flutter

I found these cute Heidi Swap pink Damask stickers at Tuesday Morning last weekend. 51 stickers for $1.99. I see me using these to make many matching scrapbook background pages.

News- I will be giving away some Blog Candy in the next week or so to celebrate 20 follows/16,000 views.... I am still working on putting together the bundle of goodies...so far it will be some Prismacolor Colored Pencils, 3 Copic Markers: a Colorless Blender- V000 -V15, floral embellishments, a stamp set, Copic quality cardstock, mini Ink Pad, a Scrapbooking kit, Designer Paper...

You must be a follower of my blog to be elligible to win... and I will not be doing the give away until I hit 20 followers...so sign up to follow if you are interested.

Recipe: Freaky Flutter digi stamp by The Greeting Farm, SU! sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes set, SU! Pink Pirouette Cardstock, Pink May Arts Satin Ribbon, Value Lace from A.C. Moore, Nesties, Reflections pearls, Prima Roses, and Copics:

Quick and Simple Chenille Flower Embellishment Tutorial

Happy Saturday! Today is my guest designer featured tutorial over at Die Cuts R Us Design Team Blog.

My tutorial demonstrates how to the make a Chenille Flower Embellishment pictured in my card above.

I stamped Yoga Anya onto Neenah cardstock using Memento ink. Next I colored my image using copic markers. I die cut my image using a nesties oval and left the paper in the die while I sponged on some Antique Linen distress ink around the edges. I adhered my image onto a scallop oval die cut from nesties. I rounded the corners of my Basic Grey Kioshi patterned paper and then sponged on some Antique Linen distress ink around the edges of the paper. I made a knot in my ribbon and adhered that to my patterned paper. I used one of the new Tim Holtz Sizzix dies- Elegant Flourishes to die cut some self adhesive glitter craft foam I found at the craft store and added the flourishes around my image. Next I stuck on my Chenille Flower using two glue dots and finally I added some pearls to the bottom corner of my card to finish it off.

Recipe:
Supplies Available from Die Cuts R Us-
Yoga Anya stamp by The Greeting Farm
Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink
Basic Grey Kioshi 6 X 6 Paper Pad
Kioshi Collection Stitched Brads
Memento Die Ink Pad Tuxedo Black
Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80lb Cardstock
GluGlider
Also used:
PTI Pink Shimmer Cardstock
PTI Plum Pudding Swiss Dots Satin Ribbon (reverse side)
Nestabilities Petite Oval and Scallop Oval Dies
Sponge Dauber
Kaisercraft Self Adhesive Pearls in Blush
Adhesive Glitter Craft Foam
Chenille Pipe Cleaner
Corner Rounder Punch
Copic Markers:
Face: E000, E11, E21, R20
Hair: E25, E27, E35
Clothes: RV0000, RV10, RV21

Chenille Flower Tutorial Supplies needed-
Chenille Pipe Cleaner (available at any craft store)
Jumbo Brads- I used a Basic Grey Kioshi collection Stitched Brad
A round object or you can use your fingers (for picture taking purposes I used a Judikins Color duster handle)

1- Wrap your pipe cleaner around your finger or round object one time and bend the lose end around the rest of the pipe cleaner to secure the first loop.

2- Now wrap the pipe cleaner around again in the opposite direction.

3- Wrap the pipe cleaner around again multiple times until you have used the entire length of the pipe cleaner...

keep wrapping in alternate directions...

This end result will be 4 loops if you use the color duster handle and 5 if you use your fingers.

4- Now insert your jumbo brad through the center of your flower and bend back the prongs in such a way that it secures the pipe cleaner in the shape you have created.
Finished- Now you have a finished flower to add to your card.

Thanks and Blessings that it is Friday!

I am so thankful that it is finally Friday. It has felt like the longest week ever. I can not wait until 5pm and the official beginning to my weekend! One weekend off- two whole days of peace and quiet, no appointments, no client visits, no meetings, nobody looking for me to be someplace....at some particular time... finally SLEEP!! Yay!

Since I am so thankful, here is a thank you card I threw together.


Recipe: Digi stamp freebie from BeccaKay Digital Designs, Basic Grey Kioshi papers, PTI Plum Pudding and Stampers Select White cardstock, Lace ribbon, Prima roses, Reflections gems, CAC Pinafore computer font for sentiment, SU! Ticket corner punch, Copics: V01, V12, V15, G20, G12, G82, W00, BG0000, B0000, E0000, E00, R20, YR21, YR24

I will have an actual tutorial post tomorrow for you!

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe- like a chain letter for bakers....

