How many of you like to make a mess when you stamp?! Well here’s a project from Kristine that is lovely & messy & if you are not accurate on some of the parts nobody is going to notice! LOL! And do you know what else? There are some yummies in it

Both of these projects were made using Cut N Dry Stamp Pad Foam. Cut N Dry Stamp Pad Foam is a really fun, versatile product to use. It comes in a 8 ½” x 11” piece but can be cut down to any size or shape you need.

For this card I cut a 2” x 3” piece of pad foam and then randomly dropped drops of Wild Plum, Latte and Stream Adirondack Alcohol Inks on the pad to create a custom ink pad.

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Then I used one of the birds from Kim Hughes, Pretty Birds, stamp set to stamp a bird using my custom ink pad. Then I took the pad and pressed it randomly over a piece of white cardstock until it was completely covered.

I used another small piece of Cut & Dry Stamp Pad foam to sponge Purple Twilight ink on the edges of the white cardstock when assembling the card.

Stamps: Pretty Birds, Custom stamp made with Cut & Dry Stamp Pad Foam

Prism Cardstock: Intense Teal, White

Ink: Adirondack Dye ink-Purple Twilight & Clover, Adirondack Alcohol inks-Wild Plum Latte, and Stream

Accessories: Queen & Co. Mini Sprinkles, We R Memory Keepers Brad, cellophane bag from www.clearbags.com, Avery address labels #8160

Stamps: Pretty Birds

Prism Cardstock: Intense Teal, white

Ink: Adirondack Dye ink-Purple Twilight, Adirondack Alcohol inks-Wild Plum Latte, and Stream

Accessories: We R Memory Keepers brads, eyelets, and photo corner. Queen & Co. Mini Sprinkles for the birds eye, Spellbinders Nestabilities

For the Nugget Treat Project I cut a small 1 ½” x 1 ½” piece of Cut and Dry Stamp Pad Foam. I heated the back side (gray) of the foam and then pushed a ball of aluminum foil into it. I used this piece of foam as a stamp. Using clover ink, I randomly stamped across six Avery address labels and a 4 ½” by 1 ¾” piece of white cardstock.

I wrapped each of the labels around a Hershey’s nugget and stamped a hummingbird in Purple twilight on the center of each label. I put the nuggets into a cellophane bag and assembled the bag topper using another bird stamped with the same pad I used for the card.

Stamps: Pretty Birds, Custom stamp made with Cut & Dry Stamp Pad Foam

Prism Cardstock: Intense Teal, White

Ink: Adirondack Dye ink-Purple Twilight & Clover, Adirondack Alcohol inks-Wild Plum Latte, and Stream

Accessories: Queen & Co. Mini Sprinkles, We R Memory Keepers Brad, cellophane bag from www.clearbags.com, Avery address labels #8160

A very good Monday morning to you!

Over the weekend the temps rose & we enjoyed 50 degrees here yesterday which was just as well because after finishing cooking the hams I had to clean the oven We have a self cleaning oven so I cleaned out all the loose stuff & then last evening opened all the doors & windows, put the fans on & put the oven on clean. It wasn’t very long before the smoke began to billow - I am not kidding you. It was awful. We all scurried downstairs & after two hours it was safe to come back upstairs & close everything up. I now have a very clean oven.

Today we awoke to temps of -33 in the wind chill & it is now -38 so not warming up. I am SO thankful we don’t have to have the windows open today. LOL! In fact it wouldn’t even be possible as they are all frozen shut with a layer of ice along the bottom. We have well insulated, double glazed windows but in these temps they just freeze.

It’s also snowing.

At least we are warm but I feel sorry for all the animals - these temps are rough on them. It could be worst. Michael’s girlfriend lives on a ranch further north which is more exposed & it is -70 in the wind chill up there. OUCH!

Have a great day,

Liz

We’ve been smoking hams for the last couple days. Normally we cold smoke the bacon & hot smoke the ham BUT the heating element is broken. (Been on back order for over 2mths!) So that means that once the hams are smoked they have to be cooked in the oven.

Hams are VERY juicy so the mess in my oven has been awful. Plus we can’t cook them all at once so one lot got cooked over night. EVERY time I woke up all I could smell was yummy ham! Needless to say we had ham & eggs for breakfast.
Anyway I had cleaned the oven out last night after one big mess but didn’t think there was too much mess in there from over night. Obviously I was wrong. I went to bake a Raspberry Pudding this afternoon, preheated the oven, quickly put the fans on as it started to smoke but I thought that was all. Alas when I opened the oven to put the pudding in, it was on fire! OOPS!

Daniel thought it was VERY cool. This is the second fire he has seen in a week. Last Saturday, after we had just finished lunch Richard went outside & came back in saying there was a fire at the neighbors then the pagers went off so off he & Michael went to see if they could help. It was a HUGE fire so we were able to watch it from the upstairs window. Thankfully it was not their house & no one was hurt. Our big red barn (yet to be restored) & his were two of the oldest in the valley. Alas his barn is no more - burnt down in less than 20 mins - nobody could do anything as the flames were so big. So that leaves ours as probably the oldest in the valley. They think it was electrical. We had all the electrics to our barns redone when we moved here as they were VERY old & dangerous. We do use the barn but it is in desperate need of restoration. A very big expensive job but one that is on our TO DO list somewhere in the future

Tonight we have to head out to a Fire & Ambulance DO. Meal doesn’t start till 7 & so that’s why I made the pudding. I was HUNGRY! LOL! That will keep me going until we eat there.

