How are you cock-a-doodle-doing?

Hi Everyone! I made these cards awhile ago and keep forgetting to share them! They were a set of cards made for Jim's Mom to give to a friend of hers.

The chicken was cut from the Country Life cartridge. The cut is on page 44. I did some inking around the edges (I know you are SHOCKED!). I am sorry I don't have more photos in the cards in stages, but sometimes I get so busy I forget to take pictures. I think everyone can appreciate that.

Let's have a look-see:

Here is a look at the chickens in the early stages.

Then we skip a BUNCH of stages.

I used the computer to make the "how are you..." sentiment.

All paper is from The Paper Studio Farm Fresh stack.

I stamped a crow or raven (you decide) on the back of each envelope.

I used my Martha Stewart Custom Stamp set to make the 'Lone Hickory Farm' stamp.

The chickens were adhered with foam dots for dimension.

All cards are blank on the inside.

I wish I could offer more details. I guess we'll consider this one an inspirational post?

If you have questions please ask though.

I hope each of you are cock-a-doodle-doing well on this sunny (it is here) afternoon!

Thanks for stopping in!!!

~Jen

A bridal shower gift

Holy Moly! It says it has been like 12 days since I've posted! I have thought about you daily, but I was taking advantage of the sunshine and getting some work done outside. Then it rained. I needed the rainy day to catch up on the inside stuff! I love driving myself crazy! Somewhere in there I also went to a bridal shower for a friend of ours. Jim and I both had a hand in the making of the gift! Steph (yep the one I mention often!) was in on the gift too. We decided on what we wanted and sent Jim off to the shop! :) Don't let him fool ya, he loves having his best gal pal in the house, even if we do gang up on him.

We wanted a box our friend, Nicole, could set on her counter and set a cookbook on top of. We also wanted the box to open up. (we don't ask for much right?)

Downstairs he went, sketch in hand. He sorted through the pieces downstairs and found 'the ones' for this project. It turned out FANTASTIC!! So much so, in fact, Jim said he didn't want to see it go! I have that problem often. It turned out great! Let's take a look shall we?

the top

Jim's favorite part is these boards on the top!

the side

the back

the inside

the bottom

felt pieces were added to the bottom so it won't scratch the counter

Awesome isn't it?

We aren't done though. We can't very well gift an empty box can we?

Onward then!

Every girl needs thank you cards, especially a bride!

I pulled out these three stamps from an old Stampin' Up set.

The set is called Flowers.

There were three different designs...

I made a couple 'trial' ones and sent text messages to Steph.

We had preferences, but I still couldn't decide...

So Nicole received a handful of each design.

She can be the one to decide!

All bundled up!

If you have followed my cards, you know I like to put a stamp on the back of my envelopes.

The butterfly in the upper right hand corner was stamped on the back of the envelopes.

Let's take a peek inside the box...

Jim's Mom told me a girl NEEDS to have a napkin drawer.

Nicole's box has plenty of napkins!

Steeler napkins

Coca Cola napkins

Beachy napkins

Paisley napkins

Birthday napkins

She also received measuring cups and spoons.

A flour sack towel {LOVE THEM}

and some stamps for her thank you cards!

Pretty cool gift if you ask me!

What would a gift be without a card?

Nicole's colors are pink and green...

Sometimes it pays to have a paper OBSESSION!

I found pink and green paper!

I used the the new Stampin' Up Take it to Heart set.

This was one of the sets in that big box I told you about awhile back.

I stamped in pink and green.

I used my heart punch on the one that was the same size as the punch

and used scissors to cut the others. Nothing hard or tricky here!

I tied a piece of pink ribbon around the pink and green paper.

Adhered the pink and green paper to the card base.

Added foam dots to the backs of the hearts.

Adhered the hearts to  the card.

Added a sentiment. YIKES! That looks horrible!!!

Take two! 

In paper crafting there is almost always a way to cover up a whoops!

(oh shoot, the cat is out of the bag, now nicole will be taking her card apart to see if i am telling the truth)

I had nothing to do with the flowers...BUT!!!!!

Steph did!!!! She's getting her craft on pretty well isn't she?

A look at our lunch choices!

If you really need to know, I had the burger.

It was DELISH!

The bride to be reading the inside of her box.

It was stamped and signed by Jim and signed by Steph and me.

It was a nice time!

Our gift wasn't the only one that rocked, but it was close. (he he he)

It won't be long now Lady!!!

Congratulations again!!!

Partying here:

When life hands you lemons...part 2

Have you tried the lemon curd recipe yet? It is so delish!!! In this post I am sharing the lemon cake recipe we Jim made. It was divine with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream.

Straight from the oven!

On the platter waiting to be cut!

On a plate with all the other goodies!!!

Here's the recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/lemon-cake-recipe/index.html

Thanks for stopping in. Just like the other day I would love to hear about you trying these recipes. Share with us on Facebook!!!

We're almost over the hump and the weather is looking up, at least for me!

hugs 

Jen

When life hands you lemons...part 1

If you are reading this, that means you survived Easter!  I am sure that was easier for some of us than it was for others.

