Dog Cookies! Made by me!

I've been creating - just not out of paper. I found a "vet approved" dog treat recipe online - which I also passed by the vet in our family - and decided to use this long weekend to bake. If you know me, then you know that I consider the kitchen a foreign land - a place I pass through from time to time, but not that I would call home!

Well, I went and picked up the ingredients - and they weren't cheap, since the quantity they are sold in was WAY over the quantity I needed for a single batch. I thought I had everything but, as I was stirring all the stuff together and it was thickening into a dough, I realized... I don't have a rolling pin.

Mommy to the rescue! I scooted downstairs and borrowed my in-law's.

Here's the result:

One batch of peanut butter cinnamon cookies! The dough smelled pretty good too. Did Shadow eat them?

Well, we broke one in half so we could each give her a little. She eagerly went for it and then immediately drew back. It was as if she was thinking, "OOOO Cookie! Wait... what the... ... This is *not* my normal cookie." She timidly kept taste testing it from my husband's hand and, eventually ate it. So, I called her for my half. She was hesitant, but took it. As she chewed, a piece fell out of her mouth with a great big glob of drool. So, I count that as: She liked it.

I have also been creating with paper a little and not just cards! Somewhere down the line, you can look for something different!

Baby Elephant - Mother's Day Card

When I saw the Bella Sleeping stamp by Wild Rose Studio, I had to have it. It could work for a new mom OR dad card, so I thought it was useful, but I knew I wanted to use it for Mother's Day. My mother loved elephants and the way the baby's hold their momma's tails. My own mother has passed but I still have mothers in my life!

I wasn't quite sure how to frame it though, so I hunted around the Internet for ideas. I liked the idea of a doily and sparkles in the flowers, so I went with that.

The stamp itself is tinted to suggest some colouring and it is so sweet. So, I mimicked it as closely as I could with my Copic markers. I used the cool grays from C1 to (I think) C8. I spent about 20 minutes just colouring!

I got use my new CTMH ink pads in yellow, pink and blue. The yellow and pink are in the background and the blue is on the sentiment. The background I stamped from an old Stampin' Up! background stamp set I have. I rarely use it. It was one of the first SU! stamps sets I bought, thinking it would be so versatile to make my own patterned papers. I has 4 mini designs in it. Turns out, I think I've used it about 3 times or so. There's just so much beautiful patterned paper out there that I rarely make my own!

I used my MISTI to stamp the sentiment frame in blue. Then I overstamped it with clear versamark ink so I could emboss it with clear embossing powder. The frame and sentiment fit together because they are from a CTMH stamp set.

I liked the spring colours in this card. I made another using more pink and purple for my step-mother's card too.

I filled one side with roses using 2 colours of my Local King Rubber Stamp watercolour markers. The sentiment fit so nicely in the other side of the heart. I like how it turned out too. In stead of a patterned paper background, I used an embossing folder.

We spent mother's day doing a birthday party barbeque since my dad and my nephew's birthday's spanned the weekend. My sister brought me flowers for being a first time fur-mom. She made a lovely gift card with it, which I'll show later. I've already shown the party train card I made for my nephew's birthday. I've still got pictures of my dad's birthday card to show too!

Birthday Train!

It's my nephew's birthday today. I was struggling with something to do for his card, but then I found the CASology challenge: MOVE. I decided it was time I dug out the train stamp I bought years ago and never used!

I paired it with a couple of teeny party bears I have from Dreamerland crafts. They fit perfectly in the little train cars!

I used a lot of different supplies on this one! 3 stamp sets: the train (Hot Off the Press), the bears (Dreamerland Crafts), and the sentiment (Your Next stamp). I used my Misti to line them up. I used scrap papers on the background, layered on scrap and then cut them with my new stitched rectangle die (Your Next Stamp). Plus, I coloured it with 3 different alcohol marker brands too: Copics, Bic, and ProMarkers.

Hooray for challenges to start your mojo!