Kerry'd Away Designs CT Call

I am expanding my Creative Team and I am looking for unique and talented digi and hybrid scrappers like you!

Requirements:
Min 2-3 Layouts per month
Post your Layouts to 2peas in a bucket and 2 other open galleries
Particpate in the 2peas Message Board and challenges whenever possible
Enable wherever possible
Support your fellow Team mates

If you are interested and wish to apply please send your email to Kerry Stewart at kerrys6(at)telus(dot)net.

In your email include:
Your Name
A Short Bio
A link to your most current gallery
Links to One to Two Layouts that you feel represent your style.
Info about any other CT teams that you are currently on.

The call will end next Friday May 21 2010 at 11:59 PST. I hope to announce the Team Members by Monday or Tuesday May 24th or 25th.

Thanks and I look forward to reviewing your applications.

Meatless Monday: Welcome to the first Edition

Would you be surprised if I told you that I have been a vegetarian for over 11 years. I'll save that story for another day. Today I want to share a really yummy recipe. It is a recipe I created myself for a vegetable soup. It's thick and hearty and could almost be a vegetable stew. The tomato paste and the beets give this soup a beautiful rich reddish color which contrasts nicely with the orange carrots and the yellow sweet potato. It's a perfect soup for a chilly day. Just add a salad and possibly a slice of whole wheat bread and you have a great healthy vegetarian meal. It's also so quick and easy to prepare.





Chef Busy Butterfly's Vegetarian Vegetable Soup
Servings: Approx 10 1 cup Servings


Ingredients

• 1 Large Chopped Onion



• 4 Cloves of Fresh Garlic



• 2 Medium Sweet Potatoes diced to 1-2" cubes



• 3 Carrots Coarsely Chopped



• 1-2 Beets Diced



• 4 Cups Water



• 7 oz can of Tomato Paste



• 1 596 Fl Oz can of Chick Peas



• 2 TBS of Olive Oil



• 1/4 Cup Fresh Basil



• 3 Bay Leaves



• 1 tsp Thyme
  
  

1. In a large soup pot heat olive oil over medium to high heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until onions and garlic are tender and slightly browned on the edges.



2. Add 4 cups of water and stir in tomato paste.



3. As the water comes to a boil add carrots, sweet potato, Beet, Basil, Thyme and Bay Leaves. Simmer on low for about 40 minutes or until veggies are tender.



4. Add Chick Peas and cook for another 10 minutes until chick peas are heated through.

Nutrition Information

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 133

Total Fat: 3.7

Cholesterol: 0

Sodium: 152.0 mg

Total Carbs: 21.7

Dietary Fiber: 4.6

Protein: 4.4

Digital Scrapbooking Challenges- Open Book Challenge

Doesn't everyone love a good challenge. I think challenges are one of the things that have helped me grow creatively and push my skill levels the most. If I loose my mojo or am stuck in a rut I can always count on a challenge to help me overcome that.

Recently Audrey Neal of Be Audacious designs put out a message looking for some ladies to get involved with a new challenge that she was putting together. I admit that I was more than a little excited. I first worked with Audrey on the 2peas digital creative team and I love her work. She creates interesting and meaningful pages and she had some very cool digital products that she now sells at her shop at design house digital. These challenges are called the Open Book Challenges.

The Open Book Challenges are a series of bi-monthly scrapbooking challenges based on the books we've read and loved. Each challenge will have multiple prompts, both design- and content-based. The great thing is that you can use just one prompt, several prompts or all of them together!

I created a Layout for the first challenge based on the book The Help. The prompts I used were, the color scheme, using birds on my scrapbook page and using a scallop edge to hold my title. The prompts for journaling were also really cool and introspective but instead I felt that I wanted to journal about the role that reading has taken in my life.

I also thought that since I haven't put out a freebie in a long time that I would include a layered PSD template from the above Layout. Feel free to use it for the challenge or for any Layout you feel like creating. Just click on the preview to download.

Credits: Track Team Kit by Kerry'd Away Designs at 2peas in a bucket, Cherry Blossom Kit by Kerry'd Away designs at 2peas in a bucket and Cherry Blossom Frames at 2peas in a bucket.

