Caramel Popcorn

Merry Christmas to all of you still out there in blog-land! I realize it's too late in the season to be starting on gifts, but this recipe is so good I had to share. And maybe you won't be doing any last minute gift-giving, but you could still whip up a batch of this for your family to enjoy when you snuggle in to watch Christmas movies tonight. The recipe card is a little different from my usual style, but I had fun making it!

A few tips on the recipe:
1) 6 quarts of popcorn is a lot! I personally don't have a bowl big enough to stir it all in. So I separate it into 2 bowls, so it will stir easier. You want the caramely goodness to cover all the popped corn. My little popper makes about 3 quarts at a time. So I put one batch each in 2 different bowls.
2) Get all the old maids out before adding the caramel.
3) When the caramel mixture is done boiling, get it off the heat while you add the soda. The first batch of mine boiled too long. While the flavor was still good, it ended up hard as a rock. This recipe makes delightfully chewy caramel corn, so don't cook it too long!

All Digital Supplies: Designer Digitals

Little Paper Houses

Well, are you all ready for this week? I am slowly getting there. The last big project that I actually felt like I had a deadline for, the kids' teacher gifts, is done. I made 4 houses from the Home Made template. I love these little paper houses. There are some really fun, over-the-top, awesome houses I've seen out there. I definitely kept my decorating to a minimum since I was doing four [And don't mind the off-kilter bows. I was trying to tie the bows by myself while my bow-tying helper was at school.] I think these are such a fun way to package a little goody up. I ran into a major road block this morning on the way to finishing these. The 2 main things in the houses were going to be Denise's lotion (scroll down about 8 posts to #1172) and homemade caramels. I had made my caramels in advance, so they would be perfectly set up by today, so I could wrap them up. This morning I could not find my wax paper anywhere!!! And driving to town from where we live takes too long when you're racing with the clock. I switched gears and went with caramel popcorn, and filled the extra space with hot chocolate mix, peppermint candies, butterscotch candies, andtootsie rolls [the open picture was before I found all the extra candy, so the house looks pretty empty]. The little poem, I include with the lotion, just so they will realize it is definitely not an edible goody! I will definitely be making more of these houses next year! And I hope to be back later in the week with my caramel recipe and caramel popcorn recipe.

Winter Wedding Congratulations

Well, it feels like forever since I sat down to make a card. We were going to my niece's wedding last night and I felt like making a girly wedding card for her. This is what I came up with. I love this big leaf image from Papertrey's Turning A New Leaf. I love that the big leaves can take the stage all by themselves, or share their space with pink flowers, and look terrific either way! The wedding was gorgeous, and my niece and her new husband looked so happy together. I love to see the bride and groom so happy at weddings. It was freezing cold, though. I don't know how people do winter weddings. I was very happy in the heat of June!

Stamps: PTI Turning A New Leaf, SU Botanical Blooms, Congratulations
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Spring Moss, True Black
CS: PTI Rustic White, SU Rose Red
Accessories: Martha Stewart Lace Doily Punch, Dew Drops

Corn Flake Cookies

Well, as you can probably tell from my lack of posting, we've hit the really busy time of year. Today I have a recipe card to share with you. Kara, at Kara's Kitchen Creations, is getting ready for the holidays by having a Christmas cookie recipe swap. I have lots of treats that I love to make and to eat around the holidays. I picked this recipe to share, because these cookies bring back so many memories for me. When we were little kids, we lived in the same town as one Grandma but the other one lived out of state. We would go visit at spring break, Thanksgiving and other times throughout the year. But every Christmas, without fail, we would get a box in the mail from my Grandma, filled with treasures and treats. And my favorite thing ever was her corn flake cookies. Just thinking about getting home from school, and seeing the package that my dad picked up from the post office and slid under the tree, makes me smile.

Milk and "Cookies"

December first already! Wow, I can't believe it. I love this time of year and seeing the Christmas lights start to glow, listening to the festive music, and spending time with my family. This is a layout using pictures from Christmas 2007. I love these pictures of the kiddos from that Christmas Eve, and have been trying to make a layout for ages (2 years, to be exact). Finally today, I just sat down, continued to ignore my messy desk, and made this layout. I'm really happy with how it turned out. The story is that we were getting ready to make cookies for Santa. Everyone started talking about all the cookies Santa gets on Christmas Eve, and we decided to leave donuts that year, instead of cookies. It is a really fun memory for me.

