Calendars/ January Giveaway

It's a new year!  Time for new beginnings, new goals, and a new you.  What better way to keep track of those goals than with a cute calendar?

The first calendar we have is from Teresa Collins. It is a 32 page 2013 Calendar Album.  I love this album because it has so many different facets to it.  Of course, it has a place to keep track of your day to day things you need to remember, but it also has places to put pictures of memories and write them down (or maybe glue in some small keepsakes of those memories).  It would be such a great year long project to continually add to, and would be so fun to go through at the end of the year - and years to come!















The next calendar idea is a lot of fun too!  You just need to get a small, or a large, blank calendar - whichever you prefer.  You could even print out a fun calendar (there are a lot of printables to be found on Pinteres).  Then, make a fun page to the theme of each month with pictures of family and friends.  This project is great because you can either sit down and do it all at once for a project, or you could stretch it out, and make one at the end of each month for the next coming month.  You can also add as many or as little embellishment as you would like.  This project is just for you so make it yours!  Another idea would be to make it a year in review for the coming year with pictures from the past months and give it to Grandma and Grandpa as a Christmas gift at the end of the year. 


 















 Now that you have your calendar ideas, I would like to share some of the goals that I have for myself this year.  I am going to have a new goal to work on each month. That way they will be easier for me to keep track of.  This month, my goal is to go the whole month without fast food (so far so good)!  We are moving in March so my goal that month will be to get everything unpacked and organized. 




Last, but not least, for this months giveaway we are going to be giving away three of the Teresa Collins Project of the Month Calendars.  To win, comment on this post telling me what some of your goals are this year!  We will announce the winners next Wednesday, the 9th of January, so be sure to check back to see if you won!!


 Happy Crafting

New Years Eve Poppers

I can't believe this year is almost over!  It has been such a great one for my family and me with our new little addtion!

Now to the crafts! I hope you kept those left over wrapping paper rolls like I mentioned before!  (You could also use toilet paper rolls if you have those handy.)  So, as you can see here, I made some homemade poppers for New Years Eve.  All you need are some rolls, tissue paper, candy or confetti, twine, paper and embellishments!

I started out by cutting the rolls to the size I wanted them to be, they can be as long or as short as you want them.  Next, fill them with candy and/or confetti, roll them up in the tissue paper, and tie off the ends with some WeR Glitter Sew Easy Glitter Floss.

Now for the fun part...decorating!  For this project I chose the Authentique Peaceful paper line.  I just love the old fashioned look of it, and the golds in it are perfect for New Years Eve.  I also used Doodle Bugs Glitter paper – you can never have enough glitter when it comes to New Years!  For some embellishments, I used Martha Stewart's Layered Doilies, Teresa Collins Everyday Moments Trinkets, and made some of my own Rosettes with our Epic Tool.

Helpful hint: If you are using glitter paper to wrap around you will probably need to use some tacky glue to keep it together.  After putting on tacky glue cut another roll and put it around it and secure it with a rubber band to dry!

You could also use these cute poppers just as decoration to use year after year, because they are just so pretty! I've also made a cute popcorn style box for a treat/candy box. I used the Epic Tool again to make some Mini Popcorn Boxes and put all sorts of candy in them to munch on all night. 

I hope you enjoy making this project as much as I did and I hope everyone has the best of New Years!! See you NEXT YEAR!









Happy Crafting!

Tasty Tuesday

Hello everyone and Happy Tuesday!

This week for Tasty Tuesday I decided to make my favorite treat, cupcakes!  This idea that I had would work for Christmas or New Years Eve.  I'll be honest, I was going for a New Years Eve look with a firework on top, but it ended up looking more like a snow flake, so either holiday would work! You could also get crafty with this and make fireworks using paper and sticks placed in the cupcake, or even use a sparkler.  Just have fun with it!

For this recipe, I used a box mix and made according to directions on the box.  I do however have my own buttercream frosting recipe that I will share :)

1 c. Butter
1/2 c. Shortening
2 1/2 c. Powder sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla extract

-Using the paddle attachment, cream together butter, shortening, and powder sugar until well blended
-Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until light and fluffy

Make sure your cupcakes are cool before frosting, then you can either pipe on the frosting like I did, or you can spread it on.  Add whatever color sprinkles you would like.

Next melt some chocolate, and put it in a zip lock to pipe out.  Lay out a piece of parchment and make some firework design, or snowflakes ;), and add sprinkles before they set up.  Let them harden and carefully remove and add them to your cupcakes!
Note: Make a lot of snowflakes/fireworks, some will break when you try to get them off the parchment.

This also works great for birthdays, or any other themed party, by simply changing with you make out of the chocolate. I hope you enjoy these, and I hope you like my frosting recipe.

Happy Crafting!!