Put Some Fiber in Your Diet!

Or, "Put Some Calories in Your Crafting"???

Hello Dear Readers! I've got a question for you... Do you love food and paper crafting? Well if you do (and I know I do!), then have I got a sneak peak for you!

It's Paper Crafts Gourmet! That's right! It's a cook book and a craft book! Two of my favorite things in one place! Now, you can't even purchase this book yet... it is only available for preorder... But using all my powers of persuasion and at great personal risk to myself, I managed to obtain an exclusive PC Gourmet project -- complete with recipe, supply list and instructions! (OK, if you want the truth -- PC asked me if I wanted to participate in their Gourmet Blog Tour, I said "Yes!" and they emailed the project to me. I wasn't even in danger of getting a paper cut...)

So here's your Sneak Peak Project... Designed by PC Pro Alisa Bangerter and just in time for Halloween!

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Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits
Alisa Bangerter

This is a perfect recipe to pull out if you are short on time because there is no rolling or cutting. The cheese and garlic add extra kick to a plain biscuit, and kids love them. They are the perfect accompaniment to serve with soups or stews, and are great served with a salad.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 c. flour
• 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 c. butter or margarine
• 1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
• 1 1/4 c. milk
• Chives (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until just moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.


Enjoy Halloween Tag
Designer: Alisa Bangerter
Finished size: 3" x 4 1/2"

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: (ivory)
Dye ink: (Black) Stewart Superior Corp.; (Summer Sun) Stampin' Up!
Specialty ink: (Mango Lemonade color wash) Stewart Superior Corp.
Color medium: (black chalk) Craf-T Products
Accents: (black brads) Making Memories; (chipboard bat, moon) Melissa Frances
Fibers: (black striped ribbon) Pebbles Inc.
Font: (Black Family) www.dafont.com
Adhesive: (foam tape)

1 Make tag from cardstock. 2 Crumple tag and smooth out. Spray edges with color wash; let dry. Apply chalk. 3 Ink chipboard moon; let dry. Chalk edges and adhere. 4 Ink chipboard bat; let dry. Adhere with foam tape. 5 Print sentiment on cardstock; trim and tear edges. Chalk edges and adhere with foam tape. Attach brads. Attach ribbon with brad.

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Not enough, you say? You want more??? Then check out this link for eight (Count 'em ... EIGHT!) more complete projects! And don't say I never got you anything...

They're Creepy and They're Kooky...

Well, perhaps I should say "They're CUTESY and they're kooky..."

They're my Halloween Paint Chip Cards that I designed for my World Card Making Day Challenge!

I designed two cards for my Challenge. The first is a quick and easy, simple card in the shape of that enduring Halloween treat... Candy Corn! This was a very easy pattern to create. I based the size on the usable (non-printed) portion of my Behr paint chip. The fold of the card is along the long edge of the left side of the candy. Just for fun, I decided to decorate my card with a goofy face. I know, I know... technically candy corn has a yellow base, orange center, and white tip. Oh well. I think it still looks like candy corn!

The second card that I designed is definitely a bit more complex. And perhaps just a teensy bit creepy. It's my Frankenstein's Monster Paint Chip Card! I really like how this one turned out. I again used a Behr paint chip -- I like its larger size -- and just trimmed off the manufacturer's text along the left side. The base of the card is a 12" piece of orange cardstock trimmed the width of my paint chip. Part of the fun aspect of this design is that it is a gatefold card that opens at Frankie's mouth!

Another fun aspect of this card was in the design of the monster's face. I kept moving different shapes around to find the appropriate expression. At one point, Frankie was lookin' kinda Veggie Tales. Later it was more Sesame Streetesque. You know, like the taller, yellower half of that popular duo, Bert and Ernie. Must be the unibrow...

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In honor of World Card Making Day, here is the complete tutorial for my Candy Corn Paint Chip Card!

Supplies:

• Cardstock: black by DMD; green, white
• Accents: Leaf Self-Adhesive Felt Decorations from Scrapbooking line from Target Stores
• Tools: 1-3/8" and 1" circle punch from EK Success; 5/8" circle punch from Marvy Uchida; hole puncher; Xyron sticker maker
  
• Other: paint chip by Behr; patterns (right-click to download)
  

Instructions:

1. Cut black cardstock and paint chip following patterns. Fold cardstock in half along dashed line. Adhere paint chip to front of card.
2. Punch one 1-3/8" circle from black CS. Cut in half to form "mouth." Punch two 1" circles from white CS. Punch two 5/8" circles from green CS. Punch two small circles from black CS using hole puncher.
3. Adhere circles to paint chip to form eyes.
4. Freeform cut out "tooth." Adhere to mouth. Adhere mouth to paint chip.
5. Adhere felt leaf to top of card for "hair."

