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.

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