Today I finally took the time to start my collection of Christmas cards for the year! I wanted something new to play around with for my first card of the year, so I ordered a couple of cute stamp sets from Mama Elephant. I had never heard of this company before but had seen the images featured on a few cards and knew I would love them. On this card I have used stamps from Winter Wonderland. I am happy to be linking up to the Merry Monday challenge again and hope to continue playing along with this great challenge throughout the coming weeks to build my stash! This week we are to use black, gold, and silver on our card. I am sad to hear that this will be the last time to link up to Seize the Sketch, I have really enjoyed playing along with their challenges over the last year! Here is a look at my card:
stamp set - Winter Wonderland (Mama Elephant); ink - black, Desert Sand (CTMH);
cardstock - White Daisy, Silver Glitter paper (CTMH); embellishments: Gold Medley, Sparkles (CTMH).


August 21, 2014

Best Day Ever

I am trying to get on a roll here with cards before I go back to work! Here is a card I made today for my brother-in-law's birthday coming up in September. I used the Freshly Made Sketches layout and the colours from Color My Heart.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
ink - Juniper, Sweet Leaf; stamp sets - Cricut Artiste Collection Kudos, It's Your Day;
Stripe embossing folder. Shapes cut from Artiste Cricut cartridge.



August 20, 2014

Into your Heart

Two different friends had babies on the same day! I had better get on to making cards. Over at the Paper Players they would like you to make a card to celebrate a child's birthday - well I think a birth should work! Although I do love both the colours and the sketch over at Fusion, both of our friends had boys, so I chose to only use the sketch and use the colours from colourQ.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
paper - Sarita, Olive, Lagoon, Vineyard Berry; ink - Vineyard Berry;
washi tape - Lagoon Hearts; stamp set - B is for Baby.


August 20, 2014 in ,

Dilly Green Beans

Ask me a year ago and I would tell you of my strong dislike of dill...however, I am slowly coming around ;).

My husband asked me to pickle some green beans this year so that we had a stash on hand for drinks and cheese and crackers. I decided to make a large batch with the beans I got at the Farmer's Market (I quadrupled the recipe below). Here is the recipe I used:
Dilly Green Beans
yields 4 pints or 2 quarts

2 lbs green beans
1/4 cup salt
2 1/2 cups vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
4 pinches red chili flakes (divided)
4 cloves garlic
4 heads dill

While prepping, set clean jars in a dishwasher and put on a Quick Rinse cycle with a high temperature. Trim ends off of green beans. Combine salt, vinegar, and water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of red chili flakes, a clove of garlic, and a head of dill to each hot pint jar. Pack beans lengthwise into jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Ladle hot liquid over beans, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Tighten caps onto jars. Process jars for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Today at Heart2Heart we are getting Inspired by...a Book! When I heard about this challenge I knew I had the perfect stamp from the Papertrey Ink stamp set Love & Marriage. I was immediately drawn to this stamp after finishing the famous Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
When thinking about the card I wanted to make, however, I had to go to the CTMH (retired) Superhero paper packet to make a wedding card for my friend this weekend. Her and her husband-to-be are comic book/superhero fanatics! You can see the wedding invitations I made for them on this post. Here is what I came up with:
All other supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - Moonstruck, Sky, Cranberry, White Daisy;
Ink - Cranberry; Accessories - Black Medley, Red gems.

Come and join us at Heart2Heart this month and tell us what you are inspired by!
August 15, 2014

Fast & Furious Tag

My nephew got his tonsils and adenoids removed today, so I set out to make a tag for the gift we got him (popsicles and blueberry juice). I immediately went to the Fast & Furious stamp set I got awhile ago with him in mind. The card really came together using the shape of tag from Tag You're It!, the layout from Freshly Made Sketches, the tic-tac-toe challenge at CAS-ual Fridays (I went straight across the top with chevrons, black, and sequins), and the colours at Color Throwdown.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
ink - Slate, Lagoon, Olive, Cranberry, Black; paper - Paper Fundamentals, White Daisy; Black Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.



August 12, 2014

all you need is love

Looking to make the second wedding card I need for the weekend, I turned to the Atlantic Hearts sketch challenge for a lovely layout. I was going for a classy & elegant look for this wedding card, and found the perfect challenge to link up to for the first time at The Card Concept. I slightly altered the colours from their photo to make them more fit in with my friend's wedding colours. Obviously, I adore the song "All You Need Is Love" by the Beatles, and have decided to link up this card with the inspired by a song challenge at Heart2Heart this week.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
paper - Brushed, White Daisy, Lagoon; ink - Lagoon. 
Shapes cut from Art Philosophy and Artiste Cricut cartridges.



August 08, 2014

Make It Sparkle

We are right in the middle of wedding season and have been invited to 3 weddings on one day next weekend! When making a card for a wedding, I try to incorporate the wedding colours. Here is a card I made for one of the weddings using Freshly Made Sketches. I decided to "make it sparkle" to link up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge by adding some gems.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
Paper - Chalk It Up, Paper Fundamentals, Lagoon, White Daisy;
Ink - Lagoon, Black;
Stamps - Alphabets, Love Always.

August 07, 2014 in

Rainier Cherries

Several years ago, as a retirement project, my Dad planted 900 cherry trees in his field. When they began to produce, he noticed a few of the trees were producing yellow blush coloured cherries instead of the dark red Lapin variety (which the rest of the orchard was). These blush cherries are called Rainier cherries and were accidentally mixed in with the order from the nursery. Years later, this variety has come to be my favourite.
Here is a dessert I came up with this year to enjoy them.

Cherry & Walnut Tartlets           yields 10
1 1/2 cups honey graham crumbs
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup (250g) cream cheese
1/2 cup cream
3 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
A handful of Rainier cherries, chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Mix crumbs with melted butter in a small bowl until everything is moist. Line 10 cups in a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Scoop about 3 tbsp. of the crumb mixture into each cup, firmly pressing from the centre of the liner to the edges and up the sides until the crust is even with the rim. Refrigerate until firm.

Beat cream cheese with the cream, honey, and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high until fluffy, about two minutes. Remove muffin tin from refrigerator and fill prepared crusts with the cream cheese mixture up to the rim. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Remove cupcake liners from tartlets and place onto individual plates. Scoop the cherries and walnuts on top of each. Serve.


Today over at Heart2Heart we are getting inspired by...a movie! To make a card for our 2nd anniversary this summer I was inspired by a movie we both love, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby". Chris, you are the shake to my bake ;)

I have used some new product on this card - Black Striped Twill ribbon and Flaxen ink.
All supplies are Close To My Heart:
cardstock - Colonial White, Black Glitter paper, Paper Fundamentals; 
ink - Black, Flaxen; stamp set - Lollydoodle Cardmaking Workshop;
Black Striped Twill ribbon.

This recipe is a family favourite down the lake every summer. My Uncle Tim always seem to whip up a batch of this yummy treat a few times throughout the berry season. You can really substitute any berries you want into the recipe. Yum :)
Huckleberry Buckle

1 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
2 c. fresh or frozen Huckleberries
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. butter

Preheat oven to 400F. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in egg. Mix in half the flour mixture, followed by milk. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until combined. Pour batter into a greased 8" baking pan. Sprinkle with huckleberries.

Mix remaining dry ingredients in another bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over huckleberries. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and then cut into squares to serve warm. Serve with ice cream or frozen yogourt for an extra yummy treat!

Recipe adapted from Aces: More Recipes From The Best of Bridge.


This month at Heart2Heart we are getting inspired! And for this scrapbooking challenge we are getting inspired by...nature, with a focus on distressing!

When I saw the new Close To My Heart Brushed paper packet I knew it would be perfect for this challenge. Each anniversary I am scrapbooking a page of what we do on our day. For our 2nd anniversary this summer we bought bikes and also went up to Kimberley to the new Stonefire Pizzeria - it was delicious!

Here is what I have created for this year. My edge distressing has been done with two of our new colours, Canary and Pixie. All shapes have been cut with the Artbooking Cricut cartridge.

You have all month to play along with us at Heart2Heart on any of our August challenges - hope to see you there!
Our first Annual Inspirations idea book is now LIVE at Close To My Heart.
There are so many amazing new products in this book that you just have to check out. Here are some of my personal favourites:

Chalk It Up paper pack p. 27
Build-a-cake stamp set p. 88
Brushed paper pack p. 99
World Traveler stamp set p. 115
Cricut Artfully Sent Collection p. 141
Cut Above card kits p. 160-161
Designed Décor Red Magnetic Chalkboard p. 163
Black Striped Twill ribbon p. 172
Lagoon Hearts washi tape p. 173
Paper Fundamentals p. 174
Designer Creations Paper Bags p. 176
Embossing Folders p. 179

Christmas
Yuletide Carol Scrapbooking Workshop on the Go p. 63
Merry, Merry stamp set p. 68
Snowhaven Cardmaking Workshop on the Go p. 76

In addition, we also have 5 new colours for you to enjoy: Thistle, Glacier, Flaxen, Canary, and Pixie!

This card features all of our new colours, along with patterned paper from the Brushed paper packet.

Get your copy of the Annual Inspirations idea book and place your order today!

© Allie's Adventures in the Kitchen, Crafting, and the Kootenays! · THEME BY WATDESIGNEXPRESS