Mailable Monday # 119

For today's card I used Timeless Elegance designer paper. 

The roses were colored in with Blushing Bride marker.

 

I also stamped the designer paper with the large fern leaf from 

 

Butterfly Basics stamp set. 

 

This was mounted on black cardstock. 

 

 

The base card was cut 11 x 4 1/4, and then

 

scored at 2 3/4, and 5 1/2.

 

Makes a nice "Z" fold card. 

 

Today is the very last day of August. Sarah's wedding is just 12 days away. 

 

Getting excited for my friends Kat, and Marianne to get here! Both are 

 

coming for the wedding. Won't be long now! 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Homemade Zucchini Bread

Okay I admit it...this loaf of quick bread does not look 

that good.....but it does taste wonderful! 

I made it from zucchini I had in my garden.

 

1 1/2 cup zucchini

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup olive oil for baking or you can use vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

 

Swirl

1/4 cup sugar, and 1 TB cinnamon

 

pre-heat oven to 350

 

Mix zucchini, 3/4 sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs.

 

In another bowl combine flour, soda, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder

 

Combine the wet ingredients, with the dry ingredients. 

 

In a small bowl combine the 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon 

 

Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and add 1/3 of the batter.

 

Sprinkle over the layer with cinnamon sugar mixture reserving some for the next layers.

 

Add another 1/3 of the batter, then more sugar/cinnamon

 

Then add the last 1/3 of the batter, and top with just a sprinkle of the sugar/cinnamon. 

 

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes till knife inserted in center comes out clean.

 

This bread is so moist and yummy!!

 

It has been cooler here the past several days and it has made me want to bake, and 

 

drink coffee! I think I'm ready for Fall and pot of chilli! 

 

Stamping trails

Karen      

3D Designer Paper Ornaments

I found the video to make these great ornaments on Stamping 

Connection (stampinup demo site) 

They are made using only a 6x6 piece of designer paper. 

I made these from retired designer paper that I had on hand. 

They go together pretty quickly, and use Tombo glue to assemble them. 

And because I know my readers will also like to make some here is 

the utube link for Debbie's tutorial

Stamping trails

Karen

Sketch Frenzy Friday 082815

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday. 

***just a note***

There were requests for the sizes on the tea light holders I 

posted yesterday. Please go back to that post as I did update it 

yesterday for the directions. 

Okay back to the card.....

I used Basic Gray for the base card. Smokey Slate for the layer that

was embossed. 

Designer paper is from the natural paper pack. 

I added a bow to the center and a doily across the top and bottom of the

square.

Don't forget to check out the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog. 

There are some great cards on the site that are using today's sketch. 

 

 

Stamping trails

Karen

Christmas Gifts

I have been trying to get a jump on homemade Christmas gifts this week. 

These little cardstock weight votive candle holders are done in three

different sizes and will package as a set of three. 

I used the star border punch across the top. The

snowflake was embossed with white embossing powder. 

I lucked out with the sliver ribbon. Found it in my ribbon stash. 

It is a really narrow silver sparkle ribbon that also was wired so 

it made it really easy to make nice fitting corners around the candle. 

Now I just have to go pick up all the flame-less candles to go in them. 

Close up view of the smallest size.

To make the three different sizes cut the velum cardstock:

4 1/2 x 8 1/2
5 1/2 x 8 1/2
6 1/2 x 8 1/2

Score each of the sizes at: 2, 4, 6, and 8 inches

Turn the velum 90 degrees and score the bottom at 2 inches.

When scoring use the large end of the scoring tool so the velum won't tear.

4 1/2" x 8 1/2"

5 1/2" x 8 1/2"

6 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Next, in each case, score at 2", 4", 6", and 8"; then turn the piece degrees and score again down the length at 2".  This will form your bottom flaps.

- See more at: http://www.doggonedelightfulstampin.com/busy_stampin/2015/01/hello-spring-occasions-stampin-pretty-pals-jan-2015-blog-hop.html#sthash.Dc2u3IWI.dpuf

Stamping trails

Karen

August Paper Pumpkin Card Candy

I received the August Paper Pumpkin kit from Stampin'Up.

Its a cute kit with gift boxes and cards you can make. 

Of course what did I do with some of the kit?

Make card candy of course. 

After attaching the card elements to a window sheet I added

a piece of Timeless Elegance designer paper. 

Here is the back view. I just added some

Sahara Sand lace, rhinestones and white perfect accents. 

I think I'm finished with card candy for a bit. I do 

have some to share with you at another time. Those are made 

from two other stampers from the swap I was in. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Sunflower Dress

Since Sarah's flowers for the wedding will be sunflowers

I had to have my little 5" doll wearing a sunflower dress. 

Isn't this just too cute?!

 

The next forms the sunflower, and the leaves are crocheted then

 

sewn down the dress front.  

Here is a side view. Her little hat also has a 

sunflower and little lady bug button on it.. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Mailable Monday # 118

I think this greeting was just longing to be

used on a quilt card. 

This quick and easy nine patch quilt was made using Farmers Market

designer paper. 

Greeting from Sheltering Tree stamp set. 

I used the 1" square punch to punch the squares. 

Vanilla layer is 3 1/4 x 3 1/4.

The Blackberry Bliss layer is 3 1/2 x 3 1/2. 

The quilt and layers were popped on the vanilla base card. 

I added two little blackberry bliss hearts. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Oval Pumpkin Framelit Art

I started to put out my Fall decorations which got me

thinking about Autumn craft projects.

This pumpkin was made using the smallest oval in the 

Oval Collections framelits. 

There are 7 total that make up the pumpkin. Each one was 

run thought with a different embossing folder. The edges were

all sponged with Soft Suede. 

The bird builder punch was used with Always Artichoke cardstock to make

the leaves. The stem is Soft Suede that I just cut free hand to fit the top of the pumpkin. 

Little curly "Q" are thin strips of cardstock that I curled around my finger. 

Pumpkin was layered on Crumb Cake cardstock that was stamped with Hardwood

 

background stamp. It was also popped up on the layer. 

 

"thankful" is a from the Expressons Thinlits die set. 

 

Second layer is Eggplant Envy, and base card is vanilla. 

 

As I'm looking at the card I'm thinking it would make a great little

 

frame art piece. May have to find a nice wood frame for it. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

VC Rocks Blog Hop

Welcome to VC Rocks last blog hop of the season. 

The theme for this one is friendship. 

I used natural designer paper, and Awesomely Artistic for this card. 

See the little lace flower in the corner?

I made that from a lace paper doily. This was my first attempt at making one. 

Once I get it down I'll share how I made it.

I love this box! It has a unique way of opening. This is the top view.

Again I used Awesomely Artistic stamp set. Flower stamped on vanilla with Memento ink

and colored with a blender pen using Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz ink.

 

Here is the side view. The flower at the top is only adhered to one

side of the lid so it can open from the top.

and here is a view of the box open.

I know you want to make your own box so check out this video from Caroline

Be sure to check out the VC Rocks blog so you can check out the 

other great artwork.

Stamping trails

Karen

Sketch Frenzy Friday

Happy Friday Sketch. 

Not to happy with how this card came out. Maybe it was the colors as

I'm just not loving it. 

Stamp set From the Garden, and I used the matching framelits. 

Colors: Mossy Meadow, Vanilla, Bermuda Bay, and Crumb Cake. 

Now because I had some leftover scraps from projects that will be posting tomorrow

I made another card from today's sketch.

White base card, and 1 1/2 strips of natural designer paper. 

Greeting from Butterfly Basics. 

Don't forget to check out other cards made by the Sketch Frenzy

Friday Design Team.

Stamping trails

Karen

Corn

Skip was very happy that he got corn from his garden this season. 

Of course the racoons tramped on some of it. Darn beasties! 

The corn was very good! Made the last of it last night, and I 

will have corn stalks to decorate the mailbox with. 

I went with Sarah yesterday to her first wedding dress fitting. 

I love the dress and she looks wonderful in it. 

Wish I could share photos, but I can't till after the wedding, as Sarah

doesn't want the dress photos out there yet. Can't blame her for that. 

We both very happy that her Aunt Cheryl was also at the fitting. 

Things are moving right along.

I made my appointment for the surgery pre-screening. That will be on the 

1st of September, then on the 21st I'll be getting the second knee replaced. 

I'll be posting artwork tomorrow for Sketch Frenzy Friday, and on Saturday

there is a VC Rocks blog hop. So be sure to check back. 

Stamping trails

Karen

More Card Candy...Guy Greetings

More card candy. 

This one was made using Guy Greetings. 

After adhering the candy to a window sheet I slid

a piece of natural designer paper behind it. 

This way the person receiving the swap will also have

a nice size piece of the paper to use along with the card candy. 

I used Chalk Talk, and Project Life Cards and Label framelits. 

Thank you to my friend Kat who also pointed out to me that

one of the framelits from the Project Life fits the frame from 

Awesomely Artistic. How cool is that! And here I've been 

fussy cutting that out. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Market Fresh Card Candy

Been working on some card candy as I am 

the hostess for the swap. We didn't get as many players as I would 

have liked so I decided to fill 3 of the slots myself. 

Since I still had all the stuff on my desk for doing the crayon resist technique

I ran with it. Market Fresh stamp set used with Always Artichoke, Real Red, 

and Daffodil Delight ink. 

Instead of using a window sheet to adhere the "candy" to I used a 

piece of glossy black cardstock. I didn't have enough room 

on the front of the package so I put one of the finished pieces on the back side. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Mailable Monday # 117

I made this quick and easy card using the card candy I made for a swap,

I also used it to make the show your artwork swap. 

The grapes were done with crayon resist technique. 

Designer paper is the matching paper that goes with Market Fresh stamp set. 

Speaking of grapes......

I love the new stuff at Joann's by Susan Winget. 

I was at the store a few days ago and bought this spiral notebook

and this....

box. The pattern and colors go so well with the 

grape/wine theme I have going on in my kitchen. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Brick Wall Embossing Folder Tutorial

These are cards I made for a swap. I have a tutorial for you 

using the Brick embossing folder. 

