card friday

tempting tuesday-winner

J picked number 7

resmith said...

Very nice card. Can't wait to receive my merci stamp set. Just found your blog. You have some lovely quilts that I have seen so far. It is helping me to get motivated again to do some of my quilting that I have put aside.

February 26, 2008 8:50 AM

please email me which card you would like and your mailing info. thanx for playing everyone

this neat gift box was another demo done by Sarah and she included the cute purse stamp too

my first custom quilt

i quilted two patterns into this one. Happy Times in the body and the first border and than Holly and Poinsettia in the velvet and plaid borders. thread used was a green/red/white rainbow

wordless wednesday

tempting tuesday!!

leave a comment on this post and have the chance to win your choice of cards that i've posted this month

this card was made by Sarah at the StampinUp party i had with a friend on the weekend.

quilt monday

i must be crazy

with the agony of last years Thangles quilt fresh in my mind, i don't know what i was thinking when i signed up again this year. and this time, i'm only doing one of each block-but i'm doing both quilts lol.

i got the first two finished today(i need to pick up the other blocks tomorrow) i really love this fabric line. i had planned to make this quilt for my brother and sister in law but i may just have to keep it afterall ;)

snack saturday

made this for Jim's birthday last weekend-soooo good!

Mocha Mousse Cake

Cake
1box chocolate fudge cake mix
1 1/3cups water
1/3cup vegetable oil
2tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur or cold brewed coffee
4eggs

Mocha Mousse
3/4cup whipping cream
2tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3cup coffee-flavored liqueur or cold brewed coffee
1cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)
2teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate Whipped Cream Topping
1cup whipping cream
3/4cup powdered sugar
1/4cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2teaspoon vanilla

1.Heat oven to 350°F (325ºF for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottoms and sides of three 8- or 9-inch round cake pans with shortening (do not use cooking spray); lightly flour. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, 2 tablespoons liqueur and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl constantly. Pour about 1 1/2 cups batter into each pan. (If baking only 2 pans at a time, refrigerate remaining batter until ready to use.)

2.Bake 19 to 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

3.Meanwhile, to make mousse, in 2-quart saucepan, mix 1/4 cup of the whipping cream, the granulated sugar and 1/3 cup liqueur. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and mixture simmers; remove from heat. Stir in chocolate chips with wire whisk until chips are melted. Stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Pour into large bowl; cool about 10 minutes or until room temperature.

4.In chilled medium bowl, beat remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream on high speed just until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

5.In another chilled medium bowl, beat all topping ingredients on high speed until soft peaks form.

6. Place 1 cake round on a plate and cover with mousse. Cover with second cake round and repeat. Once cake is assembled, ice with chocolate topping.

Enjoy!

card friday

and don't forget, tempting tuesday is next week! enter for a chance to win your choice of any card i've made and posted this month

if you have snow or minus temps, don't read further!

we've been blessed with GORGEOUS spring-like weather the past few days. today it even hit +13C woo hoo! but i have a feeling we will get more snow in March. we are certainly enjoying the weather while it lasts!

wordless wednesday

a special quilt monday

ds#1 started this quilt roughly 18months ago. he cut out he penguins and appliquéd them himself. sewed it together(and discovered the joys of setting triangles lol!)
but than he stopped, he wanted the quilt big enough for his bed(it made a wall hanging) that is when my mom stepped in. she had bits and pieces of penguin fabric that she had collected and had enough using them to make the quilt big enough for A. the look on his face Christmas morning was the best

happy birthday honey, i hate your card

that's how i feel about Jim's birthday card. what i had in my mind just didn't mesh onto paper *sigh* hate it when that happens!

and the winner for the PaperCrafting magazine is #11-SusanG!

snack saturday

Mud Pie

Ingredients
22 Vanilla Wafers, crushed
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 pkg. (250 g) Brick Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup icing sugar
1-1/2 cups thawed Whipped Topping, divided
1-3/4 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

Directions
1 PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix wafer crumbs, pecans and butter; press firmly onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 min.; cool.
2 BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in 1 cup of the whipped topping; spread over crust. Pour milk into medium bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Spoon over cream cheese layer.
3 REFRIGERATE several hours or until set. Top with remaining 1/2 cup whipped topping just before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

chchchchchanges

Jim laid in bed last night planning how we could keep our old entertainment center even though the new TV doesn't fit into it.

this is what he came up with. we did end up having to cut a foot(12inches lol) off my cutting table(sob) but i love how it turned out. it really has made better use of the room.
wonder how long it will stay this clean? lol

a fun friday givaway!

i received two issues of the April/May Papercrafts magazine today so i'm going to give one away!
comment on this post and i'll draw the winner on sunday. and yes, another blurry picture lol!!

card friday

this stamp is called Valentini and can be purchased at Stamping Bella

giveaway alerts!

head to Luv 2 Stitch and enter to win some very yummy Moda fat quarters

than go to Ramblings of a Fabric Obsessor to enter for some more goodies

and there is another at The Yellow Farmhouse

happy early birthday Jim

was racking my brain this year trying to think of something to get Jim for his birthday(it's on Sunday). the only thing i could think of was a new TV-we had discussed buying one in January and couldn't agree on what size, type etc lol

i did some research and found a fantastic deal and came home with this tonight. and we got it set up and running in time for the hockey game!

happy love day

hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day! Jim and i are off for lunch together

wordless wednesday

an amazingly productive day

had this adorable teddy bear quilt to do today. i did wide piano keys in the border and the most perfect pattern in the middle-love bears.

got it done very quickly and was going to start on a charity quilt. instead i took over mom's machine. she's had this lovely cord quilt on her machine for a week so i had that one done in under 2 hours-woo hoo!

evilest quilt known to mankind

no seriously lol!
i started my thangles quilt in January 07. each month cost $2 and you make 1 block(commonly known as $1/month quilts in the US) i had the great idea of doing two of each month so i could make the quilt big enough to fit on our king-sized bed.
things were going great until July when i stopped doing the blocks every month and this past January i realized if i wanted to do THIS years thangles, i needed to finish last years!

so i finished off the blocks and headed down to Hamels to buy fabric for my sashings and borders. that's when i realized that i needed MORE blocks. so i did 6 more. than mom and i laid the quilt out and figured it was still not big enough so i did another 6 blocks. all in all, i've done 36 blocks, 22 of them in the last month. i am sick to death of this quilt lol!

on the bright side, the blocks are FINISHED! now to start the fun of assembling the quilt and making sure i don't have the same block to close to a twin of it.

but it will be put on the backburner(again) for a few days. Jim's birthday is coming up and i have to finish his gift

ack-sorry for the blurry pictures!

quilt monday

hmmmm, maybe i should have ironed it before i hung it up lol!

almost 2 months past Christmas

and i finally used my Cuttlebug lol!!

meet Shadow

our new kitty. we picked him up today from the SPCA. poor thing was abandoned up in Northern BC. he is a long hair and the SPCA has had him partially shaved, i am taking him in on monday to have the rest of him done. the mats in his fur are the size of my palm poor baby!
the picture doesn't show how big he is-he is a really solid kitty. i'm so glad we found him. now to tell Jim lol!!

snack saturday

Swirled Raspberry Slices


3/4 cup (175 mL) butter, softened
3/4 cup (175 mL) granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1/3 cup (75 mL) seedless raspberry jam
2/3 cup (150 mL) chopped walnuts, toasted(i leave them out)

Preparation:

Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or grease; set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and sa< add to butter mixture and stir until combined. Divide in half; press into discs. Wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 2 days.)

On lightly floured parchment paper, roll out 1 disc of dough at a time into 14- x 5-inch (35 x 12 cm) rectangle. Spread half of the jam evenly over each, leaving 1/2-inch (2 cm) border along 1 long edge. Sprinkle nuts evenly over jam. Starting at other long edge and using paper as support, roll up dough into firm but not tight log. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Cut logs crosswise into 1/4-inch (5 mm) thick rounds. Arrange, 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart, on prepared pans. Bake in top and bottom thirds of 350°F (180°C) oven, rotating and switching pans halfway through, until light golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer to racks; let cool. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and store for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 weeks.)

card friday

i stamped! i stamped! and it's been ages since i have! been too busy trying to get my thangles quilt finished(i need to make 6 MORE blocks! that takes me to 30!!) i was going to work on it this weekend but i need a thangles mental break lol!

love the fishy paper-goes perfect with fisherfella. and i even got the brads in straight lol!!

thimbleberries

this panel is so adorable!

quilted with Dave Hudson's Holly Ribbon

i was RAK'd!

received this lovely card from Jana in the mail today. love this stamp; she is just adorable! thanx Jana!

wordless wednesday

i have to comment on this one. this was taken in my parent's backyard. it is a immature bald eagle. what was amazing was all the birds that come to the feeders didn't care that the eagle was there, he had no interest in them.

another favorite

i love this fabric line-so cute for a baby quilt!

quilted using Lorien's Bubbles pattern

quilt monday

shopping therapy

have to admit that i've spent more time shopping for quilting and stamping stuff than it seems i have been actually doing lol.

last Sunday some girlfriends and i headed down to Washington State to do some shopping. i didn't get allot(i have too much lonely stamp guilt lol!) loved Michael's selection of $1 stamps-way better than what we have up here!

than today Cindy and i went fabric shopping. i got some fabric to finish off my thangles quilt and some loverly fabric for some soon to be arriving babies.

snack saturday

Apple Caramel Cakes
Yield: 5

These mini apple cakes ooze caramel! How cool is that! Use five 3-inch tart shells if you want to make individual size cakes or use one 9 x 3/4-inch flan ring if you want to make one larger size cake.



* 1/2 cup butter (125 ml)
* 1 tbsp butter (15 ml)
* 1 x Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
* 1 1/2 tbsp packed brown sugar (22 ml)
* 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (1 ml)
* 1/8 tsp ground cloves (.5 ml)
* 1/2 cup all purpose flour (125 ml)
* 1 3/4 cups icing sugar (425 ml)
* 5 x egg whites
* 5 x square candy caramels (soft chewy caramel)
* softened butter, for preparing the tart shells
* flour, for preparing tart shells


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Heat ½ cup butter in small saucepan over medium-high heat until butter is melted. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for approximately 5 minutes, until the butter has foamed and the colour changes to a light brown colour. Be careful not to burn the butter. Remove from heat right away and strain into a clean, dry glass or metal container. Reserve.
3. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the apples and sauté for 1 minute. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves. Saute for 3 to 5 minutes or until brown and just tender. Cool and reserve.
4. Butter and flour five 3-inch tart shells.
5. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in the egg whites until the mixture comes together smoothly. Slowly whisk in the reserved brown butter until incorporated.
6. Divide the batter evenly into tart shells. Divide the apple mixture evenly into the tart shells, evenly spreading the apples. Place filled tart shells on small baking sheet and place in oven.
7. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Place 1 caramel candy into each tart shell. Poke down with a toothpick to make sure the batter covers the toffee. Place back in oven and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until a toothpick placed in centre comes out clean. Remove and cool. Yields: 5 individual cakes (5 servings).

card friday