Happy Halloween

Trick or treat! Today I dressed up as a scary monster:


Just joking, I wasn't really wearing a costume in the picture. Um, wait, that's not exactly what I meant! Actually, I went to a Beauticontrol party at my mother-in-law's house yesterday, and my sister-in-law Andrea snapped this photo while I was letting my detoxifying mask do its thing.

Before I left, Steve decided to whip up a batch of pumpkin cookies so I could bring them with me:


They looked yummy, all lined up like soldiers and ready for the glaze:


And they turned out even prettier when they were done:


The best part, of course, was taste-testing to make sure they were all right:


We think they turned out darn good, so I wanted to share the recipe with you:

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients.

Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Transfer to racks to cool.

To make glaze, combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed to achieve proper consistency, and drizzle or spread onto cooled cookies.

Scrapbooks Too Class

Today was a rainy, blustery day...the perfect kind to be indoors, such as at your local papercrafting store:


I taught a class at Scrapbooks Too! in Bloomington, MN and had the pleasure of meeting these delightful ladies:


After class, I took a quick tour of the store. If you like to scrapbook, this is the place for lots of ideas:


The store is crammed with a ton of papers, stamps, and other supplies:


Speaking of stamps, Scrapbooks Too! subscribes to the Inky Board Program, which means they get a new shipment every month plus sample projects:


(By the way, if you know of a store that might be interested in our monthly board program, please ask them to contact me. If they sign up and provide your name and email address when they do, I'd love to send you a little goodie just for passing along the word!)

And if you like to crop or take classes, check out their HUGE workspace:


I'll be back at Scrapbooks Too! on Wednesday, November 10th, from 6:30 to 8:00 PM for the Inky Movers & Shakers class:



So if you live in the area and are interested in more information or registering, give the store a holler by phone at 952-884-0885 or email them. I'd love to have you join us!

Turkey Show & Tell

Recently one of my Inky friends, Marie, emailed to let me know that she had started a blog this summer and had just posted some cards using 10918MC Gobbles Turkey Clear Set. She made one set that looked like this:


Then she created four completely different versions plus she showed the decorated insides, which I thought was a nice addition. Feel free to hop on over and take a peek at her projects. While you're there, you may also want to check out the fabulous cakes that Marie made with her granddaughters shown here and here. Just like her cards, they are truly inspiring!

(By the way, if you ever have any projects made with our stamps that you'd like to share, I'd love to see them. Please give me a holler at inkyantics@aol.com or post in the comments section.)

The Final Reveal

Thanks to everyone who came to our make & take last night at Stamp Garden. This is the project we made, which features 10998LC Stylish Snowy Clear Set and a humorous sentiment from 10996SC Snow Sayings Clear Set (0267J Snowy & Tweet and 0257E Favorite Flake in the wood mounted versions):


We used a Glaze Clear Gloss Pen on the carrot nose, Flower Soft in Polar White on the hat, and gemstones on the snowflakes to give it a few finishing touches.

These lovely ladies patiently waited for us to begin the event:


Here are some of the Inky Antics designs that Stamp Garden carries:


And just a few of the many samples at the store to spark your creativity:


What have you been making lately? I'd love to hear about it!

Make & Take at Stamp Garden

I got back from the airport last night after the Hampton show, and now it's back to my "regular" home office schedule for a while. I wanted to let you know about a FREE make & take event I'll be hosting at Stamp Garden in White Bear Lake, MN this Thursday. Please stop by anytime from 5:30 to 8:30 and join us in making a fun card! Here's a little peek at the stamp image we'll be using:


Looking forward to seeing you there!

Heading To Hampton

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm going to Cleveland again this morning and will drive with the gang to Hampton, VA for this weekend's StampScrapArtTour show. If you're attending the convention, visit the Inky booth and mention the secret phrase "Daisy Kit" to me. I've got a handful of these to give away, so please stop by early. Hope you have a great weekend, and I'll catch you back on the blog next week!

(Not Really) Scary Pencil Sleeve

Last week, I stopped at the dollar store and picked up a pack of Halloween pencils. (That's where I got the foil-wrapped chocolate eyeballs for the treat basket, too.) They inspired me to make another project...a (not really) scary pencil sleeve:


I started with a 3 5/8" x 12" piece of orange cardstock and stamped 0189F Candy Corn Background all over it:


I used a white colored pencil to fill in the tips of the candy corns (not pictured). Then I flipped over the cardstock to the "wrong" (unstamped) side and scored at 3/8", 3/4", 2 7/8", and 3 1/4" with my Scor-it-All Large Board.

