Birthday Card(ed) in Vegas

Hey all! So, I'm trying to stick with the Wheel of Fortune "Before and After" theme. We'll see how long it goes/how clever I am. Today, I've got a birthday card to show you, and then a few pictures from Vegas...where yes, I was carded. But it was at the airport. For my boarding pass.

For the card-making part of the presentation, here's a summery greeting using some brand-new items in the 2011-2012 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog.

The stamp sets are Pennant Parade, from the Idea Book & Catalog, and Swirls & Curls Verses, the hostess set from the 2011 Summer Mini catalog (see the link on the right--only available through August 31!).

The colors are Calypso Coral and Wisteria Wonder--new 2011-2012 "In Colors"--and Certainly Celery and So Saffron from the core colors in the big book. Some designer series patterned paper, baker's twine and basic jewels-pearls round out the look. I made this at a recent workshop, and it was a hit! If you'd like to make something like this in your home with your friends, let me know!

And now...here's some of what my DH and I (okay, and my BFF and her hubs) call "The Vegas." I tagged along on a work trip for DH...all the fun of The Vegas and no work! What's not to love? Except the slot machines, most of which didn't love me, even though I kept going back for more!



Love the water show at Bellagio! I was playing with the "guide" mode on my Nikon D3100, which set itself to take "moving water" pictures. I think it did an awesome job!

Here is DH, looking all official on the phone. If you remember the post about winter activities, yes, this is the same man who smokes meat when it's below zero in Minnesota in the winter!

And a final, parting shot. Oh, The Vegas, I love you...even though you take all my money in slot machines and shopping!

Thanks for stopping,
Julie

PS: I was not compensated for mentioning the D3100...I just really love it!

Projects with My Husband

In my last post, I promised you a photo of the pizza I made the second night (leftover dough, remember?) with my DH. You'll see there's only half left because we dug in so quickly, I forgot to grab the camera.

My half, the right half, is made with the whole wheat pizza dough, sweet honey barbecue sauce, grilled chicken and red onions. The left half, DH's half, has some kind of hot wings sauce on it. Woo-wee! It was kind of on fire. He loved it. I'm always surprised at how fast homemade pizza can come together; it makes a great meal.

And to continue of the theme of linking food to a card sample, below is a card I made for my husband (mentioned above) to use.

This is a thank you card that I made for my husband to send out after his SURPRISE 35th birthday party (I should have blogged about THAT!). He requested I make some cards for this reason, I did not MAKE him send thank yous. What a guy!


Crumb Cake and Whisper White card stock, Medallion background stamp, Sincere Salutations stamp set, (retired) Night of Navy 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Night of Navy classic ink.

Simple, masculine and easy to mass-produce!

Thanks for reading,
Julie

Before and After: Chicken Pesto Pizza Card

This is Before and After, as in the Wheel of Fortune game where the word in the middle is shared by the word or phrase before and after, but it's two separate things. So this post is not about a Chicken Pesto Pizza Card, but rather, a chicken pesto pizza and a pizza card. Just check it out.

Kahla and I were stuck *all alone* (ok, her cute two-year-old daughter was with us, too) without our chef-husbands about two weeks ago. Really. Stuck. They do most of the cooking. And they're super fabulous at it. And they like to cook. They don't use recipes, and it's creative. All. The. Time.

We didn't really want to drive back into Rochester to go out, so look what we came up with! We were super proud of ourselves...a little whole wheat pizza dough (from a mix, not even just a frozen dough hunk), garlic scape pesto (homemade by Kahla and respective husband), shredded mozzarella, grilled chicken and fresh tomato (probably from a farmer's market; Kahla brought it). Look!

This photo alone makes me think I could be a food blogger. I'd just make this pizza every day, and photograph it like this, every day. Would you keep reading? Hmmm... Could I get endorsements?

Well, regardless, it was tasty. Tase-tee. Mmm. Tune in later this week, and I'll show you the barbecue version I made with my respective husband the next night. There was half the dough left. I *had* to have pizza two days in a row.

OK, now onto the "After" part of this game show: the pizza card!

I received a swap (cards Stampin' Up! demonstrators make to trade with each other at events, so we can have lots of samples and ideas without having to do them all ourselves) at Convention in July in Salt Lake City that used the new Pennant Builder punch to make a pizza slice! It was so creative. So, here's my take on it, using another new product, the Stampin' Up! stripes embossing folder. A demonstration at Convention showed us how to make gingham with the folder!


To make the gingham, use your ink pad to ink up the Stripes embossing folder and run it through the Big Shot. Carefully remove the paper, ink up the folder again, and put the same paper back in, turned 90 degrees. Run it through again. Voila! Gingham!

Let me know if you have any questions about this one! I love it.

Thanks for stopping!
Julie