Sunday, February 26, 2012

Chocolate Mousse Cake

It's my mother-in-law's 70th birthday today... so I figured since my husband decided what she's having for her birthday supper, I'd at least make her a cake I know she'll love!  I used this Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe, and didn't run into any of the problems mentioned in the comments section with the mousse part not setting.  (And I even screwed up and added the salt & vanilla to the egg whites instead of the yolks!)  I had everything put together & ready to go in the fridge at 6pm yesterday, and took it out around 9:30 this morning to add the ganache layer & the walnuts (even though the recipe says it needs to set for 1-2 days, and I wasn't really expecting to be able to do anything else until at least this afternoon, curiosity got the best of me, and I'm glad it did!).  Keep in mind, I'm generally a 'grab a box mix & throw something together' kind of baker (because I never plan this far in advance - lol), so I'm pretty proud of how this turned out:


I added the chocolate covered strawberry to the top, because the cake looked naked without it... but since the top of the strawberry wasn't very pretty (the leaves were all gnarly), I cut them off, hollowed out the top of the berry a little bit, filled it with more chocolate, and sprinkled on some crushed walnuts.  Not exactly what I had in mind, but it certainly seems to do the trick!

Now it's just the hard part left - waiting until after supper this evening to cut into this baby & find out how it tastes!

Laters!
Steph

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Rainbows!

So... I was rearranging some things in my office today.  Conclusion:  I'm pretty sure flowers multiply like bunny rabbits.  You know it's bad when I actually seriously considered throwing some of them out! (lol)

I spent the rest of the morning pondering what I was going to do about the ridiculous amount of flowers in my stash... and then I remembered recently seeing THIS l/o on the DoodleBug blog... which reminded of my favourite l/o I've ever seen (which I can't show you because it's on the wall in the LSS and I don't have a photo of it) that puts the Doodlebug rainbow to shame... which reminded me that I've been meaning to make a wall-sized version of my own, minus the actual l/o part, because I'm totally not a scrapbooker... which reminded me that I had this frame laying around that the glass was smashed in (not too sure where my 'before' photo went.  Crap.)...

Which all resulted in a couple hours this afternoon spent doing this (with lots of help from Lily!):




It makes me happy to look at....  Now to decide where to hang it (and then get Mr Jones to do so!)!

Laters,
Steph

Monday, February 20, 2012

CPS Sketch #253!

Well this is pretty exciting - not only did I manage to complete all 15 of the CPS Anniversary sketches, but I was able to play along with this Sunday's sketch, too!  My mother-in-law's birthday is coming up soon, so this worked out just perfectly... even my girls played along!

My card:

Cardstock:  PTI Rustic White, Dark Chocolate
Patterned Paper:  PTI Distressed Dots
Stamps:  PTI Year of Flowers: Collection, PTI Year of Flowers: Violets, PTI Just  The Ticket, PTI Fillable Frames Additions #2
Ink:  PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Scarlet Jewel, Memento Tuxedo Black
Dies:  PTI Parisian Lace Doily, PTI Fillable Frames #8
Other:  Queen & Co Self-Adhesive Pearls, images coloured with Copics
I stamped the smaller violet cluster from Year of Flowers: Collection all over the Dark Chocolate panel, in Dark Chocolate ink.  The focal violet is popped up for some dimension, and  I went with slightly fancier shapes for the small rectangle & the circle in the sketch.  The only thing that could have made the making of this card any simpler would have been if PTI would come out with dies for their Year of Flowers series of stamps!  (*Hint, hint, PTI Powers-That-Be!*)

Next is Emily's card:

Supplies are mostly the same, with the exception of cardstock colours; Scarlet Jewel & Raspberry Fizz  were used on this one.
Not bad for a 7-year-old!  I think it's cute she had to slip a little teal in there with her pearls, as that's her favourite colour.  She pretty much did everything on her own, with the exception of die-cutting the doily, as it's a pain in the butt to run through (I need to invest in the metal shim; I just haven't gotten around to it yet).  Oh, and she suckered my step-dad into cutting out the flower & leaves for her.  (Which is hilarious, because my step-dad wouldn't have done that for anyone else... it's not very manly to cut out flowers, you know.  LOL!)

Finally, here's Lily's take on the sketch:

Supplies that differ from my card:
Cardstock:  PTI Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Rustic White
Stamps:  PTI Fillable Frames Additions #1 & #2
Dies:  PTI Fillable Frames #9
Other:  The Twinery Honeydew Twine, Lime Green Stickles
I must say, I was quite impressed with Lily's offering - considering she's only 2.5!  She chose her own colours, did her own stamping (with the exception of the frame that I inked up for her, the sentiment I inked & lined up, and the flower/leaves that I stamped for her to colour), and chose her own shape for the focal rectangle.  I cut out her flower/leaves, and put the adhesive on the pieces for her, and then she put everything together.  After that, she had to go pick out her own colour for the pearls, and then she decided it was still 'not weady' yet.  She thought it needed some 'stwing', as well as some 'parklies' (aka twine & Stickles), so I added the twine for her where I was instructed to, and helped her add the Stickles to the flower.  She still thinks it needs to be coloured on the inside, but we'll wait until the Stickles are dry before that happens! (lol)

Well, I'm off... Laundry needs folding, and then I need a shower!  (This only having 4 shirts and 4 pairs of pants that fit business kind of sucks - but I can't be bothered to spend more money on maternity clothes that will only be worn for roughly 8 more weeks, when that money could be spent on important things, like stamps!  I'll just suck it up & keep doing lots of laundry - or raiding my hubby's closet!  HA!)

