Apple of My Eye

Can you believe it is already the last day of September? I don't know where this month went, but it sure went fast for us. I think it was a busy one between having visitors and work picking up. But that means that we can start getting ready for Halloween, right? We have a couple of weeks before we start our Halloween projects on here, but in the meantime, we have a week of apple-themed projects for you. Who doesn't love going out to the orchard and picking some (or a lot) of crunchy, juicy apples this time of the year? And being in Washington, I think it's kind of necessary, right?! Here's today's project.

I love the Create-a-Critter cartridge. There are so many stinkin' cute images on it. This card would definitely brighten up someone's day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Satuday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! We hope everyone is having a great weekend, along with the first week of fall. Maybe spending the day raking or foliage-gazing? Today, we have a cupcake that just *screams* fall! We call these Harvest Spice Cupcakes with a Chai Buttercream.

For these, we made a spiced cake, with all of the spices of the season. The frosting is absolutely delicious! It is a buttercream frosting, with the flavors of Chai tea. It tastes exactly like the tea. We used a vanilla Chai to make it. These cupcakes have a surprising kick to them, which is bound to keep you warm!
Thanks for stopping by! We hope you come back tomorrow, when we start a new theme week!

Oh Deer...

Happy Friday, everyone! We hope a fabulous week was had by all. So, we had a change of plans. The original project we wanted to share with you didn't dry in time. And we had a whole bunch of different ideas and projects that we were working on, which is why this post is later than normal, but the remembered that we had to make a few birthday cards this week. This particular one is a belated birthday card for our high school track coach. He's one of those people who has a really nice garden, but the deer tend to eat at it. He always has another story about this animal or that eating at his plants. He also happens to be our neighbor, so we know which deer are the culprits! (Kinda miss those deer....not a lot of them out here. I think we've seen two since we moved.)

What a cute little guy, huh?! I don't know about you, but deer and fall seem to fit together pretty well. The little deer is multi-layered, so it pops out off the card. Just for another added touch! Anyway, the inside of the card says, "We missed your birthday". We hope he likes it! Now, just to get it off in the mail...

We entered this card in the MojoMonday challenge here.
Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully we'll get the original project done soon so we can share that. Stop by tomorrow for another delicious round of Cupcake Saturday!

Whoo's at the Door?!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. I don't know about elsewhere, but it's definitely is starting to look more and more like fall here. There are a few trees that seem to be getting more colorful with each day. And today's project is going to add some more fall colors to our little abode! (I am aware that it is a silly title, but it seemed appropriate!!)

How cute is this wreath?! I wish we could actually hang it up outside so people could see it, but I don't think it would last too long out there...Oh well, better inside! This one came out much different than I had originally planned, but each time I look at it, I love it more! Once I figured out what I was doing, it was super quick to put together. I think it encompasses the "fall theme", or at least the colors! The little owl is flanked on either side by some sunflowers (I hope they look like them...)

Don't you love when you have an idea, don't know how to do it, and then it all ends up coming together for the final product?? That's what happened with the sunflowers, and they came out even better than I had expected. I can't wait to make more for other projects! I already have a list of them :)
These wreaths are so fun and versatile. We've been slacking on them! I think we need a new one for each week...OK, maybe not...
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow's project is a sister-inspired, pinterest project. (It's not as confusing as it sounds!!)

Fall Friends!

Hi everyone! We have some fall friends to share with you today! I think these critters would be cute around a festive table.

We have an owl, a turkey, a squirrel and a crow today. After the success of our Superhero bags on etsy, we thought we might make some more with different themes. These are part of the fall set. We have some more that go with it that we'll share with you another time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Fun!

Morning, all! I hope you are all having a fantastic week so far. Today's project is a quick little card set. There's nothing like getting mail just for fun. No bills, no junk mail, no fliers, just a nice note. And it always feels good to send them out to friends and family, knowing you'll brighten up their mailbox. Well, these are perfect for just that!

The cards are 4 inch squares with a festive fall border around the outside. The insides are different rub-ons with fall sayings. There isn't a lot of room to write in the middle, but for a quick note, they're just the thing!
We added this project to the SOUS challenge here.

We've also been busy updating our Etsy shop. We've added some holiday items, along with some everyday cards.
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Harvest!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far and had a great weekend! Today's project is a banner we made to hang up on our mantle.

