Cupcake Gift Card

I needed a quick gift card today, and so I made my quick stand by gift card, the CUPCAKE.

You all know how I love cupcakes.

The top card I made about a year ago, and today I did a quicker version and used my Stampin Up cupcake stamp set for the sprinkles, and the Mouthwatering Stamp Set for the Cherry on Top.

Colors for the sprinkles and Cherry are from the new In Colors, and the card base is Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.

I will post dimensions next time I make this but right now I am supposed to be in the truck on the way to Banff (shhhhhh).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Bye Bev.....

Our colleague Bev has decided to take an earlier sort of retirement.  So honor this occasion we of course took her out for lunch (I am already there), and I of course made a quick cake.

I always keep a glass bowl of Buttercream icing in the refrigerator down stairs for cake emergencies.  The flowers were made last week with left over purple icing from the cupcakes for my son's class.

TAH DAH.

All the best Bev.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Placemats

 I realized today that these place mats have not made it to my blog.  OMG!  Now, why is that?  Probably because somehow these place mats are almost always on my table.  After a wash today, they are back on the table!

I love the look and colors of the fabrics, and that I used variegated thread to match.

I made these place mats almost 2 years ago from a kit that I picked up at the Quilt Rack in Vegreville.  This is one of the most unique quilt stores I have been in.  The best word to really describe it would be haberdashery as part of the store sells quilting and notion supplies, and other part is a family clothes store (mens, ladies, shoes, accessories etc.)!  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Summer Cross Stitch Tea Towel

I finished this Summer Cross Stitch Huck Towel some time ago.  I found it today in the drawer, and decided it was time to bring it out!  Summer may have finally arrived in Alberta (maybe....).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Mouse Card

I have really been making a conscious effort to clean up and out my craft room.  I physically cleaned, vacuumed, dusted and organized it on the weekend, and inadvertently found all kinds of craft supplies that I need to justify the ownership of.

This card is a project of this decision.

The card base is from the new In Colors, Primrose Petals.  The Designer Series Paper is the Everyday Enchantment from Sale-a-bration.  The graphic is from one of free gifts with my monthly subscription to Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazine a couple of months back.  I colored with my Copic Markers of course!!  Then I decided it needed something more so I used my new In Color Dahlias from Stampin Up to "top drawer" this project!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...Countdown to Christmas

Only six more months to Christmas!!

I LOVE Christmas, and since the days have started to get shorter, Christmas is on it's way.

Today I started with a piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock, then Garden Green which I embossed with the Snow Burst folder.  The "tree" image is from the Celebrations stamp set.

After stamping the image I covered it with clear embossing powder and then heat set it to give it shine, and of course a rhinestone to make the star pretty.

A band of Cherry Cobbler Dots ribbon finishes it off.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Birthday Party

Today my son was invited to a classmates Birthday Party.

Inside the bag are the first two books in a series about girls and horses, along with a canvas with a horse outline for her to paint (she LOVES horses).

I did not have a horse stamp and of course was making this bag at midnight last, so I used the cupcake stamp set from Close to my Heart to decorate the brown bag, and used the Cupcake Card I made the other day for the Birthday Greeting Card.  I hope she likes it!  Lastly, a big bow to make it look impressive.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday Party

Today we are celebrating my son's 8th Birthday Party.  No, it is not his birthday, but since his birthday is in July I have his Birthday Party before school is out, so that he gets to have a party.  I always felt that I lost out as my parents used the summer birthday as the reason to never have a party....

This year he chose to have his party at 4Cats and the theme was Dragons.

I could not find a dragon pan, so a dinosaur pan with a wing on the side (not TX state elongated as a helpful individual in the house pointed out) would have to suffice.  My son thought it was GREAT!

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

A Quick Thanks.....

I needed a quick Thank You the other day, and so this is what I came up with.

Scraps of Real Red, Summer Smooch Designer Series Paper, and Whisper White card stock.

The Betsy's Blossoms stamp set was still sitting on my desk so I used it along with the So Happy For You stamp set from Sale-a-bration.  A left over Real Red button for the card center, and TA DAH ...done!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Butterfly Cupcakes

My son and I found these great big jelly candy butterflies at Bulk Barn last week and he decided we should make cupcakes with these for his class trip to the park this afternoon.  Now, I did purchase 12 of these butterflies, however, hubby found them and ate two of them as I found out!!!!  Hopefully, a quick trip to the Bulk Barn before I drop these off this afternoon will fix the issue.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Lunch???

As of today I have reached the point of complete exhaustion for packing lunches.  I have been doing this since August 29, 2011 with the exception of about 5 hot lunch days!  I have had it.  I have no creativity for what will go into this lunch box, however, since there is not sandwich in a fun shape, or smiley face on the apple, a coordinating dinosaur card might help to redeem me.

I made this card using the new In Colors Summer Starfruit for the base, Garden Green and Very Vanilla from Stampin Up.  The dinosaur stamp is from the Roar stamp set from Close to My Heart!  I know, I have played with both sets of products at the same time...., however, look how well it all coordinates with the old lunch bag (my son has several lunch bags because I am grossed out by using a lunch bag more than once without washing it - and this bag has been around since Junior Kindergarten four years ago).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Pillow Pet Blanket

When we went skiing in Whitefish, MT., my son took his Pillow Pet blanket with him for the car ride.

However, once inside the cabin the blanket got a little too close to the heater (thought those warnings were only for precaution) and started to melt!  Well, he was devastated, so upon returning home I have been on the hunt for another of these fabric panels, and I found this one a couple of weeks ago on sale at Fabricland.  I cut it out today, put it through the dryer to get off all of the extra lint, and a nice cozy blankie again!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday

Recently, Wadean from Scrapbook Memories & More stumbled across this stamp called Pieces of Quiet, and I agreed that I had to have it because it reminded both of us of my son.

So, while I thought about what to use my scraps on today, this seemed to be the perfect stamp.

To be honest, I am not sure of the card stock colors of names of this card as they truly are scraps, the only one that I can identify for certain is the blue strip is from the Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper.

The image was stamped and then colored with my Copic Markers, of which I am now starting to get coordinating colors to the ones I had.  

When my son saw this card he said "that looks like me"!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

Upon getting back from Crimson Lake where we spent this past weekend fishing and kayaking, my son and I stopped by Brenda's Paint Pot to pick up his plate/platter he had made for Father's Day.

This is the platter that he made, and daddy currently has it outside on the barbeque for the chicken for dinner.

It turned out really well, and my son is very proud of his latest accomplishment.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cross Stitch Card

This is one of the cards I made from my most recent issue of Enjoy Cross Stitch.

Then I decided to "top drawer" the project and used a heart stamp I had to make a background.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Yay, New Toys

I have so many new toys to play with lately.  This is from my newest batch of Stampin Up toys.

The card base is from the new In Colors called Midnight Muse, the next layer is Primrose Petals of which I ran through the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder.

The stamped images on the Whisper White card stock are from the Betsy's Blossoms stamp set.  One of the sets of leaves is from this stamp set the other is the Little Leaves Sizzlits die (can you guess which one?).   The In Colors Dahlia's are added on for fun.

I am not a big fan of birds, mostly I got this set because of the leaves and flowers I thought I could have big fun with and yet the bird got used first.  OY!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Banana Apple Muffins

Alright, so there's the pile of frozen banana boomerangs in the freezer and an apple in the fruit bowl about to put out a vacancy sign for fruit flies.  What to do?  Make muffins.  Is it possible to combine these 2 sources of fruit disturbance, why not?  For this I used a basic banana muffin recipe and added in the 2 fruit choices.

Banana Apple Muffins:

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 chopped apple

2 smashed bananas

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp ground flax seed

Mix together in order listed.  Pour batter into muffins cups and top with a sprinkle of Maple Spice Fruit Dip Mix.  Bake at 350 degree F for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sweet Surprises Card Kit

Last week I got the opportunity to pick my son up from school on time, so he did not have to go to Out of School Care.  On these kind of days, I always like to put a little something in his car seat to make it an extra special day.

I bought the kit for these Sweet Surprise Card Kits from Close to My Heart a few weeks ago and decided that this card filled with left over Easter candy (yes, there is some extra candy in my house) would be his treat of the day.

I opened up the kit all eager to get started, however, the directions included do not make sense unless you actually know what the finished product is supposed to look like!  That, or maybe I'm a little slow.  Anyways, a quick trip to my favorite reference source - You Tube and found this video that shows at about 1:33 of the video briefly what the card is supposed to look like using the stickers and the chipboard pieces.  Now I got it!

Assembled very quickly and easily after that and was in the car seat for little boy when I got to school that day.

He loved it!  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Flower Template Card

For today's card I wanted to play with colors.

I love the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper that Stampin' Up has right now as it is so bright and bold in colors.

I used the Summer Smooches shadow template and sponged in the colors - I love how it looks almost like water colors.

Then I mounted it on Real Red Card Stock and a piece of the Summer Smooch Designer Series Paper.

The greeting is from one of the sets I got during Sale-a-bration.

I think it's pretty, now to find someone to give it to.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"Crap"! It's Monday

At some point in time I am certain that the paper crafting authorities are going to come after me with my sins against paper crafting.  This project is a perfect example of  this.

The card base is left over Wisteria Wonder, another piece of some purplish Designer Series Paper and yet another small piece of Cheerful Delight Designer Series Paper, along with a piece of Whisper White.  The only modification to any paper here was the scallop edge punch to the purple Designer Series Paper, otherwise everything was kept the size it was.

The stamped image is from the June stamp set of the month from Close to My Heart, and I colored the bird image with my Stampin' Write Markers.  Probably should have used my Copics, but was too lazy to get up and get them (sore from the 5 km walk yesterday that turned out to be 7 km as we had to park more than 1 km away from the start/finish line and get back to the car).

I shall try and play more with this stamp set as it comes with Cricut instructions as well (big smile).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pity Party

Today is my annual pity party.

I do not have any creativity to share today.  Most of the day is spent crying about what I have lost, and to be honest, I don't even know exactly how much I have lost.  Sometimes people (meaning to be helpful - I think)  remind me that because I have lived this way most of my life that I should be thankful that I don't know any other way, and to them - a punch in the face.  From time to time something comes along that reminds me of my loss, but for the most part I don't even know what I don't get, or have when it comes to life.  At age 35 for the first time I had an endocrinologist ask me what it had been like all these years, and the only thing I could think of is the guilt I live with for bringing shame to my parents by getting Juvenile Diabetes, and so I cry inside, silently.

Today has been especially hard as it was the annual Edmonton Juvenile Diabetes Walk for the Cure.  As I walk by all the signs with faces of children who tell what a cure would mean to them, I think about my own life, and cannot answer that question, because again, I really don't know what I have lost, had to endure that others don't, and even if there were to be a cure, if I would ever get over what I have lived.  Would there be such a thing as Post Juvenile Diabetes Traumatic Syndrome?  What would I do????

Now, I don't cry every day about this, and there are things that I have to thankful for:

Firstly,

Banting and Best

Secondly,

Humalog & Humulin N

Thirdly, 

Medtronic Veo Insulin Pump

Now think about the fact that most people are thankful for their family and friends first and then "stuff" after, but in my case I would not have a family or friends if it were not for the "stuff" (something else I have lost).

And so lastly, on a slightly happier note, (anyone who know me will laugh), another great invention and something that no one can ever make me feel guilty about......

Diet Coke

Tomorrow, my creativity will return and for the next 364 days I will smile, laugh, love, create and do everything I want to because to me everyday is to Live Like You Were Dying.

Kathy

Rhubarb Cake

When we moved into our house 12 years ago, there was no rhubarb in the backyard!  OMG!  I had to take care of that.  Ever since then my husband has decided to move it at least twice while landscaping the back yard (his sneaky plan is to get rid of it) and so far it has managed to defeat his attempts on it.

Today, I decided it was time to bake with it, so I made my favorite  rhubarb cake.  It's yummy, maybe it's the sugar on top.....

Rhubarb Cake:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 egg

1tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups rhubarb

3 tbsp ground flax seed

Mix as listed and pour into 9 x 13 cake pan.  Top with 3/4 cup brown sugar and 3 teaspoons cinnamon.

