Chai tea gifties

I discovered the recipe for this wonderful Chai Tea Mix a couple of years back via Posie Gets Cozy.
Since I cannot currently find her original post to link to, I am going to cut and paste from the word document a I created so I wouldn't have to go searching every time I wanted to make this.

These are Alicia's words:

The beauty of this recipe is its flexibility. You can adjust any of the spices to your taste and even eliminate one altogether. I love the genius of adding candied ginger instead of fresh (which obviously won't keep) or powdered (which can make the resulting tea murky.) The red peppercorns are optional because they are quite expensive but I do love to add them for their holiday color, especially when paired up with the green cardamom pods.

The recipe below makes enough Chai to fit into a 1/2 pint canning jar and is easily multiplied out for larger batches. I try to collect jars and old tins throughout the year to fill. You can also use small bags or make your own from scraps of cloth. The possibilities are endless!

Chai Tea Mix Recipe
Makes about 12-16 teabags

12 green cardamom pods
1/2 teaspoon whole red peppercorns (optional)
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1 4-inch cinnamon stick
3 tablespoons chopped candied ginger
1/2 cup loose black tea

Preheat oven to 350°

With a sharp knife, split the cardamom pods in half. Place in a pie tin along with the peppercorns, fennel, coriander, cloves and cinnamon. Toast in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the spices are fragrant. Remove and cool.

Crush spices lightly with a rolling pin or in a mortar and pestle. You may have to crumble the cinnamon stick with your hands.

In a bowl, toss the spices, candied ginger and tea together until blended.

Spoon into your container of choice (mason jar, cello or parchment or waxed paper bags, vintage tea tin, etc.) Include fillable tea bags and brewing instructions. Alternatively, you can fill each tea bag with approximately 1 tablespoon of the chai mix and tie it loosely to close. (But that's a lot of work if you're making several batches!)

Brewing Instructions
tea for one

1 cup of water
1/2 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of Chai Mix placed into a tea bag
Sugar or honey to taste

Bring the water to a boil and add the teabag. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Add the milk, turn on the flame and reheat until hot. Remove from heat, discard teabag, sweeten to taste, enjoy!

This recipe is based on one by Maria Helm Sinskey. I've made several changes in the proportions and the brewing instructions, and added the red peppercorns, but the basic concept is hers.

I love how they look all bundled up and ready to gift! When I have time, I add a piece of raw, peeled ginger to the pot when simmering for extra ginger yumminess!
Happy Tea Drinking!

Thanks for visiting!
Shanna :)

Have a...

My youngest son is uber interested in computer programming at the moment. He just turned 11 and asked for programming texts for his birthday!

As such, this card seemed appropriate. I was wracking my brain for a stamp with some sort of computer image when I remembered my "Generation Tech" stack from DCWV. Actually, I am pretty sure last year's card was made with paper from that stack too! (Apparently, that one was a good investment!) lol - he is that kind of kid!

Then I remembered the fun "gobledy goop" stamp in CTMH's "Tech Speak" stamp set and his card was born. I think he liked the "programming bits" I stamped on the inside best!

I would like to share at:
Seize the Birthday 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your holiday preparations are coming along. I am smack in the middle of trying to get all my holiday cards in the mail! I love it, but there are A LOT of them!

Cheers,
Shanna :)

what I used:
stamps - CTMH From me to you, Tech Speak and Reel Life
paper - DCWV - The Generation Tech Stack

Life is an adventure

 Here is something a little different! This is the card I made for my husband's birthday featuring two of my fave photos from our recent Whistler vacation - more photos later, it was FABULOUS! I can't wait to do more alpine hiking!!!

Zip-lining was crazy and exciting! The first line was more than a kilometer long and spanned an entire mountain valley. We travelled 80-90 kim/hour.

I would like to share in the following challenges:

Shopping Our Stash - no stamping - technically, I stamped on the inside, but my card design did not rely on stamps - the sentiment on the front is a rub-on

Crazy 4 Challenges - O Christmas Tree - include a tree - there are at least a few! :)

Thanks so much for visiting!

Shanna

What I used:

rub-ons - Swatch Book Impress-ons by Marah Johnson

Sentiment stamp & tree - CTMH

40

I have another coffee themed card to share! I seem to be on a roll here with hot drinks this past while!  (and would you believe I have another waiting in the wings?!) This is for one of my Best Girlfriends who recently celebrated the big "40." Green and blue are her favourite colours.

