Monday, August 31, 2009

MojoMary Autumn Splendor



Okay, let me say this first thing: I LOVE THIS CARD!! It is AWEsome {sang in my 5 year old's voice}.
I could not wait to experiment with this set. And I did. And like all good experiments, there was some failure. (You could check my trash if you want.) But, my persistence paid off with this little beauty!
1) Rolled the SU Bright Blesssings wheel in Versamark, then onto very vanilla cs. Covered with clear embossing powder and set with heat gun. (Did this for 2 lines)
2) Sponged a variety of SU inks starting with lightest color. Trimmed, cut into squares.
3) For large leaf, I stamped in rich razzleberry ink on very vanilla cs. Sponged inks, ending with luscious rich razzleberry around the edges. Smooshed it onto the top of the Versamark Dazzle pad, Champagne. See all the beautiful shimmer?
I'm still not totally in love with this year's SU in colors, but I do think that all but Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo are rich and gorgeous Autumn colors.
This is dedicated to my cyber-friend Mary Fish who (innocently? unknowingly? cunningly?) threw down a challenge to me! It's on now girl!
Seriously, though, Mary is one of the sweetest, dedicated people I know. She is a shooting star and you cannot help but be inspired by her!
Details are below, but for now, have a good day!
Blessings,
Colleen
Details:
Stamps: SU Autumn Splendor, Bright Blessings wheel
Paper: SU very vanilla, rich razzleberry, dusty durango, vellum
Ink: SU rich razzleberry, summer sun, crushed curry, dusty durango, pumpkin pie
Versamark and Versamark Dazzle.
Other: SU rich razzleberry and dusty durango ribbon, button, floss

Sunday, August 30, 2009

ppa5 Halloween


















PPA Challenge 5 is Halloween. I was thinking I didn't have much in the way of Halloween in my stash, but remembered these cute pumpkins in the hostess set: The More The Merrier. I so tried to get orange in this color combo! I couldn't do it! I liked the Rich Razzleberry, black, and white so much, I just went with it. The pumpkins are stamped in black Staz-on on clear card sheets (like acetate). I then cut out a window on the front of my card and positioned the clear sheet inside my window. I also used a piece of RR cardstock to along the back side of my card. Gives a nice frame look.
Kansas weather was PICTURE PERFECT today! Deep blue skies and 72 degrees. Hope your day was good wherever you are.
Details:
Stamps: SU The More the Merrier
Ink: Black Stazon
Paper: SU ww, black, Rich Razzleberry
Tools: Nestabilities, SU word window, scalloped edge punches
Other: SU ribbon, cuttlebug embossing, misc black rhinestone
Blessings,
Colleen

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

wsc94 sketch


Beate had a great sketch this weekend! You can check it out on her blog Fresh & Fun.
My 5 year daughter loves anything fairy or mermaid. We spent some time coloring these sweet images from Pink Cat Studio. This one will find it's way into her lunch some day next week!
Stamps: Pink Cat Studio
Ink: Momento
Paper: BG Lemonade Paper
Other: Rhinestones, ribbon
Tools: SU punches
Blessings,
Colleen

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

PPA4 Card Details

As promised, here are close-ups of the cards (and a couple of tags) that fill up my celebration basket box from my earlier post. I say I'm going to keep these for my stash, but they just may end up a gift for someone. Thanks for stopping by. If you have a minute, please leave me a comment. I appreciate your thoughts and time!
Blessings,
Colleen






































































ppa4 anything but a card






This week's PPA challenge was anything but a card. But I really needed to make some birthday-celebration cards and gift card holders to have on hand. So I created these fun little holders to keep my stash in.
First, I used this cute little mini magazine holder tutorial from Becky Roberts at Inking Idaho to hold several gift card holders. The gift card holders I just figured out myself with a simple trifold.
Next I made this fun and very easy box-basket to hold a set of 9 cards (why 9? I don't know! Seems like it should be 10 or 12, shouldn't it? I admit there's a little bit of Adrian Monk in me :) I found a quick little tutorial from Claudia at Pretty Pressings for the box. It's a great size to hold gifts or cards. Tune in later for a close up of each of the cards in my card stash. Off to get the children up and moving for school and me to work.
Stamps: none
Paper: SU Simply Scrappin Kit
Other: Ribbon, Scor-Pal, SU punches
Blessings,
Colleen

