State Capitol Dome Scrapbook Page

This photo I took was submitted to our local newspaper

as consideration for Photo Of The Week.

It was chosen and printed as an "honorable mention".

I scrapped it for my Photo Of The Week album I've been working on

 the past few months. 

Papers are from an old Die Cuts With A View stack.

I lightly sponged tan ink over the bright white text paper.

I chose that text paper since it had a quote from Abraham Lincoln on it.

The brads are faux, meaning I made them from 1/4" circles

punched from black card stock then coated with 

a clear drying dimensional "glue". 

sketch found at pagemaps.com

Thanks for looking =) 

Crocus Scrapbook Page

Another photo I took and submitted for consideration as Photo Of The Week in our local newspaper. I made it into a scrapbook page for my Photo Of The Week album I've been working on the past few months.

I have yet to add journaling, that will be on and underneath the orange scalloped circle die cut.

It doesn't show in the photo, but I ran the scalloped edge piece through a tiny polka dot Texturz plate.

The die cut butterfly has embossed swirls on it. The die from Stampin' Up! cuts and embosses at the same
time.

I totally forgot to run the bottom die cut edge of the Pumpkin Pie card stock through the coordinating embossing folder, ugh !!!!! I knew I wanted to do that, but forgot as I was laying the things out on the page to determine lengths of ribbon to cut..... "I ought to adhere some of these pieces now so they'll quit shifting.........." Oh well.

Purple card stocks, retired from Stampin' Up!
Orange paper with lines, purple and white plaid paper are from old Die Cuts With A View paper stacks
Ribbons and rick racks, unknown as they were bought in a grab bag of scraps at a yard sale some time ago
Nestabilites scallop edge circle die
Tasteful Trims die from Stampin' Up! (scallop edge on the purple piece)
I don't recall the exact name of the large single scallop die with coordinating embossing folder that were from Stampin' Up! , they are Edgelits dies (orange piece)


Sketch from scrapmaps.com


Thanks for looking =)

Hittin' The Highway Scrapbook Page

Super simple scrapbook page I made for my Photo Of The Week album.

Papers from and old Die Cuts With A View stack.


Thanks for looking =)

Journal Cards for a Baby Scrapbook

All images from various stamp sets and wheels,

all now retired, and sold by Stampin' Up!

One of the projects I thought I was going to be able to do

while recuperating from surgery last month.

I had no idea that I used abdominal muscles

while rubber stamping !!!!

Seriously, my second week of recovery I thought I'd try

to stamp and color these "journal cards", 

but simply stamping pulled the surgical site, causing too much discomfort! 

I nearly finished them up the other day.

I have yet to color the baby animals quilt block

and I'll "shadow stamp"a square of pink ink on one 

and blue ink on the other cards with the saying.

The original plan was to make these then redo two old pocket photo albums,

removing some photos to make space to add these cards while I was laid up.

That never happened.................. oh well, maybe one day this winter

while I am cooped up in the house staying warm during the predicted

severe winter ;) I like winter - when it snows! 

I dislike the lack of sunlight.

This year I am planning on spending more time in the

craft dungeon with several daylight bulbs glowing,

working on photo albums while listening to music

in hopes of fending off the winter blues.

In the mean time, I need to get out and enjoy

these perfect fall days, soak up the sunshine and 

cool, crisp fall air !!!!!

Thanks for looking =)

Fresh From The Garden Tomatoes and Bruschetta Pizzas

(I meant to post this in late August)

Just when the tomatoes started ripening,

horn worms feasted on my

tomato plants as well as the tomatoes themselves,

grrrrrrrrrrrr! I lost half of them.

We were then hit with a heat wave,

record setting high temperatures and no rain for a week

soon followed by severe storms then fall weather.

No more tomatoes from my plants this year,

and there were soooooo many green ones on them still ! 

I know, you can fry or pickle green tomatoes,

but I'm going to pass on that. 

The 17 large tomatoes we did get were pretty tasty.

I had enough to share with my parents, too,

so that made me (and them!) happy.

The bruschetta pizza above is simple to make,

the recipe was found on the back of a box of 

Lipton Recipe Secrets Savory Herb with  Garlic mix.

It is also online at their website, I'll share it below

BRUSCHETTA PIZZAS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 envelope Lipton® Recipe Secrets® Savory Herb with Garlic Soup Mix [or Onion Soup Mix]
• 2 cups seeded, chopped tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 (12-in.) thin crust prebaked pizza crusts
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Combine Lipton ® Recipe Secrets ® Savory Herb with Garlic or Onion Soup Mix, tomatoes and oil in medium bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Put crusts on baking sheets. Evenly top crusts with tomato mixture. Top with shredded mozzarella.
3. Bake 10 minutes or until crust is crisp and cheese is melted and bubbling.

• Tip: Don't have a pizza crust? Try using a loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Remembering..................