We don’t plan to be out long as both of us have ALOT to do. I have been catching up on “stuff” all day but still have a ways to go.

Asela’s Easter Bunnies & Chicks are ADORABLE. Hope to get them worked on tonight & sized so that I can send them off to the engravers to be made into plates.

Take care & enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Liz

Morning folks!

We all LOVE Asela’s drawings, right? Well this week Lori “played” with her poppies & the Niji Waterbrush & look what she came up with:

Our girls are really enjoying “playing” with the Ranger Reinkers - offer alot of versatility & fun.

Accs: Tim Holtz Distress Reinkers, Water Painter, Dress Maker’s Stick Pen and May Arts ribbon

Enjoy!

Morning folks!

Thought I’d better get a winner announced ASAP as the comments are coming in fast & furious. Thank you to all who entered - I do read all your comments & so many of them make me smile. So glad you like the new sets.

The winner is #156 - Linda P.

Congratulations Linda.

Thanks,

Liz

If I blog anymore today you folks are going to think there is something wrong with me!

As you may or may not know we have a brand new line releasing on Thursday (Jan 24th, 2008) called The Rummage Bin. There are 10 sets in this first release & they are all fabulous. It is my job tonight to give away The Ticket Counter:

Please just leave a comment here on the blog & I will pick a random winner on Thursday. There are several other giveaways going on at the same time so please make sure you check in on the forum so as not to miss out:)

Have fun!

Thanks,

Liz

SEVEN!

Thank you, you know who!

What a way to put a smile on my face & of course I am going to share some of them with you.

This first card features a Kim Hughes “Thank you” & our Oak Leaves Backgrounder. Isn’t this just gorgeous?

Just right for Valentine’s Day is this “Love Note” card using stamps from Hugs & Kisses. Maybe I should send this one to Richard BUT on the other hand he reads this so it would be no surprise!

Last but not least is this “Single Coneflower” card which also has one of the Ribbons from the Ribbon set. The flower was painted with reinkers.

I am truly blessed. Been thinking about this alot today. Someone mentioned that I must be exhausted but y’know I’m not. Richard & I are truly blessed to be able to work with each other in the way that we do plus our kids are all around us so although we are very busy they know that Mum & Dad are always here. Now am I tired? Yes there’s no denying that. Richard, poor guy, came to bed at 2:30 am this morning & his ambulance page went off at 5:30 am! So an early night is called for, I do believe.
Jumping from the rooftops, counting my blessings

Liz

Well folks you should write this down in the record books. I am blogging of a morning & actually letting you know of a release ON the day! LOL!

Kim has come out with two new sets today & they are gorgeous:

Silhouette Blooms II

and FourSquare

Isn’t this adorable - I just love the miniature lined paper.

Both sets are only $14.99 each so a great deal.

Hope you all have a great day. I can’t stop to talk because I need to get packing orders but I’ll be back tomorrow because there’s a Rummage Bin Giveaway so if I don’t do my part Keri will have my hide

Take care,

Liz

Richard gave me a cast iron griddle for Christmas. At the weekend we griddled the bacon & tonight I made Drop Scones so thought I would share the recipe with you as it’s been a while since we have done some cooking “together.”

Drop Scones

2 Cups Flour (I use wholewheat so use a tad less flour than stated)
1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

Mix together with:

1 egg

10 fl oz milk

Heat & brush griddle (or large frying pan) with butter as the butter melts. Drop heaped tablespoons of mixture onto griddle. Cook over a moderate heat.

When Scones begin to bubble flip over & cook on the other side.

Keep scones warm in a folded tea-towel.

These are best eaten hot or warm. You can also add other seasonings to the mixture like ground garlic, dried onion etc.

Enjoy!

Other news here on the farm. Rosco & Penny had to be moved to the barn. Being born in Missouri did not prepare them for the cold weather up here so by Tuesday they were cold & shivering despite being covered in straw. They are now under heat lamps & doing well although still not too friendly. We go in there each day & give them attention so they will soon get used to us.

It’s supposed to get really cold here this weekend (-20) & maybe some snow so time will tell.

Hope your weekend is a good one.

Liz

Well they finally made it here. Richard was exhausted after his long trip so he went to bed early.

Hope your weekend went well. It was gorgeous here yesterday - up in the 40’s. I sent Daniel into get some socks but he found his swimming trunks instead & wanted to put those on. I told him it wasn’t that warm

We did get out on the trampoline though - first time in ages - so that was nice. Today has been really windy but the temps hit 52! Supposed to go cold though & maybe some snow so time will tell.

Penny & Rosco are up near the house in the old turkey pen for now. As you can see they are pretty small & we want them to be very friendly before we let them out to roam in a bigger pen. They have plenty of straw & Richard said tonight they had buried into it.

Rosco is in Richard’s arms & I have Penny - they are not much bigger than a large puppy.
Sleep well,

Liz