Counting Down...

Good afternoon! We hope everyone is having a super last-day-of-2012. It's kind of hard to believe so much has happened this year. And the year ends with a newly fallen snow here.
Anyway, in honor of New Year's Eve, and what everyone does is count down to the New Year. Our layout is title just that:

Like yesterday's project, we were planning on starting with a simple monochromatic scheme, using black, with some blue. It turned out that we had some "champagne"-colored shimmery paper, which was a perfect touch for a New Year's layout. And, of course, we added some flourish:

 And it's a little hard to tell, but the white photo mats are cut from recycled paper, so it kind of looks like confetti.
Thanks for stopping by. We hope everyone has a fun, fantastic, and safe New Year's Eve!

Ringing in the New Year

Good afternoon! Or, well, it's more evening. We hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. It's hard to imagine that this is the last Sunday in 2012. The year has gone by so fast. So, today's project is another New Year's project. This is a quick card we threw together:

How cute is the little baby?! (Although it looks like the diaper is a little full...) Originally it was supposed to be a black and white card, with a pop of color, so we chose the blue paper. But our sparkled paper didn't match, and what's a New Year's card without some glam? That's where the yellow sparkle came from.
On a side note, this card reminds me of the race we used to run on New Year's morning. Once in a while, there was a guy (an older, bigger fella) who used to dress as the New Year's baby. Enough said.
Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! (So it's a little late for some of our readers, but it's still Saturday here...) We hope that everyone is having a wonderful week and are enjoying the remainder of the holidays. We are aware that it's been a while, but we have been enjoying our Winter Break, and haven't been doing to much, other than relaxing. Now that it's almost over (unfortunately) we're going to try to get back on track. And what better day, and theme, than the Saturday before the New Year??
This weekend's cupcake is one of our more-extravagant cupcake creations:

These cupcakes are white chocolate cake with a champagne buttercream frosting. What's a New Year celebration without some bubbly?? We had some champagne left over from the mimosas we made on Christmas morning (why not induldge?) and decided to use it in this frosting. We used just enough to taste, but not overpowering. And we still have more for our New Year's celebrating!
(I would also like to take this time to say that we are aware that we made a wine-flavored cupcake a  few weeks ago. We are not lushes ;o) )
Thanks for stopping by! Join us again tomorrow for another quick New Year's project!

Merry Christmas!

We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and

I feel like a little kid again, waking up before sunrise on Christmas morning. I guess it's kind of easy to do when sunrise isn't until 8:00. It's been a while since we posted regularly, but figured today would be a good day to start again. It's been pretty busy around here, getting things together, working, etc., so we haven't been able to do much crafting for the blog without giving away some of the presents we gave this year. We will be posting those pictures soon. Anyway, we hope everyone has a wonderful day filled with family and memories!

Kards for Kiddos

As you know, we have family and friends who teach and live in Newtown, the sight on the horrific event that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Yesterday, we posted some links to websites that are collecting donations to help the families that were affected. While the monetary donations will help families pay for the unexpected costs, as well as provide counseling assistance, we want to do something for the students and staff. When they go back to school in their borrowed space, it won't be home. In order to make the time a little easier and calmer, we want to send them love and good wishes from all over, so they know that they aren't alone.

Since the pain and memories won't go away in a week or two, we plan on continuing this project through the rest of the school year. You can sign your cards if you'd like, or just “sending you love and good wishes from Washington” type of messages. We want to send them good thoughts.

Everyone enjoys getting mail, and what better way to brighten up their days than by seeing how much they are loved from around the country. The cards can have anything on it that kids would enjoy: sports, animals, characters, basically anything. We do ask that they aren't religious in nature, since there is a wide variety of faiths in town.

If you're like us and make cards for challenges or daily posts, and don't know what to do with all of them, other than keep them in a box for “some time when I might need them,” this would be a great way to help clean a little. Or a great group project for youth groups or classrooms to help them connect with other kids their age.

If you'd like to help us spread some cheer to these children, you can send your cards to us, and we'll help spread love and good wishes. Please send us a message if you are interested in helping out, and we'll give you more details! Thank you so much!

27 New Angels

We've been sitting at the computer, almost all day, trying to figure out what is going on at home. We have family, friends, and former classmates and teammates who live and work in Newtown. There are so many questions that may never get answered. You think, “How could this ever happen here?” Maybe the biggest question is “Why?” It's so difficult to see and hear about places we grew up near on national television- that darn flagpole, and the $2 movie theater, and the diner everyone went to when ours closed- and then listening to the President talking about, and knowing where, Newtown, CT is.

