Vodka Pickles

I've had this recipe in my phone for a year and with having some leftover cheap vodka from making vanilla, I decided it was time to give it a whirl. I haven't cracked open one to actually taste them and I probably should before I post the recipe. I'll post an update after I have tried them.

Here is the recipe if you want to whip up a batch.

Vodka Pickles

Cucumbers

6 cups of water

1/3 cup of canning salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 ½ ups white vinegar

1 up vodka

Garlic clove

½ teaspoon of dill weed

Wash cucumbers.

In clean jars add garlic, dill weed and cucumbers.

Boil water then add salt, sugar, vinegar and vodka.

Pour over cucumbers and seal jars.

Have I gone too far?

After have too much fun cutting out the flowers for the brooches, it got me wondering what else I could do with the aluminum cans that have been accumulating.

And so I started cutting .....

and cutting .....

And more cutting.

Now I'm sure I have you wondering, what in the world is she going to do with those and that a very good  question.

Toh Doh!

Are these not the weirdest, funkiest cards you have ever seen?

Flower Pins and Repurposing

I've been having so much fun making these cute little brooches out of aluminum cans.

I start out with my dies and an aluminum can.

This one is a special request that someone wanted red, white and blue with a clip on the back.

I run it through my big shot and out comes the cut flower.

This particular die from Fun Stampers Journey is retired but they can be made with other flowers dies as well.

E6000 glue is crucial, I can't craft without it. All glue is not created equal, trust me.

The one on the right I call Big Bertha.  I used all four flowers dies, I thought it might be a touch to large for most people so I made most of them using the three smallest dies.

Some of the brooches have clips and some have pins.

I have found that older people like the clips as it's much easier to get on and off than a pin.

Here are a couple I made with another die.

I've been playing around with the new Pan Pastels and oh boy are they ever fun.

 Now if I was artistic these would look super, but since I'm not, I think they turned out fine, good enough to give out to my customers.  The pictures really don't do justice.

The last of my table scraps

This concludes my table scraps session.  Now I can move on to some sun new stuff.  Yahhh

Leftovers

Ah yes, the dreaded leftovers or what I like to call table scraps.  It's everything leftover from one of my classes or just a day of crafting. Well, this time I had an excessive amount and rather than scoop them up and shove them in a tote I decided to just deal with them head on.

First of all, let me just say some of the cards worked out better than others.

And just in case I left you wanting to see more, no worries, my table is cleaned off yet.

Fun Stampers Journey event

These are the projects from my most recent event. This card is in honor of my sister when tossed out clothes at the airport in Arizona so she would have room for some free fruit.

It comes from the set, Make Lemonade.

This is such a fun set.  We fussy cut around the lemon and glass, then added journey glaze to the ice cubes and dots and minis for extra dimension.

This little guy was stamped and cut out using the Opps stamp and die set. The glaze was once again used for a few of the bubbles in the background and to glaze over his eyes.

This card was colored using  the Pan Pastels then topped off with the die cut from the Persian die set.

This comes in a two piece set but if you cut your cardstock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 you don't have to use the outside frame.

And lastly this funky monkey card was made using the new silks. It looks lake nail polish and for this technic we spread it on an acrylic sheet and spritzed  it with water. Everyone got a totally different look depending on how much water was spritzed. With a tiny bit a practice a watercolor look can be achieved.

Fun Stamper Journey

My daughter and I went to a Fun Stampers Journey Event in Bloomington on Saturday and had more fun than a barrel of moneys.

There was music, dancing, snacks, prizes and a wonderful meal. We came away with some fantastic ideas.  I'll be using a couple of the ideas for my next event at my home in a couple of days, so stay turned there will be more on that later.