PTI Make it Monday Challenge #209

Hi there friends. Yes, a second post this week - wow! Right?
More on what I'm up to later in this post but you're here for the challenge card, right?
Okay so this week's Make it Monday challenge on the Papertrey Ink blog was to use white on white die cuts with a pop of color. I haven't been participating of late and this looked like a fun one to jump back in so here's what I came up with.
I loved all the beautiful samples that were in the video. I gave it a little thought a rifled through my Papertrey stamps and dies and decided on using the Button Stacks and Wet Paint dies. I tried out the Bitty Button Stacks too but finally opted to leave those out. I had all my diecuts and decided my splash of color would be in the sentiment and then realized I wanted to use a little embroidery thread to tie up those buttons. I did try white but it wasn't workin for me so I went with a blushy pink thread. I spent a lot of time trying various ways of lining up those buttons. I liked this version the best - it reminds me of a quilt or maybe lace?  I should confess I really wanted something that said Baby for the sentiment - doesn't it kinda look like a baby blanket? :-) I might make it again if I can come up with a good alternative to make a baby card.
I don't know about you - if you participated - but this was a tough card to photograph!
So now onto the why I'm not blogging so much of late.
I'm a purging stuff. Great amounts of stuff. And while it's taking me away from things like blogging, it sure feels good. I'm making great progress so I don't wanna stop. Well I do have to stop occasionally. The house needs tending and the family needs feeding and we need clean laundry blah blah blah.  I even got together with some dear friends and we had a little sale of our stuff a couple of weekends ago. While I didn't sell a ton, I did sell some and then the rest I donated to a local shop and that was really great. (It didn't come back in my house and went to a most worthy cause - win/win).

All this purging - and I should be specific - it's craft room purging I'm talking about - is very freeing. I have been bogged down way too long with a lot of stuff I'm never going to use. Lots of guilt there. Guilt that I shouldn't get rid of stuff I spent good money on, guilt that I am getting rid of something someone gave me. Oh the guilt. I could write a book. And I finally said to myself - it's wearing you down. The room is a mess. I spend too much time organizing it and reorganizing it - time I could better spend drawing and making cards and scrapbooking. And I am almost done. And it feels wonderful. And it's clean... well almost. But heck the floor is clear! And that my friends is kinda amazing. So thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your visits and your comments. And if you're not commenting - please do - I love hearing what you have to say - what you're making etc. Okay?

Wonderful Neighbors

Hello there - how's the weather where you are? Here it's a little cold. Not near as cold as earlier in the week for which I am quite grateful. It had been quite bitter.
Anyway, I mentioned yesterday that I had snow to shovel. It was around 5 inches - not so bad at all. And before I had the chance to get outside to begin clearing it all away, our neighbor had shoveled our sidewalk. I had to smile. We do this with these neighbors. We shovel each others sidewalks. It's sort of an unspoken thing. One storm we do it for them and the next storm we find ours done. It's fun to do something for someone right? Just a little thing to let them know you appreciate them, you're happy they're your neighbor. A little random act of kindness.
I did go out and shovel that and while I was shoveling I decided I was going to bring something by just to say thank you - just because they wouldn't expect it.  I baked up some cookies today (a new recipe my nephew's wife told me I needed to try) and threw a dozen or so in a little plastic bowl, wrapped with some cellophane and attached this tag I made last night.
I'd found a shovel in the Silhouette store and cut that out. I attached it to a Papertrey Ink tag (Journal Card #6). Then I cut out a few "Thank You"'s using a WPlus9 die (Hand Lettered Thanks).and glued them together.
I just ran next door with my cookies and my neighbor kept saying "You didn't have to do that". And of course I know I didn't but it was fun and made her smile - so mission accomplished..
Hope you're having a good one. Thanks for stopping by.

Thinking Spring

Good morning friends. Thought I'd throw a little spring into our lives with a little tag I made for a gift not too long ago. (okay I'm stalling going outside and shoveling last night's winter offering... that four letter word: snow. I know June and Amy - you like it! Me - it's not like I hate it. Not at all. But sometimes it's, how shall we say it... hmmm... incovenient? yeah. that's it!)
I used some Papertrey Ink products (quelle suprise!): Tag Sale #1, Tiny Tags, Year of Flowers Collection dies; Tiny Tags, Year of Flowers Collection, Background Basics: Twinkle. For the background I added in those wee dots of white with a white gel pen and I colored in the leaves with Prismacolor Pencils. Now the little flowers could be left white obviously but I wanted them to stand out so I used a Copic marker (that matches the cardstock) to color in the area surrounding the entire diecut (you know that white area).
I don't know about your garden but mine has bulb coming up all over - now covered in snow. But it won't be long now and I cannot wait.
Have a wonderful day! (yes... it's now time to stop stalling and commence with the shoveling).

