papermonkey.org {make time for playtime}

Good Eating: Newfoundland Cod au Gratin

 

Being from "away" I have quickly learned that Codfish is a very controversial subject here in Newfoundland.  The economy was once based upon fishing for Atlantic Cod, which could get up to 200 pounds in size. By the early 1990's, overfishing (from other countries as well, not just the area fisherman) almost destroyed the Cod population, and the fish was declared endangered. A moratorium was passed on Cod fishing, causing great economic hardship to Newfoundland and Labrador. Our economy here is now recovering thanks to oil, but we get our Cod from Norway as the politicians still debate whether or not to allow Cod fishing in our waters again.

Despite all of this, I have to admit a new found love for Cod. Chess' Fish and Chips is a landmark eatery here with several locations, and they make the best fish and chips you will ever have. Chess' is a tiny and not very attractive dive, often in a strip mall. You wait in a long line (it is a popular place), choose between chips or dressing - Newfoundlanders like their stuffing year round but only call it dressing, and always add savory - never sage. You are suspect, yet seat yourself in the tiny dining area, either at the shiny burgundy vinyl stool at the counter, or at one of the two cafeteria style laminate tables and plastic chairs. You wait, and worry as the oil soaked air gives your skin that sexy sheen starlets pay for.  Just when you want to leave, your order arrives. Hesitating, you unwrap the newspaper and behold the golden brown fish atop a mountain of fries. Add a dab of vinegar and homemade tartar sauce and take a bite into that light, crisp, super crunchy batter. The moist, pure white, unfishy Cod and its delicate, delicious flavor. You're done for, you're hooked. You will be back.

This is a Newfoundland recipe I have adapted to my flavor palate. This will convert many a non fish eater. Newfoundlanders like their food rather bland except for salt - I have to have my garlic, my poultry seasoning which would probably cause a Newfoundlander to make me talk a long walk on a short plank.  If you want it to be genuine, boil the fish rather than broil it, and add none of my extra spice.

Cod Au Gratin

• 1 pack of Cod filets (about 4 medium size filets or 2-3 cups)

• 4 TBS butter

• 2 cups milk

• 3 TBS flour

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1.5 cups cheddar and 1/8 cup good quality Parmesan

• Spices: Old Bay seasoning, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder

1. Sprinkle filets with Old Bay seasoning, garlic powder, and pepper; pat a bit of butter or oil on. Broil until fish is white and flakes. Squeeze a bit of lemon on if you wish.

2. As fish broils: In a saucepan melt butter, add garlic and cook for about 1 minute, then add flour and stir to form a roux. Add milk, spices to taste and stir.

3. Place broiled fish in buttered casserole dish, top with sauce and stir just a little bit to mix it up and get the filets to break up into large chunks. Top with cheeses and a bit more Old Bay seasoning and bake at 350 until brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease a glass baking dish with butter. Serve with a salad.

A Whiff of Leftovers: A Challenge & Tons of Contests, Deals & Candy

  

Hi there - hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that you had lots of treats. As Kevin James says, Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants. Love that quote! Here is my FAVORITE recipe for what to do with turkey leftovers - Turkey Bundles! It comes from Allan's mom Marg and it is sooo yummy.

Speaking of leftovers, does your craft desk look like your fridge about now - filled to the brim with scraps? Come play in the EI Friday Free For All Challenge and cook up a card with all those scraps! I am hostess this week and made a card using orphaned scraps from all seasons that have been laying on my desk, but I think they work together. The gorgeous flourished snowman stamp, Herb with Bird, is from the new limited edition Whiff of Joy winter collection.

Love all the tiny details on this snowman - see him lovingly holding the tiny bird? So sweet!

I embossed the snowman and also the Rhonna Farrer flourish stamp with Silver Detail embossing powder, then colored with the Copic markers you see above. The embossing adds a festive shine a cool, wintery look, and it also helps you to color within the lines lol!

I wanted to use non traditional Christmas colors so chose this soft baby blue and off white pattern by Jenni Bowlin, Turquoise Wallpaper, cut with Nestabilities new die cut Mega Rectangles on a base of Stampin' Up!'s Soft Sky (retired) and Pink Pirouette Textured Cardstock. This was my least favorite of the new die cuts but I find myself now using it the most because I love the larger size. I wish they would come out with mega squares and circles.

