Sending Hugs and Kisses

Now that The Daily Marker Coloring Challenge is over I wanted to join in on a few other challenges.  This week over at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge they are using awesome Hero Arts products to make fabulous floral cards!  As a lover of Hero Arts designs I have quite a few in my collection which made it easy to create this fabulous floral & flamingo card! I began by stamping the background stamp (Hero Arts & Studio Calico design) with three different shades of Ranger pigment ink, the lightest shade ended up being just too light to see so I restamped using just the two darker shades... good thing I was using my Misti !  After I heat set the pigment ink I spritzed both orange and pink Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist lightly over the whole thing and heat set that as well. For my florals I used the Color Layering Hibiscus set from Hero Arts and stamped the larger images on vellum using the same pigment inks as before and then heat setting them before cutting ...

Hi there, I wanted to drop in and share a few more of the cards I created with images colored during The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge! 'Happy Birthday to My Hero!' This is the super cute card I made for my awesome husband's birthday this week!  It features owls from several different Lawn Fawn sets , one of my favorite things about the Lawn Fawn designs is their ability to mix and match seamlessly!  I found t his adorable card on Handmade by Yuki  (she is so darn talented that you should definitely grab some more coffee and browse her fantastic blog).  I loved the dimension that she created by placing some of the scene elements behind vellum!  Hubby really like the card which made my whole day! 'Magical Day' My inner five year old LOVES this unicorn set from Avery Elle.  I was able to create a super shimmery glitter effect by blending out my Zig Clean Color Markers with a clear Wink of Stella pen!   This is true unicorn perfection!  ...

Hi there, are you participating in The 30 Day Coloring Challenge over at The Daily Marker ?  This is my first time participating but I am LOVING every single minute of it!  Did you know coloring can relieve stress?  Sign me up for anything that relieves stress!  Grab something to color with and check out the details of the challenge over at The Daily Marker ! I thought I would share a few of the cards that I have made with all my freshly colored images... 'Believe in yourself!' This card features lots of fantastic stamps from Lawn Fawn , including Critters In The Sea , Mermaid For You , and Life is Good .  The sand hills were made with the Stitched Hillside Borders  from Lawn Fawn and the white outer frame is from My Favorite Things .  All images were colored with Copic markers.  The background features Distress Inks blended and spritzed with Tattered Angels mist (I find that this process creates a really nice blend with a bit of sparkle). 'More T...

Yeah, yeah, I know this blog title is really close to my old one but I have had so much trouble connecting it with my new accounts that I decided to take that as a sign that I should start over... clean slate and all that.  Speaking of clean slates.. this is a whole new year!!! I am truly excited about this.  I'm not sure why it is making me so giddy, I have never felt this way about a new year before but this time around seems different, special in a way.  It may be that I'm older, it may be that I don't care any more what others think, it may be because the whole year is just wide open... there is no specific date that I am waiting for like last year and the arrival of my sweet Little Bean... so the year seems like a beautiful blank canvas stretching out before me! Each new year, for many years now, I have chosen a word for my year... the One Little Word concept that is so popular with creative types like myself... for the past few weeks I have been mulling ov...

I miss blogging! Life is crazy and hectic but I miss having little bits of it gathered in this spot, so I'm back... will I post every single day... NO, are you kidding, you all don't want to hear the total randomness that goes through my head every single day!  I will try to post three times a week and I will promise, yes promise , a new recipe every week and something crafty, that leaves at least one post open for me to ramble on about nothing in particular... I love to ramble! I'll start off this week with a crafty project.  Many of you may have seen it in my online galleries but I wanted to paste it here in my diary... so here is my version of the Embellished Paper Doily project designed by the lovely Christine Middlecamp .  It was so much fun to dig through all my gathered treasures and pick out bits to use; I rediscovered all sorts of things that I forgot I owned! The finished piece hangs right outside my bedroom and makes me smile every time I walk by. If yo...

This soup is one of my favorite fall dishes!  It is a beautiful starter for Thanksgiving or just a great warm food hug any night of the week! Apple-Butternut Squash Soup with Caramelized Sausage Croutons 1 butternut squash, halved and seeded 1 apple, peeled, cored and quartered 1 sweet onion, peeled and quartered 1/2 quart vegetable or chicken stock 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tbs butter, melted salt and pepper to taste 1 pound of sweet Italian sausage, casings removed Preheat your oven to 450 and line a sheet pan with aluminium foil. Place your squash cut side up on the sheet pan and brush with butter.  Place half of an apple in the hollow of each squash, then brush the onions with butter and arrange in between the squash halves on the pan.  Sprinkle the veggies with salt & pepper and cover the whole thing with foil. Roast the veggies for 45 minutes to 1hour; the squash should be very tender when poked with a fork.  Let the veggies cool for 10 minutes ...

Easiest Halloween Cupcakes - These simple cupcakes are always a HUGE hit with the kids and take no time to create! Cake Mix - Follow the instructions on the box! White Frosting - Get the BIG container... this is all the kids will really eat! Orange Food Coloring - You can mix red and yellow ;) Spider Rings Batty Good Bags The kiddo always helps me with these and they are finished in a flash! Halloween Stamps - I used Making Memories Black Ink - I like Ranger Pitch Black Black Grosgrain or Twill Ribbon - 3yards Paper Lunch Sacks Yellow Cardstock - Cut with a circle die cut Crop-a-Dile & Scissors Instructions can be found here on Miss Martha's website! Thanks A Bunch Card As a veteran room parent I know that many times they don't get much thanks so I plan to give this card to the saint who agreed to be our room parent this year! Patterned Paper and Bat Stamps from Cosmo Cricket Haunted! Halloween Bingo I made this for the classroom party last year when I was ...