A VERY Special Thank You

Hello to All!

Well, here we are with one of the very last days of 2008 at our heals - boy this year has gone by fast!!! I wish everyone a wonderful and happy New Year to come!

Yesterday I made some "thank you" cards for a couple of my SU! customers that gave me some very special Christmas presents. I had lots of fun making this card....knowing that it would go to some precious and very generous and thoughtful people. :-)

One of the best parts about this card is that I got to use 2 new goodies that I've been itching to use - the Swiss Dots CB embossing folder and some shinny new dew drops!

Here is my recipe....

Stamp set: Lovely As A Tree, Bella's Blossom
CS: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red
Inks: Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon, Word Window punch, paper piercer, Coluzzle Cutting System, 2-Way Glue, Dazzlin' Diamonds glitter, Close to Cocoa marker, Dimensionals, Swiss Dots Cuttle Bug embossing folder, Pointsetta Dew Drops, Mini Glue Dots

I am on vacation this whole week and boy is it just LOVELY!!!! I actually have time to create and post for my blog!!!

Oh Happiness!
~avril

A Sweet Sweet Merry Christmas to ALL! (a day late)

Merry Merry Christmas to ALL!!! And a Happy Happy New Year!!!

Here are a couple of pictures of some VERY sweet mice I made for Jolie's xmas party at her school earlier this week. I got this idea from my lovely upline Tammy Whorfe. THANKS Tammy for such an adorable idea!!!!!

These mice are soooooooooo much fun to make and EASY EASY to make too!

All you need is.....

*Oreo cookies (twisted in 1/2) - base

*Your favorite flavor Hershey's Kiss(head of the mouse)

*Maraschino cherries with stem (for the bum and tail of the mouse)

*Melted chocolate (I used candy chocolate from Michael's)

*Sliced almonds (for ears)

*Red frosting in a tube (for eyes)

Dip cherry in melted chocolate, place on Oreo 1/2, immediately puch Kiss into choc. covered cherry and then finish off mouse with little red eyes and sliced almonds for ears.

Enjoy!!!!

~avril :-)

Yankee Swap Gift

Happy Holidays!

Here is a little snap shot of the Yankee Swap gift I made for Cindy L.'s fabulous Christmas party last week that I attended. It was a blast! We made adorable tags, ate yummy yummy food, chatted, laughed and laughed some more and then had a wonderful Yankee Swap.

I actually came across this idea by talking to a total stranger (who was totally sweet!) at the xmas light asle @ WalMart. I knew I wanted to make something with the "Jingle all the Way" decor element but it didn't come to fruition until the lovely gal @ Wally World struck up a conversation with me about how she was going to make lighted/popouri jars as gifts for her co-workers. Well, hello what a fabulous idea for me to do the same with my decor element saying!!!!!

I actually found the cinnamon popouri @ TJ Maxx (of all places!)!!! I completed the project with a paper dioli and some of SU! gorgeous gorgeous striped grosgrain ribbon from the Holiday Mini. LOVE LOVE LOVE that ribbon!

BIG Hugs to ALL!

~avril :-)

Birthday Cutie Patootie Lamby

Well Hello There!

Finally I am making another post! Gesh....it's been awhile! The BIGGEST thing for me when it comes to updating my blog is getting a "good" picture of what I want to post on my blog....and more often than not the pictures I take come out TERRIBLE!!!! Well, I think I've figured out how to take better pic's - daylight is a must along with the location (which happens to be at the window in my stamp room looking out onto my driveway....so please excuse the "back drop" of this picture).

Anyway.....enough yappin'! The card that you see to your left is a card that I've been itchin' to make ever since I saw it on my dear beloved SU! sista's blog named Kirsten - she does gorgeous gorgeous and yes, fabulous fabulous creations.....you must drop by her blog to check her out (if you haven't already today!). I made this card for my true blood sista Colline (who doesn't have a blog for you to check out :-)) so sorry!

The ingredients for this NON-Stamp Set card are....

