Almost the end

Not the end of 2012 but the end of my Christmas vacation. I'm not in the mountain anymore, so I have access to Internet again and I'm able to share my thoughts with you again. Beginning with a picture of the way to my mountain's house :

This last week was perfect : snow, fire in the chimney, skiing, real cream and cheese and sausage... So sad we have to go back in two days.

The good thing is we gonna see our dog after 15 days, probably too big to be recognized. And I will scrap again !

I hope you had a wonderful holidays time....

Christmas cookies

As I told you, I'm cooking a lot of cookies as teacher's gift for Christmas. Few boxes are already on their way, few more are ready to go and two are still in the oven.

I was planning to customize old tin box, but I was short on time, so I went to Michaels instead two days ago, where all the christmas paper products by Martha Stewart were 70% off. So I grabbed 3 packages of 6 complete boxes. I will have few left for next year. But I'm very pleased with the result.

If you want to cook some for yourself, follow this recipe :

You need :

 

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup and half of sugar

- 3 or 4 cups of flour

- 2 cup of almonds

- 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

- few drops of almond extract

Mix eggs, sugar, extract and baking powder together then add flour cup by cup. The result should be very thick. Add the almonds.

On a cooking sheet cover with parchment paper, make long loafs, not too thick. 

Cook in a preheat oven (360F) during 40mn. Cut the loafs in slices and put back in the oven for 3 more minutes.

Let them cool and enjoy.

Christmas decoration

As a challenge for my french Cricut forum, I asked everyone to create a Christmas decoration  to hang on the tree. I was a little late to show mine, but here we are :

I used a picture of Damask decor cartridge with blackout.

Today, I'm cooking again. This time I'm making French cookies for my daughter's teachers. It's like biscotti but better. Maybe you will have the recipe tomorrow.

White chocolate and rasperry cake

Ok. I'm leaving in few days now, I need to empty the fridge. Too much eggs and rasperry in the bottom fridge, I'm doing a cake. It's a really easy one, I will put the recipe under the picture.

You will need :

- 1 lb of white chocolate chips
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 lb of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 lbs of rasperries
- 1/3 cup of heavy whipped cream

Reserve 1/4 of the chocolate chips and few  rasperries for decoration.
Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave. Add sugar, stir, thenadd flour, stir. Add eggs one by one and stir. In a grease mold, put half of the batter. Add rasperries in one layer and cover with the rest of batter.
Cook for 40mn in the oven (350F). Let it cool.
Melt the chips (except few) with cream in a pan, medium heat. Pour on the cake and decorate.

ENJOY !

Snowy Christmas

I'm a week away from my Christmas vacation, and I'm so excited I'm checking the weather and the local webcam there everyday ! We're going to a small village in the French Alps, already cover with snow (more than two feet).

Can you see the church ? There is a big house on the right of the church. Our house is behind it. I can't wait ! Here is a picture of the front view :

By the way, if you want to rent it, here is the link :

http://www.malocation-correncon.com/E_frame.html?http://www.malocation-correncon.com/E_home.html

Once more...

Yeah me ! I'm proud to announce that another of my projects was choose to be published by Northridge Publishing. So I remove all the pictures of it in my french blog and Pinterest board, and I sent it today to Utah...
I can't wait to see the book !

If you curious, you maybe notice my tiny picture on my blog. This was taken in Vegas, near the treasure Island. My daughter took this picture, and I like it very much. I choose it for a challenge last year. Subject : all about me.

Can't remember the brand for the paper. I used an embossing pen with clear embossing powder on the red flower and the flourish (even if you cannot see it, it's there), blue crystal beads, few flowers and my Cricut for almost all the letters and the frame.

Don't bother to look in older post into Scrapbooks etc... website, I didn't win. But I'm very satisfied with this layout. I should do more scrapbook page about me.

Christmas box

You surely have a bunch of old Christmas thing you don't know what to do with. Here is a idea to upgrade a simple candlelighted wood box.

I painted the box in sliver then glue a Christmas ribbon inside the box. I cut a rectangle in a acrylic sheet a little larger than the box on one side, and cut a rectangle of ribbon larger on one side also. I glue the ribbon with two side brimming over the acrylic, then adhere one side of the ribbon on the backof the acrylic rectangle, the other side on the inside of the box.

You could put a electric candelight in it, it's very pretty.
Happy Holidays season !

Last day before counting down

My craft of the day is to make mini envelope to fit inside our Avent calendar. Starting tomorrow, it will not be a problem to wake up the girls for school. They will be running, first to the calendar, and second everywhere in the house looking for small gifts hidden. Behind each door, an envelope will contain the location of the gift instead of the gift himself.

I need 44 envelopes with matching cards. I'm halfway already. 

Hope you will have fun with countdown...

Pound cake eater Barbie

I was @ Starbucks in the afternoon with one of my daughter, in line to buy a snack before swimming lesson, and I was asking my little one what she wants to eat. She answers me loudly (I think everyone in the store ear it) : marble pound cake ! Not much to wait, only one woman before us, and the last piece will be for her.
And, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, this "Barbie with Vuitton" chick order it ! Argggh ! The skinny heartless (fake) blond head didn't hesitate a second. I hope it went straight to her hips ! Luckily, they still have some cake pops and my daughter didn't regret too much her cake. But, come on Barbie, don't take the cake out of children's mouth !

Anyway, I have a great surprise when I came home later. My Blitsy order was there ! I was so happy I went directly to my scraproom after dinner and start a new project with the Tim Holtz stamp I told you about before. It's turning great, and I'm thinking about a new workshop to share it.

I hope you a crafty night...

Christmas angels

It's already time for another workshop in two weeks. Because I will have too many things to do before my departure for France two days after the workshop, I made the layout already. Using a Christmas paper pack from last year (Recollections), a box of Prima's poinsettias, my sewing skills (!) and my lovely collections of glitter, I create this page for my angels.

 

The title is made with Jolee's Bling alphabet on red paper, and the wings with Prima Marketing's wings on red paper. I trim around the the title and the wings.
The center of poinsettias are crystals, glitter glue, brads, half pearls most of them coming from the $1 basket at Michaels.
The paper are distress with Tim Holtz Distress inks (red barn and old paper) and some brown ink.

I love Christmas time, and I can wait to go to France where we will have a snowy Christmas. But first, I have to check everything on my to-do list. This layout make one cross.

Renaissance festival

We had a crazy Sunday. After a late departure, a traffic jam in small town called Magnolia (2 roads) for one hour and half, we arrived at the Renaissance Festival. Even if lived almost 9 years in all at Houston, it was the first time we've been there. It was huge !
It's like a little Old European like town. The population is not quite near Renaissance style, but fun to look at :

It' more like a strange shopping mall in a forest. You can find costumes, swords, perfums in bottle glass made in front of you. You can have your face painted or your ears changed in elf's ears. Eat and drink.

 

And you can have entertainment too...

 

The worst part was to quit the place : 90mn to live the parking lot, 90mn to drive to home using small country road to avoid traffic.

 

Another thing to check on my to-do-in-Houston list.

All about family

Next assignment in Spanish class for my daughter will be to present her family tree on a board. So I grab my Cricut to cut all she need for that and that what we ended with :

Now all she has to do is to learn the Spanish terms for the relatives. She's lucky her teacher only ask for 3 generations. Because if she had ask for the whole tree, my daughter will have to learn to describe a tree with 10 generations ! I'm building my family tree since few years now, and I was able to find 221  relatives on this tree ! And still looking... It's start to be a little more difficult because the records barely exists before 1650.

Anyway, I hope this board will help her to get a good grade.

Black Friday sales

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving ! Today, my dog wake me just in time to see the opening of the Blitsy's Black Friday sale. So I got my hand on a wonderful stamp by Tim Holtz and few ink pads plus some other things. I can't wait to receive them ! If you want to have great prices on scrapbooking stuff, especially Tim Holtz lines, try Blitsy.

Here is the stamp I bought :

I have a lot of idea for this already...

Happy shopping anyway !

More cards...

So Friday, the workshop went well, everybody was able to finish the 3 cards I posted previously.
I have also tried the free cuts from Cricut.com for this week... holidays cards ! But instead of cutting them, I replace the blade by a red marker. They are nice, but need some improvement before showing you.

Staying in the holidays mood, here is a card with envelope I made last year with my E2 and few embellishments. Paper by My Mind's Eye, poinsettia by Prima Marketing, sentiments by K&Company, Wild Card cartridge by Cricut.

 

 

I will probably make few more cards before the end of the month, before starting decorate for Christmas. Have you already started ?

Warehouse week end ?

We got a free WE to spend this year (by free, I mean kids-free), thanks to a couple of friends. And my hubby told me we should spend it as I wish, so I picked my favorite : scrapbooking ! But I love my husband so we will not spend this precious WE me scrapbooking - he watching me. I will pick my second favorite : buying scrapbooking stuff !
I got 2 choices : California (for Prima Marketing, Sizzix, Colorbok...) or Utah (Provocraft, We R Memory keepers, Basic Grey, American crafts...). My concern is : when are the warehouse sales ? I know that American Crafts is holding one in december, but what about some sales in 2013 ?

I think we gonna hit Utah anyway, to see the salt lake and buy scrapbook supplies. Don't hesite to share some tips about this soon-to-be trip.

For today, let me show you a layout I created for a friend (so I don't have it anymore :-( ). DCVW and a magnificent heavy and glossy orange paper (don't remerber the brand) , Prima Marketing flower and birds, Making Memories brads and flowers, a great map rubber stamp Inkadinkado, and few more things.

I made this page and few others about my scrapbook friends. It was the last project I required from them two year ago for the last workshop of the year : make a layout with a picture of each member of the group. It was a nice way to say goodbye and keep a souvenir from each others.

Now it's already late in the evening. I'm gonna let the Utah WE in a small place of my mind for now, and do some scrapbook retail therapy for the waiting tomorrow.

Sunday with a view

Even if the day was cloudy, the temperature allowed us to take a trip to Kemah today. We had lunch just in front of the bay (seagulls had lunch with us, in my daughter's plate), and the girls had some fun at the Carnival. My friend and I took some pictures, so I'm already thinking minibook...

Now back in Houston, the routine take me back : walk with the dog, homeworks then bath for the girls, diner... But before the day is gone, I need to cut something. Today, the "Stand and salute" cartridge is free in the Cricut craftroom, so I have prepare the images I want to cut, I will head my own craftroom soon.

And because I didn't post much this week end, I share tonight a layout created last year for a workshop, using only stamps and papers.



 

 

I'm still working on my San Antonio scrapbbok, and I will share it with you soon. 

Hoppy happy !

I'm jumping everywhere since I received a email last night from Northridge Publishing. They want to publish one of my mini album in the next Cricut Idea Book. Of course, I cannot show you which one, it has to be secret until the publishing, but I can tell you I made it with the Ornemental Iron cartridge.

I have prepared the step-by-step sheet today, and I'm gonna send it with the album right away. I can't wait spring to see this book publish !

Times fly...

I was enjoying a nice walk with my dog today, thinking about the past years where I used to walk with my daughters when they weren't at school yet, and I realized it's been 7 years since I had a week morning walk in a park with one of my girls. They are far from toddler's days now, and I miss this time. When they don't ask why we have to walk with no purpose in mind, and no Ipod in hand (this one is for my oldest).
So for now, I will just remember these days, and I have the perfect canvas for that (sorry, I don't know why the picture is on the wrong side).

