Teeth, the Flu and Illusions

I don't know what it is with teeth lately, but lets say that the Tooth Fairy has had to dip into her Fairy Bank quite a few times this last month. 

 Like, 5. 

Not only these 5, but there has also been one child who had a baby tooth that never fell out and it had to be pulled.  Did you even KNOW that a baby tooth can last beyond the age of teens?  I didn't.  Then there was the bridge system/crown that had to be replaced, and a root canal done on the same system.  All in the last month.  So, when I say we have had a tooth situation going on here, I really mean it! 

 Ü  <----- and that, folks, is a toothless grin lol!

Lately, we've also had the flu here.  It has gone from one person to the next, taking turns at least and not two at a time!  Still, it's enough to keep busy with cleaning and disinfecting and making lots of soups. 

While checking out some things on the internet I found this really fun Illusionist's paintings, check them out:

     A bird made of leaves, so fun!

Van Gogh...or a field of grasses

A musician being watched over...

A young man playing flute for his lady friend.

These are all hidden images by the painter/illusionist Oleg Shuplyak, from the gallery here.

For those of you wondering when I'll be reopening my shops, the answer is soon.  Very soon.  I have some things I'm working on yet...some new products I'm working with, and some new designs.  For me...a different system of doing things to finish getting in place.  All good things, and I can't wait to share them with you!  I'll let yu know as soon as I am open again!



Clear Stamp Tip

Clear Stamp Tip

I love the versatility of clear stamps, don't you? The best thing about them is that you can see exactly where you are stamping on your project, no guessing about where the image is going to land once you lift your rubber off the paper. The one thing I don't like about clear stamps is the image, it isn't as crisp as rubber. Or so I thought. Here is a tip on helping you get the best image you can from your clear stamps! Let me show you how!

Here is the set I used....

 I love the little birds inside the tree...do you see them?

To begin with, first I attached the image to the clear block that best fit the stamp, like so.....

then got my stamp inked up....
and stamped it on my paper...

See how the image is not completely filled in? How the right side is more faded and there are a lot of blotchy spots when the ink balled up on the image and didn't cover it smoothly to give a nice impression? That's what I'm talkin' about!

Here is a tip on how to have a clearer image:

First stamp your image in Versamark. I know, it is a watermark pad....just go with me on this...

Now....stamp your image onto your ink pad (the Versamark won't hurt your inkpad)....

Okay, now stamp your image on your paper: (I did it twice because I needed two)

Notice the difference? A much better image for your time!

Here is the card I made with these images:

And for those of you who get the catalogs from stamping companies, you may just recognize this card! This is the card Iwas totally inspired by for this project:

I hope you are inspired by this, happy card making!!



Reindeer Noses

This year I went crazy on making sweets for the holidays!  Instead of just my usual cookies, I also made Reindeer Noses (shown), caramels, fudge, pretzel rods, peanut brittle, chocolate covered peanuts, coal candy, and chocolate covered Oreos!  So many delicious treats!  I made up 15 trays to give away to my husbands co-workers and friends.


Here is one of the goodies I made, they are called Reindeer Noses, and they would look like a reindeer's nose, if they were made with all chocolate Hersehey's kisses and red M&M's. I chose to use Hershey's Hugs and assorted colored M&Ms for a fun colorful change.  There are many different ways you can make these, using different kinds of kisses and colors of M&Ms!
                                                                     

If you would like to makes these, here is the recipe I used:

Reindeer Noses

You will need:

Square pretzels

Hershey Hugs

M&M's

That's right...only 3 ingredients!

On a cookie sheet, lay down a piece of parchment paper, so chocolate doesn't stick to the pan..if you're like me, you don't want the mess to clean off afterwards!

Cover pan with pretzels squares.

Lay one Kiss on center of pretzel.

Cook pretzels in oven set at 200* for 4-6 minutes. 

When you take the pan out of the oven, immediately set M&Ms in center of Kisses and push down slightly.  Let set for a few minutes and Eat Ü!!

That's it!!  Easy!!

so many things to do

A whole new year, so many possibilities!  I am sitting here wondering what to do first on my list of things to get to.  There are rooms in my house to declutter and reorganize...purge and clean!  I like to do this after the holidays, for some reason I'm always more motivated after the tree is down and my house looks like I have so much more room! 


 I have a craft room and a work room to go through and thin out.  I can't wait to see what all I have, some of it's been buried for so long!  In my craft room, I have drawers full of stamps, racks and boxes full of paper, containers bursting with embellishments, so many ribbons, flowers, adhesives, stickers, diecuts, and more.  Things that I have so many of, too many of, and duplicates of.  Items I plan on putting in my Scrappinrens Supplies shop on Etsy!  So I get to clean out and reorganize, and someone else will get to get some great deals!  Keep an eye on my shop on the sidebar to the right and get some fun deals for your own scrapbooking and card making....


In my work room, I have sooo many organizing ideas to put to work for my things to make my shop running a lot more smooth.  Redoing the way that I have my products stored, the way I store my supplies in there that will make it quicker to access and put away when I'm done with them.  I may even find a few supplies in there to list!


As far as the rest of the house goes, some things I've already started on.  in the kitchen (which is huge) I have already cleaned out some cupboards....emptying, washing down shelves and purging things, then reorganizing back into order.  I've done my baking shelf, my pantry and my cookie sheet cupboard.  I know it doesn't sound like much, but the pantry is deep and has many shelves and was it a relief to get it done!  I love that I can open it up and find what I want now instead of shoving aside cans and boxes to find what I want!


Next I'm going to start working on some drawers in the kitchen and I'll post some of my organizing pictures as I do it.  I have some ideas for my drawer full of plastic ware,so I'll get to that one first.


As for other things, there are so many to begin, that it would take a whole other post.  The ones listed are only beginnings of a whole lot of household room redoing that I plan on working on.  I'm so happy with what I have done so far that I'm excited to get to the next thing! 


In my vintage store, I have more things to list than I can think of, which is wonderful, I just need to get more time to list.  I have rooms full of boxes to go through and list, and I really hope I will have more organized time to do that.  My vintage items are so much fun for me, it's one of my hobbies and I love searching for them and finding neat old things!  Especially things with a purpose, you know...some item that a housewife may have used to actually use in running her household years ago.

And last, but certainly not least, I will be posting more often.  This is a picture of one of my little elves on my elf tree.  He does look a little mischievous, don't you think?   Happy New Year!!

Still Here

After all this time, I am still here.  I forgot my email this blog is linked to, forgot my password, too.  So many things I wanted to post about, but no access.  Now, today I come on here to close it up, and I am signed in.  Hmm...how did I do that?  And will it stay that way so I can post again?

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Have you ever craved something so bad that you knew you would eat everything else in the house if you didn't get what it was you wanted? That was me, this weekend. I was so hungry for banana bread!! Off to the store I went, and all they had were just ripened bunches. I bought 2, enough for 7 loaves, but they weren't ripe. So I knew it would be a few days before I could get my "fix". For my bread recipe, (which is the best in the world as far as I've ever tasted), I have to have a fresh orange to grate the rind off of. This store only sold oranges in bags, and hey, since I was really craving bananas and NOT oranges, I knew the rest of the bag would be wasted. So, off to a 2nd store I went. Now, I don't shop at this store often, and didn't ever expect them to have over-ripe bananas by the bag....but they did! So, I bought 3 bags of them. Yes, I was craving I said!!

This is what is left of the 2nd loaf I made:
But did I stop there? Ohhhh nooooo.....I made up 6 more batches and froze them Ü All different sizes, too.....small loaves, medium sized and regular. I am ready for more cravings I tell you.
Here is the recipe in case anyone else is craving banana bread and would like a good tried and true recipe ...

Banana Bread

3 medium ripe bananas

1/3 Cup shortening

2/3 Cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 Cup orange juice

1 tsp. freshly grated orange rind

1 3/4 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix the shortening and sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time until smooth. Add the orange juice, rind and bananas and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this dry mix to the wet mix. Stir well. Pour into greased bread pan. Cook 350* for 1 hour.

~~If you want to make small loaves, this recipe will make 3... only cook for 40 min.

~~If you want to make medium loaves, this recipe will make 2... only cook for 50 min.

School

Today we have a couple hour delay.   I love the delay days!  Enough time to sleep in, scare the kids when you tell them that "Oh NO!  You're late for school!" lol, and enough time to have some fun playing games before school. 

The other best part is that we know when the school will be delayed or cancelled before anyone else does!  How cool is that?

Off to make breakfast, what should I make?  Something easy and delicious! How about this: