TSG Little Moments Blog Hop!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Welcome to the second and last blog hop of the There She Goes January Releases!

Warm fuzzy moments and life’s little memories are genuinely captured by Torico in this new Little Moments set. Gazing through the window watching the snow fall, special moments with brothers and sisters or wonderful thoughts of that one special grandmother that make your heart warm are all here. There’s no better
way to send a loving card or create a scrapbook page to capture these glorious moments than to use this fabulous new stamp set.

Little Moments is a 6x8 set that includes a total of 12 stamps $24.

There are some classic 'Torico' images in this set (which we all love to bits!) but I decided to use some of the images that doesn't immediately scream her name, but I love it just as much!

We haven't had much of a white Christmas here in New England (and that's A-OK!) but one of my favorite things about this area is that when the snow falls, it feels like I'm living in a snow globe! And usually I stop to watch that amazing view. It's my little moment. :)

I wanted to make the scene stand out, so I created a warm and cosy card with lots of dark colors so the snow and image would stand out. So I picked out some papers from Basic Grey's Jovial Collection, cut the shapes I needed, sponged the edges with Distress Inks and machine stitched it to some black cardstock. Then I colored up the image with my SU reinkers and aquapainter brush. Once that was dry, I cut it out with my precision scissors, popped it on dimensionals and added some glaze and sparkles with my Sakura pens. Lastly, I turned one of the beautiful sentiments in the set into a banner and pinned it to the card with a button from PTI and some jute button twine. And that's it - a warm and cosy card for a special friend!



Would you like to win the new Little Moments stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday December 31st with the winner being announced during the release party chat.







Thanks so much for stopping by this week!! And see you at the release!

Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Little Moments'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', SU's Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel, Going Gray, Old Olive, Dusty Durango, Regal Rose, Ruby Red
Papers: Georgia Pacific, PTI Kraft Cardstock, Bazzil Basics, PP - Basic Grey's Jovial Collection
Access: Spellbinders Labels Eight Nestie, PTI Button - Black, PTI-Rustic Button Twine - Jute, Sakura Glaze Pens- Clear and Glitter, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals

TSG Love Bots Release Blog Hop!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Can it be that time already?! Absolutely!

Welcome to the first of the There She Goes January release blog hop!!!

If you loved Friendbots, you’re going to love Lovebots. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Torico has created an adorable set that will have your heart
bursting with joy. This adorable mini set will have your creating cards and gift tags that carry your message of love and friendship to all your special Valentines.

Lovebots is a 4x4 set that includes a total of 7 stamps $10.

Torico's done it again! I am head over heels in love with this little 'bot and his friends! And this month he's bursting with love! Perfect for Valentines Day cards for those men in our lives!

I use the main image from the set to whip this card up. The base was made by sponging and distressing a piece of patterned paper from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry paper. Then I cut two strips of coordinating paper from October Afternoon's Farm Fresh collection with my small scalloped scissors. I sponged them with some Distress Ink and decorated it with some of PTI's Bakers Twine in red and one of my coverted heart buttons from Michaels! The sentiment was cut out with a Labels Eight Nestie, sponged and tucked behind the horizontal strip. Add a little stitching with some embroidery thread and it's all done!


This was another quick and easy card using the other image from this set. He was too cute not to color up! Again, I colored him up with my reinkers and aquapainter brush. Then I used some more scrap paper from Basic Grey's Nook and Panty line for the vertical stripe down the middle. I used PTI's Half and Half die to create the stripe. Spellbinders Oval Nestie, some more scrap paper from Bo Bunnies Dot on Dot Collection and some Bazzil Basics cardstock created the oval panel. I used a brown pen to draw the line around the edge. The base of the card was made with some left over paper from MME and running my sewing machine around the edge with no thread in it. Last, I added some buttons, ribbon and another sentiment from the new set. Easy peesy!

