Guest Designing for the Scrapbook Nerds

Good morning!

Hope everyone is doing well keeping safe from all that is going on in the world right now! It has been a roller coaster for me over here ~ was hoping being home in islolation mandate would mean more time for crafting however my auto immune system had other ideas and the past month has been ups and downs with a struggle between hives and digestive issues! 

However today seems to be a manageable day so havingg fun today finally able to spend some time in the craftroom catching up on some challenges and doing a guest design post for the Scrapbook Nerds!

I used a The Cupcake Inspiration #492 combined with the Inspire. Create. sketch challenge #068 to get my creative juices flowing to make my projects today!

I also wanted to play with the Concord & 9th Faceted Gems stencils available in the Scrapbook Nerds online shop as well as some of their fun Tonic Studios glitter papers!

I loved the color combo inspiration and chose to combine Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Pretty Peacock with Gorgeous Grape for my stencils! 

 The turnabouts are so easy to use! Here is a little process video from Concord & 9th

 I used my Stampin' Blends to colour the basic pearls for a coordinating pop of colour on my sentiment! 

Just love love love this colour combo however I can see that this stencil will look amazing in an array of colours and cannot wait to try out some more of them!!!

 Have an amazing day!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

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Do you ENJOy cleaning your floors?

I wished I had taken a before picture but I was wanting to get them done quick while the cats were sleeping and Paul is off doing the fresh produce restock but they were a mess of little cloudy muddy paw prints cause the girls come up from downstairs with cats litter feet so this area gets icky looking quickly even without the daycare crew here using the foyer and cubby area!

Less than 5 minutes to sparkly clean, polished and dry floors on my entire main floor - quickly move from ceramic to hardwood with ease!

The floor system is the BEST investment I have made not just savings or environmental footprint wise (that’s awesome too) but for me this was BEST investment in my BACK health - no more debilitating pain due to have to be scrubbing high traffic areas on my hands and knees and no more heavy “steam mop” that was a pain to lift or to have to stop to refill as I went but on top of the physical pain it actually financially painful as the steam ruined the floors that were initially here when we bought the house causing the glue from the laminate to disintegrate and lift and shift and make a mess despite them saying it was “safe” for those floors!

Plus shhh but these are my original floor fibres I invested in that are technically well past the end of their recommended 3 years of life so they’ve totally paid for themselves well over in peace of mind at children and pets being able to play on these floors moments after they were cleaned, savings with no floor product being needed in over 3 years, the reduced environment footprint that represents but the most IMPORTANT benefit is that they are so light weight and easy to use I have no PAIN from doing the floors which makes it a reality that, with how many people are through them daily, I don’t mind having to do these areas a couple times a week to keep on top of the dirt tracked in from the front door or from the kitty’s litter!

Thank you @lynngrushka  and ENJO IMO every house with floors needs the Enjo floor system to make their lives easier!

#enjo #enjolife #naturalcleaning #floor #hardwoodfloors #nopain #cleaning #cleaningshouldnthurt

Vicki Boutin Wildflower & Honey Mingle series

I am back guest designing for the Scrapbook Nerds with another installment of quick and classy cards using the Vicki Boutin Wildflower and Honey Mingle Paper to create - 4 five minute cards that pack a punch of colour!

 I just LOVE the Wild Flower & Honey series from Vicki Boutin ... when I saw this paper I just had to have it! Perfect for cardmaking and pocket journal scrapbooking accents!

 

 I found it paired wonderfully with this cheery stamp set from Concord & 9th.

 

Card One - the paper did most of the work here for me! I added a little bit of stencil work to the background using a retired chicken wire stencil from my stash. I colored the pearls black with my Stampin' Blend marker.

 Card Two had some more fun with stencils - I just love the 'splatter' look! And no card is complete without a little 'bling' so this one I added a pop of Cobalt Blue glitter paper!

Card Three was another quick and easy one where the butterfly paper does all the work - just needed a pop of glimmer with the paper and some pearls and a sentiment from the cardstock stickers!

 Card Four - just needed a little punch of glimmer and a sentiment and it was done!

Check out how quickly these came together in my process video 

 

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

*this post contains affiliate links 

 

Low Carb Sub Buns - Yes please!

Nom nom - so Paul has a craving for a meatball sub but with the Covid all of the gluten free bread products seemed to always be sold out when it is our grocery shop day so since I have nothing but time on my hands right now since I am not working I tried a pinned recipe for grain free low carb sub bun which thankfully had no yeast because apparently there is a shortage of that now too! 

This recipe from Divalicious hit the spot today and turned out not too bad for my first attempt at them!

I got a very good work out with the eggs - it has been a long time since I hand whisked anything because tend to use the blender and beat them however being my first time with the recipe I wanted to follow it to a tee so I whisked them until they were a meringue type peek! I really do think that the bread gets its fuffy texture from that step - so will definitely make sure to repeat it next time I make these!

Paul had his as a actual meatball sub to curb his craving but I have an aversion to soggy bread so I toasted mine with cheese to melt it and served my meatballs on the side! 

 

Bon Appetite

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life

Creativity is Calling

Are you using your craft room to distress right now? Why is it that when you do not have the time to be creative ideas come to you in leaps and bounds and usually in the middle of the night when you should be sleep? And yet when you have all the time you need to craft your mind goes blank?

