Highdesert Stamper – Artistic Inkspirations

I will be giving away BLOG CANDY to one happy commenter!!

Got your attention with that line didn’t I??

This year is the dawn of a new Year….and era in our country.. bet you wonder how this figures into stamping. Well, it does on a round about way…let me try to explain…

Our country and it’s citizens are going through a rough time. We don’t have it as good as in days past…things are harder to acheive, sales are harder to come by,  even paying everyday bills for basic necessities is getting harder to do.  So we all have to tighten our belts a bit, get a little “greener”, use and re-use, recycle, re-purpose items and learn to do more with less.  My last few years working for the government, we were being given more and more work, less time to do it in, and less people to do the work. There was no overtime authorized most of the time. It was considered “contributed comp time” or some term like that. In other words, we put in the hours to get the job done, whether it was 40 or 60 a wk and weekends, and we “contributed” our time for the good of the organization.  Guess that was good training for “RETIREMENT”!!!

I recently had my knee replaced and have had some difficulty getting up and down my stairs to my stamp studio. I did manage to have a Mini Stamp a Stack last week (with the help of my daughter who helped me cut all the cardstock).. for some of my faithful customers. …sooo… I thought while I was getting all my pictures taken of the pretty cards and such.. I’d do a poll with those of you who read my blog regularly. I will pick a random number using random number generator to give BLOG CANDY to one commentor.  All you have to do is leave a comment, answering my question:

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1. How is the economy impacting my standard of living? Is your family doing as well, are you struggling and having a hard time, are you having to go out and get another job?

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2. If you had to get another job, are you working out of your home (such as an independent contractor for Stampin Up!,  Avon, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef), or are you working outside the home at a local store, hamburger joint, cleaning houses, babysitting??…what all are you doing to help out?

3. Are you going back to school to change your career?     Here is my response to this poll… to give you an example.

1. My family is temporarily worse off than it was 1 yr ago. My bills have gone up, my expenses have gone up, food prices have increased, and of course there are always “the refrigerator conks out”, “the car quits (a new computer had to be installed), medical bills , etc..My daughter who is going to school to be a nurse, quit one job that was not working with her schooling and finally got a job working at a local big box store. They promised full time hours, but due to decline in retail sales, no one has been getting “full time hours”. This is impacting whether she can go into her nursing clinicals when the time comes.

2. What are we doing about it? Well….I’m cleaning out stashes of supplies, selling my retired stamps (even though I wanted to keep some of them), and trying to scale down as much as possible. I am going to be having more Specialty classes using my Stampin’ UP! training, once I can get up and down the stairs better!!  My daughter is also looking for a 2nd part time job to help fill the gap.  We don’t eat out, we cook from scratch, we use renewable products (in other words use GREEN products) instead of using a lot of disposable items. We recycle everything we can, donate a lot, and try not to throw out anything that can be re-used or re-purposed.  I have used cloth napkins since the 70′s before it was popular to “go green and use cloth napkins”!!!

What are you doing to help the economy??  Here’s a blog where the lady has some things to say about how to have a good home, live modestly,   and some just good plain common sense approach to life.    Go to Penny Raine.  I’ll warn you, Penny Raine is a Christian lady who home schools her children and her philosphy on life is built around her love of Jesus and the Christian lifestyle.

Here is a beautiful card to make for your friends, especially if they are into “string” instruments.  Or maybe you know someone who loves and appreciates classical music. I myself was never offered the opportunity to learn a string instrument, and had to stick to the woodwind family.  But I love classical music and the sound of the string instruments.

Music Expressions

Stamp Set: Music Expressions #113718  Price $16.95

Cardstock: Basic Gray, close to cocoa, nat. white, so saffron,

Inks: bordering blue, close to cocoa, mellow moss, so saffron, jet black stazon

Accessories: Blender pen, styled silver hodgepodge, ticket corner punch

Technique: Using blender pens and classic inks to “watercolor” affect

Until I can get down and up my stairs easily, I am going to post some recipes, tips, thoughts, etc.. I did go to the Dr today for a check up on my new knee and they were amazed I was not taking any pain meds. I told them, except for going up and down the stairs, the knee, ligaments, muscles, and joint does not hurt.  She told me that was really amazing, as most people are still on heavy duty pain meds 5 wks from surgery.  Guess I did something right this time!! So,  going up the stairs is the problem… if I had just built a small restroom down on that lower level……I could stay down there and stamp all day and night!!!

If you’re like me, and several other million Americans, each year at this time, we all try to tackle the “battle of the bulge”…or make a New Year’s resolution to take off some pounds, inches, improve our diet and our health.  There are many diets out there, but one highly recommended is the Mediterranean Diet.  My daughter and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE mediterranean and middle eastern orign recipes. One such recipe is something called Baba Ghannouj (eggplant dip). I have included one version of the recipe here, and a picture. We get ours from several places…. Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage, and Cafe Istanbul (the best place for Middle Eastern food in Albuquerque).   Here is one recipe: I found on “About.com”, a very informative site.

Baba Ghanouj

Baba ghannouj is a popular dip made from eggplant and tahini. It has a smooth, creamy texture, and a slightly smoked taste. It is traditionally served with pita bread (toasted or fresh), however Many people like it as a chip dip with potato chips or tortilla chips.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup lemon juice (depending on taste)
• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tespoons olive oil
• Garnishment
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon olive oil

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake eggplant for 30 minutes, or until outside is crisp and inside is soft.

Allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Cut open eggplant and scoop out the flesh into colander and allow to drain for 10 minutes. Removing the excess liquid helps to eliminate a bitter flavor.

Place eggplant flesh in a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mash together. You can also use a food processor instead of by hand. Pulse for about 2 minutes.

Place in serving bowl and top with lemon juice and olive oil. Add other garnishments according to taste.

Serve with warm or toasted pita or flatbread. Enjoy!

Garnishment Ideas for Baba Ghannouj

Baba ghannouj always has to have olive oil on top for garnishment. However you can spice things up a bit by adding crushed red pepper, a dash of cumin, parsley or coriander.