Simple Beaded Bracelet in Water Hues with Charm

We'll be making these simple beaded bracelets for our first MOPS craft this year. Our theme is PLUNGE! (as in, take the plunge, dive in head first...).
	I'm sharing it here because it would also make a great Girl Scouts craft or Girls Night Out craft, and it can be easily adapted for different themes or colors. Since PLUNGE is a water theme, I was inspired to use water hues and picked mostly beads that are transparent.  I even found some that were shaped like little shells.  I added some metal beads for more variety and finished it off with a charm.  I bought starfish charms, but I also got some inspirational word charms (love, faith, friend, grace, etc.) in case some people dislike the look the of the starfish.  I purchased all of the beads at orientaltrading.com and the Stretch Magic bead cord at our local Michaels craft store (about $2.49 for 5 meters of .7mm).
Supply List (Enough to make 48 bracelets) 2 pkg Nugget Word Charms--$7.25 each 2 pkg 7mm Silver Tone Dotted Barrels--$4.25 each 3 pkg Winter Colors Bead Assortment--$7.99 each 1 pkg Metal spacer bead assortment--$16.00 4 pkg 8mm Clear Cut Glass Crystal beads--$5.50 ea 4 pkg 12mm Blue/Aqua Shell Glass beads--$6.25 ea 1 pkg Silver tone Metal Starfish Charms--$6.25 ea ------------- $116.22 Plus 4 packages of the Stretch Magic cord @ $9.56 I used the .7mm cord because the 1mm cord is too thick to go through some of the beads and the .5mm cord is so thin that it sometimes breaks when tying it off. Total was $125.78 divided by 48 finished bracelets comes out to about $2.62 per bracelet. To make bead kits: I pre-package little kits to make it easier, although it's a bit time-consuming.  You could just put the beads into separate bowls with a note next to each one of how many to take.  Then let the women go through the line with a bag or dixie cup and get their own.  However, I've noticed that some people will take more of one kind of bead and none of a color they don't like.  Then you run out of those colors and the last few people through the line end up with leftovers. Put into each bag: Grab 48 snack size baggies. Sort all of the metal beads by type.  Select 4 different styles of the metal beads and put 2 of each style in the bag for a total of 8 metal beads.  I tried to mix it up (4 barrel, 4 round kind).  If you put all barrel style in the same bracelet it changes the length and is too long. 2 small white beads, 2 large white beads 2 small aqua beads, 2 large aqua beads 2 small blue beads, 2 large blue beads 4 clear crystal beads 4 shell beads (2 with aqua stripe, 2 with royal stripe) one charm (word or starfish) 10-12 inches of Stretch Magic cord An Instructions Card (see below)  Download FREE instructions pdf
	Get crafty with your group this week.  ENJOY!  ~Sarah

Going, Going, Gone!

On Monday, April 15th, Stampin' Up! released their annual list of retiring stamps. It's always a bitter sweet thing for me.  On the one hand, I can barely wait for it to be revealed, and I feel a sense of urgency to get the ones that have been sitting on my wish list before it's too late.  On the other hand, it means that a bunch of new sets are coming out soon, and I am super excited to see what's in store for us.  I have to admit, I was bummed to see some of my favorite stamp sets on the list this year.  As a special tribute to these wonderful stamp sets, I thought I would feature a few of my favorites right here over the next few weeks. I'm going to begin with two of my Christmas favorites.
Season of Joy Why do I love this set?  It think it's one of the most versatile Christmas sets I've seen.  It comes with 8 stamps that all look great together, but they are different enough to create multiple styles of cards that will each have a unique feel.  I can use this set to create Christmas cards several years in a row, and most people would probably never realize that I was using the same set over and over.  I feel like I get more value for my dollar, and I never get tired of experimenting with these fun designs.  Here are just a few of the cards I've made with this set.  The one to the right features the poinsettia flower.  I added ribbon to give the impression on leaves and used the Eyelet Trim Border punch to carry the dots from the flowers down into other elements.
I used Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details to add some shimmer to the center of the flowers (it's hard to capture the shimmery effect on camera, but it adds a little extra bling that really makes the poinsettias "pop."  The repetition of the flower makes such a dramatic statement and the overall color scheme has a charming, vintage feel.
For the next card, I borrowed one of my go-to layouts that I absolutely love, (used previously on an autumn card).  There are a few subtle differences.  The brown swirls at the bottom right are new and help balance the visual "weight" of the ribbon bunch in the opposite corner.  I've removed the rustic-looking natural hemp twine and used a shiny gold paperclip to attach the ribbons instead.  The center of the poinsettia flowers is accented with Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details.  The snowflake is accented with the clear Dazzling Details, and the star on the tree is actually embossed with gold embossing powder.  Again, it's hard to see the details in the photo to the right, so I've added a close-up below to show you how these tiny details add up to big results.
The last card is has a layout that I borrowed straight out of the Stampin' Up! catalog.  I like it because it's deliberately more simple, which allows me to reproduce multiple copies quickly and easily. It's just right for those us who try to make handmade Christmas cards every year and have a lot of people on our list.  The most time-consuming part of this card is cutting out the stamped Christmas tree images.  To speed up production, stamp one tree onto thick cardstock or a tagboard and cut it out leaving a generous 1/8" border around the outside edge.  Use that as your template and trace out a bunch of trees onto an 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of Very Vanilla cardstock, filling it with as many trees as possible.  Grab two more blank sheets of Very Vanilla and stack them with the first sheet.  Hold the paper tightly and
cut through all 3 pieces at the same time. You'll get three trees for the work of one.  Next, stamp the tree image using Old Olive ink onto each of the paper cut-outs by lining it up carefully.  I used Whisper White craft ink and Versa-mark watermark ink to create the snowflakes in the background.  The Real Red and Old Olive paper is textured for added variety, and I attached Very Vanilla 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon to finish it all off.  If desired, add a gold embossed star or a star-shaped gold brad to the top of one of the trees for a little bling.  Stamp your favorite sentiment on the inside of the card and you're done! Honorable Mention:  Four the Holidays Another retiring Christmas set that I can't live without is called "Four the Holidays" and it features four simple Christmas greetings in beautiful fonts.  I used them to make gift-card holders this past season, like the one shown below. If you've fallen in love with Season of Joy and Four the Holidays and want to add them to your collection, they are still still available, while supplies last.  You can visit my website to find out more information.  Be sure to check out the full list of retiring stamps. Hurry! They are going, going, (soon to be) gone! Happy crafting! Sarah

