Welcome to Day #1 of the CC&M Mega Recipe Blog Hop

Hi blog hoppers! Weren't Suzannes's projects great? (If you didn't arrive here from Suzannes's blog, you don't want to miss what our designers have in store for you! The CC&M Mega Recipe Blog Hop starts at the Diecut Diva Blog.

Welcome to the first day of the Creative Cuts & More Mega Recipe Blog Hop, which will feature the 8”x8” Treasured Family Recipes Kit. We have 24 designers who will be creating wonderful pages to inspire you. Plus we all will be sharing some of our own delicious treasured family recipes. This kit is just packed full of good things! I love Cosmo Cricket and this is got lots of the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird line...including the Elements AND Ready-Set-Chipboard! LOVE THAT!!!! What a great value!

This is a page from my album. I will confess, I am not someone who really enjoys cooking. So I wanted the focus to be on the Treasured Family part, not on my recipes. However, I did stick a tag with a recipe behind the photo. So it is included. Since I didn't shoot a second photo of the recipe, I will post it below. I used the paper and the tree die cut from the kit. I did use my In the Garden stamps (Fancy Pants) and Fern Zing! embossing powder in the upper right hand corner of my layout. I also used some dewdrops that I had on hand to decorate my tree.

One other thing I loved about this album (besides all the Cosmo Cricket paper and embellies...) was that the album is cut from black chipboard. I didn't have to paint it, cover it or anything! What a great time saving step!

Okay, here is my Zuccini Bread recipe:

3 C. flour ( I use whole wheat flour)
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 C sugar
1 C. oil (I substitute applesauce)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C. Chopped zuccini
1/2 package of chocolate chips

Combine sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Blend. Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Add dry mix to wet. Mix a little at a time. Blend. Add zuccini and mix in chocolate chips.
Put in two greased pans and bake 50-60 minutes at 325 degrees.

Wasn't that easy. Sorry I don't have samples to share...BUT as part of the celebration CC&M will be having a great sale. For the next six days, we will offer 20% off the entire store. But act quickly, it is only for six days – this sale will end on Nov 14^th. Make sure you enter this code recipebloghop2009 during checkout.

As a continuing part of the celebration CC&M will of course give away great gifts. Each day we will give away one kit. Here is the twist – go through the blog hop, leave wonderful comments for the great designers. After you have finished the blog hop, return to www.diecutdiva.com and instead of leaving a comment, you need to share a recipe to have a chance at winning the kit. Share the recipe on your blog and link it back and get another chance to win the kit. Help us also make this a great recipe swap.

Now hop on over to Cathy's blog and check out her projects and also her recipe!

Make sure you check back at Diecut Diva's blog tomorrow for the Holiday Treats Apron Recipe Kit Blog Hop. We will also have 24 designers who will be showcasing their great creations and sharing holiday treat recipes. Can't wait to see you tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

My new projects...

Well, so much of my creative time lately has been taken up by my new job. However, Kim (my new boss) has posted a couple of my projects on the new blog. Go HERE to check it out. Of course, if you live in the Treasure Valley (in Idaho) we would love for you to come check out all the new and fun things that will be going on there!

A new day and a new job.

Well, last night was the last night at my job. Two weeks ago I turned in my notice, worked my shifts (offering excellent customer service, I might add!) and said my goodbyes to the employees. Today, however, I am employed someplace new. And I think it is not only going to be a nice change, but it will be FUN also. My old job was good, but taking the step of quitting and going to a new place was hard. I think the change will be worth it!

If any of you live in the Treasure Valley and want to check out this great new place, here is the blog site. It's a new scrapbook store called "A Scrapper's and Stamper's Delight". Some of you will recognize that name because the owner also has a store in Twin Falls, ID. Now she has one here in the Treasure Valley too! We will be opening in the next few weeks, so check frequently for updates! Product is being ordered and the store is under construction....make sure to stop in and visit us and check out the amazing things we have in store there!

Hoppity, Boppity blog Hop!

Welcome Bog Family and Friends! Weren't Steph's projects just fabulous? Wow! If you are joining me for the Creative Cuts and More blog hop, you should have just arrived from Steph's blog. If you want to participate and want to start at the beginning, hop on over to Diecut Diva's blog where it starts and hit all the stops along the way!

Well, when I thought about what I am thankful for, I didn't have to think hard. My kids are one of the biggest blessings in my life. (OK....DH ranks up there too....;o) ) Terry from CC&M had a new tag album that I wanted to experiment with. I chose to do a condensed version of a mini album, as this one only has a couple of pages. I am going to set it out on the entertainment center and it will be easy to flip from one page to the other, since it doesn't have very many of those!

Terry cut the pages and the chipboard for me so I didn't have to cut the colored cardstock myself, just adhere it down. (I highly recomment the Killer Red Tacky tape...and it is a killer price too!) Then I pulled out my Making Memories paint and brushed on a thin layer around the outside edge of each page. It really made a nice contrast! I took out a Hero Arts border stamp and stamped in it. Not only did it pull some of the paint off the dark areas, it let me stamp the image on the lighter cardstock. I also used hinges on both layouts and they made great embellishments. I also used a chipboard bracket frame and stamped on it, then added Matte Effects on top of it. It made a great adhesive to stick it to the page too! The letters are rub-ons from Making Memories.


On this layout, I used two colors of Making Memories paint to add some dimension to the page. On the left page, I used Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste Blackboard chipboard and painted it with the same colors. The background was stamped with a Hero Arts word background stampe and also the flowers/flourish is from Fancy Pants (In the Garden). The rub-ons on the photo is from Pink Paislee.

This was a fun project and just reminded me how special my little treasures are! Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head on back to Diecut Diva! (Be sure to check out the special coupon code. You can use it for 15% off this week at Creative Cuts & More!)

Also, be sure to come back on November 9 & 10 for a Recipe Blog hop and also another CC& M blog hop on November 13.

Thanks for stopping in!

Check out something exciting....

Win, win, win!!! check out what is going on at GCD Studios.

They have some exciting news and some great prizes. All day long!

Edited to add:

Make sure to hop back on Tuesday and Wednesday as the excitement continues there!

I'm a proud mommy!

Today my two kiddos were honored at a before school awards ceremony. They both were chosen this month by their teachers for a Citizenship award. Each teacher chose a child to receive a Citizenship and one to receive an Academic award. Both of my kiddos were chosen this month! Whoot, whoot!!

So proud here!

Welcome to the Creative Cuts & More Blog hop!

Welcome Friends and Blog Hoppers!! If you haven't arrived from the Diecut Diva blog, be sure to jump on over there! You will want to start there because not only are some exciting projects posted, but also there is vital information that you will need to win that blog candy! (Not-to-mention the coupon code for 15% off to use at Creative Cuts and More! So sneak back there and check it out!

Well, now to the projects...first up is this acrylic mini-purse bag. It's the perfect size to give as a party favor, to include some special Halloween goodies in or as a small gift for a special person. I used Ranger alcohol inks on the surface of the box and then stamped the leaf image (From Cornish Heritage Farms) in black archival dye ink. Then I blotted off the ink and it left the negative image there. After the inks had dried, I added some leaves (diecut out of metallic cardstock) on the outside of the box to "bling" it up!On this tuck and close bag (And guess what? They come in two sizes!) I again used alcohol inks. (Eggplant) However, I used it only on the backside of the box. On the front side, I used Timber Brown Stayz-On and stamped this wheat image from Cornish Heritage Farms. It is fun to look through the box and see both layers! One thing that I found very helpful when putting my boxes together was using the Killer Red Tacky tape that can also be found at Creative Cuts and More. It's got a killer price tag too! What a great bargain! They come in three sizes 1/4, 1/2 and 1/8 inch rolls. And the rolls are 36 feet long!!!! GREAT STUFF!!

Now for this project, I realize it looks like a strange one. However, I assure you that it was one of my favorite ones for this blog hop! It is a bat card! (Not to be confused with Batman...but it would make great birthday party invites for a Batman themed birthday!) The card was die cut out of black metallic cardstock. I stamped the flourishes on the wings with a Stampendous stamp and used gold embossing powder. I then used Versamark to distress the edges and added some embossing powder on top of the ink. I then took my finger and wiped away some of the embossing powder to add to the distressed feel of the card.


Here is another view of that fun little card. It fits perfectly in an A2 sized envelope too! I colored two rhinestones black and added them for eyes, and the little fangs came with the card. I stamped a tree image on gold cardstock and embossed it with gold embossing powder to make a little invitation folder. (Image is a background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms...it is one of my favorites!)
Here you can see a view of the opened invitation card. This makes a great Halloween invitation or even a thank you for a Halloween-time gift. Another idea would be a comic relief card about going batty or an over-the-hill party. (Just a couple of random thoughts there...)

Thanks for stopping in and be sure to jump on over to Melinda's blog. She is one of our guest designers this month and she has some fabulous projects to share with you! Don't miss it! And be sure to check out the details on the blog candy....(It's a Halloween mini album which is a new kit from Creative Cuts and More!) Stop by again soon~ I will look forward to seeing you here!