If Friends Were Flowers

Yes, its time for another 2 Sketches 4 You card! Thought I'd post it before going to watch Dancing With The Stars. Think Cloris will go tonight?



Anyway, to create this card, I used Pink Paisley paper, along with machine sewing, some ribbon, a button and foam chips(for depth).

17 Candles

Well, this layout didn't get me on this week's Bad Girls honour roll, boohoo.......but I still like it!

And I've learned a lot,everyone's layouts there are so amazing. I think I will continue to sit in on the classes to see what other design techniques I can learn.

Cardista!

I've been on a cardmaking roll this weekend and have named myself the 'cardista'! I'm thinking a cardista is a fashionista of cards! What do you think? It would be a great name for a blog wouldn't it? Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to start a blog for my cards only!

Anyway, onto the cards, first up is a couple of cards I made based on Christine's sketch at Creative Journey.









Then I made a couple for Daring Cardmakers using this week's requirement of a crown. These were fun, love the effect of the embossed coredinations paper.









I also made a couple of other seasonal cards that I'll show you later this week.

Vintage Look Aprons

I recently purchased this apron pattern after seeing it featured on the Apronista blog.



My Grandma agreed to sew one up for me, so she and I made a trip to Port Huron to pick out fabric. I picked a vintage-look cherry print for me and then couldn't resist the cupcake pattern to make one for my baker, Brianne. And Grandma had some other cute fabric to make one for Brittany too! Thanks Grandma!

The girls and I had fun modelling them!

Time To Scare Up Some Candy!

Here's this week's card for 2 Sketches 4 You. I bought this fun halloween paper by Imaginise a little while back and decided to embellish it with some bling, add foam tabs for depth and used some Making Memories Spellbound letter stickers for part of the greeting. Oh yea, added some rick rack too! I think its a fun card!

Having My Cake!

And eating it too!

This was my layout for Class 2 of Top Designer at Bad Girls. We were to use at least 2 types of patterned paper effectively on our layouts. I used 4 patterns(not including the background piece) although one is almost completely hidden by the photos. And I made the honour roll again so am moving on to Class 3 where we are to create a layout using white or negative space. I'll post my Class 3 layout and result next week.

The Most Awesome Salad Ever!

As mentioned in my earlier post,here's the recipe to the salad I made this weekend. It is so good, with a wonderful blend of flavours. I used my favourite lettuce mix which made it even better.

This recipe actually was a Cottage Life contest winner in 2001.

Blueberry Drizzle Salad

Ingredients
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
8 cups mixed greens, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Blueberry Syrup (recipe follows)

1. Whisk together the lemon juice, garlic, sugar, salt, and mustard, adding oil gradually at the end.
2. Combine mixed greens, almonds, and cheese. Toss with dressing until well mixed. Drizzle with Blueberry Syrup and toss lightly. Makes 4-6 servings.

Blueberry Syrup:
1/2 cup fresh wild blueberries
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tspfresh lemon juice

Combine blueberries, sugar, and water in small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until syrupy, about 5 minutes. Cool, then add lemon juice. Makes about 1/3 cup (75 ml).

I doubled this recipe for the 13 at our gathering and added about 1 cup of fresh blueberries too.

Make this salad you won't be disappointed! And if you do, let me know what you think.

Happy Birthday to Brianne and Brock!

We celebrated my daughter Brianne and my nephew Brock birthdays yesterday.

Brianne turned 17!



(That's me in my vintage look apron my Grandmother made me, love it and will be showing all 3 aprons she made in another post!)



And Brock turned 15!





I like how the cake shows up in this pic.

We had a great day with lots of laughter!











Although I think this photo says read my lips!



And if that doesn't work, how about this hand gesture?



Of course all the food was yummy(thanks everyone!) and I tried a great new salad recipe, really the most wonderful salad ever( not too modest eh? but it was that good!)! Will post about it soon.

Real Divas!

I've decided to participate in the Bad Girls Top Designer 2008 classes. I've recently signed up to receive their kits and they are absolutely awesome, they contain such a variety of inspiring products!



Through the message board, classes are being offered by the Bad Girls instructors at the Bad Girls Academy for the next 6 weeks. After the deadline for each class, you will find out if you are on the honour roll and make it to the next class.

This past week's assignment was to use layering on your layout. In my Real Divas layout I layered paper, letters, photos and flowers. And I'm happy to report I made it to the honour roll and am now working on Class 2. I'll be sure to post the results of that class soon, we're to use more than one type of patterned paper on a layout.

Kazan's Sketch 9

Yes, its another card inspired by 2 Sketches 4 You. Everyone who posts there is so creative!

As I was thinking about this week's sketch,it occurred to me that the RAK items I received recently, here and here, would work together really well.



I added some cardstock, chipboard, ribbon, and pink paisley paper along with some foam chips for dimension and it was done!

20th Anniversary Celebration

This week Steve and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out and a play in Stratford.



He had mentioned that he wanted to see Caesar and Cleopatra starring Christopher Plummer. As I am able to get discount tickets for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival through work, I surprised him with having the tickets! It was an excellent, thoroughly entertaining play.



Before the play we had dinner at Rundles Sophisto Bistro which was very nice.

Here's my starter of potato-leek salad,Steve had lobster bisque.


For dinner Steve had this skate wing while I had quail with barley risotto.



Then for dessert we both had a yummy creme brulee.



Steve also surprised me with 20 gorgeous long stemmed red roses.



And the girls surprised us both with this pretty multicolour Mum.



It was a lovely evening!