Aug 30, 2022

Pancakes (Healthy) and Placemats

 


Something different today.

Apple Oat Pancakes

My cooking is horrible- and I'm not being hard on myself. Both my husband and son confirm! I used to be a pretty good cook, but a few years ago I lost much of my sense of taste and smell. So, yeah, I've lost interest and talent in cooking. I'm left with tasting sweet, salty, and spicy - and not much else. Sweet and salty are wonderful, but not very healthy.

So, I've been looking for ways to stop my blood sugar from creeping up and to cut down on snacking. I've read in quite a few places that a good place to focus is on high fiber/high protein and I wanted to start with a good breakfast. I do not like eggs (shudder), and am not a huge fan of oatmeal unless it's full of sugar. I started by trying these Healthy Apple Pancakes.

Result: Very Very Good. 

Is this IHOP on a plate? No, but it's delicious AND 3 hours later and I'm not hungry. Will I make these again? Absolutely! The only downside for me from a nutrition place is that they have about 1/4 the sodium I am supposed to eat every day (all from the cottage cheese). But that's ok. 

The recipe says the prep time is 10 minutes. HA! Took me about 25. It calls for 1/2 cup of egg whites and for large eggs, that came to 3. It has cottage cheese in it and I bought low fat. I would prefer more topping, so I may add more apples to the topping the next time I make them. And, there is a lot to clean up afterwards, including a blender. But I've got the time. 

Placemats

So, remember Waltzingmouse Stamps? I was crushed when it went out of business, but am thrilled that Claire Brennan is back designing patterns. And, we can buy fabric and other products, such as bedding, placemats, throw pillows, etc. made with her designs on Spoonflower. Her label is Little Nest Emporium. So, I gave it a try. (Disclosure: paid full price!). 

Had a hard time selecting a pattern for placemats. Since our dining rug has mostly orange in it, I went with the fabric above. We love the result! I ordered 4 in the linen cotton and am quite pleased with the finish. Total price with shipping was $54.54. 

What I REALLY want is to order some wallpaper in one of Claire's designs for the powder room in our soon to be new house, but Mike is not a fan of wallpaper. UGH. So after we move I'll frame some of her fabric and hang in my soon to be new craft room.

Links:

Little Nest Emporium on Instagram

Little Nest Emporium on Spoonflower

MOOD WHEN DONE: Superior

Aug 27, 2022

Happy Dance

 


Hand cut colored cardstock and threw on a sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's Happy Dance.

MOOD WHEN DONE: I'm dancing....

Aug 22, 2022

Positive Vibes x 2

 


One layer. Stamps + Ink + Embellishments.

Sharing 2 cards made with A Heart Full of Flowers stamp set by A Pocket Full of Happiness. So fun to see the same card in different colors - such a different feel. These were the easiest cards I've made in a long time.

MOOD WHEN DONE: Good!

Aug 19, 2022

Boo Dance Party - Spellbinders

 


I'm up on the Spellbinders blog today sharing these 3 cards from the Boo Party Dance Collection. The legs on the ghost move! So cute. For all the details and more pictures, please check out the post here. Thanks!

MOOD WHEN DONE: I had so much fun making these cards, so my mood is great!





Aug 16, 2022

Pinkfresh Studio August Release

 


Guest designing for Pinkfresh Studio this month and I have 2 cards to share featuring products from August's release.


My cards feature the Happy Dance stencil and stamp, Leafy Background Stencil, and Phrase Builder: Hello Hot Foil.

MOOD WHEN DONE: Delighted

Aug 15, 2022

Dancin' St Nick (he moves) + Update

 

This little Santa (Dancin' St. Nick from Spellbinders) cracks me up because his legs move back and forth! There is a hole in the die for the legs where you put a small piece of adhesive foam and then just make sure to elevate the rest of the card so it gives the legs room to move. Cute and fun. 

After I put him together I added a few flowers just because and popped him up on an embossed background. That embossed background is one of my favorites. It's called Ski Lodge Embossing Folder.  Zsoka Marko designed it for Spellbinders. Zsoka is the talent behind A Pocket Full of Happiness

MOOD WHEN DONE: Happy!

Update! It's a quiet summer - simply too hot to spend a lot of time outdoors, so plenty of time for stamping and Netflix.

Our house is still under construction and is might be ready by the end of October. We went over last night and saw the new kitchen cabinets. They are a very dark blue/gray - Sherwin Williams Cyberspace. Apparently that's the new thing. In any event, I think I love them but am not sure. This picture was taken around 6 last night and that side of the house faces west, so it's flooded with light. I wonder what they will look like at night. The backsplash will be white and the counters some type of white/gray. I guess I should be more on top of it, but the builder picked out all the finishes and we are just along for the ride! 

In any event, it will be nice to have a dedicated space to stamp again. Hope you are all doing well. Stay cool!

Aug 14, 2022

3D Embossing Folders - This Works

 

Love the gorgeous dimension that 3D embossing folders give, but I couldn't get good results. No matter how many shims or combinations I used, nothing worked right. 

So when I saw that Spellbinders released a Universal Plate System, I bought it. It is designed to work with both the Spellbinders Platinum 6 die cutting machine (which I have) AND other machines, such as the Big Shot. It's not just for embossing folders - it's for anything you would do with a die cutting machine and it has a long platform, which accommodates the Spellbinders folders (they are 8.5 x 5.5). 

As you can see, it worked like magic. If you want more information on this system, check out theses videos - Yana and Cathy


These cards were made with the Scenic Poinsettias 3D Embossing Folder, the Holiday Blooms dies, and the Christmas Mailbox Greetings Glimmer Hot Foil Plate.  And that gold paper? It's my favorite. It's super shiny but you can't ruin it with fingerprints. It's Brushed Gold cardstock from Spellbinders. 

Disclosure: Spellbinders gifted me the embossing folder and the dies. I paid for everything else. 

MOOD WHEN DONE: delighted

Aug 12, 2022

A Pocket Full of Happiness





A Pocket Full of Happiness is a new-to-me German based company run by the incredibly talented Zsoka Marko. I've been looking at the shop for months, putting things in and out of my cart - you know how it goes. I wanted everything! 

I finally pressed "buy" (taking advantage of the favorable dollar/euro exchange rate). Shipping was fast and it took about 2 weeks to get here from Germany.

This card uses 3 products from A Pocket Full of Happiness:

Layered Flowers #1 die
Pierced Heart Background die (I embossed with it)
Birthday Banner Die

MOOD WHEN DONE: Good!



 

Aug 1, 2022

Happy August!

 

Really wanted the entire new Essentials by Ellen release that came out last week, but I restrained myself and only bought the Shells set and die. And I had so much fun making these. The sentiments are from Pinkfresh Studio Modern Script Sentiments Hot Foil plate (also comes in a stamp version). 

I can't resist putting anything in a grid.

Splattered some cheap gold paint on the shells and added a little gold cord. 

MOOD WHEN DONE: Heavenly! It's a cloudy day here in North Texas this morning and that is a very good thing. Maybe, just maybe, the temps will stay below 100 here today! Hope your week is off to a good start. I've got nothing major on the agenda so should have time for crafting.