Color Swatch Thursday: Vintage Thanksgiving

I've got a huge blog post with lots of tutorials coming tomorrow.  Since I've been spending my time working on that I totally missed yesterdays blog post.  Sorry!  It will come next Wednesday.

I almost decided to skip today's Color Swatch, but then I came across this vintage Thanksgiving card and couldn't resist!


This week's color swatch is: Vintage Thanksgiving

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

I love the colors in this card.  Soft and muted.  The turqoise, green, and red together make a nice triad.  I've included the card here for you to download.  It's not very big but it's so cute.  I love the look on the turkey's face.  It's like he knows he's just being fattened up for Thanksgiving but he just can't help himself.  That innocent little girl just leading him to the dinner table.  Cracks me up!  Click on it to open it larger for saving.

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: New England Autumn

With the crazy weather that's going on back in New England this year, can I say that I'm sad we moved away?  Nope.  Sorry.  I do miss my friends and family back there, though.  I sure hope everyone get's power back soon.  If not, just come on out here for a visit!

I always said that Autumn in New England was my favorite time of year.  I love when there's a bite of cold in the air.  You can smell the wood stoves and fireplaces start up and everything just has the promise of warmth and coziness.  Plus, with the holidays right around the corner, what's there not to love about Autumn?

One of my favorite things was leaf crunching.  You know, going for a walk and crunching every dried leaf on the ground along the way?

This week's color swatch is: New England Autumn

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

I came across this photo a couple of weeks back as I was reminiscing about Autumn in New England.  I love how the camera captured the vibrance of the time.  With most of the leaves on the ground you can see the grey-blue of the tree trunks.  It always cracked me up to be driving down a road I'd traveled before and realize there are several houses back in the woods that I never knew were there.

This palette is a little non-traditional, and that's what I like about it.  You've got the brown, orange and tan in there, but a little punch of subdued turquoise along with a big punch of bright green thrown in as well.  Perfect for some contemporary fall crafting projects.

Feeling inspired yet?

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Pumpkin Patch

Halloween is upon us!  Don't forget to take lots of pictures at the pumpkin patch.  I always seem to get there without my camera.  At least I have a semi-decent camera in my iPhone.  It does the job in a pinch.  After you get those photos, don't just let them languish away on your computer.  They will feel so neglected!  Time to preserve those memories in a scrapbook.  And I've got just the right color scheme for you to use for it, too.

This weeks color swatch is: Pumpkin Patch

I snapped this photo of the price display at the farm last Saturday.  They always get the most perfect pumpkins for their display.  I only seem to be able to find malformed ones that look like some bald guy's head.  Oh well!

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

This swatch set includes some vibrant oranges, of course, but also a nice dark chocolatey brown, a splash of soft green, and don't forget the blue of the sky on a gorgeous day at the farm!

I hope this inspires you to make something. Feel like making something with this color swatch set?  Feel free to post it on your blog and leave a link in the comments section below.

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Black, White & Orange All Over

What's Black, White & Orange all over?  A tiger?  A zebra hiding in an orange crate?  No!  It's today's Color Swatch set!  I loved the colors of yesterday's Project Wednesday project that I had to make a palette out of it for you.


This weeks color swatch is: Black, White & Orange All Over

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

This one just grabs you with it's bold graphic colors.  When using this color palette, I'd suggest sticking with the black, whites, and greys for your major color scheme.  Then, add in pops of the bright oranges.  I think you'll love the look!

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Grandmother's Cameo

A Quick Note:  It's Anniversary Celebration Week at VDBC!  There are tons of challenges and prizes to be won.  Click here to find the spot where all the challenges will be posted (there are already a few posted by yours truly).  Also, be sure to sign up for the VDBC Newsletter so you'll get the Anniversary Guide that's coming out soon!


There's even a Color Swatch Challenge going on right now!


But wait there's more!  Want a free cutting design and a chance to win fabulous prizes?  Check out Sam & Hailey's Make-n-Take at the VDBC Anniversary Forum!

It's day four of Fall Break!  We've had a ball together all week long.  Only a few bumps along the way as you might expect for a Mom who's used to having her own time and two girls who are used to being kept busy at school all day long.  On the bright side, I've only had to chase Bandit, the tiny dog, down the street twice this week.  So far.  I guess we are doing okay if that's the only real stress we've had.