Friday, August 21, 2009

Gratitude


A very clean and simple card today.
This would make a great layout for a set of cards using all of the sentiments in the SU set Define Your Life.
Stamps: SU Define Your Life, Doodle This
Paper: SU: Real red, kiwi kiss, very vanilla, brown dp
Other: chipboard stamped on real red stamp pad
paper piercing
Hope you have a good weekend!
Blessings,
Colleen

Thursday, August 20, 2009

My Mom's Banana Cake

No picture for this one, but I'd thought share a recipe. My Mom has been on my mind a lot lately (her battle with Alzheimer's rages on), so I wanted to share one of her best recipes. This is a show stopper of a cake. So very moist and decadent! Friends and family would swoon slightly at the sight of Mom carrying in this cake. If you make it, share it. It's what my Mom always did. (And please send a prayer or two her way, ok?)


¾ c. Crisco
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas (very ripe)
½ tsp. salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 c. flour
¾ c. buttermilk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
½ c. walnuts, chopped

Cream shortening, sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add mashed bananas. Add dry ingredients alternating with buttermilk. Add vanilla and nuts. Mix. Pour into 2 -8” greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Frosting:
1 lb powdered sugar
1 stick butter, room temp
8 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 tsp. vanilla and ¾ c. walnuts
Beat until fluffy, then mix in vanilla & nuts. Remove cakes from pans. Frost first layer completely, add second layer and cover with remaining frosting. Refrigerate leftovers.

BUTTERFLY ACETATE


Good day to you! Here's a card I made for my swapping ladies group. They wanted to try some acetate. (That doesn't sound very good, does it!). When I was working on my entries for the CHF Summer Design Star challenge (see previous posts), I was playing with acetate, or clear card sheets. Sort of a transparency sheet, but thicker and sturdier. Several companies sell it including SU and CHF. Anyway, I pulled out my nestabilities butterfly dies and cut some butterflies out of the clear acetate. I then took white staz-on and stamped onto the acetate, in this case using the Bella Toille background stamp from SU. I then cut another butterfly (same size) out of Baha Breeze cs. Then I adhered the two together with SU 2 way glue pen just down the middle of the buttefly to hold them together. (Hey, some little seed pearls would look very pretty for the butterfly's body!)
The rest of the card is pretty straightforward.
Stamps: SU Bella Toille bg, SU Upsy Daisy (sentiment)
Paper: All SU cs and dp (retired)
Ink: White StazOn
Tools: Nestabilities butterflies, Martha Stewart small butterfly punch.
The first day of Kindergarten was yesterday...and I didn't even cry! Neither did my dear daughter. She's a natural hugger and very affectionate, but I always know when she is nervous because she gets very still and keeps hugging and kissing on me. So yesterday after I walked her into her room and she found her chair with her name, she happened to be the only student at her table at that point. So I knelt beside her and told her I was going to leave and she went to hug/kiss me and she just kept on all the while telling me she loved me. Yep...she was nervous. And I was melting, I tell ya! I was reassuring her and stayed by her till another student (a little boy who she knew from preschool, and whose older brother/sisters/parents have been friends of ours for years, came and happened to have his seat right next to her). That's all she needed. She was like, "See you later Mama!"
Another blessedly good day!
Blessings,
Colleen

Monday, August 17, 2009

PPA3 -Off to School




Time for this weeks PPA (Pals Paper Arts) Challenge3. The team at PPA's challenge this week was an inspiration photo found here. I know, I know, lot's of room for interpretation and directions to go with this, but I found it to be a struggle.
In the end, here's what I came up with. I was immediately grabbed by the bright blue striped rug. Knew those were the focal colors for me. Then I saw the 2 children at the table in maybe a playroom or preschool. That made me think of my now 5 year old who finished her preschool in May and will be starting Kindergarten in {sniff} 2 days. This led me to thinking about getting her school supplies all ready in her pride and joy: her Tinkerbell backpack! So, in conclusion, bright blue, light blue, backpack!
You can find a really great tutorial for these little backpacks on SCS. I also found inspiration from Nancy Riley at Istamp. They are little, about 4 inches high and about 1 1/2 inches at the bottom. Perfect for a small handful of wrapped chocolates, or even tucked in with a gift card.
Stamps: None
Paper: Retired SU Pacific Point and DP (using up my stuff--woohoo)
Other: Retired SU corduroy buttons, lots of redline tape, ribbon, eyelets.
I actually made two as my older daughter wanted to give one to her BFF, and my youngest daughter can give one to her Kindergarten teacher.
So, in conclusion for me: 5 year old, Kindergarten, tissues.
Blessings,
Colleen

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Warm Fuzzies







Little story here.
A few months ago, I wanted to make something nice for my sister D. She absolutely loves the fun animals and quirky sentiments of Kim Hughes stamps at Cornish Heritage Farms, so I knew I wanted to make her a set using those stamps. I thought she might like a set of little cards to carry in her purse, to have on hand. One thing led to another and I did a set of business card size mini cards. You can see they are very simple, but fun and colorful. I also made a little envelope to put them in and give to her. My thought was she could give them out when she ran into old friends, or as a pick-me-up for someone.
When I was teaching, our school had a promotion where students/teachers could give each other "warm fuzzies". Don't laugh...it sounds goofy, but when you received a really nice little note from a student and on it was stuck one of those little furball people with googlie eyes...it made your day.
So that was where I was going with this. I think she liked it, but I found out a few days after I gave them to her, that she had given them to her daughter who is a Speech Therapist at a large nursing home. A month later, my sister asks me to make another set. I was like, "What did she do with all of them?" And she told me my niece had been leaving them in her patient's room when they needed a pick-me-up, or warm fuzzy, or congrats for a good therapy session. She went on further to say how those little, simple, colorful business cards were making her patient's day and ended being posted on their bulletin boards, shown to their children, etc. She liked them so much she wanted to have another set to keep on hand.
So in the long run, I didn't make these for my sister. I didn't make these for my niece. They were made for people I will probably never meet. People who are thrilled and uplifted by them. And the good Lord orchestrated it all!
Now, I take zero credit in this you know. I was merely an instrument. But I am humbled at the positive effect these are having. God is amazing!
Stamps: Kim Hughes stamps and Paisley backgrounder at CHF
Ink: Momento
Paper: Papertrey white cs
Tools: Copics
Other: Mini envelope, ric-rac ribbon.
May you create something small and let the Master's hand make into something Grand!
Blessings,
Colleen

Thursday, August 13, 2009

New Baby - Special Delivery


My niece and her husband finally had their baby boy last week. She's been fighting gallstones during the last few weeks of her pregnancy. Glad she and her little boy are doing fine now.
Loved the colors in this dp...browns, blues, greens and oranges. A quick and easy card with bold color!
My teenager (Sophomore) has to go to school today for 2 hours of orientation, then he starts next week. He's got a fairly tough schedule (Honors Geometry, Honors Chemistry, and German II being the hardest), but he's gotten some wonderful teachers for his classes.
First thing is a trip to the barber's to cut the mop that has grown on his head. No battle here as he's been the one pushing me to get him there!
Anyway... hope your Thursday is peaceful!
Ingredients:
Stamps: Kim Hughes (CHF) Baby Love
Paper: SU, misc dp (it was a scrap!)
Ink: Momento tuxedo black
Tools: Copics, CM square, circle punches
Other: button, floss
Blessings,
Colleen

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Happy Birthday Mermaid Mojo Monday week98

We had another birthday at our house recently...a 5 year old! So hard to believe our Bebe is a Kindergartner! She's young, but she's begging to go and has passed all the markers to show she is ready for Kindergarten. I can't start thinking about it too much because I get too weepy. A big change of life for her (and for me as she is our youngest child).


