Axtell-Hess Wedding

 

This is the frame.....I have about $10.00 in the whole thing.  I picked up the frame at our local thrift store coming in at $5.00.  I then went to Lowe's and bought a sample jar of paint in the cream color, sanded down the frame and gave it two coats of base cream color.  Sanded off the edges and spots I wanted the stain to show through on and then topped it all off with glazing that I swirled on and then wiped off.  The roses are made by me from burlap and felt and then I just added a few burlap leaves and some buttons and pearls...just to dress it up a bit. The mat used to be black and white but I didn't like the look so I painted it with three coats of the cream paint and then swirled glazing on the top....the little brown edging was done with my colored markers. I think it made it look a little bit like wood grain and really finished the frame off. I purchased a piece of white poster board and a piece of black. The white you can see and it is for the guest to sign around the picture and the black was used to finish off the back of the frame so it looked nicer since it will be sitting on an easel and the back will show.  I took their pictures and don't like it but its the best of the lot and has to do.  I had to remove her double chin, thin her down a bit (per her request...lol) and then had to swap heads with Jim since he was smirking in the one that she liked of her.  I worked it over a dozen times and still am not happy with it but have ran out of time.  Below is a closeup of the roses.

 

and next is the favors....I made the box to fit my candy bars in Silhouette Studio, cut them out of kraft cardstock from PaperTreyInk and then wrapped the lid with burlap.  The flowers are made with little yellow AC cardstock that I printed some vintage text on before cutting them on the cutter.  I believe the flower is by Lori Whitlock...but don't quote me on that....the leaves were printed on some paper from Recollections Habitat collection.  I needed more than I had, so scanned the paper in and printed on my printer.  I can't ever get it to match completely but it was close enough once it was cut into leaves.  I then scored the leaves to looked like there were veins and curled the flowers.  This took me the longest time as it was very time consuming.  It took most of the day to print and cut them out and then I'd work on them and watch TV.  The candy bars are wrapped in cream paper with the vintage text printed on them and then the top layer has Jim & Iola printed on each candy bar and the bottom layer has thanks for coming.  There are 6 miniature candy bars in each box with gives me the two layers. The label is printed on kraft cardstock and I used the print and cut feature to cut them out and they are tied on with some twine.  I sure hope she likes what I did, as she hasn't seen them yet.

 

That's it...I had plans to make a banner out of burlap and paint Just Married on it but I ran out of time and couldn't get the burlap around here locally and didn't have time to make a trip to the city.  My nephew is getting married in June and I just might get around and make the banner for them!  I am making invitations for that wedding and need to get started on them soon...

We need to get ready to go and the power just went off.....dang it!

May 3rd 2013....this is unbelievable!!!!

Going to have to put snow chains on to go to an outdoor wedding!  UnREAL......and I'm sick of this!!  My tulips had just bloomed out, the crab apples were just getting ready to open their blooms and my Bradfords were in full bloom...now I get to clean up broken limbs!  Yuck, Yuck, Yuck....can you tell I'm in a bad mood over this!

You will never guess?????

What this crust is made of. Do you give up? ..... It's cauliflower and I know I said yuck when I read about this but I decided to give it a try since pizza crust is a no no when I'm watching my carb
in-take. But I will have to say it's good and you can not (I say again) you can not..... till it's cauliflower.
This is what Brent and I had for lunch today and it's so good and very filling.
I followed the recipe except for the fennel and parsley in the crust. I just add oregano, garlic powder and a dash or two of Italian seasoning.  I'm not going to quote the carb amount because it will depend on the sauce you use but it's very low. After eating this and liking it I just may have to try mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes.

Here's the recipe card to print.

Flower Pot Card

My longtime and good friend, Maxine, came for a playdate a couple weeks ago....we had so much fun.  She is just getting into making her own cards and wanted some pointers.  I can't say I'm the best teacher but I think she went away with some good tips....I know she liked my organizational skills cause she's been re-organizing her craft room ever since...LOL...
Anyway, she had bought this card kit and wanted to know if I could re-create it.  Of course, I was up for the challenge and it wasn't hard to do at all.  I, made the pot in the SSDE software and just used some flowers that I had downloaded from the online store.  She has a Cricut so is a bit more limited on what she can do but she enjoyed learning how I do my own cards with the Silhouette. I filled all the shapes and then printed them out and cut them on the Silhouette.  We both designed a card and this is where I showed her the few techniques I like to use and know a little bit about.  Basically, she just followed my card design and made hers the same.  After she left, I finished up the card for my mom's birthday and designed the box for it to go in.  I thought it turned out really pretty and mom liked it!  I'm sure it went to church with her on Sunday to show off to her Sunday School class. 

I have lots more to post this week but am knee deep in the Amazing Race..so don't know if I'll get them posted or not.  Gavin's birthday party is the 13th and I still have lots to do.  Thank goodness it is Season 2 and I still have all the ingredients from Season 1...LOL....basically all I have to do is clear the clue cards and add new clues and challenges.  At least I don't have to design the whole cards again.  I'm going to make water bottle labels this year and candy bar wrappers and then will probably have to remake the banner, but it will only be printing and cutting as I saved all the banner info.  