Our mom sent us a text yesterday morning, as she was shopping in Newtown, asking us if we had heard about a shooting at an elementary school. This was right before I left to go into a 4th grade classroom, here in Olympia, for the day. At lunch, another teacher asked if I had heard about it. At that point, I didn't realize the massiveness of the event, and spent the rest of the time trying to comprehend what had happened.

As I sat in a classroom on the other side of the country, all I could think about was those children who will never get a chance to grow up. They won't go out on their first date, have a first kiss, or, get married and have children of their own. They'll never get the chance to score the winning goal, have another first day of school, make the honor roll or go to college. There are parents who will never see their children open up those Christmas presents. They won't see them grow up into beautiful young men and women. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the children and their families and friends.

As teachers, we go through the drills, just in case. You hope and pray that nothing will ever happen like that in your school. We practiced an earthquake drill out here in Washington yesterday, and all I could think of was, this could be so much different. What would I do if this was real? I'd like to think that I would do exactly as the teachers at Sandy Hook did: protect the children, no matter what, and be able to help those students who were sad and confused. Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of all of the adults who were true heroes yesterday.

As much as you want to hate the man who did this, you also need to remember that the family also lost their mother. They're in our thoughts as well.

Growing up one town over, Newtown was always our biggest rival. Our schools had the “7-Mile Challenge” and the football teams play every Thanksgiving Eve. Now, we have to forget our differences and come together to help the community. We may not have the best things to say about Connecticut, but it will always be home. It makes us proud to see how the people of Monroe and the rest of Connecticut, and the country, are rallying together to try to help make this time a little easier for their neighbors.

Ways to Help:

https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/

http://www.newtownyouthandfamilyservices.org/

http://www.facebook.com/TeddyBearsForSandyHook

Cupcake Saturday!

It's finally the weekend! All week, it's felt like it should be the next day. Oh well. So, today brings us another Cupcake Saturday. Today's mini cake is a little different than what we normally do. We decided to make jingle bell cake pops:

We saw this idea as we were perusing the internet (probably Pinterest). The lady who is famous for her cake pops, Bakerella, does such an amazing job on her cake pops. Well, ours are not so hot, but the idea was so adorable that we had to try it. Here are our version of the Jingle Bell Pops.

This was the inspiration...

(See how awesome they look?!)

And this is what ours came out looking like.

(Totally from the same batch, right?!)

Ok, so we've tried cake pops once before and those were a total nightmare. They looked awful and wouldn't stay on the sticks, no matter what we tried. These came out slightly better, but still not quite so good. I think next time, we'll spend some more time crumbling the cake up. Knowing what I know now about the whole cake pop process, I will also use a lighter color cake mix. I thought, "Oh, red velvet, that will look really Christmas-y." I suppose I should've known to use white cake, just in case it did show up under the layers. Oh well, they still taste really good, no matter how lumpy they look!

The Bell Still Rings

Happy Thursday! It is definitely one of those weeks that just crawls on by. It feels like it should be Friday. Almost there....

Today's projects are 'Polar Express'-themed party decorations we made. There are two of them. The first is a multi-use place-card holder.

These place cards are designed to look like bells. (They are actually cut from a cupcake box) The criss-crossing of the top worked out rather nicely, as they are positioned in just the right spot for the slits in the bell. They were added with black marker, but you can't see it in the picture. Since they are boxes, they open up and are perfect to give away as a little party favor. We added a real bell to the top, so when they were moved, they jingle! (And we're fully aware the 'd' is lower case. Capital 'd's are just ugly letters....)

Our second project today is another favor box:

These favors are a little bigger than the bells, measuring about 4x4x4" boxes. They were decorated to look like train cars. You can always add more riding cars to match the number of favors needed. The cars are lit up, just like in the movie. This would also serve as a cute centerpiece for a small gathering (too many and it might take up the whole table!)
Join us tomorrow for a sweet project that's perfect for young children to help with!

