No Foolin ... Caryn's Got Blog Candy

Check out fellow Cupcake Craft Challenges Design Team member Caryn's blog candy. She draws for it on April 1st, but this is NOT an April Fool's joke.

My First Genie Bag

... but it certainly won't be my last!! I made this little bag to give to my Mom, who will be driving to Maryland to visit my sister over Easter. I thought this little Bunny Car image was perfect ... doesn't she look so happy to be on the road? I am planning to put some homemade cookies in the bag. I'm hoping to slip them into her car the night before her trip. (So, Joy don't mention it to her, k?)

For those of you that don't know, the bag idea is from the incredibly talented Jen del Muro over at i heart 2 stamp. Here's a link to one of her more recent Genie bags from Splitcoast. These bags go way back, but I've never made one until now. Mainly because I never seem to have white lunch bags on hand. I found a pack of cute sized white bags at Michaels on Wednesday and knew exactly what I was going to use them for ... woot woot.

Supplies: image from InStyle Stamps, Retired DSP paper from SU, Regal Rose and Tempting Turquoise CS, Primas, brads, pop dots, 1/2" sticky tape.

InStyle Stamps Blog Hop

ETA: I didn't alter the towel and pot holders, just the canvas on the right.

Welcome to the first InStyle Stamps blog hop! The blog hop will be held from 11:30 am EST to 10pm EST on the InStyle Stamps Forum. Come join the fun, and be on the look-out for contests to win some great prizes throughout the day! Plus, make sure to vote for your favorite DT member project, as well as play “Meet the DT Trivia” to be entered into our drawings for the grand prizes to be held at the end of the hop!

This time around, the design team was challenged to create a home decor project. I am going to be redoing my kitchen in a cupcake theme. So I've been collecting cupcake themed goodies and decided that I would do a little scrapbooking on the wall project. I used a 5x5 canvas, painted it a cute pink and used my favorite papers of all times ... Stampin' Up's retired Loves Me DSP. I ordered 3 packs of that stuff before it retired. The image for this project is the left most cupcake in the adorable Cupcakes digital image. I just resized it, printed it out, colored it with my Copics and then sealed it with Krylon Matte finish spray. Then I mod podged each layer on, waiting an hour between coats. I added a little sheer red polka dotted ribbon. I love how it turned out and I plan to make a 2nd canvas with the other cupcake in the image. I think they will be cute next to each other on a shelf. Or I might hang them above a shelf with some cute cupcake mugs I bought at Target last year. As my sister says .... "the sky's the limit" ... *grin*


Here are my answers for the Meet the DT Trivia:

What is your favorite color combination for crafting? Pink and brown … without a doubt

If you were stuck on a deserted island, and a box washed up on shore, what 5 craft supplies would you most want to find inside? stamped images, designer papers, cardstock, paper cutter, Copic Markers, adhesive (okay I know that’s 6, but I did sacrifice embellishments)

What is your favorite coloring medium? Currently, Copic Markers

What embellishment can you not live without? Ribbon

What are your hobbies (other than papercrafting) ? Reading and baking

What’s your favorite spring time activity? Going to the beach (yup, in NC beach season is from April – October)

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go? Italty


When you were little, who was your favorite super hero and why? I guess Wonder Woman, not sure why … maybe it was her outfit


What is one item that you really should throw away, but probably never will? A hand made quilt that I got as a wedding gift 22 years ago. I LOVE that thing, but it keeps falling apart and so I’ve had to sew it here and there and the material is very worn. However, I’ll probably keep it forever.


If you were an animal, what would you be? Probably a dog … they are full of love and everyone loves them



If you could have an endless supply of any food item, what would you get? Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs

What is your favorite movie? Rainman


Who is your favorite actor/actress? George Clooney

Do you have a pet? If so, what do you have? I have the sweetest dog in the whole world


How did you first get introduced to stamping? A former coworker (who eventually became my Stampin’ Up upline and who is still a great friend) had a SU catalog party. I bought a bunch of stamps and a year later finally mounted them on the wood blocks and then I was hooked.


Boy, I sure can ramble on and on can't I? Be sure to check out the blogs of my fellow DT members to see what they came up with! And don't forget to head over to the InStyle Forum for all the details on how you can get entered into the prize drawings!

