Stendoodle An Ornament With Stencil Girl Stencils

Continuing on my quest to "Stendoodle" the world....here is a really easy and fun idea for making a unique ornament for your Christmas tree or to give as a gift.  I could do a week of Stendoodled ornaments but, with Christmas less than a week away, we will only do one. 

Supplies Used:

Stencil Girl Stencils - Circle on Circle (9x12), Circle 9 (9x12), Ray Circles (6x6)

Spellbinders - 2012 Heirloom Ornaments Nestabilities (S5-116) - but any of their Heirloom Ornament dies would work too.

White cardstock
Gold cardstock

HB Graphic pencil

Pencil Sharpener

Eraser

Black permanent pen i.e. Micron, Sharpie, etc. - fine tip
Coloring medium - I used Wink of Stella Brush markers in blue, red, yellow, and green.
Piece of ribbon
Glue - I used a 2 way glue with a chisel tip by Zig 

Step by Step:

1.  Cut and emboss the largest die, twice, out of gold cardstock.  Now place the same die on a piece of white cardstock and trace the inside of the die 4 times with the permanent marker and then cut them out.

2.  Place the Circle on Circle stencil one of the ornaments you cut from the white cardstock and find that portion of the stencil that "talks to you".  Trace it on the ornament with a pencil.  Remove the stencil and go over the pencil lines with the permanent marker and then erase the pencil lines.  Do the same for all 4 ornaments.

Note:  you do not have to use a pencil.  I just like that I can erase the pencil mark should it slip or not trace correctly.  You can use the permanent marker only.  Your choice. 

 

 

 

You will end up with 2 ornaments in the gold cardstock and 4 of the ornaments from the white cardstock with your stencil design on the front.

 3.  Lay the part of the Circle 9 stencil in the bottom circle of the ornament and trace, as you did above.  Then move stencil to the circle above it and repeat.  Do this for all 4 white ornaments.

  

4.  Lay one of the sunburst of the Ray Circles in the right side partial cirtcle, and then the bottom of the ornament, and trace.  Again, do this for all 4 white ornaments.

5.  Erase all pencil marks, if necessary, and then color in the ornament with a medium of your choice.  I used the Wink of Stella Brush markers for the ornaments.  I love love love these pens and the shimmer you achieve when they are dry.  But you can use Tombows, Copics, watercolor pencils, normal colored pencils...whatever you want to use.  

You will need to color two of the ornaments in full and the other two, just color in the two circles in the center of the ornament as you will be cutting these out.  Note that in the fully colored ornaments I did not color in the full circle since I knew this part would be covered.

6.  Apply glue to one of the gold ornaments, lay the piece of ribbon down the center, and glue the other gold ornament to the other side.

7.  Apply pop dots to the back of the fully colored white ornaments and adhere them to each side of the gold ornaments.  Then cut the circles out of each of the partially colored ornaments, adhere pop dots to the back, and apply over the fully colored ornaments.

8.  Adhere some clear crystals to the centers of the small circles.

9.  Hang on your tree (or your passion fruit vine in my case) and enjoy!!

~Michael

Minha Torta de Maçã

Brasil não faz "torta". Você pode imaginar uma vida sem torta? Eu não posso. Kkkkk. Eles têm suas próprias versões, mas elas são mais do tipo de tortas alemãs. Mas, os brasileiros AMAM minha torta de maçã. A primeira vez que dei uma aula aqui eu fiz esta torta. Todos na classe não paravam  de falar sobre isso. Da próxima vez, a mesma coisa. Então, as pessoas foram me pedindo a receita.

Em seguida, uma cafeteria abriu  na cidade. O Ruy e eu fomos dar uma olhada, conhecemos a Katia, a proprietária, e começamos a conversar. Acontece que seu irmão mora em NY e ela adora torta de maçã da América. Eu disse a ela que eu tinha uma receita deliciosa torta de maçã. Fiz uma  para ela e ela adorou. Assim, depois de muitos meses de promessa de passar  a receita .... eu finalmente encontrei o tempo para postar  aqui no blog com fotos. Katia - agora vai fazer umas  tortas e mostre que Cosmopolis tem a melhor cafeteria da região!!!!

Porque eu não tenho tempo para fazer uma massa de torta, eu uso massa folhada, eu compro no supermercado  em um rolo. Se você não achar o rolo de massa folhada, voce pode usar a massa basica de torta., é só usar uma massa básica para torta.

Ingredientes:

 

1/4 xicara de farinha 

1/4 xicara de açucar 

1/2 colher de cha de canela em po

1/2 colher de cha de noz moscada

pitada de sal

2 colheres de manteiga

1 ovo 

6 xicaras de maçã (aprox 8 maçãs) 

Passo a passo:

 

1.  Descasque as maçãs e corte em pequenos pedaços. Guarde em uma tigela grande.

2.  Adicione, as maçãs, farinha, açucar, canela, nozmoscada e o sal.Misture bem.

 

3.  Cubra a forma com a  Massa Folhada, conforme a foto abaixo:

4.  Coloque as maçãs, ponha uns pedaços de manteiga por cima.

5.  Cubra o reheio com o excesso de massa folhada. Faça pequenos cortes na massa para saida de ar enquanto a torta esta assando. Bata o ovo com um pouco de agua e pincele a massa. Em uma tigela pequena, misture um pouco de açucar e canela e espalhe no topo da torta.

6.  Asse na temperatura de 205C ate a massa ficar dourada. Tire do forno e deixe esfriar um pouco antes de servir. 

Melhor servir com algumas bolas de sorvete!!!! aproveite e deixe seus comentarios depois de fazer esta delicia!!!!

~Michael

My Apple Pie

Brasil does not do "pie".  Can you imagine a life without pie?  I can't.  LOL.  They have their own versions but they are more like German tarts.  But, Brasilians LOVE my apple pie.  The first time I gave a class here I made this pie.  Everyone in the class could not stop talking about it.  The next time, same thing.  Then people were asking me for the recipe. 

Then a new cafe opened in town.  Ruy and I went to check it out, met Katia, the owner, and we started to talk.  Turns out her brother lives in NY and she loves apple pie from America.  I told her I had this great recipe for pie.  Made it for her and she loved loved loved it.  So, after many months of promising to get her the recipe....I have finally found the time to get it down here on the blog with photos.  Katia - now go make some pie and show Cosmopolis which cafe rocks the best!!

Because I do not have the time to make a pie dough, I use a puff pastry dough, called Massa Folhada, that I get here in Brasil in a roll.  If you do not have this dough available, just use a basic pie dough for the pie.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Dash of salt

2 tablespoons butter

1 egg

6 cups of apples (about 8 apples)

Step by step:

1.  Remove skin and core of apples and chop into small pieces.  Place in a larger bowl.

2.  Add, to the apples, the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Toss well to coat all the apples.

3.  Roll the Massa Folhada over the pie dish - see photo below.

4.  Place the apples into the dish and slice a few pieces of butter around the top.

5.  Cover the apples with the excess massa.  Cut small slits in the dough for the air to escape while baking.  Mix an egg with a little bit of water and brush over the top of the apple pie dough.  In a small bowl, mix a small amount of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the egg wash. 

6.  Bake at 425F until the dough is golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to cool down a bit before serving.

Best served with a nice scoop of ice cream!! Enjoy and let me know what you think if you make this!

~Michael

Happy Hanukkah Memory Box Card

When I first saw the Sussex Globe die from Memory Box, I saw more than just a snowflake image.  I saw a beautiful Star of David that I could use on Hanukkah cards or other Judaica cards.  Let me tell you, it is not easy to find nice rubber stamps, let alone dies, for my family and Jewish friends and, although I doubt the folks at Memory Box were thinking of this when they designed this die, I truly thank them!!

If you are in the NYC area, my friends over at The Ink Pad, carry a good amount of Memory Box dies.  And if they don't have it in stock, they can order it for you.  No, I do not make a commission.  LOL

To make this very easy card, you will need the following supplies - 

Sussex Globe Die by Memory Box (98656) 
Typewriter Upper Alphabet by Memory Box (98367)
Typewriter Lower Alphabet by Memory Box (98366)
Spellbinders Standard Circles Small Nestabilities
Spellbinders Standard Circles Large Nestabilities
White card base 6 1/2" x 5" (6 1/2" x 10" scored and folded at 5")
Light blue, dark blue, and white cardstock
Silver glitter cardstock
Die Cut Machine (Big Shot, Big Kick, Grand Calibur)
Double sided tape
Zig 2 way glue with chisel tip
Clear crystals  

Step by Step:

1.  For card front - cut a piece of dark blue cardstock 6 1/2" x 5" and adhere to card front.  Then cut a piece of silver glitter paper 6 14" x 4 3/4" and adhere to dark blue, then cut a piece of light blue cardstock 6 1/8" x 4 5/8" and adhere to silver cardstock.  

2.  Cut and emboss a piece of dark blue cardstock using the largest and 2nd largest circle dies from the Standard Circles Large set.  Cut and emboss a piece of silver glitter cardstock using the largest die from the Standard Circles Small set.  

3.  Using your die cut machine, cut the Sussex Globe and lower case letters from white cardstock.  Then cut the two capital "H"s with dark blue cardstock.  

4.  Trim the Sussex Globe to form the Star of David - see photo below.  Adhere it to the small blue circle you cut and embossed in Step 2, above, with the Zig 2 way glue.  Then adhere that circle to the silver glitter circle, then those to the large dark blue circle.  Then adhere all 3 to the card front.

5.  Adhere crystals to the Star of David. Using the Zig glue, adhere the letters under the Star of David.  

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  

~Michael

Easy Watering Can Memory Box Card

Hey everyone.  As some of you know, I have issues with "simple cards".Everything I want to make has to have layers, and cutting, and stamps upon stamps upon stamps - or involves days of coloring.  But, every once in a while I come up with a very simple, easy peasy, card to make.  

Like this one - 

Supplies Used:

Memory Box - Watering Can Die (98571)
Memory Box - Primo Label Die (98139)
Memory Box - Woodland Thank You Stamp (B1915)
Prima Flowers - white, yellow, and pink
Double sided tape
Diamond Glaze or liquid glue of your choice
Pop Dots 
Piece of blue, green, and white paper

Step by Step:

1.  If not using a pre-cut/folded card base, cut a piece of white paper 5.5" x 8" and fold in half.

2.  Cut a piece of paper or cardstock - 3 3/4" x 5 1/4".  Apply double sided tape to back and adhere to card front.

3.  Cut the watering can, adhere the handle where you want it, apply some pop dots to the back and adhere to the center of the card front. 

4.  Glue the Prima flowers around the top of the watering can by applying a small dot of Diamond Glaze and then the flower.  Repeat until you get the look you want.  Allow to dry.

5.  Cut Primo Label out of white cardstock (or another label of your choice), stamp sentiment and adhere under the watering can.

Done!!  Easy Peasy.  Now send to someone that deserves a handmade card.  

~Michael