Mini cards in a Box

Hi Everyone!

In 7 days I will be seeing my sister Paula for the first time in about 7 years.  She's flying in from Seattle and will be flying home too so I am carefully planning the gifts I will give her.  Today I made her a 3.5" x 3.5" gift box that is now filled with 6 mini cards and envelopes.

Here's the box.

It looks huge in the photo, but it really does measure just 3.5" x 3.5".  I am going to decorate the front of it, but haven't decided how yet.

Here are the cards that are in the box.

I used Lockhart stamps on all of them and my Prismacolor colored pencils to color them.  Love those pencils!

That's it for today!
Carol

Hi Everyone!

The 4th of July is nearly over and I am beat.  We have had 3 celebrations in the past 4 days.  On Sunday we celebrated Robbie's birthday and since his real birthday was on Monday we celebrated it again on Monday.  Today we celebrated the 4th of July.  I had planned a festive menu, but decided to use up the leftovers from our previous celebrations and just add a few new things to the menu. 

The current July 2012 issue of Better Homes & Gardens featured "The New All Americans" with "clever spins" on burgers, hot dogs and shakes.  I think it's funny that so many people say, "I rarely eat a hot dog, but once in a while I love one that's been cooked on the grill, served with some sort of special condiment, etc."  Well, folks I actually LOVE hot dogs and have fond memories of Saturday night suppers of hot dogs, baked beans and brown bread.  When I was in junior high (yes, middle school was called "junior high" back in the dark ages) every Thursday the cafeteria served a (disgusting looking) plate filled with baked beans with 2 hot dogs floating on top of them.  My friends and I wolfed them down!

So when I saw the recipe for "Barbecue Potato Chip Crunch Dogs" in the magazine I knew I had to add those hot dogs to today's menu.  And guess what!  I found the recipe on the Better Homes & Gardens web site for YOU at this link...click here!  They were a hit so make some!

Hot dogs are more fun when they are served in their own tray, so I created some...with red and white stripes of course. 

I put a little flag on each hot dog.

Mmm, good!

We had some leftover frosting in the refrigerator that I had tinted green for Robbie's cupcakes and Robbie thought I should use that up.  Don't know what's wrong with that boy of mine.  Green frosting on the 4th of July?  Not in this house. 

I whipped up a new batch of cupcakes.  I made confetti ones by adding 1/2 cup of red, white and blue sprinkles to the batter of a white cake mix.  When you bite into a cupcake there are splatters of red and blue in it.   This was an awesome and oh, so simple way to make cupcakes for this holiday and we can just change the colors for other holidays. 

I put a stripe of red and blue gel food coloring in my decorating bag before I added white frosting to it.  As I piped the frosting it came out striped.  The first couple of cupcakes were a little too "vibrant" because I had been a little heavy handed when I added the food coloring, but after about the 3rd one they came out just the way I had hoped they would.  Of course I delivered some to Bob and Jan and the rest were/are for us.

Happily we get a few days off before the next "celebration".  8 days to be precise.  My sister Paula and her husband arrive here from Seattle on July 11 and we're celebrating birthdays on July 12.  Jeanne's real birthday is July 16 so that will be round 2 for her party!

Off to bed...
Carol

Happy 4th of July

Hi Everyone!

It's just after midnight here in Massachusetts.  It's the 4th of July!  I gave Annie her gift bag and cards at Robbie's birthday on Sunday.  She was thrilled with them and said she knows she'll use them this summer.  Here's the bag I made for her.

I shared the cards I made for her in a previous post, but you can see a bit of them in this photo.

I'll be getting up early to bake cupcakes for our 4th of July celebration and to share with Bob and Jan.  Here's the top of the box I created for their cupcakes.

And a view of the side of it.

And another view of it.

These boxes hold 4 cupcakes and I can create them in about 15 minutes.  Perhaps if anyone is interested I'll post instructions on how I make them one of these days. 

Meanwhile, I am heading to bed now so I can get up early to bake cupcakes and make some other festive foods.

Happy 4th of July!
Carol

Happy Birthday Robbie!

Good Morning Everyone!

We are celebrating Robbie’s 27^th birthday this afternoon. In our family you choose the menu and theme of your birthday party. Robbie said he wanted summer fare and a squirrel theme. So we’re having unfried chicken, potato salad, cole slaw, corn on the cob, green beans, cupcakes, fresh fruit cup, ice cream and “acorns”.

My potato salad recipe is a festive one that’s been adapted from a recipe I found and later lost from the Boston Globe. It’s made with red skin potatoes, celery, carrots, red peppers, red onions, Cains mayonnaise, red wine vinegar and parsley. It’s colorful and delicious and is one of Rob’s favorites.

Robbie also loves the cole slaw that we make about once a week during the summer. I use my food processor to shred a head of cabbage and about 4 carrots. Then I add about a cup of raisins and a jar of Marie’s Cole Slaw Dressing. It’s sweet and tangy and oh, so good.

