Thank You Cards

Well, I've been slack again but it has been school holidays so I have been hanging out with my boys. I've shared a fair few pics of the boys on my FB page but because I love them so much, I thought I'd share my two favourites.

Spider Monkey:




Capuchin:




So, I made some thank you cards today. I started out with zero mojo so I cleaned up my space so that I could think a little more clearly. As I cleaned, I found a card that I made at my friend Chantal's card class last month. It was monochromatic with a background stamp and inking. I chose to emulate that look.

I made three colour ways as that matched the card stock I had. I used a stamp from Stamp It and all the inks and paper are Stampin' Up. I think of the inking like a vignette for cards! These made for a quick and easy set of cards to make as thank you cards for presents and such.












So enjoy the week! I know I will as I have only ONE boy at home during the day now that school has gone back :-)

- Kim

A Card Front

So, as usual it has been a busy weekend. Still, I managed to find a little time for some craft time.

I made this card front today:





The image is embossed using the Couture Creations Flutterby, Dreamscapes embossing folder on white cardstock. To accent the image, I coloured the raised part with Smooch Accent Inks. On the odd occasion that I ended up off the edge of the raised image, I corrected the colour mistake by colouring over the top of the colour with a white gel pen.

Next, I sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist. I sprayed it quite heavily and then blotted it with a paper towel. Finally, I sprayed it again with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Snow Angel - again quite heavily finishing with a blotting with paper towels.

I love the shimmer provided by all of the products and will endeavour to show you the finished card soon!

Have a great week people :0)

Kim

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It Has Been a Busy Month!

I have been so busy this month! Of course, none of it has been craft related but there have been many photos taken ;0) Why so busy? Well, we had Father's Day, Drew's birthday, Capuchin's birthday and yesterday was mine! At least now the celebrations have ended and we can go back to normal.

In that vein, I have decided that by this time next year, there will be half as much of me to love. Since I have purchased my new shoes (Athlete's Foot in Belconnen ROCK at fittings), I have been getting up at 5:45 each morning to go walking. It has been a nice change and with the warmer weather upon us, it has been a good way to wake up each day. So, I have taken a photo of myself to share what I am like now. As those of you who know me know, this is a rare thing. I hate having my photo taken (partially because I hate the weight gain but also cause I just don't think I look good in photos). And here it is:


Capuchin turned 2 this month. Where has the time gone?! We had a small celebration here at home with some friends and people who are our family here in Canberra. He had a great time and was spoiled by all those who were in attendance. Before I share the photos though, I have to say they were not all taken by me. Thanks to Chantal who took over the photography side of the day! And here he is in all his glory:












We bought him a sandbox to play in so the next weekend was spent putting it together and having a play. It was gorgeous weather and of course Spidermonkey was in on the action too. What was even better, Spidermonkey donated his Tonka trucks for use in the sandbox! Here are a few shots of the boys at play:










Like I said, lots of pictures (and that's not even 1/3 of them)! So a big thanks to all who celebrated with us this month and happy birthday to all those people born in September (we are a special bunch).
One final shot to keep you going until next time (I just love this one):


Love to you all!

Kim

Stay Tuned

Hi all!

Just wanted to take a moment to let you all know that I haven't forgotten you!  This time of year is quite busy for us with lots of birthdays and holidays here in AUS.

I will be back soon with some photos and more craftiness :0)

Ahh, Spring...and Book Week

Well, that's what if feels like.  Still cool at night but warm enough to have the door open during the day.  I feel so much better with fresh air circulating through the house.  I keep waiting for the cold snap!  In the meantime, I will enjoy it as much as possible.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to share a couple of photos I have taken during my walks the last few days.  They show the signs of spring that nature shares with us...

With this time of year comes Book Week! And the inevitable book week parade...sigh.  If Spidermonkey had his way, he would have gone as Dr. Who for the third year in a row.  Instead, he went as Harry Potter (along with most of the rest of the school).  I had to work hard to get this concession.  If I had given into his logic, it would have been Iron Man or Spiderman who, according to him are acceptable because he has large compendiums of the comics which are books!  I suppose this is true but the book lover in me just couldn't let it go.  So, I scoured the shops for some glasses and a wand and ended up ordering them online in order for him to feel like he was a part of the school community.  He was happy in the end and here he is as Harry Potter:

He looks pretty good in glasses and could pass for Harry in the earlier movies (well in the eyes of his momma anyway)!  Now I am off to find something yellow for him to wear on Friday for Daffodil day...*sigh*.

As Promised...

I got crafty today!  I had fun playing with all my Tim Holtz stuff.  I made two cards and a "strip" that I'm not sure what I will use it for...but it was fun doing it!!

