From Mountains to Monsters

Hi Folks! I've got a cute little monster here who thinks he's actually scaring someone with his jagged-tooth smile. And let's talk about that smile shall we ... does anyone recognize that from the Essentials By Ellen September release? Nope, no monster smile dies released by EBE, but Julie Ebersole did create the amazing Alpine Windows set of dies!! : )

Right? You see it!
 

As a refresher, this is the way the die is really intended to be used, as a peek-a-boo winter scene featuring a nice mountain range. But of course you can do other things with it! Let's take a closer look ...

I used the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to make a gift bag. Not sure if you've seen the myriad of blog posts on making things with this tool meant for making envelopes, but there is a whole world out there making boxes, gift bags, bows, pinwheels, etc. They've come out with specific punch boards for some of these items, but I think those are totally unnecessary. You really only need the envelope punch board. I used this article from Pootles for this specific gift bag. 

Then I stamped stripes for him with the border stamp in the EBE Winterscapes by Julie Ebersole.

After all that stamping, I was a little nervous sending him through the die cutter, just in case. kwim?! But I lined up the die so that the top half of the circle is off the edge of the cutting platform, and the mountains/teeth are on the cutting platform. This step is super important, otherwise he would have a very gummy smile with no top teeth. After that's cut, flip the gift bag around and this time have the teeth that you just cut hanging off the platform. Then line up the sides of the circle die to the circle that was just cut. Now you will be cutting the second row of teeth.

And here's what it will look like. I cut an additional set of mountains out of white cardstock to adhere on top of the base so he has white teeth. Monster's gotta brush teeth before bed too, you know!

For the eyes I stamped the circle from Winterscapes for the pupil and found a random dot from one of my sets. I stamped one more strip in purple and cut fringe into it for the monster's hair.

The arms are just cut out free hand, and stamped with the border stamp for his sleeve.

Catherine Pooler Inks for the win in Sweet Sixteen, Tiki Torch, Melon Ice, Garden Party, and Tiara.

I've got another project coming soon using the Alpine Windows dies in a way they probably weren't intended, so stay tuned!

 

 Thanks so much for looking!

-Kelly

Winterscapes by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Clear Stamps Alpine Window by Julie Ebersole, Essentials By Ellen Designer Dies We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Melon Ice Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Tiki Torch Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Sweet Sixteen Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Garden Party Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Tiara ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker, Set of 48 My Sweet Petunia MISTI Laser Etched Stamping Tool (8-1/8 X 10-1/2)

Grandma Griglione's Pumpkin Bars Recipe Scrapbook Page

Hi Folks! Catching up a bit here from a busy couple weeks filled with amazing blogging friends, my oldest son's first homecoming dance and hosting dinner for 18 of his friends, and a three wild concerts in five days!



I've posted another page on Winnie & Walter featuring Winnie & Walter's classic Moonlight set, 



and our treasured family recipe for pumpkin bars that Grandma Griglione made every Fall (in her own handwriting no less!!!). Grandma was the best at efficient recipe writing ... instead of a lot of directions, I love how she just numbers the ingredients in the order you need to combine them. That's it! The only sentence here is to not grease the pan.

I realized I only shared the front of Grandma G's recipe in the w&w post, so I'm adding a photo of the back here in case you'd like to try it yourself : )

Thanks so much for looking!
-Kelly

Winnie & Walter WCMD Challenge

Happy World Card Making Day!!! There are a lot of festivities going on today, including several challenges over at Winnie & Walter that I recommend checking out. One of the challenges is Coordinating Die Coloring, where you use the coordinating die to cut a stencil and quickly color the image by sponging ink inside. Hope you can play along, I'd love to see your creations!

Thanks for stopping by!
Kelly