What to do with leftover spinach dip?

I made a double-batch of spinach dip for a party recently.  I use the recipe from Knorr, which is usually printed right on the back of the box of their dry vegetable soup packets.  I omit the optional water chestnuts, and I usually add in 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese.  It's delicious.  Sometimes I add a can of artichokes and/or stir in some softened cream cheese for an even richer treat.  However I decide to make it, I serve the dip with pumpernickel bread, or cubed white bread, or tortilla chips.  It makes a wonderful pretend-like-we-are-eating-healthy alternative to fried appetizers.  I mean, at least there's a leafy green vegetable somewhere inside there, and if you eat enough, perhaps it will even fulfill one of your required daily servings.  (I'm not going to comment on the number of calories that the sour cream and mayo add on there, besides, you can always buy the light versions of those). 

Anyway, this time the amount was way too much for the number of people who attended the party.  I ended up bringing home about half, which is about the same amount as one normal sized batch.  My kids aren't real crazy about spinach to begin with, and they especially won't eat it when it's combined with "slimy" things like mayo and sour cream.  I'd been eating away at it, little by little, but I still had a lot left.  My mother taught me never to waste food, so I had to put my creative chef hat on and figure out what to do with all that leftover spinach dip...

I took the "use what you already have" approach and looked in the fridge.  I had a can of Pillsbury Grands homestyle biscuits, some leftover Tyson Grilled & Ready fully cooked diced chicken breast (also from the party), a brand new block of mozzerella cheese, some cheddar and some parmesan cheese.  So, I came up with the idea to make Chicken & Spinach pizza, and it turned out pretty well. 

Here's the recipe:

Sarah's Chicken & Spinach Pizza (using leftover Spinach Dip)

1 can Pillsbury Grands homestyle biscuits (or crescents, or 1 refrigerated pizza dough crust would also work)
1 1/2 to 2 cups of spinach dip made according the recipe on the Knorr Vegetable Soup packets
1 cup of fully cooked chicken, cubed (such as Tyson's Grilled & Ready)
6 to 10 oz of Mozzerella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup shredded parmesan
1/4 cup shredded cheddar

1. On a non-stick baking sheet, put one biscuit in the center, then surround it with the other biscuits in a circle, with the sides slightly touching.  Pinch the edges together and roll out with a rolling pin until it is pretty thin (about 14 inches in diameter for thinner crust, 12 inches for a thicker crust).  If you make it too thick, the center will still be doughy when the edges are brown. 
2. Spread the spinach dip mixture in a thin layer over the dough, leaving a half inch of the crust exposed around the edges.  Everybody likes a nice crispy crust. 
3. If the chicken pieces are large, chop them a little smaller and then sprinkle the chicken on over the top of the spinach mixture.  If you put the chicken on top of the cheese, it will get all dried out.
4. Next, sprinkle the 3 cheeses over the top.  I only used about 6 ounces of the mozzerella and I thought that was plenty, but some people like a lot of cheese.  Add as much as you want.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 17 to 19 minutes, or until the cheese and the crust are lightly browned.  Serves 2 to 4 depending on appetites and how much they like spinach ;)

If you like red peppers, mushrooms, or artichokes, they would also go nicely with this.  The peppers or the the artichokes could be chopped and stirred into the spinach dip or you could chop them and put them on top.  Mushrooms should be sliced thinly and added to the top, or you can saute them in a little butter first so they don't get dried out.  Yum!

If I sit down and add up all the calories and such, I'll update this post with the nutritional info, though I cannot imagine this being low cal fare.  It's still yummy and hey, I didn't have to waste any of the spinach dip.     

For more tasty recipes, head on over to my new cooking blog, "Savory Simmers" at http://savorysimmers.blogspot.com/