Candy Corn Card

My niece mentioned she'd just purchased a bag of candy corn and that was her signal that fall is here.  Thinking about the candy corn inspired me to make a Halloween card with that confection as the focal point.

I traced a clip art image of candy corn and cut it on my Cameo.  The face is a Peachy Keen stamp.  The background seemed too plain so I cut some 5/8" squares in half to make the photo corners and added some pen stitching to break up the area.

Punched Hearts Card

A Stampin' Up punch was used for the hearts.  I inked the edges and used a Peachy Keen stamp for the face.  They sit on a 2" x 4" rectangle with inked edges and pen work. Inspired by a card seen online.

Ice Cream Cone Snowman

The ice cream cone is from Sweet Shop and the snowman hat is from Paper Trimmings.  I used a Peachy Keen stamp that my friend, Robin Bogle, sent me for the face.

Happy Apple Card

Who knew there was a perfect apple on the Home Accents cartridge?  I certainly didn't until I was scrolling through my Excel spreadsheet that lists the shapes by cartridge!

I cut the apple using Design Studio so I was able to use the "hide contour" feature to eliminate cutting the apple, stem and leaf all one color.  Then I cut the stem and leaf section from green cardstock and colored the stem with a BIC marker.

The apple is inked with Chestnut Roan.  As I was doing the inking, I slightly arced the top and bottom center of the apple to allow me to ink the indentation.  This makes it seem more prounounced.  Then I added some white gel pen work onto the eyes and edge of the leaf.  The face is a Peachy Keen stamp.

The sentiment was printed in Hallmark card software.  I even added the background in the software and printed it too!  I don't know why I haven't done this technique before!  It makes perfectly good sense to do it this way instead of just printing the words onto white cardstock and then having to cut mats to go behind that.

Seems I'm using my computer more and more and buying fewer stamps to use.  Not only do I enjoy having the option of changing my fonts, I don't have to figure out where to store the stamps and I save tons of money! 

Happy Clock Card

The clock is from Slumber Party cartridge, cut at 3 1/2".  I added a Peachy Keen face stamp and chalked the blush onto the cheek.  The nose was colored with a Promarker.

I couldn't decide if the bow looked good or not so I posted it on a Facebook page and asked for opinions.  Overwhelmingly, the consensus was "no bow".  But, I still like them both!

S'more Card

Looking back through some old issues of Cards magazine I saw a card with a marshmallow and graham cracker on it made of chipboard.  I thought the card was cute so this is what I designed.  The marshmallow was made using the small SU oval punch to trace the rounded top.  Two colors of brown cardstock were layered, trimmed by hand and the corner punched to look like a bite was taken out.

The branch was cut using the Bloom cartridge and the 3 1/2" circle moon was embossed with my Cuttlebug and inked.  The sentiment was printed on my computer.  The faces are Peachy Keen stamps.

Round Card

Round cards are not generally something that I make.  However, there was one posted on the One Hour Challenge this week that was so cute I had to give it a try.

I think the Peachy Keen stamps are so cute!  This is just an A2 sized card so it's only 4 1/4" in diameter.  It would make a wonderful gift card or invitation!  The card base was cut using Wild Card.  I did use a white gel pen on the eyes and a Q-tip with chalk to put blush on the cheeks.

Peachy Keen Faces

It's been a long time since I visited the Cards forum on the Cricut MB but I'm glad I checked it out tonight!

They have an RAQ challenge, much like the One Hour Challenge on the Chat MB, and "sunnieday" posted a card there a lot like this one.

It took some time to stamp the little faces onto different colors of cardstock and arranging them on the card front but I like the way it turned out.

Thank you, sunnieday, for the inspiration!

From My Kitchen cards

A couple of weeks ago I found out about a LSS in Harrah and drove over to check it out.  It's a cute little shop with paper that I'd never seen anywhere else.  The background paper on these cards is from a stack by Melisssa Frances called Kitschy Kitchen.

I've been a fan of the retro-kitchen look since before it was cool!  Of course, I lived during that period of time myself.  LOL!

My mother's kitchen had a set of plaster of paris fruit plaques on the wall beside the back door that had faces on them just like the ones on the Peachy Keen stamps I used on these.  All her tea towels were embroidered and yes, she had a formica and chrome dinette set in there!

The toaster and mixer were cut using the From My Kitchen cartridge.  I computer printed the sentiment and used a border punch too.

The first layout I did was the one with both shapes on it.  It just looked too crowded so I changed tactics and made the one with the single toaster shape and I think I prefer it.

Peachy Keen Faces and Preserves Cartridge

My first card with Peachy Keen stamps as well as my Preserves cartridge.   It's a good thing I use Design Studio because the center of the apple didn't fit!  When I used the cuts shown on page 27 in the handbook, the white inside part of the apple cuts the same size as the red portion.

It was relatively simple to resize it and hide the seed cut lines in Design Studio but this may be another example of a flaw in a cartridge that Provocraft didn't catch before they released the cartridge.

Cheeseburger Soup and Peachy Keen Stamps

My first set of Peachy Keen Stamps arrived today.  I must say I was surprised when I opened the envelope and saw how small they are!  For some reason I had it in my mind that most of the stamps would be about the size of the largest one in the set.

I got PK-490 Everyday Character Face Assortment and today I'm going to work with my Preserves cartridge and make some cutie pie fruit faces.  Growing up, my mother had a set of plaster of paris fruit shapes on her kitchen wall.  Each one had a different smiling, happy face on them.  When I saw the PK stamps that's what they reminded me of!

Okay, back to the Cheeseburger Soup.  This recipe is one I found online and it sounded like something that we'd enjoy.  I made it yesterday with a couple of adjustments to the recipe and DH says it's a keeper.

CHEESEBURGER SOUP

1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup grated carrot
3/4 cup diced celery

1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
4 T. butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced peeled potatoes

1/4 cup flour
2 cups (8 ounces) Velveeta cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

In a 3 quart saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside.  In the same pan, saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Add broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.  Add flour; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly.  Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts.  Remove from heat; blend in sour cream. Makes 8 servings (2 1/4 quarts).

Now, here's how I made it.

You really cannot cook 4 cups of potatoes along with the sauteed vegetables in only 3 cups of broth.  So, I just used 2 full cans of Swanson chicken broth.

Three tablespoons of butter will not absorb 1/4 cup of flour.  You wind up with a giant yellow ball of thick paste.  I did cook my flour for 2-3 minutes while mashing it with the back of a tablespoon so that it wouldn't have a doughy taste then I dipped out about 3/4 cup of the hot broth out of the soup pot and stirred it into the flour mixture.  That way you won't have a bunch of lumps when you add it into your soup.

I also added the milk and cheese to the flour mixture and let it cook on a real low heat until the cheese melted.  Then I added that to the soup pot.

It did take some time to prepare all the vegetables but once you have that done it only takes about 20 minutes for the soup to cook.

Serve it with a salad and a piece of good sourdough bread and you have a great winter dinner!

I love to cook and I love to play around with paper, stamps and my Cricut---so I'm off to cut out fruit shapes and try out my newest set of stamps!

Let me know if you try the recipe and what your family thinks of it.