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The Budget Gourmet: Mac 'n Cheeseburger Casserole

The end of the month always brings us an empty fridge with bits and pieces of leftovers - a half can of diced tomatoes, a few veggies that aren't enough of a serving on their own etc. We budget for the month and try to hold out doing our big shopping until the first when we head to Costo and go crazy. Feast or famine.

I love making this casserole at times like this. It is good for so many reasons: you can throw almost anything but the kitchen  sink in it and it still tastes great; it takes care of those odd bits of veggies languishing in your fridge; it is cheap to make and satisfying, and it disguises veggies so well even the pickiest kids will eat it up.

The recipe is from Campbell's Soup. I found it in a magazine last January, made it and loved it but feared the recipe was lost forever after one of my cleaning frenzies. I hunted it down - it is from a Canadian cook booklet.

I will post the recipe as is, but I do make changes: I hate the starchy, pasty taste of food with dry pasta cooked in so I cook the pasta half the recommended time then drain it rather than adding it dry (bleck); I add no salt even to the pasta water as the soup is so salty, and use no salt tomatoes etc.

Recently we made it with only half a pound of meat, garlic AND garlic powder (what is a meal without garlic??) red onion (we had no white), shells (had no elbow macaroni) and leftover baby spinach in place of mushrooms which we didn't have. We also add the cheese (Mozzarella as I had no cheddar ha) then finish it off in the oven rather than adding it at the end so that the cheese is brown and bubbly. Feel free to make your own substitutions. About the only thing I would not change is the diced tomatoes and the red peppers.

Mac 'n Cheeseburger Casserole

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup diced red and yellow peppers
1 can diced tomatoes (recommend no salt added)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 cups uncooked elbow pasta
2 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1 TBS Chili Powder
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Brown ground beef, add onion, mushrooms, celery and peppers. Cook and stir for three minutes.
2. Add all other ingredients except cheese and stir together.
3. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish and bake covered at 400 degrees for 50 minutes or until pasta is tender.
4. Sprinkle with cheese and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Let me know if you try it! Thanks for stoppin' by!

July's Magnolia-Licious Sketch

Hi & hello!
A quickie post as we are sanding, painting and priming rooms today in OUR NEW HOME! That's right we bought our first home  - it is so exciting and scary at the same time as there is so much to do. I have more news but I can't reveal it just yet (this is not big nor too exciting for anyone but me but I will share eventually anyway lol) :)

So onto the fun stuff -the July Magnolia-Licious sketch is up and running. This month my sweet and most talented DT sister Jacque made a lovely layered sketch full of details.

For such a sweet, feminine sketch I decided to use Valentine Tilda sitting on the Swirl Key image, both from the Magnolia-Licious store.

The images were colored with my usual Copic markers, then mounted on Basic Grey Porcelain patterned paper background with chipoard accents also by BasicGrey.

The colored pearls are by K&Co.

This little card will be headed out to my Magnolia-Licious Yahoo group sister. Each month the group sends one card to a fellow group member. We also get fabulous store discounts and little treats when ordering so be sure to join if you haven't yet already :)

Thank you so much for stoppin' by. Have a creative and happy Sunday friends!

Circled Borders

Hi & hello!
Welcome to my stop on the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog Hop! My sweet 'n simple card uses the new set Beautiful Borders, which was designed by DT member Tami Mayberry. I simply stamped the circle border in Ancient Page Chocolate ink, then die cut a bunch of circle and scallops with my Nestabilities. A  couple of K&Co. Flatback jewels add a bit of sparkle to the circles. The circle cut cardstock in the center is a Bazzill Edger cut to fit, I like how it mimics the stamps.

Be sure to check out all five of our new stamp sets here. While you are there  also check out the Christmas in July Stamp special. All Christmas sets are 15% off, and you get the fantastic Holiday Greetings sentiment set free when you spend $25 or more. There is so much more to the special, check out the link for all the details and freebies being offered.

While I am sad to see Design Team members Faith, Cindy, Deb, Laurie and Sarah departing, I look forward to seeing our new team members. They are amazing women who inspire in both artistic talent and kindness. They will be missed on the team but you can bet I will be following their blogs :)

Hope you Canadians had a BBQ-riffic Canada Day, and that you Americans out there have the happiest Fourth of July!