She is so into mermaids! When I saw this set from CC Designs (All That Scraps), I knew I had to order it for her birthday. She was so excited when we received it she had me open it up and stamp some images for her to color right away.


I had this card laid out on my stamp table (it's based on week 98 Mojo Monday sketch) when she spied it and her voice got all soft and dreamy when she said, "She's soooo bee-u-ti-ful!!"

I told her it was for her, but that I wanted to take a picture of it first (ok-- don't say anything, you know you us crafters think along these lines :)- So later I set up the card for photography and get distracted for a few minutes (spotting my weightlifting 15 year old because hubby was mowing...Mom's do what need to be done, you know?), and when I came back she was no where around, but had carefully placed her 2 versions of this little mermaid next to mine so I could photograph them. How adorable is that??!
Those pictures didn't turn out as well, so I took another one of just some of her art and she is patiently waiting for them to appear on this blog. So here's her version:






Stamps: CCDesigns -Sugar Plums -Underwater Adventure
Paper: Ptrey White CS, SU Bermuda Bay, Basic Grey Urban Prairie
Ink: Momento tuxedo black
Ribbon: SU!
Coloring: Copics
Tools: SU word window punch, nestabilities circle
pop-dots, stickles
sketch: Mojo Monday Week 98

Monday, August 10, 2009

Mmmmm Minestrone (by Alice)


Mmmmm...doesn't this Minestrone look good? My kitchen smells simply wonderful because this luscious chowder has been simmering happily in my crockpot all day. Too hot for soup you say? Oh, but my kitchen is nice and cool and a simple meal of chowder and rolls is just perfect! My dear sister Alice gave me this recipe and it instantly became a huge hit. It is loaded with fresh vegetables (or frozen during the off season) like zuchinni, green beans, carrots, onions, and celery! Now she says she has no creative talent, but I disagree, because the girl can COOK! If she ever offers you dinner or sends over a tray of homemade enchiladas because you had a really long, stressful day at work and she knew you didn't have a moment to fix anything so rather than freezing them for her own family for another day, she opts to send them up the hill to your house...TAKE THEM! When the 8 year old, somewhat picky person in your family eats 4 of them...you know they are good! Thanks sis, I owe you!
I digress.
Here's the recipe, but get your biggest crockpot, because this will fill it to the top! But man, oh, man the leftovers taste every bit as good. My dear hubby, will eat this chowder 3 lunches in a row!
My Sister Alice's Minestrone
2 lbs bulk pork (or Italian) sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 medium leek, white portion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium zucchinis, cut into ½” pieces
6 c. beef broth
2 cans (14oz) fire roasted tomatoes
¼ lb fresh green beans, cleaned chopped
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp black pepper
1 can white northern beans, drained
1 c. uncooked small pasta(less if you want soup)
3 T. minced fresh parsley
½ c. barley
1/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
Optional (1 cup shredded cabbage)
In soup kettle, cook sausage and onion until meat is not pink, drain. Stir in other vegetables and cook for 3 minutes more. Stir in remaining ingredients, except beans, barley, cheese. and pasta. Cook in large crockpot on low 6-7 hours. Add pasta, beans, and barley the last ½ hour of cooking. Garnish with grated cheese. (This makes a VERY large crockpot of soup 10-12 servings)
If you make it let me know how you like it!
Blessings,
Colleen

PPA2 Lots of Bots



Time for Week 2 Challenge at PPA (see my sidebar for link). This week's challenge was a sketch challenge. Perfect timing to finish a birthday card for my now 15 year old son. I did not use the scallop border at the bottom, but rather used the binary stamp that came with the SU! set, Lots of Bots. My son is a no frills kind of guy-- no ribbon, no bling, no cutesy sentiment. It's part of what I respect and love about him--so I felt this clean and balanced end result was just right.
Stamps: SU Lots of Bots
Paper: SU kraft, whisper white cs
Ink: Not quite navy
Other: Eyelets, pop-up dots
Hope your Monday was productive!
Blessings,
Colleen

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Melon Mambo Pizza Box




Here's a little project I made for my Fun Ladies Swap Group. It is a 3x3 pizza box. SCS has a very nice tutorial here. I took a sheet of SU! Melon Mambo paper (my new favorite color!) and randomly stamped the flowers from Manhattan Floral in white craft ink. I then embossed with white embossing powder. After I had my little pizza box folded, but before adhering the edges, I cut a circle from the cover of the box and used a piece of acetate to cover the open circle. (I don't think you can see it in these photos). Finally, I stamped one of the images in Melon Mambo ink on Whisper White cs, then cut out and attached with a fun little button. I cut small squares of white tissue paper and to add interest, stamped more flower images in MM ink which you can see tucked inside the box. Very fun and very easy!
Blessings,
Colleen

Thursday, August 6, 2009

CAS Thursday card


Good day to everyone! Thought I would post a quick card I made a while back. I'm loving the look of hand-stamped backgrounds right now. Although in looking at this photo now I'm asking myself why I didn't take a softer background stamp and stamp over the ruby red in sahara sand or a vintage ink. Hmm..something to try in the next few days.
Ingredients: Almost all SU!
Ink: Ruby Red, Momento black
Stamps: SU Bella Toille BG, All Holidays
Other: sewing, seed pearl
Paper: Ruby Red, Very Vanilla
Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
Colleen

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

PPA Challenge 1




Mary Fish a FANTASTIC resource for all things SU! has created, with the help of her amazing downline, a new challenge site, PPA. The first challenge was a color challenge using Chocolate Chip, Mambo Melon, Bermuda Bay.


I really did find this challenging! My sister had asked me to make her a simple set of gift cards for a variety of occasions. So I took a very, very clean and simple approach and made her a dozen gift cards using the SU! level2 hostess set, Admit It. I cuttlebugged the card fronts, then simply stamped the ticket stamps on Whisper White CS, trimmed and popped up with a pop dot. A finishing touch was a snippet of the SU! in color ribbons. The cards are a smidge less than 3"x3". I had found this little box of cards on a clearance rack at M's (<$1) and bought it for the box and envelopes alone! The little cards inside were donated to the school for teachers to use. I didn't show it here, but I also stamped a little coordinating image on each envelope.
Probably not exactly what the girls had in mind for their color challenge, but hey, I reserve the right to use artistic interpretation, right? Thanks for stopping by! Here's hoping for a wonderful Tuesday for you!


Blessings,


Colleen

Saturday, August 1, 2009

CHF Summer challenge - week 5

This is the final week for the Summer Design Challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms. This week's challenge was a One Sheet Wonder. Basically, you start with either a 8.5x11 or 12x12 sheet of paper, either randomly stamped or collage style to create a distinctive pattern paper. Then you use every little bit to create! The contest was open to all types of creations. Often crafters will make a set of cards, each slightly different. I (cough) of course had to go a slightly different direction.

So here's all my little beauties! My 11 year daughter (my biggest fan and cheerleader) went crazy when she saw all these! She told me it was some of my finest work! (Remind me to give that girl a raise in her allowance--what a sweetie!)

Now, it's hard to capture all the details in one image, so here are some close-ups of most of the items. (It's also hard not to get a glare from the acetate).



Here are the details:
I stamped a variety of images from the CHF sets: Vintage Butterflies, Inchie Style, Kim Hughes Nature's Silohuettes, Little People Collage, and Double Damask BG all in black stazon ink. Then I went to cutting out pieces and working from there. I used the Double Damask BG to make a box cover for a box of chocolate nuggets. Little People Collage turned into a card. I completely cut out one butterfly and turned it over, using crystal laquer and glitter to add brown and pink sparkle. I combined the glittery butterfly to the rest of the butterflies (Vintage Butterfly) and it also became a card. I then used the Inchie Style set to create 2 distinctive tags and finally a trifold gift card holder. Inks used were Staz-on and Versamark Dazzle. I went digging through all my embellishments including ones from SU, Making Memories, Paper Studio, Prima, and K & Co to name a few. I also used sewing on the tags. I wish you could see this collection in real life.
Thanks for taking a closer look!