Happy Birthday Irma!

We love you,

Aimee, Bebsy, and Virna

1. Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one. ― C.S. Lewis

Craftmates at Crop & Create

The Craftmates spent a whole weekend at the Crop and Create event in Markham, ON last March 1st to 2nd, 2014.  Aside from paper craft projects, the girls spent some much-needed bonding time just to catch up, share a few laughs and even [over] indulge in high-calorie fare.

We want to share with you a photo gallery of the event. Thanks to Craftmate, Irma for always capturing every occasion through photos.

Craftmates first major event for the year

Maria and friend stopped by to say "hi".  She peaked at our blog a couple of time and immediately recognized us.

Busy bee's crafting away in a sea of pink pompoms

Craftmate table #10

Virna and her projects

Aimee & her projects

Irma, the paper craft guru, and her projects

Bebsy and her projects

Craftmates has their ponchos on - Thanks to Virna!

Prizes and giveaways galore during the event - Bebsy won a paper package

The weekend is for indulging!

Temptations all around - craft supplies were for sale during the event!

Table of prizes - Craftmate Virna really wanted to win the craft organizer bag



Enjoy your week!

 

happy new year!

Happy 2014 everyone!  Things had been crazy busy around here and hence the lack of blog posts in the past weeks (but rest assured, I have been squeezing in some crafty times in between so I have projects to share in the next coming days!).  We just had our last holiday get together for the season yesterday and we hope to get things back to normal soon.  School (and work) start again tomorrow so we are trying to settle in.

One of the highlights of our Christmas season was our DD performing as a mouse in her ballet school's production of the Nutcracker.  She couldn't be more excited about that (and so was I!).  Of course, I had to make a layout of her backstage preparations (I have yet to order the official photos).

I used a lot of my Simple Stories' SN@P cards for this page.  I also used Papertrey's patterned paper and smokey shadow ribbon and an October Afternoon button.

Here's a close up of the journaling.  I am also linking this to Leigh Penner's Pages with Papertrey challenge here which is to use a ribbon on your layout.  

Close up of the photos... I love how she looked so happy and "in the zone" on these photos!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday celebration.  I leave you with some photos from Craftmates' merry celebration. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Garlic Fever

"There is no such thing as a little garlic." - Arthur Baer

My love affair with garlic started with my first taste of "Adobo", a "garlicky" dish staple to any Filipino home.  Incidentally, as I was writing this blog, my mom who is visiting, prepared this delicacy for lunch. 


Mom's version of Chicken-Pork Adobo loaded with garlic - YUM!

Mom won't always be here to prepare Adobo for me.  So on days when I need to satisfy my garlic craving, one quick way is through roasted garlic.   Roasted garlic can be enjoyed by itself or as a topping for mashed potatoes, bread or pasta. Here is one recipe from Elise Bauer who posted her idea at Simply Recipes. 

To my delight, September is proving to be the month of garlic...at least in my neck of the woods.  The Stratford Garlic Festival starts tomorrow and runs until Sunday in Stratford, ON.  Next weekend, the Niagara Garlic Festival will be held on Saturday, September 13th at Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.   And on September 22nd, the Toronto Garlic Festival will take place at Evergreen Brickworks in Toronto, ON.  These festivals help promote local garlic growers and producers of garlic. 

For those interested in free tickets to the Niagara Garlic & Herb Festival, email me (or craftmatesetc ^@^ gmail.com, if link doesn't work) with your address, # of people attending, and I'll mail out the tickets to you.  Or, if you prefer, pick it up at the admissions tent on the day of the festival.  Note that the free tickets are limited so they are on a first-come-first-serve basis. 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Lavender Shortbread

I still have a "hangover" from the Lavender Festival...I can still taste the lavender-infused delights!  One of the delectable desserts I sampled during the event was lavender shortbread.   To satisfy my craving, I experimented with my traditional shortbread recipe and added a dash of the culinary lavender I got at the festival.

Culinary lavender from NEOB

Shortbread batter rolled up into 1" balls



The delicious smell of freshly-baked shortbread and the aroma of lavender filled my kitchen



I can't wait to devour the shortbread, garnished with a sprig of lavender cuttings (also from the festival)

Do you have an original recipe using essential oils and ingredients such as Lavender, Peppermint, Rosemary, Lemongrass & Orange?  Then join the Food Fight for Foodies contest for a chance to win 1 of 4 fabulous prizes and an opportunity to be featured in a leading Niagara magazine.

 



Enjoy your weekend! 

 

Craftmates at the Niagara Lavender Festival

The day was just perfect for an outdoor picnic.  That is exactly what happened when the Craftmate Virna joined me at the Lavender Festival last July 13-14, 2013 at Niagara on the Lake, ON.  Family and friends stopped by to help out, peruse our wares or just to say hi.

 

Festival attendees stopping by Craftmates booth

 

Family and Friends helping out the Craftmates' booth

 

Craftmate Irma's stationery

 

Craftmate Virna's bookmarks and purses.  Virna's hubby Louie also showcased his multi-tiered tea plates.

 

Louie's terrariums and vertical gardens were a hit!

 

True to its promise, the lavender festival was a feast for the senses.  The festival was held outdoors in the lavender fields so purple hues abound.  As well, the exhilirating scent of the blooms filled the air.

What a beautiful backdrop to our booth!

Lavender in full bloom

 

Food infused with lavender and essential oils are available to taste and purchase.  Cooking demos and greenhouse tours ran every hour so there was no lack of things to do at the event.

A guest enjoying lavender waffles from a cooking demo

 

Long line-up for lavender ice cream tasting

 

The local culinary college was handing out samples of lavender soda water and rootbeer

 

Event volunteer Bonnie giving our lavender sconces and lemongrass popcorn

 

We had a wonderful time at the event.  See you next year!

 

 

Easter Cookies

Not too long ago, I attended a buttercream cake decorating class on a whim.  I managed to get through the 4-weekend course but I wouldn't say I was at the top of the class.  2 years and $200-worth of supplies later, I made my first attempt to decorate with royal icing.  I thought why not give out home made cookies for Easter instead of my usual store-bought chocolate?  After all, how different is royal icing from buttercream anyway?  Surely after my class and investment on materials, I am fully-equipped for the challenge.  HUGE MISTAKE!

After 3 days of trial and error, I was able to come up with a batch of half-decent cookies.  For the base, I followed the recipe from allrecipes.com and I have to say, the sugar cookies are indeed one of the best I have tasted.  I also went through several youtube videos and found this tutorial on decorating with royal icing very easy to follow.

I bet you are now curious as to how the cookies turned out.  Here are Aimee's easter cookies.....(I hope my teacher is not reading this)

Have a Happy Easter Everyone from the Craftmates!

The Craft Bug

If you are feeling creative lately, you were probably bitten by the craft bug.  March is National Craft Month in Canada and US.

 

National Craft Month was started in 1994 by the Craft and Hobby Association with the goal of reviving crafting.  A lot of arts and crafts businesses and organizations are offering free classes, discounts tutorials and contests such as below.

I already have projects lined up for the month.  I am hoping you do, too.

Happy Crafting,

croppin' and creatin'

We hope everyone is safe and warm following that historic snowstorm last Friday in the Northeast.  It would have been safer to stay home during the weekend, but all 4 of us dug ourselves out of our homes and braved the snow covered roads to attend Crop & Create, a special event organized by Scrapbook & Cards Today.  

This wonderful travelling event celebrates the art of paper crafting that features classes administered by the best teachers in the industry.  We also were treated to delicious food, a delectable dessert buffet, awesome makes 'n takes and fabulous goody bags!

It was a great opportunity to meet fellow crafters, share our stories and meet new friends. 

The event also featured inspiring challenges for the participants.  It was no surprise that our very own paper addict Irma won the Color Suite layout challenge. 10 snaps for Irma!!!

We highly recommend Canadian crafters to check out Crop & Create and see if this spectacular event is coming to your Province.  

Check out our photos below:

At the event photo booth

Bebsy with Kelly Wood, owner of big little words cards

Irma with Crop & Create instructor and blogger Kelly Purkey