Would you like to win the new Lovebots stamp set? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday December 31st with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

Supplies
"My Heart Bursts..."
Stamps: There She Goes 'LoveBots'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Going Gray, Baha Breeze, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Distress Ink 'Antique Linen and Tea Dye'
Papers: Georgia Pacific, PTI Kraft Cardstock, PP - Basic Grey 'Nook and Pantry' and 'October Afternoon's 'Farm Fresh'
Access: PTI Bakers Twine, Fiskars Decorative Scissors, Heart Button - Michaels, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals, Sponges

"My Love For You..."
Stamps: There She Goes 'LoveBots'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Going Gray, Soft Sky, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Distress Ink 'Antique Linen and Tea Dye'
Papers: Georgia Pacific, PTI Kraft Cardstock, Bazzil Basics, PP - Basic Grey 'Nook and Pantry', Bo Bunny and MME scrap
Access: Ribbon, PTI Button - Brown, PTI Half and Half Dies, Spellbinders Oval and Scalloped Oval Nesties, Heart Button - Michaels, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals, Sponges

Wanna Take A Spin??

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Friday Everyone!

Are you ready for Christmas?? I managed to free up some time last night and put a small dent in our Christmas shopping list, but tonight's the grand finale for us. The Man and I are headed to the Mall after work. The closest mall to us is 1.5hrs away (yes, I live in the sticks) so we need our game on and eye on the prize(s) to get it done before closing time! Wish us luck!

Next week is release week for There She Goes and I'm sure it'll be like Christmas all over again! But before we show you a whole new bunch of stamps, we like to revisit some oldie but goodie stamp sets. It's a little something we like to call There She Goes (Again!)! This week's sets are Love Birds, Garden of Friends and Loads of Fun. This week, the Senior Trensetters have shared some old cards with you and today we've whipped up some new ones to share with you!

I chose the hilarious set, Loads of Fun! If you've never read any of the sentiments on this set, you need to! They're all puns on the mundane chore of laundry and they crack me up!

To make this card, I used last week's Deconstructing Sketch #31 (I'm about a week late!) for my layout, some paper from Crate Paper and some bling because even laundry needs some extra sparkle! ;)

I colored the machines in with some of SU's Soft Sky with my aquapainter brush, then I trimmed the cardstock, sponged the edges with Antique Linen distress ink and matted it to some Bitter Chocolate cardstock from Bazzil Basics. The patterned paper is from Crate Paper. I pretty much followed the sketch to a T, but kept the papers to a minimum - especially since they were so bold! Each layer was machine stitched to some Bazzil cardstock. The small scalloped edge was done with decorative scissors. The rhinestones were added, some embroidery floss was added to the center button and I created a banner for the sentiment to balance out the buttons on the top.

I hope I've inspired you to break out your older sets and create something new and fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'm off to battle the last minute shoppers and wrap till I can't wrap no more! If I don't get back here before the big day, I just want to with you and your family a very Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Supplies

Stamps: There She Goes 'Loads Of Fun'

Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', SU's Soft Sky, Going Gray, More Mustard, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen and Tea Dye'

Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, Bazzil Basics - Bitter Chocolate, PTI's Kraft Cardstock, PP - Crate Paper

Access: PTI Buttons - Brown, DMC Thread, Adhesive Rhinestones, Fiskars Decorative Scissors, Sponges, Machine Stitching Dimensionals

Christmas Cookies Recipes!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Hi there!

I'm so sorry I've been absent lately. With Christmas right around the corner, working full time and all the things that go with the holidays, I haven't had time for much else this week. I've also been working on a Christmas present that takes up all of my spare time. I'll share it with you after the holidays.

But as promised, I'm back with some more Christmas Cookie recipes! I tested these two out this past weekend and they were both a hit at the cookie swap. (The pistachio one, especially!)

Pistachio-Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients
Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1 box (4 serving size) pistachio instant pudding and pie filling mix
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup dry roasted salted pistachio nuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
Optional - green food coloring

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl stir cookie mix, pudding, and flour. Add melted butter and eggs and stir until incorporated.

Add pistachios and cranberries and mix well.
Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. The only way you can ruin these cookies is to overbake them! If you bake them too long you will lose the soft texture and they won't be as green. They will not look done but take them out and let them sit on the pan for about 2 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Philadelphia S'More Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup colored sugar


Directions
BEAT cream cheese and butter in large bowl with electric mixer until well blended. Add granulated sugar and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour, beating well after each addition; cover. Refrigerate several hours or until chilled.

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes with 2-inch cookie cutters. Sprinkle half of the cookies with colored sugar. Place, 2 inches apart, on baking sheets.

BAKE 12 mins or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

SPREAD bottom side of each plain cookies with 1 tsp. Jet Puffed Marshmallow Crème; cover with remaining sugared cookies, bottom-sides down, to form sandwiches.

