Perfect for a cold winter's day

Happy Sunday sweet friends!  It's time to add another page in my "Make your Own" cookbook series.  and today I am going to share my Minestrone Soup recipe with you.  There is nothing that warms your heart during these cold winter days than a nice bowl of homemade soup!  Minestrone has become one of our favorites not only because it is good for you, but because it just plain tastes good!!

Garden Vegetable Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup green beans, trimmed and chopped
2 stalks celery
3 carrots, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon salt

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes

6 cups chicken broth

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup shell pasta

1/4 cup grated Romano cheese

Directions:

Heat olive oil in large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic, green beans, celery and carrots and cook until they are soft.  Add zucchini, oregano, basil and salt and cook until zucchini softens.  Add the tomatoes and broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in kidney beans and pasta and cook until pasta is tender.  Top each serving with Romano cheese.

Such a delicious and hearty meal and made even better when served with Garlic bread.  

Yields 6 servings.

Enjoy!

Kristii

Step by Step Saturday with Glitz Design

Happy Saturday dear friends!!  It's time for a new Step by Step Saturday post, and since Thanksgiving has come and gone, I think it's time to start thinking about Christmas!! Today, I have a quick and easy snowman card and matching ornament made using Glitz Design's Hello Friend 6x6 paper pad.

The idea for this little card and ornament set started with Glitz Design's Hello Friend Envelope paper from the 6x6 pad.  I am totally in love with the postal border and the beautiful roses in the corner!!

Step 1. Cut a piece of white cardstock to 4 1/4" x 11" and fold in half.  Place the die on the cardstock lining up the line on the die with the edge of the paper and run through your die cut machine to create the card base.

Step 2.  Die Cut three snowmen from the Envelope paper strategically placing the rose in the bottom, right corner of the die. Then, cut one snowman out of chipboard for the ornament base.  Glue one of the die cut patterned papers to the front of the card base and glue the other two patterned paper cuts to the front and back of the ornament to cover.

Step 3.  Embellish the front of your card with a hat, arms and mittens.
Step 4.  Stamp the face and color.
Step 5.  Add ribbon, flowers, pearls, punched greenery, and stamped sentiment.

Step 6.  Decorate the front of the ornament as desired making sure to cut out two hats and four mittens to embellish the back side of the ornament as well.  When attaching the hat, add a knotted piece of twine to hang.  Decorate the back of your ornament as desired.

Supplies Used:

Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 Paper Pad

Chipboard

Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White Cardstock, twine and Cream Felt

Papertrey Ink Shape Up Dies and Stamps: Snowman

McGill Greenery Punch

Roses, ribbon, buttons and pearls from my stash

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a very Glitzy day!!

Kristii

So Grateful with Glitz Design

Happy Thanksgiving week sweet friends!  We've been celebrating gratefulness at Glitz Design this month and I thought I'd add a little pink goodness to the celebration!  There's nothing like getting out of the box and creating something totally unexpected!!  I am usually a very traditional person, so creating a pink Thanksgiving card was a lot of fun and totally off the wall!  I do have to say, thought, I'm kind of loving it!!

I used Glitz Design's Hello Friend 6x6 paper pad and a Whatnots frame for the inspiration for this card.  Love, love, love the colors of these papers and embellishments!  I layered the backside of the Clouds paper onto a white card base, and then I layered the Clouds paper underneath the Whatnot frame and glued the frame onto the card base.  Next, I stamped the leaves onto white paper and cut them out.  I die cut two rustic cream felt acorns and then I die cut two more acorns using white paper covered with Hello Friend tapes.  The tapes make a great contrasting top on the acorns!  I added some ribbon, a grateful tag, and a Happy Thanksgiving tag to embellish the card.

The next card celebrates friendship.  I am so grateful for my friends and I need to make sure they know how much I care about them, so I think this card is perfect for this month's theme!

One again, I used Hello Friend papers and embellies.  I am so loving the new tapes!  They are definitely a new favorite for sure!!  I stamped the Hero Arts Musical Walk onto the Clouds paper and covered it with a sweet circular Peek a Boo.  I added a stamped border on the bottom third of the white cardstock and added two layers of patterned paper from the 6x6 Hello Friend Pad.  I made some banners using the sweet Coral Polka Tape.  I added a little birdie from the Hello Friend Paper Garland to embellish the banner.  I love the garland so much, I am using it sparingly so I don't run out too quickly!!  I just love adding a little bit here and there!  I added a stamped butterfly, Puffy Word Stickers, hand dyed seam binding, and some little rolled flowers to embellish.

