A House is Made with Walls and Beams...

(click to see the details)

This one is my favorite. I included lots of memories and bits and pieces from people I love.

See, told you. Those pics on the left? 

My first day of school way back in '79.

Brayden's birthday cake request and a letter from my Nana.

Note from my dad-in-law and the photo strip I printed for our 16th anniversary:

And here is a birthday message from dear friends of ours, mixed in with my quote.

This makes me really happy.

Linked up with:

Tatertots and Jello

Making the World Cuter

Sundays are for Swapping

It's that time again :-)

Kim finishes her needle-felted bracelet with a flower theme. 

Flowers and Art

June is sharing a recipe for Spicy Thai Peanut Noodles...yum! 

A Creative Dream

Eileen made a necklace and earring set using shells gathered on vacation and shares the directions. 

The Artful Crafter

A quick and easy Easter for the kids (and it uses up those extra egg cartons). 


Egg Carton Easter Bunny Craft

Cyndi has a copy of the wonderful new book "Endless Sparkle" that she is just dying to give away! 

Beading Arts

Laura shares tips from her secret stash of techniques and tricks! 

Taz's Corner

If Nothing Ever Changed, There'd Be No Butterflies - this mixed-media art piece was made using the bits of paper trash acquired during the weekend. 

Made By Nicole *This is me*

Second part of the canvas paper house Cherie is making for her aunt. 

Cherie Blogs

Weekly thoughts and Goings On

Barbara Moore Whimsies

The Most Important Trip...

It seemed like an appropriate time to post this in light of a possible government shut down tomorrow.  While our nation's leaders squabble like children in a play yard, military families will be going without pay. It's reprehensible.

But, instead of complaining about it, I'm choosing to use this political unrest as a concrete reminder of how important it is to meet people half way, to reach across the aisle, to find a middle path.

Here's the base; homework, a greeting from a dear friend, my fruit bouquet tag, a walmart reciept, a bit of a letter from my mom and a piece of a book jacket Brayden picked up for me at the library sale as he knows how much I love skulls... just the sort of meaningful flotsam that collects on flat surfaces:

I'm really in love with making art with these bits and pieces of my life. It feels infinitely more personal then buying the latest release from a trendy paper company (not that I don't like that too).

One of the best bits on this piece is how the sun is peeking out above the Eiffel Tower (normal enough) but it's also behind the suited skeletal drones. This sort of thing never fails to amuse me.

Cake # 11 Mocha Snacking Cake

I love snack cake. Passionately and without reservation. It has something to do with it's icing-less-ness. Yes, I'm making up words now.

The absence of frosting makes the cake seem almost virtuous and therefore increases eatability tenfold.

This cake is usually thick and dense but I decided to make individual Bundts

with half the recipe and pour the remaining batter in my beloved 7x11 pan. The mini-bundts were an absolute failure ( how on earth is a person supposed to get the cake to release from all those little crevices? I can't get mine to work ever!). So the above cake is half a cake... which is plenty when it's this freakishly delicious.

A word about the batter, I'm not a batter eater. I don't scarf cookie dough or dip my fingers in the brownie bowl. I like my baked goods cooked. With one exception - this cake batter (complete with raw egg DANGER!!!! *sarcasm*) it tastes like whipped heavenly mocha fudge. I'm powerless against it's siren song. Here's the recipe, please let me know if you make it, it's a favorite of ours.

Mocha Snacking Cake

2/3 C Butter, softened

1 ½ sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 2/3 C flour

¾ C cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 1/3 C strong coffee, cooled

Grease 8x8 pan with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla.

In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients.

Add to butter mixture alternately with coffee, start and finish with flour.

Beat until almost smooth.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 45-55 minutes.

Serve with whip cream, ice cream or powdered sugar...

Unless your married to my husband in which case you need to add something sweet to the top. In the spirit of Trying New Things I made Texas Sheet Cake Frosting. Yum. We barely used half the batch and I was freaked out over the whole "pour it on hot" thing. Wow! Delicious stuff.

Texas Sheet Cake Frosting:

1 stick butter

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

6 tbsp. milk

1 lb. box powdered sugar

1 cup chopped nuts (optional and avoided)

1 tsp. vanilla

During the last 5 minutes of baking your cake, measure butter, milk, and cocoa in a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring well.

Add sugar, nuts, and vanilla.

Mix well.

Pour hot frosting over hot cake and spread evenly.

Cool completely before cutting.

Mocha Snack Cake

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I'm adding a new button to my "Where's Nicole" page. My Recycled Storage Solution was featured on Jenny Doh's incredible Crescendoh Blog. I couldn't be more flattered. Thank you Jenny!

Also a big huge thanks to Hippy Chiquita for posting my paper flower tutorial.

If Nothing Ever Changed, There'd Be No Butterflies.

This project was conceived after a weekend of papers had built up on the ned of my kitchen table. I decided to Mod Podge them down to MDF boards and see where it went.

It ended up being a pretty hod-podge of theater tickets, frequent diner applications, letters, receipts, even a Michael's 40% off coupon.

Before:

After:

 Michael's 40% off coupon. See ~

The butterflies were made in a very old school fashion. I found a bunch of templates online and printed them at different sizes (100%, 75% and 50%). Then I cut them all out (very roughly, in squares) and glued them to a sheet of typing paper. I photocopied it, making myself a sheet of multi-sized butterflies. Next I printed it onto book paper. 

I brushed a few coats of Mod Podge on both sides of the book paper and after it dried cut out the butterflies. The Mod Podge made them sturdy enough to accept all the layers of paint, glitter, Pitt Pen ink, stenciling etc.

It also made them stand up nicely when layered:

If you have any questions about this technique please let me know.

~~~~~~~~

I finally was able to enter the Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything But a Card! challenge. Every single week I try to enter their challenges and something comes up. Hope I did it right *grin*

This is also my entry into this weeks Etsy Inspired Challenge. We were to pick a product from XS Baggage and Co Etsy Shop and I chose this iPad 1 or 2 Kindle DX Sleeve Case Cover in Twilight Moon: 

The butterflies and color scheme really caught my attention.

As well as my contribution to the Quirky Crafts Mother's Day Gift challenge. Good thing my mama isn't online so I can post it. She loves butterflies and glitter, hopefully this will make my junk mail/table papers meets graffiti a little more palatable to her :-)

Florida: Scrapbook Layout

I'm finally starting to scrapbook my photos from our trip to Florida.

It's really overcast today so the picture quality is poor. My apologies. With all the snow we've been getting, I'm happy to have merely dreary weather.

I used this weeks sketch from Pencil Lines:

Patterned Paper is by My Mind's Eye

Sundays are for Swapping

Rummage Sales for Craft Supplies 

Cherie talks about what to buy and what to skip at rummages this summer.  

Beading Arts 

Do you like copper and turquoise together? Then you're going to love this new tutorial that Cyndi wrote up for you! 

Creative Dreamer 

The March Creativity Invitation prompt is to create a journal page, and this month June has shared her techniques to create an entire journal... now she's giving that journal away. Come put your entry in!  

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 

Eileen shares directions for sewing a secret pockets hanger cover. This clever organizer can also be used to organize outfits.

Kim-Flowers and Art 
Kim makes a bracelet out of wool roving. Come see how !!

Laura - Taz's Corner 
Laura discusses the "art" of words

Made By Nicole  *This is Me*
You'd never guess this pretty spring wreath is made quickly and simply with ordinary paper towels.

Moore (Gourd)Whimsies 
100th Follower and a Giveaway!

Pirate Scrapbook Pages
Fun scrapbook idea for the pirate fan in the family.