A Plethora of Projects!

Good morning, friends!! It has, unfortunately, been quite a long time since we’ve posted something new. Between the usual, school and work, we’ve been pretty busy. And on top of that, the kiddos have passed on the cold bug, so we had been fighting that, too. That was a huge pain, but it seems to have cleared up. Hopefully that’ll be the last of it, although the fall/winter season is in full swing here. The rain does help with the productivity- who wants to go outside in the rain?! In the little bit of healthy free-time we’ve had, we’ve been uber busy with our crafting projects, and a few projects for ourselves. We’ve had a handful of superhero projects- some invitations and a ton of bags, and this little set of a card and a banner we created for our little cousin’s Hulk-themed birthday:

We were also tasked with creating a few new bag designs. Here is a picture of some of our new ones, which include The Incredibles (no capes!), Robin, and the Ninja Turtles, though only two are shown

We also worked on some cards in the last few weeks, including these two “punny” cards. The first one is a card we sent out to our family and friends- a little farm-themed card that reads “Cow’s it Going?”. The other is one we wanted to post a while back, but never got to it. It is a fall inspired, little shape card that features a fox in a pile of leaves. The inside of the card reads “Sending you piles of smiles”

 

The biggest, most exciting news of the last few weeks is that our very close friend (hopefully she still thinks this…) and her husband are expecting a little one this April!! It’s all very exciting! We made a few cards to send to congratulate them:

How cute are these two?! The Winnie the Pooh card was inspired by the scrapbook paper that was used in some of the details, like the crib sheet. It’s kind of hard to see, but it’s there. And the paper has been in our collection for a while now, so we figured why not use it?! We also included a little basketball because they both used to play and are now gym teachers. And like all of our projects, we used a ton of pop dots! The second is a super cute side step card designed to look like a baby’s nursery. We included the dresser, with clothes and all, along with some toys and dolls. We couldn’t forget the crib with the sleeping baby and the mobile hanging over!

The last two projects we have to share are some Halloween ones we were working on. The first was a set of cards we made for our sister-in-law (don’t mind the pajama pants in the background- we got an early start that day!). These easel cards feature a little googly-eyed witch and her broom. We also embossed a spider web on the background and added some rhinestones in the corner of the card. The inside of the card reads “Witch-ing you a Happy Halloween” and a little bat that holds the easel up. And as with all cute, “girly” cards, there’s some sparkle, too!

The last project we’ve worked on was a banner we made for a customer. This one was a personalized Halloween banner that features two teddy bears, one a ghoulish witch and the other a spooky jack-o’-lantern.

We, of course, used pop dots on the characters and letters. We finished off with some rhinestones on the letters. Each piece is tied together with multiple colored ribbons and some glitter tulle!

Phew! Quite a long post today, huh?! Sorry about that! We probably could have (and maybe should have) done them individually. Hopefully we’ll finish and post some of our new holiday items that we've been working on and some holiday projects we have planned! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Welcome, Fall!

Good morning!  And happy third-day-of-fall! We hope everyone is having a fantabulous week so far. Our week has been pretty good. The first days of the new season have definitely been fall-like. We’ve finally had a good rain storm for the first time in quite a while. The biggest problem with the rain is the wet pant cuffs... We’ve also been working at school. It’s always fun to work in the same school and grade as each other and mess with the kids a little. Sometimes you have to go with the “No, I’ve never met her before today” when they ask if you’re related. Good to know most of them can tell the difference between their everyday teacher and the sister.

Anyway, today’s project is a quick fall-themed home décor project we came up with. We wanted to post it on Tuesday but unfortunately didn’t get around to it until today. It is a set of fall-themed wall signs.

We were inspired by some prints we found online and maybe possibly a new line of projects to sell. Just what we needed- another set of items to create!! Especially since we were talking about what to focus on last night!! We decided to go with some fall images, including a cute scarecrow, a tree with its changing leave, and a set of little pumpkins. The last one is a little “sentiment” that reads “welcome fall”. How cute are they?!

