You Rock!

Can you believe it is already the last week of January? Time is flying fast already this year. When you read this I will be in Anaheim, CA for CHA. I am so excited to be there and know I will have lots of fun goodies to share with you when I get back.

But to tide you over until then, we are finishing our Pantone colors of the year this month on Tombow with Blue Iris. (color of the year for 2008) I am not a huge royal blue color fan, so this was a bit more of a challenge for me.

I made a cover for a package of candy. I wanted to show you a couple of fun things that you could do with Tombow’s Dual Brush Pens. I used #555 to not only color the ink onto the stamp ( by Our Craft Lounge's Every Heart Beats), but also in an air art gun to splatter the ink around the edges.

Do you see how gradual the design fades? That is from first coloring onto the stamp with the marker, then “huffing” on the ink and stamping, huff again and stamp, and repeat until the ink is completely faded. I love to use this technique with markers on stamps and hope you will want to give it a try as well.

I used Mono Adhesive Permanent to attach the sentiment and Foam Tabs to pop up the heart.

Set Your Sails

another Inky Antics card with lots of pencil coloring and Gamsol. Ü

Discover Treasure

images by Inky Antics

OCL 101 Zig Zag

A clean and simple card. These are the hardest for me to create, but I really like how this one turned out.

I used Our Craft Lounge's Every Heart Beat to create this card. I am loving these chevron images.

Birthdays are Best

Inky Antics

Yee Haw!

Yee Haw!! I'm going to CHA in 2 weeks and I've been busy creating for the classes I will be teaching. Can't show you anything yet, but here is a card I made for Inky Antics CHA a couple of years ago. Never then would I have imagined how soon I would really get to go!

Nerd at Heart

As soon as I saw this stamp set I knew I would make something with Nerd candy.

I used Our Craft Lounge's Love Potion set. this set has so many wonderful images for Valentine's cards and projects.

See the "brads" on the end? They aren't brads!

they are this cool product that I got a sample of at CHA by Craftworkcards.

They are these little dots that are shaped like a brad and you can color them!! How cool is that?! So you don't have to have a bunch of brads in colors that don't always match your projects, but can color these to match. You can get them in colors, but I chose a pkg that I could color. I used Tombow's Dual Brush Pen to color.

My Heart Skips

What did you all think of the new Pantone color of the year last week shown on Tombow's blog? I love the tangerine color. This week we have another color challenge that was Pantone's color of the year 2011...Honeysuckle. This color matches Tombow's Dual Brush Pen 743 (hot pink).

With Valentine's Day sneaking up on us, I thought this color would be perfect for a candy box. I found this tutorial here. The tutorial shows to use Hershey Nuggets, but I had some raspberry Ghiradelli's on hand and they fit perfectly! I can get 2 into each little matchbox. The matchboxes were cut with SU!'s die that my friend had and I cut a bunch of them over a year ago. They are now coming in handy as I plan to make more of these boxes for friends and family.

One of the wonderful things about markers and rubberstamps is that the markers are less expensive and you can have so many more colors. I colored Our Craft Lounge's new Every Heart Beat stamp set (the zig zag image) with the 743 Dual Brush Pen and stamped it on a label that also was on the die that I cut. I then stamped the sentiment with black ink.

I used Mono Adhesive Power Bond to put the whole box together. I prefer using a stronger adhesive for projects like this.

Full Quiver

The Bible talks about having a full quiver and Bruce's g'ma left behind a wonderful legacy to 7 children (and their spouses), 20 grandchildren (and their spouses, the 20 grandchildren all below), 26 great grandchildren (some with spouses) and 7 great great grandchildren! How awesome is that?! I told my (2) boys that they needed to have 10 kids each. LOL!!

Keep Calm

I made this card for a friend going through a tough time. She is going through things I hope and pray I never have to experience.

I used OCL's Smooth Sailing for this card. Here is a peek at the inside:

Goodbye G'ma

Yesterday early in the morning Bruce's grandma passed away. Our farm is connected to hers and we farm her farm. We are going to miss her very much. It is not only sad to  losed her but we are now grandparent-less. If you still have grandparents, be sure to hug them and let them know how much you love them. They are truly very special people! I have learned so much from mine and from Bruce's.

G'ma Fisher loved doing word puzzles and I will miss her phone calls asking me to help her solve a puzzle she couldn't figure out.

Bruce's g'ma LOVED poems. She even wrote a special one of my boys. Here is the last poem e-mail she sent me on Dec 7 (she loved sending e-mails!)
Hello God, I called tonight
To talk a little while
I need a friend who'll listen
To my anxiety and trial.
 
You see, I can't quite make it
Through a day just on my own...
I need your love to guide me,
So I'll never feel alone.

I want to ask you please to keep,
 My family safe and sound.
Come and fill their lives with confidence
For whatever fate they're bound.

Give me faith, dear God, to face
Each hour throughout the day,
And not to worry over things
I can't change in any way.

I thank you God, for being home
And listening to my call,
For giving me such good advice
When I stumble and fall.. !!!!!!!

Your number, God, is the only one
That answers every time.
I never get a busy signal,
Never had to pay a dime.
So thank you, God, for listening
To my troubles and my sorrow.
Good night, God, I love You, too,
And I'll call again tomorrow!

(G'ma doesn't have to "call" now as she is in God's presence....even better!)

Then on Dec 8th, she sent me this recipe that she said a gal that works at the assisted living home made her and was really good. I will have to make it.
(I am copy and pasting it just like she sent it to me.)

Corn pie
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
1/2 pound shedded cheese
1can corn drain
1/2 can evaperated milk
1 egg
1 onion chopped fine

Bake in regular crust ina glass pie plate to see if bottom is brown
it doesnt give the timebut like pumpkin pie MY guess
There are sveral recipes and a cracker crust fr come.
One has hamburger and tomatoes
One ir Philadellfa [sp]
and more

Only 1 spoon sugar , i have't tried it may be calorie wise, the corn ia sweet, too.

Pinterest Candy

When we meet with my cousins for Christmas we do a food/candy exchange. This way kids of all ages can participate.

This year I made candy found on Pinterest for my gifts. I made homemade Butterfinger Candy for DH's contribution and it only takes 3 ingredients! It is chewier than crispy, but was a huge hit.

For my gift, I made Brownie Peanut Butter Balls. Yummy! It too only took 3 ingredients, but I added a 4th.

Here are the recipes:

Candy Corn ButterfingersTaste of Home forums
(Printable Recipe)

1 lb. candy corn
16oz jar peanut butter (I used Peter Pan Honey Roasted peanut butter)
16oz pkg. chocolate candy coating

Melt candy corn in microwave on high 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking in 15-second intervals til melted, stirring after each interval. Stir in peanut butter. Spread mixture in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment. Cool completely. Cut into squares. Dip in melted chocolate candy coating. Lay on waxed paper to set.

**note: I read on a blog that if you keep them in the refrigerator they will get crispy. I have a few left to try that with.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Covered Brownie Bites

1 brownie mix such as Pillsbury
2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 Cup peanut butter
1. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Bake until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center but still slightly undercooked. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. When you are able to touch brownies comfortably, scoop brownies with a medium cookie scoop, roll tightly into a ball and place onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Continue rolling until brownies are gone. Freeze brownies until very firm, a couple hours or overnight. No worries if your brownie balls aren’t perfect, once frozen reshape them. They are easier to handle when chilled.
2. Place chocolate chips over a double broiler (or heat in microwave until smooth) to melt, then stir in peanut butter until creamy smooth. Roll each frozen brownie ball into chocolate and place onto wax paper to dry. Enjoy room temperature or chilled.

note: the only thing I did different was to melt a little white almond bark and a little peanut butter to it and then "fling" it all over the tops of the balls.

Just Do It!

Happy New Year! I want to wish each of you a very Happy & Healthy 20212. My word(s) for 2012 are Just Do It!

My goals this year are:

1. Just Do It!: Get Organized! It's time for things to go that I don't absolutely love...in my home and my studio.

2. Just Do It!: Create: now I know you are thinking "duh" with all the creating I do with my blog, but I want to be MORE creative and create with a purpose...create for a reason and give it away or for the home...make those things I see on Pinterest or other blogs that inspire me instead of just saving ideas...create things that are lovely for my home, family and friends.

3. Just Do It!: Lose: having goals to lose weight are usually failures, but I am going to strive to lose 15 lbs this year and keep it off. I need to lose more, but I want to be realistic and set a goal that is doable.

4. Just Do It!: Scrapbook more: I have really let my scrapbooking slide and Aaron keeps wondering when I am going to continue to work on his. For a teenage boy to ask this means I need to get busy with it.

5. Just Do It!: Sew more: Okay, there is a story behind this. I used to vendor in lots of craft shows and stores BK (before kids esp) and even when Benjamin was little. Then after Benjamin was born, I would make little blankets and clothes for him and do a few shows and stores. Then when I was pregnant with twins, I just "knew" one was a girl and was making a little doll. For those of you who know me, I lost the twins due to a car accident when I was 5 months pregnant (and one was a little girl) and I quit sewing. I don't know how to explain what happened inside of me, but I wasn't able to finish sewing the doll or on fabric for years. I got to where I could sew on paper, but still not fabric. Fast forward 15 years (the twins would have been 15 on Dec 22) and I was able to make a sweater pillow for my son's girlfriend. It felt so good to sew something pink and girly. I believe God brought Kassy to our lives not only for my son, but to heal my heart wholly. This doesn't mean I will ever forget my babies, or will ever stop missing them, but it was so freeing and therapeutic to sew on something other than paper and I have seen so many lovely ideas on Pinterest and the internet that I would like to create, but just haven't been able to make myself do. (this story is NOT for sympathy comments, but for healing for me to tell it and make myself real).

By not setting too many goals, I hope I can carry thru on each of them.

What is your word(s) for the new year? I would love to have you share them with me.

Here is a picture of the pillow I made for Kassy. She loved it and I even bought some sweaters to make pillows for us for our couch. I saw this idea on Pinterest and bought the pillow and sweater at Goodwill. The pillow had a Christmas theme to it, but was very firm. I measured the pillow, cut the sweater and sewed on 3 sides. I then fit the pillow into the sweater and handstitched the 4th side shut

Here is a close up of the flower. I made a rolled flower with the cream (some fancy lacy stuff from JoAnn Fabrics) and a smaller rolled flower from ribbing off a pale pink sweater.