Friday CPR

Check out Friday CPR - Happy Halloween here.

Bake Sale Bags

This week HWNSNBP asked me to help out and make something for a bake sale at work. His group was participating in a fund raising event for the month. So, I told him I would make some ginger snap cookies and put them in some cute packages. If you've been here before you may remember the bag in box(es) that I made for the 4th of July . This is the same pattern but I used Halloween DSP this time. They each contained a dozen ginger snaps (or spice cookies as I usually refer to them). Each bag sold for $5 and all told, they made over $300 that day.

Here is a recipe for you and this time it is for the cookies and not the paper craft:

1 c. sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

3/4 c. shortening

1/4 c. molasses

1 egg

small bowl of sugar

Mix flour, sugar, salt, soda and spices. Cut in shortening. Stir in molassses and egg.

Shape into 1 inch balls (a melon baller works well for this), roll in bowl of sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes. Let cookies cool on rack.

Makes approximately 5 dozen.

Don't overcook these as they will get hard. It's best to take them out right away so they remain a little soft.

Hope you enjoy!

Friday CPR (Chatter, Prattle, Repartee)

I wrote a pretty lengthy post about School Notes and after I read it out loud to HWNSNBP, he commented that "no one wants to read about me complaining about my job." Although I don't think that's what I was doing with this "feature" perhaps it doesn't belong here on this blog. So.......... not to be totally deterred, I have decided to create another blog called Friday CPR which will be my weekly observations from the school office that I work in. If you're interested in a little satire you can click here.

Teapot Tuesday 17

Don't touch that dial. You are not experiencing technical difficulty. This teapot is black and white and it's soooooo stinkin' cute! It's a little tea for one pot and cup together. Cindy fooled us all and didn't make a card this week. She had a surprise for us on her glob - you can see it here. I tell you, she's one creative cookie. And speaking of cookies. She told us that if we came to the tea party this week we had to bring black and white polka dotted frosted cookies! I don't have a recipe for those cookies so I sent my son to the store to get some double stuffed Oreo's, they're the closest thing to black and whites that I could come up with. And then I made the mistake of opening them. When I opened the bag they screamed for the milk to come and get them. You know you can't have Oreo's without milk (at least I can't). And as I was working on my projects tonight (there's another post below this - go see it when you're done here), I kept sneaking into the kitchen to dunk another one.

If I were actually able to visit Cindy I would bring my cookies in this box which was inspired by the teapot. It's a mini pizza box and you can find the template at SCS. I used the Pick a Petal Stamp set and then got out one of my ribbon boxes and came up with this ribbon flower to put on top. The center is a brad from the Stylized Silver Hardware that SU has. I added some polka dot ribbon around the edge of the box. The box itself is big enough to hold four Oreo's.

I wanted to show you the ribbons from above. All I did to make it was to cut the ribbons all to the same length. Then I slightly ovelapped them in the center so I could poke the brad through and have two "petals" on each side of the brad. It's stuck to the top of the box with sticky tape.

BTW, if you visit Cindy's blog this week, make sure to wish her a Happy Birthday!

INKredible Color Challenge 10/20

I couldn't wait to use this new stamp set called Scandinavian Season because it brings me back to my painting roots. I love this style of painting called Norwegian Rosemaling. It's based on c and s strokes and stylized flowers. You can see the strokes in both the watercolored star design and the snowflake background that was stamped multiple times.

For the Not Quite Navy base of the card I used a background stamp called Sanded. I think it gives it a rustic look. Then I stamped the Creamy Caramel piece with the snowflake stamp in Not Quite Navy solidly and also stamped off once, and then added Creamy Caramel snowflakes. That piece and the layer behind it were sponged on the edges with ink in the same color as the card.

I cheated just a little here with the star image, stamping it in Brown. Then I used NQN and CC to color it with my aquapainter. I added a vanilla taffeta bow to match the vanilla background of the star. I am really pleased with the way this came out. What do you think? Is it worthy of a Christmas Card?

