Apricots it is......and a card for Rio.

Thanks everyone for joining in the fun yesterday.  Thanks to the people that guessed eggs as that is what my daughter was wanting to hear.  :-)  Yes, she was trying to trick you.

Cathy is our winner guessing apricots in a syrup....first up.   I will be sending some stamps off to you today or tomorrow.

They were in fact apricots in a caramel syrup ready to be used in an Apricot Upside Down Cake. Recipe here by Bill Granger.  Very yum.  Although, I think the syrup on mine ended up being a little burnt.  Good reason to cook it again I think...to get it just right.  This recipe asks you to do the syrup and apricots in a frypan on the stove top and then to mix the cake mix in a bowl and put spoonfuls of the cake mixture on top of the apricots in the frypan.  Then the frypan goes into the oven.  Something I have never done before although quite often see people on cooking shows put their frypan into the oven.  I was afraid of the handle melting but read somewhere to wrap it in heavy duty alfoil.  If that is not available two layers of regular alfoil.  Well, I did four layers to be on the safe side and all worked well.

This card I have created for Rio.  Yesterday, I spied this image over at Cheryl's blog 'My Cardmaking Haven'.  Cheryl had a link to Betty's blog called 'Betty Simply Stamps' on there you will find a lovely story of Betty's daughter and what she plans to do for her birthday.  Rio, has decided to donate her birthday gift which she asked for money to be donated to St Jude's Hospital.  How special is that.

Her mum (Betty) had a special image made for Rio's birthday.  Now has put this up for sale and any money made from these sales will also go towards Rio's donation to St Jude's Hospital.  Betty has also asked if we could send on a card to Rio to surprise on her birthday.

So here is my surprise card.  

I started with the 'Build A Sketch Challenge over at Stamping Vacation.  Denise, has given us a list of six different shapes to use - Nos. 1,2,3,9,14,15.  I took the liberty of changing #1 from a rectangle to a square for the base card.

I have used a Lilac Metallic card for the base card.  Layer of Orange Bazzill Bling, then Purple Bazzil.  I cut out an oval from the Lilac Metallic card then stamp the only spider web I could find which was part of a bigger stamp.  Then added the square white card with the rub-on 'Happy Today'.  I coloured the image with my watercolour pencils.  Finished with faux stitching on all layers, bling and flowers.

I would also like to enter this into these challenges.

Paper Cutz Challenge #75 - Anything Goes ends 27th January

Penny's Challenge #45 - Anything Goes ends 2nd February

Digi Doodle #43 - Anything Goes ends 27th January