True Scrap 5

Well, we just finished True Scrap 5!!! An amazing online better-than-scrapbook-convention. It was so great!! It is put on by Lain Ehmann, and consists of a 2 Day line up of great teaching, Q & A, and make-and-takes. 

Faith and I have attended True Scrap 2, 3, 4, and now 5, as well as True Stamp. And they have all been amazing, and each one keeps getting better and better. 

We learned so much in this 2 day session, and we plan to pass it on to you!! 

Here's just a sample of what we learned:)

These were done using gelatos and Distress Markers. 

IN A WHOLE NEW WAY!!!

They aren't beautiful, but I was just playing around. Can't wait to do more!

And this is just ONE technique. We learned at least 5 more.....

FROM EACH CLASS.

And there were 6 classes and 2 make-and-takes each day.

So stay tuned. Cause, we have a lot to share!

Leslie's Pumpkin Roll

Loving true scrap 5!! I had a request to post my pumpkin roll recipe. So here it is:

 Leslie’s Pumpkin Roll

For the Cake:
Powered Sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pureed pumpkin

Filling:

1-8 oz. pkg. creme cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

6 tbsp. softened butter

1 tsp. vanilla

For cake: preheat oven to 375. line 15x10 in. jelly roll pan, with parchment and grease. I use coconut oil but any oil or butter will work. Sprinkle a thin kitchen towel with powdered sugar, or you can use parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients except sugars in a small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in a large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared parchment in pan. If you would like, sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper and roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack. 

For filling: beat filling ingredients together.

When cake is cool, carefully unroll the cake. Then spread cream cheese mixture carefully on cake. Re-roll cake, without towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least an hour. Sprinkle with powered sugar before serving, if desired. 

One Little Word

Lots of good stuff happening here! But for now, just wanted to share a New Word, for a New Year!

Last year, God led me to a scrapbooker, Ali Edwards, who has inspired many by her "One Little Word" challenge. It has been a way for her followers to focus on one trait, thought or character change for the year. It has been life changing for many, and so helpful for me, in the midst of everything that has happened this past year. My "One Little Word" for 2012 was HOPE. And I want to stay there. I learned that Hope in Christ was the only way I could exist; That I could be fully present and fully alive.

I realized that I had placed my hope in all sorts of other things, especially people. And that did not work, especially when those people were human, flawed (like me) and not able to meet my expectations; nor were they designed to!! So I had a paradigm shift. I learned to place my hope in God alone. After all, he designed it all, including me, so he would know how it all fits together. And because of that, I don't have to. I just have to trust, and place my hope in Him. He knows what I need, and what will make me fall on my knees, rest, and just live in joy. I don't get it all the time, but having that one little word in the forefront of my mind helped me so much.

So this year, God gave me a new word.

What is that new word???

HALF.

Half? Why half?

Well, I have so much stuff. SOOOOOOO MUCH. Too much. Way too much. And there are so many with not enough. So I am going to try to pear down. Not  buy. Use what I have, and give away lots. Sell some. Give more. So I can have time to enjoy what is most precious to me. People. And if I have so much stuff to maintain, pick up or move around just to store it, I don't have time to do what I really want to to: Bless people. Be a mentor. Be a friend. Mother. Cook great food. And if I always feel like I don't have time to do stuff, then maybe I don't need so much stuff to do it with. Maybe it would be better to just live without it. Or make due with what I have. Or pay someone else to do some things. I am trying to figure it out. But I am excited to do it, because God is in it. He has a plan. And I can't wait to see what this year brings. My hearts desire is to have half as much stuff to have twice as much of Him by the end of this year.

Will I mess up? sure I will. But I will forget what is behind, and strain forward for the high calling of Jesus Christ. After all, I can do all things through Christ who is my strength. My hope. My joy. And if I have joy in him, isn't that enough?