More Valentines - I love you more than.....

Hi there friends. I said I'd be back with a few more Valentines. These were for my husband and two kids. "I love you more than...." seemed to be my theme for this year.
First one - for the husband - lover of maps, stars, space etc. I couldn't find a sentiment I wanted so I just wrote it myself. I just stamped the PTI Star Gazer Additions stamp with Versamark, clear embossed it and went to town with four different inks.
He liked it.

Next up - the card for my son. I was here in my craft room, looking for something (and I honestly can't remember what that was now....) and I came upon a box filled with diecuts (the premade kind available way back when...). I saw this pizza die cut that I'd originally purchased to put on a scrapbook page about this very same child. I decided why not just use it already! So I glued all those pieces together, embossed some white cardstock with a stylus- to create a napkin - and put that on a cardbase covered in some PTI Pure Poppy gingham patterned paper.  I just printed out the sentiment on my computer.
Suffice it to say this child loves his pizza - he comes by it honestly - pizza is in our blood.


And finally, a valentine for my daughter. This kid was not originally a coffee fan - but somewhere along the line, in high school as I recall, she decided she liked coffee. And often times we both can be found, oh around 4pm, gathered around our Keurig, brewing ourselves a cup. I have been on a Silhouette kick lately - trying to use it as much as possible - learning still what it can do after 2 years. I saw this print & cut coffee cup in the Silhouette store. Printed & cut same, added a computer generated sentiment (inside it says "and that's a lot"). She laughed when she saw it - saying something to the effect - well that IS  alot. Everyone knows I love my coffee.
But I love these three more (more than the stars in the sky, more than pizza and more than coffee).
Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day. My husband and I had just the nicest time - went to the movies (The Imitation Game - such a good movie!) and out to dinner. This was our 33rd Valentine's Day together. I think it's fair to say it was our best ever. :-)
Thanks for stopping by.

Hi there

Just thought I'd pop in briefly here on the blog to say I've been crazy busy - around the house mostly - doing a lot of cleaning and decorating in preparation for Thanksgiving. My house has been sorely neglected in the past months (i could say years but you'd probably be horrified... well it's true) and I really needed to get things in order. I am nearing that place where I will be happy to have guests in for the holidays. Everything isn't perfect but I'm getting there. I do have some work being done in the house this coming week which should make things really looks spiffy (I like that word don't you? :-))

I have actually been making some things in my spare time LOL but nothing ready to share yet. A few expected but unexpected things occurred in the last week to keep me from posting. But I'll be back shortly. Thanks for stopping by.

Keep You in My Heart

Here's a card I made for my son who is off on a new adventure in a far off state. It's pretty exciting really. But I'm not gonna lie - I'm going to miss this child.

When they hand you these little creatures in the hospital it is quite astounding - the instant love you feel. Something quite unbelieveable. Like nothing you've ever felt before. And then all through the years you run through a series of emotions. But this one - the feeling of excitement for him and sadness that I won't see him every day, listening to his crazy stories, feeling his strength and kindness through some pretty tough times, laughing so hard with him I'd cry... oh I could go on and on... this has been one for the books for me. 

I'm happy & sad all at the same time - crazy. 

But I'm truly excited to see what's next for him - and hey - for us too. 

Hope you're having a great day. Happy November!

