Yummy 4th of July Desserts

 Me and my girls spent the 4th of July at my Mom's house swimming and eating good food. I decided to make some desserts for our little gathering.

The first dessert was for after lunch. It was a red, white and blue Jello cup. I made 2 packages of the blue Jello and separated it equally into 6 cups and let it harden into Jello overnight. Just before serving I topped the Jello cups off with Reddi Wip and a strawberry. It was the perfect light and cool afternoon dessert.

The second dessert was for after dinner. It was Betty Crocker Supreme Triple Chocolate Chunk brownies topped with patriotic marshmallow stars. I made these on Friday just a couple hours before leaving the house. I kept them wrapped until I was ready to serve. I then added the patriotic marshmallow stars and served them. These were very simple and oh so delicious.

I am entering my Yummy 4th of July Desserts in the Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #78 - Fourth of July or Birthday Challenge

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Yummy 4th of July Desserts.

Happy Halloween 3-D Witches Hat Decor

Halloween is my favorite holiday, unfortunately my creative juices just haven't been flowing. Lots of family and health stuff weighing heavy on me. I did muster up some juice with my 3 year old daughter to create this 3-D Witches Hat Décor.

I used  the leftover half of the paper mache hat from last years Witches Wreath. First we painted it with Neon Green craft paint and before it dried we sprinkled on some Martha Stewart Peridot Glitter. I then adhered the webbed ribbon around the hat and then hot glued the feathers and green spider. I also adhered some black tulle to the bottom of the hat. Finally I found the perfect Halloween paper to be the background for my hat and attached the hat to it. Lastly I just popped it in a shadow box display but without the glass and tada!

Here is a view from the side:

I am very happy with the way it turned out and my daughter was super excited that we made it her favorite color...green!

Plus, it looks good with the green I already have in my kitchen.

I am entering my 3-D Witches Hat Décor in the following challenges:

• Decorate to Celebrate - Challenge 61 - Witches Brew
• Little Scrap Pieces - Fun Friday Challenge
• My Craft Spot - Challenge 115 - 3-D Halloween
• Crafting When We Can - Challenge 55 - Make it Sparkle
• Craftin Desert Divas - Craft it up Link it up Linky Party 17

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my 3-D Witches Hat Décor.

Happy New Year 2013 Party Hats

Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone is starting the new year off to a good start! I'm happy to be giving you a look at my first project of the New Year! I created a couple of New Year's party hats to help ring in the new year with my girls!

Here's is my youngest daughter wearing her hat proudly!

And here is my oldest daughter, looking a little bit tired just before midnight, wearing her hat.

Now since my youngest daughter went to sleep I borrowed her hat to wear, with my oldest daughter, while the New Year's Eve ball dropped!

 

I used these items to make my hats:

• Life's a Party Cricut cartridge - hats
• Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge - "Happy New Year" and "2013"
• feathers (stash)
• ribbon (stash)
• Martha Stewart glitter (I've had for over a year)
• DCWV the Glitter cardstock stack (I've had for probably 2 years) - hats
 

I am entering my party hats in the following challenge:

• Use it Tuesday Challenge #46 - 2013 - open til 1/4
• Exploring Cricut - Welcome 2013 project - open til 1/5
• Party Time Tuesdays #101 - Celebrate - open til 1/7
• Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #41 - New Year's/Winter Party - open til 1/8

 

This was such a fun and easy project, I will for sure be making more party hats in the future! Thank you for stopping by and checking out my New Year's party hats!



Have a Ball...Beach Birthday Celebration

Today I bring to you only a part of what I am creating for my Mom's 69th Birthday this coming Friday.  Since I have to work Friday we are celebrating Thursday.  She has no idea that I am making anything, so this will be a complete surprise to her.  I bought the red bucket from Michael's for $1.00.  I made the sign from a cereal box, pattern paper and skewers I already had.  I then just painted the sign with the words, "Have a Ball."

What is in the bucket you ask?  Well, I made sand cake...it is just like dirt cake but I just used golden Oreos instead of regular Oreos.

Here's is the recipe for my Sand Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. of Golden Oreo Cookies (regular for Dirt cake)
• 1 8oz. pkg. of Cream Cheese
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 2 small boxes of French Vanilla Pudding
• 3 1/2 cups of Milk
• 12 oz. Cool Whip
• pkg. of gummy octopus and Swedish fish

Step 1

• Crush 1 pgk. of Oreo Cookies in a Mini Chopper...set aside

Step 2

• Heat Cream Cheese in microwave for 15 seconds
• Soften 1/2 stick of butter
• Mix cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with 1 cup of powdered sugar...set aside

Step 3

• Mix both boxes of pudding, all of the milk and all of the Cool Whip with a mixer
• then mix in Step 2, mixing them together

Step 4

• Layer in your container cookies, pudding mixture, gummy octopus and fish, continue to repeat layers and top with cookies...deocorate as you desire.

We will be having a surf and turf dinner on Thursday and I will also be making a second cake using my Betty Crocker Bake N' Fill cake pan.  The cake will be decorated like a beach ball.  I couldn't make it ahead of time because it will be decorated with sugar crystals and I'm afraid they will run if I make it before Thursday.

I am entering this over at Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #26 - Beach Party
and at The Paper Variety Challenge - anything but a card or layout (must include paper)

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my Have a Ball project and sand cake!

Father's Day Celebration Table Decoration, Sign and Card

So I was inspired the other day by another crafty blogger to create this Father's Day table decoration.  She inspired the container made from theater boxed candy.  My husband loves candy, especially chocolate, so these M & M's boxed candies were perfect.  I changed the design just a tad. 

Basically I attached the boxes to each other, created and attached a bottom cut out of a portion of a cereal box and inserted some floral foam to hold the picks.  I created most of the picks and the sign from the Father's Day Cricut cartridge and just the hockey player from Sports Mania Cricut cartridge.  Each pick represents something my husband enjoys.  Lastly I tied the boxes off with some jute.

I then took a photo of my girls holding the "Best Dad Ever" sign and had it printed out as a card from Walgreens.

Here's the 5 x 7 card, the coloring looks much better in person:

I am entering these Father's Day Celebration projects in the following challenges:

• Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #25 - All About Dad - closes TONIGHT
• Celebrate the Occasion Challenge #64 - Anything Goes -open til 6/3
• DL ART Thankful Thursday - Anything Goes - open til 6/9

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out my Father's Day Celebration.

Matchbook Valentines

Today I bring to you 28 Matchbook Valentines, which I made for my daughter's 4th grade class.

I had seen on either The Cricut MB or someone blogged about it, but they had made these adorable Matchbook Valentines and I knew I had to try them.  First I found which cartridge I had that had the matchbook cut on it, Alphalicious Cricut cartridge was it.  I brought it up on my Design Studio so I could figure out what size I needed.  I determined that I didn't actually need to use the cartridge to create this matchbook, I just needed to create the folds.  I then got out my Martha Stewart scoring board.  Using an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of cardstock, I scored the cardstock at 3/4, 1, 4 1/4, 5 and cut to a length of 8 inches and 2 3/4 inches in wideth each.  I got 4 matchbooks out of 1 piece of cardstock.  I creased all of the scored parts and then inked all the edges.  I cut strips of white cardstock, punched the edges with my Martha Stewart edge punch and inked all the edges.  I used my Advanced Tape Glider (ATG) to adhere the punched edges to the front/bottom of the matchbook.  I cut some Valentine ribbon and adhered that to the front of the punched edge.  I stamped the inside with a wooden Studio G Valentine stamp and a Recollections clear "From" stamp.  I then adhered the Sweethearts candy to the inside.

I then cut 28 hearts from Designer's Calender Cricut cartridge at 1 3/4 inches.  I applied Glossy Accents to all them.  I adhered the hearts to the front of the matchbook, leaving just a little room at the bottom for the heart to overlap the bottom of the matchbook to keep it closed.

I am so pleased with the way these turned out.  I am really loving the Glossy Accents, such a fun product to work with.

Here's all 28 ready for Valentine's Day...and I got them done way ahead of time...YAY ME!!!

I am entering these Matchbook Valentines in the following challenge:

• Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #17- Valentine's Day Party - you are to create any project to be used as a party decoration (or party supply) for a Valentine's Day Party!!  Celebrate EVERYTHING WONDERFUL ABOUT LOVE with table decorations, party banners, pennants, yard signs, cupcakes, party favors and more!!
• Paper Playtime Challenge #66 - Anything Goes + Blog Hop 
• Party Time Tuesdays - 53 - Anything Goes
• Cooking with Cricut Challenge #71 - Child's Valentine - Must Use Pink, Red, and White

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my Matchbook Valentines!

Snowflake Tealight Luminary Table Decoration

Since I live in sunny Arizona, we don't see much of the white stuff.  After Christmas I like to decorate the house with things that remind me of Winter.  Today I share with you a very simple tealight luminary I made.

I used these items to make this project:

• Design Studio
• Winter Woodland Cricut cartridge - the card feature cut twice at 3 7/8
• Frosted Lace Stickles - around the edges and the snowflake
• Vellum
• Martha Stewart punch - for the little blue snowflakes
• Blue ribbon

Here's a couple more pics to show the details, including how it looks lit up:

 My original idea for this project was much different than the final project but I am totally happy with the way it turned out.

I am entering this project in the following challenges:

• Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #15 - Winter Wedding
• Shopping Our Stash Challenge #33 - Rewind - redo any of our challenges OR simply use a Meljen's image! - I choose to do Shopping Our Stash Challenge #29 - White - create a mostly white project
• My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #39 - Winter Wonderland - Winter Wonderland MUST use glitter
• Anythin Goes Challenge #57 - Colour Blue and One Other Colour

I had so much fun creating this little tealight luminary...I KNOW I will be making more in the future!

Thanks for stopping by, please leave me a comment to let me know what you think...all comments are much appreciated!!!

Elmo's Party Game

I made this game for my daughter Jaidyn's 2nd birthday party.   I'm unsure of it's measurements but the base is half of a piece of foam board, then I cut everything out using the Design Studio and the Elmo's Party Cricut cartridge.  This was super fun to make and is nice to have something a little different than the usual "Pin the tail on the Donkey."  I wrote the players names on the game pieces (crayons).  The object of the game is to give Elmo his crayon and the prize for getting the closest was a box of brand new crayons!

I am entering this project in the Decorate To Celebrate Challenge #12 - create any project to be used as a party decoration (or party supply) for a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!  Let's celebrate EVERYTHING WONDERFUL ABOUT GETTING OLDER (tee hee) with your table decorations, party banners, pennants, yard signs, cupcakes, party favors and more!!  

I'm a WINNER @ Decorate To Celebrate!

I am so honored to be chosen 1st place winner at Decorate To Celebrate  for my Elmo Invitations and the wonderful Rhonda  from Scrap Happens with Rhonda made me this fabulous Elmo mini album!!!

Here's the inside:

The Decorate To Celebrate Challenge is still going on all month long and it is open to ANY project (yes, this means you can enter a card or a layout too!!)...  Because of this, they are LIMITING the number of entries to a MAXIMUM of THREE -- you can enter up to THREE projects this month!!!  This is so exciting and so much fun!  I hope you too will join in on the fun!

Thanks again to Rhonda and Decorate to Celebrate!  I can't wait to see this Elmo mini album in person!

It's an Elmo Party Part 3 - Invitations

I finally finished Jaidyn's invitations for her 2nd Birthday Party this month!!!  You would not believe how many issues I had trying to create these, but now that they are finished I am so pleased with the outcome.

I am entering this project in Decorate to Celebrate Challenge #12 - Surprise its a Birthday - you are to create any project to be used as a party decoration (or party supply) for a SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!  Let's celebrate EVERYTHING WONDERFUL ABOUT GETTING OLDER (tee hee) with your table decorations, party banners, pennants, yard signs, cupcakes, party favors and more!!  :)

This design was my original design but in order for me to do this I had to have the Cricut cartridge Street Sign Solutions, which I didn't have.  I looked through every cart I have (over 60 carts) and didn't have anything that came even close to looking like the Street Sign font.  I found the cart at the Cricut website and they just happened to have a sale going on, so I bought it and basically saved on  the shipping cost!!!  Once I had the cartridge I was able to start creating.

This is what I used to create this invitation:

• Design Studio - mainly for the street sign to say,"2 Jaidyn's Party" but everything was cut using the Design Studio
• Cricut cartridge Elmo's Party - card cut at 5 1/2, "You're Invited", Elmo face, Pop-up elmo (inside) and the #2 (inside)
• Cricut cartridge Sesame Street Friends - street sign
• Cricut cartridge Street Sign Solutions - used the font to create the,"2 Jaidyn's Party"
• Cricut cartridge George and Basic Shapes - to cut out the pattern paper at 5.1
• Recollections RSVP stamp set - stamp (inside)
• Martha Stewart flocking powder - ladybug

Here's a couple close ups of the front of the invitation:

Now the inside:

I just love the way Elmo pops up...he is just so adorable.  I was so lucky to have found the perfect size stamp for the party info.  It was alot of work but totally worth it. 

On the 1st day my Design Studio wasn't working for what ever reason I have no idea.  I spent like an hour just trying to get things to cut out.  Then it was just a matter of getting everything on the page the way I want to cut it.  Plus I had to size things just perfectly on the sign for it all to fit.  Then it was a matter of putting everything together.  At one point in the day I walked away from my workspace (aka the kitchen) and Jaidyn decided to rip the tape on my Advanced Tape Glidder...I just about lost it, she got sent to the corner and I needed to walk away and count to 10.  I have had issues in the past when trying to re-load the tape and spent an hour one day doing so.  I was lucky it only took one try this time!  My goal was to have this finished Sunday night and in the mail Monday well, now it is Tuesday and they will hit the mail Wednesday!  I will be one of those people late to my own memorial (I plan to have it written in my well that my ashes arrive 15 minutes late).  People who know me will totally get that!  So I worked late Sunday, all day Monday and then finished this afternoon.  Oh, and the BIG KICKER, when I went into my Design Studio this morning I couldn't pull up the file for the invitation...it said,"Cricut Design Studio cannot read that file. The file may be corrupt or empty. The error that Windows returned was: Unable to read beyond the end of the stream."  I immediately bawled my eyes out for like 20 minutes...the hours and time I spent on these invitations just went down the crapper and I wasn't even finished yet.  I still have yet to recover the project but I'm hoping someone on the Cricut message board will be to help me out!

So that's my story...sorry for it being so lengthy but it was a very challenging project and I hope that someday I'll be able to look back at this and laugh a little!

Thanks for checking out my Elmo Invitaion for Jaidyn's 2nd Birthday...have a great day!