Just Believe- #2

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I know, not a clever post title at all. Especially since we've already had one the week with the same title. That just seems to be that kind of week. 
All this talk about being able to hear bells is starting to get to me. This morning, I was listening to Christmas music while getting ready for work, and the first song I heard started off really quiet, with some bells tinkling in the distance. Somehow I forgot that my phone was in my pocket, and all I heard were the bells. At first I thought the bell project from yesterday made the noise, but realized no one was near it.  So, logically, my next thought was that Santa was coming, of course! I only figured out it was the music when the singing began. Oh well. It would have been a little too early for the Big Guy anyway.
So, continuing on with today's project. We have another quick home decor project to share today.  We have a pretty big mirror hanging over our fireplace and decided that it needed to be spruced up a bit:

We cut out the word 'believe' in  super fun sparkly red vinyl. The shooting star was cut out in a silver an a gold vinyl. We wanted to make it big enough to take up a good chunk of room, but not to make it look too silly. It is about 1/3 the width of  the mirror. It's a little hard to tell, but any other picture would have gotten us in the reflection. We surrounded it with some greenery, as well. The mirror looks much better now that it has some pizzazz to it!
Thank you for stopping by. Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Jingle All the Way

We hope everyone is having a good morning. It seems as if this is going to be another slow week. It feels like it should be at least Wednesday. Although who can complain when you get to watch 'Toy Story' and 'Finding Nemo' all day?! Hopefully everyone else's day will be just as good!
For today's project, we have a craft that would cheer up any space. These 'wreaths' can be found at any craft store, but we made this one on the cheap- $6.00 for the entire thing.

In order to make this, all we used was some jewelry wire we had hanging around. Ours is the size of a large coffee can, but you can make it any size you want. We recommend using thick wire (or even a metal coat hanger, if you have any more of those) so the shape stays better. Ours was kind of thin, so the small size worked well. Then, all you take are some jingle bells and string them onto the wire. (The bells are on sale this week at Micheal's, for like $2.99) We used two different sizes, but you can pretty much design it however you want. Once they're all strung, you can form the wire into the shape you want and wa-la! A quick project. We added a little bell in the middle, tied with a cute gold bow!
In 'The Polar Express' if you believe in the magic of the holiday, you can hear the bell jingle. There is no way you can't hear these bells jingle!
This would be a quick little gift for a holiday grab bag, maybe, or something to make and give to yourself!

Just Believe!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent yesterday up in Bellevue, which is up near Seattle. We went for some paper and came back with more than we bargained for. Funny how that tends to happen. Unfortunately we didn't get any holiday shopping done, so sorry guys- nothing for you this year!
Continuing with this week's theme, we have a layout that would be perfect for a holiday train ride. Or a 'Polar Express' party, of course!

This layout features the magical train that's headed to the North Pole. And the only way to get on is to have your ticket:

The word "believe" was designed to look like it was hole-punched. In the movie, the Conductor is mighty talented when it comes to punching the kids' tickets. We also added some bells to the layout, which happens to be more than just the first present of Christmas (and it doesn't go to the boy known as Know-It-All).
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for a quick and fun home decor project!

All Aboard!

Happy Sunday! We hope you are all having a fantastic weekend, filled with holiday decorating and tree-trimming! It's another raining day here (surprise!) but we're filling it with holiday cheer. This week's theme is based off of the classic holiday book and movie, "The Polar Express", the story about a little boy who learns how to believe in the magic of the holiday. During our Christmas Movies in July week, we made these peppermint hot chocolate cupcakes. It's such a cute movie! So, today's project is an invitation to a Polar Express party:

The invitation is relatively simple, kind of like the movie itself. It's a "quiet" movie, if that makes any sense. We chose to make it navy blue because the story takes place on Christmas Eve. We also made a train ticket #1225, good for one trip to and from the North Pole.
Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Wow! It's already December! Where has the year gone?? Today's cupcake doesn't quite fit with this week's winter woodland theme, but it does if you decide to sit by the fireplace with  glass of wine on a cold, winter night. We all know that this is can be a hectic month, filled with parties, holidays, and everything else. It is perfect for those days when you want to relax, or for a special holiday party. We have made these Moscato cupcakes:

We came up with this idea a few months ago, when our friend Cari introduced us to this wine. If you haven't tried it, and you enjoy a delicious, fruity wine, we highly recommend it. It has become our go-to wine. The cupcake is a white cupcake flavored with the wine. The frosting is a Moscato buttercream. The lady at the store was a little surprised when we told her the wine was going in the cupcakes. It is totally worth it. But, pouring the wine into a glass is quicker and cheaper, so... This cupcake is definitely "wine-y", so it is only recommended for the adults at the party :)
Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Warm Wishes and...

