Dapper Diaper Cake

Good evening and greetings from that which was lost and now is found...well not really lost but forgotten for a while.  I've been a busy lady these past months and kind of forgot to prioritize my blog and post all the various creative eats and treats I've been making.  I know, yet again, bad girl *smack on the hand*.  Finally a friend mentioned that they do still watch for posts on my blog and wondered if I was ever going to put anything new on here.  That made me realize that I do have at least one person who checks this baby out so I'd better get my butt in gear and give them something to look at.

Really I do like posting to this page, I just forget now and then to do so.  Anyhow tonight, I had my creative juices flowing and I actually remembered to take pictures as I went so I thought, 'well girl..no better time than now to get back in the saddle!'  So here I am!

My mother-in-law, Mom2, asked me to create a diaper cake for a baby shower that she is attending tomorrow.  She said she wasn't sure of the baby's gender as baby is still on the way and the couple wants to be surprised so this is a 'baby-to-be' shower, but she knew that the nursery was going to be grey and yellow.  What an interesting colour combination for a gender neutral nursery..actually I think it's kind of neat and that gave me the idea to do a simple diaper cake with those colours.  Now with limited time and inspiration, I decided to do a three tiered diaper cake with a banner and paper flowers in the colour theme of grey and yellow. I didn't want the cake to be overly girly since baby to be could be a boy, hence the banner idea and, since I don't know the baby's name yet, I decided to use the title of 'wonderful' cause that is what all babies are..so here are some photos of my creative process, enjoy!  I promise not to go so long between posts next time!

the start of the diaper cake, I used 75 sized two diapers for this cake.  p.s. I didn't have enough yellow ribbon so I used yellow washi tape for the top and bottom layer!

This is the start of the flowers for the cake, I made 8 large flowers and 3 smaller ones.

 I can't take the credit for these amazing paper flowers..please check out this link to see a number of tutorials on how to make a variety of beautiful paper flowers  Moments of Tranquilty - flower tutorials and trust me, once you practice with these techniques you will never be without a flower for your papercrafting again!

This is the cake after I added the flowers, but it still needed something on top

I've only just gotten into using banners in my projects since this summer when I made my daughter's birthday cake with a banner..since then I love the unique and fun look they add!

I ran into a problem in that I wasn't sure what to attach my banner to..paper straws to the rescue!!  I had to cover them with grey ribbon to match my cake though

Completed banner...TA DA!!

Doesn't it look great as my cake topper?!

The finished Product, looks good enough to eat!

I am always giddy and impressed when a project comes to fruition and resembles what goes on in my brain. Aside from the diapers, washi tape, inks, and straws..everything you see here came from my Stampin' UP! stash of products.  I love how versatile the products were in creating this cake..an added bonus is that as good as this cake looks, it has zero calories :)

Anyhow, that's it from me for the evening.

Cheers!

Administrative Assistants ROCK!

Last week was Administrative Assistants Week/Day where I work and I felt the need to write/share a post about it this week. I have a school based job and I see three to four Administrative Assistants on a weekly, if not daily basis.  These people amaze me every day with their roles.  They are right up there with the job of 'Mother' in my opinion, because each day they multi task, manage, and care for the students and staff within the schools they work for.  They have to be organized, creative, flexible, and empathetic of a variety of situations.  Kudos to all these talented gems that we work with!

As soon as I found out that it was Administrative Assistants week with the official Day being Wednesday, April 24th..my creative brain started to percolate.  I wanted to do something to thank these special people for all the great things they do, especially considering all they do to help me function in my role and really, I feel like they do a lot!  So I went home and logged on to my Pinterest account for inspiration and along with a healthy dose of yummy goodness from the Betty Crocker Website, this is what I came up with.

These cute little purse/treat bags and this lemon whoopie pie recipe.  The only thing I changed to the recipe was that I added in about a teaspoon of Lemon Chiffon Dip Mix (from Epicure) to the icing mixture.

