Karen's Muse and Musings

Holiday Happenings

Note to self: Never design square Christmas cards again. It now costs 64 cents apiece to mail square envelopes. Yikes!

I finally mailed my Christmas cards. My presents are wrapped. Hurray!

It's been really busy here at the Owen house, but I know it's probably been busy at your house too. Having a spouse who has a birthday just before Christmas adds to all the busy-ness. In addition, our little granddaughter, Kathleen, is having her first birthday party tomorrow. She actually won't turn 1 until January 11, but since she and her family are here in town for Christmas and close to friends and relatives, this is a good time to celebrate her birthday. I have to share this photo of her and grandson, Bobby. It was taken this week.

Aren't they cute? I wish Bobby didn't have half his face covered with his pacifier, but it's still an awfully adorable photo. Isn't he sweet to let the woman drive?

I want to share a delicious recipe with you. It's called Southwestern Cheesecake, and it's great for a party — especially if you need to feed a crowd because it goes a long way. I made one last weekend for a party, and I just made another one for Kathleen's party. Here's the recipe.

SOUTHWESTERN CHEESECAKE

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
1-1/2 envelopes taco seasoning
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles, drained

DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl, beat cheeses until fluffy. Stir in 1 cup sour cream and 1 pkg. of taco seasoning. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in chilies. Pour into a greased 9-in. springform pan. Place on a baking sheet.
    Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven; let stand for 10 minutes (leave oven on). Spoon remaining sour cream mixed with 1/2 pkg. of taco seasoning over top of filling. Bake 5 minutes longer. Cool completely on wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.
    Remove sides of pan. Place on serving plate. Top with salsa or guacamole or you can get fancy and arrange different colored bell peppers, olives, onions, etc. on top. Serve with tortilla chips. Yield: 20-24 appetizer servings. 

Enjoy!

Inspiration and Improvisation

I know many of you have been following Tim Holtz's 12 Days of Christmas Tags just as I have. I love what he does, but I quickly discovered how many different products he's using. In this economy, I couldn't justify buying a bunch of extra "stuff" to put in my already well-stocked but super-crowded studio. However, by improvising I have been creating tags similar to the ones he's doing. Who wants to do exactly the same thing anyhow? I didn't have the car and the tree stamp he used, so I pulled out stamps I did have — the car is by B-Line Designs and the tree is from Paula's Kit Club. For the flocking I substituted Liquid Applique and glitter.

Here are 3 other tags inspired by Tim.

I found a great way to use old Christmas cards. See the ornaments on the tag on the right? Tim stamped on paper, glued his Fragments on top, and cut them out. I did some that way as well, but I realized it would be a fabulous way to recycle cards from past years.

Remember those 45 Christmas cards I already made? Well, do you think I've mailed a single one yet? NO! I've been having so much fun playing with these tags that I haven't begun addressing envelopes. I better put these aside and get busy. Or, I could have a wonderful head start on next year's card making!

Gothic Arch Shrine

Well, I'm a day late and a dollar short. This was the previous theme for the Gothic Arch challenge — I thought it ended today, but yesterday was the final day. I'm sneaking it in anyway. This week's theme is regal ladies, and I think the Madonna is definitely regal. That stamp, The Saint, by Stampington & Co. has long been one of my favorites.

Do you see the hymn in the background? I recently stole borrowed rescued 3 old hymnals that were no longer in use at my church and were probably bound for the trash. I brought them home and showed them off proudly to my husband who really didn't quite get my excitement. To me, they are a treasure.

It's beginning to look ...

a lot like Christmas! Well, at least in my studio where I have 45 completed Christmas cards lying around. Yesterday was a cold, rainy day here, so it was a perfect day to get back to work on my cards.

 

I'm in love with these reindeer stamps from Layers of Color. The set is called Reindeer Waltz, and each little reindeer is delightful. 

  

I found that using printed papers such as scrapbooking paper made the card making go much faster. It also gave me the chance to use some of my stash and clean out a bit.

