Happy New Year!

Out with the old and in with the new. That was the type of party we had the last night our family was together. And, then after a breakfast at a restaurant this morning we said our good-byes. And, that is always the hardest thing about a visit, but we managed to get through it. Anyway, I thought I would share a few photos of my family who were in attendance last night for our little party. As you can see some of us acted a little silly. But we played a game that all ages could participate in and it was fun.

Several family members were missing as some had health issues and three others could not attend as they had to return to work.

Anyway, from my family to you I wish you all a very happy new year.

God bless,
Verna

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick note and a card for all my blogging friends to wish you a most wonderful Christmas and a happy new year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. And, this card is one I made from the leftovers laying on my desk.

So sorry it is a bit blurred. But with a houseful of company time is limited to work on things but I just had to remember all of you. I used the holly die from Heartfelt Creations, the poinsettia from Cheery Lynn Designs and the sentiment from Gina K. Designs which was stamped with Kraft dye ink. And, I finished it by adding some enamel dots from Stampin' Up!

God bless and happy holidays to all,
Verna

Trimming the Tree

We are so lucky we had two eager helpers to trim the tree this year. They did a fantastic job too!

Our grandsons Kyle and Henry did a fantastic job of placing the ornaments and helped their Dad and Grandpa string the lights too. And the smell from a real tree was so pungent. Too bad it fades away so fast once it is indoors for awhile.

Today they are visiting their Aunt Julia and Uncle Ryan and Cousin Anna but they will be back again this evening. If they are not too tired we may decorate cookies. At any rate, we are enjoying having extra guests for the holidays.

I hope you are having a great week as well.

God bless,
Verna

Starbucks Tag

One of the gifts I am giving this year includes an assortment of Starbucks Instant Lattes and so when I heard about this Starbucks Cup Printables which are available at lovelyplanner.com I decided to get a set of them so I could make a tag for my gift. These are able to be downloaded and printed with your computer. I am going to add this tag to the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop as well since it fits the theme. There is a badge on my side bar which has the dates so you still have time to submit a winter themed project using designs of tea, coffee or hot cocoa.

I had some scraps so I cut a tag and then put some green gingham paper on it. Then I took the sentiment from the digital freebie which was available from Verve Stamps and fussy cut it and layered it onto some red and fussy cut around that as well before placing it on my tag. I used some ribbon from  Really Reasonable Ribbon and put a strip along the bottom and also at the top. After that I added the Starbucks cup. The last thing as an adornment for my tag was to add some red rhinestones.

Well, I keep saying this is my last coffee themed project and this time I REALLY mean it. I found out that I still have some room in my freezer so I will start baking some goodies for the holidays. I am sure with up to 15 people in the house at one time we will have no problem getting rid of them. Mainly a few cookies and that is about all I will do. Then I will do a little more cleaning as well. The upstairs beds are all done and made with fresh linen so I have to do some refreshing in the downstairs area. And, I need to get a haircut before the holidays. LOL I am looking like a shaggy dog.

Well, thanks so much for stopping and for sharing your comments. I will try to pop in later to wish all a Merry Christmas. In the meantime, take care and have good days.

God bless,
Verna

Coffee Sleigh

Another digi freebie offered at the Winter Coffee Lovers Hop for 2016 was this cute sleigh image from Stamplorations carrying a gift and cups of various coffee products. I just had to grab that and use it for a card design. And on the side bar is the badge telling you the dates of the hop in case you want to join in on the fun. Lots of great prizes and lots of freebies too!

First I printed out the sleigh image on white layering weight card stock and then colored in the image with Bic Mark-It markers. Next I made a mask to cover up the snowy areas and then sponged on some light blue dye ink for the sky. Using the Pine Tree stamp set from Altenew which is a two step process, I stamped the pine trees onto the scene. Then I die cut the scene out with the Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Border die.

The sentiment is from the same Altenew Pine Trees set so I used that for the greeting in the snowy area. This scene was then added to a base card of red card stock. And, inside I added some white paper to which I can write a message or stamp another sentiment.

I will also be entering this into the Stamplorations Never Ending Anything Goes Challenge.

Well, I must say since I cannot do any baking as my freezer is full at the moment, that I have had so much fun making Christmas cards. I am hoping these will be a start of my stash for next season. Only thing I did was cover some pretzels with almond bark one day and maybe I will leave the cookies until the grandsons from Japan arrive to help me with them.

