Why the Hell Not?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Okay, so not really, but this not so freaking hot weather is confusing me.  Um, isn't it August?  Doesn't that mean that it should be 110 outside?  Not that I'm complaining that we're having nice, tolerable weather.  Or that I could actually (gasp) sit outside for more than two seconds without sweating.  It's just weird though.  A nice weird.  And since I'm more used to it not cooling off until the holidays, I'm already thinking Christmas.  That's not so hard for me as well, I LOVE Christmas!

So, when I picked up this box I made last December from a store that had been using it as a sample, I thought it'd make a nice post.  Sadly, the reason I picked up the box is because the store is suddenly closing.  Not really sure why it's closing (and it closed today), but it was a great store and we will miss it!

I actually made this project as a warm up project at a retreat.  Which means two things - lots of crafting and lots of borrowing.  We coordinate what we bring so we can carpool.  And since we were at Southern Comfort, it also means that we had ridiculously good food (I've offered to move in it's so good) and a fantastic time.  I've been on lots of retreats and Southern Comfort is BY FAR the BEST place I've been!  I'm talking meals cooked from scratch.  Fresh cookies and brownies.  And some of the nicest and most generous people you'll ever meet.  We love you Linda & Bill!  We'll be back out their way in December and I can't wait!  I'm looking forward to seeing your lovely house all dressed up for Christmas and eating myself sick on your fantastic food. 

Now onto the project:

The box itself is from Cosmo Cricket.  it's black and I think it's for photos.  I originally wanted to trace the box opening and cut the paper to fit over it exactly, but that proved to be just about impossible.  The box is simply not wide enough to get your hand into it with a pencil or x-acto knife.  So, I borrowed a Nestie from a friend and just cut a similarly shaped hole!

I cut the paper (and I forgot who makes it, but it's fabulous) to fit the box, leaving a little border.  I then inked it with one of Tim Holtz's brown distressing inks.  I borrowed it, so I can't remember the color.  As for the reindeer, he's made of grungeboard.  I took my silver paint pen and coated him completely on the top side.  After that dried, I applied some of Tim Holtz's crackle paint.  I think the color is Antique Linen - it's an off-white.  I let that dry thoroughly and crack.  Then, I went back over it all with that same brown ink pad.  Yes, you read right, brown.  I wiped off the excess.  Lastly, I covered it with Glossy Accents and let it dry overnight.  It was brown when I went to bed and green when I woke up.  And it happens to be the EXACT same green as the paper!  No kidding.  I have no idea how that happy accident happened.  I finished the reindeer off with a bit of twine (from Walmart) and a square rhinestone brad (from Stampin' Up!). 

The ribbon on the box is from Stampin' Up!  The dew drops are the pearl drops from Robin's Nest.  The buttons on top are from my stash and are just basic clear buttons.  I put dew drops in between the buttons to give them more dimension so they'd look more like a handle. 

Summertime, and the living is easy...

We're having a gorgeous Summer night here.  Mark and I even rode bikes today - during what is usually the hottest part of the day.  It was so nice and cool outside thanks to a cold front that blew in.  Okay, so it's only "cool" when you're used to 100+ weather, but hey, it was cool to us!  So, in honor of the oddly nice Summer weather, I have a nice Summery card:

All products used are from Piggy Tales, except for the kraft card stock (Papertrey), the rick rack (Bazzill), the eyelet border punch (Stampin' Up!), and the white gel pen (Signo).  This card is also quite fast to create.  Just put a flower rub-on on the white chipboard, cut some paper, tie the rick rack, glue everything down, rub on the "100%" rub-on, and decorate the card base and "f" with the white gel pen.  Viola!

Bramleys - Part Deux

Have you wondered how to process Bramley apples for freezing?  I know you have.  And you're dying to know.  Really.  I bet it keeps you up at night too.  Wondering how you'll get it done.  What steps to take.  Do you need to add Vitamin C to keep them from turning brown?  Should you use a knife?  Just how do you get those seeds out?  Well, have no fear, I'm here to show you how!

First, start with apples.  Wash them.  You don't need to dry them, just put them under the faucet and rub them with your hands.  Then, set them on the counter on a towel (to absorb any water coming off) for the next step. 

And as a side note - if you're thinking of getting new counter tops, don't get tile.  No matter how great you think it looks.  It only looks fantastic for three seconds after it's been installed.  Because no matter how many times you clean it or what you use to clean it, it'll still look dirty until you whip out a toothbrush and some bleach and scrub every last bit of the grout down.  And then it'll stay nice looking for about five minutes until your husband spills something onto it.  So, just don't do it!  now back to the regularly scheduled programming...

See that spotty one in the middle of the bottom row?  That's really not a good apple.  They should not be mushy or have dark spots.  However, these were quite expensive, so I was determined to use as much as I could.  Thus, I ended up trying to use the spotted ones and was able to use some of them, so long as they weren't also mealy.  If they are mealy, then you need to toss them as they won't taste good.

Pull out your apple peeling contraption and secure it to the counter.  This one has a suction cup on the bottom to help secure it to the counter.  Then you push that little bar thing on the bottom down to the counter to make sure it's really on there.

Pick up an apple and spear that sucker with your "machine."

Now, crank that apple through the machine and let it peel, slice, and core that bad boy for you. 

I just love it when machines do all of the work for me!  You can peel, core, and slice your apples with a knife, but why bother?

Remove your peeled, cored, and sliced apple from the machine and slice the apple in half.  I like to slice mine as they fit into the bags better and are easier to spread into a pie later too.

Put apple slices into a bowl and add Fruit Fresh.  Now, I tried two methods of adding Fruit Fresh to them.  Fruit Fresh is asorbic acid - aka Vitamin C.  It prevents the fruit from browning.  It does also add a slight bit of tartness to the fruit.

Method 1:

Sprinkle Fruit Fresh into the bowl.  Add water and stir until the Fruit Fresh is dissolved.  It's very finely ground so it dissolves quickly.

Here's a picture of the apples in the Fruit Fresh solution.  If you use this method, you'll need to drain the apples prior to freezing.

Method 2:

After putting the apples into the bowl, generously sprinkle them with Fruit Fresh.  I also flipped the apples around in the bowl and sprinkled their undersides to help get better coverage.

 

Then, once you have enough apples peeled, sliced, cored, and sufficiently Fruit Freshed, put them into freezer bags for freezing.  Then freeze them until you're ready to use them.  That's it!  Easy peasy. 

Here's a comparison of apples Fruit Freshed with Method 1 (on the left) and Method 2.  As you can see, soaking the fruit in Fruit Fresh is more effective at preventing browning than sprinkling with Fruit Fresh.

And here's what happens if you don't use Fruit Fresh -

It took less than five minutes for them to reach this point.  Moral of the story - use Fruit Fresh or crushed Vitamin C!

Bramley Apples...

As the days start to get cooler (in places other than Texas), it's beginning to be apple season.  Last year, I ordered two boxes of Bramley apples. Here's a picture of one of the boxes -

Mark and I spent part of our honeymoon in London where we also had the most amazing apple pie I've ever tasted.   And of course, it was made with Bramleys.  If you have never had a Bramley apple, and if you're in America, you likely have not as they're very hard to find here, they're like Granny Smith's on crack.  They are super tart and yet have a deep sweetness at the same time.  However, they are a cooking apple so they are not meant to be eaten raw.  Cooking mellows out their bitterness while kicking up their sweetness so you end up with a nice zingy sweet taste.  They're so popular in the U.K. that they have their own website.

It took me a while to locate a Bramley "dealer"  in the United States.  While Bramleys are very popular in the U.K. and considered by many to be "the" cooking apple of Britain, they have not yet gained huge popularity here.  So, it took me a while to find someone that would ship these apples, and I literally found ONE place in the U.S.  I tried google and hit upon Posh Spice and David Beckham's blog.  Not kidding.  Apparently Posh found some Bramleys at a local farmers market in San Francisco and posted about it.  Philo Apple Farm sold them at that market.  So, I called them and they don't ship, or at least not as far as Texas.  However, they did point me to the one place that had them and does ship.  And, low and behold, I had Bramleys in my house just a few weeks later! I seem to have lost my bookmark of the website for the magical shipping place and will amend this post if I can find it as it's currently elusive despite my searching skills.

Apparently, getting them shipped is still a problem.  However, if you go here and scroll down, you can find a short list of farms that grow Bramleys.  If you're lucky enough to live near one of these farms, check them out!

Stay tuned and I'll show you how I processed these apples later in the week.

Glory Days

It was the Summer of 1946.  The world was recovering from the War.  The Nuremberg trials were well underway.  The United States joined the United Nations earlier that year.  Americans were escaping their hot houses and apartments to gather at the ballpark and again enjoy our favorite pastime - baseball.  You might have heard of some of the Yankee players playing then - Joe DiMaggio, Joe Page, Yogi Berra... 

