House Mouse Challenge #32 - something sweet

This weeks challenge was to include on your card something sweet, as in to eat or the word sweet..... so I was not sure what I was going to do, then looking through my stamps I seen this Gruffie stamp and thought how cute this would be if he was looking at a cupcake vs. that chipmunk! LOL.. so I taped off the chipmunk and then inked my stamp, removed the tape, stamped and then drew my cupcake... LOL.. so of couse the sentiment of "Hello cupcake" seemed somewhat humorous. I colored this with my colored pencils. I soo love those little square letter stamps. I bought them at Michaels in the dollar bin and I must say they have become one of my fav stamp sets to use on cards, they are truly just he right size for things like this. So.. that's it for me, so thanks for stopping by and taking a peek, and if you haven't checked out the posted videos below, please do so, I am certain you will not be disappointed at all!!

I would have never guessed...

nor would I have thought of this, but heck, what a great idea for a mini book!! LOL.. I don't know about you, but I am headed directly to the bathroom trash so I can give it a try!! LOL.. heaven know's we end up with plenty of these!!

Would you dare join in??

I seen this posted on another blog and I just can't help it... it certainly made me smile and of couse I would join in... why? Because life is way to short to miss out on any innocent fun! Would you?

Now, wouldn't that be something to truly witness unexpected?!

OH MY! these are the cutest Paper Cupcakes

Well, what can I say I still have cupcake's on the mind!! I found these videos while stumbling around the net this morning... mindless I say... but what can I say, I love just looking around and stumbling across things, heaven knows I don't have nearly the time to make all this nor the brain space to keep all the information I find interesting tucked away for later use that is fun, full of nonsense and mind building, so thank goodness I have this blog to place stuff on, plus I love to share all the fun finds such as these! I think I might find time to make some too, sometime!! I think these would be a great craft ideas for a little older child! How fun to maybe make these at a child's birthday party? Lots of fun things come to mind.. so watch the video and I am sure it will inspire you to make one too!! Make sure you watch both videos, because the end result for each is way different, but they are both super cute!!

Easter Cards

These are the Easter Cards I just made. I wanted to make some, but did not want them too complicated so I could make several. I already had some small blank colored cards, so I made an egg template and cut them into egg shapes and I embossed the top 3/4 of the egg with a cuttle bug embossing folder (luv those things!) so with using those they instantly add a big punch of lovely detail and then I just did the rest which was really pretty simple. I added a bible verse on the inside and called them complete! I also made these all from scraps except the cards themselves. Thanks for looking.

Italian Sausage Sandwiches!

Alright, so, my family thinks I am a bit off, might be because I was taking pictures of the sandwiches we had for our dinner tonight! Morgan was like, "Mom, can we just eat 'em!" LOL.. My response was, they look soo yummy and they are one of our favorite sandwiches, so I thought I would take a pic and share the recipe with all of you. I am telling you if you like Italian Sausage, you will not be disappointed. I can't even remember where I first got this recipe I think out of a magazine, but I have been making them for years and it was not a family thing so, that is what I am guessing. So here is how I make them. Although they really don't take very long to put together, they do cook for some time, but well worth it.

This is a recipe I make for a family of 6

Italian Sausage Sandwiches

10 Italian Sausages (but could have a few more)
1, 3 LB spaghetti sauce, I usually just use Prego-Italian Traditional
1 Large Green Pepper, diced up
1 small Onion, diced up
1, 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
10 Hoggie type buns
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese

Boil, grill or brown italian sausage in skillet. If you boil, boil for about 1/2 hour. If you grill or do by skillet cook until browned. Once this initial process is complete, place some Spaghetti sauce in a large pan (big enough to hold all the ingredients) then add some of the cut up veggies. Add all the Italian Sausages, then add the remaining spaghetti sauce and the rest of the veggies. At this time if you want to try to stir it up gentle you can, if not, place lid on the pot and simmer for an hour. Make sure your simmer is low so you don't burn, stir occasionally. After cooking a full hour take off flame. I usually buy the hoggie buns which are whole, so I cut out the top center part of the bun, kind of make a "V" cut and pull that part out. I then kind of smoosh the insides down a bit so the bun can accommodate the size of the sausage (so it's kind of boat like) LOL. Once I have done that, I spoon in sauce and add the veggies to the bottom, they stay on the sandwich better this way, then I add the sausage and then spoon a little more sauce on top and maybe a few more veggies. I then top with the mozzarella cheese and place the sandwich in the broiler for just a few seconds until the cheese is melted. The picture above is right after they came out of the broiler!! YUM YUM.... I sometimes also make a little of spaghetti, because I always seem to have some sauce left over and it is great over pasta! So, I hope you try this out, if you have any questions regarding this please feel free to email me. I am sure you will love them. This is one of my family's favorite sandwiches!

Welcome our family additions!!

((OK...)) I know what you are thinking! Are you kidding me? Nope I am not kidding you! So, I realize that all you House Mouse Stamp lover's probably really do not adore real mice, although you might adore those stamps, but truly these aren't mice, they're rats!! LOL... now isn't that a bit better!! Well, we have had rats and mice both as pets over the years, but we tend to lean towards the rats mainly now, because they are bigger so if one gets loose, they are a bit easier to locate!! ((((HAHAHA))) So, REALLY I am not sure how to convinence you that mice and rats are really super sweet, but THEY ARE! I have to admit to kissing many a rats and crying when we have lost one. Well, we have lost all our other rats, not in the house hehe but to rat heaven. So, my oldest dear daughter asked if she could go buy Avery an Easter Rat! Now isn't that just the cutest and the sweetest! LOL... So, maybe it's because I have been doing these house mouse challenges lately, that I folded and said sure. Now, here is where the problem came in. I sent my 18 year old and my 12 year old dear daughters to the pet store by themselves with the intention to purchase only one rat, well, upon their arrival home they unveiled 3! Of course they gave me the big ole spill that they saved their little lives, because they were in the feeder rats bin!! Which I guess I totally don't get. These rats are fancy hooded rats, which are raised to be pets... but I guess the snakes don't really care...so of course once I seen those cute little whisker faces, I totatlly fell in love with them!! LOL... So let me introduce you to these 3 lovely ladies!


This is Athena, isn't she just mystical!

This is Rocket, fast and speedy! ((also known as X-ray)) LOL

And this is Louise, a little old fashion, but modern!

Rats really do make delightful pets. I would have a rat any day over a hamster or gerbil and we have had them all. They are smart, truly interactive and we have never had one with a bad attitude or that was hard to handle and we have NEVER been bitten by one. They have all been super sweet. Rachel even had a hairless rat once, now I am not so sure how lovely in looks she was, but she was super sweet and very loving! Well, thats my exiting news for today, so have a rat-tat-tatty kind of day and SMILE; maybe the Easter Bunny will bring you an Easter Rat too!! hehehehehehe

House Mouse Challenge #31 - Bags and Boxes

This weeks challenge was to make a box or bag using a stamp. Well, I am thinking that mine is more a bag... LOL... not really a box, but not really a bag, but closer to a bag then a box!! LOLOLOLOL.... So, I made the template myself, although I have seen things like this before but thought it would be easy enough to do without a template. I took a 11x7 piece of card stock and made my first score (going across the shorter length) at 4.5, then made another score an inch from the first. Then measure 4.5 from the last one and score again, that should leave you with another inch area. So, it should be 4.5x1x4.5x1 = 11(wink-wink). Then I used my fiskars shape it tool and cut the oval out, used a fiskars boarder punch and did the edge that folds over the top. I placed a white piece of card stock behind that design so the white would show through. I added a few flower stickers, as well as the bee. Stamped the little sentiment and the mice and colored them with my mark-it markers. Cut them out and I place the one mouse on a pop-up dot as well as the sentiment. This holds a snack size baggie. I filled the baggie with gummie bears (had those one hand) and then added the little mouse inside the bag with a glue dot. I stapled the baggie to the back and then folded over the flap, punched two small holes at the top and then ran some ribbon through it to be able to carry it. I kind of appears more purse like I suppose!! Well, this really did not take me very long to make so I thought this would be a great thing to give little ones that you might visit at Easter or ones that visit you that you might want a little something for, but inexpensive. I am not usually very good at explaining things, so if I have done an awful job doing so please feel free to send me an e-mail! Thanks for stopping by and looking and happy box and bag making!