Month: October 2015

Maple Leaf Birthday Card

/ Jodi / 26 Comments

PP266

It’s a color challenge at The Paper Players this week, and the colors are “cucumber crush” green, “crushed curry” gold, and “real red.”

I took a bit of a different twist with them for my Design Team inspiration card this week.

For my card, I took sponge daubers and dotted a sheet of very vanilla card stock with all three colors to pretty much completely cover it.  I then heat embossed maple leaves in white over top it, allowing the colors to seep through like Autumn leaves.  I then sponged Memento black ink over the entire thing, and rubbed it off the embossed parts with a baby wipe to give this dramatic masculine effect.

PP266 2

I layered this on top of real red and crushed curry card stock to frame it.

On a strip of vellum, I heat embossed Happy Birthday in black, wrapped it around and glued underneath, adhered to a very vanilla base, and added three black candy dot embellishments.  Oh – and a Wink of Stella 😉 to give it a bit of sparkle that you cannot see in the photo, but adds just a nice shimmer and festive spirit to the card.

PP166 inside

I added another green maple leaf on the inside, and this is a birthday card for my dear oldest son, Jake, who turns 28 this week!   Where did the time go?!  Seems like yesterday I held you in my arms for the first time.  One of the best days of my life!  Love you Jake!  More than you could possibly know! ❤

Hope my stamping and paper crafting friends will join us at The Paper Players this week and you were inspired to create something from my post.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Stamp Sets Used:

  • StampinUp Big Day Stamp Set for Happy Birthday sentiment
  • Inkadinkadoo Maple Leaf Stamp

The kind of day…

/ Jodi / 17 Comments

waterfall in creek franklin pa

Wishing you the kind of day
that offers you the time to ponder
the things that touch your heart,
that stretch and broaden your mind.

The kind of day
that allows you to recognize
the beautiful surprises –
whether simple or profound

that are right before your eyes,
singing in your ears,
pleasing to your nose,
soft to your touch,
warming to your heart,
soothing to your soul.

Cherish the moments
that are just waiting
to be discovered
today
and
every day
at life in between.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Charlie’s Ribfest

/ Jodi / 63 Comments

charlie 102015

I was in big trouble the other day this past week, friends!
But I have to tell you —- It was SO WORTH it!
And besides… Mom isn’t really that tough.  She tries to be mad and mean and tell me when I am bad…
but when I give her the sad, sorry look – guess what?
She believes it! (Can YOU tell how sorry I am from the look in my face above here?)

So Mom had some ribs thawing on the counter early in the morning getting ready to be dry rubbed and roasted all day in the oven for dinner.

While they were on the counter, she was in her office on one of those conference calls she does for work.

Now – I never let her see me do this, but – –  if I really need to, I can reach up onto the kitchen counter — especially when something smells as good as RIBS! So – while she was distracted, I swooped up and snagged about a pound of the three pounds she had thawing and swiftly sped out the doggy door.

ribs

Here is what some of the ones looked like that I couldn’t grab in time.
O M G Friends!  They were TOO DIE FOR!  Even in their semi-frozen state.

Mom caught me when I was down to about two ribs and she tried chasing me around the yard for them, but I wasn’t giving in on this one, and we ran circles around the yard while I continued gripping and gnawing at my final ribs.

When I was done, I finally came to her, licking my lips, and looking at her like:
“Did you call me?”

Here I am!”  (teeheehee)

I had my own Charlie’s RibFest!

And yep – I got in trouble,
but yep – it was also worth it!
Just sayin’….

Do you ever have tough decisions to make like that? You know you shouldn’t… You know you are going to get in trouble… but you know it’ll be ok in the end.

And this is how I spent most of the afternoon.

charlie after ribs

It’s a dog’s life – (happy sigh)…

Anybody having ribs tonight at their house?  I’m available!

