Morning Glory Muffins

These have to be the yummiest muffins ever  :)

I halved the recipe and got exactly 12.  I used muffin cups and I used apples from the freezer and chopped almonds (out of walnuts).  These are very moist and freeze well.  Enjoy  :)

Morning Glory Muffins



3 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 tsp. baking soda

4 tsp cinnamon



1 1/3 cups raisons

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 1/4 cup coconut

1large or 2 small apples

4 large carrots

6 eggs

12 oz. canola oil

4 tsp vanilla

I mix eggs, oil and vanilla then add the second group (raisons etc.) and lastly the dry ingred.  I don't get fancy and use a bunch of bowls  :)

Preheat oven to 350F

Bake in 24, well greased muffin tins for approximately 25 minutes.

Coffee on Tea Tuesday

It's coffee this morning  :)   gathering energy to get myself going and out of the house for half the day!

My treat is called Morning Glory Muffin.  They are so delicious! Carrots, raisons, almonds, coconut!  I will put the recipe up if anyone wants it.  Just don't have time this morning. 

I'm working this week on a couple of these little tea books.  I found the directions on the Zutter blog.  They are so quick, easy and sweet for a little gifty  :)

Well, yesterday I tried these organza/tafeta flowers that everyone is making--you know, the ones you hold close to/over a candle.  I have to say I charred the edges of a couple and had to trim, but all-in-all, I think they turned out very pretty and I may make more! 





Have a great day and if you'd like to see what happening  :)  check Kims blog  http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/ 

   

Once Upon A Springtime Book

I believe this book is finished  :) 

I love this paper, but that's no surprise because I love paper, period!

If it's got fairies or flowers on it, that's a good thing   :)

I'm entering the book in the  Lets Get Shabby Challenge here:  http://letsgetshabby.blogspot.com/2011/03/challenge-22.html

All the pages are chipboard covered with Once Upon A Spingtime paper by Graphics 45.  I used the Bind-It-All to bind it and added a bunch of ribbons, which I heated with the heat gun. 

The front and back covers use the front and back covers (over chipboard) of the small paper pad, thereby making good solid covers.  I made the dragonfly and the butterfly and added just a few stickles to the flowers, fairies and leaves.   

The flowers I made using various dies and punches, they all have stickles around the edges.

On the lower left there is a tiny round mirror.  You'll see another round and heart shaped mirror on a couple of other pages.  I used tape to put the ruffled ribbons on the pages.  

All the paper is from the set plus I used a bit of SU cardstock for the mats and CM lined paper for journaling.  There's a couple of buttons on this page. 

The mushrooms are a couple that I made using the same technique as the dragonfly--as seen on earlier posts with the wings.  I did a wee bit of sewing on the journal card. 

There are a few pearls on this big flower and pearls on the tag.

I love the sticky tape from Tim Holtz!  And there's the shamrock I made with the wire and crystal effects.   

I wrapped up some ribbon and stuck three little button brads to hold it together.  The butterfly here is one that I cut out and put crackle paint on. 

The little dots with the words are from the front cover of the paper pad.  I punched them out, stuck them on and put crystal effects on them.   

     

Thanks for looking,  I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it  :)

Earth Hour 2011

I have to say that I'm very appreciative of having power!  I turned the lights off, TV off, and the computer off.  And lit three candles

Before 8:30, I got everything ready, even a cup of tea.  Then I sat and wrote in my journal and crocheted for the hour, which went by quite quickly.  I'm not partial to the smell of candles, so I opened the kitchen window to let some nice fresh air in.

I'm thinking I should do this more often, it reminds me how fortunate I am.

What did you do for Earth Hour?

Last page of Arch Book for This Side

Ok, here is the last page I'm doing on my 'Mom's side' of this book.  The other side will be dedicated to my Dad.  On the first page of each side, I'm including a photo of my Grandparents.  I'm looking for smaller, bronze coloured rings as well--don't care for the silver colour on this.

This one uses the packing tape 'technique'.  As I've said before, you can catch all the info on doing these pages over at Ink Stains blog--check my sidebar.

