What’s for Dinner? Apparently, Pasta.
There are certain questions in life that just keep coming around. Did I turn off the coffee maker? Where did I put my glasses? Why did I walk into this room?
And then there’s the big one.
What’s for dinner?
Every. Single. Day.
It really doesn’t seem to matter how many other things you have accomplished. You can colour a card, make a pile of bracelets, photograph three projects, answer messages, clean up the kitchen and perhaps even move a load of laundry from one machine to another. Eventually somebody is still going to want to know what we’re eating.
So naturally, I made a pasta card.
And really, how could I resist these little faces? The tomato and spaghetti characters are created with some absolutely adorable Spellbinders dies, and as someone who also happens to love pasta and sauce perhaps a little more than necessary, this entire collection had my name written all over it.
The Spellbinders goodies I used:
I die cut all the little character pieces, added some ink blending for extra depth and dimension, and then assembled my new pasta-loving friends.
For the red sauce at the top, I pulled a random “drip” die from my stash. It certainly wasn’t intended to be marinara sauce, but today it is. Use what you have! Sometimes looking at a die for the shape rather than what it was originally designed to create can give you a completely different use for it. I added darker ink blending around the edges along with a little texture, which helped transform that simple red piece into something that looked much more like sauce.
The cream background was embossed with the Al Dente embossing folder. I very lightly blended ink over the raised pasta shapes rather than leaving the panel completely plain. It’s a small detail, but it helps all those embossed noodles, ravioli and other pasta shapes show without competing with the characters.
The sentiment, from Stay Saucy Sentiments, was heat embossed onto black cardstock. I also matted the finished card front in black before attaching it to the card base, which ties that bold sentiment strip into the rest of the design.
Then came the gold gems.
I hesitated.
Red. Cream. Green. Black. Did I really need another colour wandering into this pasta party?
Apparently I did.
A few tiny gold gems added just enough warmth and sparkle without taking over, and I think they finished the whole thing off rather nicely. There’s a useful little design lesson there too: when you’re unsure about introducing another colour, try adding it in very small amounts first. An embellishment is an easy way to test an accent colour without committing half the card to it.
And while the sentiment says, “With you, life’s never plain pasta,” this card could easily work for a birthday, an anniversary, or simply for that person in your life who understands that pasta is practically a love language.
Which brings us right back to that dreaded question.
What’s for dinner?
Well, I might actually be able to help with that one.
I have a marinara sauce recipe that I’ve been making for more than 25 years, and it is ridiculously easy, incredibly good and one of those dependable recipes that has survived decades of busy days and I-have-no-idea-what-to-make-for-dinner evenings.
And because apparently I am incapable of simply handing you a recipe without involving craft supplies somehow, I’m going to be sharing it in a completely fun and crafty way.
Stay tuned…
Dinner is coming. And there will be sauce.
Some of the links sprinkled throughout this post are affiliate links. That simply means if you click one and decide you absolutely need that crafty little something in your life, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you.
Think of it as helping to keep this little corner of the internet supplied with paper, ink, beads… and, most importantly, coffee. Because apparently creativity requires caffeine and an alarming number of craft supplies.
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