Happy National Cookie Day

Possibly one of the best things in the world is the scent of baking cookies in my humble opinion...especially when you know you'll get to eat a warm cookie very soon! So, I'm happy to celebrate National Cookie Day today.

There are a ton of stamps and digital stamps that feature cookies, including some super adorable gingerbread cookies from Lawn Fawn. I have their set of Gingerbread Friends dies and can't wait to make some for tags this year. Megan Quinn made this card with the dies for Lawn Fawn here.

They have this mini set too and I loooovvee anything small so these make me smile.

This die set from Mama Elephant is for Sugar Cookies with the icing but they also have a gingerbread cookie and milk set of stamps and dies.

If you're a digital stamp-and-color person, you can buy this set for $4 over at Little Fox Digital on Etsy here.

And if you cookie alphabet letters, you can get those here from Sandy Ford on Etsy!

Here's a couple little Pizza Cookies I made to add to mini pizza boxes from Stampin' Up that I decorated for Christmas for my nieces and nephews, just to make their gift cards a little more exciting a couple of years ago.

These are just sugar cookies with red icing, green mini M&Ms, brown regular M&Ms and shaved white chocolate for cheese. I added green Mike 'n Ike's sliced to resemble green peppers. 

I'd be remiss on Cookie Day if I didn't leave you with a tasty cookie recipe...so here you go...Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Food Network.

I'll be curling up with a cup of tea and a cookie tonight to celebrate. How about you?

Happy Friday!

Chark

Black Friday Sales

So, I was never big on shopping irl on Black Friday, because the bargains didn't outweigh the hassle of parking and crowds...however, online Black Friday is awesome! Especially since the crafty world has jumped onboard. A few years ago, you could only find one or two places that you liked that had sales on Black Friday and now, it's pretty much everywhere!

And if you don't know the origin of the day, here you go—from this post on National Today. 

But, the story that’s most well-known about Black Friday is that retailers marked the day when  filled coffers from holiday shoppers helped businesses go from being “in the red” to “in the black.” Although popular, this story is also not quite accurate. So, what is the actual story of Black Friday? We have to go to Philadelphia for that.
Philadelphia cops complained about “Black Friday” when they were stuck working off days and overtime the day after Thanksgiving. Packed downtown streets with hordes of shoppers, tourists, and fans in town for the next day’s Army-Navy game, meant that  Black Friday was a haven for shoplifters as well as a crowd-controlling nightmare for the police.
Unfortunately, the idea that Black Friday was also a retailers’ headache did not entice Philly’s shoppers. By 1961, Philadelphia retailers decided “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” turning a negative into a positive by way of reinvention. In the 1980s, “Black Friday” became synonymous as a day for big deals in national retail. Today, Black Friday invites you to shop ‘til you drop for the best bargains of the year.

I admit I started shopping on Thanksgiving Day and did a little more today. I headed to Jennifer McGuire's post on crafty sales, but then just headed to Whimsy Stamps and Scrapbook.com and SugarPea Designs. That's where I've been eyeing some stamps and goodies. Most of what I bought will end up being wrapped by the hubby for my Christmas gifts. I'd rather get the things I want than be surprised...because sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't! We ordered a drill that he wanted, so it's all good.

If you're looking for a fast snack to take along on your Black Friday shopping, or to fuel you when your fingers get tired at the computer, here's a fab Peanut Butter Cookie Cups cookie recipe from Taste of Home that uses up some of your leftover Halloween candy...if you still have any!

And here's a little $40 freebie info—if you do any shopping online with Macy's, Walmart, Kohl's or TONS of other places, Rakuten can save you money with special coupons. Also, you earn cash back (in a check) every few months. My last one was $14 and I didn't do anything special for it, just signed up and go to Rakuten's site to go shopping. 

If you want $40 free right now, you can sign up using my link and then go shopping for $40 or more through their website. It means free Christmas presents! Or just cash in your (and my) pocket. It's the least annoying way to get rewards imo. I do Honey and Fetch but this one gives you money vs gift cards and doesn't bug you with emails or pop-ups. 

Happy Friday!

Chark

A Haunting We Will Go

Happy Halloween! Tomorrow's the big day and even though things are weird this year (thanks, Covid), it still needs to be celebrated with scary stuff. I'm actually a big baby and will do about anything to avoid scary movies—including seeing another movie by myself at a theater or making up chores at my sister's house. I avoided Pet Semetary and Silence of the Lambs in these ways, respectively. I prefer the cute Halloween stuff usually...like this free digi I drew a couple of years ago. You can right click and save and use or see her colored up on this post.

However, I do like being mildly scared. Like, I can actually watch the original Halloween because there's very little mayhem and blood. And I loved reading The Shining, though I literally took the book outside to sit in the sun to read when it got too scary. Oh, and I love a good vampire story/movie. But zombies freak me out and when my hubby and son watch The Walking Dead, I'm usually sitting at the computer, watching YouTube crafters. There are entirely too many squishing sounds on that show, btw.

Here's a mildly scary project I did for Halloween decor. I used two mdf gravestones from my stash, you can find similar ones here at Alpha Stamps to paint. I added creepy kid photos I found online.

And here's a cute little scene I colored with Prismacolors that I made with free digis from Useless Trinkets. You can head there to pick up some free digis, including coffee monster and chonky unicorns. Sooo cute! Thought about smoothing out the pencil marks but I actually like the look.

Lastly, I'm sharing my librarian daughter and the 5th grade teacher team as they dressed this year. What's better at Halloween than Scooby and the gang? My kid is the ghost...which we decided was a great Covid-year costume. Plenty of cover!

If you're in the mood for a YA graveyard audio book, I found Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book at my library and it's a great listen...it's also a great read. I did both! You can buy it here if you want.

A spookier YA novel is Frozen Charlotte, which I enjoyed, and even scarier, The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall. These books were fun and scary, which is my favorite kind of Halloween read. 

I'll leave you with this Halloween treat idea, because I love me some cake. Just make or buy a pound cake, add white frosting in criss-cross shape and add some M&M or candy eyes. Fast and fun! You can get the coffin template and a recipe here at Woman's Day.

Happy Halloween!

Chark

New Challenge at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies

If it's the first of the month, it's time for a new challenge at a2z Scrapbooking! We're going with "Make Something Ugly" this time around. It's a really difficult challenge for talented people like us. Here's my card.

APRIL FOOL'S! 

(It's really a card on Etsy that you can buy, but ew, Jabba is just so ugly!)

Yep, it's April first and that means you can prank anyone you can and they can't complain :)

Actually, I'm really bad at April Fool's Day jokes and the only one that ever worked was a Grilled Cheese made out of cake that the kids and I gave my hubby like this one. You use pound cake and toast in a skillet and then add frosting in just the right yellow so it looks like American cheese. You can watch this video to see exactly how they made their "soup" and "sandwich."

The REAL April Challenge at a2z is "Flower Power" and you're challenged to use flowers in some way. Any company's products will work to enter to win a digital stamp but if you use your Hero Arts, you can win an extra gift code to the store, plus the free digi of your choice

Here's my flowery card. I used alcohol inks to make a panel and then cut the panel with the Dragonfly Fancy die. I made the wings from vellum and Diamond Stickles. The Branch Wreath die doesn't come with flowers, but I found the digital flowers Pretty Blossoms from Hero Arts worked great. I printed them small and colored with colored pencils.

Click here to see more inspiration from the Design Team.

Happy April!

Chark

Color Galore

First up, I want to share my sunrise pic from today, the colors were absolutely gorgeous and if you didn't happen to be up at 7:20 am, this is what you missed. :) I love how the black branches look against a colorful sky and I'm going to have to try to recreate this in a card.

Second up, I have three coloring pages from a free mini coloring book I got from Adornit. If you hop over to their page here, you can see where you can get three free mini books. You just pay for shipping and it's so worth it. I can't remember what I paid, but it was less than $10. I used Arteza markers and Prismacolor pencils for these. The paper they're printed on is a nice thick watercolor paper and these are just right for pocket scrap pages or the front of cards. 

Here's a close-up.

And lastly, the color item I have to share is this colorful dessert. Yum! Please make these and send them to me at your earliest possible convenience...lol.

Happy Monday!

Chark

It's a Chick Thing

Now, I've always liked cute things and my son has always loved birds, chickies especially. So when I saw this Easter set of stamps from a company new to me, C.C. Designs, I had to sign up to try to win them. And I did! Squee! 

So happy and they came over the weekend. I stamped them up and started coloring. This is my first little scene, it's not a card yet, but it will be. I used my favorite go-to Prismacolor pencils. Aren't those chickies the cutest? I think I need to pile them on top of each other in the next stamping round.

Next, I used this Hero Arts digital stamp set (exclusively at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies) called One-of-a-Kind and printed the chick here.

I used my Prismacolor pencils again and came up with this card. I added some extra swirls to his wings or feathers or whatever those are...lol. I like the whimsical feel to the bird stamps in this set.

Thought I better share this adorable chick cupcake idea too...I must make these for Easter this year!

Happy Monday!

Chark

Hedgehogs and Crepes

Today is both Hedgehog Day and Crepe Day...I'm not sure but I don't think they ought to be paired because all I can think of is hedgehog crepes...and that's not good!

So, we'll start with hedgehogs, so stinkin' cute! I think if I were the type to keep a hedgehog, I'd probably give him hats like these. But I'm not huge on exotic animals and their care, so I'll stick to pics and stuffed guys.