Laters!
Steph

Saturday, February 18, 2012

CPS 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 15!

CPS Day 15 - Sketch #231:

Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper:  Echo Park "Country Drive" Collection
This has to be one of the 'scrappiest' cards I've ever made (and one with the fewest supplies!).  Totally loving how easy it is to put cards together out of a collection kit; I made all 4 of these last night in about an hour!

Anyway, that's it - all 15 of the CPS 5th Anniversary Sketches have been completed - YAY!

Have a great day!
Steph

CPS 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 14!

CPS Day 14 - Sketch #45:

Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper:  Echo Park "Country Drive" Collection
Dies/Tools:  PTI Signature Series Butterfly,  EK Success Corner Rounder
Stamps:  PTI Signature Series Butterfly
Ink:  PTI Tea Dye Duo, Raspberry Fizz
Other:  PTI Autumn Rose Luxe Satin Ribbon, PTI Summer Sunrise Button, PTI Rustic Cream Button Twine
I love how this one turned out; I think it's one of my favourite cards I've made in a long time.  Definitely thanks  to a great sketch!

One more to go!
Steph

CPS 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 13!

CPS Day 13 - Sketch #121:

Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream, Pure Poppy
Patterned Paper & Stickers:  Echo Park "Country Drive" Collection
Dies/Tools:  PTI Limitless Layers 1.75" Circle Collection, EK Success Corner Rounder
Other:  The Twinery "Blossom" Twine
I'm so proud of myself - I've actually been using the papers I've bought instead of hoarding them!  (And the sticker sheets, too!  I NEVER use them, so this was a nice change!)

More to come,
Steph

CPS 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 12!

Here's my entry for Day 12 (Sketch #118) of the CPS 5th Anniversary Celebrations:

Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper:  Echo Park 'Country Drive' Collection
Stamps:  PTI Flower Fusion #1
Inks:  PTI Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate
Dies/Tools:  PTI Limitless Layers 1.75" Circle Collection, EK Success Small Corner Rounder
Other:   PTI Summer Sunrise Button, PTI Rustic Cream Button Twine, grass added with Copics
I'm finding myself seriously in love with Echo Park's Journaling Card sheets; they make for a pretty quick focal panel!

Back soon with the last three cards!
Steph

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

PTI's 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 4

This one doesn't use any sketch in particular that I'm aware of... but it seems to be a common-ish layout in Blogland, so correct me if I'm wrong.

Last, but not least, we've got Maile's Color Combo (Smokey Shadow, Classic Kraft, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist & Canyon Clay)!

Cardstock:  PTI Classic Kraft, Canyon Clay, Smokey Shadow, Spring Moss
Patterned Paper:  PTI Dotty Biscotti
Dies:  PTI Heart Prints, Small Scallop Border
Impression Plate:  PTI Canvas/Linen
Simple & sweet.... a perfect finishing touch to a full day of card making!  (Now here's hoping Random.org loves me, and my hard work pays off!)

Have a great night!
Steph

PTI's 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 4/Deconstructed Sketch #37

Card #9 for today pairs Deconstructed Sketch #37 with Jessica's Color Combo (Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Canyon Clay & Harvest Gold):

Cardstock:  PTI Dark Chocolate, Canyon Clay, Aqua Mist,  Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper:  PTI Distressed Dots
Stamps:  PTI Mat Stack 1 Collection
Ink:  PTI Dark Chocolate, Canyon Clay, Aqua Mist
Dies:  PTI Mat Stack 1, Medium Scallop Border
Other:  PTI Aqua Mist Topnotch Twill
Awesome.  Totally not a color combo I'd ever come up with, but this is one of the few times I quite like the outcome!

One left!
Steph

PTI's 5th Anniversary Celebrations - Day 4/FTL #176

I really love the sketches they post over at Clean and Simple Stamping, and I've used them many, many times... I just never actually get around to linking anything up.  This actually may be the first one I've ever linked!

I paired Heather's Color Combo (Classic Kraft, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, & Vintage Cream) with FTL #176:

Cardstock:  PTI Classic Kraft, Spring Moss, Vintage Cream
Stamps:  PTI Heart Prints
Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate, Tea Dye Duo
Die:  PTI Small Scallop Border
The photo is crap (as in, worse than usual) but this is my absolute favourite from today's efforts.

Two more to go...
Steph