Cookie Exchange Party

Maybe it has something to do with the time of year, but it seems like I've read a lot of posts lately about messy desks/craft areas. Mine is worse than it's ever been I think! I wanted to make some little treat boxes for a cookie exchange party I was going to Saturday, but had to keep the stamping extremely minimal, since I was working with a super small area of my desk! My goal has been to clean off my desk for the last week; maybe after laundry and dishes I will finally start on it today.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I don't have any paper project to share. Just a picture of yummy rolls. My mom is such a wonderful baker, and made rolls not just for Thanksgiving, but pretty much any special occasion. I think I was probably 12 years old before I realized that there was such a thing as store bought rolls. I love to make these rolls now for my family, and they love eating them as much as I did as a kid! The rolls, more than turkey or even pumpkin pie, make my Thanksgiving feast complete!

Wherever you are today, I hope you have a wonderful one, and hopefully a chance to spend it with family and/or friends. And spend a few minutes to count your blessings!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Well, it's time for another fun Papertrey Ink blog hop! The challenge this month was to create a quick and inexpensive wrap or tag that could be used for "grab and go" gifts for the holidays. Well, the other night I was quickly trying to make my kids' teacher and bus driver gifts. I thought, "Oh, these will be perfect for the blog hop, too!" Well, I think most people were thinking of Christmas, while I have a Thanksgiving project to share. Oh, well, it's all for fun, right!

These templates go together quickly. And using just a few sheets of cardstock, and part of a sheet of designer paper, these are cheaper than any packaging from the dollar store [my other source for last minute wrapping]. I stamped the "I am thankful for you" stamp, adhered it to a scalloped circle, and was going to find a way to attach it to the outside of the package. The pattern seemed too busy to me, and was competing with the stamped image. So I was just going to save them for another project, when my mom said, "Why don't you glue them on the inside of the package?" She saved the day! I didn't get the greatest picture of these the other night. Then today I found out that my son forgot to give his two teachers their boxes. I was bummed they didn't get their goodies, but excited to at least get a better picture. He brought them to me from his backpack.....totally smashed! Oh, well.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving! I've got my pie ready, hot wings dip ready, deviled eggs cooked but not smashed. I'm ready to put my feet up and get some inspiration. The eggs can wait!

Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance
Ink: PTI Chai, Pure Poppy, True Black
CS: PTI Kraft, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise
DP: Basic Grey
Accessories: Circle and Scallop Circle Punches

Butterflies for you

Good morning! It's Monday, but it doesn't really feel like it to me. Maybe it's just knowing that there's a holiday this week helps it feel less "Monday-ish." Here is a card I made for a friend, but didn't want to post until I was sure she'd gotten it. I was inspired by this card here. I ordered this butterfly set because I loved the shape of the butterfly, and I haven't used it nearly as much as I thought I would. When I saw that card, I knew I wanted to case it. Using the butterfly 3 times on one card makes me feel better about not using it as often as I thought I would!

Stamps: PTI Life, SU Great Friend
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Plum Pudding, Summer Sunrise, True Black, Versamark
CS: PTI Plum Pudding, Ripe Avocado
Accessories: PTI Raspberry Fizz Ribbon, Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch

A notebook and Cinnamon Swirled Apple Bread

Maybe you've noticed lots of cool notebooks popping up in blog-land. Papertrey Ink has a great set to make these little notebooks, and while that set is on my "someday" list, I don't have it yet. But when I saw this great notebook made by Betsy Veldman, I knew I had to make a notebook for my daughter. Well, my next problem, besides not having that stamp set, is that I can't sew. Not at all. It is not on my list of skills. So, I used my digital scrapbooking supplies to get as close as I'm going to get to real stitching. My daughter loved the notebook, and so I considered it a success.

I also have a quick recipe card to share with you today. I love this cinnamon swirled apple bread. I made some for a friend from church the other day, and she requested the recipe. I made a quick recipe card for her. The recipe and instructions are quite long, so it didn't leave much room for any added pizazz. But I like that the background paper makes me think of cinnamon! Also, my recipe is changed somewhat from the original. The original calls for apples not applesauce. When I'm in the mood to make this, I never seem to have apples, so I fiddled to see how I could make it with applesauce instead, which I always have on hand. And the original recipe called for walnuts or pecans, which people in our house are allergic to. So if you'd like the original recipe, visit the link above. I always mix this in my kitchenaid mixer, and it goes together quickly. Even though the instructions are long, it's not a complicated bread to make. If you make it, I hope you like it as much as we do!

Fun news

Well, here is the card to go with my good news. I submitted this card as a Guest Star Stamper entry at Papertrey Ink, and I won for "Best Use of Previous Set." I cannot even tell you how excited I was to find out!!! My family thought I was acting a little crazy, but I was in heaven. Finding out that I won made my whole day. I could not wipe the smile off of my face! So, that is my good news that I was very excited to share!!!

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, Friends 'Til The End, Life
Ink: PTI Chai, Dark Chocolate, Enchanted Evening, Plum Pudding, and Ripe Avocado
CS: Rustic Cream, Spring Moss
Accessories: Top Note Die, Scrapper's Floss, Dimensionals

Loving life today

Can I just say that I am loving life today!!! I found out something super fun that I can't wait to post about. But we're headed out the door so I need to keep this short. So I have my fun stamping thing to talk about later; and then to make my day even better, my Bengals beat the Steelers just moments ago. My brother is a huge Steelers fan and has been talking junk all week. Well, last night I made my yummy hot wings dip. This stuff is awesome all year round, but I especially love it during football season. I made this recipe card last year in a recipe swap I was in. I've posted it before, but like I said, it was last year, so most of you have probably not seen it. And I'm loving that my Bengals won, so in honor of my team beating my brother's team, here's a yummy football recipe for you to enjoy (doesn't that little Bengals flag just look great in the back of the truck!!!).

Season of Giving

Well, I woke up to snow in the mountains. I'll admit that I hate the cold that comes in winter, and I'm not very fond of snow....especially driving in it. But it makes everything gorgeous! If I could just stay home every day all winter I'd be okay with snow. I know I've been sharing some Christmas cards lately, and that it's still November, but this is prep-time for Christmas! Today's card is made using one of the Digiments that will be released tomorrow. And, if you're curious as to why I titled my post season of giving...here's why: You can get all 24 Digiments for $8.00. And, if you buy one set, you can receive a second for half-price, to give to a friend! {Now I feel like Bob Barker, but I'm continuing on.} And if that's not enough to entice you, go visit the Digiments blog, leave a comment on any and all of the release posts this week, and you will be entered to win the entire release for free!!! I told you it was the season of giving. If you're looking for more inspiration, visit any of the Design Team members' blogs. They are some talented ladies! You can find links on my left sidebar, or on the Digiments site. But, don't forget that the release is tomorrow, so for a chance to win the goodies, visit today! And if you are a digiment user, I'd love to see what you make with your stuff. It's always fun to see how other people use the same supplies, in different ways. So if you do, visit and leave me a link, I'd love to see what you make!

Stamps: PTI Tree Trimming Trio
Digiment: All The Best (November 2009)

Happy Birthday to my VIP!

I've fallen a little out of the stamping groove, again. I have had ideas for several projects, but they haven't all been turning out how I pictured. So I sat the stamps aside, and I have been working on my scrapbook pages again. This week my daughter is the "VIP" in her class. That means she gets to have the class' stuffed dog Patch come home for the week, she gets to take the Incredible Edible Estimation Jar to school, and she gets to have a little scrapbook page all about her on display all week. Well, today is also her birthday! She's so excited that she is the VIP and birthday girl in the same week! I can't believe that my baby is six! So here is the scrapbook page I made for her to send to school. She loved it, even though she informed me that yellow is really her favorite color now, not pink!

Thank You!

When my son's church teacher found out that our whole family had been sick, she brought us over a huge basket full of goodies. She had stuffed a basket full: soup, goldfish crackers, chex mix, cookies, more cookies, orange juice, oranges, grapefruit, and a card and book for my son. In addition, she gave my daughter a big stuffed dog that is now named "Wolfy." Wolfy has blue eyes just like my daughter and she thought that was so cool. So this is the thank you card I made for his teacher. I really wanted to do something spectacular, so I kept trying to think of some idea that would just be an over-the-top kind of card! I was thinking and thinking about what to do, and finally just went with one of my favorite layouts of all time. I guess CAS is my comfort zone, so instead of trying to make an over-the-top kind of card that would turn out blah, I just did what I felt comfortable with. Yes, I have used this layout a lot, but I've always liked how it turned out. I hope she likes it, because I really want her to know how much our family appreciated her thoughtfulness.

