Welcome to my addiction!

Thank you for stopping in and looking around. I am an admitted paperholic and try to participate in all things stamped. In the past I have taught classes on unique techniques at our LSS and have loved every minute of it. My mind continues to want to create and share. I garner my inspiration from fellow bloggers, our LSS, and some of the horticulture magazines that come in the mail. Simple pleasures in life make me smile and that includes a simple yet elegant card or piece of paper that I see potential. Please feel free to share your work with me as I share my work with you. Enjoy your visit!



Monday, January 9, 2012

Busy in the background

Good evening everyone!  I know it has been a moment since I posted last, but I just wanted you to know that I have several things going on and in process.  I am also learning yet new finishing touches for some of the articles I am making.  So be patient, perhaps if I find a moment in time I will make a quick (haha) card, but with the weather we have been having (50+degrees almost daily Thank the Lord!) I just can't manage to keep myself in the house.  I wasn't made to be a housekeeper, I was made to design flower beds, and garden art as well as my indoor creations involving multi-media and paper.  So hold onto your horses, go out and enjoy the day if it's nice where you are, and I"ll be back as soon as possible to share the projects I have been working on.  Oh, by the way, Son and DIL loved thier painting!  Yea! for both me and them :)

Blessings!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Maple Walnut Pumpkin Pie

A quick post for those of you have have asked for my recipe for the Maple Walnut Pumpkin pie. Please forgive me for being so slow in getting it to you, sometimes I just let life get in the way.  So this one is for you.  You will really like this, and I will tell you it is the most diferent recipe I have ever made, but it tastes great!

Crust:
1 box Pillsbury Refriderated pie crust, softened
Filling:
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (Not pumpkin pie mix)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 eggs
2 Tbsp real Maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Streusel:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (I have tried this with pecans too - very good!)
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2Tbsp. cold butter
Topping:
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 425 degrees F.  Place pie crust in 9 inch glass pie plate as directed on box for one crust filled pie.  In large bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Pour into crust-lined pan.  Bake 10 minutes.
2.  Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix 1/4 cup brown sugar, the chopped walnuts and flower; cut in butter until crumbly.  Set aside.
3.  Reduce oven temp to 350F. Sprinkle streusel over pie.  Cover crust edge with 3 inch wide strips of foil to prevent excessive browing.
4.  Bake 30 - 35 minutes longer or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.  Cool completely, about 2 hours.  Serve or refrigerate until serving time.
5.  To serve, in medium bowl, beat whipping cream and 2 Tbsp brown sugar with electic mixer on medium high speed until soft peaks form.  Serve pie with whipped cream; garnish with chopped walnuts as desired.  Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Recipe book

Good Afternoon Everyone!
  Today I would like to share a recipe book that I made.  I wanted to try some new techniques and it just worked out that I needed to work with heavy paper and chipboard to be sure everything would hold up.  So I played and played and really liked what I came out with in the end.  I am not normally a big Orangey color fan, but this worked out just fine :)

The first thing I tried (or should I say went back and did after several years of not) was playing with fine glitter.  I found a stencil that had a beautiful rooster on it and I wanted this Paper and glitter rooster to look as beautiful as my real roosters outside, so I went to putting one color down and then another, letting each one blend gently into the first.  Once I had the rooster finished to my liking, I needed a background that would be as outstanding as he was.  I wanted to try and make my colors/papers look somewhat like leather.  So starting with a medium yellow/orange print paper I began blending, distressing and blending again.  Until I finally had a back ground that I was happy with.  So my cover finished off looking like this:
A close up of the rooster at a different angle so you might be able to see all the colors and not quite so much glitter reflection:

The flower is a papertreyink flower die.  After the flowers were put together they were brushed with Lindsy's Gang mica magicals paints.
Page 1 with and without a recipe card:
Page 2  w/o recipe card:


The next page and the previous page have a new embossing technique I found on YouTube.  Using a stencil and stencil gel, you put your embossing powder on the gel and then heat to emboss the two together.  The result is phenomenal, check out this texture!  I love texture so this made me really happy :)


Again, playing with things, I put the dark EP on first, then put on the lighter, then put on the lightest to get the gradation of colors you see.  Here you can see the whole page both with and without a recipe card.

The flower is oil paint stenciled on canvas.
If you are looking close right now, you probably are noticing that I am using the same recipe card on each page, don't worry, when I finally give the book out, each page will have at least one different recipe per the type listed on top.  The next page looks much simpler, but you'll notice that I have yet again used the stencil gel/embossing powder technique on the medallions (I've added a close up at a different angle to hopefully make it easier to see.  I also tried distressing around it to make the stenciling/embossing more prevalent:


In addition to the Embossing, I also strung some waxed string through the small holes from the MS edge puncher, and also added some magic mesh in the upper right hand corner. The pocket as aged with distress inks as well. 
The next page shown with and w/o recipe card:

This page is just a lattice work set on a page and then embossing frost on the bottom.  Eyelash fringe lines the upper edge of the lattice.  I am not sure why the second picture washed out so much, but as you can tell by the previous pages, the first post of this page is the more correct color.  This page also has one of the PaperTreyInk flowers on it as well, and also a sizzix branch.  The stripes of darker color behind the lattice is washi tape that compliments all the colors of this album quite well.

The paper that I used had some areas that were more pink than orange, so I used them right along and just added some pink mica to the embossing on the more orangey page, then tied a piece of ribbon near the base of the open pocket.  The "dots" that you see are yet again some more stencil/gel/EP technique, the upper right corner is a pergamonno  stencil that I have embossed into the paper then lightly rubbed with Dried Marigold distress ink, the hen had to fit in somewhere for the handsome rooster on the front ;) and the flower is again a mica painted Papertreyink flower.
The back cover is just plain and "Sweet"  The recipes that I am putting in here are some of my fav's and have been recipes that I have honed until I can say that they are mine.  Recipes that my kids grew up with and will remind them of "Home Sweet Home".   Done again in the raised stencil gel with embossing powder.

The stamps of the chicken wire and the hens are from Layers of Color, the banners are SB, wording in  banners is from Recipe set obtained Years ago.  Most of the ribbon came from RRR, the rest I am not sure.  I haven't figured out who is going to get this yet, but I am sure now that it is made, someone will express a desire for it and will get it.  I had tons of fun experimenting with colors and techniques.  And can't wait to try some of them on cards.  Thanks for stopping by and looking, hopefully you enjoyed looking as  much as I enjoyed making.  Have a great day!

Blessings,