Woofs & Wags,
Charlie

Charlie is an adopted dog with brown eyes and a white-tipped tail who brings joy and laughter to his family and friends.  Charlie is a gifted writer, raving food critic, cat, chipmunk, and donut lover, and exceptionally photogenic model.  Some of his best friends are Mike the UPS Man, Cliff the Mailman, and ANYONE who delivers pizza to the house.   If you would like to read more guest posts by Charlie, simply type “Charlie” into the Search box at the top right hand corner of this link: thecreativelifeinbetween.com.   If you would enjoy a companion like Charlie, please consider pet adoption.

Happy Birday

/ Jodi / 44 Comments

Happy Birday whimsical bird

Once a month, a group of us bloggers celebrate Bird Day – draw a bird, paint a bird, photograph a bird….. on the 8th of the month.  So Happy Bird Day!

I was having fun with it this month and wanted to send our special hostess, Laura, at CreateArtEveryday a belated birthday card.  Since I missed it last week, this one is belated for her birthday, but just in time for “birday!”  This one was inspired by the amazing whimsical artistry of stressiecat.

Then I saw a cute little drawing of some simple birds on Pinterest that inspired the little card below that I sent to my BFF Jill in honor of some big news in our families that she is going to be a first-time grandma.  We are SO excited!

a little birdie told me card

This last one was a struggle, and I need to try again. I saw a tutorial of a watercolor robin done by Welsh artist Alison Fennell.  I’ll have to keep working on the robin!

robin watercolor card

So Happy #BirdDay!  Enjoy the birds that are around you – whether real, drawn, painted, or photographed – and chirp, tweet and sing, because tomorrow is Friday!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

#DrawaBirdDay

Break of Dawn

/ Jodi / 38 Comments

pink conneaut lake at dawn

At one of my favorite places in the whole wide world…

shovels in the greenhouse at dawn

mostly because I am with some of my favorite people in the entire universe…

rusty sun grapevine wreath

I arose at the break of dawn…

sunflowers at dawn

to bask in the beauty…

zinnia at dawn

and to cherish the moments.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Apricot Chocolate Chip Scones

/ Jodi / 28 Comments

apricot chocolate chip scones

I love waking up early on weekend mornings.
After all, it means extra hours in my weekend!

This past Sunday, I got up before anyone else was awake and basked in the moments of pre-dawn with freshly-brewed coffee and Italian Sweet Cream, the opportunity to paint, and the chance to bake something yummy for breakfast before anyone was awake, so they could rise to the smells and tastes of fresh baked scones.

Awwhh!  This is my happy place….

apricot chocolate chip scones 2jpg

Scones are quick and easy and so delish!
They throw together quickly and bake in 15 minutes.

These Apricot Chocolate Chip Scones were well  received by the sleepy eyes waking up at our house.

Slather them with a little butter or dunk them in your coffee or tea, and you may have found nirvana….  just sayin’.

Here’s the recipe.  Enjoy!

Apricot Chocolate Chip Scones

Ingredients:apricot chocolate chip scones

  • 2/3 cup butter
  • 3 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup half and half
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • coarse raw sugar for topping (optional)

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  • In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  cut in butter with pastry blender until crumbly.
  • Stir in apricots and chocolate chips.
  • Add eggs, half and half and vanilla, and mix until soft dough forms.
  • Turn dough onto floured surface and knead lightly.
  • For dough into rectangle approximately 15 inches wide by 4 inches high.  Cut in half, then each half in half, and each half in half again until you have 8 equal sections.  Cut each section in diagonal until you have 16 triangular sections.
  • Placed on baking stones or greased baking sheets.
  • Brush top of each with a little more half and half and sprinkle with coarse raw sugar if desired.
  • Bake approximately 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

PS  You might also like my “almost famous” Cinnamon Chip Scones.  Click here for the recipe.  They are an all-time fave!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Monday – October 5 Cookies and a Elephant

/ Jodi / 8 Comments

WOOHOO! Look what Sharon painted at Monday Tuesday Wednesday? She is such an amazing artist, and she PAINTED a stack of my honey oatmeal raisin cookies! Aren’t they gorgeous! THANK YOU Sharon! I love it!! Check out her other amazing artwork too! She posts every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday – and I think you will be blown away!

Beyond the Boundaries

/ Jodi / 20 Comments

lake drive franklin pa

Boundaries…

sometimes you have to break them.

Like yesterday…

Hubby and I went on a Sunday drive to Franklin, PA to the Annual Franklin AppleFest.

It was lovely….  crowded… lots of arts and crafts, food, antique and classic cars…

But the real treat of the day was on our ride home.

The road said, “No Outlet – Turn Around Here.”

Hubby knew better…
and we drove on…
beyond the boundaries.
And we came upon scenes like this.

Sometimes you have to break the boundaries.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Spooky, Screamy, Happy Halloweeny

/ Jodi / 27 Comments

pp265 halloween sheltering tree flower soft

This week’s theme for The Paper Players Challenge (PP265) is Halloween.

PP265 flat

I decided to break out the FlowerSoft for this week’s Design Team Inspiration card.  It makes such a fun textured Fall tree with lots of Halloweeny colors.

PP265 inside

Here is the fun sentiment on the inside.

My card isn’t very spooky or screamy, but hopefully it is happy halloweeny!

I gave a quick swoosh of green for the grass and blue for the sky in watercolor paint, then stamped the rest.

Here are the “ingredients” I used to make this card:

  • StampinUp (SU) Sheltering Tree Stamp Set
  • SU Holiday Home Stamp Set (Pumpkins and Ghosts and outside sentiment)
  • SU Mingle All the Way Stamp Set (Inside sentiment)
  • Inks:  SU Early Esperesso, Pumpkin, and Stazon Black
  • FlowerSoft Autumn Mix adhered with Tombow Mono Multi Glue
  • Early Espresso and Pumpkin SU Card Stock

Hope you are getting ready for a spooky, screamy, happy Halloweeny, and hope my paper crafting friends will join our challenge this week at The Paper Players!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Apple Fritter Cake

/ Jodi / 48 Comments

apple fritter cake

It’s the beginning of apple harvesting season in our little corner of the world and today is actually the annual Mars Applefest.

apple fritter cake 4

With apples and cinnamon on the brain this week, I wanted to make something special for dessert when my friend, Janet, was coming over for dinner.  I’m getting sad that she will soon be heading south for the winter, so trying to enjoy the few weeks we have left.

I found a recipe for Apple Fritter Bundt Cake from Crumbs in My Mustachio that was just what I was looking for.

apple fritter cake 3

Who doesn’t love an apple fritter?!  And made into a yummy cake to share?? …. Well – that sounded heavenly.

apple fritter cake 2

Oh – and was it ever!!!  We all LOVED it!  I know I will make this one again!  Here is the recipe as I slightly adapted.

Apple Fritter Cake

Ingredients:apple fritter cake 3

  • 4 large apples, peeled and chopped (I used golden delicious)
  • 2/3 cup + 3 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Grease and flour bundt cake pan.
  • In medium bowl, mix together peeled, chopped apples, 3 Tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon.  Set aside to let sugar and cinnamon liquefy with apple juice.
  • In a small bowl, blend together 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon.  Set aside.
  • With electric mixer, cream together 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter.  Add eggs, on at a time, blending well, then add vanilla.  When well creamed together, add 2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/2 cups flour.  When well blended, add milk slowly until all incorporated.
  • Add half of apple mixture to prepared bundt pan.  Top with half of brown sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Top that with half of the batter.  Repeat with other halves.
  • Bake for approximately 40 minutes until done.
  • Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto plate to continue cooling.
  • Make glaze by mixing powdered sugar with 1-2 Tbsp milk, until you achieve desired consistency.  Drizzle on top of warm cake.

This cake is AMAZING warm and cold.  I refrigerated leftovers and loved it cold from the fridge.

ENJOY!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi