Sweets for My Sweet

This is just a very quick post to share the cupcakes I made for my son's birthday treat day at school. I love cupcakes in crafting...stamps, stickers, and paper. But I think that love stems directly from my love of real cupcakes. I mean, who wouldn't love these? :)

The best part about these is that they are fool proof. Follow the directions on the box and you have yourself a tasty treat. One small investment I made last year for my daughter's birthday (less than $10) was a small cake decorating tip set because I made a lot of cupcakes for a cupcake tree. As I did again with these, I took store-bought Betty Crocker frosting, emptied it into a bowl, and using a hand mixer, whipped the frosting for approx. 2-3 minutes. Whipping the frosting makes it a bit lighter and it stretches a bit further.

After the cupcakes cooled completely, I loaded a plastic frosting bag equipped with a decorative tip and swirled away. I also added some sprinkles for some flair.

Yum!

Box-O-Love

Hi there,

I just wanted to share these super easy "Thank You For Coming" treat boxes I made for my work's Stampin' & Scrappin' Club day retreat two weeks ago.

I found a package of 8 window treat boxes at my local craft store...40% off of 2.99 - you can't be that! I also came across some $1 Valentine cling stamps, and provided the fundamental elements to make three 3x3 cards with envelopes - red and pink mats, white cardstock for the stamped image and some Valentine ribbon. I then added a punched scallop with a stamped embellishment on the front.

They were very much appreciated by everyone who came...and they looked pretty cute, if I do say so myself. :)

Black and White

I decided that I wanted to do a black and white card for our monthly make & take at work. I came up with this card (which I actually created as an anniversary card for a friend).

I had a ton of left over ribbon from a Christmas project that went awry, so I re-purposed it for this card. I used Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White and basic black card stock for the base.

I pulled out the oldie but goodie SU! Little Layers Plus stamp set because I thought it would be a good variety for my make & take participants. I will also use the Teeny Tint Wishes SU! set so thay can customize their card for any occasion.

I love the simplicity and elegance of black and white projects! I plan to try even more in the near future!

What's Scrappening?

So, this is a pretty long picture post with several of my most recent scrapbook pages.


I have been trying to use my punches a lot more lately and I made these flowers using a few different flower punches and a combination of solid and patterned paper. I think it was a great, simple embellishment when paired with a glitter brad...and it coordinated with the owl paper.

Along with legions of other crafters, I seem to have fallen in love with owls. That is one of the reasons I had to have this owl-themed paper. It is hard to see, but the background is covered in a swiss-dot motif. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss my orange mattes with the Swiss Dot embossing folder to coordinate the pattern. My homemade flower embellishments complemented the floral design on the paper beautifully and added some much-needed dimension.

I ran into the problem several times during my daughter's first year that many of her milestones occurred when I was nowhere near our good camera. Thus, phone photos had to do! Instead of shying away from the use of these photos, I attempted to showcase their "rustic" quality by complementing them with a "rustic" or more vintage layout. I think the effect, as in this page of my daughter's first smile worked quite well.

I LOVE these photos of my little girl's fingers and toes and was so happy to be able to add them to a layout. Two things I seem to be doing more and more: sponging ink around the edges of my scrapbook layouts and adding embellishments to patterned paper.

Although many times patterned paper speaks for itself, I thought these flowers could use a little bling. I added some self-adhesive blue jewel centers and the effect was subtle & sparkly :)

Another thing I am also doing more and more (because I love to use as many photos as possible from events) is creating my own photo collages, accenting corners and intersections with brads or other decorative elements. It has become a great way for me to utilize specific elements of a photo, even when the photo as a whole photo was not very exciting. This technique isn't "new", but it is a new way for me to cram as much information into my memory books as I can...while still being visually pleasing to the eye. :)

There is something awesome about an 8x10 photo on a scrapbook page! I love the simplicity of this page I created for my son's Kindergarten photo. There is not doubt what I am commemorating. I plan to use this technique throughout his school days album to mark each school year with his school photo.

I LOVE color on a scrapbook page, and our state fair photos never disappoint on that front. Although my pages tend toward the "busy" end of the spectrum for these type of events, A good layout or fun elements can keep the pages grounded. Since most of our photos these days are saved in electronic formats, I don't hesitate to add embellishments directly on photos as I did in the above layout. Also, I created photo stills from a merry-go-round video to add a border on my pages. A fun way to remember the events of the day!

And finally, what scrappin' is all about: family!

It Just Kinda Sneaks Up On You

Oh my goodness. So, I took an inadvertent holiday hiatus it appears. It is not that I haven't been busy, I just haven't posted my creations. I will likely still post some of my scrapbook pages created at my December retreat, as well as my family Christmas card. But, I still need to go back and take the pictures!

In the mean time, as it always does, my niece's birthday has completely snuck up on me (Happy 9th birthday, Mimi!). As such, I figured I better hurry up and make her card in my "card factory" as she refers to it. She is so very sweet, which is what inspired my card design...along with some patterned paper I saw in an older issue of a card magazine that had stylized candy jars on it. I attempted to recreate the pattern with circle and oval punches. It wasn't quite what I envisioned, but it turned out cute just the same!

Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things...and into the swing of creating...