I'm going to share a new way for coloring your artistic creations-PAN PASTELS. I have recently discovered them and cannot tell you how fun they are to use. They are a type of chalk (Pastel) that you apply with a sponge tipped applicator. The applicators have multiple sized/ shaped tips. They dry very fast and do not have to be sprayed to keep them from smearing or wiping away. Let get started with a quick tutorial, shall we?

Here is a look at the Pastels. They are very large and can be stacked or placed into this plastic tray. (They kinda remind me of  loose powder makeup containers.) You can see (kinda) the applicators in the black cup behind the pastels.

I wanted to make a moon as the center of this image so I punched a 2" circle out of scrap paper  and placed it in the center of my cut cardstock as a mask. I started with darker blue and  purple near the edge of the punched circle mask to start creating the night sky. I used the applicator and rubbed pastel colors in a circular pattern and blended as I went.

 When you achieve the look you want peel the circle up and place the reverse circle (the piece of scrap paper you punched your 2" circle from) over top to mask out the sky that you just chalked.

I used both a bright yellow and an orange yellow to chalk the details of the moon. Going darker (from outer edge) to lighter (inner edge).

Here is what it looks like when you are at this point.

Now you are ready to stamp. This technique works best with solid image stamps like this Stampin' Up! MIDNIGHT RAVEN #116529 single stamp. Use a bold dark color like Stampin' Up!'s BASIC BLACK CLASSIC INK #101179.

Here's what it looks like at this point.

I added some bats from Stampin Up!'s set WICKED COOL #120600 around the moon on both sides.I stamped some random tree branches.  I matted the image on navy and cajun cardstock. I added some retired Stampin' Up! buttons at the bottom.  

Viola!

ALL WRAPPED UP

 I used a  movie theater- size MIKE & IKE to create this spooky candy wrapper/ gift. The box is approximately 7.25 x 3 inches. I wrapped the box of candy with Nite Owl paper.  I cut the small pieces for the sides of the box seperately. Used decorative edged scissors to cut the label and then added a skull label found on one of the sheets from this pack of  "spooky...ooky" paper.

 I added color and depth with the STAMPIN' PASTELS #120962 (all new colors in this kit). Ran some Cajun Craze cs through the machine to emboss with the new embossing texture folder SPPIDER WEB #120889. Attached chalked image to box front with Dimensionals #104430 so that ribbon would lay flat under the image.

STAMP CLUB PROJECT- PAPER PUMPKINS

We made these paper pumpkins last Saturday at my last Stamp Club meeting. (A similar but smaller pumpkin is shown on page 27 in the Idea Book and Catalog).  I used misc. fall themed papers, large paper connectors (brads), craft wire, tulle,  and paper leaf cut outs. Absolutely "NO STAMPING" on these. The really are simple to make, I made all these (pictured above) with the leftovers not used at the workshop (I cut way too many). Thicker paper and cardstock work better than one sided paper. You can stuff these with crumbled tissue paper to help keep its shape. Everyone individualized theirs with color choices, leaf choises, and tags.

Use 9-15 2x12 inch strips of cardstock and/ or designer papers. Lay the strips in design order (A-B-C pattern works great). Punch both ends 1/4 inch from ends and centered with CROPODILE #108362. Place brad in one end to hold pieces together. Flip strips over (white side or non dominant side face up). Take first strip on top and start turning into round shape, add brad. Move in sequence around, taking the next strip then the next until all up, and attached with brad. Fasten brad. take 6 inch piece of craft wire and wrap one time around brad head on top. Punch some leaves or tags and thread onto wire. Curl wire ends using stylus or dowel (curling the wire will hold your tags and leaves on but also add dimension and detail). Spread the strips out evenly and form to look like pumpkin. See pictures.

 Here are some close- up pictures of a couple pumpkins. You can see the leaf, wire, and tag details. The one on the left is using one (busy) pattern paper with a contemporary style- clean/ simple. The pumpkin on the right is more country/ shabby style. Scroll back to first picture and you will see a couple pumpkins done with non traditional fall colors. They are done with blue, green, brown, white. I also made a Halloween style- candy corn, white tulle and black ribbon and lace.

DRY EMBOSS PUMPKIN TAG

 I am going to share another quick technique with you today. This will work for anything you want to look defined or round like balls, pumkins, bear's bellies, balloons, etc... It is real simple and once you've tried it you just may do it every time you make something that has an accent that needs to look round.

