Bunny Box

I love this box that I saw on Julie's blog. I can see all kinds of treats that would fit in this little box. I used Lizzie Anne's Designs "Hoppy Easter".
This is also one of the Try a New Technique challenges on Splitcoaststampers.
Here is the side view

Tea Cups

Have I mentioned how much I love this set? Ü I get my love of tea from my mom. I love iced tea (especially sun tea) and can only drink hot tea in the winter when it is VERY cold outside. I also love flavored teas. I have to stick to decaf and am glad there are so many more flavored decafs than there used to be.

This set is Lizzie Anne Designs "Tea Time". The background paper is Making Memories and it reminds me of wallpaper that one might have found in a kitchen in an old farmhouse. I colored with copics and sponged with SU! ink. Brads are from the Bittersweet line by Basic Grey. I used jump rings to hang the tea cups.

Lizzie Anne Designs sketch challenge

I am the hostess today for Lizzie Anne's weekly sketch challenge. Here is the sketch I designed (with LOTS of help on paint from Aaron).

I used LAD's Super Girl for my first card.

This card is using Tea Time. I love this set!

I would love for you to play along with us. You can post a link to your card here.

Don't forget to scroll down as I posted twice today.

Christmas bird

This is the sketch challenge for this week on Christmas Stampin' All Year Long. I turned it on it's side and came up with this: There is no stamping on this card. I love the digital images you can get online and this one was on a blog that shares vintage looking images and postcard images.

Be sure to check out the other CSAYL Diva's blogs for more inspiration.

It's going to be a very busy week and I will try to post when I can. The first trackmeet is Friday and prom (my baby is going to PROM!!!!-okay, not my youngest, but still my baby. Ü) is Saturday, plus lots of meetings and stuff in between.

Did you have a good day?

This is the question my youngest son asks me every day when I walk in the door from work. I've been working full time since August and I don't think he is used to it yet.
Anyway, I saw this new stamp by Inkadinkado, that I just HAVE to find! I love it and now when Aaron asks if I had a good day, I think I will have to answer according to what this young child says a good day is...

http://www.inkadinkado.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=23&idproduct=3047

Hey Cupcake!

Today I am the hostess for the Friday challenge on EIO. Here are the details:

Cupcakes are very popular now. So let's see your cupcakes. Ü This can be 3-D, stamped, scrapbooked, or how about a photo of cupcakes (the real thing) or even a photo of your "cupcake" (human) made into a card or page. There must be a cupcake somewhere on the project.

I used Basic Grey papers and stamp is by Inkadinkado.

I would love to have you come and play with us!

Ham Logs

Ham Logs
1 ½ lbs. ground ham
½ lb ground pork or sausage
2 eggs, slightly beaten
½ c. milk
¾ c. soda cracker crumbs

Combine ground meat, eggs, milk and cracker crumbs. Form into logs of desired size. Place in baking dish; cover and bake 30 minutes at 350*. Remove from oven; drain grease if necessary. Pour sauce (see instructions below) over meatballs. Return to oven and bake 40 minutes longer, uncovered.

Sauce:
¾ c. brown sugar
1 ½ t. prepared mustard
¼ c. water
¼ c. cider vinegar

Combine sauce ingredients. Boil slowly for about 10 minutes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Isn't this little girl just the sweetest? This image is by Rachel Ann Miller. She has the cutest designs. I purchased her at Treehouse Stamps. "Wish" was computer generated. The shamrock paper is Rusty Pickle. I colored her with colored pencils and Gamsol. Metal frame is SU! and brads are Making Memories.

Here are the recipes that I used/will use for today's meals.

Sugar Cookie
Cream together:
1 c. butter
1 c. white sugar
1 c. powder sugar

Add to mixture:
½ t. salt
1 t. cream of tartar
1 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
2 eggs
3 c. flour

Mix well and roll dough in powdered sugar (keeps dough from being tough)-use cookie cutter to cut desired shapes. Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes. Cool and frost. (The cookies really spread out this time. I used two different shamrock cookie cutters and the one shown above looked more like a flower. Oh well, they will still get eaten. Ü)

This is a recipe I made up when I was a cook at a Senior Center. I made it for St. Patrick's Day that year and everyone wanted the recipe. It is very light and refreshing.

