Happy Saturday!!

The plan was to post this early Friday but I found out that we are having guest staying with us on Monday so I needed to spruce up the quest room. Well, one thing led to another and I ended up washing the window and screen and since I was doing the one bedroom window I might as well do ours and before I knew it it was 5:30 and time to leave for the rodeo at the fairgrounds.The rodeo was fun and exciting as usual. You just never know what is going to happen. So now it is after 11:00 PM and I'm ready to just sit and type.

I am sharing another note card set that I made as a gift for a friend. No sketch was used just something I came up with on my own.  

I fell in love the blue and green colors of the note cards. Here is how the note card looks like plain:

I have a floral stamp set from Martha Stewart that seemed to match the roses on  card so I stamped eight flowers on white cardstock with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Here is a tip when using distress inks: If you want a more crisp image first ink your stamp with VersaMark watermark ink then ink the stamp again with whatever color of distress ink you want and you will get a crisp image instead of a distressed image. You don't have to reink the stamp with the VersaMark ink just keep using it with the distress ink of your choice.

I then fussy cut out the flower.

Next I stamped the 16 leaves with VersaMark watermark ink on light green paper, embossed with clear embossing powder and cut them out.

 For the fishtail banner I cut the banners out then used the Swiss Dot embossing folder. I could get three of them in the embossing folder so it didn't take long at all to do the embossing.

 I used Papertrey Ink sentiments with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink on white cardstock. I stamped all the sentiments at once on scraps of white cardstock then hand cut the banners.

I even stamped the flower on to the front of the envelopes using VersaMark watermark ink and clear embossing powder. Pretty simple and quick to do but really looks nice.

So after all the inking, embossing and cutting it was a cinch to make the cards. I just used glue dot to adhere the two leaves together and another glue dot to adhere the leaves to the back of the flower. I then used foam squares on the back of the flower. Next I adhered the blue embossed banner to the card and adhered the flower to the left side of the banner. And lastly I glued the sentiment in the middle of the blue banner. It didn't take long to get them all put together once I had everything stamped and cut. 

Here I was just trying to catch the glitter that was already on the note cards.They really are so pretty.

 

Well thats it for today.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Teresa

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Candles And A Challenge

Today's card was not from a sketch but from a gift bag that someone gave my husband a birthday present in.

  I loved how it sparkled and I thought, hey I can make a card like that.

And so I did:

I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I used a square card again. I have been going square quite a bit lately. I like the square cards when I have larger embellishments or stamps. 

For the glow of the candles I used Gold Perfect Pearls with VersaMark watermark Ink and for the flame I used a small egg punch and light yellow cardstock. I wanted some shine so I used Pearlized Top Coat from Smooch and for the wick I used gold glitter Sew Easy Fancy Floss.

 

For the five candles I used four different embossing folders and for the fifth I used Fiskars Crimper  to add texture to the different colored cardstock.

The bag had confetti on the black background but I thought it would be too distracting on the card so I decided to make a plate for the cake using confetti pattern paper instead and based the colors of the candles from the pattern paper.

 I used a scalloped Spellbinders die with light blue cardstock for the "cake" and the tiny swirl stamp is from Hero Arts Tiny Background stamp set. I used VersaMark watermark ink with white embossing powder for the swirls of icing on the cake. Then adhered it all together.

A word of caution when using Perfect Pearls: Use just a tiny amount. I used enough on the first image to do all three and more. I had gold everywhere :).

 

Now for the Challenge:

Find something that you like and inspires you to make a card. It can be from anything: a clothing tag, an advertisement, gift bag, magazine cover etc. Then once you have made a card if you would like you can share it with me by leaving the link to your blog in the comment section so I can see it too.

 

Have fun!

 

Teresa

 

 

 

CPS Card Sketch #279

Hello, I have a birthday card to share with you all today.

It all started when I received my Paper Crafts Sept/Oct issue the other day. Inside the magazine was an advertisement/contest for the new Fuse Creativity System by Fiskars. They included two die cuts for you to use to make a project and enter your project using the die cuts. I really liked the butterfly one and thought it would be great to use for a birthday card.

