When I was a little girl (seems like a looong time ago...) my family would go to Oregon to visit various relatives, and in the fall, we'd get to go Chanterelle mushroom hunting with my Grandparents.
Now, anyone who knows me knows I always ask the waiter for my dishes sans 'shrooms, I really hate the texture (this from someone who remembers what play-doh tastes like...). However, I fondly remember trudging through the forest, carefully looking for these perfect little mushrooms, trying to avoid any poisonous ones (what's a kid know - yes, they were always double checked by Grandma; wonder how many she threw out??). Once the bag was full of plump and perfect 'shrooms, we would head on home and wait for the feast.
My Grandma, like Grandma's used to do (...some may still...) would grow what she liked, can lots of stuff, hunt up mushrooms (see above), pick wild berries for jams and pies, fish for dinner (may have been Grandpa on that one...), and make food for everyone. And we always played outside, no TV (...can't imaging that today...). When we made it back from mushroom hunting, Grandma would clean them off and get ready to cook them, dipping them in batter and frying them up, like big steaks (...no, I don't batter my steak, but I remember everyone kept saying, just cook them like steak...why??). And we'd eat them as soon as they were ready, and there was nothing quite like the taste of fresh picked Chanterelles. They didn't have that odd mushroom texture, and they did remind one of steak, even though they weren't juicy. And Fall, they always remind me of Fall with their golden coloring, and harvest, and afternoons in the forest and around the kitchen counter.
So, the other day I was wandering the produce aisle at one of our upscale grocery stores (O'Briens here in Modesto, excellent food choices, good prices...), and saw a basket of fresh Chantrells. These were on the small side, I don't believe it's quite harvesting time yet, but they looked perfect to me. I grabbed a little handful (...these are expensive 'shrooms...$29 a pound...oh to go find my own without poisoning myself...that would be a trick.) This morning I saw that forgotten handful in my fridge, and feeling really hungry, not to mention ready for Fall, I grabbed them, with a small shallot and some eggs. I wanted to make a quiche, but really, I was hungry, so settled on an omelet.
This is not something I cook well - my omelets are a bit flat and brown on the bottom...my dad can make these perfect and fluffy - the talent was not passed down. So after calling my dad (...the omelet guy...he knows everything...) I sauteed a bit of shallot and Chantrelle in butter, set them aside, then made my omelet. Once it was almost done and ready to fold (...I need practice, don't blame the pictures on my dad's teaching, he'd be horrified at what they look like...love you daddy!) I threw on some shredded cheese (...Parmesan Reggianito, from Argentina, by way of O'Briens Supermarket...they have the best cheese shop there! and this stuff is the most delicious cheese, great with pasta, wonderful full flavor...), tossed in my shallots and Chanterelles, and folded the omelet.
Now, you see the picture before you...it was a tad brown on the top and bottom, and a bit flat and messy looking, but mmmm...yummy. Chantrelles had their nice fall flavor, the butter and shallot added a nice bit of toastiness to it, and the amazing Parmesan Reggianito flavor really brought it all together with a smooth, nutty creaminess (hmmm...)... I still think a quiche would have been better, but this was good. And it reminded me of happy childhood memories and the fact that Fall is on the way...
These are my favorites of the lot. I was hugely inspired by the Mojo Monday crowd, and Mary Fish, my upline in Stampin' Up!...her blog is http://www.stampinpretty.typepad.com/ ...completely talented, very inspiring... 
I love my Stampin' Up! toys...wait till you see the other cards, also using up my saved-up DSP.
This was a card for my mom, who had surgery yesterday and now has a bionic knee! OK, maybe not bionic, but that's how I'll think of her now...the bionic mom (sort of like Lindsey Wagner in the 80's, but with kids). So this 'Bliss' card is for her - to cheer her up while she's recuperating and remind her that her new bionic knee will be 'blissful' to walk on...in a few weeks, when it's healed...and if she does her exercises! 
I used Stampin' Up! supplies for this - Peach Parfait, Early Espresso, and Crumb Cake are the colors; the ribbon is Pumpkin Pie; the brads are the Metallic 'Antique Brass'; the stamp set is 'Apple Blossoms', a level two hostess set. This was an easy card to make, but is really cute in person. 
Using Whisper White paper, I stamped images from the set randomly across the paper - you know that technique you learned when you first started stamping, where you could make 10 different cards all from one stamped page? This is that technique - stamp the images randomly and in different colors/shades across the white paper. The new 'background' paper can then be used on a number of cards as a background for anything you want. I'd show you here, but again, this was for a swap, so I used it to make a number of the same card! 
I used a 6"x3" strip of card stock for the card itself (blue) and a 3"x3" square (also blue) for the top. Take your 6"x3" strip and make folds (with your bone folder) at 1 1/2" and 3". Decorate your 3"x3" square. You can probably figure it out from here - you tape the (blue) 3"x3" square to the top 1 1/2" - see this picture to get the idea (...you want it to fold in on itself, does that make sense? It folds flat with your decorated 3"x3" square facing up). You can decorate the inside 3"x3" as well. 
You want to make the decoration on the inside slightly raised, so that when the card slides forward, it will stop it from closing. I'm guessing this comes at a later point - mine is barely touching the inside cardstock, I'm assuming it's because it's new? Hmmm... It also appears that you can write a little note to someone under that blank spot where the card rests (above photo). 
Hi everyone!
I decided to use Halloween as my theme. Everyone knows that you should start holiday cards a few months in advance (...something I rarely do...I try every year though, see my comments below...). The theory goes that in this way you can finish them all before the holiday and send them out to everyone you know. However, if you're anything like me, you'll have enough time to play with your holiday card supplies until just before the holiday then frantically make up a bunch to send out two days before!