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms, River City Rubber Works, PTI Background Basics: Text Style
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, True Black, & Versamark
CS: PTI Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Rustic Cream
Accessories: Top Note Die, PTI Sweet Blush Ribbon, Glitter Glue

A Merry Little Christmas

Today's card is made using a Studio G sketch challenge posted on Paper Craft Planet. My son's school class has been practicing for their Christmas program, and he comes home singing Christmas songs almost every day. I am not intentionally trying to skip over Thanksgiving, but I was definitely feeling festive yesterday, so I went with a Christmas card for this sketch. I love the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." It's one of my favorite Christmas songs. It's a gorgeous sunny day here, but I guess Christmas will be here in no time, so it's not a bad thing to be getting a little stash of Christmas cards built up.

Stamps: Studio G
Ink: PTI Chamomile, Pure Poppy
CS: PTI Rustic Cream
DP: DCWV
Accessories: Corner Rounder, Ripe Avocado Satin Ribbon

Celebrating the Magic of Christmas

What a long, crazy week it has been here. We've all been sick, and finally this morning I'm starting to feel like I will get better! The kids missed their Halloween parties at school, picture re-take day, and I missed Parent Teacher Conferences (I have them rescheduled with their teachers). All week I kept thinking about making this card, and last night I finally got my stuff out and made it. I love this tree! My mother-in-law has a gorgeous tree that is huge, and every year she covers it in ornaments. Really old ones that she's had for a long time, ones that she inherited from her mom when she passed away. This card is for her. If this was really her tree, it would be covered in ornaments, with no gaps at all! I love the Ripe Avocado and Scarlet Jewel together. I think they're a great Christmas combo.

Stamps: PTI Tree Trimming Trio
Ink: PTI Ripe Avocado, Scarlet Jewel, Colorbox Silver
CS: PTI Rustic Cream
Accessories: Holiday Button Mix

Papertrey Ink Holiday Hop

I was so excited that the UPS truck delivered my package on time, so I could get this little project ready for the blog hop! I've had this idea in my head since I saw these trees released a month ago. I LOVE to make cookie mixes for family and friends for the holidays. The year that my daughter was born, I hadn't done anything for family and friends and was feeling really down about it. At the last minute, literally an hour or so before my husband was going to the family Christmas dinner, I started whipping out little jars of cookie mix. It went so fast, and I felt happy to have something to send with him to the party (I was keeping the kiddos home...RSV and flu season). It's a bummer that I didn't have this stamp all those years ago. I think that they look really neat all layered in a jar. I always think that if people have reached their cookie-eating limit, they can wait and make these after the holiday bloat goes away! If you are mailing goodies to people instead of hand delivering, you can also put the cookie mix into ziploc-type bags. It doesn't layer well, so it's just a jumbled cookie mix, but it still tastes just as good, and you don't have to worry about fresh cookies going stale before they can be eaten.

A few tips I will share (which I didn't follow here) if you plan on doing your own cookie mixes, or any other mix in a jar:
1) Use wide mouth jars. It makes it easier to load all the ingredients, as well as tapping it down to get everything to fit. Here is the link to the recipe I use for my "canned cookies."
2) Adding a little cut out of material to the top of the jar really gives it a nice finished look. If you don't have material, which I usually don't, I do like to at least use a plain screw on lid. The "bring out the best" on the lid is a little distracting from the overall look of the project.
3) The thing I like about this particular cookie recipe is that even without adding the raisins or chocolate chips that the recipe calls for, the jar is almost full. So if you worry about whether people would prefer raisins or chocolate chips, you can just omit them from the jar, but make sure that you add that ingredient to the recipe card.

Stamps: PTI Tree Trimming Trio
Ink: PTI Enchanted Evening, Plum Pudding, Scarlet Jewel, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Enchanted Evening, Scarlet Jewel
Accessories: PTI Scarlet Jewel Satin Ribbon, Epoxy Stickers

Snowflakes A-plenty

I don't love winter and I don't love snow. But I love using snowflakes for winter and Christmas projects. I found an awesome set of snowflakes on ebay the other day. So cheap that I had to buy them! There was one long continual swirly shape, that I was hoping would fit on the side of my top note die. It didn't quite fit the way I wanted, so I took my scissors to them, and started cutting them up so that they would fit however I wanted.


I am really happy with how this card turned out. I love these snowflakes!!! It was hard to get a picture of the card so that the gems would sparkle. So, this card really does look better in real life. I try not to say that too often, so that I'm not like the little boy who cried wolf. But I'm so happy with this card. Then I was kind of on my crafter's high, so I decided to try another one.


I'm not quite sure about this one. I guess for a better comparison I should have used the same colors as the blue card. I do like all the snowflakes on the one hand, but then I think maybe it's a little dark. But I am trying to figure out if that's just because of the darker paper. So, crafting friends, do you have an opinion on the second card? And don't tell me you don't like the first one, because I just won't listen Ookay, so maybe you won't like the first one. If you don't, tell me why. I will listen, but I will probably still make a bunch more because I like it). Enjoy your Saturday, I've been so behind in posting, but I have a few fun projects already done, and I'm hoping for a full weekend of crafting.

Oh, and I found through Susan's Simplicity blog a link to this great tutorial for tying knots so that they stay put. I found the tutorial a long time ago, made several cards with it, and thought that I would definitely remember how to do it. Until I needed it again for this card. So here is my link so I can find it more easily, and any of you can too!

Stamps: Inkadinkado Snowflakes A-plenty, Studio G Sentiment
Ink: PTI Enchanted Evening, Scarlet Jewel
CS: PTI Scarlet Jewel, Spring Rain
Accessories: Top Note Die, Enchanted Evening Satin Ribbon, Offray Petite Gems

Carving the Pumpkin

I did actually complete a cute little project with paper and glue the other day. But it's out of my hands, and I forgot to get a picture of it. So instead I'm sharing yet another scrapbook page. I found an awesome layout in an old Simple Scrapbooks magazine that I totally copied for this page. I was a little worried my son was going to complain that there were flowers on his page, but since they are orange, he didn't put up too much of a fuss.

ETA: "Carving the Pumpkin" is a cool FREE Word Art which is available here (scroll down a bit, you'll see it). I was in a hurry to get this posted and forgot to leave the link.

Autumn

Well, the field trip was a ton of fun. I got a little worried, though, the night before. I woke up to thunder and lightning at about 2 in the morning. It went on and on with pouring rain, and kept me awake for over 2 hours! I finally fell back asleep, and by the time morning came, it was cool and crisp but there was no rain. I haven't gotten any scrapbook pages with those pictures yet. But here is a page I got done today. Somedays when we are headed up to the bus stop, I grab my camera. This day our neighbor's tree looked so gorgeous, I was glad I'd brought the camera with me.

Sending Hugs

Well here we are at Monday yet again. I don't know how the weekend goes by so fast! Here is a quick card I made using the another Fall-to Layout from the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog. I had a hard time adding the sentiment panel hanging over the edge like that, but I made myself do it. I was going to use some of my pretty pink buttons, but ended up using a butterfly with rhinestones to pop in the mail easier. I love the sayings from the PTI Friends 'Til The End set, but I wish they'd come out with a second version and have all the same sentiments, in a similar font, but cursive. Tomorrow is my kindergartener's first field trip. They're going to a pumpkin patch/corn maze, and I get to go with her class! I'm almost as excited as she is, I think. It's supposed to be a gorgeous sunny day, so I'm hoping for some fun pumpkin patch pictures!

Stamps: SU Pretty Petals, PTI Friends 'Til The End
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado
CS: PTI Plum Pudding, White, SU Rose Red
Accessories: Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly Punch, Rhinestones

Studio G Sketch Challenge

I made this card following a sketch challenge posted on Paper Craft Planet. If it wouldn't have been a sketch challenge, I'd have left off the ribbons. They gave me fits! I had some Christmassy ribbon from last year that had great colors in it that matched the ornaments. I got that ribbon added and it looked way too busy. So I switched the card, and added the ribbon to a panel that didn't have any embossing. That helped cut down on the business. But then I got them glued down crooked. Scor-tape is not removable! HA! So, after a lot of trial and error, finally this is the design I went with. I do love these little ornaments.

Stamps: Studio G
Ink: PTI Pure Poppy, Scarlet Jewel, and copics
CS: PTI Pure Poppy, White
Accessories: Cuttlebug Snowflake Embossing Folder, PTI Ripe Avocado Ribbon, Labels One Nestabilities

We are the champions!

Well, flag football is over for the season. My boy had so much fun. Their team went undefeated, and the boys loved it! Here is the little "thank you" I made for his coaches. The head coach had his son and daughter both help him coach, and they were awesome. His son came up with awesome plays and worked with the kids so well. My husband helped as the defensive coach and my son now loves playing defense. He told me after the first few games that he dreams about rushing the quarterback. Okay, here it is:

I was pretty excited with how it turned out. I stopped by Archiver's for a few minutes the other day and they had this cool football set. I knew it would be perfect for this little project. Now, on the colors.....I was so bummed. My husband and son are huge 49ers fans. I love the Bengals. Well, their flag football team was the Bengals. When I found out I was so excited! I kept teasing my son about being a Bengal. Then they got their uniforms....and they looked way more like 9ers colors than Bengal colors. The project matches their colors almost perfectly. I so wanted to get to do scrapbook pages for my son in Bengals orange! HA! Oh, and I have to show you the back of the project, too. It's nothing special, but I think it's the coolest stamp in the whole set:

Enjoy your crafting day. And see, I can post a project without pink and green on it!