Thanks for all the lovely comments as well. I read each and every one of them.

God bless,
Verna

Happy National Cocoa Day

I made a card especially for this day and once again used the free digital stamp from Jessica Lynn Originals called Marshmallow Snowman. I think that is such a cute image and this time I colored him with an older set of Stampin' Up! water color pencils. They were handy to get at so I went with that option!

This card will be also entered into the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop for 2016 in which one is to make winter cards or projects using coffee, tea or hot cocoa themes. You can go with Christmas or Valentines or just put a bunch of snowflakes on your entry. But it should be a winter design. If you want to join in, there is still time and there are lots of great prizes given out. Also many of the sponsors have provided free digitals for your crafting pleasure too! The dates are listed on the badge on my side bar.

The pattern paper is from Gina K. Designs as is the card stock. The ribbon border die used on this card is one I saw at Kat's Scrappiness store and it is made by Gina Marie. I cut that from the same Red Velvet card stock that the red layer was done with. Both the pattern paper and the red layer were die cut with the Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Border dies. The marshmallow snowman image was fussy cut and placed over all the layers.

Well, I must say I have enjoyed doing this coffee hop again. It is always nice to find inspiration and I am so enjoying seeing what others are doing with their entries too. I also appreciate all who have checked out my work and stopped in to comment.

God bless,
Verna

Pine Cone Tag

Today I found a tag that was cut from the Stamplorations Cutplorations Luggage Tag die set so I decided to make it into a tag that could be used for a package. I chose to use images from the Gina K. Designs Festive Foliage set and used my MISTI to try and get a better impression. I think I should have done one more stamping of the one set of pine cones but it is not too bad looking. I used my Distress Markers and did a direct to stamp coloring. With repeated stampings I got it to look fairly nice.

Well, not sure if I will be doing much more artwork until after Christmas. I will see what happens unless some of the grandchildren want to do some. But I am thinking they will just be having fun playing together and no doubt sliding. I also heard the grandsons from Japan have home work assignments to do so that will take up some of their time as well.

I will try to pop in now and then if possible. But if not, you have great days! And thanks so much for being my blogging friends and for all the wonderful comments.

God bless,
Verna

Hot Cocoa Christmas

I am still into the tea, coffee and hot cocoa themed winter cards which is the type needed for the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop for this year. There is a badge on the side with the dates on it and if you want to join in there is still time. Lots of freebie digis, and prizes to be given out too! So it might be worth your while to enter a few card designs. You might be a very lucky and happy person!

Once again I am using one of my favorite images from Gina K. Designs to create this card. I love these mugs and they can be used for lots of different hot beverages. I combined it with some beautiful pattern paper and tried to add the same stars and snowflakes to match in the center panel. All things used in this card are from Gina K. Designs except for the frame die.

I used my MISTI to get really great stamping on the center panel. And the panels were die cut with the Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Border dies. These are some of my favorites too. The layers were all placed on a base card of white card stock.

Thanks for looking and for all your sweet comments. Have a good evening.

God bless,
Verna

First Coffee

Verve Stamps was so kind to give a free digital stamp set for the Winter Coffee Lovers Hop for 2016 but it is only available until the end of December. So if you are interested in entering a card design you can get this set to make beautiful coffee themed cards. It is called My Cup To Yours. I used a couple of the sentiments to make my card design. On the side bar is the badge showing the dates of the Coffee Hop in case you want to join in the fun.

 I normally don't use many digital stamps so I am not always sure I am using them correctly. But maybe if I do it more often I will learn a thing or two and gradually get to be more expert at it.

I had some scraps of plaid pattern paper left over from Stampin' Up! so I used that on a base card of light green. I added a ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon over the edge of the plaid before I added the sentiment which I die cut with a Cheery Lynn Designs classic circle die and then layered it onto another Cheery Lynn Designs die cut red circle. The last thing I added to my card front was a couple of stamped gifts which are from the My Favorite Things Trim the Tree stamp set. These were fussy cut and popped onto the circle.

I did not add any white paper inside the card as I thought the lighter green would work for adding a written message and still be quite clearly read.

Inside the card I added another sentiment from the Verve digital stamp set. But I layered it onto some of the red card stock first to give it a bit more finished looking.

Well, that is another of my winter coffee themed cards  and if I don't need these for sending out this year I am then happy to have a start on next year's cards. It seems no matter how soon I start I am always rushed right before Christmas.

