mmmm.... Spice Cake.

Exclusive designs and a mix of warm and cool colors give this Spice Cake designer fabric the feeling of a crisp fall morning. Use in traditional paper crafting to add texture and visual interest for your latest sewing project. Designs coordinate with, but are not exact to, the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper—giving you even more great designs to use. 100% cotton. Each fat quarter piece measures approximately 27" x 18".

And just for fun, and because I know I made myself hungry, is a great spice cake recipe!

APPLE SPICE CAKE

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon warm water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch tube pan. Cover raisins with warm water, let soak for 10 minutes and then drain. Whisk together flour, spices, and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream together butter or margarine and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Stir together soda and 1 tablespoon warm water, and mix into the sugar mixture. Stir in flour mixture, apples, and strained raisins until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan. Once cool, shake pan to loosen cake. Turn onto plate, and dust with confectioners' sugar.

I love a good crafting tool!

Stampin' Up just came out with a brand new "Simply Scored" scoring tool in the Holiday mini!

• Designed exclusively by Stampin' Up!, the Simply Scored scoring tool is loaded with unique benefits. It comes with a high-quality stylus--with two different sizes of tips--that will comfortably glide over all of your projects, as well as a hidden storage compartment for extra tools and markers!
• The Simply Scored scoring tool makes duplicating projects easier than ever before. No more pulling out your ruler and measuring over and over again--just attach the place markers exactly where you need them and create!
• The Simply Scored scoring tool has score lines every 1/8" and fits all kinds and sizes of paper up to 12" x 12". Use it on your favourite card stock and Designer Series Paper!
• Beyond perfecting scoring, use the Simply Scored scoring tool to add texture to any paper, create 3-D boxes and projects, and so much more. Unleash your creativity--there is no limit to what you can do with this new tool!

Enter and Win with My Digital Studio!

Have you ever tried crafting with your computer? Its easier than you think! My personal favourite is making photobooks, because nowadays all my photos are on my computer anyways. I also like editing photos of my son and adding embellishments and words directly to the photos themselves, then I get them printed inexpensively and hand them out to adoring relatives. You can also make greeting cards and calendars... really, its just as endless are traditional crafting. Also what is really popular is "hybrid" crafting, where you design part of your project online, print it, then finish it off with real embellishments. You could make a digital card, then print it out and add some ribbon and buttons. Voila! This is a great way to expand your stamp collection, because you can buy the Stampin Up stamp images online cheaper, rather than buying a set that you will rarely use.

Right now Stampin Up is having a contest, so its the perfect time to give digital papercrafting a try. Email me to purchase a CD copy or download copy of the My Digital Studio software, or to just download images to use with your own software (such as Photoshop). I'd be happy to give you some free lessons! Email today at lanamccarney@gmail.com, and don't forget to enter your creations in the contest!

Take it Easy.

Enjoy your Labour Day long weekend! I know my family and I are enjoying the hot Summer weather with friends and family.

Guess what just came out...

The new Holidays mini catalogue is here! I love Halloween and Christmas, so this is my favourite mini of the year. There are LOTS of fun new things in here, which I will write some upcoming posts about, but probably the biggest news is the new Stampin Up scoring tool, which lets you make perfect crease lines in your cardstock easily. I use mine for scoring plain cardstock to make up lots of blank cards that fold in half. I also use it for any sort of 3 dimensional box or container. I couldn't live without it when I have lots to do all at once, especially for workshops!

Check out all the new items here or browse the catalogue pages here. I will be mailing out minis to customers soon, along with a holiday class list!