Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Crochet goodness


2 weeks ago I received a gift from a friend - a package with beautiful handmade flowers. I loved them so much that I decided it will be a shame to stuck them in the drawer. I needed to use them right away. I found some photos that will work with the colors and made 2 layouts.

I used only one brand of patterned paper with this one - Amy Butler. I wanted to add some sea themed beads but found only 2. The little shells and the sea star metal bead are from the Making Memories Vintage Findings collection.
Supplies: patterned paper (Amy Butler for K&Co), chipboard (Heidi Grace), border punch (Fiskars), embellishments (Making Memories), handmade crochet flowers

Hooray! I finally figured out how to use the 12" platform with my Revolution. I die cut the green vine border and the title. My Revolutions never worked so hard :)



Supplies: cardstock (Wausau Paper), patterned paper (Making Memories, SEI), dies (Quickutz), border and corner punches (Martha Stewart), white pearls (Making Memories), handmade flowers

The last crochet flower was snitched by my daughter for her layout.
Thank you so much Louise! Your flowers are gorgeous!

Where have I been

I want to say I am back, but I am not - too many things to do, too little time for my poor neglected blog.

We had a lovely Hanukkah, I managed to finish all my Christmas cards and to mail them before Christmas. The girls are on vacation. We didn't do anything special except going to Ikea. We had a long list and had a very successful shopping trip. My no 1 item was to buy bookcases. We decided on Billy but we were not sure what color to buy. The black/brown looks gorgeous in catalog but all books and magazines they used are mostly white. That's not how the regular bookcase looks like. Our books are mostly dark. Should we go with the white? Or birch? We decided to see how they look at the store. We found something that we both really liked. I am not going to say what it is before I can share the final pictures. Today Ofir put the bookcases together. We love it. Now we need to organize all our books and magazines. It is really coming together.
The bookcase in the picture is our old one. We also bought an entertainment unit and 2 chairs for the family room. We need to move one of the sofas to the basement and I will share the pictures of the family room.

With all that I managed to make a layout today. I used Twisted Sketch #28. The twist was to use frames. I found those overlay frames by Hambly Prints that I had for a while. I didn't want to cover the pictures, so I cut out the inside of the frames and stitched them to the pictures. I think it turned out cute.

Supplies: cardstock (Wausau Paper), patterned paper (Scenic Route), transparency (Humbly Screen Prints), sticker letters and vintage flowers (Making Memories), stamp (CTMH), ribbon (unknown)

Posted by Picasa

Saturday, December 12, 2009

12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop - Chocolate Coin cookies

Welcome back friends to my second and last post for this Holiday blog hop!

I am not a big baker but in the spirit of Hanukkah I decided to make chocolate coins. I found a recipe on Martha Stewart website, dig out of the closet my old Tupperware pastry sheet and rolling pin and got to work.

Here is Martha's recipe with my comments

Ingredients

Makes about 3 dozen (I used small cookie cutter and got about 4 dozen cookies)

  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I am going to try semi-sweet next time or add more sugar)
  • 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional) (I put the zest from the whole orange)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until well combined.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, salt, and orange zest, if using. Add flour mixture to egg mixture; continue mixing until the ingredients are just combined, scraping down sides of the bowl.
  3. Scrape dough onto a piece of plastic wrap; flatten into a disk. Wrap, and chill at least 1 hour or overnight. (1 hour was enough)
  4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place granulated sugar in a small bowl.
  5. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch-round cutter, cut out cookies (My cookie cutter was a little bit smaller)
  6. Carefully press each cookie into granulated sugar. Transfer cookies to sheets, spaced 1/2 inch apart.
  7. Bake until cookies are firm, about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Wrap in foil. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
Here they are, ready to be wrapped. I punched 2" circles from the gold paper and stamped them with Menorah and Star of David stamps. I don't remember where I bought the stamps, probably at Jo-Ann from the $1.99 bin.

Ella helped me to wrap each cookie in foil and we attached the stamped circle with adhesive.

I think it will be cute to put few in the baggie for the quick Hanukkah treat. I can also envision them wrapped in silver foil with cute Valentine sayings as Valentine party favors.

Ella loved the cookies, they are perfect for the pure chocolate lovers. I thought they came out not sweet enough. Next time I will try to use semi-sweet cocoa powder or add more sugar.

That's all for today! You have just one stop left - Julie from Just Our Story will share another fabulous project with you at 8pm exactly.

Thanks for stopping by!

12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop - Hanukkah Tray

Welcome to my first 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop post!

I will share how I made the Hanukkah candles tray. I borrowed the idea from the great book by Rivky Koenig called Crafting Jewish. When I saw it in the book I knew it will be the first project I will make.

I started with the plain 11x14 picture frame. I decided to use Martha Stewart paper pack that had some pretty silver papers.
I opened the frame and used the piece of paper inside as my base. The paper I used for the middle is embossed and has a nice texture. I punched the border with the Fiskars Upper Crest border punch and added a border of the Menorahs made with this Quickutz die from the light silver paper.
I added another layer of the punched border from the same silver paper.
To finish my tray I printed Hanukkah blessings in Hebrew and in English on a piece of vellum and adhered it to the middle using 4 tiny glue dots. 4 rhinestones at the corners and stamped dreidel give the last touch.

Here it is - ready for tonight. If you are asking were the gorgeous Menorah is from, it is hand painted by Ella :)

Supplies: picture frame (Michaels), patterned paper and rhinestones (Martha Stewart), punch (Fiskars), die (Quickutz), stamps (Papertrey Ink and unknown)

Hope you are enjoying our blog hop! Next stop - Julie at Just Our Story Stop by her blog at 2pm and then come back later for more!

12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop


It is finally here. 12 hours of creative posts with recipes and crafts projects!
Here is the schedule: at 9am visit Laura, at 10am stop by Mel's blog, check Sharyn's blog at 11am, say hi to Carrie at 12pm (I know you will love that one!), come back here to my blog at 1pm and than visit Julie at 2pm. Take a deep breath and do it again:
3pm - Laura, 4pm - Mel, 6pm - Sharyn, 6pm - Carrie, 7pm - me and 8pm - Julie.
I promise it will be fun!

While you are waiting I wanted to share few links that I found yesterday. First is the Write.Click.Scrapbook. post about Hanukkah projects! They feathered a blog by Sara Rivka Dahan called Creative Jewish Mom Check her beautiful felt projects. They can be adapted for any celebration, not just Hanukkah.

My second find is Carol Zeitz. She has a great blog and she designs digital elements for scrapbooking. During the 8 days od Hanukkah she is running a giveaway where each day you have a free download. Check her blog and her shop for details. Don't miss this post - free downloadable Hanukkah brag book. Even if you are not a scrapper, you can print the pages and just adhere your pictures. Too cute!


We had a lovely evening last night - friends, yummy food, candles. I'll leave you with this:

See you soon for my Blog Hop posts!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Things on my mind

Too many...

1. Hanukkah starts tomorrow night. I am almost ready. The list of the gifts is finalized and almost everything is on the way. The list includes DS games, books and more books, board games and some seriously awesome stuff from the grandparents. Everything is for the girls. Since Eli doesn't make a wishlist yet he is not getting anything :) Last week we bought a train table for him so my conscious is clean :) So what is left on my Hanukkah list? A trip to the store to get the last of the gifts and more candles and some craft projects I wanted to finish. Tomorrow we have friends for dinner and Menorah lightning. My plan is to take a picture of Eli eating sufganija and use it as my Hanukkah greeting card. I like holiday that lasts 8 days - perfect for the last minute person like me.

2. Speaking about Hanukkah cards, I saw some gorgeous cards at ModernTribe website. Love them!

3. Few days ago Scrapbook and Cards magazine announced about Project 12th. You can read here about it. (Scroll down) I plan to play along!

4. Few current scrappy projects on my list:
That will keep me busy!

5. Hero Arts are having a 2010 Catalog Preview Party at the scrapbooking stores all over the world. My LSS is on the list. I hope to find time and stop by. Click on the blinkie on the right to see if your store is having a party.

6. I am thinking about 2 online classes - Blogging Your Way by Holly Becker from the design blog Decor8 and Wellness Journey by Lisa Cohen . Truth to be said I already took Lisa's class in 2008 and didn't do anything with it. I probably read only first 2 downloads. But I am thinking about it again. Go figure...

7. Last but not least. This Saturday, December 12th I will take part in the fun blog hop. My friend Carrie will start with the first post at 8am and from there 12 different posts will appear on 6 blogs. One post every hour for 12 hours! The beautiful logo is created by Julie.
Going back to my lists now...

Monday, December 7, 2009

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

Last Tuesday Cath from Moxie Fab World blog posted this picture as her Tuesday Trigger. Pretty patchwork stocking from Pottery Barn.


I have a soft soft for monochromatic color schemes so I decided to give it a try. I made a little quilt using Jenni Bowlin patterned papers and Coredination cardstock from Jenni Bowlin collection. Happy Holidays stamp is by Hero Arts.
I tied two ribbons and finished with two buttons. Done!

I love it. It will be my Christmas card this year. Now I need to make few in orange for some orange loving people on my Christmas list.