Enjoy!

Around the house day 2

Was getting ready to put the eggs on so I can make deviled egg tomorrow and stopped long enough to snap this shot. While taking a break put this quick page together.

I love to see brown eggs so cute.

Easter Around the House

These two adorable bunnies are on the table in the sun-room. I think they are as cute as can be.
I miss doing scrap pages so I worked up a couple of small little scrap square. The stitching, paper and frame are all made by me. I've be playing around with making my own patterns overlays and fills and find it to be fun. Also used chalkboard backboards that I made.

I've had these tulips around for several year. Think I need to buy a new bunch for next year these are starting to look a little bedraggled. Love this glass vase and the added Easter grass gave a new look.
Made the frames and the washi tape myself.

Hope you have a very Happy Easter.

Muffins and Pudding

I can not buy plain, fat-free yogurt in small containers around here....I've never tried freezing it but that will be my next option as its really hard for me to use up the full quart container since its just Bill and I.  So...this morning, I made both of these recipes to use up the yogurt that is due to expire on Wednesday.  This first one is OK but not as good as I thought it might be but I think it is because I absolutely LOVE Lemon-Poppy Seed bread and I had it on my taste buds that it would be the same but it wasn't.  Of course, there is no way it could have been since there is no lemon in the recipe at all....LOL....but it is OK and we will eat them but I'm going to do more research to find a recipe for a low fat, low sugar version of the lemon-poppy seed bread or muffins.

I had one of these muffins for my lunch and then wrapped each one individually and put them in the freezer for later.  By wrapping them individually, I can take out one or two, depending on when we eat them.  I think they will be good with coffee on Sunday mornings with some fruit.

VANILLA-POPPY SEED MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups Bisquick Reduced Fat Baking Mix

1 (4 serving) package JELL-O sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix

1/3 cup Carnation Nonfat Dry Milk Powder

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

3/4 cup Dannon plain fat-free yogurt

1/4 cup water

1 egg, beaten, or equivalent in egg substitute

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 8 wells of a 12 hole muffin pan with butter-flavored cooking spray or line with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine baking mix, dry pudding mix, dry milk powder, and poppy seeds. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, water, egg and vanilla extract. Add yogurt mixture to baking mix mixture. Mix just until combined. Evenly fill prepared muffin wells. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Place muffin pan on a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and continue cooling on wire rack.

Hint:  Fill unused muffin wells with water. It protects the muffin tin and ensures even baking.

Nutritional Info: 126 calories; 2 gm fat; 5 gm protein; 22 gm carbohydrate; 466 sodium; 98 mg calcium 

The next recipe is on the dessert menu for supper tonight. We will be having the Zucchini Lasagna that I had froze about a month ago, along with a slice of Texas toast and a garden salad with fat-free dressing.  I just recently picked up a bottle of Walden Farms no calorie, no fat, no carbs Honey Mustard dressing and I'm getting anxious to try it out.  I buy Bill the Walden Farms caramel dip and he loves it with apples and I've also picked up the Walden Farms Chocolate syrup and we like it on Blue Bunny no-fat, no sugar added vanilla ice cream.  They also make mayo, BBQ sauce, pasta sauces and pancake syrup but I've got to wait till I'm in the city to pick those up as we don't have that in our stores around here.  I'm anxious to try the BBQ sauce as I have some pork ribs in the freezer that are calling me to fix!

The little taste I had of this was really, really good...Bill will absolutely love it because Butterscotch is his favorite flavor.

BUTTERSCOTCH AMBROSIA

1 (4 serving) package JELL-O sugar-free instant butterscotch pudding mix

1/3 cup Carnation Nonfat Dry Milk Powder

1 cup (one 8-ounce can) crushed pineapple, packed in fruit juice, undrained

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup Dannon plain fat-free yogurt

3/4 cup Cool Whip Free

2 cups (2 medium) sliced bananas

1/2 cup (1 ounce) miniature marshmallows

3 Tablespoons (3/4 ounce) chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine dry pudding mix, dry milk powder, undrained pineapple and water. Mix well using a wire whisk. Blend in yogurt and Cool Whip Free. Add bananas, marshmallows and pecans. Mix gently to combine. Evenly spoon mixture into 6 dessert dishes. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes.

Hint: To prevent bananas from turning brown, mix with 1 teaspoon lemon juice or sprinkle with Fruit Fresh.

Nutritional Info: 175 calories; 3 gm fat; 5 gm protein; 33 gm carbohydrate; 272 mg sodium; 1 gm fiber

I am really enjoying my trip down this weight loss avenue...down 22 pounds as of this morning!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Coconut Brownie Pizza

 Another dessert to showcase....we liked this one too...but then, we haven't found any that we don't like...LOL...I'm posting two images...one of the slice and one of it whole.  Just so you can see how it looks as a pizza. The above slice of brownie is sitting on either my mother or my grandmothers apron that they made a long time ago.  I got to bring both of them home with me last year.  Hehe...getting my inheritance early! 

 

Strawberry Coconut Brownie Pizza

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup Splenda Granular

1/3 cup Dannon plain fat-free yogurt

1/4 cup Kraft fat-free mayonnaise

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups water *

1 (8-ounce) pkg. Philadelphia fat-free cream cheese

1/2 cup Cool Whip Free

1 teaspoon coconut extract

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1 (4 serving) pkg. JELL-O sugar-free vanilla cook and serve pudding mix

1 (4 serving) pkg. JELL-O sugar-free strawberry gelatin

2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with butter-flavored cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder,baking soda and Splenda.  In a small bowl, combine yogurt, mayonnaise, vanilla extract and 1/2 cup water.  Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture. Mix gently to combine. Evenly spread mixture into prepared pizza pan. Bake for 15 minutes.  Place pan on a wire rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir cream cheese with a sturdy spoon until soft.  Stir in Cool Whip Free and coconut extract. Spread mixture evenly over cooled brownie crust. Evenly arrange strawberries over top.  In a medium saucepan, combine dry pudding mix, dry gelatin and remaining 1 1/2 cups water. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and starts to boil, stirring often. Remove from heat. Place saucepan on a wire rack and let set for 5 minutes. Evenly drizzle partially cooled mixture over strawberries. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Sprinkle chocolate chips and coconut over top. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Cut into 8 servings.

Calories: 130

Fat: 2 gm

Protein: 7 gm

Carbohydrate: 21

Sodium: 413

Calcium: 147 mg

Fiber: 2 gm 

Just thinking I need to add this bit of information...per JoAnna Lund....do not use a beater on the yogurt or the cream cheese...mix gently.  Since both (and the mayo) are fat-free, they have removed the fat and added air...if you mix too much, it will be runny. 

I had a great time at my folks....did a little cleaning but not as much as I should have....just ran out of time since we did a little shopping too and I took them out for lunch on her birthday.  I ended up going through KC on my way home and having lunch with my Aunt Phylis....it had been a long time since I really visited with her and I'd never seen her new house (which is now 16 years old....)...shame on me for not doing it earlier!

 ......

Another Sympathy Card

As you can see, I had to have another sympathy card.  When it rains, it pours.  I'll see if I can remember the credits for this card but a week with Gavin and his little boy friend has fried my brain...LOL....not really, we had a wonderful week and I miss him.  In fact, I got up around 11:00 last night and looked in the spare room to see if he was covered up and then remembered that he'd went home...boohoo...had trouble getting back to sleep.

The ribbon was some white satin from my stash that I colored with my Spectrum markers to match the flowers.  The flower print is by Katie Pertiet.  The background was a brush stamp of a post card that I stamped over and over to make my background.  I just drug it into my SSDE program and copied and pasted till I had it the way I wanted and then did a crop to fit my paper size.  I distressed this panel and adhered it to the black panel and sewed around the edges.  Basically, that is it....just used some shapes for the flower design that I had in my SSDE library.  The butterfly was one I've had for quite a while...I believe it was from Mine's Eye but not sure on that.  The black rhinestone trail was some stuff that Bill bought and put in my stocking at Christmas by Recollections called Bling on a Roll.

I wish I had placed the scallop panel lower on the card....I think it sits too high.


Enjoy!
....

Strawberries....Yummm

Our very nice neighbors brought us some fresh strawberries that they got while on a trip to Florida. Love neighbors like that. These are so good that we have just been washing them off and eating as we stand at the sink. I'm a big fruit and vegetable fan so these have really hit the spot.

I followed the tutorial on Whipperberry's site to make this faux slate chalkboard backdrop for my photo. I'm really loving all the chalkboard stuff I'm seeing all over the web.

Chalkboard Subway Art

I realized that Easter is in March this year and it was in April last year when I did the subway art so I worked this one up. I know it's a little different but I love the chalkboard look and wanted to give it a try. I'll try to get a regular one worked up in the next few days.

Showcasing a Winner!

Because I like this wonderful ladies recipes so much, I'm going to try and start showcasing them here on the blog.  This delightful and scrumpious dessert is called simply, Layered Cherry Dessert, but there is nothing simple about it....it is too die for!  Or, so my better half and I think....

The recipe was created by the wonderful and talented JoAnna Lund and the world is lacking because she has left this world to create in heaven.  I'm so glad that I found her books back in 1998.  Bill had a staff infection in his foot and his dietitian told him he needed to start watching what he eats better.  So....I did some research and found the first cookbook, The Diabetic's Healthy Exchanges Cookbook...since then I've added quite a few more of her books and I signed up for her monthly newsletters.  Those newletters are usually where I turn to first to find something for supper and I never, never fix supper without adding a dessert to the menu.  I can watch what I eat as long as it includes some sweet for my obsessive sweet tooth and she (JoAnna) was just like me.  Did we stay on this new way of eating?  Nope....we did good for about 6 months, Bill lost 15 pounds and I lost 9 but work and hectic schedules got in the way of planning meals and before we knew it we were back to eating junk and fast food.  It wasn't that we didn't like the food, it just seemed to take me longer to plan our menus and my life was just too hurried.  But...I realize now that the key to weight loss IS planning your meals.  Without the plan, you fall off the tracks and then you are right back where you started.  I try and plan my weekly menu on Sunday mornings.  We are pretty good at eating leftovers so I can plan three meals and they will last us through the week.  Most of the desserts make 8 to 12 portions so one dessert will usually get us through.  Another thing I have found that is super important is keeping track of everything you eat during the day.  I signed up for Calorie King and it keeps me on track.  I can add my Joanna Lund recipes right to the tracker and then add them to my daily calorie count. It keeps track of my exercise and my weight loss in pounds and inches.  I really like it!

Ok...I've really rambled off the subject here so here is the recipe.  If I'd had some gumption I would have made this into a pretty recipe card like you do but as you can see....I didn't!  LOL

Layered Cherry Dessert

1 3/4 cups purchased graham cracker crumbs * (or do as I did and crush your own)

1/2 cup Splenda Granular
1/4 cup I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light Margarine, melted
2 (20-ounce) cans Lucky Leaf No Sugar Added Cherry Pie Filling (I can't get this in our area so I used Wilderness No Sugar Added)
1 (8-ounce) pkg Philadelphia fat-free cream cheese
2 1/2 cups Cool Whip Free
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, Splenda, and melted margarine. Pat mixture evenly into a 9x13 inch cake pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Place cake pan on a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Evenly spoon cherry pie filling into cooled crust. In a large bowl., stir cream cheese with a sturdy spoon until soft. Add Cool Whip Free and vanilla extract. Mix gently to combine. Fold in marshmallows. Spread topping mixture evenly over cherry pie filling. Evenly sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs over top. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cut into 12 servings.

Nutritional information:

180 Calories, 4 grams fat, 4 grams Protein, 32 grams Carbohydrates, 263 mg. Sodium, 59 mg. Calcium and 2 grams fiber.


Since I started using so many of JoAnna's recipes, I have jars filled with crumbs...graham cracker, soda cracker, Ritz crackers, cornflakes and also keep nuts crushed in jars too.  Just makes it faster to prepare the recipes when I have that part of the recipe ready before hand.  I also had some potato bread that was getting stale so I toasted it and then crushed it up and added to a jar to use when a recipe calls for bread crumbs.  

I've been exercising and following JoAnna's recipe now since Jan. 15th and I've lost 15 pounds and Bill is down about 10...and he isn't trying and doesn't exercise.  And I'm never hungry!  She is a god send in my opinion!


Enjoy!
.....

Anniversary Birds and Lace

I guess I can post this now that you've received it...this was one of the easiest ones for me to design and put together.  I started late on Monday morning and had it designed and assembled and ready to post by 2:00 that afternoon.  I don't know how or why it went so good but I was glad cause I knew I was going to be cutting it super close to make it to you on time.

This card and matching envelope were completely designed in SSDE and cut on the Cameo.  The lace and bird branch are cut files from the online store.  The lace is a complete circle but I did a cut in SSDE so it would only be a half circle.  The polka dot paper is by Sarah Stearns called Patterned Kraft and I purchased it from her Etsy store.  All the rest of the paper is AC cardstock and the pearls are from want2scrape.com.

The envelope was designed by me in SSDE and made to fit my 4.75 x 6.75 greeting cards with extra room to keep the embellishments from getting smashed.

A snow day with Gavin

 


Happy Anniversary, dear friend!

....

Butterfly and Lace

This is the card I designed for my niece and I had to hand deliver it because I got a little carried away with the box decorations.  The card is made with PaperTrey Inc white rustic cardstock, the gray and pink are AC cardstocks called Graphite and LipGloss.  The flower is a Silhouette cut by Lori Whitlock...how do you like the leaves?   I edged them with some Tim Holtz scattered straw distress ink and then used my Scor Pal to add the veins and then folded it a bit in the middle to give it some shape.  The pink flower was edged with Pink Cheeks Powder Puff chalk ink.  The lace came from my stash, the flowered print used on the banner tag is by Basic Grey called True Love and I just did a color match for the pink banner tag.  The paper used for the flower was also from True Love by Basic Grey.  The butterfly came from the clearance aisle at Michaels and was by K&Company.  The background paper is also by K&Company and was designed by Brenda Walton.  The pink pearls came from want2scrape.com.

The butterfly is another silhouette cut file by Hero Arts...I cut two and then added glitter glue to the bottom layer through the holes of the top layer.  Glued them together and added rhinestones from want2scrap.com.  The pink rhinestones are from there also.  The patterned paper matches the banner on the card and the pink twine came from Endless Inkabilities.  The box was designed by me in Silhouette Studio Designer Edition and fits a 4.75 x 6.75 card with an inch of room for big embellishments.  It could be mailed but not as it is decorated...LOL.....I added an extra layer to the top and bottom of the box for extra padding. ...

