Chairs to YOU!! (and me!)

It's almost MAY!!! And do you remember what that means???? A new stamp of the month - it's one of my VERY favorite stamp sets.  I made this card AGES ago, and I've been waiting and waiting to share it, until it got closer to MAY.  (I didn't want to taunt you TOO much, before you could get this stamp set into your inky hands!)

I will admit, I REALLY wanted to cut out all those little areas in between the chair decorations.  But I just couldn't do it.  So I'm pretending I totally wanted it that way, and just rolling with it.  (We have to do that sometimes - just roll with it.)

I paired a little ribbon from my stash with the Watermelon and Kraft chair.  I am loving the color combination! (And I'm OBSESSED with Kraft, in case you hadn't noticed yet!)

So - chairs to YOU. . .it's the weekend!
chairs to ME. . .it's my birthday!
chairs to ME. . . it's my anniversary!
chairs to Prince William and Kate . . .they chose to get married on MY special day!
chairs to the astronauts about to take off this afternoon . . .it's a momentous day all over the world!

xoxo

pinwheels spinwheels. . .

Happy almost-Easter!!!!  This past weekend, we had an un-birthday party (it's a long story) at The Little Gym, where the boys have both taken gymnastics classes for pretty much their whole little lives!  I was trying to decide what fun thing I could decorate cupcakes with, since we didn't really have a theme, and there would be boys and girls of all ages there.  I decided on these cute little SUPER easy pinwheels.  I used Animal Crackers paper (which we are all sad isn't available anymore) but you could use any of Close To My Heart's two sided papers to create this fun project.

Simply cut a 3x3 square. Gently crease the paper from corner to corner on both sides, to find the center point.  Then cut from each corner to ALMOST the middle, being careful not to cut the whole thing up into triangles! Then pull one side of each section down towards the center.  Use your piercing tool to poke a hole (make sure to go through each layer) and stick a brad in the center.  I hot glued the pinwheels to short kabob sticks, and stuck them in the cupcakes.  I really should have done a tutorial to share with you, but if you google it. . .I promise you'll find a lot of them, if you need more help.

Totally un-paper related but equally fun, are the rainbow cupcakes.  These are quickly becoming a kid-party tradition in our household.  Use yellow or white cake mix, prepare it as directed.  Then divide it into separate bowls - however many colors you want, and just add food coloring to each dish.  Blend it until you have the colors as you like them.  Then just spoon each color into your cake pan.  If you're doing a regular size cake, just distribute the spoonfuls evenly.  If doing cupcakes, just do a small (really small) scoop of each color.  After they bake, they look sort of tie-died.  You can try to smooth out the layers and make them truly rainbow-like, but I sort of like the splotchiness of it!

 I also used a new-to-me frosting recipe for these cupcakes.  Wilton's Fluffy Boiled Frosting.  It came out pretty nice! Not as super-sweet as buttercream, and there's no butter or shortening in it. (So it's fat free! Does that count as healthy??? Perhaps not so much!)  It is the consistency of marshmallow fluff.  Pretty fun stuff!

I totally forgot to take a picture, but we also made favors.  We made rice krispie treats with Froot Loops in them.  (Here's the recipe I used!) I wrapped each individually in plastic wrap, and then wrapped a 1 inch band of patterned paper around it, finishing it off with some baker's twine.  It coordinated with the pinwheels, and it was pretty adorable!

The pinwheel cupcake toppers would be perfect for Easter!!!  I bet a tray of pinwheel cupcakes would be a fabulous centerpiece!

HAPPY EASTER!

new stamps! hooray!

May is almost here! Have you checked out the May Stamp of the Month yet?????
Chairs.
Oh my CHAIRS!
Chairs to color.  Chairs to paper-piece.  Chairs to leave just as-is.
"Chairs to YOU!"
(But since it isn't quite May yet, here's the link to April's lovely Stamp of the Month set. . .maybe you need both sets, so place an order NOW, and then again in May!) 

I left two chairs as is, and then cut the comfy big chair from Vineyard Berry cardstock.
I think I want to do this card again, and use some crazy funky paper (or maybe even fabric!) because I have some "one of a kind friends" who are WAY more one of a kind than just Vineyard Berry!
Or here's another idea.  Stamp a pattern onto cardstock, and THEN stamp the chair over it.  Hmmmm. I think I might try that today! :)  Thanks for inspiring me!

And have you seen?  There's another new stamp set - with a fabulous cause.  It's called Hope For Japan, and you can purchase it HERE for only FIVE dollars! Even better - 100% of the proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to help Japan.

Happy Thursday! The weekend is almost here.  Doing any stamping this weekend???
XOXO

happy birthday!!!!!

Hello, hello!!! April is upon us! It is the season of birthdays - I think half of the people I know and love seem to have a birthday in April (oh, including ME!)

I created this card using Sunny Yellow, Sunflower, and Sky paper and ink.  And the stamp set, called Candlelight is one of those "super-practical-adorable-must-have" sets.  You'll use it all the time, I promise! The sentiments are terrific and you can use the candles as firecrackers, menorah candles, or birthday candles!!! I've even used the outline candle as a tag or tiny journaling block.  HELLO double-duty stamps! (LOVE THAT!)

Little design note: The three blue dots that look sort of like brads (but they aren't) were simply dots that I cut from a second stamped image of that polka dotted candle!

I rattled on, at my blog today, about a dear friend of mine whose birthday is TODAY!!! Her name is Karisse, and she is super creative, and has quite an amazing story.  Head on over to my blog to find the links and read all about her inspiring story!

I hope you are having a beautiful Spring day!
See you next week!