Love, Joy, Hope: I Feel the Love

Happy Tuesday, my crafty friends! :o)

A new month means a new recipient of the treasured I Feel the Love Project, faithfully hosted each month by the sweet and talented Madison of Funky Cards. Each month she highlights a particular person, family, or organization in need of extra love and sunshine. In turn, we have the privilege of crafting for a higher purpose; one that gives me more joy than I could ever adequately express.

This month's focus is a precious little boy named Brandon, who is 4 years old. As the story unfolded, I knew I wouldn't be able to solely focus on him... which is why you see a girly card below. Rather, I need to make a little card for each immediate family member. The sweet family was involved in a tragic car accident last September. As a result, Brandon is considered tetraplegic, which means he can move one limb from time to time. He remains trach and ventilator dependent. Due to the neurological damage suffered in the accident, there is little likelihood that he will ever be weaned from the ventilator. (Although I will pray for all miracles to abound.)

Brandon's mother, his 2-year-old sister Ashley, and still-hospitalized aunt were all seriously injured in the accident. His mom's sweetheart (Ashley's father) did not survive. :( As endless beautiful cards have been posted around Blogger for Mother's Day, I couldn't stop thinking about this special mother and all she is enduring. So before Brandon's and Ashley's cards, I was inspired to share the love for a mother I do not know, but am connected with in prayer. She is truly special.

"Love. Joy. Hope."

I wanted to deliver this message through an elegant card, which hopefully will bring her a moment's comfort as she takes in the flourishy design. In life's most dire trials, we need to cling all the more fiercely to God and the endless love, joy, and hope that He offers. Those are often the hardest times to do just that, which is why I wanted them as the focus of the exterior. Whenever her eyes land upon this card, hopefully it will serve as a reminder of where to keep her focus and of how much she is truly loved. The joy of the Lord is our strength, after all.

A slightly closer look at the focal point, which is popped up with foam tape for dimension. (No worries, that mysterious black fuzzie will not be making the journey to California.)

The Storybook butterfly has three layers to make it 3D because I wanted it to have a nice presence on the card, to whisk her to a place of joyous hope on its whimsical wings. The body is lined with pearls to coordinate with the frame... and because you can never have too many pearls (or chocolate chips).

A few technical details for this card that was such fun to create, beginning with the gorgeous oval. I valiantly tried to resist the Spellbinders Floral Ovals, but upon discovering it's the perfect size for some of my beloved Elisabeth Bell stamps, all restraint vanished. The timing was perfect, as I thought it would make a lovely backdrop for this marvelous mother. Layered upon the pearl-accented floral oval are two Spellbinders Classic Ovals. The Love, Joy, and Hope stamps are from Close To My Heart, which came with the Art Philosophy bundle. I decorated it with a few Wild Orchid Crafts roses, which are sprinkled with glittery Star Dust. They rest atop my favorite Storybook leaves, which are embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.

The patterned papers are from the Kaiser Craft English Rose collection, and I was ecstatic to see they perfectly match this pretty American Crafts lace ribbon. :o) I wanted her to have elegant lace and a pretty bow, so I had no choice but to add more ribbon! Woohoo! The Vanilla Bean crinkle ribbon is from My Craft Spot. It is (somewhat) tied in a double bow, thanks to a fabulous tutorial by my dear friend Sherrie of Sherrie Scraps with Passion. It may have been wise for my first attempt to be with satin ribbon, or anything a touch less crinkly than crinkle ribbon. ;) It was fun, though!

The corner details are single scrolls from Art Philosophy, which I doubled up to make a fancy corner. Lastly, I added two tiny butterflies, secured in pearly love. The edges of the base papers and ovals are inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, while the butterflies are inked with Victorian Velvet. I also stitched around the perimeter with my sewing machine.

My hope is that having a card for Brandon, Ashley, and their mom will deliver a heap of love to the entire family. That way, I can almost hug all of them since I pack these cards with all the sappy love and hugs possible. :o) I hope you'll consider making a card for Brandon this month. It will mean more to the family than we can truly understand.

Challenges entered:
 * Craft Your Passion~ Torn or Distressed Edges
 * Frosted Designs~ Recipe Challenge; I chose: glitter (on the flowers, which didn't photograph well), ribbon, butterfly, and flower
 * Really Reasonable Ribbon~ Mother's Day or Feminine with Ribbon
 * Sentimental Sundays~ For a Special Woman

Thank you for fluttering on by today! I hope you have a sparkly, beautiful week! :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Art Philosophy, Storybook
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots
 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Floral Ovals, Classic Ovals~ Large
 * Paper: Core'dinations, Kaiser Craft, Papertrey Ink
 * Stamps: Close To My Heart
 * Ribbon: Crinkle~ My Craft Spot (Vanilla Bean); Lace~ American Crafts
 * Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
 * Ink: Victorian Velvet, Walnut Stain
 * Miscellaneous: Pearls (Recollections), Stickles

Card Outreach and I Feel the Love Cards

Happy Tuesday, my sparkly friends! I hope everyone is having a marvelous week! Today I have a couple of things to share with you that I made for two very sweet girls. This post is a bit picture-heavy to show the contents of the petal box... and a bit long in general. But with two cards for two cancer-battling girls and a deadline tonight, there was just no other way.

The current Cooking with Cricut challenge has joined forces with my favorite part of crafting: Madison's I Feel the Love Project. They are collecting for two amazing girls and I am thrilled to have something for each of them. My sappy heart was in overdrive over the weekend as I created a card and little gift for each of them.

You all already know how important (and vital) I Feel the Love is to me. Each month the sweet and talented Madison highlights a particular person, family, or organization in need of an extra burst of love and sunshine. In turn, we have the incredible honor of using our passion for a greater cause. This month's recipient is Emily, a lovely 6 year-old girl who is battling leukemia. She loves pink, purple, kittens, horses, and arts & crafts... I jammed them all in between her card and gift. Teehee.

"Purrfect"

I hope she gets as much joy from this card as I had while creating it. Create a Critter was used for all of the cuts. I used bright and cheery Heidi Grace papers to reflect a sunny outdoor scene. I couldn't resist sprucing up the sweet kitten's pillow... so I pleated some My Craft Spot Buttercup crinkle ribbon to symbolize ruffles of sunshiny love and added bright yellow rhinestone "sunbeams" to the trim. She's one happy kitten, immersed in God's loving warmth.

I love the yarn accessory that's part of the kitten page on the CAC cartridge, but instead made a little "ball" of yarn with Grape Fizz trendy twine. Not only is it Emily's beloved purple, but it also adds another fun textural element. Strawberry Cupcake twine was used for the kitten bows and I used Peachy Keen faces to give her and the sun some personality. :o) All twine is also from My Craft Spot.

