Musical Thank You Card

Here is the card I made this week. The border punch is from Martha Stewart (I borrowed it from my Aunt).
The Music background is from a blog called "The Antique Image"
http://www.theantiqueimage.com/?p=562
The "Thank You" I made on my computer. Once I figure out how to put images on here available for download, I will have a section for downloads.

Homemade Cake and Candy Stand for Sweet 16 Party

It was my daughters birthday this past week. I wanted to make a "sweets" display. Here is the finished product.....

I made three all together. This is how I made them. I bought three sizes of round cardboard cake boards....

I doubled them up, gluing right sides together and then put a trim of ribbon around them.

I wanted to use these again, so I put shelf liner on them to make them easy to clean. I made three of these stands so I thought I would try one without the liner to see if it made a difference.

There are some really neat shelf liners around. I bought this liner a while back, and if I had more I would have used it. It would have been really pretty. The store I bought this from didn't have any more either.

I used three different sized cans. Clam Chowder was in the biggest can, beans in the middle size and soup in the smallest. I trimmed paper to fit and glued it to the can.

Now glue all the pieces together. I marked the boards before I started gluing to make sure I was gluing the can in the middle. All the boards except the smallest will have two marks. After all the can marks were on the boards, gluing was a snap as I didn't have to guess where the middle was.

Somethings that need to be worked out: I used hot glue for all my gluing as I thought it would be the best; however, one of my three stands came apart. I will have to do some more experimenting with what type of glue would work best. The shelf liner worked good for cleaning; however, some of it lifted. I just pressed it down and it stuck again. I am not sure if it will still be sticking over a few months. 

I made water bottle labels as well. Pictured with the water bottle is a vase I made out of a cardboard tube that I covered with white paper and fancy felt ribbon. 

Here's a picture of the "SWEET" display

Birthday Scrapbook Pages

The scrapbook pages I completed this week were fairly simple. I typed the journaling and the header on my computer, tested it out on a scrap piece of paper, made some adjustments, and then printed it out on the scrapbook page paper.

On the page below, I used some leftover bits of scrapbook paper that I used for the gifts I made for my mom and sister that are pictured on this page. The page could use more embellishments but I like to be frugal with my money and my time.

Peach Pie Recipe

My sister let me pick peaches from her tree and with the three boxes I picked I was striving to find things to make with them. I froze about 20 bags, made peach crisp and thought I would try a recipe I never made before, "PEACH PIE".  It was delicious and fairly simple to make. The only skill really needed is patience to peel and slice the peaches. Here's the recipe......

Chicken Salad Recipe

The "try"al recipe of the week was one my daughter made. I was not allowed to make dinner all week because my daughter wanted to. Too bad for me hey? She did a fabulous job! Although I am posting the recipe that was in the "Slim and Scrumptious" cookbook by Joy Bauer, my daughter did some tweaking to get rid of the ingredients she did not want. I couldn't tell you how Pistachio Chicken Salad tastes, but what we had was delicious. My daughter served the chicken salad the way it was pictured in the book, on a toasted bun, with greens and a slice of tomato. Enjoy!

"Say Cheese" Scrapbook Page

This week's scrapbook page has some pictures I had been putting to the back of my "to do" pile for a while now. These pictures came on a laminated sheet that I did not know how to scrapbook. The solution - just TRY something. The header, the camera, the cheese and the round border are all cut out with my Aunt's Cricut machine.

Homemade Fruit Fly Trap

Okay, the fruit flies have been driving me crazy. I have tried many things to get rid of them, but none of them were very effective. Then my friend told me about cider vinegar in a bowl with plastic wrap on top and holes poked in it. I had heard about, and tried, yogurt in a bowl with the same idea, but it did not work well. The cider vinegar works awesome! I didn't like the look of a bowl so I wanted to try something different.......

I took a small jam sized canning jar, poored a tiny bit of cider vinegar in the jar, put a piece of plastic wrap over the jar and tightened on the ring part of the lid.

Then I poked about half a dozen holes in the plastic with a toothpick.

I then trimmed the plastic. Immediately upon completion, I had my first customer land on the jar, and within two minutes the fruit fly was captured. AWESOME!!!

Slam Dunkin' Chicken Strips Recipe

My "try"al recipe this week was a recipe that I found in a honey book. Since it is summer, I tryed cooking them on the barbecue instead of the oven. They turned out really good. My leftovers were soggy so I suggest you eat them the day you make them.

"Mother Who Knows" Survival Kit

I love giving survival kits. They can be gag gifts for a laugh, or more meaningful gifts for more serious occasions. I have done "teenage" survival kits, "new mother" survival kits, "calving season" survival kits,  "wedding day" survival kits and  "marriage" survival kits. This past week I went to a triple baby shower and the mom's each got a "mother who knows" survival kit. The kit included uplifting quotes on topics from treasuring their child to the importance of mothers. Here's what was in it:

I picked out quotes on mothering that were inspiring to me. I bought items that related to each quote and wrapped them separately. Each quote I put on a 3 x 5 corrugated cardboard that I distressed by ripping  and inking the edges. I put holes in the cardboard so it could be made into a book. Each quote was tied to the corresponding gift.