Supplies Used:
Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 Pad
Glitz Design Hello Friend Patterened Paper:  Clouds
Glitz Design Hello Friend Whatnots
Glitz Design Hello Friend Peek A Boos
Glitz Design Hello Friend Puffy Word Stickers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Rubber Stamps
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Garland
Glitz Design Hello Friend Tapes

Other Supplies:  PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock; PTI Rustic Cream Felt: PTI Gratitude Journal Stamps; PTI Kraft, Berry Sorbet, Fine Linen, and Dark Chocolate Ink. Hand Dyed Seam Binding, PTI Autumn Acorn Stamps and Pearl

Thank you so much for stopping by and I wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving!
Kristii

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi there sweet friends!  It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a few days away!  This fall has gone by so quickly and I'm sure those of you who are well acquainted with me, know that I'm ready to start putting out Christmas decorations and begin my Christmas baking!  I love everything about the Christmas season!!  Just so you know, I've already started on my 12 Days of Christmas posts and I can't wait to start sharing those with you!!  Since it's a little early to be in Christmas mode, however, I thought I would share one of my favorite fall recipes with you, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.    I make these cookies regularly throughout the fall season and my family just loves them!!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!  This recipe will go in my own copy of my Family Favorites Cookbooks that I created over the summer break.  I still have a cookbook that is available in my Etsy store and I have plans for a new design coming in the next several days.  Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 c. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Beat in eggs.  Stir in pumpkin and vanilla.  Blend in half the flour and add baking powder and spices.  Stir in the rest of the flour.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.  Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Thank you so much for stopping by!!! I hope you have a wonderful Monday!!
Kristii

A Grateful Heart with Glitz Design

Hi there Glitzy friends!!  I don't know about you, but for me, November brings a season of gratefulness.  So often the days fly by and the hustle and bustle of life is so crazy that I forget to take time to appreciate all that I have.  I have so much to be thankful for and I decided that I should keep record of my heart's deepest gratitude and thankfulness in a custom-made shabby chic Gratitude Journal.

I used a genuine Moleskine Journal and Glitz Design's Hello Friend Papers, Stamps and Embellies to create this sweet little journal that's full of shabby chic goodness and lots of little surprises.

The inside cover has a little pocket that holds two little stamped tags.  The first five pages of the journal are numbered with sweet little embellishments and grateful sayings.

I left lots of room on each page to record all my grateful thoughts and feelings.

 I do want to make sure that I am grateful each and every day!  It's so important I feel remembering what you're grateful for keeps you grounded and I'm certain it's the secret of true happiness!

 Having an attitude of gratitude is definitely a choice I want to make every moment of every day!

Count your many blessings....

 name them one by one....

I even added a traditional Thanksgiving Hymn to the journal!  I love my vintage hymnal!!

The back pocket of the journal is covered with a Hello Friend Journaling Sticker and is ready for my little bits of ephemera to add to the spirit of gratefulness.

I also added some of Glitz Design's Hello Friend Paper Layers in between the pages to add character and shabby chic goodness to the journal.  Sooo fun!  Glitz Design Paper Layers are always a favorite of mine!!

I also made a little matching card to go along with the journal in case I want to give it away as a gift:

I ran some kraft cardstock through the crimper and painted the edges with an acrylic paint dabber.  I added some Glitz Design Crepe Trim and Prima lace to the edge.  I embellished with layered stickers, stamped butterflies and some little banner elements.

The  sentiment was stamped and I cut the ends to resemble a banner and added some seam binding trim.  Very shabby chic and so fun to make!! I love Glitz Design!!

Supplies Used:
Glitz Design Hello Friend 6x6 Paper Pad
Glitz Design Hello Friend Layered Stickers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Title Stickers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Layers
Glitz Design Hello Friend Giant Rhinestones
Glitz Design Hello Friend Paper Garland
Glitz Design Hello Friend Rubber Stamps
Glitz Design Hello Friend Puffy Word
Glitz Design Hello Friend Whatnots
Glitz Design Hello Friend Crepe Trim
Glitz Design Hello Friend Tape
Glitz Design Teeny Alphas Coral

Other Supplies:  Papertrey Ink Gratitude Journal Stamps; Papertrey Ink Kraft and Rustic Cream Cardstock and ribbon; Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet Ink and Ribbon; Papertrey Ink Melon Berry, Rustic Cream and Simply Chartreuse Felt; Prima Lace; Hand Dyed Seam Binding; 

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a very Glitzy Day!!!
Kristii