American Girl Doll House

This was my daughters Christmas gift from us, it was six months in planning though only four weeks to build and decorate. It is two feet deep, eight and half feet long and seven feet tall.

The kitchen appliances were from eBay and they are from the 50's.  My husband and father made the island and the cabinets hanging are from Hobby Lobby.  The hanging lights are for lockers, I used Velcro to secure them.

I stamped the walls with a stamp set from Close to My Heart.  The bed was a brass bed I painted, and the dresser was from Hobby Lobby which I painted and covered with paper.  The desk my husband made.

Made to look like Kit's room from the movie.

The floor was painted to look like tile.

The bunk beds Jeff and I made a few years ago for Emily.

I recovered the sofa and chair.  Jeff made the fireplace and the bricks I made from egg cartons.

1.I will update later with more pictures.

Dotty for You National Scrapbooking Month

There are 3 ways to
get yours:
Place an order of $35 or more in products from the Spring/Summer 2012 Idea
Book between April 17th and May 31st, and add the Dotty for You paper packet for
just $5.
Host a Gathering with a sales totoal of $400 or more (excluding tax,
shipping/handling, and Operation Smile donations) between April 17th and May
31st, and receive a Dotty for You paper packet FREE.
Join Close To My Heart as a new Consultant between April 1st and May 31st
and receive a Dotty for You paper packet FREE.

24 Cards

I made three cards from each of the new paper packs from CTMH. I used three background and texture 6x6 pieces of paper from each paper pack and coordinating cardstock. To get the most out of my papers some of the die cuts are cut from a section of paper which is covered up by another piece. These three cards are from the Stella collection and the stamps are also CTMH. The die cuts are Spellbinders.

Pemberley

Lucy

Two different versions of one design. Diecuts are from the

CTMH AP cartridge.

Footloose

Victory

Florentine

Card on the right I used a Martha Stewart Punch the others are from the CTMH AP Cartridge.

Superhero

Superhero and Cruisin'

Love Birds

CTMH retired paper, birds from the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.

Christmas Cookies

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tbsp softened butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar (maybe more)

3/4 cup brown sugar (maybe more)

Pretzels

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions Combine peanut butter and softened butter in a large bowl with a fork or whisk, or in a stand mixer. Add the sugars and mix to combine. At this point if the filling will roll easily into balls without sticking to your hands you’re ready to go. If not, add a little more of each sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll (I used about 3/4 cup of each sugar).Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling. Roll each portion into a small ball, then sandwich them between two whole pretzels. When all the balls are rolled and successfully sandwiched, stick the whole tray in the freezer for about half an hour.Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally until completely melted. Remove the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer and quickly dip each half-way into the melted chocolate. Return to the tray and repeat with remaining sandwiches. When all are dipped, return the tray to the freezer to set up completely. Store the sandwiches in the refrigerator until serving time.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the recipe check out here:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/mint-chocolate-chip-cookies/22bebeda-ea36-441a-9909-ae78409d6da6

Swirled Chocolate Mint Layer Bars

2 cups finely ground creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

1 cup flaked coconut

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup chocolate mint chips

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in 13x9 pan in oven; remove from oven. Sprinkle cookie crumbs over butter, press. Sprinkl with nuts and coconut. Pour sweetened condensed milk over top. Sprinkle chips, press down slightly. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely.

Birthday Girl

Wings

A great thing about acrylic stamps is you can shape them. I used a border stamp from Wings which is straight but placed my block on top of the shape I wanted to stamp on. Then I formed my stamp to fit that shape, then ink and stamp.

Here is where I saved paper. My feelings are if you can not see it then you can use it for somewhere else.

Backside of the layout. This layout is from Close To My Heart's Magic found on page 28 and the paper, stickies and stamped images are from the Wings Collection. I would like to thank Myra Grodzuik for the idea of paper and stamp choices. The ribbon is new to CTMH it comes pleated but I ripped out the stitching and scrunched it, holding it in place with staples. I like to save paper wherever I can so these pictures show how I was able to save some paper.