About Me

My photo
I would classify myself as an artist. It took me a while to finally accept that monicker, but that's what I am; AN ARTIST!!! I have a wonderful hubs that supports my "talents" in most all avenues, except maybe when the credit card bill comes in the mail...LOL And I have 4 great kids and 5 beautiful grandchildren that I love to pieces. Come on by and sit a spell and "STAMP 'TIL YA CRAMP!!! & "CROP 'TIL YA DROP!!!"

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Last, but not least......

Its.......

Yep, that one was too easy.  
If you missed this one, you are NOT a horror movie buff.
Jason was and still is among the fave bad asses from horror flickdom!!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

This is what you need to do to complete the hop....
Vote for your favorite project that's been linked up!

Hope you've enjoyed this hop and some of my craziness of movie watching.

Until later, victims.......Gotta split......TFL!!!!!!

Photobucket

Friday, September 28, 2012

We are on our descent........

YES, afraid so....the hop is just about over.

Hmmmmm.... I smell another clue in my post title.
Can you smell it too?????

It smells dank, musty, and down right disgusting.

Let me turn on my flashlight so we can see a little better.
Ahhhhh, that's better!!! 

(This is my card front.  I embossed it with an embossing folder and distressed it a bit with black ink.  Hand cut a flashlight 
and added some fiber paper to create the beam of light.) 

Wait I think I see something over there.....

NO, not there!!!!

Down THERE!!!!!!

I hope you didn't "P" on yourself.


Its one of those creepy creatures from the movie
 "The Descent"
Well, close enough.....its a creature, right????

Remember that movie .....when the girls were all going spelunking and
 got trapped in the cave. 
That would never happen to me.......  
I'm a little claustrophobic and I avoid places like that !!!!
Hope you dive in and check out the rest of the hop.....
and I can't promise you won't get "trapped".....
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Before you take the descent you may want to go "P".

Before you go......We have a game for you to play.
You wanna ?????
There will be a word spelled out if you find all the letters from each of the blogs that are
participating in the hop.
Collect the letters from the blogs and email DeeDee with the "Secret word"

Did you figure out my letter....????

..
"P"lease don't make me s"P"ell it out for ya!!!!



Until later, cave dwellers.......Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!
Photobucket

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Revisit....follow...follow...follow...follow.......follow the yellow brick road.....

Now that you are singing the song right along with me........
Bwahahahahahahahaha....
stroll on down and enjoy my post.

I {heart} The Wizard of OZ movie...like many of you, I'm sure.

I created this ruby-red slipper from the Princess Party cartridge and my Expression.
I used some glitter paper and used the option to cut it 2 times.  The glitter paper is pretty thick. It was cut at approx. 7".
Super easy to assemble.


I have a 6" X 6" paper stack by Graphic 45 that is called 
The Magic of OZ.

It has this piece of paper that looked like stamps and they fit into 
the film strip rubber stamp that I have from VLVS! perfectly.

I was doing the happy yellow brick road shuffle....
don't you love when everything seems to come together.


Click HERE to get this stamp

I stamped the film strip onto acetate 4 times using black Staz-on and I then 
spliced the sections together to create one looooong strip.
I adhered the cut-out stamps onto the back of the filmstrip and 
wrapped it around the shoe.
I used micro glue dots to adhere the strip to the shoe.


It needed something on the toe of the shoe....so I used another piece of paper from the stack and punched out an oval and used a coordination oval and punched a black piece of card stock to frame the piece after I inked around the edges with red.

Now I have a small vignette for displaying .

Your hoppin' task for today is:
Visit the forum and say hello on our Halloween Post!
and......... 
don't forget to knock on all the doors of the other hoppers as you 
follow...follow....follow....follow the list below.


Until later, flying monkeys.........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!
Photobucket

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Halloween?????

I think I have already given you the movie that I'm referencing in this post.

Look at the title and you will maybe get it.

You don't????

Let me give you a few hints.
There was a psychotic killer that came back from being institutionalized since 
his childhood to reign terror over a small town.
(That's why I chose the child-like paper)
The date of his killing spree was Oct. 31st.
(see stamp from VLVS)

You get it now......

"Halloween"  yes, starring Jamie Lee Curtis 
an old 1978 classic. 

Here's your task for today 
Share a picture of your VLVS! Stash on our facebook wall (DT members maybe you can 
share pictures of YOUR stash in your post :))

Don't forget to visit all the goodies on the other hoppee's blogs.
Photobucket

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Horror flicks or not???? Hmmmmm.....