Your next stop on the hop is Korin.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Win a Bow-Easy at Craft Critique

Hi & hello!
Head on over to Craft Critique to read my article on the Posi-Bendr Bow-Easy, an inexpensive and handy little  tool for creating the perfect bow.

Tell us how YOU make the perfect bow and you may just win one of three being given away! Be sure to post on the article for your chance to win, not here :)

Good luck!

Giftcard Card

Hi & Hello!
Happy Wednesday to you! Today the Angels Landing Design Team has made an array of gift card holders that are easy to make and so fun to give. Mine is a sweet and simple card & gift card holder in one: the little train from the Angels Landing Alphabet Train digi stamp set tows along a gift card to someone special.

To make the gift card pocket, I used two rectangle Nestabilities of Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery Textured Cardstock sealed with red line sticky tape; the Cameo Coral "lid" is a Scallop Rectangle Nestabilites that was cut then added with dimensional foam tape. The pocket is snug enough that there is no chance of the card slipping out (it is the second from the largest rectangle in the Large Classic Rectangles set)

The images were colored with Copics then put on foam dimensionals. The base of the card is made from Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery and Blush Blossom textured cardstock (all Stampin' Up!)

A couple of flatback pearls adds a little bit of elegance to the sweetness. I love the texture, color and dimension of the card - when I added any other embellishments it took away from those three things, so I kept the card clean and simple.

Designer Tip: The middle larger wagon originally held a lamb and a duck; I cut them out, which left a bit of lines on the trim. To get rid of that I added a new strip lined with Tsukineko's Pigma Micron pen in .05.

Be sure to check out the beautiful gifts out Design Team has made today on the Angel's Landing Blog. Thanks for stoppin' by!

The Winner of Angels Landing Digi Stamps Is...

Post #4, which means Linda S. in NE you are the winner! Please email me with your choice of Angels Landing Digi-Stamp set and the email address you would like the link sent to. You will also be receiving The Alphabet Train! Have fun with them :)

Thank you to all who entered! There is still a chance to win an American Crafts/Stampavie/May Arts prize package worth over $25 in the Embellish-Online Sumthin' Bout Summertime contest. It ends tonight though - details can be seen in the Forum HERE.

Hugs,
Suzy

Chasing Butterflies

Hi & hello friends!

Oh yes Friday has arrived! Hope you have great plans to create like I do :) Today's card used Chasing Tilda from the new Magnolia collection Chasing Butterflies. Every new collection becomes my favorite, fickle crafter am I (she says in her Yoda voice).  This card is higher than the sky as far as dimension goes, it may be one of my highest yet.

I started with a base of 120lb weight Neenah paper then added Bazzill Arroyo and Navajo Basics Cardstock, which is a perfect match for the colors in Making Memories Butterfly patterned paper from their new Flower Patch collection.

Tilda was colored with the colors you see above, then cut out and put onto a layer of Bazzill Swiss Dots patterned paper in Salt, which has embossed polka dots to mimic the dots in the Butterfly paper.

The flower layers are all die cut with Spellbinders Peony Nestabilities and layered with foam dots.

I cut a few butterflies from the paper, then shaped and arranged them with foam dots of different thicknesses.

Dew Drop pearls covered with Stickles in Crystal were added here and there.

Tilda's dress has a bit of Liquid Pearls in Mint Green on it as well.

Well that is about it for today. I wanted to thank you for all your kind comments and e-mails. I have said it before and I will say it many times: your thoughts mean so much to me, make me smile, and make my day. Thank you!

Happy creating!

PS: Tonight is the deadline to enter the Sharpie and Angels Landing giveaways (see my posts below for info on how to enter).

Tilda Graduates: Floating Acetate

Hi and hello!

Today's card uses Graduation Tilda from the new Magnolia Graduation Collection, which has just arrived in the Magnolia-Licious Store. There was a thread on SCS about how people are intimidated by the Magnolias because of all the layers and coloring work they see, so I thought I would show you how a Magnolia card doesn't have to be super ornate or layered.

