PTI color play day.

Today I pulled out my very first PTI stamp set Vintage Picnic for the May color play challenge. I had to make 6 identical cards for a swap. Incidentally I made the first card from one of the stamped images from a card kit swap.  This picture just reminds me of a warm summer day, eating fresh fruits and vegies outside. Yum! I can't wait!

Aren't the colors stunning.  I can almost taste the peaches.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great week! 

TGIF!

Hope you have some exciting plans for the weekend.  I'm just hoping for much nicer weather.  I've been having to deal with the very cold nights.  We have had frost the last 2 nights so I've had  to cover the gardens and bring in plants.  I lost the pumpkins that were up, and one hanging basket I forgot to  bring in.  But other then that it looks like everything else has survived so far. 

My new Flourishes stamps arrived.  The images are just gorgeous!  I can't wait to share more projects using them.  My first stmap set out of the pack was Garden Gate.  It's just a stunning stamp set, both the Garden Gate I used here as well as the flowers.  The sentiments are just perfectly matched to the
 set. 


Timeless Tuesday 220

Today I colored the Sweet Pea image.  I googled Sweet Pea because I just wasn't sure what color they were naturally.  I came to find out hey come in all kinds of colors, they are stunning.  I think I many need to plant some:) 

Timeless Tuesday 220

 

Todays next crafty share is a card for a SCS MFT swap.  

I have been having a blast swapping at SCS and the PTI forums.  If your interested in swapping check out the PTI swap HERE.http://forum.papertreyink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41308 If you like swapping, I hope you consider joining us. 

Have a great weekend! and Thanks for stopping by! 

It's a Moxie Fab Day!

Hope your day is going well.  Today's crafty share is for the Moxie Fab tag challenge. And perfect timing.  My husband needed gifts for the winners of a contest for his staff.  Of course I took the opportunity to wrap and tag the gifts.  I hope they enjoyed their gifts. 

I made these tags for the  Gift Tag Challenge in the Moxie Fab World! 

 

 

I used a manila tag and layered with PTI hexagon die cut background, a paper doily found at my favorite country store, and PTI stamped and die cut flowers.  I added their names cut with felt on a PTI die cut banner.  I tied the top with matching Verve seam binding. 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Happy Wednesday!

Hope your having a great week so far.  I've been doing tons of domestic stuff.  The spring weather had me in a cleaning mood so I've been making some changes to my craft room.  The first thing I did was re purposed an antique wood box to use for my washi tape.  I have had it a while, but it just wasn't that useful.  There was no way to know what was in which drawers and I sure couldn't remember.  Now it houses my Washi tape. 

 

Now I can see which tape in in which drawer and I have room for plenty more.   

 

For today's crafty share I made a card for the MFT challenge at Splitcoast stampers.  Linda was so nice and sent me this stamp set so I could join a MFT swap.  It's my very first person stamp so I had fun coloring last night. 

 

 

Isn't she the cutest! 

 

And lastly for today I made some amazing sticky buns. 

 

I started with a sweet roll recipe from a friend. It was for a bread machine but as I don't have a bread machine I tweeked it for my kitchen aid mixer.  I also like sticky buns better, so I added a  bit more of the gooey stuff to the bottome of the pan:)

 

 

Sticky buns
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 package)
1 cup of warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups flour (I only use 4)

Put ingredients in your bread machine in order listed in your manual.
** do not put on timed delay due to the eggs** or use your kitchen aid with bread hook (this is how I do them) when dough comes together in a nice ball let rest, cover with plastic wrap and sit them in the oven turned off covered with a dish towel slightly wet with hot water.when the dough doubles in size...
Roll out to a rectangle then:

filling
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Cover dough with filling, roll up then slice into rolls. Make a second batch of filling (if you like the really sticky) and place it in the bottom of you baking pan. Then put in rolls about 2 inches apart, let raise slightly then bake until top is nicely browned. Flip out while still hot and gooey. Cool slightly and enjoy.

Note, if you have an electric oven then turn it on keep warm or the lowest temp, leave the door open and leave your dough rise.

 

My fun day continues...

My fun day continues....with Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge.  This week we want you to use “BLACK ACCENTS” (FTTC219) on your card or project. 

I love how this card turned out.  It's unusual for me to not use any patterned paper on my card.   It's not initially what I set out to do but once the background was stamped I had to use it that way.  The image is colored with a combination of copics and to meet the challenge I used black ribbon, button and a gem to accent. 


Did you copic today?

