Upcoming Class

Introduction to COPIC Markers

December 11th
Stamp Works
Chandler Arizona
1p - 3p
(480)899-5958

Did I ever mention that I'm now a Copic Certified Designer? Well.....guess what that means....I'm going to teach a Copic Class at Stamp Works. YIPPEE!! I'm so excited!!! If you're in the Phoenix area, I would love to have you join in the fun. For details call the number listed above.

Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving
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I've been making this Cranberry Bread for about 20 years now. It's a family favorite. Not too sweet...a nice tart flavor with the cranberries & orange peel. My daughter brought this recipe home from school - they made it in her classroom. I think she was in 2nd grade at the time.

Grandma's Famous Cranberry Bread

(preheat oven 350)

2 C Sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 C Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 C Butter (softened)

1 Egg, beaten1 tsp grated Orange peel

3/4 C Orange Juice

3 C Fresh Whole Cranberries - leave whole or chopped (I leave my whole)

Sift first 5 ingredients. (I just put in mixing bowl and stir with my wire wisk - works for me) Cut in butter. Mix together Egg, Peel & Juice (again...I stir this up with my wire wisk in a separate bowl) Add all at once to dry ingredients. Stir until moist. Fold in Cranberries. (You can substitute 1/2 the cranberries for raisins.)

Grease 9x5x3 Loaf Pan. Spoon into pan. Bake for 1 hr 10 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

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Lori's Notes: I don't make it in a large loaf pan. If you do...just check your loaf after about 45-50 minutes. I have a Pampered Chef Stoneware mini loaf pan that makes 4 mini's at once. I just spray the pan with PAM and divide the batter. Then I set the timer for like 20 minutes and check. It's usually about 30 minutes till done...but do the toothpick test. I like my quick breads to come out moist. This bread also freezes great. If you happen to over cook a little...just freeze it and then it seems to be better after you thaw it out. Warm up a piece up with butter on it.

MissyB Tag Card

Happy Holidays!

I mentioned in a previous post about using tags on cards. Here's one I came up with using my MissyB Designs set called Make a Tag.

And before I forget...today (Tuesday Nov 25th) is the LAST DAY for a chance to WIN a TON of MissyB goodies! But you need to hurry...the drawing is tonight at 7:00 p.m. Click HERE for all the details.

I used white gel pen to make faux stitching. Tag is 3 layers (blue cs is the reverse side of patterned paper) then layered it on white CS. The black layer on the tag is attached with dimensionals. White Eyelet on top of tag.

Snowman stamped on white - colored with COPIC markers & Spica Pen (for black top of hat) - cut out and attached with dimensionals. 2-way glue pen traced all around the edge of the white layer and covered with Ultra Fine Crystal Glitter.

Recipe:

Stamps - MissyB Designs Make A Tag
Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; SEI Holiday Houpla Fab Flakes; Bazzill Black CS;
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc. - Copic Markers R29 & BG000; Copic Spica Glitter Pen Black; 2-way glue pen; Ultra Fine Crystal Glitter; Misc Eyelet; Inkssentials White Gel Pen; Dimensionals; Misc Ribbon & Cord

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

Crazy for Polka Dots

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #15 - Polka Dots

It's all about Polka Dots!! EVERYONE seems to love and use them. Embossing folders, patterned paper, stamps, ribbon, doodling, brads, buttons.......they are everywhere! So let's get stamping. Just make sure and use at least one House Mouse & Friends stamp on your project. For all the challenge details and to see all the awesome creations the Design Team has come up with click HERE.

My creation is a Mini Treat Bag (pattern from A Muse Art Stamps)

These little treat bags are so fun and easy to make. You can create 2 of them from 1 piece of 8 1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock.



This House Mouse image is called Having A Ball and features Mudpie. Cute little Mudpie has brown fur and a little nick in his ear. He is really lazy and his two favorite activities are eating and sleeping.

I used COPIC markers to color this time. The puffs on the Santa Hat is White Applique sprinkled with glitter. Then I puffed it up with my heat gun.

Recipe:

Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Having A Ball; SU So Many Sayings

Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus "Sweet" Dots/Red Paper, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Misc. - Copic Markers; Clear Glaze Pen (on the nose); Scor-Tape; Dimensionals; Sakura Clear Glaze Pen; Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique White; Ultra fine Crystal Glitter; Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3 mm Black Pen; Misc Ribbon; Marvy Uchida Scalloped Circle Punch (blue), EK Success Circle Punch (1.75"); Fiskars Circle Hand Punch; Scor-Pal

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog HERE

House-Mouse Designs Official Website HERE.

Tips on how you can easily color the House-Mouse Stamp Images HERE

Carnival Fun

Gilbert Days Carnival

Saturday we took Michaela & Kayla (my granddaughter) to the Gilbert Days Carnival. They have this every year when the rodeo is going on. It was the first time for Michaela. Here are a few pics....but remember....it's a new camera and I haven't got it all figured out yet - so my pics are pretty bad!

Michaela is the taller one. Isn't that crazy how she is that much taller...but 3 months younger!




Sunday we spend most of the day getting all the Christmas lights and decorations out. We got all the lights up and the front of the house all decorated! Seems kind of early...but this was the only good weekend we had to get it done for a few weeks. We will "official" turn on the lights Thanksgiving night :) This is gonna be a busy week...getting ready for our usual Thanksgiving Feast.

I got a Tag

Thanks for Tagging Me :)

I want to thank these two ladies who tagged me with an award on their blog - mycardz & Rachel. Hop over to their blogs to see what they have been creating -- and check out the award they left me: Big hugs to you both! ((HUG))

Speaking of Tags...
I made this tag for Share Your Spark Friday over on Heather's Blog. Her challenge is to Create a Tag. I'm still learning my new camera...and all it's setting....but this picture is my first with this cool new toy!! woohoo!! :)



I love A Muse cardstock paper! Check out how awesome it looks with the sanded edges! I shaded the horse with a grey Copic Marker.The hair and heart are colored over with Red Spica Glitter Pen for some sparkle. "I like it...I love it...I want some more of it!" LOL!!

Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps Missy's Holiday Clear Set; Rectangle Frames Clear Set
Paper - A Muse Art Stamps White CS, Kitchen Red CS
Ink - A Muse Art Stamps Black; Clearsnap Vivid! Olive
Misc. - Copic Markers; Copic Spica Glitter Pen Red; Misc Ribbons, EK Success Large Corner Rounder Punch

***Adding to this post additional stuff I want to share!!***
After reading a comment Catherine left on this post...I remembered something I was thinking about while making tags. Catherine said:

"I would do these tags but i'm debating if i should buy gifts or just give out gift cards this Christmas"

Here's a couple ideas. You can adhere these to a card base -- making a TOTALLY cute card instead of a tag! If it's a gift card holder...you could still leave the "To: From: " on it...but if you are going to make a regular card....just stamp another sentiment in that spot. Tags look GREAT on scrapbook pages as well.

I look forward to seeing what Catherine makes up! hint hint!! No pressure there! ha ha ha

Quick Pic

Yet Another Busy Day!

Today was ONE OF THOSE DAY! I'm not gonna make ya'll suffer with all the details...but you can figure out how much FUN I had with a quick review....

We got a new router for our computer -- you know...the kind that are quick & easy to set up. After about 5 hours of quick & easy--- I now have the computer back up and connected to the Internet...AND my hubby now has his laptop connected for the 1st time as well. We also got a new camera today -- so after ALL THAT TIME of wonderful fun & games with the router...I had a few minutes left in my day to get the camera out of the box and snap a few pictures - before the battery went dead. Of course I don't have any new pics loaded on the computer...cause when I went to install the software....it said I needed to "update" some fancy schmancy program...some kind of ".NET" thing-a-ma-bob??? Welllllll.....after trying to update that from the Windows Update website.....and then my computer locking up....and then waiting about 20 minutes for it to re-boot......

ummmm.......git-er-done???

soooooo.......here's a card I made a couple weeks ago. I think it's totally cute...and makes me smile :) Something I really need at the moment. LOL My wonderful hubby ordered out pizza...so I didn't have to cook! woohooo!!

Enjoy !



Stamps - Close To My Heart
Coloring - Copic Markers
Misc - Glue Pen and Glitter on number 1

Having a Busy Week!

It's been one of those extra busy weeks...and I haven't taken any pics of my creations. I'll try and FORCE myself to show something fun tomorrow :) I did manage to change my profile pic. When I was up in Seattle for the A Muse Instructor Training weekend - Heather took Headshot pics of everyone. She is amazing with her camera! Check out some of her pics over on her blog One Little Spark.

Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow!!! YIKES!!

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #14 - All About Christmas
Our challenge this week is to make anything Christmas related. Thanks go out to Jennifer for coming up with this weeks challenge....and for sponsoring! You know what that means.....A PRIZE!! WOOHOOO.

Make anything you want with a Christmas theme - just make sure to use at least one House Mouse or Friends image. For all the details on the challenge and prize - click HERE.