Stamps: Hampton Art
CS: PTI Scarlet Jewel, Smokey Shadow
Ink: PTI Fresh Snow
Accessories: Mini Spiral Clips
My Timeless Templates: Milk Made

Embrace Rhinestones

Well, here we are at Monday. Our internet has been spotty {and that's being generous} all weekend long, my fantasy football team performed horribly, and World Card Making Day is officially over. At least there is still a little time left to enter some of the contests from the weekend. This card is for the 3rd challenge issued by Papertrey Ink's Nichole Heady: inspiration from India. I got this card all done, and went back to read the official challenge as I was preparing to post this. Well, the inspiration is from India {I used the top left-hand picture}, but the official challenge is to "incorporate rhinestones, sequins and jewels in a fun and artistic way." I don't know how fun and artistic a straight line of rhinestones is, but I sure love the finished card, so I'm posting it anyway! The layout is from my go-to spot for CAS layouts: The Clean and Simple Stamping Blog.

Stamps: PTI Friends 'Til The End, Life
Ink: PTI Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado
CS: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, White
Accessories: Kaiser Rhinestones

Inspiration from Mexico

The second challenge posted by Nichole Heady for WCMD, was to gain inspiration from Mexico. I googled a lot of different pictures, but didn't ever find one I was crazy about. So finally I decided to use the colors the girl is wearing in the bottom right hand picture posted above. I loved the pink and green. I had tried using the fall-to layout #61 from the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog the other day. The overall look wasn't turning out, so I changed that card, but knew I'd want to give this layout another try. So as I was planning this card, I decided the little flower would look great where the circle was on the sketch. So that's what I did. It's a rainy dreary Sunday, so I'm off to look at the third challenge, and see what I can figure out.

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, Friends 'Til The End, Life
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado
Copics: RV10, RV13, R35
CS: PTI Spring Moss, Vintage Cream
Accessories: Glitter Glue

Cherry Blossoms

This is my first card today to celebrate World Card Making Day. It's for an inspiration challenge posted posted by Nichole Heady here. She's having challenges where we take inspiration from around the world. The first challenge had us traveling to Japan for inspiration. I love this cherry blossom stamp and thought it would be perfect to use. I stayed with soft pinks, added one of my favorite punched borders, and added some ribbon on the other side. I thought the ribbons kind of helped the card mimic the look of kimonos. That's all for now, I'm off to see what my next project will be.

Stamp: Rubber Stampede Cherry Blossom
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Copics: E43, RV 10, RV13, YG91
CS: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Kraft, Sweet Blush, White
Accessories: PTI Hibiscus Burst Ribbon, Ripe Avocado Ribbon, Sweet Blush Ribbon, Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch

Favorite Girl

Here is a digital scrapbook page I finished today. I'd been thinking about it for a while. I just knew I wanted to use the "favorite girl" digiment to do a scrapbook page for my daughter. I had the cutest layout all picked out but it just wasn't working, so I tossed that idea. When I first started scrapbooking, I never journaled anything. Now, that is my main focus. I want the story to be told, even after I am not there to tell it. I hope you're all having a wonderful Friday! Tomorrow is world card making day! To celebrate, Michelle at Digiments will be offering free digiments and a contest to win all of the previous releases. So take some time to check that out tomorrow. What are you doing to celebrate the day? Let me know if there are some fun links I should check on.

What's cooking?

Yesterday it was 90 degrees here. Today, it's been raining and gusting all day long, and it's freezing. I'm so not ready for icky weather. So I put soup in the crock pot, and would have made some bread to go with it, but my brain is too fried from test preparations; I don't think I would have activated the yeast properly. The bread will have to wait.

This card is made based on the Sketch Challenge on SCS today. I don't play along with too many sketch challenges anymore. Something about this layout, I really liked, so I decided to give it a whirl. Now, in hindsight, I would stamp the flowers and sentiment on creamy cardstock instead of white. The white seems really bright in comparison to the rest of the card. I even thought about restamping, and gluing down on top of the panels, but I have a 99% chance of messing the whole card up if I do that.

So, really...what's cooking? Do you have a great crock pot recipe. I love crock pot dinners, especially when it gets cold. So if you have a recipe you love, leave me a link to where it's at. I'd love to get some new ideas.

Stamps: PTI Life, Background Basics: Text Style, Clear Dollar Stamps Words Of Sympathy
Ink: PTI Chai, Chamomile, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy
CS: PTI White, Kraft, Pure Poppy
Accessories: PTI Enchanted Evening Ribbon, Offray Ribbon

Color Challenge!

Well, this card took a lot of twists and turns to end up where it's at. The clean and simple challenge this week at Split Coast Stampers is a color challenge: shades of pink, green, blue and cream or white, with chocolate optional. I won some cool Studio G stamps from Michelle a while back, and have been planning fun ways to use them. I love the whimsical look to the flowers! In fact, they remind me a lot of the Basic Grey paper I've used on my last few projects. So when I saw the Fall-to-Layout on the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog, I decided to use the color challenge along with the fall-to-layout. Well, I had my card finished, and I just didn't like the overall look of it. So I chopped it down, and just matted it on a layer of green and added it to a plain white card base. I'm happier now, but plan to go back and try the fall-to-layout again. Persistence!

Stamps: Studio G, TAC
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Ripe Avocado
CS: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Ripe Avocado, Spring Rain, White
Accessories: Scallop Circle Nesties, Circle Nesties

Favorite Teacher

I have loved working with September's Digiments. When I saw the line of "favorites" I was excited for all of the possibilities. I love these fonts together. So I decided to make a little gift card holder that could be used for a favorite teacher! I found a few tutorials for gift card holders, and just wasn't crazy about any of them. So I started measuring and folding and came up with this. It's just the right size to slip in a gift card, with not a lot of extra room. I thought it was a fun size to either tuck inside a card, or with some other packaging. I love this paper from Basic Grey, all the colors in it are great! I hope you've had fun seeing the projects I was able to work on using the newly released Digiments. You can head on over to the Digiments blog to see the full line of digital sentiments that officially went on sale today. There are 30 new Digiments, and you can get the total package for $15.00, which is a great bargain, or the single digiments are priced at $1.00 each. That is still one of the most appealing things to me about the digital world. Affordability!!! I hope you enjoyed my projects from this lastest release, and I hope you saw something that made you want to go get crafting!

A day late, and a dollar short!

So I know you all came back looking for my sugar cookie recipe yesterday! Well, you're going to have to wait a little longer. Monday, I had my week all planned out perfectly, except for I forgot that the kiddos didn't have school today. "What does that have to do with a post for yesterday?" you ask. Well, it meant that things that would usually get done Thursday night got moved to Wednesday night, and no playing around on Wednesday night to have a post for Thursday. Does that make any sense!? So you'll have to stay tuned for the sugar cookie post, but I have something else for you today.


My blogging friend Laurie has made a lot of these boxes in a bag. They always look so cool, and everytime she posts one, I always tell myself I should try one. Well, I finally did. I have to say, though: I always think these 3-D projects will turn out larger than they do. The first one I made, following the tutorial here, looked great, but it wasn't as big as I wanted it to be. So I did a little changing of the measurements to make myself a bigger bag. I was wanting to put soup, crackers, and a little bag of cough drops in my bag, and that definitely wasn't all going to fit in the smaller bag. But if fits in this one perfectly. My kiddos ate the crackers before I could snap the picture, so now it doesn't look as neat without the little bag of crackers poking out the top. I thought that this would be a nice thing to drop off if you find out one of your neighbors or a friend has a little cold. When you know they aren't feeling great and you just want to give them a little pick-me-up. Now, the Digiment that I used here will be released tomorrow along with all of the September Digiments. If you haven't headed over to the Digiments site yet, you'll want to take a few mintues today to do so. Just for checking out the fun stuff the design team has been working on, and leaving a comment, you can win a ribbon package, a bling package, or even the entire release for the month! Enjoy your Friday, and I promise that in the near future, I'll share my sugar cookie recipe!

