Thank You Card #3

Paper: Simple Stories, Vintage Bliss, "Laugh Lots"

Spellbinders Large Standard and Scalloped Circles

Just Rite "Just a Note" 1 5/8" Stamp Set

Thank You Card #2

Paper is Authentique

Paper: Authentique, Gathering, "Bloom" (Front and Back)

Spellbinders Large Standard and Scalloped Circlces

Just Rite "Just a Note" 1 5/8" Stamp Set

Thank You Card #1

Paper: Pebbles, Family Ties, "Daughter" (Front and Back)

Spellbinders Large Standard and Scalloped Circlces

Just Rite "Just a Note" 1 5/8" Stamp Set

Tuscany, Italy

Wow, I feel like I haven't posted something in forever. I'm kind of a horrible person right now. It's not even that I don't have anything to share, it's that I haven't been on my computer much lately. (Gasp!) It was my mom's birthday last week and my husband's yesterday, so I guess I've been busy with that. And last week I found out that I get to join my mother-in-law and sister-in-law in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy in May!! We'll be drinking wine in our villa that overlooks a vineyard all week long. Yay! My husband is amazing enough that he's okay that he's not going. And it's over our one year wedding anniversary/my birthday, so he is extra amazing to let me go. 

But anyway, the reason this has interfered with my blogging is because instead of sitting my butt down on the couch with my laptop, I've been doing (attempting) yoga and "running" on our treadmill. Gotta get back my summer body so I can fit into those bikinis and cute summer dresses again for the trip! ;)

You guys can all look forward to some amazing pictures when I go, but for now  you can look forward to about two weeks of cards. I am forewarning you however, they're all the same card with different paper. They're gonna be called "Thank You #...". So look forward to it. I've been making a ton of them because I realized that I was severely lacking some thank you cards when our pipes froze in early February and I wanted to send a letter to our neighbors and the wonderful city workers. Now I will be stocked up though!

Thanks for hanging in there, 

BYE!

Ill be your honey bee

Page for sale at the store.

Kaiser Craft Hello Sunshine/Daydream collection
Bee and I'll be your honey bee diecut are available at Picture This
Washi tape-black with white polka dots
The sun in the corner was on a scrap piece of paper (Cheery Lynn sunflower die also has a center like this)

Susan Louise

This past Thursday we got a huge amount of new Susan Louise product in! We moved our Tim Holtz corner to make room. There is a lot of new stuff! Penny (the local Madison artist who designed these) herself will be here on April 5 to teach a class. Be sure to check it out as spaces are limited.

All Day Crop

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have an all day crop going on. Swing by and join us and check the new products and restock we've gotten this week!

Happy Birthday Giraffe

I made this card for my mom for her birthday.  Pretty sure the Hello Sunshine collection from Kaiser Craft is meant for children, but mom loves giraffes so how could I deny her of a card with a giraffe on it??
Well, I love this paper collection. I bought every paper in it plus the embellishment pack. :)
Hello Sunshine paper and embellishments
SB Labels One
Happy birthday stamp
The Twinery yellow and white twine
TH walnut stain distressed ink

Love Coupon Book

So last Thursday my practically sister-in-law sent me a text asking if she could come over because she needed help making a gift for my brother. We share a scrap room at my house so of course  I said yes even though the idea of helping make my brother a romantic gift is totally nauseating. Whatevs. It ended up being a fun afternoon and I got to experience how to use a Cricut, if only slightly, for the first time (I prefer our Pazzle at work thank you very much!).

Anyway, she has SOOO much paper it's ridiculous. So we had plenty of Valentine's day themed paper to work with.

 We ended up making a 16 page coupon book including the front and back cover, with 14 coupons on the inside, and 15 different Valentine's Day themed papers. There's 14 coupons because V-day is on the 14th of course. 

We cut cardstock to be 3x6", then each paper to be 3x6" (x32 of those). We attached a different patterned paper to each piece cardstock on the front and back, to give it some stability.

She cut out some letters on her Cricut for the front cover to say "love coupons".

Then we cut 14 pieces of cardstock to be 2.5x5" and that's for writing the coupons out. Hole punch all of the pages, and  fill your coupons out, and string some ribbon through it and you've got yourself a love coupon book!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

P.S.

I made one of these for my husband last Christmas, but not fancy with patterned paper or anything, and because men don't understand some things, I added expiration dates and terms of use. The first page after the cover of mine was a disclaimer page stating that" all coupons expire within 6 months of" said date, "only one coupon per day", "coupons cannot be combined". But watch out because my husband was crafty and he would use some before midnight and then right after midnight to avoid that "one per day" rule. ;) Good luck if  you make one for your significant other.

Angry Orchard Apple Cinnamon White Chocolate Chip Beer Bread

So I know that this is not a food blog, but who doesn't love a great recipe? I posted this picture on my Facebook page and it was such a hit that I thought I would share it with you! You lucky ducks. 

Doesn't it just look scrumptious?! 

Here's the ingredients you need:

First you need to slice and dice a small apple. I used Fuji because that what I had on hand but you can use any apple you prefer to bake with.

Pour your bread mix (I don't like making bread from scratch so I always use Tastefully Simple's Beer Bread Mix-just add beer!)  into a large bowl and then add all other dry ingredients to the bowl.

Throw your diced apples on top of all of that.

Now slowly pour in your beer,

Mix your ingredients while the foam from the beer is still fizzy. The yeast in your beer is what makes this bread rise (just a little). I hate yeast bread recipes so I always love making beer bread. I never have yeast on hand, but always beer!

Mix until ingredients are combined well. No need to over mix.

That's some good looking dough. Can you see the chips in there? Yum!

Pour your dough into a 9x5 bread pan and sprinkle cinnamon on top. You can also add some butter on top at this point and your bread will have an even more deliciously brown color when it comes out of the oven.

Just look at it!

All brown and delicious on top, yet still ooey gooey dough in the middle. Just how it should be. :)

Slice it up and eat it. Or share it. I shared with my mom and co-workers and this lovely little loaf was gone in a day. No need to even add butter to it. It was perfect just as it was. And though I love me some beer bread, it didn't even taste like beer bread. Just like apple bread. And cinnamon. And Fall. That's how it smells too. 

Enjoy!

Angry Orchard Apple Cinnamon White Chocolate Chip Beer Bread

Ingredients:

One Tastefully Simple Beer Bread Mix (or use your favorite beer bread recipe)

12oz Angry Orchard

1/4c Chips

1/4c White Chocolate Chips

1 small apple, diced

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

2T butter (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5 bread pan. 

Dice your apple and then slice the diced pieces in half so that they are not so chunky.

Add your bread mix to a large mixing bowl. Add your chips, apple, and 1 tsp cinnamon.

Add vanilla. 

Slowly pour beer into bowl and then begin mixing right away while foam is still present. Mix until ingredients are well incorporated.

Pour dough into greased pan evenly. Shake back and forth if necessary to even dough out. 

Sprinkle remaining 1tsp cinnamon on top of the raw loaf. Spread butter on top of loaf for a more golden brown bread (you can melt it first and pour it on or spread it on like you do a piece of toast). 

Bake for 50-55 minutes (I always do 50 minutes or less because I prefer my bread under-cooked). 

Let the bread sit for 30 minutes before slicing, but remove from pan after 5 minutes and place on a cooling rack to prevent the bread from cooking further. 

Slice and enjoy spread with butter and a hot coffee! 

ENJOY :)