Ultimate Recipe Showdown Winner???

My BFF Laureen is an uber-talented chef. She has won several recipe contests, both locally and nationally, not the least of which was as a finalist in this year's Pillsbury Bake-Off contest. Unfortunately, she didn't win the big million dollar prize, but she did get an all-expense paid trip to Dallas TX for the Bake-Off, won some great consolation prizes, and had an amazing experience. Check out her recipe for Upside-Down Caramel Apple Bisquits. Don't they sound delicious...and easy... especially this time of year? Yum!

But probably the biggest coup yet for Laureen is that she is a contestant in Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown. This time, she was flown to New York and met Guy Fieri and got to cook with the pros at the Food Network Studios. She said it was the experience of a lifetime...I can just imagine! But we have to wait until March to find out if she was the big winner when the show is televised. hee hee hee

Anyway, I wanted to make a special card to congratulate her on her cooking successes. She's not actually into baking as much as cooking, but I had already made a card for her using the Voila set from Stampin Up, so I turned to my StampingBella Cecily Cinnamon Sticks. I love how she turned out in jewel toned colors, which match perfectly with new seasonal colors from Papertrey Ink. After cutting out and embossing the image with my Nestabilities circle die and mounting on a Nestie scalloped circle, I used my SU Top Note die (works perfectly with the Spellbinder Wizard, by the way) to cut out the Summer Sunrise (gold) background piece. I like how the shape mimics Cecily's wings. I kept trying to find a way to put a greeting on the front or add something else to it, but ended up leaving well enough alone. The DP is so busy that anything else might have been too much.

Recipe:

Stamps: StampingBella Cecily Cinnamon Sticks
Paper: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise and Pure Poppy cardstock, and First Fruits patterned paper

Ink: Copic Markers
Accessories: Papertrey Ink Pure Poppy double stitched ribbon

Okay, back to getting ready for the boutique. I'll try to squeeze in another post or two soon. Thanks for stopping by!