It was my birthday yesterday.  I generally like to keep it low key.  I kind of made the mistake last year of saying I didn't wanted to pretend I wasn't turning 40.  So we um... pretty much ignored it.  My sweet husband always takes me at my word.  Hahaha!  This year I didn't make any such demands.  We went out to dinner and the girls made me some homemade cards.  They also woke me up about 6:30 am, not my favorite birthday gift, but it is what it is.  Thank goodness for Facebook announcing to the universe that it's your birthday.  It sure boosted my spirits to have so many well wishes on my wall all day long.  Thanks, everyone!

So, it's the big 4-1 this year.  I don't know how I managed to get this old.  And yet here I am.  A few months ago we listening to the radio news in the car.  The story mentioned the word "middle aged."  Samantha piped up and said, "That's like you, Mom!"  What??? Me?  Middle-aged?  She continued on, "You are in the middle, because you are a grandma, but you are still young!"  Ahhh... phew, thanks for clarifying that point there, Sam.  I usually get a kick out of telling people I have two one year old granddaughters. I love the look of surprise on their faces.  But then, someday, I know it will happen.... no one will look surprised anymore and then I will know I've reached true middle-aged-ness.

Speaking of grandparents.  I was pondering mine as I was thinking about Cameos on for Tuesday's Trendwatch. When my beloved Aunt Shelba passed away 11 years ago, I inherited some of her jewelry.  I am not a jewelry person usually, but these pieces I absolutely love.  It's a little blend of the old and the new.  There's a modern crystal cameo with a silver hoop around it, a large opal with rhinestones around it, the silver heiroglyph pendant my Aunt bought in Egypt with her name on it, and my favorite, my Grandmother Thomas's cameo.  I wore her cameo on my wedding day.  I love feeling connected to her by wearing it. It's not very big, as far as cameos go, but it's so special to me.  I decided to share these pieces with you for today's color swatch.

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

I love the soft subtle nearly-mono-chromatic palette.  Cameo pinks with a pinch of soft gold.  This would make a lovely color scheme for a wedding scrapbook layout or something with a vintage family history flavor. I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

As always, if you make something with this color swatch set, you are more than welcome to post it on your blog and then post a link in the comments section below.

Don't forget the Color Swatch challenge going on right now on the VDBC Anniversary Celebration Forum!

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Vintage Halloween

It's Color Swatch Thursday, everybody!  Woooooo!  I guess I'm the only one celebrating around here.  Except the dog.  He's thrilled.  Speaking of the worlds tiniest and cutest dog, Bandit got a new Halloween costume the other day.  The girls convinced me to buy it.  They didn't have to work to hard since it's perfect for him.  Doesn't he look excited to be wearing it?

At least his tail isn't between his legs, right?  The ears though... they say, "Mommy, how could you do this to me?"  and, "Get it off, get it off!"  Alas, I made him wear it for a while. He hardly moved.  Not that he moves much in the afternoon's anyway.  Sleeping is his usual habit.  He walked slowly and rather stiff-leggedly up to me and plead for me to take it off.  So I did.  I guess he's not used to wearing clothes.  Poor guy.  Halloween will be humiliating for him!  But, come on!  Isn't that the cutest skeleton outfit?  I love the candy corns and doggy biscuits inside.  The only thing that would make it more perfect for Bandit would be if there were Barbie hands and feet in there, too.  That's his favorite.

On to the color swatches!

This weeks color swatch is: Vintage Halloween

You are correct, I simply cannot get enough of vintage inspired Halloween.  Normally I take my own photos for the color swatches, but this time I was inspired by someone else's work.  I was browsing Pinterest the other day and came across this absolutely gorgeous photo.  After clicking through to the lovely website Poetic Home, I wrote and asked the photographer, Grace, for her permission to use her photo with credit, of course.  She graciously agreed and a color swatch was born!  Thank you so much, Poetic Home, for sharing your work with us!

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

What do I love about this swatch set?  I love the substitution of Dark Brown and Navy for the traditional Black.  Add in the muted oranges and I'm as in love as those two pumpkins!

Feel like making something with this color swatch set?  Feel free to post it on your blog and leave a link in the comments section below.

