A Fun Card For Maddy

Hi Bloggers,

I am so happpy that we started this week with no rain but sunshine. It is still cool, but the sun finally comes to us! Last weekend I came across this post in SSS Blog. I learned that Maddy was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and had to go through chemotherapy. The treatment seemed to work but then early this year unfortunately, Maddy had relapsed. SSS posted a request to send many cards to brave and beautiful Maddy and I immediately thought of making a fun card for her. I found this tutorial to make a “Magical Marquee Card” and decided to make one for her. I just sent the card this morning. Hope Maddy would like it. I promised to myself that I would make more fun card for her, since I myself also had to undergo chemotherapy for more than 6 months last year. My last treatment was in January and I’m still on the road to recovery.

Foxes in our garden

Some people have cats or dogs… we have foxes. It seems that a fox family is living under our garage. There were 4 of them. We guess they are parents with 2 young foxes. Unfortunately we found 1 died just next to our garage last week. We called our community office and the person in charge told us that it probably died because it didn’t get enough food. This year we have a very long wet and cold season. It is already June, but feels like April. We are wondering what to do with those foxes. We don’t want to feed them because we are afraid that they cannot learn how to survive in nature. We don’t really want to have them as our pet. They come out of their house everyday and use our garden as their playground. Now they are still shy, but someday they might lose their fear of us… and that’s not good…. We’ll see what the forester here would do.

Today I also want to share a card I made for Simon Says Stamp Challenge. This week they are showcasing Authentique, so I used pattern paper from this company.

CASE Study Challenge #143

Hi all,

I am in the mood of making cards this week. I decided to play along with CASE Study #143 since I got plenty of ideas… Yesterday I was very productive and could make 3 cards! So, here is the inspiration card for this week:

It’s from one of favorite designers,  Maille Belles. I love her stamps she made for Papertrey ink. In this project she uses Kraft paper as background color and mutiple colorful feather for her image. So far, I came out with these cards as my interpretation grows…

For the first card I used Kraft Cardstock, Maille’s basic layout and the cheerful color. I’m entering this card to this week’s SSS Challenge: Anything goes, too.

Supplies:

Solid Card Stock:  Vellum (Papertrey Ink), Neenah Smooth Desert Storm Paper
Stamps: Watercolor Wonder Stamp set (PTI), STAMPtember Banner Saying (SSS), Love Struck (Amy Tangerine)
Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise, Spring Rain, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink), Daffodil Delight (Stampin Up), Onyx Black, Dandelion (Memento).

For the next card, I use Mambi Card as base but still take Kraft Cardstock as the background color. The basic layout is the same. Instead of Feather I pulled out my Cloud Die from PTI and then decided to give a little bit texture to the card by using SSS Star Border Craft Die.

Supplies:

Solid Card Stock:  Neenah Smooth Desert Storm Paper, Bazzil Basic White
Patterned Paper:  Mambi Cards (Me & My Big Ideas)
Stamps: STAMPtember Banner Saying (SSS)

Dies: STAMPtember Folded Banner Craft (SSS), Cloud 1 & 2 Die Collection (PTI), Star Border Craft (SSS)
Ink: Onyx Black

The third card is similar to the second one and I don’t submit it to CASE study, but to Simon Says Stamp Blog Challenge: Anything goes.

Supplies:

Solid Card Stock:  Bazzil Basic White
Patterned Paper:  Mambi Cards (Me & My Big Ideas)
Stamps: Fly Away mini Stamp set (PTI)

Dies: Fly Away Die (PTI), Cloud 1 & 2 Die Collection (PTI), Star Border Craft (SSS)
Ink: Onyx Black

Take a picture

Hi there,

Finally, after long rainy days we meet the sun again today. It’s such a cold and wet year so far with a lot of shower in the past few months. I am not complaining, after all the rain brings us food. While kids are enjoying nice weather in the garden, I kept myself busy making a birthday card for my dear godchild, Anna. Since Simon Says Stamp Challenge this time is about taking a picture, I forced myself to come up with the same idea, so that I can submit this card for SSS challenge in the last minutes. I thought of combining vintage and bright color to give a “childish” impression. So, here is the result. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Solid Card Stock:  Bazzil Basic White
Patterned Paper:  Mambi Cards (Me & My Big Ideas)
Stamps: Big Wish (Penny Black), Lovestruck (Amy Tangerine), Framed (The Alley way)