Projects using my new kit All in the Family Word Art Blocks

Aren't these projects great. The first Layout is by Lorell, the second is by Debi and the last one is by Mary who is part of the 2peas Digital Creative Team

From the Kitchen of Chef Busy.Butterfly-Granola Bars

As I mentioned a few days ago I wanted to start doing some other types of posts. I love food, well who doesn't love food, but I love everything about it. Right from picking the recipe to, going out to purchase the ingredients, to the chopping, and stirring to the baking or cooking and of course the eating. On Mondays I will share all sorts of things about being a vegetarian and on Wednesdays I will share other recipes and tidbits about all things other than vegetarian meals. Some days it may be a meal that my kids love and other times it might be a baked good that I love.

Today as my first entry from the kitchen of Chef Busy.Butterfly I wanted to share a very easy but very yummy recipe that I use to make homemade granola bars. My kids love it. You can make it with just the oats and butter or you could add other little tidbits to it. Nuts, raisins, and craisins are a healthy addition. I have also thought for a little treat some chocolate chips would taste pretty good too. I know I can buy granola bars at the store but I have been striving to eliminate many of the preservatives and additives that are in packaged foods. My kids don't really understand why and actually they don't care one way or another as long as they get to have a little something to satisfy that sweet tooth. This seems to fit both my desires of less packaged food and the kids desire for some yummy.

Chef Busy.Butterfly's Granola Bars

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine


• 1/2 tsp vanilla


• 1 egg


• 1/2 cup brown sugar


• 2 cups rolled oats


• 1/2 cup of slivered almonds

1. Melt Butter/Margarine and combine with brown sugar, vanilla and 1 slightly beaten egg.

2. Stir rolled oats and almonds into the brown sugar mixture. Mix well.

3. Press into a square pan and bake in a 350 F / 180 C oven for 15 min or until golden brown.

4. Let the bars cool before cutting into squares.

My Favourites from my CT Team

I haven't ever posted any of the projects by my small but talented CT Team. Currently I only have 3 members on my CT Team: (but will be looking for some more members in the very near future.) Amy, Debi,and Lorell. They have created many MANY beautiful projects using my designs. I thought today I would post just a few of my favourites. I hope you enjoy them. Originally I was only going to pick my top 2 favs from each member but it was so hard to narrow it down I picked the top three from each. If you want to see more of there fabulous work click on their names above and it will link you to their galleries.
Amy's Projects

Debi's Projects

Lorell's Projects



Enjoy!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz- Wh-what oh am I supposed to be blogging!

I will admit that even I am getting bored with my blogging posts. I have been thinking alot this blog recently. I have thought about what makes me want to read other blogs and what do I want to be able to come back and read myself. I still want to post my new releases and pages (I haven't even been doing many pages lately either.)

While I do know I want to make some changes, I'm not exactly sure what kind of changes I want to make. I want to have some regular kinds of weekly posts and some wiggle room to just fly by the seat of my pants when I want to. Here are some of my ideas, Meatless Monday, Digital Scrapbooking tutorials, New Releases, My CT team projects, Challenges I am involved in, Family Happenings, Book Reviews. I will elaborate on the Meatless Monday. You see I am a vegetarian (not hard core by any means.) and I have been for 11 years. I also love to bake and cook. When I first thought about being vegetarian I thought it would be really hard to cook healthy and tasty meals but I have learned that it's not that hard at all. That is why I thought it would be cool to blog about. I may also do additional posts about other things I cook and bake because I love doing both and I still cook non vegetarian meals because my kids aren't vegetarian. (I know weird, but it's just the way it has worked out.)

I have also doing a regular post about Canada or Vancouver or something like that. I'm not sure totally about that one though because I'm trying to think about how to keep doing a post each week that would be different and of interest to people. I do know that I love Vancouver and I love being Canadian so I could probably come up with some interesting stuff.

If you have any ideas, suggestions,or thoughts, please leave me a comment.

Before I end for the day, I will leave you with my new release for this week. All in the Family Word Art Blocks