I had something different in mind when I started this card, but the end result is still pretty cool. I wanted it to look like a bakery storefront window.
Card base is Close to Cocoa, with Striped Kraft strips around the window. Across the top, I added a strip of Melon Mambo that I scalloped with the Scalloped Edge Punch to look like a window canopy. The window itself is made from the polka dotted Window Sheet, cut down to size. On either side, I tied Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon.
The cupcake image is from Crazy for Cupcakes, colored in with my SU Markers. The sentiment is a rub on from Chit Chat Rub Ons.
It’s my little cupcake’s 3rd birthday soon, and this is the card I made for her. Card base is Perfect Plum with a layer of Barely Banana. I sponged the edges with Barely Banana ink and paper pierced all the way around the edes as well.
In the center, I used the ribbon weaving technique to add a pop of color. Ribbon is Perfect Plum 1/4″ Grograin and Orchid Opulence 1/4″ Grosgrain.
Directions
- Measure piece of card stock by ribbon widths and cut to size. This is the base that you’ll weave the ribbon around.
- Cut ribbon lengths so that they’re a little bit longer than your base.
- Adhere one end of each ribbon to the back of the base according to the direction it will lay, vertical or horizontal.
- Begin weaving, using SNAIL to hold ribbon in place as you weave.
- Finish by securing the other end of the ribbon to the back side of your base using Sticky Strip.
- Try it with strips of DSP as well!
The cupcake felt sticker is from Martha Stewart and sentiment is from Crazy for Cupcakes.
How cute are these?! I saw them on Bakerella’s blog a while ago and made a mental note that I had try these ASAP. My daughter’s upcoming 3rd birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity for some tasty cupcake pops so I tried the recipe and IT WORKED!
Mine did not come out perfect but for my first time I was more than pleased! I was going to make chocolate lollipops using the Candy melts and lollipop molds but that candy is just so sweet I couldn’t tolerate it! That’s how I came across these cupcake pops. They’re really chocolately, not overly sweet, and will please both the kids and adults at the party.
Directions:
- Take a 9×13″ baked and cooled cake and crumble it up either using your hands or a food processor.
- Mix in a little less than 1 jar of frosting (about 2 cups).
- Stir until the cake and frosting is combined and mixture turns into a homogeneous “lump”.
- Cover and let chill in the refrigerator or freezer until mixture firms up a bit.
- Using a small ice cream scoop or your hands, form “dough” into balls a little smaller than a golf ball, about 1 1/2″ across.
- Allow dough to chill again (you can even come back to it the next day).
- Roll dough balls into log shape and press bottom into a small flower shaped or fluted cookie cutter. Shape the top of the ball to look like the cupcake top and pop it out of the cookie cutter. See video on Martha Stewart for a great visual.
- Dip your cupcake bottom into melted chocolate and place them upside down onto a cookie sheet. Pop a lollipop stick into the bottom (dip it in melted chocolate first). Chill until chocolate sets.
- Now you’re ready to dip the tops. I chose white melted chocolate. Dip and swirl around for a frosted cupcake look. Top with sprinkles or other decorations and set lollipop in a styrofoam block or bowl of sugar/salt/rice until set.
- Wrap in plastic baggies and tie with a twist tie (optional)
——————Some Tips & Tricks———————-
For my cake pops, I used boxed Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Cake. It was easy and since I was going to pulverize the cake anyway, I didn’t bother making the cake from scratch. (Plus I secretly like boxed cake mix better–anyone else???) The frosting was Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate Frosting, but you could use any combination you like.
Instead of straight chocolate candy melts, I used half dark chocolate candy melts (which are still painfully sweet in my opinion) and half Ghiardelli bittersweet chocolate chips. That combination resulted in a rich, dark, chocolately covering.
Peanut butter candy melt topping with dark chocolate base and chocolate sprinkles.
Cake Balls!!! These were easy–no shaping involved. And I love these Wilton Rainbow Chips!! I can’t decide which are cutest, but I think I love these the most!
Creating and adding a watermark to your images posted online can be a source of frustration for many, myself included. Photoshop is one way to go, but I’m not fluent in it, and not everyone has the program available to them.
Recently, I came across an easy way to add a customized watermark to my images using Adobe Acrobat (see here for free download information).
Click on any of the images below to enlarge.
Step 1: Open your image file with Adobe Acrobat. Right click on the image file and choose “Open With” Adobe Acrobat.
Step 2: Select “Document” from the menu bar and drop down menu will appear. Select “Watermark” and then click on “Add”.
Step 3: “Add Watermark” window will appear. In the text box, enter your name and copyright information. (See red circled area below).
Step 4: Customize Watermark font, size, color, opacity, and location. After (1) entering your name and copyright information in the Text box, (2) Select a font from the drop down menu below. I chose Jayne Print and font size 120 point. Below the font box, choose your color (I chose white). Next, (3) adjust the opacity setting, which makes your watermark more transparent and less likely to interfere with your picture. Finally, (4) choose the position of your watermark using the Vertical and Horizontal controls located at the bottom of the Add Watermark window.
Step 5: Click OK and Save as a .JPEG file. When you’re pleased with the outcome (preview is conveniently located on the screen to the right) click OK to apply the watermark. You can then save the file as a .JPEG by clicking “File/Save As”. At the bottom of the “Save As” screen select “Save as Type” and choose .JPEG from the menu. Click Save.
That’s it. You can save your watermark information for next time by selecting “Save Settings” at the top of your “Add Watermark” screen.