Leftovers from all seasons were used to create this layered winter flower, including Imaginisce Snowflowers from the Snowy Joe Collection (the large glittery fabric snowflake), Princess Posies from the Fairest of them All Collection (the sheer flower on top of the snowflake), a May Arts ribbon scrap, Prima and hand crocheted flowers just sitting on my desk, and dollar store crystals from last Christmas.

Contests, Candy and Deals

Embellish-Online.com Specials and deals:

You can buy the Imaginisce, Prima and Copic products at Embellish-Online.com and save 25% using code discount25  in the voucher box. Yes - 25% off even Copics. This was a special code only given to newsletter subscribers but I will share it with you :) It is good until December 1st. Cuttlebug folders are on sale for $3.99 so with the discount that means $3!! Woohoo I love a deal.

Embellish-Online is also giving away a sweet prize on their blog!: Sweet Cakes, American Crafts, Maya Road Ribbon, chipboard and buttons! Visit the blog *here*to enter or by making a $30.00 purchase (after discount and before shipping costs) you'll be entered twice! The blog candy winner will be chosen Friday November 28th to kick off Black Friday sale so this one ends soon.

There is yet ANOTHER contest on the EI Forum to win over $30 of goodies - to enter just sign up for the draw *here*.

The EI Group at Papercraft Planetis participating in the Twelve Days of Christmas Challenges and Giveways. There are twelve days of challenges and 12 HUGE prizes being given away! EI is sponsoring day 11 so stay tuned for that but in the meantime come on over and join our group at PCP.

Magnolia-licious Stamp Sale

Diana has so many of my favorite Magnolia stamps on sale! Oh man this could be dangerous :)

Sweet n' Sassy Code:

Use code BLKFRI08 at the Sweet n Sassy store to get an additional 15% off your order, even on top of sale items! Korin stocks Copics, Stampavie stamps as well as her own line and so much more. You can buy Core'dinations here too (love that paper).

Whiff of Joy Giveaway:

Whiff of Joy is having a sale on many of their new Winter stamps.

Last, but not least, Whiff of of Joy DT member Bev  is giving away a Whiff of Joy stamp (Herb with Baby) and lots of other goodies so be sure to enter her drawing on her blog for a chance to win.

Thanks for stopping by - happy Friday!

 

Orange Blessings, Orange Cake, Orange Ya Thankful

 

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family in America. Today's card is for you: it uses stamps from Gina K's So Grateful set. I will keep my post brief as I know many of you are most likely super busy today.

A cornucopia of Copics deserves some BasicGrey Ambrosia don't you think? A very simple card for this Thursday, using Memento Tangelo Ink to sponge and stamp. The scallop edge paper is Bazzill, the pretty, lamé textured ribbon is May Arts. 

I have a simple, quick cake recipe for you too. This Orange Cake recipe is by UK Celebrity Chef Rachel Allen. It makes a dense, moist cake that has the smooth, shiny surface of a brownie. It is wonderful with coffee, and tastes even yummier the next day. You can substitute lemon for orange. I used a cooking conversion site to figure out the measurements for myself, I will post both.

Orange Cake

• 100 grams butter (7 TBS) 

• 2 eggs

• 100 grams each Caster sugar and icing sugar (1/2 cup Caster and 3/4 cup icing sugar)

• 125 grams flour ( 1 1/4 cup)

• 1 tsp baking powder

Icing 

• 100 grams sifted icing sugar (1 1/4 cups)

• 1-3 TBS orange juice 

Directions:

1. Melt the butter and allow it to slightly cool.

2. Whisk eggs with finely grated zest of one orange (only use the colored outside - avoid the bitter white).

3. Add the sugars and beat on low speed until blended, then beat on high for 5 minutes or until the batter is light and fluffy. Fold in butter by hand, then fold in the flour by hand.

4. Butter the sides of an 8 inch round cake pan, and put a round of parchment paper on the bottom. dd the batter to the pan and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

5. Allow cake to sit in pan for 5-10 minutes to set, then remove and cool on rack.

6. Make the icing - slowly adding a few drops of OJ to the icing sugar at a time, beating, then adding more until it is the right consistency. You want a drizzly icing that drips off the spoon. 

