SO THE OTHER DAY...

I was poking around a few websites looking for some scrap-inspiration. When I stumbled across a page made with the Merry and Bright QK font.

And I thought to myself..."Essie - you have those fonts! Why haven't you used them?"

So this weekend I cracked open the cute silver boxes and started foaming the dies. That was when I realized that we get quite a few questions about foaming QK Cookie Cutter dies. So I cleared off my table just a bit, turned on the overhead light and took a few pictures to document the process for you!

FOAMING COOKIE CUTTERS 101:

supplies - unfoamed dies, sticky backed foam (that comes with the dies) QK Revolution (or other machine that accepts QK dies)

I start by separating my dies into upper and lower case piles, numbers and punctuation go in another pile. This way I know that I have all of the pieces before I start.

Step 1: Remove the backer paper from one piece of foam and lay it down in front of you STICKY SIDE UP.

Step 2: Start fitting your dies onto the foam, BLADE SIDE DOWN. With larger dies...like this Merry font...you can nest them together all nice and snug. With smaller fonts (think Lemonade) I suggest leaving a bit more room - it makes the Step 7 much easier!

Step 3: When the foam piece is full, lay it on the magnetic platform of the Revolution FOAM SIDE UP. Remember, when cutting, you run QK dies through their machine FOAM SIDE UP. You do the same thing in the foaming step.

Step 4: Next, I find I have the best results if I lay a piece of paper over the uncut foam. It seems to be that cutting both the foam AND the piece of paper sets the foam down into the die. So, for ease I just use the piece of backer paper that I removed from the foam in Step 1.

Step 5: Place the QK Cutting Mat over the stack of dies, foam, paper - and turn the handle to cut!
Step 6: On the other side, out will come the cut backer paper...

 and the foamed dies, which are now stuck to the magnetic platform.

Step 7: Gently lift one corner of the foam and unstick it from the platform. Usually, this step will leave the foamed die on the platform, but sometimes it will lift the die as well. Just press the foamed die out from the foam, and you'll be good!

Step 8: Continue peeling, sticking, layering, spinning and popping. Soon your entire font will be foamed and ready to use.

My own final steps include placing my foamed Cookie Cutter Dies into a Magnetic Storage Binder (all of the Merry and Bright letters, numbers and punctuation fit into this one binder!)

and cutting out the name of the font for the front flap of the binder

I LOVE having the font on the front of the binder, because when my girlfriends are here scrappin' they can quickly see what fonts I have available for them to use!

IMPORTANT NOTE: If by chance you would be doing the above steps while drinking a glass (or two) of wine, you may inadvertently perform one of the steps backwards. Or upside down. I want to show you what happens IF this would happen to you...

I performed Step 3 upside down...JUST SO YOU COULD SEE what might happen. I did not have the foam side up - I laid the foam directly onto the platform. So when I ran everything through my Revolution, the blades were pressed into the platform. While it did indeed cut the foam just fine - it permanently etched the platform. If you look closely - you can see that I did this more than once, JUST SO YOU'D KNOW WHAT TO AVOID!

Moral of the story - foam your Cookie Cutter Dies in the middle of the afternoon to avoid the Wine/Foam/Platform snafus.

Any other questions - just let us know.  Mr. Doss and Ms. Laura are headed to Houston today for the Creating Keepsakes Convention there this weekend. This means they have left Sweet Justin "in charge".  Lord help us all!

So go check out some of the incredible QK Cookie Cutter fonts and shapes. The fontDiesel was just released yesterday! Let us know what your favorites are but then get ready to expand that list...because CHA is in just a few weeks!  And rumor has it - it's going to be amazing!

Behave yourselves!

BIRTHDAY BANNERS, BALLOONS...

and blow-outs.

You know, as in candles on a birthday cake!

What a big day today - birthday wishes from all over the country for Ms. Laura. At first she was oh-so-slightly upset with me. You see, she prefers that no one knows when her birthday is. She actually told me that she would prefer the day come and go without any mention.

Then of course, I pointed out that HAVING a birthday sure as shootin' beats the alternative!

You know, as in NOT HAVING a birthday!

And then we had cake. And doesn't cake just always make everything better!

And while this recipe was handed to me on my 15th wedding anniversary, by my mother-in-law, with the pinkie promise never to reveal it to a living soul until it is my daughter's turn - I decided this morning WHAT THE HELL! And I don't use that word very often...so I must have really meant it!

So after 7 email requests, 1 blog comment AND a notation on an internet order today...