30th Anniversary

I wish I could've gotten a better pic of this card but - suffice it to say it looks really beautiful in real life. Anywho...
It's that time again folks to share a card I made for my wonderful husband of 30 years. Really - 30 years - as of today. It is really hard to believe. On the one hand, it seems like yesterday. I can remember events in sortofa dream like way. Like a flashback on tv. Little snippets: getting pictures taken in the morning, the church wedding, taking more photos outside of church and again at the reception venue (missing the cocktail hour because of it ;-(), the reception - feeling almost in a daze and not being able to eat much, wonderful friends and family; going to see my grandmother in the nursing home - because she wasn't able to come, my husband and I drove over to the nursing home- me in my dress and my husband in his morning coat and all the inhabitants of the nursing home coming alive to see a "bride & groom" visiting - my grandmother so happy to see us all dressed up. It was a magical day. Thank goodness we have a lot of pictures to help us fill in the blanks :-)
And on the other hand - yes - it's been 30 years. A lot going on over 30 years.
30 years later - 2 children and life and death happenings filling in the intervening years.. I'm still feeling pretty darned lucky to have found this wonderful man to have spent my life with and hopefully grow old with.
Okay - that's enough reminiscing - on to the card.
This wonderful man loves travel and maps. And given that we spent 3 weeks travelling abroad this spring it seemed appropriate to pull out the travel and map stamps (Papertrey Ink Pack Your Bags and World Map; the Happy Anniversary sentiment is from Keep It Simple: Anniversary while the other sentiment is from Pack Your Bags ). I stamped and also heat embossed (gold suitcase hardware there) the suitcases. You'll also see some machine stitching on this card. And some foam tape to pop up those suitcases. And if you look really close you can see the wee little luggage tag from the set - I wrote in "30 years".
I know he will like it - there's a map! :-)
Alrighty, that's all for today. I need to get some things done today cos this girl is being taken out for dinner this evening and there's lots to do between now and then. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for Petsitting

I mentioned we were away last weekend - went to a nephew wedding. It was a really lovely weekend (except for the travelling part - 10-1/2 hours in the car each way. I guess we could've flown but there were 4 of us and that would've been a little cost prohibitive dontchaknow). Anyway - of course we engaged our favorite neighbor to kitty-sit. She is the best kid around - seriously. Wonderful girl, loves our two silly furballs (the feeling is mutual - they love her too.) When we returned I quick made this card for her. Using Papertrey Ink's Pack Your Bags stamp set and Herringbone Impression Plate. Not only does the stamp set have those adorable suitcases and luggage tag but it has an assortment of wonderful sentiments like the one here. Actually that sentiment is three sentiments put together so you've got a million options (well... maybe not a million but a whole bunch o'cute ones!). Okay... I think I've got a few more cards to share in the upcoming days - come on back k?

Happy Birthday Sprinkle

Yes I've been busy and too busy to blog. But I have been making things whilst having new appliances installed, taking extensive car trips to weddings in far off states, and various and sundry other adventures. I've also been taking an online card class - playing with Copic markers. All very fun but occupying every spare moment. I thought I'd jump on here to share a card I made recently using that Papertrey Ink Shakers & Sprinkles kit. I'm a little in love with the stamps and the dies and the wonderful papers in the kit. For this card I combined it with the PTI Cupcake Collection. I decorated the cupcake with some "sprinkles" (glue pen with glitter) and cut out the word "Sprinkles" using some of my beloved Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock. It certainly adds a wonderful bit of sparkle - so "birthday" dontcha think?
I'll be back with a few more cards soon.

This and that

I have been a busy bee over the last week or so. Although I'm not quite finished with these projects, I thought I'd throw out a preview or two.
Doesn't look like the usual fare, huh?
Have a good one!

Oh I've been busy...

Guess you figured that out since I haven't updated the old blog since April. Thanks for continuing to stop by in my absence.
Let's see - what have I been doing?
Well, there was a trip to Europe in April and the beginning of May. Yes, it was amazing. 3 weeks on the road with my favorite people in the world: my husband, son and daughter. It was a trip of a lifetime. London, Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome. I have something like 1500 photos. \
Yes, I've started the scrapbooks. Thank goodness I've been pocket style scrapbooking for years now. If I hadn't already, it would be a good time to start right? It's the only way the pics will get into books with the accompanying stories (and you know there are stories). And for me that's what it's about - getting those stories down.
So yes... scrapping has begun. London is in books, (and the stories are partially done) Paris, Venice & Florence photos are sitting here waiting to be put into books and Rome pics need to be ordered.

At the same time I'm doing a little redecorating around the house as well as a house purge.  The purge is ongoing and I've arrived at my little art haven here. I shall be stuck here a while but I'm making great progress! At the moment I'm remounting my wood stamps on EZ Mount cling - and while it's taking a bit of time it's quite therapeutic. And I'm finding wonderful stamps I'd almost forgotten I had. And as this process continues it's great to see that I'm freeing up space in here and I'm feeling more organized then ever. And the more organized I feel the more creative I feel. A little less bogged down with stuff - you know what I mean?

