LGS August 15th

Now that the kiddos are back in school, I can play along with Let's Get Sketchy again.  Yay! I love their sketches and really liked this one.  It's a different style from what I'm used to doing when I make a layout so I liked that it challenged me and took me outside my comfort zone.

Here's the sketch...

 And this sketch had a mood board...

 And I had the perfect papers to go along with it.  I found this photo on my daughter's phone of her and her two best friends and thought it would make a perfect girlie page.  I love a good feminine layout, I can use lots of flowers!

Bye for now!  :)

Scrapping the day away...

Hi there!  Now that the kiddos are back in school, it's time to get caught up on all the fun stuff I like to do while I have some free time, scrapbooking at the top of that list.   I spent the entire first week of school getting caught up and thought I'd share some of my creations with you all.

Here's what I've been working on...

The first day of school...also the last first day for my daughter...sniff, sniff

 My daughter and her boyfriend...another cute selfie.  :)

 Our trip to Maine this summer to look at colleges for my daughter...sniff again...the lighthouse in the photo is the Portland Head Light in Portland, Maine.  Gorgeous place, took many, many photos.

 And lastly, my super adorable baby cousin Lia.  Look at those eyes, she's stunning and as sweet as the day is long.  Miss her already.

And that's it for now.  I'm going to try to keep up with my blogging and play along with a few sketch sites, always fun.  Take care and enjoy the rest of your week!

It's been a while...

Hello, if there's anyone out there...lol...when kiddos are home from school, the computer is no longer mine and today is the first time in weeks I've had the chance to sit down and use it.  So, I thought I'd share a polymer clay project I've been working on during the day while the kids are on the computer! My daughter has had quite a few projects and papers she has had to complete for school, so the computer is no longer mine.

I liked the idea of making some tiles with scenes from the deep blue sea.  The one on the left is a sea turtle swimming in a dark sea (the sea wasn't intended to be dark, I burnt the piece...lol...oven was on 375 instead of 275.  So I improvised and painted a few things to look as though it was meant to be dark.  Not bad, but not what I reallywanted)  The other is my attempt at a jellyfish.

 Below is Billie the baby whale swimming in a sparkly sea.  I love working with the clay, so much fun and so rewarding when the piece is finished.  :)

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer, so far we're beating the heat and keeping busy.  School starts in three weeks!  I'll have a senior, a fourth grader and a junior in college (that last one is killing me! ha)  Enjoy your week!

Dusted off the Cameo

Hi everyone, hope you had an lovely weekend.  We did, got to watch my little man play golf.  He's not into sports, but does love golf so we are trying to encourage him to learn as much as he can about the game.  Took some cute pics of him, hubby and my daughter and her boyfriend while at the golf course and I'm in the process of scrapping those pictures now, but this one I couldn't wait to scrap because it came out so darn cute. 

I have a Silhouette Cameo and I don't use it as much as I would like, laziness on my part, but I decided to dust it off, turn it on and cut this pretty heart/swirl design.  I love the look of white on white with a few dashes of color in the form of flowers and butterflies.  I tucked the photo in the bottom right corner.

 Here's my hubby perfecting his swing.  They only got four holes in before those dark clouds in the background let go and dumped rain on everything.

 And here's my little guy, also perfecting his swing.  The ball landed on the green with this shot, I wished I could have captured his face, he was so excited, it was priceless!

Enjoy your week and thanks for stopping by!  ox

LGS Mom

Hello everyone, hope you are all having a great week, so far so good here.  The weather has been glorious and our yard is blooming, I love spring.

And for the May 1st sketch at LGS I did a Christmas layout, only because I used a photo of my mother sitting on Santa's lap, so I had no choice but to use Christmas papers.  I love how this layout came out, love the look of wonder on my mother's and that jacket she's wearing is the cutest!

Here's the sketch I followed...

