New Kit this week @ 2peasinabucket

Take a look at my latest kit released at 2peas.





Messy Stitches V.1

This kit includes

• 6 Messy Stitched Words in Charcoal Black
• 6 Messy Stitched Words in Off White
• 4 Messy Stitched Leaf Shapes in Charcoal Black
• 4 Messy Stitched Leaf Shapes in Off White
• 4 Stitch Hole Leaf Shapes
• 1 Stitched Leaf 12 x 2 Border in Charcoal Black
• 1 Stitched Leaf 12 x 2 Border in Off White
• 1 Sitch Hole 12x 2 Border in the shape of falling leaves
• 27 files in all

Available at 2peas for $4.00

New Layout- Simplicity

Well Summer vacation is coming to an end and the kids go back to school tomorrow. I'm trying not to cheer too loudly! I am looking forward to getting back to more designing and more scrapping and just generally being more creative and more productive!

I recently had a new opportunitty arise in the CT department. I have joined Karen Funk Designs new Creative Team. I am really excited because her design style is quite different from mine and I will enjoy cerating Lo's with her nice designs as well as my own.

For this page I used her new Simplicity Kit. It's a huge kit but you can also purchase it as seperates if you only want the paper or the embellies. You can pick up Karen's designs from Design House Digital.

I should also mention that I am so stoked that my daughter is finally allowing me to take photos of her again. Apparently now that she posts photos on facebook it is a huge advantage having a Mom that not only can take great photos but can edit them so that it looks like a professional photos shoot. (Those are her words not mine!LOL) I have already taken her out for two seperate photo shoots and I know that she has plans for several more.

Wow has it been that long

Talk about a defunct blog. It has been one crazy wild summer. I don't even know where the time has gone. Seriously! Part of the reason for being so MIA. Is that I have been very committed to a different kind of journey this summer.

In June I joined a challenge on the Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle website. It is called the Summer Burn Transformation Contest. I started the contest at 144lbs and 26% bodyfat. We had to take pictures (which I will post here in a few days) both at the beg and the end. I have worked very very hard. I have been getting in 6 days a week of cardio and 4 days a week of strength training. I cleaned up my diet with the help of the Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle ebook. In the last month I even did double cardio. I know crazy right. But I have a rockin new body to show for it.

In a few days the contest ends. This morning I weighed in at 127lbs and 12.5% bodyfat. The bodyfat number I believe is a bit inaccurate. I think I am probably closer to 15 or 16% It's still pretty darn good. I haven't been this small since my 20's, before I had kids. I will probably post more details in the days to come but if you are interested in knowing more of my personal experience do not hesitate to comment or email me. I will gladly give you particulars on how I did it. Yes it was hard work, no there was no magic pill. But as I've learned extraordinary results require extraordinary effort!

So the contest closes in a couple of days. I am ready to get more focused on my scrapping and my designing. I am hoping in addition to my designing to find a CT team also. I miss my scrapping. Of course I also plan to keep up my exercise but I can keep it more at a mait level now. Plus this year all 3 kids are in school for a FULL day. I am so excited about that I am definitely the parent from the staples commercial. (Gleefully dancing to "It's the most wonderful time of the year.") Is that bad to be looking forward to the children being back to a routine? To having a few quiet hours where there is not a single child asking me to drive them somewhere, or to make them something or to help them find something to do. Aaaaaaah I can just imagine it now.

Look for more from me soon!

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