Second time is a CHARM!

If you remember the flower card from this post, you'll also remember that I nearly despised the card. Not because of the flower itself but because I couldn't create a card to beautifully house the flower. Last night was the breakthrough. I had to make a card for a co-workers birthday and I really wanted to use that flower technique.

If you know me well, you know that it is as rare as a blue moon for me to really like one of my own cards. I truly love this card (it was hard to give it away) and that is also a breakthrough. Two breakthroughs in one night!

Here's the card:


Have a great Wednesday!

A post before a break.....

Ben is going to the Arctic Circle (NOT the restaurant) for up to 6 weeks. He leaves on November 3rd and might come back as late as December 15th. More than likely he'll be home earlier- thank goodness- but it could take the full time.

That doesn't give us much time together before he leaves so I'm going to take advantage of it. While he's gone, however, I'll be busy cooking, reading and crafting.

I think in a previous post I told you that I get together once a month with two of my good friends, Casey and Kym to make crafts. Casey usually lets me know what she wants to make and I put together something for them. This month, Casey wanted to make and explosion box, a sour cream container and a card. Here are some pictures of them:

This is the outside, with the lid on (the lid is the patterned paper):

When you pull the lid off, the box falls open, or "explodes". On the various layers you can put pictures of your family and/or friends or it can be used for journaling.


And, just for fun, here's a picture of the box and lid side-by-side.

The card Casey wanted to make has a paper bow. I originally found the idea on Jenn D.'s blog. I had to go by memory what she did and after looking at her original I'm a bit humbled by my own creation. However, it taught Casey the method to folding the paper bow so that she can create her Christmas cards.


And here's the sour cream container. Simple and cute. Not fancy at all. There are caramel apple hershey's kisses inside though!

Stamp Camp rejects....

Okay, so they're not really "rejects" but instead are not the best options for the Stamp Camp I will be co-hosting on November 1st (as well as November 8th). There are four of us who will be demonstrating 6 projects so it only makes sense that only 1 or 2 of my projects will be made. NONE of these are the 2 that will be made during stamp camp. You want to be pleasantly surprised, right?

This first one is a box made out of chipboard coasters. It could easily hold treats or be a desk organizer for your pens, pencils, etc.



This next one is made out of half of a file folder. I think it would be a really sweet little present for someone you love. You can write some of your favorite Christmas memories on the little tags, maybe even attach a picture like my friend Casey did, and then send it to that person.



I made a bunch of these, with different decorations, as my 3-d swap for convention. I was playing around with a Christmas version of it and this is the first try. Not my favorite, but it is a start.

Save the worst for last, right? Anyway, this is my least favorite- but only because I rushed the decoration of it. The idea is super cute. It's simply a clear envelope folded in half and then attached to some cardstock. I've filled it with candy and used a velcro dot to keep it closed.


Wait until you see the CHOSEN stamp camp projects! Let me know if you want to come. It will be on November 1st at the SLCC campus.

Flickr Mosiac

All over the blogsphere people are posting their own flickr mosiac. It's pretty simple to do actually. Wanna play?: Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (4 columns, 3 rows)... Enjoy!

1. What is your first name? (Elisabeth)

2. What is your favorite food? (Chinese Food)

3. What high school did you attend? (Governor John R. Rogers- Puyallup)

4. What is your favorite color? (red)

5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Robert Downey, Jr.)

6. Favorite drink? (milk)

7. Dream vacation? (London, England)

8. Favorite dessert? (brownies)

9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Teacher)

10. What do you love most in life? (family and friends)

11. One word to describe you? (stubborn)

12. Your nickname? (pumpkin)

Pictures used:
1. Queen Elisabeth, 2. Helen's Gourmet Chinese Food, 3. Puyallup Fair Swings, 4. `paint the town red., 5. Robert Downey Jr。, 6. Pouring fresh cold milk, 7. England v. Portugal 7/1/06, 8. Chocolate Brownies 40/365, 9. Still Life For Teacher, 10. FRIENDS HOME FAMILY, 11. Stubborn, 12. the pumpkin patch by pinhole

Sister's Crafts

For my birthday my step-mother and sister bought me this pan from Williams Sonoma (you can find the link to their website here):
Super cute, huh? And it's supposed to make a cake that looks like this:

Again, super cute. Anyway, during priesthood session my sister and I got together to make this cake and also a craft. Before we started, however, we started to talk about jeans and how Old Navy was having a sale. We decided we would take a "quick" trip to Old Navy and check it out. That "quick" trip turned in to an hour and a half. We had a fun time talking and although neither of us bought jeans, I did find a sweater I really like.

When we got back to my apartment we had to hurry and get the cake in the oven. Luckily, when they gave me the pans they also gave me the ingredients to make a pumpkin chocolate chip cake with cream cheese frosting. All the ingredients were measured out for me. All I had to do was put them in my kitchen aid and pour the batter in the pan.

The recipe asks that you cook the cake for 35-40 minutes. It assumed your using a 9x13 cake pan and not a deep pumpkin shaped pan. My cake needed to cook an hour before it was done. By that time the husbands were hungry and tired. Angie and I let the cake cool for about 10 minutes and then decided to put it together. This was not the best idea. The bottom part of the pumpkin started to give below the weight of the top part. Once we put the frosting on top it looked like a big gooey mess. It tasted delicious though! Here's a picture:

Doesn't really look like a pumpkin, does it? That's okay. I'll be making it again. And maybe next time I'll just bake the cake without the frosting because the cake itself was delicious, moist and rich. The frosting made it a little too rich for my tastes. Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup solid pack canned pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Garnish:
2 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 tbsp finely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and butter; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs and pumpkin. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with milk. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 baking pan. Bake ad 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack. :)

While baking, combine cream cheese, b utter and vanilla extract, beating until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar; beat well. Frost cake. Sprinkle with garnish.



Now, while the cake was baking we made some treat jars. The jars were purchased at Target for about $8 and the vinyl was purchased at The Quilted Bear for about $3. Pretty cute, huh? Oh, and we definitely gobbled the cake until we couldn't wobble anymore!

We were going to make another craft too but we ran out of time. All in all it was a very fun time and a great family tradition!