I'm not a baker - no really I'm not!

OK, I bake once - possibly twice a year - my excuse is that I don't like to measure things.  I like to just toss in and hope for the best.  You can't do that in baking - well not successfully anyway.

Today I made Cranberry White Chocolate sugar cookies, Strawberry Thumb Print shortbread, Toffee Bark, Amaretto Rice pudding (I had the raisins soaking in amaretto for 6 MONTHS), and two batches of of Irish Cream!!!

Yeah, I was Suzie home maker - and the kitchen isn't even a write off either, well at least if you don't look at the floors :o/

My daughter sure was a help too, licking all of the beaters and spatulas she could get her hands on!

 

 
 

Strawberry Thumbprint Shortbread Cookies
 

Cranberry White Chocolate Sugar Cookies

 

Paper bag card - Winter Fun

I was watching an episode of Live With Prima the other night, and Frank made some cards out of paper lunch bags, yes you read that right!  I had so many little pieces left over from the Winter Fun line from Carta Bella that I had to try making some of those paper bag cards.

The method is simple, fold the paper bag in half, glue down the flap and decorate the front, center and back of the card, leaving the opening so that you can tuck gift cards or photos inside to give to your loved one - genius! 

You can check out Frank's video tutorial here: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27546829

Here are four cards I did using the same technique.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my little paper bag cards, leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Patience is a virtue

I took the kids to see the Cobourg Santa Claus parade.  The parade started at 3:00 (at the other end of town) we arrived at 1:00.  Yeah, I was early - did you hear that Emma?? I was early for something in my life!  We waited close to 3 hours just for the parade to start, needless to say the kids got very BORED and COLD.

 
 

 

 
Santa? Is that you playing bagpipes for the Port Hope  Pipe & Drums band???



For my layout I used a photo of the kids huddled under a blanket.  I used the Winter Fun collection from Carta Bella.  I got so much out of this collection, it was so easy to work with

 

 

 

I used some Molding paste through the negative of a die cut from my Cricut on a previous layout, I then added some glitter to the molding paste before it dried - turned out pretty good, I was a little worried that the paper wouldn't hold up to the molding paste, but it did, but I wouldn't use it for more than about 2 or 3 uses.  And the perfect thing is, no clean up - it's waste anyway, just toss it out!

Journaling read "All bundled together to keep warm, waiting for Santa to arrive, Cobourg Santa Claus Parade, November 18 2012"

Making Christmas Memories

I love a paper line that can be both girl and boy all at the same time!  The Winter Fun collection from Carta Bella is just that.  And as mentioned in a previous blog post; I love the paper from Carta Bella, the texture is simply fantastic and it's THICK - which is great for distressing.  I recently had some photos taken of the kids by the ever talented Sue Belanger - if you are in the Cornwall area take a look at her work.  Not only does she make the most amazing jewelry I have seen, she also does children's photography. 

For this layout I kept the paper simple by using some simple circles and again with the peek-a-boo flowers and zipper pull, I love this look!  A Prima vine from - oh gosh I have no idea how long ago I bought that at Auntie Em's - years I would say.  And a bunch more Prima trinkets and flowers, Thickers for the title, and just look at the results!  You can purchase this Carta Bella collection at Auntie Em's.  Keep an eye on this and Auntie Em's blog for more projects using this line coming up January 1st.

 

 

Keep those comments coming, I love to read what you have to say!

Thank you for looking,

Always Stealing Kisses From You - Romance Novel

I couldn't pass up the chance to play with the Romance Novel collection from Prima - this collection is designed by Marion Smith.  She is a super talented designer for Prima - and I've always been a fan of her.

I love pink, that's no secret.  I love vintage, again no secret.  What I didn't know is that I could put both together with black!  Thanks for opening my eyes to this Marion!

I took this very candid shot of my husband stealing a kiss from our daughter while she was playing at a local playground, I don't think either of them knew I was ready with the camera in hand.  The photo turned out very dark because of where they were (under the play structure) but I love it none-the-less!

For this layout I used some Gesso to tone down the background page, and some of the other papers.  I tore the paper and added some flowers peeking out of the tear, followed by one of Prima's amazing zipper pulls - love these!  In the corner is some molding past through a stencil and some bling and more flowers.  This was a quick and easy.  I have tones more Prima goodies to play with, so I may be able to squeeze another few layouts out of this collection.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy what you see?  Leave a comment :o)



An Elf On A Shelf - mixed media style

So, I have been watching the She-Art trend take over the scrapbooking and mixed media world for about a year now.  I have to say, I do like Christy Tomlinson's style, but I wasn't sure if I 'got' the She-Art movement.  What does that have to do with An Elf On A Shelf you ask?? Well that's another really *hot* thing going on right now - this little elf that you purchase to keep an eye on your kids and report back to Santa.  I'll be the first to admit, they are a little creepy looking.  So, I decided I wanted to try my hand at the She-Art and in doing so I decided to do it Elf On A Shelf style.  So, here is my first attempt - not exactly what I was thinking, it's not a great likeness of "Lucy" our elf, but hey I had fun with the process, and I will do it again.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Patterned paper - Pink Paislee (Mistletoe & Co. - Postcards); Teresa Collins - (Noel - Tags & Borders), Graphic 45 (Fashionista - Vintage Cherries), Carta Bella (Winter Fun - Snow Crystals), Bo Bunny - (Wholigins - Whoo-ligans), Stampin Up (Newprint designer series)
Stencil - Prima Marketing
Stamps - Christy Tomlinson (tattered chicken wire), Stampendous (Merry Snowman)
Misc. - gesso, texture paste, black doodle pen, ribbon, distress ink, chalk ink


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Advent Calendar for years to come

When Emma had her sale this summer I bought a Kaisercraft Advent calender with hopes of having it done by December 1st for the kids to celebrate the season with .... well I'm not horribly late - just tardy as per my predictable self!  I finished it today - December 3rd!

 

I wanted this calendar to be unique, and timeless.  First I painted all the parts to the box white.  And put the boxes together with Ranger Terrifically Tacky double sided tape.  I wanted to use my favorite Christmas paper line Jovial by Basic Grey.  I created a fireplace with texture paste and gelatoes using a Prima stencil.  I wanted some lighting in the shadow box of this calendar, so I used a flameless tealight and some sticks as logs in the fireplace.  I also used a Tim Holtz mini lantern and his Woodlands collection tree and wreath.  I coloured the tree and wreath with Glimmer Glaze in Dirty Martini.

 

 

I kept the boxes simple and without too much decoration - so I inked them and put faux stitching on the edges.  I Mod Podged each of the boxes for durability for years to come.  Flowers on the tree are Prima, and the twine is Doodlebug.  The star on the tree is Teresa Collins.  The stockings are Debbie Travis garland!  I replaced some of the numbers with Tim Holtz bingo markers.

 

 

 

 

A trip to the dollar store to fill the boxes with trinkets, toys and the odd chocolate.  I can't wait to see the look on their faces for years to come when I haul this beauty out with the Christmas decorations!  I loved the process.  Although the building stage could have used more instructions ... and by more I mean ANY!  This kit came only with a photo of the finished product, nothing else. 

 

 

Let me know what you think - be kind become a subscriber and leave a comment.

 



 

 

 

 

Craftsman Layouts & Little Ray's Reptile Zoo

Prima has long been synonymous with floral and very pretty papers and embellishments with me.  When I saw the Craftsman line by Prima I was very excited to get my hands on it, so different, so grungy, so vintage, so BOY.  I love everything about it!  So, I bought pretty much one of everything that Emma had in stock!

 

This summer we took a trip to the Little Ray's Reptile Zoo with the kids.  My son was in his glory!  All these creepy little things, he just stared at the snakes for 20 minutes without taking his eyes off them!

 

 

This layout remains untitled.  I did this for the Prima BAP (build a page) challenge.  I'm not afraid to put flowers on my boy pages as you can see, I love flowers, and so does he (currently).  I have used some cogs and wheels that I picked up at a scrapbooking store in Kignston - Marchent Stamps, I have had them in my stash for years it seems.  I finally got to use them on a project.  I wanted to give them a rusty patina - so I did several layers of pewter heat embossing over the whole wheel then I took Aged Mahogany Distress powder to them.  The Distress powder is a neat product if you haven't had a chance to play with it; it has what Tim Holtz calls 'release crystals' which is Ranger speak for selective coverage.  It is perfect for this because I wanted the shiny pewter to show through and give a rusty look.  I'm so happy with how they turned out!  The bling I have coloured with Sharpies as I found the clear was just too stark for this layout, I dulled it down with black and blue.

 

 

 

 

If you would like to see these layouts in person, they are on display at Auntie Em's Scrapbooking in Cornwall.  Well that is if Laura can ever hang the snakes one ... she hates snakes and by hates, I mean HATES - they gross her right out ... poor thing.