I turned the piece 90 degrees clockwise and scored again at 4 1/8 and 4 1/2". Here's a labeled photo showing all the score marks:


I cut on all the solid lines shown in the photo:


So it looked like this (except with the extra squares cut out, which I did after taking all the photos...it made the finished box less bulky at the corners):


I placed strips of 1/4" red-lined tape on the outer two side flaps both above and below the horizontal score marks (again, note the "x", which marks the piece I'd removed later):


After pre-folding inward on all score lines, I removed the tape liner from the upper side flaps and pressed them down onto the inner side flaps. This is how it looked with just the left side done:


After both upper side flaps were adhered, I removed the tape liner from the lower side flaps and folded up the bottom of the sleeve:


Once I adhered the lower side flaps, my sleeve was ready:



Ready for a bit more decorating, that is! I used 1/8" red-lined tape to layer a piece of narrower checked ribbon onto wider stitched ribbon. Since this made the ribbon fairly thick, I didn't try to tie or knot it. Instead, I adhered pieces to mimic a tied appearance. I also added a bit of foam tape above and below the ribbon pieces:


This way, I could attach my saying (stamped with 0192B Sm. Trick, die cut with Nestabilities, and layered) so it would sit flap atop the ribbon:


And there you have it...a sugar-free goodie for all your favorite monsters, big and small!

Monday Funnies

The other day, I was flipping through the September issue of Reader's Digest and saw this on the "Last Laugh" page, which made me chuckle:


There are entire websites dedicated to funny signs, product labels, etc. where mistakes in translation produce humorous results. As it happened, Steve and I went to a Korean deli on Friday for dinner and I noticed these items on the menu:


We didn't try the "rice cake with spicy" or the "fried with dumpling," but we did have galbi (marinated and grilled short ribs):


They came with banchan, which are little side dishes typically served at each meal. My mom, who is Korean, never cooked these traditional foods, but I do remember eating several of them at my aunt and uncle's house when I was a kid.

On Saturday, we went to the farmers market and saw an abundance of pumpkins and different kinds of squash everywhere:


This one was particularly unusual, and I especially liked the sign posted on it ("Yes, it's a squash. Yes, it's supposed to look that way. Yes, it's good to eat.):


Steve thought it looked like unshelled peanuts had been glued all over it. Anyway, just wanted to share a little silliness to start off your week!

Halloween Treat Basket

Even though it's 71 degrees here in Minnesota today, Halloween is only a few weeks away so I thought I'd share a little treat basket project with you!

I started with a 6" x 6" piece of patterned cardstock (the following two photos show the reverse side, which is blank) and used my Score-it-All Large Board to score at 2" on all four sides:


I made 2" cuts inward from the left and right sides, right on the score lines (four cuts total):


To assemble the basket, I folded on all the score lines as if I were making a cube. But instead of folding up the side flaps all the way, I only folded them up at an angle. Then I used a stapler to hold the side flaps in place:


(Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher would be perfect for the job because it has a long "nose" so you don't have to squish your hand into the basket, but I lent mine to Ruthie for making this month's store board samples. That thing comes in so handy!)

I used a bit of red-lined tape to adhere a piece of ribbon to the center of a 1 1/2" x 6" strip of yellow cardstock. Then I added tape to the both short ends of the strip (on the side with the ribbon) and tucked each end into the side of the basket, between the folded-up flaps:


I'm not a huge fan of candy corn (gasp!) because I find it cloyingly sweet, but it's really yummy when mixed with peanuts. The saltiness cuts the sugar and makes it taste "just right." So I mixed some up and threw in a few foil-wrapped chocolate eyeballs just for fun:


I decorated the front and back of the basket with 0491F Batty Seal that was stamped, colored, cut out, and then layered onto an orange scalloped circle die cut with Nestabilities:


This was really simple to make, which is a good thing if you need to create several for all those trick-or-treaters who will be banging at your door soon. Or maybe you'll just want to whip up a few of them for your most special little monsters. Either way, I hope you'll give it a try!