Monthly Archives: March 2007

Just a quick little card…

I am in serious need of some thank you notes! I’ve had a dreadful sinus headache again today but am starting to feel better now. Thought I’d get started on at least one of the notes and decided to keep it fresh and simple for spring. I LOVE this Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl line that I bought from Jacksonbelle! It is so easy to work with and the colors and patterns, so fun! I don’t known if you’ve noticed…but I’ve rediscovered SU’s kraft cardstock. I love using it as a card base…it goes with everything.

For this card I used my old SU Love ya Bunches stamp set. I’ve been spring cleaning and thinking of getting rid of some of the sets I haven’t used in a while. I came across this one and decided I needed to give it another whirl. Have you ever done that? Brought out an older set and breathed new life into it. Sometimes our styles change, color combos change, embellishments change and it is so much fun to pull things out again and use them with your latest additions.

Spring Bunches Thank You

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Supply List:

Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White – Stampin Up

Patterned paper: Dutch Girl line – Cosmo Cricket

Stamps: Love Ya Bunches

Ink: Black, Rose REd, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue, Certainly Celery

Other: Crystal Brad – Making Memories, Sewing machine, Prima Flower, Aquapainter and tab punch – SU, ribbon

I’m back!

Yeah….I’m back on-line! Tried out a new theme this morning that totally crashed my blog! I was really freaking out! I’m so glad that someone who knows what they are doing rescued it from cyber-space. Thanks so much Scott! I think that is it for me! No more theme switches until someone else works out all the glitches.:)

I’m SOOOOO A Muse’d!!!

Yippee!!! I can’t believe it! Another A Muse blog prize…for ME!!! Am I lucky or what?! Check it out… A Muse News . After commenting on some beautiful creations by Elena Shacochis…A Muse’s first guest designer!, myself and four others were luckily drawn to receive a new A Muse stamp and a package of Lime Peel Dot Notecards….I can’t wait to receive them and have some fun! They are going to work perfectly with my A Muse polka dot monograms! I’m going to have pleasant dreams tonight with dotty designs floating through my head.:) Have you seen the new Spring line A Muse has just released?! So much fun! I just can’t resist…I’m going to order some more of their stamps…they are just too adorable for words!

Did you notice?

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I designed a cute little “click on it thing a ma gig’ for Jacksonbelle’s ebay store for her! Very technical term, I know! Does anyone know the proper name for it? I am such a Tech-tard as JulieHRR would say! LOL  It is the little box down in my sidebar that says Jacksonbelle’s Embellishments. Just click on it and it will take you right to her store. I made it, one- to challenge myself and see if I could! ( you KNOW I love a challenge) and two – as a little thank you to my good friend Lindsey! Please note!!! I do not profit in any way from sales from Jacksonbelle’s ebay store! I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.;) Anyway…I think it is supercute and I was so tickled that I actually designed it and figured out the code…I just had to share! If you love Lindsey’s store too and want one…just let me know!

I also changed up my blog template….sigh….again! I loved!!! my banner but it just wasn’t working right now with the blog host software, so I went back to the daisy. The sidebar was driving me crazy with add-ins popping out of it all over the place! So now I am here with Misty Look! Not totally satisfied yet! Stay tuned for more upcoming template woes!

Absolutely yummy!

It’s been pretty crazy around here this week. I’ve been very busy with Joshua who is much improved but you know, still kind of cranky! I’ve also been busy doing write-ups, and working on some design calls…so many things to do and just not enough time.

 I thought I’d share one of our favorite family dessert recipes with you! As my oldest DS would say…chocolatey goodness. So yummy and chocolatey (is that a word!?LOL) and so easy to make. Chocolate is one of my many weaknesses and this is definite comfort food. It is one of my daughter’s faves and we made it last Thursday night for my MIL’s visit. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Hot Fudge Cake

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1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons baking cocoa divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup packed brown sugar
1-3/4 cups hot water
whipped cream optional or ice cream optional

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the milk, oil and vanilla until smooth. Spread in an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan. Combine brown sugar and remaining cocoa; sprinkle over batter. Pour hot water over all; do not stir. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm. Top with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Taking Mixed Bouquet for a Twirl

A few of my designer friends and I decided to take a little challenge. Lindsey (Jacksonbelle)  and I have done this before, but this week we are adding quadruple the fun as Michele Boyer (Shel9999) & Trudee are joining us! This week we are all taking our Mixed Bouquet stamp sets from Stampin UP and giving them a whirl with the Twirl designer paper line from Crate Paper. I just love flowers and the fun fresh colors of the paper line. I love this challenge as it highlights the flexibility of the papers and stamp lines…who doesn’t want to get lots of ideas from one product?!  I’ve created my card and as I write this…I’m anxiously waiting to see what my friends have come up with for theirs! I know you are going to want to peek as there designs just as much as I so I have included the links to their blogs or galleries! Jacksonbelle’s Blog, Trudee’s Blog, Shel9999’s gallery!

Hopes & Dreams

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This is my Hope & Dreams card. I love the sentiment…Dreams come a size too big so we can grow into them. I have many dreams…some personal, some for my family, some for friends…the list goes on. One of my dreams, that of being published, is being realized next month. I can’t wait to see my first designs in print! Another dream I have, is being on a design team for a rubber stamping or papercrafting company. Each day I try to work on my skills and I know that someday, the right opportunity will come along. I’m sure that you have lots of dreams too! I’d love to hear some of yours, if you have the time to share!

For my card, I was inspired by the paper to use the Mixed Bouquet daisy style stamp. I inked it in So Saffron craft ink and stamped each daisy three times to get a full-petaled effect. The leaves and flower centers were also stamped in craft ink and then I sprinkled the whole panel with Irridescent Ice embossing powder and heated it. I just love the sparkle it added. After this, I rolled the panel with close to cocoa classic ink and the Rough Texture Stampin’ Around wheel by SU and then buffed off the ink from the embossing powder. The sentiment was then added in black stazon as it would be difficult to stamp on the embossing with regular classic ink. The sentiment is actually clearly stamped in real life…the glitter is refracting the light and making it hard to read in the picture. To create the rest of the card, I made a 5.25″ square card from Whisper White cardstock. I bought a new EK Success large corner rounder the other day. I love how you can take off the guide and use it to punch scallops along the edge….a tool that does double duty ranks high on my list! I already had the small version of this punch…it makes nice tiny little scallops. This one has a fun different look with the larger scallops and it goes a lot quicker when you don’t have to punch so many times! I bought my Prima flower and the gorgeous Twirl Crate Paper from Jacksonbelle and the beautiful stitched and dotted May Arts ribbon from Starlitstudio.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Whisper White – SU

Patterned Paper: Twirl  – Crate Paper

Stamps: Mixed Bouquet, Happy Harmony, Rough Texture wheel – SU

Ink: So Saffron Craft, Rose Red Craft, Certainly Celery Craft, Close to Cocoa Classic, Basic Black Classic – SU

Other: Prima flower, K&Company charm, ribbon – May Arts, eyelets – Making Memories, Large Scalloped Punch – EK Success, sewing machine, Irridescent Ice embossing powder – SU

Drumroll please….

I picked the winners via a random number generator on the web. The numbers were 33 for the bog comment prize and 93 for the Feedblitz subscribers list. That means that Stampinsusie has won the Prima flowers and mini frame blog prize and Cassandra Hill has won the SU Warmest Regards Stamp set & rick rack. Congratulations ladies! Please e-mail me with your addresses so that I can get these out to you! Thanks so much everyone for all your lovely comments. A few of you are new stampers and quite a lot of you have been at it for quite some time! I myself started stamping 3 years ago this month! I have learned so much and had so much fun! Thank you for allowing me to share my creative interests with you.

Thanks also to all of you who expressed get well wishes for Joshua. He is much better this morning…running around and getting into everything. He managed to spoon a few cups of brown sugar into the milk jug while I was trying to get some laundry on….quite the mess! He is making up for some lost time of getting into everything! LOL

Make sure you come back later….Lindsey and I like to throw in a Take Two challenge every other week. This afternoon, we now have two more fabulous stampers joining us for quadruple the fun!