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, water color paper, Bella Rose DSP

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette

Accessories: Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Large Oval, Word Window, Tri Flower, Scallop Circle and 1" Circle punches, white gel pen, pearl stickers (from Michaels), dimensionals.

Fun card to make - definitely will be a sweet one to make for this Spring/Easter!

Hugs to all,

~avril :-)

A CHOCOLATE Post

Hello There!

Well, I went to take a picture of a recent card I made to post on my blog and my batteries were dead! Sooooooooo.... instead I thought I'd post a "yummy" picture of Jolie - with CHOCOLATE ALL OVER HER FACE! .....along with a glint of mischievousness in her eyes - gotta love it!

Anyway, I do hope to re-charge my batteries (my camera batteries that is) tonight and take the picture tomorrow so that I can actually post a new creation on my blog!

Happy Smiles and hugs too!
~avril :-)

Steppin' it up a notch

Hello to ALL!!!

I was having some fun altering this first card (below) for a workshop a couple of weeks ago and realized I wasn't just "altering" the card but "steppin' it up a notch" too! Gosh, I feel like I am on Emeril Lagasse's show!!!! :-)

See if you can find the difference between the two cards....... My photography is not the best so look closely!

Both cards use basically the same supplies and tools except for a little bit of silver cord and brads added into the 2nd card.

Here are the ingredients I used....

Stamp Set - Snow Swirled

Cardstock - Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Ink - Pacific Point, Baja Breeze

Accessories - Blender Pens, Dimensionals, Whisper White Taffeta ribbon, Silver cord, Filigree Designer and Circle Ice Rhinestone Brads, Silver Brads, White Gel Pen, Paper Piercer and Scallop Edge, 1/4 circle, 1/2 circle punches

It's kinda fun to step it up a little bit from one card to the next! A good challenge indeed!!!

Wishing all of you a lovely weekend!

I do hope to post again real soon!

Hugs and smiles galore,

~avril :-)

Happy Halloween!!! - the day after.....

Happy Happy WEEKEND to EVERYONE!!!


For Halloween I made these little "pizza boxes" for Jolie's super fabulous teachers at her day-care. You can find a wonderful (and easy easy) tutorial to make these boxes on Beate's blog.

Inside the boxes I tucked in a clear bag full of yummy chocolate treats. I have to say that these little boxes were soooooooooo much fun to make - and EASY EASY EASY to make!!!! - but I already said that didn't I! :-)

For a couple of friends I did whip up a few matching small pumpkin candles wrapped in ribbon and DSP of Ghostly Greetings....which you can also see in this picture below. Easy, cute and fun to make!

Ingredients...
Eat, Drink and Be Scary Stamp Set,
Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss CS, Basic Black Ink,
Ghostly Greetings DSP, Pumpkin Pie and Natural Twill ribbon,
1/8" circle punch, dimensionals, lrg and sml tag punches,
paper piercer.

Lovely! Now I am ready to move onto the next holiday....Turkey Day!

Happy Smiles and BIG Squeezes,
~asm :-)




Just a fun pic of Jolie cuddlin' up to her "potatoe head" witch of a jack-o-latern! Gotta love the PINK cowgirl hat - her newest addition to dress-up fun. :-)

Lady Bug Lady Bug......

......fly away home!

I thought I'd give a little peak of Jolie's costume for Halloween. If you can't tell from the pic she is going to be a lady bug (a stickin' cute lady bug at that!!!!)......spoken from a true "proud mama". It's a fabulous little costume because it is nice and warm and oh-so easy to put on - it's just like a jacket with a pair of pants and "voila!" you have a lady bug ready for action!

More Halloween pic's to come in the near future!
~avril :-)

Halloween Treats!

Happy Halloween!

I have been having so much fun this year with Halloween! It maybe due to the fact that Jolie is really starting to enjoy and participate in this holiday. I have had a couple of Halloween Treat's Class' along with a fun filled Halloween party for Jolie, a handful of her friends and their parents too - so I've had a bunch of opportunities to have creative fun for the holiday of Halloween. Hope you enjoy the pic's of some of my projects for these events!

