Learning to Drizzle

I would have never thought that just drizzling chocolate could be so challenging. Can't wait to give it a try again although I don't think that I did too bad for my first time.

New Venture

I am trying my hand at the edible treats/ decorations. This week I made my first batch of sugar cookies and decorated them. I did some things well but there is a lot of room for improvement. Right now I am playing around with getting the right recipe. The one I tried this week included baking powder so they rose up a little too much to be decorated easily but they tasted really good and that is important to me. I would hate to serve something pretty but that did not taste well. So I have another recipe that I am going to try next. For the icing I found a buttercreme icing recipe that was again tasty but because the recipe also included shortening it did not dry all of the way. It was only dry to the touch so when the cookies were stacked the design was messed up. Also I think I make it a little too thick. Getting the icing on the cookies was definitely a bit of a challenge but I felt like I got into the swing of things the more I practiced.

I was really super proud of myself that everything was made from scratch! I got a candy-apple red T-fal mixer for Mother's day a few years ago and to this day I think it is my most favorite gift. And now I am putting that mixer to good use! Tonight I will be playing in chocolate making cake pops, chocolate covered oreos and chocolate covered strawberries. I will share pics soon. I have my first official gig (a baby's baptismal) on November 23, 2014, wish me luck!

Big Shot Winner

Look what I won on an Instagram contest sponsored by Sizzix! I can't wait until it arrives.

Baby Fever

Every once in a while I get baby fever and the quickest cure is to be around a baby so I volunteered to watch my friend's 5 month old baby girl. She is so precious especially when she wasn't screaming her lungs out. I must say however that my fever has gone away. I will see her again the next time I need a fix, lol.

Candy Cake

I think every one of my nieces and nephews are going to get one of these for their birthday eventually.  This one is for my daughter's boyfriend.  He is a big fan of my crafts and was really surprised when I gave this to him. He is a really nice young man even though he is a Miami Heat fan. Lol!

How Could I Resist

AC Moore has $5 paper pads! How could I walk out without one? Okay two, but that is it.........unless I go there again tomorrow,  lol!

Night Market

In a city full of food vendors and talent it is such a joy when the two things come together. The Food Trust puts on a vedor faire of food trucks that converge on one area for a night time food extravaganza! I love to try something I never had before so I opted for the jerk pork belly with pineapple mango salsa and jerk chicken quesadillas, it was scrumptious. My girlfriend played it safe and opted for a crab cake and she loved it, said was very meaty, few fillers. There were thousands of people out last night as the weather was on point. Then we stuck around for some entertainment, including a pop-up parade. It was just too much fun for a Thursday night!

 

 

Happy October!

I absolutely love the fall. The air is crisp and refreshing. It is apple season, which happens to be one of my top 5 fruits -  I even found candy apples at the Reading Terminal Market. We can turn the air conditioners off and save on the power bill. And the holidays are right around the corner. This year I decided I will decorate for Halloween,  might even get a costume too. I am also trying my hand at cookie making and my first gig will be a baptism in November,  stayed tuned for pics. My mojo has picked up a little and I was able to create a few cards and my customer ordered 3 more. So far October looks like it is going to be a  super busy month.

Pop Up Mickey

I am supposed to be making four cards for a customer,  instead I am trying to get some ideas out of my head. This is going to be such a long night! I just can't focus. In the meantime I did complete this pop up card that I have been picturing for a while now. Simple Stories Say Cheese line is the most versatile Disney line I have ever seen. Shout out to Simple Stories!

Marriage at First Sight

So has anyone been following this show? I just heard about it and am trying to catch up on it now.  Basically these people signed up to participate in an arranged marriage. It is done pretty scientifically with  several different types of therapists conducting the interviews and matching the couples. The interesting thing is that two of the couples are still together and only one of the couples decided to divorce at the end of the experiment. Interestingly enough the couple to divorce is the black couple. I mention their race because I wonder when they were matched did the experts take cultural differences into consideration. In looking at the interviews I immediately saw that they were both very head strong people, which I thought would be a clash. He is also ex-military and not that it is a bad trait, I have found most military men are very domineering and this young lady did not look like she would take being dominated. The funny part is they both said those are traits that they are looking for but I think sometimes people are not honest about what they want in a partner. Like I run into a lot of men who say they want a settled woman but in all reality being settled gets boring and then they use that as an excuse to cheat I might not necessarily agree with the science of matchmaking but the romantic in me still believes in love at first sight. What do you think?


You can read more about where they are now HERE. The six month reunion show airs on September 16th.

Back is Beautiful

Oh wow, it happened again. My mojo left me and refused to come back. I tried everything to get it back but it did not want to reconcile. I tried, candy, flowers,  poetry. ....nothing worked. Finally after months of ignoring me, my mojo finally admitted to missing me too.  Soo we talked,  and laughed as we flipped through layouts reflecting on all of our good times and in the end we decided to get back together.  I mean we had to think of the supplies, right? So I am back ready to cut, paste, and create.  I am going to try to catch up on some blog surfing too and start getting ready for a couple of craft fairs. Whew, maintaining these relationships is work, lol. In the meantime here is a glass I did, hoping to sell these at a craft fair soon. I have lots of ideas swimming around in my crazy head.  And FYI if you ever start to miss me too much, you can always find me on Instagram, screen name - phillyscraps.

A Sweet and Sassy Layout

 Today is the second reveal day for the month of July so I wanted to do a bright a cheerful layout with the sketch created by Kelly.  I know I have a ton of photos to scrap but I realized that I haven't done one layout of my daughters little sister,  Ms. London. Their father and I separated over 15 years ago and I was so shocked (and I guess and little jealous since I made the choice not to have another child after we separated) when he decided to have and other child.  Little did I know at the time that I would love her as much as I love my own daughters. She started calling me Mom, like all new talkers do, but now she still calls me Mom even though she knows my name. Their father lets her come to visit every other weekend.  She is sweet,  funny, and very loud, lol. I am always happy to drop her off at home but yeah I have to admit I miss her when she is gone. 

  Here is my layout:

For more inspiration be sure to stop by the Sketch-n-Scrap blog.  The ladies did a fantastic job and there are two great prizes up for grab this month!

Inspired by SNS Sketch Reveal Day!

Whoot whoot, today is reveal day over on the Sketch~n~Scrap blog. Each month the design team selects a layout and builds a sketch based on the layout to see how it inspires you. During our birthday month we ran a contest and Leah was our "Inspired by Designer" and here is the sketch based on her layout.

And here is my take on the sketch. I really wanted to make the sketch my own but then again I also wanted everyone to be able to recognize that  I actually used the sketch, lol. I have so many pictures that I want to scrap and I feel so badly because I just never have as much time as I would like to scrap them and my pile of pictures is just growing! And then sometimes when I have a sketch in front of me I struggle for a starting point. Theeeen I get frustrated that it takes me so long to create one layout! Lol, it is such a vicious cycle but I was extremely happy with the end results.

We would love to see what you can do with the sketch, just stop by the blog for more inspiration and to post your creation.

Announcements!

Sorry Everyone,
I know I have to get better at blogging, there is so much Social Media to catch up on all of the time I don't know how people do it! First let me announce my final contest winners -

The winner of the canvas bag and stamps is Papercrafting Princess!

The winner of  the Switchboard 6x6 pad and ephemera from Pink Paislee is Golden Goddess Designs!

And the winner of the  My Mind's Eye stamp set is Sherri!

Thank you to everyone that participated! To all of my winners, be sure to contact me with your snail mail address at tmikmik@yahoo.com! I look forward to staying in touch with everyone on the Sketch-n-Scrap blog for more chances to win and to inspire you with the creations of our awesome design team every month!

In other news I was blown away to hear that Two Peas in a Bucket is going out of business. It seems like the era of scrapbooking is coming to an end, what do you think? I am a die hard fan and with my level of stash I will be still scrapping for years to come, lol. 

Birthday Bash Winner Time!

So excited to announce my first set of winners for the Sketch~n~Scrap birthday bash on this bright and sunny day!   There is still time to play for your chance to win by participating in my other two challenges which end on June 12, 2014. You can check the blog posts here and here. My first prize of the Hello Sunshine Prize pack goes to Karrie and here is her number challenge entry. Fantastic work Karrie and thank you so much for participating! -

My second prize for a new follower goes to Louise. Thank you to everyone that participated! Be sure to continue to follow us at Sketch-n-Scrap for more more chances to win every month! Have a great weekend everyone!