On this page, I've used a small paper doilie, rub-on, acrylic word piece, one of my flowers, pearls, and once again, a piece of fabric and lace from my Mom's old slip.  Also, if you look close, you can see I took a piece of the strap off the same slip and tacked it onto the side of the photo.  Back in the days a lot of women wore slips, dresses and aprons, every day   :)

**Just an added note, I used clear tape over the back cover of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine--just love the collage look to it  :)   The paper behind has some flowers and the scroll down the right and then I stamped with script before adding my 'imaged' clear tape. 

Here is the first half of the book.

And, the second half.

If you would like to see these other pages close up, please scroll down to some of the previous posts.  Thanks for looking  :)

Acrylic Painting and Colour Blocking

On a couple of earlier posts, I've shown some pages done, following the theme for the Arch Book, done by Roni over at Ink Stains blog.  Well, here are the latest two.  If you would like to join in, check my side bar for Roni's blog and hop on over to have a look.

Acrylic Painting

While following the technique, I've changed the page up a bit.  There is a halo of sorts around the photo of my Mom and I stamped with lumiere paint instead of acrylic.  I'm not really satisfied with the stamping and I should have swiped it off imediately, but I didn't  :)

The paper under the painting is the song lyrics and picture from the Titanic movie and I'm hoping you can see that I sanded away a bit of the paint so you can read some of the words.

I added a couple of rub-ons, a couple of clear acrylic pieces with swirls and words, some of my flowers and gold krylon around the edge.  The matted piece behind the photo is a piece of backing from some metal do-dads and I edged that with gold krylon too.

Colour Blocking

I really like this page. I used distress inks for all the colours and added rub-ons, my crocheted flower, some white lace that has been soaked in tea, and a couple of clear acrylic pieces with words.  I edged the page in black.  Sorry about the 'shine' on the photo and a couple of the acrylic pieces.

Thanks for looking  :)

Tea on Tuesday

Wow these Tuesdays roll around fast  :)

This is my tea today--one of my all time favourites  :)

Working on these cards the past weekend. 

I'll be spending the rest of my day finishing them up  :)

If you're hanging about, looking for some great blogs......check the Tea List at Kims,

artinredwagons....see the link on my sidebar  :)

  

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I hope your day is special and bright!

Here's a great recipe for an Irish scone that is one of my favourites   :)

I made a wonderful mistake making these one day.  Not paying proper attention and being in a hurry, I added the marmalade to the recipe.  They turned out so good, I do it all the time now!  

The recipe is in a little Best Recipes--Irish Fun Food and Crafts. You know, one of those things at the grocery check-out that catches your eye  :)

 

The Ties That Bind

Here is the third page for the book in progress  :)

There were 8 layers to 'peel' on this page, the paper under the word 'ties' is right down to the bottom layer.  I stamped and cut out those words and printed the 'family' definition, then covered it with a piece of mica and a frame.  The flowers I made were painted with some perfect pearls to give them a nice sheen.
I couldn't find my timepiece to stick on it, but if it shows up, I'll glue it just above the frame--to the right.    

If you would like to join in making this book, check my side bar for Ink Stains blog.  Roni does a lovely job showing the techniques for the Arch Book---there will be 8 pages in all, and it's not too late to join.

Thanks Roni, this technique I would try again  :)

     

Tea on Tuesday........

......Amongst many other things  :)

I'm going to work on making the flowers up, from my previous post and drink this mango peach tea.  Peach is not my favourite flavour, but I do like mango.

After admiring your pretty little pincushion jar Kim, I did this crochet top for a pin jar.  Just have to fill it with a few little things---a gift for a friend  :) 

  

If you would like to join us, come on over to Kim's blog  :)  

You don't have to be a tea drinker.

http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/ 

Another Page in the Arch Book

Here is the second page in the Arch Book. 

Photo of my Parents and my Brother and Me.

The lace is actually off an old slip of Moms (now I know why I kept it!) and the buttons are from her button box.  It's hard to see, but I stamped and clear embossed a design on the page, and then rubbed with distress ink.  I'm thinking of using a faux stitch around the page, but not sure yet  :)   

And, a look at the beginning of page 3!  Layers of paper.  Check my side bar for Ink Stains blog if you would like to follow along with this project.

And gosh knows, I can't just do one thing at a time  :)

Here is a sneak peak at a new book I'm making! 

