True to My Word

Well, here I am again, and true to my word, I'm updating you on all I've been doing for the past few months. Let's start with right after Mother's Day. I dance in a liturgical group at my church and our dance director has resigned from his position at my church after serving in that capacity for seven years. Well, as a token of our love and appreciation for him, the group wanted to get him a plaque. My creative side balked at that idea, so I volunteered to create something for him from all of us.  Here is the outcome of my creativity:

This is the mixed media piece I made. First off, using the logo and images from our group, I printed them on canvas paper (the fonts I used were not filled in which allowed me to do so with acrylic paint and/or Stickles. A day before printing, I used random watercolor doodles to add some character to the canvas. Once dry, I used a Recollections Chevron stamp and inked it with Versamark Watermark stamp pad, then spritzed it with water and stamped the canvas for some dimension. Next day, I printed to image/logo to the canvas. I then went to work. Using Stickles Platinum. I filled in the director's name. For our logo I used blue acrylic paint, then once that was dry I applied clear Stickles (which gave it that sparkle effect).

For the dancers, I used some African fabric I had stashed away. I cut a mask of the last two dancers on both sides, then traced the cut out onto the fabric with while pencil. I cut the dresses out (one red, the other green) and applied them to the dancers' image on the canvas. I then used the Stickles Platinum to add dimension to the dresses.  For the two dancers with the gold dresses, I used another medium -   Flower Soft. I added glue to the image and sprinkled it with Gold Flower Soft. Once that was dry, I went to work on the guys. For their shirts I used purple acrylic paint and followed that up with clear Stickles.  Here's a close up look at the dancers:

Once the canvas was dry, I mounted it on a piece of brown fabric. I cut the borders of the fabric using my pinking shears. I glued the canvas to the fabric, then attached it to the red African fabric. Finally, I attached it all to a woven place mat I had purchased years ago from Marshall's. To finish, I painted gold acrylic onto some Popsicle sticks, then used the Stickles to draw a pattern on them. Once they were dry, I used the pinking shears to cut the sticks and attached them to the piece. I also used acrylic on a few buttons and attached those also.

Of course, we can't have a gift without a card. Here's the finished product to the card I made. I used the Praise Dancers digital stamp by Fine Arts by Robert Jackson. I used Gimp to fill in the colors of each dancer. Once that was done, I saved it with a transparent background and added it to the background image. I then  cut that with the pinking shears and attached it to rounded card stocks (fluorescent yellow and aquamarine blue). I attached all the this to a colorful piece of fabric I'd purchased at WalMart. I finished the card by cutting out a label and stamping "We'll Miss You" to it, then embellishing it with a spot of bling.

Busy Season

Hello all,

I know it's been awhile since I last updated my blog. It's not because of lack of creativity, however - but because I've been very busy!

It all started with Mother's Day. My oldest daughter decided she'd treat all the women in our family (relatives and closed friends) to a Mother's Day dinner - cooked by her. Now that is what I call a treat! In all the years that I raised this child, she never showed an interest in cooking. She was not as resilient as her younger sister, who, when hungry, would go into the kitchen an concoct something to eat. This is my child who was a fast food junkie as a teenager (not because I didn't cook - I did this everyday) but because she found it easier to just buy a hamburger or tacos when she was hungry.

To my amazement, this all changed when she went away to college. Hard times have a way of teaching one survival skills one would not expect to ever need. Cooking became the survival skill for her. When money was scarce, she found it less costly to purchase the ingredients she needed for a complete meal (it was cheaper to buy taco shells and ground beef to make her own tacos, than it was to purchase tacos at a restaurant or fast food store).

Even though she mastered the art of cooking, she hasn't yet attempted to make her own desserts, so she left that up to me.  I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the food she prepared - Spaghetti and Ground Turkey sauce, Salmon steaks and Mashed Potatoes, and for our veggies she baked Asparagus with ground garlic and butter - yum! Anyway, I made a cake and decided to go all out and practiced my decorating skills, lol! It's not professional, but to my family and friends, it doesn't matter. They love the taste and consistency of my cakes. Here's a photo of the cake:

I will try to update you on all the other creative things I've been doing since my last post. Hopefully I can do so in the next coming days.  In the meantime, be blessed!

Cookies & Cakes

Hey all,

Just wanted to share my other passion - baking. I've been baking ever since I was a teenager in Panama City, Panama. Back then I was using cake mixes to make delicious concoctions. As I grew older, my taste for cake mix went stale and I started making cakes from scratch. I have a recipe that has become the staple for most of my cakes, with a few changes to ingredients here and there (forgive me if I don't post it, but it's my secret recipe and I will share it with my girls if and when they become inclined to baking, lol!

Anyway, I bake almost anything, but lately I have been in demand to make Cookies-on-a-Stick. Yes, you guessed correctly - a cookie Popsicle. I made 100 of these for a baby shower a few weeks ago (50 chocolate chip and 50 oatmeal). The chocolate chip dough is store bought. I usually buy the Pillsbury brand from Smart & Final (I love this brand better as the cookie is moist and raises to fit the cookie mold). The oatmeal dough I make from scratch.  Here are samples of both cookies, baked and wrapped ready for delivery! I'm getting ready to make 100 more for a Champagne Sip next Friday!  BTW, the cookie mold and sticks/bags can be bought at Michael's, Wal-Mart or Jo-Ann stores (for those of you who have Hobby Lobby, I guess you can find them there also - we don't have them here in Southern California).

In addition to making these, my girlfriend wanted me to make her one of my cakes (I call it a plain cake, most of my friends call it a pound cake, though mine is not pound cake as I don't use a pound of anything!). Once cooled and stack the cakes and frost them using a burnt butter icing found here. Note that my icing is darker than the one portrayed in the link. That's because I really burn the butter, I don't just brown it.

Last but not least, are some Butterscotch Blondies. This was my first time trying this one and I've already received several orders for more!