Cupcake Liner Bouquet of Flowers

Once again, I need to admit to a bit of an obsession. Cupcake liners.  It's even worse than the vintage bottles.  I just keep collecting them and collecting them.  Even *I* can't bake enough cupcakes to keep up with the influx of cupcake liners.  Well, I could try.  Maybe I will try...

However, at this particular moment I am going to show you how to make these darling cupcake liner flowers. I made these as gifts for the monster's teachers for Valentine's Day.  These would be perfect for a birthday or just to brighten up a gloomy it's allllllmost Spring day.  I have made these in a variety of containers.  Flower pots are a great choice.  Last year I bought vintage McCoy flower pots at a yard sale.  You are only limited by your imagination. 

You will need:
1. A container of your choice
2. Styrofoam that fits inside of your container to hold the suckers in place
3. Cupcake liners - 6 per flower  (I get all of mine at The Bakers Confections)
4. Suckers of your choice
5. Green duck tape or masking tape
6. A hole punch
7. Floral Wire
8. Wire cutters to cut the floral wire
9. Scissors

Each flower needs 6 cupcake liners. Two of these liners will need a hole in the direct center.  Fold it in half and use the hole punch to make a hole in the center.  Then unfold them so that they are flat.

Fold the other four liners in half and then punch a hole about a fourth of an inch above the fold line.  These will remain folded in half to make your flower petals. Now add them onto your sucker stick.  First add the four that are folded in half, turning your sucker one quarter turn for each petal.  Then add the final two that have the hole in the center. 

And now you have flowers.  Have fun with these.  Mix patterns.  Use colors that you wouldn't normally put together.  Use cupcake liners that have scalloped edges or use mini cupcake liners inside and then standard size on the outside petals.  They will be gorgeous.  Trust me.

Now... take one strip of green duck tape and lay it flat on the table.  I would suggest 6 - 8 inches.  Then lay a piece of floral wire of the same length on top of that.  Finally, add another piece of duck tape enclosing the wire in the middle.  (Isn't it duct tape?  Why am I thinking that?)  Now you can trim the strip of tape so that it looks like leaves on each end.  Don't worry about being precise.  Just do the best you can.

 

 

 

 Now you need to twist the leaf around the base of the cupcake liners so that they won't slide down.  This holds the whole thing in place.  Plus, the "leaves" look pretty peeking out of your bouquet.

 

All you have left to do is arrange your flowers.  I needed some height for some of mine, so I used the duck tape to attach a Wilton lollipop stick to the existing sucker stick to give it an extra few inches.  It was exactly what I needed to make my bouquet full on the top.

And there you go!  The perfect gift for someone you care about.  Have fun creating. 

 

Vintage Bottles - Valentine's Day

 

So, I have this thing. Obsession would be very strong word. But it would be correct. Ahem.

 

I love collecting random vintage bottles and jars.  I just can't walk away from them.  I mean, come on... they clearly need me to love them.  The ones above just happen to be a small portion of my collection.  A small collection of the clear ones.  Not the blue. Or the green. I told you it was bad.

 

I hid them for a while. I do that sometimes. But then one gloriously sunny day I decided that they needed to be proudly displayed in front of my living room window.  So, I set them all up with a dozen or so white daisies in the bottles and then stood back and proudly watched the sun bounce off the glass. They made my soul happy. I was outside watering the zinnias that grow in front of that window later when Brad came home from work. 

 

"What in the world are those?" he patiently inquired.

 

"Aren't they fun? They look all trendy and happy," I answered.

 

"Or... like we are in an episode of Sanford & Son," he said.

 

"I'll potentially take that under advisement. It doesn't look good for you though, so don't hold your breath."

 

He sighed. The bottles remained. I won.

 

 

Fast forward a year and I may or may not have told Brad that the bottles had been donated to Goodwill. Perhaps. So, they are all going incognito for Valentine's Day.  A few heart shaped doilies, some Baker's twine and some hearts made out of corrugated cardstock and they are barely recognizable. Well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch. 

I originally saw this idea on Pinterest.  Where else? She used Mason jars. If I was obsessed with Mason jars, we would have to move into a bigger house. So, see? I've got that going for me.

The pins and hearts were part of my crafty stuff stash.  The Baker's twine came from The Baker's Confection and the doilies I picked up at JoAnn Fabric. They are filled, at the moment with red tulips.  Last week it was carnations. Love love love. I think you need to make some.  Don't you?

But now how to disguise them for Easter...

Things I Love

As you may have noticed, I take a lot of random photos of things that catch my eye. I have accumulated a lot of these pictures. Therefore, I created this layout. It captures a few of the things that I love the most.

I love layering on my layouts. Yes, this makes them a pain in the neck to store, but they are super cute otherwise. I find that the more time consuming and detail-oriented the layout it, the more that I love it. I am useless when it comes to quick layouts. I love to bask in the glory of a few uninterrupted hours of scrapbooking while catching up on my Netflix queue. I am currently obsessed with Lie to Me. I love when I discover a new (to me) show that I can watch from the beginning.

I am hosting a contest over at Scrapbook.com this month where you can submit a layout about your favorite things. One lucky winner will receive a $20.00 gift certificate to Scrapbook.com. I hope you'll check it out!

I have lots of pictures from We Love Maddux day. Pizza, Super Mario Brothers on the Wii and banana splits were enjoyed by all. Have a great Friday!

Guess What Today Is! (+ a Giveaway!)

It's National Scrapbooking Day! I am hosting the All Day Challenge and Hourly Challenges today over at Scrapbook.com

I love to scrapbook and it truly makes me happy. I love being able to have a creative outlet. And yet, I hardly ever, if at all, mention it to people in my everyday life. I have a secret internet life! Who knew?

The theme for this year's All Day Challenge is "Why do you scrapbook." I always think of my dear, sweet Nan. I just want to keep my memories alive.

Just yesterday I found a stack of letters that Nan has written to me when I was a child. One of the letters, dated August, 14th, 1989, read, "Everytime I look at the front porch I can see you sitting in that rocking chair reading. So many nice things for me to remember. I love you so much, you're my special bitty and will always be." Where do the memories go, when they are lost?

If you would like, you can read the rest of my article over at Estee's Take.

And since it is a day to celebrate everything about scrapbooking, I would love to give away some of my very favorite embellishments: buttons! Shocked, I know you are. I have 4 button packs from my very favorite Etsy Shop, LittleRedCottage that I would love to share with you. Just leave me a comment letting me know what you are up to today! You have until 11:59PM on Monday, May 3rd to leave me a comment. I will randomly choose 4 people to receive a package of buttons.

Have an amazing weekend!

Numbers

Finally! A layout! I have to say that I am loving Jillibean Soup. The journaling sprouts, patterned paper (Alphabet Soup was used in this layout) and my absolute favorite, the corrugated alphas were so much fun to work with. Everything coordinated so easily! And I am absolutely in love with the texture from the corrugated alphas. Fun. Fun. Fun.

I will be hosting three challenges over at Scrapbook.com over the next three weeks and this is my example for the first challenge. The three challenges will lead up to National Scrapbooking Day which is on Saturday, May 1st this year.

The first challenge is a number challenge. You can read all about it right here. One randomly chose lucky winner will win a Prize Pack from Scrapbook.com. You have until April 18th to complete the layout challenge. If you complete all three challenges, you will be in the drawing for one Grand Prize at the end of the three weeks. All of the winners will be announced on May 1st.

You can also read my latest Estee's Take column, which is up over at Scrapbook.com. You can read all about my epic battle against the wasps and the soggy Apple Jacks that I found in my shoe. Intriguing, yes? You know that you can't resist a good soggy Apple Jacks story. Don't deny it.

Are we all surviving Monday? Barely? Me too. Geesh. Is it Tuesday yet?