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Smell the Flowers

Before we moved to Arizona four years ago {Wow!  Time sure has flown!} we lived in Connecticut for... forever it seemed.  I still miss much about living in that beautiful place.  I don't miss the high cost of living, which is what prompted us to move here.  What I do miss?  Mostly, green.  Yup, green.  Okay, another thing I don't miss is the weekly mowing of nearly an acre of lawn.  If I could have the positives of having a cool green lawn back without having to do all the mowing, I would.  Well... I must confess, I didn't do the mowing, but dang, it looked hot and boring and it took the mowers in my family forever to do it!  We're actually contemplating putting in a small patch of grass in our back yard next year.  We have a pretty small yard and I'm tired of looking at gravel all the time.  Luckily with our small yard, if we put in a small patch, I can probably go out there and cut it with scissors.  Or maybe hire a goat.

Another thing I miss?  Our gorgeous flowers.  We do have some nice ones here, too.  But I really miss the huge peony garden we had to one side of our house.  The smelled so sweet in the springtime.  I could throw open my bedroom window and the whole room would fill with the scent.  They surprisingly smelled a lot like roses.  I loved the gorgeous colors of the blooms that would get as big as your head. 

I got to thinking about that garden as I was contemplating color palettes to go along with my flower theme this week.  I even dug around for a couple of hours for my photo cds from back then.  It took me a while to find them.  There they were though, right in a box labeled CDs/Photos on my desk hutch right in front of me.  The first place I looked but for some strange reason the box was invisible that time.  I swear. 

Before I continue with this long digression, I guess I should share the color swatches!  Isn't that what this post is supposed to be about?  Maybe I should change my blog name to Sam & Hailey Digressions.  Sam & Hailey Tangent-Fest?

Today's color swatch is inspired by:  Smell the Flowers

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

The reason I wanted those photos is because I have a vivid memory of a day in the spring of 2005 when Samantha was just barely 2 years old.  I remembered us running around barefoot in the grass and taking pictures of her and the flowers.  What a happy memory!  I'm so glad I preserved it on CD before the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2007.

Aren't these just the most gorgeous flowers?

Just look at my tiny girl who kicked off her shoes to run through the grass!  Wouldn't you?

She really liked the flowers.

But didn't really enjoy the picture taking that much.  See that expression on her face?  She still makes that face 6 years later.  It's her, "Huh?" face.  I just love it!



Okay, one last gratuitous gorgeous flower picture and then digression-out!

Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Peppers

Happy belated, Labor Day!  Rather I should say, Happy BBQ Day then Four Day Work Week!  Does anyone really know what Labor Day is about anymore?

Every Labor Day for the past few years our family has joined with our neighbors in making a giant batch of delicious Green Corn Tamales.  Not exactly a rest from our labors now that I think about it.  I know, I know, you are going to ask for the recipe.  I'll try to tell you how in a minute.

Today, it's time for another of our regularly scheduled blog features!  Every Thursday, I'll be posting a color swatch palette from a photo that inspired me. 

Today's color swatch is inspired by:  Peppers

I took this photo at the mexican market Food City in Tucson, AZ last Monday while I was on the hunt for corn for tamales.  The colors of the peppers just screamed at me! 

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler. 

Okay you want the Tamale Recipe.  I understand, who wouldn't? I wish I could help you, really I do.  But I'm more of the laborer than the master tamale maker.  Here, I'll give you a general idea of what happened on Monday.

The Gringo's Guide to Tamale Making
To make Green Corn Tamales, you basically follow these steps:

