Grungy Monday #13

If you're looking for the Mad Tea Party post, it's the one below this one.

Hello, all! Today is Grungy Monday #13 over at Studio L3! I guess 13 is my lucky number because I was chosen by Linda to be a guest designer for this week! Guest designer along with me is Suzanne Bouchard. I can't tell you how excited I am to be doing this! I love all things Tim Holtz! This week's technique uses Tim Holtz's Adirondack Alcohol Inks. Here is a a link to the technique on the Ranger Ink website: Tim Holtz Demos Adirondack Alcohol Inks.

Since I am mainly a scrapbooker, I created a scrapbook page with this technique. Here is my take on this technique. I created the background for my page.

Time layout. These are three photos of my eldest daughter at three points in her life; as a baby, a youngster, and when she graduated high school. Time does fly! I used the Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink technique on glossy paper (12 X 12). The alcohol ink colors I used are Bottle, Denim, Sail Boat Blue, Lettuce,Purple Twilight, Eggplant and Silver. I matted the photos with black and turquoise cardstock. And I used various clock and time stamps with Archival Ink to make a pattern. I added some ruffled trim that I used Lavender Fields Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist on, some Webster's Pages velvet ribbon, a Prima rose, a Petaloo flower, Thickers in Lullaby, and a Tim Holtz clock and game spinners.

Here is a close up of the background with the flower cluster and title.

For more techniques, products, and information, please visit Tim Holtz at http://www.timholtz.typepad.com.

Mad Tea Party 2011

Hello, all! And welcome to the tea party! Every year the Mad Tea Party is hosted online by the fabulous Veronica at A Fanciful Twist and this is my second year participating. As most of us who participate in the Mad Tea Party, I love all things Wonderland! This annual blog party gives me the perfect excuse to throw my very own tea party at home! So me, my two daughters, my son, and a couple of friends of theirs sat down to tea and we all invite you to join us. I'll be sharing photos of the table decorations and food, and the recipes (that did not originate with me) for the treats we are offering.

This is my dining table all decked out in Wonderland splendor and loaded with so many foodie goodies!

These are a few of my tea pots, each with its own tea. We have Earl Grey, English Breakfast, and Green Teas here.

Another view of some tea pots and chess pieces.

Eat Me mini cupcakes. Four different flavors to satisfy every one's tastes: lemon, strawberry, red velvet, and chocolate.

Would you like jam on those cupcakes?

We have some Darjeeling tea in this tea pot.

My eldest daughter, Jane, and her friend, Hannah, enjoying some tea.

My son, Scott, and daughter, Kassy, enjoying some cake and sandwiches.

Golden Afternoon Lemon/Strawberry cake. This was made with boxed strawberry cake mix and store-bought lemon icing piped with a star tip.

Bread-and-Butterfly Pineapple Cream Cheese Sandwiches. I used rye bread for these but I think white bread would have been a better choice.

Bread-and-Butterfly Pineapple Cream Cheese Sandwiches

3/4 cup soft butter

1 tsp cinnamon

20 slice of bread (your choice)

1 1/2 cups soft cream cheese

1/2 cup pineapple, finely chopped and drained

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Combine the butter with the cinnamon and spread over 1 side of each slice of bread.

In a small bowl, cream the cream cheese, if necessary, and stir in pineapple and nuts.

Spread the cream cheese mixture over 10 slices of bread and top with the other 10 slices. Remove the crusts, if preferred, and cut each sandwich into 4 squares of 3 fingers.

Humpty Dumpty Deviled Egg Sandwiches. If you love deviled eggs, you'll love this sandwich!

Humpty Dumpty Deviled Egg Sandwiches

3/4 cup soft butter

20 thin slices of bread (your choice)

5 hard boiled eggs

2 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tsp mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste

Spread 1 side of each slice of bread with butter.

Place the eggs, mayo, mustard, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper in a food processor. Whirl until a spread is formed (I used my potato masher instead). Add more mayonnaise, if needed, to bring it to spreading consistency.

Spread the mixture on 10 slices of bread and top with the other 10 slices. Remove crusts, if preferred, and cut into squares or fingers.

More Pepper Chicken Salad Sandwiches. These were a favorite, so you might want to make a double batch!

More Pepper Chicken Salad Sandwiches

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp ground black pepper (I used more, hence the name)

2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (I used the kind you can find in a can)

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

1 stalk celery

bread of your choice

Place almonds in a frying pan. Toast over medium-high heat, shaking frequently. Watch them carefully, as they burn easily.

In a medium bowl, mix together mayo, lemon juice, and pepper. Toss with chicken, almonds, and celery.

Spread the mixture onto slices of bread and top with other slices of bread.

Very Merry Un-Pickled Sandwiches. Just another name for cucumber sandwiches, lol.

Very Merry Un-Pickled Sandwiches

2 medium size cucumbers

1 tub whipped cream cheese spread

shaker of dill weed

1 packets of dry Italian seasoning

your choice of bread

Peel cucumbers and slice thinly. Set aside.

In small bowl, stir together cream cheese and dressing mix; mix well.

Using a butter knife, spread the mixture onto the slice of bread; a very thin layer of this mixture is enough.

Lay one slice of cucumber in the middle of each bread (I laid four slices in the four corners of the bread and then cut them into squares). Add one shake of dill weed. One or two small shakes is enough.

Top the slices of bread with other slices and cut into squares. Remove crust, if preferred.

Here is Mr. Hedgehog taking a break from croquet.

The red queen; it's your move.

This is a playing card centerpiece I created for this event.

All Ways Are MY Ways Cake. This is the Queen's favorite recipe for cake!

All Ways Are MY Ways Cake

1 Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (I used 2, 1 box, amounts of water, oil and eggs for each layer - I have a very deep heart baking pan)

3/4 cup water

1/3 vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 container (6 oz) Strawberry Greek Yogurt ( I used one to mix in with the batter and used another to layer in between the layers)

1 container  (12 oz) Whipped White Frosting (can be store-bought)

3/4 cup frozen (thawed) whipped topping

10 fresh strawberries (I used more, because Hey, It's MY Way!)

2 tbsp of mini semisweet chocolate chips

Bake 8-inch rounds 27 to 32 minutes, 9-inch rounds 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool at least 10 minutes, then remove the cakes from pans and put on cooling racks. Cool completely.

In medium bowl, add frosting; fold in whipped topping.

On serving plate, place one cake, rounded side down. (I spread strawberry yogurt over top of the layer) Spread with 1/3 cup frosting almost to the edge. Cut about 5 strawberries into slices and arrange on the layer. Top with second cake, rounded side up. Frost sides and top of cake with remaining frosting. Garnish with about 5 halved strawberries in the center of the cake. Sprinkle chocolate chips around the outside edge of top of cake. Store loosely covered in refrigerator until ready to serve.

The inside of the delicious, delectable, and delightful All Ways Are MY Ways Cake.

It seems the Mad Hatter left his hat on the table. All the tea and cake must have been distracting!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you had a good time and filled yourself with tea, cake, and sandwiches. It was wonderful having you here. Don't forget to stop and smell the roses....

If you become a follower or an existing follower, please add that with your comment. I will be doing a random drawing on July 1, and announce the winner here. The prize will be a whole lot of scrapping and crafting goodies! Please check back to see if you're the winner and contact me. The winner will have 2 weeks to email me at forevervampress@aol.com , his or her address or will forfeit the prize. Thanks for visiting and playing along!

Scraps of Darkness June Reveal

Hello, all! Been a while since I've posted anything. Sorry about that! I have been working on layouts but they are for different GDT's and challenges that I can't post yet. But today is the 15th and you know what that means! This month's reveal for Scraps of Darkness! The 15th is probably one of my favorite days of the month because I get to see all the DT members' work with the month's kit. I find such inspiration in all of their pages! I hope you do, too!

This month's kit is called Welcome to the Jungle and is full of Bo Bunny Zoology papers, warm colors, and beautiful flowers and foliage! I love the leopard prints in here! This kit is awesome for your zoo pics, and if you're like me, you have a ton of them. Or you could use it for anything jungle themed or on the wild side!

Scraps of Darkness June Kit - Welcome to the

June's Scraps of Darkness Sketch by Charlotte (suepup)

Tiger Cub layout. This is my take on this month's sketch. When I saw this striped orange paper, I knew I had a perfect picture to go with it. This is my son when he was a couple of months old, wearing Tigger pajamas that belonged to his big sisters before him. I cut around the tiger shape on the paper and added layers of cardstock behind him to frame the photo. I hand cut the large black circle and added Stickles in Paprika. The black flowers are Prima Button Blossoms in steel and the orange ones are from Petaloo Flora Doodles Bristol collection. The chipboard pieces are from Dusty Attic and Art Parts by Weny Vecchi, painted over with Peeled Paint Crackle Paint. I used some vinyl Thickers for the title and Lime Green Stickles for the tiger's eyes.

Wild Animals layout. I had fun creating this background paper using the cardstock from the kit and some stencils and stamps that I had in my stash.  I also used Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, and Peeled Paint Distress Inks, Jet Black Archival Ink, and a brown Sharpie marker. I used a grass Fiskars border punch, Thickers foam alphas, a Petaloo Darjeeling flower, and a Bo Bunny Zoology cameo. I used a sketch from the Bo Bunny Sketch Challenge for this month, as seen below:

Bo Bunny June Sketch Challenge

Walk on the Wild Side layout. These are my favorite shoes! I love the leopard print on the inside and the red plaid on the outside with black leather ribbon across the front with the rhinestone buckle! I used the leopard print paper for this one, black and red cardstock, bling from my stash, and Christmas Red Stickles. The title is two different Thickers styles and some Christmas Red Stickles. I used the Twisted Sketches sketch #105, with no twist.

Twisted Sketches Sketch #105

Ferocious Feline in Training layout. This is my niece's new kitten, Ariel. Isn't she so sweet?! I thought this paper would be cute for pictures of her and I did some stitching, tearing, and distressing to show kittens' mischievous behavior. Everything is from the June kit except for the feather flowers, which are from a different Scraps of Darkness kit. I used a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays, seen below:

Sketchy Thursdays Sketch for July's GDT Challenge

12 Layouts of Alice - Layout #4

Hello, all! I am here to share with you a couple of layouts I created for some challenges; the Skeletons in the Closet challenge over at Scraps of Darkness, which was to listen to the song "Iris" and scrap whatever you felt while listening to it; and my very own Steampunk challenge over at scrapbook.com (This one is barely on time since today is the last day of the challenge but I really wanted to share it.) This page is also for my series of 12 Layouts of Alice - Layout #4, based on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas.

Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2010 - Tag # 4.

Good To Be Queen Layout. This is my layout based on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2010 - Tag #4. I found the image of the Queen of Hearts on the Internet by an artist called CVY. The throne is from a stock photo. I added lots of glam and glitz for this one, along with the gears and jewels.

Hidden Layout. This page is for the Skeletons in the Closet challenge at Scraps of Darkness. The challenge was to scrap what I felt when I listened to the song "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and we weren't allowed to use a personal photo. This image is by an artist called ScarletGothica. The song reminded me of all the hidden feelings I had as a child and how someone can have something tearing them apart from the inside. I used my Now and Zen kit from Scraps of Darkness and some flowers I had in my stash, along with liquid pearls and Scarlet Glimmer Mist.

Stalker Challenge and 12 Layouts of Alice #3

Hello, all! I've finally had a little time to sit down at my desk and scrap! And here are a few layouts I want to share with you for various challenges. This first page is for the Stalker Challenge over at Scraps of Darkness. The challenge is to scrap your favorite artist and I chose Katy Perry. She is ONE of my favorites because her songs are so much fun. It didn't hurt that this photo of her went perfectly with this month's Scraps of Darkness kit - Now and Zen! Lol!

Katy Perry Layout. I completed this page for the Stalker Challenge over at the Scraps of Darkness forum and this is the artist I chose. I find her songs fun to listen to. Everything on this, except for the Thickers title, liquid pearls, leaves, and Stickles are from the May Scraps of Darkness kit - Now and Zen. I went Mist Crazy with this one and used Lindy's Stamp Gang Mists in Alpine Ice Rose, Delphinium Turquoise, and Witch's Potion Purple. I also used Shimmerz paint in Wed Wagon. The purple flowers are form Petaloo and the purple crystal trim and the birds are from Prima. The leaves were cut out from cardstock from the kit, misted with Ranger Perfect Pearls green mist and had Stickles dots placed on them. This page is also for the Alternative Challenge over at scrapbook.com which had a twist of using paint.

Seafaring Layout. This page is for the Monochrome Challenge at scrapbook.com for Ruby Week this month. I chose this awesome paper from the DCWV paper pack - Nantucket. I used some flowers, brads, and Thickers that I have had in my stash for over 6 months. The photos are of the lighthouse in my home town and a pirate ship that docks near there.

Jabberwocky Layout. This page is for the Darker Side Challenge I host over at scrapbook.com. This month's theme is poetry and I used the Jabberwocky poem from Alice in Wonderland. This is also for my 12 Layouts of Alice and based on Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2010 Tag #3, the Monochrome Challenge Emerald Week, the ABC Challenge, and the Technique Challenge. The flowers are made of vellum using the Tim Holtz Tattered Roses die. The tree is cut out using my Cricut Expression and the October 31 cartridge. The moss is from a previous Scraps of Darkness kit.

~*~Scraps of Darkness May Reveal~*~

Hello, all. First of all, let me say how sorry I am that I have not been around for the past couple of weeks. I've been going through a tough time with home and school, and have not been myself lately (I didn't even scrap for the longest time, if you can believe it!). I think I am starting to get back to normal, so that is a relief. I have decided during this time that my blog posting format is a bit too much for me so I will leave off of posting Monochromatic Monday, Tea Time Tuesday, Whatever Wednesday, and Steampunk Saturday on a regular basis. I will post on this blog in a more random manner, at least until I can get on a better schedule. Thank you for your understanding.

Okay, now on to the reveal! May's kit from Scraps of Darkness is called Now and Zen and full of gorgeous Asian-inspired pattern papers, bamboo sticks, miniature fans and parasols, and a lovely array of rub-ons and chipboard!

Now and Zen Scraps of Darkness May Kit.

Eva Layout. This is my take on the May Scraps of Darkness Sketch created by Charlotte aka Suepup. The photo is of my BFF, Eva. When I saw these papers I immediately thought of her since she is of Japanese descent. She is one of the most beautiful people I know as well and so it seem fitting to scrap her picture. The fans were my favorite pieces to work with from this kit because they are so unique and fun! I misted them with a variety of colors: Worn Lipstick Distress Re-inker, and Witch's Potion Purple and Delphinium Turquoise Mists by Lindy's Stamp Gang, then stamped a design with Jet Black Archival Ink. The flowers were cut out of cardstock with my Cricut Expression and the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge. The flower centers are some pearl embellishments from the kit.  The birds and bamboo are also from the kit. The birdcage is from a past SOD kit and the title letters were printed out from my computer and covered in Purple Stickles.

Close Up of one fan from Eva Layout.

Yum Yum Layout. For this page, I used photos of one of my favorite foods: the Cream Cheese Sushi Roll. I thought of using these photos because of the tea set on the paper. I used a variety of flowers, jeweled chopsticks, pearl embellishments, and chipboard from the Scraps of Darkness May Kit for this page. I also used Purple Stickles, one handmade flower, and purple cardstock from the kit to mat the photos.

Close Up of Yum Yum Layout.

Lotus Blossom Layout. For this page, I decided to use a photo of the tattoo on my BFF's back which is a Lotus Blossom. The tattoo has special meaning for her and I think it is a beautiful piece. I fussy cut some of the May kit's papers and used Witch's Potion Purple Mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang and Tattered Angels Lavender Fields (from my stash) to color the birds and flowers purple. I also used some Dusty Concord Distress Ink to make one of the papers more purple. The chipboard letters and scroll frame are from the May kit as well.

Geisha Layout. I had seen this photo on the Internet before and thought it was breathtaking and wanted to use it for these papers. The only problem was that I wanted to use red paper and there was none in the kit. BUT there was a beautiful sheet of pink paper... so I took that and painted over it with Scarlet Glimmer Mist and paired it up with some black cardstock from the kit that I stamped and embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Gold Embossing Powder and Distress Ink Embossing Ink. The flowers are a combination of cut outs using my Cricut Expression and some Petaloo flowers from my May kit. The metal charm came in the May kit as well. I just added the fan pieces to it. The gold fan was originally white but I colored it with embossing powder and covered it with rub-ons and brads. The Thickers title letters are from my stash. The bamboo leaves are cut from the green cardstock from the May kit and colored an antique gold and outlined with Gold Stickles and dots of Christmas Red Stickles.

Close Up of fan from Geisha Layout.