JAMSquared

Author Archives: Jennifer

A Snowglobe Birthday Card

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Sarah, stop reading. Unless you want a sneak peak of the birthday card that will hopefully arrive on your birthday or the day after.

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I almost didn’t finish this card before the next All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge comes out. I didn’t have acetate, which makes it very difficult to make a snowglobe card. I finally got a transparency sheet yesterday and I finished it up today. I like how the paper pieced Annabelle turned out. I had originally planned to do just the dress, but I decided cutting out the purse would look weird, so I paper pieced the purse and then I decided if I was doing the purse, the collar and shoes would need to be paper pieced as well. When finished, I decided the card needed something else and so I daubed ink around Annabelle and I’m afraid I was a little heavy handed in places. Oh well. I hope my sister likes it.

Annabelle Snowglobe Birthday Card

Stamps: Cookie Crumbs Annabelle
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Petals & Paisleys, Afternoon Tea (paper-pieced dress)
Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Stampin’ Up Bashful Blue
Accessories: Stickles Baby Blue and Gold; Maya Road Velvet Blossom; glittered brad of unknown origin
Tools: colored pencils; Standard Circles Large Nestabilities; Stampin’ Up Eyelet Border Punch

Inside of Card


Orange Bundt Cake

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We had a busy weekend. Jessica’s baptism was yesterday and we had a lot of family in town. There will be a bunch of posts related to the baptism and this first one involves the Orange Bundt Cake I baked for the brunch/lunch we held after the baptism.

It is a very moist delicious cake that I like to make when I buy orange juice, because I have a tendency of forgetting about it being in the fridge. This is the kind of cake that Sandra Lee would call semi-homemade.

Last Piece of Orange Bundt Cake

Orange Bundt Cake

Source: James’ mother

Cake Ingredients:

  • 1 18-oz. package orange cake mix
  • 1 3.4-oz. box instant vanilla pudding
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 4 eggs

Glaze Ingredients:

  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 teaspoon orange zest
  • 1-2 tablespoons orange juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil and flour Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, blend all cake ingredients at low speed until moistened. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan and bake at 350°F for 38 to 43 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.

For the glaze, mix confectioner’s sugar and orange zest; add enough orange juice to make it thin enough to spread. Drizzle over cake.

Yield: 12-15 servings

Jessica Update

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Jessica is growing so fast. Sometimes it seems unreal that I am the mother of a almost 3.5 month old.

She was invited to her first party on the 17th. It was a get together of all the recent babies at the church. So really is was more of a party for the parents to get to know the parents of the kids their kids would be interacting with at church. Jessica slept most of the party as it was held during her normal afternoon nap time, as did a lot of the other babies. James and I were the youngest parents there as the other babies had older siblings.

Jessica and Daddy After the Party

Happy Jessica, 1/17/2010

It is so fun to see her interacting with her world. She really likes the monkey on her activity mat and the monkey on her car seat. Both of them have legs she can easily grab a hold of.

Grabbing the Monkey, 1/18/2010

I really like this next picture. She is my little model when she has tummy time.

Model Jessica, 1/20/2010

I put her in her exersaucer for the first time recently. She is still a tad too little for it (recommends 4 months), but I think she’ll soon enjoy it.

Trying Out the Exersaucer, 1/21/2010

Jessica is definitely a thumb sucker. Sometimes she’ll try to put her whole hand in her mouth.

Sleepy Jessica, 1/22/2010

As a side note, Wisconsin Cheese has a free Kitchen Kids brochure you can download. It looks interesting. I definitely want to get Jessica in the kitchen helping cook.

A Valentine’s Day Card

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I love to read blogs and have way too many that I follow in my Goggle Reader. When it comes to crafty blogs I browse, they provide inspiration for my own creations. But is it okay to be inspired by yourself? I was checking through my blog to insure my tag changes were appropriate and I came across this card. It is still one my favorites. When last week’s All That Scraps Weekly Wednesday Challenge was a color challenge to use brown, pink and red, I decided to CASE my own card to make a Valentine’s Card. It will have to be sent to someone who doesn’t read my blog, probably one of James’ grandmothers.

Heart to Heart

Stamps: C.C. Designs Kiki La Rue; Stampin’ Up Sweet Little Sentiments
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Real Red
Designer Paper: Stampin’ Up Loves Me
Ink: Stampin’ Up Basic Brown
Markers: Stampin’ Up Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom, So Saffron; atyou Spica Red
Accessories: Stampin’ Up Chocolate Chip 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon; Creatology foam glitter hearts
Tools: Cuttlebug D’vine Swirl embossing folder

Chicken ‘n’ Chips

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I made this for dinner Tuesday night and James really enjoyed it. It is somewhat of a cross between two dishes that are in our regular meal rotation and it will be entering our regular meal rotation. I changed it up slightly to fit what I had on hand.

Chicken 'n' Chips

Chicken ‘n’ Chips

Source: Taste of Home: The Busy Family Cookbook

Ingredients:

  • 1 can (10.75 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons taco sauce – I used salsa
  • 1/4 cup chopped green chilies – I used half a 4-ounce can of chopped green chilies
  • 3 cups cubed cooked chicken – I used frozen grilled chicken strips, chopped
  • 12 slices process American cheese
  • 4 cups broken tortilla chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, taco sauce and chilies. In an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish (I used a square baking dish), layer half of the chicken, soup mixture, cheese and tortilla chips. Repeat layers.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield: 4-6 servings