Fiesta Decor- Part 1

Welcome to another Monday! It's looking a little gloomy this morning, but hopefully it will clear up later on. It's looking nice for our fiesta on Saturday, but we'll see how many times the weather forecast changes between now and then. The Weather Channel is always changing the 10-day and most of the time, it turns to rain. *Crossing our fingers!!* Anyway, today's post is the first of our decorations. We made this cute little banner to hang up. It was a snap to whip up! It matches the invitations, to bring it all together. I was told that our colors may be too bright, and maybe we should have used more primary colors. You can't really tell, but the ribbon that's holding it up is orange. It (slightly) matches some of our other decorations. 

So, the cut in the top of the banner was from a new cartridge we got the other day. Actually, we got three new cartridges!! And, before we hear "Oh my goodness, you have rent to pay! You can't be spending money on unnecessary things!!" I assure you, we didn't spend anything on them! We were able to use a gift card for them!! Alright, well, the cut reminded me of "papel picado", which is paper cut into super elaborate designs. Kind of like the paper snowflakes everyone makes during the winter. If you ever look it up, some of them are truly impressive! Anyway, that's today's project. Hope everyone has a great day!!

You're Invited!

Since Cinco de Mayo is coming up on Saturday, we decided that we wanted a fiesta this weekend. So we thought, what better way to get ready for a party than to gradually post everything up till our fiesta on Saturday! So we start today with our invitation. It's pretty simple, but it captures the theme of the party. As you can tell, there ill be lots of bright colors (and food!!) Maybe we'll be able to find sombreros some place around here.

It's an open invitation! Let us know if you can come!

Come back tomorrow for some more fiesta fun!

Cupcake Saturday!

It's our favorite day of the week again! The concept behind today's cupcake is absolutely amazing! Now, I can't take full credit for this, actually, I probably can't take any credit for this. A few days ago, I was looking at cupcake recipes to work on, and something caught my eye, but I didn't think anything of it. Fast forward to last night, as we're trying to come up with a recipe for today. We were thinking of a mint julep, in honor of the Kentucky Derby next Saturday. We were looking for a non-alcoholic version, seeing as there's not much the two of us are going to do with a bottle of bourbon afterwards. After looking and looking, we were able to find two recipes, both with quite a bit of bourbon in them. There was one with an apple cider substitution, but it just didn't meet what we were looking for. Long story short, Robyn came up with this remarkable idea: What about mint ice cream instead?? What a thought! And that is what I had seen a few days ago but didn't think anything of it. When you read "melted ice cream cake", you think of an ice cream cake that looks like this:

(Well, what that ended up looking like.)

Luckily, they didn't end up looking like that at all! You put melted ice cream into your cake mix and mix it all up. It was really thick batter, but they came out nice and dense. It would make a great layer cake. Can you imagine the possibilities?? I can't wait to try more out!! Here they are:

They came out with a lot more of the green color of the ice cream, but not so much in the picture. And apparently someone ate all the chocolate chips from this one... So they were definitely not the mint julep cupcakes we set out to make, but that just means we have another one to try another week.

April Showers

We hope that everyone is having a fantastic Friday and I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the weekend. The last few days we've had rain. But, it doesn't rain all the time, just at the most inconvenient. Like, when your car doesn't start, or as soon as you step out to go for a run. (I can't complain about the second, but the first was most unfortunate.) Anyway, I thought this card would be perfect for days like today! It is my "April Showers" card. And you know what they bring?! May flowers. And Mayflowers bring?! Pilgrims! (Sorry, I felt the need... )

But back to the card. I had a different idea for this card, at first, but I'm glad I changed my mind! I love the girl's outfit- her little capris and matching umbrella, along with her bow and shirt. She's wearing sandals, too, but you can't see them behind the tall grass. (Yuck...wet feet from the grass...) And she's all dolled up, with her little earrings and matching belt!

I have been on a kick trying to make paper flowers. I have looked at so many tutorials and blogs with how to make them, and I haven't found a pattern that I liked 100% yet. However, all of the ones I have found, aside from these on my card, would end up being much too big for this project. So, I made some zinnias (I think that's what these are supposed to be). This is probably the easiest type to make, and I could make them small enough to fit. So, they're my "May flowers". As you can tell, they're not perfect, but I think they're cute!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Enjoy!

I have entered this card into two challenges:

Cooking with the Cricut: Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Creative Cutter Room: April Showers

Happy Birthday, Brother!

Welcome to another Thursday! We hope everyone is having a good week and we're sure everyone is looking forward to the weekend. Today happens to be our brother's birthday. He's a whopping 32 today!! (He doesn't look a day over 31!!) Anyway, in honor of his special day, we have a card for him. (It's OK, he's seen it already, so I'm not ruining the surprise!) So, here it is. It's totally him, with all the glitter on it (OK, just kidding again!!) It's tough to make a card for a guy, that's not too girly and not too boring. And all birthdays need a little sparkle to them! I'm pretty sure he didn't even look at the card, once he found the birthday cookies we made him!!