We went out to the hardware store in town today and across from it is Hillbilly.  Yes, Hillbilly!  Sort of a Dollar store but they have some cool crafty stuf  so of course I had to go have a look.  I found these great laser cut, pop up butterflies and wanted to use them.  The first card was planned around the butterflies and here it is:

The paper on the left is Coordinations Tim Holtz Distress paper in Broken China.  I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder and then sanded the embossing which brings out the Broken China core.  The paper on the right is Tim Holtz Kraft Resist.  I used a combination of the new Distress Stains (Peeled Paint, Fire Brick, Dusty Concord, Faded Jean and Antique Linen onto my craft sheet.  Then, I sprayed the whole thing with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pink Bubblegum.  The ribbon is Tim Holtz trims dyed with the Distress Stains to match the paper.  Then I stuck the butterfly sticker to paper and cut it out.  Finally, I glued the butterfly to the ribbon using Multi-Matte Medium.  Finally, I stamped a sentiment using an SU stamp in Ranger Black Archival ink.

For card number two, I used the Tim Holtz Mini Rosettes die and based the card around the rosettes. You can see it here:

I picked an orange cardstock from DCWV Brights paper stack and embossed it with Cherry Blossoms from Craft Concepts.  I sanded the embossed card to expose the white core which I then coloured in with SU markers - Riding Hood Red and Old Olive.  I added the rosettes to the card and put Prima flower centers on them.  Then I chose a piece from the SU Silver HodgePodge and added my sentiment.

Then I move on to Tim Holtz Grunge Paper.  I have had this stuff for a while and really haven't made use of it.  After having watched just a few videos (all of them!), I decided to play and here are the results: 

I spread the same colours of Distress Stain mentioned above onto my craft sheet and dragged the strip through the colours.  Then, I added an additional layer of the colours directly to the grunge paper.  I spritzed it with water and let the colours run before drying it with my heat tool.  Once dry, I used the Snow Cap paint dabber on the Tim Holtz ATC Flourish stamp and stamped the image multiple times down the strip.  Again, I dried this with my heat tool.  I then added Rock Candy Crackle Paint to the whole surface and left to dry.  Once dry, I used Black Soot Distress Ink to highlight the cracks left by the crackle paint.  Although this step is difficult to see in the photo, it looks so cool in real life.  I am really pleased with the result!  I may use it on a scrapbook page or it might get cut up and used on different cards.  I just we will just have to wait and see!

Many of you would have seen my inky fingers in a photo on FaceBook.  I got very messy but loved it all!  Funnily enough, Clearsnap posted a status saying that if you were inky, then you must be having fun.  So true :0)  When I rejoined the family, I found Cappuchin on Daddy's lap, watching a video.  He was so focused, he didn't even know I was there!

Canberrans - good luck with the convoy traffic tomorrow.  Hope everyone has a great week!

No Excuse, Just Lazy - And a Recipe

Yep, that's me.  The few weeks have been lazy.  I don't have any excuse.

Don't get me wrong, there has been lots to do but I haven't had the motivation to work on any craft or take any pictures.  I hope to get something done tomorrow.  I have been working on some pieces for a card that I hope to have published but that is it!

So, I have to redouble my efforts to get some photos and cards done to share with you all!  And, I need to see about entering some further pieces for publication...

Until then, here is a snapshot from the last few weeks.

What I have been doing is baking again!  I decided to combine three recipes from the All Recipes website and came up with the following for a brilliant Cinnamon Roll recipe.  You can find the originals here, here and here!  And my combination is as follows:

Best Ever Cinnamon Buns

Makes 24 Buns

Ingredients:

2 packages active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

1 package yellow cake mix (I use butter cake for those in AUS)

7 cups all-purpose flour, divided

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

1/3 cup butter

Filling (divide the ingredients in half when rolling out two lots of dough):

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons white sugar

4 tablespoons ground cinnamon (personally, I don't measure this!)

Frosting:

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method: 

1.      In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, and let stand for 3 minutes. Add cake mix, 1 cup flour, eggs, oil, and salt; beat well. Stir in remaining flour until a soft dough forms.

2.      Knead on well floured surface for about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the dough surface. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

3.      Meanwhile; in a small saucepan, melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup ice cream; bring to a boil, and cook for 1 minute. Pour caramel into the bottom of 2 lightly greased 9 x 13 inch pans.

4.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

5.      Punch down, and divide into two equal parts. Roll out each section on a lightly floured surface. Spread each with softened butter and sprinkle with brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon.

6.      Roll up like jelly rolls and cut buns 1 1/2 inches thick with a piece of dental floss or a dull knife. Place in baking pans on top of caramel, and allow to rise until doubled.

7.      Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes or until golden brown; shifting pans around after half of cooking time.

8.      While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

* If you aren’t a big cream cheese fan, reduce the cream cheese to 2/3 of the block for a more mellow taste.

These turned out light and fluffy with a yummy caramel base.  As predicted, the two pans are nearly gone and it's only been three days!  Enjoy :-)