… phew, weddings can be a bit crazy sometimes!

This last week I was working oober hard on my cousin’s wedding photo board! It was the worst week ever to have a major creative block… But I made it through. Once I decided to make my own roses, versus using fake ones, things started rolling a bit more smoothly for me (the NIGHT before the wedding!!!!). Thought I would share a quick little tutorial on how I made these cute little gals!

All you need are the following:

• Glue Gun (& Glue Sticks…)
• A 3×3″ or 4×4″ Piece of Cardstock
• One or Two 1″ Strips of Paper (I don’t really recommend cardstock for this)
• Pearls or Buttons or Brads (anything really!) for the center.

Now, just follow these easy steps:

1. Fold your 1″ strips of paper in half (lengthwise) and crumple it up in a scrunching motion.
2. Then twist the paper while continuing to scrunch. (This is the crazy part, because you may not fully understand that last step but you just need to play with your paper in order to make the rose they way you want)
3. Make a small 1 1/2″ circle of glue on the cardstock square
4. Quickly curl the first end of your scrunched strip of paper into a small circle and press down onto the glue.
5. Add more glue around the edge of your center circle and press the remainder of your strip down.
6. Once your flower is the size you would like, simply cut the flower out of the cardstock square and glue down your rose center of choice (I used 3 pearls for my larger roses and 1 for my smaller ones)

The best part about these roses is that you can make them as crumpled or smooth as you want and really cater to your project by using different types of paper or center embellishments! I love an accessory that is versatile! Yay! I used them all over the photo board for the wedding, along with some left over fake leaves I had. I think it turned out beautifully, myself :)

The whole wedding was absolutely gorgeous! Hot pink with some orange, light pink and greens throughout… it was perfect for Katie (who was even more gorgeous). We danced the night away and had a blast. Here is a photo of  the finished product and a couple of the wedding itself, because it was too beautiful not to share :) Have a wonderful weekend!

One day I was shopping at Home Goods, searching through all of their wonderful Christmas goodies and I came across these little tins of hot chocolate. It was one of those light bulbs going on inside of my head moments, for sure. I decided to get a bunch of em for the girls at work. I brought em home and wrapped them with some cute patterned paper, Close To My Heart, of course. I even hopped onto Photoshop to create a quick label for the top — I suppose the receiver of the goodie would want to know exactly what it is! I had a bit of fun with that and loved how it all turned out in the end.

Perfectly fun and easy little gift… everyone loved them! These cuties even qualify for a few challenges this week: Practical Scrappers – Anything Christmas; LaLaLands Crafts – Anything But A Card; Crafty Creations – A Crafty Creation of Any Kind; Crafty Ann’s – Anything but Red and Green; All Sorts – Anything But A Card; Bee-Crafty – Circles!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Wow, this week went by super fast and I LOVE IT! One of my friends recently asked me to make her some Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins (well, I ran out of paper cups for muffins, so I did loaves instead) so tonight, I broke out the Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves for the best recipe of the season! (For the recipe, scroll down…)

While everything was in the oven, I ran across Dawn McVey’s Color Challenge and I couldn’t resist. I decided to make a cute little ‘wrap’ for my friend’s loaf! Now, I know that the colors aren’t necessarily harvest, fall or even pumpkin colors, but I still think it goes nicely together and I love the color combo!

I simply took some Kraft Cardstock and made one 11 x3″ strip and one 9×3″ strip, designed the longer strip, scored it all to fit and then adhered the strips together after slipping it onto the loaf. Easy enough? haha. I think she will like it…

Supplies Used:

Now for the recipe…  it is SUPER EASY! You can have your house smelling delicious and fally in no time!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins/Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees and Lightly grease your loaf pans or prep your muffin pans with paper/foil cups.

Mix together the following:

1 Package of Yellow Cake Mix
1 15 oz. Can of Pumpkin
1 Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Ground Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp. Ground Cloves

Fold in 1 Cup of Chocolate Chips (more or less… to your liking!)

Fill loaf pans or muffin cups. For loaves, bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. For muffins, bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. **I always sprinkle some extra Chocolate Chips on top of the loaves and muffins before baking to make them look pretty!

Yields: Two Loaves or 24 Standard Muffins

Thanks for coming by! P.S. IF YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL FALL RECIPES YOU LOVE, PLEASE DO SHARE! I LOVE RECIPES!

Happy Sunday! This little project is called “Bat Poop!” I created a cute topper using an adorable digital image of a bat from Soft Pencil at Etsy. Then I took a sandwich baggie and cut it in half diagonally (into a triangle). Next, I poured in a tablespoon of yummy chocolate chips, folded the baggie closed and stapled the topper on.

I have three fun nephews that I will be giving them to sometime this month when they come over for a visit. First, of all, if I had had raisons, I would have used that instead of the chocolate chips. Since I had to use the chocolate chips, I thought we could possibly make cookies or celery with peanut butter and they could sprinkle the chips on top for an added treat.

Of course, this project is for this week’s Pile It On challenge , which is to use something 3D on your project plus at least one other challenge out there in blog land. I suppose that my whole project is considered 3D, but I also popped up the cute bat using foam squares. Here are my Challenges:

• Pile It On: 3D Items
• CCEE Stampers: Digital Image
• Fun With Shapes: Halloween

Thanks for visiting!