's birthday so Happy Birthday Rob!! He is 41 today, & unfortunately he is down & out on the couch.....he said he feels so miserable. He must, because he *was* supposed to go duck hunting. To miss hunting, a man's gotta be reallllly sick. No temp, but he said his head is going to explode. Hmm.......sounds like what Michael had!!! And he wasn't the one that slept with the little sickie, *I* did!! I was going to make a fabulous meat loaf & potatoes dinner tonight....guess I'll put that on hold until he's feeling better!!!

Oh, & a disclaimer...............I was kidding about helping me with my mortgage!!! My readers are the best, lol!! I had so many people emailing me to see if they could send money!! Some said they wished they could, but things were tight with them as well. Oh my goodness, I would never take money from you guys!!!!!!! Thank you for the thought, but I thought the evil smiley I posted indicated I was joking!!!!!! I'm sorry!! We are not close to losing our house......I was just trying to get across how desperate I've become in my job search, & how long it's been!! Really!! We're fine!!!!! No more solicitation on my blog....kidding or not!!! LOL!!!!! But thank you anyway :)

One more thing......don't forget that you can preorder the Stampavie Penny Johnson, the new Whiff of Joy, & the Magnolia Spooky collection at 7 Kids College Fund.......she has terrific prices & service!!!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!! I sure hope I can fit some stamping in *somewhere*!!!!!!

TGIF!

There's nothing like a nice quiet Friday evening, especially after the week we've had here in the Petermann household!! I have no card to show you....I have spent most of my week dealing with a sick child. And it was the scary kind of sick. The very high fever that just wouldn't go away. I can handle just about anything sick-wise......but please don't give my babies fevers!! Michael's fever was 101.5 on Wednesday, so I had him sleep with me. A few hours after going to bed, it rose to 103.7!! I was terrified....& while he slept I stayed awake...staring at him.....the WHOLE night....like I was daring that fever to go any higher. I was sure we were going to end up in the ER, but it did finally come down. Today he was fine to go back to school. But guess what....that's right....the school nurse called at 10:00 to say Michael was in the health room complaining of a headache. And she saw spots on his throat. So off to the dr we went. No strep, thank goodness, but he still has the sinus infection from 2 weeks ago. So more meds.....more rest....but hopefully no more fevers!!!

Thanks for the emails asking about that job I interviewed for!! Yes, it's been a while & no, I haven't heard anything. They did tell me they'd let me know either way so I'm still holding out hope. Meanwhile I've had a couple of other possible opportunities pop up.....still working on those.....it's hard to concentrate on networking/job searching when your baby is so sick!! But I'd better find something soon......or like I told a friend today we'll soon be living in that lovely Toyota Sienna of ours. It's nice, but it doesn't have a shower! If you'd like to help us out by paying our mortgage this month, please email me for our Paypal address

Since I wanted to share *something* today.....I chose to show you a couple of pictures of my mom's kitten she just got. He's 6 months old.....a medium hair orange tabby (can you tell we LOVE tabbies in this family??)....& he's a pistol!! Petey is her other tabby on the right, & she got the kitten in hopes of getting the other one some exercise. She calls him his personal trainer. Yeah, you can see they're getting LOTS of exercise!!




But isn't it cute how they've bonded??? She's only had him a few weeks....this picture was actually taken the 3rd day she had him so you can see they became fast friends!





Oh, to be a cat.......


I also wanted to share a pic of my gorgeous asters which are in full bloom at the moment. The whole plant is about 3 feet around .....it's huge!! As all my other plants are dying, I love to look out my front window & see this beauty staring back at me.




Ok, well none of this was craft related but I always feel like I have to explain myself when I'm absent for a few days, lol. I really have been busy.....just not in the stamping room!! Hopefully sometime this weekend I can sneak in some time, in between selling wreaths (cub scouts), homework (tons for Michael!) & trying to finish up all the outside work. Right now I'm going to snuggle with my baby & watch some good ole Zack & Cody, lol! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!