Happy 4th of Juy!

One of the best things about having a varied family is the larger than normal pool of holidays to choose from.  Independence Day was always lots of fun no matter where we were living.  My Mom and Grandma cooked great food, and even if we were still at school, the evening was always fun.  The only difficult part is that for two thirds of my life I have lived in the southern hemisphere and July is the middle of winter!  So the traditional BBQ or picnic never really cut it.  So one of my favourite 4th of July traditions is to cook Tamale Pie.  Not one of my Mom's favourite dishes, but I love it and it is my tradition!

It is not a Mexican dish, except that it has jalapenos in it.  Here is my version of Tamale Pie.

500g mince beef
1 onion
1 bell pepper / capsicum (colour of your choice)
jalapenos to taste
2 tsp of hot chili powder (adjust to taste, but change cumin to match)
2 tsp of cumin
pinch of salt
2 tins of tomatoes
1 tin of kidney beans, drained
120g of sliced black olives (some people also add frozen corn)
a few handfuls of grated cheddar cheese
1 batch of corn bread batter

Brown mince, onion and peppers in a saucepan.  Add the spices and heat through a bit more.  Stir in the tomatoes, beans and olives and simmer while you make your cornbread batter.

Spread the chili mix into a casserole dish, sprinkle with a few handfuls of grated cheese and top with the corn bread batter.  Bake uncovered until the corn bread is golden, about 15 min.

It smells and tastes great.  Is easy on the pocket and quick to prepare.  But best of all it is comfort food at it's best.

Even though I worked today, I had a wonderful holiday.  I came home to a living room decorated with flags and a case of root beer.  Don't know how The LOML managed to pull it off, but he did.  Then the kids and I cooked Tamale Pie together.  We laughed and chatted and The Princess was beaming with delight over her bronze medal for Cross Country that she won today.  Whatever you may be doing today, I hope that your day is as good as mine was. 

Happy 4th of July!
Chipper

Vintage Disney

It is the end of my long fortnight!  We open later and close earlier on Sundays, and the whole family enjoy that, but twice a month I work a 15hr Friday and it takes a huge chunk of my energy (I think I am getting a little too old for such long days!).  I have been working furiously on wedding invitations this last week and they were delivered today so that this afternoon I could spend my free time on whatever I chose without any lingering guilt.  I didn't even think to take a photo as this one was a little unusual.  Most of the guests are from overseas and invitation was 6 pages long!  I joked that I was working on my 'novel' all week long.

So now that the week has come to an end I finally had the chance to catch my breath and have some fun, so I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and did something a little different.  I scrapped the photo from our first visit to the '50's Prime Time Cafe' at Disney Studios in Florida.  It didn't end up at all how I had planned but I LOVE the final result.  There is no natural light at 11pm at night so the colours in the photo are a little washed out but I just couldn't wait to share :-)  (have updated photo to one a little better)

Papers are HOTP and Rusty Pickle. Stickers are from the park.

I really enjoyed playing with inks, sprays, and the Martha Stewart punch 'doily lace'.  A few days after visiting the park we drove up to visit my Aunt in Lake City.  After a spot of shopping at her local store I found a wonderful page by Rusty Pickle that was full of 50's style cooking images.  I bought it with this photo in mind and I am really happy I ended up using it.  There is still half left as it was quite yellow (you will find that this is my least favourite colour!)

The strip at the top of the page began life as a piece of Bazzill 'vanilla' and it was inked with Tim Holtz Distrss Inks 'Tea Dye', 'Vintage Photo' & 'Weathered Wood'.  I then sprayed it lightly with Glimmer Mist 'Walnut Gold' and 'Bell Bottom Jeans' (a new colour and fast becoming my fav!).  I painted the turned over part with just the 'Bell Bottom Jeans'.  The strip of doily at the bottom with only inked with 'Weathered Wood' to bring more blue into the layout.

To embellish the journaling block I used a Dusty Attic 'doily' laser cut chipboard shape inked in 'Weathered Wood' and sprayed with the two sprays, going heavier on the blue. While at the park I picked up a box of 'Vintage Disney' stickers.  I couldn't resist using them on this page and that is where the title came from and the Thumper embellishment.  They were very white and I inked them with 'Tea Dye'. I am just hoping that the ink eventually dries!

I am in love with the Dusty Attic chipboard hinges and I loved that I could use one on here.  This was inked with 'Tea Dye' and sprayed with the two sprays going heavier on the 'Walnut Gold'.  But I found it was too brown and at the very end I painted on extra 'Bell Bottom Jeans' along the edges.

This is a wonderful place to visit and if you are ever heading to Disney Studios in Florida I would recommend booking a lunch at the '50's Prime Time Cafe'.  We loved it so much that we went back a second time.  Now that visit has a longer story that is well worth telling.  I am still trying to find the right papers for those photos as I really want to do them in the pink and blue of the cafe.  Hopefully soon I will find just the right paper and tell you the rest of the story.

I hope you had a great weekend,
Chipper

P.S. if you have been reading about by recipe album project, I received my FIRST recipe via email today from my Great Aunt!  Very, very excited!

Don't you love it when a plan comes together!

I have emailed, messaged, and chatted galore in the past few days.  And it has all been worth it ... my family are all getting in on the 'Family Recipe Album' idea that I had for my cousins wedding present.  I am so excited that I am going to make two, one for me and one for her.

My family has been fractured many times over for generations and we are spread all over the world.  Some of us try to keep in touch and others have lost their family roots.  This is my way of passing some form of family heritage onto my cousin at the time of her marriage.  I know she will appreciate it.  I love her dearly and I miss that we have grown apart as she got older because I moved away for a while.

Family I very rarely speak to are emailing me back saying that they know just which recipe and story they will forward to me.  I am so excited and even the thought of how much work it is going to be to compile it all is not dulling my enthusiasm.  I have asked each to send me a favourite recipe along with the story that goes with it and where possible a photo.

I am enjoying writing this blog even though it is a learning curve for me.  I still can't seem to post comments (although that is probably due to the age of my computer!) but Shimelle's 'Blogging for Scrappers' class (see the right of the screen) has been full of inspiration and valuable information.  It was due to one of her prompts that I came up with this idea.

Stay tuned for updates on this album.  I have six months to finish it :-)

Chipper

I Believe In Fairies

Scrapping the boys with Tinker Bell the other day made me want to go all blingy and scrap the corresponding photo of The Princess and I.  To keep the two similar I used the same green Bazzill Dotted Swiss on both layouts.  It is one glittery layout!

I used backing paper purchased at the park.

I wanted to add as much sparkle to the purple backing paper as possible so I traced over the main pattern with Ranger Stickles "Star Dust'.  The photo doesn't do the sparkle justice as there was a big storm today and natural light was not an option for taking the photo!  I recently purchased a WRMK Sew Easy and have been wanting to use it for two weeks.  I was very disappointed and it is NOT so easy to use.  At first I was going to use the pendant and have it hanging on the page like a banner ... but it wouldn't even make the holes in Bazzill!  I managed to get the large loop to work, but I still had to go over it with a piercing tool to actually make the holes as all I got were marks.  I am not a huge fan of hand sewing so although I pierced a 12in border, I only stitched 3 loops!  But after all that effort I was going to use it on this page somewhere, or else! LOL It became part of the title along with a sticker from the park pack.

I love to make my own embellishments and although the green flower is from Prima, I made the purple ribbon flower myself.  It is easy to do using the Clover Bow Maker.  I used the middle size in the small pack and this is the first time I used a wire edged ribbon (It was the only one in my stash that matched).  I do love the effect of ribbon on a page.

The flower border is a Martha Stewart punch and the 'believe' is a chipboard word from Dusty Attic.  The other bits came from my stash and the 'Fairies' was cut on my Cricut and then stickled with 'Star Dust'.

I am very happy with the way this one turned out and it still co-ordinates with the one of the boys.  It is rare for me not to journal, but as all of these photos are from the same holiday, I don't feel I need to repeat myself just so that jounaling appears on each page.

Those are the Tinker Bell photos done, now I think I might start tackling the 50's Prime Time cafe shots.  Now there is a story worth telling :-)

Chipper

Know your limits ...

I came across this video via my step-dad a few years ago.  I laughed so hard I cried, and I normally miss the point of English humour entirely!  Ok, the humour won't suit everyone and some of you will probably miss the whole point and get offended.  But I loved it and still do.

Chipper