SO Sassy

OK one more card made with the Good friend set. I actually copied this card from another lady on Splitcoast Stampers. She used a couple of different colors, but basically it is the same layout. This is a very simple quick card, I have to remember this design when I need a bIrthday card and only have 5 minutes to make one, because this one definately took me MAYBE 10 minutes to make! Still cute!

OK I have a few more cards to upload but I have not taken the pics of them yet and I am going to try to make a few more tonight, and then I might be done until after school starts, I have stuff I really ned to be focusing my attentions on, like making cookies to send to my sister while she is in Cincinati. Speaking of cookies if you have some unique, non chocolate cookie recipes let me know, i don't want to send anything that will melt, so far I have come up with Lemon Melts, Green Tea Cookies, Milano Cookies, Marshmallows and my Key Lime Pie cookies. I will post pics and recipes if anyone is interested next week.

Another Fun card made with the Good friends Set.

OK, sorry I took a couple of days to post a few more items, the boys came back from camp so I spent Wednesday with them and then yesterday we went to school to move my classroom ( which we did not finish) and then I had some lectures to do. I should be doing lectures now as well but I think I will make one more card then do lectures, they boys are at the GI Joe movie.

So I did not originally plan on this card looking like this, I just happen to lay down some paper on the card I was working on and got up to do something, when I got back to the desk I saw what it looked like and finished it that way. I wish you could see the ribbon better, it has these cute little green dragon flies on them.


I used the Good friend Stamp set, Certianly Celery, Brocade Blue and Bahama Breeze Inks and papers. Hope you like and thanks for looking.

A Little Blue Bird

So I got this stamp set ( Stampin up's Good Friend)a month ago but have been too busy with school and what not to stamp, but the other night I sat down and made 3 cards with this set. her is Number one. He is a little blue bird. If I were a better photographer you would be able to tell that he was 3 dimensional. Anywho, I hope you enjoy. I have to go study for my test and go take it before Matt gets home.

Camp Cards

Well, I have finally made a few more cards, I think I have my mojo back because I was actually getting to make something for me! The boys are leaving for camp tomorrow for 3 days and in the past when Matt has gone out of town I try to send him a card a day from me for him to read, so I thought I would do the same for the boy and include some scripture for them, especially Peyton who is extremely nervous to be away from us.

Card #1 is this one:


That tent is 3-d , I had so much fun figuring out how to fold that, but it is way cuter in real life. I used the Happy Camper Stamp set from SU

The inside scripture I included was Isiaha 43:5 Don't be afraid for I am with you and a note from Matt and I, I hope this helps Peyton with his fears.


Day Number 2:



This was done with a very old SU set called fishy friends, but I love it. The fish says Jesus Glubs You, because when fish talk they say Glub Glub! and the crab is holding a sign that says and so do I. I was going to type these out on the computer and make them look neat but Cole kept coming in and getting my computer, so I just wrote the words, too bad they would have been cuter if I could have printed them out. I wish this pic did the card justice because I made the Jelly fish irredescent with embossing powder and I used Crystal Effects on the fish and crab and to make the water bubbles, but I just don't photograph well.

The verse in this one is Proverbs 30:5 Every Word of God is True! I just wanted the boys to realize all those Bible stories and lessons they learn at camp and in Sunday school are all true stories and not just made up and how AMAZING our God is!.

Day 3 and their last day:




Are 2 different Spinner cards I made with another really old retired set of SU called Good Sport. In the Football card when you tilt the card the foot ball spins into the Goal posts and on the baseball card (Peyton's) when you tilt it the ball flies into the outfield. Again, Cole had my computer so I just hand wrote the sentiments on the front.

The verse on this one was:1 Corinthians 10:31 What ever yu do, do everything for the glory of God.

After I finished all these I then pulled out my new set that I have had for a month and made 3 more cards, but I will post those pics tomorrow! Enjoy!

My "Ice Cream" Cupcakes

So I was surfing some food blogs looking for a good and easy Chocolate recipe that I could take to a couples house who just had a baby and I found the "Ice Cream" Cake. Ok I hate Ice cream and cake together because the ice cream melts and my cake becomes soggy and then I just cannot eat it, it is the same reason I can stomach Trifle, Blech! I almost skimmed past this entry when I say that the pic was a Cake, so I had to look further into it. It seems this is a pretty Easy Semi Homemade kind of cake and could really be jazzed up with different flavored cake batters and exotic Ice Cream flavors, but alas, I did not want to venture out on that limb when I was making them for someone else. BUT I am thinking next time to use Cookies and Cream ice cream and put an oreo in the bottom of the muffin cup for the ULTIMATE Oreo Brownie.

