Congratulations

A retirement card for our daughter's FIL based on SCS Sketch Challenge SC364.

Here is a similar card using basically the same sketch with a few adjustments and embossing folders.

Santa Christmas

Clean and simple Santa Card. My inspiration came from coupons I received in mail from Macy's. I used Stampin' Up! Real Red and Basic Black card stock. The gold card stock is DieCuts with a View. The "Merry Christmas" stamp is from the "Come to Bethlehem" stamp set from Stampin' Up. I ran the belt through my Big Shot machine with the Square Lattice embossing folder. The belt buckle was made using two square spellbinder dies.

Something Old... Something New...

I've got batches of dsp yet I keep ordering more and more. Here are a few Christmas projects using some of the retired dsp from Stampin' Up. I saved a few cans after opening green beans to bake a Green Bean Casserole for Thanksgiving Dinner; I wanted to recycle them for the cans of Snowman Soup. I just received my Candy Wrapper  die from Stampin' Up! and made a few of the candy wrappers and filled them with Hershey's chocolate Kisses. I am placing them in candy dishes around the house for additional holiday decorations.

More views:

Holiday Sweets

Coconut Pound Cake

Look at my 'Holiday Cake'!  I do not like coconut but I love coconut cookies and  coconut cake if the coconut is incorporated into the batter.  Delish!  I found this great recipe for a coconut pound cake at allrecipes.com.  It was quick and easy and DH LOVED it!  We almost ate the entire cake within one week.  Needless to say I will  only bake this one for special occasions and only when we are having company over so that we can share the calories with them.

Here is the recipe if you are interested in baking one:

Coconut Pound Cake

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 5 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1  1/3  cup flaked cocunut
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract

 Glaze:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan (I used my Pampered Chef fluted cake pan.  Check out yesterday's post for stoneware seasoning if you need to season yours).
2. In a large bowl, cream together 2 cups sugar and the butter.  Fold in the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each one before adding another.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, milk, flaked cocunut, and 1 teaspoon coconut extract.  Beat into the creamed mixture.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 1 hour, then cool on a wire rack for just a few minutes, then place on cake platter.

Glaze:  Mix together 1 cup sugar, water, 1 teaspoon coconut extract and walnuts.  Boil for 1 minute, then pour over warm cake.

Seasoning Pampered Chef Stoneware

I own a Pampered Chef 'fluted' cake pan and it has gone unused for more than 8 years.  I really wanted to use it  but I knew that I really needed to season it well so that my cake would easily come out of the pan.  I googled it and found a great 'seasoning recipe' for this cookware and it really works.  I was able to season my cookware one night and bake in it the very next.  Check my blog tomorrow for the recipe.

• Clean and dry your stoneware.
  
• Mix together 2 parts Crisco and 1 part salt
• Generously apply to total surface.
• Place in a 250F oven and bake for 30 minutes
• Let cool and smear the melted mixture over the stoneware surface again
• Return to oven and bake another 30 minutes.
• Let cool; smear the melted mixture over the stoneware surface again,  to oven and let sit in oven overnight.
• Next day, wash stoneware with dish brush under hot running water.  Dry and your stoneware is seasoned and ready to use.  

I own several pieces of Pampered Chef stoneware so I mixed together the amount specified in the recipe I found (1/4 cup salt, 1/2 cup Crisco).

Holiday Tweets

I made this with the Stampin' Up! Petal Cone die.  The challenge was to make a card or project without the use of stamps.  This project doubles as a holiday decoration as well as a treat holder.

Card Stock:  Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, and More Mustard.

Accessories:  Spellbinder star dies, SU Petal Cone Die, SU Bird Punch, Martha Stewart punch.

Baby Shower Favors

Baby Shower Favors

Baby Shower Favors

Diaper Cake

Saturday was the day of my daughter's baby shower and we had a great time.  I finally finished the favors that I was working on but did not make all that I had planned.  Making favors for a baby shower is a really big task.  The colors I used were Bermuda Bay, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, and Daffodil Yellow (all Stampin' Up!).  I even tried my hand at a Diaper Cake.  I could not find my ribbon (lost in the jungle of scrap paper from all the crafting) so I purchased tissue paper to cover the rubber bands.

