I seriously can’t wait to share Lawn Fawn’s super cute designs with you, and I thought I’d start with a quick, belated valentine using Hello Friend. Okay, technically, I started with my Delish layout from a few weeks ago, which featured Lunar Lights. I was just so thrilled, I had to make something right away. (I know. Nerd!)

If Friends Were Flowers card recipe: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper; Patterned paper: Fancy Pants Designs; Sticker: Crate Paper; Stamp: Lawn Fawn; Ink: Stampin' Up!; Lace: Webster's Pages.

What a week! As most of you already know, Thursday the second was my last day as an editor at Creating Keepsakes. It was a hard decision. So hard. Anyway, I’ve gone back into software development, which is a huge, huge change. It’s so strange–I’m quickly re-engaging a part of my brain that’s been put into sleep mode since I finished grad school. And it feels so good, you guys. I had no idea it was going to feel this good. Isn’t life funny? I started in software development, started grad school, got the position at Stampin’ Up!, graduated, then took the job at CK. And now, here I am, going back to where I started (but with an awesome degree to back me up).

Even better, I get to still be crafty and creative and involved in the papercrafting industry–an industry I adore. I’ve made so many incredible friends through crafting that I never would have met otherwise. And in the last week that I’ve been at the new job, a few really fantastic things have happened. I’m so excited for what the next few months are going to bring!

Anyway, after work one night this week, I made a layout. Just for fun. Just for me. And I wanted to share it. ‘Cause that’s what we crafters do. Hugs!

Delish! recipe: Patterned paper: Webster's Pages; Stamps: Lawn Fawn; Ink: Stampin' Up!; Stickers: Sassafras and Studio Calico; Journaling spot: Studio Calico; Tape: Vintage Street Market; Brads: BasicGrey; Jute: Papertrey Ink; Pen: Mitsubishi Pen Co.

Sometime last March, I picked up the pattern for Amy Butler’s Stash & Dash bags. Super cute! I’d never sewn much more than simple lines before, but I knew it would come in handy sometime. Skills? Totally unnecessary, right? Hee!

Then back in November, I had the pleasure of going to Seattle with Megan for a Creating Keepsakes Convention. While we were in town, we stopped at Pacific Fabrics, a fabric and yarn shop in Bellevue packed with all kinds of textile-y goodness. Now, my mom is currently teaching me to sew, so I was a little out of my league surrounded by all those gorgeous bolts of fabric. But then, behind the counter, I saw the new Lotta Jansdotter fabrics. I’ve been coveting them since I saw sneak peeks on the Purl Soho blog. Kill me now! So pretty! And . . . perfect for my friends! I picked out four prints and happily hauled home about a half a yard each in my tiny overnight bag.

The combo resulted in a fantastic holiday gift for my good friends, Cyn and Mandy, and some fun time spent with my mom while making them. And bonus? New skill! What new hobbies, skills, and challenges have you guys been tackling?

From our house to yours, have a joyful holiday season.

December 25 card recipe: Cardstock, ink, and stamp: Stampin' Up!; Patterned paper: October Afternoon and Pink Paislee; Flashcard: Elle's Studio; Brad: Crate Paper; Baker's twine: Whisker Graphics; Lace: Girls' Paperie; Punches: Fiskars Americas and We R Memory Keepers.

Not only is Scrapbooking Holidays & Celebrations packed with ideas for the holidays, it features plenty of inspiration for scrapbooking birthdays, weddings, and new babies too! All those great moments in life that you want to celebrate.

Here is one of the fun layouts I had the pleasure of creating for this issue–it documents the moments right before my youngest sister’s wedding. I was in back with my sisters and the photographer, and Chris snapped these pics of my nieces and the setting sun with his iPhone. Totally scrapworthy!

Want to see a bit more of all the fantastic ideas in this issue? Take a peek:

CK is letting me have a copy of this issue to give away on my blog. Hooray! Just leave a comment here by Wednesday, November 23, and I’ll randomly select a winner.

Cheers!

Ashley! Thanks for reading and commenting, everyone!

Below is the cover, featuring a stunning layout by the talented Piradee Talvanna!

To give you a taste, here’s a sneak peek of a layout I created for the issue, featuring just one of the fun ways to use zippers on your layouts:

Want to see a little bit more? Check out CK’s sneak peek!

Creating Keepsakes has generously offered to give away one copy of Scrapbooking with Fabric & Notions to my blog readers. Just leave a comment here, along with your e-mail address so I can contact you. On or around Monday, November 14, 2011, I’ll randomly select a winner and post their name here by Wednesday, November 16. One entry per person, please!

For another chance to win, check out the Creating Keepsakes blog.

Good luck, and happy scrapping!
Kim

You Are the Best Card recipe: Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned paper: Lily Bee Design, My Mind's Eye, and Sassafras; Stamps: Paper Smooches and Papertrey Ink; Ink: Stampin' Up!; Paint: Clearsnap; Brads: Crate Paper; Sticker: Studio Calico; Punch: EK Success; Other: Patterned paper.

Look to Budget-Friendly Scrapbooking from Creating Keepsakes, for scrapbooking ideas for using the border punch I used on these cards. You’ll love the scrapbook pages Kelly Purkey and Shelley Aldrich created!

The base for this card is left over from a card of mine that’s featured in Paper Crafts’ Holiday Cards & More Vol. 6 special issue! I’m proud to be sharing page 47 with the uber-talented Maile Belles!

I hope you’re having lots of fun making cards today!

Okay, getting off the soapbox now, and back to pickles! In the August issue of Bon Appetit, there was an article about canning, complete with some delish looking recipes, like the one I used here for Bread and Butter Pickles.

While we don’t generally love sweet pickles, these particular ones promised to be both sweet, sour, and spicy, but not too sweet. I figured, well, we’d only have three quarts, so if we didn’t really care for them, we could easily give away three quarts and never use the recipe again.

You start by chopping up a ton of cucumbers and onions and covering the whole thing with salt and ice. Then you walk away for two hours.

Then it’s all about getting the vinegar, spices, and sugar boiling, then adding the cold veggies. Cook them for a bit, and then bottle them up. Place the bottles in a big stock pot filled with boiling water.

Make sure the water fully covers your bottles, but make sure you don’t have too much water either. Once the bottles were in, I had to scoop out a bunch of the water because I knew that when it got boiling again, I’d have water everywhere. Yikes! So out came about two cups of hot, hot water. I’m so glad Chris didn’t see me doing this. (Shhhhh!!)

Okay! Crisis averted. And now to bring the water to a rolling boil. Remember: do not start your timer until the water is rapidly boiling again. And if you’re in Utah, you have to adjust your time for altitude (i.e., add 5 minutes). Then you wait, and nervously hope that your bottles don’t crash into each other and shatter.

Pro tip: Next time, add a clean dish cloth to the bottom of the pot to help keep everything stable. Yup.

Ding! Pickles are done! I turned off the burner and waited another five minutes for all the boiling to stop and for the contents of the jars to chill out. Lifting them out was a bit of a challenge because I didn’t have cool jar-lifting tongs. Again, I’m glad Chris didn’t see me screwing around with dish towels and regular tongs. But not burning myself for the win, right?

Pro tip: Get jar-lifting tongs.

And there you have it. Pickles! For the record: They’re spectacular. Bon Appetit comes through for us again! We’ve almost polished off a full quart of these babies.

Last weekend, I made dill pickles from our mountain of CSA zucchini. These dill pickles had to sit a week before you can taste them, to give them time to pickle and soak up the dilly goodness. They should be ready for a taste test tonight! Hooray!

Back in May, I promised my mom a knitted project for her birthday/Mother’s Day. Three months later, I finished this scarf based on the Branching Out pattern from Susan Lawrence, the same local designer who wrote the pattern for my Ragtop Gloves. It’s my first lace knitting project, and it took me some time to get going on it, but I’m happy with the result. I love the leaf-inspired pattern, and I think that it will block quite nicely. The pattern will become more defined. The scarf itself will be a little bit wider and longer. And the wool-silk yarn blend will become slightly less nubby. My mom loves lavender, so the color is just right. Hooray!

Branching Out Scarf
Needle size: 6
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool in Antique Rose
Pattern: Susan Lawrence

In progress:
Strafford Tee by Amy Christoffers
Sackets Harbor Pullover by Hannah Fettig