Babe Ruth had retired from baseball more than ten years before.  He last played in Yankee Stadium when he pinch hit in a charity game in 1943.  He drew a walk.  The Yankees would retire his number - 3 - just two years later, not long after he died. 

Only seven years earlier, Lou Gehrig retired from baseball due to ALS.  He gave his "Luckiest Man on the Face of the Earth" speech on July 4, 1939, "Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day" at Yankee Stadium.  Go here to see a reprint of that speech.  The Yankees also retired Gehrig's number - 4.  His was the first number any team in the Major Leagues had ever retired.

The Yankees had been successfully playing at Yankee Stadium for over 23 years.  In their first game there, on April 18, 1923, they beat the Boston Red Sox  4-1.  It was the "House that Ruth Built" and it looked something like this:

Which is how we saw it in May 2008.  Sure they'd renovated the stadium about 30 years earlier and it wasn't exactly the same, but it was darn close.  And it was a dream come true.  I've wanted to go to Yankee Stadium for a very long time (though Mark was not excited) and it lived up to every image I had.  I could feel the history.  Walking the halls I could hear the clicking of cleats from days gone past, smell the leather and sweat, hear the cracking of the bat.  It was so cool!  

And as the Summer wanes into Fall and children everywhere get wistful about their soon-to-be elusive freedom, I can't help but sympathize.  I remember those days.  The glory days of Summer where the possibilities were endless.  Where there was always tomorrow and spending all day playing baseball meant it was a great day.  Where we didn't know what the future would hold and we really didn't care.  Where, like America pre-War, we had an enviable innocence about us that we thought would last forever.  And we knew that despite hardships, anything was possible.  But, as the saying goes, time marches on.  In many ways innocence and freedom are lost.  We cling to our past and to the "glory days."  And then, if even for only a minute, we're able to get even the briefest taste of those days and that thrill and innocence of youth comes back to us with just the crack of the bat.  And today becomes one of those "glory days."

So simple and quick...

Need a card fast?  This card is very simple to make and easy to make in bulk.  I should know as I used this card as my card for a recent shoebox swap - with 48 participants.  I had everything pre-cut and even hand cut all of the butterflies (and glued the beads on).  We made each card in ten minutes or less.  However, I knew from past years that someone always runs over that time, so I made sure my card could be put together in under five minutes.  It worked well!

All products are Stampin' Up! except for the button - that's from my stash.  My grandmother was a seamstress and I recently received most of her remaining buttons.  The little yellow button is actually from a pack of buttons for children's clothes.  Thankfully, she had a full bag of those, so I had plenty!

I used Great Friend stamp set, a now retired hostess set for the sentiment, Kraft and Pink Pirouette card stock, a now retired Designer Series paper, Apricot Appeal grosgrain ribbon, green bead duo, Wide Oval Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Lots of Tags Sizelits die, Green bead duo, Certainly Celery Classic Ink, Basic Brown Classic Ink, Pixie Pink marker, and linen thread.

Camp Kiki - Part Two

What?  You didn't get enough cute munchkin pics in the last post?  Super Kiki to the rescue!

Check out all of the cool things you can do at the Dallas Nature and Science Museum -

(1) You can excavate dinosaur bones whilst wearing velvet...

(2) You can measure the size of your find whilst wearing "proper" play clothes...

(3) You can check out (and apparently touch) dinosaur footprints...

 

(4) You can play video games whilst wearing cowboy boots...

By the way, I remember his dad also wearing shorts with cowboy boots in college so I know where he got that fashion statement.

(5) You can check out how much heat your body parts put out...

Look at Mark's sunglasses...pretty funny, eh?

(6) You can look at things outside the building using a real periscope...

 

(7) You can ride a "tractor"...

 

and (8) You can pretend you're a flower.  An evil flower...

 

And, we did all of that and more in under two hours.  The kids had a grand time trying out all of the cool things.  We really could have stayed longer as well, but it was time to move on to our next adventure!

Hey J-Ma...we're farmers!

 A few weeks ago, Mark and I hosted our niece and nephew for Camp Kiki.  I'm Kiki.  Yes, I named the camp after myself.  Moving on...  While they were with us for a few days, we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science.  (I'd give you a link, but their page is down.  It's the one in Fair Park so google it.)  Well, the munchkins were not all that excited about the things in the museum (and it's a cool museum by the way) UNTIL we found the farm.  Which is hysterical as my mom (J-Ma) grew up on a dairy farm.  Milking cows.  Three times a day.  Every day.  Rain or shine.  So, I found it really funny that the munchkins were so enthralled with the cow.  The big plastic cow.  That peed water out of its udder. 

Enter the milking picture...

Apparently the spirit of the plastic cow has possessed my niece (aka "Punky Brewster") and given her red eyes.  Spooky.  The little man (aka "Mr. Why?") is enthralled with beating his sister in milk production.  Not that he has a different pail to put it in or that the quantity matters.  But, by God, he wants to win!  And yes, Punky is wearing her recital outfit.  I'm a cool aunt.  She can wear whatever she wants so long as she's sufficiently covered.  Even if it's velvet and it's 110 outside. 

Notice that the cow has gotten so much use that her tail is chipped.  And, notice the lovely screws holding her opening closed on the left side of her rump.  I assume that's where you go to refill her "tank."  In fact, her tank ran empty during the taking of this picture.  She was a really popular cow.

So much so in fact that Punky had to milk her more than once: 

The spirit of the cow possessed her here too.  Spooky.  I hear Twilight Zone music playing in the background...

AAAAAAAAKKKKK!  She's possessed both of them now!

 

No munchkins were harmed in the taking of these photos.

Mail's here!

Just a quickie post on a non-mail day. 

I decorated a small white mailbox (you get them in the Target Dollar Spot around Valentine's Day) using this cute star paper.  I also cut some of the stars out and adhered them with pop dots to give them some dimension.

I think the star paper is from American Crafts, but I could be remembering that incorrectly. The button, hardware, most of the ribbon, and Kraft card stock are all from Stampin' Up!  The rub-ons are from Piggy Tales.  If you're not familiar with Piggy Tales, get familiar.  They're a fantastic company with very well-made products.  I also used some of Tim Holtz's Distress Stickles to jazz it up a bit. 

Enjoy!

Artisan Entries - Part 5 - The Finale

Well, sort of.  It is a finale in that it contains my last two Artisan entries.  However, you've already seen my two favorite entries - the Captivated by You page and Cheers card. Though, I have to admit that the next card I'm about to show is a very, very close third. 

Here it is - my scavenger hunt party invite.  I know I'd certainly want to go to this party!

This card was very simple to make.  I colored the images from Forest Friends with markers prior to stamping.  Then, I cut the images out.  I then used Crystal Effects to highlight any portion of the images that I wanted to shine.  Lastly, I glued them onto the white card stock front randomly.  Lastly, I drew dotted lines from animal to object to animal, etc... to indicate to show the path.  I was inspired by the Sunday comics.  No lie.  

I hand cut the banner and edged it with a Chocolate Chip marker.  Then I rubbed on a sentiment.  I used Dimensionals to raise the middle of the banner and give it a bit of dimension.  I used Mono Multi to attach the ends of the banner to the Whisper White card stock.

Lastly, I used the edge of my scissors to rough up the edges of the paper, drug a Chocolate Chip marker over the roughed up edges and then glued my paper down.  The bottom two layers are Old Olive and Kraft card stock. 

For the interior, I printed up a fake invite and made up the wording:

I continued the dotted line image inside to carry the theme on in.  I don't know about you, but I think everyone should call Jenny.

And, lastly, my last entry.  Which, I oddly made first. 

The card base is Brocade Blue.  I stamped the big cupcake image from Crazy for Cupcakes all over the card base with Versamark.  I stamped the cupcakes on a tray with black Stazon and colored them in with markers.  Then, I used Mono Multi and added Dazzling Diamonds. I edged the Whisper White and So Saffron pieces with a marker (I think I used Pixie Pink) and adhered them together.

The ribbon is from a now-retired set of ribbon originals.  The die cut is from SU's Lots of Tags.  I hand cut the Whisper White portion smaller than the So Saffron portion.  I also used markers to ink the sentiment so I could use multiple colors.  The brad is just a simple silver brad.

I also decorated the inside of the card:

It took me a few tries to line up the sentiments into a perfect circle.  It's much easier to do that with clear stamps.  However, it's much easier to ink rubber stamps with markers when you're too lazy to get up and get the ink pad color you want.  ;)  I also inked the cupcake with several marker colors so it'd match the front of the card.

Well, that's all for my entries.  Let me know what you think of them!