By the Seashore

Hi everyone!  Hope you're having a great summer wherever you are!  Here on the southwest coast, we are having rain, rain, rain...I still have my furnace on and yesterday I actually turned the heat up a teensy bit!  Crazy!  It seems like each part of the country has one extreme or the other.

I made a dreamy beach scene with the new stamp set "By the Seashore" I love this set and love how the card turned out!  It reminds me of one of my favourite beach spots in Parksville on Vancouver Island.

This card was super easy to make!  I tore a piece of card stock to sponge the waves and used the straight side for the horizon and sponged Baja Breeze ink on Baja Breeze card stock.  My white gel pen dried up so I used my white craft reinker, squeezed a little blob out and painted on the whitecaps with a toothpick and then smudged it with my finger...love getting inky!!  I drew the seagulls with the toothpick/reinker as well.  The clouds were sponged with the white craft ink pad.  It's prettier in real life!

I stamped the shells and starfish on VeryVanilla using Basic Gray ink and then sponged Baja Breeze and Pretty in Pink on them and cut them out.  I used a glue pen and sprinkled some decorator sand onto my card layer (got the sand at M's) then I adhered the shells/starfish using Tombow green glue.

I made a little bow with hemp twine and added it to the sentiment which is raised on a dimensional. The mat layer is Crumb Cake.

Hope you like my dreamy card...are you ready for the beach?  The forecast is for some sun this week, which is really good to hear, I think we're all getting webbed feet here on the coast!

Thanks so much for stopping by to share your time with me!
Hugs ~ Judy

We have a cat burglar in the house!!

I wanted to show my daughter this card I made for a friend, and was telling her about the sweet little prima rose that I made for it using Julie's video tutorial here.  These flowers are so much fun to make and quick and easy too.  I saved Julie's video ages ago and hope you enjoy it too.

I used the stamp set Fabulous Florets and heat embossed the main flower with Melon Mambo embossing powder.   Here's a close up of the mini flower I made.  I used the retired 3 Flower Punch from the Clearance Rack, and my favourite Boho Blossoms Punch as well.  I used the star flower for the leaf base instead of the shape Julie used.

So I picked up the card to show her and my flower was missing....the cat burglar strikes again!!  My darling LilyBean had spotted the flower and pulled it off....glue dot and all!  What a little mischief she is!!  She's forever swiping flowers off my craft table and making off with them...but this is the first time that she actually picked one off one of my cards!  LOL!

This is the card that I showed my daughter and realized the flower was missing!  So we made another one to finish the card...one more time!  It's been a week since the flower went missing and I still haven't found it!  Hope she hid it and didn't actually eat it!  Oh my....!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your time with me!  I hope you try one of these fun little flowers.

Big hugs ~ Judy

Tea and Scones!

Hi everyone!  Today I'm sharing my recipe for Empress Tea Scones....seriously delish!

We've had a wonderful little getaway for my birthday weekend to our favourite spot...Victoria!  It's just a ferry ride away from us and we love to visit there. We love walking down the main street visiting all my fave shops. Rogers Chocolates and Murchies Tea Shop are 2 of my favourite 'must stops'...and of course the Empress Store too!

We stayed at the Empress Hotel... I love staying there, it's such a beautiful hotel....it makes me think of a Grand Old Lady...cozy, charming and oh so pretty!  I got a couple of great shots....stunning isn't it?

Below is a shot of Victoria's Inner Harbour, looking towards our Parliament Buildings.  It was a very festive weekend with lots of boats in the harbour.

 This is a picture I took of the inner Harbour...just as the sun was setting....breathtaking!  

I think this picture is stunning...the Empress Hotel at night...all lit up....I never get tired of looking at this beautiful landmark!

Okay...are you ready for the scones...they are so seriously delicious!!  I have a Tea Towel with the recipe on it that I bought ages ago and of course I just made some when we got home....I was having a craving for more of these yummy little darlings!!  Don't they look great?  Well let me tell you that they taste even better than they look!

