Friday, November 14, 2008

Happy Cupcake Day

ETA: Julie (Joypup on SCS) asked for the playdough recipe, so I thought that I would share it here for her and anyone else who is interested. There are many different versions of playdough online (you can google it), but here is the one that I used. Enjoy!

She also asked about the tag (click on the photo to see it larger). I put the playdough in sandwich ziploc bags and cut a piece of cardstock to fold over the top of the bag and stapled it to the bag. I decorated the front of the cardstock with a scrap of patterned paper, stamped a gingerbread man (the set is CTMH), cut him out and popped him on the front. I then attached a copy of the recipe and a gingerbread cookie cutter (bought at Michael's) with a piece of ribbon. Hope this helps!

Gingerbread Playdough

1 c flour
1/2 c salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 c water
1 tsp vegetable oil
Lots of cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg (whatever you have)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Play with spices until you get the desired scent and color. Mix water and oil together first, THEN add them to the dry ingredients and stir. In a pot, cook the mixture for a few minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. The dough will start to pull away from the sides and bottom of the pan and clump together. Take the dough out of the pan and knead it until it becomes soft and smooth. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

I'm SO excited to show you my projects today! When Taylor asked if I would like to be the Featured Cupcake Sampler of the week, I almost fell out of my chair, then I said YES! When I told Dan the news, he asked if that meant that I get to eat cupcakes all week! For anyone not familiar with Taylor's weekly cupcake challenges, I suppose that's a pretty good guess (and that would be pretty fun, too)!

I loved this sketch - so many fun possibilities popped into my head. I made 2 cards and a layout! When I first saw the sketch, I immediately thought of a scrapbook layout. Two years ago, my daughter Sabrina and I made gingerbread play dough to give to her preschool friends. I had yet to make a scrapbook page telling the story. I used Taylor's latest releases of Stamp a Sweet Impression stamps, which are all just so adorable! Hope you enjoy! Please make sure to stop by Taylor's blog to see the wonderful creations made by her and the talented Cupcake Crew!


For my first card, I went with non-traditional Christmas colors and used the snowman from the Home Sweet Home set. I made my snowman into a snow{wo}man. I stamped her twice, colored her identically, paper-pieced her scarf, then I cut out one image and popped it on top of the other. It's hard to see, but she is sitting on a bed of fluffy snow.



My second card features the new Basic Grey Wassail papers. I inked up the adorable caroling cupcake, also from the Home Sweet Home set. It's hard to see in the photo, but I punched snowflakes out of acetate and mounted them on each of the 3 label squares and finished them with a rhinestone center.


Finally, my very simple layout is 8.5" x 11". I random stamped the background with Palette New Canvas using the snowflakes from the Home Sweet Home set. The gingerbread house is also from the HSH set and the sentiment {with love from my kitchen} is from Tag Treats. I had some scraps of the patterned paper that I used for the tag topper of the gingerbread play dough gift bag, so it matches the photo. Thanks for stopping by!


{Card 1} Cardstock: CTMH, PTI; Patterned paper: Basic Grey Sultry; Stamps: Stamp a Sweet Impression; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black/Rich Cocoa; Copic markers; Cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder; Spellbinders Nestabilities classic squares, tags trio; Martha Stewart mika flake; Other: eyelet, Diamond stickles, Kaiser pearls and pink rhinestone, white gel pen, ribbon, foam tape.


{Card 2} Cardstock: CTMH, PTI; Patterned paper: Basic Grey Wassail; Stamps: Stamp a Sweet Impression; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic markers; Nestabilities labels one; SU! ticket and word window punches; Martha Stewart snowflake punch; Other: acetate, rhinestones, Kaiser pearl, paper piercer, twill ribbon, foam tape.

{Layout} Cardstock: CTMH, PTI; Patterned paper: CTMH Cocoa Cafe (retired); Stamps: Stamp a Sweet Impression; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black/Rich Cocoa, Palette New Canvas; Copic markers; Nestabilities labels one; CM Corner rounder punch; Other: rhinestone, paper piercer, crystal stickles, twill ribbon, foam tape.