"Wishing You Sunshine all Year Through"

For Emily's pillow box (from Art Philosophy), I used the same Heidi Grace paper as her card and wrapped it with Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz ribbon and Strawberry Cupcake twine. Oh the sweet sentiment... for so long I yearned for circular sentiments from Lili of the Valley. They recently had a free worldwide shipping promotion and I finally ordered one of the sets. I opted for the Dreamy Days set and am in LOVE. What better first-use than for these two girls? :o) I used a Spellbinders Lacey Circle to frame it, lightly inked with Tim Holtz Spun Sugar. Regarding the contents of this, that is the one thing left undone. Since Madison's collection runs through the end of the month, I will be filling it up this weekend with a bunch of cuts she can play with and will post it with the second card I'll be making her. Since Emily loves arts and crafts, I'll be doing a similar assortment to the pillow box of love I made sweet Trinitie last month.

The other recipient of Cooking with Cricut's challenge is a beautiful 13-year old named Patty, who is battling a rare form of cancer. She has had numerous rounds of chemotherapy, surgeries, and a stem cell transplant. Aren't you so crazy proud of her? I wish I could hug all of these people we create for...

"Be Unique, Be Unforgettable, Be You"

After much debate, I made Patty a purse from Create a Critter. I wanted to make her an actual purse, but I lacked the proper supplies. :( Hopefully she likes this purse-shaped card. :o) It's a pretty pink plaid because Patty is wearing pink in the picture of her that was posted. I gave it a fun pom-pom trim, which is one of my favorite things. To personalize it and make it especially for her, I made her a "P" logo and tucked it just beneath the pom trim. The heart base and frame layers are from Gypsy Wanderings. Her initial is from Storybook, which I accented with rhinestones. The purse closure is made of Art Philosophy flower cuts, a shimmery button, and a Blossom twine bow.

The wonderful Whimsical Designs sentiment is from the Whimsical Fun~ Volume 1 stamp set. It's "secured" with Strawberry Cupcake twine and I finished the purse by adding three tiny rhinestones on either end of the handle. When I debate between brads and rhinestones, the sparkly option will always win out. ;)

"Wishing You a Day Full of Happiness"

Do you think Patty likes wonky bows? I sure hope so. ;) (Although I will try to fix that before I mail it out.) I made her a petal box from the Art Philosophy cartridge, wrapped it in pretty ribbon that she can just slide off, and used another one of the beautiful Lili of the Valley sentiments. I truly love all 12 that came on the sheet.

Want to see the contents? The petal box Echo Park paper provides a clue... pretty flourishes are like fluffy frosting swirls. :o)

Secured with a jump ring, I made six fun and delicious cupcakes. All of the frosting is embossed and I tried to choose a nice variety of "wrappers." But these aren't merely pretty confections. What goes with sweet cupcakes? Sweet sentiments.

"Believe That You are Wonderful"

"Believe in Your Dreams"

Each cupcake has a unique sentiment from that same coordinating set, stamped upon a lacey circle, and inked with Spun Sugar. I tied sheer pink dot ribbon to the jump ring to coordinate with the petal box. I hope and pray that Patty and Emily smile upon receiving their little gifts. :o)

Challenge entered:

 * Cooking with Cricut~ Card Outreach

Thank you for persevering through this post and for visiting me today! I hope your day sparkles with love and joy. :o)

All You Need is Love

Happy Tuesday, my super sweet friends! I hope your week is bursting with sunshine. :o)

You'll never believe what I made. I tried my hand at my first ever Clean and Simple card! It's such a vastly different concept from my norm, so it hurt my brain something fierce. I like a variety and hadn't yet ventured into CAS, despite wanting to give it a whirl. So, here is my first one!

"All You Need is Love"

A closer picture of the sparkling trail of rainbow love...

This was made for a friend and inspired by a few challenges. Her heart has been a little blue lately due to stormy trials, so I made this card to remind her that God's love is all she needs and that her rainbow is coming. :) The rainbow may technically be a small part of this card, but it really means everything. The smallest glimmer of sunshine leads to a rainbow. I wanted it to pop on a white background, so I used Bazzil pearlescent cardstock. Without rhinestones in rainbow shades of the same size, I used my Copics on crystal clear ones. That has rescued me on so many occasions!

The main image is two Spellbinders Nested Hearts, which is certainly among my favorite sets. It embosses beautifully! I sponged Tim Holtz Faded Jeans over the embossed areas and added three tiny pearls. The smaller layer is adhered with foam tape for a touch of dimension. I love white-on-white and I think it also lends itself well to keeping a CAS design, so I cut out two Storybook heart-scroll corners and centered them with little pearls. The pretty butterfly delivering the rainbow is a Martha Stewart Small Monarch punch. One of the CAS-ual Fridays requirements this week is to use a pattern, so I embossed the entire base with the Swiss Dots folder. The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado set that I've had forever.

Challenges entered:
 * CAS-ual Fridays~ Pattern, Image, Sentiment
 * Cooking with Cricut~ St. Patrick's Day or Rainbow
 * Lollipop Crafts~ Sentimentally Yours (Sentiment is the focus)

Thank you for fluttering to see me today! I hope you have a blessed and beautiful week. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartrdige: Storybook
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots
 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Nested Hearts
 * Sentiment: Inkadinkado
 * Butterfly punch: Martha Stewart Small Monarch
 * Ink: Tim Holtz Faded Jeans
 * Miscellaneous: Copics (to color rhinestones), iRock, Pearls (Recollections)

I Feel the Love: Love Blossoms Encouragement Card

Happy Monday, my crafty friends! I hope your weekend was beautiful. :o)

A new month means a new recipient of the I Feel the Love Project, faithfully hosted by the amazing Madison of Funky Cards. Each month she highlights a person, family, or organization in need of an extra dose of love and blessings. In turn, we have the privilege of crafting for this wonderful cause. No projects bring me more joy than the ones dedicated to I Feel the Love, despite often being made with a heavy heart.

This month's recipient is a lovely girl named Trinitie who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. I've pretty much thought about her non-stop since Friday morning when I read about her. Far too often I'm down to the wire with Madison's project (not typically by choice), but this one took precedence over everything. I simply needed to create for Trinitie immediately.

I will be making her a fun Create a Critter card, too... all kids love that cartridge! But from the moment I saw her picture and read her story, I've had it on my heart to make an encouragement card of a different nature. I couldn't let it go. I want to send her a little "garden" via a card bursting with nature's beauty. Her own little garden she can look at and immerse herself in whenever she likes, just like this sweet girl in my card.

"Love Blossoms"

This card is all about the sentiment's double meaning. While the flowers are surely love blossoms, the driving force and inspiration are with the verb form. Her little garden is blossoming in and by love, just like divine love is blossoming within her gorgeous heart as she faithfully awaits her miracle. Healing love is blossoming within her every time we pray for her. A reassurance of love is so encouraging to a child. Nature's beauty is unrivaled and I couldn't help but think a card bursting with unfading flowers might deliver a burst of sunshine to Trinitie's difficult life.

For those who like the stories behind so many of my cards, there are a couple involved here that are integral parts of this creation. The bottom of the card is yellow polka-dotted paper, serving as a path of sunbeams. I edged it with my Martha Stewart lacy heart border punch because my and God's love are with her every single step of her journey. The white flourish I made represents a pure, heavenly breeze... a whisper of hope and a breath of life. The pale yellow crinkle ribbon is a hug of warmth. The kind of hug that makes everything feel better. How I wish I could hug her.

Now for some technical details. The precious sweetheart is an Elisabeth Bell digi stamp, titled Little Rapunzel. I colored her with Copics and nestled her inside a field of flowers upon an Elegant Edges base. I centered some of the flowers on her shirt with rhinestones, along with a few surrounding flowers. I also sprinkled Star Dust Stickles throughout because she and nature sparkle with hope. I cut off the flower that was part of the stamp and replaced it with a small Wild Orchid Crafts mini rose. I wanted her to be holding a 'real' flower instead. :o) All roses on the card are from Wild Orchid Crafts, ranging from 15mm to 25mm, and are trimmed with Star Dust. I cut Storybook leaves to accompany them.

All of the patterned papers are from Kaisercraft's Lilac Avenue collection. The bases are a lovely deep purple, despite my stellar photography making them appear black. The flourish is an Autumn Leaves stamp which I heat embossed with white opaque embossing powder and dotted with pearls. The gorgeous Buttercup crinkle ribbon is from My Craft Spot, which I centered with a stitched heart button and a tiny Trendy Twine Grape Fizz bow. The sentiment is computer generated from my sappy heart.

To finish it off I stitched around the base layer and the middle layer with my sewing machine. I would have LOVED to stitch around the image, but decided I better wait until I can practice going in a circle first. I'm still working on a straight line for my 'straight' stitches as it is. ;) There is another part to this card; a coordinating gift box from the Art Philosophy cartridge. I can't complete it until I get to the store, so I'll post it with the second card I'll be making for her. :o) I hope with all of my sparkly heart that she likes this card.

It's super early in the month, so there's plenty of time for you to create a card for sweet Trinitie. :o) Visit I Feel the Love for details!

Challenges entered:
 * CES~ Flower Frenzy
 * Crafty Catz~ Punches and Dies
 * Cute Card Thursday~ Signs of Spring
 * DL.Art Thankful Thursday~ Three Layers, a Bow, and Bling
 * Die Cuttin' Divas~ Recipe (Fabric, Feathers, and/or Flowers)
 * Paper Playtime~ Die Cuts and Flowers
 * Sentimental Sundays~ Words of Encouragement
 * Simon Says Stamp~ Anything Goes
 * The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog~ Swirls and Pearls

Thank you for fluttering on by today! I hope your day sparkles with blessings, hugs, and a heap of chocolate. :o) Oh! And I mentioned happy news the other day... keep an eye out! To celebrate 100 posts (that took a while! Ha!), I'll soon be having a little giveaway. I love you all something crazy.

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Elegant Edges, Storybook
 * Paper: Core'dinations, Kaisercraft
 * Sentiment: Computer generated
 * Digi stamp: Elisabeth Bell~ Little Rapunzel
 * Copics: E00, E000 (skin); E25, E29, D31 (hair); V01, V15, YG23 (shirt, jeans cuff); B91, B95, B97 (jeans)
 * Flourish stamp: Autumn Leaves
 * Border punch: Martha Stewart Lacy Heart
 * Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts
 * Crinkle ribbon: My Craft Spot
 * Twine: Trendy Twine Grape Fizz
 * Heart button: Little Yellow Bicycle
 * Miscellaneous: Embossing Powder (Recollections Opaque Snow), Pearls (Recollections), Stickles

Wall Hanging with Giant Flowers Cartridge :)

Happy Wednesday, my sparkly friends! I hope you're having a beautifully crafty week! :o)

I am so excited to share this little wall hanging that I made yesterday for a few challenges! (One may seem a bit out of place at first glance, but I explain it in the challenge list below!) I was extremely blessed to win the Giant Flowers cartridge from the amazingly talented (and sweet) Shelly of My Paper Love. (Thank you for the millionth time!) I wasted no time putting it to use. The hardest part was choosing which flower to make first! :o)

After much debate, I chose the lotus because of how it blossoms pure and radiant, flourishing through its muddy environment. I wrote a little passage to accompany it and to serve as a primary focal point... no need to squint, as I'll type it below! :o)

A closer view at the incredible flower:

A better look at the sentiment, which will be pretty big if you enlarge it:

Text:

Growing in faith, the love of the Lord blossoms within. Strengthened by grace, our hearts trust in the One and Only.

Amazingly, I forgot to take a side angle photograph of the flower because I was rushed this morning. :( It is exquisite! You can obviously cut these massive and larger than life, but I wanted to experiment and see how it would work on a bit of a smaller scale for this 8.5'' square wall hanging. I am thrilled with the results. Cut at 2 inches, the assembled flower measures roughly 4.25'' wide and 1.25'' high. In person, this flower is truly stunning. I inked all of the edges with Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet Distress Ink to soften the trim as well as bring more life to each petal. Most of the nine flowers include centers to cut, but the lotus does not. I chose a pretty Tim Holtz Fanciful Button that somewhat mimics its circular seeded center. Plus, the little filigree hearts work nicely with the sentiment.

Speaking of which, the sentiment was inspired by the love my sweetheart and I share. Our focus is the Lord and His perfect love, and as we grow in faith together, our love grows at the same time. It's truly a beautiful thing. :o) Desiring the passage to be a focal element, I used a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis square for the base with pearlescent, textural white paper. I inked the pink sentiment paper's edges with Victorian Velvet (as well as the main base layers), straight-stitched it to the square, and added Wild Orchid Crafts Guipure white lace as a decorative trim. Since pearls make everything better, I added a little graduating row and a few on the corners. I was going for elegant simplicity, which pearls innately achieve.

To put the sentiment and incredible flower in focus, I kept the rest of the wall hanging streamlined. I used a flourishy paper from the DCWV French Country stack to make a nice backdrop on its own. The flourishes are all sparkly, with several areas of delicate script. I added a Gypsy Wanderings flourish above the flower for a little added punch, but kept it tonal so as not to detract. I simply added a touch of Victorian Velvet Ink (I couldn't put it down!). I dolloped it with pearls because... well... I just love them. ;) I stitched around the entire base with a zig zag stitch for variety and added two filigree heart corners from Storybook. Matching Wild Orchid Crafts lace completes the bottom, which I dotted with pearls for a graceful touch. (Side Note: I love this white Guipure lace design even more than the larger, slightly different cream version I used on my last project. **swoon**)

For a pop of sunshiny warmth, I added three sparkling orange butterflies. I love how they stand out against the pink base. Two pink ones are also fluttering about, although their script bodies do not show in the pictures... they coordinate with the script on the base. The pink ones are dotted with a pearl, with one of them resting atop a pretty lotus petal. (I wouldn't be able to resist, either!) All of them are facing upward because their focus is always above... just like we strive so hard to keep our focus on the One above. I hope you like this as much as my sweetheart does... if it's not too girly, I'd love to give this to him for our anniversary since it was inspired by him and created with our anniversary in mind. He prefers when I make things with my favorite girly supplies, anyway. :o)

Challenges entered:
 * Fantabulous Cricut~ Fancy Trims
 * Go Fish Challenge Blog~ Photo Inspiration (creative use of typeset)
 * Love to Crop~ Pink, Orange, plus ONE other color (white)
 * My Sheri Crafts~ Warm Wishes! (They said we could use our imagination... to me, the ultimate warmth is heavenly love shared with my sweetheart and the thought of summery flowers. Nothing warms me better on this chilly day!)
 * Sentimental Sundays~ Let's get sentimental (focus on the sentiment)

Thank you for fluttering on by today! I wish you all a gorgeous day of blessings and smooshy hugs. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Giant Flowers, Gypsy Wanderings, Storybook
 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Fleur de Lis Squares
 * Sentiment: Written by me
 * Paper: Bazzill, DCWV
 * Inking: Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet Distress Ink
 * Lace: Wild Orchid Crafts Guipure White
 * Button: Tim Holtz Fanciful Buttons
 * Butterfly Punch: Fiskars
 * Pearls: Recollections

Be Unique, Be Unforgettable, Be You... and Sweet Saturday!

Happy Saturday, my sweet friends! :o) I had every intention of posting before today, but it was one of those stretches. You know what helps with a bit of a trying week? Hugs, making a girly card, and sharing a delicious treat. All those are wrapped up into today's post!

First up is a card I made for a few challenges. I used a new-to-me technique, which is always exciting. :o) My first Criss Cross card was so much fun to create.

"Be Unique, Be Unforgettable, Be You"

Not only was it pure joy making this, but I was finally able to use a few more new goodies that my sweetheart gave me. When I decided to use this marvelous Whimsical Designs sentiment from Stephanie's Whimsical Fun~ Volume 1 set, I knew the perfect image stamp to accompany it. Our creative spirits make us unique, enable us to make sweet projects that touch someone's life, and the journey helps us discover hidden parts of ourselves... tiny morsels that make us who we are. Making a heartfelt creation is truly a representation of who we are, with each style highlighting individual facets. It's one of the reasons I so enjoy visiting blogs. Every designer has their own beautiful creative spirit. :o)

This sweet stamp is an Elisabeth Bell digi stamp, titled Creative Genius. She is perfect! Just look at her crafting to her heart's content. I colored her with Copics and sprinkled in some extra treats: Her slipper is not only sparkly, but I cut off part of a pom-pom to make it fluffy, too. Her headband is dolloped with pearls, used for the flower centers. Star Dust covers her pencil, markers, paintbrushes, and the kitty's bow. One of my favorite parts is completely unseen because I neglected to get a close-up. :( She's drawing a picture of a flower and I colored it Buttercup and sparklified it... for a sappy reason. Because everything created from the heart sparkles like the most gorgeous ray of sunshine dancing upon an ocean. It's just how it works! :o)

The papers are from the Kaisercraft English Rose collection, which I continue to love more with each new pattern I use. The Wild Orchid Craft Guipure cream lace is new, a blessing from my sweetie pie. I LOVE this exquisite lace. The pretty flowers are also Wild Orchid Crafts, which are trimmed in Star Dust. I tucked a 2-tone baby pink Sweetheart Blossom into the mix because the cute creative genius is such a sweetheart. I sewed all of the layers and then pleated crinkle ribbon to make a girly, fluffy trim. And all of the inking is new! It's my first time dabbing into Tim Holtz and I am already in love. I used Victorian Velvet for all of the edges.

The image stamp base is cut from Elegant Edges, the tag from Gypsy Wanderings, and the interior butterfly is a fancy corner from Storybook. The butterfly's trail is sparkly (of course) and I dotted her wings with pearls. It felt so good to craft! :o)

Criss Cross Card Tutorial: Here!

Challenges entered:

 * Crafty Catz~ Favorite Things (Copics, flowers, lace, pearls, pink, ribbon)

 * Cute Card Thursday~ Flower Power!

 * My Craft Spot~ Girly Girl!

 * Paper Sundaes~ Sundae Bar! (I used cream and pearls)

Ready for a treat? Sweet Saturday is all about hugs and cookies. I was searching for a new cookie recipe to bake for my boyfriend and his coworkers... and you won't believe what I stumbled across. Cookies that have HUGS inside them. I waited all of two seconds before whipping up these Hugs Chocolate Cookies.

His coworkers love me. The rich chocolate cookie dough is embracing Hershey Hugs. The original recipe uses the seasonal Raspberry Hugs, but since we're not huge raspberry fans I used regular Hugs. Any flavor would be delicious! The surprise center of melted white and milk chocolate was perfect for Valentine's Day. (Or any day.) The tops are fancied up with a white chocolate drizzle to complement the centers. The cookie itself is rich, fudgy, and decadent... and as is always the case, a Hug makes everything better. If you try these, I hope you love them as much as we did. :o)

Thank you for visiting me! I hope your weekend sparkles with joy, crafting, and chocolate. :o)

***

Raspberry Hugs Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 3½ dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup dutch processed cocoa

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (10 ounce) bag Hershey's Raspberry Hugs candy (or any flavor you desire)

1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix until flour disappears.

Unwrap the Hugs candies. Take a spoonful of cookie dough and wrap the dough around the Hug candy, making certain the entire Hug is covered. Place cookie onto prepared baking sheet. Continue wrapping cookies until the dough is gone. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Do not over-bake. Remove from the oven and let sit on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Place white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and melt. Drizzle chocolate over the cookies. Let cookies sit until chocolate hardens, approximately 10 minutes.

Source: Two Peas & Their Pod

***

Key Recipe Components (for card):

 * Cricut cartridges: Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings, Storybook

 * Sentiment stamp: Whimsical Designs~ Whimsical Fun, Volume 1

 * Image stamp: Elisabeth Bell~ Creative Genius

 * Copics: E000, E00 (skin); E25, E31, E50 (hair); R81, R83 (shirt, headband, slipper, cup); B91, B95 (jeans, headband, tablecloth, chair); Y21, Y000 (tablecloth, chair); C3, C5 (kitty); B00 (water in glass with paintbrushes)

 * Paper: DCWV, Kaisercraft, Papertrey Ink

 * Ink: Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet

 * Wild Orchid Crafts: 35mm trellis rose, 20mm roses, sweetheart blossom; Guipure cream lace

 * Crinkle Ribbon: Prairie Bird Boutique

 * Miscellaneous: Pearls (Recollections); Stickles

Bringing Out the Old: Whimsical Wednesday Challenge!

Happy Wednesday, my crafty friends! I hope your February is off to a fantastic start! :o)

This week's Whimsical Wednesday challenge is to incorporate something that you haven't used in a long time to create a scrapbook LO, card, or project. It can be anything crafty related, be it a tool, cartridge, paper, or embellishment. (Tell us what it is, too!) My pretty ribbon and lovely weathered-green base are my old items. :o)

I combined old and new goodies to create a card inspired by my parents' 49th wedding anniversary, celebrated last week. :o) I tried a new-to-me fancy fold card: the diamond fold! I opted for the inside-out variation which moves the diamond inside.

Before the card springs to life, our little sweetheart is planting love...

Faithfully cared for, the love blossoms into all things beautiful... "All because we fell in love"

Forty-nine years later, my parents still love each other so much. Thinking about love that endures the tough times (and even becomes stronger from them) made this card come to be. I used three coordinating sheets of romantic papers full of vintage-y charm for the main theme, with each individual section machine-sewn to its cream mat. Those new patterned papers are from the gorgeous Kaisercraft English Rose collection, while the entire design is built upon my old and neglected green paper. The base may not show well in the pictures, but it's weathered and has sporadically-placed script. It is from the DCWV French Country stack which I needed when I saw it, thinking I'd use it oodles since I had nothing like it... and then only used it once. The same can be said for the neglected sheer pink ribbon, which is so pretty. I don't know why I've kept them aside for so long. Combining old and new seemed ideal to honor a love that began in the 50s and still thrives with each new day. :o)

On the front, our sweet gardener is a precious Elisabeth Bell stamp: Planting Some Love. Isn't she adorable? I received her as a gift for my birthday and I love her to pieces. I was trying to wait for Spring, but I couldn't hold out any longer. Plus, she's perfect for a card about planting love. :o) I had to leave off part of the stamp due to spacial constraints, so I guess I'll have to color her again soon... woohoo! :o) I colored her up with Copics, used three shades of Flower Soft for the flowers on her hat, and couldn't resist sparklifying her patches and the hearts on her gloves. (Her gloves are yellow because she's also planting sunshine into the lives of all she meets. She's sappy like that.) I also carefully dabbed some Star Dust on the Flower Soft. I made her a background of sky and Create-a-Critter grass, sewed it, and then attached it to the pretty Fleur de Lis Spellbinders base. My new flowers are beautiful roses and hip rosebuds from Wild Orchid Crafts, accented with touches of Star Dust. I inked the white lace to make it more vintage-inspired, tucked a pearl-accented Cindy Loo flourish beneath it, and tied the card together with ribbon.

For the interior, pretty triangles surround the key to the entire story... the sweet Whimsical Designs stamp from the With Love set: All because we fell in love. The oodles of triangles, diamonds, and rectangles and their bases indeed took a while to cut and sew, but it was worth it. It makes it almost like patchwork, symbolizing woven memories in their love's tapestry. Despite every section having a pattern of some sort, most are journaling-friendly to jot down a special note or memory if desired. The Copic-colored pot of flowers is from the same Elisabeth Bell stamp, but I tucked it inside to signify love blossoming. :o)

The diamond-fold card tutorial I used can be found HERE.

The entire With Love set, which I simply cannot get enough of:

I hope you'll join us this week by linking up your creation to the Whimsical Wednesday challenge post, where you'll also find information on this week's prize. I'm excited to see what old items you incorporate. :o) Be sure to dance on over to the rest of the Whimsical Designers' blogs to see their marvelous projects!

Thank you for fluttering on by! I hope your day sparkles with love. :o)

Challenges entered:

 * Die Cuttin Divas~ Anything Goes

 * My Craft Spot~ Anything Goes

 * My Sheri Crafts~ New Things (Technique, papers, flowers)

 * Winter Wonderland~ Swirls and Pearls

Key Recipe Components:

 * Cricut cartridges: Cindy Loo, Create a Critter, Storybook (branches beneath Wild Orchid flowers)

 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots (on branches)

 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Fleur de Lis Squares

 * Sentiment stamp: Whimsical Designs~ With Love

 * Image stamp: Belles and Whistles/Elisabeth Bell: Planting Some Love; Colored with Copics

 * Paper: Basic Grey, DCWV, Kaisercraft, Papertrey Ink

 * Flowers: Wild Orchid Crafts

 * Lace: American Crafts

 * Ribbon: stash

 * Miscellaneous: Flower Soft, Pearls (Recollections), Stickles

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes!

Happy Wednesday, my dear crafty friends! Two cards in two days... color me sparkly! :o)

Today is a VERY special Whimsical Wednesday! New adventures are beginning and I am honored to tell you that Stephanie has asked me to stay on for another term! I am ecstatic. She is coming out with a new stamp line, so stay tuned here and at her Whimsical Designs home for the release week date! It will be coming VERY soon. :o) I am blessed to have the opportunity to showcase her stamps as a member of her Design Team... and let me tell you, you are going to love them! I am eager to begin creating with them. :o)

Additionally, Stephanie has posted a Design Team call. :o) There are some permanent Design Team positions and Guest Designer positions open. Visit Whimsical Designs for the details. :o)

And now, let's get crafty! The challenge this week is Anything Goes! Whatever strikes your fancy, we'd love to see it! :o) This card I'm about to share with you is a record, my friends. I literally had two hours to craft. TWO. That's an insanely small window for me to come up with a plan and execute it. There was fear, I tell you. I even said I couldn't do it! But then... my heart said, "JUST DO IT!" Make like Nike! You know what's funny? This is the quickest and simplest card I've ever made, yet it still portrays the message that was on my heart. Card-making is a beautiful thing!

"Love Heals"

I had to take this picture in the dark (which was funny), but hopefully most of the sparkling details still shine through. (The entire main base is sparkly.) Despite the time crunch, I had a message to share. One of the primary reasons I bought the Wall Decor and More cartridge is because of this dancer. I've longed to use her, but was a bit apprehensive. Many of you know portions of my dance status. Suddenly, I just *needed* to use this beloved dancer. But with such a short time frame, I freaked myself out wondering how I could do it justice. I mean, this is DANCE. The first thing that came to me is that love heals. From there, I knew nothing else mattered. Whatever was with it was icing on the cake. The sentiment and dancer were there, and that was enough to propel me onward.

Love is healing my body... and I hope to return to the stage or studio where a powerful performance can inexplicably bring healing love to someone in the audience, whatever it is that they need. Emotional or spiritual healing... all art forms innately possess power if you're driven by a heavenly force. And as is stated, love never fails. :o) Our sweet dancer here has released a trail of sparkling rhinestones as she gives her heart to her audience, whether it's an audience of One or a full house. Her sparkling love has burst into this red and green filigree design, accented with rhinestones, to carry out the (sparkly embossed) message that love heals. The filigree design from Storybook is actually cut in half because I made it far too large, which proceeded to somewhat make it appear as a magical Christmas butterfly. That aspect was unintentional, brought to my attention by my boyfriend when I showed him my completed card. So perfect! My explosion of love just so happened to morph a bit into a butterfly! I am tickled sparkly pink.

