Monday, January 18, 2010

My boy.

As you can tell, I have a lot of upcoming boy's birthdays.... you will be seeing more :) As Tania commented in a previous card, it is hard to sometimes come up with ideas once they are past that dump trucks and robots! Hopefully I can inspire you {a wee bit} with some of these.
This card is for my son who will be turning 11 {gasp!!} in March. Yes, I'm ahead of the game, working on that this year!
He loves the water & is looking forward to our return to Arizona this spring. Although we won't be there for his actual birthday, I thought he'd appreciate the surfer, even if he is a chicken ☺.
I hand cut some waves for this background and then used my StazOn White to ink up the edges to make them stand out a bit more and give them a bit of that foamy edge. I stamped 'happy birthday' in the stazon & for some reason it didn't ink well, so I took my Versamark and stamped over top of it again. Not *quite* what I was looking for, but it worked. I then added a few red eyelets to the top to help balance the card a bit and although it's hard to see, I did stamp a line of stars along the bottom of the eyelet row.
Stamps - Whipper Snapper, Technique Tuesday
Paper - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Brilliance Graphite Black, White Stazon, Versamark
Other - red eyelets (SU), Copic Markers
So another boy/masculine card for you to see. What are you working on these days?
Happy Stamping,
.j.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

A busy Week.

It was Hello Monday. Blink. Hello Sunday. Wow, what a full week! Between doctor's appointments, a field trip, a sprained ankle (poor hubby), a put out back (yes, poor hubby again!!) family night and school, it was jam packed. It is *so* nice to have the sun out shining brilliantly this afternoon. Although the chill & the snow is still here, and will be for some time, the sunshine is a blessing! I haven't had much time this week to play with my stamps, but I still have some to share with you. It's getting on the computer to post them that's been the challenge. Funny how I bought this laptop for me and I never seem to get on it! LOL.
This image is from Whipper Snapper (♥ their images!!) and on their sample card, they had the sentiment "snow is overrated!" HA. Love that. We needed another Christmas thank-you card for my brother & I thought this would be the perfect image to play with. Isn't he cute? I colored him in using Copic Markers, stamped 'thank-you' in Versamark on the background, and added a couple buttons.
stamps - Whipper snapper (main image), Family Phrases (Stampin' Up!)
Paper - Stampin' Up, Design Paper - Basic Grey
Buttons - PTI
Other - Copic Markers, Brilliance Graphic Black Ink.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Hello Monday.

Monday.
Fresh start to a new week, how's yours looking?
The lighting in this card is a little off. I'm in the basement, so to get good photos is proving to be a challenge. This was the other birthday card for the boy's birthday. I used the Stampin' Up! set for this one, that seems to be my go-to for boy's birthdays. I guess girls too (I've just used pinks/greens) It was a pretty quick card to put together after the stars were cut out. I popped the red on out with some stampin' dimensionals to give it a bit of depth.
Stamps - can't recall the name, if you really want to know, comment and I'll try to look it up for you (at a hockey game right now without the ability to just look at it! lol)
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Design Paper - Basic Grey
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!

Saturday, January 09, 2010

A busy day.

Today started out quiet & relaxed and by the afternoon we were scrambling to birthday parties and a hockey practice/game.
It was a good day.
This was one of the cards for the birthday for the day. I'll share the other one with you on Monday. In my stocking I received the PTI set Cupcake Collections and I had lots of fun pulling it out & playing. I colored the cupcake "paper" with my copics and for the top, I used Basic Grey design paper and did some paper-piecing. I actually used a PTI layout for this stamp set as my inspiration. What have you used for inspiration lately?
Stamps - Paper.Trey.Ink Cupcake Collection
Cardstock - Stampin' Up
Design Paper - Basic Grey
Ribbon - unknown (all tangled in my stash ☺)
Buttons - PTI & Stampin' Up!

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Although we are back in Alberta, we have decided *not* to unload the storage unit and move in these frozen temperatures. So most of my stamping goodies are still all packed up, it'll be close to a year until it's all unpacked and it will feel like Christmas, with everything like new again; I'm excited!! We are planning to head back to Arizona for a couple of months just as soon as we can swing it. Yes, we love it down there. +21C in the winter compared to -35C ? Hello, I am there! It's jut the living out of suitcases that can drive me insane. So for now, we are settling in a furnished little place and it seems to be working for the most part. Homeschooling is going well (most days) and I'm getting some stamping time which is fabulous.
This is a card I made for my niece. I thought with that hen nestled atop that gift, "warmest wishes" was the perfect sentiment. I used Stickles on the wrapping paper dots, not sure if you can see that in the photo that well. I've had my eye on those sheer flowers (at PTI), but every time I went to order them they were out of stock. NOT THIS TIME :) So I pulled them out and played a bit with this card. OK, not much playing, stuck a button on it, lol, but used one just the same. Design Paper - Basic Grey, Cardstock - Stampin' Up!, Copic Markers
Hope you're week is going well,
.j.

Fabulously Sweet Pear Cake

OK, seriously, this is DELISH. A must try. Even if your pears are looking SAD and mushy, this my friend, is the perfect way to use them up!!

FABULOUSLY SWEET PEAR CAKE

Ingredients:
4 fresh pears (I used five because all 5 were way over ripe)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cup chopped pecans (we didn't have any so we omitted these)
2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
1. Peel and slice pears thin. mix sliced pears with white sugar, brown sugar, and nuts. Let sit for one hour. After sitting puree pear mixture in blender. (Again, I skipped this step. I mashed them up and although there weren't pureed it was fine)
2. Preheat oven to 350. Grease & flour pan. I used a loaf pan (it was huge by the time it was done), they call for 9x13, but I'm thinking it might not be enough batter??, some use a cake pan, whatever you've got :) Cooking time might change 'tis all.
3. By hand stir in until just blended; the flour, salt & baking soda. Add dry ingredients to pear mixture and add oil vanilla and eggs. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes (loaf pan took an additional 20 minutes... might try two smaller loaf pans next time)

ENJOY! let me know what you think if you give it a try :)
.j.

Monday, January 04, 2010

A Simple Thank-you

We will be working on getting our Christmas thank-you cards out in the mail this week. Often when I stamp a number of cards (which are all different) I end up with bits & pieces of this & that. I don't like to waste anything (anyone else have a scrap bin that is overflowing??!). I decided after I made our Christmas Cards and even a few thank-you cards, I would make a couple more with the "scraps" that were left on the table. I'm *so* missing my cuttlebug for texture, and my sewing machine for something different, but I tried to get a few different layers (some design paper, some solid cardstock that I stamped with Versamark), to give it some depth. A very simple card, but it turned out pretty good & it recycled a number of bits & pieces too!
Have you made a "scrappy" card lately?
.j.

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Snorkel Thanks.

We are back in {cold} Canada and already missing Arizona. We had a fabulous time and are readily planning our next escape. -35C is not nearly as enjoyable as +21C!
While we are here though I hope to have a bit more time creating. My stamping friend pointed me in the direction of this bloggers challenge...
Check it out, it might be a challenge that allows you to scrapbook 2010 one month at a time! I'm hoping to follow this challenge, let me know if you join as I'd love to see your pages!!
This card I'm sharing with you today was a thank-you card we sent to the owners of the house in Lake Havasu City, AZ where we spent most of our time. We loved it there & so enjoyed our time there (and the pool!!).
The image is from Whipper Snapper, DS Paper by Basic Grey and solid cardstock is all Stampin' Up!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and will enjoy a blessed New Year.
I plan to be a bit more active on my blog, so hopefully a few of you are still out there :)
.j.