Welcome to the Blog Crawl! Do You Like Giveaways?

Welcome to the Blog Crawl! Oh, do I have a giveaway for you guys today! Actually, I have three giveaways! Three is always better than one when it comes to giveaways, don't you think? In fact, between Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup and Nikki Sivils, there will be more than 50 handmade giveaways! Um, wow.

I created these three cards using Bella Blvd's Flirty and Plastino Collections, just for you. Are you as desperate for spring as I am? Every time we think that we are headed towards warmer temperatures, it snows! So I am just throwing it out into the universe: I am ready for spring! If a sudden blizzard buries the state of Tennessee, you'll know who is to blame, ahem.

Giveaway #1 consists of this "Happy Day" card (with envelope), Blue Colada Liplicious Lip Gloss, a fun springy nail file and Vanilla Mints all packaged in a cute blue gift bag.
I hand sewed the details onto the kites using Bakers Twine. I love the little ties on the strings.

Giveaway #2 consists of this "Sunny Skies" card (plus envelope), Saltwater Taffy Liplicious Lip Gloss , tin of Blue Raspberry Mints and purple striped nail file all packaged in a floral gift bag.

Giveaway #3 is this sweet "Hello Spring" card (with envelope), tin of Cherry Lemonade Mints, striped nail file and Orange Kiss Liplicious Lip Gloss, all packaged in a cute gift bag.

Tulips are my ultimate favorite flower. They remind me that warmer days are soon approaching. Ultimate happiness.

Would you like to win one of these three giveaways? All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me your favorite thing about spring and which giveaway you would love the most. The three randomly chosen winners will be announced on Monday, March 8. That gives you the whole weekend to hop around and check out all of the giveaways and blogs!

Have a wonderful weekend and I will meet you back here on Monday!

(Head back to Bella Blvd to find more blogs!)

The Chocolate Covered Fortune Cookie Said So

... and the chocolate/sprinkle covered fortune cookie people will be hearing from me if my fortune goes awry. Trust me. You don't mess with a girl and a happy fortune.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the Bella Blvd / Jillibean Soup / Nikki Sivils Blog Crawl! I will be giving away three prizes! See you tomorrow!

Did You Know?

That Bella Blvd is having a huge big Blog Crawl with Jillibean Soup and Nikki Sivils?? Isn't that cool? I think that it awesome that they are all coming together! Here is what Stephanie has to say:

Consider yourself formally invited....and please be sure to pass the invite on to all your friends too!

It's going to be *awesome*! I'm so excited to be pairing up with some newly found friends and colleagues, Jill from Jillibean Soup and Nikki of Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker. It's going to be *HUGE*!!!! With nearly *50 handmade giveaways* from all our design team members, and *3 large product packs from each company!*

On Friday, March 5^th be sure to visit Bella Blvd, Jillibean Soup and Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker for all the information on where to go next and how to win!

Mark your calenders!!!! It's a date!!! We can't wait!!!!

I am super excited to announce that I will be part of the *50 handmade giveaways*!! I have been happily creating my giveaway over here. It just feels so good to be creating again.

And just because I couldn't resist all of the Spring-iness that is going on in all of the stores, I picked these up to be part of the giveaway as well. I love love love these lip glosses.

Are you getting excited?

Christmas Cards

It's that time of year again! Time for me to make Christmas cards and then send them to absolutely no one. I am so not a Christmas card kind of gal. My mom, on the other hand, mailed out her cards the day after Thanksgiving. No joke. She rocks out the Christmas cards.

I made these cards using my December Mosh Posh kit. I loved all of the fun October Afternoon patterned papers and the embellishments were just perfect for lots of fun cards!

I just love using up all of my scraps of paper to create pictures on my layouts or cards.

I hand cut circles from the patterned papers and then cut them in half to create the shingles for this little cottage. The sparkly tree is made from sticks that I covered in glitter and sequins.

This is my favorite card. I just love everything and anything about Christmas trees.

I drew a Christmas tree onto a piece of white cardstock and cut it out. I then attached all of the folded pieces of patterned paper. The final step was to trim the paper from around the cardstock. I thought it would be a cleaner shape that way.

The October Afternoon Very Merry Wild Cards were perfect for the sentiment that I wanted to portray on this card.

I hand cut the petals and leaves for the poinsettia. I layered the green rick rack on top of the leaves and stapled it all together. I just love the layering.

And those are my Christmas cards! This will be my very last Mosh Posh kit. It was a very difficult decision, but I decided not to try out for the design team this term. I have been with Mosh Posh for 2 years now and I am grateful to Kristen for giving me the opportunity to be a part of her team. Mosh Posh was my very first design team. I will miss working with Brooke, Jenny and Frances!! You guys are the best!! MUAH!

You know I wouldn't leave you without a giveaway!! Just leave me a comment telling me about what you have been doing to get in the holiday spirit and I will draw one winner who will receive a little package from me!! (There will be lots of red, white and green embellishments + a little chocolate, YUM!)

You have until Monday to leave me a comment! Happy Thursday!

Mosh Posh Blog Hop + a Giveaway

Welcome to another Mosh Posh Blog Hop!!

Every month I look forward to the Mosh Posh kit that Kristen puts together. I have been with Mosh Posh as part of the Design Team for 2 years now and was a subscriber before that. I know that there are lots of kit clubs out there - trust me, I have tried most of them! I love Mosh Posh because of Kristen's awesome customer service and the fun kits that she puts together. I would never be part of a Design Team that I didn't believe in. Kristen was the very first person to put me on a Design Team, so I guess that she must believe in me too!

(November 2007 Mosh Posh layout)

As I was looking through my Mosh Posh layouts, I noticed that I seem to have a slight obsession with using trees for my fall layouts. Just a slight obsession. Oh, and it might not just be in the fall either.

(May 2009 Mosh Posh layout)

(August 2009 Mosh Posh layout)

Alright, are you ready for another giveaway??? I had so much fun decorating my trees for this month's Corn Maze layout that I thought that I should give away some of my favorite embellishments: brads! There are velvet brads, shaped brads, large brads and mini brads. Any kind of brad that you can imagine. Well, except for my Brad.


Hahahahahaha. I crack myself up. Anyway...

For a chance to win these super fun brads, leave me a comment telling me all about your favorite Thanksgiving side dish. I am working on my menu and need some inspiration. You have until Sunday, November 22nd to leave me a comment. I will pick a winner on Monday.

Now, hop along to check out what my fellow Design Team Members are up to! Happy Thursday!!

Brook Magee
Jenny Dziekan
Frances Sylvia

A Little Bit of Paper & A Little Glue

I am hosting another contest this month over at Scrapbook.com. This month, all that you need to do to participate is create a layout that uses one predominant shape for your embellishments.

For the above layout you can see that I predominantly used circles. Everything on this layout is from the new GCD Studios Collection, Artsy Urban, that was designed by Melody Ross. Isn't it fun? My favorite part of the collection is that is contains so many different embellishments! There are crocheted flowers, glass brads, chipboard pieces, felt trims, vintage buttons and about a gazillion other embellishments. You can see the whole collection over at the GCD Studios Blog.

This is another GCD Studios layout that I created using the Artsy Urban and the Party It Up Collections. This layout also fits into the parameters of the contest because I used only stars for my embellishments. First, I lined the back of acetate stars with patterned paper. I then used a paint brush to brush Mod Podge onto the edges of the stars. After the glue was just as I wanted it, I dipped the stars into glitter (Pink Paislee Pixie Stix - Licorice, Green Apple and Orange Crush).

The best part of the Scrapbook.com contest is that GCD Studios is graciously giving away 4 of the new Artsy Urban 12" x 12" Quick Page Kits. Awesome. I hope to see you over there!