Sale-a-bration

So after all of this time crafting, people in my neighborhood are just finding out what I do. But on the plus side they are becoming my best customers. One lady stops by weekly with cash in hand,  gives me an idea of what she is looking for and I go to work.  This is my latest creation for a special friend of hers. The balloons were made using a Papertrey Ink stamp set, the stars are from a variety of stamp sets and the girl shape is from the Forever Young Cricut cartridge.

Now Blow Out the Candles!

As the celebration for Sketch~N~Scrap continues, my challenge for you  today is to use bling to brighten up your card or layout. For my project I used a square frame of bling on my card and then used diamond shaped gems to light the candles. The candles are straws cut in half.   Look at all of that bling lighting the candles on this card! Just fabulous!



 

Now for the goodies, for anyone who participates in my challenge I am offering the prize below, the newest Switchboard 6x6 pad and ephemera from Pink Paislee. To enter to win just add your blog link to this post by June 12th, 2014 12 midnight EST.
Additional Rules -

• Your card does not have to be new as long as it features bling.
• You may combine this with another challenge either on the Sketch N Scrap blog or on another challenge site.
• If you don't have a blog you may email a picture of your created layout for an entry into the prize draw to me at - tjefferson112@comcast.net
• Be sure to link back to my blog or the SNS blog when posting your project.

And for an added bonus I am giving away this adorable My Mind's Eye stamp set (I love the diamond image!) to NEW followers of the Sketch~n~Scrap blog as of the posting of the birthday challenge, (if you became a new follower as of my last challenge you will automatically be entered to win this stamp set too). Just let me know you are a new follower and you will be entered to win, no layout, no project, just start following us so that you will receive future updates from SNS. That is it, easy peasy!

Keep playing along with us for even more prizes as we celebrate all month long!

S~N~S Tag Challenge

What's a party without party games? Today we are going to play a fun game of tag with no running around, lol. I have been admiring tags for a while but never jumped in, well today I gave it a shot and I really hope that you will too! I wanted to keep to the birthday theme for my project so I dug in my stash and pulled out this fun glittery line of paper called Party Time from My Mind's Eye. My first objective was to make the tag. Once I got started it was hard to stop and in no time I had my completed tag.

  

Now what to do with it? For this project I decided to create base and then add the tag, Voila, my card went from Oh to Oh la la in an instant.

What a great way to kick start your creativity and add layers to your cards.

Yes, I think I will be doing this more often, won't you join me? For my challenge create a tag for any occasion, any size. You can add it to a card, layout gift or it can just be a stand alone tag. Additional rules include - 

• You may combine this with another challenge either on the Sketch N Scrap blog or on another challenge site. 
• If you don't have a blog you may email a picture of your created layout for an entry into the prize draw to me at - tjefferson112@comcast.net
• Be sure to link back to my blog or the SNS blog when posting your project. 

The prize - this cute canvas bag and a LYB stamp set. 

Thanks for Participating!

1-2-3 Birthday Bash Challenge!

From 1 month -100 years old and beyond we count our age and what better way to document those special birthday memories than by including a number on your layout. As we celebrate Sketch~n~Scrap's second birthday I challenge you to use a number on your page in any way shape or form. It can be a part of the pattern paper, a stamp, die cut, handwritten, stickers or whatever you like. For my layout I used pattern paper that included numbers from Doodlebug and then die cut the number 3.

 For added emphasis I used a little white paint on the number 3 for a chalkboard effect. Even though this was my nephew's 1st birthday he is the 3rd boy and last child so I used the number 3.