ESSIE'S DOUBLE CHOCOLATE TEXAS SHEET CAKE

2 C flour
2 C sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 sticks margerine
1 C. water
3 T. cocoa powder
1 t. cinnamon
2 eggs, well beaten
1 t. baking soda
1/2 C. buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, look in your cookbook for making buttermilk with milk and vinegar)
1 t. vanilla

Measure and combine flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a saucepan, mix margerine, water and cocoa. Bring to a boil and pour over flour and sugar mixture. Add cinnamon. In another bowl, put eggs, soda, buttermilk and vanilla. Add to above mixture and mix well.

Bake as follows @ 350°:
3 8" layers - 20 minutes, or until just set in middle
2 9" layers - 20 minutes, or until just set in middle
10x15 sheet cake pan - 25-30 minutes, or until just set in middle
jelly roll pan - 20-30 minutes, watch closely, until set in middle

For round pans, cool slightly and then remove to frost.

FROSTING
3 T. butter
1 T. milk
2 T. hot coffee
3 T. cocoa powder
2 C. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt

Combine with mixer, softened butter, milk and hot coffee. Add cocoa and mix well. Add powdered sugar and stir by hand, until ingredients are well blended. Then beat very hard! Add vanilla and salt. If the frosting is a bit too thick, add additional coffee 1 T. at a time to make it spreading consistency.

Now - if my mother-in-law finds out that I've posted this...I'm going to claim temporary insanity and blame all of you. I don't handle peer pressure very well.

This really is a lovely cake. It is also a very rich cake...so when I serve it I slice the round cake into SIXTEEN equal pieces. Great for crowds!

The only problem with this cake is transporting it. This pure-sin-in-a-pan makes any car smell heavenly. So much so, that when I had to stop at my third traffic light this morning, I couldn't resist. I had to just sample just a teensie-weensie corner. I mean really, it was the smart thing to do. I couldn't serve cake to my co-workers not knowing if it tasted perfect. Could I?

So this is how the cake looked when I arrived and set it out at the warehouse...

I don't think anyone noticed. If so, they didn't say anything.

Heck, their mouths were full of cake - who could speak?

So let them bake cake I say! But it's a secret where you got the recipe. And if you're ever at a church pot-luck in the midwest, and a prim and proper woman pauses after taking a small nibble of your cake...reflecting on how similar it tastes to her own...run like the wind. OKAY?

Behave yourselves!

MONDAY MADNESS...

has hit like a locomotive!

Why is it that you never hear about the "have to haves" for school - until breakfast is over on Monday morning? When we just spent all weekend together, with plenty of time to get those things done?

Is it just me - or is it a common "mother" issue that everyone deals with? If it's not common, would anyone like two teenagers to train in a more appropriate manner. Really...you can have either one. But the combined set would be preferred at this point. One of them doesn't eat very much - and they both are pretty good scrapbook material.

You think about it - and let me know. Alright?!

Okay - next subject.

There is a rumor floating around these parts. The rumor goes something like this..."it's set to arrive today". And I'm very excited!

IT being the big, huge, much-anticipated blue-and-white QuicKutz boxes. Those boxes containing all of the Valentine/Love dies - AND the dies for tomorrow's release. Oh be still my heart! Have you SEEN the new Valentine goodies that QK released? They are lovely. And have you seen the new release for tomorrow...OH WAIT...you've wouldn't have. I got a sneakie-peak from Mr. Doss because I asked really, really sweetly. Let me just warn you - you are going to love them all! The ______________ die is going to be awesome for so many different uses. And that collection of __________?? Absolutely adorable! I can't wait to get my hands on them! All of them.

Wait until you see some of the ideas that I've sketched up - totally cute!

And speaking of QK dies - I've got a quickie little tutorial ready to load up. It's on foaming QK Cookie Cutter dies. I always get questions about doing this step - and really it's pretty easy. But I've photographed the steps and written out instructions...now I just need to load it here for all of you to see!

But I have girlfriends to meet for scrappy time this morning!

So after I get home. I promise!

Happy Birthday to Ms Laura - I'm pretty sure she's twenty-nine today. Just a youngin' in my book! Best wishes dear - I hope the family treats you right today. I hope it's a day to remember!

Off to pack my totes...I shall return!

Behave yourselves!

It's that time......

of year again!

That's right it's SHOW SEASON! Who is ready for some nonstop shoppin' and croppin'?!

I know we are! CKC Houston (brand new to the CK circuit) starts January 18th. That's one week from today! Don't worry though, tickets are still available. But you better hurry, because classes are filling up fast! Click on the photo to see exactly what all is going on!

Do you need some extra cash, or some new product for your supply stash? Well you are in luck...send us an email with "weekend-booth-girls" in the subject line, and you just might find yourself a temporary member of the awesome Scrap-Mart Team!

Also (this is mainly for our Houston readers) if you know of any great places to grab some delicious, non-national-chain food, we'd be interested in that too! LOL! Drop us an email with your suggestions! THANKS!

And finally ladies, be sure to check out our Bosskut sale which ends on Monday (Monday just so happens to be Laura's birthday, so be sure to wish her a happy...um...twenty-ninth!) Hurry and make those final selections - because the orders are flying out of the warehouse!!!

Justin

OH LOOKIE HERE...

Justin lives, breathes, blogs AND offers sales!

See - he lives up to his name - Sweet Justin. He does have other nicknames - but mentioning "Stud Muffin" and "Scrap-Baby J" probably would get me in trouble.

And really, I do prefer to stay out of trouble!

Now ladies, let's talk about this sale that he mentioned. BossKut dies rock my "stay-at-home-scrapper" world! I cut some of their shapes out last year for the first time - and when I was done, the heavens opened up and I heard a chorus of angels singing my name!

(Actually, the sound was similar to a warning siren - as in "ohhhhh Essie, do you need more dies??....." - but it was definitely a song. And definitely from above. Although, come to think of it, the Mister is considerably taller than me....hmmmm....)

But I digress!

Personally, I run my BossKut dies through my Revolution machine. Works great, spit-spat, just like that! And now, with this sale - I may be in trouble! A lot of these dies are large. A lot of them have two-dies to assemble into the final shape. Some that I was most excited, and most in love with include...

the Dog House It is much bigger than I pictured. And oh-so-cute when accented with a few black pen lines!

the Curious Dog is simply adorable - and is again bigger than I first thought. He looks perfectly appropriate sitting next to the dog house...especially if you poke a tiny silver brad through his collar to look like his license tag!

and the Haunted House was one of the most popular Halloween shapes last year! It is very big, is a two-die shape, and looks amazing with black Stickles all along the roof lines! And the sale price is only $9.75. If you are going to try ONE DIE to see the quality of BossKut dies - get this one! I wouldn't lie to you! You'll love it!

and finally, my most recent acquisition is the Pirate Flag. Anyone who loves Pirates of the Caribbean, has been to Disney or has a child that is always on some kind of a treasure hunt - this is the die for you. It's cute and versatile...the two things I always check for when making new purchases! AND IT'S HALF OFF!

So go check them out - they really are all great. Those are just my personal recommends. If you were asking.

And you were - weren't you?

See, I thought so!

So thanks Sweet Justin for mentioning the sale. This sale ends next Monday, when we'll be celebrating Miss Laura's (store owner, married to Mr. Doss) birthday. I'm making my famous Double Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake for the party.

"Scrap-baby J" you're in charge of filling the punch bowl!

Have a wonderful afternoon everyone.

Behave yourselves!

Are You Ready......

for another SALE?!?!?!? Just when you thought it was finally time to wind down, prop your little tired feet up, and enjoy yourself, we bust out with another sale!

BOSSKUTS are now 50% off!!! Some of the fonts are on sale for 60% off!!!!

Not familiar with the Bosskut familia? Here is a little insight into these great looking dies!!!!

You Can use All of the BOSSKUTS in your Sizzix, Accu-Kut, Big Shot and the small machines like the ZAZ and SideKick are limited to Dies that aren't larger than 2 1/2 inches.

Quickutz dies will cut superbly in our machine, along with any other company that makes a similar die. Sizzlets will need an adaptor pad that will be sold separately to work with the Boss Kut.

So jump on over and feast on the great savings!!!!

Justin

HEY SWEETIE...

yes you!

Yes Justin...YOU!!

Don't you realize that when I'm too busy to post YOU are supposed to jump in here with an educational video, a great instructional PDF or some witty twenty-something observations?

Didn't you read the memo dear?

I'm really, really busy today. I'm scouring the internet looking for CHA sneaky-peeks.

And I'm doing 27 loads of laundry.
And I need to refill my adhesive roller.
And my ribbons need to be rolled and color-coded.
And I promised the Mister that the Christmas decorations would be put away by Wednesday.

You know that. Right?

The 2-page challenge ends tomorrow - - - should we make bets on whether Sweet Justin makes a page or not?? I know he's got a new fancy-schmancy camera.

But then, maybe the dear doesn't know how to match cardstock to DaisyD paper OR use a Revolution.

Yes-siree - that's most likely it. I think that means we have our work cut out of us ladies! We must take the opportunity to educate and encourage the young males of this great country...TO SCRAPBOOK.

Just think what a great catch a single-cutie-patootie-scrapbookin' guy would be!

(insert twinkling eye roll and muffled giggle here!)

Behave yourselves!