It's All About Food

Another week flew by... I still have a few of the CAS cards to share from last week, but didn't make anything new this weekend. Instead, I was busy cooking and doing a few more house projects.This ladybug card is very simple, but still kind of cute and great for notes to friends. The background is embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots. The scalloped border would be a sinch with square Nestabilities or a punch, but I didn't have either in the right size and resorted to cutting with my rectengular Nestabilites twice to make a sqare. Finally, the ladybug is stamped twice and popped up for a 3D effect. All in all though, it took me about as long to type this up as to make the card, so that's a big plus.

Supplies (All supplies are Stampin'Up! unless otherwise noted) :

• Stamps: Cute & Curly
  
• Paper: Very vanilla, Dill Blossom DP by SEI
  
• Ink: Mellow moss
  
• Accessories: mini clip, ribbon
  
• Tools: Punch

I finally made ice cream for the first time this year - coffee with a hint of Baylee's. Yum! Tried out a tandoori chicken recipe. The flavor was great, but to my surprise it wasn't spicy at all so I'll have to add a few more serrano peppers next time. The favorite had to be the Sourdough Rosemay bread. I got some sourdough starter from my friends (thanks, Jud) and it was finally ready to use this weekend. I found a basic sourdough recipe online and adopded it by adding fresh rosemary and some italian spices. Mmm, the smell alone was phenomenal. I could have baked it in the oven for a nicer loaf shape, but since it was just for me I let the breakmaker do all the work. I'm so glad i bought it, I've been using it at least once a week and its super easy - dump all the ingrediants in adn 3 hours later... Magic - a fresh, fragrant loaf of bread. To finish off the weekend, I prepared frosting for tomorrow's class, as usual, and some cupcakes for later this week.

Ok, so it wasn't all about food this weekend, I actually did a brick Saturday morning (bike+run). It may have been a first one this year, which shows how little I've been training. I need to check if Jack's Generic Tri still has open spots and maybe sign up to give me some motivation. It's a very short tri, so I'm thinking that even though I'm out of shape, I should be able to finish it. It's only two weeks away, so I'll have to hurry.

Simplicity

After a long cessation, it's been all about cards the past few days. Last week I got a card and stamp set in the mail from Emily, a generous fellow scrapper on SCS.While waiting for a few things to get here in the mail so I can put the finishing touches in my craft room, I dusted off a my other stamp sets and made a few simple cards. Turns out that while I was living under a rock the past few months (in my case it's been a big two story rock) Slitcoaststampers forum added a few more daily challenges. They're a ton of fun, but I hardly had time to keep up with one, occasionally two of them a week before, let alone now. However, the new CAS - Clean and Simple challenge intrigued me. As much as I admire elaborate cards, sometimes it's the simple ones that are the most breathtaking, probably in part because you look at them and think "Wow, that's so simple, yet so (...elegant, beautiful, cute, glamorous, adorable...)" Followed by, "... Why didn't I think of that!?" It's true, sometimes making a minimalistic card is a lot more difficult. I would love to possess that talent, but to some extant I lack the vision for these super clean and simple cards that some of the very talented stampers have. I still experiment and learn and I guess that's the fun of it anyway. I started at the beginning and finished 8 challenges this afternoon, here are a few:

Supplies (All supplies are Stampin'Up! unless otherwise noted) :

• Stamps: Cute & Curly
  
• Paper: Very vanilla, Dill Blossom DP by SEI
  
• Ink: Mellow moss
  
• Accessories: mini clip, ribbon
  
• Tools: Punch

Supplies (All supplies are Stampin'Up! unless otherwise noted) :

• Stamps: Spring solitude
  
• Paper: Whisper white, pretty in pink
  
• Ink: Chocolate chip, pretty in pink
  
• Accessories: Rhinestones
  
• Tools: Paper piercer

Back to Basics

My first card in 6 months! It was tough to get started - I pulled out lots of papers and colors, browsed through bookmarked images and was about to give up and just case a few cards, but as I started stamping I was able to get some creative juices flowing and make this Serene Spring card. I was reluctant to use my Hodgepodge Hardware and BasicGrey ribbon, but they fit in with the color scheme, so I overpowered the herder in me. This is also the first card where I used Copics that I got last fall and of course a touch of glitter to add some bling. It's so nice to have a craft room again!Supplies (All supplies are Stampin'Up! unless otherwise noted) :

• Stamps: Serene Spring
  
• Paper: Certainly celery, chocolate chip, whisper white
  
• Ink: Almost amethyst, certainly celery, copics (E53, E57)
  
• Accessories: Hodgepodge hardware, ribbon from BasicGrey Urban Couture collection, Stickles
  
• Tools: Cuttlebug, scalloped punch

I also started running yesterday... Again. I used to love sports and working out , so I don't know what's been going on the past year. I sporadically ran or biked a few times, but that's about it. Enough is enough though and I'm determined to get back in shape. I've been feeling down and also put on some unwanted pounds so it's time to resume a regular workout routine. My goal is to loose 8-9 lbs over the next two month. It's the most I've ever gained/lost, but I'm hoping it's doable if I start eating better (no more eating frosting during my cake decorating class :) and no Flaming Hot Cheetos in the evenings.). Top that off with some running and swimming and hopefully I'll see results. The heat this year isn't helping though, it's around 100 degrees and humid every day. Although I prefer heat over cold this is a little much even for me.


2 days down, many more to go.

~Olgy

Baking

I've been on a baking craze lately. It started with a cake decorating class. Not that I bake cakes very often, but I wanted to try something new, plus I'd love to know how to make some of the designs I've seen on the cupcakes. I still needs lots of practice, but this is the first cake I made with roses. The design is kind of random, but we were learning different flowers during this class.

A couple of weeks ago I also got my first break maker. I've only made a few loafs so far and dough for cinnamon rolls, but I've been pretty happy with it. My favorite's been rosemary bread, but I want to experiment with a bit more to try and make sourdough rosemary so I can replace my addiction to the Rosemary Sourdough from Whole Foods (I can finish half that loaf in a sitting).


Aside from baking I finally got around to putting together most of my craft room this weekend. It still needs a little work, but I should be able to post a picture next time. I'm so happy it's finally in a usable state - I've missed stamping.