We eat fresh fruit salad all year long. Fruits seem to taste even better when they are mixed up with each other. The fruits that we use vary from week to week depending upon what’s in season and what’s on sale.

I found a wonderful idea for squirrel cupcakes in What’s New Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, but decided it was a little too complicated to use during this hot humid weekend. I did, however, create some of their adorable “acorns” from page 96. They’re made with mini vanilla wafers, Hershey Kisses, and chocolate decorating icing. They really do look like an acorn. They’re a fun little extra that people can just pop into their mouths.

I whipped up a batch of cupcakes, frosted them with green “grass”, sprinkled on some toffee bits, and added adorable cupcake picks that I created by using some Lawn Fawn stamps and papers. The tree and the squirrel are from Lawn Fawn’s “Critter in the Burbs” clear stamp set. “Happy Birthday” is from Lawn Fawn’s “Hats Off to You” clear stamp set. I fussy cut and paper pieced the tree and then fussy cut the squirrels and added one to each tree along with a toothpick so I could “plant” the tree in the grass. The leafy green treetops were created from scraps of green papers from Lawn Fawn’s “Bright Side” paper collection. I used “tree trunk” papers from My Mind’s Eye to create the tree trunks.  Some squirrels are running up the tree. Others are running down the tree or across the foliage.

Robbie loves trail mix so I tossed roasted peanuts, sunflower seeds, m&m’s, and raisins together and filled little baggies with the mixture. I used the template for the “Around the Town” small tote from PaperTrey Ink and some tree trunk papers from My Mind’s Eye to create tiny treat bags for the trail mix. I decorated each bag with additional tree trunks and squirrels.

I used a balloon stamp from the Hero Arts “Wonderful Birthday” clear stamp set and a clear squirrel stamp from Technique Tuesday to create a quick and simple card for Robbie.

Going to cook the chicken before it gets any hotter here. Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Robbie!

Love,

Mom

A Couple of Cards

Hi Everyone!

I have a couple of cards to share with you today.  My sister Pam told me about a joke that she has been playing on our brother Bobby and suggested I play along.   Bobby is a nice guy, but isn't the least bit sentimental.  He'll look at a card, check to see if there's any cash in it, and toss it in the trash.  With that in mind I put this card for him together very quickly.  I stamped some eyeglasses from Lawn Fawn's "Clear to See" clear stamp set directly onto a blank card.  Then I stamped and cut the "I Love You Eye Chart" from Technique Tuesday and adhered it to the card.  Done!

I spent a little more time on the next card.  I admired the technique that Ellen Hutson used on her card at this link and decided to try it out for myself.  LOVE the results.  I've been using the limited number of colored pencils that I own a lot lately so last night I gave myself a "gift" and ordered some Prismacolor pencils online.  Then I promised myself that I won't spend any more money on papercrafting supplies for a while.  Here's my card.

And here's a close up of the clogs.

I can't believe how much fun it is to use a stylus to enhance an image. 

Susan, I am waiting impatiently for you to head North to create with me and my other crafty friends!

Okay, must get back to work now. 

Have a great day!
Carol

Red, White and Blue Cards

Hi Everyone!


It's kind of sad and funny how few of us leave comments on blogs.  I don't do it often enough myself.  Yet if I don't post for a few days in a row, I get about half a dozen e-mails checking in to see why I haven't posted!


I have 4 cards to share with you today.  I was inspired by Pier One's Sunday flyer.  Annie will be visiting us on Sunday and I plan to give her some cards.  Sunday will be too late to give her a set of 4th of July cards to send out, but she can use red, white and blue cards anytime.  Here are some of the cards I'll give her.

I paper pieced the balloons which were stamped with a Lockhart stamp.  Lockhart stamps are among my top five favorite stamp companies.

Those lanterns were stamped with a wooden stamp from Hero Arts.  The present is from The Stamps of Life. Love how easy it is to paper piece it.  Stamp the image on 2 patterned papers.  Fussy cut one entire gift.  Fussy cut just the ribbon and bow on second gift and adhere it to the first one.

 

These flowers were stamped and punched with a stamp and punch from Purple Daisy Designs.  They remind me of a pinwheel Jeanne bought the other day.

When I saw the border button die from Memory Box I knew I had to own it...and their other buttons die too.!

Which card do you like best?  Please post a comment.  You can do it.  It's easy and it will bring a smile to my face and yours too!


Have a nice night!
Carol

Thanks a Bunch!

Hi Everyone!

I am planning to make some sets of fruits and vegetables cards.  Here's one of the cards I made last night.

The "Perfect Peas" stamp is from Lockhart Stamps.  I LOVE their stamps.  The stamps are designed by Karen Lockhart.  She uses colored pencils to color her images and a stylus to add details to them.  You probably cannot see the details I added to my peas, but they look pretty good considering that's the first time I tried that technique. 

The peapod at the bottom was stamped with a stamp from PaperTrey Ink's "Baby Button Bits" clear stamp set.  I fussy cut it, and added some wire tendrils and button peas. 

Have a nice night!
Carol