 And here is the layout.  I chose festive papers and a plaid background to match the cute coat   I have another photo of my mother with Santa, she was a few years younger than she is here, and it turns out the man dressed in the Santa outfit is actually my father in law's grandfather.  How bizarre is that?  My hubby and I were connected years before we were born, if only for a brief moment.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your week and take care...  oxox

LGS Spring

Hello everyone.  I hope you all had a pleasant Easter weekend, we sure did.  It was peaceful and quiet and that's how I like it.

I love the new sketch over at Let's Get Sketchy and there's a mood board to go with it.

Here's the sketch and mood board...

 And here's my take on it.  I'll admit that when I saw the sketch on Facebook I didn't know there was a mood board to go with it until I visited LGs and then saw the mood board, and it's only a coincidence that the papers I chose happen to match...lol...

Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!  ox

Happy Easter!

Hi there, I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend.  We sure are.  The weather is gorgeous and today we've been decorating eggs.  I've been browsing Pinterest over the past few days looking for egg ideas and came across some super cute Star Wars eggs, so I decided to try making them with paper craft eggs so I can keep them forever and display them every year.  I think they turned out pretty good.  I'm not sure who the original designer's are, but whoever you are, very cute eggs!

Here's my version of Star Wars Easter eggs...

 Here we have Leia, Han, and Yoda (my daughter painted Yoda).
And below are a storm trooper, Vader, C3PO, Luke and R2D2.  R2 was the hardest and I'm not sure I like how he came out but I wasn't about to toss it away after all that work...

These were so fun to make!  I still have to add Chewbacca to the family, but he definitely looks the hardest with all the different paint colors in his fur, haven't decided yet if I'm going to do him.  Maybe if I get a burst of ambition at some point...ha...

I hope all of you have a wonderful Easter holiday and if you don't celebrate the holiday, then just a really great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by, take care.  oxox

LGS-Prom

Hi everyone.  Again, long time, no blog.  Seems I'm busier than ever these days and my blog has fallen by the wayside, but I do find time to scrap and I love this month's sketch over at Let's Get Sketchy.  And I had prom photos to scrap, so this sketch worked out perfectly.

Here's the sketch...

 And here's my layout.  My daughter is a big fan of anything vintage so when I saw this paper pad at Michael's, I knew it would be perfect for these photos.  Aren't her and her boyfriend so cute!?  They had a great time.  Prom, it's a right of passage wouldn't you say?  :)

Thanks for looking and take care!  ox

Fun Find

 Hi there.  Today I wanted to share my latest fun find.  I was browsing our local antique shop and saw this gorgeous jade bowl and knew I had to have it.  There are some things you just can't leave behind.  I adore the color and the design, especially the scalloped edges and I knew as soon as I saw it that it would be perfect for holding my paper flower collection.  Now my flowers are out in the open and are part of the décor.  I previously had them hidden away in a Ziploc bag in a drawer, I like displaying them much better, they are so pretty and I know I'll use them more if I can see them.

Finding unique items to store my scrapbooking supplies in makes me happy.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!  ox

Floral Easter Egg

Hello, it's Monday and my little is home sick from school.  He's been napping for a bit now so I thought I dig out my clay and make an Easter decoration.  I love Easter almost as much as Christmas, and love to decorate the house with bunnies, eggs, and flowers.

I was going through my cookie cutters and found a large egg shaped one and it gave me the idea to make an egg with a floral design on it so that's exactly what I did.

After the egg was cooled from the baking process, I highlighted the leaves, stems and flowers with a bit of paint to add dimension then I added some dots with white paint for extra color.  Now to figure out where to hang it.  :)

Thanks for looking!  ox

LGS

Good morning.  I have another layout to share today, this time my inspiration was a sketch from LGS.  I liked the simplicity of the sketch and just purchased the Oh My Heart collection by Paige Evans.  I love the papers and colors and touches of gold. 

Here's the sketch...

 And here's my layout.  I love the background paper and how it highlights the stars and other embellishments.  I normally stick to white cardstock backgrounds, so it was fun to think outside of the box this time.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.  ox

Stuck Sketch

Hi everyone, long time, no blog for me.  We've had some snow days so the kids have been home and then my daughter had to have her wisdom teeth pulled, so I've been busy.  Everyone is back in school today, so here I am.

I loved the sketch over at Stuck?! sketches this month and decided to use it to scrap some pics of my daughter that her boyfriend took of her for his photography class at school.  I loved how they came out, she's so photogenic!  Unlike her mother... ;)

Here's the sketch...

 And here is my layout.  I used Echo Park for this one, I love the papers, colors and patterns in this line. 

I hope you are all having a great week and I'll see you next time.  Take care... ox

Baby Jo Jo

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend.  Kiddos are in school, so it's time to play with my new scrapbooking supplies I received on Friday in the mail.  I love the new line from Paige Evans, Oh My Heart, by Pink Paislee. I'd been waiting patiently for it to arrive and once it did, I waited patiently to play with it! And here's what I made...

The little baby in these photos is my niece Jojo, which is short for Joella May.  She's turning one in about a month and I can't believe how fast her first year has flown.  I've only seen her once, she lives twelve hours away, but it was fun while we had her and as you can see from these pics, lots of snuggling went down. She's so cute!  We miss her and can't wait to see her again.

This line of paper has three sheets that are die cut. This one with the scalloped holes was so easy to use.  I just punched scalloped circles from the papers and glue them to the center of each hole. This page came together quickly and I love how it turned out.  A grid design has always been my favorite.

Enjoy your day, take care, oxox  :)

Clay Charms

Happy Friday all! I hope you had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend.  I am very much looking forward to the weekend because my son is coming home from college for a few days to visit.  His visits are few and far between, so we take them when we can get them!

Yesterday I broke out the polymer clay again and made a few charms that I'll string from black cord at some point.  My favorite of the five is the large circle at the bottom.  I rolled out some white clay, pressed various sized circles and leaves onto the clay then gently rolled over the clay with an acrylic roller until all the colors were pressed into the clay.  Then I cut it with a circle cutter.  I did the same with the heart and the black, red and white piece.  The black and gold wreath was easy too.  I just rolled out some clay, made some shapes and leaves, pressed them into the clay then baked the clay.  Once cooled, I smeared clear embossing ink onto the raised parts of the pendant then brushed gold pigment powder onto the clay.  I sprayed it with a light coating of sealant to keep the powder from rubbing off.

I am really enjoying working with polymer clay and see many more charms in my future.  Maybe I should start wearing them at some point...ha!

Enjoy your weekend!  ox

Sun Dried Tomato and Spinach Naan Pizza

Have you ever tried Naan pizza?  Naan is a traditional Indian bread that is served with most Indian dishes.  It's delicious and one of my favorite breads and you can do so many things with it, my favorite being pizza.  It's sturdy and crisps well in the oven, so it holds toppings perfectly.  We have Naan pizza night a few times a month and everyone loves it.

Right now, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Spinach are my favorite toppings to add to a Naan pizza.
I start by adding a half teaspoon of the oil that the tomatoes are soaking in to the Naan and I spread it around with a spoon.  Then I add a layer of spinach, some onion slices and the tomatoes.

 Then on goes some parmesan, mozzarella and a few dashes of pepper.  Be sure to grease your pan, or foil lined pan or even better yet, a pizza stone if you have one.  Bake at 375 until the cheese is melted and bubbly on top.

And when you're done, you have this deliciousness.  It's what's for lunch today.  :)  Goat cheese is also a heavenly topping on pizza.  It melts perfectly and adds a nice tang.

Take care.  oxox

Aunt Shirley's Angel Food Cake

I love cake, all kinds of cake, but Angel Food cake is hands down my favorite and I feel blessed to have inherited the best, at least I think it's the best, Angel Food cake recipe I've ever tasted.