How about a fun day?

I think you deserve it!  Hope you had a fabulous weekend and took some tine to celebrate Mother's Day with the ones you love. 

I'm spending my fun day coloring.  Do you like to color?  I have found that I can't get enough of coloring. I love exploring new techniques and old techniques and just enjoying the process of seeing an image come to life. 

One of my favorite stamp sets is the Flourishes Gerber Daisies.  I was inspired by all the beautiful flowers at Home Depot yesterday.  I love that they come is so many bright and vivid colors.  Today I pulled out my copic chart and picked colors that I thought were close to some I saw yesterday.  I colored each flower by using just 2 markers.  I colored each petal fully, then went back in and dropped some darker color over where the image had already supplied the shadowed area.  Then blended the darker with the lighter marker.  Its so easy and really does yield stunning results. 

This is my card for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #219 challenge, black accents.  FTTC219 I used black ribbon and gems as my black accents. 

 

This weekend flew by.  We were busy all weekend, but really didn't do much.  We just spent the day around the house.  I had the urge to bake something so I came up with a recipe for mint chocolate chip cupcakes. Truly the cupcakes can be eaten along they are wonderful!  Or you can dress them up with your favorite topping. 

The cupcakes
1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup warm water
Mix in mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Then add
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. 
Fill cupcake papers 3/4th full and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until top bounces back.  Remember the chocolate chips will look melted. 

The icing
4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature.  Mix in mixer until creamy. 
1.5 pounds (28 ounces) confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
green food coloring
Mix until light and fluffy.  Divide in half. 
For the mint frosting add 1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract, its very minty so be very careful, less is more in this case.
For the chocolate frosting add
2 ounces semi sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!  I made some with just chocolate icing as my husband isn't a fan of mint, and some with just mint.  It's like eating a different dessert each time you try one. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day!
 

Mother's Day Card

I finally took some time to work on my Mother's Day card.  I used the Flourishes Colorful Creations Challenge.

I used Flourishes From the Garden stamp set.  It's one of my favorites! It's one of those stamp sets that you can use as it is (I stamped with Momento chocolate ink) or its a beautiful image to color.  

Flourishes Colorful Creations Challenge

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

First PTI card kit swap.

I decided to host a swap on the PTI message boards.  It turned out rather small, but was fun all the same.  I thought I would share with you the kits.   You can see what projects everyone makes using the kits in the swap thread HERE. 

Kit by Anne

Kit by Karen

Kit by Chris

I totally forgot to take a photo of my kit. But I did mine in a blue theme and in addition to the card kit I added a kit to make barrettes. 

I can't wait to create with these fabulous kits!  

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Monday!

It's a beautiful morning here. The birds are chirping, trees are blooming, my garden is growing and I'm enjoying the warmer weather. Hope you are as well.

My daughter and a group of her friends ran in the Dirty Girl 5 k this weekend. We had toile all over the house from making their tutus, but they turned out cute.  We also made t shirts to match. I used the cricut to cut a scull the used hearts for the eyes and nose. Makes them so much more girly, cute, and not scary. Lol

They has so much fun. Needless to say the costumes didn't survive the fun. 

They are trying to talk me into next years event. I'm thinking that's a big NO! Surely I would break something. And they are sore today, I'm sore just walking on my normal walks. 

I spent some time enjoying my scrap room and actually playing with paper. I made a total of 8 cards this weekend.  Here is one i made for the PTI swap at splitcoast stampers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great day! 

TGIF!

Have any fun plans for the weekend?  If the weather is nice we will be cruising around with the top off the Jeep.  But it's looking awful overcast here today.  

I just have a quick share with you today.  I made these 2 cards to send in my secret swaps.  All products used are PTI. 

I was inspired by the colors in these card kits.  I just loved the packaging so thought I would package my little gifts similar. 

Thanks for the inspiration Anne! 

Have a fabulous weekend! 

Work Bench Wednesday.

What do you have on your work bench?  I have a few different projects happening.  First I finished up a swap and am making a set of cards to go along with the pin cushion and needle book.  Its a sewing swap, but I love combining my crafts and sharing my projects. 

The first pin cushion is a mushroom in my swap partners fabovorite colors.  Blue and Yellow. 

 

Next is the pin book I made like a scrap book.  Each page has a unique area that can hold pins.  It turned out more art then functional but I had fun making it and hope my swap partner enjoys it. 

 

Now I just have to package them up and they will be on their way!

 

Hope your having a great day! 

