I have two cards for you today. Both were made with The Rubber Cafe Bon Appetit Stamp Set, and would be perfect to give to the epicurean in your life accompanied by a bottle of wine, or even a basket of gourmet goodies that include a tin of homemade Parmesan Crackers (recipe follows after the card details). These cards remind me of an olde worlde style Europe, so would be great for a traveler as well. Really so many possibilities.
...a Glass of Wine and Thou
I
so love this card. It is simple, yet elegant. I attempted to shade the
bottle a sheer, green glass color that still allows the purple of the wine to
show through. I am not sure if I succeeded, and oh boy it took many, many layers of shading and coloring, but I love the idea. I must confess that I tend to avoid the purples when it comes to Copics - purple can be a very tricky color to work with. As with anything, it is all about practice. In the end, adding a light, sheer red to blend with (Light Rouge) really helped. All the Copic colors used can be seen in the photo from the second card below.
I die
cut the card shape with Spellbinders Curved Rectangles, making sure not
to cut the top where the card crease is. I then used a smaller die to
cut a sheet of BasicGrey Denby Chiffon patterned paper from the Porcelain collection. The base of the card is the most amazing chocolate shimmer with copper
flecks. I am not sure where I bought it or who makes it, but I sure
wish I had more. Don't you love finding treasures in your stash?
Both the frame and the cloth, which says Le Bistro, are popped up with Dimensional Foam Dots.
The sentiment and the frame are inked with Ancient Page Chocolate Ink; the lower corner background leaves and vines are inked with Creamy Caramel by Stampin' Up!. The cream satin ribbon is by May Arts. Next!
Popped Grapes
Wouldn't this be pretty to accompany the gift of a bottle of wine? It is kind of different, but you know I am a card weirdo, often marching to my own beat lol. To create this card I centered the Spellbinders Labels One die cut onto Papertrey Vintage Cream cardstock, cut it with my Cuttlebug, then stamped the grapes image onto the cut piece with Stampin' Up! Creamy Caramel Ink.
I then stamped the grapes image, as well as the leaves image, with Memento Rich Cocoa Ink and colored it with Copic Markers. The rich purple colors came through, even coloring over the brown ink. To add a bit of detailing I used Ranger Inkssentials White Gel Pen over the marker.
Next I cut the images out using small, sharp scissors (Stampin' Up! or Cutterbee) popped them up over the Creamy Caramel inked image with Dimensional Foam Dots, then adhered the whole thing to the inner part of the card, making sure it was centered properly.I usually color the base image, but left this one tan to give it a bit of vintage, and also to tie in with the corner work.
When the card opens you still see the image. The vines overhang a bit but it is still easy to open.
I again used the Creamy Caramel to stamp the leaves in the lower corner and stamped the sentiment over that with Ancient Page Chocolate Ink.
Final touches include a bit of Chocolate May Arts Satin ribbon that I distressed with my nails.
Melissa is overhauling the store in between craft shows, so no image of the set is up yet, but you can still order it here along with the Spellbinders die cuts, Copics, BasicGrey papers and more.
Here is a picture of the set of six stamps - it comes in unmounted red rubber on Static Cling EZ Mount Foam so you just need to stick it to your acrylic block and stamp away.
I love the plastic insert you stick your stamps to. It is strong and will last, and you can use a three hole paper punch to insert it into a binder for storage. Sweet.
Parmesan Herb Crackers Recipe
These are really amazing with wine, or even on their own. Once you make your own crackers you will never go back to boxed. While these are very rich, you can substitute water for cream as I do, and olive oil for butter. This recipe is adapted from one by Mark Bittman, the NY Times Food writer. He cracks me up - watch the video of him making this recipe here (the link is about mid-page). I dare you to break apart your crackers the way he does at the end.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, more as needed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (or less)
- 3/4 cup finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half, more as needed
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped to release flavor (or any herb you like, also cayenne, paprika, dry mustard)
- Coarse salt, pepper, sesame or poppy seeds, minced garlic or whatever you like for sprinkling (optional - you can also add these into the cracker itself).
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a
baking sheet with parchment paper. Put
flour, salt, cheese and butter in bowl of a food processor. Pulse until
flour and butter are combined. Add about 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half
and let machine run for a bit; continue to add liquid a teaspoon at a
time, until mixture holds together but is not sticky.
2.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface until 1/4-inch thick, adding flour as needed. Transfer sheet of dough to
prepared baking sheet.
Score lightly with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Sprinkle with salt or other toppings.
3.
Bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool on a rack; serve
warm or at room temperature or store in a tin for a few days.
Enjoy!
Thank you for stopping by, happy creating!
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