Belle Papier {pretty paper}

My friends over at Craft Critique are having a Fabric Challenge Carnival If you like fabric…you may want to check it out, sounds like a lot of fun! The link is http://www.craftcritique.com/2007/03/fabric-challenge-carnival.html

My Material Girl post from last Thursday (here) is linked to their challenge. Very cool!

Number 31! Rachel Hope is the lucky winner of my Basic Grey 6×6 paper packs! Please e-mail me Rachel, with your address. I used this random number generator to pick the winner. Thanks everyone for commenting…it is amazing how most people start with a clean desk. Some of you asked how I get started. Usually a new product is just begging to get used so I start there. I have a very small stamping area with next to no storage…just one little desk and corner of the family room. Sorry…. no pics of it! Don’t want to break my camera! Recently, I’m diligently working on sorting it all out. I’ve been doing some Spring cleaning too with some of my sets. I need to figure out how to post them all on ebay. It seems though…that every time I go up to clean…a scrap of paper just wants to be made into a card! You’ve seen some of those results lately.

Today’s Ways to Use It Challenge is now on-line! Come play along with us….the challenge is “to die for”! I didn’t have time last night to get a card made for this challenge so I quickly whipped one up this morning. It is so busy here with the kids off school this week. This morning, I’m off for a Photo Health Card appointment with my oldest son so this is super-quick!

I needed a baby boy card….lots of Spring babies this year it seems! I remembered that my daughter received this darling little Cuttlebug Baby die for her birthday and wanted to give it a try! To give diecuts a little extra something, sponge the edges for dimension, add a little color or some embellishments. This card opened as the top and 3/4″ is trimmed off the card front top. I then scalloped the edge with a corner rounder punch. A slit punch is used under the button to create a little flap to hold the front in place. The Oh Baby stamp is one I picked up a while ago from the bin in Michael’s I stamped it repeatedly to make the background….it still needed tied together a little so I overstamped it with Linen (SU).

Supply List:

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Barely Banana - SU

Patterned Paper: Making Memories

Stamps: Linen - SU, Oh baby - Michael’s

Ink: Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue

Other: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug baby die, ribbon - SU & Unknown, sewing machine, button, Heart Brad - Making Memories, stapler, tab punch, slit punch - SU, small corner rounder - EK Success

I just LOVE my new Stampin Up punch….so cute! I’ve had this card half made on my desk just waiting for it. When I was tidying up my desk the other day….haven’t we heard this before somewhere (wink)…..I came across the teal office clip and this new Prima flower. Hmmmm….wouldn’t teal and black be fun for spring? I had this stamped image from a wish rak there as well and the image seemed kind of retro and fun to me, just like the colors. I clipped it all together to a black card base and waited for some time to play.

Enter my new punch…I just had to try it out of course. Not much time this week with the kids off school so where better to try it out than a half designed card. I punched the left side of the image for a little fun look. The notepaper theme really went well with the office clip I already had out to work with. For this card I actually pulled out my Watercolor Crayons from SU. I usually just use the ink pressed into the ink pad lids, but for so many colors…this was a great idea. I didn’t even take the crayons out of their tin…just wet the side of them a little with the aquapainter and away I went. Made clean-up much easier.

Retro Birthday

Supply List:

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Taken With Teal - SU

Stamps: Time with You, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Floral - SU

Ink: Basic Black - SU

Other: Watercolor Crayons, punch - SU, eyelets - Making Memories, Happy charm - K & Company, Prima flower, Office Clip - Staples Business Depot

A couple weeks ago, my good friend Jacksonbelle (Lindsey Botkin)  and I had a fun little challenge. We took two products the same - one a stamp set and the other a paper line and created two very different cards from the products. SO much fun and a great way to highlight how very flexible products are. I just love the concept that we each take the same products and make them our own. Someone made a comment the last time about our contest….please note, this is not a contest…just a little fun. There is NO way I want to compete with Jacksonbelle!  We received such a great response, we’ve decided to do it again every couple weeks. We hope you continue to enjoy it!

 This week, the challenge was to use Sassy Stem’s stamp set from Stampin Up and paper from the beautiful new Prima line, Lucid. To see my card, just look below. To view Lindsey’s, click here for her blog.

When I used this Sassy Stems set last week for the color challenge, I went clean and bright so I wanted to go for a different look this time. Some of the Lucid papers really look a little retro to me so I tried to get a little….what Trudee calls “Funk Factor” in it. Teal, Celery, Chocolate Chip and some rust…really remind me of what little I remember of the 70’s. REally, I’m not THAT old! I DO remember wearing a lovely brown velour zip-up hoodie so I added the warm, fuzzy, beautiful velvet ribbon. And doesn’t that celery and chocolate swirl-looking paper just look groovy, baby? For coloring the image, I actually used Real Rust for watercoloring the flowers. I was surprised to find, it was the first time I’d watercolored with my Real Rust ink pad. Well, maybe not….rust is just not a color I usually use. I like the rust daisies, I was going to go with pumpkin but it was just too orange. The Prima flower if from my new package of matching Lucid flowers from Prima. I just love how they match the paper but the colors are so beautiful and flexible that I know I’ll be putting them on EVERYTHING! I love the antique copper metal accents with this color combo. The minibrads and the beautiful ornate brad are all from Making Memories. Now, I have to be honest and admit, I did have a little trouble with the sentiment! I had already mounted the image on foam strips for depth when I decided to add a little sentiment…just nestled in the curve of the flower. Yes, that would be perfect…except that my foam tape really does NOT come off after it is stuck on. I decided to wing it….this is what NOT to do when stamping! LOL Because of the raised image, the paper warped when I tried to stamp it resulting it a half stamped image….YIkes! Now did I really want to start all over again…no! A little creative coverage and the problem was fixed. I punched a little circle, stamped the sentiment, sponged the edges and adhered it over the less than perfect sentiment. It actually worked out not too bad….the circle just fits perfectly with the curve of the vase. Did I luck out on this one or what?