Throw in a few birthdays, visits with some friends - the very best friends in the world. Add  emptying out a condo, cleaning it, and selling it. I've been a busy girl.

Have I been making cards - you betcha! Most of the time I even remembered to snap a picture before I sent them out the door :-) Here's one I made for my son - from our two silly kitties. I used Papertrey Ink stamp sets: Cats Meow, Keep It Simple: Birthday. The balloon die is from Birthday Bash and I also used the double ended banner die. The little party hats are just scraps of PTI patterned paper.

Okay - I'm off to get a few things done with the rest of the day. Thanks for sticking with me. I'll try posting some more cards shortly.  Have a good one!

Birthday Shaker Card

Hi there!
You'd never know it from the lack of posts but I have been making cards.
Lots of cards.
I just have not had the time to post them. I'm grabbing a few minutes right now to show you one.
We're going out shortly to celebrate a birthday - my daughter's 23rd birthday in fact. It is extremely hard to believe she's 23. It is cliche, yet so true, that the years have flown by.
Anyway, this is a card for her. She's not a girly girl. No pink for her - although on occasion she likes something a little sparkly.
I had gotten the Text Block: Birthday die from Papertrey Ink and I decided a shaker card would be a fun choice. I rifled through my stash and found I still had some beads. I had a packet of these yellow ones - sort of a combo - seed beads, bugle beads - all kinds of sparkly pretty yellow beads. And while I was at it I threw in some sugar beads (if you're not familiar - they're really not beads per se - they're clear little balls- super fine).
After I'd assembled the shaker I realized it was probably a little too full. I had a tough time getting it sealed shut. Those little sugar beads wanted out and got stuck on some of my foam tape. So I sealed the problem areas with a little Glossy Accents and was good to go.
Alright - that's all for today. I'm hoping to post some more cards soon. Have a good one!

Have a little cake with your candles

is another way of saying - you're old! Considering the card-ee (recipient of said card) - I can say this - I'm older than her. My little sister shall be celebrating a big birthday in another month and since I'm the older sister I can say this kinda thing, right?
What precipitated this card? Well I was looking at the Moxie Fab blog (which I've been so enjoying! Love all the fun posting of images etc) and Cath Edvalson has been showing the 11th edition of Card Creations - and along with it - posting challenges all week. The Speech Bubble Challenge caught my eye. The little sentiment I came up with is a derivation of many things we used to say in our house growing up. For example: there'd be a LOT of whipped cream plopped on a piece of pumpkin pie and someone would say - "hey, have a little pie with your whipped cream". Or maybe a lotta of hot fudge on the ice cream "hey, have a little ice cream with that hot fudge". See what I mean? 
Of course I don't have a stamp for that little sentiment, and I didn't have a birthday cake stamp with a whole mess of candles.... so I made my own. I drew my card - probably not kosher ? for the challenge but I did use some Copics to color it in and mounted it on some Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet cardstock. Maybe that'll count. I don't know if there are rules for such things. Heck I'm entering it for the challenge anyway!
It's the first card I've been able to make in a week. I've been busy. First addressing wedding invitations for an old friend of mine. Her daughter is getting married and she wanted my handwriting on the envelopes (go fig. She hates her handwriting and loves mine.) That took a week. Lots of envelopes - inner and outer. Oyvey! I've addressed "Save the Dates" for a niece (she also likes my handwriting :-)) but wedding invitations were a whole 'nother level yaknow?
We also bought me a new car the other night. Yes! I have had my van for 13 years and now that we've made our last college tuition payment - time for Tracy to get a new car. To say I'm a happy girl is a bit of an understatement.
Okay. I need to get on making dinner. Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a good one!

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Well I finally am back to share 2, yes 2 cards. One Christmas and one Thank You card. I made this first one with a PTI set called Winter Hills. Best thing about that set is aside from the wonderful images it has such a variety of sentiments for all kinds of occasions - total bonus. With that said, I was flipping through my stamps and wanted to use this wonderful sentiment from an older PTI set called Home for the Holidays (a holiday addition to the Boards & Beams set). It just seemed so perfect with a little Fine Linen gingham patterned paper. I colored the image with some Prismacolor pencils and distressed the edge of the image with my fingers. Pretty simple card but I am pleased with it.



Now onto the Thank You....

We had a lovely visit from my husband's Aunt on Monday. She is such a wonderful woman and the very best house guest ever. And she never comes empty-handed as she is impeccably good-mannered as well. A few bottles of wine and the most wonderful rooster tin sculpture. I'm in love with him. I need to snap a pic to share. At any rate I needed to thank her for said Rooster (kicking myself I didn't purchase that fabulous On the Farm set PTI came out with a few months back - that Rooster in the set would have been the ultimate in appropos thanking!) and came up with this card. I don't know if you can see the yellow in the background patterned paper but that is what dictated my choice of a mustard ink for the main image here. I originally tried the "red" ink I used in the card above but it wasn't a good match. The sentiment image is from Tagged Sentiments. (That patterned paper is from my very old stash of Chatterbox papers - sigh - I loved Chatterbox....)
Okay now back to folding laundry... Have a good one!

Pink & Green Day

it's a pink and green day here in the burg... or rather in my house (in the burg). Even though I would tell you my favorite color is blue, it seems that green shows up in a heck of a lot of cards for me. I had a couple of birthday cards to make for the coming week and the first thing I reached for was the green cardstock. Then the pink. (and anyone who knows me knooooooows I'm not a pink girl. well, I never used to be and ya see it's also a color I seem to be drawn to more lately. go fig)
I actually scanned this card in, then ripped off the oval, pulled out my sewing machine, stitched the gingham portion, then put the oval back and quick snapped a photo. phew! The scan looked prettier but the stitching really finished off the card - so there.  I used Papertrey Ink's 2012 Birthday Tags as well as Background Basics: Gingham and finally, the Polka Dots Basic stamp sets.  The white scallop and the oval were cut with the Limitless Layers 2-1/4" Oval Dies.

For my second birthday card I used the same 2012 Birthday tags set as well as the oval dies, some Basic Grey paper as well as the BB: Gingham. I used the Double Ended Banner die in the center there and used a little StampinUp! punch to create that little scallop at the bottom (but I cannot remember what it's called to save my life and I'm sure it's long since retired. Note to self: buy a scallop border die already!)
Okay I believe the troops are pacing outside my door here, wanting to be fed. I am hoping to get more time to make things this week (hopefully I'm almost finished with the workmen invading my home everyday). Have a good one!

Leafy Birthday

Hi there.
Been a few days - and I'm getting a little impatient with the construction going on in my house. The floors are done but we still are working on getting a new bannister installed - that should be completed today (it's hard typing with my fingers crossed but I'm doin it anyhow). Then the final staining and I'm thinking the torture will be over next Wednesday. Sigh - I want my house back.
Onward to the leafy card you see to your left. I used Papertrey Ink's Lovely Leaves and the sentiment is from PTI's Think Big Favorites #12. I used the kiss technique using a retired Canvas background stamp from StampinUp!. I'm not sure you'll be able to see that Canvas image kissed onto the leaves - but trust me it's there and it looks pretty - kinda makes each leaf look plaid - very cute!.
I'll have another card tomorrow (really... 2 days in a row!)
Have a good one ~

What goes up and never comes down?

Here's another birthday card. Again, the picture - not so good.
If you could've seen the state of my house you'd understand that I'm lucky I got this picture and the ones to follow. It's major pandemonium in my house with new floors going in and everything is upside down. It's making me a littly loopy but I did have to get a pic of the card. If I didn't take a picture of the stuff I make, I would never remember all the details. And me - I like the details.

So on to the card. This one is for my sister who is celebrating a birthday this weekend. Since she is younger than me I don't think she'll mind the punch line when she slides open the card. I used those Movers & Shakers dies from Papertrey Ink to create the moving element to the card. The sentiment is from the Movers & Shakers Collection. For the backgrounds I used to sets: Flower Fusion #7 (the flowers on pink cardstock) and the Stitches & Swirls set for the backgrounds you see on green and yellow cardstocks.

I wrapped up her gift and sent it along with a little pack of supplies for her to make stuff but it needed a little explanation. The explanation had to be written on something cute hence this stamped piece of cardstock. (explanation on the flip side) Those leaves are from that same Flower Fusion #7 set. I'd been playing around with the stamp on some paper and kinda like how it could make a pretty little pattern. So I stamped it on some cardstock and cut it out with the Top Note die from StampinUp!. I'd cut out some flowers using the die for the Flower Fusion stamp set and glued those down for the To and Love :-) While I was playing around with stamps I stamped out this cute little tag from the PTI 2012 Birthday Tag stamp set. I cut it out with an oval die and decided I'd cut out the scallop mat for it from another piece of cardstock I'd been stamping on - more of those same flowers from Flower Fusion #7 - I kinda like the colored mat - as opposed to a plain white scallop. Anyhow that little tag was attached with a ribbon to the gift itself.
So there you have it. Now I need to get on some more birthday cards and eek - Mother's Day is practically around the corner!

