Dog Sympathy

I finally got my hands on the Paper Smooches Dog Icons and Rescue stamps. I can never have too many dog stamps and most of the Loonies for Lindor attendees are dog lovers also, so I just might make a few more of these for the Crop card sale.
I decided to play along with Freshly Made Sketches this week because I really liked the sketch.

I can see myself using this particular sketch a lot. I used the new line of paper (or maybe its new to me) from American Crafts.

Sorry for the poor lighting, it's a dismal day today. I diecut the heart twice and layered it and also popped it up and I even stamped a little pawprint on the inside.

I feel like I'm starting amass a little collection of dog related stamps and dies, not just random paper lines so its a lot more fun to design the various cards. I hope I don't need to use this particular card anytime in the near future.

LRW - Birds of a Feather

I decided to link up with the Little Red Wagon challenge this week because I knew I could make a card with a bird since the Birdbrains at From the Heart Stamps are a favourite of mine.

I actually had this image already coloured since I made a similar card a few weeks ago so it came together pretty quickly.

I don't know about you but I always loved my red hot water bottle growing up. Very comforting when one is feeling under the weather.

I've been picking up steam working on my June Fundraiser so I haven't had as much time to post or maybe I've just been procrastinating getting on the desktop now that I carry my Ipad with me everywhere.

A Teenager in the Family! whaaat?

Can't believe my beloved nephew is a teenager! Of course, I had to make a special card for this momentous occasion...

I didn't really have any electronic device or hockey type images but I thought this guy worked pretty well.

At the last minute, it was decided that a birthday cake was going to be needed because Life's Little Instructions says "everyone should have a cake on their birthday" so the famous rainbow cake was called into action once again. Here it is ready for transport, it is so tall I was worried it wouldn't make the drive but it was actually quite stable even without the skewers.

And the inside was beautiful..

Even with a large crowd of well-wishers at the party, we barely got though half the cake. A special cake for a very special boy.

Freshly Made Sketches

I love it when a new line of dog paper comes out. Usually the scale is too large for cards but as soon as I saw the bands of words and images from the new ADORNit, Hound Dog line, I knew it would work for a sketch I saw on Freshly Made Sketches. I particularly liked this sketch and I try to come up with quickly reproducible cards for my various dog functions and rescues (although I changed papers numerous times and still think it needs some background paper for the base instead of beige)

I can see using this sketch a lot. It's a little different but very versatile. Here's my take on it...

My photo is a little crooked but I was running out of time to get it photographed before dark.

From the Heart Stamps February Monthly Freebie

So far, I'm two for two with my monthly challenges, but its still early days. I decided to combine From The Heart Stamps Monthly Challenge with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. I guess you could say I was killing one bird with 2 stones (that's a reference to my favourite Birdbrain images in case you didn't get it)
This month's free image included several sentiments...

and here's the sketch I used....

Voila! The card...

I love my new zigzag circle dies and I wanted to put pearls along the bottom to match the pearls in the necklace. The background was screaming for a little cloud action but I was growing weary and didn't want to print and cut another image to mask for the background. I DID manage to put a sentiment on the inside of the card. I love the yellow and navy colour combo.

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.