Garlic Fever

"There is no such thing as a little garlic." - Arthur Baer

My love affair with garlic started with my first taste of "Adobo", a "garlicky" dish staple to any Filipino home.  Incidentally, as I was writing this blog, my mom who is visiting, prepared this delicacy for lunch. 


Mom's version of Chicken-Pork Adobo loaded with garlic - YUM!

Mom won't always be here to prepare Adobo for me.  So on days when I need to satisfy my garlic craving, one quick way is through roasted garlic.   Roasted garlic can be enjoyed by itself or as a topping for mashed potatoes, bread or pasta. Here is one recipe from Elise Bauer who posted her idea at Simply Recipes. 

To my delight, September is proving to be the month of garlic...at least in my neck of the woods.  The Stratford Garlic Festival starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday in Stratford, ON.  Next weekend, the Niagara Garlic Festival will be held on Saturday, September 13th at Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.   And on September 22nd, the Toronto Garlic Festival will take place at Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto, ON.  These festivals help promote local garlic growers and producers of garlic. 

For those interested in free tickets to the Niagara Garlic & Herb Festival, email me (or craftmatesetc ^@^ gmail.com, if link doesn't work) with your address, # of people attending, and I'll mail out the tickets to you.  Or, if you prefer, pick it up at the admissions tent on the day of the festival.  Note that the free tickets are limited so they are on a first-come-first-serve basis. 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

pwp #24 - together is a good place to be

There’s just something about professional rib vendors gathering together in an outdoor event to showcase their culinary expertise.  Everything seems fun, easy and delicious.  

Rib festivals have become one of our summer traditions.  There were  a number of rib fests in our area this summer and we made sure we were there to experience them.

Here is the first one we attended last July...

I made a simple but striking layout, mainly pulling the colours from my DD’s dress that day.   Navy blue, pink and yellow turned out to be a fun colour combo.

Some close ups...

I used Project Life-like cards which I got from Michael’s Recollection brand, Kelly Purkey’s Right Now stamp and some punched out circle shapes using Papertrey’s cardstock (enchanted evening, hibiscus burst and harvest gold).

I am also entering this to Leigh Penner’s Pages with Papertrey challenge here which is to use two in a layout.  It could be two photos, two stamps, two dies, etc.  For my layout, I used two photos. 

Thanks for stopping by!

peaceful wildflowers

Happy September!  Quite a bittersweet day today as we start school and say goodbye to summer. But I think I am ready for cooler weather and a more regular schedule around the house.

Anyway, today I have a card to share.  I have always liked the look of silhouette flowers. So when Lisa Johnson came up with the Peaceful Wildflower set over at My Favorite Things, I knew I had to have it. 

I used it to make a clean and simple note card.  I deliberately did not put in a sentiment on the card so it can be used to for any occasion (or even for no occasion at all).

I also used an October Afternoon button and some twine.

And because it was so easy to create this card, I made 3 more...

And here they are, looking pretty together…

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank You, Volunteers!

One of the events I helped organized, the 1st Niagara Food Fight for Foodies festival, was held last August 17th.  The event would not have been possible without the help of friends and volunteers (special mention to Craftmate, Virna who volunteered in the admissions tent).  I was pleasantly surprised by the volunteers from Brock University.  They were all very helpful and stepped above and beyond what was required of them.






As a thank you, I sent them a small token in a little handmade card.  I got the gift card holder tutorial from an awesome blog, "Secret Life of Paper" .  What I love about the tutorial is that I was able to use scrap stock card that I had saved.

Enjoy your weekend!

last day of school

Here is another layout I made of my DD’s last day of school last June.  (I probably should make one more with a photo of her first and last day of school side by side). 

  

Grid style layout is my go-to design these days.  I find that everything seems balanced and it takes no time to complete a page.  Hope you will not get tired of it as you will be seeing more of this type of design in the future.

 

I used cards from Project Life and Me and My Big Ideas, Fun Flair stamp from Ali Edwards and Smokey Shadow ink from Papertrey.

One more close up...

Thanks for stopping by!

pwp #19 - my favourite teacher

I cannot believe this is the last week of the summer break.  Where did time go?  It seems like only yesterday that we were saying goodbye to school and here we are, about to start a new one again. 

Awhile back, I saw some Project Life-like cards related to school at my local M’s. It's from a company called Me and My Big Ideas. I thought it would be perfect for this last day of school photo I took of my DD and her favourite teacher from junior kindergarten, Ms. Epstein.   

A close up...

I  used Papertrey’s Modern Alphabet dies, Fruit Fusion: Apple stamp and die,  loop de loop die and striped smokey shadow patterned paper.  I also used patterned papers from Fancy Pants and a sticker from Simple Stories.

Since I used 3 kinds of Papertrey dies, I am also linking this to Leigh Penner’s Pages with Papertrey challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by!

august papertrey blog hop

It’s that time of the month again… Papertrey Ink’s Monthly Blog Hop.

This month, we have a Fast Food Colour and Sketch Inspiration Challenge.  Just pick a colour + sketch combo and create!

For my card, I chose this sketch and colour combo…

And here is my 100% Papertrey card…

I used Papertrey’s stamps (Mini Blooms, Wreath for All Seasons and Birthday Basics), cardstock (royal velvet, simply chartreuse, stamper’s select white) and inks (plum pudding, enchanted evening, Hawaiian shores).

Thanks for stopping by and happy hopping!