OMG Moments Making New Traditions at Thanksgiving

Just looked at the calender and had an OMG moment...Did you know??? It is only 17 days until Thanksgiving? 

I'm so excited! This year my son Nathaniel and his children are planning to come, it's the first time having my grandchildren come visit from out of state and I'm on pins and needles! They will meet families of their cousins face to face for the very first time and see Aunties and Uncles that they've not had in their life due to distance. 

Oops, change of plans,,,<heavy sigh> my son can't get the time off...so very sad. I know it will be a blast just hanging out but of course I want the traditions we create and the food we eat to be memorable too. I'm still in the planning stages but I thought I'd share my ideas for my Menu...

Brined Turkey

 Carol's YUM Stuffing

Homemade Turkey Gravy

Rolls

Mashed Potatoes

Vegetables

Veggies & Dip

Relish Tray

Fruit medley

 Cranberry Relish

deviled eggs

 Sweet Potatoes

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle

The newcomer...Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifle looks really yummy!

A few years back it was a great joy to have my dear friend Beverly staying with us for a while. As we talked over food plans for the Thanksgiving celebration she shared a tip...
Brining a turkey guarantees a delicious moist turkey. She and I bought our brine the first year from Williams and Sonoma but honestly it is a simple thing to make your own, I thought you might enjoy the recipe I have since used.



Turkey Brine

"This recipe makes 3 quarts of brine, enough for a 10 to 25 pound turkey. All of the spices and herbs in this recipe add great flavor, if you can't find one for some reason, don't worry, just leave it out. 

Ingredients

2/3 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup sugar
6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon juniper berries, crushed

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
2 teaspoons whole allspice berries, crushed
5 fresh sage leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
8 cups hot water
4 cups ice water 

Plus:
2 turkey size plastic oven bags or brining bags
1 large roasting pan (or a very large bowl)
1 fresh or thawed frozen turkey (12 to 20 pounds)

note: The easiest way to crush whole spices is to use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. If you do not have either of these kitchen tools, place the whole spices in a heavy lock-top plastic bag, seal the bag while pressing out all the air, and pound them with the bottom of a small, heavy saucepan until coarsely crushed.

For the Brine:
In a large saucepan, stir together the salt, sugar, cloves, juniper berries, peppercorns, and allspice. Add the sage leaves, thyme, and bay leaves along with the hot water. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently until the salt and sugar have dissolved. Boil for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat. Add the ice water and stir to cool the mixture. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

The Method:

Nest 1 plastic oven bag inside the other to create a double thickness. Place the double bag mouth open wide and facing up, in the roasting pan. Fold back the top one-third of the double bag to make a collar (this helps keep the bags open). Place the turkey inside the double bag. Unfold the collar of the double bag and pour the brine over the bird, then add 2 cups of cold water. Draw up the top of the inner bag, squeezing out as much air as possible, and secure it closed with a twist tie. Do the same with the outer bag. Turn the package so the turkey is breast side down in the roasting pan (or very large bowl) and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours. Turn the turkey 3 or 4 times while it is brining.

Remove the turkey from the brine. Discard the bags, brine, and any cured herbs or spices remaining on the bird. Rinse the turkey under cold water and pat dry with paper towels (sanitize the sink afterwards). Place the turkey back in the roasting pan (or on a rimmed sheet pan that is large enough to hold the turkey) and refrigerate, making sure that it touches nothing else in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 6 hours or up to overnight. This resting period allows the skin of the turkey to dry a bit so it is crisp when roasted. The turkey is now ready to be roasted. 

One new tradition for me began a few years ago, recounting things I am grateful for. I'm looking for an idea to help all of us express gratitude together on Thanksgiving Day. If you have an idea for me please share it in the comments. 

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 5

This is the final post of my  multi-part article where I been sharing tips and tidbits concerning stockpiled scrapbooking supplies. I really learned a lot from a very wise crafter who did some amazing mathematical calculations to determine time and use correlations of her craft room supplies to arrive at how long it would take to use up her current supply.  

•  Did you know that one ABC sticker sheet usually makes only two titles before is is 'cast off' by most scrapbookers? Over half the stickers are then wasting away in binders or storage and clogging up precious storage space--never to be used again. Perhaps using your stickers as shown will give you some relief from the guilt of the previous statement. 

• Did you know that people will pay $1 each for two punched flowers and a brad or pop dot? (Think Jolees, K and Co, and Paper Bliss) Do it yourself for a fraction of that. It takes only pennies to make a stacked flower from your scraps and chalk the outside petals..... I know you have scraps and brads, eyelets or pop dots! LOL Pay yourself about $20 to $40 an hour and make a few dozen sets instead of buying them.