My youngest daughter is about 14 months old in the picture, and she was just happy to walk with her mommy (yeah, that's me).
I painted the canvas in gold, then stamped blue leaves on it. I found the burgundy laces at a garage sale in France, and it's a perfect match for the pic. You can also see some Prima blue flower, and alphabet stickers from Sticko. I cherish this picture. I will think about it during my day to cheer me up.

Cards ready !

I've just finished the last of the 3 cards I will propose to make at the next workshop. So I share them with you !

I have entered this one in the pink challenge blog for this month.

I use two kind of paper, one ribbon, one snowflakes sheet, sme glitter, two stamps and only one crystal !
We have 3 hours to make the 3 of theses, I think it's enough even with the detailed cutting.
Which one do you prefer ?

Flower (cow)girl

Yesterday night, I was able to take some time to do another Christmas card (I promise you're gonna see them soon). Good for me. I wish I could scrap the last required card today, but my schedule is too tight for that.
But I gonna share something with you anyway, even if it's not fresh from the oven. It's a layout I created for my RV trip around Vegas album, pretty simple but lovely.

My favorite element of this page is the flower made with the same crocheted ribbon that I put on the red paper, plus a red felt flower and a metal brad.

Time to go on with my schedule. Let me know if you like it !

At least, there's school on Monday...

Let's say my Sunday afternoon wan'ts as good as my Sunday morning. So, to regain my serenity, I hide myself in my scraproom right after diner. I was able to finish a 8x8 page for my San Antonio album (trip 2 years ago...) and a Christmas card for my next workshop with my french ladies next week. I will not show you the card, I'm keeping that for the moment I'll finish the 2 others. But here is the page :

 

I used for this entire album the 12x12 Garden party paper pack from DCWV. And on this page, I only add some glitter on the photo mat and a tiny ribbon. A Marvy Uchida tag punch for the journaling, and a flourish Autumn Leaves clear stamp on the tags. No more.

Now it's Monday (not my favorite day), and I have a foot long list of chores... No time for scrapbooking until maybe tonight or tomorrow...

 



Bon appetit !

It's Sunday morning, and we have an extra time due to the time change, so I decide to cook some french toats for breakfast. I never had them for breakfast in the morning when I was young. My mom use to do it with old bread, more french baguette than the white U.S. bread, and for the tea time ("gouter"). It was a special treat.
Anyway, my hubby broke few eggs yesterday and we were able to save them in a bowl. Milk and confectionar sugar at hand. Let's cook some treat.

What a great way to start our Sunday ! Hope you will have a wonderful day !

Cricut trick

Okay everyone. Be prepare to run to Michaels. I just come back to a trip there, and I got a trick to share. If you are a Cricut user, you have probably seen one of the new cartridge called Mini books. I got my eyes on it, but waiting for a good deal. So I went to Michaels, because of their photo boxes sale (7 for $10) and the $.50 G studio sale (10 for $5), when I accidently walk into the cutting aisle, the one with the Cricut cartridges. They have a sale : project cartridge at $19.99 instead of $29.99. Initially, the Mini Books cartridge is an art cartridge at $29.99 BUT if you look closely, you can see the word "project" on the top right corner of the cartridge. So, I ask the cashier if the store will sale this cartridge at $19.99 AND THEY DID ! I'm so happy right now I can cut all the book in this cartridge tonight. Just kidding, my husband would ask for compensation awards for that.

But check if the Michaels near you do this sale before running, I'm in Houston, Texas, not sure it works somewhere else.

Merci / Thank you card

Halloween, check. Thanksgiving is on his way. What a better way to give thanks than a card ?

I'm a Cricut owner, and I create a french forum for Cricut user. As a challenge for this forum, I ask to create something during November, using the word "merci" or "thank you. Even if you don't speak french, you can participate for the fun (don't have sponsor yet) and post your layout or card or else there.

Here is my card for this challenge, using the Art nouveau cartridge (see there for tutorial) :

What are you planning to create for this month ?