December 31, 2014 in

Top Cards of 2014

A lot of crafting "firsts" happened for me this year! I won my first card challenge in February over at Freshly Made Sketches, got to be a Guest Designer over at Color My Heart after winning a colour challenge in May, participated on my first Design Team over at Heart2Heart, and won my first "prize" for card making over at Verve! I have tried out new techniques, played around more with my Cricut cartridges and dies, and tried out new products from different companies. I love playing around in my craft room and am very proud of myself for making time to do so all throughout the year. A special thanks to my Auntie Karen for the inspiration and encouragement to start a blog and play along in card challenges!
I have seen this done on many blogs over the years and am excited to finally have a full year's worth of projects on my blog to choose from! Here's a look back at this year:
January
This card was for my husband, Chris', birthday this year!
February
I made this cozy card at a lovely scrapbooking crop I went to in February.
March
I don't normally play with this kind of sketch, but this card really came together!
April
I LOVED creating these little projects all out of one sheet of patterned paper!
May
Probably one of my most-used and loved stamp sets of the year!
June
This card was created for my first ever Guest Designer post, which was on Colour My Heart!
July
This card was created for my sister-in-law after her love of mason jars at her wedding!
August
Another wedding card that was one of my favourites this year! I love this sentiment, as I'm sure you can tell :)
September
This card was made for my cousin's wedding and was my first attempt this year at resist embossing.
October
I was excited to try out another new sponging technique for the background on this card.
November
I just love these little jingle bells! This card was chosen as a Colour Me...Captivating!
December
I just love these new coffee and tea stamps & dies from Verve! Plus this card won me a Verve gift certificate - woo!

Cheers to another crafty year and all the best in 2015 :)
It is so nice being on holidays! Today I was inspired to make us a fancy new meal and decided to adapt this recipe I had come across in the Aces - More Recipes From The Best of Bridge cookbook.

I started by using this recipe from my friend, Matt, for pasta dough. His recipe is more moist than the one I usually use, and has proven to be much easier to work with for ravioli! Here is the filling I mixed together:

Four Cheese Ravioli filling

  • 500ml Ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
  • Sprinkle of Basil and Oregano

After my ravioli was filled and cut out, I began to make the sauces. 

Red Sauce
  • 1 tbsp. butter
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 an onion, chopped
  • 425ml can tomato sauce
Melt better in a saucepan. Add garlic and onion to simmer for a few minutes. Add tomato sauce and stir. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes and set aside. Meanwhile, boil ravioli.


White Sauce

  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 5 Crimini mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • Flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus extra for serving)
  • 1 1/2 cups grated Mozzarella cheese
  • Fresh basil to garnish
Melt better in a separate saucepan. Add mushrooms and green onion to sauté until tender. Sprinkle flour over the pan contents and mix. Reduce heat and slowly add milk. Gently bring to a simmer and allow mixture to thicken slightly. Remove from heat, season with pepper and add cheeses. Add sauce to the cooked ravioli. 

To assemble the dish, cover a baking dish with the red sauce. Arrange ravioli in the middle of the dish. 
Place dish in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes. Remove and garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil! Enjoy :)

It's tinsel time at Heart2Heart, which means you need to make a project using the colours Lagoon, Black, and Silver (or something close to those). I decided to make another Christmas card to add to my stash...I'm almost done! I just love how the Artfully Sent cartridge makes cards so easy.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - Silver Glitter paper, White Daisy and Lagoon cardstock; Ink - Lagoon;
Stamps - Very Merry Christmas; Embellishments - Black Twine, Clear Sparkles.
Shapes cut from Artfully Sent and Artiste Cricut cartridges. 

Hope to see you in the gallery this month at Heart2Heart!
December 02, 2014

Coffee Card Set - Card 3

Here is the third card I have made for my coffee sets using the Viva la Verve Week 1 sketch for November. I was inspired by this lovely card set also created by my Auntie Karen - thanks for the great idea!

Paper - Perfect Day, Paper Fundamentals - Basics, Cocoa cardstock (CTMH), On The Bright Side (My Mind's Eye);
Ink - Juniper, Cocoa, Chocolate (CTMH); Stamps - One Cup, Coffee (Verve); Dies - Coffee word die, Cuppa Joe (Verve).

