National Blonde Brownie Day

I just found a great new blog. It's called Zany Holidays. It's the perfect site for card makers who enjoy sending cards for 'different' reasons. Yesterday was National Blonde Brownie Day. I love those! So in honor of this awesome occasion, here is a yummy recipe for you. (It's from recipezaar.com - a favorite site. I love that you can read the reviews for the recipes.)



Applebee's Blonde Brownies
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon maple extract or maple flavoring

Directions
1. Brownies: Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Add nuts, mix well, and set aside.
3. Melt butter, add brown sugar, and mix well.
4. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
5. Gradually combine with flour mixture, mixing well.
6. Stir in white chocolate chips.
7. Pour into a 9-inch square pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
8. Sauce: Combine syrup and butter, cook over low heat until butter is melted.
9. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved and remove from heat.
10. Beat in cream cheese and maple extract until smooth.
11. Heat again in the microwave until it reaches desired consistency.

So, onto something a little less calorie dense. Here is the layout I did for the 'I Believe' portion of my MMM entry. It was published in the Januray/February issue, which is kind of ironic because it was my LEAST favorite page of the entry. But, I still like it. Everything on here is either a scrap or repurposed(cardboard, plastic packaging, paper bag.) To make the leaves, I cut them from the packaging and dyed them green with alcohol inks. The little rolled up things are pieces of paper bags.




I played along with Kristina Werner's Color Challenge this week. It's really fun! Here are the colors we had to use:


And here is my card. I used Doodlebug papers, Cosmo Cricket and EK Success chipboard and a Melissa Frances rubon. I love the mix of colors.It's hard to see, but there is a white strip on the left side. I based it on CPS Sketch 53. Love killing two birds (or challenges) with one stone!




Well, thanks for reading my novel today. Hope you all have a great day!