Hugs and "spooky" smiles,

~avril :-)

Apple Yummy Dessert

Happy Tuesday!

I wanted to post a super super yummy o yummy dessert I made this past weekend with the apples we picked on Saturday. I call it my Jen B. Apple Yumminess Dessert because my dear friend Jen B. gave it to me! - I have been told in the past day or so (through friends on Facebook) that it is actually a recipe for a Dutch Apple Pie. Well.....I still want to call it Jen B.'s Apple Yumminess Dessert!!!! ;-)

Jen B's Apple Yumminess Dessert

Mix all together the following ingredients....
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
dash o salt
1 egg
1 1/4 c. melted butter

and then pour over.....

4-6 c. peeled and cut baking apples - toss with a couple tsp's cinnamon and place in a buttered pie dish.

Bake at 350* for 45 minutes - or until nice and brown ontop. Serve with vanilla ice cream and you've got it made! Enjoy!!!

p.s. As you will see from my picture below a cookie sheet underneath the pie plate is wise.....the yumminess of the dessert tends to run-th over if ya know what I mean!

Bella Rose

Hello to Everyone!

This is a card I made last month for a "NEW" stamp set swap I hosted. LUV, LUV, LUV this stamp set! It's just so pretty and voluptuous (yup....luv that word too!)

I ended up laying the rose a couple of times not only to get a couple of colors into the bud of the flower but also to add dimention.

Here is the recipe....

Stamp Set - Bella Rose
Card Stock - Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Pink Passion and Whisper White
Ink - Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Pink Passion
Accessories - 2-way glue pen, Dazzlin' Diamonds Glitter, paper piercer, dimensionals, silver brads, white gel pen, A La Carte jumbo wheel (retired...opps!)Word Window, Designer Label, 1" circle punches, Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

As I am typing away my picture is getting lower and lower....don't like it! Sorry! I wanted the pic to be ontop of the posting.....not on the bottom! Oh well, can't win them all!

Thanks for stoppin' by to check me out!
~avril :-)

Apple pickin'......a year ago!

Happy Fall to EVERYONE!


Here is a picture of Jolie a year ago this month. All I can say is "amazing".....she has changed so much in the past year! She was so tiny in this pic - and now goodness, she is sooooo much bigger! "Wait a minute!", as Jolie often says...."what happin?!

One proud mommy,
~avril :-)

It's about time!

Hello! Hello!

Well, I am finally "posting" something different than the Pink Cowboy Boots posting that has been up for the past 3+ weeks! Soooooo sorry to all my blogging friends to have not posted anything in such a long time.....life has just gotten a hold of me and I got out of the rhythm of posting on my blog.

So.....I am turning a new "leaf" and will do my very very best to post much more often from now on! :-)

Above is a card that I created waaaaay back in August as a THANK YOU card to my dear friend Kylah. Kylah had bought Jolie an adorable "0wl" Halloween shirt so I thought this card design would be just perfect as a thank you to her. Of course I got so excited over this card design (which I found in the monthly SU! magazine) that it took me forever to actually give it to Kylah because I wanted to reproduce it one more time before I passed it onto dear patient Kylah. :-) Eventually I did reproduce it and then did the card with both my monthly clubs. All the club members LOVED the card - how can you not adore it when it has such a cutie patootie little guy on it?!

The recipe is as follows....

Stamp Sets: Bella Blossoms and All Holidays

Inks: Rose Red and Chocolate Chip

Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White

Accessories: Round Tab punch, Scallop, 3/4", 1/4" and 1 3/4" circle punches, Boho Blossoms punch, White taffeta ribbon, Silver Hodgepodge hardware, Love Always DSP, mini glue dots and dimensionals.

If you have yet to make this adorable adorable owl friend do so as soon as possible! It just makes you "happy" to make this owl come to be!!!

See you VERY soon (I promise!!!!)

Hugs to all,

~avril :-)

Pink Cowboy Boots

Howdy Partners!

I was cleaning Jolie's closet this past weekend and came across a lovely pair of PINK cowboy boots that I had bought earlier this year on clearance at Target. And guess what! - they fit Jolie like a charm (well....maybe a tad bit too big, but with a pair of socks she is only "swimin' a tiny bit in the boots). So here I am posting a picture of her wearing the boots first with her Daddy 'O and her "neaked" baby and then a pic of her pushin' her stroller. We were off for a little Sunday stroll!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

~avril :-)

I'm HONORED!!!

Gee, look what I've been given!!! (you'll need to scroll down to see the actual award - I am just not having the easiest time at the moment placing my image of the "I LOVE YOUR BLOG" award at the top of my post. So irritating!!!)

Heather M. (who is one of my fabulous downline members) gave me this sweet award for my blog. She is just soooooooooooo nice to have done so! "Mewaaaaaaaay" (smooches that is) are sent your way Heather! :-)



1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Okay.....so now I want to pass on this fun award! Check out these blogs...they are full of gorgeous ideas, pictures and VERY creative creations! You won't be disappointed in spending time "visiting" their blogs I can promise you that. :-)

1. Kylah M.
2. Tara P.
3. Donna C.
4.Kirsten F.S.
5.Kerin S.
6. Lynn L.
7.Dawn B.

8. Trisha S.

I could go on and on with sooooooooo many more of my favorites that are "must go visit" blogs but I need to go cut up all the ribbon I have going to customers for ribbon "samplers".

Again, many thanks to Heather M. for giving me this award!
Hugs and smiles to all,
~avril :-)

Stroller Walks

Happy Thursday Friends!


Just had to share a recent picture of my little one. Lately one of her favorite things to do is to go for a walk ......with her stroller for her baby. It usually only last about a block because she is pushing the stroller and every couple of feet the baby doll (which is totally "naked") either has to be checked on by her faithful mommy or she has to be re-adjusted because she is about to fall onto the ground ("Oh NO!", says Jolie). Yup, Jolie's maternal instincts are coming out early! - just like her mamma! ;-)

The picture taken here is at the end of our walk as she is holding one of her other favorite "babies" called Henry the Cat. On our way back from our walks Jolie thinks it is the BEST fun EVER to ride in her baby stroller. Lucky for her, she actually fits into it! Although every couple of feet I do have to make sure the stroller isn't folding up on her weight. Oh such joy!
Thanks so much for stoppin' by!
~avril~

YUM-O!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Yeah! - "YUM-O" doesn't even begin to describe how incredible delicious these cupcakes were!!!!! I made these Boston Cream Pie cupcakes for my beloved Daddy on his BDay - he loves Boston Cream Pie! - so why not make them into cupcakes?!? So much fun AND did I mention how absolutely, so incredibly scrumptious these cupcakes were?! Okay, I'll relax.....I am sure many of you are drooling over them by now. :-)

No worries....super easy to make and I'm even going to share the recipe with all of you!

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

*Yellow Cake Mix (prepared according to directions on box)

*Instant Vanilla Pudding

*1 1/4 cup whole or 2% milk

*1 TBSP vanilla

*8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

*1 cup HEAVY cream

Prepare and bake yellow cake mix as regular (or jumbo) size cupcakes. Liners are great but not necessary.

Mix vanilla pudding mix and milk until well combined and then add vanilla extract. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare chocolate ganache by heating up HEAVY cream over med. heat until small bubbles start to form and roll on the edges of pan. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Mix together until well combined and all chocolate chips are melted. Set aside and cool.

Now comes the fun part! Once the cupcakes are fully cooled take a frosting bag or plastic baggie with a frosting tip poked through one corner and fill with prepared vanilla pudding. Gently poke the frosting tip about a 1/2" into the cupcake and squeeze a little bit (just about a TBSP or so) of the pudding into the cupcake. It's like magic I tell ya!

Frost or drizzle the cupcakes with the delicious chocolate ganche and serve! If you have any left over (yah right!) refrigerate them to keep them fresh.

Enjoy!

~avril~ :-)

Finally another post! - take #2

Hello There!

Gosh, it's been such a long time since I last "posted" that you'd think I had no clue how to make a post! The first time I attempted this post I only gave a title to the post and then hit return by accident and suddenly my BLANK post was visable to the WHOLE world of blogging. Anyway....moving forward now!

Above you will see a little photo album that I created for a fabulous Customer Appreciation/New Catalog Kick-Off event that I held with 3 other (wonderful) demos last week. This project along with an adorable Pun Fun stationary kit (which can be viewed on my dear friend and fellow SU! demo's site - Kylah M. ) were the two make-n-takes that all of our customers made and took home that night. We also had yummy finger desserts, TONS of door prizes, presents for everyone, a fun game (which got everyone movin' and groovin') created by my very own upline - Tammy Whorfe and oh-yes, a silent auction on all of our retired stamp sets and accessories. It was a load of fun!

If you'd like to know my recipe for the Dreams Du Jour photo album check out the recipe below.....

Stamp Set - Dreams Du Jour

CS - Red Riding Hood, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

Ink - Red Riding Hood, Kiwi Kiss (to dye the ribbon)

Accessories - jumbo pewter brads, Crop-A-Dile, Whisper White Taffeta ribbon, sponge dauber, glue dots, dimensionals, Scallop Edge punch, white gel and blender pen, clear envies (to hold the pic's inside) and Bella Rose DSP.

A quick, easy peasy project!

Hoping to make more posts real soon.....no more of this weeks in between each post!

Smiles,

~avril~

New Catalogue Happiness

Oh Happiness!

I received all my boxes of the NEW Fall/Winter '08 SU! catalogue yesterday!!!!

And I LUV it! What a beautiful catalog...full of amazing projects, gorgeous new stamp sets and fun new accessories. And yes, can you see all my post-it notes? I guess my "wish list" is a little long at the moment. :-)

Off to enjoy my cattie some more!
~avril~

Hoo! Hoo!

Hello There!

I just had to share this adorable card made by my dear and blessed Marliyn B. I received this card last week at a fabulous swap held at a downline meeting I attended at Tammy W's house. I CAN NOT WAIT to get my hot little hands on this NEW set available next week in SU!'s brandy new Fall/Winter '08 Catalogue (which I have yet to see!!!!!) For some reason ever since Jolie was born I have had this "thing" for owls.....maybe because Jolie loves to hear me say, "hoo-hoo-hoo". Hey, as a mommy I will do whatever it takes to make my little girl happy! :-)

Dinner is calling out to me.....off to cook something up!

Have a great evening everyone!

~avril~

So much fun!

Happy Tuesday to you'all!

Well, there are a lot of my fellow SU! demos at Convention for SU! this week and I am thinking of them all.....wishing I was with them for such an amazing and FUN event. Maybe next year! Hey, a girl can dream!!! :-)

I am posting a couple of pic's from this past weekend. Jeff, Jolie and I went up to Ossipee Lake in Freedom, NH (isn't that a great name for a town! "Freedom") to visit with a good friend of mine who was vacationing up there with her kiddos. We had a fun filled day of swimming, eating, waterskiing and lots of good company. The day ended with a beautiful and cozy fire outside. The picture of me holding Jolie was taken as we were enjoying the fire and watching the sun set for the day.

The next day we got up early and drove an hour further north to Story Land. What an AMAZING place!!!! I was soooooooooooo IMPRESSED with the whole park. I couldn't stop saying how impressed I was with the park all day to Jeff. I don't think he was very "impressed" with my non-stop talk of being "impressed" - even though I know he was too! BUT I was even more proud that our little state of NH is actually the home of such a fabulous place to take the family for the day. And I tell you, if we lived closer than 3 hours away from this park I would totally get a season's pass! So, for all of you that live within a decent distance to the White Mountains of NH absolutely make it a point to take your family to Story Land. It R-O-C-K-S!!!!!

Okay, off to give my little lamby a bath.....she is one dirty dirty girl! The sand box and a trip the farm will do that every time!

Thanks for stoppin' by,

~avril~

Yup....I'm addicted!

Hello There!

Well, I finally started playing around with the Dahlia fold technique.....and I can't get enough of it!!!! I just LOVE saying the word "Dahlia".....it kind of just roooooooooooooolls off my tongue. :-) AND it's fun creating with this technique too! Above you will see the first two cards I created with the Dahlia flower fold. I was also excited to come across the combination of Brilliant Blue with Certainly Celery. I am sure many of you have already discovered this combo - but I just realized how great these two colors go together.....I did the "happy dance" for a couple of days just thinking of them together! I know.....ridiculous I am! Oh the little things.......

Click here for a fabulous tutorial of the Dahlia Fold.

Card Recipe

Card #1

Stamp Sets: Paisley BG stamp and Fresh Cuts

Card Stock: Certainly Celery and Whisper White

Ink: Certainly Celery and Brilliant Blue

Accessories: Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretties Kit, Mini Glue Dots, Dimensionals, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punch, Brilliant Blue Prints DSP

Card #2

Stamp Sets: Paisley BG stamp and Fresh Cuts

Card Stock: Certainly Celery and Whisper White

Inks: Certainly Celery and Brilliant Blue

Accessories: Certainly Celery 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretties Kit, paper piercer, Scallop Edge, 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 3/4" circle punches

Enjoy!

~avril~

Flowers and beads oh my!

Happy Rainy Day!

A perfect day to post some flower cards.....with beads too!.....on such a rainy day. I was hoping to get in some blueberry picking today but couldn't make in time before the rain started pouring down.

I made these two cards for two different occasions. The first card was created for a challenge posted by my fabulous 2nd upline, Cindy Lawrence, well over a month ago. Well, when my "club girls" saw the card the wanted to do the same technique with the Boho Blossoms punch and micro beads (adhered to the flowers with Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive). I altered my design a little bit and came up with the second card above. A fun and fast card! Just stamp out the three flower stamp from One of a Kind in a couple different colors using the Boho Blossoms punch. Arrange flowers ontop of a cute little vase made from the large oval punch and viola!

Here are the recipes for both cards -

Card #1

Stamp sets : One of a Kind

Cardstock: Purely Pomegrante, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White

Ink: Purely Pomegrante, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Boho Blossoms and large oval punches, Green micro beads, Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive, linen thread, dimensionals and Bali Breeze DSP.

Card #2

All supplies are the same as Card #1 except the addition of the...paper piercer and white gel pen.

Fun, fun cards to make! Try it and see for yourself! :-)

Thanks for stoppin' by,

~avril~

Swimin' Time Fun!

Happy Hot Summer Days!

We have been having so much fun swimming ("swimin'" as Jolie would say)and playing in the water with all this HOT HOT summer weather. Jolie is getting more confident in the water - which sometimes makes me have to close my eyes - and will soon be a fabulous swimmer in the next couple of years I am sure.....just like her father! :-)

Colline (my sister and "Tatee" to Jolie) is in these two pictures above with Jolie. Precious times......

Thanks for stopping by!

~avril~

Blueberry Pickin' Time!

Hooray for blueberry pickin'!!!!! Blueberry picking is one of my VERY favorite things to do in the summer.....especially at Monadnock Berries where the view of the mt. is amazing and everyone is so cheerful and happy. This past Sunday we jumped in the Mustang and headed to Troy for our first pickin' of the season (which goes well into August at M.B.). Jolie definitely learned about the color blue at this outing....."only pick the blue one's" is what she heard over and over again. Wonderful way to teach a 2 year old what the color blue looks like! :-)

When we got home I started to hit my recipe books to find a good recipe to use with some of the many berries we brought home. The recipe I came across is called "Blueberry Gems" found in one of my many Paula Deen (LOVE her!!!!!) cookbooks.