LOL....a breath of Spring my butt!

Just yesterday, my post title was a breath of Spring...now look at today!

Has been snowing since about 3am and its still coming down.....I'd say we have about 5 inches so far...and the wind is starting to blow so I hope we don't lose power. 

....

A breath of Spring in February

My daughter surprised me this year with a Valentine gift...she called about 9:30 on Valentines day to inform me that she waited too late to get in on delivery service and that I needed to go to the flower shop to get my own gift...LOL....so typical of my daughter.....but it is beautiful and I've really enjoyed it these past few cold, snowy days!  I can see it on the table on the front porch this Spring...

Tomorrow, we will be buried under another fresh layer of snow....calling for 6 to 10 inches for us with high wind...looks like me and Leslie will be walking together for the next couple of days. I've been able to get out the last three mornings and its been beautiful walking....cool, sunshine and no wind!  I really loved the walks.  I'm down 13 1/2 pounds now...13 more to go to my goal!  It's not coming off at lighting speed but hopefully, this way, I'll be able to keep it off....Bill isn't even trying, he just gets to eat what I eat and he's lost about 8 or 9 pounds...his Endocrinologist will be tickled pink!....

Time Flies Birthday Card

Whew.....I think I'm caught up posting the projects I did before Valentines day....have another almost finished and need to start one tomorrow and then all I have left to do before March is Mom's birthday card.  Then in March, I have to make favors for a wedding, do Gavin's birthday stuff and do my TAXES!  Yuk.....I can handle the first two things but I hate doing taxes!

This card was made for my wonderful son-in-law....I designed this in SSDE.  The Time flies label and the numbers patterned paper came from the Online store and the paper was by Glitz design.  They have some really cool papers and I've purchased quite a few of them.  The twine is just some from my stash, which reminds me that I need to find some more as my stash is getting slim.  I cut the letters out on the Silhouette twice and doubled them up to give them more of a chipboard elements feel.  I have a Quickie Glue pen and it works great for those little delicate elements.  The buttons came from Wally World.....I can't get great stuff from their craft section but I can get the basic stuff.  I'd give anything to have a Michaels or JoAnn's close by...well, maybe not...I'd be broke all the time...LOL

When I decided on the design for this card, I knew I wanted to use numbers and didn't think I had anything like that, so I went in search on Etsy (my favorite spot to find digital paper) and found some I liked a lot because his age was one of the numbers in the paper and I was going to put a circle of some kind on that number...but, as always, the file didn't come to me until Monday and I HAD to finish and deliver the card on Sunday...story of my life, always a day late!  I ordered some other paper that I just liked and it came to me instantly but not the one I REALLY needed.

I've worked all afternoon on a box for my 5 x 7 cards....every time I sent it to the cutter, thinking I had it figured out, it would be just a tad off, or I forgot to add the half circles to make it easier to open, or I forgot to add all the score lines or.....you got the drift, right?  I did finally get it all done and it fits like a glove.  Most of the time, I can keep my card 'depth' to 1/4 of a inch but when I add flowers, it seems to jump the 'depth' up to 1/2 inch or more and they don't fit in my 1/4 envelope or any envelope, for that matter.  So...I decided I needed a card box and set about to make one.  I learned a few new things in Studio but probably can't remember how I did them when I want to do it again...LOL...at least, this box file has been saved!

We ended up with 7.2 inches of snow and they are calling for 8 to 10 coming in late tomorrow night...I LOVE snow!  Especially, the really deep kind!  

Sorry, I'm rambling!

Enjoy!....

Western Style Birthday Card

I have a super good and long friend that enjoys horses more than people...LOL....so, I tried to come up with something kind of horsing...thus the stirrups on the card.  This card layout was 'borrowed' from this wonderful gal...Peanutbee...I don't know her real name and this link just takes you to the card in the Splitcoast Stampers gallery so I don't know if she has a blog or not.

The paper is from a kit I've had forever called Portobello Road by Recollections.  I really think it was the very first paper pad I ever bought...just can't get myself to use the paper...LOL....

I made the layout in SSDE and then just cut it on the Cameo.   As you can see, I finally did some actual sewing on this card and it worked pretty good...finally figured out my tension was a bit off on the machine and after adjusting, it sews much, much better.  The big rhinestones came in a pack from My Craft Channel with a bunch of other stuff but I don't know who it was by.  It's not marked on the pack. The second image is just to show the matching envelope that I made for the thicker cards.

Enjoy!


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The last of the Valentines!

These next three images are the Valentine treats I sent up to the kids in the north.  This first one is the purse I made for Bella and Amanda and they each got a notepad and pen, a little felt animal sewing kit and a chocolate bar.  It fit nice and snug but I had to take the sewing kit out of its original packaging in order to get it in the purse.  The purse is a cut file by Samantha Walker and was not the easiest to put together.  I don't have any glue that dries super quick and you have to shape the round top and glue these little glue tabs all around it....my patience wore a little bit thin...LOL...

Anyway, I imported the paper to SSDE (Silhouette Studio Designer Edition) and then filled my shapes and sent it to print and cut.  Glued it all together and then cut the lace heart and smaller hearts and layered them together and added glitter to the top heart.  If I did it again, I'd have made the white handle red but again, I was running out of time.  The ribbon is just some I picked up at Wal-Mart.  The patterned paper is by Sassy Designs.

You've seen this next image but I wanted to post it again so you could see how cute the little girl monkey is with her bow in her hair.  I added liquid pearl to the bow.

And, last but not least....a bag tag for my little man....the bag held some little play vehicles.  The Valentine monster cut came from the Silhouette Online store and was designed by Jennifer Wambach.  The digital paper is from Sassy Designs.  The googles eyes are some I've had forever in my stash. 

We are in a super bad snowstorm....it started in KC at 7:00 this morning and they've already picked up 8 inches and expect at least 10 to 12 inches.  It's just now starting here and accumulating quickly....when I started writing this post, it wasn't doing a thing and now (45 mins. later) the ground is starting to get white and the wind is howling!  We are expecting 8 to 10 before it quits.  And then, super cold for the whole weekend.  Looks like a good time to stay in and enjoy a movie or two!  I got out early this morning and did the weekly grocery shopping, so we won't have to get out for that.  Schools, state offices and other businesses closed this morning before it had even started snowing, all over central to north Missouri.  Our channel nine and channel five stations (both KC stations) have not even left the news for regular broadcast stations.  They have just stayed reporting..I didn't even get to watch my Good Morning America!  Just heard that most all major interstates in KC are now closed down and the plows can't move because there are so many stuck vehicles on the highways...what a mess!

I hope its run out of steam before it gets to you!

.....

Disney Cars Birthday Bag and Card

My great nephew turned one this month and we celebrated it with a birthday party.  His theme was from the Disney Cars Movie so I had to make his card and gift bag to match.  I was fortunate to find a car online that printed out great!  I figured I'd end up having to find a book and scan it in but didn't and I was glad cause as usual, I was running behind....I'm such a horrible procrastinator!


I knew I wanted it to be bright colors for this cute lil' guys first birthday, so did it all in primary colors.

Here is the card...all done on the Silhouette and printed on Epson Presentation Paper for the brightness and saturated colors.  I made the flag myself and used a pattern that came with the Designer Edition Software for the black and white checks.

The lettering cut just fine, so that was wonderful....I've had troubles cutting little lettering before but I used a new blade and a new mat and that seemed to help. I cut the Happy 1st Birthday out and then backed it with an offset cutout of the words to make it show up better on the checked background.  I made the stop sign in the software and added black rhinestones under the name.  Not much I can tell about this card as it was all just pick a color, fill a shape and cut and adhere...the only thing special I used was the car clipart.  And, yes, I know I didn't quite get that red rectangle even with the yellow and blue....dang it!

Next up is the bag..I purchased a white bag from the Dollar Store and printed the black and white checks out on the Epson Presentation paper and then printed the car, more flags and the wording and cut it all out on the Silhouette.  I thought it all turned out cute and bright enough to catch the eye of a little 1 year old boy!
This is not the best picture as it was dark and I should have been on the road instead of taking photos...LOL

I told you I'd been busy...LOL...still have a couple more to share and a couple more in the making right now.

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Coconut Velvet Fudge Cake

This is what's on the menu for dessert this week....I thought it was so pretty I had to post a photo of it before I baked it.  This is a JoAnn Lund recipe and I'll post the recipe after the photos.

The next photo is the finished product....and yes, it does taste as good as it looks except for one little mistake I made...I cooked it in a glass cake pan, so I reduced the oven temperature to 325 degrees and cooked it for the whole 35 minutes.  To both of us, we thought it was a tad on the dry side and when I fix it again, I'll take it out at the 30 minutes or maybe even a few seconds before. It didn't take away from the flavor though....we woofed it right down.

And here is the recipe, as promised!

Coconut Velvet Fudge Cake

1 1/2 Cups Bisquick Reduced Fat Baking Mix

1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 Cup Splenda Granulars

3 Tablespoons Land O Lakes no-fat sour cream

3/4 Cup skim milk

1 egg or equivalent in egg substitute (I used the substitute)

1 Teaspoon coconut extract

1/4 Cup (1 ounce) chopped walnuts

1/4 Cup mini chocolate chips

1/4 Cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with butter-flavored cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine baking mix, cocoa and Splenda.  Add sour cream, skim milk, egg, and coconut extract. Mix gently to combine. Spread batter in prepared cake pan. Evenly sprinkle walnuts, chocolate chips, and coconut over top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Place cake pan on a wire rack and let set for at least 10 minutes.  Cut into 8 wedges.

170 calories, 6 grams Fat, 5 grams Protein, 24 grams Carbohydrates, 290 mg Sodium, 66 mg Calcium, 2 grams fiber.