 

Happy Mail Monday!

Hello everyone!  Hope your week is starting off fabulous.  I've been busy working on all kinds of fun projects this week.  First I tried a new recipe for cookies.  They are strawberry lemonade cookies and they are fabulous! 

 

OK, so my photography skills need work. You can see a better photo and find the recipe HERE.  

 

Next, the happy mail.  My May Day Secret Sister sent me these fun crafting goodies.  Thanks so much Joan.  Not only was Joan a fabulous May Day secret sister, she also organized the swap.  I love everything Joan and  you did a great job! 

And lastly, I made this fun little mushroom pin cushion.  I'm still learning some sewing techniques and can't quite master sewing circles, they never seem to match up perfectly for me.  But I keep trying.  Here is my latest attempt. 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fabulous week!

 

Square Foot Garden Spring Planting

We are just about finished planting our first veggies for this year.  We have just a few more spots open that will get later plantings of the same veggies. 

We have planted:

Red Onions

White Onions

Spanish Onions

Spring Onions

Cilantro

Parsley

Garlic

Spinach

Lettuce Mix

Carrots

Hot Peppers

Sweet Pepper

We will be sewing Red Beets and Radishes today in the remaining open spaces.   

We are planning on another 4X4 garden for strawberries, and a container for asparagus.  

In this smaller planter we planted chives. 

I can't wait to see what we get as a harvest.  If nothing else it's been fun learning about how different plants grow, the space they need and how much it actually costs to grow your own food. 

I've dedicated a pinterest board to gardening if you would like some additional ideas on how you can  start your own garden in the space you have.  We have a few acres of land, but I needed to keep the garden close to the house and manageable.  I'm hoping this will be the key to a successful garden, and help if only a little bit reduce our families carbon foot print. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy gardening!

Happy Monday!

I hope your week is starting off well.  I'm such a creature of habbit.  I've started laundry, had a protein bar and a cup of tea and am checking in with my online friends:)  This is a very normal start to my day, but I plan on having a fabulous week and hope you can join me. 

Today I wanted to share with you a card I made for my Secret Partner swap on the Quilting Boards.  I had to get it mailed early and forgot to take photos of the rest of the package.  This card is from a card set I made her.  Luckily I took a photo of one of the set. 

I also wanted to thank my May Day Secret Sister for the fabulous package I received Tuesday. 

I love it all!

That's it for today, short and sweet!  Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Beautiful Spring Morning!

I know it's been a few days since I've posted and I have lots to update you on.  Now that we are home from our vacation it's back to housekeeping, paper crafting, sewing, reading and gardening.  It's interesting how the seasons tend to change as well as the amount of time you spend doing certain hobbies.  Right now it seems I'm trying to keep up on everything.  I guess a 10 day vacation does that to your best laid plans.  One thing I can't stand is a messy house, so the first thing I did was cleaned all day yesterday.  Both floors top to bottom, even washed a few walls that needed it.  2 days before vacation I lost my engagement ring. So I was hoping that cleaning would turn it up. It didn't:( It was getting loose, but I thought my knuckles would keep it on.  I cried and cried, then came to terms with it being gone.  Like my wonderful husband said, it was an expensive lesson.  Our wedding bands are both off being re sized as we speak.  And he bought me a new engagement ring the day we got back from vacation. 

Just after getting my iPhone we were out to dinner and while waiting I snapped a few photos of our rings, I'm so glad I did.  It's so much easier doing a police report if you have a photo of the item.  It's not the best pic, but at this point it's all I've got.  And I still hold out hope that my ring will turn up. 

I'll share the new ring once it's sized and I get my band back. 

Now on to vacation.  We went on a Carnival Cruise to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. The weather was perfect, the boat was spotless, and the balcony room was wonderful!  The only thing missing was Ashlyn, this is the first vacation Ed and I went on without her. 

Ed and I at our first formal dinner. 



Mom and Dad at Dinner.

My Mom and Dad in Puerto Rico

All of the beaches are public in Puerto Rico, so are beautiful! 

Then we went to my favorite, St. Thomas.  It's a tropical rain forest, and it did rain, but it was short bursts and it was warm enough it didn't bother you as you were in the water already. 

Our ship from the view at the top of St. Thomas. 

And our final stop was Grand Turk. We swam, walked on the beach and brought a conch shell home. 

If you haven't gone to the Islands, put it on your bucket list, you won't be disappointed! 

That's all for today. I'm off to work on my garden now:) 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.