This House Mouse stamp is called Stocking Full of Love. Isn't it adorable! I colored with Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol. Crystal Snow Glitter on the ground for sparkle. I used a white gel pen to add snow falling in the sky. The background was embossed with a snowflake embossing folder on textured cardstock. Sentiment stamp from A Muse Art Stamps.



Recipe:
Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Stocking Full of Love; A Muse Art Stamps Missy's Holiday Set
Paper - Bazzill Textured CS, Papertrey Ink White CS (cardbase)
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black (for sentiment)
Misc. - Prismacolor Pencils; Gamsol OMS; Sakura Clear Glaze Pen (on the nose); Misc Brads; Dimensionals; Sakura Quickie Glue Pen; Mark Enterprises Ultra fine White Crystal Snow; Uni-ball Signo White Pen; Darice Sparlking Yarn; Cuttlebug Emboss A2 Snowflakes folder; SU Ticket Corner Punch

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog HERE
House-Mouse Designs Official Website HERE.
Tips on how you can easily color the House-Mouse Stamp Images HERE

Mega HUGE Give Away!

OVER $80 of MissyB Stamps for FREE!!

Yep...that's right...a chance to win a BUNCH of MissyB stamps -- and more! Go check out all the details over on the MissyB blog HERE!!

I made this card with a MissyB set called Make a Tag. This set comes with 13 stamps...and is only $12.00! HELLO!!! That's a great price...and the stamps are too cute for words!

Coloring done with Copic Markers. I added sparkle on Santa's suit, star & ground using a glue pen and ultra-fine crystal glitter.

BTW - do you realize how close Christmas is? AACKK!!! They are already playing Christmas music on the radio - and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!

Stamp a Little Love Baby

Something New and Exciting to Check Out!

Did you see the great news Cambria Turnbow just announced on her blog HERE?! Did you catch who the artist is for these new stamp sets??? Read about what Marianne Walker has to say about that on her blog HERE.

I'm so excited for these talented ladies! As a matter of fact...let me show how excited I am and stamp a little LOVE! hee hee hee Cami's blog is called Stamp a Little Love Baby...so I just HAD to do a Love card :)

Here's what I whipped up from one of the new Our Craft Lounge sets called For the Love of Birds.



I decided since it's Fall...I would go with more earthy colors. The main images are stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento Ink on Ivory Cardstock. Coloring is done with Copic Markers. I love how simple and clean it turned out. On the inside of the card I stamped Happy Anniversary. Isn't this image just beautiful!

Congratulations to all the ladies of Our Craft Lounge!

More Seattle Pics

I couldn't help myself...I MUST share a few more pics from my trip to Seattle. I feel so very blessed to be part of this wonderful team.

<------- See that cute name tag...Geeta made those for everyone. Geeta is a mass production queen! She even brought everyone a totally cute treat that she made up. See all the name tags here and the treats here.

OK...on to the pics! Maybe you'll recognize a few faces. At least you should know my face...right?! LOL

Sherry is a newbie...like me. Sherry came all the way from NY! As you can see from the pic...she is full of energy.


Here's Marianne from Copic. Little did we know that part of our Copic Certification was learning how to finger paint with marker ink! ;) Git-er-done!!


Linda is the owner/founder and lead designer of A Muse. She is one fabulous lady!! What an honor to meet her...and to be part of her crew.


Liz is also a newbie - she flew in from Massachusetts. Liz...and the rest of us...REALLY wanted to get back there with all those stamp!!

Friday night was the A Muse Cupcake Social. Here are some of the local ladies I got to meet during the Make & Take. Some A Muse Addicts in there too! :)

Here's Geeta and Julie. Thanks to Geeta, I was able to survive my first VMAA! Speaking of VMAA -- get ready for another one!! Saturday December 6th over on the A Muse Addicts Forum! JulieHRR (Her Royal Rubberness) is the A Muse Creative Teams Director. She has energy & talent that words can't begin to describe. She's 'DA BOMB!!

How cool to hang out with a bunch of A Muse Instructors and Designers! From left to right - Michelle, Emily, Lyndsay, Tisha, Tracy, me.

Here we were gathering for a group pic. I can't wait to see how it turned out!

I caught Katie with her hands in the stamp boxes! hee hee hee. She's such a cutie! :)

Dawn won't mind I say this (I hope) -- but her and I are new A Muse "oldies" -- as I put it. Figure that one out :) LOL!! But don't we look good! ha ha ha ha Dawn is the first A Muse person I got to see and hug in Seattle. I was coming down the escalator at the airport to baggage claim...and I spotted her right away! (even without her party hat!) How exciting!! The 2 newbie oldies got to hug IRL! ((HUG)) hee hee hee. Dawn flew in all the way from Wisconsin.

Well...that's it for now. You can find more pictures on the other A Muse Crew blogs. I have most of them listed on my side-bar.

Have you signed up for the A Muse Newsletter?? You can do that HERE.

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

What Ya Gonna Do With All That Junk...All That Junk...

OK....so it's not Monday...it's Tuesday. Oh well! I'm still here to post my projects for the HM & Friends Monday Challenge Blog. It's just a little piece of junk! ha ha ha ha ha

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #13 - Junk
Our challenge this week is to Use Your Junk!! You know...that stuff in a drawer or maybe a basket that just sits in there...waiting to get used someday. Your challenge is to use something from your pile of junk on your creation. Just go over to that junk drawer...open it...grab something...and create! It's entirely your choice what you make, as long as it features at one Mouse or Friends image.

Here's my creation using junk from one of many junk drawer piles in my house. Yes...that's right...I have several junk drawers!



The "junk" I used is Floral Wire. When I went to my kitchen and opened the junk drawer...I saw this piece of green floral wire...and right away thought of making a wall hanging. I used the wire to hang the 2 pieces of chipboard together...and for the hanger.



These mice are so cute!! The white icing on the gingerbread house has glitter on it. The gum drops and jelly beans have Copic Clear Spica Glitter Pen on them. For the candy canes and striped round mints I used Sakura Clear Glaze Pen for some shine.

So what ya gonna do with all your junk?!

Recipe:
Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Christmas Clear Set
Paper - Bazzill Green and Red Textured CS
Ink - Tsukineko Versafine Black; SU Riding Hood Red & Wild Wasabi Classic
Misc. - Prismacolor Pencils; Gamsol OMS; Copic Spica Glitter Pen Clear; Sakura Clear Glaze Pen; Zutter Round-It-All 1/2" Corner Rounder; Unique Pages Chipboard Scalloped Coaster; Misc. piece of Chipboard, Floral Wire; Misc Brads; Dimensionals; Sakura Quickie Glue Pen; Mark Enterprises Ultra fine White Crystal Snow; Sanding Block

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog HERE.
House-Mouse Designs Official Website HERE.
Tips on how you can easily color the House-Mouse Stamp Images HERE

Sleepless In Seattle

I'm Home

Whew!! I got home last night from the A Muse Instructor Training in Seattle. It was an AMAZING trip! Many of us got very little sleep...especially those that flew in from the East Coast. But every second of being Sleepless In Seattle was worth it! There are hardly words to describe this experience. Being part of the A Muse Crew is not just being on a team...it's being part of a family.

Talk about a room full of talent! WOW!! And the girls gathering all the goodies we were ordering....you ROCK! We were giving them little slips of hand written notes left and right and they never once complained! Do you know how hard that would have been....30+ of us wanting everything under the A Muse roof!!! Even on my way out the door to leave for the airport...I grabbed 1 last item to add to my list. Crazy!

Here are a couple pics. I've got lots to catch up on from being gone for 4 days...so I'm off :)

Time for me to fly!

A Muse or Bust!

Today's the day!!! I'm headed to Seattle for the Instructor Training Event with A Muse Art Stamps. This is going to be a blast. I get to meet most all of the A Muse Crew!! How COOL is THAT! I think there are about 30 of us. We are also getting Copic Certification from Marianne Walker!! WOOHOO!!

We will be taking pictures galore...and I'll share some of that when I get back. I won't be taking a computer with me -- so my blogging is going to be quiet for several days. I'll be back home Sunday evening.

Have a great weekend!!

More MissyB

Christmas Word Stocking

Here's another card made from my MissyB Designs Christmas Word Set. (see my other card here) Just 2 colored pencils...a little blending...and BAM! It's done! :)



I don't have any idea what color or brand of cardstock I used to stamp the image on. It's from a huge pack of CS I got at Costco a looooong time ago. The patterned paper is from Deja Views. The Sharon Ann Collection - Home for the Holidays. It's 2-sided paper - the strip with the ribbon is the back side. Main image layer is popped up on dimensionals. If I keep up with the Christmas Cards...I just might have enough to send out this year! I have another card made up with yet another stamp from this set. I'll share it with you all soon ;)

Want to see some goodies made by the other DT girls?
Awna
Danni
Karen

Click HERE to see more creations on the MissyB Blog
Click HERE to see all the other wonderful MissyB Stamps.

Recipe:
Stamps - MissyB Designs Christmas Words
Paper - Bazzill Textured CS, Deja Views 2-sided paper The Sharon Ann collection Home for the Holidays
Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc. -Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol OMS, paper piercer, Misc Brads & Ribbon

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

A few basic ingredients for this Recipe

No cooking for this recipe...just stamping :) A few ingredients added in with a House Mouse & Friends image is all it takes to make something fun!