Beautiful and delicious treats for some truly awesome women that I know, it was truly my pleasure to give these to the ladies that I work with because I really do appreciate everything they do in their jobs and especially when they help me in mine :)

How do you appreciate your co-workers? Please share!

Cheers!

A Pumpkin, a pin, and an Elephant?!!

Greetings and salutations from Northern Alberta where we are finally getting hints of Spring!  It almost seems like we forego Spring though and jump right into summer, because as soon as that warm weather hits I see people wearing shorts, shedding their winter coats for light sweaters, and puddle jumping!  All this while it's still -5 out and there is more snow than water on the ground..but hey after our long hard winters, we need the sunshine and warmth, so I'll take it!

I haven't been doing too much crafting since my last post.  I think I needed a crafting break or rather one of my other hobbies was calling to me instead.  Over the past few weeks I've been itching to get my baking supplies, not my paper supplies, out and in use.  I was off work for the Easter Break and I spent most of my time baking up a storm for the kids and company.  Here are a couple of things that I made.

My cousin has been bugging me and bugging me, for the past month, to make her Elephant Ears!  I only make them once in a while because the recipe I had called for a long rise time with the dough...but then I found this new recipe that rises in half the time and tastes way better.  Anyhoo..I did promise I would make her some, so here they are.  I had a few other cousins over that day, so suffice to say they didn't last long!  Here is the link to the  Elephant Ears Recipe



As you all know by now, I LOVE Pinterest!  I get inspired daily by the Pins on this site.  Now I have a standby Spinach and Artichoke Dip recipe that absolutely love, not only for it's flavour but also because it is a Clean recipe so it's a lot healthier than your typical Spinach dip.  If you look for me on Pinterest, you'll find the recipe as 'Caramelized Onion, Spinach, & Artichoke dip'  under my 'Healthier Me?!' board.  You really must try this recipe, it is amazing!! As great as the recipe is (and yes I did pin it!)  the real Pinspiration came from the display of the dip.  I saw this great picture on how to make individual bread cups to hold my dip and another pin on displaying your veggies oh so prettily, so I combined the two ideas for two different ways to serve veggies and spinach dip!  The final presentation was not only beautiful but practical too..no more double dipping and it's portion controlled..AWESOME!!

Now I mentioned a Pumpkin in my post title today, yes I did..because I got to hang out with some wonderful ladies for our first "Ladies Night out with Paper Pumpkin!" at the beginning of the month.  It wasn't a full out Crop or craft night or anything like that, it was just a quiet evening with friends to do a short half hour project that will hopefully (fingers crossed) promote further connections with friends (I want to send out my cards to friends that I don't get to touch base with very often..who says snail mail is dead!).  Here are a couple of photos of the very first Paper Pumpkin project.  I really enjoyed this project from Stampin' Up!'s newest product line.  It was short, sweet, and since it required no effort at all, actually seemed to enhance the socializing part of the fun as well. 

 

 

Paper Pumpkin is a monthly kit that you get in the mail from Stampin' Up!  It's such a neat product that it has it's own website, you can look here for more info.  www.mypaperpumpkin.com   Whether you are new to scrapbooking or have been at it for a while, want to do it on your own or share an evening with friends, Paper Pumpkin is a sweet paper treat for everyone!

 

That's all I have to share for now, but there's always more fun and creative stuff to share next time!

 

 

Cheers!

Getting Creative Again, Part 2

I've completed the card organizer that I mentioned in my blog post last week, actually I finished it the day after I posted the sneak peek.  Unfortunately it still had quite a few rough edges and as much as I liked how it came together, it still seemed unfinished.  So I started another one and deemed the first one my prototype.  I used my entire Stampin' Up! stash of designer papers to make the modge podge prototype and as much as I liked all the different colours and the fun vibe it had, I decided to try for a more cohesive look on my second go round. Thus inspiration came from Graphic 45!


It just so happened that I have been looking for some way to use my G45 'Place in Time' Paper pack and I wanted something special for my mom's birthday.  This organizer seemed like the perfect opportunity to do both!  I feel a little guilty because I really wanted to promote the card organizer as an upcoming Stampin' Up! Class but between the prototype photos I'm about to show you and the finished G45 gift photos, you will see that I haven't gotten around to a finished and fabulous Stampin' Up! version yet, not to say that I won't..just not yet and I'm too excited and impatient to wait to do a third organizer before I show you all the pics I've taken of the project(s).

Oh well, such is life..I got creative and I want to share with you all so here goes:

This is the binder that I started out with

I covered the edges with washi tape and used Sizzix adhesive sheets to adhere the Paper cover

This is what the finished cover looks like

Next I had to create the card holders themselves.  I did this by covering up file folders

two file folders were glued back to back before covering with papers

I also created a mini card holder, accordian style

I also used an envelope to create a pocket holder, great for tags

this is the layered look of the inside

and thus, the prototype is born!

 Now I want to show you what the Second Card Holder looks like.  I think having a coordinating paper pack does pull the look all together, but really I kinda like the eclectic mix of the first one too!  Either way, I don't judge..it's all crafty to me :)

The Cover isn't made from G45 papers but Little Yellow Bicycle Papers**

The finished Organizer

The inside

Now I just need to make some cards with various themes to put inside the organizer and then this gift is ready to give to my mom.  I hope she likes it!!

Cheers!

p.s.  ** the Papers I used from the Little Yellow Bicycle collection are actually from a kit I bought from www.birdsofafeatherkitco.com .  I belong to their monthly kit club and honestly I can't get through all of the great stuff I get each month from this company.  I just wanted to share the link because this is an amazing site with great deals!!

Getting Creative again!

So the expected withdrawals from the scrapbooking world only lasted a week.  It's just not in me to stay away from creativity for very long.  A few things in the last week have motivated and inspired me to get creative once more.  Let me lead you down the garden path (so to speak) along the trail to my inspirations.

It all started on Monday when I saw the empty coffee canister by my desk.  Such an innocently empty vessel just sitting there waiting to be picked up, smelling of fresh ground coffee and hinting of a wake up call.  But first..my cluttered desk space was bugging me.  I needed to find room to put away the supplies from the workshop I had taught the Friday before.  In my space everything has a place and it bugs me when I can't put something away neat and tidy.  So I spent a half hour decluttering my work cabinet and in doing so I found 8 perfectly good binders filled with old resources.  The resources I chucked but I just couldn't get rid of these 8 perfectly good binders..there had to be something that I could use them for, some crafty upcycling that would give them fresh life..so for the time being I piled them up on a chair and returned to looking at the coffee canister.  My co-worker has been faithfully saving these canisters for me, with the idea that when I collected enough I would use them for something crafty.  Well I believe that time had come because as I looked at the empty coffee canister on my desk, my mind was doing a mental tally of how many canisters sat on the shelf in my craft room.  Surely there had to be enough now to create a class around, but what to make?

I took the empty coffee canister and one of the binders home and put them in my craft room.  There they sat for a few more days while ideas percolated in my brain.  After another conversation with another co-worker around scrapbooking and papercrafting ideas, a few visits to pinterest, some time spent on my favorite crafting blogs, and reading my various weekly RSS feeds, the ideas started to coalesce into that tunnel vision I mentioned before..sitting there at the back of my brain and digging a path through my consciousness.

The coffee canister became an easter container wrapped in pretty paper and covered in paper flowers made from all the paper posies I have been punching out like crazy this week (thanks to an article my co-worker shared on waste not/want not scrapbooking tips) and filled with plastic easter eggs hunted from my family's easter egg hunt.  I can picture how each container will look, all soft and pastel coloured, or perhaps they will become container's for Mother's Day and I will go fresh and vibrant with the paper selection?!  so many visions playing around for what these will become, but for now they will sit on the shelf until I can post a finished product..their time is coming soon so stay tuned!

