Recipe Cards

Recently I've participated in a couple of 6x6 recipe card swaps. They are so much fun to do and what a great gift idea with the holidays soon approaching! Here are a few of my samples. I just printed out the recipes onto cardstock from my computer.

I have a 6x6 album I'll be putting some into, but I may have to make one or two for gifts!

Happy stamping!

The Best Household Tool - Ever

I didn't realize how much I used that little thing called the "Magic Eraser" until it was gone. (I think Mr. Clean makes them, but the cheapie version works great too.) I had been without them for a few weeks but now they are back. I have a ceramic/porcelain white sink in my kitchen. It is a small, deep sink, and it is a bear to clean. Add to that we have horrible well water, and I get these lovely brown stains that are so hard to get out. But a few swipes with my magic eraser, and they are as clean as they can be! And my dishes that sat overnight in the sink, wet (I try, but you know, who wants to always do dishes two or three times a day?), well, it works on them too! And the hard water stains on the chrome in the bathroom? Yep, works there too. Oh, and the biggie? THE CERAMIC COOK TOP ON THE STOVE! Takes off all the crusted-on yuckiness when things boil over. Just a little elbow grease.

So anyway, that is my 2-cents for the day. For what it's worth, I find it a great help! Let me know if you have any other uses please?

Happy stamping!

Post-It Holder

Good afternoon! I'm starting to think about Christmas already (gasp!) but it's 3 months from today. Really! So in going through past projects, I found this great post-it holder. I love to give homemade gifts.

Here is the template:

It's not very good, and not really helpful, but it's so easy to make, you don't really even need the template! Just take your post-it pad and lay it on the bottom of your cardstock. The width is cut to the same width as the post-its. You will make four folds (crease well) and cut the front (top) corners however you like. Now you have your template. Cut out another piece without folding. Go ahead and decorate it/stamp with your design. Tape the post-it pad to the template at the very bottom with the sticky part of the post-its at the top. Fold it up and crease, embellish, and put a small piece of velcro on the bottom underside of the top flap to open and close.

Try it. It's a cute gift, and it's not near as hard to make as I made it sound:)

Happy stamping!

Crockpot Italian Roast

I know this has nothing to do with stamping, but I wanted to share it. I love to use my crockpot because it saves so much time and I can throw food in early in the day and clean up and pretty much forget about it until dinner time. Plus it leaves more time for other stuff. Like stamping. This is our favorite roast recipe.

Crockpot Italian Roast Beef

piece of Roast (I like English cut, but any cut and size that will fit into your crockpot works)
1 packet Italian dressing mix
1 packet au jus gravy mix (or if you want to save on sodium, omit and make your own gravy at the end)
up to 4 pepperoncini peppers, sliced; remove seeds for less heat. we like it spicy.
baby carrots (no peeling or slicing involved)
small red potatoes or your preference

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Put roast in bottom of crockpot. Layer in carrots and potatoes. Mix italian dressing (dry) and us jus (dry). Add 2 cups water and stir. Pour over crockpot contents. Add peppers. Cook on low 8-10 hours.

Absolutely delicious!

Stippling & Embossing

This is a cute idea. It combines embossing and stippling. The components you need are:

You also need 2 stamps pads (not pictured) one light, one dark. I used SU Positively Pink and Chocolate Chip.

Start by stamping your Happy Birthday stamp in the dark color.

Then, ink your large stamp (butterfly here) with your versamark pad (or whatever clear ink you use to emboss.) Stamp image centered over the happy birthday.

Go ahead and add embossing powder (clear works best) and set the powder with your heat gun. Once the image cools, take your stipple brush and rub it on your lighter ink pad. Dab and swirl ink over your embossed image until you have the color saturation you want. The clear embossing will not take the ink and the image will pop out.

Then, mount your card front however you like, add any embellishments, and you are done!

Quick Eyelet Setting

One of my favorite cheats is using circle hand punches to set eyelets. Start with your paper, eyelets, 1/8" circle punch and your 1/16" circle punch.

(Yes, I know this is a Christmas card, but I'm working on ideas for a card swap.)

Using the 1/8" punch, make a hole in the desired spot.

Insert the eyelet in the hole and using the 1/16" punch, put the shaft of the punch through the long part (the back) of the eyelet. Squeeze and voila! You have and easy set eyelet. This won't work beyond the outer edges of whatever you are making, but it's great when you can use it (and a lot quieter.)

Welcome to my blog

So I finally decided to join the world of blogging. We'll see where this takes me, but it should be interesting. I love to do so many things - stamping, scrapbooking, crafting, reading, cooking. Anyway, it's hard to find time to do all of that. Between my 3-year old, my husband, our house and daily life, it can be hard to find time for me. So I have to craft smart. Hopefully I can share some of that with you!

Since I started stamping about 8 years ago, I've had a guilt complex every time I go to buy a card in the store for someone. Don't get me wrong, I like Hallmark and all that, but most of the cards get pretty expensive. I have a hard time justifying even the $.99 cards when I have a room full of stamps and cardstock at home. But it doesn't always work out that I have time to make a card for someone (especially since I usually wait until the last minute to do it.) So I started making pre-made card pieces. I have a selection of pre-cut card backs, mats, and fronts all ready to go when I need a card in a hurry. All I have to do is stamp and glue.

The dimensions for a basic small card are:
Card base - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Card mat - 4" x 5 1/4"

Card front - 3 3/4" x 5"