Handmade Cards and Free Digi Stamps

I've been sitting on this post for almost two weeks now, but I wanted to be sure that all the recipients got their cards before I posted.

I've started dabbling in card making. I resisted for a long time since we have nether the space nor the money to buy bunches of colored cardstock, fancy scrapbooking papers, paper punches, rubber stamps, and markers. But a while ago I stumbled on a method for blending colored pencils using baby oil that results in a more blended 'painted' look rather than the colored in/crayon look that one usually gets. I played around with this method (you can see tutorial here and video here) in my daily drawing journal and had a lot of success and fun.

Then one of my friends had a baby and I wanted to send her a card, but the store had nothing that really fit. I saw a really cute giraffe digi stamp, and I got to thinking. I have a very limited colored pencil palette, but a giant box of crayons. And since the baby oil blended by smooshing around the wax, it should work on crayons too. (And it does, but a little differently. Experiment first if you are going to try it.)

In the end I came up with this:

Not bad, kinda simple, and I felt weird using somebody else's drawing. So when my cousin had HER baby I made up this little elephant:

and then made this card:

Still super simple, but at least it was my own art.

Then my best friend had HER baby (yeah, babies everywhere), and I came up with this little sheep because she likes sheep:

And I played around and came up with this card:

The sheep is only attached with the string, so she hands free. Also, the balloon is on a little folded scrap of card stock to make it “dimensional.”

I had gotten better at editing the drawings in Inkscape for a nice dark, smooth outline. And I was really proud of the background.

Since Mother's Day was coming up I decided I would make cards for that too. I started doodling and came up with this:

but I thought the stem was too restrictive, so I edited it out and was much happier:

Then I began playing around with background ideas. I had really liked the way the sheep background had worked, and I wondered if I could do something similar but on a larger scale, since I had four cards to make.

I also decided to make each flower different to better suit the recipient, since otherwise the cards would all be the same.

In the end this is what I had:

My handwriting needs A LOT of work still, and I'm not completely pleased with the leaf shape, but I am incredibly happy with how these turned out. The flowers and leaves have little bits of folded card stock under them, so that they stand out from the card, and it looks really nice in person. I'll probably be posting a tutorial for the backgrounds soon too. I really loved how they turned out.

All in all I'm a far cry from a master scrapbooker/cardmaker, but I had a lot of fun and I'm really happy with my results. I'll probably be making more cards in the future and I'll post my “digi stamps” here for free when I do. (Click on the image and you can go right to Flickr and download them for your own use, just don't sell any cards you make from them.)

More recipe art: Red Lentil Bolognese

Bolognese is a traditional Italian meat sauce, but since we are vegetarian we get a bit creative. The lentils give a hearty texture as well as a subtle creaminess, and of course a tasty, tasty protein, especially when served atop whole wheat pasta.


Red Lentil Bolognese

1/2 bag red lentils

2 sm or 1 lg onion, diced
4-5 lg cloves garlic, crushed
1 (16oz) pkg white button mushrooms, sliced
1 gr pepper, diced
2 carrots, chopped
3-4 stalks celery chopped
1 (32oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (32oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp Italian herb blend (recipe to follow)
1 Tbsp basil
salt & pepper

In a medium pot, cover the lentils with water and cook until just tender.
Meanwhile, saute the onions until translucent then add the garlic and cook a minute more.
Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their juices and the liquid has evaporated.
Add the rest of the ingredients and the drained lentils. Simmer until the vegetables are just tender.
Serve over pasta. YUM!



Italian Herb Blend
(When I make it 1 Part = 1 Tbsp, but you can make bigger or smaller batches as desired.)

3 parts basil
2 parts each, marjoram, oregano, & thyme
1 part rosemary, crushed

Ladybugs at Bedtime

tonight's post brought to you by The Llama Papa:

The Llama is a little over 2 years old now, and talks to us in a combination of toddler-ASL and spoken toddler-English. He's a late talker-- it's pretty much the only thing that he's behind the curve on. Well, for several bedtimes now he's been signing a particular sign to us that we hadn't been able to figure out-- he can't fully articulate all the signs yet, as is normal at that age. It looked like his sign for "bird" or "duck" but he let us know that wasn't it. Last night, after he went to bed, I suggested to The Llama Mamma that he might be signing "bug," although at the time we couldn't figure out why he would be saying that. Tonight he did the sign again, and she asked him if he was signing "bug." the Llama went over to his box of puzzle pieces and pulled out the one shaped like a ladybug to show us that yes, this was what he was saying. I finally realized why. We have a cheap little board book called "Lily Ladybird" which is about a lazy bug who just wants to sleep all day, but the other bugs keep her up to exercise and "she doesn't sleep again until it's time for bed." Well, tonight we were keeping the Llama awake until bedtime (he already gets up at 5 AM or sometimes sooner, so we're loathe to let the bedtime creep any earlier), so he was referencing the book to indicate that it was the same thing which happened to the bug. I recited a bit from the end of the book to him and he broke out in a big grin, as if to say "Yes, they finally get it!" I'm just amazed that he's already comprehending what's going on in the books we read and relating them to his life, and then communicating it to us as best he can. There's so much more going on in that little brain than can yet get out through the hands and mouth. I love my boy!

the My Toys Coloring Book

Finally, here it is, a nice little travel coloring book with 14 nifty little toys to color.
(Yes, all of these are toys that the Llama loves!)
You are free to print off as many copies as you need, and give them to every child you know. Every kid needs a little travel coloring book!





click here to download a PDF of the coloring book.

Make sure that you are printing the book at actual size (NOT shrink to fit). Print page 1 and 2 back to back (2-sided page), and page 3 and 4 back to back (2-sided page). Then simply cut along the dotted lines and fold on the solid lines. Arrange the pages so that the title page is on top, then staple or sew them together, and you have a nifty new coloring book to enjoy!








If you really liked my coloring book (or even if you only kinda liked it) and you want to give back, please feel free to donate a little spare change. Thanks.

My Toys Coloring Book by Abigail LaLonde is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

coloring book

The Llama Pappa says this earns me a “best mommy” award.

If I don't know what to draw for my daily journal, I usually pick one of the Llama's many little plastic or stuffed toys. And then today I decided that I had enough to put together a little coloring book for him. I traced the drawings out of my journal (since the originals were painted in) and then scanned them. After a little editing and a bit of fiddling in Open Office, I had a coloring book!

The drawings aren't perfect, since I was tracing through thick paper without a light box, but I kind of like the rough look, and the Llama certainly doesn't seem to mind. In fact he LOVED it! I think he especially liked that they were his toys rather than just some random pictures.



After I gather a few more drawings and figure out a better way of putting everything together I may share the book with everyone.

World's Best Pizza Dough

We love homemade pizza around here— the Llama Papa and I have been making pizza ever since we first started dating. Over the years I have tweaked the dough to a cross between a classic pizza dough and an herbed focaccia. and it comes out just the way we like it. This makes a wonderfully flavorful thin crust, perfect for all of your favorite toppings.



Awesome Pizza Dough

2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp sugar (I use turbinado)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp granulated garlic
1 Tbsp Mrs Dash Onion & Herb
1 Tbsp rosemary – crushed
1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 C warm water (110°-120°)
1 Tbsp olive oil

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour in your warm water and olive oil. Stir to combine, then dump everything out onto your counter top and knead for about 5 minutes, adding flour as needed to keep it from sticking to the counter or your hands, but not to enough to make the dough stiff. (I always end up with a little dough stuck to my hands, this is fine, you just don't want to be wearing doughy gloves by the time you are done.)



Form the dough into a ball and plop it into a large greased bowl. (I just give the bowl a spritz of cooking oil, then another quick spritz onto the dough to keep it from drying out.) Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour.



Have all of your toppings ready and your oven pre-heated to about 450° before you start rolling out your dough.



I toss a little flour on top and roll my dough out on a piece of parchment paper; it makes it much easier to handle, and it's the perfect size for our pizza stone.



Throw on your favorite toppings, bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese (if you are using it) is bubbly and just starting to brown. Let the pizza cool for about 5-10 minutes before slicing and digging in— otherwise your tongue may be too burnt to taste the yumminess.



This makes about 8 large pieces.

Veggie Pie

The Llama Papa doesn't really like 'creamy' things and so has never had a classic chicken pot pie or a veggie alternative. But I've had a hankering for one for a while, so I went trolling around for ideas. After a while I came up with this:



Veggie Pie
(with some promising alternate ingredients at the end)

1 double pie crust

1 package extra firm tofu, drained
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
1 small sweet potato
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen green beans
1 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1 teaspoon thyme
small bay leaf
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the Tofu into 1 inch pieces and fry them in a saucepan until all sides are browned; set aside.

Saute the onions until translucent; add the garlic and saute a minute more. Add the carrots, celery, and potato, and saute until everything is warmed.

Add the flour and stir until everything is evenly coated.

Add the rest of the ingredients, including the tofu, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until the potato is just soft.

Meanwhile:

Roll out the double pie crust and line a 9-inch pie plate with one half.

Fill with the vegetable mix and top with the other half; crimp the edges to seal, and slash the top a few times to vent.

Bake for 30 minutes or so until the crust is golden and everything is nice and bubbly.

Slice and enjoy!


As we were eating, we thought of a bunch of other ingredients that would go really well in this pie:

Try replacing the sweet potato with a regular potato, or do both!
Use leeks instead of onions.
Toss in some sliced white button or Baby Bella mushrooms and sweat them before adding the carrots and celery.
Cooked TVP instead of tofu. Or maybe some Tempeh!
Use one carrot and one parsnip instead of just two carrots
add a few cups of a small bean, like pink or red beans

Last Night's Dinner:

(click to see larger)

if you can't read my handwriting:

Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup

1 lg onion
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp fresh ginger
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 lbs sweet potatoes
2 carrots
6 c water or vegetable stock
1 tsp salt
1/2 c chopped peanuts
1/4 c peanut butter

sauté onions until they go translucent, add garlic and sauté a mute more, add everything but peanut butter and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes or until sweet potato is tender. Puree until smooth. Add peanut butter and whisk to combine.

holiday recap

This week has been busy for us here in Llama land. We decided that holiday traveling with a two year old just was not a good idea, so we couldn't go back up north to visit family, which made all of us sad. But to make up for it my parents came down here to visit for the day. They brought presents from the rest of the family, and we had a nice time visiting. This year, including birthday presents (last week was his birthday), the Llama received several puzzles, wooden blocks, a Melissa & Doug Shape, Model and Mold kit for play dough, new crayons, markers, stickers, coloring books, and drawing paper, as well as new clothes, a xylophone, and a corn popper push toy, and of course tons of books. The Llama Poppa got new boots, I got a new stick blender, and we all got Amazon gift cards; happiness all around.

Then it was The Llama's two-year Pediatrician visit. He weighs 37 lbs and is 37 inches tall! Unfortunately it was not a happy visit for him; the nurses were scary, this was his first time on the big kid's scale and it was wobbly and scary, he didn't like being examined one bit, and then they had to give him the flu vaccine (we got the nose drops, which was better than a shot, but still scary) and then his two-year finger pick to check for lead. Everything came out perfectly, the doctor said he was awesome. But he was NOT happy, my poor little guy. Thankfully he seemed to calm down best when we gave him a pen and let him draw on the flu vax info sheet. I'm glad that he has discovered such an easy method of calming himself, and that it's making art. When we got home we played with play dough and some of his other new toys, then after dinner we had a nice long bath time with lots of splashing and he was good as new, and most definitely ready for bed!

Hopefully now everything will calm down a little bit and we can get ourselves back to normal. After the new year I'll be taking down the decorations (which the Llama LOVED). And we can start getting back into our routine, but with more time for drawing and art, because the Llama obviously loves it.

Mock Tuna Salad

When I was a kid, one of the few fishes I would eat was tuna, and then only in surprise or in sandwiches. I've been craving tuna sandwiches lately, so I went looking for Vegetarian recipes, then I smashed them all together and came up with this:



Chickpea “Tuna” Salad

3 C cooked chickpeas
1/4 C mayo
1/4 C nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp powdered nori (just take a sheet or two of nori and run it through the spice grinder)**
1/4 C celery, diced small
3 Tbsp sweet pickle relish

Run the chickpeas through the food processor until they are roughly chopped and crumbly, or alternately mash them with a fork and your hands.
Stir the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl, then add the chickpeas and stir until everything is coated evenly. This will make about 5 sandwiches.

(This recipe is similar to how I used to make it as a kid, but a lot of recipes left out the relish and added dijon mustard, some had scallions added in, and some left out the celery. Essentially the main parts of the recipe are the first 4-5 ingredients**, after that you can pretty much just add what you did as a kid.)

**the reason I didn't eat a lot of fish as a kid was I hated that 'fishy' taste, so I didn't add the nori and it was great!



(needs lettuce and tomato, but we were out, ah well.)