Empress Tea Scones


2 lbs. 4 oz. Flour  (approx. 6 3/4 to 7 cups)
9 oz. Sugar  (approx. 1 1/3 cups)
9 oz. Butter Cold
2 oz. Baking Powder (approx. 1/4 cup heaping)
6 oz. Raisins  (approx. 2/3 cup)
5 1/2 Eggs (I used 5 for the recipe and 1 for brushing the tops)
16 oz. Heavy Whipping Cream (approx. 2 cups...I know... truly so worth it though!)
Pinch of Salt


Berry Sugar for tops


1. Crumb flour, sugar, butter, salt, baking powder together until mixture is fine crumbs
2.  Add eggs slowly
3. Add raisins
4. Add cream and mix to smooth dough
5. On a floured surface, roll out to 1/2" thickness, cut out desired size or shape
6.  Beat the remaining egg and wash the tops of the scones.
7. Sprinkle the tops with fine sugar.  (I used Berry Sugar)
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown


While the first pan is baking, make a lovely pot of tea, get the Butter (yes, real butter!) and Strawberry Jam out and when they come out of the oven treat yourself and have a couple warm with your tea!


Now, I must share my secret with you...be sure you have 2....one for each hip!  LOL!!  That's my version of a balanced diet!  Bwahahaha!!!  Enjoy!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love and hugs ~ Judy

Upsy Daisy

Wow... I don't post for ages then I have a couple of posts in as many days!!  I wanted to share this card with you... Upsy Daisy is one of my favourite stamp sets and it's retiring.  I'm not really going to miss it as I'm keeping it!  I just can't part with any of my retiring sets, so my stash keeps getting bigger and bigger!

For this card I used Pear Pizzaz card stock, ink and seam binding and although I have some cardstock and seam binding tucked away, I'm really going to miss this colour when I've used it up, it's so pretty! I embossed the layer with the tulip frame embossing folder and layered a Very Vanilla panel on Black, easy and pretty!

For the inside I stamped the butterflies, masking them...I totally love masking and don't know why I don't do it more often, it's so much fun! I saw the idea for the inside using the butterflies here.

I found Wanda's card on Splitcoaststampers and loved how she did the inside...isn't it fun when ideas are shared?  The Butterfly is from Summer Solstice and the sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

Hope you like my quick share today... thanks so much for stopping by!
Hugs ~ Judy

Hi....I've missed you!!

Hi everyone!  Ohmigosh...I've been so busy, and yet it seems like I've been doing ordinary bits of nothing when I try to think of what I've been up to!  

I've been having lots of fun though and while I haven't blogged, I have been thinking of all of you!  And amazingly many more of you have subscribed to my blog while I've been off playing...thank you so much for joining me here and thank you so much to everyone who's been patiently waiting for me to come back to my blogging!  Hugs to to all!!  

I've really been enjoying having my daughter off on maternity leave, we have so much fun together and I love getting my snuggles everyday from my little granddaughter...ohmigosh...she's so sweet, I think I've taken a million pictures of her. I love her to bits and love to watch her growing every day.  She's 9 1/2 weeks now...here's a picture of my little darling...lol...her sun hat is just a bit big!

I've also been playing with the camera on my iPhone, I downloaded a cool app that my niece told me about called Camera+ and it's so much fun.  On one of our walks I took a picture of this amazing tree at Belcarra Park...it looks like a tangle of elbows and knees!  The park is full of wonderful trees but this one is an old Arbutus tree...love it!  Belcarra Park is tucked up the Burrard Inlet at the mouth of the Indian Arm...it's a beautiful park...we're so lucky to have lots of beautiful parks around us.

I'm slowly getting my creative muse back again...I was worried that I'd lost it. After my knee surgery I lost my zest for playing with my stamps...I know...awful!  I also lost my appetite but that darned thing has come back and I wish it hadn't!!   LOL!!  But along with my appetite my creative spark came back too, thank goodness!  This is a tag that I made for my April orders, I stamped the background with En Francais and used the crown from the stamp set 'Established Elegance'  and added a rhinestone to it...I love that set!