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #12 - A Recipe
Our challenge this week is A Recipe!! Please include all the following items on your project:

- Ribbon
- 2 Buttons
- Felt
- A Scalloped Edge

You can add anything else you like to your project along with the required ingredients above. Make anything you like as long as it features at least one House Mouse or Friends image and follows this weeks theme. Check out what the Design Team created HERE.

AND.........we have a wonderful prize with this challenge!!!!! A spot on our Design Team for 2 weeks. Get all the details HERE!

Here's what I cook up with this weeks recipe. Can you find all the listed ingredients on my card?



I believe this litte guy is Maxwell. He has a curled tail...so I'm guessing it's him :) Coloring was done with Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol. I sprinkled Ultrafine Crystal Glitter on his hat & around his feet for snow. On the blue cardstock background, I added little dots of glue with a glue pen and sprinkked on the crystal glitter. Looks like soft little specks of snow.



Well...how do you think this recipe turned out? :)

Recipe:
Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Christmas Clear Set
Paper - Papertrey Ink White cardstock; SU Bashful Blue & Black cardstock
Ink - Tsukineko Versafine Black
Misc. - Prismacolor Pencils; Gamsol OMS, Fiskars Border Punch; Misc Felt, Buttons & Ribbon; SU Dimensionals; Red Sticky Strip; Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, Ultrafine Crystal Glitter
House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog HERE.
House-Mouse Designs Official Website HERE.
Tips on how you can easily color the House-Mouse Stamp Images HERE

MissyB Christmas Tree

Christmas Words

This tree stamp is from a MissyB Design set called Christmas Words. Isn't it cool how the words are doodled inside the tree!! I love pink on Christmas images for a change of pace.

Look how simple it is to color and create with! Simple is a GOOD THING! :) I stamped the tree 3 times. Cut 1 out and popped up on dimensional. The entire tree and the top of the pots are glittered up with Ultra Fine Crystal Glitter. For the star I used black glitter. See the little black dots in the corners -- they are black Swarvoski Crystals. The green layer is a shimmery cardstock.



Recipe:

Stamps - MissyB Designs Christmas Words

Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Bazzill Pink Textured CS, Green Bling CS, Heidi Grace Designs Double Sided Cardstock Jolly & Bright/Mini Dots

Ink - Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black

Misc. - Copic Markers RV02 YG03 E33, 2-way glue pen, Ultra Fine Crystal Glitter, Doodlebug Beetle Black Glitter, Black Swarvoski Crystals, Dimensionals, Misc Pink Sheer Ribbon

A Muse Sneak Peek

Something from Grandma's Kitchen

A Muse is releasing 2 new clear sets tomorrow - Nov 3rd. A Cupcake and Baking set. I LOVE them both!! What perfect timing for the Holidays! I don't know about all of you...but when October hits...I like to start making goodies in my kitchen. This baking set has great stamps for everything about baking!

Here's a Sneak Peek:



I also used another set called Missy's Holiday. There's a little red Twinkling Sticker on grandma's apron :) I'm gonna have a bunch of fun with these new sets!

Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Art Stamps Baking Set, Missy's Holiday Set
Paper - A Muse Art Stamps Vintage Green, Kitchen Red, Palm notecards
Ink - A Muse Art Stamps Black Dye, Tsukineko Versafine Satin Red
Misc - Copic Markers, A Muse Art Stamps Swiss Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3 mm Black Pen, Marvy Uchida Punch, EK Success Punch, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dot

Fun Halloween Pics

Trick-or-Treat Fun

Thought I would share a few pics I took last night. Kids had a blast...and the adults got in on the fun too!

Here are some of the grand kids. Nic and Brendon are Painters. They actually painted the t-shirts themselves!



Kylee was so stinkin' cute in her costume!



My youngest grand baby - Emalie - How ADORABLE!!



Robie and Rhianna (my daughter). Can you guess what Robie is?



1st stop...Grandma Anna's House. She LOVES to decorate for Halloween.



Check out the wreath on her front door!



Michaela (my youngest daughter) is a butterfly queen.



Jimmy ...my son-in-law ...aka Polamalu - is right in there with the kids. I think Kayla is Wonder Woman?? I just wonder why she is holding 2 pumpkins? Oh...I know...she was collecting candy for Robie & Rhianna...umm...I mean baby Emalie! LOL.



James and Haylie got the best seat in the house!



Here comes Alexa with her loot!



Something spooky to watch.



ET needs to go home!!