Bake for 40 minutes in 350 degree F oven.

Enjoy.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Ceramic Penguin

Tonight is the start of the Madagascar 3 movie, and I am not sure who is more excited, my son or myself!! I LOVE these movies.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Brenda's Paint Pot and while I made the Cupcake Cookie Jar my son painted this penguin.

Since penguins are an integral part of this movie set my son thought his penguin should be the blog post for today, along with his WaH -HOO penguin (the name WaH-HOO - is another long story).

Now, off to the movie, and Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Doggie Bed

You may remember that before Christmas I did a blog on how I recycle all of my left over threads from quilting, sewing, knitting etc into Dog Beds.

This is the most current one of these (yes - that whole pillow if full of left over pieces too small to do anything with).  My son decided that his dog (not my choice of dog) needed one of these.  So, here is Butterball (my son named him) dozing on his newly acquired pillow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Breakfast To Go

I keep seeing posts for Egg/English Muffin breakfasts all over the blogging world.  My son would love one of these, and of course I will not buy him one at the famous food joint, so I decided to make him some.

I used 12 eggs and some milk to make a scrambled egg mixture along with some chives (found at bottom of fridge), poured into muffin cups and baked for 30 minutes.

Toasted the English Muffins (cheese flavor - found in freezer) for the last 10 minutes of baking.

Topped it off with a piece of provolone cheese (what was in the fridge).

Wrapped each in parchment paper and put in the freezer.

This morning, I put one in the oven at 350 F, for about 30 minutes and along with fresh fruit and a glass of milk he had a breakfast perfect for a grade 2 scholar!

He approves of this breakfast.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pie in the Sky....Literally

Mmmmmmmm, sky pie!

I bought this kit for paper pieced pot holders at Sew Divine last summer (maybe the summer before?) because the kit amused me as being pie in the sky.  Plus, who does not like pie.

The pie is paper pieced, and then layered over cotton batting, a layer of Insul-Bright, and then quilted.

Since I have several fruit themed fat quarters sitting around and a generous amount of Insul-Bright expect to see more of these, and maybe even get one!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"Crap"! It's Monday

I had a lot of fun making this card!

I used Soft Suede card stock for the base, left overs from the Dotty for You paper from Close to My Heart, my Celebrations stamp set and Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (all from Close to My Heart).

The banner and cupcake were cut out with the Cricut, and then colored with my Stampin' Write markers, and of course I had to use my orange liquid embossing to make the frosting look yummy.

I LOVE this card, cupcakes always make me happy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Flower Garden Card

Last week I attended a class offered by Wadean at Scrapbook Memories & More in Sherwood Park.  The class was using new Penny Black stamps, and this is one of the ones I loved enough to purchase.

I used basic black card stock along with First Edition Designer Series Paper, stamped the image and then used my Stampin' Write markers to color the image.  I thought it still looked like it could use a little more for the handmade look, so I used a button that was sitting on my sewing table.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Crafting Attention Span

Alright, it's Saturday and I am supposed to be doing laundry, baking muffins, making a casserole for dinners later this week, and there is likely some general dusting I should be doing......but I have the attention span of a fruit fly today!

I decided to clean up my craft room (did not happen - shhhhhh), but look at the stuff I found.

I made this card out of a piece of Island Indigo card stock (Stampin' Up), coordinated it with two pieces of paper called Dotty for You (Close to My Heart).  Then I used my oval embossing folder (Stampin' Up), used Island Indigo Ink (Stampin' Up), and the Celebrate stamp set (Close to My Heart).  The flowers are made with one of my Spellbinders flowers dies.  TAH DAH.

Okay, now to go dust something, or maybe clean up the craft room.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp of the Month Club

Since I finished my last subscription, I decided I MUST renew for Karina's Stamp of the Month Club.

This month is Button Buddies, and these are the three cards made with this stamp set.

The first card we have to make from this set (as I have been informed by my son) is the snail card to pay tribute to his snail Gary who recently passed away....(thanks science camp).

I personally think the pig will come in useful for many projects as will the snowman.

But first, to Gary.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy