Inspire Me Fridays 118 - Anything Goes!

Welcome to this week's Inspire Me Fridays linky party!

Thank you to all who share their creativity here each week! I hope you'll find many projects to inspire you! 

Inspire Me Fridays features...

Happy Birthday Matey! - Joy's Life

Aye Matey, time to celebrate!

How adorable is that pirate? 

When I saw the free cart, Pirates & Mermaids, offered the other week in the Cricut Craft Room, I just had to cut him!

...and, of course, Joy's Life had the perfect senitment stamp to compliment him! 

Joy's Life stamps- You're So Punny set,
Stampin' Up cardstock, dimensionals,
Washi tape, Memento ink,
 Stampin' Up - Itty Bitty Backgrounds 

Do you play with the weekly freebies in

the Cricut Craft Room?

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I wrote this post while designing for Joy's Life.

Center-Seam Gift Card Holder - Joy's Life

Welcome to this month's 

Joy's Life

blog hop!

This month we'll be focusing on birthday cards using various folding techniques!

I created a center-seam gift card holder.

paper- MME Lost & Found Breeze, kraft cardstock
stamps- Joy's Life (Tag You're It ONE),
Cricut - Plantin SchoolBook cart, <tag1> page 78,
twine, Memento ink, Ranger embossing powder

Check out my super fast technique to create 

pennants for your card banners HERE!

Starbucks, anyone?

Joy's Life stamps
"enjoy"- Sweet Popsicle Puns set
"Happy" - Holiday Occasions set
"Birthday" - Everyday Occasions set

This is a super easy technique and works with ANY size card.

Cut your card base to your usual height, 

for the width add on two inches.

I cut a 5½ x 10½ card base.
scoring @ 4¼ and 6¼

with the center seam pointing downward (creating a valley)
tape around the edge as shown.
This will create a pocket inside your card.

I used a Stampin' Up window punch
to notch out for the gift card.

Thanks so much for hopping with us! 

Your next hop stop is Laura, 

she has a really fun fold to show you.

Enjoy!

full hop list here!

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I wrote this post while designing for Joy's Life.

Inspire Me Fridays 117 - Anything Goes!

Welcome to this week's Inspire Me Fridays linky party!

A big thank you to all who share their creativity here each week! I hope each of you have an opportunity to look through all the awesome links, comment and follow some new friends!

Inspire Me Fridays features...

Canning Pickled Red Beets - Printable Recipe

My very first canning experience, many, many years ago was with beets! It's super easy! 

We usually plant Detroit Dark Red beets. The recipe for pickling & canning beets is rather simple but can be a bit messy, if you're doing large batches you may want to wear rubber gloves.

Pickled Red Beets

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

35-40 small beets, unpeeled

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 cups vinegar

any of the following spices, if desired.

1 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

1 teaspoon allspice (optional)

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1 teaspoon whole cloves (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash and trim beets, leaving 2 inches of stem and the tap root to retain color while cooking.
2. In a large pot, cook unpeeled beets until fork-tender, do not overcook. 
3. When the beets are cool enough to handle, yet still warm/hot, *slip-off the skins.
4. Return beets to a clean large pot, keeping small beets whole and cutting larger beets in half or quarters.
5. Add sugar, water, vinegar and any spices, if desired, to the large pot of beets.
6. Bring to boil, simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Working quickly, spoon hot beets into hot jars and pour enough hot liquid into jars to cover beets, leaving 1 inch head space.
8. Wipe rim of jar clean, place lid and ring, hand-tighten.
9. Process in boiling water bath for 12 minutes.
10. makes approx. 6 pints or 3 quarts.

*To slip-off skins, grasp beet in fist and squeeze. The skin should easily slide off, this is the messy but fun part!

Personal note: I do not add any spices during the canning process, I wait to see how I will be serving them to add addition flavor.

Maria Matter @ Five Simple Things

I enjoy pulling these deep red darlings off the pantry shelf over the holidays to serve with pickled eggs!

Do you grow red beets in your garden?

Do you 'put-up' food for the winter?

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Inspire Me Fridays 116 - Anything Goes!

Welcome to this week's Inspire Me Fridays!

Won't you join us, link up & share!

Inspire Me Fridays features...

Zucchini Bread Gift Set - Joy's Life

It's Zucchini season!

This wonderful summer squash is rather prolific in our neck of the woods, though I can never have enough! We enjoy using it in many of our recipes, one of which is baking bread for our family & friends.

Here's a fun idea for a gift set.

I baked a few mini bread loaves, while they were cooling I cut out my kraft boxes using Carolyn's free template here (pdf). When the bread had cooled I gently wrapped them in wax paper to prevent sticking.

The bread boxes were a perfect fit. Next came the paper doily and baker's twine along with a faux-chalkboard tag for embellishing.

Joy's Life stamps
from the set TAG YOU'RE IT set one!

the tag

I cut a simple tag using black cardstock, stamped my Joy's Life sentiment with SU! white Craft ink then heat embossed it with Ranger's white embossing powder. To give it a chalkboard effect, I smudged SU! white Stampin' Pastels over the surface. 

Hubby made me a mini-size cutting board which I decorated with vinyl using my Cricut- Going Places cartridge. Just a little something extra for fun!

I'll be sharing a few favorite zucchini recipes soon including my super easy bread!

Do you enjoy using zucchini in your recipes?

Do you grow it in your garden?

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I wrote this post while designing for Joy's Life.

I shared today's project with -

DL.Art Thankful Thursday,

Project Inspired

Inspire Me Fridays 115 - Anything Goes!

Welcome to this week's Inspire Me Fridays link up!

Thank you for sharing your creativity with us each week to help inspire others!

Inspire Me Fridays features...

Love you Forever Wall Art - Recycle

Hubby & I celebrated our anniversary a few weeks ago, this was my gift to him.

An overall easy project though a bit time consuming.

It all started with some used cherry kitchen cabinet doors.

I cut out my words on my Cricut die cutting machine, using Magic Cover self-adhesive shelf liner. Shelf liner, rather than vinyl, is a much less expensive choice when you're using it as a mask that will be thrown away when the project is done.

After positioning the words, I painted the entire cabinet door with Krylon satin spray paint. When the paint was dry-to-the-touch, I removed the self adhesive words and cleaned up the edges of the letters with my X-Acto knife. There were only a few spots where paint had 'seeped' in and it easily came off when I gently scraped it.

Then letting the cabinet door dry well overnight, I distressed it  

with sandpaper.

I added an embossed carved wood piece to embellish it a bit but couldn't find one in a matching cherry finish. So after painting it white I sanded off the high spots and sponged on some Ranger Distress Ink to compliment the worn look of the cabinet door.

I really like the rustic look and it will look perfect hanging over my hubby's night stand when we are finished with our bedroom makeover.

This Randy Travis song was stuck in my head the entire time I worked on this project!

Have you created any DIY projects with recycled items?

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I shared today's project with -

DL.Art Thankful Thursday,

Project Inspired

Inspire Me Fridays 114 - Anything Goes!

Welcome to this week's Inspire Me Fridays link up!

Thank you to all who share your creative talent with us here each week!!

Inspire Me Fridays features...