Well, thank you so much for all your sweet comments. I love each and every one of them.

God bless,
Verna

Naughty Doggy!

Hey! Good thing you are a cute doggy as that was Santa's coffee you stole. I hope you will still get something for Christmas as he may decide differently now that you have been naughty! And you are just sitting there and acting so innocent!

Hahaa! I just could not resist making this doggy image again and this time I made him as a naughty doggy. But hey! He knows a good cuppa Joe is awesome at least!

This is another card I am entering in the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog 2016 which is going on this week. You can see the dates you can enter by checking the badge on the side bar. I hope you can join the fun! You must use a winter theme for your cards or projects. Lots of fabulous prizes too!

I recently got a step card die from Cheery Lynn Designs and had to use that template to make a step card using their cute doggy image as well as the Christmas gifts. The tree is cut from pattern paper from Gina K. Designs. I thought it looked like there was light bulbs on the tree so figured it was a perfect design. The tree is cut from a die by My Favorite Things Die-Namics line. And the sentiment. red gingham paper and the cup are from Gina K. Designs. The star on top of the tree is actually a snowflake die.

I like that this type of card can fold flat and fit into an envelope and not need extra postage to mail it. I only made a couple of these but I am sure I will be doing more step cards in the future now that I have a die that makes the cutting so easy.

I am showing you a side view too so that you can see more of the fold details on the card design.

Dies used:
My Favorite Things Di-Namics: 788 Trim The Tree
CAS-UAL FRIDAYS Fri-Dies: Funky Flakes
Cheery Lynn Designs: Step Card Bundle Set #4-B587; Funny Dog CAFNN-2 and Whimsical Christmas B849.

I am also entering this in the Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge-Red and Green and the Scrapy Land Challenge #55-Anything Goes.

Well, I am so glad for all the wonderful comments you leave and I want you to know I appreciate each and every one of them.

God bless,
Verna

Marshmallow Snowman

When this cute digi from Jessica Lynn Originals was offered free I had to have it. The digi is called Marshmallow Snowman. I wanted to share the card I made with him and will be entering this into the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop 2016.

Now can't you see how cute he is. And, he seems so happy soaking in that hot chocolate. I will be using this cutie again I am sure.

The pattern paper I used is from Gina K. Designs. The sentiment and snowflakes are from A Jillian Vance Design. I also used the Memory Box  Cross Stitched Frame Border Dies to cut the layers. To finish the card I added some of the pattern paper design inside too.

Thanks so much for checking out what I have been doing and have a wonderful day.

God bless,
Verna

Peppermint Latte Christmas

When I saw this cute die set from Cottage Cutz I knew I needed it to make fun Christmas cards and use it for the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop 2016 which is going on right now. Check the side bar for the dates of the hop. Hopefully, you can join in as well. You must use a coffee, tea or hot chocolate design along with a winter theme to enter.

 I die cut the cup, cup label, snowflake, whipped cream and candy cane from white card stock and colored them with Bic Mark-It pens. I sponged a little on the whipped cream though with light blue dye ink. The pattern paper is from Stampin' Up! as is the ribbon. The sentiment is from A Jillian Vance Design. My card base is a duplex red and white card stock.

I also added some of the pattern paper design inside the card too. I wanted to make more with this set but time is running out for me so now I am going to concentrate on other things before the Christmas holiday arrives.

Thanks for stopping by and for all the wonderful comments. Have a great day!

God bless,
Verna

Winter Coffee Anniversary

Today I am featuring a card I made for my daughter and her husband's first wedding anniversary which was at the end of November. I hope you like the design.

I am entering this card into the Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop 2016 and I have posted the information about it on the side bar. I hope you can join the fun too.

This card uses the coffee mug image and a sentiment from the Gina K. Designs line of products. I also used a doily die from Cheery Lynn Designs called Nesting Doill-Circles #1 on which I had stamped the mugs and sentiment. I also sponged some ink around the edges of the doilly. Once this was done I used Versamark to cover the circle panel and added some sparkly clear embossing powder which I heat set. I placed these on a base card of white card stock and then I added some snowflakes which are from CAS-UAL Fridays Fri-Dies line called Funky Snowflakes. These snowflakes were die cut from some glitter paper which I had in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great day. We are nice and warm inside but outside it was below zero. Brrrrr! Stay warm wherever you are.