Frosty Kisses! Happy Tuesday, everyone! We hope you are all having a superb week so far. We have a fun project to share with you today. It is a little banner we made to go with this week's Winter Woodland theme.

The picture is a little light, but is says "frosty kisses", hence the title of the post! We used pale green and blue paper, along with matching decorative prints. The color scheme is perfect for winter projects. The next two pictures show close-ups of the words:

(You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.) It's a little hard to see, if at all, but the letters were outlined with some more buffalo snow. The next two pictures show the snowflakes and the center space.

 

The snowflakes on the end are folded to look 3D and are accented with some more 'snow'. They came out better than planned- they were a little hard to fold down the middle. And the last picture is the center space, which is decorated with a cute little snow couple. We used the same colors and paper for their accessories, and of course, some more snow. It's a little hard to tell, but the snow is behind them.
It would be a cute addition to winter couple pictures! Thanks for stopping by!

A Winter Treat

Welcome to another week! It's back to work for a lot of us after the holiday. It was definitely a little hard to wake up this morning, both physically and mentally. But, on the bright side, only a few more weeks until another break! We're looking forward to it already :)
Anyway, today's project goes along with yesterday's invitation. It uses a similar design and would work well as a party favor or gift bag. Fill it with some hot cocoa mix and it's all set to go!

We used some more buffalo snow on this bag, giving it a 'realistic'-ish touch. It is so much fun to use, until it gets all over the place. But at least it's  pretty and sparkles a little! The tree is made to be 3D, but it's a little hard to tell.

And, of course, there is the cute little bow! The ribbon has white printed snowflakes and the blue matches the bag. We decided to add the extra white yarn bow, to add another dimension. They are held together with a cute snowflake brad. Just looking at this bag is making me cold! I hope the Northeast doesn't suffer from too much snow tonight and tomorrow morning. That's one thing I don't miss!!
Thank you so much for stopping by. Join us tomorrow for a home decor project.

Lace Up Those Skates!

Happy Sunday! We hope everyone had a wonderful, restful weekend. We spent today up in Seattle, running a marathon. It wasn't our best, time-wise, but it was one of the best-run marathons we've run. It was amazing running past the Space Needle and the stadiums, and along the I-90 bridge (unfortunately we had to turn around and run back along it.) We couldn't have asked for nicer weather- mid-40's and SUN! OK, so it started off cloudy, but the sun peaked out about halfway through. Now our biggest challenge is going to be moving around and not falling down!
But, we do have a project to share with you tonight. This week's theme is a little different from our others. This week's is more of a cartridge-based theme, having to deal with the outdoors during winter. The cartridge we're using is called "Winter Woodland" and it has a bunch of cute designs on it. Today's project is an invitation we put together.

This invitation is shaped like a holiday ornament. (It would also be cute in the shape of a snow globe. Next time!) It features a little ice skater and quite a bit of snow! The next picture shows the detail a little better:

This was supposed to be a shaker card- kind of like a snow globe- but the 'snow' was too much. We used buffalo snow along the edges of the hills and there is some floating in the 'air'. The inside of the invitation uses the same green  patterned paper, with room for all of your party information.

This would be perfect for a little girl's ice-skating party, or any winter party!
Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Everyone is probably sleeping off all of this week's turkey and stuffing, and yesterday's shopping! (Remember, today is Small-Business Saturday. We're offering 20% off purchases of $10.00 or more from our Etsy store this weekend!)
We are slowly catching up on all of the sleep we missed this week. 12 hours of sleep is always wonderful, except when you travel for 17+ hours the day before... And, we would also like to wish our sister Sarah a very happy 29th birthday, again ;)
So, for today's post, we have another cupcake, of course! This cupcake is a sweet treat, with no calories- the best kind! It also goes along with this week's elf theme.

How adorable is this?! It is one of our cupcake ornaments. It is complete with a little 'fondant' elf and green 'sprinkles'. And his little hat is adorned with a cute little bell, that can ring in the season. It's a nice little addition to any Christmas tree! Unfortunately, he doesn't quite match ours this year.

Thank you for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another holiday-themed week!

Santa's Little Elves

Happy Black Friday, everyone! We hope everyone had a great holiday with family and friends. We're sure everyone is out shopping now ;) We were fortunate enough to be able to go home for the week (hence the sporadic posting). It was great seeing our family, along with our friend, and some of our track kids from last year. Today was spent traveling home. Our parents dropped us off at the airport at 3:30 in the morning- super early! We were able to see sunrise over New York City, which was pretty amazing. Our layover in Newark was like 2.5 hours (silly, because that's how long it would have taken to drive there...). There wasn't really much to see until we crossed the Rocky Mountains- much better than driving through them! Once we crossed them, it got cloudy and started to rain- big surprise! We then drove up to Seattle, which was exciting, because they're getting ready for the holidays, too. They have their trees lit and decorations up. After 17+ hours of traveling, it is so nice to come home to a clean apartment and an empty one downstairs.
We do have a post for today, though. It is a quick little scrapbook layout we made with this week's elf theme.

 This layout is titled "Santa's Helpers". It has two little elves on it, who are hanging up the lights, (which we were supposed to do this week...oops!) There are two 4"x6" photo mats, with cute little gumdrops on the paper. This layout would be perfect for little ones who help with the decorating!
Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

We would like to say "thank you" to all of our readers and followers. We truly appreciate it! Here's to a day filled with family, food, and fun! Enjoy!

Spreading Christmas Cheer!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far. I'm sure everyone is busy with their holiday preparations getting underway. And all of the kiddies are looking forward to a few days off, too. One of our favorite ways to unwind from a busy week, or day, (although this week has been pretty relaxing for us) is to cuddle up and watch a movie with the family. One of our favorites is the classic 'Elf" (OK, so maybe it's not quite a classic, yet, but it will be!) The movie also fits quite well with this week's theme! Here is today's project:

Anyone who's seen the movie knows, "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!" The quote is finished on the inside of the card. We designed our little elf to look like Buddy and he's singing his little tune. And, according to Buddy, singing is "just like talking, except longer and louder, and you move your voice up and down", which means we are all pros at it!!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

ElfCom 1

Happy Monday! We have another cute little home decor project to share with you today. It's the perfect wreath to hang from the door of Santa's Workshop.

I love this green yarn we found at Michaels. I think it's Martha. The glitter in it is so festive! And it goes so well with the trespasser warning. There's nothing quite like glitter in the eyes. It should be enough to keep any little peeker away!

Thanks for stopping by!

Oh No!

Happy Sunday! We have been busy here getting ready for our trip and making some things to share with all of you here. Today's project is a cute little home decor project we whipped up using Paper Doll Dress Up.

It's laundry day in the North Pole and the littlest elf has nothing to wear! It's all hanging up on the line. (Like Dad says, as long as the sun is out, clothes can be hung up outside.... I don't exactly agree with that, but oh well!)

We added little jingle bells to the elf's shoes, and in the white areas, we added some buffalo snow to give it another sparkly dimension.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Saturday, everyone! We hope everyone has had a fabulous week. We are getting excited for our travels home this weekend, so the week has been pretty long. Funny how that works. Anyway, since today is indeed Saturday, we have another cupcake to share with you. I'm sure you can guess what flavor they are, based on this week's theme...

 If not, they're gingerbread! They have all of the flavor of a gingerbread cookie, and cake, I guess. They are topped with a ginger-cream cheese frosting

And cute little cupcake toppers! These would be perfect for any holiday get-together!
Thanks so much for stopping by!!

A Cookie Party!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Today's post is another gingerbread-inspired project. One holiday party that we always wanted to have, but never worked out, was a cookie exchange party. What's better than getting together with a bunch of friends, and have an excuse to eat cookies?! Not much, in our opinion. So, today's card is an invitation to a "cookies and cocoa" holiday party.

 This party would be perfect for children of all ages (because, honestly, who doesn't feel like a child during the holidays?!) The invitations feature two die-cut shapes- a mug of steaming hot cocoa and a little gingerbread cookie stocking. The pieces pop out a bit, of course! The patterned paper also matches the gift bag we made earlier, which would be a super-cute bag to put your treats in
Thanks for stopping by!

A Frosted Wonderland

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week so far. I know we are excited for our trip home this weekend, and that's definitely pushing us through this week. Today's project is a cute little layout, perfect for those baking memories.

I don't know about when you bake, but throw some powdered sugar and flour in a mixer, and WOOSH! It goes everywhere, and looks like it snowed. What better title than "Working in a Frosted Wonderland" for a gingerbread decorating layout?!

Thanks for stopping by!

Be Merry!

Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far, although it just started. We were busy on our long weekend and we able to get a little bit of everything done. We also got our Christmas tree and will start to decorate the apartment this week :) So, one piece of decor we made is today's banner:

The banner reads, "Be Merry" and features two little gingerbread people and a candy cane in the middle. (The picture is a little hard to see, but I really didn't want to get my head in the mirror.) The next two pictures show the pieces of the banner.

(You can click on the pictures to get a larger view.) The letters follow the theme of the banner-gingerbread- complete with gumdrops, some of which sparkle, too! And there are two little gingerbread boys who hae been piped with "frosting", for a special extra touch.
Thank you for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another "delicious" gingerbread treat!

It's Official!

We watched our first Christmas movie last night, which means that the holidays are here! I know, we've been saying that for like the past month...We watched "Love Actually", which is one of our all-time favorite Christmas movies. I think we wrote about it back during our Christmas in July week. But, today's project is not movie related, but another gingerbread project:

This is a little gift bag we threw together. I LOVE how it came out! It was so nice to be able to do a 'fun' bag and not a superhero! This bag would be perfect for a party favor or for a small hostess gift. It's a little hard to tell, but the bag itself is made from super-cute gingerbread paper. We were planning on making a gingerbread body scrub to go along with it, but decided to hold off for another day. These next two pictures are close-ups.

This one shows the little flowers in the corner (told you they were going to be everywhere! ;) )  You can also see that the white background was embossed with a flourish pattern.

This one shows a picture of the little tag in the corner. I think the bow is my absolute favorite part of this whole bag.
Alright, I guess that's it for now. Time to work on some more superheroes...Thank you so much for stopping by!

A Thank You and Christmas Card

I hope everyone is enjoying their three-day weekend. Today we have two projects to share with you. The first one is a card for all those we can thank for this long weekend. In honor of Veterans' Day, we have this "Land of the Free" card. The inside says "Because of the Brave." We would like to say thank you to all of the men and women and their families who make so many sacrifices everyday.

So here's our humble thank you to all of you, past, present, and future.

And for today's second project. As promised, we are starting our Christmas projects this week! We know some of you might think it's early, but it's never a bad idea to get a jump start on the holidays, because then you realize that the time just flies and before you know it, it's December, and then Christmas, and then a new year. Crazy... OK, enough rambling. This week's theme is Gingerbread! We decided to start out the week with a card:  

How cute is that?! Gingerbread people (not so much the cookies...) are one of our favorite things about the holiday. They're just so much fun to decorate and they're so cute! The word "Christmas" is cut out of the cardstock, so you can see through to the inside of the card. As long as everything goes right, cards like this are so much fun to make! Here is a close-up of the gingerbread people:

Their "piping" is actually puffy fabric paint. Now, if only our real cookies could look so good (except for his slightly-crooked smile). It might be a little hard to tell, but the design in the middle of the boy and girl is a wreath. They are also layered, so they pop out of the card a bit.
Thank you for stopping by! We'll have another fun gingerbread project tomorrow!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! Today we have cute little cupcakes to share with you. Here is our "colony of Pilgrims" for Thanksgiving.

The cupcakes have hats are cookies topped with chocolate covered marshmallows. Those are on top of vanilla-frosted cupcakes, with chocolate eyes and mouths. We didn't tint the frosting for the faces, because we figured, the Pilgrims would've been pretty pale out in Massachusetts at the end of November. But I suppose they could be tinted with a little food coloring next time!

Thanks for stopping by! Get ready for Christmas! It's starting tomorrow here at Two Early Birds!

I Am Thankful For...

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Hopefully today and tomorrow will go by pretty quickly, and then it'll be the weekend! Anyway, today we have another Thanksgiving-themed project to share. I don't know if you can tell, but we love to make banners. We always have one hanging on our fireplace (I guess it's helpful we haven't had to use it yet). Today's project is another banner. This one is our "Thankful" banner. As Robyn put it, it looks very "regal". I like the different colors used, because they're not the typical "fall" colors used this time of year.

 This is a close up of one of the little turkeys on the end. (The two turkeys do match...how cute, they're twins! ;)) And of course, they have googly eyes!!

What's different about this banner, though, is that we decorated little clothespins to match (the three leaves are on the clothespin). Each banner piece has one. We decided that we would write down something we are thankful for and clip it to the banner. (This one is about our wonderful and supportive family!) This way, when we see the banner, we are reminded of all of the great things in our lives. This would be a cute idea with younger kids, (or for those of us who never really enjoyed going around the table and saying what you are grateful for out-loud, in case you sounded silly or cliche)
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!