Got Green?

Today I thought I should do something green as St. Patrick's Day is getting close.  

The card base is Garden Green with Pear Pizazz run through the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  The flower stems are from the Field Flowers stamp set and the flowers were purchased at Michael' s for the bargain price of $3.99 for a box of (? a million) from the wedding section as they were clearing out stock.  The flowers are a plain white, but Copic Markers work wonders on them to make them any color I want.  SOOOOO much fun!

The brads for the flower centers are from the Everyday Enchantment brad pack (free from Sale-a-bration).

The Got Green? greeting is from the Got Treats? stamp set.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

New Fascinations!!

A couple of months ago while picking up some fruit to take along to riding lessons (for us - not the horses) I found in the magazine section of a grocery of store the most fascinating publication: Cardmaking & Papercraft.  I bought my first of this publication because of the free stamp set that was enclosed with it that month, and have since then become FASCINATED with all of their publications.  Every issue comes with fantastic ideas and projects and some kind of reward for buying the issue.  I LOVE it.

For today's project I used Wisteria Wonder card stock with Cheerful Treat Designer Series Paper, and Concord Crush Designer Series Paper.  I then stamped a portion of this beautiful flower stamp set on a piece of Whisper White card stock, got out my Copic markers and colored!

The greeting is from the Touch of Kindness stamp set in the Summer 2011 Mini catalogue.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday

Although I have a full box of scrap paper the concept of Oh S"crap"! It's Monday is starting to get more and more difficult.

This is what I came up with for today.

I had enough Whisper White card stock (in a weird shape) to make the card base and some left over for the banner that I cut using my Nestabilities dies - Whisper White and Poppy parade.  The flower is from the Triple Treat Flower stamp set (got it free with Sale-a-Bration) and stamped in Pool Party with a brad from the Everyday Enchantment Brad Pack (again - got it with Sale-a-bration).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cut Once, Stamp Twice

Today I decided I should play with my new Mouthwatering Stamp Set.

I cut Early Espresso for the back ground, Very Vanilla for the accent, and used the First Edition Designer Series Paper for the card on the left.  I cut out the squares with my 1" square punch.  The cherries are colored using my Stampin' Write markers to get 2 colors.  I cut out the cherry on the left and used Stampin Dimensionals for this.  I did use my new edgelets die as well on the Espresso edge and then the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.

The greeting on the left is from the Swirls and Curls Verses stamp set for hostesses. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Banana Muffins (Again)

 It's that time of week again, where I have to start thinking of that onerous task of making nutritional balanced and creative lunches again.  By this time of year the monotony  starts to get to me.  I love cooking and baking, but when I HAVE to, then sometimes it becomes a task.

Today, I am not creative at all, and went to the freezer for a bag of  "rotten bananas" - not a gross as you might think, I HATE bananas with brown spots on them (eat them when they are green and crunchy) and when they get a brown spot on them, I peel them and put them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  Very quick and easy to defrost in microwave and use in muffins.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Banana Muffins

1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
4 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup buttermilk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoon ground flax seed.

Mix all ingredients together in order listed and bake at 350 degrees F.  


Kathy

Table Toppers

Have you seen this before?  I bought this fabric kit at Lori's Country Cottage last winter.  I loved the color combination and the pattern that came with it.  The pattern is called Two at a Time and designed by Designs to Share with You.  Now the kit to my knowledge was to make one of the square table toppers as you see in my blog profile, and the left overs were for a table runner.  However, either I got more fabric than I was supposed to, or I was really tight on my fabric cutting, as I was able to make 2 of the table toppers, and from the left over triangles (the square table toppers are not pieced from half square triangles) I was able to get this table runner out of it as well!  Awesome, I think I am going to have to make another of these soon, as I think they look beautiful.  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Minkee Blankie

I LOVE Minkee.  I hate sewing with it, but the end result is always phenomenal!

I made this blankie about a year ago for my son.  We had gone in to Earthly Goods and my son always loves to touch and cuddle with all of the fabric before going to the play area.  On this particular day when we walked in one of the staff members told him to come with her as she had something to show him.  I found him a few minutes later snuggled up in a big pile of Minkee bolts with a BIG smile.

These are the colors that he picked out.

These blankets are relatively easy to sew other than that the spray adhesive makes my unable to breath so I have to use a respirator (not comfortable even though the package says so), and the small bits of the minkee that shed off also get up my nose, so I have to wear the mask from start to finish, then ask someone to vacuum the craft room.

The backing and batting are laid out, then the middle strip is place on and sewn on top close to both edges.  The next strip is placed (right sides together) on top of the middle strip, and sewn at 1/2" edge along the entire length.  Once sewn down the wrong side of the strip is sprayed with adhesive and pressed down to the batting. The next strip is then place on and sewn 1/2" seam allowance along the edge again.  Continue until you reach the end of one side of the batting.  Return to center and work out to other edge.

These quilts usually take me the better part of a Sunday (1100 - 1600ish) to complete, but are so cuddly and worth it.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy