Popcorn! Get your Popcorn!

By the way, I thought I'd share with you a "home run" I finally hit on a Christmas present this year. See, my family loves to eat popcorn and watch movies at home, so we were going through the microwave Boy Scout popcorn pretty quickly. We decided to switch to a microwave popcorn bowl by Nordic Ware. It let us pop the bulk kernels in the microwave.
Problem was, it left so many kernels unpopped. (Unless we set it for more time...then we burned the popped ones!) Not such a big deal...and still a great improvement over bagged pop but I started thinking about one of the retro "home movie" theater poppers.


We got a Costco membership in November and wouldn't you know it...they had this gem at the front entrance! And to top it off, it was on special for $50. Suffice it to say, we've put this baby through the paces in the last month and a half and we LOVE it! It doesn't pop a very large batch at a time, but it only takes about 3 minutes, so it's so easy to reload and pop more.

Such a yummy dinner!

We had this for the first time during the Super Bowl, I got the recipe from 2 Peas in a Bucket. It pops up fairly regularly at the top of the new posts, so I finally gave it a try. I'm so glad I did, because now it's going to become a staple in our meals.

BURNING FEATHER'S ITALIAN BEEF

Mix in crock pot:
1 (1.25 oz) envelope dry onion soup mix
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 large clove garlic, smashed or 1/2 TBSP, minced garlic (jarred kind)
3/4 cup water
3-4 lbs. Roast (We've used chuck eye roast and had great success!)

Cook on high all day (8 hrs or so), or until meat is tender. Our crockpot seems to run hot, so I usually start it around 9-10 am on high, then around 4 o'clock turn it down to low to continue simmering. Turn it over every now and then if you can. If not, that's okay too! Shred the meat, let it simmer in its own juice for a while, and serve on buns or hard Italian rolls with provolone cheese.

Now, because there were only 4 of us eating there was plenty of it leftover. It keeps great in the fridge or freezer and I had good luck reheating it on 50% power in the microwave.

It's a big, big deal!!!

That's right, Paperthreads is celebrating Customer Appreciation Days with Trendy Tools and Techniques! There's so much going on around the forum, the store, and the blogs!

ALL of my files are on sale Feb 19th, 20th, and 21st for 50% off! So, if you've seen some you wanted to try, what are you waiting for? There are bound to be some smokin' hot sales going on this weekend, so be sure to stop by and check them out! We've also got several designers running challenges, "first-to's", and BINGO this weekend (but you've got to sign up as a forum member first!)

Just so they're handy, here's some important links:
My section of the store: Jen Adkins Designs
The Paperthreads Store page
The Paperthreads forum


And, that brings us to the blog hop...
My trendy little technique is a digi stamp. It's a great add-on to some masculine cards, steampunk altered art, a vintage page or frame, and so much more! I designed it to compliment several new digi stamps I'm working on, the first of which is already up in the store.


Now, I've gone ahead and included the cut lines for digital cutters, but there's also the PNG and JPG too if you want to hand cut.


And, before you head over to 4-shared to pick up the freebie, you've got to agree not to share my files or images with others. I'll be keeping it up through the weekend, so please, send them along to my blog to get them for themselves.

Finally, 4-shared will ask you for a password to download the file. All you need to do is agree to my terms of use and then type:

iagreejentou

So, if you agree to my TOU and want to get the file for yourself, click ...
(Sorry, the freebie link has been removed, watch for them at Paperthreads soon!)... The single zip includes GSD, AI, WPC, KNK, SVG cutter types as well as the PNG and JPG images.

(I've had some folks say it's asking for the password twice- once before and after the download link occurs-, just type the same password again if prompted!)

Now, here are some more friends who have other goodies and fun in store for you:

Accents by Eddita

Diana's Designs

I Scrap Designs

Jennie Bean Crafts

Just Laury

Keepsakes by Design
Paperthreads Designs

Sam and Hailey Designs

Shelly's Art

Shirley Clark Designs

Enjoy!