God bless,
Verna

Christmas Bows and Recipe

This is another clean and simple design that I made using stamps from Altenew. I chose to use the bows from the Bells and Bows stamp set and a sentiment from the Holiday Wishes set. These bows I used are a step style of stamping which involves using three or four layers of stamping. Thus when a bow is completed it has dimension to it.

I stamped the bows and the sentiment onto white card stock and then layered it onto a base card of green. I also layered a white panel inside the card too!

I just love the way those bows look so realistic when the layering is complete. With these bows I only used three of the steps to make them. These would work on birthday and anniversary cards too. And the sentiment went perfectly with them. I am entering this in this week's Mod Squad Blog Challenge.

I also am starting to do a bit of holiday cooking and candy making. So far I have only gotten some Fudge made so I thought I would share that recipe with you. It is an easy one to make.

Fudge

2 tabsp. Butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine the above ingredients all together and bring to a boil. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add the following ingredients.

2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts

I have the ingredients all measured out ahead of time. Stir all together for one minute and spread into a buttered pan and cut into squares when the fudge is set. 

Well, if I am not around a lot it is because I am getting ready for our family Christmas visit from all of our children. Joe and boys arrive on December 19 and the rest of the family will be joining us soon after. We are getting really excited now.

You have a wonderful week and thanks for all the comments and visits to my blog.
God bless,
Verna

Heinz 57 Mutt Christmas Card

As many of you may tell, I have fallen in love with a little dog die and have been using it a lot on my cards for Christmas. This is another version using that dog as well as some stamps and other dies to create a fun card design.

My basic card is made of light blue card stock. And, on that base is what I built my little scene. The tree is a stamped one from Heartfelt Creations and it was also die cut using a Heartfelt Creations die. That was placed in the background.

Next I added some die cut gifts beneath the tree and then the dog die was added. As you can tell my dog die is a mutt style as he has different colors to make him look more like a Heinz breed. That is mostly what kind of dogs we have owned so that was why I did him that way. I also placed a gift in front of the mutt too.

The last steps were to add my die cut sentiment using red glitter paper, a star and some red rhinestones to the tree for ornaments. I also added a rhinestone collar to the mutt.

Cheery Lynn Dies used:
Funny Dog Die; Whimsical Christmas; and Merry Christmas Set

Heartfelt Creations Products:
Frolicking Frosty and Spruce Die; Snow Kissed Spruce stamp set

Fri-Die by CAS-UAL Fridays: Funky Flakes (star)

Other products:
Scor-Tape
Scor Pal
Glitter Paper-Stampin' UP!
2-Way Glue Pen
Blue, white, black and brown card stock-Gina K. Designs
Rhinestones-Unknown

This card will be entered in the following challenges:
Crop Stop Linky Party #22-Anything Goes
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge #243-Sparkle and Shine
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Christmas To Die For

Thanks for looking and for all your wonderful comments. I read each and everyone and so appreciate them.

God bless,
Verna

Noel

Well, all our Thanksgiving guests have gone to their homes and arrived safely so today with it being a very wet dreary Monday I am busy writing my Christmas letter and doing some inside verse stamping in my cards I had made previously. Then tomorrow the plan is to start writing out cards. This is the last card I did while taking a break last week from cleaning. It is another very clean and simple design but one that I find very attractive none the less.

The base of the card is Gina K. Designs Ivory card stock and over the top of that front panel I placed a layer of Gina K. Designs Cranberry Tart card stock. This made the framework for the main designed panel which was again on Ivory card stock.

I stamped the pine and cones foliage image from the Gina K. Design Festive Foliage set. And, the sentiment is from the Gina K. Designs Noel set. Both are illustrated by Claire Brennan. Using my Tim Holtz Distress markers I did a direct to stamp coloring with them and then stamped the design onto the card stock by aligning it up in my Misti. This way I could do repeated stampings. I also did the same thing with the sentiment.

The last step was to add some enamel dots from Stampin" Up! I thought it dressed the design up a bit more.

Well, that's all for today. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I know our family did and we are now anxious to get together again for the Christmas season as well.

Thanks always for your visits and wonderful comments.

God bless,
Verna

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just am taking a small moment to wish all of you a most wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

I know I am truly grateful to all who have subscribed to my blog and have come so often to visit and leave such wonderful comments. I count you as some of my greatest blessings and I have been so pleased to call many of you my friend. I wish you and your families a wonderful day! And thanks for sharing your talents with me as well.