Birthday Love

At Digiments, we all took a little bit of a summer break. But, we're back! I love the Digiments for September. Immediately after seeing the previews, I started churning all kinds of ideas in my head. I loved the thought of using the "Birthday love" for a little gift box. My daughter has her birthday in November, followed by my son and husband having their birthdays in December, 3 days apart. So I guess birthdays are on my mind. Well, I thought this little pizza box would be perfect for putting a giant homemade sugar cookie in. Obviously this box won't go to either of the boys.....a little too girly! I'll be back tomorrow with my sugar cookie recipe. And head over to the Digiments blog today to see more previews from the other designers. Just for taking a look and leaving a comment, you can enter to win a free bling package.

Digiment: Birthday Love
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, Lavender Moon, SU Rose Red
DP: Basic Grey
Accessories: PTI Ripe Avocado Ribbon, Sweet Blush Button, Circle Nestabilities

Blonde Brownies

So I'm finally sharing my brownie recipe with you. These are the brownies I planned to make to put in my little tucked away boxes I shared with you here. I was really bummed that they didn't turn out. They were thick and cakey, not moist and gooey, like I like them! So I tried again. Now that I have my cool Kitchenaid Mixer, I don't usually worry about softening butter when a recipe tells me to, since my mixer just blends everything right up. Well, this recipe doesn't just tell you to soften the butter, you are supposed to melt it. MELT IT! It makes a big difference in the finished product. Oh, you can also add nuts to these. My mom always did, and has that listed on her recipe card. Since my husband and my son are allergic to nuts, I never add them to anything, or even put them on the recipe card.
Moving on to other fun digital news. This Saturday is the September release of Digiments. To answer some questions people have had on changing colors of Digiments, etc., Morgaine, who is a Digiments designer, made 3 videos showing you how to change the colors on Digiments, how to work with gradients, and how to work with different backgrounds. Also on the Digiments site, are 2 free challenge Digiments available. So head over there to check out what is going on. I can't wait to show you the projects I made using this month's releases.

Card Night!

A sweet friend at church decided to hostess a card night for anybody who wanted to come. Well, I'm definitely not gonna miss this activity!!! It was so fun. She put in so much work for all of us. Basically everything was ready to go. All the measuring and cutting was already done. All we had to do was assemble the cards. One card there was stamping and embossing, but the other 2 all that was required was to assemble the cards. I had so much fun. There were a lot of ladies that hadn't made cards at all before, and the set-up was so perfect for them, I thought. It was a super fun night. Here are the 2 cards, and the little project.



Since someone else did all of the prep work, I'm not really sure on any of the supplies used. I could have asked, of course, but was just having fun, and didn't feel like I needed all of the details. If you happen to see something you want info on, I am sure I could find it out. The one detail I did snag was the ink we used for all of the edging. SEI Tobacco. It was a nice color. And really easy to use. Not too inky, but not too dry; it was "just right." So, it was a really fun night....I hope she might do it again. It's so fun to get together with other ladies and make cards and chat. I haven't done that in ages, and definitely have missed it! I'm off to the bus stop, then back to blog hop in a bit!

Fall Birthday

You might be seeing several cards in the next little while using this layout. It's fast and fun, and I really like the look! I've got a few fall birthdays coming up that I want to be prepared for. I am thinking that maybe I should have stamped the sentiment in black so it showed up a little better, but I liked the brown because it matched the brown leaf. I am off to try and find my battery charger so that I can take some pictures of more cards. If I don't find it anytime soon, you'll be getting all digi this week until I can find it! Enjoy your day.

Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance, River City Rubber Works
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Melon Berry, Ripe Avocado, Scarlet Jewel, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, Scarlet Jewel, Vintage Cream
Accessories: Scarlet Jewel Ribbon, Top Note Die

Tinkerbell Party

My little kindergartener was invited to a Tinkerbell birthday party last week. She was so excited. She got off the bus carrying the invitation so carefully. It was wrapped in purple ribbon and she couldn't wait to open it. There were sparkly jewels on the invitation. It was really pretty. So while she was at school the next day, I made this card for her, trying to keep with the theme of the invitation and make it purple and sparkly. It was so cute when I showed it to my duaghter. She said, "Thanks, mom. It's pretty. But I want to make her my own card." So she did. And she loved every minute of it. So now I have a sparkly "tinkerbell" birthday card to throw in my stash. I'm hoping to not go so MIA this week. It seems that adding just one extra kid to the school activities mix has made life a lot more busy than last year. The kids are having a blast, but I'm already looking forward to fall break ;)

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, River City Rubber Works, SU Botanical Blooms
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding, Ripe Avocado, True Black, Versamark
CS: PTI Vintage Cream, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss
Accessories: Top Note Die, Plum Pudding Ribbon, Rhinestones