Anywho, I just used a simple Dark Chocolate cake mix and a pint of melted Dutch Chocolate Ice cream, and since I was delivering these, I did not want to ice them and have the icing messed up so I sifted powdered Sugar on top of the cupcake and then injected it with my icing so it would be cream filled.

Here is the recipe:

1 Cake mix (any flavor)
3 eggs
1 pint of melted ice cream ( I think raspberry would have also been good)
1 C. water

Mix all together and pour into muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 17 minutes. It makes 24 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 8oz. block of cream cheese (room temp)
1/2 c. butter (room temp)
2 C. of powdered sugar
Mix well....YUMMY!

My Labor of Love...Wine Cork Wreath...

Well, it has taken me many years to save all these wine corks, but my quest began 14 years ago on our Honeymoon when Matt I visited Napa Valley, 4 of the corks on this wreath are from Bottles we bought in Napa and brought back. I saved the corks not knowing what I would be making with them, then about 5 years ago, the mailman delivered me a wine catalog that was suppose to go to another address ( which happens more times than I care to mention, I often wonder what I am missing out on in my mailbox) So I saw this wine cork corkboard and went OOOHHH I want to make one of those, then I Turned the page and saw this wreath, that sold for over $80, but it was kind of blah then I saw another one for over $100, but it was still BLAH, so I decided right then and there I could make one even better and I did, but let me tell you, it takes along time to keep the dream alive when you are saving wine corks from wine you drink. I did get a little bit of help from a few people, but mainly, most of them were from bottle Matt and I have shared and LIKED, there is not a cork from any bottle we did not like.

Another REALLY cool thing about this, that I absolutely love is that I am thrifty and I try to recycle anything I can for my craft purposes and this wreath, was one, I know this is gross, but was one someone was throwing it out and I took there stuff off of it, and the greenery, is greenery I bought 14 years ago right after Matt and I married to put on the curtains in our bedroom and they have been stored in a closet since we moved into our house and i stumbled ont hem when I was cleaning out my closet last week! And the grapes were a great stumble as well when we went to The Dollar Tree to buy some gag gifts for Matt and I saw these on the shelves and they looked exactly like the ones I was going to buy at Hobby Lobby for for $4 apiece and I got them at Dollar Tree for $1 a piece! What a deal!

Anyway, Thanks for looking and I would love any feedback you have for me!

Homemade PopTarts!

Watch Out Kellog, you ain't got nothing on mama.



So poor Matt has felt really mistreated the past few mornings because I have been staying in bed and then getting up at 8:30 or 9:00 and making the boys nice breakfast's, such as Muffins, french toast etc. So I dragged my tired Booty out of bed this morning and made him homemade PopTarts, which he loves, but I think they taste like fruity cardboard and are gross. Good thing about these, I have made a convert out of my boys, the bad thing about these, I have made a convert out of my boys and now they will always want these, I need to see if I can freeze these so the boys can toast them on school mornings.

These are also VERY easy if you use a refrigerated pie crust.

Pie crust, refrigerated
Jam or Preserves
Glaze
Sparkling Sugar ( only if you want it to look like a pop tart)
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Unroll one of the pie crusts and square the edges. Cut into rectangles. Place 1 tsp of jam in the center of a rectangle and top with another piece of crust. Crimp all four edges. You can seal with a little melted butter if you want it to look more like a pop tart and not a fried pie. Repeat until all of the pie crust is used. I also took the rounded edges that I cut off and rolled them together to form more pop-tarts. They weren’t as “pretty” as the others but I did not waste anything.

Bake for about 7 – 8 minutes or until slightly brown. Once cool, pour glaze over and decorate with sugar.



To Make the Glaze:

1 cup powder sugar
milk to thin
Place powdered sugar in bowl. I find that a milk capful and half is usually enough to make the perfect glaze.

Lemon Mousse

Here is another Easy recipe that Cole made last night, I actually go this in an E-mail from McCormicks and Cole made is all by himself, even made it look pretty in the glasses we served it in! although he would not let me garnish with a mint leaf or a rasberry to make it look smashing ! I have had a blast with the boys in the kitchen these past few days, teaching them tricks such as how to make real whipped cream, EVOO, Deglazing pans, and how to turn fresh garlic into a paste, no garlic was used in this recipe :) They are so proud of their creations and can't wait for Matt to come home at night to try them. Speaking of I need to go search the pantry and see what they can make tonight!


