I logged on to SCS tonight to check out the colour challenge, and found a post from Emily, the hostess looking for someone to host the challenge tomorrow, and I said YES! (Really unlike me, BTW). So I had to throw together a couple of quick cards using the colour combo of my choice (Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, and Soft Sky), and this is what I came up with:











Supplies: Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky (SU!), Basic Grey; Ink: Noir, Burnt Umber (Palette); Stamps: Hero Arts, SU!; Rik-rak, copic markers, ticket corner punch, corner punch.

Here's the card I made for the Blog Hop Challenge, in case I was chosen. It turns out I wasn't, but I had a lot of fun making this card anyway!

Nichole provided a printable PDF with little squares of patterned paper, and you were to do anything you pleased with it. I simply cut them out, adhered them to a couple of mats with dimensionals, stamped on one of the squares (using PTI stamps) and voila! Thanx for looking!

It's my birthday today. I turned 31 years old. I am the kind of person (always have been and hopefully always will be) that looks forward to my birthday, and LOVES getting older. It's not that I want life to hurry up, it's just that every year I get older, my life gets better. I can't wait to see what this decade holds in store for me.. Here are some shots from today. I went with my fiance and my son to Historic Fort Langley and strolled into a hat shop.. I LOVE this store, and wish I could have bought all of the hats I tried on, but only ended up buying one.
Enjoy!

These are some projects I completed over the last couple days. This first card is Beate's weekend sketch challenge. My fiance asked me to make a card for a friend who just found out she and her hubby are expecting.. I said I would make a new one, it's a good excuse to sit down and make a card, right?
Supplies: Basic Grey Paper; Stamp: Inkadinkado; Ink: Pallete -Noir; Ribbon: May Arts; Flower: Prima; Marvy Punch; Copic Markers.

This next card is a CPS60 sketch. I think it looks a little Christmas-y, but what are you gonna do? I don't have a lot of small punches, so I used the Creative Memories cutting system to cut the inner circle, and a cuttlebug die to cut the flower it's mounted on.
Supplies: Papers: Basic Grey "Infuse", Bazzill; Stamps: Memory Box, Sassafrass Lass; Ink: Palette "Landscape", Versamagic "Jumbo Java"; Ribbon: Amuse.





"One Little Word's" challenge this week was to use the word "BEST" in a layout. Lately I haven't developed many pictures which has literally forced me to scrap the events that have gone unscrapped. Maybe when I actually run out of pictures I will start ordering prints again...

The blue scalloped section is stamped using a new set from Gel-a-tins. Aren't they gorgeous images??

Supplies: Paper: Bazzill, Basic Grey, Making Memories; Gel-a-tins stamps; Ink: Versamagic "Charcoal"; Chipboard letters and shapes: American Crafts, EK Success, Making Memories, Basic Grey; Brads.


The inner pages of this Bind-it-All book were scraps from wedding invitations my best friend and I were cutting out the other night. I had about 50 pages, and I thought it would make a cute little fat notebook. I love my Bind-it-All!!!

Supplies: Paper: PaperSalon, bulk chipboard; Chipboard shapes and letters: American Crafts, Making Memories; Bind-it-All coils.

I've been hopelessly addicted to the Food Network for probably 3 or 4 years now, and when I say addicted that means YES, I even watch it when I'm on the treadmill at the gym. The great thing about watching all of those cooking shows is that it's given me the confidence and tools to create my own dishes. Most of the meals I cook for my son, my fiance and I are "Tobi Creations" and it just thrills me to no end to taste and serve the final product. If you will indulge me, I will share some of my more successful recipes with you here! So here's recipe #1

Chipotle (pronounced chip-POAT-lay) Yam and Potato Salad

Ingredients:
20-30 small potatoes (I used organic Reds)
1 large Yam
1 Yellow Pepper, diced
1/2 Red Onion, diced
1/4 Cup Italian flat leaf Parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Chipotle Flakes, chopped Garlic

Cooking Directions:
Cube potatoes and yams, and throw them (carefully) into a large pot of salted, boiling water. Cook until tender, drain, and run cold water over them to stop the cooking process and keep them from getting too mushy. The yams will be quite soft and will eventually blend in with the mayo, but I like my potatoes to keep their shape. Let cool.
In a warm frying pan drizzle in 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Add to that the garlic, onions and Chipotle flakes. When onions are close to being tender, add the peppers. Cook the contents until the yellow peppers are slightly browned. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer contents to a mixing bowl. Allow the mixture to cool. Once it's cooled, add the mayo. Taste the mixture, at this time I added more Chipotle, but it's up to you how much FIRE you want...
Combine all ingredients (including half of the parsley) until well incorporated. Season to taste and garnish with the remaining parsley. Cover and refrigerate to let flavors combine.

Let me know if you try this recipe out!! Enjoy!

This is layout on canvas (actually two separate canvases) that I designed for a class I'll be teaching in May. Because I had nothing to mount it to you can't tell that the little piece on the top (that has the words in parenthesise) is actually a small canvas. They are meant to be mounted slightly separated on the wall.

I used all Making Memories products, and stamps are by Fontwerks and Gel-a-Tins. Hope you like it!