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more cupcakes

I can’t seem to get enough of cupcakes these days! Maybe it’s because Martha has been talking about it on her show every day in anticipation of her cupcake book, coming out next Tuesday, June 2. Some of the recipes seem hard though… like the tiramisu one? I love tiramisu so maybe one of these days I’ll make an attempt at it.

[image courtesy of amazon]

But in the meantime, I made some cupcakes for my sister’s school and added some festive toppers for the kids that graduated. At first she wanted 70 cupcakes… um, I’m no baker nor did I have the cake mix for that many. haha. These were nice and easy in these silver liners because you didn’t even need a cupcake tray. Congratulations graduates!

fleurs de papier

when you can’t have real live flowers… paper is the next best thing!

[images from Eloise Corr Danch]

And if you want to make your own, you can purchase a set from Paper-Source.

 

showered

Some recent designs for a baby shower:

clockwise: beverage signs, pint-sized water bottles, fork + knife napkins

clockwise: invitations + party favors, green ugly doll, baby bingo cards, name tags

Hoping to put some up of these up on etsy soon…**really makes me want an
SLR... this point and shoot is just not cutting it anymore!

All images courtesy of Studio 1125

winner!

Did I tell you that I won a craft t-shirt a few weeks ago? I love it! Thanks Craft:!

craft social

I attended the first ever Craft Social event on Friday evening and it was such a huge success! The 2 hours of crafting flew by and everyone I spoke to had a wonderful time… many thought we needed 3+ more hours because it was simply not enough! Everyone kept asking when the next event would be… so Jess, when is it? haha…

I forgot to take any pictures once the event started up so I’m at the mercy of other crafters who attended and took shots. I’ll post a little how-to on these. They are SUPER easy and a nice touch for the fellow bookworm!

But I managed to get a picture of the little toothpicks I added to my very special dessert… rice krispies. Um… you can’t go wrong with rice krispies… kids of all ages enjoy and appreciate them! I’ve learned that you can skimp a bit on the butter [and yes, it’s important to use real butter, no margarine in our household!], but you should add another 6 or so ounces of marshmallows.

I digress… I designed the little circle + verbiage on illustrator [you can stamp these or even handwrite them]. Then I punched them out with a 2” circle punch and taped the back to these bamboo special toothpicks I found at Target. I placed them on each chunk of rice krispies like a cupcake topper. I’ll have to make them again really soon!

sharp punches

I forget where and how I learned this but after a while, even punches lose their cutting power. While punching out over 1,000 of these little flowers for shower, I noticed over time that it was harder to actually force the punch through cardstock. It was partially my thumb because I started to develop a blister but it was also because the punch was loser it’s punch. haha..

I recalled learning that you can bring your craft punches back to life with parchment paper + tin foil. The tin foil sharpens the punch and the parchment paper waxes the punch so that it’s easier to punch through heavier paper.

It worked!

so behind…

Each day passes pretty quickly and I find myself lacking the time to post! Sorry! There is just SO MUCH goodness out there… I kind of find myself lost and not sure where to begin but with inspiration oozing out of me. :) A few projects are in the works and in the meantime, I am incredibly inspired by these other crafts out there!

I made little red velvet cupcakes a week ago for friends… and they were scrumptious with whip cream + blueberries + toppings. I created a mini bar and everyone made their own cupcakes… hm… what a good idea for a shower, party or wedding!!!

Hope you had a lovely Memorial Day weekend… a special thanks to our troops and their service!

the big 5!

Ryan’s turning 5 and his mom wanted a fun birthday invitation that wasn’t too kid-like. She picked this one out of the bunch.

I can’t imagine having a bunch of 5 year olds running around… haha…

Happy Birthday Rye!

contests…

There’s always a contest going on… but this one stuck out more than the usual one… I’d love to attend this conference, right here in Chicago, but it looks like I’m too late and registration is quite expensive! :( Darn…

So here’s to hoping I actually win and can get in for free… *I can dream, right?

*fingers crossed*

breakfast for my champ

I usually eat leftovers for breakfast or maybe an occasional English muffin, if we have any. It doesn't matter what I eat as long as I eat something for breakfast. Lately, I've been buying a lot of fruit because they are on sale and well, it's good as long as I don't have to do too much cutting. [Plus, family is here so I have to stock up on tons of fruit when they come]

One of my favorite breakfasts to make at home is frozen waffles + fruit [ + syrup ]

And to wash it down with some extra pulp Tropicana OJ.

Oh, I found a few matching Corelle mugs to the few plates I still have around. :)