Samantha Walker Creative Team September Blog Hop

Welcome to Samantha Walker Creative Team Blog Hop! This month's theme is Mix and Match Collections.
You should have arrived here from Aimee's blog.

This month's giveaway is Spellbinder's Basic Lattice Die and a Riley Blake Saddle Up Fabric Bundle. 

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We will announce the Blog Hop Winner on Monday, 09/16 on Samantha's Facebook Page.

For my mix and match project I started with pink Calico paper from Giddy Up girl collection and from a fun tag from the same collection. The light aqua frame on the tag gave me an idea to add frames to all my pictures. I pulled out all green/ turquoise/aqua papers from Giddy Up girl and boy collections, Cool Summer and Traditions and added thin frames to my 5 pictures in different hues of green. 

I still wanted a little more green in the layout, so I cut out the scallop edge of the pink patterned paper and mounted the page on a sheet of dark aqua cardstock from Cool Summer collection.

I found a perfect journaling sticker in the Cool Summer collection with aqua frame and green banner. The sticker had two cute cherries in the corner that I covered with pink paisley from the Giddy Up sticker sheet. 

The circle stickers were a fun way to add movement to the layout.

Hope you got some ideas how very different collections can be combined together. 

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Cows and honey cakes

August came and disappeared, filled with unpacking, school registrations, paperwork, errands and more paper work and more unpacking. My parents came for three weeks and it was lovely. These three weeks were the fastest. It looks like just yesterday I drove to JFK to pick them up and today is one week since they left. The school starts on Monday and I am looking forward to new routine. Summers are always crazy and this one was particularly crazy.

Just one layout to share. All my scrapbooking supplies are still in the boxes but I managed to make this one for Scrap It Girl September challenge. I was checking A.C. Moore store with my mom and Lila when Lila found a cow webkinz. That discovery immediately had to be shared with her friends in Wisconsin and that's how I found this adorable selfie on my phone.

The challenge for September is to use school supplies - perfect excuse for me to raid Lila's stash of post-it notes. The papers and the stickers are from Samantha Walker's Giddy Up Girl collection for Carta Bella. It was a perfect match. I added a paper clip, few jems and two wood veneer birdies to finish the layout

Supplies: patterned paper, stickers (Carta Bella), letter stickers (Basic Grey), jewels (Bo Bunny),wood veneer (Recollections), post-it notes, paper clip

Go check what other DT members did for this challenge and share your take. Who doesn't like school supplies??

This past week we also celebrated Rosh HaShana - Jewish New Year. I tired a new recipe for honey cake from Michal Vaxman's blog. The blog is in Hebrew but if you read Hebrew I highly recommend it - great stories, beautiful pictures and really good recipes.

Unlike other honey cakes, this one doesn't have the usual heavy spices. It is very light and not too sweet. Here is the recipe in English. All credit goes to Michal Vaxman.

Honey Cake:

4 big eggs divided  into egg whites and yolks

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 cups sifted flour  (I used unbleached)

1 flat teaspoon of baking soda

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup strong tea or 1 tsp instant coffee with 3/4 cup water or 1 short espresso with 3/4 cup water (I used instant coffee)
Optional: walnuts for the top

Preheat the oven to 340F  (170C)

Beat the egg whites with 1/2 cup sugar until stiff peaks form.

In a separate bowl mix yolks, oil, 1/2 cup sugar and coffee or tea.

Add the second mixture to the egg whites mixing carefully

gradually add flour and baking soda and mix till combined

Add honey and mix only till combined.

Spread the walnuts on the top if using

Fill the loaf pans and bake 40 min.

Notes: makes two 8"x4" loaf pans or 6 small loaf pans (not sure what are the dimensions)
The small loaves were ready after 40 minutes, the bigger loaves need few more minutes in the oven.