Dies: Mini Hearts set (SSS)
Ink: Onyx Black
Miscellaneous: Stickes Frosted Lace, Clear rock candy, cotton candy, orange peel (Ranger), Copic Markers

(another) Bouquet Builder

Yes, I did have a lot of fun with PTI blog hop challenge this week. This time I even challenged myself to use a color scheme which I’ve never thought I would choose. Usually I would use more colorful combination which includes either red, rose or orange. I was a bit skeptical in the beginning, but it turned out to be (in my opinion) a sweet one. Here is the Bouquet Builder I had choosen:

I don’t have Limeade Ice inkpad, so I substitute it with So Saffron inkpad from Stampin Up. And here are the ingredients:

Solid Card Stock:  White, New Leaf, Vintage Cream Cardstock (Papertrey Ink).
Stamps: In Bloom, Beautiful Butterflies, Day dreamer (PTI)
Dies: Day dreamer (PTI), the frame I am not sure…..
Ink: Vintage Cream, Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink), So Saffron (Stampin Up), Onyx Black

PTI Blog Hop May 2013

This is my first time to join PTI Blog Hop. I am a fan of their products, especially their stamps. And today I am submitting this simple card using following Bouquet Builder color scheme:

Unfortunately, I don’t own anything from Ripe Avocado products, so I replaced it with Simply Chartreuse.

Ingredients:

Solid Card Stock:  White and Raspberry Fizz CArdstock (Papertrey Ink).
Stamps: Simple Sunflower Mini, Think Big Favorite #12 Mini, Day dreamer (PTI)
Dies: Block Alphabet Die Collection (PTI)
Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink), Regal Rose (Stampin Up), Onyx Black

Thank you for stopping in. I hope you enjoy the card:)

Flower Power (2nd)

Another card for the Flower Power Challenge organized by Simon Says Stamp. I made this card loooong ago but haven’t posted it. The card is quite simple. At that time I didn’t have fancy tools and wide range of stamps. Hope you still enjoy it.

Paper piercing and Flower Power

Halli hallo hier bin ich wieder! Finally I had time to organized my scrapbook corner. It was sooo messy before I left for US and it prevented me from working! There were papers everywhere and my table was covered by stamps, inkpads, books and tools. When I came back from US, I (of course) brought in some more stuffs. I saw the urge of doing some cleaning and reorganization. Last Sunday my room is finally ready for my next projects and today I made one nice card for joining card making challenges from Papertrey ink, CASE Study #142 and Simon says stamps 🙂

Cornbread

On our last dinner in Boston we decided to have go to an american restaurant at Faneuil Hall. We didn’t have anything in mind where to go. We just strolled along the street near our last hotel and (luckily) we ended up here. We finally chose the restaurant called Durgin Park and were happy with the food. First, we were served this cornbread with butter (in Switzerland or in any other restaurants in US too, they usually serve bread and butter). That was the first cornbread I have ever had and I liked it. Only that it broke down easily (probably that’s the way it should be).

Anyway… today, I baked myself my delicious cornbread. Got the recipe from this link. There are many recipes on the web, but I decided to try the sweet one. Unfortunately, I didn’t have cornmeal. I thought I did. But then when I looked for it, I could only find Cornflour, which I shouldn’t use because it would make my cornbread like a brick. So, I was wondering how to find cornmeal here in Switzerland (at that moment I already beat the eggs with butter and buttermilk). I didn’t even know how they call it here. Thanks to Mr. Google, I found an article which says that I can replace it with polenta. Some said that it would be not good, because it would make different texture to the cornbread. But I had no other choice. So, I ran quickly to grocery shop nearby and got fine grounded polenta for my first cornbread.

And voila! Here it is! It tastes great, very buttery! Yes, the texture is different, but I find it even better, because it doesn’t break down easily. Here is the recipe I want to share with you…

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2.	Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.