I had the great fortune to get to try this yummy confection on Easter. My roomate was given a bag starter and I figured I would pay it forward!!! So I am sharing this recipe with all of you in cyberland.

I think this would be a great little gift for friends if you include a cute stamped recipe card along with bag of starter.

The sweet bread known as Amish Friendship Bread is a family favorite. It is a quick bread, meaning you don't need to let the bread rise. This sweet sourdough starter recipe makes enough to bake your own loaf of quick bread and to share with two friends, which is a traditional thing with this recipe.

Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread

Important Tips-
It is normal for batter to thicken, bubble, or ferment

Day 1: You receive a bag of Starter ( the fermented batter in a 1 gallon ziploc bag.) Do Nothing. Just place the bag on the kitchen counter. If you did not receive a starter bag and want to create one from scratch- see Starter recipe at the bottom of this post.

Day 2: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 3: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 4: Add 1 c. of flour, 1 c. of sugar, 1 c. of milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 5: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 6: Add 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 7: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 8: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 9: Squeeze bag several times.

Day 10: In a large, non-metal bowl, combine batter with 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon. Pour four 1-cup starters into individual gallon ziploc bags. Give away starters to friends with this set of directions.

To the remaining batter add:
1 c. canola or vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1/2 t. baking soda
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
2 t. cinnamon

In separate bowl, mix 1 t. cinnamon and 3 T. sugar. Sprinkle into well-greased loaf pans and coat the sides with sugar mixture. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until done.

Variations:
Banana Bread:
1 box instant banana pudding
1 mashed banana
2 handfuls of nuts

Chocolate Bread:
1 box of instant choc. pudding
1 T. cocoa
2 handfuls of chocolate chips

Helpful tips-

The traditional recipe states not to use metal utencils to prepare this. If you use metal implements for mixing...it will not ruin your bread...just don't use reactive metal like aluminum.

If you miss days or don't follow all the steps...your starter will not be ruined. You can refridgerate it for months- if it turns pink it is spoiled and you should throw it out.

You can grease your loaf pans with PAM cooking spray.

To make your own Starter-

Simply put 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. milk, and 1 T. yeast in a ziploc bag and let it sit on the counter. Call that Day 1, and you’re good to go.

Enjoy!

Dani Celebrates Spring

Happy Monday! I was so incredibly lazy this weekend. The weather was beautiful and I spent most of the time just walking and driving around enjoying the sunshine. About the only crafty things I did were some homework for my coloring class with Suzanne Dean and a few science experiments with trying to dye my own dew drops. I will share the dew drops later this week.

For coloring class, I was working on coloring grass. I decided to complete the image and combined it with some cute new Reflections trims I just picked up and made the card out of a blog candy kit I won from Amy Young. The result was this cute little springtime card.


Copics used:
Grass- G20, YG03, YG63, YG67, G99
Butterflies and Flowers- Y00, RV00
Clothes- B91, B95, B97, RV0000, RV000, RV00, RV91
Wings- B0000, B000, Clear Spica Glitter Pen
Hair- E13, YR24, YR21
Skin- E0000, E000, E00

Tim Holtz distress ink in Antique Linen
Stamp- Dani from Elizabeth Bell for SCACD

Happy Easter!

It was Friday, but Sunday will come.

My IBS strikes again. I was terribly sick yesterday and was not able to attend my best friend's birthday dinner. I had found the perfect outfit, got all dressed up and drove 3 towns over to meet her at her house and of course I got sick. I couldn't even get out of the car. I had to turn around and drive all the way back home.

I was sad so I decided to play with some new goodies I found at AC Moore yesterday. I decided to do something a bit different from my usual style- vintage- distressed. I finally decided to check out what all this Tim Holtz love is all about. I got one of his new Sizzix Big Shot dies, one distress ink and bought some trims and papers that I thought looked a bit vintage.

I used Antique Linen distress ink to grunge up some K & Company ancestry and Basic Grey Kioshi paper. I crumpled it up really good and then added the distress ink direct to the paper and tore up the edges. I added the distress ink to some lace and I used a color duster to brush the distress ink to my image to grunge it up as well.

I really like how this turned out. Things looked pretty bleak to me yesterday but now that I am looking at this card, I feel inspired that something good arose out of that bad situation. I always thought I couldn't make those beautiful distressed vintage cards that other talented stampers make but I was wrong. I just had to try.

My inspirational Easter message is this:

Philippians 1:6
Be confident of this. He that began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.

Philippians 1:3
God will bring you to a flourishing finish.