I promised more blog sweets very soon and so here they are. Yesterday I reached 10,000 hits to this site and want to celebrate with you. I just LOVE this new Basic Grey paper! My new goodies just came in the mail from Jacksonbelle (what fabulous timing!) and I’d love to share a couple of my favorite new things with you. These new 6×6 paper packs are so cool! Love their size…perfect for cardmaking, nicely scaled down in size and so easy to store! What could be better? These are two of my new favorites… Phoebe & Perhaps by Basic Grey. They are the cool & convenient 6×6 size. If you are interested in these treats…just comment on this thread. Is there something you like to do before or while papercrafting to inspire you? Do you clean your desk, listen to music, smell your new rubber? LOL Inquiring minds want to know! Deadline to comment is Friday March 16th at 11am. EST. Shortly thereafter….I will post the winner. Winner will be drawn at random from all the comments.

It arrived…..yippee! My fabulous envelope filled with the brand-new, just-released Amuse monogram stamps! They are SO super cool….love how you can see through them…so great for positioning and such a great quality heavy clear stamp. If you want to check them out, and believe me, you do LOL, click here. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Linda! Love them! I am going to be having a blast AMUSEing myself with them. Now if it only weren’t March Break!

This card uses the Amuse T monogram. I love how they are all lowercase and have the cutest dots. You can’t see the dots in this pic…I decided to have a little fun putting these little flower brads on the dots. In keeping with the fun look of the monogram I wanted to keep this card pretty and fun. This time I paired up Pumpkin Pie ink with the Pink Passion….I’m loving this pink and orange combo and I really like the pumkpin pie with it better than the only orange. I used the same Pink Passion and Pumpkin Pie combo on the previous card. Scroll down to see the totally different look the same color combo can get. The flower is made from punching 1 1/2″ circle of white, 1 3/7″ circle of pink and the huge Giga Scalloped Circle in the Pumpkin Pie. The monogram is stamped in Pink Passion Craft ink and embossed with Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder. The monogram and the flower are both popped out on foam strips to give it a little “pop”.

Supply List:

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White - SU

Stamps - t monogram - A Muse Art Stamps, Little Pieces, EFP - SU

Ink: Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie, black,  White Craft, Pink Passion Craft - SU

Other: Giga Scalloped Circle punch - Marvy, Flower brads - Making Memories, circle punches - SU

This card actually didn’t start off as a baby card but it turned out so sweet and I found this little tag that matched perfectly, so why not?! A fresh pretty card for a brand new springtime baby. This card is to welcome a beautiful new baby girl, Thalia Grace. Congratulations Nikko and Maggie!

This card was opened up and just the front inserted into the Cuttlebug folder. After embossing, I lightly painted the embossed areas with my aquapainter and inks. I cut a little slit in the top of the card to thread the ribbon through. I just LOVE this organdy ribbon….so fresh and like spring and pulled the ink colors from it for my color combo.

Supply List:

Card: Fabrino Mediovalis notecard

Ink: Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery - Stampin Up

Other: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers Embossing Folder - Provocraft, aquapainter & Pink Gingham ribbon - SU, Organdy ribbon - Michael’s, tag - K & Company

I’ve been having so much fun lately stamping right on patterned paper, I just had to try some more, so I made this card the other day. I love this beautiful and fun My Mind’s Eye paper…pink and red…fun combo and just had to see how it would look with the scribbled open look of the rose from Mixed Bouquet. I love this set…so fun and has quite a few looks that you can achieve with it. The rose is stamped directly on the paisley paper with versamark and then heat embossed with black sparkle embossing powder. The sparkle in the powder gives a fun, festive look…perfect for a birthday. The leaves are stamped and embossed in the same manner on the striped paper. The images were then cut out and adhered to the stitched layered square. All edges of the layers were inked with Chocolate Chip Classic ink by SU …an ink pad I rarely ever put away!

Supply List:

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Whisper White, Bashful Blue - SU

Patterned Paper: My Mind’s Eye

STamps: Mixed Bouquet, It’s Your Birthday - SU

Ink: Versamark - Tsukineko, Chocolate Chip - SU

Other: Black Sparkle Embossing Powder - STampendous, eyelets & Photo Anchor - Making Memories, sewing machine, gingham ribbon - Michael’s, Crop-a-dile - We R Memory Keepers

Every Saturday morning we have a hot breakfast. It is one of the only days of the week where we can all eat breakfast together and the kids always enjoy it. Sometimes it is pancakes, sometimes French Toast, bacon and eggs is a popular favorite, but this morning it was waffles. I always love Donkey’s quote and accent from Shrek, “And in the morning, we’re making waffles!” I think that it is all in how he says it! My daughter and I whipped up some waffles this morning with some raspberry sauce and some real maple syrup….what a treat! I thought that I’d share my recipe with you this morning.

Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flower

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1.5 cups milk

2 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons butter or margerine, melted

1. Preheat wafflemaker, beat egg white until stiff, but not dry, Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and creamy.
3. Continue beating adding milk
4. Mix dry ingredietns together and gradually add to milk and egg mixture: beat until smooth.
5. Fold in stiffly beaten egg white and melted butter
6. Add 1/2 cup batter to preheated waffle iron. Bake until golden, about 3 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

For my large family, I make this recipe 1.5 times the amount.