Tip: To cut patterns from black CS, print pattern on white paper. Adhere to black CS using removable tape. Cut along lines and remove white paper.

Finished Size approx 3.75" x 4.5"
Enjoy, and Happy World Card Making Day!

My Three-In-One

I just got my copy of the October/November 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine. And what to my wondering eyes should appear -- but my three Halloween Treat Boxes, plus four Sgro Holiday cards filled with good cheer!

That's right! This is the very first publication in which I have more than one project -- and I have THREE in this one! My loyal readers will recognize two of the projects. The first is my trio of Halloween Treat Boxes. They made their original debut on my blog last Halloween.



The second is my trio of Paint Chip Tree Cards. I was surprised by how popular these simple cards turned out to be when they first appeared on my blog last November. Hmmm... I believe that was about the same time that I started lurking in the paint aisle of my local home improvement stores. Coincidence? I think not!



My final project is new to my blog. The editors of Paper Trends contacted me back in June and asked me if I would like to be a part of their "1 Sketch, 4 Styles" feature. (Would I!!!) I call the resulting design my "Holly and Snowflakes" card. This is a very easy card to recreate, as I used a premade card base and just added some embellishments. (Full details in the Oct/Nov 08 issue of Paper Trends.)


Happy (Early) Holidays, Everyone!

More Happy Holidays!

And a Happy Halloween, too!

I just found out that my Halloween Treat Boxes and my (in)famous Paint Chip Tree Cards are both going to be featured in the October/November 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine! Woo hoo! That's TWO in one publication! A first for me...

I'll give you a heads up when the magazine hits the newsstands. In the meantime, I do have to remove both projects from my blog. So sorry! But I promise to re-post them in December!

My Trio of Halloween Treat Boxes

As seen in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of Paper Trends magazine!

Here they are! These are the Halloween Treat Boxes that I created for Paper Crafts magazine message board's daily challenge. I had lots of fun creating these cute, little boxes using various digital kits and the Chinese Takeout box template from PackageTech.com.

I created this box using the October Orange Kit from Two Peas in a Bucket. I finished it off with a length of black velvet ribbon from Michaels Stores.







This one uses the Treats from the Streets digital kit from ScrapStreet.com. I added some yellow ribbon from SEI's Kaboom collection and attached it with black brads from Making Memories.

I designed this last box using the Harvest Spice kit from ShabbyPrincess.com. I decided not to add a handle on this one.



Finished Size Approx. 2.5" x 2.25" x 2.5", exclusive of ribbon. More pics in my online portfolio

Trick or Treat!

Created using Adobe Photoshop and elements from the
Shabby Fall and Harvest Spice digital kits from shabbyprincess.com.

Happy Halloween everyone! Today I'm hosting the daily challenge over on the Paper Crafts magazine message board. Would you like to join us? Here's the info...

I hope you're not all Halloween'd out, because today's challenge, should you choose to accept it, is both a TREAT and a TRICK.

Here's the Treat:
Create a Halloween Treat Box out of a Chinese Take Out Box.
You could do it by decorating one that you already have (I know the craft stores around me sell them) or you could take one apart to use as a template. Or you can use this template that I found online by PackageTech.com:
www.packagetech.com/chinese-takeout-boxes.html
(Scroll to the bottom to find the blank templates and instructions.)

Now here's the Trick:
Use at least TWO digital elements, when decorating your Treat Box.
You can use ones that you already have, or choose from these Free Digital Kits that I found online:

From Two Peas in a Bucket*:
The October Orange Kit (about halfway down the page).

From ScrapStreet.com*:
Treats from the Streets or
Falling into Fun.

From shabbyprincess.com:
Shabby Fall or
Harvest Spice.

* Note that Two Peas and ScrapStreet both require that you sign in or create a free account to download their kits.

If you don't have a working printer, you can just do the Treat part of this challenge. But I'm trying to encourage everyone to try something new, like using digital elements, in their paper crafting.

Please join me in doing this challenge! No prizes or awards, just trying to get our creative juices flowing and thinking outside of the box. (Or thinking about and making a box, in this case...) I will post my own creation(s) later today. If you would like to see your Treat Box on my blog, feel free to email me a photo. I would love to see what you all do!

Happy Halloween!
Angela