The Shack

This past weekend HWNSNBP and I completed our 8th NJ Lighthouse Challenge. I'll be sharing pictures of the lighthouses but I wanted to share these of a shack that was along the road on the way to East Point Lighthouse. It fascinated me. He hadn't even noticed it but I made him stop on the way back so I could get out and take pictures. There's a tree growing right out of the front and I love all the textures of the foliage around it. I was very surprised to see that there was furniture inside which wasn't noticeable until I actually got closer. As I took my pictures a car was coming down the road and HWNSNBP called out to me to watch the car approaching so I didn't back out onto the road into it's path. I then realized that the leaves were cleared in a path to the front door and it then occurred to me that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get any closer. I don't think there was anyone in there, but I really didn't want to find out.
There was a house not too far away from this shack and perhaps they were using it as storage. Or maybe there was a hermit (or the Jersey Devil) living in there. Whatever the case, I think this humble little building has a sense of beauty all it's own. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Friday CPR (Chatter, Prattle, Repartee)

I've decided to start a "weekly feature" called Friday CPR (Chatter, Prattle, Repartee) in which I will bring you a snippet or synopsis of a conversation or observation from the school office I work in. I deal with students/children, parents, teachers, and administrators on a daily basis. Sometimes I think that I will really need CPR because these people "kill me" with their wit, or lack of it, their compassion, or lack of it, and their wisdom, or lack of it. Who would have known that a school clerk could have such a life or death job!

This week I had a conversation with a fifth grade teacher:

"I'm thinking of getting a pet for my classroom. Can I have a pet in my classroom?"

"No!"

"Really?"

"Just kidding. What kind of pet were you thinking of?"

"Something soft and cuddly. My doctor has a cat in his office. How about a cat?"

"I don't think so. Get a hamster or a gerbil?"

"No, they remind me of a mouse. Maybe I'll get a turtle."

"You can't have a turtle because they carry salmonella. Ask the nurse."

"Oh no? No turtles?"

"Yes, no turtles. Why don't you get a hedgehog?"

"A hedgehog! Hedgehogs aren't soft and cuddly. They have spikes."

"And a turtle is soft and cuddly? Get a fish. Someone here had a fish tank they were giving away."

"I want to give the students a responsibility. I don't think fish are enough of a responsibility. Are you sure I can't have a cat? Even if I keep the door closed? My doctor has a cat and they keep it in the office with the door closed."

"Oh yeah. I bet your doctor has mice, or he had mice."

"No. He doesn't have mice. They have a nice cat that stays in the office."

"Wait a minute. What kind of a doctor keeps a cat in the office?"

"You weren't supposed to ask that question." (She says as she's backing out the door.)

"Oh no? Come on. What doctor are you talking about?"

"My vet."

Bosses Day or Boss's Day

Flowers wouldn't do. Swirls wouldn't do. Goofy animals wouldn't do. So what would do? A single fern frond. Not too wimpy, right? Can't give your boss a wimpy card.

I wish this would have photographed better because it does really look a lot better in person.

Organic Grace is the name of the stamp set that I used. Inside I stamped "You Are One of a Kind".

Yep, that's my boss - one of a kind. Enough said.

Teapot Tuesday 16

I have a weakness for blue and white designs. It must be my Dutch heritage. I love, love, love this little teapot that Cindy Mothermark used for this week's challenge. You should see the cute little card that she made for the challenge. You can, you know. Just click on this link and you'll be redirected to her glob as she calls it. You'll be dazzled!

I must admit that one of the first things that I do when I get to work on Tuesday mornings is to check out the teapot of the week. Then I have to try to think about what I have at home that will do. It wasn't until much later in the day, when I got home and started going through the box(es) that I had a lightbulb moment with this one. The stamp set that I used for the main image is called Embrace Life. I watercolored the big flower and cut it out. The sprays on either side were stamped and colored with markers. I tried to keep that clean white line in all the flower petals.
Up on top I used a stamp from the Frames With a Flourish set. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line the images up. A great hint that I came across on SCS is to use vellum cardstock as the image sheet when using the stamp-a-ma-jig. Let me say it works great. It has just enough stability not to buckle and you can see through it with no problem. Kudos to the person that came up with that!

