PaperFections

Lockhart Salad Recipe Card

I have one of my favorite salad recipes to share with you today over at the CLASSroom ... I hope you'll join me there! There is also a big Spring Fling celebration going on at the CLASSroom, revealing some new Lockhart Stamp images that will be released tomorrow, May 1 (wow, I can't believe it's May already, can you?). You can enter for the chance to win some of the new Lockhart stamps! Then I hope you'll join us back at the CLASSroom on Sunday, for a fun challenge we all participated in ... see you then! And since tomorrow is Friday, of course I'll be back right here with another Weekend Sketch Challenge, featuring some of those new Lockhart images! Read more →

JustRite Blog Hop: Recipes!

Welcome to JustRite Stampers' CHA Release #1 blog hop! Release #1 is now in stock at the JustRite Website and today, JustRite's designers are showing some projects using those products. If you visit here often, you know I like to share recipes, so I was thrilled with one of JustRite's newest releases, Recipe Borders & Centers, which fits on the new 1-3/16" Wood Stamper! I had recently altered this chipboard recipe box but still needed dividers for it, so JustRite came to the rescue! I used the thick/thin solid border, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black & Rhubarb Stalk inks onto Neenah Classic Cream cardstock. I stamped and die cut the centers separately, popped them up, and then die cut the borders with Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestabilities and matted them with Pinking Circles. These circles were attached to the chipboard dividers that came with the recipe box (which I covered with Graphic 45 Fashionista Collection paper to match the recipe box). This new Recipe set is great for your recipe box or album, as well as recipes or even cute cards. There's a rim on this new little wood stamper that accepts these new borders, as well as allowing you to... Read more →

Graphic 45 Recipe

I have another recipe to share with you today, for a wonderful dip/spread I've had at a great tea room restaurant next door to my closest scrapbook store in Waxahachie, TX (whew -- did you get all that?!!). This comes from The Dove's Nest Restaurant Fourth Edition cookbook by Cindy Burch. I finally got around to altering a recipe box to hold all these pretty recipe cards I've been making lately. You can see how I made this project over at Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom today: My recipe card matches some of the Graphic 45 papers I used on my recipe box, along with the pretty Millinery Rose Embellishment stamp from Lockhart Stamp Company. I printed "ABC" with my computer in the free Susie's Hand font, punched it out with Martha Stewart's 1-inch scalloped square punch, stamped the rose vine and colored it with Copic Spica glitter pens in Red & Olive. The scalloped square was then mounted on an Inchie Arts Black Inchie Square. A piece of lace finishes off this card . . . now stored within easy reach in my pretty new recipe box! Thanks for visiting today, can you believe it's April already?!! Here's the cut... Read more →

Lemon Pound Cake Recipe

Here's that good old fashioned Lemon Pound Cake recipe I promised you! Of course, the perfect accent for this 4" x 6" recipe card was Karen Lockhart's Lemons & Bay. I stamped the image with Memento Rich Cocoa onto Neenah Natural White cardstock and then left some of the bay leaves sticking "outside the box" when I trimmed around the 1-inch square image: The image was mounted to an Inchie Arts White Inchie Square and then colored with these Copic markers and that lovely new Sand Copic Spica Glitter Pen that will be coming next month: The soft, pretty paper I used is from Webster's Pages Feather Your Nest collection. I cut out one of the butterflies from this sheet and placed him at the top of the card: I printed the recipe onto Neenah cardstock and then trimmed it to approximately 3.25" x 4.75". The recipe is continued on the reverse side and there's also a lemon glaze included. Here's the copy and paste version for you: Golden Lemon Pound Cake from Sharon Harnist 2 C. sugar 1 C. butter, softened 4 eggs 3 C. All Purpose flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt... Read more →

TE Sneak Peek-Love is Sweet

Happy New Year! I have another sneak peek of another new Taylored Expressions stamp set that will be released for sale tonight at midnight -- Love is Sweet. This is the most adorable Valentine stamp set I've seen in a good while . . . kissing Cuppies, a Cupid Cuppie, a Smakaroo'd Cuppie (with cute lip marks on his face!), a sweet child Cuppie drawing his own Valentine with a huge pencil, and this Eat 'Em Up Cuppie (that's what I call him!) -- doesn't he look like he's going to eat all of those yummy chocolates?!! With 16 stamps in this set, including a non-Cuppie heart-shaped box of chocolates (shown on my recipe card below), I'm sure you'll find a few for your crafting needs over the next few months and even all year, for anniversaries or any "I Love You" moment! I stamped this sweet chocolate Cuppie with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Taylored Expressions' fantastic new Choice Cardstock -- it's a sturdy 100 lb. and comes in either white or natural white and works wonderfully with your Copic markers! After stamping, I cut out the image with Spellbinders Labels One die, I left the image in the... Read more →

Blizzard Bites Recipe & 12 Inchies of Christmas

As promised, here's the recipe for the Reindeer Food/Blizzard Bites I showed you yesterday, and step-by-step photos of the process are shown below. I've tried a few variations in ingredients, but this is what I've come to like the most. **This post will also start a 12 Inchies of Christmas theme I'll be showing you throughout this month! I hope to get them all done for you by next Friday, December 19, so be watching for those Inchie posts about every other day! I used more of the My Minds Eye Be Merry red snowflake paper as the 4" x 6" base to my recipe card. I printed the recipe onto Neenah Classic Natural White cardstock, trimmed it to 3.25" x 5", and stamped it with a little snowflake cluster from Taylored Expressions Home Sweet Home stamp set, using Memento Summer Sky ink. The edges were sponged with Ranger's Antique Linen Distress ink. The cute little Lockhart Itty Bitty Snow Buddy (#3042) was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto an Inchie Arts White Inchie Square and colored with these Copic markers: The snowflake is a Spellbinders die that I covered with Diamond Dust chunky glass glitter, using Diamond Glaze... Read more →

Blog Jam Giveaway!

About a month ago, after seeing how easy my friend, Jessica Witty, made making homemade jam look, I had to give it a try for the first time! My aunt that used to live in California with an abundance of pineapples, used to make the BEST pineapple jam and I always remember her having fresh batches of it for us whenever we visited. Since I hadn't had it in a very long time, I figured it was about time I try making my own! I followed a recipe I found at the Sure Jell website. I thought we might give the jam as gifts around Thanksgiving so, of course, I wanted some pretty packaging . . . my JustRite Small Letter Set was perfect to create the wording on my custom label, using the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II. After stamping the border of words, I used Papertrey Ink's First Fruits stamp set to stamp a pineapple in the center (this stamp is actually supposed to be used as an acorn but I modified it!). Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies were used to cut and mat the label. For the jar tops, I used JustRite's Baking Set Ensemble... Read more →

Copic Pumpkin Coloring Tutorial, Recipe & Announcement!

I have a lot to squeeze into one post today, so I hope you'll bear with me, it will be a long one! But there are cookies for anyone who makes it to the end, LOL! ANNOUNCEMENT: I think you all know how much I love my Copic markers, right? Well, there's a wonderful announcement over on the Copic Queen herself's blog today -- Marianne Walker is the Product Specialist for Copic here in the U.S. and I know I've mentioned her blog to you all before, but it bears repeating . . . Marianne has fabulous information about everything Copic and posts different lessons almost daily. If you can't find the answer on her blog, then ask away and she's happy to help you out! You can always ask questions here, too, if you feel more comfortable and I'll be more than happy to try and answer them. Anyway, I'm thrilled to be joining the Copic team along with new Design Team members, Sally Lynn MacDonald and Sherrie Siemens. This team is in addition to the original Blog Team members of Debbie, Michelle & Trudee -- they're not going anywhere! For a daily dose of Copic inspiration, you'll find... Read more →

Teacher Christmas Angel Tea

So the school Christmas parties are over and kids are on Winter Break starting today (I'll be sleeping long after this appears online)! Here are some teacher gifts we made and sent this year. Christmas Tea It was fun to find out a few people share in the same tradition I do each year -- and that is to make Spiced Christmas Tea for gifts. Check out Michelle Wooderson's version here and Anna Wight's version here. Anna packaged hers in a good sized jar that I liked and she so kindly shared where she found them -- WalMart in the canning section. These are wide-mouth Ball pint (16 oz.) canning jars. I liked that they were squatty, easy to fill and about $5 for a 4-pack. Each year I struggle with how to package my tea and Anna found the perfect solution, I thought! I wanted to use this Lockhart Gardening Angel on the front of the jars, so I stamped them in Brilliance Graphite Black on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White shimmer cardstock and colored them with Copic markers. She's also highlighted with those beloved Copic Spica Glitter Pens in gold (so pretty & sparkly!). I cut the angels out... Read more →

What's For Dinner?

What's for dinner tonight (or last night, in my case!)? I don't cook from scratch that often, but when I do and when I find a good recipe I really like, I like to share it! This one is pretty easy and makes your house smell SOOOOO good! It's a combination of recipes I've had or found and trial and error. It only takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour, so it's fairly quick as well . . . SHARON'S CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP In large stock pot, boil: 4-5 boneless chicken breasts in 3 cans (14 oz.) chicken broth Salt & Pepper to taste Garlic Powder, Onion Salt (or Onion Powder) 1 large onion, cut in large pieces 1/2 stalk of celery, cut in bite-sized pieces (including leafy tops) 1 cup chopped baby carrots 1 heaping tsp. minced roasted garlic (I use the jar kind) 1 heaping tsp. chicken base (I use Better Than Bouillon paste brand or you can use bouillon cubes). It will look something like this (can't you just smell it?!!): While chicken is boiling, cook rice in another large sauce pan, using canned chicken broth in place of water (you can cook these together --... Read more →

Blue Cheese Wedge Salad

I'm not usually a blue cheese salad dressing kind of gal, but when friends of ours made this salad for us for dinner one night, I loved it! I didn't think about making this for dinner this week until I was at the grocery store and remembered I wanted to try it. Not remembering what all was in the recipe, I grabbed some buttermilk (NOT usually on my normal shopping list!) and figured with the blue cheese I knew I had at home, this should just about do it . . . wrong! I had No other ingredients the recipe called for (including some spice mix I have never heard of!), so I started substituting with what I had and came up with this recipe . . . fortunately, we loved it so I thought I'd share it with you all. It's not at all as pungent as what I've tried before in restaurants, so I hope you like it, too! Blue Cheese Salad Dressing Put into blender: 3-4 oz. sour cream ¾ C. buttermilk 3-4 oz. blue cheese crumbles ½ C. real mayonnaise ½ tsp. Lowry’s Seasoned Salt Pepper to taste 2-3 dashes chili powder (to taste) ¼ tsp.... Read more →

What's For Dinner

I want you to know I was so proud of myself for actually remembering to use leftovers (in a timely fasion!) that I thought I'd share what was for dinner tonight. This recipe started out the other night as Beef Pot Roast with Garlic Tomato Wine Sauce (with carrots and onions). In addition to the recipe, I added sliced baby portebello mushrooms with a side of fresh green beans. I dumped all the leftovers into one pot (roast w/vegetables, gravy, green beans). So tonight, all I did was cut up the roast into bite-sized pieces, add one small can of corn, one large can of cubed new potatoes and reheated everything together with one 32 oz. box of beef stock. Let simmer and bake up a pan of corn bread . . . instant dinner! Read more →