Just a reminder there are only two more days remaining before the Occasions Mini Catalogue (January 4 to April 30, 2011) and the Spring Blossoms Promotion are finished. So if you've been waiting to order, don't miss out. You only have until midnight on the 30th to order from this catalogue otherwise the products will no longer be available. Click here to go to my on line shop.
This is my little creative get away spot in a very hectic world. I love to stamp, meet other stampers and share my inspirations. So come and, sit for a while, explore my site and leave a comment when you can.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Occasions Mini Catalogue and Spring Blossoms Promotion Ending........
Just a reminder there are only two more days remaining before the Occasions Mini Catalogue (January 4 to April 30, 2011) and the Spring Blossoms Promotion are finished. So if you've been waiting to order, don't miss out. You only have until midnight on the 30th to order from this catalogue otherwise the products will no longer be available. Click here to go to my on line shop.
Easter Cards for Friends and Family
Hope everyone had a very Happy Easter and you were able to share it with friends and family this year. My wonderful sister and her husband came to stay with us and we were fortunate to get the rest of the family together on Easter Sunday to feast on Turkey and Ham and all kinds of other goodies. It was a full house with 16 coming for dinner.
When I think back Easter for me has always been a happy time of year and an event I equate with the coming of Spring. I love the colours of Spring - the daffodils with their cheery yellow flowers, the beautiful purple crocuses, crisp white snowdrops and fresh green grass. I also love all the soft pastel pinks and blues that showed up at this time of year. I guess that's really a hold back to growing up in an era when it was so special to join in the Easter parade, be in an Easter egg hunt, and to get dressed up for Church on Easter Sunday. As a little girl I could have cared less about Easter candy and chocolate bunnies.... that was for the boys. In fact I later in life found out from my brothers that I tortured them by putting my fancy chocolate Easter egg on display in my room and not eating it, while theirs of course, were eaten in minutes.
No Easter for me was all about getting dressed up. I'd pray my mom would make or buy me a new Easter dress, along with some white socks, pretty little white gloves and maybe some new Mary Jane shoes. I remember on a couple of occasions we wore hats or hair bands with flowers on them. I just loved getting my hair done up in ringlets and wearing my new finery to church on Easter Sunday. Listening to the hymns and hearing the story of Jesus and his sacrifice for all man kind left me in awe. It was a very special time and still is, although now-a-days I'm more about getting together with family, eating a big meal and sharing stories, than buying new Easter clothes.
So those fond memories played a big part for me when I was trying to come up with a design for my cards to make for my friends and family for Easter. I kept coming back to to the importance of colour, and the little girl in me, wanting to do something soft and kind of sweet. So, it wasn't a stretch when I chose the Easter Blossoms stamp set and the Tulip Impressions Embossing folder from the Occasions Mini catalogue to make my cards. Here's some closeups of the 15 cards I made. Hope you like them.
Wild Wasabi and Whisper White |
Perfect Plum and Whisper White |
Bashful Blue and Whisper White |
Pirouette Pink and Whisper White Layers |
Daffodil Delight, Basic Black and Whisper White layers |
All the insides of the cards looked like this. |
A couple of matching eggs adorned the envelopes |
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Summer Mini Catalogue & Sneak Peak Card and Bookmark Tutorial
Only two more weeks and the Stampin' Up Summer Mini Catalogue (available May 1 to August 31, 2011) will be released! Whoo Hoo! For all my loyal customers your copy will arrive by May 1st, and I know you're going to love it! If you're not on my current mailing list and would like to receive free catties, just drop me a note on my Stampin' Up! Web Blog, and I'd be happy to add you to my mailing list. Any customer who places an order of $20.00 or more either at a workshop, class or on my on-line store is eligible to receive free catalogues and mailings throughout the year. Catalogues can also be viewed and PDF copies downloaded from my site by clicking on the Product icon.
One of the great things I love about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is that we get to preview catalogues and pre-order stamps and accessories from them before they are released. This allows us to make wonderful samples to share with you before your catties arrive. My Summer Mini Catalogue was waiting for me when I returned home last week and I've been pouring over, trying to decide what I'm ordering. I like and want it all to tell the truth, but what's new.. lol!
