It Doesn’t Get Much Better than This… a masculine design & some apple pie…

We’re off to have a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner today! Yummmmm….can’t wait! I’ve been busy cooking up squash and apple pies to bring with us. In a large family, we always make sure to bring something, it helps spread out the work. I love baking and I always make sure I’m signed up for one or two desserts. 🙂 Yesterday I made some pie shells and this morning, I got up early to fill and bake them. They smell delicious.

I won’t have time to design today and so I thought I’d share a Fall themed Fishing design with you. This is the It Doesn’t Get Better than This Vignette stamp by Thomas Kinkade from Cornish Heritage Farms. It is a gorgeous rectangular stamp with an oval insert. I created this design as part of a review for Craft Critique. This design is colored with my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol and really worked up quickly. Because of the depth of the shading in the initial stamped image, it is really easy to color it and get shadows with little work.

Fishing

To create this design, I colored in the stamped vignette image with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits. I then cut out the central oval and sponged the edges before adhering it to a kraft cardstock panel. The panel is matted with Chocolate Chip and Sage Shadow.

For the main card base, I once again use Kraft cardstock…just love this neutral, it goes with almost everything! I love the Souvenir Cosmo Cricket line (who am I kidding, I love ALL Cosmo Cricket lines! LOL) and layered panels of it on my design. The dotted cross panel is stitched on my sewing machine with white thread and the edges were then pulled up slightly with my finger.

Embellishments were kept to a minimum…this is a guy card after all. 😉 Hardware is always good for guys and I added three small eyelets to the top of the design and then one huge REALLY Big Brad from Karen Foster Designs. I love how it anchors the image.

Have a fabulous day! And…just in case you feel like doing a little baking, I’m including my apple pie recipe. I used Mutsu (Crispin) apples that we picked at the orchard on Saturday. LOL Like the title of the stamp I used…it doesn’t get much better than this! If you missed the World Cardmaking Day Giveaway and wish to enter, there is still time until 10pm EST tonight (Monday Oct8th). Just scroll down TWO posts and comment for a chance to win. 🙂

Dutch Apple Pie

2 pounds of cooking apples, peeled and sliced

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 unbaked pie shell

Topping:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

Add apples to large bowl to equal 5 cups. Add sugars, flour and cinnamon and toss. Pour into pie shell.

Topping: Combine topping ingredients. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of apple filling. Bake on bottom shelf of 400°F oven for 10 minutes. Turn oven to 325 °F and bake about 50 minutes more until apples are tender. Cool.

Recipe from Company’s Coming Pie by Jean Pare and altered a little to fit my family’s taste. 🙂