This is one of the gifts I purchased. I altered it by ironing on a CTR emblem....

and on the back I sewed on a ruffle. For the boys gift I purchased a hoodie and ironed on an emblem.

After all the packages were wrapped I put them in a bag and added a bow. I love using kraft paper for wrapping and kraft bags.

"Survival Kits" are well received and are unique and creative gifts to give.

Halloween Scrapbook Page

I love this page because it was super simple to do and is different from my other scrapbook pages. This idea was from the "We Dare You" book. I stenciled the title letters, I stamped a circle and used rub on letters for the word "hat". I ripped one side of the pictures then adhered them to the paper. I hand wrote the journaling and then did some free hand stuff to embellish the page a little more.

Simple Birthday Card

I seen a card like this on a blog and loved the simpleness of it. I pierced holes along the top. Underneath the holes I scored a line using my new Martha Stewart Scoring Score board, and I also tried my hand at making the "make a wish" embellishment on my computer. I have never tied twine on a button like this before. All I did was put twine through the holes, tied a knot and a bow, and then adhered the button to the red bow backwards with a pop dot. It looks cute!

HOMEMADE STAMP CLEANER

This is definitely a creative "try"al. I have been looking around for frugal ways to clean stamps. I have tried the baby wipe thing, but they dry out on me and the stamps don't come out very clean. I came across a blog a while ago that talked about greenworks cleaning solution and a shammy cloth. That sounded like a good idea so I thought I would try it. I wanted to have a neat case for it though, so I came up with this idea:

I took an old frame that I was going to throw away. I liked this one because it folds up. I took out the glass.....

I cut some shammy to fit, a little larger than the opening. I doubled the shammy for one side and made it more thick (pillowy) on the other side. I placed this in the frame and replaced the cardboard from the frame to hold the shammy in place.

I mixed a solution of 1/4 cup green works cleaner and 1 cup water. I poured this into an empty
hair spray bottle. To clean the stamps I sprayed the cleaner directly on the stamps and then dabbed on the puffy side of the shammy. To dry, I dabbed on the less puffy side of the shammy. Some stamps I needed to take a toothbrush to get all the ink out. My stamps came clean. This is a "try"al, so I am not sure if this will ruin stamps. I guess I will find out. Something that I did found out was that the cardboard backing got very wet, so I added a piece of clear plastic that I always save from packaging. The only thing I don't like so far about this is that some fibers cling to the stamps. I used a Shamwow shammy. The blog I saw but can't remember where I saw it, said she got her shammy at Walmart in the automotive section. According to her, it did not shed any fibers. I need to see if I can find it. Something I might try in the future is a bigger foldable frame. The frame I used was a 3x5 and it is good for small stamps but not for the big ones. I will have to make another attempt at making a new and improved stamp cleaner. Stay tuned.....

SEAFOOD SALAD PITA RECIPE

My new recipe this week was this delicious pita. My husband does not particularly like shrimp, but he did like it in this pita. The recipe is from "Taste of Home 2010 Annual Recipes". I did not put in the seafood seasoning, I cut fresh herbs from my herb garden instead. For now, I am going to post all recipes so that they can be copied, resized to a recipe card size on a personal computer, and printed out for all of you who would like to add to your recipe collection. I love recipes with pictures so I will always attempt to put it all in one file. This recipe is a good one! Enjoy!

SCRAPBOOK PAGE

I found the inspiration for this page in a book called "We Dare You: Scrapbook Challenges for Real Life". I love the look of this page. I love how images or stamped over the picture; however, I did learn something. Not all inks are smudge free. So I went investigating on the vast library called the internet and found that I should have used an ink called "Stayz On". This was definitely a creative "try"al and a learning experience for me. I'm off to Michael's to buy some ink!

TRY, TRY AND TRY AGAIN

Try, try and try again. I love the word “try”. To me, the word “try” is a super hero action word that invites an individual to attempt to do something and not worry so much about the results. To “try” means to break out of one’s shell, to go on an adventure, to boldly go where one has not gone before. If the results of the effort is fabulous, that is a bonus and one can bask in their success, and hopefully share it with others. If the results of the effort is less than favorable, then it can serve as a learning experience (or a good laugh), but to try and try again is a must. So go ahead and try. Take the creative “try”al challenge with me.

Last year I made a creative “try”al challenge that I am going to continue. Each week I “try” to (1) make a card, (2) finish a scrapbook page, (3) make some sort of craft and (4) try a recipe I have never tried before. I was not always 100%, but it was a goal to shoot for and I became more productive that way. Every Friday I will post my “try”als. So enough typing already and on with the creating and “trying”!!!

CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE

This is a recipe I made last month that I promised I would post the recipe. I found this delight in the Taste of Home 2010 Annual Recipes cookbook. I don't usually try things this hard looking but I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I halfed the recipe so the pictured cheesecake is a lot smaller than what a full recipe would look like. Enjoy!