From the Heart Sketch Challenge 55

I had a great crafty day yesterday with a bunch of friends and I'm going gangbusters on my plans for my upcoming Charity Crop in June. I combined a Sketch Challenge at From the Heart with some Crop preparation and came up with a beautiful card that I simply love. Purple is not a colour I would normally scrap and I guess we're not in the Fall season but I needed to come up with an idea using this particular digi. I borrowed some paper from friend Keri and voila.... stunning, if I do say so myself.
Here's the card....

and here's the sketch I based it on....

More Cards

Die cuts, embossing, gift card spot, this card has it all in beautiful teal and white...

More incredible options from that workhorse, the Silhouette. Flip card design, die cut present...

And more intricate cutting from the Silhouette. Don't the gems match perfectly?

And finally a duo of owls.. No machine used here. Just an intricate diecut with many pieces. A labour of love to put these together.

I'm glad I have such talented friends and now I have a lovely stockpile of cards to send(admire).

More Card swap

 Nice to have a more masculine card.

Look what the Silouette can do.

 

And a cherry on top.

More Card Swap cards

This Swap there was everything from wedding cards to gift card holders. So many unique and creative ideas....
Here's a few more to inspire you...

Dog GONE cute!!!

Simple, yet tasteful!!!

I have this Bella stamp. Why have I never used it? Charming!!!

Pumpkin Muffins

Well, I was planning on posting some more of the cards I received in my most recent Card Swap, but I mentioned to one of my faithful blog readers that I was experimenting with different recipes for Pumpkin muffins and she is quite anxious for the recipe so here goes:

Pumpkin Spice Muffins
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla; pour over dry ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Spoon into prepared muffin pans. Sprinkle with sunflower or pumpkin seeds. Bake at 375 F until tops are firm to the touch, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and transfer to container. Makes 10 larger or 12 smaller muffins.

I have 2 other slightly different pumpkin muffin recipes that I'm going to try and then I'll report back which one I liked the best. I'm linking up to my first Foodie blog; My Kitchen Escapades Saturday Link-Up Party.

Another Card Swap

I was asked to participate in another Card Swap, so much fun to get all the different cards and see what everybody makes but it takes a fair bit of time to make 13 of one type of card and I'm finding I'm not getting to my individual challenges.

I always make my BFF guess which one of the cards I made and she's usually pretty good at picking out mine but this time I tricked her a little bit. I used a pre-coloured illustration from Sassy Cheryl. Huge time savings when you are making multiple cards so even though she had me narrowed down to 3, it threw her off a bit. I love how this card turned out. It looks simple but it had many parts to it, some embossing, some glamour dusting, some diecutting and I tried to step up my game on the interior.

I'm linking up to Sassy Cheryl's Show ME Thursday challenge so she knows I'm not just baking every week.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If it seems like I've been doing a lot of baking lately, it's probably because I have. I do a lot of fundraising and it always seems to involve some kind of baking because that's what I enjoy doing. Even after a long day at work and busy times walking the dogs etc, I enjoy relaxing with my mixmaster running and the oven pre-heating.

I quite often get requests to bring my carrot cake to functions. It's a family recipe that I have made for years but I think it's a pretty basic recipe. This time, I made single layers (excellent frosting to cake ratio) and stenciled a cute heart for Valentine's Day. I made 36 of these beauties and I didn't have any leftover so I guess they went pretty well. I think I'm baked out for awhile. Time to get back to my challenges and start prepping for my major fundraiser in June.


Here's the recipe if you want to try it yourself:
Traditional Carrot Cake
 
Sift together:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Then add:
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil

Mix above well, then blend in:
2 cups carrots, finely grated
1 can (14oz) crushed pineapple drained
3/4 cups pecans, chopped

Bake in 2 large 9 inch cake pans prepared for cakes at 350F for 40 min.

When cool frost with:
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 brick (250 mL) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla 
Mix together well.