Key Lime Pie
1 cup boiling water
1 small pkg lime Jello
1 cup ice cold water
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
1 Oreo crust

Dissolve Jello into boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir in cold water. Refrigerate just until it starts to set (you want it to be VERY jiggly). With a hand mixer, mix in Cool Whip until well blended. Pour into crust and refrigerate until firm.

Creamy Jello Jigglers
2 ½ c. boiling water
4 small pkg lime Jello
1 c. cold milk
1 pkg (3.4 ox) vanilla instant pudding

Stir boiling water into gelatin. Dissolve completely; cool to room temperature. Pour milk into medium bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk until well blended, 1-2 minutes. Quickly pour into gelatin and stir with wire whisk until well blended. Pour mixture slowly into 9 x 13 pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. To cut Jigglers, dip bottom of pan in warm water for 15 seconds. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Lift from pan with metal spatula.

We are eating more than all the sweets listed above! LOL!! Breakfast is Lucky Charms, lunch will be the Jello Jigglers, shamrock shaped sandwiches, veggie sticks, green Kool-Aid and a cookie. Supper will be green eggs and ham for the boys and ham balls for Bruce & I, potatoes, green beans with bacon and the pie. I will post the recipe for the ham balls later as I know you're going to ask for it. Ü I have the medium green and ivory Fiesta Ware, so we will use that to set the table.

These are the fun socks I am wearing today. Don't forget to wear green so you don't get pinched. I work with high schoolers, so I'm not taking any chances. LOL!! Have a great Wearin' of the Green today!

Be Merry

Monday is Christmas All Year Long challenge time. The diva's challenge this week was to:

Create a card by incorporating a scenary design using designer papers.

I case'd this card by fatcatstamper. I cut the trees from Basic Grey paper and used ribbon for the trunk.

Stop by the CAYL blog to see what the other divas did and play along with us.

Always

this card was inspired by this one that Beate made. I had to use all SU! product, so had to change it a bit.

The Luck of the Irish

It's Friday and that means time for Friday Challenge on Embellish-It. Today, Cindy is our hostess and her challenge is "The Luck of the Irish"...Details: We're talking St. Patricks Day here! Shamrocks, Leprechauns, Rainbows with Pots of Gold at the end!

We would love to have you come and play along with us.

Here is what I designed for this challenge. ANOTHER toilet paper tube project (tired of them yet? LOL), this one for DH. I combined this challenge with SCS's "Ways to Use It" challenge Going Green here.Did you know there is a *warning* on the back of green
M & M's? Ü

This next project is my favorite. This is for my youngest son. (Vicki, if you are reading this on a laptop, don't let Aaron see it) I have to tell you a cute story...I always try to do the holidays up big and fun for the boys. I have since they were very little. A couple of years ago, I was sick on St. Patrick's Day and wasn't able to do any fun things for the boys. At the end of the day, Aaron was pretty upset and said "this is the worst St. Patrick's Day of my life"! Ü This cracked me up as most people probably don't celebrate it much past wearing green. LOL!

For breakfast I make green eggs and ham (I don't make MY eggs green as that just grosses me out), then usually something green for lunch and supper...lettuce, jello squares, green kookaid, shamrock cookies, shamrock shaped sandwiches, etc.

This year I have to work and Aaron thinks I should take the day off since it's a holiday. Ü Plus he's worried, he isn't going to get any fun green things.

So, I made this for him. I leave for work before he is up, so I will put this on his night stand for him to find in the morning. I will have green eggs and ham made for him for breakfast that he can warm up. I plan to make shamrock sugar cookies Monday and these really yummy jello squares that I will post the recipe for later (with a picture). I plan to make a very simple key lime pie with oreo crust (will post recipe later as well) for supper.

