Hope For Japan (3x3 cards)

Here is some artwork using the Hope for Japan stamp set. It is still available until the end of this month. Please click on right side bar image for further information.

Meatless Monday

Corn & Poblano Chowder

I have a great recipe for you today! Like the Hot & Sour soup I posted previously, this one is also a vegetarian dish from Pampered Chef. It was a winner with the whole family and can quickly become a warm comfort food on a cold night. Here is the recipe:

4 ears corn, husks and silk removed

2 cups whole milk

2 cups vegetable broth

1 medium onion

2 poblano peppers

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

1 medium carrot, peeled

1. Remove corn kernels from cobs, set aside. Break cobs in half. Place cobs, milk and broth in microwave bowl and cook on high 8 minutes. Carefully remove bowl from microwave. Carefully remove and discard cobs from milk mixture using tongs.

2. Meanwhile, chop onion and poblanos with knife. Add buter to large pot and melt over medium heat. Add onions, poblanos, corn kernels and flour; cook and stir 7-9 minutes or until onion is tender. Add milk mixture, salt and black pepper; bring to a boil. Cut carrots into julienne strips using peeler. Ladle chowder into large bowls; top with carrot strips.

In the "cook's tips" they explain how important it is to take the extra time to prepare fresh corn for this recipe. The corn cobs release starch into the milk mixture creating a much thicker chowder.

This was also my first time working with poblano peppers. They have a kick of more flavor than a green bell pepper, but you can easily substitute a green pepper if you prefer. I however, am hooked on the poblano pepper now!

Please let me know if you try this recipe and if you liked it!

Spring Flowers for H2H

April showers bring May flowers. I wish Spring didn't bring all the wind! I look forward to the sunshine and warmer weather, but this wind is relentless. I also look forward to seeing all the flowers bloom and that's the challenge this week on the Heart 2 Heart Blog. Create a project with flowers or showers! I chose some Mayberry flowers cut from B&T papers, lace and sheer ribbons and some kraft borders. Be sure to check out all the artwork on the H2H Blog.

Mayberry Bunny Boy

Here are some sweet little Easter cards made with some left over scraps of Mayberry paper and the most darling little bunny boy stamp. I would love to share with you how these cards were created. It all started with some left over scraps of Mayberry papers from my "home" banner workshop this past Wednesday. {thanks Pat!} I tend to accumulate a huge bag full of scraps and hate to waste anything. So you gotta get creative!

I trimmed the triangular pieces down into squares using up a good portion of the paper. I then trimmed 3 of the corners and mounted them on colonial white card stock as shown~

** Picture Tutorial **

How to water color an open image stamp without smearing the outline.

Some of you may already know this technique. It happens to be my favorite way to water color an open image stamp and I avoid getting that smearing or bleeding from the darker outside line.

1. Stamp your image in a light ink color. If I am using browns I will use Bamboo ink like I did for this project. If I am using black I will first stamp in a light gray.

2. Using a waterbrush pen and ink fill in your image. Here I used Bamboo for the bunny's body and just a dab of Smoothie for his ears and nose.

Sky blue for his jacket. They are looking pretty blah right now...

The final step is to stamp your outline over the entire image. Ahhh, the beauty of clear stamps! Now you can really see Bunny Boy. That final outline of Cocoa ink really brings him to life and no smears! See the difference.

He's so cute now and ready to go hopping down the bunny trail!!

Home Banner

Today I am having a little class to create this "Home" banner. It uses many new products from the Spring Idea Book that I just love. The first item would be the chipboard pennant pieces, so glad they made these. I was making banners out of just card stock before, so the chipboard really provides a sturdy base. I also used the new Mayberry papers which make the banner more welcoming and warm. I like the soft colors and the patterns like the quilt paper. I used the new scallop punch and new Irresistibles Eclectic Alphabet die cuts. Just sponge ink on the letters and a fantastic pattern resists and shows through.

If you missed this class and are interested in the banner please contact me!

{sorry, the cream organdy ribbon is not CTMH, it is from Tai Pan Trading}

Springin' Up Flowers

H2H Sketch Challenge ~ Grateful Birdie

H2H is having a sketch challenge this week. We could choose a round card like the sketch below or you could take the round sketch and apply it to a rectangular card. I love round cards right now so that's what I chose. I call it my grateful birdie. My nickname growing up was Birdie or Bird Legs! My parents decided that I ate like a bird and I was very active playing and dancing often with my skinny little bird legs! With some recent events and a visit from my mom I am finding that I am a VERY grateful Birdie for all the blessing in my life! Love you Mom!

Please visit the H2H blog to see all the other creative artwork, you'll be inspired!

What's Cooking? {hot & sour soup}

Hi everybody! Welcome to a new little segment I'd like to call What's Cooking? Actually, it's not that new. If you've followed my blog for some time you know that I love to post food pics, especially baked goods. If anything ever pulls us away from our creative time it would be the growls of our bellies wanting nourishment after hours of cropping! From time to time you will see posts of recipes. Perhaps dinner items, snacks, sweets, whatever ends up on my table and into my family's bellies. I enjoy trying new things and this first recipe is a vegetarian meal. I found it in a recent Pampered Chef book. It is oh so yummy and was a winner with everyone. Hot & Sour Soup~

Recipe for soup: (edited)

6 cups vegetable broth (divided)

4 dried shiitake mushrooms

3 green onions with tops

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1-2 tsp Thai red curry paste

2 medium carrots

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1 pkg. firm tofu

3 eggs

1. Pour 1/2 cup of broth in microwave bowl and heat on high 30-60 seconds or until boiling. Remove from microwave. Add mushrooms; let stand 10 minutes. Remove mushrooms from broth and thinly slice; set aside in broth.

2. As mushrooms soak, slice green onions; set green tops aside for garnish. Heat a large pot or casserole over medium high heat 1-3 minutes or until hot. Add remaining onions; cook and stir 1 minute or until tender. Add remaining broth, vinegar, soy sauce, curry paste and mushroom mixture. Cover and bring to a boil.

3. Peel carrots and julienne into short strips. Add carrots to soup; reduce to a simmer and cook 5 minutes.

4. Whisk together cornstarch and water in same bowl. Whisk into soup; simmer 5 minutes. Meanwhile, drain tofu and cut into 1/2 in. cubes; add to soup.

5. Remove pot/casserole from heat. Lightly beat eggs in small bowl; drizzle into soup. Cover and let stand 5 minutes or until eggs are cooked. Garnish with reserved onion tops and serve.

I also served my soup with some baked veggie rolls and brewed some organic tea to sip with our Asian inspired meal.

Hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think. Check back soon for more ideas that I will be cooking or baking in my kitchen. ; )

Spring Card Exchange 2011

Show me your blooms!

I held my Spring card exchange this past Saturday. Our theme was to create cards with spring time blooms, flowers or flourishes. It could have any sentiment attached to it and needed to use mostly Close To My Heart product, especially stamps. Here are the results and I'm sure you can agree they are gorgeous!

Suzy~ Pat~ Aysa~ Peggy~ Nanette~

Julie~ Janet~ {the inside of Janet's cards contained seed packets!}

Tommie~

Nikki~

This is my card~

{inside of my card and a message to all the wonderful ladies that participated this year! Thank you again and I'm already excited for the next exchange.}

Side by Side

I tend to save all sorts of items like containers and other packaging in hopes to recycle it. I held onto some nice sturdy cardboard pieces from a cookware set I purchased over a year ago. I finally got around to covering one of the larger circle pieces into this gorgeous wall hanging. What a great way to display a picture of my husband and I. We don't often get good pics of each other together, always focused on the kids or scenery.

I started with a pink card stock base stamped with flourish background stamp. I pulled out some older B&T papers for the next circular layer. This paper was glued to a card stock base as well, but I pleated some organdy black ribbon in between. I pulled out some various new and old stamps and also found some older felt pieces. You may remember the teeny tiny roses from earlier this week, well here are some larger roses with lots of glitter glitz on the petals. Check out all the close up pics. I am thrilled with the outcome and hope it inspires you to decorate and recycle!

I hope you enjoyed some of the blooms I've shown this week. Tomorrow is the card exchange and I will have those blooming cards posted very soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh Baby ~ an H2H Challenge

I was given a picture years ago of a sweet baby and this phrase~ "A baby is God's way of saying the world should go on". I can't imagine my life without the blessing of my children. How quickly the time passes. It's been awhile since I've cuddled a little one in a blanket or heard coos echoing through the house. Luckily we have family and friends nearby having little ones to visit. I enjoy holding them, seeing their tiny fingers and toes, listening to their squeaks....then going home and getting a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. One day I will be Grammy and that will be a wonderful day!

This week at H2H, create a project for baby! Here is my sweet baby girl card done in soft colors of amethyst, sweet leaf and taffy. Sticking to my own theme this week of blooms I incorporated some gorgeous paper flowers. They are not from Close To My Heart, but were too hard to resist at half price. All the stamps used on this card were definitely CTMH as was the gorgeous sweet leaf ribbon.

Going on an Egg Hunt

Our recent, but short lived warm weather inspired this Spring card. I saw the idea from another consultant and wanted to give it a try. I used some of the new Miracle papers and some older B&T papers in a soft smoothie color. One of the fun new products this season are the canvas badge buttons. It's like water-coloring on a tiny little round canvas. You can stamp on them, water brush or use markers. I did all three on this one! And, Yes... those are the tiniest little roses. Made just like the regular sized ones you begin with a square of paper, cut a spiral, then roll it up. These roses begin with a 1x1 inch square. Your fingers must be very nimble! They are finished with a teeny pearl.

Here is the card when it is pulled open.

Check back all week as I will show more projects with floral's and blooms. This weekend I will host a Spring card exchange which also has a "floral" theme. Those cards will be posted as well, I can't wait to see them all!

H2H Home Decor ~ Family Banner

This week on H2H Blog the theme is to show artwork in your home decor. This is truly from my heart to yours!

As you can see it hangs proudly above my wall of family photo's. It is a subtle touch of color to this prominently black & white themed wall!

Here is a closer look at the banner~



The story behind my banner goes like this: I originally created it last summer in hopes that it would become my very first entry in our town's fair. For the previous 4 years I would visit the arts and crafts hall to see the lovely entries of other talented artists in my area. I felt confident enough to enter something of my own. The banner really became a labor of love, meticulously arranging each individual piece perfectly. As the date drew near for the final day to enter I realized that my Husband and I had plans to leave town for another event. I was unable to submit my artwork on the turn in date. It now decorates my hallway and brings me much happiness when I look at it. Maybe I can still enter this year!?!

L= LOVE ~ There is a lot of Love behind this clear scallop flap.

Some of the best roses I've created.