Here is the recipe.......

Blueberry Gems

2 c. self-rising flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1-2 c. fresh blueberries (the recipe calls for 1 c. but I like to add more for a "fuller berry muffin")

Mix together flour and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, oil, milk and vanilla. Make a well in the middle of the flour/sugar mixture and pour egg/milk/oil/vanilla mixture into it and mix just until blended. Carefully fold in blueberries.

Place cupcake liners in regular muffin tins and fill with filling.

Bake @ 375 for 23-25 minutes....or until golden brown on top. Makes 12 generous muffins.

So so so yummy!!!
Let me know how they come out......

Blueberry Smiles,

~avril~

Tag Punch Basket

Hey Sweetie Pies!

Yup! - can you believe it this adorable little basket was made out of an envelope and the large tag punch!!!!! Wicked (can you tell I'm from NH?) easy peesy to make. Just seal envelope, score an inch in on 3 sides (all sides except the top sealed side) and punch away with your large tag punch. Let me know if you'd like to learn how to make this adorable little project and I'd be more than happy to show you in person.....book a workshop or join one of my clubs or even just come over to my house for a little stampin' fun!

Happiest of smiles,

~avril~

Gift Card Holder

Ahhhhhhh......a little gift card holder! So fun and easy to make! I can't reveal the directions quite yet for I am hoping to make this in the new future with some of my fabulous customers. I made this G.C.H to hold a Border's gift card for my friend Kylah's BDay present.

Here is the recipe....

Stamp Set: Live Your Dream, It's Your Birthday

Cardstock: Groovy Gauva, Sky Blue, Whisper White, Afternoon Tea DSP

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Wild Wassabi, Blue Bayou

Accessories: Groovy Gauva Double Stitched Ribbon, paper snips, dimensionals, paper piercer, Pretties Kit (pearls)

Happy Day to you ALL!

~avril~

Birthday card for Kylah

Happy Sunday friends!

Last week I made this card for my dear friend Kylah - who absolutely adores this stamp set and DSP to match it (who wouldn't!). So sad that it is gone, gone, gone, gone! Will the set appear in the new catalog????? - most likely NOT but a girl can always, always hope for the best!!! :-)

This is a 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 card. Here's the recipe.....

Stamp Set : Live Your Dream, It's Your Birthday

Paper : Groovy Gauva, Sky Blue, Afternoon Tea DSP

Ink: Wild Wassabi, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou

Accessories: Double Stitched Blue Bayou Ribbon, Paper piercer, dimensionals, pearls from Pretties Kit, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" square punches.

Froggy Thank You

Here is the Thank You card that I have made and am in the process of sending out to all those amazing friends and family that spoilt Jolie with presents for her birthday. She is so lucky to have such loving and generous people in her life!

I used punches galore to make this fun card. Large and small ovals, 1 3/8", 3/4", 1/2", 1/4" circles and 3 the flowers punch. Googlie eyes added the last needed touch. Yup....had to pull apart the mini glue dots to attach those googlie's....but it was well worth it. Jolie just can't get enough of frogs when she comes upon one outside thus the card is very fitting to her.

Hugs to all!
~avril~

Tagged!

Goodness I've been tagged! How very, very exciting indeed!!!