Okay...on to how I made this. I used a clear card box that I purchased at Embellish It (click on the icon on the right and it's under "things to alter"...Soft Fold Boxes 4.5" x 5 7/8" x 1/5". You get five boxes for $3!! A great deal PLUS don't forget the 20% off code GLITTER. You better go order these, because I am going to post another fun project with these in a few days. Ü

The licorice is Twizzlers. I think it's nasy stuff, but kids love it. I prefer my Twizzlers to be strawberry only, the way they were made originally.

I had to cut the licorice down a little bit. Benjamin took care of the *scraps*. I wrapped the box with patterned paper by K & Co. and stamped on a white panel the shamrock from SU!'s "Pinch Proof" with inks matching the licorice (SU!'s Real Red, Only Orange, Summer Sun, Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise and Perfect Plum). The sentiment is from the same set. I tied it off with SU! grosgrain ribbon.

Archive Birthday

This birthday card is from my archives. Images are SU! and I hand cut the shape around the "b".

It is officially Spring Break! WOOHOO!! I am hoping to do lots of baking, stamping and spending time with the boys. Right now it will have to be just Benjamin as my brother and SIL took Aaron to CO. They are going to Focus on the Family (Aaron loves listening to their children's radio programs each evening), Garden of Gods and some cave. I can't wait to see all the pictures he took and the stories he has to tell.

Are you guilty?

Do you say you will pray for someone and then forget? I know I have. God must be sending me some messages, because first I read this blog post by Julie on this topic on March 5th and then on March 9th and 10th that was the same topic on the Proverbs 31 devotion site. (you can click on the colored words to see the posts I'm talking about)

The thing I liked about Rachel's post on Proverbs 31 Ministry site is that she prays for the person and THEN e-mails them to say I *prayed* for you. I also loved that prayers can be quick. I know people who pray and go on and on (and there may be a time for that) and I feel like it's more a show than real. It's not for me to judge them, but I like that God will answer my *quickie* prayers just as much as one that seems to last for several minutes. I believe this is how we truly "pray without ceasing" by saying a prayer when God brings something to mind.

I have been on the blessing end of prayers MANY times and I hope that I can be a blessing to others by praying for them. I truly believe in the power of prayer.

If you would like to pray for someone, my cousin's little boy (just turned two) burnt the palm of his hand by touching a burner. Toby has a lot to go thru. The burns were 3-4 degree. Right now it's just keeping him comfortable and the hand clean. Later there will be things he will need to do to make sure he keeps it flexible. At such a young age it is hard for him to understand that the "ouchie" isn't going away. I plan to make a little care package for him this weekend and will post later what I made. If you take the time to pray for him and his parents...thank you.

Christmas Challenge #7

I can't believe we have been doing this for 7 weeks now! This week we were challenged to design our own card. Maria will be choosing a sketch from the Divas and this sketch will be our challenge down the road.

This fun image is by Whipper Snapper Designs. I used Basic Grey papers and colored with Gamsol and colored pencils.

Be sure to check the other Divas work by clicking on their names on the right or visiting the CAYL blog.

St. Pat class projects

These are two of the projects we made yesterday at my papercraft class. The third project was a card that they got to design. I had several images already stamped and taught the Gamsol/colored pencil technique. I wish I would have taken pictures of all the cards they made. They did such an awesome job.

The first project was an altered toilet paper tube. These are just so much fun to make and you can fit so many fun items inside them for every occasion. I used Karen Foster shamrock paper, Fiskars scissors and SU! ribbon, ink, stamp set, and piercing set. Each month I will add a new technique(s) for them to learn (last month it was just coloring with Gamsol/colored pencils) and this month it was using the piercer and stamping with solid stamps.

The second card was inspired by one my friend Jenny had sent me last year. All supplies were SU! except for the ribbon. It is from Wal-Mart.

I will post the card I made with the image I used to show them how to color Gamsol and colored pencils

I am looking forward to teaching again next month.

Bella Birthday

OOPS! This was in draft form, so didn't post first thing this morning...

I think these Bella images are so fun to color. I made another card using up my Basic Grey Bittersweet scraps, added machine stitching and prima flowers. Birthday scalloped image is from SU!

