Fall!

Fall has definitely arrived and as I look out my window I see a very cold, blustery day, just like these House Mice are experiencing.

This is my last week this month to be a guest design team member for House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge blog for October and the theme of this week's challenge is FALL.

When I think of Fall I think of leaves blowing about, beautiful colors of nature, and crisp textures in leaves, corn husks and bare rolling hills. These are the elements I wanted to portray in my card for this challenge so I used my paper crimper for the leaves and background panel for the rolling hills effect and added rafia for dried straw or corn husk look and added distress ink in autumn shades.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Stampabilities "Floating on a leaf" # HMJR1005
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in peeled paint, antique linen and dusty concord. Image colored with Copic markers
Designer paper: Bo Bunny
Accessories: Brass eyelets, Paper crimper, Nestibilities die, raffia and Stickles glitter in copper and diamond.
Punches: Martha Stewart Leaf and fern punches. Tiny Maple Leaf punch by McGill Craftivity
If you enjoy House Mouse and friends stamps then be sure to check HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS challenge blog and play along with this week's FALL challenge.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat! These cute little mice are all dressed up for a night of trick or treating.
The House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog gave me a real TREAT (and it wasn't a trick either) when they asked me to be one of the guest designers this month. In keeping with the challenge theme, this is the card I made for challenge #106 and we want to see you creating projects with these COLORS: Black, Orange, Yellow & Green with an optional Halloween theme. This allows for those countries who celebrate Halloween to make Halloween cards/projects, and those that don't celebrate it, to get creative with these fun colors!Card Recipe:
Stamp: Stampabilities "Bewitching Pumpkins" HMTR1025
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Image colored with Copic markers
Designer Paper: K & Company
Embellishements: Martha Stewart "Trick or Treat ribbon, yellow button from my button jar, Miscellaneous sheer ribbon, Yellow Stickles glitter on jack-o-lantern face.
If you enjoy House Mouse and Friends stamps you'll want to be sure to hop on over to HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS CHALLENGE BLOG and join in the fun with this Black, Orange, Yellow and Green Challenge.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Jingle all the way!

The latest House Mouse and Friends challenge # 105 is to see a lot of SPARKLE ON CHRISTMAS CARDS. This little card really sparkles and shines. I used Mica chips for the snow, clear dimensional glaze on the bells and diamond Stickles glitter glue for added sparkle. I found a bag of teeny-tiny silver bells at the dollar store and added it to the center of the bow. The snowflake border is made with my Martha Stewart snowflake border punch. I like this edge!

Another wonderful challenge blog, The Paper Players is also having a challenge this week with the theme of music! Now this is a challenge I love, and if you have a new musically inspired card be sure to hop on over to The Paper Players and submit your card too!

Finally, a third challenge site that I'm posting to this week is to the Simon Says Challenge site. Simon Says Challenge is featuring Sparkle and Bling and Stampabilities stamps too! How fun since my card is featuring this darling House Mouse stamp which is made by Stampabilities.

This is a very simple card to be used either for Christmas cards or gift thank you notes at holiday time.

I have some new sewing projects in the works and need to get into my sewing room now.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Hey Diddle Diddle the Cat and the Fiddle...

Hey Diddle Diddle the cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the moon.
The little Dog laughed to see such sport,
And the Dish ran away with the spoon.

This past weekend we have been celebrating the birth of the mister's newest granddaughter. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a set of cards using this Close to my Heart set simply titled, "Hey diddle diddle."

These are very much the clean and simple layout and style of cards but I think it makes a great set of cards that can easily be used as thank you notes or birth announcements or any baby related party need, such as shower invitations.

I made a set of twelve cards (three of each design) and thoroughly enjoyed the cardmaking process.

These cards are colored with copic markers, a little stickles for sparkle on each card, a variety of coordinating ribbons, and of course my nestibilities dies and cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder.

I think my next project with these stamps will be on onesies. Wouldn't these make darling onsies?

Cheers!

Jennifer

Sweet Halloween

The Autumnal Equinox is this Friday and finally I feel it is ok to get out my autumn stamps. I'm thinking Halloween and pumpkins and of course, CANDY CORN! Oh I love candy corn. If there were such a thing as a candy corn tree I'd most certainly have one growing in my yard. And what fun to learn that this week's IMPRESSION OBSESSION weekly challenge is "Is it Fall Yet?" This Candy Corn tree stamp fit the challenge perfectly!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Impression Obsession Candy Corn Tree H2264 and the sentiment is Impression Obsession Sweeet Halloween A5473
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Versamark and the image is colored with Copic Markers.
Designer Paper: K & Company
Embellishments: Stickles Yellow glitter glue, White gel pen for the candy corn tips, miscellaneous button from my stash, and polka dot ribbon from Offray and Scorepal for the scored edges of the image.
I am having fun making a lot of Halloween cards this year. Do you send Halloween greetings? Getting a sweet treat is the best at this time of year and what makes a better low calorie sweet treat than a handmade card!?

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Make a wish

What's more festive than balloons, confetti and birthday wishes? In honor of the HOUSE MOUSE AND FRIENDS Monday Challenge Blog's 3rd anniversary of the site, House Mouse and Friends design team is throwing a blog hop party and the theme is birthday and flowers. Be sure to check out the site for all of the blog hop details which include loads of prizes. You'll not want to miss out on it!
I tried something a little different for this card and actually stamped the sentiment on a balloon. I used Stazon black and it worked quite well without smudges. The air going out of the balloon is from some left over bridal flower stems I had on hand. I really wanted to go all out on the glitz and sparkles for this party card, so in addition to the floral spray crystals I added Rhinestones to the flower centers and a lot of stickles glitter to the confetti. The balloon is covered in clear dimensional glaze.
I'm off to the blog hop party and to view the other entries and party prizes. Come on and join the fun.

Cheers!
Jennifer

Baked Doughnuts

A month or so ago I bought a doughnut pan. Since then I've been trying out different recipes for baked doughnuts. What a surprise it was when I looked to see what the new House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge is. The challenge is to create a recipe card using any House Mouse and friends stamp. So rather than doing the Monday morning house work I should have been doing, I jumped at the opportunity to ink up this cute doughnut munching House Mouse stamp.
The recipe card went together very quickly. I printed my recipe from the computer. It took me a couple of tries to size and space it correctly so that I could then stamp the House Mouse image in a proper proportion and placement. Next, I colored the image with copic markers, added some clear glossy accents to the frosting and then sprinkled pink and red microbeads on the wet glossy accents. From there it was a simple matter of mounting the recipe on cardstock. I found an old doily that was begging for a purpose so I added it. There was a bit of too much blank space in the upper right corner and so I took that as a sign I needed to use my new Stampin' Up! doily punch. The finishing touch was adding a button and some DMC embroidery floss.

After the recipe card was completed it seemed almost criminal not to give the actual recipe a try, so I whipped up a batch of the baked doughnuts. This recipe is a white cake with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove in the batter. It tastes wonderful! And YES! I ate a couple. Well, you wouldn't want me to recommend a recipe that I hadn't yet tested, would you? They are very tasty! This recipe made two dozen doughnuts so before frosting all of them I am putting a dozen in the freezer to pull out and frost another day.

If you don't have a doughnut pan you can easily bake these in muffin tins.

Until next time,
Cheers!
Jennifer

I'm linking this recipe and post to

You're too kind!

I bought this yarn with the hopes of knitting either a scarf or hat from it. And while I consider myself to be very experienced and knowledgeable about many of the fiber arts, knitting is something I just cannot grasp. My sister, however, is a fabulous knit-wit...oops, I mean knitter! She knits the most beautiful and amazing apparel and artwork, so I asked her if she would knit me something if I sent the yarn.

Hurray! She eagerly agreed to help me out, so today I'm sending her this ball of yarn and am going to let her work her magic! I wanted to include a note and a thank you in the box, so I made her this thank you tag to attach to the yarn.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Taylored Expressions "Knit wit" set and inside sentiment is Stampin' Up! "Whimsical Words" set
Ink: Brilliance Pearl Jade and Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip. Image colored with copic markers
Accessories: Nestibilities Dies, DMC thread, safety pin and Sakura Gelly Roll pen

Off to the post office now to mail out the yarn. I'm looking forward to sporting a very pretty hat or scarf from this yarn.

Cheers!
Jennifer

An Apple a Day

As summer begins to wind down and a definite crispness is in the air, I'm beginning to see that the signs of autumn are appearing. Fall apples are arriving at the fruit markets and this little happy Hopper bunny has found an entire basket full to enjoy!

The current House Mouse and Friends challenge #102 is to get "Fruity." Scamper on over to the House Mouse and Friends site and join in the challenge using any of your favorite House Mouse, Happy Hopper or Gruffy stamps that involve fruit in any form.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Stampabilities "An apple a day" Happy Hopper HMLR1047
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress ink in Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint and Antique Linen. Image colored with Copic Markers
Designer Paper: K & Company
Embellishments: Nestibilities Frame Die, Cuttlebug floral embossing folder, Fiskars photo corner punch, Stampin' Up small oval punch, Baker's twine, Glossy Effects dimensional glaze, a button from my stash.


Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Home is where the heart lives.

I love, love, LOVE primitive art. In my home nearly every lithograph, print, framed needle work and the decor is primitive art. My favorite artists of this genre include Jane Wooster Scott, Charles Wysocki and Warren Kimble.

This wonderful stamp set is from Cornish Heritage Farms, which sadly is no longer made. The set contains the individual trees, sheep, houses, hills and sentiments. Setting up scenes with this set is so much fun! It does require a lot of masking but is such fun once the scene begins to take shape.

For this card there is not only a lot of masking but also a lot of sponging of ink colors. When I say I'm getting inky today, this card is a prime example. The sheep are done with a product I found in the $1 store years ago and I can no long get. It is this goopy "white snow" product, they called it. It actually almost looks like frosting. Sadly for me, I used it all up on my sheep so I'm all out of it now.

I have a special someone I want to send this card to. She relishes anything primitive too.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Love, Honor, Cherish

"Darlin'! We need to leave in 15 minutes!" said the Mister. YIKES! I had the shower gift all wrapped up and just knew there was something else I needed to do before this evening. Yep, the gift card...I still hadn't made it. So here is my 15 minute card. It's not fancy but it made up in a jiffy.

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Anna Griffin sentiments (All Night Media)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Designer Paper: Making Memories
Embellishments: Making Memories ribbon (Love, Honor, Cherish), Prima Flowers, Nestibilities Dies, Swiss Dots embossing folder, Pearl centered brad from BRIDES magazine wedding collection, pop dots.


Fast and simple it was. The bridal couple's kitchen gadgets and linens are in a very elegant black and white color scheme so I was happy to have this paper, ribbon and flowers on hand.

I hope you are enjoying a fabulous weekend.
Cheers!

Jennifer

Hey there, Punkin'! I pick YOU!

My little pumpkin patch is providing me with 5 (and possibly 6) LARGE and beautiful pumpkins. I've always had a fascination with pumpkins. Love to eat them but I also just think they are such a beautiful squash-like fruit. But now I'm faced with a question: How do you tell when a pumpkin is ripe to pick?
I found my answer and today we cut and harvested our first pumpkin of the year and it is a doozy too!
This is what I've learned about pumpkin "picking":
1.) Color is a good indicator. Chances are if it is orange all the way around, the pumpkin is ripe.
2.) Give them a thump. If it sounds hollow, it is ripe and ready to be picked.
3.) The Skin is hard. Use your fingernail and if the skin dents but doesn't puncture, then it is ready for harvest.
4.) The stem is hard. The stem above the pumpkin starts to turn hard, the pumpkin is ready for picking.
But you cannot "pick" a pumpkin. At least not the same way as you do a tomato or green bean. You'll need to use a sharp knife to harvest your pumpkin.
And when you cut the pumpkin, be sure to leave at least several inches of stem attached to the pumpkin. This will slow down the rotting of the pumpkin.
You'll want to disinfect your pumpkin too. After you harvest your pumpkin, wipe it down with a 10% solution of bleach. This too will help prevent premature rot.
But this is only August and I would like to show off my pumpkin for Halloween. How do I prevent it from rotting before then?

Here's how: Keep your pumpkin out of direct sunlight (I'll keep mine in the basement). If you've followed these steps for properly harvesting your pumpkin you should be able to store the pumpkin for many months until you are ready to use it.

MMmmmm...I think I smell some pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin desserts, pumpkin muffins and so many other pumpkin-y goodness in the future!

For a good article on Pumpkin harvesting check out this link HERE.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer

Purple Bean Blossoms

Very early this morning, my faithful dog Spot (aka: Noah) and I went out to the garden to putter about. I took my camera with me because it is such a beautiful morning and I've been wanting to take pictures of the purple bean blossoms.

Do you know why these are Purple Bean Blossoms and not the usual pretty white bean blossoms? Because these are Burgundy beans. AND, they are magical beans! Trust me and follow my story and you'll see what makes them magical.
Aren't they pretty?

And purple bean blossoms means purple beans grow!

This is a white bean blossom (DUH! You can see that, eh?!) White blossoms mean green beans will grow.

See? White blossoms = green beans. Purple blossoms = purple beans. Stay with me now. There is a point to this essay on purple vs. white bean blossoms.

Back in the spring I had planted all of my beans (green beans with white blossoms). They were beginning to come up great. One day, my faithful dog Spot (Noah) and his big brother Ruffus (aka Gabe) decided to do some plowing in my garden. My garden IS fenced but Spot (aka Noah) and Ruffus (aka Gabe) can jump fences with amazing elegance...much like they have a bit of equestrian blood in them. This dog plowing took place over half of my rows of beans and some of my broccoli plants. Consequently, I had to replant and hope they'd still come up. But alas, I could not find one single package of bean seeds ANYWHERE! Seriously, they were all sold out. Sold out, that is, except this one last package of burgundy beans. The package says that they will turn green when they are blanched. HMMmmmmmm, I thought. Sounds like they are trying to sell me Jack and the Beanstalk magic beans. But since I really wanted to replace the damaged plants, I bought this packet of beans and decided to give them a go.

So this morning, after admiring the bean blossoms I realized that FINALLY the beans are coming on the vine and I picked the first handful and took them inside to see if they really are the magical beans the package promised. I washed them and trimmed the ends...

...and then I blanched them for just a minute in boiling water. See the beans going in the water as purple (burgundy) beans?

And suddenly (and I mean SUD-DEN-LY!!!) they turned from purple to green. VOILA! There you go! Just like magic! Green beans!

I plunged them in ice water and then...

...drained them. They are ready to either eat now or freeze for later use.

Isn't this the most amazing story you've read this morning? *snort* *smirk* *wink*

I thought it was awesome.

By the way, did you know that there is a town in Indiana called Bean Blossom? Yes there is! I wonder if they grow magic beans in Bean Blossom, Indiana? I'll have to find out.

Until next time,
Cheers!

Jennifer