 First you place your stamped, colored image onto a foam surface (thick craft foam) and moisten with small amount of water with use of a mini spritzer. Rub stylus over image on front (direction of image grain) many times to break up cardstock fibers. Flip image over and do the same thing on opposite side (same direction).

 It is  hard to see in this photo but, it makes the pumpkin look 3D (round). It pops up off the paper. You can place somthing behind it (Stampin dimensions, crumbled paper pieces) depending on how 3D you want it to look.

 Above are 2 samples I did using the GREETING CARD KIDS stamp set (#120633) and retired Halloween verse. Colored pencil and Gamsol blending solution. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great weekend.

FAVORITE ALE CHICKEN WITH CARMELIZED ONIONS



Hello, if you live in NE Ohio, like me, then your weather has been damp, cold, dreary and gray. Fall is really here. The leaves are turning (quickly) and apples, pumpkins, and sqash are plentiful. I want to share a fantastic "warm you up" recipe with you today. My husband and I got this pan with roasting insert for our birthdays in June. This ceramic baking pan works on stove top, oven, or grill in heat up to 500 F.
A link to the pan is here:
http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.CM_SCID.coll.item.K27287.desc.Technique-Flame-10-Round-Covered-Everyday-Pan
I cannot find a link to the upright chicken roaster. I have seen them online and at Walmart (camping/ grilling section) any simple "beer can" chicken rack should work.


INGREDIENTS:
3-4 lb. whole chicken, cleaned and dried
1Tbs. Vegetable oil
2 Tbs. brown sugar
2Tbs. paprika
1tsp. dry mustard powder
1 tsp. chili powder
2Tbs. coarse sea salt or kosher salt
2tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1 bottle of favorite ale
3 large sweet onions, sliced
1 bay leaf
4 sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)

                                      

Brush chicken all over with vegetable oil. Make the rub by combining brown sugar, paprika, mustard, chili, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture all over the chicken, inside the cavity as well as all over the skin.  Preheat oven to 350 F. Place chicken roaster inside the pan and pour beer into the cup center of the chicken roaster dish. Place all remaining spices inside the beer. Place chicken ove rthe center of the chicken roaster. Season the onions with salt and pepper and place them all around the chicken. Roast until the internal temperature is 165 F. A 4 lb chicken should take around 75 minutes.

                                   
Allow chicken to rest/ cool 5 minutes. Carefully remove the chicken and serve with the carmelized onions. Pour drippings over chicken, potatoes and/ or vegetables.  
 
If you decide to make this recipe, let me know what you thought. I would love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by.

FROM THE CRYPT

Stamped some more Halloween things today. Dug out the set FROM THE CRYPT (#115460) Used the layout on page 25 from the Idea Book & Catalog as inspiration for my tag and card layouts. This picture is not very clear, scroll down to see some more up close.

Here is a close up of the tag. I used the MODERN LABEL PUNCH (XL #119849) and 1 3/8" CIRCLE PUNCH (# 119860)  to add detail behind the main image. I also used the 3/4" CIRCLE PUNCH (#119873) that I stamped BOO! onto. I hand cut the bat image and folded the wings to add dimension, like it is flying. COPPER MINI BRADS (retired) and COPPER EYELETS (#105319) to further embellish. I distressed the edges using the distress tool from the CUTTER KIT (#106958).

I used the Awesome TASTEFUL TRIM Bigz Die (#120893) to add further paper detail to the side of the card and to the botom of the tag. This die cut is awesome (like I said before). Ric Rac, baker's twine, and fabric are all the rage in the paper crafting world right now. I'm so glad SU! is up on the latest and greatest. They really make it fun to craft. 

                                    
Have I told you how Fantastic the new COLOR COACH (#121620) is? I cannot live without this sucker. It makes everything much easier. It takes the thinking out of planning and making projects of all kinds. I am using the Sweet Pea combination CAJUN CRAZE (#119684), ALWAYS ARTICHOKE (#105119), and PERFECT PLUM (#101889). I would have never used these exact colors on a Halloween project prior to owning this. It opens your eyes to a whole new colorful world. Well, enough rambling, I'm off to bed soon, I have a busy day planned tomorrow. I am attending the Adventures In Stamping convention tomorrow :) I need all the sleep I can get, it may get crazy...  

DARK & DREARY ENSEMBLE

Here is a close-up of coordinating projects I made to go with the cards and Bingo Cards posted earlier this week. I love how easy SU! makes it to coordinate stamps, accessories, and colors. No other company can do this well. I don't have to search for colors and coordinating products, I trust SU! to do that for me. They make crafting that much easier.