Talk like its gonna .Act like its gonna happen . Plan like its gonna happen. Think like its gonna happen. Be confident! - Joel Osteen


Recipe: SU! Serene Spring stamp set, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Tim Holtz Antique Linen distress ink, Nestabilities Labels One, Prima roses. Kaisercraft pearls and rhinestones, Bobbin Ribbon, Michael's Lace Ribbon, K& Company ancestry paper, Basic Grey Kioshi paper, PTI Stampers Select White and Aqua Mist cardstock, SU! Lovely Lilac and Sahara Sand cardstock, color duster, Copics:

An Easter Poem For You...

'TWAS THE DAY BEFORE EASTER

'Twas the day before Easter..and all through the woods,The bunnies were busy packing their goods. The eggs were all colored so pretty and bright,

All things were "go"for the big, special night.
The baskets were waiting,all decorated with care,

In hopes that the Bunny soon would be there.

My little brother Sam was asleep in his bed,

While visions of Easter eggs rolled round his head.
And I in my pajamas with the cat on my lap,

I had just settled down for a quick little nap.

When outside the window I heard a great noise,

I sprang from my chair and jumped over some toys.
As quick as a flash to the window I flew,

I pulled up the shade and,

OH, what a view.

The moon on the meadow cast a bright golden glow

And the wind blew the flowers to and then fro.
Then all of a sudden from out of nowhere,

Came some lively bunnies,hopping here, hopping there!

Leading the group with ears long and funny

Was a plump, all-white rabbit... That's right...the EASTER BUNNY!
The bunnies hopped past,one, two, three, four,

The rabbit called out and then there were more.

"Come, Peter!, Come, Flopsy!,Come, Benny!, Come, Joe!

Now hop along! Hop along! Hop along! GO!"
So up on each doorstep the bunnies did hop,

With baskets of eggs.(Let's hope they don't drop)!

Just at that moment,on the porch down below,

Came the stomping of feet' Twas the rabbit, I know!
As I stepped from my window I heard a loud sound.

Through the door came the rabbit with a leap and a bound.

He was furry and soft from his head to his feet.

To see him so close was really quite neat.
He was surrounded by eggs that had been carefully dyed.

Easter eggs galore he soon would hide.

His eyes were all twinkles,His nose was so pink,

And I can't be too sure,but I think he did wink.
He had a kind face and a big fluffy tail

That bobbed up and down like a boat with a sail.

A twitch of his nose and a flick of his ear

Was his way of saying,"You've nothing to fear."
He uttered no sound as he hopped all about

Hiding the eggs and leaving no doubt,

That the Easter bunny had come like he does every year...

Bringing baskets of happiness to children so dear.

by John Paul of Homespun

Recipe: Egg-spress digi from myscrapchick.com, Basic Grey Kioshi paper, PTI pink and blue shimmer cardstock and Stampers Select White cardstock, Janome sew mini, SU! Scallop trim border punch, Petaloo Dazzlers, flowers and pearls from RAK, Prima pearl centers, Copics:

Lamby

When I was a little girl, I had a stuffed animal named Lamby. He went with me everywhere and I loved him to pieces. One day Lamby disappeared and we had Rack of Lamb for Easter dinner....coincidence? maybe but to this day I still can't eat lamb.

Here is a very cute girly lil' lamb from myscrapchick.com. I was able to make her the perfect size to fit inside the Whimsie Doodles egg sentiment and I popped her up to make her stand out a bit.

Recipe: Standing Lamb digi stamp from myscrapchick.com, Easter freebie digi from Whimsie Doodles, PTI Pink and Blue Shimmer and Stampers Select White cardstock Plum Pudding Satin Swiss Dot Ribbon, Bow Easy, Janome Sew Mini, Kaisercraft Airy Fairy paper, Prima Flowers and Rose, Reflections Pearls, Dimensionals, Copics used: (B0000 ciaos W1, W3, W5, W9, RV10, E43)

Sleepy Bunny Kind of Easter

The Easter Bunny is resting up so that he can deliver baskets to all the little kiddies this weekend. Isn't this bunny just too cute? You can find him at myscrapchick.com

Recipe: Sleepy Bunny digi from myscrapchick.com, PTI Stampers Select White cardstock- Lemon Tarte and Aqua Mist cardstock, PTI Lemon Tarte Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon, Bow Easy, Basic Grey Kioshi papers, Prima Say it In Pearls, Prima rose, Kaisercraft Gypsy Sister Flower, CAC Pinafore computer font, Copics: ciao E43 and...

Happy Easter to Ewe!

