stamping up north with laurie: May 2009

Cheers!

Good Morning! Last nite I was playing with the chef from the Voila set. I think I made about 10 different ones! I was watching the movie "Taken"with Liam Neeson and as it got more intense I just kept stampin and cutting. I have a chef for each Holiday and in between! For this guy I used baja breeze and Parisian breeze textured paper. I used baja breeze ink and colored in the cuffs and tie with my blender pen. Then I dug out some beads from my jewelry making days for the buttons. The sentiment and glasses are dollar stamps from Michaels. I added some crystal effects on the glasses to make them shiny. I haven't put together my other cards yet...the chefs are sitting on my desk waiting for me.....

Thanks

..for the Lemonade Stand Award Whitney! {http://whitney69.blogspot.com/} Now I get to name 5 people who inspire me with their great ideas and tips. Here they are:

1. Holly. I remember calling her up one day after seeing an SU catty to ask her about "stamping." She invited me over and showed me a few basics and away I went....! She has started posting regularly and I love checking out what she is making. You can check her out here.

2. Lorri. Since I found out about blogging a few years ago, I check her site often. She always has great ideas!

3.Kara. She has 2 sites I check out...I actually found her food one first....bonus....she also does crafts! You can find her awesome recipes here.

4.Wendy. I love her cards...lots of inspiration here!

5. Julie. She always has good ideas! Check her out http://paperpleasing.typepad.com/

The rules of this award (To pick up the Lemonade stand):-
Comment on this blog. Cut & Paste the award logo and use it in your own blog.-
Nominate 5 -10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.-
Link to your nominees within your blog post.-
Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.-
Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation!

Grandma Anne's Rhubarb Crunch

This is a family recipe that Brent's Grandma used to make all the time. It's really a favorite that has become a family tradition for us. I make it all year round as I keep frozen rhubarb on hand. She was an awesome cook and I have several of her recipes that are hand written from her that I cherish. I can still remember the day she gave it to me, and how she told me to make it in a glass pan because of the acidity from the rhubarb. When Brent and I were first married, I never knew when she'd show up at my door. She would bring flowers {a master gardener} or something she had baked and we would have such great visits. It was always a welcome surprise and she really taught me alot about cooking...which was an interest we had in common. I think you'll like this dessert as much as we do!

Mmmmmmmm!

So thankful

for YOU! I have been on a roll lately with my Window Dressing stamps. I'm warning you ahead of time....I'll be posting more cards with this set. I found it under some other sets on my shelf, never used yet. That's a shame. It's an awesome set. So it's getting used alot now! For this card I did alot of distressing with chocolate chip. I sponged the image with my SU chalks. I don't do alot of coloring images, although I like too. I just am never quite satisfied,but I figure chalks you can be kind of messy with and it still looks ok!

Paper: Regal rose, tea party

Stamps: window dressings

Ink: Chocolate chip

Other: prima flowers, buttons,brads

Grad cards

I am finally posting my grad cards from the May card swap at work....here they are:

Here's the one I made:

I've got a stash now saved for next year!

Thinking of you

I think my favorite set from this catty has got to be Thoughts and Prayers. I used the sentiment as the focal point of this card stamping with regal rose ink. I added some paper piercing and a few flowers I punched with my three for you punch. I used some flower soft for added texture. This card has the fold at the top...I really like that look!

Paper: SU regal rose, certainly celery, white

Ink: SU regal rose

Stamps: SU thought and prayers

Other: oval nesties, little leaves die, three for you punch, cb folders, flower soft

cilantro lime rice

Oh this was so good...if you like lime and cilantro, you need to try this. Really the 3 dishes together made such a good meal.{check the past 2 posts} Brent wants to know when we can have this again. Soon, I promise!

Paper: SU Green Galore, SU apricot appeal,white

Ink: SU Green galore

Stamps: SU tart and tangy

Other: sizzix corner die, SU button

Side dish

We love black beans. These were SO good. The addition of the cilantro made the beans taste great. I served this with the Enchiladas I posted yesterday..what a perfect side to the meal. Tomorrow I will post the rice dish...check back...it really makes this meal special!

Paper: SU apricot appeal, real red

Ink: SU black

Other: stickers, buttons

Stamps: Stampendous "from the kitchen"

Enchiladas, cilantro rice, and beans...

...was a good meal! I found it while looking through some food blogs. Erica had made these and they looked so good. I have tried a few of her recipes before with great results so I was anxious to try them. They were a winner in our book and I quickly made them into recipe cards for my collection. We will be having all of these often!

