Taking Time to Smell the Flowers

While I was outside to wash the windows I got a little distracted by these!

Mmmmm, lilacs!







And some cute narcissus too.





I may cut a few to make a little arrangement, I love the smell of lilacs!

Pink, Black and White

Well after being in a bit of a creative slump earlier this week, I rounded up some challenges and headed to my studio to create.

First up is a combination challenge for Use It and CPS. I followed CPS card sketch 115 then tried to see what I could do with the Use It suggestions of:
1. Pink, black, white colours
2. Accents with scallops, ribbon, and bling
3. Pattern with polka dots
4. D.I.Y.: aka 'do it yourself'

Lets see how I did:
1. pink, black and white colours , check!
2. Accents of scallops, ribbon and bling, check!
3. Pattern with polka dots, used the swiss dots embossing folder, check!
4. DIY, made my own scallop border using a small oval diecut from spellbinders, check!

Then at CCC, they suggested making a 3-D project. So I decorated a composition book with inspiration from Kazan's sketch 26.



I quite like the swiss dot embossed accent trim on the book and am loving the polka letters by Thickers! I also embellished with scallops cut with Spellbinders dies. In fact, I think the composition book also fits the Use It challenge!

It feels good to create!

I've Been Chopping Broccoli

Its been a bit quiet on my blog this week. I haven't felt like creating and I haven't felt like I have had much to say.

But tonight I tried a new recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

I regularly read her blog with full intentions of trying her recipes. But time gets away and so does the recipe. Not tonight.

Yesterday she posted a recipe for broccoli slaw. I read the recipe and thought, 'hey I have everything to make it!".

And so I did, and it was yummy, even my family all liked it! It is similar to other broccoli salad recipes with raisins, sunflower seeds, bacon and cheese. I found that the mix of red onion and the salad dressing gave it a good flavour without the added fat of cheese and bacon.

You can click the links above to go to her site for the recipe and photos but if you don't here's the recipe(it took me about 15 minutes to make):

Broccoli Slaw

Makes about six cups of slaw

2 heads of broccoli
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped

Buttermilk Dressing

1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup mayonaise
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (or, you could just use a little extra red onion)

Trim broccoli and cut it into large chunks. From here, you can either feed it through your food processor’s slicing blade, use a mandoline to cut it into thin slices, or simply chop it into smaller pieces. I used the stem and the flowerets, but if you have a broccoli stem aversion you can just use the tops.
Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries and red onion in a large bowl. Meanwhile, whisk the dressing ingredients in a smaller bowl, with a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli and toss it well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Should keep up to a week in the fridge.

Happy Mother's Day

to my Mom and Grandma!(and also to all the other Mom's who visit my blog today!)

Love,

Weddings Challenge

After being inspired by sharing my love of cardmaking today with my Mom I created a couple of cards for two different challenge blogs.

But first, my Mom is just taking up cardmaking, so this afternoon we shared techniques and supplies and put this card together using some paper Mom recently purchased from Stampin Up. We used some of my blue scraps, a bit of ribbon, used the Fiskars threading water border punch, punched out a couple of Martha butterflies and added a few pearls. Then using CTMH ink, we added the sentiment. I love the freshness of the blue on white.

Then tonight, I created some wedding inspired cards based on the challenge at CBC.

The first card is a direct scraplift of an idea my Mom shared with me today. I really like the swiss dot embossed dress with a bit of brown trim. I envision this as a card for the bride-to-be.


Then I created the next card based on CPS sketch 114. I was also inspired today to use my Spellbinders dies and popped up the sentiment in the hole created by cutting out a circle. I also broke into some Jim Holtz stamps and love them!



I finished my creative session by making this sour cream container. I have shared this idea before but I do think filled with the bride and groom's favourite candy they would make lovely table favours .



I am often out scrapbooking with friends on friday night(which I love)so it was nice to create at home tonight and use some of my neglected things!

Altered Eyeglass Case

I didn't make it to the dollar store night at Go Scrapping this week but I had completed my project.

I decided to make the eyeglass case a container for coupons. I painted it, then covered it with paper(Cosmo Cricket). I cut the letters using 'studio' by Quickutz then added gloss to them. I replaced the 'o's with flowers placed on popdots.




It is kind of cute and only cost me $1 as I had all the other supplies aleady. Can't beat that!

First Ever Scrapbook Page

Joanne has invited me to play this game and I agree that it is a lesson in humility but we all started somewhere right?

1. Show us your first scrapbook page
2. Write a couple of lines about the page - associated with your feelings, your thoughts and when you did it
3. Pass the game on to 5 people

So here is my first.ever.scrapbook.page:



Like Joanne I was introduced to scrapbooking through Creative Memories and my friend Nancy and have not looked back! It was fun to look at these early pages and remember the activities and milestones scrapped. My daughter took dance lessons for a short period of time and this page shows them in their dance costumes before their recital.

I'm passing this tag onto Lea,Judy, Karen, Adrienne and Heidi.

Two More Awards

I'm honoured to have received two more awards.




The first is the Brilliante Award given to me by Beth of Inky Fingers Rule, thank you so much Beth. And coincidentally I gave her an award at the same time she gave this one to me, lol!

This award is given to Weblogs that catch your eye.
The rules are....

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. On your blog, link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.


The second is the Giving Award presented to me by my very inspirational Mom.



~You spread joy and love like an acorn; small packages becoming tall and sturdy oaks that keep on giving~ "This is one of the most meaningful awards in the blog world because it honors women who are incredible inspirational in their intelligent and witty writing, and by doing so, this award Celebrates the strong, smart, and inspirational spirit of women!"

After having thought about this, I'd like to pass both these awards along to all my followers! You all should be very proud of your blogs! Your sharing and giving of yourself through your blogs is an inspiration!

Busy Busy

I mentioned in my prior post that it was a busy weekend this past weekend. Here's a brief synopsis:

Friday, shopped in Buffalo all day and into the evening with friends Kathryn, Charlene and Agnes. Found some great deals!

Saturday, picked up my new car. My previous car was 11 years old and will now be used by my daughter who is starting university in the fall.



Saturday evening, attended the Starlight Children's Foundation Insurance Gala at the Carlu in Toronto. It was a wonderful evening in support of a great cause. Here's pic of Steve and I at the Gala.



Then Sunday afternoon I attended a bridal shower for my friend Kathryn's daughter-in-law to be, Nicole. It was a fun shower with one of the games involving creating a wedding gown out of two rolls of toilet paper. I was volunteered to be the bride and our very creative team fashioned a truly haute coiture creation!



The creative process in action! I'm being dressed by Brenda, Kathryn and Diane.



And the bride!




Nicole, the real bride, had to choose the winner of the toilet paper gown contest and I'm happy to report that my team won! Here's a pic of Nicole and I.



What a fun weekend!

.

A Busy Weekend

This busy weekend(more on that later) has not allowed me to spend as much time at the CBC Spa as I would have liked but I did create one card with a technique suggested at the Spa.

Jennifer suggested creating something that uses the technique of sanding so I created this card using core'dinations cardstock. And you just have to emboss and sand this cardstock!



I also sanded the card edges and added some bling to the embossed flowers. Then I decided to create this card keeping in mind the 'Use It' challenge of creating something with flowers, fibre(ribbon and lace) and metal(pins). And I'm still having fun with glitter too!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Good morning everyone!

How are you spending this lovely, sunny day? Steve is golfing this morning so I'm hoping to spend some time at the Spa!

Yes, the Cuttlebug Challenges Spa. Would you like to join me? Here's the details:




Hope to see you there later!

Simply Wonderful Again!

A few days ago I posted that I entered my Simply Wonderful container in the PaperCrafts Mother's Day contest!

Well, today it was announced that I was one of two winners in the Food Wrap category! How cool is that! To check out the other winners click here.

Thanks so much PaperCrafts!

For You Mom!

I created this gift set using inspiration from both Cuttlebug Challenges and CPS sketch 113.

At CC we were were inspired to create something for Mom so I created a Mother's Day card using the CPS sketch. And as I had another wooden container from the dollar store decided to decorate it for Mom too!

I was going through my stash the other day and found this pansy and swirl paper by My Minds Eye to which I had matched some core'dinations paper.



So I used the blue embossed layer to create the base for my card which I sanded to emphasize the embossing. Then I used my other favourite technique of glittered frames but I did paint the chipboard in light green and then glitter it. Mom is cut using the Emily Quickutz font to which I added some bling and popped up the O. I then added a couple of diamond Stickled pansies.

I used very similar techniques on the butterfly container with the Quickutz font Moxie.



I think I was in a glittery mood tonight, they are both very sparkly!

Simply Wonderful

I decided to make a little something to enter into the Paper Crafts Mother's Day themed gift challenge. My creation has been entered into the Food Wrap category.

I had this flower shaped container from the dollar store that I painted in Bordeux by Making Memories.



I then added some paper from Cosmo Cricket's Jitterbug line(from my stash!). I also inked the papers in Brushed Corduroy and popped up the flowers on foam dots.



A little twine bow and American Crafts ribbon to tie the cellophane closed finished it off.

I think the sentiment of Simply Wonderful is perfect for Mother's Day or any other celebration!

To see all the other creative entries click here.




PS: I forgot to mention that this container holds chocolate covered jujubes! Yum!