ANOTHER Technique Junkies NEW RELEASE? Yep! April!! With DISCOUNT!!

Let me first begin by saying that I want to take a moment to celebrate...well...

me.

My generosity, that is.

You see, not only am I going to selflessly hand you not one, but TWO coupons for Technique Junkies new April releases and one discount coupon good for the rest of the TJ site, I am also going to share my mind-blowing, delicious, mouth-watering and highly secret recipe to my Banana-less Banana Pudding.

By the way, yes. You read that correctly.

Banana-less Banana Pudding.

But we MUST follow a linear path in terms of importance. Granted, dessert is #2 on my priority list. #1, however, is crafting. On down the list would be all things offspring-related and rounding out the top 50 would be something pertaining to the Marital Unit. Though, as to its importance, I'd have to check. As usual, however, I digress. Back to our #1.

Technique Junkies April New Releases are TOO much fun! And so that you can see for yourself that it's just not bias speaking, here's 15% off on said New Releases!!

 

 AND to really drive the point home, here's an additional 10% off those New Releases!! This can also be used on the rest of your TJ purchases as well! But you've GOT TO TYPE IN THIS CODE.

The code being TJ10CARMEN

For my project, I used the beautiful background stamp Butterfly Collage with Text

I stamped it with Versa Mark on Sticky Canvas and embossed with blue glitter powder. When I first saw the stamp the first thing I thought of was Moulin Rouge!

As my fave scene was the first time we see Satine on the swing as "The Sparkling Diamond", I set about to create the swing with chain trim from Hobby Lobby and chipboard. I regret the 2 pieces of wooden trim on the sides, painted red, because all I can think of are Twizzlers Strawberry Licorice. The Marital Unit contributed this and all I can say is that I was exhausted and clearly out of my mind to listen to him in the first place.

Dresden trim dressed up the top and bottom. The lion and wings are also Dresden. 

But the BEST part was finding Satine!! 

As I was googling images, I ran across this beauty by Cory Jensen. He's a wonderful artist who, as far as I can tell, simply shares his art with everyone. I asked permission to use Satine and offered payment because you have to admit...she's worth it!

I resized her and cut both pieces out. I used my glitter pen on her just a little so she wouldn't get lost. If you click on Satine, you'll find yourself on Cory's Facebook page. He also has a RedBubble page (it's a terrific graphic arts company, very supportive of artists, mostly t-shirts) and I encourage you to visit both.

Now, speaking of "visiting", I also ask you to visit Technique Junkies and the rest of the gals to see what they've done with April's New Releases. And don't forget...that 15% off is ONLY good through the 8th! After that, you'll still have the 10% coupon but nothing beats picking up New Releases using both discounts.

Technique Junkies Blog

Pat Huntoon

Beth Norman-Roberts

Ceal Pritchett

Giovana Smith

Holly Brown

Jeanne Streiff

Judy Jackson

Ro Donner

Lynda Pleckan

Patti Gilliam

And NOW...on to priority #2. Dessert. As promised, the recipe for my my mind-blowing, delicious, mouth-watering and highly secret recipe to my Banana-less Banana Pudding.

This came about because my offspring inherited my good sense when it comes to the travesty of fruit traipsing around in dessert, as if it belonged there.

Spoiler alert: It doesn't.

Fruit in desserts are impostors. Raisins are merely "pretend" chocolate chips.

Besides, fruits in desserts are liars. They insinuate that whatever you're about to eat has some type of nutritional value. Fruits will innocently sit there in 1,000 calorie per bite desserts and claim that what you're about to eat can't possibly be that bad, could it? Because it's fruit, right?

Chocolate covered strawberries? Pffft. Don't bother. I'll take chocolate covered chocolate and be done with it.

I know you think me harsh. It's not that I'm not flexible, however. Take cake, for example. I give cakes a pass. Fruit baked in cake or folded into icing makes sense. The cake and icing are clearly the stars of the show-the fruits are the proverbial "back-up dancers". Where they should be.

My mother tried to disagree. "What about homemade apple and peach cobbler?

"Ok Ma. Take out the fruit and you have just the juice and extra bubbly homemade pastry on top. No pesky apples or peaches to mess it up. Just the goods." I said.

She was silent a moment. "Well, I guess I see what you mean."

HAH! See? This is why I was determined to come up with a banana pudding that wasn't swimming with nasty bananas that turned black about 2 and 1/2 seconds after putting it on my plate. Not to mention one of which I could openly partake without having to surreptitiously peek over my shoulder as I tried to scoop just cookies and pudding onto my plate. Which was a lost cause because the ingrates that stole my youth, natural hair color and face collagen (along with half my DNA) had already gotten to it and done the same thing.

So, I did it. I created it. And now, I will share this accomplishment with you. Mostly to prove that I'm right about the whole Fruit-less Dessert thing and to justify this rant.

Not to mention it's pretty da*n good and I'm really feeling a little snooty about it.

So there.

Banana-less Banana Pudding

1 lg. box Instant Banana Cream Jello Pudding

3 cups whole millk

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c sour cream

8 oz whipped topping-divided

1 package wafers

Combine condensed milk, sour cream, vanilla and mix. Add pudding and 1 cup cold milk and mix on medium then add additional 2 cups making sure everything blends together. When pudding thickens, fold in 4oz whipped topping. Layer bottom of dish with wafers then spread pudding on top. Repeat, using as many wafers and creating as many layers as you like. Top with remaining whipped topping and wafer crumbs. Chill for a couple of hours. Serve. Eat. Give thanks to Carmen and consider sending her a monetary gift.