The lacy card design is from Elegant Edges and I embossed the sparkly Core Couture cardstock with my favorite snowflake folder. She's dancing in a winter wonderland, her body steady and secure upon the red ribbon dusted with 'snow.' But you guys know me... that's not merely flowy red ribbon. It represents the healing power of red love, flowing to us and then through us. While I love the crisp red against the pristine white regardless of theme, this is Christmassy for a purpose. My hope is that the day we celebrate the ultimate gift, I will be able to dance as a gift to and from the Lord. This is my third year saying something of that nature. Maybe this is my year. :o) See how the dancer's arabesque has extended beyond the lacy border? She's breaking through barriers. :o)

I did not intend to make this post long, so forgive me. It all went into the making of this card, so I wanted to share. :o)

I hope you'll play along with us this week and link up your Anything Goes project at the NEW challenge home of Whimsical Wednesday's: Whimsical Designs. I would love to see your creations! Our fabulous sponsor this week is my fellow Design Team member Nanne of Nanne's Creations. She is donating a marvelous variety of Webster Pages scrapping supplies to one random winner who participates. Thank you, Nanne! :o)

Be sure to dance on over to Stephanie's blog to see the rest of the Design Team's projects! Thank you for visiting me today. If you persevered through this entire post, you deserve a cupcake. :o) (Or even if you didn't... because I like to share cupcakes.)

One final thing... it's almost FRIDAY! It's nearly time to celebrate the opening of Cindy's Scraptastic Designs with our kick-off blog hop! Hope to see you there, my friends. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings, Storybook, Wall Decor and More
 * Cuttlebug embossing folders: Swiss Dots, Winter Wonderland pack
 * Paper: Core'dinations, DCWV
 * Spellbinders Nestabilities: Labels Four
 * Sentiment: Computer generated
 * Ribbon: Hobby Lobby
 * Miscellaneous: iRock, Stickles (on sentiment embossing)

Christmas Blessings Card

Happy Monday, my sweet friends! I hope everyone had a sparkling weekend. :o)

Today I have a Christmas card to share with you! My first one that is actually red and green, which was fun. And the blurry factor in the photograph? Just pretend it's the snow blurring your vision. ;)

"Christmas blessings" (Interior sentiment... with no picture. Grr.)

If only the picture truly captured the inspiration and depth of this card. This is one of the stamps that pushed me to try Copics... I so badly wanted to color her! Our sweet Christmas fairy/angel is battling the winter storm to deliver a very special blessing. It may look a wee bit busy... but that is intentional. Hopefully it does not detract, which I somewhat question now that I'm finished. There is a layer of sheer glitter ribbon beneath the filigree border, which replicates the sparkling path of faith. The filigree border portrays the depth of the Lord's love for us... the sparkly intricacies represent the details of His plans, which we often do not know (if ever) until our blessing has come. The tiny bell attached to the angel's wing is sparkling with silver glitter, as are the tie thingies on her arm and legs. Her wings are trimmed in Stardust and her hair is topped with a bouquet made of Flower Soft. Why so extra lovely? She is delivering a Christmas miracle, so her inner light is sparkling bright with love. The card is softly encircled with red ribbon because we are always safe, guarded, protected, and preserved in the ultimate heavenly embrace of love. :o)

A few technical aspects... for some reason, I decided to try my hand at the beautiful (yet dreaded) hard-to-blend-well Copic reds and making folds in clothing. Why I did this in the same card is beyond me. Both were hard, particularly the folds. I studied pictures and watched videos beforehand, but proper execution clearly needs oodles of practice. But I am on my way (ish)! :o) Her wings are illuminated in red because she's just bursting with love and being propelled by that exquisite faithful love. I used several snowy elements in an attempt to depict a lot of snow in a few different ways. The dots on the sheer red ribbon, the embossing of the pearlescent base, the red and green snowflake paper, the sheer glitter ribbon on the scalloped piece, and of course the Cricut'ed snowflake and tiny smattering of rhinestones. (And of course a dusting of Sparkle Shimmer Spritz.) I wanted it to be a beautiful snowstorm since the purpose is our angel fighting to help us. Plus, even the storms of life behold beauty... we just need to train ourselves to search for it. :o) Our angel is pop-dotted not only for dimension, but also to encourage us to rise above our storms. :o)

Challenges entered:
 * Cooking With Cricut~ Purple and/or Green (with optional sketches)
 * Jingle Belles~ Softly Falling Snow (incorporate a 'soft' element)
 * Love To Crop~ Encircled and Hugged (loving circles)

Thank you for fluttering on over to visit me. :o) I wish you a sparkly beautiful day!

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings, Storybook
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots
 * Paper: Core'dinations, DCWV, SEI
 * Stamp: Wee Stamps (Silver Fairy)
 * Copics: E25, E31, E50 (hair); E0000, E000, E00 (skin); YG11, YG13, YG17 (dress); R29, R27, R24, R22, R20 (wings)
 * Ribbon: Hobby Lobby, Casa Collection Special Occasion (Jo-Anns)
 * Twine: Trendy Twine
 * Miscellaneous: Flower Soft, iRock, Shimmer Spritz, Stickles

You're My Favorite Cookie and Sweet Saturday!

Happy Saturday, my sweet friends! I hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start. :o)

After a far more willy nilly week than anticipated, I have a couple of treats to share with you today. :o) First up is a card that combines two of my favorite aspects of the season: Autumn colors and baking.

"You're My Favorite Cookie"

Isn't she sweet? This is one of my very favorite stamps (Elisabeth Bell~ Willow with Cookies). I was thrilled (and nervous) to color her. This card was designed with a child, best friend, or sweetheart in mind... the one who is your favorite cookie, ice cream flavor, chocolate, etc. Such a high compliment, really. ;)

You just can't bake in the fall without fuzzy slippers, so I cut up a pom pom and adhered fuzzies to her slippers with Glossy Accents. I coated her bow, belt, and the hearts on her pants with Diamond Stickles to give her an autumn sparkle. I lined up the sentiment circle to match the design of the paper so there's no break in the lovely textured quilt pattern and secured it with a heart button and bow. :o) The upper part of the frame is decorated with branches and a sparkly pinecone. I embossed the leaves and interior of the frame for more texture... and like how the dots somewhat resemble chocolate chips. The frame cut-outs remind me of chocolate fragments, too.. but that could just be my chocoholic mind. ;) I hope this sweet little card makes you smile. :o)

Challenges entered:
 * A Gem of a Challenge~ Sketch (my first challenge of this nature, which was quite hard for me)
 * Cooking With Cricut~ Autumn colors
 * My Craft Spot~ Fall Leaves

Dessert makes me smile... and thankfully it's time for another Sweet Saturday! It would have been appropriate to bake a batch of the best chocolate chip cookies in the world as part of this gift, but I couldn't wait any longer to try a new autumny recipe. A seasonal delight with a dose of chocolate: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake!

I turned this amazing bread recipe into a bundt cake yesterday because I just love the simple beauty of bundts. I was a bit skeptical of chocolate chips with pumpkin, but it is delicious! My loved ones enjoyed it immensely. The cake is super moist, with a taste of autumn in every bite. The pumpkin and spices meld together beautiful, while the dollops of melted chocolate provide another fun level of flavor. This is fabulous on its own, but I can never resist a light topping of some kind on my bundts, so I dusted it with confectioners' sugar. (It makes a great breakfast treat, too. I'm just saying.)

The recipe as written makes three loaves of bread, so if you go that route be prepared to freeze a loaf... or better yet, share with your friends and family. Whether in cake or bread form, make it soon and enjoy one of autumn's delights. :o) Thank you for visiting me today, my friends. You make me happy. :o)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Yield: One bundt cake (or three loaves of bread: simply divide batter between three 9x5 loaf pans)

Ingredients:
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup canola oil
⅔ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º F. Generously spray a bundt pan with Pam with Flour, being careful to get all nooks and crannies.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, canola oil, water, vanilla, and eggs. Mix until smooth. Slowly blend in the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 60 minutes or until browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Lightly dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Source: Two Peas and Their Pod
***

Key Recipe Components (for card):
 * Cricut cartridge: Create a Critter, Elegant Edges, Storybook
 * Cuttlebug embossing folders: Swiss Dots, Victoria
 * Stamp: Elisabeth Bell~ Willow with Cookies
 * Copics: E000, E00, R20 (skin); E25, E31, E50 (hair, pants, cookies); YR 01, YR12, YR18 (shirt); Y13, Y19, YR31 (apron); YG11, YG13 (plate)
 * Sentiment: Computer generated
 * Paper: Core'dinations, Creative Imaginations, DCWV, SEI
 * Self-adhesive Ribbon: K & Company
 * Button: My Mind's Eye Tres Jolie
 * Twine: Sew Easy (limeade)
 * Miscellaneous: rhinestones, Stickles

Friendship Card and Sweet Saturday

Happy Saturday, my treasured friends! :o)

Against all odds, I have some goodies to share with you today! In a sparkly nutshell, the last 24 hours have been the type where the simplest things turn monumentally challenging. Thankfully this afternoon I was able to finish up my card and salvage my dessert (taste-wise, anyway). Miracles do happen! ;)

First up is a friendship card for one of my dearest pals. We first crossed paths about four years ago and she quickly became a steadfast presence. She colors my life with such joy. I wasn't able to do any challenges last week, so I was eager to use a few as my base inspiration for this one. :o) It tells a bit of a story, explained below. (Forgive the blurry pics and the one that makes you feel like you're on a rollercoaster! My picture-taking skills are on vacation.)

One more to show some of the dimension:

The story here is that this butterfly is fluttering along on her sparkling path. Approaching a curve in the road, representing a new creative journey, she has two options. To the left, she finds black and white... beautiful and full of promise with its sparkly rhinestones and pearlescent butterflies, but still merely black and white. To the right is the path taken amidst the bond of a gorgeous friendship. Friendship colors your world with an explosion of sparkling love. The rhinestone path has changed from crystalline to a rainbow, while the base is a burst of bright pink swirled with stardust glitter. Naturally this environment brings out your own inner sparkle, evidenced by the brightly colored, ultra glittery butterflies. I certainly know which path I'd choose... and thankfully our main fluttery friend here, edged with a tiny bit of black and white doodling, is slightly angled to the right. Her shadow is bright yellow as opposed to black because she's frolicking on a ray of sunshine that keeps all darkness away. Just like my friend who blesses me so richly and strives to defy any dark clouds that come my way.

The ribbon flower is one of my favorite parts! (Shocking, right?) It's super simple, but I think it's lovely. I followed a fabulous tutorial, but instead of keeping it a single flower, I coiled it up to create a double dose of polka-dotted love. I lined an edge of the ribbon with Glossy Accents and coated it in bright pink glitter before stitching it into the flower. It seemed to be the best way to get every millimeter of trim sparkly, as opposed to sparklifying it once already coiled.
Tutorial: Dawn's Stamping Studio

The interior needed to be colorful as well, so I decorated it a bit instead of solely holding the sentiment. This is my first time using Scrappy Moms stamps, and I love them! I won them at FCCB and was so excited that I *needed* to use one immediately. I added a Stardust-covered butterfly to the bottom because it just seemed like there should be one inside. :o)

(I don't really think it's possible to have used 'sparkly' or its variations any more than I did in this card explanation.) :o)

A first for me, I'm entering this into the My Pink Stamper blog hop challenge. The requirement is to use your style making your favorite thing... be it a favorite color combo, technique, cartridge, etc! I struggled at first because style-wise, sometimes it seems like I'm all over the place. Then I figured it out. My style is from the heart. I can't really classify it as anything else.. because no matter what project I do, regardless of outward appearance, it must be from the heart and must have a story (whether obvious or subtle). Upon that realization, I'm playing along! My favorite things are ribbon and sparkle, which my crafty friends are very familiar with by now. ;) Hehe.

Challenges entered:
 * Fantabulous Cricut~ Let's Get Buggy
 * My Craft Spot~ Use hot, bright colors
 * My Pink Stamper~ Use your style making your favorite thing!
 * Wacky Wednesday~ Friendship

Who's hungry? It's Sweet Saturday time! My favorite baking season is rapidly approaching, but there are still a few weeks left to celebrate the fruity goodness of summer. I love adding summer fruits to heavier desserts because it seems to lighten them up a bit in a most refreshing way. For example... Lime Cheesecake with Blackberry Sauce.

Oh the journey of this dessert, made late last night. It was going so well! Then I made a ridiculous error that altered everything, and also made it look as crazy as it does. I was a few seconds away from trashing the whole thing when I was encouraged to just wait it out while it chilled to see what would happen. I'm so thankful I did because miraculously, this tastes delicious. I can only imagine how incredible it would have been had I not made such a silly mistake. I knew this recipe would be amazing, which is why I've been longing all summer to make it. The fact that it still tastes rich, creamy, and wonderfully limey despite NOT scraping the bowl during mixing is a true testament to the success of this recipe. I was mortified when I dumped the mixture over the crust, only to see a HUGE layer of cream cheese that was not mixed into everything else. Probably at least three-quarters of a cream cheese brick. It was too late to incorporate it because it would have been overmixed, so I went with what I had. I'm still in shock that this tastes so good! I wanted to pretty it up, but I was plum exhausted so I kept it simple. But, I beg you... for the love of cheesecake, scrape the bowl at least once during mixing!

Note: The source of this recipe doesn't bother bringing the ingredients to room temperature before beginning, but when it comes to cheesecake I'm a bit of a stickler... so I made sure the cream cheese was softened and the eggs weren't the least bit cold. Apparently it works fine either way, but I just couldn't get myself to use them cold. ;)

Lime Cheesecake with Blackberry Sauce
Yield: 1 9-inch cheesecake or 6 4-inch cheesecakes

Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
Juice of 2 limes
Zest of 2 limes

For the blackberry sauce:
6 ounces blackberries, rinsed and drained (plus extra for garnishing, if desired)
2 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons cornstarch
1½ teaspoons cold water

Directions:
To make the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 325º F. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. Stir together until well combined and moistened. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (or 6 4-inch mini springforms). In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth. Gradually mix in the sugar. Blend in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lime juice and lime zest until well combined. Pour the filling over the graham cracker crust.

