Cupcake Kit

This "Cupcake Kit" is a birthday gift for my sister-in-law. I got the idea when I was blog surfing one day, but unfortunately, I didn't write down the name of the person or blog where I saw it. If it was your idea, let me know so I can give proper credit! Anyway, the kit contains various items to make and decorate cupcakes. My SIL likes to bake, and her kids love to help, so I thought this would be something fun they could use together. I included some fun cupcake liners, various sprinkles, a spatula, a couple of decorating tips and pastry bags, and a cupcake recipe book (my favorite part!). Everything is contained in an old Stampin' Up! punch box that I altered just a bit.

The original idea I saw included a purchased cookbook. I thought about buying one also but then decided it would be fun to make one with my Bind-It-All. It was quite a bit of work getting all of the recipes together, formatting them, etc., but I love how it turned out! And now that I have it all together, I can use them again (I'm planning to make myself one too).

The book is 6x6 and uses BIA chipboard covers that I altered with cardstock, American Crafts DP, my beloved Big Bold Birthday set, and Jumbo Outline Alpha. The alpha was stamped in Certainly Celery and then colored in with a Versamarker. With the overlapped letters, I like how you can still see the outline of slightly darker color versus the Versamark inside.

The book has 3 recipe sections - cupcakes, icings, and fillings - so each section has a divider. For each one, I used the cupcake from Big Bold Birthday, coordinating American Crafts DP, various colors of cardstock, and the Round Tab Punch. The back of each divider was folded into a pocket to keep any other cupcake-related recipes that might come along.

The recipes themselves came from various sites - Wilton (the majority - they have a great cupcake section), All Recipes, and Very Best Baking. I also included my favorite cake recipe, White Almond Sour Cream Wedding Cake (if made strictly for cupcakes, makes about 5 dozen). The recipes were printed on glossy paper so the pages would hold up a little better than regular printer paper.

The card was based on this week's sketch challenge on SCS. I used 9 squares of striped American Crafts DP and alternated the direction of the stripes. The cupcake layer was adhered to a 3" square of Blue Bayou that has the small happy birthday stamp stamped as a border along each edge. It was adhered to the card with dimensionals. I think everything else on the card is pretty self-explanatory.



This was a really fun gift to put together. I hope she likes it as much as I do!

Thanks for looking!

Recipe:
Stamps: Big Bold Birthday, Jumbo Outline Alpha, So Very, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Real Red, So Saffron, Bashful Blue
DP: American Crafts
Ink: Versamark, Versamarker, Certainly Celery, Real Red, So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Red & White Gingham, Red Ric-Rac, Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, White & Red Eyelets, Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon
Tools: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, 1 1/4", 1 3/8" and Scallop Circle Punches, Nestibilities Dies, Corner Rounder, Ticket Corner Punch, Round Tab Punch

Double Pocket Bag

I'm working on a challenge of sorts for my stamp club and wanted to have a few door prizes for the winners. This is the first - a double pocket bag. It's empty right now, but I'm sure I'll find something to put in it as well.

This is the first time I had tried one. I followed the tutorial from SCS, and it came together really quickly. I made just a few minor changes to mine though. After scoring the first side at 1" and 11", I folded the DSP so I would have an inch border at the top with the other side of the paper instead of folding it inside. I figured since we have double-sided paper, I might as well use it to the fullest extent! I also punched the holes for my ribbon before adhering the two sides of the bag to each other. I thought it would be easier to punch that way.

I chose to just add a chipboard tag to mine instead of adding other stamped images to the front. Since I don't know the recipient yet, I thought this would allow them to use it for a variety of occasions. The chipboard was a plain rectangle from the On Board Accents set. I covered it with Whisper White ink and then added a small strip of Bashful Blue cardstock and a piece of the Pumpkin Pie polka-dot pattern from Summer Picnic. The u, from Jumbo Outline Alpha, was stamped in Pumpkin Pie, and then the 4, from Short Order Numbers, was added in Bashful Blue. I punched a hole at the top with my Crop-a-dile and added a white eyelet. I threaded the ribbon through the eyelet before attaching it to the bag (the ribbon is threaded through each hole and then adhered to itself with sticky strip).

I really love how this turned out, and I'm sure I'll be making more (if you've visited my blog much, you know how much I like making bags and boxes of all kinds!). This would make such a cute presentation of a gift card - put a card in one pocket and a gift card or some other small treat in the other. I also think I'll have to order more of the Summer Picnic DSP before the end of May - I love that stuff!

Recipe:
Stamps: Jumbo Outline Alpha, Short Order Numbers
Cardtock: Bashful Blue
DSP: Summer Picnic
Ink: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue
Accessories: On Board Accents Chipboard, White Eyelet, Pumpkin Pie Striped Ribbon
Tools: Crop-a-dile, Slot Punch

Altered Journals

These altered journals are a couple of additional items I'll be including in the gift basket I've been working on. The notebooks are from Target and come packaged together.

I covered both the outside and inside covers with Cutie Pie DSP. I used one side of the DSP for the outside front and back and the other side of the DSP for the insides. I used a pre-colored chipboard "n" for the notebook on the left. I don't think you can tell in the picture, but it has some glitter in it as well. The little tag on the side says "notes" and was stamped with the small Karen Foster snap stamps. The scallops on the edge were created with the smallest scalloped rectangle Nestabilities die. The whole rectange was too large for the space I had, so I just cut off the sides. For the notebook on the right, I used the "memories" definition from Define Your Life and stamped the letter "m" from Jumbo Outline Alpha in the background.

Recipe:
Stamps: Karen Foster Snap Stamps, Define Your Life, Jumbo Outline Alpha
CS: Certainly Celery, Basic Black, Whisper White
DSP: Cutie Pie
Ink: Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Chipboard (unknown source), Green Grosgrain (unknown source), Black Gingham, Purely Pomegranate Double-Stitched Ribbon, Basic Black Grosgrain, Prima Flowers

Thanks Always!

Be sure to check out yesterday's post for a chance to win some blog candy!

I guess you can tell by my latest projects that I really like the Always set and the colors in the Berry Bliss DSP! This card doesn't use any of the DSP, but I used the colors from the DSP to create my stamped background (as I did for this card).

My background is a piece of 3 1/4 x 4 1/2" Very Vanilla layered on Chocolate Chip. On the Vanilla piece, I randomly stamped the flower and 3 small images from Always in Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and River Rock. I then wheeled the Rough Texture wheel over the entire piece in River Rock.

The center strip is a 4 1/4 x 1 7/8" piece of Very Vanilla layered on Purely Pomegranate. I stamped the letters from Jumbo Outline Alpha in Purely Pomegranate. I then added "So Much" from one of the phrases in So Many Sayings in Chocolate Chip inside the letter K. This is the first time I've had a chance to play around with the Jumbo Outline Alpha, and I really like these letters. I can see so many possibilities for them!

Recipe:
Stamps: Always, Jumbo Outline Alpha, So Many Sayings, Rough Texture Jumbo Wheel
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, River Rock
Marker: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Vintage Brads

Blog Candy - and a Contest (of sorts)!

I noticed that my blog counter is nearing 20,000 hits, so I thought this would be a good time for some blog candy. And I haven't had any for awhile. The blog candy is an altered Target mailbox, a set of 4 monogram cards (with the monogram of your choice), a package of epoxy Valentine stickers, and a bag of foam heart stickers. For a chance to win the blog candy, just leave a comment on this post by Friday morning. I will use Random.org to choose the winner.

The contest part is not really a true contest, but I would love for you to answer this question in your comment (but you don't have to just to enter):
"What is the strangest place you have found something craft related in your house?"

The reason I ask is because I found the orange backing from a piece of sticky strip on my cat's back the other day. I have also found those little pieces at the foot of my bed (inside the covers) and in one of my bathroom cabinets. Now I hope you're not thinking I have a messy house. I really don't! But my craft room can get a little chaotic at times. I use little pieces of sticky strip to adhere ribbon, and I think that backing has the most static cling of anything I know. No matter how hard I try to get it in the trash, I still find pieces of it on the floor - which then sticks to the bottom of my feet and then gets carried throughout the house. So - I can't wait to hear your stories!

For the mailbox, I used 2 different patterns from the new Berry Bliss DSP and a strip of Chocolate Chip cardstock. The "I Heart" image on the front is from Sweet on You (I think it was in one of the mini catalogs from 2006? - I'm not exactly sure.) The "U" is from the new Jumbo Outline Alpha set. I stamped it in Chocolate Chip on the Berry Bliss paper and then cut it out before adhering it. Since the letters aren't very big, you have to be careful in cutting, but I think it really adds a lot to the letter. Always is from Fancy Flexible Phrases.

I used Berry Bliss for the monogram cards also, along with Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White cardstock. The letter is also from Jumbo Outline Alpha. After the winner is chosen, she can select whatever letter she'd like, I'll finish the cards and mail them out!



Recipe:
Stamps: Sweet on You, Fancy Flexible Phrases, Jumbo Outline Alpha
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
DSP: Berry Bliss
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon