Simple Masking & Life Advice From a Mouse

Do you have anxiety? And do you like cheese? Are you allergic to dairy and miss cheese and butter? Do you like free craft supplies? Are you addicted to washi tape?

Then, strangely enough, you're in the right place for all of these things right here on a crafty blog :)

I saw this amazing checkerboard floor image and I had an idea for a card for one of those times someone is struggling with worry.

I'm Irish, so my imagination is extremely vivid. If someone is traveling, and I don't hear from them by a certain time, my Irish brain can see in FULL COLOR a 64 car pileup on a freeway, with body parts flung around, fires and zombies raging through the scene. Possibly spiders too. That mental image doesn't ever match what really happened, which is that someone stopped to get gas and were a little late.

If you have a worst case scenario brain like I do then today's project is for you. NOTHING is ever going to be as bad as you imagine if your brain is wired that way, so bring yourself some peace. Take a nap. Listen to bird calls. As this stamp says - worrying is like praying for something you don't want.

How that relates to cheese I will explain below - and it's just a funny coincidence that I'm writing about mice and cheese today. I didn't plan it.

So I wanted to paint a scene with the little mouse and this hilarious sentiment to illustrate this idea - with his big shadow filling in for his imagination. The mouse is from this set, and the floor is part of this fun scene building set by my sweet friend Tifany. I stamped the little mouse in Nocturne first. Then I used masking paper to mask his bottom half off and stamped the floor image on top of him. Then I watercolored him as you'll see in the video below. The sentiment is from this set. The woodgrain envelope you'll see in the video is this one, and it has matching cardstock.

So what does this have to do with cheese? Well what I thought was a lactose intolerance I just found out is a dairy allergy now. Dreams crushed. I loved dairy, but it didn't love me anymore. Three weeks out of zero dairy and I feel like a new woman.

But the reality is I miss a lot of things. Butter and cheese the most. Those made me sad. I thought the world was ending. There's GREAT local cultured coconut yogurt, and locally made INSANELY delicious coconut yogurt. But vegan cheese substitutes and butters are mostly gross. Until, in a group that I'm in, someone introduced me to CULTURED butter and cheese by a company called Miyoko's. Culturing is usually the difference between a cow milk dairy product and a coconut milk or cashew product. Without culturing, it's not tangy or creamy or worth eating. I tried the butter last week and I literally nearly cried - it's indistinguishable from European cow milk butter - melts the same way, same texture, incredible taste.

So then I moved onto her cheeses - holy wow. They are delicious and there are lots of flavors and style. Her Mozz cheese you freeze and grate onto pizza and I had my first pizza in YEARS this week. Food allergies suck and you just want to feel normal and eat your favorite things sometimes, and now I no longer feel deprived. She wrote a vegan cheese cookbook if you want to make your own.

Before I developed this allergy, I was meaning to tell you how I stored my cheese after a little revelation in Whole Foods one day. If you love cheese - Miyoko's or regular cheese - you HAVE to store it properly or it won't last as long and it will be gross. I would get a brick of my favorite cheddar and then just throw it in a ziploc - the worst thing you can do for your cheese. If you respect your cheese, use these magic, moisture and air controlling bags! Cheese is alive and will die and mold in a ziploc. I love these things, and I was super skeptical when I found them and bought them. So now when I get my Miyoko's I take it out of the packaging and immediately put it in one of the bags or the sheets of the paper. Also, the packaging is beautiful and elegant. You can reuse the bags for the same type of cheese for a long time. If you prefer the paper, you can buy that, or you can buy a little bundle that includes a little cheese log.

NO MORE MOLDY CHEESE - THAT WILL UPSET THE MOUSE. And see? The world didn't end.

If you find some of this delightful non dairy food near you, Miyoko's has a fun and friendly Facebook group as well. Both of these have made it onto my Food Favorites list, which you can find here. I also have a healthier version of caramel for you - my friend Jami posted this - I instantly made it, and it was very hard not to eat the entire jar.

1 cup medjool dates (pits removed)

2 tablespoons almond butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (I used cashew milk - as you now know I can't have cow milk).

Blend in #vitamix or other high powered blender. Eat. Store in fridge *IF* there is any left for up to a week.

Via Jami Bova - shared with permission

I don't have a Vitamix - but there's one on the way thanks to a crazy daily deal on Amazon that nearly cut the price in half - so I did it in my Ninja, which is an awesome machine, but it won't get things perfectly smooth like the Vitamix does. I've heard that Blendtec is also very good and less expensive, although not by much after that daily deal - watch those things! I had no idea - but someone in one of my recipe groups shared the deal, thank goodness. We have Marie Kondo'd our kitchen recently and got rid of our old blender that leaked every time I used it. ANYWAY, EAT THE CARAMEL.

So on to the video with my anxious mouse AND a tiny, fun thing that will make you love your washi tape EVEN MORE. But see below the video for info on today's giveaway!

Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set... [ SSS | INK ] Ink Blot Shop Clear Stamp Set GET... [ SSS | INK ] Flopsy Forest Friends :: 6x8 Clear... [ INK | SSS ] Billy Silly Goats :: 6x8 Clear Stamp... [ INK | SSS ] Kaisercraft - Clear Stamper [ AMZUS ] Kokuyo Washi Tape Cutter Karu-Cut... [ ETS ] Amazon.com: Staedtler Mars Technico... [ AMZUS ] Avery 6465 Removable Multipurpose... [ AMZUS ] 8 1/2 x 11 Tindalo Brown Wood Grain... [ PPR ] A2 Tindalo Brown Wood Grain... [ PPR ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- Key Lime [ GNK ] Envelopes 10 pack- Key Lime - Gina K... [ GNK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes... [ BLIC | ELH ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Cheese Storage Bags [ FRM ] Cheese Storage Kit [ FRM ] New Release - Ink Blot Shop [ SSS ]

Today My Sweet Petunia and Tifany are teaming up on a giveaway! My Sweet Petunia is giving away a MISTI + Cut-align Bundle, and Tifany is giving away the four sets shown below, including the one I used! Head over to the My Sweet Petunia blog for another watercolor card I made for today and leave us both a comment to double your chances of winning! Get another chance over at the Ink Blot Shop Blog. See the rest of the release here.

Loveyameanitbye.