Now for the goodies, for anyone who  participates in my challenge I am offering the prize below, the newest Hello Sunshine 6x6 pad and ephemera from Pink Paislee. To enter to win just add your blog link to this post by  June 5th, 2014 12 midnight EST.
Additional Rules -

• Your layout does not have to be new as long as it features numbers in some way.
• You may combine this with another challenge either on the Sketch N Scrap blog or on another challenge site. 
• If you don't have a blog you may email a picture of your created layout for an entry into the prize draw to me at - tjefferson112@comcast.net

And for an added bonus I am giving away this adorable Teresa Collins stamp set to NEW followers of the Sketch~n~Scrap blog as of the posting of this challenge and afterwards. Just let me know you are a new follower and you will be entered to win, no layout, no project, just start following us so that you will receive future updates from SNS. That is it, easy peasy!

Keep playing along with us for even more prizes as we celebrate all month long!

Sketch~n~Scrap Reveal

Hey there! It is May 15th and you know what that means............another Sketch~n~Scrap Reveal. Our sketch #57 was designed by none other than our Senior DT member Kelly! I had fun with this sketch and knew what I wanted to do the instant I saw it.

 

I focused in on the paper strips and pulled out my go-to line Trendsetter. Just by coincidence before this was due to be posted I received the Teresa Collins Something Wonderful collection and was able to use a few pieces to coordinate with my layout. Here is my baby girl with me at CKC in Lancaster, PA. She is such a good road buddy even if she is not a scrapper. Make sure you stop by the blog, there are lots of prizes and challenges  currently going on, with even more to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Bash

Hope you have been stopping by our blog -  http://sketchnscrap.blogspot.com the SNS birthday bash is in full swing. My challenges coming soon..........

My first Easter card

And it is done before Easter, lol. I'll take the small wins.

SNS Reveal Day

It is the first of the month and you know what that means, it is the first sketch reveal for the month on the Sketch-n-Scrap blog.
Make sure you stop over and link your take on the sketch, there are awesome prizes offered each month and stay tuned because there will be even more prizes In May as we celebrate our 2nd birthday, woohoo!

Little by Little

I am getting some crafting done. Here is a cute card I was able to finish this weekend for a motivational challenge from my girlfriends to use an Owl on a card. I just wonder why my Owl looks so angry, lol? I don't remember what stamp set it is from.

Sparkly Storage

Saw this great tip for storing sequins so I ran down to the company cafeteria and grabbed some containers. Now I need to buy more sequins,  lol.

Late Night, Early Morning

Blame social media on my absence. I love instagram and spend way more time on there than I should. Last night I was determined to get some crafting done so I stayed up way past my bedtime and used this fantastic sketch (click here) I found over at Stuck Sketches to create this layout.  It is my first layout of my new nephew, Jojo.  I dug into my stash and used the Making Memories Animal Crackers collection. The colors worked wonderfully with my photo.  But do you ever feel like the more paper you use, the more you have left, lol?

Just A Couple of More Cards

Almost forgot to Share

Have you seen what is going on over at the Sketch~n~Scrap blog. So much inspiration, you will be sure to reach your scrapping goals for 2014. Each month we feature two layout sketches (the 1st and the 15th) and two card sketches (the 5th and 20th). We also have a new monthly special called inspired by with an additional layout sketch to help keep those creative juices flowing. And along with that we have some great prizes just for participating with us. I have seen the prize line up and they just keep getting better and better each month, I promise. The prize for this month is a Paper and embellishment pack featuring Crate Paper's newest Valentine's day line pictured below.

For my layout I used Teresa Collins You Are My Happy collection. I know I say it a lot but this really is a fun collection to use and I really like how the color black just works so well with the color palette. This is a layout of my girls from over the summer. They were on their way to dinner in Center City. They take so many pictures of themselves I rarely get a chance to take my own, I just steal theirs, lol. Stayed tune for more, I am on a roll, lol.

Sketch-n-Scrap Cards

For some reason I have been getting a mental block when it comes to making cards. So for inspiration I gathered up a couple of sketches from the Sketch-n-Scrap blog and got to work. My first card was inspired by the first card sketch featured on the blog. I used my card kit from Simon Says Stamps.  I had to cancel my subscription because the kits were coming faster than I was creating anything.  But I love the versatility of the stamps.  For my second card I used the current sketch featured on the blog.  Have you seen it yet? You can check it out here and if you submit an entry you could win a great prize. Again I used my Simon Says kit but I also used a little stickles and bling to accent the card. Woohoo another spell broken!