I’m having trouble getting in the mood to make Christmas cards this year, because it’s nice and warm here in Florida! Not that I’m complaining!! I’m basically just using Graphic 45 papers this year, although I have to admit 99% of the flowers are made using Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies.
That being said, this is one of my more recent cards using “Joy to the World” by G-45.
Thanks for stopping by!
This is my favorite card so far this Christmas Season. It’s also my very first Santa themed card. This is a retired paper pad from Graphic 45, and unfortunately I could only find one 8” x 8” paper pad.
This involved a lot of “cut and paste” in an attempt to conserve paper. Luckily, I know how to make flowers and bows, so they covered up where some of the paper joins are.
So I made 6 little “wild roses” – the white ones, 2 red rosebuds, and then the full rose – all from Heartfelt Creations Classic Rose dies. Didn’t even bother to stamp them, but I did gloss them up a bit.
This is the inside of the card – the paper pad has two entire sheets of these little “stamps”, and the stamp was found at a local craft store several years ago.
Thanks for stopping by….it’s almost the weekend, so I’ve gotta get back to the craft desk!
It’s officially pumpkin spice season! Temperatures here in North Florida dipped down into the 60’s (brrr!) and this girl went looking for a cozy blanket and Hot Chocolate! My sweetheart has been saying for a couple of weeks now, “isn’t it time for pumpkin things?” and I kept telling him, “no, no, it’s too hot out!”
Well, it’s time! As you may remember, my recipes are not totally carb free, but are a lower carb version of the foods we love. I won’t bore you with the photos of the mixing bowl and ingredient, because if you follow this blog, by now, you are well aware of what the packages look like. So I will just skip to the recipe. One thing I have to say about the recipe for pumpkin bread that I really love, is that you can basically measure all your dry ingredients with a 2/3 measuring cup! I love doing things in groups of 3 and 6 – my swim workouts seem to always be sets of 300’s or 6 of something, and when I arrange flowers on my cards or cakes, they are generally grouped in sets of 3 as well. (Just call me goofy, won’t be he first time!)
RECIPE
2/3 cup butter flavored Crisco
4 eggs
1-1/3 cup granulated sugar
1-1/3 cup Golden Lakanto Monk Fruit
1 can (15-16oz) Libby’s canned pumpkin, 2/3 cup water
1-1/2 tsp salt. 2 tsp baking soda. 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon. 1 tsp ground cloves. 2/3 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1-2/3 cups King Arther flour
1-2/3 cups Almond flour
Heat oven to 350°F, grease two 9×5 loaf pans well. Mis Crisco, eggs, Monk fruit and sugar well, until smooth. Mix all the dry ingredients except the nuts, together in another bowl, and gently fold the mixture into the wet mixture, until all is well blended. Finally add the nuts, and then pour into your loaf pans. Bake almost exactly 60 minutes at. 350°, and then turn he oven off and leave the pumpkin bread in the oven another 10-15 minutes to set. Take out of the oven, and cool about an hour, and then flip the pans over so bread is loosened from the pans. Serve warm, or wait and eat at room temperature.
For a special treat, you can also make some sweet cinnamon butter to smear (thinly, because you don’t really need any extra sweetener – but it will make your pumpkin bread almost seem like Cupcakes.
RECIPE FOR CINNAMON BUTTER
8 oz softened butter or margarine
3 Tbsp Lakanto monk fruit (or less)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Stir and mix well, serve on Pumpkin Bread, Banana Bread, or Baked Sweet Potatoes.
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy low-carb baking!!
Can you believe it’s already mid-September? How did that happen?!! I don’t know about other people, but I need a head start on Christmas, especially if I’m going to make it “hand made”.
One thing that seems to have fallen out of favor in the past 20 years or so, is Christmas Cards. It used to be that everyone sent Christmas Cards, and it was a scandal if they arrived late. Then people started to feel like, “better late than never!” and shortly after that people started sending the family brag letter along with the Christmas Card – the more creative of them would also put photos on the page, with cute little captions, like (and this was one of my favorites) “Future CEO of Crayola” showing a picture of their child creating yet another masterpiece. Mass produced, of course. Now it seems like you are lucky to get an electronic Christmas message, if old friends and distant family could be bothered to do even that.
It’s my personal philosophy that this should be the year of the card. The CoVid-19 Pandemic has forcibly separated friends and family, and many people have been pushed out of their old jobs, or forced into working from home, so depression is at an all time high. What better way to cheer someone than with a thoughtfully made, beautiful Christmas Card?
One additional blessing of the Christmas Card, is the economy. I know supplies cost much more than they used to, and I know postage is certainly expensive, but compare the cost of $5 postage and the priceless contents of a lovingly made, and usually quite unique and individualized Christmas Card with the cost of ordering some generic T-shirt or whatever from an on-line merchant — you’ve saved money, satisfied your creative urges, and cheered the heart of the recipient, probably much more than that T-shirt would. (Unless it’s a teenager, then all bets are off, lol!!)
Today I’m sharing with you two of my first of several Christmas Cards. I’ve used Graphic 45 paper (Joy to the World), and some hand crafted poinsettias (Heartfelt Creations), glossed them up with gold foil and glitter, and here you are.
I hope you are all inspired to at least go to Hallmark this year, buy a card or two if you don’t feel up to making it yourself, and write a personal note to the ones you love. Get started now, time really flies this time of year!
Thanks for stopping by…..
My Celestial Creations 