Anyway, I hope he had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed his "ugly cake" (a chocolate poke cake?! How can you go wrong?!)

Life is a Highway!

Look at that, it's already the middle of the week! We have been running around, trying to get everything figured out, so we can be full-fledged residents of Washington. We were able to get our license plates on Monday, our insurance yesterday, and now it's official! So, today we were able to take a breath and do some more crafting. This is a scrapbook page Robyn made for our trip last summer. The "Cars" theme fits quite well here! We have Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater. And the title is from the song, which was one of two "anthems" we had. It makes me smile when I look at this page- it helps that the two cars have huge smiles, too! We were able to take pictures with these two when we were in Disney, as well!

 Above is the full lay-out.

 And these two are Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater up close. Don't they just make you smile?! (Although the fact that the pictures are two different sizes is kind of bothersome...)

 

And, I just had to put this picture up!! 

Sorry for all of the picture! The post seems a lot longer now. Anyway, I entered this project in the Fantabulous Cricut's "On the Go" Challenge. Enjoy!

Another Card

Welcome to another Monday! As I've been bragging, it's another gorgeous day here. You're all probably sick of hearing that, but that's how we felt when it was 70 at home and only 50 here, and we had to listen to you about how nice it was everyday. Today has been a very productive day- our cars can now blend in with the other cars in parking lot! Another step closer to being full-fledged residents here. Anyway, here is today's project. It is a thank you card we made. It is up there on my list of favorites! It was simple to make, yet it looks classy (I think). It is a scalloped card that stands up nicely. I was a little worried that it would just fall down, but it didn't. The flower is hand-made, which you can tell on one of the layers. But I love how it came out and is probably going to be my go-to thank you card!

 

Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday! It is another beautiful day out here. It was almost 80 out this afternoon. It's a great day to celebrate Earth Day. No need to worry, apparently Earth Day will be celebrated until at least 2015, so that means the world won't end! I would think that the Earth Day Network would know something about the world ending...
Some interesting facts about the day:

* The idea of Earth Day came in 1969, in San Francisco. It was proposed as a "teach-in" about the environment and the first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. It was considered a success and in 1990, the idea went international.

* The first Earth Day fell on a Wednesday, April 22. The founder decided on a Wednesday it wouldn't interfere with other holidays, breaks, or school activities.

* Some people thought the day was chosen to coincide with Vladimir Lenin's 100th birthday, and was some Communist plan for control.

*Some states, like Nebraska, celebrate Arbor Day on the 22nd instead of Earth Day. Arbor Day is a legal holiday in the state. However, in other states, Arbor Day coincides with the best time of the year to plant trees.

OK, so back to today's post. Here is my "tribute" to Earth Day. It is a scrapbook layout that would be perfect to scrap a day in the park! The title of the page is "Wild by Nature" (which totally describes the two of us ;)) It's a bright sunny day, with billowing clouds. The owl is standing guard over the picture while the little fox is taking a siesta in the wildflowers! Oh, and the two little squirrels in the corner, sharing a quick peck. I don't have a good picture of the second page, but there is the deer who had a butterfly land on his nose. The two little blue birds are sharing a moment, as well. And flying off is a little butterfly. The yellow flowers are 3D, but it's kind of hard to see them pop out.

That's all for today! Hope everyone has a wonderful week and stays dry! I know we will!!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another weekend! It is supposed to be beautiful out this way- up to 70 degrees and sunny today and tomorrow! It's too gorgeous to stay inside, so we'll have to plan on something outdoors to do. And, speaking of outdoors, today's Cupcake Saturday is in honor of Earth Day. These cupcakes are our take on the "dirt" cupcake. Ours are a chocolate pudding cake with a chocolate frosting (chocolate overload on these!) But what is that sticking out of the top?? It's a worm!! Now, most people would be absolutely repulsed to find a worm in their apple, let alone their cupcake! How disappointing (and nasty) would that be?! Fortunately, ours are just gummy worms, trying to make their way to the surface. It's kind of like what happens when it rains and all the worms come out. Anyway, the cupcakes are sprinkled with crushed up cookies, so it looks like the ground is overturned. And a hint of green grass! Luckily, these cupcakes are safe to eat!

Under the Stars

We have reached another Friday. Hope there are some exciting plans for the weekend. We're supposed to  have a beautiful weekend. Maybe the locals will be removing their inter coats and realizing that it is indeed spring now! Until Tuesday, when it "cools" back down to 50... Anyway, as I wrote yesterday, we've been doing a lot of scrapbooking and want to share some of our layouts. Yesterday's post was the Disney page. Today's layout is for pictures from all of our camping adventures. This is probably the only camping-related thing that went well! The tent "matches" ours, and was much easier to put together, although we were pretty good at it by the end of the trip. No camping trip is complete without a treat- in this case, some nice toasty marshmallows. FYI- There are recipe books dedicated entirely to s'mores! But be warned, it could lead to some unwanted visitors! Or, a neighbor that sounds like a bear...not something you want to wake up to in the morning.

The first picture is of the entire 2-page layout.  The second is an up-close view of the title "Under the Stars". e used glitter paper, to make it look like the stars shimmering in the night. The last picture is of the visitor to the campground. He's being pointed in the right direction by the sign, and probably the smell of the marshmallows!

 

 

That's all for today! Hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing weekend! Join us again tomorrow for another edition of Cupcake Saturday!

Getting Scrappy!

We're hoping everyone is having a good week so far. It's been a little rainy here today, but it's supposed to get up towards 70 in a few days! We've been busy bees here, working on scrapbooks and other projects. As many of you know, we went on an amazing cross country road trip last summer and so now we're starting to scrap the trip. Over the next few days, we'll be posting some pictures of the pages we've made so far. There aren't any pictures the pages yet, though, just the photo mats. We're hoping to make a few that we can sell on Etsy, along with other crafts. Here is today's project, which is a page for some of our Disneyland pictures! It is complete with Mickey (of course!) and some of his pals (our favorites!) The second is just a shot of them close up. The sparkle around the title adds a nice touch.

 

I guess that's it from here. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!

Cupcake Saturday!

Today’s cupcake is a lot lighter than most of our recent recipes. This is a peaches and cream cupcake. It is a vanilla cake base. We added peach yogurt and fresh peaches, which makes the cake super-moist! The frosting is a peach- cream cheese frosting. We also added more fresh peach chunks to the frosting, for a nice surprise. Next time, we should probably add some more peaches, or at least bigger pieces, to the cake batter. It would make a very nice cake for summer get-togethers!

Kitchen Decor

Today’s post is a project we made for our kitchen. We have one small bare wall that needed something on it. Since most of our kitchen appliances are red, we decided to use red, black, and white to decorate our kitchen. There’s not much to it, but I really like this idea! In the past, I’ve seen a bunch of different wall décor ideas, and put two of my favorites together. The first part of the idea was a set of three wall hangings that had different kitchen appliances on each one. The second part of the idea came from Sarah, who got the idea from Pinterest (a website that, if you’re any type of crafty, will get you hooked and take up all of your time!) She made us a wall hanging with buttons (you can see it in one of the pictures of our dining room). This is what I came up with:

A good day starts off with a good cup of coffee in the morning, right? I cut out the coffee cup and pot and altered them to make it look like a match. I positioned the coffee pot to make it look like the coffee was being poured into the cup. This is where the buttons come in. They are supposed to be the coffee being poured. I like these button projects because you can be random and it doesn’t have to look perfect! Now, to get another cup….Have a great day!

(There isn’t too much to the rest of our kitchen. It’s not quite in picture-ready form!)

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday, and are spending some time with family. Today’s project wishes you a “Happy Easter”. When you first look at it, it looks kind of silly, but there are parts to it that look really cute. My favorite part would have to be the little lamb. I quilled his body, so it looks like his little curls.  I was going to do a chick, but decided against it. That would have made more sense, now that I see it all done. So, yes, the little guy is just hanging out in mid-air. Anyway, the tag moves back and forth, which would have also made more sense with a chick. Oh well, I still think it’s a cute card!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another weekend! That means it’s another Cupcake Saturday here. As most people know, tomorrow is Easter Sunday. When we think of Easter, we think of bunnies, eggs, and carrot cake. OK, so maybe the carrot cake isn’t the first thought, but it’s a flavor that reminds us of this time of year. We’re usually not huge fans of carrot cake, but we thought we’d give it a try. Boy, weren’t we surprised! These cupcakes are actually really good and surprisingly tasty! We put A LOT of shredded carrots in the batter. So, it counts as a serving of vegetables, right?! It also makes the cake super moist. We topped them with a cream cheese frosting, and a little carrot medallion. Good enough for the Easter bunny!!

Flying By With a Hi!

It is a sunny spring day here and we decided to make a little spring-y card. This was a super-quick card I whipped up. It started by picking out the ribbon, which is really cute. I don’t know if the picture shows it, but the butterflies are sparkly. The colors are nice and bright, so I calmed it down with the light purple background. The butterfly is folded to make it look like it’s actually flying. I also pierced the background to make it look like that is the path the butterfly took! Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

You’re in a Band?!

OK, not really, but it works for today’s project! It is a thank you card and the inside of the card says “You Rock”. Makes sense that there is a guitar on the front. I love the bright blue and green together on the card. We distressed the green band a little, to make it look more “rocker-ish”.  Enjoy!!

Puddle Jumping!

Here is a card we made recently. It may look familiar! I made a card very similar to this one last year for Robyn. A few changes here and there and it’s our spring card! I really like the rain drops in the background. I’d say it captures the essence of spring, especially out here! And then the sun comes out and can’t make up its mind. And puddle-jumping is always fun- as long as you have dry socks when you’re done!