I came home from the grocery store on Friday with not one, but two bags of lemons. Farm Girl Sam had a post the other day about an English lemon cake. It got me thinking about a lemon pound cake. Lemon this, lemon that. In this post I am sharing a lemon curd. It is yummy yummy!

I came home with two bags of lemons based on the number of lemons needed for the lemon cake

The lemon curd recipe starts out:

Using a carrot peeler, remove zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith.

Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into sugar.

It smelled delightful at this point. I told Jim I was taking it into the bathroom to use as a facial scrub.

He looked at me.

I didn't use it as a facial scrub.

the step that there isn't a picture of:

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture.

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt.

Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened.

Cooking about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.(we shared the stirring duties) The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F

or just below simmer. Remove from heat and cool or refrigerate.

Isn't it beautiful?

The house smelled so lemony fresh.

I am sure it would be great on toast, but my Step-Mom left us some homemade rolls and I have been having my curd on the rolls. I guess I will test the toast theory out when the rolls are gone.

The recipe is from Ina Garten on the Food Network.

I love love love most of her recipes.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 lemons
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (3 to 4 lemons)
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Using a carrot peeler, remove the zest of 3 lemons, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.

Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add thelemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2 quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

I would love to hear from you if you try it!

Tell us your story on our Facebook page!!!

I hope to see you all soon!!! Next up is the lemon cake recipe!

How does your horseradish grow? another pallet project

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!! I am sharing another pallet project. We were at a local small business garden sort of place a couple weeks ago and they had horseradish roots for sale. We know horseradish will take over and Jim kinda looked at me. I said, "Why can't we grow it in a bucket?" I got another questionable look because how attractive would a plain 'ol bucket be sitting around. ...don't worry...got that one covered too (literally).

Don't go buying your buckets!!!!! There should be plenty of places that have buckets they are going to throw away. I would start at a bakery. I asked the bakery at our grocery store what they did with their empty buckets. The lady said it just depends but they had two sitting there they were going to throw away. SWEET DEAL!!!! I picked up some groceries AND some buckets. There was no questionable look when I came home with the buckets. I think he almost laughed at me with pity.

Fill the bucket up with dirt, plant the horseradish and move along to the next project. No digging will be necessary when it is time to harvest some of that horseradish, just turn that bucket upside down!!!!

Oh!!! Did you want to see what we did? he he he. Here it is. Jim made a "cover" for the bucket. I was thinking of something we could set the bucket in, but I like his interpretation of the concept much more!!!!

It is cute box huh?

top view

a different angle

Oh but look!!! It hides a bucket!

We think it will look pretty cool when the leaves are growing through the hole!

There will be 4 of these around. There were 4 roots in the bag.

A free bucket and a free pallet = a snazzy looking horseradish root

Here is a link with some history about horseradish

So? What do you think?

Let us know.

See you soon!!!!!

A Spring Chick Easter Card

Here are some more Easter cards I made. The same stamp, just different ways. I do apologize for the picture quality. I almost forgot to take the pictures altogether. That doesn't excuse the poor quality of some of the photos, but yet somehow still better than no pictures at all. I could have skipped the blog post, but that wouldn't have been any fun either.

I started with a sheet of these.

I stamped as many as would fit on a 12x12 sheet.

Then I colored the images (some of them)

picked out some pretty paper and ribbon

used lots of foam dots

 (there are foam dots behind each stamped image on all cards)

I also used decorative scissors or a paper punch.

A stamp and a stamp pad for the sentiment

Change the colors up a little bit...

Do you have a favorite?

Here they are all lined up!

This is a variation on the card I made HERE

Here are those ones all lined up!

....and...

...finally...

Any guesses?

This is that Christmas present from Jim's Step Dad that I kept telling you about and don't think I ever showed you. If I have shown you, it wasn't nearly this full. It is to the left of my work bench. 

I fits PERFECTLY on this wall too!

How are your Easter preparations coming along??

Hope to see you again soon!

hugs

~Jen and a very upset Jynx.

She is out of food in a can. I am going to the store in a little bit to get some other groceries, but she doesn't seem to be accepting my apology as sincere. /sigh

Freshly Picked - Mushrooms

Another sunny day in Western PA. The nice bright sun helps make the chill in the air ok.
Today's Freshly Picked Cricut Cartridge feature is on page 34, the mushrooms.

Here are the cuts. My cut size was 4.5 inches.

I inked the edges of the mushrooms and the spots.

I used the glue pen shown to adhere the underside of the shown mushroom.

I used pop dots, dimensional, foam adhesive, whatever you would like to call it...

to adhere the spots to the mushroom.

I inked the edges of the green mushroom too.

I used the same glue pen to adhere the underside of this mushroom as well.

I also used a foam dot on this spot.

I used a white gel pen to add the dots on the spot.

This cut could make a cute card for a fungi.

get it...ha ha ha {giggle} a fun guy.

Thanks for stopping in.

I {love} comments!!!