So until my order arrives, I've been looking at "sneak peaks" from some of my fellow demonstrator's and I'd like to share them with you. Yes, that's another advantage of being a SU Demonstrator, I get to visit other demonstrators on the Stampin' Connection a special web blog set up by Stampin' Up! for demonstrators to discuss things like the new catties and products and showcase their creations.
The first sneak peak I'd like to share with you is this card and bookmark designed by Sharon Field, a published designer and creative coach. Sharon has posted a wonderful Super Saturday Tutorial on her blog "Creating By You". Sharon has designed many wonderful projects so I know you're going to enjoy visiting her blog. The stamps featured on this card and bookmark set are from the "Touch of Kindness" stamp set featured on page 25 of the Summer Mini.
I hope you enjoy this sneak peak and drop by Sharon's site to view the tutorial. Don't forget to leave her a comment or two on her wonderful creations, I know she'll enjoy it.
Click here to visit Sharon's fabulous blog and check out this tutorial |
One of the great things I love about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is that we get to preview catalogues and pre-order stamps and accessories from them before they are released. This allows us to make wonderful samples to share with you before your catties arrive. My Summer Mini Catalogue was waiting for me when I returned home last week and I've been pouring over, trying to decide what I'm ordering. I like and want it all to tell the truth, but what's new.. lol!
So until my order arrives, I've been looking at "sneak peaks" from some of my fellow demonstrator's and I'd like to share them with you. Yes, that's another advantage of being a SU Demonstrator, I get to visit other demonstrators on the Stampin' Connection a special web blog set up by Stampin' Up! for demonstrators to discuss things like the new catties and products and showcase their creations.
The first sneak peak I'd like to share with you is this card and bookmark designed by Sharon Field, a published designer and creative coach. Sharon has posted a wonderful Super Saturday Tutorial on her blog "Creating By You". Sharon has designed many wonderful projects so I know you're going to enjoy visiting her blog. The stamps featured on this card and bookmark set are from the "Touch of Kindness" stamp set featured on page 25 of the Summer Mini.
I hope you enjoy this sneak peak and drop by Sharon's site to view the tutorial. Don't forget to leave her a comment or two on her wonderful creations, I know she'll enjoy it.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Home Sweet Home......... I'm Back!
After a two day journey that almost (yikes) ended in a car accident within minutes of our home, I can honestly say, "Wow it's good to be back home again (except for the weather)!" Coming from 100+ sunshine to liquid rain, hail and who knows what else, is a real jolt to the system, but now that I'm here I can feel my creative juices getting stirred up once more. It feels like such a long time since I've had space and all my wonderful Stampin' Up! stamps and accessories to play with, so I know I'm going to have just so much fun creating, setting up classes and seeing my customers and friends again. I can't wait! When I walked into my craft room it was like heaven! So stay tuned, once the unpacking is done and all the catch-up taken care of there will be time for stamping, creating and having fun and let me tell you I'm going to make the most of it.
If you live in the Fraser Valley area and are interested in attending one of my upcoming classes or hostessing a workshop in your home or mine, feel free to give me a call or drop me a line. I'm always looking for new stampers and friends and I'd love to hear from you.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Spring Blossom Promotion
Spring is Blossoming with Sneak Peek products from the upcoming 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue, and you can get these brand-new products in one of two ways:
• Spend $25* on any Stampin' Up! products and become eligible to purchase both the Four Frames Set and Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper, or
• Host a $460* workshop and get the Four Frames Set and Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper for FREE (*Net sales before tax and shipping).
If you’d like to earn these products FREE, I am home now and would be thrilled to help you start planning a Spring workshop now. Just imagine getting your hands on these exciting, new products in April--three months before the debut of the new Idea Book & Catalogue! Let’s book a date for your workshop. Just call me at 778-880-1296 or email me at pennyhanuszak@telus.net, and we’ll get working on it.
Four Frames Stamp SetWood Mount: item 123440 $25.95
Clear Mount: item 123442 $19.95
Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper
Item 122367 $12.50
All New Clearance Rack - Shop Now While Supplies Last!!!
Have you checked the clearance rack lately.........................if not you better hurry!!! It's been updated, and there are some awesome deals on stamp pads, markers, designer papers and much more!. To check out these fantastic sale items click here. Happy shopping!
