I've been Tagged!!

No cards today...I spent an indulgent day shopping at the mall with my dear friend, Patty. We see each other entirely too little and just had a wonderful time shopping and talking. I don't go to the mall much (my DH is thankful) as I find clothes shopping to be something I have to be in the mood for. I have to get myself psyched up for it. I guess I just wasn't born with the shopping gene...unless it's for stamps, paper and ink....no problems in that department, unfortunately.

At any rate, this is my very first time being tagged. Tammy Herschberger tagged me to give 5 answers to the following items:


Things I love

1. God
2. My family
3. My friends
4. Stamping
5. Giving gifts

Things I don't love

1. Dishonesty
2. Anger
3. Injustice
4. Politics
5. Chocolate ice cream

Songs on my MP3 Player

I'm ashamed to say I have one but haven't put a single song on it. Uh, guess I'll do that now.

Favorite food/drinks

1. Pizza
2. Dessert (anything except chocolate ice cream)
3. Hummus
4. Salads
5. Bakalava (yeah, I know it's dessert but it deserves it's own spot!)

Now I have to tag 5 others...

Some are stampers, some just inspire me to be a better person:

1. Catherine
2. Cherry
3. Debbie
4. Erika
5. Meaghan
   

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Mmmmm....Snickerdoodles!

Mmmm, Mmmm, here are those yummy Snickerdoodles I promised you. These break my rule (just a bit) of using only real, unsalted butter, as they use a combination of butter and butter-flavor shortening. Remember to have your butter and eggs at room temp. Don't let the butter get too soft, as that will cause over spreading. Don't you love that plate? I found it at a yard sale with a couple of others years ago. It's Limoge. I love serving an old fashioned cookie like Snickerdoodles on it. This is one of the simplest and best cookies. One big tip is to remove them IMMEDIATELY from the cookie sheet after you take them from the oven. If you leave them on the sheet to cool, they will overbake and you will loose that soft center that makes these so yummy. Let me know how yours turn out.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c. shortening (I use butter flavor Crisco)

1-1/2 c. sugar

2 large eggs

2-3/4 c. all purpose flour

2 t. cream of tartar

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt (not kosher)

2 T. sugar

2 t. cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix well. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, b. soda and salt. Shape the dught by rounded teaspoonfuls (about the size of a walnut) into balls.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Roll each ball in the mixture. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use Silpat liners) Bake 8-10 min. or until set but not crisp. Immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack.

If you leave the cookies on the sheet, they will continue to bake from the residual heat on the pan and overcook.

Happy Baking and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Team Cards and Cookies....all ready to pack and go!

Here's my cards and cookies all wrapped and ready to be packed into my mailing box to wing their way to our soldier Wayne.  I made the chocolate chip cookies I posted here as well as Snickerdoodles. 12 dozen in total.    I had a request to post my recipe for the Snickerdoodles so look for them in the next post.  I'll post a close up of the cards in another post as well.

Thanks to Tammy Hershberger for sharing the information and to Erika Martin for being Team Captain.  An afternoon of baking  and prayers for our servicemen and women and a morning of stamping (hey, I may use this design for MY Christmas cards....simple elegant...) for a great cause.   

Blessings & Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Carmel Apple To Go

I love, love, love carmel apples!! The best carmel on earth is made in Burnsville, MN at a family candy co. called Abdullah's. Oh, my, I can taste that yummy homemade carmel now!!

I saw a version of this cute kit on Mish's site. I chose to use the red and black solely because I had a roll of ribbon from the $1 spot at Michael's that looks like a bandana only floral. I used every single bit of it! The last tiny piece went on the card.

I ended up putting red shreds in the can after seeing my photo. The little clear envelopes contain some mini chocolate chips and chopped pecans. I included a single pkg of carmel apple dip and a beautiful Gala apple. Perfectly sweet and crunchy. Everything goes into the pail except the card. That cute bag came in a pack of 2 for $1 from the Target $1 spot. Nice heavyweight and notice the edging.