Never forgetting 9/11/01

www.911day.org
I want to take time today to make more hand made cards to add to those I've completed so far this year to send to Operation Write Home.    

Thanks, Veterans Scrapbook Page

I finally made it down to the craft dungeon for a while the other day.

This was the first time I've spent much time down there since having surgery,

creating three fairly quick scrapbook pages.

I know I can't tug open heavy drawers and such just yet,

but I was able to get enough basics out to complete a couple

more scrapbook pages for my 

Photo Of The Week scrapbook album.

I have thirteen more pages to complete before it is finished.

It has been kind of fun, but I do think I prefer digital scrap booking ;)

On to the page featured today:

In 2012 I made nearly 100 hand made

Thank You cards 

to give to Veterans on an Honor Flight.

I took a photo of some of them,

as I always try to photograph my projects.

With Veteran's Day coming up,

I decided to submit one of those photos to

our local newspapers Photo Of The Week contest.

I was surprised that they chose it as one of

the "honorable mentions" to be printed in black and white.

This page is meant to show that photo off.

Closeup to show the layering of various paper punched stars

and the hand piercing around the stars. 

You can also see the subtle dry embossed wide lines.

I used the old Plaidmaker template from Stampin' Up!

(it was meant to be used as a stencil)

and an Empressor tool stylus to make the wide

dry embossed lines on lightweight 12 x 12 white paper.

The paper is what came in the sleeves of the scrapbook

I am using. Although it really is too light weight to 

make a nice page, I decided to use it anyway

because the lines would be easier

to emboss on it. I simply ran my thumb

along each groove, creating small indentations

where the stencil was which made it

easier then to go back over with the stylus.

Pagemaps.com sketch I used as inspiration

Thanks for looking =)

Kenny Rogers Concert

Last minute decision to go see the legendary

Kenny Rogers

in concert at a local amphitheater.

Beautiful evening outdoors

and 

a wonderful concert ! 

Definitely memorable and 

Mr. Rogers still has it :) 

It was such a good show. 

Thank you Mr. Kenny Rogers <3

Fives Challenge

There is a mini challenge this week at Anything But A Card - USE FIVE !
The Fifth Sunday Challenge... "USE FIVE"!! Use the number 5 or five items, five colors, five words... what ever FIVE represents to you. 



I decided to whip up a digital scrapbook page to submit.

5 "layers" - 4 papers plus the layer of photos and alphabet punches/text
5 colors - black, two grays, yellow and white
5 photos and 5 punches to make the paw print photo collage
5 letters in the name
Lastly, Kitty turned 15 this year, a multiple of the number 5!


I used the original version of My Digital Studio to create the page.

TIP#1: flip the photo you wish to use in the upside down heart punch portion of the paw to be upright on your page. If you don't flip the photo upside down before inserting into the heart that is upside down, the photo will be upside down on your page since the program "clips" the photo to the shape as if it were right side up. I'm not sure if I made that very clear ? 

TIP#2: make one circle punch then copy and paste it three more times so they are all the same size. You can group them together then enlarge or reduce in size as needed to look proportionate to the size of the heart punch. Once you are happy with the size and placement of the punches in relation to each other to make the paw print, you may want to group all of them together to move the around on the page as one until you get it where you like. Ungroup to insert each photo individually into each punch portion of the paw print. 

TIP#3: use stamps to create your own decorative background papers. I used overlays on two of them to give them texture then a cat stamp image on the third (though it is mostly covered up). All stamps were color coordinated to the paper layers.

Thanks for looking ! 

Pop Up Box Card and Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes

 Above is the pop up box card birthday card I made for my mother's birthday. 

All stamps and supplies (other than "Mom") were from Stampin' Up!,

most are now retired.

I have directions for the first one I made posted here

http://craftysahmiam.blogspot.com/2014/03/pop-up-box-card.html

This is one of the "Boston Creme Pie" cupcakes I made her.

It doesn't look that great,

but they tasted just fine !

I'm certain the make them from scratch recipe

that included a home made chocolate ganache topping

would have been oh so delicious, but I decided to try to

make them with easy to use store bought items. 

Yes, mom is worth it but I wasn't quite up to all the work involved 

with making everything, pudding included, from scratch. 

Simple Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes Recipe

1 box of butter recipe yellow cake mix

French Vanilla instant pudding mix,

Container of premade chocolate icing

Bake cupcakes according to cake mix directions,

but do not use paper muffin pan liners. 

Instead spray/grease each tin well and

pour mix directly into pan. 

Prepare instant pudding mix to make a pie milk amounts,

1 3/4 cup rather than 2 cups for the brand I used. Chill.

Once cupcakes are baked and completely cool, 

carefully remove them from their pans then cut in half horizontally.

Place a dab of pudding in the middle of the two halves.

Ice the tops.