Today I am teaching a stamping/papercraft class. I have 6 ladies coming and we will be making a couple of St. Patrick's Day items and a fun card they get to design. I will post what we did tomorrow.

March EIO gallery open

The DT gallery opened yesterday for Embellish Online. The theme is Mix It Up. We were challenged to make projects using any product that is sold in the store. I posted 3 owl cards yesterday using Basic Grey's Mellow paper and here are two more using Basic Grey's Bittersweet. This first card is using an Inky Antics image (the kittys).

I just love this Whipper Snapper image! Doesn't this mouse just make you smile? (real ones DON't, but this little guy peeking over the mushroom does Ü)The sentiment on both cards is by SU! Mushrooms (as well as owls) are HOT right now. I remember painting owl and mushroom ceramics with grandma when I was in high school. I don't have a single one to show for it, but the memories are just as sweet.

Be sure to stop by the gallery to see what the other members created.

Well, Owl Be

Today (not today, today as this is a prepost) was a tough one. I am not feeling so good (seems the pleurisy is back or worse, guess it's a good thing I've got a dr appt set up), my students were especially difficult and in one of the classes the students were to share memories of their grandparents. Some of them I wanted to yell at and tell them to appreciate them while they can, but of course I couldn't and they wouldn't understand and WON'T understand until they are older. However, not to end on a negative note, there were a few that you could tell cherished their grandparent(s).

I wish my grandparents were still living (for lots of reasons), but they would have loved seeing this card. Grandma always like seeing my cards anyway and Grandpa would have thought that the first line of this sentiment was designed BY him. Ü Whenever you would tell G'pa something that would surprise him, he'd say "Well, I'll be", but it really did sound more like "Well, OWL be" the way he said it as he would drawl out the "I'll".

When Jackie (from Inky Antics) first showed me these owl images and sentiments, it brought back such a rush of memories. Grandma loved owls and Grandpa saying this particular sentiment.

So I these cards are in wonderful memory of my grandparents.

All images are by Inky Antics.

Super Simple Super Fast

This card is very quick to make. The patterned background (Die Cuts with a View) is so detailed that I just left it as it was.

Cherish Friendship

This is one of my favorite images from Inky Antics and I don't even own it!! How awful is that?! I received some stamped images from a friend and now this is the last one, so I may just have to get this.

I used Basic Grey's Blush line for the papers, ribbon from Target and flower brads from my stash from long ago.

Happy Holly-days

Today is the day the CSAYL Divas post their Christmas cards for the week. We had an extra challenge added to the sketch again and this week it was to use eyelets. One of the things that I love about these challenges (besides having all these cards done in advance) is that I get to use up all these scraps! So far I have not cut into any new pieces of paper. I have a pizza box (new, not used, you can get them for 25 cents at Pizza Hut) filled with scraps. I also have a ziplock bag filled with stamped images from my friend Michelle or from image swaps I've been in. So I just pull out an image that works with the sketch challenge, find some paper and color the images to match the paper. I actually started with a different image this week, but it didn't work very well with this sketch, so I will be able to use it another week. Okay, onto the card...

I used various Basic Grey scraps, SU! metal and eyelets from LONG ago and a Whipper Snapper image that my friend Michelle sent me. The ribbon is some I got in a bargain bin for 25 cents. The glitter is Martha Stewart and it is VERY fine! I am now sparkling along with my card. The sentiment is computer generated and I used CK Huckleberry font.

Don't forget to stop by the other diva's blogs and see what they did with these challenges.

Life is the Berries

I'm not sure what kind of sentiment this is. Grandpa used to say "well ain't that the berries", but I don't think it was a positive kind of "berries". LOL!!

So since berries are sweet, I am going to say this is a sweet saying. Ü

I used Lizzie Anne Design's Tuitti Fruity, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, Nestibilities to cut the circles and scallop circles, Walmart gingham ribbon and I'm not sure on the metal. It's either SU! or Making Memories. Cardstock is from my scrap box, so not sure on the company of it either.