I need a couple of birthday cards this month and I think I'll be using this one for just that purpose. Hope you like it!

An Accordian of Another Kind

Somewhere down in our basement is an accordian. The instrument that HWNSNBP played when he was younger. We've been married 31 years and I can only recall him taking it out of the case once when the kids were very, very young to show them. He actually remembered a little something of it. Now you would think that someone who played the accordian would possibly love to polka, but no. Oh, he can do it if he tries, but I couldn't get him out of his seat at the wedding we attended this past weekend (and they only played one polka). Am I dating myself - nah, my mother's family is Polish. The town we grew up in was mostly Polish. You couldn't escape knowing how to do at least one polka. Well, it probably was for the better that we sat that one out. God only knows who we would have knocked over!

What brought all this up? Well it wasn't the dancing, it was the Technique Challenge on Splitcoast that I saw today. The challenge was to use the Stair-Step Technique, aka "Accordian Fold" to create a card. They looked pretty cool and so I took the challenge. Here is my Accordian of Another Kind...............

I used four stamp sets for this card: Lots of Thoughts, Give Thanks, Season of Friendship, and Itty Bitty Backgrounds. The pumpkin and the basket of leaves were watercolored, the leaves were done with markers. The base is Kiwi Kiss - maybe a little bright, but it really pops the colors. You know what's missing from this scene? A rake!

We're Going to a Wedding

Well, I started this post long before we left earlier today - Saturday. Jess, the daughter of our friends B&K got married today. She is the younger of two daughters. She married her college
sweetheart, Brian.

In a nutshell, because it is so late - They are a lovely couple. The wedding was beautiful. It was a gorgeous day. The reception rocked. I danced my ass off at the reception, but unfortunately it followed me home!

This is the card I made for them. The little silver heart charm says "Love". You can't see from the picture, but the center of the flowers have a bubble of dazzling diamonds.

Teapot Tuesday Challenge 15 - INKredible Color Challenge 10/7

Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later. I knew that one week I would be able to combine the two challenges that I do. This week's color combo was to use pink - any pink, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The teapot that Cindy chose for this week's teapot challenge lent itself to that pink theme very well.

I love the 3-D roses on the teapot and saucer. Don't you? Believe it or not, I do not have a "true rose" stamp. The closest one that I could come up with is the flower from the Bella's Bloom set which I stamped in Pretty in Pink on watercolor paper. I used my aquapainter to highlight the edges of the petals in Regal Rose.I think I went a little overboard with the background flowers. They are from the other Bella set. And......... I don't have any really good rose leaf stamps (that's one thing that I would like to see more of with the SU flower stamp sets - leaves that go with the flowers!) so I used some 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain as the leaves. This card has all SU product in it's ingredients.

Check out Cindy's glob for her take on the teapot and please check out the Color Girls in the left sidebar for their take on the color challenge this week.

On a side note - I went for my yearly Mammogram today. I hope that every woman reading this has done the same this year. I went to a Basket Bingo last year with over 150 women present. We were asked to stand if you knew someone who had been treated for breast cancer. There was no one in that room that remained in their seat. And not enough of us were able to sit down when asked if we knew anyone who had lost their battle with breast cancer. We need to change that. Go get squished!

World Card Making Day

Yesterday was World Card Making Day. I was working on some cards but not the kind I usually post here. The daughter of a friend of mine is getting married next weekend and I was asked to do the placecards for the reception. I should say that I was asked to do the lettering on the placecards to be more specific. So for most of the afternoon I was "practicing" my calligraphy. I haven't done anything formal in a while. I've only done ocassional name tags for events at school, and those were done on the fly with a calligraphy marker set that I keep in my desk. The cards that I was working on yesterday require a lot more attention including calligraphy nibs, bottled ink and rubber eraser. The practice sheets will also serve to help make sure of the correct spacing of the names.

Since I didn't get a chance to make a card, I will post a picture of another birthday card that I made last month for one of Rachel's coworkers in her old school.

I used my Eastern Blooms stamp set. I love that big flower! The background was stamped in VersaMark on Tangerine Tango CS. The scalloped piece is out of Kiwi Kiss CS and I used Summer Picnic DSP in the square which has two layers backing it - Kiwi Kiss and Real Red. I was pleased with the bow which is from the striped KK grosgrain and tied with white organdy.

September Blue

We haven't quite figured out what these bluebirds are doing checking out the box at this time of the year. We hadn't ever seen them around at this time. Lately, however, once or twice a day, there seem to be a small group of them that congregate in the garden, on the fence, on the box, on a post. Then one or more of them will fly up to the box and take a look inside. Trust me, the box is empty. This picture was taken on Tuesday, the last day of September. The following pictures are not as clear but you can find 3 blues in one and 4 blues in another. Click on the picture to make it larger.

The Razor's Edge

I remember as a child seeing my father on ocassion walking around with a piece or two of tissue stuck to his face. I was to find out later that that was probably due to the fact that he had just replaced the blade in his shaving razor and had gotten bit by that razor. Those little razor cuts can be nasty. I'm sure that there are many people who have pulled that tissue routine on a razor cut. But would you ever think to use "I cut myself shaving" as an excuse to be late?

Twice within the last month I have heard of shaving incidents from people that I know. One woman was very upset that she had missed the church ceremony of her nieces wedding. She had gotten into the shower and was doing the customary clean up job and decided to shave her legs. She said she really didn't even need to shave her legs because they weren't going to be seen unless someone were crawling around on the floor. But she went ahead with it anyway and, oops, there was a little bit of a varicose vein sticking out and, you guessed it, she nicked it. Well, it didn't dribble, it didn't trickle, it pulsed, shooting blood out uncontrollably. She tried a band-aid. Didn't stop. She tried direct pressure over a clean band-aid. Didn't stop. She tried an ice pack and direct pressure over another clean band-aid. Didn't stop. The clock was ticking. She wrapped up her leg and quickly got dressed, the leg still bleeding, and had to call her husband to break the news to him that they were going to the emergency room. They did stop the bleeding there with a little cauterization, but the ceremony was over by then. Damn that razor.

Oh yes, the second person. Well, someone very close to me got a phone call from their boss who was supposed to be in early so he could cover for the office staff while they attended an early morning meeting. The boss lives an hour away. The meeting had already started. The message was that he hadn't left home yet because he had cut his forehead shaving and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I won't go any further or I might get this person fired.

So, will you file this in your "good excuses to be late for work file?"

Teapot Tuesday Challenge 14

Simple elegance in a shimmery white teapot. This is our inspiration piece for this week's Teapot Tuesday Challenge. I visit Cindy Motherway's glob on Tuesdays to see her brilliant creation - you should too!

This will be a lovely evening Tea Party and there will be lots of lovely lanterns hanging from golden cord. The golden fireflies will be drawn to the glimmering lanterns. The ladies will be dressed in white. There will be the slightest hint of roses in the air. White tea infused with rose hips will be served in brilliant white porcelain cups. Here is one of the lanterns.

I used a piece of glossy cardstock for the the lantern. I cut a strip 2" x 8" and then scored every 1/4 inch. Then I folded, and folded, and folded. Since it was more than one layer with the folds I had to cut out the circle with my coluzzle. The background is not stamped - it is a piece of origami paper that I found while looking for something for a totally different idea for this card. The layers are Brilliant Blue and Ballet Blue. I used the Zig paint pen to outline the edge of the Brilliant Blue cs. The flower and it's center are from the Pretty's Kit and the lantern is hung on gold stretch elastic cord.

Please take a few minutes to visit Cindy's glob that I highlighted above and check it out. I linked her Teapot Tuesday page, but scroll down below the comments to the HOME link to the present date and you can see the many beautiful creations that Cindy has shared.