Cupcakes!

I had my first "jumbo" cupcake experience this month. I was asked to make 3 dozen for a bridal shower. The cute bride (who was one of my Mia Maids from church - 13 years ago!) loves cupcakes. She is getting married in a tropical paradise so they wanted hot colors.

I decided to try and fill the cupcakes since they are so huge. It worked! I made Chocolate with Chocolate mousse filling, iced with chocolate butter cream *YUM*, Vanilla with strawberries and cream filling, iced with whipped cream icing, and Pina Colada cupcakes (a family recipe that has coconut, pineapple and pecans in it), no filling in this one, iced with coconut cream whipped icing.

I spent a couple of days making accents for each one too. I used fondant to make flowers, leaves and strawberries. The funnest part was embossing the fondant. I decided to try and use my Cuttlebug embossing folders (one craft spilling over into another), and it worked. I put the fondant in the folder and just rolled over it with my rolling pin. Too cute!!

All in all, I was pleased with the way they turned out.


At the shower, we displayed them on my 3 tier stand.


And here is the cute bride to be - totally thrilled that she had cupcakes at her shower.


The only thing that didn't go as I thought it would was which cupcake was most popular. I really thought the chocolate would go first, but actually everyone went ga-ga for the Pina Colada - go figure!

It was a fun project and now I feel confident doing them again.

Get the creative juices flowing.......

I love to blog hop! It's fun to look at other crafter's work and admire their creativity, plus, it often gets my ideas flowing (especially when I'm stuck in a creative rut). While I was looking around the internet the other day I came across a Design Team call for Die Cuts R Us. They sell the things I love.........paper and cutting tools! I love my Cricut and Cuttlebug and love how they help me "scrap on a budget" - who doesn't need some extra pennies these days.

Anyway, I decided that it would be fun to submit my projects and see what happens. Here is what I sent:


Just Because Card: Cardstock (Stampin' Up), Pattern Paper (Making Memories), Ribbon (Club Wed - Target), Cricut Cartridge (Don Juan), Gem (source unknown).


Christmas Joy Card: Cardstock and Ribbon(Stampin' Up), Pattern Paper (SEI), Cuttlebug Embossing Folders (Swirl and Swiss Dot), Star Template (Coluzzle), Ink (Stampin' Up) Button and Twine (source unknown).



Birthday Celebration 12x12 page: Pattern Paper (Cosmo Cricket - Cogsmo line), Cardstock and Ribbon (Stampin' Up), Cricut Cartridge (Celebrations)

Thanks for looking!

Learning to Love Photoshop

I have had a love/hate relationship with Photoshop. I know most people LOVE it, but I felt like an idiot when I couldn't learn how to use it.

Well, my opinion is starting to change. I am taking a free online class at JessicaSprague.com called "Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects". What a fun class! It is covering what I always wanted to learn in Photoshop and I think I'm actually "getting it". Today we learned how to put type on the photo..................something I think is so much fun. Here is what I did:




This was Elder Jennings' first major snow storm in Iowa. Love the photo and now I love it more with the added texture, frame and text! I can't wait to print this one out! Thanks for looking :)

God Bless America!

I usually post all of our family pictures on our family blog, but this one was too cute to resist!
Happy 4th of July!!

One more post today :)

Just finished this baby cake for a shower tonight. It's a double shower for two cute ladies in our ward. One is having a boy and the other just had a girl. I got to do the girl cake (hope that's obvious).

Here is a close up view of the top. My daughter (I guess I should say my apprentice - she has decided she wants to learn how to decorate cakes) helped make the fondant bow and she punched out all of the cute fondant flowers. Hope the new mom likes it!

June Fun

I have actually found a few minutes since school got out to sit at my desk and play with paper! Here's what I've been up to:

Still working on my oldest son's scrapbook. This photo was from July 4, 2002. All the kids put red, white, and blue gel in their hair (well, all but the oldest - he was too mature for that - ha ha). I had fun making a little backdrop and shooting photos.

I totally cased this layout from my talented friend Susan. She did a great 12x12 of her son and I adapted it for 8 1/2 x 11.

Supplies: Cricut cartridges (Accents & Elements and Don Juan), Cardstock (Stampin'Up), Ink (Stampin' Up), Ribbon (Michael's), Pattern Paper (old scraps)

Also made Father's Day Cards:

Supplies: Cards (DCWV), Stamps, Ink and Ribbon (Stampin' Up), Cricut Cartridge (Opposites Attract)

This project was my favorite so far this month. I had a friend having a birthday and made this little goodie bag for her:

It was so fun to make and embellish and was just the right size for some girly things: lotion, lip gloss, a room diffuser and some chocolate!
Supplies: Pattern Paper, Ink, Die Cuts & Ribbon (Stampin' Up), Stamp (Autumn Leaves), Fiber (source unknown)

Last but not least, I had fun making this Masquerade Birthday cake for a client last week. We went to High School together and recently got back in touch (got to love FaceBook). Her daughter was turning 13 and wanted a masquerade theme. She told me the colors her daughter wanted and let me have fun! I think it turned out pretty cute :)

Birthdays and Chores (summer must be here!)

Since today is the last day of school and since there are 4 birthdays and a wedding in the next two weeks, AND since I am a wonderful mother (tee hee), I let the kids come home and just do nothing today. I spent a few hours in my craft space making cards and a special present for the kids.

These two are for my Sis in law and my brother who share the same birthday:

Supplies: Wild Asparagus paper, Cardstock (stampin up), jewels and Fiber(unknown), embossing strip (Cuttlebug), Stamp (Autumn Leaves), Ink (Stampin Up)



Supplies: Cardstock (stampin up), P Paper (Wild Asparagus), Cricut (Celebrations and All Mixed Up), Ink (Stampin Up)

A the special gift for my adorable children:

A brand new shiny chore chart! I'm trying to avoid confusion, whining and losing my sanity this summer. Everyone has 2 daily chores and 1 weekly chore and they will rotate weekly. I even included my toddler. Once their daily circles are moved to the complete row then they can go play, use the Wii etc.

Just a close up of the side:

Supplies: Simply Scrappin Kit (Creative License, Stampin Up) Ribbon (stampin Up) Cricut(Opposites Attract and All Mixed Up Cartridges).

Happy Summer - let the work begin :) Hopefully I can get the other birthday card and Wedding card finished tomorrow.