The first one I am sharing are the enchiladas. I was really happy with the low-fat ingredients...the taste was awesome. They froze well which is always a plus, and you wouldn't need to use the low fat ingredients if you prefer. I think next time I may try it without the cottage cheese as some in our family don't care for it. I'll try subbing with cheddar. The WW on my card stands for Weight Watchers. I love their cheese...it's a great way to get flavor without the added calories. I'll be posting the rest of this meal in the next few days...so check back!

Paper: SU wild wasabi, white, real red, apricot appeal

Stamps: Stampendous from the kitchen

Ink: SU wild wasabi

Other: SU buttons, circle and scallop circle punch, sticker

Weddings....

I made this 3x3 gift card for an upcoming wedding. This summer we have a lot of weddings to go to. Most of them are outdoors so I hope the weather cooperates for everybody! I like craft paper with just about any color...I chose bashful blue for this. I used my new label one nestie and the bells from SU goodygoody gumdrops set. I stamped them on some designer paper, cut them out and then popped them up and added some pearls. I took a silver brad and put it around the SU organza ribbon on the side of the card. I still need to make a few gift cards and then start in on the wedding cards. I'm thinking of using the SU Manhattan Flower embossing folder for those. I need to play around a bit I guess and see what I can come up with!

They're done!

I finished my cards for this months card swap at work! Since I was so behind this week I called my scrappin' and stampin' friend Peg for some help. She cut out some grad hats for me on her Cricut. {I gave my cricut to my daughter as she uses it more than I do} Our school colors are black and orange..I used pumpkin pie. I ran it through my bigshot using the CB folder "Tiny Bubbles." It feels like a basketball! I stamped the grad hats and letters with SU black ink. The congrats is a CB die cut. I found that when working with such skinny letters it's easiest to adhere them with spray glue. I have Elmer's Craft Bond spray adhesive...alittle messy if you get it on your fingers though. I'm glad they're done..just in time too. Thanks Peg! I'll post the other cards from the swap soon.

Big and small...

Matchboxes! I made a few more using the pattern from Milkwood Designs. I like both sizes and think I need to make some more to have on hand. I haven't ordered the SU matchbox die yet....but it's on my list! {along with several other dies} In the meantime I'll have to use the templates. The small one is the same size as the SU die. This photo shows the two sizes alittle better.

Paper: Parisian breeze
Ink: SU Chocolate chip
Stamps: SU Goody Goody gumdrops, fundamental phrases
Other: SU ribbon,flower brad, button latte, small and large oval punches

Book marks

Good Morning! Last nite I made a few book marks to throw in with some Birthday cards. I love pink and brown together. Now I need to get going on the grad cards. I am scrambling to get them done by Wednesday for the swap. Have a fun day!

May Card Club

Time to post our cards for this months card club! A bunch of us get together once a month and bring a shoebox with all the materials needed to make a card. We do 5 cards each time and pay the person a dollar to make the card.

This was a really fun pop up card. Everyone thought it would be so hard to make, but actually wasn't too bad after all. It was easy and I can't wait to make some more. It folds down and can be mailed in a regular envelope. Here's how it folds, you just push it flat:

The next card is so cute. It's made with the scallop die...I like the hearts for the eyes and nose!

We also made this Birthday card. The brown strip was run through a crimper. I like the texture it added. I needed a Birthday card too, so I was happy when I saw this.

I also needed a grad card too, and look what we made next:

The colors are perfect for what I needed! Our last card was mine...remember my pink purse cards? I made them for my last swap at work and decided to bring them for card club too. It was another fun nite with alot of great cards!

Sorry!

Well, our son is done with finals and decided to come back and work here for the summer...we're so happy to have him home. I can't wait to try out some new recipes on him...and there won't be as many leftovers with him around. This week has been pretty exciting for Brent and I with our daughters engagement too!

Anyway...sorry to those of you that I haven't been able to answer my emails these past couple of days. But we have been extra busy around here. {I love it!} I am caught up on them now. It's so fun to hear from all of you!

Grad tag

Here's a quick tag I made for a grad gift. It says," Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." I need to make a couple more graduation cards. Graduation is the theme for our card swap at work too. I need to get busy ...the swap is this week!

More cards to share...

These are some cards my friend Peg made the other day while the rest of us were making flower pot cards. I think they are both so pretty. I'm not sure which one I like the best!