God bless,
Verna

CAS Christmas Card

Well, for me it is getting to crunch time  for getting my Christmas cards done so I am scaling down to mainly clean and simple designs now. This is one which was inspired by the paper pack colors from a set by Stampin' Up! which I had ordered earlier in the year. I decided to use those colors except for adding the green to make a simple design. I really like the look too. I had not done a lot with holly this year so I decided that would be my stamped design besides the sentiment.

I stamped the nice big sentiment from the Gina K. Designs Holly Jolly set with Gina K. Designs Kraft ink to match the kraft color in the striped background of the pattern paper. The nice holly leaves were also from a Gina K. Designs stamp set called Festive Foliage and were stamped with Gina K. Designs Grass Green. And instead of stamping holly berries I  chose to take a hand held punch and make some berries with the red glitter card stock from Stampin' Up!. The last step was to add a ribbon from the Really Reasonable Ribbon Traditional Christmas Mix which was the October Ribbon Club Assortment.

I made several of this design. Some I added a ribbon to and some I made them without. I really liked both versions and these worked up really fast and quick once I had my papers cut and the design figured out.

Other supplies used were a Scor Pal, Scor Tape, Glue Dots and the Crafter's Companion Glue Pen. I cut my panels using my old guillotine cutter.

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Mod Squad Challenge -Christmas and Ribbons
Crop Stop Linky Party #22-Anything Goes

My dear sweet husband got my baked goods to the sale as our roads were bad and he used the four wheel drive pick-up to take them in to town where the sale was held. It is only nine miles but even at that it took much longer due to the slippery and sometimes snow filled roads. I hope the sale goes well too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

God bless,
Verna

Traditional Colors Christmas Card

I am again working with that darling doggy die and this time I created a card using it. I also tried to stick with mostly traditional Christmas colors and I must say I am really happy how this turned out.

The doggy was cut out of black card stock. I was going to piece it but when I laid it on the white card front panel I thought it looked great that way. I also die cut several gifts out and two of them were layered onto white card stock. My tree die was cut from Gina K. Designs pattern paper that I thought looked like it had lights all over it. I then added a garland made from very narrow ribbon and a star snowflake which was cut from gold glitter paper. The ribbon was also added to the doggy for a collar and for the metal tag I simply punched out a circle from the glitter paper. The last thing I did before adding this panel to a red card base was to stamp the nice big sentiment which is from Gina K. Designs.

Supplies used:

Card stock, Red Velvet ink and pattern paper as well as the sentiment stamp from Gina K. Designs

Scor Pal to crease the card in the center

Scor Tape to add the die cut tree

2-way glue to add dies

Crafters Companion glue pen to add the ribbon

Old 1/8 inch punch for dog tag

Dies used are the following:
Cheery Lynn Designs-Funny Dog CAFNN-2; Whimsical Christmas B849
Die-Namics MFT-788 Trim the Tree
CAS-UAL FRIDAYS-Fri-Dies Funky Flakes

I am entering this in the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Christmas Critters
Mod Squad Blog Challenge-Ribbon! Ribbon! Who's Got The Ribbon!
Double D Challenges-Traditional Christmas Colors
Crop Stop Linky Party #22-Anything Goes

Well, no rain or snow yet but apparently it will begin after 5 o'clock this afternoon and go into Friday. They predict 4-8 inches for our area but it will start with rain first so it could get a bit slippery. So anyone who is out and about in this type of weather please take care and drive and walk safely.

Well, I am warning you that I won't be posting as often as I will be extra busy with cleaning for the Thanksgiving holiday and weekend. If I need a break I might do a card occasionally. I have a few done ahead of time so if nothing else I might just post one of those designs. In the meantime, thanks for coming and commenting and I hope you are having a great week.

God bless,
Verna

Christmas Dog Tag and Recipe

New dies arrived in my mail box this week so I enjoyed playing a bit today. I worked on a tag design. I don't do a lot of tags but this one seemed to me to be a perfect way to use this new doggie die from Cheery Lynn Designs.


I decided this tag would work for the Holiday TAGplorations Blog Hop and Linky Party so I will enter it into this fun event.