DRIZZLE with 2 squares of Bake’s Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Men and Amazing Snickerdoodles!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Hi everyone!

I'm back with a couple of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes!

I'm in the middle of a baking frenzy right now and these two recipes are my always on my cookie swap list! I think I stumbled on the Gingerbread Men recipe years ago while looking for something to bake with my little girl. These are more spicier than your average gingerbread man cookie, but that's the way I like my ginger men! ;)

I've probably made the Snickerdoodle recipe about a thousand times over the past two years. My family raves about them and The Man even asked me to whip up a batch for his work collegues! They never last more than a few days in our house, so you know they have to be good! :)

I hope you enjoy them just as much as we do!

Eileen's Spicy Gingerbread Men

Ingredients:
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg yolk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Directions:
1. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth. Cover, and chill for at least one hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost or decorate when cool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Annie's Eats Amazing Snickerdoodles

Yields: about 30 cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups (11 1/4 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened but still cool

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz.) granulated sugar,

plus 3 tbsp. for rolling dough

2 large eggs
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, for rolling dough

Directions:

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium speed until well combined, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs, and beat again until combined, about 30 seconds. Add in the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds.

2. In a small, shallow bowl, combine the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon for rolling the dough. Stir or shake well to combine. Working with a heaping tablespoon of dough each time, roll the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Use a drinking glass with a flat bottom to gently flatten the dough balls to 3/4-inch thickness (butter the bottom of the glass before starting, and dip it in sugar between cookies if it begins to stick).

3. Bake until the edges of the cookies are beginning to set and the center are soft and puffy, 9-11 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets 2-3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

This weekend I'm baking Chewy Lemon Snowdrop cookies, Oreo Bark, Peanut Brittle, Soft Molasses cookies dipped in white chocolate! If you want me to share any of these recipes just let me know!

Have a great weekend!!

Wishing You Sparkle!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

So I did do some baking over the weekend, but not as much as I thought I was going to do. We detoured from the plan a little. Every year, around this time we like to head to the Yankee Candle factory (in Deerfield, MA) and we hadn't done it yet, so we took an impromptu trip out there last Saturday afternoon. They pull out all the stops for the holidays - every building is edge with twinkle lights and each room is fulled with festive music, lots of glitter and twinkle and as you can imagine, it smells like heaven! Ahhh..I'd love to work there!

This visit inspired me to pull out one of my favorite There She Goes Christmas sets and whip up a card with sparkle, glitter and a little bit of Santa!

I love the Season's Greetings set because of it's cute snowmen and whimsical Santas'! To start with, I colored up Santa using my reinkers from Stamping Up and my aquapainter brush. I used a combination of Regal Rose and Ruby Red for his coat and hat and some Going Gray for the shadows on his beard and trim. Then I cut him out with my precision scissors and added some Crystal Snow glitter to his body and the Christmas tree. Then, to make the card, I used Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #147 for my inspiration and some more yummy paper from Basic Grey's Jovial Collection. Instead of ribbon, I chose to use some black lace. What do you think - maybe a little racy for dear old Santa?! Lace doesn't always have to be sexy does it? I needed something a little transparent, so I went with it. I pulled it all together with a button and jute twine from PTI. My other favorite thing about this set is the sentiments - I adore this one!

I promised I'd share a couple of my favorite cookie recipes with you all, so be on the look out for them tomorrow! Until then, have a good one!


Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Seasons Greetings'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', SU's Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Going Gray, Old Olive, Morning Marigold and Distress Inks 'Tea Dye and Vintage Photo'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, PTI Black and Kraft Cardstock, PP - Basic Grey's Jovial Collection
Access: PTI Button - Black, PTI Rustic Button Twine, Lace, Quickie Glue Pen, Stampendous Crystal Snow Glitter, Machine Stitching, Dimensionals

Ho Ho Ho!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Happy Friday Everyone!