pink polka dot birthday

So first I have to say - not the best picture. Forgive.
I was in a bit of a hurry. Story of my life. HA!
Bigger part of the story is I've been packing up a lot of stuff on the first floor of my house as I'm about to refloor it all (new hardwood replacing carpet, new kitchen tile replacing other flooring - ooh it's gonna be purty but in the meantime - big fat mess - ugh!) So I made this card for a work friend and I had a time trying to find a place to take a photo.

Regardless I used a Papertrey stamp set called 2012 Birthday Tags which has such wonderful images - and you can make a card in no time flat I'm telling ya! I stamped that cute tag, cut it and the scallop circle with the Limitless Layers 1-3/4 Circle Die Collection. I thought it needed a bit more than just the ribbon so I pulled out an old favorite I've had for probably 10 years? - the Fiskars Paper Crimper and crimped a band to go across the card. Oh and the polka dot paper? Well that's from a paper pack called Polka Dot Parade - also Papertrey. Here's another not so hot shot :-) of the card - but you get the idea, no?
I'm hoping to sneak in a little cardmaking on this day off in between packing more stuff (I have a few days left to get the packing finished).
 Have a wonderful day!

busy week

You know I've been busy with things-other-than-papercrafting when I received my new Big Shot (yes I finally bought one - the deal was too good and I'll still use my Cuttlebug) on Monday. I forgot that I'd ordered it even when the doorbell rang and I went to see who it was and I saw the box on my doorstep. Get this - I thought it was a package for my son - let him bring in the box when he got home and I said whaddyaget? He said "It's for you, Mom". I did a little doubletake and thought what could it be? Then realized it was my Big Shot. And it is now Wednesday and I still haven't taken it out of the box! I know - how is this possible? LOL
Well suffice it to say I've got a lot of stuff going on and I hope to be back in card making mode tomorrow. I will confess that this afternoon I had a golden hour of scrapbooking. Yes! And since I've been using Project Life by Becky Higgins page protectors (and also We R Memory Keepers page protectors for maybe the last year or two? - the divided up kind) I actually got a bunch of pics scrapbooked memorabilia included. Happy happy girl here.
So stay tuned. Oh - tonite is Survivor and American Idol (the DVR is a wonderful thing) - loving them both this year - how bout choo?

Cooking up Cookies and Cards

Did some baking and some card making during the last week. The cookie making definitely dominated at the beginning of the week.
Here's a pic after many hours of rolling, chilling, cutting, chilling, baking.  Oh - they are Linzer cookies. An amazing recipe found years ago by my sister in a magazine. It comes from a chef that worked at the White House. We made these cookies for Christmas and they have always been a family favorite. But because they are labor intensive I'd given up making them at Christmas. For the last couple of years I've made them for my Mom (the number 1 fan of these cookies) for her birthday.







Now for years I'd made these cookies with a scalloped round cookie cutter. And yes, they are a sandwich cookie. And the topper cookie has a hole cut into it. For years I used a decorating tip - pressing it into the cookie and pulling out that center piece - it was a bit of insanity but I didn't have a very small round cookie cutter to cut out that center piece. Quite by accident I came upon this Wilton Cookie Cutter set in a store at Christmas time - I practically did a happy dance in the store - knowing I would be able to easily cut out that center hole!

So on Monday of this week I made the Linzer cookie and put it in the fridge to chill. On Tuesday, I rolled, chilled, cut, chilled, and baked the cookies. Then on Tuesday night I assembled all the cookies. In between the sandwich is raspberry jam spread onto the bottom cookie. You place the topper on then add a small amount of jam in the hole.
I was doing all this ahead of time as I needed the jam to set up so I could pack the cookies up and mail them off to my Mom - who is visiting my sister - and get them to her in time for her birthday which is Sunday. Wednesday night I packed up these delectable little treats and mailed them off on Thursday.
The new cookie cutter is slightly smaller then my original cutter so I made approximately 8 dozen Linzers. Do the math kids - 8x12x2 - yeah.. i cut out close to 200 of these rascals. But trust me when I say they are some pretty ridiculous cookies and my mom - she deserves something special. I'll be back to share a few cards tomorrow.