5x5 card Sympathy Card

I am really into 5x5 cards. I LOVE the size. For this card I chose the color combo of black, white and mellow moss. I think it is so striking together. You can't see very well from the photo, but I put some very soft looking Martha Stewart glitter on the flowers. It's called "carrara marble." I didn't want it to look too shiny as it is a sympathy card, but this is very subtle. I popped it up with some foam squares and added some satin ribbon. Inside it says "During this difficult time may you feel God's loving arms around you."

Recipe:

Paper: white, mellow moss, black

Ink: mellow moss, black stazon

Stamps:Warmest Regards, Upsa Daisy

Other: satin ribbon, MS glitter

God's Love

I finally got going on some sympathy cards. I need to make quite a few. This one I made using the top note die. I really like that shape. I tried to find some colors I don't use very often, so I chose perfect plum and pale plum along with vanilla. After looking over my stamps, I decided I need to get some more sympathy and get well. I need to stop with the Christmas stamps and flowers. I always go for those first. Maybe the new catty will have some nice sets! Won't be long now.

Recipe:

Paper: vanilla, perfect plum, pale plum

Ink: pale plum, black stazon

Other: ribbon, top note die, hodge podge

Stamps: Happy Harmony, God's Blessings

Hope your day is happy!

Hi! I finally got my Flight of the Butterfly stamp set mounted and tried it out on this card. I had a hard time taking a good photo of it. Everything is "popped up" on it so it looked funny from different angles. I just had to use my favorite non-Christmas colors which are bashful blue and so saffron. I was supposed to make sympathy and get well cards today for a friend but I guess I got sidetracked after I mounted this set. I guess there's always tomorrow!

Recipe:
Paper: bashful blue, white, so saffron
Ink: bashful blue
Stamps: Flight of the butterfly
Other: bashful blue striped ribbon, crystal brad,

Little Triangle Box

I love to go on over to Splitcoast and look at tutorials if I have the time. Before Christmas I saw one for this triangle box that looked interesting so I bookmarked it. I really wanted to make one, but time ran out...so today I remembered it and thought, why not make a Valentine box? I used pink pirouette for the box itself, and real red,white, and some valentine paper leftover from last year for the front. I added a pink metal plate using white heart brads to adhere it to the box. Then I put some pink and red taffy in a clear bag and tied it with pink pirouette ribbon. I added a heart punched from valentine paper and put it on a real red scallop circle. I stamped the sentiment and put a red eyelet on with my cropadile so I could tie it on the ribbon with a little piece of silver cord. If you would like to make one, here's the link to the tutorial. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/cammiestriangletreatbox

Thankyou card

Hi! Today I made this quick thank you to put in the mail tomorrow. It feels funny to work with these colors after using Christmas colors for so long! But I cleaned up my stamp area and put all my holiday stamps and paper away and looked over my other stamp sets. I like to keep stamps out lying on my desk for inspiration. I also take some and put them in a basket that I know I will be using that month so they are handy for grabbing. Today I stocked my basket with alot of Valentine stamps in it, and a few flowers. For this card though, I started with the paper first, not the stamp. Haiku. Let me explain why. My daughter gave me the CD "IZ, Alone in the World" for Christmas, because I love the song "Over the Rainbow." I've been listening to it all day! {It's played in the last scene of my favorite movie, "50 first dates," and also was on the commercials for "John and Kate plus eight" for when they renewed their wedding vows in Hawaii. It's also in the last scene of "Fred Clause," which is a really cute Christmas movie we watched Christmas night with Vince Vaughn in it. } ANYWAY, the CD really put me in the mood to use Haiku paper. I put it on an old olive card and then stamped the flower on white with tangerine tango ink. I stamped the sentiment with old olive and backed that on old olive card stock. I added a clip that I tied with old olive ribbon and put a pearl in the middle of the flower. Here's the recipe:

Paper: Haiku, white, old olive
Ink: old olive,tangerine tango
Stamps:Flight of the Butterfly, Love it
Other: pearl, clip, old olive ribbon

Christmas is over and company has left and I am taking a break watching Oprah. My son was the last one to leave, he left this afternoon. The house is quiet and I am sitting here thinking about what a nice Holiday it was. I WAS going to make some sympathy and get well cards but I am too lazy so I thought I would show you this:

Guess what my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas? Here's a peek inside:
That's right! A gift certificate for Stampin Up! I think the band on this is really neat, it's been crimped and then a scallop circle with a stamped snowflake was added with a crystal brad. I need to use my crimper more often, I forget I even have it. I hope you all had a great Christmas!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." What a wonderful thing to celebrate! My family and I wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Blessed New year!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