I am also entering into these challenges too:
Dies R Us Challenge #61-Tags
Crop Stop Linky Party #22-Anything Goes

Cutplorations die used: Luggage Tags

Cheery Lynn Designs dies used:
B849 Whimsical Christmas 5 piece die set-gifts
B846 Christmas Bell 7 piece set-holly and berries
CAFNN-Funny Dog

Pattern paper is from Gina K. Designs as is the white card stock. The gems were added from my own stash. I also used a Spectrum Noir Glitter Pen on the holly leaves and for the berries I die cut them from red glitter paper which is from Stampin' Up!

I am also going to add the last recipe for this Thanksgiving season of baking. The bake sale is this weekend for the church fund raiser but a winter storm is also scheduled as well, so time will tell if I am able to get my goodies to the sale. I won't drive or walk on ice unless it is an emergency. If I don't make it I will just instead donate some money.

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar                                        1 scant cup salad oil
4 eggs                                                   1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon                                  1 tsp. nutmeg
2/3 cup water (or buttermilk)           2 cups pumpkin
3 1/3 cups flour                                   2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine sugar and oil in bowl, add eggs and beat until completely mixed. Combine dry ingredients; add alternately with the water or buttermilk. Mix well. Add the pumpkin and mix well again and then add the nuts. Pour into greased bread pans and bake at 350 degrees for 75 minutes. If smaller pans are used, it doesn't take as long so check them after 45-50 minutes as you do for a cake. I use a toothpick to poke into them and if the pick comes out clean I call them done. Only fill the pans 1/2 full as they raise a lot. This makes about 2 large or three small loaves. I actually made mine into the mini loaf pans and got five of them. And there was still some left over so I made about 6 muffins too.

Well, I guess we all knew winter would start acting like itself sooner or later. We sure did enjoy a great run of weather this Fall and it was good to be able to drive and walk without slippery conditions and visibility issues. So we indeed have much to be thankful for in that respect.

I hope you are having a great week so far too. Thanks for visiting and for all the lovely comments.

God bless,
Verna

Give Thanks and a Recipe

Today I made a Thanksgiving card design using leaves stamped with Fall colors and the sentiments from the Joy Clair stamp set called Hello Autumn. I think those leaves are so pretty as are the sentiments.

I used the Kalaidacolor Autumn Leaves rainbow ink pad to stamp my leaves on white card stock. I then layered that stamped panel onto Gina K. Designs Honey Mustard card stock. I also had some ribbon that matched the Honey Mustard so I used that on the card as well. This was layered onto a white card base. My sentiment was stamped in Gina K. Designs black ink and then die cut with a doily die and layered onto a circle of Honey Mustard card stock. I used enamel dots of the colors in the leaves to add more decoration to the sentiment design.

I stamped some of the leaves and acorns inside the card as well and added one of the verses on the set with black ink.

Cheery Lynn Dies used are:
ST 014 Rectangle
XM-4 Circle-Classic
Nesting Doll Circles CASO-15

This card design will be entered in the following challenges:
Mod Squad Blog Challenge-Thankful
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge-Autumn Colors
Crop Stop Linky Party #53-Anything Goes
Double D's Blog Challenge-Harvest Blessings/Give Thanks
Scrapy Land Challenge #53-Anything Goes

Besides making this card I also baked a bit too. Today's baked goods are a moist brownie delight and they are called Dump Bars. Yup! You take a bowl and dump everything in except for the chocolate chips, mix by hand and then put them into a greased pan and bake. Pretty easy!

Dump Bars

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips

Dump and mix all ingredients except for the chips. Spread in a 9 x 13 pan or two smaller ones and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Those bars smell so good but I have resisted and not cut into them. I do love anything chocolate though so this is taking lots of will power on my part.

Well, another day nearly to an end and everything seems to still be a wonderful world. We had a gorgeous Fall day and we shall enjoy them as long as we can. I hope you had a great day as well and thanks again for all of your visits.

God bless,
Verna

Jolly Christmas Trees

I hope all of you managed to get out and exercise today! I mean get to the voting booths. I did mine earlier in the morning and now it is in the hands of the people. However, it turns out I will trust that the Lord's will is being done and that hopefully, we can once again become a united nation.

The Stamp TV Mix It Up Monday challenge is to use a tree or trees on one's card or project. I made a quick and easy design with some cool pattern paper, dies, stamps and inks.

I just love that pattern paper design I got from the Gina K. Designs Sparkling Christmas paper pack. And, I used some shimmery duplex green and white card stock I got from Crafter's Companion for the card base. I thought it went fairly well with the colors on the pattern paper.

