Cake Pops…..or not

My dear hubby gave me Bakerella’s Cake Pops book for Christmas, so today my daughter and I set out to make some cupcake pops. The cake had already been baked, combined with some frosting, rolled into balls and chilled in the fridge overnight.

This is what we were shooting for:

Adorable, yes?

Well, this is what we ended up with:

Hmmmm. Similar? Barely.

Maybe we had the wrong size cookie cutter for the bottom or perhaps the candy melts were not the right consistency. So, we melted some green candy melts and tried to do one of these:

Looks simple enough. Make a cone shape, dip it into the green melted candy, give it a little texture with a toothpick and add a star and some sprinkley things for ornaments (they look like teeny tiny Hershey’s Kisses). We thinned the candy down a little more this time, too.

Well, this is what happened:

I think we are going to need a lot more practice. I also think that the cake mix was too moist, but all of them except the store brands say “Moist”or “Super Moist” on the package. I will try a store brand mix and see what happens. The cake mix I used was a Super Moist Milk Chocolate and we didn’t really care for the taste of it anyway.

This was a fun first experiment and we, as usual, dissolved into a couple of hysterical laughing fits. But that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Having fun! We are very good at that!

After the first two semi-failures, we just dipped the rest of the cake balls like they were – round-ish. Here is the whole gang, in all it’s glory:

It was fun, and we won’t give up. Never give up, never surrender! We will not be outdone by cake mix and candy melts. We’re stronger than that!

More Birthday

Another birthday card, this time one for one of my friends. I don’t think she reads my blog very often and her card should arrive today, so I think I am safe in posting this.

I got one of the new Martha Stewart punches that punch anywhere on the page. They are in two pieces and have magnets that keep them together on the paper. I hoped there would be instructions on the inside of the package outlining how to line up multiple punches in a straight line, but no such luck. So I did it this way instead.

BoBunny paper for the front and the grass, Memory Box paper behind, for the flowers. I cut the grass with some decorative scissors first, then with the MS shredding scissors to make blades of grass. Some pink buttons with green and white twine tied through the holes, some May Arts ribbon for stems, and there you go. The grass and top layer are popped up on mounting foam and the buttons are attached with Glue Dots.

Here is the inside, I just couldn’t leave it plain. I used a Nestabilities Big Scalloped Circle for the sentiment and more Memory Box paper behind that. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado and I colored it a little with a green Spica pen to give it a bit of a shimmer. The edges are sponged with Memento Bamboo Leaves for a little dimension.

I hope she likes it, I had a lot of fun making it.  There are a few more birthdays coming up soon, so hang in there. One of my goals this year is to post more consistently instead of every three or four months. To those of you who still read my blog, thanks for sticking with me!

Birthday Owls

This is a card my daughter made for her dad. His birthday is December 26, poor guy.

 

She used the SU owl punch and a Cornish Heritage Farms stamp for the feathers on their adorable little bellies. The wood grain, sentiment and musical note are Hero Arts, and I think the hat is from a dollar set from Michael’s. The wood grain was stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear powder. A Nestabilties die was used to cut the oval in the front of the card.

She did good, don’t you think?

White Christmas!

The weather forecast was for a white Christmas here yesterday and I was pretty disappointed when I didn’t wake up to snow on the ground, but it started about 5pm and I think it is still snowing a little bit outside now. This is the first time it was snowed here on Christmas since 1947. It is so beautiful! DH took DD to work so I didn’t have to get out in it and I am very grateful for that! I did get some photos this morning, though, without going too far out in it.

Judging by the snow piled up on the porch railing, it looks like we got about 6 inches or so.

Alex would rather be outside no matter the weather. Silly cat!

I’m glad the bird feeder was filled yesterday, thanks to my DH. The birds appreciated it very much. We don’t have it sitting on the ground by choice, the snow has bent the branch that much! It usually hangs about 5 feet up.

Mama cardinal trying to stay warm and waiting her turn at the feeder. Brrrr.

Stay warm everyone!

The last batch

I know we are all probably a little tired of looking at Christmas cards by now but since I procrastinated so long in getting them finished it is taking me a little longer to get them posted.

My daughter made the first two :-) This one is a Penny Black snowman from last year and I just love this little guy! She colored him with Copics, added some black stones for his buttons, a glittery snowflake and some pretty glittery patterned paper for a background.

It’s Fluffles, in trouble again, apparently. She colored him with Copics, put some Stickles on the ornaments, punched the edge with a Fiskars border punch, added a little ribbon and made an adorable little card!

 

This is a take on a card I found on a someone’s blog, too. Their card was done using Fall colors and I changed it up for Christmas by using the holly punches and a red & green theme. The squares are punched out of white Bazzill, layered with red and green behind the negative space, then layered onto the opposite color. I popped them all up with foam mounting tape, added a sentiment (Hero Arts) and some ribbon. The edges are punched with a scalloped border punch, used some Hero Hues metallic doodads for berries on the green holly and red rhinestones on the red one.

