Good Luck Card

Today's post is a card we made for our brother. He is out in Washington this week, taking the Bar Exam out there. We're definitely jealous of him being there, and us being here still. It would have been nice to have planned it so we could see each other, but there's still time. Anyway, the card is to wish him luck on his test. Third (?) time's a charm (*fingers crossed!) I know the picture isn't the best. I was trying to finish it before the mail lady came!

Cupcake Saturday!

And the winner is.....Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! In my opinion, it's just one more reason to look forward to the weekend! Anyway, today's post is in honor of the Oscar Awards tomorrow night. As we all know, it's an award show honoring the best movies of the year. And what do we eat at movies? Popcorn! Our cupcakes are "popcorn" cupcakes- vanilla cake with a lemon buttercream frosting. The popcorn is actually made from marshmallows! Ingenious! The cupcakes are presented on the red carpet, with all the glitter associated with the Awards!

 Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the show tomorrow night!

St. Patrick's Day Mugs

Here is another St. Patrick's Day project we made. These were super quick to whip up. We have collected a few white coffee mugs over the years. This is a nice way to make them (somewhat) a set. At one point, they were painted, but it didn't stay very well. These are done with vinyl, which can be taken off, but is a little more durable in the wash. There was another cup, but it disappeared somewhere...

As you can see, the cups say "lucky" and "kiss me". The "kiss me" one was the toughest- it took a few tries to get the letters to fit. The middle one is probably my favorite!

Anyway, the next few days are going to be busy for  us, packing and sorting everything out. Our posts will be a little more sporadic. We do have some more projects that we're going to post before we leave, but it won't be every day.

Another Home Decor Project

Hope everyone had a good day. It was absolutely gorgeous out! A good day to do some early spring cleaning (OK, cleaning to move...) We're so excited that things are going well (*fingers crossed*). Anyway, today's project is another piece of decor we made for our new place. It is a clock for the kitchen we have in mind. Most of the appliances we have are red, so we've decided to (eventually) go with a red, white, and black theme. The clock will match so well! It was super easy to make- I think  it took all of five minutes to put together. I got the white square clock and all its pieces a few years ago from Oriental Trading. I had drawn a design on it, but it didn't match much. So, all we did was cut a piece of paper to fit and outline it with the black polka dot ribbon. We were going to paint it, but decided that this was the best way to go. This way, it can always be changed if needed.

(Sorry about the awful picture. I didn't have a very good spot to put it.)

Celebrate Mardi Gras!

In honor of Mardi Gras, and Fat Tuesday, here is a quick card we made. I think it captures the essence of the celebration quite nicely. The cupcakes featured on this week’s Cupcake Saturday were our Mardi Gras ones. Like our cupcakes, we use the traditional colors- purple (justice), gold (power), and green (faith) - in the card. We included some beads and a mask, as well. Here is a picture of the card:

When we were making our cupcakes, we were doing some research on the holiday. It is a lot more than just beads and booze. Here are some facts that surprised us:
* Mardi Gras literally means “Fat Tuesday” in French
* It is called “Fat Tuesday” because it’s the last day before Lent and giving up unhealthy foods. (Go big or go home, I guess. Now it's time to figure out what we should give up...)
* The three colors were chosen in 1872
* In the United Kingdom, it is known as “Pancake Tuesday”. They have pancake-eating contests!
* The baby in a King Cake represents Jesus and is supposed to bring good luck to the one who found it. They’re also responsible for bring the cake next year.
* The beads that are thrown were meant to represent royalty, a tradition that started in the 1900’s.

A Crafter's Presidents' Day

So it's Presidents' Day today, and what better way to celebrate any kind of day off with a paper crafting project?! (Not really patriotic, but it has the names of two Presidents! Close enough for me.) Today's project is something that I scrap-lifted off of Pinterest (of course), but changed the state shapes. Since we are moving out of Monroe and out to Washington, we thought it would be a good project to show for today. In making this project, we found that the Cricut 50 States shape cartridge doesn't cut out really great outlines of the states, but it does cut out the other shapes pretty well. So the shapes were cut out of an outline of the states.

It sure will look great hanging up on our bare wall!

(It's the one and only time Connecticut is bigger than Washington. If they were really cut proportionately, you wouldn't have been able to see it!)

Happy (Early) St. Patrick's Day!

Welcome to another Sunday afternoon! It's been a few days since we posted a paper project, but we've been busy packing up. A little daunting of a task, but totally worth it. Anyway, here is a card I made for St. Patrick's Day. I know that it's a little early, but there were a few challenges that I wanted to do, and this is what I came up with. I absolutely love how it came out. The only thing I would change would be the eye color. I wish I had done blue eyes (one of the Irish traits we were fortunate enough to inherit), but the green matches better. (We also inherited the fair skin...) I also made the shamrock on a "wiggle wire". The three flowers on the side have brads the color of the flag of Ireland. I also added some green ink to the edges of the white papers, to give them some color. The front of the card says, "Irish..." and the inside of the card reads, "...you a happy St. Patrick's Day!"

Challenges:
     Fantabulous Cricut: Fun with Puns
     Cooking with Cricut: Challenge #73: Sketch & Pick 3

Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Weekend all! I hope you are having a great weekend like we are. Luckily the snow stayed away (they were predicting a lot, at least by this year's standards) and we were able to get our meet out of the way this morning. So tonight we needed to make some cupcakes for Cupcake Saturday! Well, hopefully we aren't disappointing. With Mardi Gras going on down in Louisiana, we thought this would be a great weekend to make some Mardi Gras cupcakes. We did some research on different kinds and couldn't quite decide which ones to make. We made some King Cake cupcakes (the pictures will be posted later) and some Mardi Gras colored ones. We topped these off with an Irish Cream buttercream frosting.

Ready to be piped into muffin cups, right out of the oven, and cooled and decorated.

(Talk about some kitchen counters in desperate need of remodeling and updating!)

Spreading the Love

Today's post is about a project we made for a very special person! This is part of a Valentine's Day gift (and this tomorrow we get to continue with the rest of the year. For two girls who celebrate "Single's Awareness Day, we sure have done a lot of Valentines's Day projects!) Our sister (ok, technically sister-in-law, but could have been a long-lost sister) has recently started crafting along with us. We figured that everyone enjoys getting crafting gifts, so we made it for her.

So, here is the front of the box. It's nice and small so it will fit nicely on a desk. Hopefully it will give her inspiration for future projects! There is a sock monkey on the front (she's a fan!). It matches the card that goes along with the gift (Monday's project). The rose in the corner is handmade. Who doesn't like getting flowers for Valentine's Day?! The picture is a little blurry, but the pink accents have sparkle in them. There are also jewel accents on the frame.

 This is a picture of the inside of the box. We included a little bit of everything in here. There are buttons, ribbon, and stickers. We included some cards and envelopes, too.

I'm really hoping that the gift has gotten to her already, or else I have just given everything away!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!

"The Perfect Match" Card

Here is another Valentine's Day card we made. I don't know if it will arrive at its destination before this is posted, so I don't want to give too much away. I'm pretty sure it's obvious who is this one is for! Anyway, as you can tell, there are two sock monkeys that are holding a heart. The monkeys pop out of the card the slightest bit, which may be hard to tell. The inside of the card says, "Happy Valentine's Day to a couple who has found their perfect match!". I couldn't figure out what to write in the middle, so I took the 'matching sock' route. I hope you enjoy it!

This first one is a picture of the card laying down. It was the only way I could get it to stay somewhat closed. Sorry about the picture. Not the best...

This is a picture of the card partially open. The inside isn't all that good, so I didn't want to show it. However, you can see how the monkeys pop out a little.
Hope everyone has a great day!!

Twilight Breaking Dawn Party!

We are fully aware some people would make fun of us for doing this, but that's OK! The new 'Twilight' movie came out on DVD yesterday so we decided to throw a party. We've been looking around and we've seen all these great party set-ups and we really wanted to do one. So we did. We made a banner (which we posted the other day) and some pom-poms made from tissue paper. They were super simple to make and a lot bigger than we had imagined. It also gave us a reason to make some more cupcakes and desserts. We made some hot chocolate ones, some vanilla ones, and a few that were supposed to look like apples. Robyn also made a delicious trifle with brownies, strawberries, and white chocolate pudding. We made a sangria, as well (have to get the healthy fruit in there somewhere!!) Here are some of the pictures we took!

And here is a picture from our trip the summer! It wouldn't be a Twilight party without something "authentic" from Forks!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday!! Our favorite day of the week! Today's cupcake is another Valentine's Day one we like to call, "Love is in the Cupcake!". To be fair, we can't take credit for this idea. We found it on a site called "Bake it in a Cake", where they make amazing looking cupcakes. Anyway, we saw these and thought they were adorable. The cake is a French vanilla (including the pink heart) and the frosting is vanilla buttercream. The hardest part is cutting the cupcake in order to see the heart. I love them!!

Anti-Valentine's Day Banner

So, this project is a little darker than the ones we have been posting. It's not really an anti-Valentine, but is actually a part of another post, coming up in a few days. (Some of you may notice where we're going with this!!) We chose to go with a black banner, instead of white, this time. It fits with the theme better. The banner itself says "Bite Me" and the heart in the middle has a little bit taken out of it. The pieces of the banner are held together by little heart brads. It makes it a lot easier to put away.

We entered this in the Cooking with Cricut "Adult Valentine" Challenge.

Valentine's Day Blanket

We are still going with the Valentine's Day theme, but skipping the paper crafts for the day. We have had this fabric for a while. It's been collecting dust on it and we just didn't know what to do with it. I had started a small blanket with it a couple of months ago, but got sidetracked working on it. Well, now it's finished and looks great! It is perfect for Valentine's Day, without being to lovey-dovey and red. My favorite fabric choice is definitely the hearts with the flourishes in them. Just right for the holiday! They look like they could be in a box of chocolates! And the sparkly pink on the outside and the binding make it extra special.

Valentine Treat Cone

Today's project is another treat holder. It's a cone (actually, the top of a building from the Winter Woodland cartridge) that holds all kinds of treats for that special someone. It would be a nice treat to have hanging off the chairs for children, wouldn't it? A nice little surprise! The bow to top it off makes it pretty enough to leave up for a couple of days, too.

Love Treat Box

Here is another Valentine's Day project we've been working on. There are a few more in the works, but in a few days, there will be a different theme- promise! So, today's box is actually a repurposed Cricut box. Since we have condensed a little, we have a ton of extra boxes (and that's after we used a bunch of them for Christmas gifts!) So, instead of throwing them out, they are perfect for little gift holders. The flower in the middle is hand-made, and looks pretty good for the third one ever, if I might add! The words are a glittery rub-on. I know the blur on it is pretty bad, sorry!

Stud Muffin Valentine's Card

Happy Monday! Here's another card we made this weekend. It's for a little stud muffin, so it has a holiday-styled muffin on front! The inside says, "Hope your Valentine's Day is as sweet as you are!"

This project is linked to the Cooking With Cricut challenge here.

Tile Coasters

On our Pinterest kick, we have found a LOT of DIY projects that we want to try. One of them is decoupaged tiles. We thought, what better use for tiles than coasters?! So we went to one of our new favorite stores- Home Depot. Go figure! We got some really cheap white tiles- 16 cents each!- and got to decorating. Our technique needs a little help, though. They came out slightly bumpy, but nothing a nice wine glass won't cover up! We printed out the design straight from the computer. Next time, I think I'll use slightly thicker paper so it doesn't bunch quite as much. Not bad for a whole coaster set for less than $1!! Just need to add some cork underneath so they don't scratch everything.

Cupcake Saturday!

Here's our first post for Cupcake Saturday! Hopefully we will be able to continue it for a while!! This weekend, we made "Sweet Vanilla" cupcakes. They have just the right amount of sweetness to them without being too overpowering. They are frosted with a buttercream frosting and topped with a chocolate drizzle and sprinkles!

Be Mine!

Today's project is a banner we whipped up last night. The flower was the hardest part. Just couldn't get it quite right. But after some practice, I think it looks pretty good! The rhinestones add a nice little sparkle to the letters.

Happy Groundhog Day!

With the weather we've been having this winter (and I'm not complaining!), even the groundhog is confused! And, in actuality, there is a discrepancy in whether or not the groundhog saw his shadow. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which would mean six more weeks of winter. However, there were quite a few other groundhogs around the country, like Connecticut's own Chuckles, who didn't see their shadow, which would mean an early spring. I, for one, agree with those who didn't. And I could say the same for the little daffodils that are popping up outside! I guess we will just have to see what happens.

Here is my project celebrating the day- shadow, sun, clouds and all!!

Happy February!!

I can't believe it's already February! This year is going by too fast already, with so much more still to come. Luckily we haven't had very much snow. I think that's partly why. Last winter was just waaaay too long.
Anyway, since it is February, here's a Valentine's project we put together for some colorful home decor. It's a wall hanging made with a ton of crepe paper flowers. The flowers are pretty easy, just time consuming since they are pretty small (about 1 3/4 inches). It took a while to make them all.

I know that it's a little hard to see the individual flowers because they're all squeezed in there, but these should help a little.