Baby Shower Invitations

Here are the finished invitations for my daughter's baby shower.  Now... on to the favors because her shower is right around the corner.

Stampin' Up! Links

My Stampin' Up! Website: stegsinfo.stampinup.net

2011 Idea Book and Catalog:
http://204.228.150.61/catalogs/flash/en-US/20110601_lkjds_ibc/index.html

2011 Holiday Mini Catalog
http://204.228.150.61/catalogs/flash/en-US/2011_ldse3_holidaymini/index.html

Note:  If the links do not take you to the catalogs, copy and paste into your browser.

Christmas Goodie Bag

I've been on vacation in sunny hot Texas.  The average  temperature was in the triple digits while we were there... It's so good to be home.  Now that I am home, I can take part in the SCS challenges again.  This is for this week's color challenge (CC341 Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie), and Ways to Use it (WT342 Back to School Week 4: Lunch Sacks).  I used the Stampin' Up! Snowflake Embossing folder to emboss the the lunch sack, topper, and faux snow.  I found six Turquoise eyelets in my stash and added them to my topper.  I know that these are not traditional Christmas colors but I am in a Christmas mood these days.

Happy Birthday

Shower Favor

Here are a couple of shower favors I have made for my daughter's baby shower. She loves giraffes so her shower theme will be 'Giraffes'. You may not be able to see it but I have stamped a giraffe on the front label of the bottle and several on the label that is on the bottle. I also stamped giraffes on the back of the pink card stock so that you are able to see the giraffes inside the bottle. I should have stamped giraffes on the paper shoe but forgot. I cased the "Oops! My Water Broke" from one of the many websites that I visited... Wish I remembered which one.

So Busy

I can't believe it's September already. I am trying to get back into my creative mode because it has been a while since I've made a card or project. I am currently working on my daughter's baby shower and hopefully I will be able to upload pictures of favors I am working on for the shower in a few days. Check back later in the week.

Super Excited

DH and I spent Sunday afternoon with our daughter and SIL. They are expecting their first (and our first grand) in December and I am super excited... It's a Girl! The thrill of feeling the movement of my little Princess as I placed my hand on my daughter's belly was awesome!!! How can anyone not believe that life begins at conception?

We went to Babies 'R Us and found quite a few bargains. I purchased a cute little summer outfit that had been reduced from $35 to $5, sized 6-9 months. I know she will not be able to wear it this year since she will not make her entrance into the world until December. It is a summer outfit and she will be about the right size Summer 2012. Now to purchase some 'baby' stamps and start making baby shower invitations and 'thank you' notes for my daughter. Scrapbook pages will soon become a part of my blog. Stay tuned...

CCC11 May

I am lagging behind on my Christmas Card Challenges. Here are the 10 that I should have submitted back in May. This is also for FS235, today's SCS Featured Stamper.

I used Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla Cardstock; Always Artichoke and Early Espresso Ink; Branch Out Stamp Set; Spellbinders Snowflake Die; CB Swiss Dot EF.

Stampin' Up! Catalog

Link to the new Stampin' Up! 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog and the 2011 Holiday Mini. If the links do not take you to the catalogs, copy and paste into your browser.

IB&C 2011-2012 Catalog:
http://204.228.150.61/catalogs/flash/en-US/20110601_lkjds_ibc/index.html

2011 Holiday Mini Catalog
http://204.228.150.61/catalogs/flash/en-US/2011_ldse3_holidaymini/index.html

Because I Care

This card is for a friend who recently lost her sister... her best friend.



CC334 SCS Color Challenge
Cardstock: Basic Gray & Whisper White
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray

My Trophy

I was a member of a small church when I was growing up which consisted mainly of family; my Uncle (my father's brother) was the Pastor and the choir consisted of my sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews and me. After growing up, moving away, getting married, and having children, DH and I settled into another small church in our area. Over the years the congregation grew so large, our Pastor had to split the services into two, then three different services. DH and I really enjoy small churches so he joined another small church in our area; I also joined this church two years ago.

Today was such a special day for me. Our old church has outgrown the building they were in and will begin having service in a newly erected building next Sunday. What was so great about today was that I was invited back for this morning's service and given recognition for service I performed with the choir during my membership there. The picture above is of what was presented to me during the 7:30 a.m. worship service and I will treasure it always. It's not a great picture... I've not mastered taking snapshots of glass. What a great way to start my day. Now I must get started on a 'Thank You' card.

Ripping and Running

That's how I feel today. I have been wanting to make cards more frequently but I keep getting bogged down with stuff. Hopefully next week will give me more leisure time to do this. Last week was VBS and DH and I taught the combined Junior and Intermediate class. The children were like popcorn... popping with energy, and by the end of the week, he and I were totally burned out. It has been years since we have had the responsibility of dealing with children. I guess we need to get in practice because we are expecting our first grandchild in December.

DH is a member of Toastmasters Int., and we have a function that we have to attend tonight. It's about time to leave so I guess I still don't have the time to make a card. SCS Sketch challenge will be posted tonight and hopefully I will be able to join the challenge and combine it with another.

Until then, I hope everyone else keeps 'Stamping and Creating'.

Flower Garden

I love the Tri-Shutter cards but decorating them is not easy. One of my former co-workers and I exchange birthday cards every year and I made this for her. We are both retired and I haven't seen her in years and this is the only form of communication we have with each other.

This card is for several Challenges: SUO (all Stampin' Up! products SUO), CC331 Color Challenge (Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler), WT331 Crazy Collage (8 separate stamps), Tri-Shutter Card (Resource/Wednesday Tutorials).

HOPE

I love when things line up. My Pastor's message this morning was on 'Hope'... Our hope in God. God has given us a living hope (1 John 1:3)... this hope gives us patience (Romans 8:24-26)... God's love is the grounds (foundation) of that hope. SCS New Technique Challenge is 'Reverse Masking'. I pulled out my "Strength & Hope" stamp set this morning before going to church and started working on this card. On the way home from church it dawned on me that my Pastor's message and the card I was working on lined up.

After seeing the technique challenge I knew I had to complete this card tonight.

I used one of my spellbinder rectangle dies to create the mask for the base card and used one of the smaller rectangles to create the popped-up image. I couldn't make up my mind whether to distress the perimeter of the card or not so I made two... one with and one without. Then I decided to make a third one and added a butterfly.

All three stamp images are from the "Strength & Hope" stamp set from Stampin' Up!. Ink: Crumb Cake & Soft Suede. Card Stock: Very Vanilla. Ribbon: Soft Suede (Retired, SU!).

Lemonade Anyone?

Summer without Lemonade is like summer without sun. The SCS Free for All Challenge today is to create a card thinking about Summer and fun. When I think of Summer, I am reminded of the days growing up in rural Georgia and that delicious tub of fresh lemonade my Grandmother always made on the 2nd Saturday in July. When I saw this challenge, I also remembered a cup card created by Dawn and totally cased it. Her YouTube video instructions can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBdMWW9Bl8E

Box Card

These are great for gift cards. I will use this to place a Home Depot card in for DH. Directions can be found in the Resources section on the SCS website. I used 'Sweet Pea' DSP (Stampin' Up... Retired), Early Espresso Card Stock, and Spellbinder dies for the tools. I could not find my twine so I used Ecru DMC Floss.

Graduation Celebration

This is for my niece who just graduated from high school. DH and I were not able to make it to her graduation but we will see her this weekend and give her this small token to let her know just how proud we are of her.

My New Stamp Set and a Tutorial

Here's the card I made using the DTP technique. This is a new stamp set from Stampin' Up!'s 2011-2012 IB&C and will be available for purchase on July 1st.


When I attach the clear images to my new stamps, they sometimes fall off in the middle of stamping onto my card stock and I get unwanted smudges. My solution was to unmount my new stamps as I get them and stamp the image directly on top where the clear image is usually added. Here are pictures of my procedure. Try it and let me know what you think... it actually works great!

Here is the brand new stamp set before doing anything to it. I have my Archival Ink Stamp Pad ready as well as a clear block. I also used my non-stick pad that goes with my Scor-Pal.

Stamps popped out.

I used my Scotch ATG gun to add adhesive to my clear block.

I gently peeled the red rubber from the foam.

Place the stamp on the clear block. The adhesive from my ATG gun will hold it on.

Turn the foam part of your stamp over and stick the sticky side to your non-stick surface or mat. Remove the protective sheet from the other side. This is where you will stamp your image.

Ink up your image and stamp on top of the foam part of the stamp (cling side) while the sticky side is still down on your non-stick mat.

Turn the foam part of the stamp over so that the sticky side is facing up. Carefully match up the back side of the red stamp with the sticky side of the foam part of the stamp.

Pop your stamps back in place with the stamped side facing up so that the ink can dry completely. use the clear sticker images that you would ordinarily stick to your stamps to make a journal to keep track of your stamp sets.

My stamps no longer fall off my clear blocks.

Christmas Doors

I made these "Christmas Door" cards for the SCS Christmas Card Challenge and the WT329 "Ways to Use It" Challenge. I am behind on my Christmas cards so this batch catches me up through April.

The "Ways to Use It" challenge was to use something 'old' (something from my stash I've had 6 months or longer) and something 'new' (something from my stash I've had less than 6 months). My 'old': dies I used to add embellishments to the corners of my cards. The 'new': half-back pearls I used as door knobs rather than brads. I saw these brown half-back pearls while browsing through our local Hobby Lobby and purchased them because they were different (to me).

Base Card: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Panels - Cut 4 of each
Panel #1: 2 1/4" x 1 1/2"
Panel #2: 2" x 1 1/4"
Panel #3: 1 1/2" x 3/4"

Sponge all panels.

Score the 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" cardstock at 4 1/4" to create the card base.
Line up and adhere Panels #1 to the front of the base card.

Score Panels #2 and Panels #3 around the perimeter (optional). I used my Martha Stewart scoreboard and scored at 1/8" around the panels.

Add pop-up dots to Panels #2 and center on top of panels #1.

Center Panels #3 on top of Panels #2.

Add a brad to the right of the door panels as your door knob.

Add any other decorations as desired.

Name that Technique: Layered Spotlight???

Monday's new technique on the SCS website was to "Name the Technique". My suggestion... Layered Spotlight. This is my submission for it as well as my March Christmas Card Challenge and Tuesday's Color Challenge.

Cardstock: Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake
Ink: Soft Suede, Melon Mambo
Stamps: Scenic Season
Ribbon: Melon Mambo

Sunny Day

I have had this DSP for quite some time and finally got around to using it on this SCS Sketch challenge card.

Card Stock & DSP: Old Olive; Whisper White; Greenhouse Gala
Ribbon & Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Enbosslits: Beautiful Wings
Stamps: My Friend

Matthew 19:26 - VBS Fan

My sister needed my help with a project to teach her VBS students next week. Here is what I emailed to her. Hope she can use it.

1. Cut black card stock to 7" x 7" (our color of your choice)
2. Cut More Mustard card stock to 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" (or color of your choice)
3. Cut the More Mustard card stock into 4 equal pieces (3 1/4" x 3 1/4")
4. Add embossed images to the four squares
5. Attach the four 3 1/4" squares to the front of the 7" x 7" square.
6. Decorate and add embellishments to front as desired.
7. Staple or adhere handle to back of fan.
8. Decorate back as desired

Thinking of You

I am always at a loss when it comes to making masculine cards. When I saw Tuesday's color challenge, and today's sketch challenge, I decided to combine the two to make this masculine card... no ribbons, no bows, no butterflies.

Stamps: Four Frames (bird); Inspired by Nature
Inks: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, White Gel Pen
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Old Olive DSP

Circles & Butterflies

My card for the CAS123, CAS, DTP, & F4A68 SCS challenges.

All supplies are Stampin' Up!
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Island Indigo
Inks: Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral
Stamps: Circle Circus
Beautiful Wings Embosslits