The image was colored with the Copic markers you see above (of course I forgot to add the warm grays W1 and W3 I used to ground her). I kept thinking of the song Wide Open Spaces, and wanted a lot of open, clean space to surround Tilda as her future is open with possibilities. I also wanted her to glow as she is the shining star for the day, so surrounded her with yellow "light".

I tried something new (for me) and stamped Tilda onto 140lb Watercolor Paper. This is usually a no-no as it is a "thirsty" paper that soaks up and wastes Copic ink, but I layed a good coat of Colorless Blender first and really like the result. The ink moved beautifully on the watercolor paper, and the slight nubbed texture reminded me of classic graduation notices.

Floating Acetate
To create the floating acetate sentiment I embossed the Graduation Diploma and Graduate Books onto watercolor paper with Ranger Antique Gold Embossing Powder in Roman Gold, which has a deep, old gold EP combined with holographic glitter for sparkle.

The sentiment, Tomorrow is a Blank Page, was stamped with Staz-On onto acetate, then put over the books with foam dimensionals. Dew Drops cover up the foam.

I absolutely love the look of the floating acetate sentiment, pictures do not do it justice so you will have to trust me that it is most awesome and you must try it :)

The base of the card is Bazzill Bling in a pearlized cream shade; Tilda is matted with a deep pearlized chocolate Bazzill Bling, then The Paper Company's Arctic Gold, which is a cool gold textweight paper. Everything is cut with Nestabilities by Spellbinders. The watercolor paper is edged with Krylon Gold Leaf pen.

I added Yellow Stickles to the Dew Drops, Tilda's tassel and diploma.

Thank you so much for stoppin' by! I hope you have a wonderful, sunny and creative day :)

Sharpie Giveaway

Sharpie has a gorgeous new Stainless Steel Permanent Marker and they are giving 5 of them away on Craft Critique.com. I wrote a review of the pen (loved it) and other Sharpie products on the Craft Critique site here.

Please leave your comments on THAT post, not this one, for a chance to win. The draw ends at midnight June 19th.

This is my second post of the day -- be sure to check below for a chance to also win two Angels Landing digi stamp sets!

Thanks for stoppin' by :)
Suzy

Angels Landing Blog Hop & Giveaway

Hello and welcome to my stop on the first Angels Landing Blog Hop! Each Design Team member will be showing you wonderful new projects on their blog to inspire you. Today is the release of two new digital stamp sets, Toys on Wheels and Alphabet Train. Judi says that the idea for these adorable sets came from custom wooden pull toys that spell out children's names. To celebrate, Angels Landing will be giving away two digi sets! More on that after my card details below.

Card Details

To create this sweet little baby scallop circle card I printed the smallest images from the Toys on Wheels set onto cardstock (the same images come in different sizes ready to print - love that!), colored the images with Copic markers, then cut them out and arranged them around my scallop circle card with foam dots onto Bazzill Swiss Dots in Salt.

This card will be for a baby shower where the gender of the baby is unknown, so I tried to keep it gender neutral. I alternated blue and pink Hero Arts Adhesive Pearls on the wheels.

The large white satin bow on top has a button with a larger Kaiser Champagne Pearl inserted into the center to round out the wheel theme.

Note: The animals from the Toys on Wheels set also work with the letters and numbers from the Alphabet Train set.

While I used the PDF images (Adobe files) which are about 1 inch square, the PNG images (PhotoShop or other photo editing software files) are larger, sized for scrapbook pages, banners, or table decorations. Of course they can be scaled smaller.

Win Two Angels Landing Sets!

To celebrate the release of these two new and adorable digital image sets, Angels Landing will be giving away the new set Alphabet Train, and any other one set of your choosing on the products page including the other new set used on my card, Toys on Wheels.

To enter please leave a comment on my blog - if you like you could let me know which other set you would choose. The drawing ends June 19th at 11pm EST; the winner will be announced on my blog June 20th.

The winner will be given two free download links to the digital images via email.

There are two chances to win! One other blog along the hop will be giving two sets away.

Hop Aboard!

Your next stop on the hop will be Cheryl Rowley. If you get lost along the way please visit the Angels Landing Blog on this post for a master list of the Blog Hop.

Thanks for stopping by!