Well, this week didn't go as I had planned. I meant to make this card over the weekend and have it ready to show you by Tuesday, but as usual lately, life got in the way again and I barely made it into my craft room! Saturday was spent getting new tires for my truck (yay - no more loud road noise!) and we got our fresh Christmas tree. So the rest of the day was spent decorating it while sipping on hot chocolate. I probably could have spent some time stamping on Sunday, but the laundry and unfinished house projects beckoned. Home ownership has it's downsides too. ;)

I'm not going to lie to you...this card took me all week to complete! A half hour here, a half hour there! I have been feeling like my mojo has gone AWOL for months now, so I was hesitant to spend hours in my craft room getting no where. But, I think it might be back this week because this card isn't half bad! Nothing like a new stamp set to get the juices flowing again, right?! ;)

The only stamp set that managed to arrive at my house from the last There She Goes release was the little Ho Ho Ho mini set. But it was all I needed to play with! I paired it with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #146, some non-Christmas paper from October Afternoon's Modern Homemaker line and before you know it, I had a cute Christmas card on my hands! Wahooo! As with all my cards, Mr. Claus and Rudolf were colored with my SU reinkers and aquapainter brush. If you're like me and Copic's are out of your crafting budget, a drop of water and a little bit of ink go a long way to creating the same effect!

Any plans for the weekend? I am hoping to bake all weekend! I want to take some cookies over to our nice neighbors and take some to work next week. I'm trying out some new recipes too, so if they turn out well, I'll share them with you!

Have a great weekend sweet friends! And thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Ho Ho Ho' mini set

Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', SU's Creamy Caramel, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Going Gray, Curry Crush, Sahara Sand and Soft Sky, Distress Inks 'Antique Linen and Tea Dye'

Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, PTI Black and Kraft Cardstock, PP - October Afternoon's Modern Homemaker collection

Access: Spellbinders Circle Nesties, Fiskars Corner Punch, PTI Bakers Twine - Red, PTI Button - White, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercer, Sponges, Dimensionals

Seasons Greetings!

Friday, December 2, 2011

How on earth did December get here so fast?!

I was just getting around to enjoying the Fall weather (after our very early snow fall) and then....WHAM!! It's December! And Christmas is around right around the corner! Eek! We usually have our Christmas tree picked out, chopped down and decorated by now, but it was unseasonably warm the weekend after Thanksgiving that I couldn't bare the thought of decorating for the new season. Now that it's a little colder and it IS December, we're heading out to get our tree this weekend. Even though it still feels too early, I do love this family tradition! :)

Oh! Before I forget; I'm so sorry for not posting anything last week! It was actually release week for There She Goes but unfortunately my stamps never arrived (darn USPS!), so I was unable to participate. I was so disappointed that it put me in a little funk because it was such a FABULOUS release! The girls did an awesome job of showcasing the new stamps that they sold out of every new set! Hopefully mine turn up soon so I can play with them too!

Since I don't have any new stamps to play with, I pulled out one of my favorite past sets this week.

I just love those pudgy snowmen!! So round and plump! They can be found in the Seasons Greetings set. I used last week's Deconstructing Sketch #28 for my layout. I'm a little late on this one but that's ok, it's all about being inspired, right? :)

To make this card I used paper from Basic Grey's Jovial collection and some gorgeous ribbon that I found at Michaels last year, which I've been hoarding ever since! Each panel was machine stitched with black thread. To create that scalloped detail, I used my corner punch with the guard removed to punch out the large scallops, then with my small scalloped decorative scissors, I followed the larger scallops around leaving about a 1/8" border showing.

Coloring the little snowmen was easy. Using my aquapainter brush, I used a combination of Distress Inks, working my way from the lightest color, Antique Linen, then Tea Dye then a little Vintage Photo for the darkest of shadows. Their hats and mittens were colored using SU's Dusty Durango and their scarves in Old Olive. The hearts were done in Regal Rose and then Ruby Red around the edges. Then I outlined them with SU's Soft Sky and sponged the edges with Antique Linen for a softer look. Last, but not least, I added some Crystal Snow glitter with a quickie glue pen. You can see the tiny twinkles in the detail photo below.

You should see how they sparkle in real life!

Thank you so much for popping in this week. I so appreciate it!


Supplies
Stamps: There She Goes 'Seasons Greetings'
Inks: StazOn 'Jet Black', Distress Ink 'Antique Linen, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo', SU's Soft Sky, Regal Rose, Ruby Red, Old Olive and Dusty Durango'
Papers: Strathmore Bristol Vellum, PTI's Basic Black and Kraft, PP-Basic Grey's Jovial Collection
Access: Ribbon, PTI Buttons - Cream, Fiskars Corner Punch and Decorative Scissors, Stampendous Crystal Snow Glitter, Quickie Glue Pen, Machine Stitching, Sponges, Dimensionals