Saturday, April 30, 2011

joy...

This month marks my final month with the Show us your stuff challenge blog, I decided to not reapply for the second term. This month we were sent some lovely goodies from Bibby's lovely shop .
The challenge is to use ribbons, lace or trims on your project and to describe how you have used it. I decided to create a card using Bibby's handmade flower. I have attached it to my card so it is hanging off the edge for a fun effect and used some velvet ribbon to hide the join between the two pattern papers.

 I would also like to share a mothers day card I made for the Scrapware blog this month, love the bright happy colours.


Till next time...

Happy Pink Saturday!!

Well there it is ladies...can you hazard a guess as to what the hubby and I might be up to on this fine Pink Saturday? Hmmm?
Well OK, I'll tell you...we are attending a baseball game! We will be heading to the town next to us...Which just happens to be Washington DC! to see the Washington Nationals play the San Fransisco Giants! I was so hoping to see Tim Lincecum pitch, but it was not to be...he pitched last night. Oh Well...The hat? Well, I did not doctor it up...so...that is on my list of things to be gotten, if you know what I mean...

Hope you all have a very Happy Pink Saturday!!
So,



Please join us over at Beverly's howsweetthesound for Pink Saturday!

Less Is More: Thank You

This week's challenge at Less Is More is to create a thank you or a congratulations card.  They say it is to thank us for our support and to congratulate us for our fabulous entries.  It should be a thank you to Chrissie and Mandi for inspiring us each week and a congratulations for creating such a wildly successful blog!



I used a double-embossing technique on this card that I think adds enormous interest.  In this case, I first embossed with a polka dot folder and then embossed again with this Cuttlebug flower folder.  I have done a number of these in the past.  This post is all about embossing folder fun - towards the bottom half are four other cards with the double-embossing technique.

This card also is the start of a project that I have had in my head for some time. 

First, you should know that I really don't have a creative bone in my body.  But I read blogs and study other cards to come up with ideas and then I try to put them all together into my work.  One of the things that fascinates me is the way people layer punches and dies.  A unique layering of punches can add so much - particularly to a clean and simple card.  I often get stuck in a rut of punching an oval and a scalloped oval and calling it done. 

I have collected a number of layered punch ideas over the years and I have wanted to put them together in a reference document (instead of the slips of papers and post-it notes that are cluttering my files!).  Since I added a layered punch to my card, I finally started this document!!  My most recent notes came from viewing the cards in my friend's craft room so these all come from her.  I have many more to add.


I would LOVE your help.  If you have created or seen a particurly nice layered punch or die idea (preferably using Stampin' Up product) - let me know.  Link to it in your comments or send me an e-mail.  I will add it to this document and will certainly credit you.  In a month or so - I will convert this to an on-line document and link it in my sidebar, then we can all have these idea easily at hand!

Thank you!
  • Stamps: Stampin' Up Days of Gratitude (sentiment)
  • Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive
  • Paper: Stampin' Up Peach Parfait CS and dsp, Pear Pizzazz CS, Very Vanilla CS
  • Accessories: Stampin' Up gems (colored with copics), Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Everyday Greetings Combo folders, Stampin' Up Punches: Designer Label, 1" Circle and Modern Label

Friday, April 29, 2011

Confirmation Card - Sweet

I try to make a variety of Confirmation cards to give to the church's youth - sweet, fun, elegant, etc.  Here's my first card - the sweet one!


The sketch is from The Paper Players.


  • Stamps: Stampendous scripture
  • Ink: black
  • Paper: Stampin' Up Old Olive CS and dsp, So Saffron
  • Accessories: Stampin' Up Olive Grosgrain, Scallop Border Punch, Oval and Scallop Oval punches

Could they be any different??

As usual, I have waited until the last minute to play the monthly sketch challenge at i{heart}2stamp


The sponsor for this sketch is Unity Stamps.  Although it isn't a requirement, I had wanted to use a Unity Stamp on my card, but I don't have many.  I have giant cupcakes which wouldn't fit.  I have some large sentiments.  And I have a Valentine's set.  So I gave up on Unity and went for another new set that I just received from Our Daily Bread.  It's a whole set that fits inside Spellbinders Labels 18 - each have birds and butterflies - absolutely beautiful stamps!


I finished that card, but before I posted it I decided to stretch and wander out to my mailbox.  I had a small package from a company from which I had ordered some copics.  When I opened the package, I was surprised because I had forgotten that I had picked up one Unity Stamp from their clearance section!!  And it was a square and the right size to fit the sketch!!  So here's my totally different second card:


Same sketch...totally different cards!

Praying For You:
  • Stamps: Our Daily Bread Birds and Butterflies Labels, Our Craft Lounge Prayers and Blessings sentiment
  • Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and a Baja Breeze marker
  • Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Parisian Breeze dsp
  • Accessories: Stampin' Up Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Spellbinders Labels 18, Martha Stewart Hydrangea Punch, misc pearls, Stampin' Up embossing folders
You're A Star:
  • Stamps: Unity
  • Ink: Memento black, copics
  • Paper: Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy CS and dsp, Daffodil Delight
  • Accessories: Stampin' Up Real Red striped ribbon, misc gold brads

In Celebration of The Royal Wedding: Jamie Oliver's Fruit Scones

 
Did everyone set their alarms this morning?  I must admit that I've been rather excited about The Royal Wedding and happily set my alarm for 4am so that I could watch it live.  I thought the wedding, and everything about it, was beautiful.  

I wanted to make something special in celebration of The Royal Wedding and went back and forth about which recipe to choose.  I looked at recipes for Eton Mess, Toad in the Hole, and various others before finally settling on Jamie Oliver's Fruit Scones.  As Kate was kissing her prince on the balcony of Buckingham Palace I was rolling out scone dough in my pajamas. 



Jamie says "This is a cracking recipe for scones which uses dried cherries as well as the more traditional raisins.  However, feel free to substitute any other dried fruit you like.  Scones freeze really well, so you can make a batch of them, pop some into the freezer, and that way, if you have any unexpected visitors, you can always put them straight into the oven from frozen as a quick and delicious treat.  Spread with jam and serve with clotted cream- nothing else will do!"


Fruit Scones

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Makes 10
1 scant 1 cup mixture of dried cherries and/or raisins
Orange juice, for soaking
4 cups self-rising flour, plus a little extra for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk, plus a little extra for brushing
salt
good-quality jam
2/3 cup clotted cream or heavy cream, whipped

To make your dough:  Preheat the oven to 400F.  Soak the cherries and raisins in a little bowl with just enough orange juice to cover them.  While they're soaking, you can either pulse the flour, baking powder, and butter in a food processor just until the mixture starts to look like breadcrumbs (don't be tempted to over-pulse!), or you can blend them together by hand.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.  In another bowl, beat the eggs and milk with a fork.  Drain your cherries and raisins in a strainer and add them to the beaten eggs and milk with a good pinch of salt.  Then pour your beaten eggs, milk, cherries and raisins into the well of the flour mixture and stir well, adding a splash more milk if necessary, until you have a soft, dry dough.  If your dough feels a little dry and doesn't come together, add an extra splash of milk.

To make your scones: Dust a clean work surface and your rolling pin with flour.  Roll out the dough until it's 3/4 inch thick.  Using a 2-1/2 inch round biscuit cutter, or the rim of a glass, cut out 10 circles from the dough and place these on a non-stick cookie sheet (you may have to roll your dough out again in order to get all 10 rounds out of it, but try not to knead it too much, as you don't want to overwork it).  Dip a pastry brush into some milk and brush the top of each scone.  Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until risen and brown.  Take them out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To serve your scones:  Cut each scone in half across the middle.  Spoon a dollop of jam on to the bottom half of each one, followed by a dollop of clotted (or whipped) cream, and put the tops back on.  Serve on a large plate in the middle of the table, or on individual plates - and don't forget a pot of tea!
Notes/Results:  Delicious served with cherry preserves and whipped cream.  A perfect breakfast to serve whilst watching The Royal Wedding!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

happy birthday...

Welcome to Our Birthday Blog Hop!


Creative Scrappers is 3 years old!!!

We are celebrating 3 years of Creativity at Creative Scrappers this weekend and glad you could join us. Our Creative Team members each have a Unique Sketch from our Sketch Designers to showcase on their blogs. Visit their blogs for inspiration and please visit our Creative Scrappers blog at the end and add leave us a comment to be entered to win great prizes from our blog hop sponsors --


Click the links below
these will take you to our team blogs.






Shannon Morgan
Vicky Alberto
Yukiko Ochi
Yuko Tanaka

Kristine Davidson

to download all our Blog Hop Sketches

Thank you for supporting Creative Scrappers
and we hope to inspire you for more years to come!
My sketch I worked with from the fabulous Shell

And speaking of the lovely Shell I just wanted to say a HUGE THANKYOU for helping me...or should say re designing my blog for me, I am totally totally in love with it!
Till next time...

Happy Birthday To Our Sweet Baby Boy!!


Here he is...the Birthday Boy!!! He is a great joy to our little family...
There was great sadness due to the loss of his predecessor.
Bailey came into our lives sooner than we thought he should have...
The giggles started almost right away.
Now, if  Bailey hears laughter, he comes running...for it must involve him somehow...

Bailey is a sweet little boy...our first boy, our first puppy, and the first rescue that we actually have a date of birth for! 
We are very excited about that!
Bailey is too.
This is me holding Bailey the day we picked him up...

Here we go all loaded up and ready to go...he was and is so trusting...he has always, from day one, just slipped right into our little family and brought us such joy.
We thought we rescued our Sweet Little Boy but...

Really...
I have to wonder...
So...Happy Birthday Little Bailey we Love You!



Some people AMAZE me!!!!!!!




Have you ever had someone in your life that simply amazes you in all the right ways? Someone that really gets you without you even having to try? What if that person were someone you had never met in real life?

I am lucky enough to have just such a person. Her name is Sara and we met on a cloth diapering site years ago. She was selling fabric and I was buying fabric ( if you know me this not unusual). We starting chatting back and forth since I am an Oma and she has an Oma. Things just got better from there and we have been online friends ever since.

We laugh and giggle and whine and complain to each other and share our thoughts and sometimes dreams. I am so thankful I have her in my life and do not know what I would do without her.

Today I am trying really really hard to finish quilting my Weece's quilt when Adam runs into the room and hands me a package. I have not been ordering anything since I have been placed on a very strict fabric budget (BOO HISS) so this was very surprising to me. I opened the box and this was inside...




I have had my eyeball on this book for a good long while, how did she know!?!?!






OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!





AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!




THIS IS THE ONE!!!!! I think this is the one I will commit to first!!!!


Dang it! Maybe this one...so hard to decide!


And this is what she sent me just out of the blue a few months ago...


JAWDROP!!!!!





I hope I am half as good of a friend to her as she is to me!!!!!


Thank YOU Sara!!!!!! You amaze me!!!!!


Did I mention she is super pretty too!!!!


Kim :o)

First, many thanks!!!! And then a Winner!!!!!



Holy Moley!!! Thanks so much for all the responses for the quilt and the fabric :o) Thanks to all the new followers!!!!! I wish I had TONS more to give away, this was too much fun!!!!!


I am sure you are all just waiting to find out the winner...


 Indianna said...


I'm a new follower - thanks to Quiltstory :o)

I will be sending an email to you and

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!






And many thanks  to Quilt Story!!!!!!! 

Heather and Megan, I simply adore you and all of your support!!!!!!




Please stay tuned I will be doing  another giveaway as soon as I finish my grandma's quilt ( and I am almost done!!!!!) since after doing this one I feel like the girlies got a bit slighted :o)


Thanks for playing everyone!!!!!

Memories

I know that you come here for cards - and I promise to be back later today with cards - but my youngest son touched me so deeply with a poem that he wrote - I have to share.

First, some background - my mother was the founder of our church card ministry. (I talked about her here.)  After spending her entire life in South Dakota, she moved to our town, just a few miles from us, when my youngest son was born and became a daily part of my kid's lives.  She was a fun grandma - walks to the park, movies, and she was at every event that my kids were in.

She died very unexpectedly in May of 2006 at the age of 67 when my youngest was only 6 years old.  One of my biggest regrets was that, being so young, he would not remember his fun-loving grandma.

As a total side note - her death really woke up the women of our congregation to the fact that women feel heart attacks very differently than men.  In my mother's case, it was a severe back pain.  If you haven't read about woman's symptoms - please take some time to do so.

Erik (my youngest) had a sleep-over at her house the night before.  I had picked him up in the morning, but my mom was going to come over in the afternoon to pick both boys up for a movie.  She didn't show up.  After calling repeatedly, we all hopped in the car to go to her house.  I left the boys in the car and found that my mother had died.  I called 911 and given that the fire station was practically in her backyard, they were at the house with sirens blaring before I could go back out the car and talk to the boys.

Another side note - I want you to know that although I miss her - I cannot truly grieve her death.  My mother was a widow at 35 years old and she mourned my father for the remainder of her life.  She had great faith in the Lord and I know she is exactly where she had always wanted to be - at her husband's side in our Father's house.

And...to briefly take you out of this sad post - I have to tell you how the policemen came up with her time of death.  They knew that we expected her at 1:00 and, in her house, they found shopping bags from Hobby Lobby and Michaels with shopping receipts at 11:30.  She spent her last hours shopping for cardmaking!!!

Back to the point of this post.  Although we certainly talk about Grandma and we have many, many pictures, I have assumed that Erik has very little memory of her.  So when he came home with this poem that he had written, I was briefly saddened by his vivid memories of that day but then I felt so joyful that he remembered the "fun" and that he has the faith to realize that her death was not a "goodbye".

Waiting at your
house, waiting for you to
come out to have fun as
I hear the low wee-woo wee-woo
of sirens of trucks getting
louder and I know you
will not come out again.
No goodbyes.
Rest in peace Grandma.



Wednesday, April 27, 2011

love you....

Still using more delish photos from our photo shoot in January from Labelle photographics. Its hard to catch Addison with a smile on camera so when I get a good one I cherish it!!!Don't you just love that cutie patootie apple button from Lil red rocket, def a fav of mine.

Thankyou everyone for your lovely comments I feel so lucky that you take the time to leave me a sweet message, I do so appreciate them all!
Till next time...

Building a Cake in Red & Aqua

I just spent a couple of days ALL by myself with a good book, a fireplace, and a good bottle of wine!!!  We have a small place in Frisco, Colorado which is right in the middle of all of the ski areas in Summit County.  It's a great family area - skiing all winter, hiking all summer, plus tons of restaurants, festivals, etc.  Typically, we all go and spend family time. After active days, we spend our evenings with old-fashioned card games, puzzles and books.  But this time, I got to run away by myself (that probably means I was getting a little cranky and demanding at home because the boys happily sent me away!)

So I had to share a couple of pictures that I took April 25th!!!  I LOVE this weather!!




For all of you are shivering now (and even those that aren't) - now you need to go visit JENerally Speaking.  Not only does Jen make beautiful cards, but she regularly shares pictures of her home in Bermuda - - very different pictures than I just shared!
---------------------------

I only got one card made today.  The boys happily sent me away but it is funny that socks didn't get folded, jeans didn't get washed and homework wasn't finished - so I was a little busy today!

I had such fun with this Lawn Fawn Bake Me a Cake set.  Each layer is separate - you can build your cake any way you want - and there are tons of "frostings" and "decorations" to choose from too!!

I am rather proud of myself for thinking outside of the box - I started building my cake straight up and down - a perfect cake!!  Then I decided the card needed some interest so I started adding crooked layers.  This has definitely been out of my comfort zone!




I used today's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge.



And I used the color challenge from CR84FN.



  • Stamps: Lawn Fawn, sentiment from Stampin' Up Hodepodge Happiness
  • Ink: Memento Black, copics
  • Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores
  • Accessories: Cuttlebug dots, Stampin' Up Scallop Border Punch, Papertrey Hawaiian Shores ribbon, The Twinery Baker's Twine, Quickutz tag die, Stickles and Martha Stewart glitter glue, misc red buttons