Black Cat on Fence Card

After embossing the tree, I inked it with Distress Ink and
colored the leaves with a Promarker.

The fence and cat are clip art images I traced and cut with my Silhouette.

Creamed Corn Cornbread

This recipe by Alton Brown makes really good cornbread with a nice crispy crust.  Most cornbread recipes that include creamed corn have a mushy texture and this one does not.  

I omitted the sugar since we don't care for the sweet taste in cornbread.  

After pouring the batter into the preheated skillet I added chopped jalapenos to half of it since DH likes jalapeno cornbread. 

 CREAMED CORN CORNBREAD

2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup creamed corn
2 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet into the oven.

In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together to combine well.

In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and creamed corn, whisking together to combine thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients to the buttermilk mixture and stir to combine. If the batter will not pour, add more buttermilk to the batter.

Swirl the canola oil in the hot cast iron skillet. Pour the batter into the skillet. Bake until the cornbread is golden brown and springs back upon the touch, about 20 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

Umbrella Card

The umbrella is a clip art image, traced and printed using Silhouette software.  It's printed on Tim Holtz paper then shaded using Promarkers.  It was pop dotted on the card front for dimension.

The sentiment was printed using Hallmark Card Studio software.  The background on the card base is a mixture of Tim Holtz and other brands of stamps using Always Artichoke ink.

Preserves Cartridge Cards

One reason I'm so hesitant to replace my computer is because I still have Cricut Design Studio software and all the cartridges in it up to the last update before Provocraft abandoned the program.

Using Make The Cut and the print screen tool in Windows I can
capture, trace and cut any of the images in the hundreds of cartridges in Design Studio.

 These cards were inspired by some seen online a few years ago.

I had honestly forgotten about the cute images on the Preserves cartridge until searching through my "Ideas" folder and seeing
these.

 Make The Cut software makes it simple to trace and resize images.  It's also super easy to eliminate elements of the design that you don't want to use.

Each of these cards has pen work added and that makes me think of Mary Engelbright.

The edges were inked with Chestnut Roan ink.  I added some pen work with a white Signa pen and Stampin' Up markers.

The sentiment was printed on my computer and attached with some copper colored brads.

Wood Burned Christmas Project - Wooden Spoons

 These were inspired by some wood burned items I saw online.

The wooden utensils came from Bed Bath and Beyond.

I free handed the designs onto the spoons with a pencil then followed the lines with a wood burning tool.

By using a pencil, any remaining lines are easily removed with an eraser.

Cocoa and Candy Cane Holder

This idea was shared on Pinterest by Peggy Wilson.  I modified the original design and will be making several of these to tuck inside packages this Christmas.  The candy canes I had on hand are a little too large so I'll have to pick some up tomorrow to finish them up.

Using Hallmark Card Studio, I printed the sentiment onto the front.  Then I trimmed the upper right corner off and glued the front edge of the card to the back to make a pocket. 

The steam and cup of cocoa are clip art images.  They're mounted onto a 2 3/8" scalloped circle and a 2 3/4" inch circle.  The lower band is 1 1/2" wide.  I added some stitching with a Signo pen, then tucked in the candy cane and cocoa packet.

A closeup of the verse.

My Favorite Christmas Bread

BISHOP'S BREAD

3 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1 /2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped dates
10 oz. jar Maraschino cherries, drained well and chopped
6 oz,. package of chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine eggs and sugar.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to egg mixture.
Stir in dates, cherries, chocolate chips, and nuts.
Pour batter into well greased 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan.
Bake at 325° on lowest rack in oven for 1 1/4 hours or until
tested done.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes and remove to wire rack to completely
cool.
When cool, wrap in foil and let stand overnight before slicing.

Butterfly Duo Die Card

A quick card using some Tim Holtz paper scraps and Distress ink to try out the Butterfly Duo die.

This is an A2 sized card.

Coffee Cup Card

It's been a long time since I've purchased any supplies for making cards so I treated myself to some Tim Holtz dies and embossing folders. 

First I fell in love with the butterflies, then the tea cups and coffee cups.  It was too hard to decide which ones to buy so I just got them all!

The edges are inked with Chestnut Roan.  The band is crimped using a Fiskars crimper. 

I printed the sentiment on my computer and added some random coffee bean stamped images.

The dies are Tea Time, Fresh Brewed and Butterfly Duo.

DH's Birthday Card

This is the card I made for DH's birthday.  He enjoys guns and hunting so it's appropriate!

The Elmer Fudd image is clip art.  I did two print and cut images using my Cameo then fussy cut out his hat and clothing and layered them onto the base image using pop dots.  Then I pop dotted the entire assembly for dimension.

The edges of the elements were inked and I added some pen work.

The sentiments were printed using Hallmark Card Making software.

Humorous Sign

DH saw a door mat with a design similar to this on it.  We have some friends who are avid hunters and enjoy all types of firearms so he asked me if I could make a sign for them.  I'd been given some old plaques that had certificates on them so I removed the plexiglass and did my sign using cardstock and clip art images.

Once the sign was completed DH replaced the plexiglass to protect the cardstock.

It was laid out and cut in Make The Cut software.  I used Silhouette software to do a print and cut for the Sig Rainbow gun and the bullet hole images.  The fonts are Lobster 1.4 and Lucida Console.

Card Challenge

Shirley Thompson posted a card challenge for this weekend.  This is her file she created and posted a link on her blog, Okieladybug's Scrap 'N More

I really liked the honeycomb and bees and decided to see what I could design using her basic idea.  Here are two cards using puns.

If you're not familiar with the Minions from Pixar movies, one of the characters wears a hat with flashing red lights and runs around yelling "Bee-do, Bee-do!".

One of the sentiments I wanted to use was "Don't worry, be happy".  So I used a doughnut and a bee!

Stamped and Punched Bookmarks

Owl Bookmark

 Stampin' Up Owl Builder punch and scalloped circle punches were used on this bookmark.

Diamond Bookmark

 The facets on the diamond and the base for the wording were cut from silver metallic paper.

Brown Flowers

I've set up several files in Make The Cut for bookmark bases to provide just a little variety of shapes.

This one uses some Stampin' Up flower stamps and a background stamp.

Purple Bookmark

The bookmark is a shape from Fancy Frames cartridge.  It took me a while to locate a suitable sized calendar to print.  It's one found online and resized to only 2" wide.  The flowers are some that were sent to me from a message board friend several years ago.  The centers are yellow Stickles.

These will go to the local library on my next visit for the librarians to share with patrons.
 

Arrow Bookmarks

The font used is Stencila A.  It was super simple to weld the triangle and rectangle at the right size for these using Make The Cut software.

Bookmarks

 Made some more bookmarks to donate to the library.

  Our school mascot is a Chieftain.

How about a slithery snake?

 Or a super easy to make snowman?

Story Hour Bookmarks

The local library hosts a story hour each Wednesday for children.  A volunteer reads stories to them and encourages them to read on their own.  Today's project was making bookmarks for the library to hand out to patrons.  I made quite a few for the adults to pick up as they check out books and volunteered to make some geared toward children to be handed out at their Halloween party.

The Jack 'O Lanterns and candy corn are images I traced and cut with my Cameo.  I made the quarter moons with a 1" circle punch and punched the stars.

Wishes Card -- 30 Minute Card

The sentiment is a Stampin' Up stamp; the border was done with a We R Memory Keepers punch.  I cut the leaves with a Sizzlet die and added adhesive pearls.

Top Hat Card -- 30 Minute Card

The images are from Billionaire cartridge.  I added the circle onto the bow tie and used a fine marker for the cord on the monocle.

Winter Silhouette Card

The silhouette image is from A Child's Year cartridge.  I embossed the background with a snowflake folder and added three different sized punched snowflakes using blue mica paper.  The bottom border was done with a Martha Stewart punch.

I decided it was too plain and added a red bird.  What do you think?  With or without the bird?

 

Metallic Feathers Card

Glimmer Mist was sprayed onto turquoise card stock then stamped with gold metallic ink for the feathers.

Fall Leaves Card

The leaves are die cut and the edges were inked.

Metallic gold ink was used for the sentiment.

Chickens Card

The chickens are a clip art image found online.  I used a Stampin' Up punch for the notebook edge and added a couple of brads that look like screws.

The bottom section was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. 

The edges were inked with Chestnut Roan ink.

Inspired by a card seen online by Judy May.

Circle of Butterflies Card

This was inspired by a card seen on Splitcoast Stampers.

The background was embossed; the butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch; the leaves are from an older set of stamps. 

Using Hallmark Card Studio software, I printed the circle of butterflies and the sentiment.  They were punched with a 2" circle punch and mounted onto a 2 1/4" scalloped circle then pop dotted for dimension.

Flower Panel Card

Cindy Hall, a Stampin' Up demo, showed a card similar to this a couple of years ago.

The sentiment is Heard from the Heart by Stampin' Up.  I used Lady Bug, Bamboo Leaves and Paris Dusk Memento inks to stamp the flowers.

Circles With Butterflies Card

Punched butterflies and circles make up the focal point on this card.  The smaller butterfly has Liquid Pearl drops.

Pink Rose Card

The images are from Stampin' Up set called Growing Green.

I colored them with Promarkers and fussy cut the rose. 

Chalked Embossed Card

It's been a long time since I've used chalks on an embossed image.  After doing this one, I remember why.  The chalks are messy.

The birdhouses were fussy cut from a DCWV stack called Songbird.

Four Hearts Card

The hearts were fussy cut and pop dotted for dimension.

The stamps are Clearly Collaged Hearts.  The ink is Close to Cocoa.

Apples and Leaves Card

The Tart and Tangy stamp set was one of the very first ones I bought from Stampin' Up.  The set includes an apple, lemon slice, cherry branch and a strawberry.  Even though I've had them for several years they're still some of my favorites.

The apple background paper is also from Stampin' Up.

Rainbow and Clouds Card

Swiss Dots folder was used to emboss the base.

The rainbow is a clip art image. 

The clouds are a file by Bird.

The sentiment was printed with my computer.

I pop dotted the center embellishment for dimension.

Black and White Butterfly Card

The butterfly is a Silhouette file #19799.  I punched a couple of different borders and layered them then added some paper flowers with Pearl Pen centers.

Hello Card

Inspired by Peg Combes, a Stampin' Up demonstrator, and a card seen on her blog.

I used Lovely as a Tree stamp set.

Cheery Thoughts Card