To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven during baking. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until the center is set (25-33 minutes for mini springforms). Turn off the oven and prop open the door about 4 inches. Let the cheesecake stand 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool 10 minutes. Carefully remove the sides of the pan and let cool to room temperature on the rack. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours before slicing and serving.

To make the blackberry sauce, combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries begin to release some of their juices and the mixture is simmering. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl; whisk until smooth. Add the cornstarch mixture to the blackberries and mix well. Reduce the heat to medium and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a low boil and slightly thickens. Remove from the heat and press the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. The sauce will slightly thicken as it cools.

Drizzle the blackberry sauce over the cheesecake before serving.

Source: Annie's Eats

Thank you for visiting me today! Your mere presence makes me smile. :o) Have a gorgeous rest of the weekend, friends!

Key Recipe Components (for card):
 * Cricut cartridge: Storybook
 * Cuttlebug embossing folders: Polka Dots, D'vine Swirls
 * Paper: Core'dinations, DCWV, Papertrey Ink
 * Ribbon: Papertrey Ink
 * Stamp: Scrappy Moms Quirky Quotes
 * Punches: Martha Stewart monarch; Fiskars heart border (interior of card)
 * Miscellaneous: Glossy Accents, iRock, Martha Stewart glitter, Stickles

Whimsical Wednesday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Whimsical Wednesday blog hop! You should have arrived here from the fabulous Carlene at Me 'n' Miss Pink Cricut. If you just happened to drop by to say hi, please go to the Whimsical Wednesday blog to start at the beginning of the hop. For this hop we all made banners/wall decor that will be sent to a nursing home. The link to read more about this is posted at the Whimsical Wednesday blog.


For my project, I created a vertical door hanging. Each square is adhered to chipboard for support and durability. For a nicer finish and a softer surface for the door, the backside is covered with fabric. I decided on a classic black and white base, with each section adding a different pop of color in varying shades.

A few pre-assembly close-ups:

"A sprinkle of joy..."

"A touch of grace..."

"Love blossoms within this place."

The main inspiration for this project is the incredible love found within nursing home residents... and how they're full of so much spirit. Their love is ever-blossoming in strength and beauty, being shared with everyone who enters. All it takes is a sprinkle of joy (depicted by tiny liquid pearl droplets in the heart of the large flower) to start an outpouring of infectious happiness. Each of the three pieces can stand on their own and have elements unique to themselves, but together they're the most powerful. The sprinkles are shared and transferred by grace, as in a butterfly... then bloom in love from heart to heart. The white bases are Core'dinations Gemstone cardstock, supplying such a beautiful pearlescent sheen. The orchid and purple inks are also shimmery, giving gentle luster to the stamped background of the butterfly and the soft 'sunset' sponging along part of the heart vine. Dangling from the bottom is a sweet, sparkling flower.


These are our generous sponsors for our blog hop and what they are giving away for prizes:

Patsy from the Prairie Bird Boutique:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/prairiebirdboutique- 
Your choice of one bundle of Shabby Crinkle Ribbon

Babette from The Kraft Outlet: http://www.kraftoutlet.com/store/Default.asp-
The Kraft Outlet has generously donated their “Inspiration Play Pack." This is a collection of The Kraft Outlet's top selling items valued at over $45. The play pack comes with 10 yards each of the red and brown baker’s twine, an assortment of 50 of the plain and grungy tags, an 8 sheet assortment of their cardstock and text weight papers, an 8 envelope assortment, one sheet of Kraft labels, a set of their vintage dictionary pages, 1 yard of black twill tape and a CD full of 100 graphics and backgrounds.

In addition, the Kraft Outlet is offering 10% off all purchases made during the ENTIRE  month of July. Simply enter the code JULY10 at checkout.

The grand prize for the blog hop is a Gypsy, generously donated by Stephanie. In order to qualify for the grand prize you must leave a comment on each of the designers' blogs. At the end of the hop, please return to the Whimsical Wednesday blog to leave a comment saying that you finished the hop and left a comment under all of our posts. The blog hop will run through Sunday, ending at Midnight.

I'm so excited for my very first blog hop and am offering up some Blog Candy in celebration! One lucky random winner will receive an assortment of goodies, including:
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder
 * Flower Soft sprinkles, in your choice of original or ultra fine
 * Dew Drop Brilliance ink pads
 * Plus a couple of surprises!


To be eligible to win, simply leave me a comment telling me your favorite color or color scheme to create with. (Or just leave a comment... there are so many wonderful blogs to get to!) I don't require that you become a follower, but of course would love it if you do. The more, the sparklier! :o) I will announce the winner on Monday, July 11th! Due to high shipping costs, if the winner is from Alaska, Hawaii, or outside of the USA, the prize will instead be in the form of a gift certificate to a wonderful craft supply store.

Thank you for joining us for the Whimsical Wednesday blog hop! Your next stop is the incredibly sweet and talented Glora at Glora's Crafts. Have a beautiful weekend! :o)


In case you got lost along the way, here's the entire line-up:
1. Whimsical Challenge Blog: http://whimsicalwednesdays.blogspot.com/                             
2. Stephanie: http://www.alwayscrafting.com/
3. Star: http://starspaperpassion.blogspot.com/
4. Jessica: http://chick-n-scrap.blogspot.com/
5. Shelly: http://cardsbyshelly.blogspot.com/

6. Chloe: http://chloeandherclipons.blogspot.com/
7. Amber: http://my3escrapbooking.blogspot.com/

8. Melanie: http://inlovewithabug.blogspot.com/

9. Faith-Abigail: http://www.faithabigaildesigns.com/
10. Cindy: http://cindybcreations.blogspot.com/
11. Joni: http://justcounting.blogspot.com/
12. GiGi: http://thecricutbug.blogspot.com/
13. Amber: http://stayingcrafty.blogspot.com/
14. Carlene: http://misspinkcricut.blogspot.com/
15. Karen: http://kaleidoscopicsparkles.blogspot.com/ (YOU ARE HERE!)
16. Glora: http://glorascrafts.blogspot.com/
17. Nanne: http://nannes-creations.blogspot.com/
18. Cathryn: http://inthepinkcathryn.blogspot.com/
19. Whimsical Wednesday: http://whimsicalwednesdays.blogspot.com/

Key Recipe Components:

 * Cricut cartridges: Kate's ABCs, Storybook

 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots

 * Paper: Core'dinations, Papertrey Ink

 * Stamps: Hero Arts~ Sweet Petals; Autumn Leaves~ flourishes; Stampendous~ Agapanthus Long
 * Copics: RV10, RV13, RV14

 * Ribbon: Essentials (from JoAnns), Offray

 * Brads: American Crafts

 * Flower: Prima Fabric Fancies

 * Butterfly Punch (two smallest butterflies): Fiskars

 * Miscellaneous: Dew Drop Brilliance, Flower Soft (in Fuchsia), Liquid Pearls, Recollections Pearl Flourish, Stickles