Who can resist Graphis 45's 'Once Upon a Springtime'! 

Well, I couldn't throw away the covers either. I cut and glued them to chipboard,

then cut some of the papers from the small paper pad

and glued them to chipboard for 5 inside pages. 

The book is 8 x 3 1/8 inches and I used the bind-it-all to hold it all together.  

It looks large but the book is fairly thick. 

It's hard to see, but there are stickles on parts of the page.    

Here's a close up of the dragonfly, I used the same technique as the butterfly and wings.

The wingspan is about 2 1/8 inches.

I'm working on the inside pages, so please come back in a few days to see more  :)

Making more flowers!

Here are the wet and wrinkled bits. 

And here they are opened up. 

Kaisercraft Calendar

Finished the calendar!

Done in a western theme, this is the front.

The letters took on a bit of a leather look with the ink.

I had to take letters from two different sets, but when on the calendar, it won't matter.

On the back is this years calendar and it can be turned over for next year. 

I found this bookmark calendar on SplitCoast Stampers.

For Aug. and Nov. I used the smaller set of letters.

A fairly time consuming project  :)  but done!

Chipboard House Book

I was just working on this 'house' book from 7 Gypsies and wondering how to finish it, when I found that Roni over at Ink Stains blog was doing Arch pages.  Well, I liked what I saw and voila!  Here is my first page  :)

I've already covered all the pages of my book, but now they are going to get a little more 'stuff' added.
Roni is doing eight pages in all and has already posted the second page.  Next week she is posting more.  So you have time to join in!



 Check my side bar for Ink Stains blog and see what techniques are happening for the other pages  :)

Two Crochet Projects

 Two more winter projects done....now that Spring is around the corner   :)  

The shoulder wrap covers the top of my shoulders and goes down to my elbows. 
It's quite bulky yarn and very soft and cuddly.
I have a big basket in the living room for cozy wraps,  throws, and extra slippers.

The wrist warmers are going into next winters gift box   :)



My soothing tea today  :)

This is Emma.  

She heads for the bathroom when the alarm goes off, to get her fresh drink every morning   :)

That's me in my housecoat and camera.

Join other tea drinkers today at Kimmies  http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Angel Wings, Butterflies and Flowers

Well I tried something new and just had to share---I know, I'm supposed to be finishing up all the 'started' things!  I'm working on them, trust me.  One of the new papers to pull from my jar was 'make a new thing'.  Dangerous I know, but I'm the boss  :)

I found the idea on this site  http://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com/2011/02/twisted-wire-paper-charms.html  Please check out the site, she has all kinds of wonderful things  :)

Some wings didn't match up, so I had to make more. 

I didn't check which way I was putting them on the paper!

 The music sheet is Mozart Sonata in C. 

If you wanted to you could match the music to the wings.

Close up of the small butterfly, flowers, and shamrock (yes, that's what it is).

They small butterfly is 1 5/8" tall by 1 1/2" and 

the large butterfly at the top right of the page is 2 1/2" tall by 3 1/2" 

A side view of the wings to show the bend I made after they were dried--be

very careful doing this part. 

They range in size from 2" by 3/4" for the small and 2 1/2" by 3/4" for the larger ones.

In the close one, you see it looks as if the wire and paper is separated, but it isn't,

that's just the thickness. 

Sometimes if the wire isn't really flat, you get a thicker piece.



These would be great on a card or project.  However if you were to put them on a

scrap page you may not want to bend them too much.  

Tuesday Tea Time and Kaisercraft Calendar

Ok, just so you know, I haven't been just sitting around  :)  these are a couple of things I've been playing with.  If you look at the picture of my desk, I'm drinking water today.  Had a nice lunch out--Chinese, so very thirsty this afternoon.

Beyond the page, this Kaisercraft calendar caught my eye at a store near me and I had to have it!

 So I have put walnut ink stain around the edges and on the box part.

I brought some things out to work on at my desk  :)

But, I still have some of the mess on my table in the craft room.  And if you look to the right, I have started two more mini albums.

I wanted to do both sides of the board so you can change it up.



When I'm finished, I'll post a couple more pics---by next week for sure  :)

Want to know what other tea drinkers are doing on this Tea Tuesday?

Check out Kimmies site at http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/