I had been itching to use this fab Angie Girl (Kimmie) from Unity, so I decided to stamp her on the inside along with the matching sentiment.

I would like to share at:

Always Playing with Paper - inspiration challenge



and

Seize the Birthday - anything goes

Hoping your week is off to a fabulous start!
Shanna :)

What I used:
stamps: SU  "Perfect Blend"
             Unity - Kimmie Girl by Angie Blom
             CTMH - Hello Life National Stamping Month sets
misc papers, lace and sequins

You warm my heart

 Well, I went out in search of my mojo yesterday. It took a bit of wandering aimlessly, but I might have found it, if only temporarily! I would like to keep it nearby for a bit as I have a few birthday cards that need doing! Good thing there is a fab theme this week at Jingle Belles and a fantastic sketch at Freshly Made or I would still be wandering lost!

The inside - sorry about the bad lighting, but you get the idea.

 With matching envelope:

I would like to play along at:

Freshly Made Sketches - 


Jingle Belles - Bring us some figgy pudding!
and
Craft Stamper - anything goes as long as there is stamping

Thanks for visiting!

Shanna :)

What I used:
paper - American Crafts - Peppermint Express
SU - perfect blend
CTMH "A Sip" - A1109
MFT Candy Cane Kisses (inside sentiment)
Starbuck's coffee sleeve
machine stitching
sequins, twine & paperclip (thanks Donna)

An Accessible Ski Program!

I would really love your support for a cause that is very close to my heart! Some of you are well aware of my love of the outdoors, snow and skiing in particular. I mentioned a bit about my involvement over the past two winters in an exciting program for children with vision loss in this post.

This year, we are expanding the program! Some of the children who participated last year will be integrated into the regular Jackrabbit Ski program with support as necessary - so exciting! New children will have the opportunity to try cross-country skiing in a five session clinic setting. Running such a program does have costs, especially around having ski equipment available for any child who wishes to participate. There is no rental fee for children in the first year of the program. As we wish to expand the program, we have submitted a grant proposal at TBaytelfor good. The outcome is based, at least in part, on public on-line voting! People can vote once per day everyday. If you have more than one email, you can vote more than once per day.

So, yes, I am campaigning! I am asking if you would be willing to take the time to help us by voting. I promise placing your vote won't take much time. The first time you visit the website, you will need to type in your email address, then go to your email and verify before going back to TBaytel website to place your vote. It is quicker the second time.

Here is the link:
or cut and paste this:

https://www.tbaytelforgood.net/ideas/146

Feel free to read through our submission if you are interested. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. We could really use your help! Others submitted before us and are quite ahead of us in votes. Public votes are worth 30% of our score. So, although there are others quite ahead of us, I believe we still have a chance to win one of three prizes based on our idea and written proposal as long as we have significant public support.

Thank you sincerely for considering taking the time to vote for our program over the next couple of weeks! Remember you can vote every single day (I vote 3x per day since I have three email addresses!) And please feel free to spread the word, we can use all the help we can get! :)

Shanna and all the young participants of the Lappe Para-Nordic Ski Program!

xoxo

Happy Christmas

 Okay, this one was just way too fun and easy to create, I feel like I was cheating! lol
A peek at the inside:

I would like to share at:

Cute Card Thursday - birds/animals

and

Christmas at Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog - stars

Christmas Card Challenges - anything goes

Nice to see you! I hope to be back soon with some photos from my recent Whistler vacation!

Shanna :)

What I used:

CTMH Picture My Life

CTMH B1493 Festive Trees

CTMH B1489 Joyful Garland

CTMH woodgrain embossing folder

Happy Halloween

Well, I have managed to miss posting this before Halloween - oh well, what ya gonna do? I was still trying to figure out where September went and, bam, it's November...WHAT???

I would like to share at:
Little Red Wagon - Ghosts or Goblins (or other Halloween creatures)

I had been looking forward to using this adorable CTMH witch set and finally got around to it. So much fun, is she not adorable?

Hope to be back soon to share some photos of what I was up to last week - it was so Fabulous!

Thanks for stopping by!
Shanna :)