If you have been visiting my blog for the last few days you will notice that I'm participating in a Halloween blog hop sponsored by 
Viva Las Vegastamps!

Click on the VLVS above and it will take you to their site....
peruse around and you too can make some great creations for Halloween too.

Ok, back to my title of this post.

If you have been paying attention you will see a theme of sorts....
and I don't mean just Halloween stamping.

Its a very subjective view on a few horror flicks, or not so horrific flicks that you 
will see at some point in time this time of year.

I myself and a HUGE horror flick kinda gal.....
even as a small child I LOVED this time of year and watching
even the old classic black and white horror films.
Starring Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and many other greats.

I won't keep you in suspense any longer......

Sunday was ......Bewitched. 
Monday was .......Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde
Today....... The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

I know, I know......its a stretch, but I was working within the stamps that I had to choose from on these great plates at VLVS!


So,  you will be seeing more horror flick references for the next 4 days.....
You don't want to miss out.....
and Visit the website (stampo.com) and return to the VLVS! Blog to share something you've learned!
Don't forget to visit the other blogs to see what horror can bring out in people!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Until later, punkins.......Gotta split.......TFL!!!!!!
Photobucket

Monday, September 24, 2012

Poison.......

....and not the big hair band.....

Only some great stamps from VLVS!


I love a great mason jar.......

This one was cut using my Cricut and the Kate's ABC's cart.  
I also used my Gypsy to make a card base with the cut image.
Stamps from VLVS!
Three Victorian Men #18922
Poison #18903

Bakers twine and a border punch to doolollie it up just a bit and
I think its a fab card.

Create a brand new VLVS! inspired Halloween project and link up


Deadline: Friday the 28th at midnight


Join in the fun and don't miss out on any 'treats' that you may
find on the way!!!!






Until later, trick or treaters........Gotta split.......TFL!!!!
Photobucket

Sunday, September 23, 2012

It's almost .........


Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

We are a hoppin' closer to the big day for all the ghost and goblins to 
come out and play.

Viva Las Vegastamps! is hoppin' too.
Blog hoppin' that is.

Join us to see some great halloween stamps for some 
witchy inspiration.

Mine is from the plate #1433
You can see it above as in individual stamp.

I had these pre-made green cards with the witch punched out. I cut the front off
and created my own card base with the metallic star card stock. 
Added some ribbon and punched stars from silver metallic card stock. 
Added the sentiment from VLVS! and I have a completed halloween treat!!!!
Here are the others participating in the hop.
Check them all out you don't want to miss anything.

Until later, witchy-poos........Gotta split......TFL!!!!!
Photobucket

Friday, September 21, 2012

Crystal's vs. White Castle......

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha.....
you like that nice play of the spelling in the title. 
Well, it is ME (Crystal) and not the slider joint well known
 to all of us here in the south
vs. White Castle.

My hubster was born and raised in Indiana.....home to many White Castles.
I was born and raised in Georgia.....Krystal Kountry.

I have never eaten a White Castle and he always tells me that 
White Castles are better than Krystal's.....
I know I know.....it can be debated until the cows are 
ready for the hamburger plant.  
But its really all about personal preference, like most things. You will most likely choose the one you ate as a small child because it brings back so many memories. 

I still love my Krystal's and probably always will.  I order my Krystal's with extra mustard and if there is still not enough on them, I ask for extra packs of mustard to add at my leisure. 

The only real differences I can see from research is the 5 holes in the meat, maybe some seasoning on White Castles and the ketchup vs mustard debate. 

Other than that, they are both cooked on some sort of 
griddle and steamed...
not cooked, per say.
Hubs says the buns are not as thick on White Castles, I really didn't see a difference from pictures I have seen.......but we'll just have to see........

So, on to my experiment.....

First is the hamburger meat.
You need a high fat content so the burgers will stay juicy.
I used 75/25.  I rolled the meat out to a thickness of 1/4" and then cut into approx. 4" squares. 
I used a drinking straw to make the 5 holes as seen in a
 White Castle burger.


They may not be the prettiest patties, but they will serve their purpose.....
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha. 

Not sure if this is really that important.  But in my search, I saw several recipes called for season salt on the White Castles.  I even watched a video of a real White Castle restaurant and they 
very lightly shook on a non-descript powdery substance onto the patties while they were cooking...
hmmmmmm.  I searched thru my spice cabinet and these are the ones that I had readily available.  I chose to use the ones on the right.  Again, VERY LIGHT amount.

Next is the onions.  No tears had to be shed to create these....HA!
I reconstituted some dried minced onions (simply pour boiling water over to cover and let sit) and the key here is NOT to drain the juice.
It WILL be used in the cooking process.

Dill pickle chips.....easy enough. Open the jar and drain. But I do think one key is not to have them
 cold out of the fridge. Let them get to room temp.

Ahhhhh...the foundation for it all.....THE BUN!!!

I think any square dinner roll will suffice. But as the stated earlier, the hubs thinks Krystal's are too "bready".  So,  I bought the two below and did a comparison.

First,  I didn't like the yellow color of Martin's potato rolls. I tasted them and there wasn't much difference there.  But side by side and you can see that the potato roll on the left is significantly thicker and the top doesn't look as smooth.  I chose the Nature's Own on the right to use for our White Castle experience.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the cooking process. 
But it was pretty simple.  I put a pat of butter and a few tablespoons of juice into a skillet and cooked on a low-medium heat.....just until the juice are barely simmering.  I placed a patty into the juice and cooked for just a minute or two. Then I placed a small pile of the reconstituted onions in the skillet and flipped the patty over on top.  Placed the bottom of the sliced roll on top of the burger and then I laid the top on and then placed a lid on to steam everything.

Here's the finished product.

As you can see the bun soaked up some of the juice and streamed to perfection. 

They were a HIT!!!  Hubs said they tasted just like White Castles.
He finished off 4 in no time flat.
He ate his nekkid and used ketchup on his fries.
I, of course,  added mustard to mine.  

It was a successful experiment and
 I had a lot of fun trying something new.....
and it was a lot cheaper than driving up to Indiana.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I don't think I will change anything that I did.  I made way more patties than we needed and packaged up the rest and will freeze them for future use.

I forgot to add the cost comparison - 
homemade vs. bought

Krystal avg. 79 cents each 
White Castle avg. 63 cents each 
homemade approx. 45-50 cents each

Now there are no excuses why you can't try them yourself.

Until later, hamburglars.........Gotta split........TFL!!!!
Photobucket

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Eeeeeekkkk!!!

Halloween is almost here....
It IS one of my fave holidays.

I love everything about it......the decorations, 
scary movies, 
candy, 
but especially 


getting to dress up!!!!!

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

My niece has an annual costume party and it is awesome!!!

You don't have a costume, you can't enter.

She has never had to turn anyone away......everyone tries to come up with something new every year.

You have the usual ones that dress sexy, scary, or just funny and you always know that
it will be in the same genre as they wore the year before.

I'm not revealing what me and the hubs are going as this year,
you'll just have to wait and see. There is a contest every year.

This year I made some trophies to give away.......Can't reveal those either.
We want the big reveal to happen right before the voting begins 
on the different categories.

I digress......the wreath is really why you are here.

I made it yesterday.  I started with a small grapevine wreath. Wrapped ribbon around it.
The skeleton is from the dollar tree.  I took it apart and reassembled it into a pile. 
I painted it black and hot glued it all together.
The "EEK" banner was made via the Cricut.
The font is from Art Nouveau cartridge.
The banner triangles were hand cut and I used a MS ghost border punch to add 
around the edges. 
Hot glued it to the wreath and SHAZAM!!!! I have a finished wreath.

Until later, costumers........Gotta split.....TFL!!!!!
Photobucket

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Vote ........!!!


and I don't mean for the next president.

Vote for me...!!!

Click HERE and it will take you to right to it.

Below is my entry into the Fiskars Fuse contest.


You can go to the Fiskars page on FB and check out the other entries.....buttttttt
mine IS the right choice.!!!!!

My name is Crystal and I approve this message!!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Until later, voters..........Gotta split win .......TFL!!!!!
Photobucket

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Feed your soul.......and your sweet tooth!!!


What better way to have your candy, but in serving size containers.

I'm not much of a chocolate fan, but I {heart} sour candies, hard candies, etc.....
If there is a bag of sour patch kids or the like in front of me....
I'll eat the whole bag.

But if I only had a few (like what would fit in this test tube).....
I wouldn't eat so many.

As you can see the tube is empty.......hmmmmmmm!!!!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!


I used a basic box template and then I just added the back panel using miracle tape to adhere it all together. Did a little distressing and SHAZAM!!! a finished treat 
for the kiddies (an adults alike).


Deets:

Orange card stock
white card stock
DSP
black staz-on ink
Colored pencils
Scalloped oval punch
Ribbon
Green Dew drop
and these hauntingly fab stamps from Viva Las Vegastamps!!!!

Until later, soul feeders..........Gotta split........TFL!!!!!!
Photobucket