 

I am in love with this paper! There is no stamping at all on this card. The background is paper from the Basic Grey Jovial collection, and the strip is from a paper pack, but I’m not sure who makes it. It was left over from last year, but goes so well with the BG paper. The flower is die cut out of wool felt using the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers Sizzix die. The leaves are also wool felt, cut with the PTI Dahlia die. I needed a gold brad for the center, so I covered another color brad with gold embossing powder, heated it up and Voila! Gold brad. I was amazed. I have never tried it before, but that’s definitely a tip I will keep in mind.

Same paper, same Sizzix die but I used card stock this time and Prima lace on either side the green strip. Gold pearls for the center of the flower and the sentiment is Hero Arts, from a clear set I had last year.

I added Prima holly leaves and used a Martha punch for the borders this time.

Another CASE of a card I found on Joy Taylor’s blog, almost an exact copy, in fact. She is so talented! If you haven’t seen her work yet, you really should take a moment and hop on over there. Hero Arts stamps, the house is colored with Copics and the circle is sponged with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. A little white string around the bottom, a few rhinestones and there you go!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

A little more Christmas

Just a few more cards from this year’s marathon last minute Christmas card making session.

This little guy is the other Stampendous snowman from that set. I used a Hero Arts stamp for the sentiment, colored him with Copics, added a little glitter and a rhinestone. The edges of the main image are distressed and sponged with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

The rhinestone was added with my newest toy:

I wanted the Imaginesce iRock tool but Michael’s was out of them so I found this one over by the fabric paints. It works exactly the same way, and was $2 cheaper. It was $12.99 and I used a 40% off coupon. It’s so easy to use! It’s cordless, uses 2 AA batteries and shuts itself off. You have to push in the little pink button after turning it on to make it heat up. The rhinestones are Imaginesce and they come in a nice little dispenser with 5 different colors as well as a a dispenser that has all clear stones in different sizes. The most difficult part is getting the little gems out of the package and turned right side up.

These next two cards are both made with a Memory Box stamp and embossed – one in gold and one in silver. The background is a Hero Arts Design Block stamp, also embossed. I added the rhinestones to these with the Tulip tool, too. Stardreams paper for layering and a little ribbon.

Hero Arts again. Yes, it is my favorite stamp company. The trees are stamped with Encore Metallic Blue and embossed with Judikins Iridescent Sparkle powder, as is the sentiment. It is very sparkly in person and reminds me of a snowy winter evening. I added some Flower Soft for snow at the bottom of the trees to some of them, but not this one, obviously.

 

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful holiday season!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Since I finally got my cards in the mail yesterday and gifts wrapped and under our little tree today! Procrastinate? Me? Pfffftttt. I am right on schedule. If by schedule you mean get it all done at the last possible second.

I thought I would share a couple of the cards since I did remember to take photos before mailing them this time. My daughter and I had a lot of fun, and several hysterical moments, making some of these together.

I loved these snowmen from Stampendous the moment I saw them and loved coloring them, but coming up with a way to use them on a card was a little more challenging since I am not good with scissors. I thought he turned out well, though, in spite of my poor scissoring (is that a word?).

He is colored with Copics, the swirl background is a Hero Arts cling stamp called Magical Background, stamped in white Memories in and cut with a Nestabilities die. A few punched glittery snowflakes, some glitter on his hat and scarf, a little ribbon and he’s ready to go!

I saw a card very similar to this one on someone’s blog and wanted to give it a try. The background is a Hero Arts cling but I don’t know the name, it’s got musical notes on it. The sentiment is also Hero Arts and the paper is probably Memory Box. I die cut the main image with a Nestabilities die, then traced around the outside of the die and cut the red mat by hand. They don’t layer closely enough together for me – I really wish they would make intermediate dies for a lot of these.

My daughter made this one – isn’t he adorable? She is becoming a wonderful stamper, I am so proud! It’s a Penny Black Christmas kitty, colored with Copics. Polar White Flower soft on his hat, the tag is a Nestabilities die and S.E.I. paper for a background.

That’s all I have for today but I promise to be back later on with more cards. They are predicting a possibility of snow on Christmas Day here – I have my fingers crossed. I’d love a white Christmas this year!

A little behind

I wish I had one of those….a little behind…get it? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Nothing new on my craft table yet but I did want to share a couple of very clever gifties that I received the other day. These are so adorable!

We had a birthday dinner for a friend and Vicki brought us all one of these:

 

Do they come in bigger containers?? I could use some more, I think. I do love the Christmas season but I can’t say I care for the stress of shopping. It’s cold, everywhere is crowded, I don’t know what to get, money is tight…..there are lots of reasons. I would be just as happy to send cards and visit with friends than have to deal with gift giving, and receiving. Enough whining, on to the next cutie.

This was also from Vicki – she is so clever! I don’t know if you can read the poem or not, but I hope you can.

And here is the “homemade fudge”, which suits me just fine, actually. Chocolate in any form is good, except if it has nuts in it. Thank you, Vicki, for leaving out the nuts!

That’s all I have for today. I need to get started on Christmas cards very, very soon, time is slipping by too quickly. I also need to change the blog background but by the time I get around to that Christmas will be over, I’m sure. Maybe a nice winter theme would work. Hmmmm.

I hope you all are having a lovely holiday season and keeping the stress level to a minimum!