Now we have to figure out if we want to frame them or make them into canvases. Either way would be super cute! We like our version (compared to some of the other ones we’ve found) better because they are thought-out and 3D (even a little) compared to just a printed image.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your day and come back tomorrow for some more fall-themed party items we’ve been working on!

Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Saturday! We know it's been a while since we've popped on here, and now it's late (still Saturday, though, so it's all good!) It's been a crazy few weeks. There have been lots of random projects to work on and short afternoons after work. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to work on many of our own projects. Anyway, today's post is a cupcake in honor of the last (unofficial) weekend of fall- everyone knows that Thanksgiving weekend is the official start of the Christmas season! (Yep, it has it's own season!!) So, here they are:

These are our 'fall leaves' cupcakes. They are chocolate cupcakes with toffee bits baked inside. They are frosted with a green buttercream.

The trees were made with melting chocolate. They were a little hard to make- trees can be tough to draw, let alone make them with chocolate. We added some colorful sprinkles to them before they were set. Then we stuck them into the center of the cakes and added more sprinkles to the frosting. From the pictures, it's a bit hard to see, but some of the sprinkles are actually blue. We are fully aware that there aren't any blue leaves- but that would be pretty awesome! These would be a pretty cute addition to any fall-themed party.
Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have an amazing day!

Turkey Party Tags

Happy Sunday! We hope everyone is having a great weekend. We have been keeping super busy with party favors. We are fortunate to have two large orders to work on, which have taken up pretty much all of our long weekend. But, we were able to take some time out to do a few other quick projects. Today's project is a set of turkey tags:

These little cuties were made to match one another. Their little hats and bows have a little sparkle to add a little shine to the season. We added matching ribbon for the ties. They would be perfect favor or thank-you tags.
Thanks for stopping by! Now it's back to party favors and supplies, and hopefully more holiday projects. Have a great day.

A Saturday Night Treat!

Happy Sunday Afternoon! We hope everyone is having a superb weekend. We are having a gorgeous fall weekend here. Not to brag or anything, but our last few weekends have given us amazing weather! And we have some leaves changing colors, which is always a nice little reminder of a New England fall. The only thing missing is some pumpkins. We wanted to carve some last night, but couldn't find any at the store. It was a sad night.
So, what do we do instead? Watch Harry Potter and make these delicious drinks:

These are pumpkin pie milkshakes based off the recipe found at Our Best Bites for their Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes. (These two ladies are awesome! We'd try all of their recipes if there was enough time in the day!) This drink has a base of vanilla ice cream and pumpkin puree. I kind of went off track from there. I added some vanilla and a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice. Unfortunately, or fortunately I guess, we didn't have any milk left in the fridge. We did have some apple juice, so we improvised a little. It was probably close to a quarter of a cup of juice. It definitely adds a bit more "fall" to the drink!! We decided to rim the glasses with some crushed graham crackers and chocolate syrup, and then dripped some chocolate down the sides of the glasses. (You could also use caramel syrup, which would also be pretty delish! And last, but not least, we added some whipped cream on top, with a garnish of a grahammie square!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Hopefully we'll have a few new projects to share, and at least one more of Our Best Bites delicious recipes!!

Happy Fallidays!

Happy Sunday! Wow, it has been a long time since we posted something. As you might be able to tell, then, we have been quite the busy beavers recently. With school and work, and everything that goes with it, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to sit down and work on the fun things (obviously meaning the crafting). Or, the "fun things" turn out to be a set of wedding invitations (for a lady in Australia, getting married in Spain, with family in the UK. OK, so it's awesome that someone from overseas has seen our stuff!) And of course, more party favors than I care to count... But this weekend, we found some time to create for fun. (Update: We just spent about four hours looking up Christmas projects. Is it November yet?!)
So, today's project is a cute little fall banner we made for our sister:

(It was a bit longer than planned, but I'm pretty sure the pieces were a bit wider than I first thought. I hope she has room for it somewhere!)
It's a little hard to read, but it says "happy fallidays". It is accented with two super adorable little scarecrows on either end:

 And here is the spacer in between the two words:

We wanted to keep this one a little less crowded, mostly because of the background paper used. I think the best part of this banner is the use of non-traditional colors used. The background paper came from a fall paper stack that is full of blue, brown, and light yellow papers. To make it even more fun, we added some pink accents and ribbon (because pink makes everything better!)
Now to go make something with all of the extra orange paper this banner was supposed to use up. Or more party favors. Both have to be done eventually!!
Thanks for coming back to us after our little unplanned break! We hope you all have a superb end to the weekend!!

Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Saturday! We hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend so far. It seems as if this weekend will be a good time to be outside, see some color, and enjoy the weather. Hopefully. As long as it's nicer than last weekend, it's a winner! And we'll probably spend it inside...crafting. Oh well. We've been rather busy with orders. We finished two yesterday and have another three to work on now.
We have another cupcake to share with you today. It is an apple crisp cupcake:

We were having a discussion on whether it should be considered a cupcake or a muffin. The jury is still out, but under either title, they're delicious! One of our mom's favorite (and yummiest) things to make during the fall is apple crisp. We decided to make this one in honor of her. It has huge chunks of apples, to really get the flavor. They also help keep the cupcake nice and moist. We decided to top it off with a batch of crumb topping. We were always known to be the ones who would pick the biggest "crumbs" off the pies and crisps, and anything else that you could put it on. This was no exception! (We made a small cake and topped it with a good inch of the crumble, and then proceeded to pick off the top.)

These cupcakes would be perfect for those days when you are looking for a treat, but not something overly sweet. And it has fruit in it, so they have to be good for you, no?!
Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope you all have a great day!

Happy Fall!

Happy Monday! We hope everyone enjoyed their first fall weekend. We had a typical western Washington wet weather weekend (say that 5 times fast). It was a good time to catch up with our projects so we don’t have to worry about them during this week and watch some football games. We got quite a bit done, but there’s always plenty more. In other words, it was a quite successful weekend. Today’s project is one that we created yesterday. And, might we say, it’s pretty darn cute!!

We had a lady order one of our recessed window cards last week, so  we wanted to make another such one, and figured the concept of ‘fall’ would give us many options to play with. Anyway, the card was inspired by the stamped sentiment in the corner (QKR Stampede digital stamp). It originally said “you have”, but we thought it would be better without that part. So, if the sentiment is “Something to crow about”, there must be a crow on the card, right? And if there is a crow, there has to be a cute little scarecrow. From there, the card kind of designed itself. As you might be able to tell, we went pop-dot-happy, again. (It just adds so much to the card!) And the final touch was the scaregirl’s little yellow bow! Here is another view of the card:

We had to make the card look more like a book. The last few cards we made like this, we made one fold in the center, but they just didn't look as good as we'd like. After a few, we realized this was the best way to do it. Here's to the best season of the year!! (Oh, how we miss fall in New England...as long as it isn't snowing...)

This card is entered in the following challenges:

{Pin}spirational Challenges: Fall Colors

Perfect Sentiment Challenge: Find Me Some Fall

Crafts4Eternty: Cute Kids

Pile It On Challenge: Pile it On #38- Cool of Warm Colors

Hiding In My Craft Room: Lots of Layers

Craftin' Desert Divas: Autumn/Fall

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

A New (Delicious) Fall Drink

We hope everyone is having a wonderful, working Wednesday! On the bright side, it's downhill after today. Anyway, today's post isn't something we usually do. We're pretty sure the last time we did this was last fall. We are sharing our recipe for a *drum roll* Apple Pie Latte:

This drink is absolutely delish! Just looking at the picture makes me smile. There is a story behind this recipe, though. The other day, I was so excited to go the store and get the pumpkin spice coffee from Dunkin' Donuts. How can you go wrong? And especially when it's on sale?! When I got there, I was disappointed because it wasn't there. But they had this apple pie-flavored coffee. I was kind of weary about getting it, but went for it, mostly because we're deprived of it out here. (Washington's downfall). I also picked up some caramel creamer and whipped cream with the idea of making a latte (yum!)
I hurried (safely) home because I was just so excited! Now, we kind of cheat when it comes to making lattes. We used a gift card to make the most-awesome purchase: a Mr. Coffee latte maker. Unless you have a boat-load of money to spend on the machine, I wouldn't recommend it. Then again, if you're someone who goes out and gets a coffee every day, it might be worth it. We've definitely gotten our money's worth :)
So, here's how to make your own, without any fancy equipment. This recipe makes two drinks (or, just one really large one!) 