Act Now ........Grab Bag Sale Is On!!!!
Love a mystery, or surprises? Well here's your chance to have someone else do the shopping for you! Stampin' Up is offering for a limited time (while supplies last) the following grab bag offers:
$6.00 Grab Bag 125873
Grab a bag of Stampin’ Up! products! The $6 Grab Bag contains at least $24 worth of discontinued products, including any combination of products like the following: ribbons, Accents & Elements, chipboard, Designer Series Paper, or Simply Sent kit components. Grab bags do not contain stamp sets or tools.
$12.00 Grab Bag 125874
Grab a bag of Stampin’ Up! products! The $12 Grab Bag contains at least $48 worth of discontinued products, including any combination of products like the following: ribbons, Accents & Elements, chipboard, Designer Series Paper, or Simply Sent kit components. Grab bags do not contain stamp sets or tools.
$18.00 Grab Bag 125875
Grab a bag of Stampin’ Up! products! The $18 Grab Bag contains at least $72 worth of discontinued products, including any combination of products like the following: ribbons, Accents & Elements, chipboard, Designer Series Paper, or Simply Sent kit components. Grab bags do not contain stamp sets or tools.
To take advantage of this great offer just go to my "shop online" store and check out this sale. Remember, all grab bag sales are final. No refunds or exchanges.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Beautiful Wings Thank You Cards
Along with all the March Birthday Cards, I also need to send thank you cards to a number of folks who've had us for dinner, invited us to play golf and for customers who have orderd from me during the current Sale-A-Bration promotion.
Since I had a number of cards to make I wanted a design that was easy to reproduce and one that I could use for not only "Thank You Cards" but for other occasions too such as "Sympathy", "Thinking of You", "Just a Note", or an "Anniversary" or Wedding card". I know I won't get bored with the design I came up with and these cards go together so quickly they'd be great for a swap or being made in an assembly line fashion.
When thinking of what design I would make I remembered seeing a lot of cards and scrapbook pages that have incorporated the Basic Black and Very Vanilla DSP "Newsprint" (117166 page 174 of IB&C). This DSP is the perfect medium for stamping on. And, by matching the ink, mounting and embellishment cardstocks, and ribbon, it makes for a very pretty and easy card. I chose Very Vanilla cardstock for my card base and the coloured cardstock and matching satin ribbons I chose were: Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive.
Here are some pictures of my samples. Hope you enjoy them. Let me know.
Since I had a number of cards to make I wanted a design that was easy to reproduce and one that I could use for not only "Thank You Cards" but for other occasions too such as "Sympathy", "Thinking of You", "Just a Note", or an "Anniversary" or Wedding card". I know I won't get bored with the design I came up with and these cards go together so quickly they'd be great for a swap or being made in an assembly line fashion.
When thinking of what design I would make I remembered seeing a lot of cards and scrapbook pages that have incorporated the Basic Black and Very Vanilla DSP "Newsprint" (117166 page 174 of IB&C). This DSP is the perfect medium for stamping on. And, by matching the ink, mounting and embellishment cardstocks, and ribbon, it makes for a very pretty and easy card. I chose Very Vanilla cardstock for my card base and the coloured cardstock and matching satin ribbons I chose were: Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo, Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise and Old Olive.
Here are some pictures of my samples. Hope you enjoy them. Let me know.
Cards and matching envelopes. |
Monday, March 14, 2011
How Do You Like Your Cupcakes
Ever since the Occasions Mini Catalogue launched on January 4th, I've been head over heels in love with the Create a Cupcake Punch and matching Stamp set featured on page 22 of the catalogue. I knew the Create a Cupcake Stamp set would be the perfect stamp set to use for birthday cards because it's so cute and cupcakes are so in vogue right now! With March being one of the biggest birthday months for all my girlfriends, I got busy yesterday crafting cupcake birthday cards. The following are a sampling of my cards inside and out. Hope you enjoy them.
You might also recognize the DSP I've used for some of the cards. Although the striped and large polka dot designed papers are from the glittery designer series paper called Candy Cane Christmas that was featured in the Holiday Mini Catalogue (2010), they work with the cupcake theme too. If you're interested in making any or all of these cards let me know (pennyhanuszak@telus.net). I will be holding a card class in April that will feature this punch and stamp set.
You might also recognize the DSP I've used for some of the cards. Although the striped and large polka dot designed papers are from the glittery designer series paper called Candy Cane Christmas that was featured in the Holiday Mini Catalogue (2010), they work with the cupcake theme too. If you're interested in making any or all of these cards let me know (pennyhanuszak@telus.net). I will be holding a card class in April that will feature this punch and stamp set.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
His Mom's Perogys
When my husband who is of Ukrainian decent was growing up he always looked forward to his mother's home style cooking. What man doesn't! His mom made all the traditional Ukrainan meals including varenyky (small little pastries filled with fruit) head cheese, holubtsi/holubchi (cabbage rolls), lazy cabbage, halushki (sugared donut holes) and his favourite Sauerkraut Perogy. In fact everyone in the family was head over heels in love with her perogys. Although his mother was English she learned the secret of making these and other traditional meals from her mother-in law, and she would lovingly make them for his father and siblings. My husband loved these little fried dumplings served with sour cream, lots of fresh white onions and a big hunk of fried Ukrainian or kubasa sausage. I never learned to make Ada's perogys when I first married my husband, and unfortunately she passed away in 1982. I searched her cook book and bits and scraps of recipes she had but she never recorded her treasured recipes, she knew them by heart.
Some time after she passed away, I was reading a celebrity interview in the TV weekly with hockey great #99, Wayne Gretsky and he had given them his mom's recipe for perogys. It sounded so similar to what my husband's mother made that I just had to try out this recipe, and lo and behold the family agreed with great glee that they were just like Ada's! I've done some tweaking over the years and here is my recipe. Hope you enjoy it:
1 ½ cups warm water
5 cups all purpose flour plus ¼ cup
1 tsp salt
4 tbsps oil
2 eggs well beaten
1 large can or jar of sauerkraut
1 large white onion chopped
Package of Crisco lard
Tin foil for freezing perogies
Butter and sour cream
.
Potato Cheese filling:
Some time after she passed away, I was reading a celebrity interview in the TV weekly with hockey great #99, Wayne Gretsky and he had given them his mom's recipe for perogys. It sounded so similar to what my husband's mother made that I just had to try out this recipe, and lo and behold the family agreed with great glee that they were just like Ada's! I've done some tweaking over the years and here is my recipe. Hope you enjoy it:
1 ½ cups warm water
5 cups all purpose flour plus ¼ cup
1 tsp salt
4 tbsps oil
2 eggs well beaten
1 large can or jar of sauerkraut
1 large white onion chopped
Package of Crisco lard
Tin foil for freezing perogies
Butter and sour cream
1. Mix 5 cups flour and salt in a large bowl |
2. Add the oil and eggs to 1 ½ cups of warm water, and mix well. |
3. Stir the liquid into the flour and mix until smooth.
4. Cover and let stand for two hours.
5. Drain sauerkraut and put in frying pan. Add 1 cup of chopped onion and heat in frying pan until onions are transparent. Turn off heat.
6. Fill a large deep pot with water and bring to a boil.
7. Sprinkle dough with flour and roll out until about ¼ inch thick and cut into 3-inch circles.
8. Place a spoonful of sauerkraut and onion filling on one half of each round. Moisten the inside edge and fold over and seal edge securely all around.
9. Drop six perogies into boiling water. Stir occasionally to prevent from sticking. Cook for 3-4 minutes. They will float to the surface when they are done. Remove with a slotted spoon.
10. If serving immediately, fry in butter in a frying pan. Serve with sautéed onions and sour cream.
11. If freezing for future use, place boiled perogies on a sheet of tin foil. Coat with 1 tablespoon of the Crisco lard and sprinkle with fresh cut white onion. Fold the tin foil into packets and freeze for up to 3 months.
Potato Cheese filling:
Mix sautéed onions, dry curd cottage cheese, shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits into mashed potatoes. Add a mashed clove of garlic if you fancy that flavour. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Hope you enjoy this recipe. As Easter approaches I plan on making this recipe for our big meal.
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