Scrapbook Steals Sapphire Club

This is my 40th layout inspired by Scrapbook Steals (not to mention one of my favorite layouts so far)!  I joined the weekly challenges at week 5 and have gone back to catch up on those I missed.  I have managed to complete all 40 layouts and I find myself looking forward to Wednesdays, when the next challenge is revealed.  It is amazing how much inspiration and motivation I've gotten from this process!  And I've connected with some lovely ladies who have become wonderful friends.  The great folks at Scrapbook Steals entice us with prizes at the end of each group of ten.  Since this is my 40th layout, it makes me part of the Sapphire Club.  I've also part of the Diamond, Emerald, and Ruby clubs for the previous groups. 
In addition to #40 which is featured above, here are the rest of my Sapphire entries:

#39-  Trim the Tree with Memories

#38 Home Sweet Home

#37  Ft. Wayne Children's Zoo

#36  That's My Boy

#35 Lovin' from the Oven

#34  Life is Good

#33  Amazing Acres

#32 You Make Me Smile

#31  Lincoln Park Zoo

Weekly Challenge #39

This week I continued with my Christmas theme and made a layout describing some of my favorite ornaments.  I only wish I had snagged more ornaments from my childhood.  It's amazing how much I remember about our decorations from way back when.  I only hope my children have the same great memories.  I try to buy at least one new ornament a year, and the boys love to stand around the tree and ask me where different ones came from.  Someday, I'll give them some ornaments from this tree so they can carry on with the memory making.   

This was the original inspiration for this layout, the 39th mid-week mojo challenge from Scrapbook Steals:

Catching up!

In all of the excitement of Spring Break and our Disney vacation, I've neglected my blog.  Even with being gone a week, I managed to complete all of my Scrapbook Steals layouts on time.  I miss the sunny skies of Florida, but I am excited to start my Disney scrapbook.  At least the crappy weather here gives me an excuse to retreat to the basement to get crafty.  Here's what I've been doing over the past several weeks.

The week #36 challenge sketch looked something like this:

And instead of packing for vacation, I was busy creating this:

I actually enjoyed this layout very much.  Since I was pressed for time, I was forced to "go with it" and just get 'er done instead of agonizing over every little thing and redoing the page a zillion times (like I sometimes do).

Then when I returned from a blissful week of Disney magic, I found out that I needed to create a 2 page layout based on this sketch:

So while I did 6 loads of vacation laundry, I tried to forget that I had to return to work and I escaped to my crafty world and managed to get this layout done:

It was perfect for last year's zoo photos.  I always take a million pics at the zoo and I wanted to work in as many as I could.  My favorite thing about this layout is my stitched sun, truly an afterthought.  I needed something to balance out the page, since there is so much on the left page.  I broke out my sew easy and stitched the sun's rays in different colors and stitches.  It turned out better than I expected!
This week I'm back on track, have all of my laundry done and my house clean and I was able to relax and get back into my crafty routine.  This week's Scrapbook Steals sketch went a little something like this:

I wasn't in a "holiday" mood, but decided to dig out my pics of our gingerbread house.  I knew they would fit this layout and be perfect for this week's challenge:

I wasn't sure how to do my title, but after cutting out a few different sets of letters, I settled on these.  I added some white craft paint to the tops of the letters and sprinkled on some glitter.  It was a little messy, but not as bad as making that gingerbread house, so I just went with it.
Thanks for looking!

Weekly Challenge #35

This week I modified the Scrapbook Steals sketch to make a two page layout.  Here's the original sketch, created by the fabulous Kristy Lee:

I had these photos of cookie baking that I've been waiting to use on just the right layout.  Since I wanted to include multiple pics and space for lots of journaling and the recipe, I modified it a bit and added page 2.  The cookies were cut out from a very busy piece of patterned paper and I love the way they turned into a border strip!  I layered some Imaginisce flowers and added chipboard stickers that I had from Little Yellow Bicycle's Savor collection for the centers of the flowers.  I did some inking using a Tim Holtz stamp pad and some Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels. 

The only problem with this layout is that it made me hungry!  Must. have. willpower.  For those who don't know, I've been working very hard at losing weight and have been pretty successful (33 lbs in just under 3 months) so I'm a bit infatuated with food lately.  But I have many more pounds to lose, so I won't be sneaking chunks of cookie dough anytime soon. 

Weekly Challenge #34

I had so much fun with this week's Scrapbook Steals layout!  This is the sketch by Kristy Lee that I used as my inspiration:

I also realized that using a great collection like Echo Park's Walk in the Park makes it so much simpler.  Everything coordinated just perfectly.  The only thing I added is the stitched rainbow that I created with the Sew Easy and a cloud cut from a piece of Bo Bunny patterned paper.  My oldest son complained recently that I do more scrapbook pages about his little brother, so I had to make sure to show him some scrappy love.  Thanks for looking!

Weekly Challenge #33

I was glad to see a 2 page layout for this week's Scrapbook Steals sketch.  I always take way too many pictures and have a hard time narrowing it down to 1 or 2 for a single page spread.  I had also been hoarding some great papers from Imaginisce apple cider line that went perfectly with my fall layout.  I made my own flower using 10 circles cut from double sided paper and added some stitching.  Thanks for looking!

marshmallow cupcakes

I volunteered to make 2 dozen cupcakes for my child's school fundraiser tomorrow night.  Since I'm looking soooo forward to warmer weather, I decided to make some fun flower cupcakes that are sure to be a hit.  I copied the idea from a Family Fun magazine a while back. They are so simple to make.  Here's what you'll need:

Make a batch of cupcakes and frost them with white icing when completely cooled.  You can go all gourmet and make some fancy cupcakes from scratch or use a good ol' box mix.  I'll never tell which method I used.  Although, I will say that this was done on a Friday night after working all week, so you can just guess.  You'll also need a big bag of marshmallows and some gumdrops.

Stand a marshmallow on end and use freshly washed scissors or kitchen shears to snip off a layer across the top of the marshmallow.  The scissors squish the marshmallow just enough to make a nice petal shape.  How thick you cut the layer of marshmallow will also determine how much the petal curls up.  I got 4-5 petals from each marshmallow.   Don't worry, any deformed petals can be quickly snarfed up by your little munchkins.  I found that I needed to wash the gooey marshmallow off of my scissors after every 3 to 4 marshmallows to make clean cuts.

Next,  take five "petals" and arrange them atop a freshly iced cuppycake.  This should be done while the icing is still sticky, before it sets up, so that the marshmallows stick to the cupcake.

Then add a dab of icing to the bottom of a gumdrop and stick it in the center of the flower.

Voila!  Now you have a beautiful flower cupcake that is good enough to eat (and impress a bunch of elementary school kids at the cake walk)! 

These would also look great using the strawberry flavored pink marshmallows or the pastel rainbow hues.   I also think these flower cupcakes would look super cute arranged on a fancy cupcake stand!  Thanks for looking!