This month at Heart2Heart we will have two challenges for you that you can play with all month long. Watch for our colour challenge next week! Today though, it's scrapbook your favourite holiday! I'm continuing to work on this project and I do have to say that girls weekends are one of my favourite holidays away! Here is a layout I created this past weekend:
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
Album - Hip Pics Album; Paper - Wonderland, White Daisy; Ink - Lagoon, Grey Flannel;
Stamp sets - Frosted Cardmaking workshop, Wonderland WOG.

November 30, 2014

Coffee Card Set - Card 2

Here is the second card I made for my coffee sets using Freshly Made Sketches #164. I was also inspired by this card my talented Auntie Karen made!

Paper - Perfect Day, Paper Fundamentals - Basics, Cocoa cardstock (CTMH), On The Bright Side (My Mind's Eye);
Ink - Juniper, Cocoa, Chocolate (CTMH); Stamps - One Cup, Coffee (Verve); 
Dies - Coffee word die, Cuppa Joe (Verve); Ribbon - Chocolate twine (CTMH).

November 30, 2014

Coffee Card Set - Card 1

I went to a productive crop this weekend and was able to work on some Christmas presents: coffee card sets! Here is one design I have made for each set using the tall & skinny Mojo Monday sketch.

Here is the same card created with different papers:
Paper - Perfect Day, Paper Fundamentals - Basics, Cocoa cardstock (CTMH), On The Bright Side (My Mind's Eye);
Ink - Juniper, Cocoa (CTMH); Stamps - One Cup, Coffee (Verve); Dies - Coffee word die, Cuppa Joe (Verve).


November 27, 2014

Merry, Merry Christmas

Here is a card and matching tag set I whipped up. I wanted to play along with the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge of using green, red, and white. I'm using a new CTMH Diamond embossing folder that will be available to order December 1!

All supplies are Close To My Heart:
Stamps - Merry Merry, Frosted Cardmaking Workshop; Ink - Olive, Cranberry;
Paper - Colonial White, Olive cardstock; Ribbon - Jute.

Continuing with our NOvember challenge over at Heart2Heart, this week we are focussing on NO embellishments. This challenge was tricky for me, but I found a lot of solutions with our Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge! I made this card for my brother-in-law's birthday coming up this week. He loves his moustache :). It features a sneak peak of a stamp set that will be available for order starting in December!
All Supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - White Daisy, Black Glitter, Pacifica cardstock;
Stamps - You're The Bomb; Ink - Sunset; Cricut cartridge - Artfully Sent.

I also played along with the colours over at Colour Me...!
Hope to see your project linked up in our gallery at Heart2Heart!
November 10, 2014

Christmas Cheer

The Atlantic Hearts sketch challenge caught my eye today and I began thinking of ornaments. As Christmas approaches, I'm really trying to beef up my Christmas card stash! The new Merry Monday challenge this week is to create a card with ornaments in silver/grey and blue - perfect!

All supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - Outdoor Denim, Slate, White Daisy; Ink - Outdoor Denim, Slate, Whisper;
Embossing powder - Silver; Stamps - Frosted Cardmaking Workshop, Very Merry Christmas;
Twine - Slate; Embellishments - Sparkles Holiday Shapes, Sparkle & Shine washi tape.
Shapes cut from the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge.

November 09, 2014

A Rustic Christmas Card

I am so happy I can sneak this Christmas card in under the Merry Monday deadline to make a rustic Christmas card using tans, creams, and browns. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make a card like this, but I am really happy with the results. I followed the layout at Freshly Made Sketches this week.
Paper - Colonial White, Kraft cardstock; Frosted patterned paper (CTMH);
Ink - Cashmere, Chocolate (CTMH); Stamps - Glad Tidings (Verve); Frosted Card Making Workshop (CTMH);
Ribbon - Cashmere twine (CTMH); Snowflake die - Snowflake Tidings (Verve).
November 08, 2014

Cut Above Holiday Card Kit

Tonight I had some spare time to whip up one of our cute card kits. This is the Holiday Card Kit, which contains all of the supplies to make 10 cards. All you need is some adhesive, ink (I used Cranberry) and a stamp set (I recommend getting the Merriest Christmas stamp set).



This November at Heart2Heart our themes will involve "NO"! It's my turn to host this week and our challenge is NO stamps. This is a tricky one for me, so I immediately turned to the new CTMH Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge. I need a birthday card this month for my sister-in-law who happens to love purses!
Papers - Snowhaven; Stella (zip strip). Embellishments - Sparkles.

We hope to see you over at Heart2Heart this month to play along with our NO themes! Remember you have all month long to play along with each of these challenges :).
November 02, 2014

Sleigh Bells Ring

Are you listening? Every time I see this quote I immediately start singing "Winter Wonderland" in my head! I was so excited to find some jingle bells at the dollar store this weekend and set to work making a card to fit around this sentiment. I used the Freshly Made Sketches layout and chose colours from the Colour Me...! challenge (Chocolate, Blush, and Twilight from Close To My Heart).
Papers - Wonderland paper pack, White Daisy (CTMH); Ink - Blush, Twilight, Grey Flannel (CTMH);
Stamps - Holiday Magic (CTMH), Winter Wonderland (Mama Elephant); Embossing folder - Allegro (Cuttlebug).

October 31, 2014

Joyeux Noel

While the trick-or-treaters are scurrying up and down our deck tonight I decided to hang out in my craft room (which just happens to be right by the front door!). I wanted to make a vintage snowflake Christmas card to fit with the Merry Monday challenge and came across this layout from Viva la Verve sketches that I think fits perfectly for falling snowflakes!
Stamps - Glad Tidings (Verve); Ink - Slate, Whisper, Cashmere (CTMH); 
Embossing Powder - Princess Gold (CTMH); Paper - White Daisy, Kraft cardstock (CTMH).
October 31, 2014 in

Thai Chicken Pizza

Try this tasty thin crust pizza!

Pizza Dough for Bread Machine
200 mL water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 3/4 tsp. Bread Machine yeast

Add ingredients to bread pan in this exact order. Set bread machine to dough setting. Mine takes 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F. When dough is finished, roll out on a lightly floured surface. (I usually divide into two and freeze one half for next time). Place on a lightly oiled pizza stone. Add toppings and bake in oven for 12-15 minutes.

Thai Chicken Pizza topping
Peanut Satay sauce
2 grilled chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces (sprinkled with Frank's Red Hot Sauce and seasoning salt)
2 carrots, grated
Red pepper, chopped
Sesame seeds
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a blend of cheddar and Monterey Jack)
3 green onions, chopped

Assemble pizza by evenly spreading ingredients onto the dough in the order listed. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes (*note* this is not an additional time from above).
We have one last October challenge for you over at Heart2Heart this week. Our theme is midnight, and you can interpret that however you like! It could be a Halloween card or something else.

For my card, I knew I wanted to make something to add to my Christmas stash! When I thought about combining it with the midnight challenge, my thoughts were drawn back to the beginning of the millennium, New Years Eve 2000...my friend and I were babysitting that night and were outside enjoying the glistening snow fall down around us as the clock struck midnight.

This card was cut out using the fabulous new CTMH Artfully Sent Cricut cartridge. It truly does make card making a whole lot easier! So many fun new images and cards to play around with! Here is the inside of my card:
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - White Daisy, Black, Silver Glitter Paper; Ink - Black, White Daisy; 
Stamps - Merriest Christmas, Holiday Magic.

Join us at Heart2Heart this week to play along with any of our October challenges. Hope to see you in the Link-Up!
October 19, 2014

thanks...so very much!

This weekend I had the amazing experience of attending the Voices for Sustainability Symposium at the stunning Quantum Leaps Lodge just outside of Golden, BC. It was a relaxing weekend filled with lots of ideas and inspiration. Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful surroundings:

I was funded by my school district to go to this event, so I wanted to make a thank you card when I got home to express my gratitude. I knew I wanted to use the cute die I received from Taylored Expressions as a "thanks" for my order and I was also inspired by two different cards. I loved the colours at Color My Heart Color Dare and wanted to try a new technique with these fun colours. I started at the bottom of my shape and began sponging on Olive ink. I did this to approximately a third of my shape. Next, using the same sponge without cleaning, I began to use the Sunset ink, blending the colours for the second third. Finally, I used a clean spot of the sponge to apply pure Sunset ink to the top. I am very pleased with the results! I used the sketch from Retro Sketches after I saw the inspiration from the Design Team.
All other supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - White Daisy, Outdoor Denim; Embossing Powder - Princess Gold;
Ink - Olive, Sunset; Stamp - Just To Say...Cricut Collection; Embellishments - Gold Sequins.
© Allie's Adventures in the Kitchen, Crafting, and the Kootenays! · THEME BY WATDESIGNEXPRESS