Big Box

Evan has been having such a good time playing in the new freezer box.  Terry cut it in half, added a door and a window.  Who knew a box was the best toy ever? :)

January Hostess Club

Tuesday night was Hostess Club night.  It is always such a good time, but this month I didn't have many in the group come.  We had a stomach bug running through our house. I warned the ladies that we were sick and if they didn't want to come and risk getting sick themselves, I would make their projects for them.  I honestly say that I wouldn't have wanted what we had.  YUCK!

Here are the January projects.

 

  

First we started out with coaster calendars.  I cut up a lot of different dsp (including some retired) and let the ladies choose which they liked.  I hope I chose well for those who couldn't come.... 

Here are my favorites...  I wonder how many calendars I can justify making for myself.  I would make both of these again. :) 

After the Coaster Calendars came the Cupcake Birthday card and the matching cupcake box.  I thought they were adorable--all pink and sweet.  I can't wait to hear the reaction when I give them to ladies. 

I did make cupcakes Tuesday night to go in the boxes, but well when your husband has a sweet tooth, they disappeared quick....  Sorry ladies!  Maybe I will make another batch to fill your boxes.  :)

Then everyone got a Valentine from me. I showed these a few days ago. I really wish that Filled w/ Love promotion would have lasted longer. It is such a cute set and I LOVE the paper.



Southwestern Wisconsin

This week's challenge at Late Night Stampers is to do a project on 'Where you Live'. I went through the Stampin' Up! catalog and I didn't see any Packer or cheese sets.  Although I did see one little beer stamp and a cow, but it wasn't a Holstein. Obviously this was another good reason to use My Digital Studio.  :)

 I went outside and took pictures while Evan napped. Yep, these are what Lafayette County, Wisconsin looks like today.  :)  It had snowed earlier in the morning and was still pretty cloudy.  There is nothing prettier than a fresh snow over the countryside.

About my photos....

Top:  This is the view from our deck look down over the valley.

Bottom Left: My favorite little tree by the garden. 

Bottom Middle: Rosie (sheep) and Ringo (the naughty pygmy goat)

Bottom Right: Our barn.  The home to about 15 barn cats, 1 horse and 1 lazy dog.

Fancy lil' Cupcake

I love cupcakes.  I love to make them.  I love to decorate them.  I love to EAT them....yes, that is probably my FAVORITE thing to do w/ cupcakes.  I knew when the Occasions mini came out that the Create A Cupcake set and punch were definitely coming to live at my house.  

Isn't this just the cutest little cuppy cake? 

Kiss Valentine CASE

I happened across this super cute Valentine when I was exploring.  The original stampers name is Brenda (Qbee).  It was a great way to use some of the great products in the Filled w/ Love promotion and give a little kiss to those you care about without being too forward.  ;)  That's definitely a win-win. 

I made each of the ladies in my Hostess Club one of these little Valentines.  I think they are a pretty sweet group. 

Sweet Treats

This is a very sweet little cupcake box that I found the tutorial for on Becky Robert's blog. However, I didn't have any cupcakes made to put in so instead----REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS!  These are my favorite candy so I know I have to give this away Tuesday night at my Hostess Club.  It cannot stay here or it will be an empty box in no time.  :)

I have two sick kids.  This is the first time in a long time that the kids have had a stomach bug.  The first time for Evan. :(  I'm hoping not to catch it.  I feel bad for the kids, but I don't want it either.  lol 

Mini Magazine Holder Dimensions

This morning, I posted a Mini Magazine Holder.  This holder is for standard A2 cards.  It will EASILY hold a half dozen cards and envelopes.    I received several requests for dimensions for the holder. 

I took a couple minutes while Evan napped this afternoon and drew up a pattern for the top and bottom of the box.  Sorry nothing fancy.

You need a piece of card stock for the top of the box that is 10 1/2" x 5 3/4"

Score at 4 1/2" from each end of the 10 1/2" side.

On your 5 3/4" side measure up 2 1/2" from the bottom and mark it.  Then cut at a diagonal to 1" from each score line.

Cut a piece of card stock for the bottom of the box that measures 6 1/2" x 9 1/2".

Score 2 1/2" from all sides. 

Cut on dashed lines (shown below) and assemble the box.

I strongly recommend SU! Sticky Strip.  :)

 

Decorate as desired!