My great Aunt Shirley loved to bake and everything she made was amazing, but this cake is my favorite recipe of hers and every time she made it for a family gathering it would disappear in a blink.
When my aunt Judy gave this recipe last year, I was thrilled and couldn't wait to try it. 

Here's the recipe:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 cup of cake flour
3/4 cup of sugar
12 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tarter
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
another 3/4 cup of sugar

Sift flour with 3/4 cup of sugar, four times.  It's important that the flour is fine and sifted well with the sugar.  Beat the egg whites, cream of tarter, salt and vanilla until the egg whites are stiff enough to hold a peak and glossy.  Add the other 3/4 cup of sugar to the egg white mixture 2 tablespoons at a time while beating slowly.  Begin adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, slowly folding the flour in with the egg white mixture until the flour is all incorporated.  Don't overmix.  Bake in an ungreased tube pan.  It's important that the pan is ungreased, Angel Food cake needs to climb up the pan while baking and won't do that if it's greased.  Bake for 35-40 minutes. Don't open the door during the baking process, if you need to look at the cake, turn on the oven light and peak through the oven door window.  Angel Food cake is delicate after all.  :)

Once it's done (it should look like the photo above and a knife inserted in the cake will come out clean) you want to flip the pan upside down onto a clean towel and leave it there for one hour.

Once cooled, lightly push on the center of the pan and it should separate easily from the outside of the pan.  Using a butter knife, gently scrape around the bottom of the pan and around the center to release the cake from the pan.  I store my cake in a plastic cake dish.

And here's how I like to serve it.

With a nice big dollop of real whipped cream.  If you try this and enjoy it, let me know.  I don't make it as often as I'd like because I would just eat it constantly.  It's mostly fat free (minus the cream of course.)   :)

Enjoy your weekend and take care.  oxox

Wearable Clay

Hello there.  Today I wanted to share with you some Polymer clay jewelry that I've been working on over the past week.  I am totally obsessed with this stuff, there's so much you can do with it! 

The heart on the top was the easiest of the three pendants.  I simply used a small cookie cutter to cut out a heart from some red clay that I rolled out, then I stamped the clay with a rubber stamped image of a swirl.  I baked the clay, then rubbed a little clear pigment ink over the raised portion of the heart once it was cooled, then brushed some gold pigment powder over the heart.  Lastly, I sprayed it with some clear spray to seal the powder. 

The black and white rose pendant is simply black and white clay that I rolled together then swirled around until I liked the way it looked, then I rolled it out and used a cutter to cut out the teardrop shape.  I created the rose with tiny cut out circles then attached it to the pendant along with some leaves.  Again I gave this one some shine with clear spray.

The last pendant, which is my fave of the three, consists of a circle cut from rolled out black clay and then I decorated it with strips of green and blue clay then added leaves and flowers.  This one I've worn a few times and every time I get a compliment on it.

I'm really enjoying working with the clay and can't wait to try new things.  I think I like jewelry better than animals, working in 3-D is a bit tough, but I'll keep at it.

Enjoy the rest of your week.  Take care.  :)

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi everyone.  I was in the mood for cookies over the weekend, so I made some and thought I would share this recipe with you.  These chocolate chip cookies are my favorite of all time.  They are huge, soft and so, so yummy. 

I was watching Tricia Yearwood's Food Network show one morning and she made these cookies and the recipe was a bit different from the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe that is found on the back of bags of chocolate chips, so I thought I'd try these and I haven't gone back since.  They are that good.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 1/3 sticks of butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups of sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda and salt.  Add these to the flour and sift all three together.
One cup or so of chocolate chips. (Depending on how much you like).

Cream the room temperature butter until creamy, then add your sugars, egg and vanilla.  Add the flour mixture last and then add the chocolate chips.  Using a 1/4 cup measure, scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet.  I usually put six per a large cookie sheet because these cookies spread out and are big once baked.  Because they are big, they take a bit longer to bake, around 15 minutes.  Just watch them, when they turn slightly golden on top, they are done.  Once placed on a cooling rack, they tend to cook a bit more, so don't eat them until they are completely cooled.  A cookie doesn't reach it's full texture until cooled.  I know it's hard to wait, but it's worth it!

