Daffodil Muffins

Nothing is better than flowers, except for food and for a baby shower I went to, I brought some homemade orange jubilee daffodil muffins.  This is how I did it: 

• Bake your favorite muffins into mini muffin tins (with liners)
• get bamboo skewers or chopsticks
• Cut leaves and fasten to the sticks
• Flatten a second muffin liner (one for each stick)
• Once your muffins are cooled, glue the mini muffins onto the flattened liner
• Skewer onto the stick and make sure not to let the muffins slide too far down
• Place the bases of the skewers into floral foam or a floral frog to hold them in place
• Conceal the foam with shredded paper and enjoy!

My semi-failed attempt at Dino Pops

My semi-failed attempt at Dino Pops started with the best of intentions.  I borrowed a chocolate tempering machine from my girlfriend and I wanted to recreate the super cute dinos found here: Dino Pops








This was my first attempt at melting chocolate candy melts and it was super tricky to get a smooth finish.  I made the cake pops out of a dense brownie and dipped them in Wilton's candy melts in two colors.  Cute idea, but my execution was not very clean.  Next time, I will do some research before I go at it ;)

Birthday Party Ice Cream Social

For my children's 2nd and 4th birthday, I decided to have a build-your-own sundae bar. I used Photoshop to recreate some old time soda shop signs, complete with vintage typeface and a pink star burst.


I was able to print off lables for the ice cream cups (we had two flavors: Rasberry Sorbet and Mint Chip) and adhere them to paper cups.

We froze the pre-scooped ice cream in the cups so when party time came near, we could save time by just pulling them out of the freezer. We had 10 of each flavor ready to go.

I laid out toppings in 3 oz ramekins so little fingers wouldn't have trouble opening big containers or bags.  Also, it lends to a cohesive look to have all the dishes be similar in size, shape, and color.

Since I only had 8 ramekins, I used some some vintage glassware from my mom to hold the cherries and jelly beans.  All the items had labels that matched the theme and to keep little hands at bay before the dessert was served and to help with the spills, I placed the toppings on cookie trays lined with napkins so they could be moved from our upper counter to the lower, more accessible one.

 

Spring Name Banners

I just love paper crafting and even though I did this craft at the beginning of Spring (see previous post), I am just now getting around to posting it.  I started with picking out coordinating scrapbooking paper for each letter (I don't like matchy-matchy things and I try to go for more of an eclectic feel, but, to each his own).  Then, I fed the paper through my Cricut set on a 5.5";  I had the cartridge Georgia and typed in all caps.  After a few embellishments, brads, grommets, and ink, I was ready to string all the cardstock-mounted letters onto a 1" ribbon. Viola! Oh so cute decorations that are super simple to make and take up no space to store when the season or event is over.  How cute would these be for  a child's birthday party?

Bark mulch makes such a difference

As my kids, husband, and I were at Freddie's, we picked up a few bags of bark mulch.  After getting home, I spread 1 of the bags over the small part  of our front yard  that isn't grass. What a difference new mulch makes! It feels so good to refresh our yard each year and make our newly sprouted snapdragons really look good. 

Polka Dot mobile and fabric rose hanger

While at making the curtains below, I used the scraps to make the mobile for baby Rosalie's room.  The only thing missing from the pictures is a branch from the Oregon wilderness to hang these all from, but that can come later. 

The theme in baby's room is a bird and nest theme and these will add in perfectly with the curtains.  All of the hanging birds will be hung off of a branch and the rosettes will be hot glued onto the corners where the ribbon hanger goes. 

Here is how I made the rosettes:

First, I cut a "U" shape out of the base of the leftover curtain remnant. 

Then, start rolling.  You can fold the edge over or leave it out depending on how messy you want your flower to look. 

Secure with glue and finish off with a knotted bow beneath the flower.

 Last, attach to the branch in groups of 2 on one side and 3 on the other. 

Altered bird curtians

A friend asked me to hem some curtains for her and while I was at it, I added a little pizazz to them as well.  These are for her nursery and plain is not what I do.  The hem was set at 84" and we raised it to 42" and added ribbon and appliqued brown polka dot birds onto the ribbon branches. 

Birthday party favors

Nothing is better than using what you have to make unique gifts for others.  For my children's birthday party, I made these favors for the guests.  I simply cut 6" rounds out of craft paper, stamped a saying on the front, sewed 1/2 way around, stuffed with jelly beans, and completed sewing the circle.  How cute are these?

I placed a bread pan full of these next to the gift table for each friend to take one. 

Next time, I am going to use brighter thread, but I set my machine on the largest spacing with a straight stitch. 

You could easily personalize each one with a wedding date, child's name, or just a 'thank you' message.

Girlscout Fire Starters

This is a simple project I made with my kids to kick off camping season.  What a great way to use things you would have thrown away!  You will need:

• An egg carton
• Dryer Lint
• Candle Wax

Start by melting the wax in a double boiler (I used the remnant wax at the bottom of Glade candles)
While the wax is melting, stuff each egg cup full of dryer lint
When the wax is melted, poor over the egg cups making sure to evenly coat the lint. 
Let dry and separate. 

My husband loved this homemade gift for camping!  You can also use this same idea with a pine cone and a wick tied to the top.  We use 1-2 to start a fire while camping. 

Paper lantern pinwheels

A dear friend asked me to help throw a baby shower and after sleeping on a few ideas, I came up with these hanging pinwheel lanterns.  The mom-to-be is a belly dancer and loves vibrant colors, so hopefully she will love these too. I chose 12" x 12 scrapbook paper  from my collection that reflected her bohemian spirit while expressing a feminine feeling.  

 You will need 12" x 12" paper cut into 2 - 6" x 12" sections.  Brads, Hole punch, String or ribbon for hanging, Scissors

Cut all the strips about 1/2" wide x 6" long

Stack together about 15 strips

Punch a hole and insert a brad into each end.

 Once you have a brad in each end, fan the paper out to form a 1/2 circle. 

Continue to fan the strips out to fill out the full sphere

You can add contrasting colors or keep them all the same pattern depending on the look you are going for.

I then hung 3-4 together with embroidery floss and tied onto my dining room chandelier.  Enjoy!

It has been a while!

We have been to Boston and back and now I am ready to post more regularly to the blog.  Many posts to come!