The project that really took hold in my creative mind, the one I had to actually try first..is the binders.  I would love to say that I came up with the idea for their final vision myself but rather I was inspired by those continued conversations with my friend and co-worker.  I could picture covering the binders but ran a bit blank from there.  It was my friend's suggestion to turn them into a card holder/organizer.  From there I came across file folders and envelopes in the local grocery store, which made me think of an idea I had seen on Pinterest about a cardholder made out of a folder and several pins I had seen about using envelopes for mini albums.  I bought those and returned home after work to play! 

I am in the midst of creating this project, which I will call my "Creative Card Carrier" (sorry, I have a think for tongue twisters lately).  I've been taking pictures of the various stages of it's development, since the idea is that once I finish the prototype, I will promote it as a class (I do after all, have to find something to do with the other 7 binders!), but for now I want to share just a teaser of how it's coming along.  My next post will have all the photos and finished project.

I've taken the opportunity to use up all my extra Stampin' Up! Designer Series Papers

Before I finish for now though, I will say this, this is a great project for getting rid of scrap or mismatched sheets of paper, I've finally found use for my washi tape collection, AND it uses far less adhesive paper sheets than I originally thought so it shouldn't be an overly expensive project to do.  I just love when ideas come to fruition and projects become a reality!

I've started this project and should have it completed this weekend, which means stay tuned next week for more photos and a final product reveal!

Cheers!

Creatively Christmas Part Two

Okay so I know it's the brand new Year and not actually the holidays anymore but you'll have to cut me some slack since I only just took down my Christmas tree today!  2013 seems to have hit fast and hard in my house and it's been so tiring and hectic that today is the first time we've all been home to actually get stuff done..the serious after holiday cleaning is still being procrastinated on..I'm thinking February LOL! 

Anyhow, I wanted to share some photos from my holidays because although I didn't post, I was busy crafting and I DID get my FIL's quilt done! I was pretty happy with how it turned out and he loved it, which was the main thing.  I even have more fabric should I be ready to tackle a new quilt any time soon (though I tend to sew only every few months..it's so hard on the back to sew for those long hours, don't know how hardcore seamstresses do it...says the scrapbooker..haha)

So here's what the finished quilt looked like:

Aside from that I made some homemade snack mixes for gift giving!  The kids and I made Smore's snack mixes that we gave to my co-workers, their teachers, the daycare staff, etc.  I only wish we had saved some to snack on at home:

Then of course there were the Christmas cards I did with some students from work and of course I had the best of intentions to get my cards out to F&F before the holidays, BUT  I just sent them out last week *sigh*  oh well, better late than never!  Really I know this reflects bad on me and I seem like the worst of procrastinators *L* but normally I am a very organized and efficient person..truly I am!  I am!!

Finally, I did some baking and I tried some new recipes from Pinterest.  I Love how easy the recipe was for making this French Bread, I learned more from the tips and techniques than I did the recipe itself.  Did you know you can speed up the rise time by placing a warm wet cloth over your dough and popping it into a microwave (don't turn it on) that has been pre-run for 2 minutes.  the residual heat in the microwave and the wet cloth provide an optimally warm moist environment for the dough to rise in, my dough rose in 30 minutes instead of the normal hour...I LOVED THAT!!  Tried the same technique on my Cinnamon bun dough last week and it works great!  Now I'm more likely to make more bread dough recipes because I always hated how long the rising process took. Anyhow here is how the bread turned out, we've gone through 5 loaves already!

Oops, forgot one more thing..See told you I was busy last month..can I use that for the excuse why I didn't post ;P   I must share my photos from the Stampin' Up Cookie Basket Classes I did..these were so cute and the cookies were delicious and fun to make!

So that was the Month of December in Pictures, pretty much!  I did spend my two weeks of holiday blissfully relaxing and catching up on PVR'ed tv shows, holiday movies, and just some oldies but goodies.  I shared time with F&F which is always fun during the holidays and despite January kicking off with a bang, it's also been a good sign of the year to come!  So I'll be posting again soon with more fun stuff from my Gemini Life!

Cheers!