I hope you like these if you try them, they disappear in our house.   This recipe makes about 14 cookies, so double it if you need more.  :)

Take care. ox

CREATE

Hello everyone, I hope you're having a pleasant weekend.  It's gorgeous here and I should be outside but I'm not, I'm in my craft room, my favorite place to be.  This morning while at Walmart, I found myself in the craft section, which is typical, and found some wooden letters.  I thought they were the perfect size for a spot on the wall in my craft room that I'd been thinking of putting something, I wasn't sure what, but the blank wall was bugging me, so when I saw these letters, I immediately thought of a word I could put on the wall.  And that word was CREATE, because that is what I do in my craft room every single day, so it fit perfectly.

I simply traced the letters onto patterned papers (I used all My Mind's Eye papers on these letters) then glued the papers on using a heavy duty glue stick, then glued a few embellishments on each letter: buttons, flowers, etc.  Now my blank wall has a colorful and pretty decoration on it and I love it.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  ox

LGS

Hi everyone, hope you've had a good week so far.  Been good here.  We had a nice Valentine's Day celebration.  I woke up to a purple orchid from my sweetie and then for dinner I set the table in red, pink and white and we had Chinese food, a tradition we all look forward too every year and then for dessert, brownies and chocolate cake.  Yes, I had to take a very long walk the next day to work off all the goodies, but it was worth it.

I really like the latest sketch over at LGS and decided to play along.  Here is the sketch:

 And here is my layout.

  I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the doily on the background, then layered it over some patterned paper.  My daughter got an Instax camera for Christmas and she shot this photo of us on Christmas morning.  Now her walls are covered in these adorable little pics, mostly of her and her boyfriend and friends.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the upcoming weekend!  ox

Happy Love Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day with family and loved ones! ox

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Hey there, hope your Saturday is going well.  I've been busy preparing for Zachary's 9th birthday party tomorrow and making cupcakes has been part of that preparation.

I've never been a huge fan of chocolate cake until I was given this recipe by my Aunt Judy.  A friend passed it on to her then she passed it on the me and it is hands down the BEST and MOISTEST chocolate cake I've ever had.  I'll never make any other chocolate cake recipe again.  This is my go to recipe from here on out.

As you can see, we have a Batman theme going here.  We're going to see the Lego Batman Movie after having pizza and cupcakes and when I spotted these gummy bat symbols in the baking aisle, I knew they'd be perfect.  I tinted the frosting with a bit of black food coloring then sprinkled silver sugar on top.  Ignore the Halloween cupcake liners, I thought I had some plain ones in my stash and when I discovered I didn't, was too lazy to go back to the store.  :)

Here's the cake recipe, it really is all done in one bowl and is super easy.

2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup of hot water from the tap

In a large bowl (as large as you have, this makes a lot of batter) combine the dry ingredients.  Stir in oil, buttermilk and eggs, add hot water last.  Stir until smooth and combined, a whisk is easiest.

Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes or so.  The timing depends on if you do two small pans or one large sheet pan.  Cupcakes take less time.  Either way, keep an eye on it.

Buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup shortening
1 stick of softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag of confectioner's sugar

Or, my favorite way to frost this cake is with chocolate whipping cream. Whip heavy cream until stiff, be sure to add some sugar, usually a few tablespoons at least.  Then add some chocolate syrup.  If you choose to frost your cake this way, it will have to stay refrigerated once frosted.  It's delicious any way you frost it. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  Take care, oxox

Cinnamon Goodness

Happy Friday everyone.  I'm looking forward to this weekend, I hope you are too.  We are celebrating my son's 9th birthday at the movie theater.  He and his friends wanted to see the Lego Batman movie, so that's our plan and then later in the day, me and my friends are going to see 50 Shades Darker.  I'm a huge fan of Jamie Dornan and love him in any movie he is in, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie. 

And here's a little eye candy for you.  ;)

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I always enjoy baking a sweet treat for the kids, but one of my kiddos won't be here because he's at college, so I like to send him a care package and this year I've decided to make Snickerdoodles, his favorite cookie.  The recipe I have is the best Snickerdoodle recipe I've ever come across.  They are so easy to make and turn out soft and super delicious.

Here are the cookies...

Don't they look delish?  It's seriously taking all my willpower right now not to eat every single one but I can't because Ben knows they are coming, so I'll have to refrain.  :)  He'd be pretty disappointed if he didn't get his cookies.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup of butter
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 teaspoons of cinnamon to roll the dough balls in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix butter, sugar and eggs until combined
Combine flour, cream of tarter, salt and baking powder in a bowl, combine well, add to butter mixture.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough into your hand and roll into a nice neat ball then roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place on the cookie sheet and press slightly with the palm of your hand so they are flattened but not completely flat.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

If you try these, I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.  I've tried a few other Snickerdoodle recipes but the cookies always dried out after a day or so, but these don't.  They are good for a few days in an airtight container so they are perfect for shipping to my boy. He's only two hours away, so it doesn't take long for him to get his mail.  He'll be mighty happy to see these!

Enjoy your weekend everyone and thanks for dropping by~!  ox

Mojo Monday Card Sketch

Hi there, hope your week is going well so far.  This morning I was hunting the internet for card sketch blogs and found Mojo Monday. I've been in the mood lately to make cards and was looking for a good starting point and I found it with this sketch, so I decided to play along.  

Here's the sketch...

And here's the card I made.  I dug out some of my rubber stamps and put them to use.  It's been awhile since I've stamped, it felt good to put rubber to ink.  I like how this came out and have decided to give it to my aunt for her upcoming birthday.

If you'd like to check out this fun blog and play along, go to www.mojomonday.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by! ox

A New Obession

Did you watch the Superbowl?  In my house, football is a pretty big deal and because we are from New England, the Patriots are a very big deal.  And last nights game was unreal.  So exciting, a real nail biter and how about Lady Gaga?  The woman is queen, what a voice.  I hope you all had a great weekend, we sure did.

While browsing Pinterest the other day, I came across some Polymer clay fairy houses and thought they were the cutest things I'd seen in a long time, so I decided to try making one.  I bought some clay and a toaster oven to bake the clay in and here are my results.

Aren't they cute!  I love them and had so much fun making them.  This mushroom house is about four inches tall and took the longest because it was the first one I've ever done and it took some trial and error to figure out how big or small to make the flowers, leaves, etc.  I love the bright colors and the texture of the orange and white clay I mixed to create the roof.  For the window, I initially painted on a window, but then decided I didn't like it so I created a window with felt and hot glued it on over my mistake.  I like the texture the felt adds.

This house is my second attempt.  I love the blue and brown together along with all the bright colors.  This house is about three inches tall.

 And lastly, a little Christmas Gnome.  I made quite a few Gnomes out of fabric over the holidays and wish I'd thought of making some with clay.  My tree would have been filled with these little guys. I painted this one because I got distracted with my dog (he ran off chasing a bird) and I left this little Gnome in the toaster oven for too long and his hat burned at the very tip, so I covered it with red paint and then decided he needed to sparkle, so I coated him with glitter paint, then when he was completely dry, I sprayed him with some sealer.  I didn't spray the houses with sealer, I like the matte look of the clay.

I have also been experimenting with animals.  These are for my niece and nephews.  My nephew Dominic has a pet snake, so of course I had to make him a snake.  I like the sea turtle best, I think he came out the cutest.

So I now have a new obsession and have found myself scouring the internet for clay ideas and clay tools.  Like I need another hobby??  Yes, as a matter of fact I do!  ;)

Take care,  oxox