7.  Arrange cake on platter and drizzle icing over the cake. Serve.

Thankful

Thank you for stopping by, and for the kind words you leave me so often in your comments. I know I am not the best or most talented artist out there, I just love coloring and making cards so much. This blog comes from that passion more than any ability. Many of you have been here with me from the beginning. As I progress and grow and well, learn what to do along the way I sure am enjoy the journey, and love your company along the way. I am thankful for all the friends I have made through stamping, both real and online :).

I am thankful to have man who has been my rock, my guide, my love through both good times and bad. Allan came along just as I was ending a relationship of over five years, most of them bad. I wasn't really looking for a relationship but there he was, with open arms to heal my hurting, stubborn heart, to shelter me from the world, and to allow me to find my own strength to not need sheltering.

I am thankful for a mom, dad and brother who love me so much, and nephews that I will hopefully get to see very soon after so many years apart. I am most thankful to have been blessed with the most wonderful grandpa anyone could ever have. He passed away in his sleep on Thanksgiving some years ago and I think of him every year with such love on this day. I miss him so much.

I know these are not the best of times for many. If you are going through a hard time, you will be in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you have a blessed, healthy and prosperous 2009 surrounded by those you love, who love you. 

And here I said I would be brief. Thank you again. If you have the time, I would love to hear what you are most thankful for today.

Suzy

Happy Thanksgiving & Twitterpated

   

Happy and blessed Thanksgiving, America! Here in Canada we celebrated with a feast last month, including this wonderful Autumn Blessings salad  (recipe follows the card - use a bit less sugar!). I store my family Thanksgiving recipes on my personal website right *here* - each recipe is specially formatted for printing, including my Grandpa Edgar's treasured family turkey recipe. I like plain jane traditonal food on thanksgiving, so that is what you will find there. I am hoping to post a special Thanksgiving card for my American friends in a bit but wanted to also share this cute little Odd Bird Planet card.

A simple and clean card, I used a base of Papertrey Select cardstock and Ancient Page Chocolate Ink.  I stamped Owl-Bert Little Owl four times, cutting him out twice. I then turned him into Owl-Berta and made them in love with a chipboard heart (painted and sponged) and little tiny heart crystals.

The base is Whimsical Frame (one of my favorites), which I stamped onto the card itself, then also onto a piece of cardstock and cut to layer with pop dots. The cut part was colored with Copics.

The sentiment, you make me all twitterpated (whimsy), has a little pink heart crystal over the i.

Did you notice the bew banner and my cute little signature? Thank you Becca!

And thank YOU for stopping by! Be sure to see the Stampin' Up! sale post below - I have never seen such deals woo hoo!

Stampin' Up! Sale - Up to 50% Off!

Stampin' Up! is having a huge sale of up to 50% off assorted bundles from now through December 1st while supplies last. This is the perfect time to stock up on Christmas gifts for the stamper in your life! The Canadian flyer can be found here  (PDF document). First time ordering with me? You will save an additonal 15% off the subtotal - how is that for a deal?! Your items will be shipped directly to your home.

You can contact me via my Stampin' Up! website  or email  me your order.  

Please note if you see an asterisk by an item that means it will be retiring in December.

Twin Lizzie ~ New Whiff of Joy & Fran's Blog Candy

Whine and ye shall receive. I just lamented how my new Whiff of Joy stamps hadn't arrived yet and lo and behold a few of them arrived! It was so hard to decide which of them to ink up first. After much thought I chose Lizzie, who is currently on sale in the store as are quite a few other limited edition winter release stamps.

I stamped little Lizzie twice to give her a twin sister, and colored her with Copic markers.  You can barely see it but I added dots of snow with a C1 Cool Gray marker. The card itself is pretty straight forward, although I did attempt to mix warm and cool colors together - there was enough warmth in the blue Bazzill Dotted Swiss paper to try. The patterned papers are Bo Bunny Gingerbread Dot,and BasicGrey Fruitcake, which was the only warm toned patterned paper in my stash that had some cool toned blue in it.

 I love digging through my stash and finding long forgotten treasures: Lizzie'slittle pom poms on her feet are chalk ball refills from my tool drawer; the crystals are from a .99 pack of cell phone accessories bought at Future Shop (an electronics store in Canada) last year. 

Ahand crocheted lace doily lies under the sentiment that Impression Obsession sent to me recently (thank you IO!). I went around the Mega Rectangle die cut with Copic markers.

I am not sure who makes the holly berries crystal sticker - that is another find I pulled out of my drawer today.

I hope you like this quirky card.  Would you like to win Whiff of Joy stamps? DT member Fran is giving away  Charlie with Presents and Teenage Lizzie stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs across the miles,

  

Tagged!

I have been tagged by two fabulous ladies. Kim from Paper Hugs who designs the CUTEST stamps, and Eva from For the Love of Life who is just the sweetest and most talented lady and always plays with us in our Friday Free For All challengesover at the Embellish-Online.com forum.

I have posted strangeness about myself in the past so hope these aren't repeats.

Seven Random and Weird facts About Me:

1. I hitchhiked across the Sahara desert  overland with my professor and some students, was arrested in Mali and spent the night at the jail (my visa was missing a stamp (not true!!) - which means the policeman wanted my money and there was much haggling over how much I would pay him to let me go). Thankfully I did not sleep in a cell but rather camped outside the jail.

2.  I love to drink Coke through a Red Vines straw. Ah I miss Red Vines - don't think we can get them in Canada.

3. I like to play X-Box games with Allan, who is much better at it than me: in Halo usually I die and he jumps on top of my video corpse and dances over me. :( I get my revenge though - I like to shoot him rather than our enemies in team missions. We are so violent!

4. I interned with (at the time) State Senator Tom Hayden for a year in Santa Monica, California.

5. I can do this odd/strange/gross/funny thing with my eyes that kills people with fits of laughter. No I will never post a picture of it.

6.  I can imitate a crow's caw, and like to do so at unexpected times.

7. I can't listen to Brad Paisley's When I Get Where I'm Going without the blubbering, ugly cry. Saw him in concert and oh my, when he sang the song it was embarrassing. Such an emotional song for me.

I tag:

1. Laura Leonard

2. Michelle Pearson

3. Cheryl Rowley

4. Carolyn Bounds 

5. Heidi Baldini

6. Kay Bolton

7. Janneke

Be back in a bit with today's card :)

Suzy

Pearls, Polka Dots and Bubbles

 

Hello and happy Monday! I always look forward to Mondays because that means a new House Mouse and Friends Challenge. The theme this week is polka dots. If you follow my blog you know I have gone gaga over Bazzill's Dotted Swiss papers so I could not wait to do this challenge!

 

I colored in Happy Hoppers Relaxing Bubbles with Copic Markers in the soft, warm colors you see above. I wanted the bubbles to have color to them so used a Glaze pen to very lightly apply Dazzling Diamonds Glitter around the colored parts so that you get both color and sparkle.

Next I added three shades of blue (B04 B00 and BG10) faded to a watercolor look with the 0 Colorless Blender around this sweet little bunny for a pop of color and also to tie in the blue background paper.

A long soak in a tub full of bubbles is such a luxury to me - have you ever used LUSH bath products? They are pure heaven and I have the same expression on my face as that little bunny whenever I treat myself to a LUSH bath bomb. Ahhh. Where was I? Oh yes - I wanted this entire card to reflect the idea of girly luxury and pampering.

The base cardstock is Bazzill Bling In The Pink, a very light pink pearlized color. I used Bazzill Dotted Swiss papers (embossed dots) in Mermaid and Salt, and a non-embossed polka dot paper, Bo Bunny's Gingerbread Dot.

The pink flocked Cupcake Chenille paper by Doodlebug reminds me of wallpaper in a pin up girl's dressing room that would also have a claw-foot tub so I threw that into the mix.

I added my precious and hoarded pearls of differing sizes by K&Co. on the paper for very luxurious pearl polka dots - this was not a cheap card to make lol. May Arts ribbons and trim, a Prima Forever Flower and Martha Stewart's Doily Lace and Stampin' Up!'s Scallop Edge punches round up the eye candy you see on the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzy

Whiff of Joy Guest Designer Call

My term as a Guest Designer with Whiff of Joy is coming to an end this month.  The stamps for the November release haven't arrived yet  so you will be seeing my work a bit into December. I am hoping they were not lost in the mail - ack! I had the absolute best time - the designers really were wonderful and made us feel at home, and Katharina, the owner of Whiff of Joy sent us such fantastic, beautiful stamps to work with. 

If you would like to be part of the team the "tryouts" will be based upon this sketch by Katharina.

You will need to use at least one WOJ stamp on your card. The contest ends December 6th.

Please head over to the WOJ group at Papercraftplanet for full details on this post  to enter your sketch into the competition.

hugs,

Suzy

Little Tee on the Prairie

  

Hi everyone! Here is the perfect little card for your favorite stamping girlfriend. It is made with the tee and flowers from Melanie Muenchinger's Little Tees stamp set (designed for Gina K Stamps) and the words from her newest set, Tee Talk. This is such a fun and easy set to use - just stamp the tee shirt on some paper, stamp a sentiment onto the tee shirt, cut the tee shirt out and you're good to go.  Little Tees has been my go to set for a fast card  - apparently a lot of you out there feel the same way because soon after Melanie came out with a second set, Just So Sporty, and she has just released a third set in the series, Tee Talk. Talk about cuteness, practicality and value in one little package: you get 45 new words to stamp onto the tee shirts (or anything else) now!

Another reason I love this set: are you a BasicGrey fan that uses up all the pretty patterns in the front of the pad then has nothing to do with the solid papers? My solid BasicGrey paper colors often get unloved, but the solid color has some texture or distressing printed onto it that makes the tees look so realistic. Finally I can use them up lol.

This card uses papers from BasicGrey's Urban Prairie as well as Bazzill Textured and Bling cardstocks. Stampin Up! Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss are in there too. I love to layer :).

I stamped the tee in Ancient Page Chocolate onto the green paper, and stamped a few flowers in Memento Rose Redas well. For some bling I added Swarovski Crystals to the tee as well as the "shopping bag" I created.

To create the shopping bag I used my Scor-Pal to score the patterned paper and cut  the bottom of the paper about 1/4 inch in to have flaps to tuck in (let me know if you want exact instructions I would be happy to provide).

I used a little scrap of May Arts ribbon around the bag as well for no other reason than I hate to waste anything lol. Finally I stamped the flowers onto the tissue paper and the smallest Nestabilities Labels One die cut. 

How about tucking in a small stamp or pack of embellishments into the bag - what stamping addict wouldn't love to receive that?

 

EDIT TO ADD: So I'm a dork. I was off on my merry way when it hit me - what does a shopping bag and stamping have in common? Well, in my little mind I equated stamping with shopping. I'd rather be stamping=lets go shopping for stamps. Yes I hang my head in shame. Okay I added a couple of stamp shops to the mix - does it make sense now? The little Stamp Shop images are by A Muse, it is now completely dark here at 4pm so the photo is dismal. I guess it was *my* day and I did what I liked. Just roll with me, friends.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Allan is trying to talk me into bowling with dogs later tonight - I have no idea what that means but it is rainy and dreary here so nothing better to do I just may have to try :)

Hope your Saturday is a little more fun than mine lol!

hugs,

Suzy

p.s. - WOW thank you so much for all your comments yesterday! I think that may be the most comments I have ever received for a card. I am honored and floored - your comments make me feel like I am walking on clouds :) They really make my day. THANK YOU! Now I am off to visit some blogs and leave YOU some love right back :)

Naughty Tilda & Sonja's WOJ Blog Candy

 

Hi everyone!  This is such a silly little card and I had such fun with it. I love creating scenes! Here is naughty Giggling Tilda (currently 30% off at Magnolia-licious) and a little A Muse Mouser, both of whom should be in bed so that Santa can come and do his work. The Cozy Fireplace is also a Magnolia stamp available from Magnolia-licious. The quote in the picture frame is from Elzybells UK.

The couch is from Alota Rubber Stamps and is also available through Magnolia-licious in the furniture section. I LOVE this couch! It is sooo easy to cut out and paper piece. I stamped the entire couch on BasicGrey Wassail paper, then stamped it again on white cardstock just for the cushions and lace part which were colored with Copics.

I ruched some lace ribbon and adhered it to the cushions with Scor-Tape. The holly berries above the fireplace and on the Bazzill Edge Strip "garland" were made with Ruby Red Liquid Pearls. 

I hope this card made you smile. Have a fantastic weekend! I have some really fun new stamps to share so I hope to be back with more cards today - just need light to photograph them. 

PS - Its Sonja 's turn to give away a Whiff of Joy stamp! Check out her blog for the deets!

hugs across the miles,

Suzy

Good Eating: Pot Roast

Now that the weather is colder I find myself breaking out the Le Creuset again and again. There is sure something to be said for throwing everything in a pot and heading off to stamp while the pot does all the work! Last night at the store we found a beef pot roast on sale for $5.48 - score! I always do the same old pot roast and thought I would surf around for something a bit different yet still within my traditional flavor comfort zone. 

Alton Brown makes a pot roast with olives, raisins and cumin - um no thanks I am not that adventurous! This recipe is adapted from sweet ol' Paula Dean. I was hesitant at first - I hate dislike the flavor of wine in pot roast and stews, and do not want my pot roast tasting like Campbell's. There were so many positive reviews I decided to go for it. SO glad I did! You can't taste the wine at all, but it really breaks down the tough meat and turns it into something that melts in your mouth and has a wonderfu, richl mushroom flavor. The gravy is delicious! I used the Le Creuset but you can use a Dutch oven or a crock pot too.

Here is my adaption:

Ingredients

• 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast
• Seasoning: Hye's (or Lawry's) Seasoning Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Poultry Seasoning 
• 2- 3 TBS vegetable oil  (enough to coat the pan)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced thick
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tsp Better Than Bullion (this is a jar of beef "paste"; Canadians - PC makes something like this and it is in the refrigerated deli meats section) or bullion cube
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup Chardonnay
• Low Sodium Beef Broth (about 2 cups)
• 2 TBS flour

Directions

1. Heat oil in the pot. Sprinkle roast on all sides with seasonings (lots of garlic, less of the salt) and sear every side very well. Add the garlic and cook for about one minute. It gets saltier with time so be careful when adding salt and bullion - you can always season it more later.

2. Remove the roast, deglaze the pot with the wine, add the soup, bullion and bay leaves, stir, then return the roast to the pot. Top the roast with onions and mushrooms, then enough beef broth to cover 1/3 the meat.  The broth will double on its own and you want a flavorful gravy so don't overdo it.

3. Cook on low for 4 hours or until meat is tender, occasionally spooning the juices over the roast.

4. If you need to thicken your gravy, put the flour in a small glass and add a bit of the juices from the roasting pot. Stir until there are no lumps, then add to the juices to thicken the gravy. If your gravy is already thick omit this step.

I served this with mashed potatoes and a salad. Thank you Paula for inspiring an awesome dinner! Be back soon with today's card.

Suzy

Coffee With Friends

Is there anything better than sitting and chatting with your favorite girlfriends over coffee in a café? Okay maybe if that coffee were served by a handsome waiter named Laurent in a café on the Champs-Élysées with tons of freshly shopped Chanel and Hermes bags at your feet. But hey coffee + girlfriends = still good, right? So here is a Valentine's Day card for THAT girlfriend. The one who is always there for you.

I stamped The Rubber Cafe Loving Cup and the Friends sentiment in Ancient Page Chocolate. I highly recommend this ink when you have a solid image - it covers the rubber on your stamp without beading and you get a lovely stamped impression with the perfect dark, rich brown.  I traced the swirls and hearts above the image with Copic Markers, then added some Stickles in Fruit Punch. The edges of the Spellbinder's die cuts are sponged with VersaMagic inks in pinks and reds.

The pink patterned paper is from the Kiss and Tellcollection by My Mind's eye. I paired it with a raspberry pink velvet scallop ribbon by Cosmo Cricket and a few Dew Drop pearls. I couldn't find a dark, rich brown paper that would hold up to the bold color of the ink on the image until I found Basic Grey's Granola.  I tucked a pink velvet flower from Imaginisce that I bought from Embellish-Online.com behind the Granolapaper, then added a paper Prima flower on top with one more Dew Drop pearl.

I covered the hearts on the ends of the stamped sentiment as well as the dot over the i with some heart crystals for a final dash of pink.

I hope you enjoyed today's card. I am off to dream a bit more about Paris - have a great day and go stamp something fun!

hugs,

Suzy

Looking Ahead: Love Mail

     

Yes I know it is not even Christmas yet but the paper crafting business is always looking forward. I recently completed a Valentine's Day assignment and really liked this card, so wanted to show it to you early :) The image is from The Rubber Cafe  and is called Love Mail (it is not on the new site yet but you can contact them to order it).  I paired it with Spellbinder's new die cuts Curved Rectangles, which is kind of old fashioned in a shabby chic sort of way so perfect for the look I was going for.

I wanted to keep the card simple and soft. The mailbox part of the image was stamped with Memento ink in Rich Cocoa and the hearts in Rose Red, then colored with Copics. I was able to dab the Rose Red ink on all of the hearts except the one attached to the mailbox, but Copic Deep Magenta was able to conceal the brown pretty well.  I added the grass and ground with the markers to ground the image.

This is a great image for someone just starting out with Copics as the shading is already drawn for you and picked up by the ink; there is not too much detail and you can still get a lovely color effect. B00 Frost Blue and Blue Shadow blended to a watercolor blur with the 0 Colorless Blender makes the colors pop.

I sponged around the main image with VersaMagic in Pixie Dust, a very soft pink. The velvet flocked paper is by Doodlebug, and the blue cardstock is Stampin' Up!.

For some sparkle I added Stickles to the Hearts in Baby Pink and Platinum on the flowers, and a sheer pink ribbon with gold edge by May Arts.

I hope you like today's card! See you tomorrow with a Rubber Cafe Christmas card and hopefully a Whiff of Joy card as well - still waiting for the new ones to arrive to my far corner of the world :)

hugs across the miles,

Suzy

Next Stop...Odd Bird Planet

  

 o0o0o! Just a quick note to announce that I made the Odd Bird Planet Design Team!  It has been so hard to hold it in! I start in December and can't wait! I just received my first DT package so you will start seeing some Odd Birds (and gnomes,and mushrooms) soon! Love me some quirky stamps.

Thanks for "listening" to me hoop and hollar with letters.

Suzy

Here Comes Presents & Simone Winner (Prize Alerts)

 

Hello and happy Monday! It was a dreary and overcast weekend here; today has begun the same way. I already miss the sun. If winter must come I hope it brings some pretty fluffy snow soon. Here is one more thing to look forward to: Christmas! That is the theme this week at the House Mouse & Friends Challenge Blog, and there is a lovely prize package up for grabs for one participant thanks to our Guest Design Star Jennifer. You can see the challenge and the prize right here. 

 

 

I stamped the House Mouse Mice Elves image twice so that I could cut out a few presents and pop them up for dimension. After coloring with Copics I added Liquid Applique snow and Stickles in Icicle here and there. 

The Ho Ho Ho sentiment is a Cosmo Cricket silver Metallic Rub-On. It is a bit hard to see in the photo due to the metallic shine but you can see it better in the photo to the left. I learned the hard way that this rub-on does not like Bazzill's Dotted Swiss paper which makes sense as it is embossed hard to stick to. It is also very fibrous - almost like watercolor paper.

The textured cardstock and ribbon is Stampin' Up!'s Red Riding Hood, as is the Ski Slope patterned paper. I tried to make the panel look like a present :)

I tried to do a faux airbrush look with the markers by coloring behind the mice with B00 Blue Frost and BG10 Cool Shadow, graduating the outer edges by adding layers of the same color. The very edge is B02 Robin's Egg Blue. I then used the 0 Colorless Blender to blend and lighten and get the airbrush "look". 

Be sure to check out the HM&F Blog to see what the other DT members have made for you this week.  Each week they amaze me with their fun and creative cards. 

Toodles & Binks Simone Winner & Prize Alert

The fickle hand of fate has chosen Cheri Higdon as the winner of the new Toodles & Binks stamp Simone! Cheri please email me your address and I will send Simone to her new home :) Thank you to everyone who entered!

There is a chance to win three of the newest releases on the T&B Blog right here! Above you can see the newest one - this cute little boy and his squirrel do not have a name yet so head on over to the T&B Blog to try to guess and win him as well as Toodles & Binks Skate and the matching quote stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzy

VSN Cabaret Challenge: La Vie en Rose

 

When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom...

Edith Piaf was one of the premiere French Cabaret singers. La Vie en Rose, French for Life in Pink, was her signature song. My challenge (today at 2 pm EST) for the VSN Cabaret Theme Weekend was to make a pink floral card, with bonus points for a card that is both pink and uses a rose.

Card Details

I have to admit I got this Stampin' Up! Bella Blossoms stamp set and Bella Rose patterned paper with this challenge in mind. I adore this set and hope to teach a class around it soon.

I stamped the large rose three times onto cardstock graduating VersaMagic shades of green (Hint of Pesto, Tea Leaves and Key Lime), and pinks (Pink Petunia, Pixie Dust and Pink Grapefruit). To do this I used Dew Drops pads which are small and have a triangle end - the perfect shape to  apply ink to only a certain area with precision. I applied the lightest color all over then edged with the darker colors.