Jennie H.
Joy S.
Kim G.
Latrice
Mary G.
Melissa E.
Michelle O.
Risa W.
Shary N.
Silke H.
Taylor U.
Vicky C.
Virginia

And I wanted to welcome Cathy to the InStyle Stamps Design team! She didn't get a chance to make a project for the blog hop as today is her first day on the team, but sure to stop by and congratulate her.

Blogaversary Blog Candy Winner

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2009-03-27 11:06:29 UTC


.... so that means Caryn over at Glitter Me Silly won. Congratulations, Caryn!! Email your mailing address to me (by clicking on view my complete profile and then click on email) and I'll get your stamps in the mail.

The picture in this post are the adorable challenge cards that Caryn put in her entry ...
just precious!! And she's right ... Cupcakes Rock!!

Blog Candy

ETA: This post is now closed so I can draw a winner!!
Okay, so I'm having trouble with my digital camera so I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the blog candy I'm offering up to celebrate my blogaversary. But part of it will be a brand new Hey Cupcake acrylic stamp set from Stampendous, this is a picture I got from an online store.

All you have to do is leave me a comment with a link to your favorite cupcake image. I'd love for the link to be to a card you've made, but it could be a link to someone else's card ... or I'll even settle for a link to the image from an online store.

I'll be drawing the winner on Friday morning, 3/27/09. And guess what else is happening on Friday, March 27th?? InStyle Stamps is having its first ever Blog Hop.

Had to Grab Some Doodles

I was doing a little blurfing (blog surfing) this morning ... I had to check out all the other Cupcake Crafts Challenge Design Team members' blogs and I stumbled upon this adorable card made by Donna. (Super cute, Donna!!) So I hopped on over to Grab-A-Doodle-Do to check out the digital images. And I bought 3 sets. Just another perk of being on a design team ... more enabling!!! Lordy, am I in trouble.

Here's a little altered notebook I made following Cupcake Craft Challenge # 31 (Brown + 1). All you had to do was make a project with Brown and either pink, green or blue. I ran my image layer through my Cuttlebug with my small heart folder, which I use for way more than Valentine's Day stuff. I used some retired SU Flirty Ribbon, which I love. And some new SU buttons and I love how this little book turned out.

I'm going to use this book to keep track of anything related to the CCC Design Team, like challenges and the blog addresses of all the DT. Plus it will look cute on my crafting table or desk. You know when I actually clean those off enough to see the surface. lol. I think I bought 2 others at Michael's in different colors, so I'll probably make a couple more.

Anyway, Happy Saturday everyone.

A Winner and Some Exciting News

The winner of the blog candy as chosen by random.org is:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

9

Timestamp: 2009-03-21 11:22:39 UTC

.... so that means Dawn won. Congratulations!! Email your mailing address to me (by clicking on view my complete profile and then click on email) and I'll get your goodies in the mail.

Don't forget I'll be posting more blog candy on Monday, 3/23. How fun, right??

Also, I just found out I was chosen to be on the Cupcake Craft Challenges Design Team. I am so excited!! Check out this post to see the list of talented ladies I'll be serving with ... I can't wait to get to know them all better.

I'll be back shortly with a card to share.

Blog Candy Time

*** ETA: this post is now closed ... so I can draw a winner


Here's what I'm offering up for blog candy ... a pack of Martha Stewart Cupcake stickers ... they are SO cute, a pack of fun colored note cards and envelopes, this adorable Imaginesce Fox and some color coordinating ribbon. Clearly, I'm a fan of pinks and browns. So all you have to do to sign up for the blog candy drawing is tell me your favorite color combination, or if you have more than one share more.

I will be drawing a winner on Saturday morning, 3/21/09. And guess what, I'll be posting more blog candy on Monday, 3/23 and drawing on Friday, 3/27. Why would I do back to back blog candy drawings??? Well, I looked back and 3/27 is my Blogaversary.

"Luck" of the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Okay, so I was up until midnight last night making cupcakes to take to work today, hence the reason I don’t have a project to share on my blog. They turned out downright YUMMY!! I just used a devil’s food cake mix, but I put a miniature Reese's peanut butter cup in the center of each one. What a fun little surprise, right? I got the idea from Coastal Cupcakes, a local “cupcakery” here in Wilmington, NC. I LOVE that place. They only have their Peanut Butter Pirate cupcakes on Fridays, so I decided to make them myself. A much more cost effective decision too. I initially was going to use store bought icing, but I remembered this wonderful frosting my Mom made for a triple layer cake she made a few times for Christmas Eve. I knew it would be perfect, so I asked her to whip me up a batch. We taste tested them last night after watching Dancing With The Stars and they passed with flying colors.

Anyway, I was all excited to take the cupcakes to work. I borrowed a 2nd Tupperware cake taker from my Mom and as I was headed out the door to work I thought … these things are *wonderful* to tote stuff like this … then, I no sooner finished that thought and the bottom of the cake taker in my left hand came apart from the lid and handle … so ½ the batch of cupcakes fell onto my front porch, icing down. Actually 3 stayed in the container but they were a jumbled up mess. So, needless to say I was late to work today because I had to throw away 9 little St. Patty’s Day cuppycakes and clean up the homemade icing that was everywhere. Then came the realization that I no longer had enough cupcakes to share with everyone in the office :-(. What was I going to do? Only give them to people dressed in green? Ask the 2 guys that share my office which coworkers were “cupcake-worthy”?? Cut them in half so I had enough for everyone??? Or eat them all myself???? lol. Surprisingly, I didn’t eat them all myself (after all, the 3 jumbled up cupcakes were home waiting for me … they were edible just too ugly to take to work). So, I just decided to put them in the kitchen first come / first serve style.

Okay, sorry for the lengthy, detail-ridden play by play … but I figured since I don’t have a project to share with you, the least I can do is make you chuckle. Be sure to check back tomorrow because I will be posting blog candy. And despite today’s St. Patrick’s Day cupcake fiasco, some of the goodies are cupcake themed. Because no matter what … I’m ALL about a cupcake.

Let's Catch Up

Here's a card I made for this week's Cupcake Challenge over at Taylor's blog. What a great sketch. I'm amazed at how well so much of my older Chatterbox paper matches Kiwi Kiss. Which reminds me ... I'm SO going to miss that color when the current Stampin Up's In Colors retire. There's always a color or 2 each year that I don't know how I'll live without and this year it's Kiwi Kiss and Pirouette Pink. Oh well, I guess that just means I need to use them a whole lot between now and the end of June. I wish I had a little butterfly punch because I think that would be the perfect embellishment to go with this Memory Box penguin. I keep telling myself I do not need that Martha Stewart butterfly punch ... but maybe I do :-)

Spring Double Challenge Card

I sure have missed creating and blogging, but life has been a little crazy lately ... starting a new job, getting over the flu and taking care of my dog who strained her paw. Thankfully I think that my life is finally getting back to "normal" whatever that is ... lol.

Just wanted to share a double challenge card I made today. This week's Cupcake Craft Challenge is to make a Spring card, so I followed Jen's SFYTT challenge this week. The Flower Cart image is one I got from Stephanie through the PIF forum probably last Spring, which I love and don't think I ever made a card with before now ... isn't that crazy?? (Thanks for the great image, Steph!!)

I'm off to create another challenge card. And I want to make something to take in to work for St. Patrick's Day. So be sure to check back because I intend to start blogging more regularly now. Oh and I will be posting blog candy on Wednesday.

Spring Church Chicks

Here's a little sneak peek of an adorable digital image from InStyle Stamps, called Church Chicks. Isn't it sweet?? I love the Mama Chick's hat and I love the little chick with the tie ... actually, they're all so cute. It totally reminds me of a family I saw last Sunday walking to church. The weather was gorgeous and they were all dressed in their Spring attire.

Anyway, I paired up some Crate paper I had from last Spring and used today's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers, which I thought was wonderful. The rick rack is from an Inspiration Kit.

Be sure to check out the InStyle Stamps blog for more sneak peeks ... Virginia has tons of new images she'll be releasing soon. And the expanded Design Team will be announced soon.