Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Over the summer, I had a chance to get a little more organized and discovered that I may be a bit of a hoarder or as I like to see it; stockpiler. Boxes of cereal (there was a movie promo, don't you know), doggie stuff, scrapbooking supplies, crushed pineapple, Chipits, sprinkles and apparently also cake mixes.

 Fortunately, I can use at least one of those items in the following recipe. I used to make a recipe for Lemon Poppyseed cake where you beat the egg whites separately and folded them in and yadda, yadda, yadda until my friend Kathy gave me this great recipe. I've never looked back and have made it countless times. So moist and yummy and turns out great always. I took it to a function and didn't have my camera so you'll just have to imagine the inside....

Lemon Poppyseed Ring

1 pkg lemon cake mix
1 pkg (4 serving size) vanilla pudding, instant
4 eggs
1 cup lemon or plain yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup poppy seeds
2 tsp. grated lemon rind

Combine ingredients and spread batter evenly in prepared bundt or tube pan. Bake 50 -60 minutes at 350F or until tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Cool and remove from pan.

While still warmish, prepare the following and apply to the cake.
3 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp butter (melted)
2 cups icing sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh)
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
 Adjust the liquid so it is the correct consistency to stay on the cake.

From the Heart Stamps Monthly Challenge

Well, I survived the wettest camping experience that I have had in the last 20 years and now its back to the routine. I have missed not participating in the From The Heart Stamps montly challenge. If you do it every month, you get the next month's image for free. Unfortunately, I have not had time to keep up and my computer hard drive went which delayed my participation also, so I had to purchase the digi so I could get back in the loop. The Pigwits are growing on me and this one was so cute.

They usually come with some great sentiments as well. Here's my card.... Hope you like it.

And I'm trying to be a little more creative on the inside as well...

More Mason Jar Cards

Here are the last 4 cards that I handed out to the participants at the Loonies for Lindor fundraising crop....
Love these colours. So fall-like. Whoops, that's a bad word right now. Still enjoying the summer climes.

And the spring is good too. You can't see the details but I blinged this card up a bit....

The daisies are always so cheerful. I believe this was a Whippersnapper stamp that I borrowed....

And finally a card from Silhouette that my friend Corrina originally found and made in a Valentine theme. I changed the theme but gave away all the cards....

There are so many options for the mason jar theme. It was a really fun one to work with. I hope you get some inspiration from my cards.

Mason Jar Cards

Well, I thought I was done with the Fundraiser but I still have a few posts to share. The mini theme for the Crop was mason jar and I had a great set of stamps from Papertrey Inc that I paid a fortune to ship some time ago so I was happy to put them to good use. And I was also able to use a couple of digital images.  In all, I made 8 designs for the cards. All of the cards were cut and coloured so all the guests had to do was assemble. I had a busy winter making 80 cards.

Here's are a few to show you:
I love the fall colours, I orginally did this card in purples but quickly realized it is almost impossible to find purple paper.

The strawberries took me awhile to colour...

Of course, I had to work in a dog-themed card...

I tried to use some different techniques. Here, I cut out the jar from coordinating paper...

Usually I have a few cards leftover but this year, they were all needed for participants. I hope everyone enjoyed their cards and have been able to send them to a special friend.

Kismutt Rescue

I have been busy picking up various donation items and checking out some of the  Rescues in the area. I was really pleased to have a couple of visits to Kismutt Rescue near St. Mary's. Kim rescues the majority of dogs from local Puppy Mills where the animals are subject to horrendous conditions.

On the first visit, I was able to drop off the towels and blankets that were donated at the Fundraiser and also bleach, laundry soap, moist canned food and doggie treats.

At a second visit, I met Tinkie a Puppy Mill Survivor...

Here's a little bit about Tinkie and her life until now. Tinkie is a Bichon-Poo approximately 6-7 years old. She has never known a home or had a soft bed to sleep in. She has never known love or even had a name until she was rescued from a Puppy Mill. Her fur was a matted mess and had to be shaved down and she had to have 7 rotten teeth removed. Tinkie has come a long way, she is still a little shy but you can see from the photo how adorable she is now. Tinkie is available for adoption and will hopefully find a loving forever home soon.

This friendly guy is a stray with no real name or background and he is also up for adoption. He was so friendly, I could hardly get a photo. He kept edging his way towards me to get petted. What a sweet, gentle boy. He would make someone a great friend.
I had no idea that so many dogs and cats were dumped in rural settings. Many of them needing medical care and attention. I'm happy I was also able to donate some of the funds raised at the Crop to this cause. I'm sure it will be put to good use.

On another note, my chocolate girl turned 6 yesterday. Happy birthday Lindor! You will be getting a special treat later today.

Lunch at the Crop

We try to make all the food for the Fundraiser at the last minute and most of it is freshly prepared from the cut up fruits and vegetables to the muffins and baking. I'm lucky I have a really great group of friends and relatives to help out. It takes a couple days to get just the food prepared. Thanks Keri, Anne Marie, Lisa and Kathy and all the girls who helped in the kitchen the day of the event. I hope I didn't leave anyone out, it was a very busy couple of days.

Of course, I like to do most of the baking and this year, we made a couple of cute desserts in mason jars. Carrot cake trifle with cream cheese whipped filling....

And delicious Oreo/Peanut Butter trifle....

Thanks Lori for taking all the great photographs. That wraps up the "big" event for another year.
Back to card-making and crafting and enjoying the DOG days of summer.

Embossed Napkins

Another kind-hearted friend volunteered to make 100 of these cute bookmarks for the goodie bags for the Crop.

Hilarious! She also embossed a whole stack of napkins in pawprints. I've never heard of that. What a clever idea and added such a nice touch to the dessert table. Thank you, Miss Shirley.