Productive Sunday Morning

I did not make it to church this morning because I am on call and had an issue to resolve just as I started to shower. Didn't have time after that and good thing because got called back about 15 minutes later.

So I made good use of my time by using some expired Greek yogurt (outdated yesterday) in some experimental recipes. 

The first was some Pear Scones.  I took a recipe for blueberry scones and used diced fresh pears instead. Also used pumpkin pie spice. They are okay but probably won't make them again. I'll put some in the freezer to pull out this winter. 

The loaf is Cranberry White Chocolate Tea Bread.  Most of it will go in the freezer too. If I keep it all out, I will just keep snacking on it until I have eaten it all. 

And after all of that I made. A pot of Vegetable Bean Soup. 

A beautiful fall day and such wonderful smells in the house. 

I love Saturdays

I love Saturdays - although I planned to work on some card designs, I never made it there (or at least not yet - there are still a couple hours in my day). 
Trying to get back to counting the calories with My Fitness Pal and a consistent exercise routine. The scale has slowly crept up about 10 lbs and some of the clothes are getting a little snug.   I am NOT buying larger clothes!!! So I am planning meals in advance instead of just winging it most evenings.   Pulled out a bunch of my Quick Cooking magazines last night and made up a menu for the next two weeks (and then I am off the hook for over a week - cruise! - and no calorie counting either)  First thing this morning I got my shopping done and then came home to a clean house (thanks to my DH who does all the housecleaning !)  and prepped the veggies for the week. 
Then a visit with my daughter's family.  Always happy to take a break with the granddaughter.  They had gone apple picking. 

She is rolling over a lot now and trying to talk.  If she is like her mama she will be talking up a storm in no time!  Won't be long and she will be crawling and sitting up.  No more cuddly little baby - but love seeing her grow and change.

After they left, I got busy on supper.  Lots of chopping - love my Pampered Chef chopper! Herbed Chicken and Rice (Quick Cooking),  Roasted Garlic Cauliflower (Allrecipes) and Provel Topped Tomatoes.  (So excited that Sam's has the provel cheese from Imo's.)

The whole meal was 474 calories  ( lots of Parmesan cheese on the cauliflower - which was good for something different and I had the calories to spare tonight but I usually make it without the cheese).
DH's favorite part of the meal - the tomatoes.  They really are tasty. 

Faux Patina Technique

I have seen many examples of the faux patina technique and have been wanting to try it for a while.  Someone asked me to make an anniversary card for 7 years - which is copper - so I had a good reason to do some patina.

This one has a strip of the faux patina with some crocher trim. The card stock used is Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, and Crisp Cantaloupe.  The stamp is from Simply Sketched.

The patina hearts are layered on Cajun Craze and arranged on Always Artichoke, Early Espresso and Crisp Cantaloupe with a Crumb Cake seam binding bow.

These three hearts are mounted on Early Espresso and then arranged on Always Artichoke, Early Espresso and Baked Brown Sugar.

Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Crisp Cantaloupe.  A little extra with the embossing on the front and...

some pop-up hearts inside.   I really enjoy making the pop-up cards.  I hope people enjoy getting them as much.

Some Calypso Coral, Early Espresso and Island Indigo for this card.   The hearts on a Very Vanilla ribbon and then you open the card and...

the ribbon falls out with more hearts attached.  Just another fun card.  I'm not sure any of my patina experiments really look like tarnished copper - but it was fun and it gives a special touch to the cards. 

Make your own envelopes

With Stampin Up's new envelope punch board it is so easy to make envelopes to coordinate with your cards.  The board has measurements on it for 66 different sizes of envelopes.   I experimented with a couple different sizes.  They are all close to 3 x 4 inches so would make cute cards to include in a gift bag. 

 Gingham Garden DSP is used for the envelope and a piece is on the card.    Love the gingham!

 Another sheet of Gingham Garden.  The double sided DSP is perfect for making these envelopes. 

Here I used some reitred DSP  (I have lots!)  It's really fun matching the envelope to the cards.

Love those Chevrons

Chevrons are everywhere!  And Stampin' Up has them too. 

There is a new Chevron punch in the holiday catalog.  Here I punched it in one direction then turned my card stock around and punched it in the opposite direction.   And check out the Chevron embossing on the piece of Crisp Cantaloupe. 



The Chevron punch makes a cute braid if you punch two sheets of card stock and reverse one and slide it into the other one.  For this card I just punched once on Daffodil Delight and Bermuda Bay. 

 



 

Here I punched a few longer row of chevrons.   The punch is very easy to use to make a continuous line.  The hardest part is getting each point to go through the opening in the other piece of card stock.  Just takes a little patience.

 



One more - a Christmas card idea.   I punched the chevrons on a piece of DSP for this one and wove it with the Baked Brown Sugar card stock. 

It seems like every package of DSP has a chevron pattern in it.   This is cased from a card I on another demonstrator's blog.  The pansy punch images are stamped on vellum.   I really like the black, vanilla and yellow combination.  I think I will be making more like this one.

And another chevron pattern in the Soho Subway DSP.  I used Night of Navy and Very Vanilla card stock to coordinate with the pattern. 

 

 

Another card with the chevron embossing folder.  I combined that with the chevron DSP. 



Paper Pumpkin and a Vacation Day - Perfect Combination

I took a vacation day today because the Maytag repairman had to come fix our washer and lucky for me - my September Paper Pumpkin arrived.   I had spent the whole day in the craft room but still had to open the kit and check it out. 

Here's what I received

Everything needed to make 4 cards, with everything precut or ready to punch out.   Even a half sheet of dimensionals (and I only used about half of those).   I pretty much kept to the design included in the kit.

The card on the far right is the original design.  I made it then decided to change it a little and made the card on the far left.   When putting the little chevron punch-outs on that card it hit me - wouldn't it be cute to 'hit the target'.  so I did the middle two cards with that in mind.   In no time I had 4 congratulations cards made and ready to use.  And they even included the envelopes. 
I not only had half the dimensionals left but I omitted the twine around the WAHOO piece on two of the cards and had quite a bit of that left too.  Plus I now have a WAHOO! stamp and a small YOU DID IT! stamp that can be used for all sorts of things. 

Some other things I made today....

 

I was asked if I could make a bookmark for a book-themed birthday party for a friend's 2 year-old daughter.  She had the quote and wanted a stack of books at the bottom.  I did not have a 'book' stamp but had seen some punch art books so took a stab at it.  I printed the words on regular paper and trimmed them down - then added the punch art books and put it on a strip of card stock to make it sturdier.  Added a little bit of ribbon and - too cute!

 

 

 I went through my Pinterest pins and picked out some cards to try.  This one had Smoky Slate card base with another piece of Smoky Slate embossed and sponged layered on top.  I like the look.  The flower is Crisp Cantaloupe and the leaves are Pistachio Pudding.  



And I played around with my Oval Framelits and some sponging.   I cut a smaller oval and positioned it over the oval shaped image and sponged with some Cherry Cobbler to make a frame for the image..  The larger oval and the image are Baked Brown Sugar.  The card base is Old Olive.    This could be used for any occasion but would make a cute Christmas card.
Guess what I did with the smaller oval that I used to mask when sponging the frame.....

 

 

made another card, of course.  I used the Chevron embossing folder for the Old Olive background and the Circle Framelits to layer the DSP on Cherry Cobbler. 

Chevrons are really popular right now and Stampin Up has plenty to play with.  More of that tomorrow....





Happy Fall Y'all

The summer has just flown by.  It doesn't feel like fall but I know it is just around the corner.    Made this cute little character in anticipation of colorful autumn leaves, pumpkins, bonfires and cooler temps.

I used the envelope liner die set.  This one was made using the smallest die but I have seen them made from the larger ones too.   Isn't he cute.  This would make a cute theme for a scrapbook page.

And the granddaughter is one month older. 

She is now 5 months old and in this photo it looks like she is trying to do the traditional family 'ee-aw' for the camera. 

This is a photo from her mommy and daddy's wedding in 2010 - see the family resemblance :-)

My Labors Today

My labor of love today was designing some cards for a family group and putting togehter some tutorials.  You can view the tutorials ...

Twister Pattern

Pop-Up Cards and Sponged Butterflies

 

And while I was playing I made some more Flip Flop cards.  They are so easy with the Circle Card Die.

This one uses the Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper.  Colors are Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry and Crisp Cantaloupe.

 



 And when it is opened....

 Similar card but used Raspberry Ripple instead of Rich Razzleberry. 

 And opened....

For this one I inverted the card to get the wider section to the left and the flip flop circle towards the bottom of the card.   I pulled out some retired Designer Series Paper and striped ribbon in So Saffron.  I used the star die that comes in with the card die set but the larger star was cut using the retired star punch.  It is all on a base of Midnight Muse.

And opened....

For this one I used a little different way of cutting out the card.  The extra flap on the right gives you more room to write a personal note.  The Designer Series is retired as is the Bashful Blue card stock.  

 Opened----- but wait there's more....

Completely open.  Lots of room for a note.