Christmas, Pizza and Cards......

Hi there everyone. Goodness, it has been a week since my last post...time is a'flying! Hope your Christmas plans are shaping up and you are getting everything done that needs to get done. When you are finished you can "R-E-L-A-X" and enjoy the season and the real reason we celebrate this time of year. Yeah, all the fan-fare and busy-ness of the season sure can take our eyes off of what is important.

Have you not heard????? "JESUS....is the reason for the season". I am glad I don't have to worry about getting presents for everyone.....just a few gifts for JP, Kylie, sent off Pop's gift in Las Vegas, got my cards made and sent off, baked cookies and decorate the house.....whew....almost done with 9 days left till Christmas. Why do I put myself through all this busy-ness???? I don't know why, guess I just get caught up in it all, trying to make Christmas special even though it is not that much any more. It's for the kids anyways.

So in the picture below is my little Christmas tree....this year, I decided the tree will be in all blues....hard to tell that the blue and white lights are on...but they are. I have the same blue and white lights on the front porch....so pretty. After Christmas I will put up red and white lights for the Valentines.....love my little Christmas tree, it is so very hard to take downstairs after the season. If I could find green and white lights, I would leave my tree up till St. Patrick's.....hahahahaha!

In the picture below is my Blue Apron pizza...gosh was this ever delicious....I shall make it again. "Roasted Sweet Potato & Caramelized Onion Pizza" and oh....it was so yummy the next day too. Sweet potatoes were peeled and sliced and layered on a cookie sheet, a little salt and pepper and olive oil for 12 minutes or so at a 475 oven. Then cooled and transferred to a bowl. The pan was then used for the pizza dough, spread out to the size I wanted then topped with the béchamel sauce, 2 T oil, 2 T flour and cook, stirring 1-2 minutes till golden brown, milk, lemon zest and 1/4 cup of water was added then the juice of 2 lemon wedges and seasoned with salt and pepper. The sauce got thick and then spread on the dough.

Then topped with the sliced sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, garlic, oregano and fontina cheese. After the pizza baked, the arugula and remaining cheese was added to the pizza. Oh yum...I will do this again. If you would like the recipe just google the recipe name and google will take you directly to Blue Apron and the recipe and you can make this pizza yourself. Again...it was absolutely delicious.

In the picture below is a card a made for a blog friend. Her husband just died recently. I think this has to be one of the prettiest cards I have ever made....was really happy how this card turned out.

This card is for the groomer who does my Kylie's hair every 8 weeks. I picked up a new cuttlebug folder....if you can see it...little paw prints. The snowman is a Christmas napkin and the doggies are stamped, colored and cut out.

This is another new Cuttlebug folder and all I did was use speckles and smooch pens.

In this card, I used some plumbers tape, ran it though my Cuttlebug then added a die-cut tree and stars for decorations. If you can see it, there is a ribbon running down the middle of the card.

The picture below is another Christmas napkin. I use the first layer of the napkin and lay that on a piece of card stock that was covered completely with a glue stick. Smooth it out as best you can without tearing the napkin. Let it dry then cut it the shape you want. I then added speckles to pop out the candy cane, snowman and holly leaves.

I this picture, is the same technique....but I used a Christmas tree. A friend gave me some of her napkins....this is one of them and guess what....she will receive her napkin back in the form of a Christmas Card. I guess that is called "re-purposing".

So tomorrow is my card making outing at Betty's. We are all suppose to bring something to eat that will go along with her pulled pork....oh yum. So I will bring a "Grains and Quinoa Salad" and "Cucumber sandwiches" (of course...pictures to follow soon).

Well, time to close here....the debate is starting and I need to watch that. Finish my Quinoa Salad and type a few letters tonight to friends.

Have a great evening and keep looking up....things will get better.
Cheers ~ Louise