I recycled a spice jar and decorated it using TANGERINE cs (#111349), TEXTURED BLACK cs (119922), GOING GRAY cs (retired), RAVEN LACE trim (#120988), DECORATIVE LABEL PUNCH (#120907), misc. colored baker's twine, and plastic spider. I used hot glu eto adhere the label, and spider. Distressed the edges of the candle image with TANGERINE INK (#111834) using SPONGE DAUBERS (#102892). I filled the jar with black and white gumdrops. Now, which "lucky", or should I say "unlucky", person should I give this to?  

I love making tags! They are one of my favorite things to make. They work for just about everything. They can be super easy to very elaborate but, always so fun to make.  "When in doubt, add a tag". This goes for card fronts, scrapbook pages, candles,labels, gifts, etc... I used GOING GRAY cs ( retired), BASIC GRAY cs (#121044), BASIC BLACK cs (#121045), TANGERINE (#111349), RAVEN LACE trim (#120988), DARK & DREARY stamp set (# 121151), SPIDER WEB TEXTURE FOLDER (#120889),  decorative edge scissors (retired), misc. ribbon and baker's twine, misc. spider web edge punch,  and plastic spider. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed the ensemble and my quick/ easy ideas. Make sur eto stop by again.

BINGO ANYONE?

These could not have been any easier. The cards are cut directly from 2 sheets of the NITE OWL DS paper (#123012) for a total of 8 Bingo cards. I mounted each 5.75in. card onto TANGERINE CS (#119949).  I think I will use these at my daughter's Halloween Party at school (her last school Halloween party).  If you are a fan of this idea you need to check out the BINGO CARD stamp (#120851) on page 29 from the Holiday Mini Catalog. You could make a variety of themed Bingo Cards ie: Baby Shower, Christmas Party, Easter, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's, or Birthday.

In the mini catalog they use black jellybeans for  Bingo markers but, I thought that misc. Halloween punched images would be a fun and inexpensive way to mark the card. I used SU's BITTY BAT punch (#119279) along with other small punches (scalloped square, spider, witch, and owl).

DARK & DREARY HALLOWEEN

I had time to do some stamping today- yeah! Finally! I bought the entire line of 1800's London Halloween Suite. The minute I saw this line of products, I knew I had to have them. I used the verse/ large rectangle stamp from the set DARK & DREARY (#121151); the gray patterned paper  from the NITE OWL DESIGNER PAPER PACK (#123012); BASIC BLACK; BASIC GRAY; TANGERINE cardstock; 1/2" LACE TRIM (#120988) to complete the cards.

Speaking of 1/2 " LACE TRIM, have you bought this yet? If you haven't, shame on you! It is great! It ties easily, lays flat, and is so charming added to a variety of surfaces. Just look at it against this tangerine cardstock before I added it to the card fronts. I assembled everything in an assembly line and thought these looked so great all by themselves. "Kinda Spooky"

I wanted to share an easy tip for adding a little bit of color to this intricate image. First, I stamped the images on a going gray (retired) cardstock. I  then cut out the images with decorative edged scissors (retired) and distressed jagged edges and center circle using TANGERINE CLASSIC INK (#111834) with a SPONGE DAUBER (#102892). The diameter works perfect to add a little color to the circle of this image. I cannot live without these daubers. I use them for almost every project.

Viola! Didn't it work out perfect? How else could you add the color in a perfect circle? You can use this technique on many circular images and accents. I have never stamped on a gray and I love the look of it with the distressed edges. Stay tuned for some more fun ideas using this line of products, make sure you check back again this week. Thanks for stopping by.

I love Halloween and almost everything that goes along with Halloween. It is my absolute favorite time of year.  Caramel apples,  beautifully colored leaves, crisp air, autumn decorations, hot cider, evening outdoor fires, sweatshirts,  and spooky  festivities.What could be more fun than a Halloween Party? Its the perfect time for everyone to pretend they are someone/ something else. My friends and family call me a Halloween "FREAK". The funny thing is that my brother, best friend, and next door neighbor are all 'Halloween Lovers' too. I am a sucker for anything orange and black with bats, cats, witches, and ghosts.

These projects are for my upcoming club meeting I have in less than 2 weeks. I chose to use WICKED FUN #117400 ds paper and the coordinating WICKED COOL # 120600 stamp set.  Both are new to the SU! line and can be found on pages 22 &23  of the main idea book and catalog. Those of you that don't have a current catalog can view any of the current catalogs here: http://www.stampinup.com/us/enu/default.asp.

My Halloween "Spooky" creations were totally insired by two Stampin Up! demonstrators that I follow on a daily basis through their business blogs ( Mary at http://www.stampinpretty.com/ and Angie at http://www.chicnscratch.typepad.com/chic_n_scratch/page/2/ ). Both women are so creative and do such wonderful things with SU! products.

The Spooky Mini Bag is so easy and adorable. It will hold Reese's Cups, Hershey Nuggets, Peppermint Patties, Fruit Snack Packs, or anything that is around that size. It is hand cut and folded (no die cut machine needed) The flap is held closed with velcro- how perfect! You will get 3 from one sheet of 12 x 12 inch paper.  The finished mini bag measures 3x3 inches. The bats are from SU!s new large bat punch #119279.

Directions for this project can be found here: http://www.chicnscratchlive.com/ 

(just scroll down through all the videos until you get to the spooky bag)

Those ladies that are attending my club will get written and pictorial directions.

Directions for an easel card can be found  here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/easelcard/

This was the first easel I have made- super easy! Will be making them again. I think they will be perfect for Christmas photo cards. I used the color spritzer tool to splatter ink around the image. I distressed the edges of the image and cardstock with basic balck ink and a sponge dauber. Viola!

Materials used: 

Wicked Fun DS Paper: #117400  $11.95  pg 172

Wicked Cool Stamps #120600  $14.95  pg 23

Bitty Bat Punch #119279  $15.95  pg 201

Extra Large Scallop Oval Punch #119856  pg 201

1 1/4 inch circle Punch #119861  $16.95  pg 203

Large oval Punch #119855  $16.95 pg 203

Color Spritzer Tool #107066  $12.95  pg 195

Old Olive Grosgrain 1/4 inch Ribbon #111368  $4.95   pg 191

(Rich Razzleberry/ Old Olive Markers)

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I would love to hear from you. thanks for stopping by. Be sure to stop by and see some more Halloween creations. I will be making many more creations up until that Haunting Day.

Well, my summer has officially ended.  I return to work tomorrow.  :(   This summer just "flew by". The majority of the summer was consumed with softball, baking, cooking, canning, and freezing. I worked a secondary job a couple days a week from June through beginning of August (just to keep me busy- with extra income).

Now I am  planning a big camping trip in a few weeks.I did some grocery shopping and started planning our campfire meals. If anyone knows any good fire/coal cooking recipes please email or let me know. I'm always looking for some new ones. My girls love to use pie irons. We take a ton of bread to make pies, pizzas, etc...

 I have done very little stamping this summer (I have done enough purchasing but not put anything to use). I have made a few gifts, tags, projects, but not as much as I expected I would once summer began.  

I have joined FACEBOOK and got in contact with many people whom I have not spoke to in years.  I swore I would not take the plunge but, I did. I am enjoying it- although, I am not playing any games.

I am hosting a make-n-take workshop this weekend and have most everything prepped. Hope things go well- this will be my first workshop since the new catalog has been released. I have some other workshops in the works but wan tto run some ideas by my attendees.

Ok, it is getting late and I need to get some sleep. Enough rambling. I just wanted to touch base and let the few followers I have know that I'm still here. Just not had much stamping MOJO.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

FOX & FRIENDS BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR 6

I have started selling items on ETSY. This is one of the kits I have for sale here:   (http://www.etsy.com/listing/53163104/unique-adorable-birthday-party-ensemble) This set includes paper party hats, party blowers, goody bags, invitations/ thank- yous, cupcake picks,  ribbon, store bought serving products, tablecloth,  and curly ribbon streamers.

This is an adorably unique ensemble that will work great for any young child's birthday, and/ or a baby shower. I used the Stampin' Up! set FOX & FRIENDS. I used So Saffron, Bashful Blue, and Rose Red for the colors. I found plates, napkins, flateware, and cups to coordinate at a local store.

*hint: because these stamps are a solid image stamp, it is best to use permanent ink such as chalk ink. stazon/ or pigment ink. I used chalk inks to get a crisp/ clean image.

Here is a close- up of the party hats. I found a pattern via internet and traced, cut, and assembled. I added paper strips with a hot glue gun and curled the strips with a bone folder. I think they are adorable. In this picture you can also see the mini cards that can be used for invitations/ thank- yous.

In this photo you can see more of the mini cards plus the goody bags (under the party blowers), and the party blowers. Aren't they cute?

Here is a close-up of the cupcake picks and the birthday boy/ girl's ribbon. This kit is sold with a box of confetti cupcake mix (makes 12 cupcakes). The picks will work perfectly to further decorate each yummy treat.