And below is a picture of my orders, wrapped and ready to be picked up.  Love the yellow tissue, it's so happy! I had them sitting on our desk at the entrance, the desk is made from an eclectic mix of wood and glass from some Liberty ship building parts and Empire Mining Company components.  It was made in Gastown by Industrial Artifacts, it's such a fun desk, when you open the drawer the little cog wheels move!

Well that's my share for today, I have a couple of cards that I need to take pictures of so that I can share them with you.  Thanks so much for stopping by to share your time with me.  I'll be back soon!

Big hugs to all of you

Judy

Hi everyone!

Happy April!! Wow...so much has happened since my last post! The most exciting news is that we welcomed our darling granddaughter into our family on March 22!

She is our first grandchild and we are all head over heels in love with her! Her Mommy and Daddy have named her Emily...such a sweet name...love it! I love being a Nannie and can't get enough snuggles and kisses...good thing they live just blocks away from us!!

Here's a picture of me and our little sweetie....awwww! She is a little doll, so happy and healthy, we are so lucky!!

My other news is that my knee is doing great after my knee replacement surgery...its been 7 weeks now since my surgery and I'm happy to say that I have 110% bend in my knee so far....apparently I'll only get a max of 120% so I'm doing great...the physio is really hard work but I'm determined to get that last 10%!!

I don't have anything new to show you....I seem to have lost my mojo since my operation and I'm hoping it will come back really soon...I have some new toys waiting for me in my craft room and another order is on its way, so I hope to be getting inky again really soon.

Meanwhile here's a card that I meant to share so this is a good time as this post is a kind of test post....I've been trying to figure out how to blog from my IPad, and I've bought an app called "Blogsy" and so far I love it...I'm still playing around with it, but so far two thumbs up!!!

It's a very quick but pretty card using the set called "My Friend" stamped in Tempting Turqouise and I added Dazzling Details to it. Hope you like it!

Thanks so much for stopping by to share your time with me and I also want to say thanks for being so patient while waiting for me to get back to my blogging. You are the best...big hugs!

Love Judy

 

I totally missed January!

Hi everyone....ohmigosh...I've been so busy, I totally missed blogging for the whole month of January! So let me wish you all a belated Happy New Year! I hope your year is filled with love and laughter, friends and adventures, good health and success in all your ventures!

I'd like to wish a warm welcome to all my new blog subscribers, thank you so much for joining me in my little corner of the world! I also want to thank my regular subscriber's for being so patient while I've been away, thanks for staying with me!

So, what have I been doing to keep me from blogging? Well, I've been trying to figure out my new computer, we've switched to Mac from my PC and while I totally love it, it's been a challenge trying to figure out everything! I've got lots more to learn but I really love my new iPad and computers!!

We're also getting ready to welcome our first grandchild next month....ohmigosh, we are so excited!! So I've been knitting and crocheting, shopping and getting some things made for the shower that we had for my daughter! Here's a picture of the sweet diaper cake I made...I was really happy with how it turned out!

I also made some little Mary Jane shoes and filled them with Hershey's Kisses for each guest, these little shoes are darling and so easy to make.  I found the template here.  The card stock for the shoes is from my Crafty Secrets CD that I got for Christmas.

So with all my crazy busy days, I've also been getting ready for my knee replacement surgery this Wednesday. I'm armed with crutches, a walker, a cane and many more things that I apparently need...so glamorous!!  LOL!  I haven't even had my surgery yet and I'm already impatient to get going full steam ahead!  I'm going into stamping withdrawal, knowing I won't be able to get into my craft room for a while...and I have new toys to play with too! That's the nice thing about my Stamping supplies....they are very patient and will wait for me!

Thanks so much for stopping by to share your time with me!  Now that I've done this first blog post on my new computer, I hope to post many more things after my surgery!

Big hugs to all of you ~  I'll be back again really soon!
Hugs ~ Judy