A Giveaway

Hello. I'm afraid I don't celebrate Christmas so no holiday message. However, I do hope all of you finish out the year happy and safe.

Not to be a bad sport, but personally, I hate winter weather and am looking forward to summer and flowers like this peony from my garden!

If you are interested in entering to win a set of Frosted Card Blanks from Short Cuts, click HERE. The contest is open until December 27th 12mn CST.

Rebecca

Art and Soul

I love the vintage/shabby chic/collage look but I am not very good at that. The reigning queen of that style, IMHO, is Melissa Phillips of Lily Bean's Paperie. I tried to emulate her style making this card but I probably shouldn't even tell you that because you will see her work and laugh at me! It is vintage and collage-y but I lack her elegant style. Oh well, I kinda like it. What do you think? The only thing I might change (or can change now) is adding something to balance out the celery coloured button and flower. ONe row of sewing thread matches but it is very hard to tell what colour it is. To me it seems to leave the viewer wondering "Why did she stick that colour in?"

RECIPE:
Stamps: art verse - Stampington I think, architecture -unknown, flourish - Autumn Leaves, French script- Stampin Up!
Paper: Iron orchard designs by Prima, confetti ivory, not quite navy and celery cardstock
Ink: Baja breeze, not quite navy, Stazon brown, Versamark
Accessories: flower ribbon and yarn unknown, buttons unknown, celery and turquoise sewing thread-Mettler, flower punch unknown, gold gel pen- Sanford, sewing machine, ivory embossing powder- unknown, Crop-a- dile, glue dots, foam dots

Enjoy, Rebecca

Precious baby card aka the monkey card!

Sneak Peak revealed! This baby card was made for a baby I heard about here. She is full term but very sick because she inhaled meconium in her mother's womb. Meconium is a baby's first poop that isn't supposed to be released until after birth but stressed babies can release it too early. It is very sticky and once inhaled, prevents the lungs from opening fully and it holds on to bacteria, causing infections.

This baby is so sick, she is on a heart lung machine to oxygenate her blood. I really feel for the poor family so I am joining the group who are all sending cards. That's why I used a monkey image and 'hang in there' for the sentiment. Seemed appropriate for a new baby girl, respectful that this is a time of mixed emotions for the family yet not too somber. If you want to play along click the link above. A chance to win a TON of blog candy is being offered to each person to sends a card. Deadline: must arrive in Bloomfield MI by December 30st so hurry up, make a card, then go hug your own kids! (OH, don't forget to mail it too!)

This card was made using Madelynn's Sketch #2. To see the full  sketch click here. Upload to SCS using MTTSC2. The strips of paper with 'precious' are hand stamped with pretty in pink ink on white CS. The curved rectangle Nestabilities panel is sponged with pretty in pink ink. If I made this card again I would stamp the monkey in regal rose ink on pretty in pink CS so it would stand out more but I am not cutting out 16 more monkey fingers and toes, especially since I had to finish this card with a squirmy 18 month old on my lap!

Enjoy, Rebecca

Stamps: cute converse, monkey business, dots and daisies background, rough edges alphabet
Paper: pink pirouette, pretty in pink, whisper white
Ink: pretty in pink, rose red
Accessories: pink and white grosgrain, heart punch-Marvy, sponge, Nestabilities, foam dots, oval punch, rose red marker

Fizzy Bath Salts

I promised about a week ago on Splitcoast Stampers that I would post my favourite bath salts recipe. Sorry I don't have a photo right now but I am working on some gift packaging so stay tuned.

Ingredients:

1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup citric acid
2 cups salt, this can be any combination you like of: coarse, rock salt, specialty salt like Himilayan or Hawaiian, normal table or Epsom salts. Do NOT use water softener salt! I use half Epsom and half coarse salts.
Scent. I prefer pure essential oils. My favourite combos: lavender and lemon, rose and lavender, lemon/ orange/ grapefruit. I use about 20 drops total.  You can also use synthetic bath grade scents. DO NOT use potpourri or candle making scents or home spray scents. These MUST be for body/ bath products. Small bottles go a long way. They usually recommend on the website or the bottle how much to use, I think I used about 20 drops.
The following are optional.
Colourants: again only use food colouring or soap making colourants. Gel icing colouring apparently works better than liquid food colouring. if you use re-inkers your washcloth, grout and even your may be coloured forever (OK, not your skin)!
Pretty Stuff: dried flower petals or leaves (organic or from your garden with no pesticide, Mike's has some selection in their soap making area), candy hearts (Lush puts these in their bath bombs, just one or two as a surprise) or even those fake petals you throw at weddings. I would wash and dry them first.

Directions:

1. Add colourants to salt. If you are using liquid or gel colourant, allow salt to dry for several hours before continuing. I usually can't be bothered so I leave them white. You can deeply colour only some of the salt if you wish, you just add the coloured salt later and it looks pretty. If you add only a very small amount, you can usually get away with mixing right away.

2. Mix scents with salt, cover immediately or you will lose the scents more quickly. I usually put mine in a Ziploc bag for now.

3. In a very dry bowl, mix citric acid and baking soda. Any moisture will start the reaction, even excess humidity in the air can start the reaction at a level that cannot be seen. You will have less fizzy salts as a result so try to do this on a dry day.

4. Mix salt with baking soda and citric acid. Add 'pretty stuff' if desired.

5. Seal in air tight containers. Leave for two days before using. I use about 1 cup per bath but most people would use about 1/4 cup.

TIP: All ingredients are readily available at health food or bulk food stores, except the bath grade colourants and scents. You can go to Mike's or Google soap making supplies to get tons of hits. Choose a place that sells small quantities.

TIP: I don't recommend buying Epsom salts at the drug store; they are about double the price than if buying bulk.If you are trying to save $, check the prices carefully; some essential oils are quite reasonable, others are VERY expensive, the bottles are so small they are not always labelled.

Enjoy, Rebecca

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

I am on the Twinkle Team! This is a Sketch Challenge by  Jessica's daughter, Madelynn. Click here to see her mom's blog and last week's  sketch. She is only 8 years old but she is going to produce a sketch every week for all of you to try. I will be preparing mine ahead of time along with 9 other gals to provide inspiration! I have already done mine, here is a sneak peak. Come by on Tuesday for the full card and recipe! Be sure to check her site then too to see all of the Team's work.