It was a really quick project to make. (Don't you love when you can add color to any room with a simple project?!) The hardest part was deciding where to put the flourishes, which after alternating them and gluing them on, I decided would've looked best all at the bottom. Oh well. Anyway, hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Etsy Link Here

Wishing You...

A fabulous fall! Yesterday, we went on about how this is our favorite season. And, since it's our favorite, we decided to make it this week's theme. So, for today's quick project, we decided to show off our fall card for this year:

 

We decided that this little birdie was too cute not to use! The inside of the card says "Wishing You a Fabulous Fall" (hence the title of the post)

And what's fall without something pumpkin-flavored?! Since we're just two girls on budgets, we can't really afford to get fancy coffee drinks everyday. While we were perusing Pinterest, we came across this recipe for pumpkin lattes, so you can have them whenever you want! I love how easy it is to remember, and it takes less than five minutes to make one! I only use coffee when I make these, but if you're fortunate enough  to have an espresso machine, you can surely use that. (And how cute is that mug?! We designed them with just some Sharpies (another Pinterest project ;)

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Makes: 2 large mugs

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie filling

2 tablespoons imitation vanilla extract

Pumpking pie spice*
1 cup of strong coffee, prepared

Whipped cream, for topping

Caramel drizzle

Directions:

1.       In a small saucepan, add milk, pumpkin, and sugar. Heat on medium heat until steaming. Stir occasionally.

2.       Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.(*I usually use just enough to cover the top of the milk)

3.       Pour mixture into blender. Blend for 30 seconds, until nice and fluffy.

4.       Divide coffee and milk between two cups. Top with whipped cream and caramel, if desired 

 This recipe is obviously pretty easy to cut in half, in case you only want to make one. Or make eough for two and drink them both...

Phew, that was a long one! I think it's time for me to go make one of these! Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Happy Fall! It's official! The best season of the year is here- holiday season! Now that Fall is here, that means that it's (past) time to think about Halloween and Thanksgiving. And, of course Christmas gets included since most of the prep time for the holiday actually falls during Fall! I don't know if you can tell, but we get really excited at this time of year!
OK, enough rambling. Time to get to our favorite day of the week- Cupcake Saturday! Seeing as today is the first day of Fall, we thought we would make today's cupcake based off our favorite drink. One thing Washington is knwn for is Starbucks. One of the best thing about Starbucks? They're pumpkin lattes. Unfortunately, they are a little expensive to have too many of them, so today's cupcake is a Pumpkin Latte cupcake:

Oh, they could be twins...These are pumpkin cupcakes, with just a hint of coffee flavor (I know a latte has espresso in it, so it's not quite a latte, but you can't taste too much of it in the drink anyway.) We topped it with some whipped cream, a little caramel drizzle, and a sprinkle of cinnamon! These cupcakes taste about as close to the real thing as you can get!

Thanks for stopping by today! Join us tomorrow, when we start a new theme for the week.

A Sweet Treat!

Happy Friday! We hope everyone has had a wonderful week! We had a great few days with the parents, but now it's time for them to move on... ;) They tired us out!! They're headed for Oregon and points south today, which is exciting for them.
OK, so on to today's project. After a few hours of trial-and-error, this one came out super cute and we're totally in LOVE with them! Here it is:

 How cute?! Anyway, these faux cupcakes are all over the internet and everyone has their own way of making them. Ours are actually just ornaments, with some "frosting" and, of course, the "sprinkles"! Below is an up-close view of one.

It's kind of hard to tell, but the "cake" is sparkled, which makes them even cuter! How cute would this be for a birthday gift?? The box matches the card we made earlier this week. (Personally, I'd love to get this!!) There are so many more options and ideas to work with, and I can't wait to explore and play around with this idea!
I guess that is all for today. Thanks for stopping by and come back tomorrow for another Cupcake Saturday, which is sure to definitely get you in the fall mood, if you're not already!!

It's a Party!

Happy Thursday morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week and are looking forward to the weekend. We have another cupcake project for you today, which is a mini album we whipped up.

This album would be perfect for a little sweetie's birthday memories. It is a five page, cupcake-shaped album. The sixth cupcake shows what the other side of the page looks like. It is a spot to hold a 3x5" picture. How cute is the cupcake paper?! Below is a picture of the pages we included.

We also included some lines to record all the favorite memories. Since the album is held together with binder rings, it would be super easy to keep adding more pages to it. It would also be super simple to make this into a little boy's first birthday album, just by changing the colors (and the birthday girl title).
Thanks for looking today! Come back tomorrow for a super easy (and just too cute!) project that will surely brighten anyone's day!

You Arrr So Sweet!

Ahoy, matey! So for those o' you who don't know, today be "Talk Like a Pirate Day." (Don't worry, I didn't know until I was perusin' the good ol' internet...) They have a website and everythin'! Here's t' link. So in keepin' with this week's theme, we have a pirate cupcake card t' share with you!

Me thinks this would be a perfect thank you card for a pirate-themed birthday. We made both a lad and a lass pirate, since pirates don't really discriminate, as long as thar's enough rum t' go around!
Now go out thar and talk like a pirate! Thanks for stoppin' by!

Take a Stand

Good Tuesday morning! We hope everyone is having a good week so far, although it did just start. We're excited because our parents are coming to visit us for a few days on their trip across the country. Today's project is a fun one, mostly because there are so many choices and styles to chose from. As you know, we love cupcakes, and every Saturday we have a new one to share. Our biggest problem is that we don't always have a fancy way to show them off for the pictures. Usually they just sit on the counter or table, without any real flair. To fix this, we decided to make some cupcake stands:

How cute?! So these were super simple to make. All we used were some wooden pieces we found at the craft store and some acrylic paint (the blue is a glossy paint). There are so may options when it comes to making your own cupcake or cake stand. You can go to a thrift store, find some candle holders, plates, mugs, and make your own. And they're much cheaper than going out and buying a new one! You can also personalize them in your favorite colors (like we did), or paint them in the colors of your theme. For a quick cake stand, take a  large can (like the ones the mixed fruit comes in) and a piece of cardboard, cover with wrapping paper and wha-lah! A cake stand!
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for a shawshbuckling(ly?) fun card!

Hey Cupcake!

Happy Monday morning! We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Sorry that it took longer to post this. We were doing some heavy-duty cleaning before our parents come tomorrow :D We can't wait to see them, and have some visitors!
Continuing with this week's theme, today's project is a little scrapbook layout we created.

This layout would be perfect for a day of cupcake baking. The colors and pattern remind us of a quaint country kitchen. There are two 4x6" pictures and a small recipe journal card. How cute is that?! Here are two up-close pictures, one of the words and one of the cupcake:

It could also be a cute layout for a little sweetie's birthday or any day, with just a little altering.
Thanks for stopping!

Cupcake Saturday, on a Sunday?!

Happy Sunday! We hope everyone is having a nice weekend. We've been busy trying to get ready for our parents' visit sometime this week. Not like we have a whole lot to do, but still.
Anyway, as you can probably tell, we love cupcakes. And honestly, who doesn't?! As you may or may not know, this week is actually National Cupcake Week. However, to be honest, I only found information for Britain's National Cupcake Week, but why not join in the fun? So, this week's theme is just that- Cupcakes! Let me just say that there aren't any real cupcakes this week (we'd eat them all and then be sad...) but all of our projects will feature these delicious tiny cakes!!
So, without further ado, here is today's project:

This is a cute little card we whipped up. It started off being a birthday card (hence the inside message), but it can be used with so many more witty sayings. If you look closely at the second picture, the cupcake is actually 3D, which is a nice little touch.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Saturday!

Welcome to another Cupcake Saturday! We hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.
Before we get to it, I must confess that this one does not have anything to do with family. We were trying to decide what to make, and since there aren't too many "family" cupcakes, we decided to go with a somewhat fallish one. Over the next few weeks, we have some more fall cupcakes planned.
If I had to put today's cupcake into a category, it would be "pleasantly surprising". This cupcake is a sunflower seed cupcake with a honey buttercream:

Different, right?! We made a sunflower seed cupcake. It is somewhat of a spice cake, with a crunch from some sunflower seeds. Now, we found a recipe that used the whole seed, shell and all Personally, I have never been a fan of sunflower seeds, from the mess they used to leave at our Grandma's bird feeders, to the guys who sit there and constantly spit them out. Fortunately, we found a package of shell-less seeds and went with it. What makes these so surprising is that they offer "a sweet and a crunch". The sunflower seeds add a little salt to the flavor, and the honey buttercream is a little sweet.
These cupcakes remind me of the fields and fields of sunflowers we drove through this summer. Here is a pcture that we took in Kansas:

It doesn't look like much, but the yellow flowers just go on for miles. They kind of popped up out of nowhere. In a field of brown, because of the drought, all of a sudden, it turned yellow. I wish the picture was cleared than this.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by. If you like our Saturday posts, join us next week for a super sweet theme!

Here Kitty, Kitty!

Good Friday morning! We hope everyone has had a good week and we're sure everyone is looking forward to the weekend.
Today's post is our final family project. We covered parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters. But we can't talk about family without including our pets! Sometimes they're the reason you want to go home. This scrapbook layout is a cat-themed one.

This one will definitely be used for pictures of our kitty, who is truly the Queen of the House (and apparently the only one we have pictures of)! She can get anyone to do whatever she wants and we all know it.

Like the rest of us, she doesn't like getting her picture taken, especially those close-ups!
Thanks for stopping by! Join us tomorrow for another Cupcake Saturday!

Hey Cuz!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a good week so far. On the bright side, it's already Thursday! Today's project is about cousins. Now, we know there are families out there that have a ton of people, cousins included, in them. Unfortunately, we've never been one of those families. We only have six cousins, and that's on both sides of the family. And to make things "worse", we only have one female cousin. Now, some might think that's a bummer, but with time, our family keeps getting bigger, so I guess it's OK. So, this is the scrapbook layout we created.

It was going to be a gender-neutral page, but  I decided to make it to hold a picture of the three girls in the family. Below is a close-up of the quote we chose, which seems to fit for us. We also included a tree, or at least a part of it, in the background.

I think it's a nice and simple layout. I guess that's about all for today. Thanks for stopping by!

An Oldie But Goodie

 Hi there! Today's project is one that I worked on at the end of last year for the holidays, but I don't think I shared here. (This is a very picture-heavy post.)

Over the past few years, since I found the art of quilting, I've made mom a new quilt for Christmas. So far, this one is my favorite. I used the Cricut to cut all of the fabric pieces to make appliques of all of us. The hardest parts were the eyes, since they ended up kind of small. Other than that, it was surprisingly easy, but definitely packed a punch with the "wow" factor.
Here are close-ups of the blocks.

Dad and Mom as Santa and Mrs. Claus

And us kids as Santa's helpers

Erik

Adam

Dawn

Robyn

And can't forget the kitty as a reindeer!

I think it's time to start planning this year's projects. It's not too early for Christmas, is it??

Thanks for stopping by!

Never Forget

As you know, today marks the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. For our generation, it was the day that you remember exactly where you were when you heard the news. I was sitting in U.S. History class when one of the other teachers came in and told us. The rest of the day was spent watching the news coverage. I don't think anyone knew what would happen over the next 10 years because of that day. Needless to say, it definitely changed U.S. history forever. We grew up in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where a lot of people commute in and out of the city from. Thankfully, no one we knew personally were there, but friends' families were. And for all those families that were changed from these event, we'll always remember. And also to those men and women-first responders and military- we thank you for your dedication and service.

Ok, time to switch gears. Since this week's theme is family, we have a scrapbook layout to share all those sibling memories with. We were *blessed* to have two older brothers, although that feeling hasn't always been mutual :)

(We really need some pictures. How did they all get left in the move?!)

We were always trying to out-do and one-up the boys. (Well, we still do when given the chance.) Even though we are younger, we never let them out easy, even if it took a double-team on one of them. It sure did take a while, but I'm pretty sure that we finally see eye-to-eye with them. So thanks guys, for helping us be better people!

We added this layout to the Paper Secrets sketch challenge here and the ScrapFit Warm-up here.
We added the card to the Mojo Mondays sketch challenge here and the  BBBT2 challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Without Family...

We have a saying in our family, that "without family, you have nothing." And that's the truth! Even though we are now all spread across the country, I think we've become closer than ever. Here's today's layout.

I love how this came out. The color combination is probably one of my favorites. The purple-y color really makes it pop, in my opinion. And the flowers were so easy to make. We've tried so many different types of paper flowers, and the simple, layered ones are easy, but definitely add pizzazz to the page. Here's a close up of them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Grandparents Day!

Since today is National Grandparents Day, we have a cute little grandparent card to share with you.

Simple, but totally cute, right? The inside says, "...make the world a little softer, a little kinder, a little warmer."

Although our grandparents are no longer with us, we still remember them. Whenever our mom's dad, "Pop," would come over, he always brought a box of donuts and milk to wash them down. And we were lucky enough to live on the same street as our dad's parents. We would have sleepovers over there and even though the old house creaked like crazy at night, they were fun. Nothing like ghost at night and blueberry pancakes in the morning!

We've added this to the CWC Color Challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for some more family-themed projects.

Cupcake Saturday!

It's tme for another Cupcake Saturday! I bet you can't guess the theme for this week's cupcake... Oh, that's right, it's superheroes and princesses! These tiny cakes would be a big hit at a party!

First  up are our superhero cupcakes. These are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, topped off with a fondant superhero logo.

(It looks like the frosting was squished down just a little too far... Still tasty though!)

And here are our princess cupcakes. One thing we learned from these is to always have a back-up plan B. Originally, we were planning on making these:

How cute is that?! Our sister got this amazing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs cakelet pan for our birthday and we thought this would be the perfect time to use it. And it was. Until it came time to decorate them. Willams-Sonoma (the brand that makes it) even have step-by-step directions on how to do it. So, we chose to do Dopey first, because he's just the cutest! Yeah, that was a disaster. So, then looking at the picture of them all decorated, we thought we'd try Sleepy, because he only had four (real) colors to work with and seemed to be pretty easy. This is how he came out:

He doesn't look horrible, and I love how he's leaning up against the wall to hold himself up. However, in our opinion, him alone would not be a very good Cupcake Saturday. Needless to say, we didn't even attempt to decorate Snow White. So, instead, we decided on plan B, which are these:

 These can be used for any princess party! They are our vanilla cupcakes with a lemon buttercream. They are topped with a small, hand-cut fondant crown. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but they are dusted in with a silver pearl dust, to give them a little shimmer.
Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for a new theme week- it'll be a family affair!

The Center of Attention!

Ahhh... Friday! Finally! We hope that everyone has had a good week, and we're sure you're all looking forward to the weekend. Today's projects are ones that we're pretty proud of and really excited to show off! Every party needs a little decor, so here they are- some party centerpieces we designed!
The first one is our princess centerpiece. As you can (hopefully) tell, it is Cinderella's coach, complete with two trusty stallions. It is a little hard to tell in the picture, but it is a 3D horse and carriage. You can see the two different horses, drawing the carriage. We absolutely love how this centerpiece came out! (Not to toot our own horn, but...)  There is also a little box (where the little blue tissue paper is), where you can put a little bouquet of flowers or, with some foam and picks, a very happy birthday wish.

And, of course, here is our superhero centerpiece. (OK, before anyone asks, we do not know a "Mason" who is turning 4. Since we used that name and age on the invitation, we decided to use the same information for the centerpiece) This one was super easy to put together. It seems to encompass most of the features of a comic- the city that is being saved, the action bubbles, and the colors. All it needs is someone to come save the day! This one was a lot easier to whip together, but we love how it looks. It is a nice and simple centerpiece to create for a special day.

Our original plan was to make something like this for both of the centerpieces, but then we decided that since they are two very unique party concepts, they needed their own different designs. (Also, we are aware that the television makes for an excellent backdrop...)

Anyway, I think that is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and come back tomorrow for another addition of Cupcake Saturday, which is sure to delight the superheros and princesses in all of us!

Birthday Banners!

Is it Friday yet?? We have another project to share with you. Well, two, since there's the princess one and the superhero one. Here are our birthday banners.

There are wands at the ends and a crown in the middle of the words, since every princess needs a crown and a fairy godmother with a wand! (Wouldn't that be nice?!)

Here's the superhero birthday banner, with a close-up of the "pow!" between the words. The other ones say "bam!" and "boom!"

They definitely finish off the party decorations! I bet any little one would love to have their own princess or superhero party. Who knows, maybe even some adults would want one, since who wouldn't want to be one or the other?!

Thanks for stopping by