So my friend saw the card I made for Freddy and he wanted one too.  Who knew there was a market for hockey cards hahah.  Blair plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning and he's from Canada.  Apparantly he loves moose (but more to hunt them then to color them in with Copics).  I wanted to make it a little bit more simple than Freddy's card, so I just went ahead and Sure Cuts a Lot the Tampa Bay Logo and and matted it.

I colored Hockey Riley in using their Jersey colors and fussy cut him out.  I stickled the ice and added glossy accents to give it an icy feel.  I cuttlebugged the black mat with diamond plating and used a charcoal card base.

Here's Blair in action

All the hockey shots I found of Blair made him look really funny.  I actually prefer him in his suits.  For his sake I'm going to post one of those.  Ignore the beers.

So I'm in Fort Myers for a bit. Just wanted to share a card I made before leaving.  One of my baseball players hurt his back during a game and so I've been spending the last couple of weeks in ER's and doctor's offices.  Our orthopedic spine specialist has been great so I wanted to show him my appreciation by making some cookies and a card.

So Sick Riley has been getting a lot of play these past couple of days!  I colored him in using the South Alabama colors, and I used Sure Cuts a Lot and Cricut to cut out South Alabama's logo.  The Sentiment is printed out and the grey cardstock is cuttlebugged using the Argyle folder.  Simple as always.

My baseball player got his MRI and the doctor's were surprised that he was walking and standing let alone playing baseball (he sat out for the first time in 4 years because he couldn't run).  His herniation was so big that he's the first patient he's had in 20 years that was standing, let alone walking, without surgery.  Keep our fingers crossed and Jake in your prayers!  He's the toughest kid I've ever worked with.

So, we're currently on the road again for the weekend...which means that I spend most of my days in a comfortable hotel room or watching a baseball game.

Unfortunately it means that I'm not getting in much crafting in.  Before I left, I was able to get a quick and simple card in.  (Editor's note:  In actuality, I totally forgot it was my sister-in-laws birthday last Saturday, and had to whip up a card quickly and pop it in the mail!)  It was a quick card I made using my Gypsy/Cricut and the Create a Critter Cartridge.

My sis-in-law loves birds so I usually make her cards themed around that.

Nice quick card, just cut out the little birdy with the little accessory nest that came with it.  Slapped it on some patterned paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby awhile back.  I couldn't center it for the life of me.  I finally gave up and kept repeating over and over the mantra "If it was supposed to be perfect, I would have just bought a card from Hallmark...if it was supposed to be perfect..."!  Happy Birthday was stamped with a Papertrey Ink Stamp off of Birhday Basics.  That's about it!

I figured I'd throw in another old creation since I won't be posting in awhile.

For Halloween, Topher and I decided that we wanted to carve an unconventional pumpkin.  Now Hedgehogs are kind of one of our favorite animals (up there with moose).  So we took the the create a critter hedgehog cute and cut him out at about 5".  We glued it on to the pumpkin face, carved the outline, and started cutting away!

 

 

Yes indeed we used the Cricut tool set as our carving utensils.  Topher got a little messy while carving the feet.  We cut out the nose, eyes, smile, and body and with the face and feet, we thinned the walls to let the light shine through.  

Here's our finished product lit up!  The hatchmark is since we took the picture through the screendoor, hahah sorry!  

 

 

Quick card I whipped up for my friend Aaron who is sick.  I met Aaron at a Miss Taiwanese America event, and we've been friends ever since.  His happiness and joy for life just radiates everywhere.  Unfortunately, he's come down with pneumonia, which is especially critical since Aaron has muscular dystrophy.  Luckily, he's was discharged yesterday after being in the hospital for a week.  I fiddled with the look of this card for a bit, and made it during batting practice during our baseball game haha!

 

I used the sick Riley stamp and colored him in with E33 and E37 for shadowing.  

I cut him out using the mini-monograms cartridge at 4 1/4" and the center cut.  I was nervous since it was my first time trying to cut in image out as opposed to stamping on a pre-cut piece!  It came out fine.  It seemed a little plain with just one Riley so I figured...what could be better than...TWO Rileys!  

Sorry I don't have any pictures of coloring in the second Riley (Flowers Riley) and added the mini sentiments from papertrey Ink.  I glued these Rileys on blue mats (also cut out from Mini monograms) and added a dollar bin ribbon.  I cuttlebugged part of the yellow background with spots and dots and the base is papertrey ink in white ( I LOVE the heft!).  The inside was stamped with a wood block stamp I got from a pack at Michaels.  

Here's a pic of Aaron and myself!  I hope he feels better!

 

Chocolate Rum Cake anyone?   So while we were in a baseball tournament in Arizona, I had a little slice of rum cake that made me crave the Tortuga chocolate rum cake I had during my Caribbean cruise.  I couldn't get it out of my mind when I we got back to Mobile, so I found an easy recipe on Allrecipes.com.  It got rave reviews and seemed so simple!  Here's the link to the recipe.

I tried making it on Mardis Gras (which is a big deal down here), but all the liquor stores were closed!!  I got a chance on Wednesday and whipped up a quick one.  I couldn't find a bundt pan so I used an angel food cake tube pan I found at Walmart.  

I used golden rum as opposed to white rum just to give it more punch, and I made twice the amount of glaze since the cake didn't seem as moist as I would have liked it to be.  For the second batch of glaze I used brown sugar as opposed to white sugar and I loved the deeper molasses flavor it gave it.  

I had problems with getting the glaze to soak in evenly (especially in the middle) despite making two batches of glaze.  I think next time, I'm going to poke some holes throughout the middle before pouring the glaze to help with the absorption. 

 

Here's a slice of the cake paired with some So' delicious vanilla coconut ice cream (MY FAVORITE).  

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the finished cake out of the pan.  It was boring looking (but the real reason was because I was too busy cutting into it and devouring half the cake myself to take a picture!)

I felt so guilty eating half the cake myself in a day, I brought it to the baseball field the next day to ease the guilt.  They devoured it and loved it.  Guess I'll be making it again soon!  I'm about to invest in a nice bundt pan!

Just a little thank you card to thank Topher's Grandparents for sending me their trademark bran muffins and a birthday card for my birthday!  I love them so much and are the quintessential grandparents from New York that you see in the movies!  I've been trying to be a little creative on my layouts while keeping them simple.

So I used the Farmer Riley and Sophie stamp for this card.  Colored them in with Copics, here are the ones I used

For the antlers and hooves, then the ones for their faces

For their clothing, the belt and piewere colored in with E59 and E35 I believe, and the pitchfork and piepanwith my Sakura Jelly Roll Pen

Initially I was planning on a darker and more vibrant green color palette (mainly greens and yellows).  But I found the plaid pattern paper (no idea where it came from) and I thought how lovely it would be and it kind of matched Sophies shirt. Thank goodness I don't get too uppity about colors needing to match exactly.  I cut out the circle from the pale green paper at 4 1/4" from Mini Monograms and then cuttlebugged it with the Bird and Swirls folder.  Matted everything on brown kraft paper and then again on some light blue paper.  I cut the little "bran muffin" from the create a critter cartridge.  They are so yummy toasted and with some butter.  The sentiment is stamped with brown versafine ink and was a wooden stamp set purchased from Michaels one day when I was trying to build up my stamp collection.  

The base was flimsy Recollections white cardstock so I had to reincforce wht inside with another layer of brown cardstock to give it some stiffness.  I printed out a sentiment on the plaid paper to give it some interest and tie it back in.  Not so crazy about it, but it's ok!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I'm a little late in posting this I know....the sad thing is that I'm even later in sending this to Topher!  He'll probably end up getting his valentine's day card in April by the rate I'm going.  So Topher is now down in Ft. Myers for Spring Training.  He's working in the front office with the Boston Red Sox.  To celebrate his new job I made him a little Red Sox Card, Riley included!

I chose the Sweetheart Riley and cut out the little note that he holds on the left.  I used the Sure Cuts a Lot Software and cut a Boston Red Sox logo and had him holding that instead!  Riley is popdotted up along with the Red Sox "B".  The white background is cuttlebugged with the argyle folder and then matted on a Boston red mat.  I added a strip of baseball paper and then sandwiched it between two strips of blue paper.

 

I also made Topher a more traditional V-day card using more traditional colors.  

The little paper stamps were actually from some patterned paper I got from Michaels several months ago.  I cut each one out and matted each on their own little pink mat.  Tried to space them out as evenly as possible.  I then cut out a label....I have no idea where I picked it out from (I seem to forget more often now that I've gotten a Gypsy).  I stamped the background using this dollar bin stamp I have using Tim Holtz Red Brick Distress ink.  Then I stamped the I love you sentiment (I think another dollar bin buy).  I chose a grey background to masculinize it up a bit more and of course cuttlebugged it with my favorite folder of the moment, the argyle folder.  I used plain white cardstock base just because I wanted to keep it from getting too frou frou.