sorry!

I've been MIA lately - work and life have been crazy busy and I have not been in my craft room in over a month and a half!! This week is busy with 2 Thanksgiving dinners to prepare for - Thursday at my future sis in law with Chris's parents and Saturday with my parents. I'm making pumpkin cheesecakes for both places and also homemade dinner rolls for my parents.

After this week, I'm hoping life and work will give me some play time in my craft room. In the meantime, here is my recipe for pumpkin cheesecake - YUMMY!!

Ingredients

· 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (or ginger snap crumbs)

5 tablespoons butter, melted

· 1 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon

· 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (you can use lowfat, no one will know)

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

· 1 cup canned pumpkin

· 3 eggs

· 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

· 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

· 1/4 teaspoon allspice

· whipped cream for serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.2. 2

Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and 1 T sugar in a medium bowl.3. 3

Stir well enough to coat all of the crumbs with the butter, but not so much as to turn the mixture into paste.4. 4 6

Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about two-thirds of the way up the sides of the springform pan.

You don't want the crust to form all of the way up the back of each slice of cheesecake.8. 8

Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set aside until you are ready to fill it. (Do day ahead and refridgerate if you can)9. 9

In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, 1 C sugar, and vanilla. Mix well.

Add the pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and continue mixing well.

Pour the filling into the pan.

Bake for 60-70 minutes. (Top may crack, that's OK.).

Remove from the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool.

Bring to room temperature and then refrigerate at least 2 hours before cutting or serving.

Serve with a generous portion of whipped cream on top.

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I have a food baby!!

Chris and I say we have a "food baby" when we have eaten so much that we are really - really full and our bellies are extended from how much we have stuffed into our faces. Tonight we made BBQ pork chops with corn spoon bread and garlicy green beans. OMG - it was all soooo good but I ate too much so I have a food baby.

Here are a few cards that I made today while Chris was watching the Red Sox (we lost) and the Patriots (we are winning in the 4th).

The leaf is an original sizzix die that I cut from grungepaper and airbrushed with the Copic system then smeared with Rock Candy Stickles. The tree stamp is from Rubber Stampede called Winter Woods. I stamped it on Kraft cardstock and airbrush the background with greens on the ground and yellows and reds in the sky. Patterned paper is K&Co and I also used some metallic bronze cardstock and silk May Arts ribbon along with some snaps from Ideology.

this one is another leaf from a sizzix (same die as the oak leaf) that I airbrushed and smeared with Rock Candy stickles. Patterned paper is MS. May arts silk ribbon, fancy nestabilities tag and an SU sentiment.

another nestabilites tag, SU sentiment but a Gruffies image that I colored with Copics. May arts silk ribbon that I can't seem to make a card without lately. CB folder for the background.

Chris leaves tomorrow for Puerto Rico and I'm on my on own again..... it will be a busy week for me but not as crazy as lately so I hope to get some stamping in during the week.

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Coffee love

I was drinking my daily quad latte the other day from Starbucks and I suddenly realized I could use the cup sleeve on a card. I also had the Just Rite set Just a little Caffeine borders and centers set that I could use with it.

This is the second one I did after the first try which is just below it. I think of the 2 that I like this one the best.

and of course...... I couldn't resist using the green May Arts silk ribbon because I thought it was pretty close to the color of the Starbucks logo.

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another handmade book with metal covers

Last month I posted a handmade journal I made for my mom and she told me that my brother saw it and really liked it so I decided to do one for him. I had done the covers about a week ago but never sewed the inside pages together so I worked on it today so I could mail it to him tomorrow.

Here is the front cover - I used several metal molds from Ten Seconds Studio including an alphabet one so I could emboss his name on the front cover.

This is the inside cover - stamp is from Stampers Anonymous, the Tim Holtz collection and I used a MS around the edge punch to frame it.

The is the inside of the back cover. My standard "mark" for the back of my cards and another MS edge punch for the goo at the bottom.

Here is the back cover

and finally the spine. I sewed some Ideology word tabs into the binding.

That's it for today! I'm still not feeling 100% so I'm headed to bed soon to be ready for the coming work week.

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World Card Making Day

Today was world card making day so I made some cards...

This one was an experiment in learning to use the Copic Airbrush system. Obviously, I still have some learning to do. I was heavy handed with the color. The stamp is from Inkadinkado, patterned paper is K&Co, May Arts silk ribbon, nesties and Copics were all used.

Next up is a Halloween card. Stamp is Inkadinkado for the cat and Spooky is A Muse Artstamps. K&Co patterned paper and May Arts silk ribbon.

Another Halloween - stamp is Inkadinkado Jeepers Creepers is A Muse Artstamps. K&Co patterned paper and May Arts silk ribbon, Copic airbrush system and nesties also used.

and last for today a winter card. CB dots folder, Sizzix snowflake #2, polar white Flower Soft, May Arts silk ribbon were all used. Sentiment is from SU. I used metallic white paper for the dots and the snowflake, but I used the airbrush to spray the snowflake blue before adding flower soft to it.

and yes..... I'm having a love affair right now with this ribbon. I can't help it, it is so much fun to work with!

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my air compressor arrived!!

My super amazing wonderful dh2b ordered the Copic air compressor for me when I mentioned that I wanted it for Christmas and it arrived today! Yay!! He is in MD and even the though box from Ellen Hutson had his name on it, I ripped it open and started assembling so I could play. (I did call him to tell him I did and he laughed)

I didn't have a lot of time but had to try it out so I put this together quickly.

The stamps are from a clear set that I picked up at Michaels and I can't remember who the manufacturer is or I'd list it. The paper is K&Co, 100% silk May Arts ribbon and I used Nesties to spray the squares so they looked like they had a layer behind them. I colored the frankenpup with Copics and the paper is confetti Natural.

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Got snow?

I had - had - had to play with the Ivory 100% silk ribbon today.

Stamp is A Muse Art Stamps. Also used: snowflake punch, button, sizzlit snowflake dies, patterned paper, cuttlebug embossing folder, rock candy stickles

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