One hundred days

Well, my son had his "Hundred days" party finally at school. It was delayed a bit this year due to snow! Part of their celebration was to make a shirt at home that had 100 objects on it. They got to choose how to decorate it...paint, markers, stickers, or sewing on objects, etc. You know my son LOVES his Legos, so we had to incorporate that somehow.


It ended up being a pretty inexpensive project, just a little time consuming! I wasn't able to find any Lego related iron-ons, and my inkjet printer is running low, so making a transfer like the Star Wars rainbow shirt wan't going to work. We found some iron-on flock numbers by SEI on clearance for a couple bucks at Hobby Lobby. Now, the ones we got didn't have the outer white frame layer like this snapshot below, but you get the idea (I think they were clearanced because they're the "older style" from SEI).

I just used a small pair of scissors and cut the numbers up into little Lego like bricks. I also made some using a small (1/8 inch, I think?) hole punch to make it look like the bricks viewed from above. We were able to cut up a few extra "1"s and a "2" and get our hundred bricks of assorted styles and sizes. Then it was a simple job to iron them onto s $3 shirt from Hobby Lobby as well. Voila!

Sweet times

Well, we've never done a gingerbread house before this year...and now that we've done one I'm not sure we will again, LOL!

Actually I had purchased one of the Wilton's pre-baked kits at Michael's the week before Christmas, but something kept sneaking up on us and we never got around to making it.

We finally got the box out 2 weeks ago and mixed up the packaged royal meringue icing mixture. I think I made it a little too loose, because it just didn't harden up very quickly. No matter, our window frames were a little saggy, and the icicles on the eaves a little longer than expected, but the kids had a blast!


Here's a look at the final, "snowy" outcome.

And they're off!

We had our first Pinewood Derby race on Saturday. My son had a great time learning to use the drill press and the belt sander. He picked out the spray paint (a shiny glossy green) and learned to apply that as well. We decided it needed some spicing up, so cut flames from some samples of vinyl I got when I purchased my KNK. He learned how to weed the vinyl and used the transfer tape to apply it to the car.

Well, he didn't have the fastest race times, but he did win 1st place in the pack among Tiger Cubs for design!


And yes, we desperately need to get a haircut...but it was a busy weekend! LOL!

How cute!

How cute is that little statue? It's apparently a garden piece from Lowes. I think I may have to take a trip and see if mine has any in the store. It's totally adorable!

BTW, if you haven't grabbed the freebie I shared Thursday, make sure to check out the next post down below before I take it down this evening.

Just a little somethin'

Woo-hoo! I've managed to figure several things out about blogger and 4-shared...I've finished a few files and am about ready to upload them to the store...and I've got a freebie for you!

One of the ladies on 2 Peas was searching for a tag for a perpetual calendar. I was able to create this set for her to use, and I've decided to share it with you too! Now, as you may know, I design for Paperthreads. Michelle has a wide range of cutters for sale in the store, and essentially all of the files available work on any one of the cutters. So, I've not only got the images for the entire set of tags for you to download, but I've also gone and created "print-and-cut" files for your electronic cutters too. They're sized to be 2.75 in wide by 3.75 in tall.

Now, if you just want to handcut, you can grab the "images only" folder. Otherwise check out the folder (click the folder icon down below) with the file type you need. And, before you head over to 4-shared to pick up the freebie, you've got to agree not to share my files or images with others. I'm going to keep this image up for at least the next day, so please, send them along to my blog to get them for themselves.

Finally, 4-shared will ask you for a password to download the file. All you need to type is agree to my terms of use and type:

iagreejentou

(Sorry, the freebie link has been removed, watch for them at Paperthreads soon!)

After I'm done sharing it here, I'll upload it to my section of the store, so check it out if you missed this! (And while you're there you might want to watch for my new files...they're already available at Paperthreads.)