Momma found a fun treat idea called cake pops that we made the other day. We used the directions in the book Cake Pops by Angie Dudley. They turned out so good!

If you haven’t already seen it, be sure to check out this weeks Stamping Lifestyle weekly online. It’s all about Photography and Editing – a must read for any craft blogger.

link: Stamping Lifestyle Weekly

The design team did a fantastic job collaborating all of the info in there – Everything from composition to lighting to editing…and there’s instructions to create your own infinity board.

Our family stopped by the county fair today to see how my sister Koleesa and I did with our entries. Koleesa entered all of her items in 4H and did very well – below are her two Champion projects, and one Reserve Champion project. (Click the thumbnail to see a larger image)

CHAMPION scrap quilt and
CHAMPION crochet sweater
RESERVE CHAMPION quilt

She also received Champion in the sewed clothing category, as well as several other ribbons in different categories.

I entered all of my projects in the Creative Arts Department and was pleased my success.

RESERVE CHAMPION upsy daisy card
I was borrowing Kimilou’s camera and forgot to photograph my other cards, but I took  two Second Place ribbons, and one Third Place.

Two of my photographs took second place.

And four of the plants that I entered also took ribbons.

This was the first year that I had entered anything in the fair, and I was really excited to get some blue ribbons!

This morning when our family woke up, it was extremely foggy outside and it had just rained, so after breakfast I ran outside with my camera and took a few pictures.

Foggy mornings are the BEST for macro photography – there’s no wind to move your subject, and the light is softened so you have no harsh shadows.

The picture above is of my Lilac Cranesbill (Geranium himalayense) bordering the back patio. It’s currently in full bloom and covered with dazzling purple/blue blossoms.

There were a few dew drops on the petals but not really enough for the effect I was looking for so I got a water bottle and misted the petals to fill the petals with droplets.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Gina K. Designs sneak peaks – you’ll LOVE the fabulous new designs that are being released!

We had a fabulous time at the Creation Museum and I wanted to post a few pictures of our trip…click the “read more” link below to see all of the pictures….

(more…)

Spring has arrived with the blooming of my Crocus bulbs!

Some of my other plants are starting to poke through the ground from their long winter rest, and hopefully I’ll soon have a garden in full bloom!

Thursday means that there’s another sketch challenge on Stamp TV, and Jessica has a lovely sketch posted [here]. Below is my card that is based on the sketch – of course it’s simplified a bit for my style.

I used Melanie Muenchinger’s “A Year of Flowers” stamp along with the coordinating “Say it with Flowers” sentiment stamp set.

The images were all stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento Ink and the flowers on the Pure Luxury white cardstock were colored with Copics.

The two little pewter pearls are my representation of the circle on Jissica’s sketch and the flowers stamped in the background represent her background layer.

Supplies:

• Stamps: A Year of Flowers (GKD), Say it with Flowers (GKD)
• Ink: Rich Cocoa (GKD)
• Paper: Pure Luxury White (GKD), Sahara Sand (SU!)
• Accessories: Copic Markers (GKD), Pewter Pearls, Dimensionals

Hello! I hope that you have had a fabulous weekend! I haven’t done a whole lot of stamping this week, but I did decorate the vase in this post and I’ll have a card up tomorrow…but in the meantime I wanted to share with you these wonderful forced branches!

While reading a book on forcing bulbs indoors, I found directions on forcing branches indoors and it meantioned fruit branches were a popular branch to force. Since my brother and I work at an apple orchard, I had a large selection of fruit branches to try. I tried several apple varieties, but so far the crabapples have responded the best – those are what are in the vase above.

I did a search on the internet for directions and found these ones that are similar to what I used: [Forced Branches - Bring Spring Indoors]

The vase was $0.99 at Micheals, and it was originally clear, but I used glass etching cream to soften the transparency. I chose to do this because the  roots of some forced branches aren’t as pretty as the blossoms and this way, I could hide the roots but still be able to see into the vase.

I used a sponge and daubed the etching cream directly onto the glass. After 5 or 6 minutes I rinsed off the vase and a beautiful soft haze covered the surface. For a little more detial, I added some rub-ons from Stampin’ Up! and Basic Grey, as well as some died ribbon and a pearl headed pin.

Above you can see the buds opening and two little flower heads are poking out of the larger one.

In this picture the leaves on the larger bud have completly unfolded and a little flower head is starting to poke out. If all goes well, The branches should start to bloom by the end of the week.

(Be sure to click any of the pictures above to view larger images.)