how to make them...

First of all, I wanted to thank all of you who have visited my little 'ole blog and left sweet comments! You are the best!

I wanted to share with you the card I had made my oldest for his birthday back in February. I was inspired by a card by Kimberly Crawford in the latest issue of Stamp It! Cards magazine.


The stars were cut out from designer paper from American Crafts. The blue scalloped piece is from the Bitty Dots Designer Paper pack by Papertrey Ink. I stamped out his name with the Simple Alphabet set by Papertrey Ink using Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie, and Real Red inks by Stampin Up!. The happy birthday sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basic set. The bling is from my stash.

Here is a shot of the inside:

I used the Heartfelt Basic set by Papertrey Ink using Bashful Blue ink by Stampin' Up!

I had a few request for the recipe for the Hamburger Cookies from my last post so here you go:

Keebler Grasshopper Cookies (the hamburger)
Nabisco Nilla Wafers (the buns)
Sesame seeds (for the top of the buns)
egg white (to hold the seeds on the buns)
coconut tinted green (lettuce)
red frosting in tube (ketchup)
yellow frosting in tube (mustard)

Start with a 'bun' wrong side up. Add a drop of frosting (any color) to hold your 'hamburger' in place. Place your 'hamburger' on top pressing lightly. Add a few dabs of 'mustard' and 'ketchup' and top with a bit of 'lettuce'. Press the top bun on top so that it oozes slightly. After letting it sit for a few minutes, brush a small amount of egg white on top of the bun and quickly add a few sesame seeds. As you can see in the picture, I didn't get to that part yet.

Note: in my years of making these, I've never had a problem using raw egg white but if you're worried, I suppose you could use honey in place of the egg white.

I've also served these with Shoestring Potatoes for the 'french fries' but I've had a hard time finding these lately. I wonder if they still make them?

Betty - I loved your idea of serving a 'baked potato' with it and will definitely give that one a try! Thank you for the idea! Hey, with April Fool's Day coming up - I can try it then!

Thanks friends for checking in!


Have a blessed day ♥ Thanks for visiting!

~Renée

My baby turned 4

Hello Friends,

Okay, my baby actually turned 4 a few weeks ago but I wanted to share with you some of his celebration with you.

Here is the birthday boy:

His birthday actually fell on a Tuesday this year and since his daddy was out of town, we just did the 'preschool celebration' and saved his party for the weekend. He didn't seem to mind too much. I think his best present was having his daddy home ;-)

For his preschool celebration, I continued the tradition of making Hamburger Cookies for his class for their treats. I've done these cute little cookies since my oldest was in first grade (he's in 11th grade now). Every year, I would ask them what they would like me to make, and they always said, "Hamburger Cookies". Since it had been awhile, I was thrilled to make them again!

Here they are! Don't they look yummy? Actually, they *really* are tasty!

I love these and they are so easy to make. What's extra nice is that the kids can help make them.

I also made these cute little Pixie Stix treats for the class. I saw these on Connie's blog and thought they were the cutest things! The kids loved them!

These are so easy to make. I believe the set was So Many Scallops by Stampin' Up. I also used the scallop punch, Real Red, Only Orange, and Tempting Turquoise card stock from Stampin; Up and used a glue dot to hold it all together.

As you can see, Thomas the Tank Engine is one of my wee-one's favorite toys so, of course, I had to make his card a Thomas card!

This might as well be the part where I must be honest with all of you. I don't always keep track of the supplies I used when I make a card. Sometimes I can remember - other times I can't. If you really want to know a specific product I used, please ask and I will make every effort to find out for you.

For this card, I used two different kinds of scrapbook paper by SandyLion, the Boho Blossom punch by Stampin' Up for the puffs of steam, and for the inside (I know, you can barely see it) I used the train and picket fence border punch by Martha Stewart. I just cut off the "pickets" off the fence to make the track.

Well, that's all I have for today. Thank you so much for visiting and sharing my wee-one's birthday with me!

Have a blessed day ♥ Thanks for visiting!

~Renée

blog candy sighting!

Just a quick note-

Do you have the new set by Papertrey Ink, called Background Basics Retro? No? Neither do I. (yet) But, a newly discovered friend and blogger has one up as blog candy (aka: Shiny Penny - love it). So, go check out Terri's blog, "Just What I Do" post Shiny Penny.

I was just in awe of her beautiful projects she has posted! I'm sure you'll enjoy them too!

What I think I'm going to love about blogging the most is discovering new friends and their blogs. I am amazed how much talent is out there!

Have a wonderful day! ♥ Thanks for visiting!


~Renée

My First Challenge - (and Dawn's too)

Hello Friends!

Okay, hold on to your seats! You are not going to believe this... but I actually (finally) got a chance to, not only make a card, but I'm posting it as well! This is also my (drum roll please) very first challenge! I'm so giddy right now...

My good friend, Dawn, is hosting her first color challenge. She chose these fun colors from this picture:



Such fun colors! I swear, if I were still a teenager, my room would be in these colors! I made my card for the submission the night before last.


Yesterday I had to wait for my DD to help me get this off the camera and onto the computer. (I *really* need to learn to do this by myself and not be so scardy-fraidy.)



Anyways, I've always wanted to participate in a challenge and well, all the stars were in allignment and I was able to complete it! I'm thankful I was able to get this done in time.

So, here is my card for the challenge....






The card is pretty self-expanatory and I'll list the details below. Inside the squares, I stamped with the smaller half-daisy flower from Papertrey Ink's Floral Frenzy set. I used my Stampin' Up Irridence Ice and embossed them before attaching the butterflies. S0 sparkly....







Another good friend of mine, Jenn, sent me a card for my birthday and she made the inside nice and pretty too. It looked so nice - I really liked the look so I've started adding "finished insides" to my cards as well. Here is my inside:


















Well, there you go! I gotta say, it was a lot of fun doing this challenge. I also gotta say, I now have a renewed respect for all the bloggers who keep up with their blogs. It took me almost forever posting this. Seriously, once I get used to everything - it should get easier (I hope...) :-)

Well, now I'm off to celebrate my new accomplishment..... by doing housework! Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right? LOL

Have a blessed day ♥ Thank you for visiting!

~Renée

Oops...Almost forgot...

The details:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Heartfelt Basics, Floral Frenzy, Birthday Basics, With Sympathy

Card Stock: Stampin' Up - Chocolate Chip, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie / Papertrey Ink - Raspberry Fizz, Stamper's Select White,

Ink: Versamark, Papertrey Ink - Raspberry Fizz

Accessories: EK Success - butterfly punch / Stampin' Up - 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 square punches, Delicate Dots Designer Paper, Irdescent Ice Emboss Powder, heat gun / Martha Stewart - small hearts scallop border punch / Jolee's - Swarovski crystal gems / Papertrey Ink - Raspberry Fizz ribbon and vintage buttons

I've been in hiding over the weekend and today. My sweet hubby has been out of town for business the past ten day prior to the weekend and he leaves again tomorrow for a week. I've been just enjoying my time with him until he goes again.

I've also been getting ready for my two DS's birthdays. The oldest, Garrett, is this Wednesday and my wee-one is the following Tuesday.

I'll be back later with more to share... and yes, I *will* get those photos downloaded! I know, I'm such a procrastinator.

Have a blessed day ♥ Thanks for visiting!

Renee