The sentiment was stamped on Gina K. Designs White card stock with Gina K. Designs Red Velvet ink. I then die cut that out with the Nesting Doll Oval #1 and that was layered onto a Cheery Lynn Designs XM-7 Classic oval cut from Gina K. Designs Kraft card stock. But before I added the doily oval I took some Red Velvet ink and sponged around it and then also used my Wink of Stella to make it appear a bit shimmery. I also added some enamel yellow dots which are from Stampin' Up! before I popped it up with some Zots.

Inside the card I added some pattern paper along the bottom edge and also stamped a sentiment from a Gina K. Designs stamp set.

The Gina K. Designs stamp sets used are: Holly Jolly and the Noel stamp set. Both have lovely sentiments on them which I thought would work quite well together.

Well, that is my card making for today. I managed to get a bit of baking done again this weekend so I will share a photo of what I made as well as the recipe. It is a family favorite that my Mom always made for my hubby as she knew he loved it. But truth be told, everyone in the family loved it and it is still a tradition we bake often and especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I might add that it is very economical and easy to bake. Perhaps the hardest thing to do is washing out the fancy pans I bake them in. **wink**

Hobo Bread

1 1/2 cup of raisins

2 tsp. soda

1 cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

2 tabsp. shortening

1 egg

2 cups flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Pour boiling water over the raisins and soda. Let this stand until it is cool. Combine the other ingredients. Then take some soup or vegetable cans without rims on them inside and grease and flour them. Combine the raisin mixture and dry ingredients and fill the cans 1/2 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. I always take a tooth pick and poke it in to make sure they are still not a sticky dough. If the toothpick comes out clean it is done. I leave them in the cans for at least 15 minutes before I try to remove the little loaves. **If you add some candied fruit or dates it is like a fruit cake. 

Tomorrow is Arlin's second cataract surgery so we will be rising extra early again tomorrow as it also involves another out of town trip. I will be so glad when that is done and wish me luck on getting up at 3-4 o'clock in the morning. I am not a normal early riser anymore since retirement so this is a struggle for me. Say a prayer that I wake up on time.

You have a wonderful rest of the day and thanks for visiting.

God bless,
Verna

Baby Jesus Step Card

I recently won a gift certificate to Joy Clair stamps and of course, I had to go over the limit of the gift certificate with my shopping but I am so glad I did. I also recently won a gift certificate to Cheery Lynn Designs and went over that amount too, but this way I can use both of their products in today's card. I am loving what I purchased from them and will try to give them a good home.

The step die is from Cheery Lynn Designs as is the classic oval die that has the Baby Jesus scene on it. The stamps used on this card are from the Joy Clair set called Away In A Manger.

I stamped the scene with Gina K. Designs black dye ink and colored the baby Jesus with my Bic Mark-It pens. I also sponged on some Gina K. Designs blue around the edges using Gina K. Designs ink. For the star I used a 2-way glue pen and then sprinkled on some Gina K. Designs gold glitter. And card stocks used on this card are Gina K. Designs White, Red Velvet and Christmas Pine. Gina K, Designs inks used are Red Velvet, Powder Blue and Black.

The sentiment panel was stamped with black ink and then below it I used some punched out dots from gold glitter paper from Stampin' Up! to bling it up some. The red and green plaid ribbon with just a hint of gold is from a set of ribbons I won from a hop and they are from the Traditional Christmas Mix from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

I also added a white panel inside the sentiment panel so that I can write a little message. Along the bottom I added more of the plaid ribbon but it is kind of hard to see it, but take my word for it, it is indeed there.

I had been admiring all the step cards I had seen so often so when I saw this die that would make it so much easier to do I decided that would be a wonderful addition to my card crafting. I think I am going to like it a lot. And, since I only made one other step card I am a little bit overwhelmed but I think this turned out much better than I had thought it would. I am sure over time I can learn more ways of making them more artistic.

I am entering this in the Mod Squad Blog Challenge in which the theme is to use gold. This will also fit the Scrapy Land Challenge #53-Anything Goes.

Well, I hope you have had a wonderful Sunday. We had a Mission Service with a special speaker at church today and then afterwards we had a potluck meal. We Lutherans like our potlucks. LOL So it was indeed a good day.

Thanks for stopping by.
God bless,
Verna