"Word Art Wednesday" and lots to share today!

Well, first of all, in my insomniac lifestyle, I was baking at four am today. Here's a picture of the YUMMY oat cakes I made, dipped in Laura Secord dark chocolate. Ooohhh, they're SO GOOD! I'll include the recipe at the end of this post.

So, I have some challenges done too! This next one is for the current Cuttlebug Challenge, which is Mother's Day. I chose to do a "thank you" Mother's Day card, and used this delightful Art Journey stamp with a Stampin' Up sentiment, then I created a little gift holder with a paper rose, using my very favourite Cuttlebug embossing folder, Textured Textiles. If you like the paper rose, I posted a little tutorial earlier, right here. This set also fits for the current Theme Thursday challenge, which is black and white, and Wednesday Stamper, which is to use flowers.

For this next card, I used the same Art Journey stamp, and a Hero Arts border/frame stamp. I did this one to meet several challenges: Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger (fabulous colour combination), Crazy Amigo (birthday), Secret Crafters (friendship), and the Pick Three challenge for the month of May. I think this is such a happy, celebratory image, and can see using it a LOT! I stamped the HA frame first, white-embossed it, then dragged it through Adirondack cranberry and lettuce inks that I'd pounced on a craft sheet and spritzed with water. Then I dried it with my heat gun, and stamped and black embossed the woman.

This third card was created to meet these challenges: Created by Hand (read all about it) , Gingersnap Creations (read). I used a lovely quotation stamp from the talented Suzanne over at Quietfire Design, and created a ruffled flower from old book pages.

I've decided to do a little giveaway every Wednesday too, for those who might be interested. I often use computer generated sentiments on my cards, and usually create these to fit certain dies or punches. So many people have e-mailed me asking about these, so I'll be making some available, and will use each one on a card so you can see what they're like. This particular sentiment was created to fit the largest of the Spellbinders Labels Five tag dies. You can simply click on it to make it larger, then right click and save it to your own files. Once you print it, it will fit perfectly with that diecut. I hope you might find it useful for your own creations. If you ever use it, I'd be tickled pink if you'd leave me a link to what you've done!

Now, here's my Oat Cake cookies recipe for you. I promise you won't be disappointed with these!

Deborah’s Oat Cakes

½ tsp baking soda, dissolved together in ½ cup boiled water. Let cool.
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white and 1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups bran flakes, crushed
¾ cup sugar (I use half sugar and half Splenda)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, bran flakes, rolled oats and sugar (or sugar/Splenda mixture). Cut in shortening. Add cooled water and soda mixture. Roll thin and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for 15-18 mts, till well browned. (Browning gives them a much better flavour than if you take them out of the oven while they’re still light) Dip in melted chocolate if you’re so inclined! These yummies taste BEST when frozen and eaten right out of the freezer. ;)

Thanks so much for visiting today. I wish you a happy, creative week!