The stamps are Papertrey Spooky Sweets II, paper is Bazzill red textured, SU white, red and black. I cut the scallops and circle on pail lid with my Spellbinders Nestibilities. I get some of mine at Cut at Home. If you sign up for an account, they will send you a MONTHLY coupon for 40% off a single item....sweeeet!!

Love to know what you think!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Driving me Batty!

Have you ever seen a bat close up? We had a nest full in the outside wall of our house last year. Where we live, they are an endangered species due to the fact they eat mosquitoes, so we had to seal off every opening on the exterior of our house while they were out foraging and then hope they didn't get in. It was expensive but it worked.!

Maybe that's why I had bats on the brain when I created this bat using my fabo Scor-Pal. You can find the tutorial and more photos in the Scor-Pal Halloween Magazine. You can get the list of supplies and a pdf tutorial on the site.

Let me know if you try them...you can make dozens as they're super easy!

Happy Halloween and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Team Cookies and Cards

Do you like to bake? When I posted the recipe for those chocolate chip cookies a few weeks ago, a lot of you responded with comments that you were going to make some, too. So I know there are some bakers out there! Do you like to make cards? Of course you do! You wouldn't be here on my blog if you didn't share this passion with me, right?


Tammy Hershberger  at Stamp Happy
has given me permission to post a portion of her blog entry here:

So I'd like to challenge you all to join a team that I just joined! It's called Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support)! All you have to do is bake a batch of cookies, make 10 holiday cards and send this package to a soldier! You don't even have to pick a soldier... it's already been done! You can read about Wayne here. And to get signed up for Team Cookies & Cards, go to Erika Martin's blog here. There's a link in that post to get signed up! If you have any questions, just email me! I'll get the answers for you! One question I had for Erika was how much it would approximately cost to mail the package. Erika said she was able to get her package sent in a large Priority Mail box at a cost of $10.95. Not a bad price to brighten the day of many of our troops serving so graciously overseas!

Charlene again:

I've signed up and Tammy said there are 3 spots open as of this evening.  If you can help out, visit Erika Martin's blog here and join us!



Blessings and Happy stamping!

Charlene

Trick or Treat.....please?

Isn't this little guy just the cutest?  He's from House Mouse.  His name is Lil Punkin.  Cute?

The base card is SU Pumpkin Pie.  The DP is a scrap from last year's Martha Stewart Halloween Pack.  Brads are SU and that gorgeous ribbon (it shimmers but can't tell here) is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  

His little costume is colored with SU Watercolor Crayons then shimmered over with Twinkling H2O's.  

He's not crooked...he leans!  ;-)

Happy Halloween and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Boo!

I gave myself the gift of some stamping time today and actually finished two cards.  I  baked 6 loaves of Hawaiian Banana Bread today as well, so it was a very fulfilling day.

This was for the sketch challenge (SC199).  I can't believe I actually finished a sketch challenge on the day it was due!  This was a fun challenge...I did meander off a bit and add that cool webbing I got from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  Debbie has the coolest ribbons around at a fair price. 

This card is 4.25 x 4.25.  The base is SU's Elegant Eggplant.  I wish my camera could capture all the sparkle of the K & Co. glitter paper (Michael's)  Those happy pumpkins are all sparkly black...you should have seen my desk when I finished with both cards...perfect time to pull out my glitter cloth from Scor-Pal.  The pumpkin and Boo! are from the $1 bin at Michael's.  Both were stamped with black Versafine ink then embossed using black embossing powder.  I colored the pumpkin with SU More Mustard and Pumpkin Pie markers, then glammed him up with a bit of Sakura Glitter Pen and popped him up on dimensionals.  The edges of each panel are distressed.    The orange brads are from the Target $1 spot.

Thanks for visiting...and Happy Stamping!

Charlene 

Request for RAK's for Marcus

Hi guys,

This was passed along by Marybeth.  If you can send Marcus a card as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness), I know he'd appreciate it.


http://craftingtheweb.blogspot.com/2008/10/marcus.html

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

EEEK!!! It's A Spider, or Two or Three or....

Aren't these little guys just the cutest?  I made these for teacher gifts as well as some to send to my grandchildren.  So easy to do....and not so scarey after all.  :-)

Supplies:  Scallop circle punch, photo corner punch,
Cardstock:  Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Tango Tangerine
Accessories: Scor-Tape, wiggle eyes

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Happy Birthday, Sandra!

Hi again,

Another October birthday...this time it's my dear DIL.  She had a very classic style so when I saw Sharon Johnson's  stamp challenge today I knew this style would be perfect. 

Sharon issued a challenge to use no picture stamps.  Today is also my DH's birthday so I am busy baking and planning his surprises as well but needed to get her card in the mail so it will arrive on time. 

I had borrowed a friend's gift package Cuttlebug folder some time ago and ran off a bunch of this simple design on the heavier Papertrey white cardstock.  I simply cut a piece of DP to fit the center, stamped the greeting and tied on the ribbon.  I wish you could feel the ribbon!  It's a beautiful, soft, 1-1/2" wide satin.  I cut the ends to look a bit like a bow tie. 

Notice anything else different?  This card doesn't open!  The weight of the paper and simplicity of the design prompted me to just write my personal greeting on the back and further simplify my task.  I used this technique on the pink card for Linda in my previous post. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Can You Help?

Hi there!

I apologize for the lack of posts...October is our family's birthday month...so much to do and so little time.  I know, I know..birthdays are the same day every year and I should make the cards, plan the gifts in advance and I really do mean to...but...

I received an email recently from a friend who has a friend who's sister has recently been diagnosed with a serious illness. I am not at liberty to share details but it seems we all have a dear one or someone who is dealing with a life altering or life threatening situation so I know we can relate.

I know how awesome stampers are...and we love to bless others with cards.  If you have a minute or two and can send this dear lady a birthday card, I know it would make her day...and brighten the lives of her family as well.   

If you'd like to send her a card, her address is:

Linda Franz
PO Box 618
Sister Bay, WI  54234-0618

Blessings, Thanks, and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Birthday Fishes!

Hi!

I want to go fishing!! I've been begging my DH to take me for nearly a year now. I'm thinking I may need to go by myself!! Now before you think I'm a great sports fisherman, think again. The thought of baiting a hook gives me the heebee jeebies ,but I love the rest of it. DH says you gotta do it all....well, I can use corn or bread like I did when I was little, right? :-)

Do you see my fish bowl? I just love it! Click and look closer. You can actually look inside my bowl! Isn't that fun?

I first cuttlebugged a scrap of Aqua Mist CS from Papertrey with a circle Nestibility. I cut about 1/3 of the circle away to create the bowl shape. Then I placed the "bowl" inside a Cuttlebug Bird Call folder and embossed it.
The fish, sentiment and bubbles are from Papertrey's Pond Life. I stamped the fish in SU craft white ink. Then I brushed PearlEx powder over the ink using blue, green and gold. I cut each fish out and mounted it on dimensionals. I used a GellyRoll glaze pen to highlight the bubbles and the fish eyes and the sentiment. I brushed over the bubbles with gold Pearl Ex and sponged the edges of the bowl.

Now for the cool part....I cut a scrap piece of clear acrylic left from a package of clear stamps with the same circle Nestibility. I ran just a bit of SU tape runner around the edges of the bowl and attached the edges of the acrylic bowl. You can actually look down inside the bowl.

The background piece is a piece of Spring Moss that I ran through the Bubbles Cuttlebug Folder. I've found you have to be a bit careful with this paper in CB folders with alot of texture as it will tear easily.

The ribbon is attached by cutting a slit in the side of the card then taping it down on the inside...nice and neat.

Let me know what you think!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Happy 7th Birthday, J.D.