I have been looking to the resources online from Stampin' Up! for ideas - and came across this cute little Stop-Motion video of the current catalog ... and so cute so had to share!

Now back to work!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life

Scrapbook Nerds April Card Sketch

Margaret here guest designer with Scrapbook Nerds - sharing a quick 5 minute process video featuring this month's sketch challenge from over on the Scrapbook Nerd - Friends Group on Facebook. 

I used some of the Vicki Boutin's Colour Kaleidoscope Ephemera and the "Sending Smiles" sentiment from Hello Sunshine stamp set by Concord & 9th! 

Quick process video on how easy this card came together. 

 Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

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Ornate Garden Scrapbook layout

Having fun with some scrapbook challenges over on Facebook with at Scrapbook Nerd -

 if you have not already please come join us Scrapbook Nerds - Friends Group for some crafty inspiration and fun!

My first page I had created as part of the March Layout tag ... if you have not played Layout tag you MUST come join us - it is so much fun!  The premise is that you form a group of people who want to participate in the game. The organizer sends the first person in the group a private message to tag them with a layout as inspiration to create their own with. They have 3 days to complete their project take a photo of it and return the photo to the organizer privately. She passes or 'tags' the next person with that photo as inspiration and it moves on each person getting tagged privately with the last persons inspiration. When everyone has been 'tagged' and had a turn to play with the person before thems photo inspiration than the organizer 'reveals' the tag layout progression ... it is AWESOME to watch how the layouts progress through each persons interpretation and inspiration of the layout they were given! 

I used the Ornate Garden Suite from Stampin' Up ... the DSP is just gorgeous with the copper embossing threaded through the designs on several of the papers and well look at the imagery in the stamp set and the intricate dies! I had a blast coloring with the Stampin' Blends!

 

 I paired it with the Beauty Abounds and the Prose Alphabet dies .

 

I did sneak some retired fun in there too ... the Grapefruit Grover Foil paper from last years Sale-abration from my stash goes perfectly with this suite - I really wish they would bring that one back! It looks amazing with the Ornate Embossing Folder! 

Happy Scrappin'

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

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Global Design Project #235

Playing with the Global Design Project challenge which gave me a perfect excuse to use some more of my March No Matter the Weather Paper Pumpkin from Stampin’ Up! 

Made 6 alternative options in a Spring or Floral theme using the envelope liner as patterned paper for additional accents.

The first one I used a small strip of the So Saffron envelope on a So Saffron card base with layering in black card front with very vanilla and than used a retired embossing folder from Stampin' Up! for a pop of texture and than added some embellishments from the March kit to finish it off.

The second one used the remaining envelope liner paired with some basic gray card stock on a white card based. I just love the little rain drops that came with this kit they are adorable!

Third card is done with a Petal Pink card based paired with a Grapefruit Grove card front and a white layer ... how adorable is the little bunny stamp that came with this kit???

Fourth card made use of lots of scraps from the envelope liners and than added some stamping and embellishments from the kit and a sentiment from a retired stamp set!

Fifth care is on the Petal Pink cardstock based with a white front, the green striped envelope liner accent and stamped images from the kit with the little 'heart' popped up as flowers. I also did a hand stitched around it to try to pair the green DSP into the design cause I felt it was kinda just lonely! 

Sixth card is in the Petal Pink and Grapefruit Grove palette with the Swirly die from a retired set with some leaf punched leaves and than the floral embellishments from the kit and a little sequins add ons.

The Paper Pumpkin kits are SO much fun - perfect for new crafters who are just getting started as everything you need to complete your projects as outlined in the kit are included. Also a great add on for the avid crafter to help get the creative juices going with the base kit and than like I did here 'adding on' to the kit to create additonal projects. 

The cut off to join us for April's Paper Pumpkin is Friday .... sign up for a great little crafting escape delivered right to your door!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Fat Bombs

Nom nom - today’s recipe attempt is Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Fat Bombs!

 Recipe was from a Pinterest find here  ... I opted to melt my chocolate rather than attempt to crush it and roll the balls in them.

I was very happy with the Nutritional breakdown on them! They make a nice little snack when my energy is low or I am having a 'sweet craving'! 

 

They got two thumbs up from my spouse!

Bon Apetite 

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Be Totallyawake4-life

Soft & Chewy Keto Bagels

Nom nom ... slowly making my way through my wishlist recipe try outs from over at Gnomgnom.yum blog!

Up today is the Soft & Chewy Keto bagels ... they were so easy to whip up although I might need fresher yeast cause not sure mine was as frothy as it should be but work with what you have when in self isolation 🤣

I have a bagel/donut mold so I rolled mine into it but you do not need a mold you can roll out onto parchment paper. I also used the Everything Bagel topping from Epicure. 

They smell awesome and have a nice squishy feel to them when I transferred them to the cooling rack! Took me all I had to wait for them to cool down so I could turn one into my BLT! My tomato was a wee bit thick but it was SO GOOD!

They have a great Net carb option allowing for my lunch to come in under 5 net carbs with my bacon, lettuce, mayo, cheese and tomato add ons! 

Bon Appetite! 

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

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