DYI Paper Flower Tutorial

• Did you know that stamping your own twill ribbon with phrases saves you $2.00 a yard? How many pre made ribbon yards do you have that you need to use up? Wording ribbon usually works out to 1 foot per page. If you have a stockpile of 20 yards of worded ribbons of all kinds, that means you better get cracking and make 60 pages before you buy more!!

Here are two links for tutorials to try this out. Link 1 Link 2

We've learned quite a lot from our calculator inclined scrapbooking friend but what I like to remember most though is:

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 4

Today as we continue to reveal details in this multi-part article about stockpiled scrapbooking supplies I hope you'll find these facts an figures helpful and perhaps even inspiring. What originally made me think about MY stockpiles of supplies was that I  had come across these figures in a scrapbooking article on a now defunct site a number of years back. It shocked me and made me laugh all at the same time. 

Sweet girlfriends, especially those of you who like to plan and organize, I know you have wondered these thoughts yourself but just did not have the information.These calculations and insights are for all of you sweet girlfriends with the plan and organize bug... Yes I agree, they are truly important. (Because friends share all the juicy details, right?)

• Did you know there are about 500 free sketches online? Here are just a few links I have come across. Lots are free online to print and refer to, or for ideas for crop parties. Scrapbooks etc sketches Scrapbook.com sketches 52 Sketches 52 Weeks

• Did you know that shopping once a week at the scrapbook store costs most scrappers an average of $25.00 each trip? 

(And most of those have enough items at home already to make 1000's of pages.) $25.00 times 52 weeks a year means $ 1300 spent per year.

• Did you know that sticker letters cost an average of $3-$5 dollars a sheet now? Buy black so that later you can mix and match later your partial sheets for 'mixed font' titles. It will save you at least a dollar a sheet to BUY BLACK! Why? Because you will eventually get more many titles per sheet that way! Hmm so you are not thrilled with black? 

(Well  I'm thinking for those of us who have wanted to justify our purchase (past or present of the electronic cutter, yippie the cost of masses of sticker sheets has made the cutter practically pay for itself, right?!)

Or if you just aren't into the idea of buying an electronic cutter, how about this as a solution to all those orphan stickers.

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 3

Have you been following this multi-part series as I reveal the details I learned from a very wise crafter who did some amazing mathematical calculating to determine a time and use correlation for her craft room supplies?  

What made me think about my stockpiles of supplies originally was that I  had come across her very informative (and funny) scrapbooking article from a now defunct site a number of years back. It was all about stockpiling scrapbooking supplies.

I realized scrapbooking is contagious...I caught this bug from my friend Cathy who spread it to many others including my friend Viv and we haven't been able to shake it. Oddly we have caught a second wave of this bug and it manifests as a need to organize all this stuff. We have almost as much fun organizing our "stuff" as we do playing with it.  

• Did you know that the average gel and writer pen ink longevity INSIDE a pen is one year before it is generally dry or unusable? (Use them up before they DRY up!)

• Did you know that playing music when you scrapbook helps your creativity and productivity?

• Did you know that starting with a format saves you 20 minutes PER PAGE?

 A favorite method of mine is to use Trish Morris method called Assembly Line Scrap Booking or ALSB for short. I am able to put together whole albums quickly with her techniques!

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 2

Recently I began a multi-part article where I shared some Tips and tidbits about Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies. We've all seen our girlfriends craft space and slowly shook our heads thinking how long would be before SHE would run out of supplies. Why would I be contemplating such a thought? Well of course because I want to connect for some shopping therapy! 

What made me think about my stockpiles of supplies originally was that I  had come across this very informative (and funny) scrapbooking article on a now defunct site a number of years back. It was all about stockpiling scrapbooking supplies and OH boy did it have the details. The kind of details that says "hide the credit card" so I thought and I thought to myself don't let my DH see this, he'll veto every visit I plan from now until  the apocalypse. 

But for you my sweet girlfriends, especially those of you who like to plan and organize, I will share the authors calculations and insights (because friends share all the juicy details, right?)

But dear friends, lets be real...over the holidays our favorite stores have amazing sales and of course our families need gift suggestions anyhow, right?  So let's keep all these calculations and wisdom in perspective! 

• Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)

• Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)

• Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do approximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?

• Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? 

• If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? SHARE!!

Did You Know?...Tips About Stockpiled Scrapbooking Supplies Part 1

Today begins a multi-part article where I will share some tips and tidbits about stockpiled scrapbooking supplies. 

