Happy Valentine's Day

I'm a little late but I was busy yesterday and I wanted to show off the final segment of the Senior's event. Apparently, they are quite fond of sugar cookies so I got my "team" together a couple days before the Event and we had so much fun decorating these cookies. Hopefully, there weren't any insulin problems after we left. These are basic sugar cookies with buttercream frosting and lots of sprinkles.

Date Filled Oat Cookies

I think that I have one or two more Valentine cards to post but who are we kidding? The star of the Senior's event that I ran yesterday were these Date Filled Oat Cookies. I have made them for years from my Mom's collection of recipes. They are from this ancient mini recipe book that was published, I believe in 1966.

Many of the seniors recalled baking these up when they had kitchens of their own or remembering their own mothers making them or making them for their spouses during many years of marriage. It was really rewarding to offer the Seniors a new activity to try. I had 16 attendees including 2 gents and a pair of newlyweds. The cards may not have turned out exactly as I planned but it was a really enjoyable afternoon and everyone enjoyed the activity AND the cookies. Here's the recipe if you would like to try making this classic yourself....

Date Filled Oat Cookies
1 cup shortening (part butter)
1 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup milk
2 cups Robin Hood oats (I think I used Quick oats, a little finer cut)
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Cream shortening, add sugar then milk, then oats.
Add dry ingredients to mixture. Stir thoroughly. Dough will be very soft.
Chill several hours or overnight.
Roll dough to 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured board. Cut with cookie cutters and bake at 350F 12 -15 minutes. Chill. (I put mine in the freezer until I was ready to use)

Date Filling
1/2 pound dates, pitted and chopped into small pieces (the original recipe called for 1/2 pound but I used 2 2/3 cups which is one pound and it turned out fine)
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Add water and sugar to dates, Cook until thick, stirring well. Add lemon juice. Cool before using.

More Valentine Cards

Here are a couple more card samples that I made for my upcoming Senior's event....

This is from the Kraft paper pack that I picked up at Michael's. I wanted to highlight the patterned paper so I used a lot of it for the background. It's a really cute pack of paper and I love Kraft.

I had to have the heart doilies even though I already had a supply of round. Also a purchase from Michaels. The sparkly word was cut from patterned paper and I was able to use another embossing folder from my large stockpile that I hadn't used previously. Love the XO. Kept it simple with not too many layers for ease of assembly.

Valentine Cards

I volunteered to do a little social at a local Senior's home and thought that making some Valentine cards and eating sugar cookes and date oatmeal sandwich cookies would be the perfect event.

 I did a few prototypes and then I realized that maybe I would be dealing with amateurs so I scaled back a bit.
This card looks simple but there were quite a few steps... 3 pieces of embossing and I was cutting all the hearts with my Big Shot, so this card was abandoned. Too many pieces and too much prep.

Then at the suggestion of a friend, I decided to turn to the Silhouette for a simple card, that could be cut quickly and would be easy for my clientele to assemble.
How cute it this?

The XO is a chipboard sticker so there will be a variety to choose from. In all I came up with 4 card designs and with the help of my willing assembler, we put together 40 card packs, all prepped and ready to go. Check back for other samples. There is still time to whip up a few of these cards in time for the big day.

Loonies for Lindor- Save the Date!

 Another fabulous Scrapbooking Crop for Charity coming your way this June. I was able to secure the same venue that we used last year to host another all day Crop on Sat. June 13, 2015. The Event will run from 9-6 at Woodside Bible Fellowship Church in Elmira. Stay tuned for more details.

Also note, that I have added a follow by email to my blog page and now you can be notified whenever I make a new post (which should be often as my goal is 100 posts in 2015) by entering your email.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge

I just happened to be working with the adorable Love Struck line from WeRMemory Keepers, when I spotted a cute Valentine tag. I needed to make a wedding shower card for a lady at work with birds as the theme but I wasn't quite sure how to use the tag. I happened upon the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge and I had my answer. Just cut off the tag part and I could use the sketch.

I follow the sketches pretty closely, no design team aspirations here but I love how it turned out and I think the recipient will as well.

I'm excited to link up to a new challenge site.

The Dreaded Lampshade

Maya is still on the road to recovery and unfortunately, that includes wearing the dreaded lampshade. Look at that poor sad face.
I'm sure all pet owners go through this at some stage in their pets life. Surprisingly, they seem to adapt to it pretty well, eating and drinking and sniffing the ground. Just can't itch or lick, 2 of her favourite things. Hopefully, won't be for too much longer.
In the meantime, she is getting lots of special treatment, massages, hot and cold compresses and lots of petting and one on one time.