I am so excited to share this cute little Easter card with you. It is my very first card as a guest designer for MyScrapChick.com. Kristi, the amazing owner and illustrator has expanded her store full of paper piecing patterns and cut files to include digi stamps. Not only are her files high quality, she includes two files per image -one plain line art and one with shadows. I selected the Lamb image with shadows for this project and I just love how it turned out. The shading on the image blended perfectly with my copics and I was able to deepen the shadows with very little coloring. If you would like to get your hands on some Freebie digis from MyScrapChick, become a facebook fan. Kristi has posted some free digi's on their facebook fan page here. She will add more when they get to 200 fans.

COPIC TIP:
White is never really white and black is never really black. To add depth and dimension to my Lamb, I used Warm Gray copics. For his white fur I used- W00, W1, W3 and for his black hooves, I used W9, W7, W5, W3.

DIGI TIP:
I have been playing around with my inkjet printer settings and have found my perfect combo for printing my digis- For my Epson RX595, I select Best Photo mode and Premium Matte Presentation Paper settings while printing on PTI Stampers Select White Cardstock and then my digis don't smear with I color over the lines with extensive amounts of colorless blender. Let your images dry thoroughly or heat set before coloring and you should have little to no smearing.

Recipe: Lamb digi by MyScrapChick, Lovebirds gate freebie digi by Pollycraft, Basic Grey Kioshi designer paper, PTI Aqua Mist- Stampers Select White Cardstock, SU! Lovely Lavender cardstock, May Arts satin ribbon, Prismacolor Pencils in Marine Green and Olive Green, Odorless Mineral Spirits, Prima Say It In Pearls Lavender Swirl, Janome Sew Mini, Bow Easy, Labels One Nestabilities, Clear Button, Copic ABS system and V15 copic marker( to airbrush button), Copic markers used: ciaos-W1, W3, W5, W7, E43, RV10

Thank You!

I finally got around to some cardmaking over the weekend. Here is a thank you card I made using a fabulous digi freebie from Tracey at Spesch Stamps. This stamp is called Penny and since there is a sunflower theme in this stamp, I had no problem at all selecting my colors for the card. Wish the sun would shine here in NY!

Recipe: Penny digi by Spesch Stamps, PTI stampers select white, lemon tarte cardstock and lemon tarte swiss dot satin ribbon, green cardstock from TAC, Kaisercraft Made with love designer paper run through bigshot using an SU! texture plate and alcohol spritz and sponged with Crushed Curry SU! ink, Bow Easy, SU! Crushed Curry cardstock, various Nestabilities, rhinestones, Prima roses, Janome Sew Mini, and Copics used: Y11, Y13, Y15, Y17, YG03, YG63, G20, E0000, E00, YR24, YR21, E43

American Idol Chit chat and copic coloring homework share

Well, I am still busy coloring for my Color Me Creative class with Suzanne Dean, so I thought I would share my latest homework for landscapes with all of you in cyberland just to prove I am not just watching TV and lounging around!!!

My tree was colored using copics: G99, YG67, YG63, YG03, G20.

Ok now onto chit chat... what do you think of this season of American Idol?

People are very underwhelmed with the talent this season. I can't say that I disagree. No one has really stood out as great to me yet, although some people really like Crystal. If I had to pick favorites at this point I would say Shiobhan because she is just so different than anything I have ever seen or heard and Lee because I like his voice. I can honestly say that overall I have not enjoyed any of the performances lately from any of the contestants. I am not surprised that Paige went home last night, she was so bad the other night I was embarrassed for her. I think Tim was a little shocked that he made it through to the top 10...he probably had to go back to the Idol house and unpack his suitcase. I think most of them need some vocal lessons and help with their stage presence. It will be interesting to see what they do next week with the R&B soul theme. I think Usher will be a good mentor...look what he did for little Justin Beiber! All in all I think this may be the last season of Idol.. with Scowel (my nickname for cranky Simon) leaving and all these lackluster performances....it may just go off the air.

How Easter Eggs are made

I apologize that I have not been posting as much lately. I am taking a copic advanced coloring class from Suzanne Dean and with my coloring homework assignments, I have not been making too many finished cards. One of the lessons is for grass so I had colored in some grass on this image and decided that I had to get into gear and color up the whole image to use as an Easter card.

This image by Elizabeth Dulemba is just so cute. I went to my local scrapbooking store Scrappers Cove on my birthday last week and I picked up these cute Say It in Pearls by Prima. I had to stick just the butterfly on my card to make it extra springy!

Recipe: digi Image by Elizabeth Dulemba, computer font, Eyelet border punch by SU!, PTI Aqua Mist cardstock and Everyday Blessings papers, Nesties Labels One, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock, Memento dessert sand dew drop ink, chenille pipe cleaner, Making Memories jumbo brad, Reflections pearls, Say It In Pearls butterfly, Copics: