Happy Anniversary

A card I made for my Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jerry, who celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary today. Paper from My Mind's Eye, and cardstock, ribbon, and gold cord from Stampin' Up!. Starfish charm - unknown source.

Deep Dish Brownies

I took some baking ingredients with me to Mama's yesterday, and Tara kindly baked everything up for me, as I'm still trying to recover from whatever has been dragging me down for over 3 weeks now (I still haven't seen much improvement after that very expensive injection I had yesterday). Not that you have to twist Tara's arm to get her to bake. She wants her own Food Network show some day, with an emphasis on desserts, and I'm confident that she'll reach that goal.

Pictured here is a Hershey's Deep Dish Brownie, which you can find over on the Hershey's website. This is now my go-to recipe for brownies. If baked in an 8x8 pan, it bakes up nice and thick, and has a rich, dense center. It's not crispy, and not really chewy, and has just the right amount of moisture in the middle to keep it from being too cake-like. We added some chopped semi-sweet chocolate to the batter, and this may be what added that extra bit of moisture. In any case, they're delicious, and Tara baked an extra batch in a 9 x 13 pan to take on a road-trip today. Maybe she'll comment here to let us know how they compare as a thinner brownie.

Remembering Daddy

I've usually tried to avoid getting too personal here, because my original plan for this blog was to share crafting ideas, to show you what I'm making, and to provide the occasional tutorial. But in recent months I've been absent more often than not, for a variety of reasons, and I thought it only fair that I share a few of those reasons with readers who visit here frequently. After all, it's usually the personal side of my life that drives the creative side.

Two weeks ago today, Daddy lost his short battle with leukemia, after many years of health issues and chronic pain. It is astounding how a family illness can paralyze you. And now that his suffering is over and we are celebrating his life, as he requested that we do, I'm still having some serious concentration issues. Add to the mix a poorly thought-out relocation eight months ago (although I'm glad we were here for Daddy's last months), a physically demanding part-time job with bizarre hours, the decision to go to graduate school, trying to choose the right school and program, and studying for the GRE, I simply haven't had any time and energy left.

But, some of those things are behind me now, and although I expect to be relocating again this summer (I'll tell you all about that later!), I'll once again be showing you my projects and will eventually send some more tutorials your way. You'll have to bear with me for a bit, because most of my things are packed and I'll be working with a limited assortment of supplies. And I won't promise to post every day, but I will try to share something with you at least 2 or 3 times a week. After my mojo is back, maybe I'll be able to increase that.

For now, I'll leave you with one of Daddy's favorite photos, above. I didn't even know he had it until after his death. It was taken on a tour of Longhorn Caverns in Burnet, Texas, in the late sixties. The eyeglasses on some of the people give away the age of this shot. If you want to know which little tourist is me, go over to my flickr account and view the notes on the photo.

Happy Mother's Day!

5-Minute Gift Box from Recycled Product Packaging

I will occasionally save product packaging to be used in craft projects, if it looks like it has the potential to be pretty without a huge effort. I've been hanging on to this silver box forever, waiting for inspiration to strike, and today it did, in the form of copper-toned metallic cardstock scraps. I've had a stash of these scraps for a few years, left over from a stamp camp I co-hosted a while back, and I realized that I like them much better when placed next to silver metallic. For this box, I simply embossed the copper cardstock with my Cuttlebug, cut some pieces just large enough to cover the text on the box, and glued them in place. A white sheer ribbon completes the look. Just be careful when dry-embossing metallic cardstock, because the surface has a tendency to crack.

Used Stampin' Up! Stamps For Sale

I am in the midst of a spring cleaning marathon, and have decided to sell part of my huge collection of Stampin' Up! stamps. I currently have 35 stamp sets and 16 Stampin' Around wheels for sale. I'm fairly sure that most (if not all) of these sets have been retired, and some of them may be hard to find nowadays. Almost all of these have been very gently used, and some not used at all. A couple of them have light staining on the rubber from using black ink, but are still in very good condition. I am very picky about my stuff! All stamps are center mounted on the wood block, unless I've specified that they are unmounted, and they come in the plastic boxes that they were purchased in.

If you're not sure what these sets look like, samples of most of them can be found in the Stampin' Up! gallery at Splitcoaststampers. If you can't find a set there, just let me know and I'll scan the set and send you a jpg file via email.

If you'd like to purchase any of these, email me (cheryl at lennydavinci.com - remember to substitute the @ symbol for "at") and I'll send you a Paypal invoice that includes postage. I'll need to have the package weighed at the post office before I can send you an accurate invoice.

I would also be willing to discount these prices for bulk purchases. Email me and we'll talk.

I would love to see all of these go to good stamping homes! Please make all inquiries via email instead of through a comment.


$5 SETS

Ornamentals (2000) – set of 4
God Bless America Special Edition (2001) – single stamp, unmounted
Little Shapes (2000) – set of 4
Stipple Butterfly (2000) – single stamp

$8 SETS

Let It Snow (1997) – set of 6
All Occasions (2002) – set of 8
Letters from Friends (2000) – set of 9
Fly Fishing (2002) – set of 6 SOLD
Flutterbys (1999) – set of 10
Little Numbers (2002) – set of 12 (10 digits and 2 symbols)
Calm Seas (2002) – set of 6 SOLD
Great Groupings (1999) – set of 3 (never used)
Autumn (2000) – set of 5
Snow Family Wishes (1998) – set of 8
I Love Stampin’ Up! – unmounted, 2002 Convention Special Edition
Perfect Plaids (1995) – set of 4
Winter Play (2001) – set of 6 (never used)
Baby Announcements (2000) – set of 12
Sweet Herbs (1999) – set of 6 SOLD
Basket of Blossoms (1998) – set of 7
Vintage Postcard (2001) – set of 9 SOLD
Victorian Lace background stamp (1997) SOLD
Antique Cracking background stamp (1998) SOLD
Checkerboard background stamp (1998)
Old World Map background stamp (1998 SOLD

$10 SETS

Alphabet Attitude Lower (1997)– set of 28 (26 lower case letters and 2 punctuation)
Outline Alphabet Lower (1998) – set of 28 (26 lower case letters and 2 punctuation)
Little Letters (2001) – set of 28 (26 lower case letters and 2 punctuation)
Garden Pleasures (2002) – set of 12 SOLD
Feathered Hope (1998) – set of 9 SOLD
Brushstroke Alphabet Upper and Lower (2001) - both upper and lower case on same set of blocks
A Lifetime of Happiness (2002) – set of 7 (never used)
Watercolor Minis (2001) – set of 12
Fish Frolics (1997) – set of 13
Handpainted Petites (1999) – set of 20

$2.50 each -Stampin’ Around Wheels

Dots and Daisies - SOLD
Bold Baroque
Mittens
Dragonfly
Blizzard
Paw Tracks
Butterfly
Beautiful Blossoms
Snowman Fun
Pine Bough - SOLD
Tulip
Bold Christmas Trees
Happy Birthday
Star Spangled (2 available)
Makin’ Music

Ten Minute Headband

So many tutorials come with the promise of easy and fast, and sometimes they're neither. But this Ten Minute Headband from Blue Bird Studio couldn't be easier, and you really can complete it in ten minutes, if not less. I love Heather's simple construction technique, which includes absolutely no tube-turning and utilizes an elastic hair band instead of regular sewing elastic. So clever! I made this headband for my niece, but will be making a few for myself as soon as my hair grows out a bit.