1. Search all over southern Arizona for the right kind of corn. You want Mexican June Corn, a white field corn that is not sweet at all.  Regular old sweet corn just won't do.  This is {not surprisingly} the hardest part of the whole process.
2. When you can't find that kind of corn you might finally settle on store bought masa.  Not the greatest option I'll say {'cuz you know I'm an expert}.  Better to buy the lime-soaked corn kernels than use 100% of the masa dough itself.  We tried that one year and they were yucky.
3. You might finally settle on a combination of masa dough, lime-soaked corn kernels, and white corn from the grocery store that you suspect might be too sweet but ends up working out just fine.  It's a gamble, truly.  You want to end up with about 8 dozen ears worth of corn.  Or a boat-load, which ever comes first.
4. The easier things to buy are Hatch or Anaheim Peppers {a few dozen), a bell pepper or two, shreeded cheese of some kind, lard {shudder... you can use shortening or corn oil instead}, and corn husks.
5. Get everyone together and start cutting the corn off the cobs.  Get as much as you can off the cob without cutting off the cob itself... or your fingers for that matter.  Save those corn cobs for later, I'll try to remember to explain why.
6. Grind up all the corn you managed to gather in a meat grinder {the Kitchenaid one rocks} into one or more ginormous bowls.  Throw in {some} green bell pepper while you are grinding.  Don't ask me how much, just until it looks right.  Oh, and throw in {some} salt after you grind it. Hahahaha! 
7. Dang, I almost forgot about the lard/shortening/oil!  You would have been mad at me if you actually tried this.  Melt the lard or shortening in a pot on the stove.  Then mix it into the masa.  I really haven't a clue how much other than it was added until the masa was about the consistency of.... trying to think of what it was like... coming up blank... sorry.  Maybe a bit thicker than brownie batter?  It held it's shape but didn't stick to the spoon at all.  Like a thick cornbread batter.  Yeah, that's it. {After reading this, my neighbor Heather says you need an Arlo - her husband - to come over and say, "Yeah, that's about right."  He's the expert.}
8. While you are doing all that, throw your peppers on the grill or under the broiler.  Turn them occasionally until they are blistered.  Let them cool a little.  Then peel off the skins and remove the tops and seeds.  Tear them into long strips of pepper.
9. Oh, and while you are doing that soak your corn husks in a tub of water.  You can use the fresh ones off the corn if you managed to actually find the right corn.  You don't need to soak fresh husks.  Hey, do I sound like I know what I'm doing yet?
10. Assemble all your ingredients and gather all your neighbors around a big table.  You should have big bowls of masa, pepper strips, shredded cheese, soaked or fresh corn husks, and several willing laborers {who are really just there to steal the cheese out of the bowl}.  Hey, that's me!
11. Step 10??  Sure you are still reading? Okay, time for assembling.  Did you know an assembly line works well for assembling things?  Well it does. 
12. One person plops a big spoonful of masa in the middle of a corn husk.  How much?  Why are you asking {me}?  I'm just here for the cheese.
13. Then another person throws on some pepper strips.
14. Pass it to the cheese person...  no comment... they throw some cheese on top.  I was informed that the pepper and the cheese person could be the same person, but don't believe them.
15. Now it's time for the folding.  I stink at this part.  Basically, you wrap the masa in the corn husk like a cozy robe.  Squish the filling up towards the top and fold the bottom up.  That's what they tell me, anyway.
16. Remember I said to save the corn cobs?  I remembered why!  Throw a single layer of them inside a ginormous pot {a canning pot works good for this}. Line the pot with aluminum foil.  The corn cobs are to keep the tamales from coming into contact with the bottom of the pot during cooking.  You could throw some canning rings or a wire rack down there if you didn't end up with corn cobs.
17. Lay the tamales inside the pot with their folded ends down.  You can squish about 50 tamales in a big canning pot.  You might need two pots if you are doing a big batch.  It helps if you can tip the pot on it's side and prop it up with a rolled up towel while you are filling it up.
18. Before you pop your pots onto the stove, pour a few of cups of water into the bottom of the pot.  Don't pour the water directly on the tamales, but pull the foil up on a side and pour it behind the foil.  How much water exactly?  I can't believe you are still reading, let along asking me questions about this.
19. Okay, you've got your tamales in the pot with some water in it.  Now you can put it on the stove and bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Put the lid on the pot.  You want the tamales to steam cook for about two or maybe even three hours.  Keep checking everyone once in a while to make sure there is still water in the pot.  Dry pot + hot stove + tamales = bad juju.
20. After a couple of hours the tamales should have set up.  You can test by taking one out of the middle.  Let it cool until you can handle it.  Open it up and taste it.  It shouldn't be soft or juicy at all.  And it shouldn't taste dough-y at all, either.  I'm an expert at the tasting part.
21. Take the tamales out of the pot {BBQ tongs are good for not burning your fingers} and lay them on cookie sheets to cool.
22. Store them in the fridge or freezer in zipper bags.
23. To reheat, lay 4-6 tamales on a microwave plate and cover with wet paper towels.  Microwave until hot in the middle.  I have no idea if that's an officially approved tamale heating method, but it works for me.

Oh, are you still here?  Here's what they looked like.  Nom-time!

Time to get crafty, people!