Here is McCormick's recipe, BTW I used Light Cream Cheese and it tasted just fine!

Makes 6 (1/2-cup) servings.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract
1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1. Beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar in large bowl until smooth and creamy.

2. Beat heavy cream, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice and extracts in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Add 1/2 of the whipped cream mixture to cream cheese mixture; stir until well blended. Gently stir in remaining whipped cream mixture. Cover.

3. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Spoon or pipe into dessert dishes to serve. Garnish with lemon slices, fresh berries and mint leaves, if desired

Cole's Cheesy Biscuits...Better than Red Lobsters!

Yes,I said it! Cole made Cheesy Biscuits better than Red Lobsters! and they were so yummy and did not come from a can, which is how my family prefers their biscuits, sad, but true.

So since I have been spending more time in the kitchen those boys have been right by my side wanting to cook as well.. I am so happy, they will be able to cook more than hot dogs and Mexican casserole for their wives and enjoy doing it, I'm not knocking Matt, don't get me wrong, he just does not care to be in the kitchen and besides he is much better behind a camera than I ever could be :)

Anywho, these Biscuits are super easy to make, even a 9 year old can make them!

1 pack buttermilk biscuit mix (I used Bisquick, about 1 1/2cups)
1 1/2cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp oregano
3/4 tsp garlic salt1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray cooking sheet with non-stick spray.

2. Put biscuit mix, cheese and milk in a bowl and mix well to form a sticky dough.

3. Using spoon, drop lumps of dough onto cookie sheets 1.5in apart. Bake for 10min.

4. In a bowl, melt butter and mix with oregano and garlic salt.

5. When the timer goes off, take them out and brush with butter mixture and bake 5min at 400F and another 5-6min at 350F.


6. Remove immediately and serve hot!

MMMMMMM.....Cinnaminamy Frenchalicious Muffins

Muffins..yes, I may not be crafting but I was determined to try to make some muffins that were better than donuts, my all time favorite food. These were so simple to make and yes, they almost melted in my mouth. OKAY so they are not a plain glazed donut, but they are fewer calories, not by much, but hey every little bit helps. I am going to keep working on these recipes to try to make them lower in fat and calories, when I just get scared to exchange sugar for Splenda when baking, because if it is not good then I have wasted all the ingredients, but these were so easy and had so few ingredients this will be my perfect victim.

Here are the boys enjoying the muffins with a nice cup of Coffee!


We will call these: Cinnaminamy Frenchalicious Muffins, because well it makes them sound more extravagant! Anyways, eat them warm, they are so much better when they are warm! YUM!

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. AP flour ( self rising flour works well also, then you do not need the salt or baking powder)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium-large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined, but still a bit lumpy. Don't overmix. Scoop batter into muffin tins that have sprayed with cooking spray. I got 10 muffins out of this batter. Bake for 20-25 muffins, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar.

I disappeared again!

Yes, I did disappear again, and it is summer! This school thing is kicking my Butt. But I do know it will all be over in October, I have to just keep telling myself that and then hopefully I can get a job next school year helping out all these special needs kids, instead of tethered to one classroom or at least away from the principal I tend to clash with. SO some things I have been working on is helping my friend with raising money for her Susan G. Komen race for the Cure. I have been making her booby Cards and some collections cans like this one, although this is a crappy picture and not the best can I made. In between studying and doing this I think I lost my crafty Mojo this summer because I felt like I was ignoring my family so I would up taking a few weeks off from everything to give it all to my family, but the boys go to Children's camp on Aug 3rd so I plan to take a couple of days to use my new stamps and create for me before I go back to making Booby cards.

OH yes, I did sign up to sell Stamping Up stuff, but not for a profit really just so I can get my supplies in a timely manner if if I make a few extra bucks from people then OK, I am planning to do a Christmas card swap and maybe just a crafty get together, that way if people want to buy they can but there is no pressure , I am so not the salesperson, I hate being pressured, thus I do not pressure myself.

