Happy, Messy Pumpkin-carving Halloween!

It was with feet dragging that Steve and I carved pumpkins with the kids on Monday. How have we done this for the last 27 years? It's exhausting! And Messy! And in the end, worth every minute.

Jordan carved Booger, our cat, in absolute perfection! Savannah really wanted to create some anime character, which I painsakingly carved for her. I also did the 'nightmare before Christmas' character. Emma did the scary face pumpkin in the top right hand corner.

But it's Steve's pumpkin that really made me laugh. He came home late from work and truly did not feel like man-handling a pumpkin. I heard him rustling about in the garage and next thing I know he's walking into the kitchen with power tools! Yes! Power tools. BRILLIANT. WHY, oh WHY haven't we been using these all those years?

His one and only pumpkin carving was the 'alien' with 6 holes. Compliments of the drill. I caught on and quickly created my character (top left) look with the drill and the jigsaw.

Other than the power tools, my next huge pumpkin carving revelation is to cut the pumpkin at the bottom instead of the top!

Now if we can just figure out an easy, less messy way to de-gut them, I'd carve a dozen every year! Any ideas?

Can I make 12 cards in less than an hour?

That was the question I asked myself as I drove home from a Dr. appt with my daughter on Wednesday morning.

My Card group is usually the 4th Wednesday of the month, but we always get a bit confused on the months where there are 5 Wednesdays. So, it wasn't until Monday that I realized, "wow, I have to get my cards done!". And unfortunately, there literally wasn't a moment between that realization and the drive home to do them.

I do what I have learned to do when confronted with seemingly impossible tasks: I tried.

And as a Mom/multi-tasker/blogger I also decided to document the trying with my camera. Fortunately, I had all the bits & pieces cut for one my Nifty Thrifty Christmas Card Class.
Here's how it went...

1. Gather supplies.
2. Fold card bases and adhere red base.
3. Cut printed image into tag share, adhere tag topped and punch hole.
4. Thread twine through buttons.
5. Thread ribbon through tag hole.
6. Tie buttons around ribbon to finish tag.
7. Apply foam squares (yes, they are tiny, ran out of big ones) to back of tag and adhere to front of card.
8. Take picture...done!

Now, before you think I may be the consumate, professional, never-make-a-mistake card maker, let me share the REST of the story.

I'm taking pictures of the cards and realized that I didn't apply the glitz (diamond glaze on the heart, sprinkle with glitter). So I do that. I'm thinking, yes, it will still dry in time.

Caught up in my optimism, no matter how poorly placed, I decide to add the glitter glue to all the dots on the antlers and noses. "Surely, those will dry too.". It's now 11:35am. I'm supposed to be at the restaurant at 11:45. I go get ready while they 'dry'.

2 minutes later (haha) they are NOT dry. So, I carefully overlap them on a cookie sheet, almost panic when I bring them to the car, because the wind is blowing, but manage to get them in the backseat, making mentals notes to, even though I'm late, NOT to break heavily or to take a turn too quickly.

I'm doing pretty good, when after (in my mind) gentle turn, I hear the whole pan slide across the seat! Now, ladies, this is how accidents happen. DO NOT DO THIS! They are, after all, just cards. Not worth my life, right? But nooooo, I pull over to the side of the road to make sure my babies are all safe and die a little when I see that not only are they still not dry, but the glitter glue is now smeared all over the place.

I take a deep breath, re-arrange the cards and drive on. A few minutes later I'm in the parking lot debating. Do I bring the cookie sheet with cards INTO the restaurant (Thanksgiving Point Harvest by the way, nice place, linen tableclothes, the whole caboodle)?

I decide I will look less foolish if I carry two cards, back-to-back between each of my fingers (think Edward Scissor hands). It didn't work. I didn't care. THIS is important!

Did it occur to me to leave them in the car to dry and get them later? Yes, it did. One, I really didn't want to brave the nasty cold, windy weather more than I had to. Two, I thought the group would most likely want to swap out while we were waiting for our food. See, I'm NOT entirely impulsive.

So, I find my group, with all my cards fanned out from my fingers, enjoy the smiles and smirks coming from all my friends, carefully place them down in a corner of the room and sit down.

Ahhhhh, such is life. Wouldn't it just be boring if we never tried to do impossible things?

Eyes of Newt

I received this at my last month's card swap. Yes, sometimes one of us (usually Brooks!) does something extra for us, like this sweet little Halloween goodie box.

She got the label from Martha Stewart and I wanted to share the link with you. Go to step 3 to find the link to download the clipart.

Check out some more fun Halloween Favors here from Martha.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Snow & Scrappin' in St. Paul

{Click on picture to enlarge}

Had a fab time teaching in St. Paul. My second time there...a lovely spot along the Mississippi River, an escarpment reminiscent of Ontario (my old home Province), leaves touched by fall, and a surprisingly beautiful snowfall.

Every time one of us 'southerners', (you should have heard the yelps from the people from Arizona!) ohhh and ahhhh about the snow, the Minnesottans would say, "you're not from around here, are you?". I guess this is the 4th snowfall they had this year so far. I suppose that is a little early. But it sure was pretty!

There's a different vibe in St. Paul than some of the other cities we do shows. A little more reserved, but the nicest people you could meet and boy, they have some serious mad scrappin' skills. I don't think I've ever had so many classes end on time with finished projects. It was great to re-meet some friends from last year and get to know new people as well. Unfortunately, we're not returning to St. Paul next year, but I sure hope you'll make the short drive to Des Moines and maybe I'll see you there.

For St. Paul I taught the Simple Scrapbooking classes. Everytime I do this I'm positively inspired to spend more time scrapbooking. It was such a joy to see all your completed pages with those precious photos and memories. Thanks for sharing!

Until next time.

Creme Brulee Winner!

Our randomly selected winner is...The McKinleys! Congratulations!
she said...
"yum! i would love to win that little cooking kit!! {fingers are crossed...}

what scares me most in the kitchen?? opening up pillsbury canisters. whenever we make them, my husband does the honors. :) "

If you haven't already, check out the hilarious comments on my What Scares you post. I laughed OUT LOUD!

Studio 5: what SCARES you?

It's that time of the year...and even if you don't dress up or beg for candy, it's a great time to do things that scare you! Dare yourself to play with FIRE!

I did an informal poll about a month ago about what scares people in the kitchen and what scares people in the craft room. Lots of answers for the kitchen, but most people chose STAMPING for being the most scary thing in the craft room.

It's no wonder. No cut & paste here...stamping triggers that creative gene, things can and WILL go wrong with stamping. It's never the same twice...all that uncertainty is SCARY! Well, I took the fear level up a notch by sharing a stamping technique that includes FIRE! (view video).

Fire & paper? That's just wrong, now isn't it?

But really, it's the most fun I've had stamping in a long while. It's hard to reproduce this look any other way and it's just so perfect for this time of the year (Halloween, Fall & Thanksgiving), so try it out! Please visit the Studio 5 page for all the step by step instructions, visuals and Projects.

And while you have your fire started, why not take it into the kitchen? I've taken an intimidating 'restaurant' (or as Brooke says "Pinky", think English tea) dessert and shown you how simple it is to create Creme Brulee at home.

The same reasons restaurants like to serve this are the same reasons you should make it at home; make-ahead, inexpensive, impressive and delicious! You can get the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee recipe and visual instructions here.

A couple of things I didn't get to chat about (it was a super busy day at Studio 5 today!) I want to mention here.

*The best price for Vanilla beans I've found is San Francisco Herb company.

*If you don't want to invest in a Creme brulee torch, dig out the old blow torch in the garage. This actually works BETTER and is less expensive. But the little torches are cute. :) You can also use the broiler, but it's tricky to get it evenly browned. You'll have to keep turning it and never leave it for a second as it goes quickly.

*I use a pitcher of hot water to pour into the pan once the ramekins are in the oven. To remove (after they are cooked), I use tongs in one hand and a oven pad/mitt in the other hand to carefully remove one ramekin at a time, transferring quickly to the oven mitt and then to the cooling rack. Then I can let the hot water cool in the oven before I remove it. Some recipes call for the creme to cool in the water, but I've tried it both ways and don't see a difference.

*Don't throw away your vanilla beans after you've scraped the seeds out. I let these sit on the counter and completely dry out. I then add them to a quart sized jar of granulated sugar. Before long you'll have a lovely scented vanilla sugar. Just make sure you use completely dried beans, otherwise your sugar will get clumpy.

*Lastly, I've had requests for the two other recipes I mentioned on air. Coconut Creme Brulee and Pumpkin Creme Brulee. Both of these were yummy (I'm eating the little coconut one I brought home from the show right now), but the texture won't be quite a smooth as the plain one.

Pumpkin Spice Brulee
8 egg yolks
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup pumpkin puree

Mix yolks, maple syrup and brown sugar in a bowl.
heat buttermilk and cream almost to a boil.
gradually mix (temper) hot cream into egg mixture. Strain and mix in pumpkin puree.
Pour into ramekins and water bath (see video) them in a 9x13 pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 25-35 minute, depending on how deep your ramekins are. Just keep baking until the center almost doesn't wiggle when touched.

Cool in refridgerator (I cover them lightly with plastic wrap). About 20-30 minutes before serving sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar (this works best) and caramelize with a torch.
Garnish with whipped cream (because yes, you NEED more!) and some candied pecans.

Coconut Creme Brulee
6 egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar (I used my vanilla sugar)
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
2/3 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk (I used light and it worked fine)

Mix Eggs with sugar in a bowl
Heat cream, coconut and coconut milk in pan until hot, but not boiling.
Gradually mix (temper) hot cream mixture into egg mixture.
Follow instructions for Pumpkin Creme brulee above to complete recipe.

Enjoy!

Am I done...not quite! Just checking to see if you really read my ENTIRE long post! :) We were supposed to do a call-in giveaway on air today, but simply ran out of time. So instead, I'm doing it here! Please leave a comment about what scares you (either in the kitchen and/or the craft room) and I'll choose a winner on Friday. The prize? A Creme Brulee Kit of course! One torch and 4 cute little ramekins!

And lastly...thanks for all your fine guesses on my Sneak-peek. Most everyone got the creme brulee but no one guessed the Stamping Soot Technique. Yes, I know it was hard! I did, however, have two readers guess some kind of heat (embossing gun) technique, so I'm going to send both Arielle and Peggy something for their guess, Congrats!

Kansas City Winners!

I've got three Kansas City winners I randomly picked from my Creating Keepsakes Convention post (sorry for the delay!)

Theresa (metwife), Punkinsyf and Jill...Congratulations! Please email me with your mailing address so I can get your goodies off to you!

Thanks to all of you for the kindest, sweetest comments I've ever gotten. I feel like printing them out and framing them!