I'm more suited to the care of this type of hedgehog.

Like this cute enamel pin from Etsy.

Or this cute stuffed animal.

And since I like mini things, these guys should definitely come to my house from their Etsy store!

I have this cute stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn, and now I that I see them again, I'm gonna need to use it again, probably today!

Penny Black has a lot of cute hedgehog stamps, and there's this set from My Favorite Things that I saw recently.

And now, for the Crepe Day! Hooray! Love crepes...mostly because my mom is Hungarian and her parents came from Hungary, so we always had Palacsintas at our house. My grandmother made savory ones filled with cottage cheese and probably some spices, but my mom always made sweet ones for me with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled inside. On a couple lucky days a year, mom would fry a batch of these for dinner. I was in charge of sprinkling the cinnamon sugar and then rolling up the hot crepe. I ate approximately a thousand of these in a night, one at a time, hot off the skillet.

I only make them once a year for my kids at Thanksgiving, from our tradition of Pajamas all day and Video Games til your eyes fall out day. Often their dad worked on Thanksgiving, so we made it fun and nontraditional and I didn't have to cook a turkey they wouldn't eat :) It all worked out. Even now that they're older, they want to follow this tradition.

Here's the Crepe recipe I use.

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup of milk

2 eggs

2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter

2 tablespoons sugar

Combine dry ingredients. Stir in the milk. Beat in the eggs and stir in the melted butter.  Chill for 1 hour in the fridge.  Use a non-stick pan to cook them on medium heat.  Add a dollop of butter to the pan, hear it sizzle.  Place a small amount of crepe batter in the center of the pan and roll it around with your wrist. Flip it when it looks ready with a spatula.  Another 20 seconds and your finished.  Flip out onto a plate and sprinkle with a good amount of cinnamon and sugar mixed. Roll up and eat immediately.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Brrr! It's Dang Cold

Ohio is, like a lot of the country, freaking cold right now. My favorite thing to do when school is cancelled and I don't have to run the boy around is to just sit in a blanket and watch tv and color. So that's what I did this week. I bought some adorable digis I've had my eye on from Vera Lane. Her Wizard of Oz women are so fun and she has some little kids all bundled up for the weather that remind me of my sisters and me.

Here's one that I finished. She looks pretty toasty, don't you think? I used Prismacolor pencils...thinking about smoothing out the lines with gamsol, but I probably won't...because I'd have to go to the scrap store when it's coooolllddd to get some!

Thought I'd share a peek of a couple more stamps over at Vera Lane Studio. Not affiliated, just love her style.

What do you think? Dogs and hats...fun, amirite?

What's the best thing to eat on a cold day? Soup, of course! Here's a soup recipe that's very close to my mom's (and my) Chicken Noodle Soup. It comes from Smitten Kitchen and doesn't this pic look fantastic? We use skinny noodles in our soup too, usually homemade but the dried Amish noodles in the store work too. 

Instead of the thyme and bay leaf and red pepper flakes in this recipe, we use parsley and paprika...a nod to my mom's Hungarian parents. We put paprika in lots of stuff. And since this recipe uses red pepper flakes, I feel like it'd be similar in taste. Don't skip the tomato paste, it's just enough to deepen the flavor of the broth. Add a hunk of freshly baked bread and a cupcake, and you've got my favorite meal right there!

Don't forget! You have until the 19th to enter my Sticker Day giveaway here!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Hey, Happy Apple Day!

Tomorrow is Apple Day...supposedly celebrated first in 1990 and mostly celebrated in United Kingdom. But I say, hey, apples are for everyone. So, Happy Apple Day. I've got some Apple fun for you today.

First up, and most importantly, a delish looking apple pie recipe. This is a simple recipe and my mom uses a similar one—she and I do mix the cinnamon and sugar into the sliced apples (instead of layering with the apples), with a tablespoon or so of flour and a teaspoon or so of lemon juice. 

Also, we've found Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts (that you roll out a little) are sooo good. You don't even need to make your own crusts to get a great pie. Don't forget to vent your pie after putting on the top crust and crimping it. Set the whole pie plate on foil to catch drips. So easy and delicious.

Second, some really cute apple projects you can make. I love this idea for decorating or even little gift boxes for teachers. They used glass paint, but alcohol inks would work for coloring too. The paint would probably be less expensive. I even saw where someone filled their clear bottle with red tissue paper. I think these are a little classier.

Next I have some free digi apple art and fave Pinterest ideas for cards.

This one is yummy looking...caramel apples rock!

Lawn Fawn always has the cutest images. This card is from The Dies Have It blog.

Lastly, one more apple goody before I go...Power Poppy stamps are gorgeous and so realistic...pop over to see more of their goodness here. I have several digi stamps of theirs and they are a joy to color.

Happy Friday,

Chark