Hi,

Do you struggle as much as I do with cards for guys? Girly cards are so much easier. My son's nephew, J.D. is a sports lover so most of my cards for him have been sports themed. I was in a crunch for time with numerous October birthdays looming so needed a quick and easy card.

The base layer for this easy card is SU Confetti Cream. That gorgeous textured DP is from
Crate Paper -The Zoom Collection...perfect for little boys. The best part is that it's double-sided so no guesswork in trying to match colors.

If I had more time, I would have added stitching to it. This is simply layered using the front and back of the paper. I distressed the edges of the center strip and the image piece. I just love those great big eyelets from Stampin Up. The number 7 is popped up on dimensionals. I stamped the wording with my JustRight Stamper Rectangular stamper. I love it!! You can set whole phrases at once. How cool is that?!

I also heat embossed the wording and the 7 with clear embossing powder to give it some dimension.  You can see it better if you click on the photo for a close up.

Quick and easy.

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

You Rock, Drew!!

Happy Thursday!

I just love this sketch challengeSCS197 from SplitcoastStampers  . I needed a card for my nephew, Drew. He's a rockin' teenager who plays the drums in a teen rock band. Can you imagine how excited I was to find this cool set of stamps from Inkadinkadoo? Jacksonbelle has all the cool sets in her ebay store.

I thought this card needed to be as rockin' as the stamps. I have to tell you that I was having serious ribbon withdrawal. I didn't think Drew would think that was very "cool" for a guy so I added the black strip to the sketch and soothed my withdrawal with lots of glitz and glitter.

The base card is PTI new soft gold cardstock. I thought I would use this just for girly elegant cards but it works for this one, I think. The glittery layer is from K & Co. Halloween glitter pack. I embossed the SU eggplant layer in clear embossing powder using Versamark. Images are stamped in Black Staz-on.  To make them really rock, I traced them with a glue pen and added some Martha Stewart ultra-fine glitter. I think the drums look like they're on a drum with those neat Nestibilities circles.

You think he'll think it's cool, too?

Supplies: Cardstock - PTI soft gold, SU Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, K & Co. Halloween glitter pack
Ink - Stazon Black, Versamark
Supplies - Scor-Pal, clear embossing powder, heat gun, glue pen, MS glitter

Update on My Brother

Hi,

First of all, we have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have offered to pray and sent good wishes for my brother.  He loved the "Believe in Miracles" card. 

Many of you have asked about my brother, Lance and his liver battle.  I called him yesterday.  All I can say is God bless the insurance companies because somebody needs to.  His work switched insurance companies on Oct. 1.  His appointment at the University of Pittsburgh Hospital  to determine if he needed a liver transplant was SUPPOSED to be Oct. 6.  UP called him on Friday to do the preliminary paperwork over the phone.  When they got to the insurance part, they told him the new carrier wasn't accepted by the hospital.  Now he's back to square 1 trying to find a liver specialist.  To make matters worse, the doctor and hospital bills are now rolling in.  All this because a doctor did not bother to read the blood tests he ordered after prescribing a toxic combination of drugs for back pain.

Please continue to pray for him and for the wisdom of his doctors.    He's trying to keep his spirits up and doing a great job of it. 

With everything going on in the world right now, I know your prayer lists are long so I humbly thank you in advance for your time.

Blessings,
Charlene

Boo to You!! World Cardmaking Day

Happy Sunday,
Yesterday was World Cardmaking Day! As part of the celebration,
Splitcoast Stampers offered several challenges. One was to CASE a card from the gallery of the talented Sherryls05. I chose her card titled Celebrate Sassy Flowers.

I know, I know...about this time you're thinking flowers? I don't see any flowers!flowers!!

Well, that's pretty much the point. We were to choose a card and change at least 2 things about it. Most who know me know I have a hard time with casing. Not sure why exactly but when I realized that I could basically take one of her layouts and play with it (this is a playground, right? :-) I realized - I could do this!

See how many changes you can find and post them here. I've got a surprise for the one who finds the most. Happy Hunting!!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene

Our Hearts are Poppin'...with Appreciation, that is!

Hi!

Another Sunday, brings another teacher appreciation gift from our church. This week, I decided to make these super quick and easy popcorn pull-ups. I used the single serving size bags of popcorn so they could pop them right at school if they want to.

The paper came from a pack that was a gift from my friend, Patty. I made all the papers from that pack as I knew they would coordinate and I wouldn't have to do much thinking about that part. LOL

The sentiment was cut with a Spellbinder's Nestibility and stamped with the Small Letter Set and Round Stamper from JustRite Stampers. I just love the fact that I can say anything I want with these versatile letters!

You can click on the photo for a closer look if you'd like.

I keep these gifts simple since I have to make so many but these can be dressed up any way you choose.

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

First Fruits Thanksgiving Table

Happy Saturday,

I just love Thanksgiving. It makes me angry sometimes that retailers just "jump" right over it in their rush from Halloween to Christmas. To me, it's a time to spend with family and friends and express our thanks to our Father for the blessings we've been given....even in hard times.

Several of my Stamp Campers are hosting Thanksgiving dinner so I thought they might like some ideas for their tables.

I just love Papertrey's First Fruits...so many possibilities! I chose this shock of wheat because it isn't too fussy and would be just as happy paired with Chinet as with your good china.

I used SU's Haiku DP paired with More Mustard and Tangerine Tango CS and inks. After stamping the wheat in More Mustard, I tapped the edges of the image with Tangerine Tango, then stamped in Versamark and clear embossing powder. I added just a touch of additional sparkle to the wheat tops with a Sakura Gelly Roll sparkle pen in a coppery color.

The images are cut with the largest size Spellbinder's Nestibilities plain and scalloped ovals, the edges are embossed and sponged with More Mustard for depth.

I created the names of the placeholder with my computer and punched it out using SU's word window punch.

The tiny tin is perfect for holding mints or a small treasure. I thought a small gift by each place would be a nice touch. I covered the edges with DP after first running a strip of Scor-Tape from Scor-Pal around the edges. The top pieces were also cut with a circle Nestibility.

I made the napkin ring by first cutting a strip of heavyweight acrylic to fit the napkin and then sticking it together with Scor-Tape. I did not adhere the DP to it but made it to slip on so the rings can be re-used. That way you don't have to "re-create the wheel" each time. :-) You can let your guests slip the designer piece off the ring to take home while you keep the master ring to use again!! Pretty clever, don't you think? :-)

I'd love to know what you think!

Season's blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Chance to Win PhotoShop Elements

Good Morning,
If any of you are photo buffs and want a chance to win Photoshop Elements 7, just go here:
The Secret is in the Sauce and leave them a comment. Easy, peasy and somebody's gotta win, right?

Blessings & Happy Stamping,
Charlene

Believe in Miracles

Hi,
It's been a rough couple of days around here but we are believing in the promise of Philipians 4:13.

I made this card for my brother who is facing a possible liver transplant. We are indeed praying for a miracle.

My DH took this photo at St. Augustine beach last year from the vantage point of a boardwalk. It just feels so comforting to see the waves and know that the One who made them can calm them.

The base of the card is SU Sahara Sand, the black is a cool bumpy texture from a pack of paper that was a gift from a friend. It's lighter than SU cardstock so the layers don't add alot of additional weight. The blue is Baja Breeze. I sponged words in Tim Holtz' Distressed Ink Old Paper since I don't have a Sahara Sand ink pad....hmmmm...will have to add that to the list. The Old Paper does match very well though. I wanted this card to be simple but it really needed that sheer ribbon. I tried a wider sheer, a satin piece, and a grosgrain piece before settling on this one. Click on the photo for a better look if you'd like.

I'd love to know what you think...if you've never tried to make a card from a photo, why not give it a try. If you do, link it here. I'd love to see it. I've got a couple more up my sleeve for later.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,
Charlene