Apple Pie Spice:
In a small container, mix 1/4 cup cinnamon, 1 tablespoon allspice, and 2 teaspoons both nutmeg and ginger. Mix well and store in an air-tight container.
This is one of those mornings that this drink would be perfect. Needless to say, this drink was absolutely delicious! I was surprised at how "apple-y" this coffee was. There are only a few flavored coffees that have such flavor to them. After we finished the coffee (in like a week...), we had our first (and only) pumpkin spice latte from the "other" place, and it was so disappointing. It tasted like a regular ol' latte. Good thing we can make our own now!!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!!

A 'Boo'tiful Sunset

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a wonderful work day. It's about time for a nap around here. Only a few more hours to go. We have a Halloween card to share with you today:

This card has actually been a few years in the making. Since we started making cards, we always had the idea to make layers that opened up, ie- the gate in the front opening as one layer. (If that makes sense. Maybe the picture below helps my case.)

It's a little easier to see that the gate opens up, revealing the haunted castle. With a few color changes, a princess castle is quickly transformed into a spooky, haunted abode. As for the background, it is our take on a fall sunset. It didn't come out quite as well as we wanted (especially the line down the edge), but it's not too shabby using markers. As the sun sets, the creatures of the night come out to play. There are two bats that were glued to the card. The third is on a thin wire, so he can pop out at you! The image was then attached to the card base and the inside reads "Witching you a Happy Halloween"
We are entering this card into this week's SOUS Challenge- "Gates"
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Saturday! We hope everyone has had a wonderful work week. We are definitely looking forward to the weekend, even if it’s filled with a ton of work to do! At least we have a few more days of sun and warmer temperatures before the rainy season is upon us. Anyway, since it is Saturday, we have another cupcake to share. Today’s cupcake is a very fall-inspired one: Pumpkin-stuffed vanilla cupcakes, with a pumpkin spice buttercream.

 

These are a basic vanilla cupcake filled with a little pumpkin-y surprise! These are like our valentine’s day cupcakes a while back, with a heart in the middle. The pumpkin cake is a pumpkin-spice bread mix, cut into the shape of a pumpkin. Or, what is supposed to be a pumpkin. All of our cookie cutters were much too big, so we had to cut them by hand. I guess they don’t look too shabby, for paper and a knife. The basis for the frosting is a basic recipe. However, instead of using cream and vanilla for the liquid, we had some pumpkin-spice liqueur in the fridge, so we used that. We didn’t use so much that it’s over-powering, but just enough to taste it. To top them off, we sprinkled them with a bit of pumpkin-pie spice and cinnamon-and-sugar.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

It's Been Nuts Around Here!

We're back! We've been super busy around here. Between the start of the school year and on-line orders, the time just kind of ran away from us. It's been quite a while since we had a project to share.We didn't realize it's been a week though. So, for today's project, we have a cute little card to share:

It's a little hard to tell, but once again, the pop-dots came out on this card! The squirrel, acorn, and a few of the leaves pop up. And a card isn't complete without some glitter! This little squirrel is another easel card. Here it is, open:

The little guys on Create-a-Critter are just too cute! And with googly eyes, they're even cuter! We are entering this little guy into this week's BBtB2's Shape Up! Challenge.
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

I don't know about you, but this week went by super fast! We've been busy adding to our store, with new cards and banners. And we had our aunt and uncle over, which was great. It's been a few years since we've seen them, so it was nice.
It started to feel a little like fall, and by that, I mean, we had two days of rain. After almost 2 months without any rain, we had just a little. So for our first fall-inspired cupcakes of the season, we have a Spiked Pumpkin Latte cupcakes!

These cupcakes have pumpkin puree and coffee granules, and are spiked with pumpkin pie liqueur. The original recipe called for mudslide mix, but I couldn't find any, and found this instead. It works for me! The frosting is a buttercream, with the same ingredients mixed in.

Thanks for stopping by!