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Girls, Girls, Girls! (July LO#14 for Lora's Challenge)

I've been scrappin' again! And of course, I scrapped some of my favorite subjects, my kiddos! This photo was taken of my little girls and myself on my birthday last year. I used Lora's beautiful cherry blossom svg freebie (Thank you Lora, it's beautiful!). I drew the dots in the center of the flowers with a black pen and accented the flowers with chalks and inks to vary the colors. It was the perfect accent to this paper from GCD Studios, and I also accented it with some Making Memories Vintage Findings (The metal heart and bingo card), and the journaling spot is from Anna Griffin. I have to say thank you to chelemom and Tracy from HappyDaisy, because the GCD Studios paper and the Vintage Findings paper are from their great blog candy packages that I won!

My Girl (July LO#13) *for Triple the Sketch

My LO for today's post is based on this fun sketch from Triple The Sketch, and the challenge at Dare You To Digistamp is to "Make any thing but a card". I used patterned cardstock from Me and My Big Ideas for the background (the flocked stripes are so yummy!), and pearlized White Gold Wasau cardstock under the photos. I used Doodlebug Frills, the Oriental Poppy digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff that I have been dying to use, and black vinyl Thickers for the lettering and swirl. Don't forget, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff is running a sale through the end of July: buy $5.00 worth of digistamps or card kits, and get a free digistamp of your choice! Now, head over to the other designer's blogs, and see what eye candy they have cooked up for you. One of them has a free digistamp for you!

Lindsay (owner)

Erin Bailey (July Guest DT)

Melissa B.

Melissa C.

Row

Tamara

Tracey

Olena

Leanne

Katt

Kim

Janet

July LO's 11 and 12

Well, since I took Lora's challenge at the beginning of the month, I have been trying to get as many pages done as possible for the month of July. This is LO #11 and 12 for the month (which is really good for me- I am a SLOOOW, messy scrapper! I have to get every thing out to do one page- I don't know why. But it looks like a tornado hit the living room every time I scrap. I have to run around cleaning up before DH gets home. I based these layouts on some sketches that I missed from 52 Sketches, 52 Weeks. the "Sweet and Sassy" layout is based on Week 1 Sketch, and the Glam Goddess LO is from Week 13's Sketch. Of course, I used my Cricut! On "Sweet and Sassy, the title is from Graphically Speaking, the border is one of Paulo's fab borders, and a scalloped border (not sure where I got it) cut out using SCAL. The rocking horse is from Joys Of the Season, and I attached ric-rac for the mane and added Stickles to give it the look I wanted.

The flowers are a combination of Primas and flowers from The Paper Studio, and are attached with Brads by Making Memories. The Patterned Cardstock is Nana's Nursery Girls Stack.

For the Glam Goddess page, I used the title svg from Tamara's blog, another scalloped svg file I had, paper/cardstock from Glitz Designs (Hot Mama collection), Wasau paper, Glitter Stack by DCWV, and a scrap piece of iridescent vellum to go under the title. I added Primas that I inked with a silver Martha Stewart inkpad, and attached with a Making Memories Glitter brad.

Thank You, Celeste!

I got this award from Celeste the other day, and just now am getting it posted. Thank you for this! I am very flattered to find out that some one enjoys my work. I love to do it- the recognition is just the cherry on top! Now, for this award, I have to tell you seven things about myself.

1. I am a stay at home mom to 4 beautiful kiddos (but you know that, because you have seen my photos!). Caitlin-10, Evan-7, and 5-year old twins, Natalie, and Cecilia

2.I am happily married to the love of my life, Eric. He is wonderful man, but does not understand the crafty side of me at all. He tries to look interested, but his eyes glaze over when I start talking "scrap", LOL!

3. I have been a Christian all my life. I was saved when I was 4 years old. I try to live my life in a way that will be pleasing to God and a blessing to others.

4.I am 29 years old (and plan on staying there!)

5.I am a southern girl with a northern husband. I wonder if the kids will end up with an accent?

6.My dream vacation is a summer in Europe. But right now, I would take a trip anywhere-I LOVE to travel, and with 4 kids (and i started young), that doesn't really happen. Oh well, in a few years, I guess!

7. I have been scrapbooking for over 10 years, and I just really got into cardmaking when i got my Cricut for Mother's Day/my birthday last year.Scrapbooking is my stress relief, my creative outlet, and LOVE it!

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Thursday

For today's Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Post, we were challenged to use this sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches , since Lindsay is sponsoring it this week and giving away 10 digistamps to the winner!

Since I am trying to get as many layouts done as possible for the month of July, I thought I would adapt the sketch for a scrapbook page instead of a card this week. I loved the Layered Waterlily digistamp, and I thought it would go perfectly with the froggy I paper pieced for this layout. I colored it mostly with Bic Mark-Its, and used my Copic colorless blender over the whole thing. The patterned paper is by Tinkering Ink (Blur Collection-perfect for little boy Layouts.

Now head on over to the other designers blogs to see what they have to show you today (one of them has an awesome free digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for you):

Lindsay (owner)

Melissa C

Row
Melissa B

Tamara

Leanne

Olena

Lisa

Katt

Tracey

Kim

Janet

Erin Bailey (July Guest DT)

And don't forget, for the entire month of July, Lindsay has a sale, spend $5, get a free digistamp of your choice. Go check it out!

3 more layouts for July! (And a free Cinnamon roll svg for you!)

Over the weekend, I worked on a few pages for the recipe album that I am making for my little sis. Most of the svg files I used (the rolling pin- Cinnamon roll page), (the mixing spoon and spatula-Easy Peanut Butter Cookies), and (the "Pie" for Pumpkin Pie), I used free svgs from Lora's Blog. For the cinnamon roll, I made my own svg, which you can find HERE

And since these recipes are family favorites, I thought I would also share the recipes for any one who would like them

Caramel/Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

1/2 c. lukewarm milk

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1/2 c (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

4 1/2 to 5 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 to 2 T butter,softened

1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 T brown sugar

powdered sugar to taste

(I usually double the filling)

Caramel (or you can skip this part and add the frosting on top)

1 c. brown sugar

8 T. butter

1/2 c- 1 c cream (if you don't have heavy cream you can use evaporated milk or half and half)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and 2 1/2 c. of the flour, beating until smooth. Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl and rotate so that greased side is up. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down dough, turn out onto lightly floured surface, and roll into an 11x17 inch rectangle. Cover w/ filling ingredients by spreading w/ butter and sprinkling w/ cinnamon, powdered sugar, and brown sugar. Roll up like a jelly roll, beginning at long side, and cut into slices 2 inches wide.

Prepare caramel by dividing between 2 9 inch cake pans and spreading over the bottoms. Cut butter into pats and distribute over top of sugar in both pans, then pour cream over that. Place rolls in pans, leaving space for rising. Cover, let rise until doubled in size, and bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

You can skip the caramel and make this awesome "Cinnabon" Frosting:

1/2 lb. butter

1/2 lb. cream cheese

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Allow butter and cream cheese to reach room temp. Beat together until fluffy, slowly add sugar, beat 12 minutes then add extract.

Eat them warm....Yummy!

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1c. sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix peanut butter and sugar together, blending well. Stir in egg and vanilla. Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press w/ fork to flatten slightly. Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 minutes (they won't LOOK done, but take them out, they will harden as they cool).

Try to wait until they cool, then eat them with a tall, frosty glass of milk.

Pumpkin Pie

1 deep dish pie crust

1 egg white

1 T. ice water

2 eggs

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

pinch of salt

16 oz. can of 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 c. heavy cream

Line pie crust w/ foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove foil. Bake 1 minute more. Beat egg white, and 1 T. ice water. Brush on bottoms and sides.

Filling: in large bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar, cream, cinnamon, pie spice, and salt. Stir in canned pumpkin, and pour into pie shell. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Filling should jiggle slightly. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Win $1,000 at TheCuttlebugSpot.com!

I just discovered that The Cuttlebug Spot is having a contest called "the journey to 1,000" They are trying to reach 1,000 followers by the end of July and need your help! To enter, all you have to do is go to their site at www.theCuttlebugSpot.com, sign up as a follower and follow a few easy steps to be entered to win a $1,000 gift certificate to www.CustomCrops.com!

Layout for the new PageMaps Contest

I am loving cherries right now (especially this great 2 Cherries digistamp from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for only $1.00!). I decided to use these for this birthday layout that I did for the newest sketch challenge at the Page Maps blog. I mixed the cherries with some more stuff that I love right now- Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons, gingham paper and ribbons, flowers and Stickles! Oh, and of course I had to use my Cricut a little bit! The green flourish behind the cherries is from the Accent Essentials cartridge. And it's another page for July, for Lora's scrapbooking challenge.