I cut the flower image into an oval shape with my Oval shape Nestabilities die cut - part of the flower was cut off due to the small size of the die cut.  I sponged the oval die cut with VersaMagic Pixie Pink - a perfect pigment ink match for Stampin' Up!'s  Pink Pirouette, which only comes in the classic version of the ink.

Finally I sponged on Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red and Rose Red on the edges. The slow drying, creamy chalk Ink allows the instant dry dye based Classic ink to blend so that you don't get the streaks you would if you only used Classic ink.

Next I took the second image and cut out the leaves and the flower, and the flower of the third image to layer onto the oval with pop up dots and glue dots using my Curve and Pop Method. Between adding the two layers I added a bit of Distress Crackle Paint in Worn Lipstick to the large petals to add a vintage, shabby chic touch.

My last step was to add some Stickles to the leaves and center of the flower, and a pink felt flourish from Fancy Pants Felt Shapes. I highly recommend these felt shapes - you get 4 sheets of 12x12 in pink, white, green and blue. TONS of shapes and the felt is very high quality. The red felt heart was from the dollar store. I used a Sizzlet die cut to cut textured Riding Hood Red Corner accents. The base of the card is textured Pink Pirouette. This card seems like it has so many steps but it only takes minutes. I created this card in about 40 minutes but a lot of it was thinking what to do, what to do.

To get you in the mood to create a pink floral card you can read the lyrics to La Vie en Rose in both French and English and also listen to La Vie en Rose sung by Edith herself here.

If you were unable to join us at VSN you can still play! You have until Sunday 10 PM EST to upload to the Splitcoast Gallery - please use keyword NOV08VSNI so that I can find your card and leave you some love, or you can play along at anytime just for yourself :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzy

New Toodles & Binks Stamps

 

Isn't this image adorable? I love the cat holding onto her leg as she skates! This is Toodles & Binks Skate and is now available to order *here*.  Toodles is Kay's daughter and I am told this is the perfect likeness of her! Binks is the cat:) 

Here is the matching Figures of 8 Quotation - a cute little poem.

I have been asked where to get these stamps if you are not in the UK. Stamps Galaxy ships internationally to anywhere. They are unmounted red rubber - you will need EZMount or something to make it stick to your acrylic block ( a lot of people use Alene's Tacky Glue).

Be back in a bit with a card. If you have some free time come play at the Cabaret for Splitcoast Stampers VSN weekend! I am hosting a challenge at 2pm EST and there are lots of other challenges posted and more coming up!

hugs,

Suzy

Flowers and Pearls in the Garden

   

Winter fast approaches, yet my thoughts are on spring today! I was inspired by the soft, pretty pink of this textured cardstock (Stampin' Up!'s Pink Pirouette) and this Stampavie/Sarah Kay stamp, Rose's Garden that I got from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps.

  I colored Rose with Copic markers and used lots of Colorless Blender for a watercolor effect. Isn't she so precious? Love this image.

The pink mirrored Heidi Swapp butterfly is something I have been hoarding a while. I made this kind of odd layout to have the butterfly as the focus of the card, without taking over. Did it work? I am not sure! lol

I added some Distress Worn Lipstick Crackle Paint and Ink in the lower right corner, and a swirl of fabric flowers from Imaginisce that I got at Embellish-Online.com and Dew Drop pearls on the left.

Hope you like today's card. I am off to get ready for VSN tonight -see you there! I have a couple more posts today below this one - I have been busy *grin*

Have a great weekend!

Suzy

VSN Weekend at SplitcoastStampers: Come to the Cabaret!

Its almost here! Tonight is VSN (Virtual Stamping Night) at Splitcoast Stampers, where women from all over the world will gather online to complete card making challenges, chat, laugh and share. Its a tradition, one big party, and YOU are invited!

The theme this time around is Come to The Cabaret. I will be a hostess and am so excited - we always have such a blast! My challenge will be Saturday November 15th at 2pm EST. While I can't tell you what my challenge will be, in the pic above is a sneak peek that may hint at whats to come. La la la not saying more. 

Here is a list of items you may need for the challenges.

Times:

Friday, November 14, 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST
Saturday, November 15 12:00 PM to 11:00 PM EST

You have 45 minutes to complete each challenge. Challenges to be uploaded by Sunday, November 16th, 10:00 PM EST.

See you there!

Suzy