First open up the folder. Next tap the ink pad on the 

raised side of the folder. Don't push to hard or the 

ink will get on the "bricks"

Place the cardstock over the ink and close the folder. 

I used Sahara Sand ink with Sahara Sand cardstock for my cards. 

This is what it looks like after you run it through the Big Shot. 

The ink fills in all the lines and it looks like mortar holding the bricks together. 

After I got the layer completed I stamped it using

Awesomely Artistic stamp set and Old Olive ink. 

I made a little lace flower to put on the card using 

Sahara Sand lace.

We went to the drive last night and saw man from UNCLE and

Train wreck. OMG that was such a funny romantic comedy.

Then when started the van for home the battery was dead. Luckily  the drive in

has jumper cables and were able to get it started for us.

Stamping trails

Karen

Sunflower Cookies, and No Bake Cookies

Just wanted to share some recipes with you today. 

No Bake Cookies

1/4 cup almond milk or low fat milk

2 tsp olive oil - I used the kind for baking

2 TBS sugar

2 TBS un-sweetened cocoa powder

1 TBS un-sweetened applesauce

1/4 cup peanut butter - I use Simply Jiff

1 cup rolled oats

dash of sea salt

 

Mix it all together in bowl. Place wax paper on plate then drop

 

the mixture by rounded teaspoons. Slightly flatten with back of spoon. 

 

I keep these in the fridge. Batter makes about 16. 

 

I've had several requests for the lemon spritz sunflower cookies that I made 

 

for my daughters bridal shower. So here it is. 

 

 

Sunflower Lemon Spritz Cookies

 

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

2 TBS lemon curd-I used Dickinson lemon curd

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

yellow food coloring, and chocolate jimmies

 

heat oven to 350

 

cream butter, sugar, and salt till light and fluffy ( used my kitchenaid mixer)

add egg, lemon curd, and vanilla beat till smooth

add flour a little at a time and beat till it is all mixed together

add a few drops of food coloring, mix till you have the desired color

Fit cookie press with sunflower disk and fill. 

After pressing the cookies onto a cookie sheet add the jimmies to the 

centers. 

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes till bottoms are brown. Let cookies cool on the sheet for 

a minute then remove to wire cooling racks. Store in air tight container. 

Happy baking, and non baking! 

Stamping trails

Karen

 

Sketch Frezny Friday 081415

Happy Sketch Frenzy Friday!

I used the new Brick Wall embossing folder. Love that the 

bricks are so large. 

Stamp set Awesomely Artistic. 

I stamped the dragonfly on cardstock weight vellum with memento black ink. 

It was stamped and cut twice. The top layer is just the dragonfly wings. 

I wanted to give the "bug" a bit more dimension.

Closer view of the dragonfly. 

Be sure to check out the Sketch Frenzy Blog to see other cards using 

this sketch. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Crayon Resist meets Market Fresh

I'm in a swap with the VC Rocks group. This one is call Show Me Your Art. 

We are to decorate 1/2 sheet of cardstock using a stamping technique. 

I decided to do crayon resist. 

I stamped the white glossy cardstock with the grapes and inked with Memento Black ink. 

Had to heat set the ink in order for it to be dry for the next step. 

Using a white crayon I added highlights to the image. Really 

you can use any color crayon as the crayon marks will wipe off the glossy cardstock.

For this one I used Elegant Eggplant, Crushed Curry, and Always Artichoke ink,

and applied the color to the images with sponges. 

After the ink color was added I wiped them with a tissue. 

I used Gorgeous Grunge with Crumb Cake ink to fill in the blank spaces. 

Closer view. 

The last of Sarah's things she needed for her wedding dress arrived yesterday. 

Her fitting is on the 18th. Can't wait. Its getting close now less than a month she

will be married. I'm so happy for her and Jason. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

More Bridal Shower Photos

Sarah and her Maid of honor Melinda. I thought 

it was so cute that Melinda had on a sunflower dress.

Top photo is a shot of the seating for the guests. 

Sarah and her Aunt Cheryl. Cheryl had a knife and cake 

service engraved for her. Cheryl told her it was her first 

family heirloom together.

Sarah holding the card I made. She said she was going to keep it forever. 

Some of the family watching on as she opened gifts. Her

mom in law to be is on the far front left, her cousin Carol is next to her.

Aunt Lisa , Sherry, Aunt Kathy. On the other side far right front Mary Jo,

Aunt Cheryl, me. 

Sarah really was happy with the dishes. This is the completer set. Large platter. 

More gifts. Aunt Lisa front left, Sherry, Aunt Kathy

Front right me, my niece Lily. 

Sarah and Jason met while they were both working at Cedar Point during

Halloweekends. Jason did all the air brushing for the actors. So he met Sarah

while doing her makeup. Sarah's mom in law to be Debbie gave her dawn of the dead

ornaments for their tree to represent when they first met. 

I just love the look on her face in this one. 

and I have some more photos of the decorations. 

Again it was a great day. I'll be back to posting projects tomorrow. 

Sarah came over yesterday afternoon and finished up the thank you cards. She

also took her brother John shopping and he bought a suit to wear to the wedding. 

Now I have to find something! 

Stamping trails

Karen