Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts

Craftsy February BOM

The February block designs for the Craftsy Block-of-the-month project both used half-square triangles - something I have come to not like so much.  (It's fussy matching up those points!).  The instructor taught 2 different methods for creating the hsts, a magic method where you stitch all around 2 squares of fabric and then cut them in quarters, and a traditional drawn-line method where you mark a diagonal line through the 2 squares and then stitch on either side of the line and cut them apart.  I preferred the first method but I loved both blocks made for February.

The first block is the Balkan Puzzle block and I absolutely adore the finished design.  The points aren't too bad on my block and it did turn out to be the right size in the end.

The second block is the Chunky Chevron and I like this one too!  It's certainly going to be a sampler quilt at the end of the year, with so many different block designs.

While I don't like doing hst these blocks came together without incident and were not bad to make.  I think the designs will be more challenging in the upcoming months, with curved edges and paper piecing, dresden's and foundation piecing, I'm going to be learning a lot of new techniques!

Don't forget this Craftsy BOM class is FREE and you can join in at any time.  You can use fabrics you already have so there need be no extra cost involved to play along - and you get to learn so much and have a finished quilt at the end of the year!  I'm glad I'm all caught up now...and I can't wait until March!!!

Paper Storage

I have quite a selection of patterned paper and card stock in my workshop, both for scrapbooking and card making.  It can get overwhelming to sort and store all the different types and brands of paper but I think I have a pretty good handle on it.

For my scrapbooking I use Creative Memories products exclusively.  I just prefer their designs and kits and find it easiest to have a uniform style if I keep to one company - plus I love the quality of the paper!  I usually buy Power Palettes which contain all the components in one design: tone-on-tone and designer print paper, stickers, paper embellishments, and photo mats & journal boxes.   I store the opened palettes in plastic folders, with full 12x12 sheets in the back, mats, embellishments, and journal boxes (and scraps) in the front.  I have the old style folders but Creative Memories now has new style Power Palette Folders with 6 pockets designed specifically to hold the complete Power Palette.  I'm going to order those next time!

I've been scrappin' up a storm lately and have almost depleted my entire stash of paper!  When a Palette has no more 12x12 sheets I save the scraps and left overs to use in random pages here and there and when the remnants get too few I dump them into my scrap tote.  It feels so good to have made such good use of all that paper and I am totally ready to order new some new Palette designs and start fresh!

For my card-making I use Stampin' Up paper and products.  I like to store the card stock in the SU plastic pockets they used to sell.  I've over-filled some of them and the closing flaps have split and broken so I'll eventually replace them with the new polypropylene vertical paper holders SU now carries.  For my designer print paper I picked up some Cropper Hopper vertical storage solutions (which I assume are very similar to the new SU model) and they have worked well to keep the different categories separate.  There are plastic dividers to organize each print and it's very easy to pull out what you need.

I really love to have everything organized and it helps me be more creative to see what I have.  If everything's a jumble I just get frustrated and can't get started so it's in my best interest to tidy up after each session.  Having a place for everything makes it very easy to do that.  I recently went through all my CM papers and tossed out scraps that were too small (just make a decision what that size will be and stick to it!) and pieces that were mis-shapen from punches and the Cricut.  It actually really made me want to start scrapbooking when I had all my remaining Palettes all sorted out.  I could see which ones still had 12x12 sheets and which ones could work with upcoming pages I have to do!

Heat Sealer

When someone accidentally ripped off the zip-top portion of the re-sealable tortilla package I remembered my Doubleseal vacuum heat sealer and used it to close the bag.  I've had this gadget for years and used to use it all the time to package up meats and produce purchased at the farmer's market (where food is simply wrapped in paper).  It both sucks out the air from the package and uses a heated wire to melt and seal the plastic.

I'll admit it has been hiding in my cupboard for a while now but I still occasionally use it to seal up chip and snack bags or bags of rice or beans.  I still have several rolls of the material to make your own bags and I'm definitely going to start using it again to vacuum-seal food before putting it into freezer bags.  Since my daily household head-count will be getting smaller over the next year or so I will have to portion out more foods for the freezer as we down-size our grocery shopping (since I still like to get the 'club-pack' discount!) and I'm sure I will be using my sealer a lot more frequently.

I think it's a worth-while small appliance if you like to take advantage of sales, large-size packages, preserve summer produce, and you rely on the freezer for longer term storage.  I've been checking out the vacuum food sealers on the net and there are several brands availabe these days (eg. FoodSaver, Seal-a-Meal) with more durable material for freezer storage and better vacuum systems.  They've really come a long way since I got my little machine and now I want to upgrade to one of the fancier models myself!

Blueberry Cream Muffins

Sometimes things just aren't meant to be!  I got everything ready to make and film a recipe for Raspberry Cream Muffins but realized I had frozen blueberries rather than raspberries.  Never mind...blueberries would work just as well in this simple recipe.  So I continued on and baked up these tender, scrumptious muffins and was very excited to share the process with you.  Well...you know how things go and you get busy.  The video camera got set aside and a few days passed - during which we happily devoured all the muffins.  Then came time to film my next video recipe and I discovered my camera memory card was full so I quickly deleted a few videos to make room.  You guessed it!  I deleted my still unsaved Blueberry Cream Muffin videos.  I guess with the missing raspberries and the deleted film you were just meant to get the written version of Blueberry Cream Muffins!  They are delightful and I will re-film the recipe, with raspberries, as soon as I can - it's worth it (and I'm sure no one here will mind eating another batch)!  In the meantime, try out the blueberry ones!

Raspberry or Blueberry Cream Muffins

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup coarsely chopped raspberries (or whole blueberries)

350 degrees F, greased 12 cup muffin pan, 30-35 mins.

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, then beat in sour cream & vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir just to combine. Fold in berries and fill muffin cups. Bake at 350 for 30-35 mins. Let stand in pan 10 mins. then remove and cool on rack.

Jillibean Thank You Card

Today's card was made to thank Carissa at Happily Ever After Paper Crafter for sending me a jillibean paper pad and baker's twine when I won her blog candy.  I showed you the prize on February 10th and mentioned there were a couple patterns in the paper pack which were not Christmas themed and I used them on this card.  After layering the kraft card stock with the flower paper I trimmed the star paper using the scalloped border punch from SU.  I added a strip of textured vanilla card stock to show off the 'thank you', cut using my Cricut and the Calligraphy Collection cartridge.  I added a flower from the Prima Orange collection - it sets off the card nicely but doesn't add too much bulk since I'm sending the card in the mail.

Inside the card I layered 2 strips of patterned paper and then cut out the vanilla card stock using the Shadow Feature Key on <Image4> from the same cartridge.  I used my Gypsy's Hide feature to remove the inner line of the frame and cut the shape as a solid block so I could write my message on it.  I inked the edges with some brown chalk ink from Creative Memories.

Homemade Memories Scrapbook Layout

This is another layout for my album of my friends and me scrapbooking.  It's just a small, 7x7" album so there's not a lot of room to work with but I do like to add a couple photos per page.  This time I used the Fabulous papers and embellishments from Creative Memories.  I did a lot of layering and used the Border Maker to add a scalloped edge.  I used clear stickers for my titles and added a couple of paper flowers as well.  The colours of each photo mat co-ordinate with what we are wearing in the photos so the layout looks colourful yet unified.

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

This easy and scrumptious Chocolate Zucchini Loaf tastes just like chocolate cake...no, really!  It smells so chocolaty while it's in the oven and makes a perfectly textured quick bread.  I'm sure very few would refuse this snack - just leave out the word 'zucchini' when you serve it...(they'll never know!)

Chocolate Zucchini Loaf

6 Tbsp butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup grated zucchini (peel on)

1-1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1-1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

350 degrees F, 9.5” loaf pan, 60 mins.

Counting the Days!

I can't wait for the 2 hour premiere!

Craftsy January BOM

After what seemed like forever, I finally received my Boho fat quarter bundle of fabrics to use in the Craftsy block-of-the-month project.  I was 2 months behind at this point (that's 4 blocks) and anxious to get started after seeing everyone else posting their photos.

I love the fabric line.  It's very colourful and bright, but kind of retro, which I like.  I chose to use the exact fabrics the instructor demonstrated to create the blocks.

The first block is the asterisk and although it looked really easy to do, I had trouble with it.  It came together fine but when I went to square up the block I couldn't get a 45 degree angle in each corner and when I trimmed the block it is uneven.  I will have to wait until the end of the project to see what fabric I have left over (because we don't know in advance which fat quarters she will use in each month's design) and try the block again.  I was kind of disappointed after that first block and since many people were having problems with the 2nd block for January, I was worried!

The second design for January is the wonky pound sign.  People were having their blocks end up being 1/2" too small and were changing the measurements to accommodate that problem.  I decided to try it the way it was written and demonstrated and it actually turned out perfectly!  I was feeling much better about the whole process after the second block and enjoyed making it!

So that's January's blocks done and I am very excited to get going on February's (half-square triangles...my favourites (NOT!)...)

I really like having the challenge of creating 2 new blocks every month.  It's exciting to learn and try a new technique and/or design and it's a very manageable task.  While I found it a lot more difficult than I thought it would be to follow along with a video (I brought the laptop into my workshop and worked along with the video) rather than just a written pattern, it was nice to just have to do a small portion of the project at a time.  It took me a lot longer than I anticipated to make the 2 January blocks but then I was able to clean everything up and put it away.

New Creative Memories Tape Runner

Creative Memories released a new model Tape Runner applicator this year and I love it!  It is refillable and has a drop-in cartridge.  It is so easy to load and there is no fussing with feeding the leading edge of adhesive around the wheels and guides inside.  They have also changed the adhesive.  Now the adhesive segments are frosted so they are perfect to use under vellum - they disappear and you can't see them!  The dispenser works very well and the tape glides nicely and releases easily.  There's also a nice slide-across guard to protect the exposed adhesive when you are done using it.

The diagram on the box shows how to easily refill and assemble the dispenser, which costs US$8.95 (the refills are US$5.95).  I picked up a bunch of refills and have been scrapbooking so much that I've used a couple of them already.  It's great to just drop in the cartridge and keep working when I'm on a roll!