I was a little worried at first about using this stamp set called Country Morning, because it’s so unlike anything else I own. I started making some cards with it and tried to be as rustic as I could. Then, I decided to use it in a way I’d be more comfortable with. This is the end result and I love it!
The base is Melon Mambo card stock, layered with a piece of textured Crushed Curry card stock. I stamped the “a little something for you” sentiment from Yummy in Basic Black ink at the lower right corner.
As for the main image, from Country Morning, I stamped it in Versamark onto Whisper White and heat embossed it with Black Embossing Powder. Then, I watercolored it with my Aquapainter, using Melon Mambo and Perfect Plum for the hydrangeas. With a Basic Black card stock backing, the image really pops. I also paper pierced around the edge and used my White Signo Gel Pen for faux stitching effect. The sheer black and white polka dot ribbon is from Michael’s, as are the two rhinestone stickies in the upper right corner.
I wish my hydrangeas would look like this! With all the rain we’ve had, they just shriveled up and turned brown. Oh well, our grass is growing really well though!
This card was going to be a sympathy card at first, but I couldn’t fit any of the sympathy rub-ons from Chit Chat Rub Ons onto the Modern Label Punch, so “Get Well Soon” is what it had to be. The base is Night of Navy (I think–I got it from the assorted package and I never really use this family so I could be wrong on the color.) I used Rich Razzleberry textured card stock with the Modern Label Punch for the sentiment, adhered with dimensionals.
I stamped the image from Country Morning in Versamark onto Naturals White Card stock, and heat embossed it using Black Embossing Powder. Then, I watercolored the image using my Aquapainter and ink pads. The hydrangeas were colored with Perfect Plum ink and I applied a light wash of Soft Sky ink on the bottles. Behind the image layer is a piece of Bermuda Bay card stock, with Ticket Corner Punch corners.
To finish off the card, I added some Hemp Twine running along the folded edge.
This stamp is from Country Morning, a Hostess Level 1 set. It’s really not my typical “style” but I told myself I would try to use it and branch out a little bit.
I did some tearing/distressing on this card (something I NEVER do) because it’s a rustic image. The base is Creamy Caramel card stock, layered with Bravo Burgundy and Mellow Moss. The Mellow Moss was sponged with Mellow Moss ink and torn along the bottom edge. The Bravo Burgundy layer was embossed using the Sizzix Textured Impressions Wedding Set #2 (see link here). Then, I used my sanding block to distress the raised image a bit.
The rooster image was stamped on Naturals White card stock (another one I never seem to use) in Stazon Brown ink. I watercolore the image using my Aquapainter and ink pads. To finish off the layer, I tore the edges and sponged them with Creamy Caramel ink. I attached it to the card using dimensionals.
At the bottom of the card, I added the sentiment from the stamp set, stamped on Whisper White card stock with Basic Brown ink.
Page 1 of a two page layout using Sunny Day SSK and Just for You SSK. Bird, clouds, and hearts are self adhesive die cut from the Sunny Day SSK. Flowers are from Just for You SSK. Base is Bashful Blue card stock, layered with Just For You DSP and Soft Suede along the bottom. I drew in some white dashed stems with my Signo Gel Pen.
Page 2 of the layout. Here, I stamped the tree from Season of Friendship in Chocolate chip ink on whisper white, leaves in Certainly Celery, and trimmed it out. I attached it to the page using dimensionals. Along the right edge, I used 1 1/2″ soft suede circles and Thickers Sprinkles Glitter Chipboard Stickers to spell out “Family”. The photo mats are DSP from the Just for You SSK.
Using the Simply Scrappin Kit Just For You, I’m making a baby scrapbook.
This page uses the kit elements plus I added a brown button from Button Latte and some Chocolate Chip 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon. The white strips were scalloped using the Scallop Edge Punch. In the center, I also used the Scallop circle punch and paper piercer to jazz up the self adhesive die cut.
I love how this page turned out! The background is DSP from the Just for You SSK, layered with textured card stock and embellishments from the kit. Across the top, I looped a piece of Rope Twine from last year’s Holiday Mini through two Jumbo Eyelets. Then, I clipped on the “Things I Love” banner using the paper clips from Clips Assortment. The banner was stamped using Things I Love stamp, colored with Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, and Certainly Celery markers. I used the Spiral Punch along the top of the Whisper White layer, and adhered it to Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip card stock. To make sure it didn’t move around too much, I added a couple dimensionals to the back.
I found this retired Simply Scrappin Kit called Just For You at my upline’s retired item sale. This kit was so cool–it even came with beautiful, wide, So Saffron ribbon!
Page 1 of the baby scrapbook I made. It turned out so much better than I thought it would. I’m a little rusty with scrapbooking–it’s been almost a year! Working with the kits is sometimes hard for me, because it’s a little stifling when you’re constrained to the contents of the kit. Normally, I use the paper and some of the self adhesive stickers (because they’re repositionable I love them!) but add my own twist on accessories. Once I got going with this kit, it came along pretty quickly!
Page 1 also incorporates So Tweet Chipboard and the Good Friend stamp set. I used the Top Note Die to create the “stats” area and an Ice Circle Rhinestone Brad gives the bird some bling.
On page 2 of the scrapbook, I used Thickers Alphabet Stickers in White to title. The squares along the top and bottom were made using a 7/8″ square punch.
Page 3 was made for the new baby’s Big Sister Emily. I used the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch and Thickers Alphabet Stickers in Brown for the title. In the center of the page, there’s a spot for journaling, which I made using the Kit’s self adhesive die cut rectangles and Certainly Celery ribbon.
I’ll post the rest of the pages, along with scrap maps, soon–check back in the next few days! WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE LAST PAGE!!!
