Apple Surprise

I came home from a few weeks in Texas and made dinner. We had French Toast and Apple Surprise! I got the idea from Martha Stewart Living this month and modified it to fit my plan. See, on the plate it just looks like an apple! Inside, though, is a surprise....

First you take an apple, cut off the top, and scoop out the insides. I put the insides in a pan and simmered them with some cinnamon and sugar to make some syrup for the French Toast.

Then you fill the apple with whatever. Martha recommended caramel. I filled them with homemade apple sauce and cinnamon.

I added a little cinnamon stick and apple heart for garnish. =D Isn't it cute?

Then I put the lid back on it to add to the surprise.

Eliana thought it was great, and we all got to eat our apple bowls after the applesauce was gone!

The "Real" Cookies...

I made practice cookies the other day, and it's a good thing I did, because the real cookies turned out well! If I hadn't practiced, the princesses would have turned out like my practice princesses (which were too awful to photograph!), and instead they turned out like this:

There were SPARKLY wands, too!

And crowns! Don't forget the crowns!

I am convinced I could do better at decorating cookies, but that would take more practice and time and, well, I have other things to do. So I'll just be glad these turned out like they did and enjoy the fact that Eliana got to celebrate her 4th birthday with SPARKLY, GLITTERY cookies!!

Before and After... A Birthday Cake

Back in October, I got Eliana's birthday supplies, including a Wilton Crown cake pan. Now, I've never made a shaped cake before, and I haven't even really made cake since Ellie was born, since I'm a big fan of the cupcakes. This year, though, I gave it a try. Here's the before:

(I even cut a cardboard platter and covered it in foil to hold the cake! I was proud of myself for that one...)

And here's the after...

I'm pretty pleased with how the final cake turned out, but for a while there I was really concerned! I made my first try at quick pour fondant, and it was definitely a FAIL! It started to pour fine, but cooled and hardened much quicker than I expected, and ended up being a sticky, lumpy mess on the top of the cake! ACK! Fortunately, it was still malleable enough that I could kind of push it across the cake and cut around the edges and then make a batch of color flow frosting to fill over top and hide it. Whew! It was a close one. Now we'll see how bad it is when I actually cut into the cake tomorrow morning! Ha!

Practice...

We've got a 4 year old princess birthday party coming up at our house in a week, so the preparations are under way. Part of the prep work includes making sugar cookies, so I did that the other day. Not trusting my rusty color fill technique, I decided to make a few practice cookies with the rejects that were slightly dark. They didn't all turn out great, but I was really excited to see how well the crowns and stars did! The princesses didn't get photographed, because they needed a lot more practice! The good news is that these turned out not only pretty, but tasty, too!

Celebrate!

With 4th of July approaching, I took a few moments to make some celebratory cards. I used one of the Scenic Route strip papers that I love so much and one of my Cuttlebug dies, and whipped up a few cards in a matter of minutes! I love how having the right tools makes for quick cards!

You're a STAR!

On Thursday night I was in an aerial dance performance. The dancers put together a thank you gift for our choreographer, and I made a card for all of us to sign. I had a ton of fun making this card, and it reminded me how much I miss crafting! Here it is...

Outside...

Inside...

I think this is the first time I've thought to emboss the front of an acetate card, and I love the effect!

Here's the envelope I housed it in...

I love that I can make special cards for people. It's one of the things I love doing. I have been re-evaluating my priorities lately as I've realized that I put aside doing things for the people I love to do things for the people I want to please. Crafting is one of those things. I often craft out of a feeling of obligation to someone, and when I get the chance to craft just because I love it or because I want to give someone something special, it is so enjoyable!

Out of this World Cards!

I was at Michael's one day and I came across some cute robot strip paper, and some solid green paper with gears on it. I picked them up because, well, they were cute! Then, later in the same store, I found some "color your own" stickers that had robots and planets, etc. on them. My original plan was to have Eliana color the stickers and make some cards, but, well, she doesn't really like to color, and forcing her to color is like torture for both of us. So I got out my Copic markers and colored! It was fun! Then I added some stickles and flocking... Here's what the end result was...

Adding some of the stickers to cards and stickling some of the paper elements, here are some of the cards I made...

All in all, I think they turned out pretty cute and will make good kid cards for this coming year!

My New Love...

Last Monday night I took a soldering class at our scrapbooking store.

I. AM. HOOKED.

I was giddy! It was so fun!

This is what we worked on... a 5x7 hanging glass frame. I had so much fun making this project! I'm still not completely finished with it, because I intend to put some words on it, but here's the more or less finished product...

This is the back side, in case I ever hang it in a window or someplace you can see both sides.

Here's the front:

It has a funky glare, but you get the idea! It was so fun! Have I said that enough yet???

To make things even better, I came home with my own soldering kit and made my first solo soldered project the next day:

A little Hambly, an antique bead, and a little glass and solder, and I have a pendant for my neck! The pictures make it kind of hard to see, but here are another couple views to give you an idea!

This is DEFINITELY my new favorite crafty love!!

I want candy!!

I actually really like how this layout turned out, even though it's hard to read the title in the picture. These are pictures from Eliana's 2nd birthday party, when I went a little overboard on the sweets! Again, I added the pictures, the title (though the cupcakes were already there!), and the journaling. That's it! Easy peasy!

Beach Babe

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that SWING....

I feel like this layout is missing something, but I haven't figured out what yet. Maybe I'll figure it out and add it later. In the meantime, here's how it stays...

Hands and Hearts

It's difficult to see, but this is one of my blank pages, too. I finished it off with pictures of Eliana and Corinne and journaling about their friendship. It's very simple, but I sort of like how it turned out!

More Blanks...

It turns out I have quite a few blank pages I never posted. Some have since been finished, some I haven't photographed, but these few fit neither category, so I share them here! =D

Painting

FlickrDroid Upload, originally uploaded by elizabethwickland.

Another "premade" page that I finished off with some pictures, a title, journaling, and a little paint of my own.

Before and After

I've got a bunch of blank scrapbook pages all made up, just waiting for photos, journaling, and titles. I pulled a few out and started working on them this weekend, and I thought I'd give a little peek at the before and after. Here's what I started with:



I pulled out my photos and looked for ones that might match according to color and/or theme. Then I started playing to see what else would be needed to pull the page together. Here's the end result...



It's really fairly simple, but I like that it makes the pages work up quickly. The title says "Color us {friends}" and the pictures are of Eliana and my best friend's daughters coloring the last time we were in Texas.

I have to admit I'm really a fan of these blank layouts. They're easy to put together, and then they're easy to use later! It takes a lot of the guesswork out of scrapbooking, without taking any of the creativity out! I'm hoping to have time to finish more pages tomorrow!