I think I'm done making cards for now. It's time to make the rest of the house look like Christmas.

Variations on a theme

Today is a Bobby day — that's what I call the days I keep my 14-month-old grandson. I thought while he is napping, I would run in here and try to get a post done.

Ready or not, Christmas is fast approaching, and I've been working on my cards. My design is pretty simple, but I like what I've done. To keep from getting bored, I'm varying the papers and the ribbons. The reindeer stamp is from Layers of Color, and the sentiment is from Penny Black. The background papers are made by Memory Box. I especially like the one with the corrugated cardboard band which I recycled from one of those wrap things from Starbuck's. Is there a name for those things?

Assemblage — how I've missed you!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take some classes from Beverly Seymour of B Line Designs at my favorite rubber stamp store, Rubber Stamp Fantasy. Saturday morning, we had a card-creating blitz with the opportunity to create 8 cards. Slow-poke that I am, I completed only 4, but I have the pieces to finish the rest. Then that afternoon and on Sunday, we constructed 2 projects using wood bases and canvases. So much fun! It's been a while since I've done asssemblage, and this weekend reminded me how much I love it. I thought I'd share photos of my finished pieces. I'll start with the second project, "Home Tweet Home," because it's my favorite. (With its bird theme, that's no surprise!)

The finished piece, all closed up

 

Close-up of inside the roofline

 

With canvases opened

 

Interior of left-side canvas

 

Interior of right-side canvas

After opening the canvases, there are 3 panels that fold out.

 

Finally, there is a secret compartment behind the top panel. I am thinking about adding 1 more surprise element to this compartment, but I haven't decided just what to add yet.

The project we did on Saturday was called "Hidden Key."

Fold down the hinged canvas and find the hidden keys!

On the Dark Side

If you scare easily maybe you should close this window — quick! But, if you are like me and enjoy a good old scary movie or ghost story, then go ahead and look at what I've done today.

This is my entry for this week's Gothic Arches theme — Orange and Black. Before I made the arch, I did this ATC, and it scares even me!

 

Look closely behind and to the left of the girl's head. Do you see that face? Another one of my dictionary pages turned ghostly.

The image of the little girl is from PaperWhimsy.

You're Invited!

Layers of Color will soon introduce 9 new clear sheet stamp sets — over 70 designs! To celebrate, they are throwing a Release Party on November 14-15, and I thought I would spread the word. Here's what Laura has to say about it:

We’re throwing a huge party and you’re invited!

November 14th – 15th, 2009

Layers of Color

is celebrating their

*Autumn 2009 stamp release*

and revealing 9 new fabulous clear stamp sets

totaling over 70 original  art stamps!

Everyone who joins us will get FREE DIGIS party favors!

With a drawing and contest offering $250 in PRIZES,

blog hopping with Faith Perspective,

a unique challenge from Stamping Sisters in Christ,

mingling with over

one dozen talented stamp artists,

including Layers of Color Design Team

you won’t want to miss this fun event!

Another Halloween Banner

I had so much fun creating banners for Aileen's Halloween Banner Swap that I decided to do more. Here's one I made for a friend. Notice the ghostly faces at the top of each just like I did before. (For details, click here.) I cut the letters out with scissors after I printed them on cardstock. The font is called LD Cottage, and I love the Gothic look of it. The cool charms and ribbons are from Paula's Kit Club.

 

I Won, I Won, I Won, I Won!

I won a major award! Do you know that movie "A Christmas Story"? If so, you'll remember that line in the movie. Well, I didn't win a leg lamp — thank goodness — but I did win Alys, one of Joanne Huffman's beautiful handcrafted art dolls. Here is the beautiful Alys.

According to Joanne, Alys knows that there are truths that transcend facts and can be found in art and fiction. She is a very wise woman.

Joanne has recently reopened her web site. It is filled with wonderful things for sale like other art dolls, unique polymer clay buttons, journals, collage sheets and lots more. You should definitely check it out by clicking here.