This freezes well!

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Valentine to my Love

 

This is the Valentine I made for Bill....I saw something similar in the card section at the store and wanted to copy it with the Silhouette.  The white is done with a gel pen in the Silhouette and the I cut the LOVE and YOU.  It was pretty intricate cutting the white for the red LOVE and even more intricate trying to glue it on straight...as you can see, I didn't do too good of a job of that process...I then glittered up the y heart and u and attached the LOVE and heart with foam dimensionals.  The white border was done with a glue pen too but I did it by hand with a ruler....when I tried doing it on the Silhouette, it would smear when the blade was moving back into the home position.  The pen works fair but it doesn't do a really neat job with small print.  Maybe if you were doing larger print,or making a scroll or filigree, it would look great . I haven't tried that yet.

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Butterflies and Birthdays

This is the card I made for my dear friend, Maxine.  She called after she got it to thank me and was really impressed with my so called talent...LOL....I do have to admit, I did like it once it was all done.

Anyway, I'm posting 4 images of it...this first image is of the card front.  Again, I made this all in the Silhouette Studio Designer edition and the paper was imported and then cut to the shapes and sizes for the card.

The paper is from Authentique and the collection is called, Fresh...I love the softness of the colors!

The ribbon is from Celebrate It and I purchased it from Michaels.  The pearls and rhinestones came from Want2Scrap.  All the shapes came from the Silhouette Online store and my 'stitching' was done with a white gel pen.  The butterflies were printed and cut twice and then glued together for dimention and everything was sponged with blue chalk ink that I bought from My Craft Channel.

This next image is the inside of the card.

I got the sentiment off a greeting card site but can't remember the web address.

And this next two images are my pride and joy!  I finally figured out how to make a cut file for the envelope to fit these cards.  The card above is 4.75 x 6.75 and the envelope is 5 x 7 with a depth of 1/4 inch.  This way, the bulky card doesn't get 'smashed' into an envelope and it protects it during the mailing process.  It's cut out of a 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock and then I print and cut a liner for the inside.  Glued together with score tape and its finished.  I didn't decorated the outside but the next time I plan on doing that to match the card.

This first image is to show the 'depth' of the envelope and the second image shows the card inside of the envelope all ready to be sealed and mailed.  This ups my postage to $1.12 per card but it ensures that the recipient  receives their card in excellent shape.  I know some folks complain about having to pay more for postage but after working on a card for a full day I don't hesitate to pay the extra!

This is my favorite size card to make but I plan on making a cut file for the smaller cards too. 

Hope you enjoy this one!

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Valentine Treats 2013

 

Moving on.....these are the treats I made for Gavin's classmates.  This will probably be the last year as he moves to Junior High next year and the parties will end.  I'm going to miss doing it..

The monkey is a Silhouette cut...the bowtie is supposed to be a hair bow in the 'she' monkeys hair but I wanted it to be from Gavin, so decided to use it as a bowtie instead.  The pillow box is another Silhouette cut and the paper for it is from a digital kit called Sweet Valentine that I purchased off Etsy. The heart paper is from a digital kit called Everyone Loves Christmas and the script paper is from a kit called This and That.
I added distress ink around the monkey to give him a 'hairy' look and then glittered the hearts and bowtie.
Those tiny, tiny fingers were a bugger to attach and I debated on leaving them off.

I learned from another crafter that if you add an offset to all your cuts in the same color/pattern as the real cut and then set it to no cut, you avoid any white border that sometimes gets left if your print and cut is just a tad off....I was super glad to learn this cause I was using scissors to 'trim' up the cuts that didn't quite make the grade.

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Tractor Birthday for Boys or Men

Tracer is really big into tractors....he can tell you the models of most all of them when he sees one on the road.  It won't surprise me if he ends up being a farmer.

This whole card was designed and cut with the Silhouette.  The tractor came from the online store and was made by Cali Arroyo.  The button came from Teresa Collings, Every Day Moments.  Same with the twine.
The paper was from Teresa Colllings Every Day Moments and imported into Studio to fill the shapes. I've completely forgot where the celeron and green paper came from but will post when I remember.

Off for my walk!

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A favorite snack

Mandarin Orange

This is one of my favorite snack for right now. Of course I still love most all other fruits and vegetables too but this is so good and easy to grab. Like to store them in the garage so they stay nice and cold.

Valentine Tray

May photo tray done over for Valentine's Day. Not my best Silhouette work or my best photography work either. I see that some of the letters are crooked. I just didn't take the time to measure and make off placement of all the letters. Got a little lazy and it shows.....LOL

As far as the photography the red isn't right not sure if it is because of all the light reflecting off the snow or what. But it will have to do. I'll try to do better on Easter.

Dinner tonight

4 x 6  Recipe Card

This is what we had for dinner tonight along with biscuits and rice pudding. I didn't have any beef or chicken stock on hand so I just used water and a little Kitchen Bouquet. It was perfect dinner to enjoy as we watched the snow fall outside. We have 4 or 5 inches on the ground so far and it's still coming down.
Made the rice pudding from leftover rice from last nights Mandarin Orange Chicken. I didn't have any raisins but I did have dried Cranberries worked just fine. I'm always out of something but can generally find a substitute. Doesn't always work but most of the time it turns out fine and every once in awhile it's turns out better.

Enjoy the recipe card. Paper and elements from Shabby Princess.

Outside my window

This was looking at me while I was trying to watch the WV basketball game. I think this is a Vesper Sparrow. Love that snow on the beak.

Used my  70 / 300 lens so I could get a good close up shot. I like the shot but I lost the snow in the background. Still snowing and the wind is blowing. Good old winter day.

Did you notice? I put a new header up. Didn't change it much just made the striped strip longer. It didn't look balanced to me before.

January 24, 2013

This is the view outside my back window this cold, winter morn. The thermometer states that it is 8 degrees with a windchill of -12...burrrr...but the view this morning will take your breath away!

With Sympathy

This is the card I have been working up for 3 days now.  I wish I could just sit down and whipped out a card in a couple hours but I can't.  Either I can't decide how I want to make it, I can't find the paper I want or it prints wrong, time after time.  This was the case with this card.  I had the flowers cut out 2 days ago and had the basic card design made in Silhouette.  But, once I started printing, I found out my measurements were just enough off to bug me....then it quit printing my verse on the inside...after printing 6 times, it dawned on me that all I had filled with color was the outline of the font and no fill color...so it was basically like it wasn't there.  Does anyone else have as much trouble making cards as I do? 

I'm not in love with this card...to me it is missing something on the front.  In my mind, it really needed a sentiment but after putting it together, I just didn't want to start over.  Plus, my flowers were cut from some scrapbook paper and I didn't have anymore of it.

Oh well, its signed and stamped and going in the mail today!  Hopefully, my next card doesn't give me as much trouble.

Les Misérables

If you haven't seen this movie, you need to go!  I went with a friend, yesterday afternoon, and it had me spell-bound for the whole 2 1/2 hours. I would love to have seen the musical that toured the states. The cast was phenomenal!  I cried and laughed and couldn't go to sleep because I kept re-playing it in my head.  I'd go back in a heart beat! I've no image to share but definitely wanted to share my opinion on this remarkable movie..I was so excited when this friend asked me to go cause I knew Bill would not take it in.  He hates musicals and I love them....how did we ever match up?  Hummmm....

I have signed up for the health departments Weight Lose program and started on a diet.  I want to lose 25 pounds and tone up the muscles that I seem to be loosing since I retired.  I'm walking 5 1/2 miles a day and trying to cut down on what I eat.  Mainly cutting out the sweets but limiting the rest.  I was fortunate this week to gain a walking companion and the walks go much faster now. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I reach my goal!

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Thank You Card

Well, it's 2013!  I can not believe I've been retired a full year....time is going by way too fast.  We will be heading to mom and dad's early Saturaday morning to do the last of our Christmas events.  It's suppose to warm up next week, so I hope to get the rest of the Christmas decorations and lights down outside.  I hate pulling in the driveway and seeing those strings of lights hanging down.  It was ok when they lit up every night but I can't handle them when they are shut off.  LOL...yep, I'm no longer in the Christmas Spirit!!!

I made a couple of these cards for thank you's for the kids up north and Jerri Ann and Randy.  Then, I liked the card so well and needed a birthday card quickly, so I just changed the sentiment to Happy Birthday and it went out in the mail with the other two cards.  I only have one card to make in January, so I'm planning on making some cards up this month to have on hand.

Ok...I will see if I can give credits quickly!  LOL....I used this card for my inspiration....Endless ink-abilities
I really loved the circle cuts on the sides....the butterfly was a free download I got from Call Me Victorian
and I clipped it out and loaded it into my Silhouette program to do a print and cut.  I cut it out twice and layered it with pop dots and added black rhinestones to the top layer.  The butterfly had the brown sponging on the edges of the wings but I sponged it with Walnut distress ink to hide the white edge of the cardstock.
The music background comes from Happy Travels by Glitz....I use a lot of this paper so I've loaded it into the pattern section of my Silhouette program.  The brown background paper is from K&Company and the cardstock is Rustic Cream by PaperTreyInk. The brown twine came from Wal-mart and I made the glittered circle by cutting a scalloped circle with the Silhouette and then running it through my adhesive Xyron.  I poured the glittered on the sticky side and burnished it in with my finger.  The font I used is called Champignon.
Remember the time I had making envelopes for the Christmas cards?  Well, this is the Baronial envelope I purchased from the Silhouette store that was WAY too small for my cards.  I liked the looks of it and the addition of the liner so I set about and re-made it so it would fit my 5 x 4.75 cards.  The paper I used was just some cream stock I've had and the liner was printed and cut in the Silhouette using a paper from Happy Travels by Glitz.

Guess that's all!  Hope you like!


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