What made me think about my stockpiles of supplies originally was that I had come across this very informative (and funny) scrapbooking article on a now defunct site a number of years back. It was all about stockpiling scrapbooking supplies and OH boy did it have the details. The kind of details that hint at "Don't let my DH see this, he will veto every Scrapbook Convention I plan to attend for the next 7 years." (Attending those conventions means an automatic increase of my craft supplies by 10%)

But for you my sweet girlfriends, especially those of you who like to plan and organize, I will share the authors calculations and insights (because friends share all the juicy details, right?)

 

• Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?

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• Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?

• Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realize that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?
  
  
  
   Does it still count it it is well organized?
  
  
  

I'm pretty sure I could provide supplies for a scrappers retreat!

What Is Card Candy And Do I Need A Card Crafters Glossary?

I have crafted since the dawn of time, (well since the dawn of my time anyway) and I am surprised that even after 50+ years of creating crafts I still stumble upon new descriptives!  Did you ever wonder what all those crazy acronyms we use stand for? me too, I even wrote a specific post about them, take a few minutes to check this out ;) 
Loyal friends and followers you know how I love hanging out at Swap-bot ... Well today I stopped by to see what new and fun swaps were posted in my areas of interest and surprise surprise I found an intriguing swap in Scraptopia for a Card Candy Swap.  What?? Wouldn't you know the swap host threw out an unfamiliar term so off I go in search of "the" proper meaning for it...gotta make sure I fully understand what I would be swapping LOL.Thank goodness for the internet! For most everything else I found really detailed glossary. What a rich resource and additionally a wonderful service to our service people. SO-oooo after searching and searching on the internet what the heck is Card Candy? Well I DID find some fun sites... Stamping With Loll had a drawing for folks who left a comment to her blog...He very own handmade Card Candy. What a cool enticement! I'm loving the idea! Well done Loll! On another site I saw a person describing a fun Stamping Event and it included a class teaching the recipe for her Card Candy...perfect! So let me see if I can define Card Candy for YOU...

   card can·dy

     kärd/ ˈkandē/ 

      noun 

     A group of objects often made from thick, stiff paper or thin pasteboard, fabric etc.        designed to sweeten the handmade card it is added to.

     In particular card candy is used for decoration on he handmade card to enhance,                sweeten or dress it up. 

Oh-hhhh so Card Candy can take a card from plain to pizazz. I understand now :)

I made some of my own CARD CANDY.

Would you like my recipe? I'd love to share it with you. 

Recipe

Cardstock: Black, Light Red, Dark Red, Gold, White

Paper: Recycled Sheet Music, Red with Lace, Red Dark print

Punches: Stampin Up XL Fancy Flower, Stampin Up Boho Blossoms, Stampin Up 1 3/4" Scallop, 3/4 circle punch, 1/4" circle

Dies: Stampin Up Top Note, Cuttlebug Scallop Flower 1 1/2" & 1 1/4", Framelits Stampin Up Hearts A Flutter, Stampin Up Bigz L Fun Flowers

Other: Gold Brads, Red Star brads,Stickles Ice Glitter Glue, paper piercer, glue stick.

Top Note Large Flower: Cut 1 Red Dark print,Cut 1 Recycled Sheet Music with large 5 petal flower with Stampin Up Bigz L Fun Flower. Punch 1 Recycled Sheet Music with Stampin Up Bigz L Fun Flowers punch. Punch 1 Stampin Up Boho Blossoms in black. Add Ice Stickles accents to petals. When dry, layer petals, add Boho multi petal as a flower center, Pierce through all layers and add gold brad. Glue to center of Stampin Up Top Note diecut from white card stock. Repeat just the flower & flower assembly for each large additional flower.

Flower Pennant: Cut pennant from dark red cardstock using Framelits Stampin Up Hearts A Flutter set. Punch 1 Gold Stampin Up Boho Blossoms multi petal flower and 1 more with Recycled Sheet Music. Punch a black 1/4' circle. Glue gold flower to pennant, sheet music flower next then black 1/4" circle. Repeat process for each pennant desired.

Flower Scallop Square: Cut 1 Red with lace square, 2 1/4", punch 1 Stampin Up 1 3/4" Scallop from black, punch 1 Cuttlebug Scallop Flower 1 1/2" from dark red print, punch one 3/4" circle, punch 1 gold 8 petal flower from from Boho Blossoms, light red paper and punch 1 from Boho Blossoms, layer and glue in that order. Pierce a hole at center, add red star brad at center. Repeat for as many as desired.

Flower Scallop: Die cut one Cuttlebug Scallop Flower 1 1/2" from light red, & one 1 1/4" from red with lace paper. Punch one 3/4" circle and one gold 8 petal Boho Blossoms. Layer and glue in that order. Pierce a hole in the center, add a red star brad. Repeat for as many as desired.

YUM YUM! Enjoy the CARD CANDY!