Day 83: cross stitch update

More work on the left wreath and all the white in the beard finished.
See you tomorrow!

Day 82: Mono-metallic Christmas card

Another day, another blog challenge!  This time I am sharing with Sparkles Christmas Challenge, who would like a card featuring bells.
I bought some paper pads from The Works recently, and this is one of them, called Metallic Mono.  Shades of black, white, silvery grey and gold, several papers are gold foiled, it is beautiful and will make many many cards, not only Christmas but I think it will do for masculine ones year round too.
I found this bell stamp, it's from 2005!! The sentiment is SU, as is the punch used to cut it out.  Both were heat embossed in gold.  The paper panel is die cut with a deckle edge die from Crealies, the plain black mat and the image are done with square dies from Tonic.  I inked round the sentiment tag rather than mat it.
See you tomorrow!

Day 81: Shaped Christmas card - blog challenges

I am joining three challenges today - A Place to Start and Jingle Belles both of whom are asking for a shaped card, JB also being a Christmas card blog - also Christmas Card Throwdown who would like some snowflakes featured.
I started by cutting a card blank using Nesties Label 28, then cut another panel for the topper.  I already had an inked piece of card, so used the next sized die down, to create the mat.  The base of the easel card ie the half without the fold in, was run through a dotty embossing folder - I find that most Nesties have too big a border to just leave blank and embossing is an ideal filler.  Then I embossed the top panel and attached the mat to it, then attached to the folded hinge side of the card.
The snowflakes and sentiment are from an SU stamp set 'Flurry of Wishes', I heat embossed in silver and cut out using their matching punch.  The sentiment was done with a washi tape punch and forms the stopper for the easel.  Both snowflakes and sentiment are attached with 2mm foam for dimension.
I am pleased with this one, though it did take me ages to get three decently stamped/embossed snowflakes!
See you tomorrow!

Day 80: Cross stitch update

Good progress on the beard, a new left side wreath section started and more of the left upper ribbon done.
See you tomorrow!

Day 79: Christmas card - blog challenges

I am playing along with three challenge blogs today. Retro Rubber, Double Trouble and Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge.  RR and DT are partnering with each other, RR has a sketch and DT a recipe and optional twist. Craftyhazelnut has an 'Anything Goes' Christmas theme, with an optional twist of using washi tape.

 Ingredients:  3 - Colors 

                           2 - Embellishments   

                           1 - Seasoned Stamped/Digital Sentiment 
                                (clear or rubber stamp more than 
                                one year old)

Using the sketch, create a project using at least one angular shape without round corners, i.e., triangles, quadrilaterals such as square, rectangle, parallelogram, rhombus, etc.

I think I have managed everything .... LOL. 

The triangle on the sketch immediately suggested a Christmas tree, so I picked one of the SU Christmas releases from (I think) 2018 or possibly the year before - Snow is Glistening.  The sentiment comes from the previous year's set, Flurry of Wishes.  I heat embossed in gold and cut out, mounted on 2mm foam for dimension.

The background paper, which I found in an old magazine freebie set, has nothing but angular shapes on it :-)  More than 3 colours - black, white, aqua and gold. 2 embellishments - ribbon and tiny gold pearls on the tree. 1 or more old stamps.

I haven't used actual washi tape - but the sentiment is punched out with a washi tape punch .....does that count???

I needed a 7 x 5 card to fit everything on!  I really enjoyed this one and finding that this particular sentiment fits that punch so perfectly was an added bonus :-)

See you tomorrow!

Day 78: Lemon bars

These are delicious, I have been making them since 2002 and they are very popular at work!

250g plain flour
120g icing sugar
170g butter / margarine
3 eggs
350g caster sugar
5 tbs concentrated lemon juice from bottle, not fresh
3 tbs plain flour

The original recipe used a 9" x 13" tray-bake tin, which is a standard USA size, I don't have one so make it in a 7" by 11" tin, it comes out fine.  Lakeland do a 12" by 9" tin, which would also work.  Make sure the baking parchment comes over the top edge of the tin, so you can lift out the completed bake more easily.

Preheat oven to 175C / 160C fan / Gas 4 / 350F.  Mix the flour, icing sugar and butter/margarine into a soft dough.  Place in a 1" deep baking tray lined with parchment and spread out the dough so that the whole base is covered evenly.  Bake for 20 minutes.
Whilst the base is baking, make the topping.  Whisk the eggs, caster sugar, flour and lemon juice until frothy.  When base is baked, pour the mixture over and return to the oven for a further 20 - 25 minutes, or until light golden brown.  Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then lift the entire bake in its parchment and transfer to a wire rack, it will cool much faster out of the tin.  Cut into bars when completely cold.

Day 77: Cross stitch update

More progress on the upper ribbons.

See you tomorrow!