Okay, so 7 random and/or weird facts about me.....
#1 I collect and read cook books. I have just as much fun thumbing through a cook book (that has pictures) as I do cooking and/or baking.
#2 As you may have already guessed.....I ADORE cherries! Along with strawberries too. YUM-O!!! Oh and one of my most favorite things to do in the summer is pick blueberries. To me picking blueberries is just heaven! I can't wait to take Jolie in just a couple of weeks once the berries start really getting ripe.
#3 My dream job would be to become a Wedding Planner - I love to plan, organize and orchestrate parties. Even though I've never been a bride myself I LOVE weddings!!!!
#4 At the moment my favorite show/series on TV is "Weeds" - so much drama, comedy and "edge of your seat" suspense. LOVE IT!!!! If you haven't seen it go out and rent the series!!!!
#5 I am the oldest grand-daughter on my maternal side of the family (there are 7 grandchildren). And I adore and cherish each and every one of my cousins - as I do with my whole family. Family is my most cherished and treasured possession in life (along with all my friends!).
#6 My middle name is Simera - no one can ever guess that one I am sure! It comes from the Bible as the name of a Jewish princess. My Dad picked it out.
#7 I LOVE the water (ocean, lakes, ponds, streams and rivers)......but.....I hate swimming. I adore vacationing near it, sleeping close by to it (nothing better than hearing water coming up against the shore or beach) and sun-bathing beside it. Don't get me wrong I can swim! - I just won't go out purposely and swim laps for enjoyment.


7 blogs that I can't get enough of! (BTW - this is a list of ONLY a select few....there are too many blogs that are just amazing that I can't list them in just seven spaces)

Kylah
Jen H.
Kerin S.
Sarah G.
Carol M.
Jan T.
Cambria T.

Happiness to all!
~avril~

Baptism Day

Just a little picture of the girls dressed up for Ella's Baptism. Very nice ceremony but HOT HOT HOT inside that church!!! At one point Jolie started walking around and ended up right next to everyone at the holy water and then proceeded to turn around and look at the church audience (oh about 100 people) and then ever to "lady like" pulled up her dress to show everyone her "adorable" little diaper and then ever so "lady like" put her dress back down (where it belonged!). Everyone smiled.......what else could they do?!
It will be a story passed onto Jolie and Ella in the years to come.
Laughing still......
~avril~

Baptism Card

Hello Everyone!

Today was the Baptism of Ella Jane who is the daughter of some very close friend's of ours. I didn't have a stamp set that was geared towards "baptism" so I choose to use one of my favorite children's set, Zoofari along with a general saying of "for you". I made it a 4x4 card and altered a med. size envelope to fit this smaller size perfectly - which I learned how to do at Demo class a couple of weeks ago. Sooooooooooo easy to make these 4x4 envies and plus you can make them match the card too that goes inside. I also added a little "bling" which I found (of all places) in the Michael's $1 bin!!! How wonderful was that!!! AND NOW I can see how ADDICTIVE bling can be!!!! LOVE IT and want to use it some MORE......A LOT!!!! Okay.....I am sure you get my drift...... :-)

Off to make some dinna and hopefully will be posting again soon.

Happiness to all,

~avril~

Jolie.....and Louie

Best friends........Jolie can pat Louie (the cat) affectionately very gently one minute and then the next lay her WHOLE body ontop of him (affectionately) and Louie will tolerate it. Amazing! The next picture taken about 4 seconds later is Jolie pulling his tail with all her strength. Oh goodness.....but Louie tolerated it!!!! Go figure.

In any case this is one of my recent favorite pic's of Jolie. Come to think of it! - it was actually taken on her 2nd BDay just 13 days ago! A very special day indeed......

Oh Happiness!

~avril :-)

Fun Pops!

Oh how fun these popsicles cards were to make! AND so much fun to give to others too - I just LOVE seeing their reaction when they open their envelope to find such a cute/yummy/fun card inside! And besides the fun surprise they are so easy - peesie (as dear Cindy L. would say!) to make! The only thing that was hard for me was using my darn scallop punch which is honestly loosing it's "punch". It just doesn't like to go through 2 pieces of CS......which I guess is understandable.....but boy did we have to put in some muscle power and extra lining up to get that scallop punch to go through the CS. One of my customers was saying that it would be sooooooooooooo great to have a scallop punch with the "power" of the Crop-A-Dile. What a fabulous idea!

I actually took these "pops" outside to photograph to see if I could get a better picture than the ones that were coming out from inside. Right after this picture was taken Lucy (my cat) came and sat right beside them. It would've been an adorable picture but her tail started flappin' around and all the popsicles fell over. Oh well!

Yummy creations indeed!

~avril :-)