Then I saw the new CPS sketch and thought I could combine the sketch and die cut into a birthday card. Which I did after changing things up just a bit.

Check out the CPS blog to see what the CPS Designers came up with:

http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/2012/08/cps-279-part-1.html

 

Here is my cheery birthday card:

Since the die-cut was orange and yellow I went with papers from the Citrus matstack from DCWV. They matched perfectly. I had to go with a 6x6 card since the die is just under 4" and was to big for an A2 card. I played around with rectangle elements of the card until I liked the balance but I still wasn't happy with the card. It just looked unfinished. So after rummaging through my embellishements for a bit I added the green rick rack and ran the blue rectangle through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dot embossing folder. That seemed to do the trick.

Isn't that a cool die cut! So the Fuse does it all...die-cut, press and letterpress. Pretty cool! 

I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black ink

I added some orange gemstones to the butterfly. I decided to add a tiny blue flower above the sentiment. First I tried the flower in the middle, right above the the B in birthday but it just didn't look right so I offset it a bit to the left and that seemed to work much better.

Wishing you all a great week!

Teresa

Going Meatless

I thought it was about time that I change things a bit and share a couple of recipes.

The weather gave us a break today and it was cool enough to cook and have the oven on without heating up the house. 

Our son, who is vegan now has been trying to get us to eat just vegtables and fruits and leave out the meat. I don't have much of a problem with that but my husband has a much harder time giving up meat. The last three years I have been cutting back on our beef intake and using more chicken and in the past year I have even started to use ground trukey to replace ground beef. It took me a while to take the plunge but you really don't notice the difference in most recipes.

So latelyI have been looking for recipes that are meatless. I have found at least three that I've tried and really liked.

The one I am sharing with you today I found in Taste Of Home's Light and Tasty Annual Recipes 2003 and is called Meatless Hopping John. It is a Southern dish and is usually a favorite dish for New Years Day as it is thought to bring good luck. 

 The meat in Hopping John is usually ham hock and packs a bit of heat from the peper flakes. Or at least I think it does as I perfer mild heat. It is a very colorful dish too.

Here is the recipe:
3/4 Cup uncooked long grain rice (I used a half and half mixture of brown and white  rice)
1 cup frozen corn
3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 cup each chopped green, sweet red and yellow peppers
1/4 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablesoon canola oil
1 can (15-1/2 ounces) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained (I have also used black beans which I liked better than the peas)
1can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablesoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Cook rice according to directions on package. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, suate the corn. carrots, peppers, onion and garlic in oil for 6-8 minutes. or until crisp-tender. Stir in the rice, peas and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Add the seasonings; cook 2-3 minutes longer.
Yields:10 servings
First thing this morning I made a fresh peach pie from the peaches we got fresh from the orchards in Wenatchee during our camping trip. Boy oh boy did it turn out delicious!
The receipe I used is from BH&G Old Fashioned Home Baking

 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup and it was the perfect amount for the fresh juicy peaches)
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash ground nutmeg
6 cups thinly sliced, peeled peaches or frozen unsweetened peach slices
1 box ready-made Pillsbury Pie Curst or make your own
1 teaspon sugar
Dash ground cinnamon
Milk

In large mixing bowl stir together sugar, flour, the 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the fresh or frozen peaches. Gently toss till the peaches are coated. If using frozen peaches, let stand for 15-30 minutes or until the peaches are partially thawed but still icy.

Prepare and roll out your crust if making your own. Line a 9 inch pie plate with half of the pastery. Stir peach mixture then transfer to the pastry-lined pie plate. Trim the bottom pastery to the edge of the pie plate.

Cut slits in the tip crust and place on filling. Seal and crimp edge. In small bowl stir together 1 teaspoon sugar and dash cinnamon. Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mixture.
To prevent ovwerbrowning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes for fresh peaches (50 minutes for frozen peaches). Remove foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes more for fresh peaches (20-30 minutes for frozen peaches) or until top is golden.

I have a gas convection oven which is great for cooking pies. I never have to worry about the edges of the crust burning.

Hope you enjoy the recipes. Let me know how they turned out for you if you give them a try and if you have any questions just ask.

Lincoln Rock State Park

Things have been pretty quite on my blog for the last two weeks. I was MIA due to our camping trip at Lincoln Rock State Park in Eastern WA.
Had a great time and enjoyed the hot weather there and now we are having hot weather here at home.
We were camping with a large group of friends (as many as 30 on some nights) we had dinner together every night. Each family cooked twice and with another family. We always say we eat better when we camp. We even had deep fat fried turkey! Yummy!
Wayne and I would kayak, bike ride, go on moonlight boat rides at night watching the sky for shooting stars since it was during the time of the Perseid Meteror Shower. I have never seen so many shooting stars at one time. 
Other times we just sat and enjoyed our friends and relaxed. We took Nanook (our dog) swimming every day. Sometimes twice. He loves to swim and it keeps him cool when the temperature is soaring. We even put Nanook in the kayak with us but I think he would rather be in the water swimming.
Here are some photos of our camping adventures:

This was our campsite. It was nice having lots of shade.

The lights hanging from the canopy are Wayne's prized car racing lights. I would rather have some pretty colored flowers or lanterns but that didn't go over too well at all :)

This is what vacation is all about.. RELAXING!

The view of the Columbia River from our site.

One of the many orchards. One of the orchards is so high up the mountain all you can see is the very tips of the trees. We enjoyed fresh peaches and other produce while there and brought home a case of peaches to make some pies.

While on camping we celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary and Wayne's 50th birthday. I decorated our trailer and the area where we eat dinner every night with the group we were camping with while he was out with a friend on their boat.

 

Dinner time with everyone.

Jay and Wayne hard at work cooking up steak and chicken on the grills.

Gotta love having Costco close by!

Some fun "Over the hill glasses" I found for Wayne to wear.

The cake before it was a blaze.

It took three of us to light all 50 candle. Oh yes, I put all 50 black candles on the cake plus three tall candles with the number fifty.

 Still lighting candles.

 Just about done.

Finally the candles were all glowing.

 Oops! One of the tall candles couldn't take the heat and had to come off.

 Quick sing happy birthday before the cake sets fire!

 I always knew Wayne was full of hot air. He blew them all out in one breath.

This last photo is of the Lodge where we went horseback riding up in the mountains near Leavenworth. I am still sore from using muscles that don't get used any more. It was a beautiful place to go riding and we had a wonderful guide. If you ever want to ride horses I would recommend Mountain Spring Lodge.

Already looking forward to next years camping trip!



Mojo Monday and Happy Anniversary

Our anniversary is the 8th of this month so I made this card quick today in between packing for our camping trip and a million other things.

I used this weeks Mojo Monday sketch:

This week you had a choice between square or round. I decided to just go with my regular A2 size for two reasons. The first one being that I made a square one for my husbands birthday which is the day after our anniversary so I didn't want to give him two square cards and I thought a round card wasn't as masculine. Also I didn't have much time and it was faster for me to make an A2 card. Don't know if I can enter my card or not but I did get the card made and hidden in the camper without my husband any the wiser.

 And now for my card:

 I would have liked to have matted a the paper ribbon and the striped square but like I said I was short on time so I left them alone.

 The only stamping on this card is the sentiment and the doves on the heart. I stayed true to the sketch except for the shape of the card of course. The paper is from DCWV Citrus matstack. Love its bright colors and patterns. I first stamped the "Happy Anniversary" stamp (which is from Papertrey Ink. I can't remember the name of the stamp set off the top of my head.) in black in on white cardstock then ran it through the Swiss Dot embossing folder before die cutting it with a Spellbinders circle die.

The dove stamp is from Inkadinkadoo I covered the heart between the doves with a cardstock punched heart and added a couple more along the edge of the large heart.. The punch is from Creative Memories.

Teresa