6" by 6" recipe page Broccoli Casserole

I'll eat my veggies if Paula Deen cooks 'em! This is her recipe for Broccoli Casserole and yes, it has eggs and cheese and mayo and butter! But it's worth it. I don't make it very often, but hey, it's Christmas. I get to make all my favorites! I'm also serving smoked turkey and double smoked ham {from our local grocery store-they're the BEST} for my Christmas meal. I'm trying a new recipe for potatoes, too. My son loves jello salads {last Christmas his Grandma didn't make one and he said," It isn't Christmas without jello!" I know some people think jello is lame, but hey, to each his own, don't be a jello snob! So I chose a molded strawberry one made with sherbet. I know it's risky to use new recipes, but I love to try new things out on people! Here are the recipes:
Cheesy Hash Browns
2 lbs. of frozen hash browns
1/2 c. melted butter
1 T. salt {I will not put in this much}
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pt. sour cream
2 c. grated cheddar
2 c. crushed corn flakes
1/4 c. melted butter
2 T. chopped onion
Mix all but cornflakes and 1/4. of the melted butter and put in a greased 9x13 pan. Top with the corn flakes and butter mixture. Bake at 350 for 1 hour uncovered.
Strawberry molded salad
2 {3 0z.} boxes strawberry jello
2 c. boiling water
Dissolve and add 2 pts. of strawberry sherbet that has been slightly softened. Stir well and add 8 oz. cool whip. Beat well until blended.Pour into mold and chill until set. I'll serve this on lettuce leaves on a pedestal cake plate. I think it'll be pretty.

Recipe:
paper: garden green, white,black,real red
Other: scallop circle punch, circle punch,ribbon,white gel pen,brads

6" by 6" recipe page English Toffee

When Brent came home from work with this recipe, I was alittle afraid to try it. I wasn't sure I had the right kind of pot and it sounded finicky. But he kept telling me how good it was and wanted me to give it a try. I'm glad I did, it's wonderful! Now I make it every year. We love it.





Recipe:


Paper: craft, white,riding hood red, ski slope


Ink: riding hood red


Other: top notz die, pearl


Stamps: Scandinavian Season

What happened to the peanut brittle?

I have to tell you about my peanut brittle this year. I've made it for several years now and like to give it as gifts. It's always turned out so great! I usually make several batches as it is also a favorite of Brent's. But my first batch was a disaster. So I figured I must have measured wrong or something, so I tried another batch. Same thing. It didn't harden. I couldn't figure out what happened so I called Diane. {It is after all her recipe.} She couldn't figure it out either, but did mention if I had used fresh baking soda. I wasn't sure how old it was. But Brent came home and loved the soft brittle anyway. He called it "old man's brittle, easy on the teeth." I just couldn't let it rest so I bought new soda and tried again. THAT was it. I didn't realize how important it is to have new soda. I've decided every Christmas I will just get a new box for holiday baking so I don't go through this again. It really is a simple recipe and USUALLY works perfectly...just make sure you have fresh baking soda! Recipe:
Paper: white, real red,SU designer paper, green
Other: cricut, falala brads

I made Krumkaka yesterday

Nothin' beats a crisp krumkaka cookie. I love making these. They are alot of fun. I have an old iron that I use and it takes awhile before I get the heat just right and can start cranking them out fast. Mine goes on top of the stove. My friend just got a new double iron that is electric that she really likes. If I made tons of them I might consider getting one. But I just make them at Christmas time and once I get going they are pretty fast. My iron looks like this:

You just drop a teaspoon full in the middle and close the iron. Count to 30 and flip, counting to 30 again. I like mine alittle brown, some prefer them almost white. Then you take them off and roll them around a wooden cone to shape. They look like this:
They're ready to eat! They taste somewhat like a sugar cookie and are a tradition at our house at Christmas.
Recipe:
Paper: white, pacific coast, baja blue, ski slope
Ink: pacific coast
Stamps: Scandinavian season
Other: pearl,glitter pen

I've had a busy day! After my last post, I made some krumkaka and some recipe pages but I don't have them ready to post tonite. Hopefully I'll get them ready for tomorrow. But I will show you what else I did today. I made some centerpieces for the table for Christmas Day.

Then I made a few gift baskets {a BBQ one and 2 movie ones} and gift card bags. In the BBQ basket I put some marinade, BBQ sauce, small cutting board, some cool salt and pepper shakers,and a BBQ towel. Do you remember the BBQ aprons I made on an earlier post? Well I put one on one of the bottles and tucked inside is a gift card for meat. For the movie baskets I put the movie of course, and some of boxes of candy, and popcorn. I wish you could see the tag as I found some neat paper with popcorn boxes on it that I used. But I STILL can't figure out why some of my pictures enlarge when you click on them and some don't. Computers! I need to take some classes! Oh well. The gift cards are ones I posted earlier, too. I stuck them in bags with some candy and socks and then tied them with the striped ribbon and used some of the punched santa tags I posted earlier, too. I had a fun day getting all my last minute things done!


Then I finished my wrapping and put it all under the tree!

6" by 6" recipe page coconut candy

I have made these every Christmas since my friend Diane gave me the recipe many years ago. I love coconut and I think they taste like Mounds candy bars. Even better. I think I gain 5 pounds every Christmas just from snitching these outa the freezer! Mmmm. Off to make more good stuff...check back later...I'm on a roll!

Recipe:

Paper: cranberry crisp, white, SU designer paper

Stamps: Baby its cold outside

Ink: cranberry crisp

Other: falala brads, clear sticker backed with designer paper, riding hood red ribbon

Ya, I made the lefsa

This is how I made them:

Yew tak yust ten big potatoes

Den yew boil dem till dar done

Yew add to dis some sweet cream

and by cups it measures vun.

Den yew steal tree ounces butter

and vit two fingers pinch some salt.

Yew beat dis very lightly

if it ain't gude it iss your fault.

Den yew roll dis tin vit flour

and light brown on the stove yew bake.

Now call in all Scandihuvians

Tew try da fine lefsa yew make.

Just kidding! I have a great recipe that I got from my daughters boss that I love. Yes I'm sorry, but I no longer use the recipe I grew up on. I feel like a traitor but I really like this one better. I realize there is a lot of controversy about the right recipe, the right way to roll, which potatoes to use, etc. But i find if you like lefsa, you pretty much eat it however its made! Thick or thin, big or little! Lefsa is an important part of our Christmas, always has been. As a little girl I remember making it with my brothers and sister, mom and dad. It was a family affair and we all pitched in. Of course THEY ate it with lutifisk and melted butter, maybe threw in some cranberries and wrapped it all up in the lefsa. I eat it with just some butter, no sugar either. I guess everyone has their preference. I taught my daughter to make it, who LOVES lefsa. I don't think she would come home for Christmas if I didn't make it! I think we both like to eat it more than make it though. All I know is it wouldn't be Christmas without it. So ya, I made the lefsa!

Easy on the flour,

Fast on the pace,

Or the dough will stick

all over the place.

Roll 'em out thin,

Fry 'em up quick,

With butter and sugar

They'll go down quick!

Check back often the next few days as I will be posting more recipe pages!

6" by 6" recipe page Almond Bars

Well it's that time of year again. Brent always brings Almond Bars to work for a Christmas treat. I don't make these very often because we would eat them all in one night, not kidding. They are that good. If I bring them anywhere I always have the recipe along. Everybody wants it after eating just one bite! This year they postponed their treat day at Brent's office because of remodeling issues until January. So I won't make them for awhile yet, but I thought I'd post the recipe in case anyone wants to try it for the Holidays. If you like almond flavor you will love these!



Recipe:

Paper: chocolate chip, white

Other: stickers, white gel pen

Christmas Treat Bag

Aren't these fun? Angie had made several of these on her blog. It looked pretty simple to make. It's just a small paper bag cut to 3" and adhered to 2 craft top notz papers. I sponged white snowflakes all over them before I adhered them to the bag. Then I used the large oval punch for the handle and tied it with the striped ribbon. I stamped "tis the season" from the Punch Pals set in real red and punched it out with the scallop circle punch. I backed it on a chocolate chip scallop circle made with a nestie die and put it together with a crystal brad. Then I put some green grass and candy inside. Angie sure has some fun ideas!

To you from me...

I saw these on Kimberly's blog. {http://StampinByTheSea.com/ }She had made them for cocoa packs for a craft fair. {look under category craft fair}I remembered that I had bought a bunch of coffee packs at crazy days to stick in with gift boxes I make every year for Christmas and thought this would work well for them. I started with a 12" x 3 1/4" piece of designer paper and used my culuzzle to cut the circle out. Then I adhered a top notz for the topper. I think the striped ribbon looks great on these. You could make them to fit just about any size packet, just measure to fit!

Life is sweet!

I finally have my Justrite stamps working. I followed the tutorial on conditioning them and I also returned my round block to K&K Krafts. They said the rubber part should not have come off so they gave me a new one. So I've been playing around with them. I bought a bag of cherry Three Musketeers {yum} and filled this jar from Wally's with them. Then I tied the striped ribbon around it and added a sticker in the middle. The top looks like this:
I used my scallop circle Nesties and SU punch. The stamp is from my Justrite baking set. I love these jars. They come in 3 sizes. They're great for gifts but I also use some for my buttons,too. Have a fun day!

6" by 6" recipe page Bourbon Chicken

Well, since I LOVED the sweet and sour chicken Melonie had posted on her blog, I decided to try another of her recipes. This was good too! It is not as sweet as the other recipe, and definitely has a different flavor. There is NO bourbon in it so I'm not sure why its called that! Brent liked this one too. It was super easy and quick, only takes about 25 minutes on the stove top. I will definitely try it again!

Recipe:

Paper: Old Olive,white,pumpkin pie,Haiku

Other: tab punch, brad

Joy To The World

Good Morning! I was looking at the Holiday mini catalog and on page 19 I saw a bag I liked. They had taken the striped ribbon and put it under the bag and tied it on the top. I thought I'd try it with my Hershey sticks and use the top notz die. Love that die! I am using it for everything. I'm hoping the new catty has some more dies and punches. Some heart punches and coordinating stamp sets would be fun, but by the time the catty comes out and you get your order, Valentines day will be here already. I guess there's always next year. I wasn't that crazy about the 2 Valentine sets in the mini catalog, so maybe I can find something at K&K Krafts after the Holidays that I like. Anyway, for this project I used another of those wooden snowflakes {thanks again for selling those at your garage sale Jody} but inked it with real red. I put a white snow flurry behind it. I stamped a small snowflake from the Punch Pals set for the center in real red. On the vanilla paper I stamped some more of the snowflakes and the sentiment, "Joy to the world, the Lord is come." {I was also singing it as I stamped-good thing for Brent that my craft cave is in the basement} Another stocking stuffer done!

Recipe:
Paper: vanilla, riding hood red
Ink: Black stazon, real red
Stamps: punch pals, stampendous
Other: Top notz die, ribbon, wooden snow flake,snow flurry,falala brads

Sun dogs

My friend Diane just called and told me to look out the window. I saw 2... no 3 suns! Actually it was the sun with a sun dog on each side. She lives across the lake from me so we have a different view. She had only seen the 1 at first and while we were talking I saw the 2nd one. This is a shot of just one, the other one is behind some trees to the left. I couldn't get all of it as I still can't get out the front door! I just opened the door and quick took the picture. Brrrrrr. It's soooo cold out I'm glad to be stuck at home! {those little things on the lake are fish houses}

Stormy Weekend

I have been enjoying the blizzard this weekend. It's always fun when you don't have to go anywhere and can just stay home. I stepped outside and took this when things calmed down for awhile yesterday after lunch. Here's what the blowing did on our deck.

It looked so funny. The wind blew one half of the snow off the deck and left it bare, and dumped this pile right outside our door. The storm got worse again after the photo. We think we got about 8 inches out here. Schools are closed today and many people still can't get out yet. We finally heard the plows awhile ago. Brent wasn't sure he could get out with 4 wheel drive, but then they came by. He still had to blow out quite a bit. Poor me I am stuck at home today...more time to play!

6" by 6" recipe page Christmas Cookies

I've been busy doing some Christmas baking. I made these yesterday and put most of them in the freezer or Brent and I will eat them all! I make roll outs for every holiday { Easter, Halloween,Valentines Day}and this is my favorite recipe for them. The picture is just of snowflakes but I also made the usual trees, stars, etc. I have been making them since I was a little girl with my mom, and then I made them with my kids. I'm off to do some more baking, have a happy Sunday!

Christmas Cookies
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 c. softened butter
Mix together {as for pie crust} and add:
2 beaten eggs and 1 cup sugar {mixed together}
Roll out and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool and frost with:
3 oz. softened cream cheese
1/2 stick softened butter
1 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. powdered sugar {add food coloring of your choice}

Recipe:
Paper: white, real red, garden green
Ink: white craft
Stamps: baby its cold outside
Other: Snow Flurries, button

Top Notz Die

The top notz die really helps dish out bag toppers fast! I've made several, here's another one. I stamped white snowflakes all aver it and tied it with some of the striped ribbon from SU. I added a little tag with the snowmen from Window Dressing and filled it with kisses. If you look close at the tag you will see I put a bit of glitter on the snowmen. Have a great day!

6" by 6" recipe page Melt in Your Mouth Roast

Happy Friday! I have a great recipe for you to try during these busy Holidays. This is my favorite way to make a roast. The crock pot does all the work! We love onions with beef and the combo in this is perfect. I like to make it with the gravy when we want mashed potatoes. If you choose to make the gravy, remove the roast and add the flour and water mixture and cook on high for about 10 minutes until thickened. But I also make it alot and shred it instead of making the gravy, for serving on buns. It's great as leftovers and it also freezes well. It's a go-to recipe for me when I am having company but don't want to be in the kitchen all the time. I found this recipe in my Southern Living cookbook several years ago and wondered if it lived up to it's name. Yep. It does . It melts in your mouth!


Once again I noticed my photo for the recipe won't enlarge. I still haven't figured that out yet, so here it is :
Melt in your mouth roast
1 large onion, sliced
1 3-4 lb. roast, cut in half
1 tsp. oil
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
For gravy:
3 T. flour
1/4 c. water
Place onion in crock pot. Rub roast with salt and pepper. Fry in oil in a large skillet until browned on all sides. Place on top of onion in crock pot. Take Worcestershire sauce and deglaze in skillet by scraping the particles that cling to the bottom of the pan from the roast. Pour over roast in crock pot. Cook on high 1 hour, then on low about 6 hours. {sometimes less than that} At this point you can shred the meat to use for buns, or you can remove the roast and add the water and flour mixture to make gravy. Yum!

Recipe:
Paper: chocolate chip, white, garden green
Other: chocolate chip ribbon, spiral clip, kitchen brad and sticker

Merry & Bright Gift

This is a fun little gift! I saw some red socks at Wally's on sale for next to nothing and came up with this idea. I took a red pail, put an SU rub-on the front and stuck some green grass inside. Then I rolled up the socks and tied them with some ribbon and put them inside, too. I grabbed an old fashioned candy stick and attached the scallop circle I had made with the deer friends stamp set, and tied some of the candy striped ribbon on it. I threw in a candy cane and a couple of Hershey sticks,too. I'm headed back to get a few more of the socks. I'll stick them in with a few gifts and I think I'll have fun wearing some on Christmas day around the house myself!

Scallop Christmas Tree

Good Morning! I'm still making tags...one of my favorite things to make! Here is another one made with the top notz die. This time I made a scallop circle tree to put on it. I've seen them all over splitcoast and don't know who the original creator of this tree is, but I really like it. They would be cute on Christmas cards,too. I used a Nestie so it's alittle larger than one made with the punch. I think the ones I have seen might have been made with the SU scallop dies, I'm not sure. Mine has 4 layers, the top of the tree has 3 scallops, then 4, then 5 and the bottom has 6. I dug in my Christmas button jar to find the red buttons and the snowflake and star for the top. I found these in a package of Christmas buttons at Michael's this fall that had alot of really cool shapes. I wish I had picked up another bag because now I can't find them anymore. I loosely wound some gold cord around the tree, too, and popped it up with some dimensionals. So much fun to make!

December Card Club

Card Club was fun! There were only 12 of us and we made three cards. The first two were made by the Deb's. The snowman card was embossed with a CB die in the Bigshot. Then we punched a hole and adhered the snowman inside. The inside was also embossed so you could see it through the circle window. Since there were so few of us we could make several! I have a CB so it was fun to use a Bigshot. The second card was made with the SU scallop circle dies. Everything was all ready for us, so we just had to assemble it. I really liked the color combo.

Mary made the third card with the stamp set Seeing Spots. I have looked at that set many times as I love circles, so it was fun to get to use it. We could choose a sentiment so I chose Birthday. The paper clip with the ribbon really adds alot!

I also got my SU order from JaNell tonite and inside my bag were some cards she had made. Thanks JaNell! I think the baja breeze tree card is so pretty.

My favorite card she made is the one with the To You & Yours stamp set. I LOVE that set, but I already have too many Christmas sets. Or do I? Maybe I need it. Oh, that is always the trouble! I think I need everything! I like the Snow card too. I forget what set that is, but last year I thought I needed that one too! Christmas sets are my favorite. She also tucked in a sour cream candy ornament, too. It has a tree embossed on vellum with silver. So pretty. As usual, I can't wait until next card club!