On another note, I always love to cook, but since the craftiness has taken a break the cookingness has gotten larger and I have tried new techniques in the kitchen so maybe I will post a few of those and recipes. Enjoy!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Time for another round of Teacher Appreciation gifts. Although Teacher Appreciation was last week, all the schools were out due to the Swine Flu, which is good because I spent the earlier part of last week Spring cleaning, not crafting, so on Wednesday when I decided to start crafting, i got the call that instead of getting the entire week off as earlier stated, we were having to go back on Thursday so I began these gifts but was too tired Thursday and Friday to finish them, as well as having to do my lectures as well, so I figured I would finish them this weekend, WELL that was also a bust since I threw my back out, so I drug myself to my craft room last night and finished them, well not everything, I wanted to do a couple of other things, but it hurts to sit, so I will just get by with these. The boys took them to school today and they said the teachers loved them. I hope so.

I had a bunch of the plain cardboard boxes i had gotten for free from FREECYCLE.ORG ( the best place in the world to get craft supplies, glassware to paint or frames to alter for FREE! The Matt can't complain that i was spending money on it,e specially if I turn around and sell it.) So anyway, I had these boxes lying around so I decopuaged them and then made coordinating accessories. I made altered binder clips in matching papers, if you wonder what to do with those you can use them to display a photo on you desk or hold notecards or whatever. Then I made bookmarks out of altering a paperclip, with some flowers cut out of papers and then I made a paper matchbook to display them in, what fun! These may be my new addiction next to making glass bead magnets, which I also made them. These are both so easy to do and you can make a bunch quicly, for instant gratification!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. That is all I have for tonight, I have to get Peyton into bed and begin my lectures for this week, JOY!

BOOBIE CARDS!

Well I have to say, these have been an instant success. I made a few of these to send to the women in my family and have since had several orders for these. In fact the thing I am most excited about is it looks like I will be making a bunch of these for the Breast Cancer Walk in the Fall as a fundraiser for them. I am very excited that my work can go for something so good! I plan on trying to make a few of these with bloomers as well as the thing panties, but I think testing those out might just have to wait until schools out because I promised Peyton I would finish the mural in his room first, pics will follow of course :)

Anyway I hope you enjoy!

Altered Canvas

So my Sister in law had this altered canvas that she had done because she had seen them at Canton but did not want to pay a ton of money for it, she used some scrap book paper, ribbon and big wooden block letters to spell out Family, it was VERY cute. Then My sister went and did one too that was tres chic so I thought, I needed to do one and I had been trying to think of something cute or some way to put up the word CREATE in my brand new craft room and VIOLA! This is what I came up with. It is not perfect and I wish I had a bought a couple of sheets of the same paper to have more continuity to the sign, but hey, for a first timer it is not bad. I definately got the bug and want to do another and actually have an idea to alter a larger canvas and add a nice family photo to it and the word Family or some scripture about Family, if you have a good Scripture, let me know, I have not really looked yet. I plan to do it all in browns and print my family pic in Sepia tones. Not sure if I will use an existing picture I have or get Matt to take another one of us at the park soon.

Sorry if some of you have seen these on my Facebook, I won't publish all my things on Facebook, I will reserve a few for here only, it has just been easier since I was in school to post there because then I do not write a book :)

Hello! Have you missed me?!?!?

Well just to fill you in on a few details as to why I have been MIA, is one I FINALLY FINISHED MY CRAFT ROOM! YEA! @ I went back to school and although I am doing it online, I just do not have as much time to craft anymore, so sad, but I have not stop crafting all together, I am still crafting, although It is doing more personal orders right now, but I have done some fun stuff. (WOW that is a big run on sentence, but I am not fixing it)
I might post 3 or 4 blogs tonight and try to do a few more this week to get you caught up on all that I have crafted.
BUT THE BIGGEST NEWS...I am hopefully going to be opening an online store this summer....I know I know I keep saying this but Erin and I bought the Domain name, www.sparklefairies.com and we want to craft a bunch of stuff for craft fairs this fall as well as sell online. I will keep you posted.
So anyway...HERE IT IS, my CRAFT ROOM, which I absolutely LOVE and thanks to Ray and Hope for helping get Matt off of his butt to finally finish it. It is nice for 2 reasons. 1 I have a place for everything and it is so much easier to keep it clean or to clean up after a BIG project and I can do my online classes in there instead of on my bed. The desk is an old door from Matt's work, to cover the holes where the hinges went I used ribbon to trim it in and then I used shoe organizer on the left. I loved the cubbies and never expected to fill them all right at once, but I did, I have a place for all my papers as you can see by the open cabinets, but I still need extra space for my stamps and I am thinking about a place where I can hang some rods to put my punches on and not to mention a way to put out all my 100's of yards of ribbon, but that sounds like a Summer break project :). Well enjoy and keep a look out for new things!