Sweet Little Valentine

This week I participated in my first Chat & Challenge on Sudsol.  It was a lot of fun to chat w/ the ladies. Christyne, who led the chat, gave us this cute little sketch to use to make a card. 

Okay, I drew out the sketch on a piece of paper.  I do that now so I don't forget what I'm SUPPOSED to be doing when I get down in my craft room. I sometimes get a little distracted and find myself coming back upstairs when Evan wakes up w/o my sole purpose for going down untouched. (sigh) Maybe it's because I'm getting old. 

Anyway, where was I--oh  yes, I took the sketch downstairs and you won't believe it.  It took on a life of it's own.  I was just staring at the sketch and my hands were punching borders, adding rub ons , dsp and ribbon and voila...finished.  BUT it doesn't look much like the sketch.  Hmmmm...what happened!  LOL  

Oh well.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  Thank you SU for the cute rub ons. What a nice Valentine's Day gift  and thanks Christyne for the sketch it really was my inspiration. ♥

  

This is a little bitty valentine only about 5" x 2 7/8".  On Valentine's Day, it just the right size to put in one of my girls' lunchboxes along w/ a little chocolate.  

Here's an MDS card I made this morning showing how you can use the distressed dsp on standard size cards not just scrapbook layout.   Cardmakers--MDS is for you too! 

Mini Magazine Card Holder

Hostess Club is next week and I wanted something special for my hostess.  I know that she LOVES Not Quite Navy.   Now those of you that follow my blog know I haven't used NQN in a long time.  I pulled out my Color Coach (LOVE that tool) and found some complimentary colors. I chose Baja Breeze, because I had an idea what I wanted to do for her.  :)

I wanted a clean and simple card that she could use for almost any occasion.
Using my Upsy Daisy set, I stamped the flowers once in Baja Breeze then inked my stamp with Not Quite Navy moved it over just a hair and voila... 
I added a little strip of NQN dsp and a kraft taffeta ribbon.  :)

I made her 6 notecards and then I decided that you just can't be handing out cards without a holder....

I made her a simple little mini magazine holder to match her cards. 

My first Biggest Loser weigh in was last night. I was down -2.8#.  I'm hoping in the 12 weeks to be down 30#.  I guess I will have to spend lots of time STAMPING!  :)

Have a great Friday!

Weight Loss Ticker

If you haven't been to my blog for awhile or this is your first time visiting, maybe you noticed my weight loss ticker.  This year I'm working on a healthier Wendy.  My goal is to lose 111 in 2011.  Yes, it's a pretty hefty goal.  I'm pretty confident that if I eat right and exercise it will come off again.  Again?  Yes, again!  In the 9 months before I got pregnant w/ my son, Evan I lost 123#.  I found this great FREE weight loss site called Sparkpeople. It really is the most terrific place to lose weight. There are a lot of tool, nutritional and exercise trackers, blogs and a large community.  There's even stampers there!  :)   You can look me up  if you would like here's my page. 

 I did well the first 6 months or so after Evan was born and then my weight went up, up, UP!  It has been a stressful couple years at the Hawkinson house and I have decided that it's time for me to stamp more and eat less.  I know stamping makes me feel good and dragging around this extra weight does not.

Oh and I joined the local Biggest Loser Challenge last week.  Tonight was my first weigh in...  -2.8#.  I will take it!  :) 
Anyway, I know it's not stamping, but I thought I would share a little about me...  :)

A Nice Little Valentine

Over the weekend, we headed over to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Our oldest daughter, Dani was invited their to compete in an essay competition for a portion of tuition over the weekend and to tour the campus. It snowed our entire 3+ hour ride over on Friday night. I was glad that Terry could go along and drive. While it was too bad just a couple of inches, but I had never been to Kenosha and wasn't ready to make the trip in the dark and in the snow.  Carthage is beautiful.  The people are friendly.  BUT I wish it was 2 1/2 hours closer to home. 

Riley Kate and Evan stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Hawkinson.  It sounds like they had a good time. :)  We got home Saturday night--exhausted.  World travelers we are not!

Here's another sketch from Krista's Cards & Thing Challenge Blog.  It was a nice simple one again this week.  I love the possibllities of the 'easy sketches'. It amazes me how different the cards look w/ just a few simple shapes to work with.

Here's mine.  I pulled out The Nicest Things set again.  I wanted to make a BFF card.  Every girl has got to have a best girlfriend to giggle and cry with.

With my Signo gel pen I added dots to the scallop circle and then stitches using the mat pack and piercer along w/ the gel pen. If you don't have a SU! Signo gel pen, it is a MUST HAVE.

I did some quick watercoloring using my reinkers and an aqua painter.

Sweet Friends

Here's a quick little card I made while Evan was napping.  I had a few watercolored images leftover that I had never used on my table.  What better time to use them, right?  :)  I used the colors from the Pawsitively Prints DSP when I watercolored the image so I went and found a couple scraps of dsp.  Like I said--quick.  I love spending naptime in my stampin' room.

Tomorrow we are expecting snow again in Wisconsin. I hope we get enough for my husband to go snowmobiling.  He's only been out once this year and I would like him to get to go again.  Cross your fingers that we get the 5" instead of the 3".  I know that's just crazy to be wishing for snow, but hey I love him.  :)

Recipe: Puppy Chow

The kids love puppy chow and so does my sister, Laurie.  Once in awhile, I make a special batch up to take to Laurie because I know she won't make it herself and she LOVES it. 

At Christmastime, I made both the traditional and a gluten free/casein free batch.  They didn't last long.  I know it's not a 'family recipe', but definitely one that I think the kids will make again and again when they leave home.  I love the fact that it is so easily converted for Evan.  He likes his snackies too. 

I had fun with this page.  A little more cutesy than some of my other pages, but I decided that I'm not going to be concerned about all the pages being the same style in the cookbook.  I think they should reflect my mood rather than a template. I want them to have something that is uniquely from Mom.  :)

Which do you like better?

First try...

Here's my page with a couple more elements.  I added a red scallop edge border and a sun. 

Here's the Recipe:

9 cups Rice Chex Cereal

1/2 cup Skippy Natural Peanut Butter

1 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup Earth Balance (stick)

1 tsp gfcf vanilla

1 1/2 cups powered sugar

Measure cereal and put into large mixing bowl. In a microwavable bowl, add peanut butter, butter and chocolate chips. Microwave about 1 minute or so until ingredients start to melt and can be stirred together until smooth. Stir in vanilla.  Pour mixture over cereal-coating evenly.

Add powdered sugar slowly and carefully mix until all the cereal is coated. (You can do this last step in a 2 gallon baggie and then shake until coated.)

**To make traditional Puppy Chow just add your  peanut butter, cereal, butter, vanilla and chocolate chips of choice. :)

Simple Simple, but ohhhh so good!  ♥

Made by Riley Kate

While this is not stamp related, I think it's still pretty cool. 

Last night, Riley Kate made this collage on the computer for one of her friends at school as a birthday gift.  We live 21 miles from the nearest Big Box Store.  When you don't tell Mom until Thursday night  the parties on Friday, you have to be creative.  She took a few of Hannah's favorite things used Google to search for images and just put them together using Paint.  I had a couple inexpensive frames that I had bought for craft projects.   For a couple of dollars, Riley Kate has a one of a kind personalized gift to give.  I think it's pretty awesome.  :)

Tonight we are heading to Carthage college.  Dani's competing for a scholarship tomorrow morning. They are having an  essay contest for a portion of tuition.  Please wish her luck.  She's very nervous, but I think her Mom is almost as nervous for her.

Evan's Favorite Cookies

These cookies are Evan's favorite cookies.  They are sooooooo good! They are not a good thing around when I'm trying to lose weight.  I swear they call to me....

 I converted the recipe from a traditional recipe to a gluten and casein free version for Evan. Even though there was some protesting about Evan's food not being quite as good, these cookies are ALWAYS gone within a couple days.  My husband seems to have one in his hand everytime I walk into the kitchen.  When I ask what he is eating he just smiles.  :)

Here's the recipe in case you can't read it on the page:

Evan's Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

gluten free/casein free version

15 oz jar Skippy Natural Chunky Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp honey
3 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips
4 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten free oatmeal


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix butter, peanut butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl until creamed together. Add eggs, baking soda, honey and vanilla. After well mixed, add chip and finally oatmeal.
Drop dough onto cookie sheet using a dropper or by rounded Tablespoon. Flatten a little as they do not spread much. Bake about 7 minutes. Barely brown for soft cookie. Brown a little more for crispy cookies.

The recipe is easily converted back just use regular butter, oats and chocolate chips.

I Love You....

I spent all day Sunday cleaning my Stampin' Room.  It's been months since I have had more than a few inches of clean space to stamp. I cleaned off my table, the counter and the closet,  organized my ribbon, punches and scraps and even vacuumed the carpet.   WOW!  It was like a new room.  Now my DH can stop shaking his head every time he walks in when I'm trying to stamp in my 3" x 3" space that was clean on my table.  It felt so good to get it cleaned up that I had to sit down and mess it up a bit. 

 This week Krista has a new sketch challenge over at the Cards & Things Challenge blog.  I love this challenge.  I was so ready for another sketch challenge.  It's great to get those creative juices flowing. 

Here's the sketch!  Doesn't it look like a good one?  :)

Here's my card...

I was so excited to finally use this little girl. 

She is just too sweet!

 

I added some faux stitching w/ my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker

 

Using my sewing machine, I ran a running stitch through my Daffodil Delight Ribbon and give it a pull and scrunched my ribbon.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Three Little Words

CS: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Staz On, Soft Suede

DSP: Brights Stack

Accessories: mat pack, paper piercer, aqua painter, sewing machine, daffodil delight taffeta ribbon, Cherry Cobbler marker, daffodil delight brads, heart punch, glass mat, circle scissors plus



Testing it out...

I have found a couple more uses for MDS.  As if I need another excuse to use it.  :)  I bought the Friends 24/7 stamp set shortly after it came out.  I loved the look of it, but honestly I have had zero success making an actual card w/ it.  So today, I went to work with it on MDS.  Well after a few color changes and some other modifications, I came up w/ a sympathy card. 

Another great use for MDS.  When I'm craving some snackies, I have decided that rather than raiding the fridge, I would work on a project instead.  You know that dreaded New Year's Resolution to lose weight? Well I made my resolution to lose 111 in 2011 along w/ another stamper, Tana Conley.  So far so good, I'm down 6 pounds.

LOL.. who know MDS was good for weight loss?   It really is a must have! 



Graduation Collage

Today I sorted through all of the pictures that my friend, Wendy took of Dani for her senior pictures.  Dani didn't want anything formal.  In fact, if Dani would have had her way there wouldn't have been senior pictures at all. 

 I convinced her to let my friend, Wendy take her senior pictures.  I did add one clause--no critters.  Dani loves all critters and I could just see her w/ a cat on her shoulder, a chicken on her lap and inspecting  a bug she found.

I was really happy with the great job Wendy did with the unwilling subject she was given.  Actually Dani looked like she had a great time.... 

 

I want to get this page printed to have at her graduation party along with a few silly poses that I found as I went through the disk.  They are just so Dani that I can't resist.

Double Purple Challenge...

Krista's back to stamping over at Card & Things Challenge Blog.  She had a sweet little baby boy, Alec a few weeks ago and took some time away from stamping.

 This week's challenge was definitely the hardest for me yet.  I don't do purples--I just don't.  Yes, it's all psychological I'm sure, but purple is not my friend!  lol

Well after much mumbling under my breath for what seemed like days about 'how could Krista do this to me', I finally got a card made. I went w/ simple easy kids card.  Yep, this little turtle was still on my table so he got inked up again. I cheated a little and put in some daffodil delight to break it up a bit.    :)

Recipe: Cheeseburger Soup

My husband's sister, Joni brought me this amazing soup right after Evan was born.  Oh my gosh, is it ever tasty.  I was so happy Joni came down that day, I was exhausted and she is an amazing cook.  It felt so good to have warm food that I didn't make!  :) Joni took culinary arts classes in college and currently works at a bakery.  Riley Kate (with a little mom supervision) made this soup tonight. I think Aunt Joni would have been proud.  It tasted just like I remembered it from when she brought it.  Riley Kate is pretty sure that she wants to go and stay at Aunt Joni's and they could just spend the weekend cooking and baking.  The problem is--I would want to eat everything they made and I DEFINITELY don't need that.  Yep, today it's back to eating a little healthier and exercising.  I have no close that fit.  January in Wisconsin is not warm enough to go without.  LOL

Thank you, Joni for sharing this with our family.  It's going into the kids' cookbooks and they will be able to share it with their families someday!  ♥