“Valentine’s Day Cup-Cakes”

Today is Valentine’s Day, and JorjaRose had a “shared lunch” at school today.  
Sooooo we decided on a Valentine’s Day theme for her “plate”

Each child is asked to bring a plate of finger-food to share, what with 600+ kids at school, and 200+ in her Syndicate, there was quite an array of goodies to eat!

Last night, JorjaRose made these cup-cakes by herself with supervision from moi.

We used a packet of “Edmonds Angelic Vanilla Cake”, and only had to add an egg and some water to the mixture {as per the directions}.

 

 

 

Instead of baking a Cake, we decided to make Cup-Cakes, and there was enough batter to make 18 Cup-Cakes!

 

 

AND this morning she was up at 7am ready to ice the Cup-Cakes!!!

When we went to make the icing, we discovered we had no food colouring, so added Jelly Crystals in the icing, which gave it the pink colour.

We made these cute little Toppers by re-purposing paint strip samples, and punched out a zillion hearts in different colours of pinks, and then we used double-sided tape to adhere to the long toothpick skewers.

 

At the shared lunch, JorjaRose’s Valentine’s Day Cup-Cakes were the first to go; secretly I think the little girls just wanted the heart Toppers!!!

 

 

 

 

“Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath Kit Class ...

Yesterday the “Crafty Wenches” got together for a craft off!

Sally’s craft class is called the “Crafty Wenches” and we get together every fortnight. Usually Sally, has between 4 and 10 crafters attend, and yesterday we had mother/daughter team Liz and Sophie, Anne and myself.

Monday's theme was the new “Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath Kit {NZ$35.95 #133333}, and to be fair you need to allow 3 hours for this gorgeous project ...

 

The Kit comes complete with everything you need provided; however I did add a couple of gorgeous butterflies to my Wreath from the “Papillon Potpourri” stamp set.

My favourite part was putting together the fringe flowers, these are genius, and so easy to replicate, with some DSP and the new Fringe Scissors {NZ$19.95 #133325}.

The wrapping of the Burlap around the flattened Wreath is very therapeutic, and quite easy to create such a stunning rustic/shabby chic piece of art.

I love the way that you can {carefully} remove the flowers to change up the Wreath for any season or any occasion … think Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Easter …

Here are some step-by step photos I took {one handed!!!}...

This Simply Created Wreath Kit has recently been released, in the new “Celebrate The Everyday” Occasions Brochure, available 28.01.2014 till 30.06.2014

The only downside of making this gorgeous Wreath, is that I burnt my fingers terribly with the HOT glue gun!!!

“Papillon Potpourri” Stamp Set

#123759 Clear Mount NZ$31.95

#132058 Wood Mount NZ$39.95

Fringe Scissors 

 #133325 NZ$19.95

Recipe Ingredient List

“Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath Kit {NZ$35.95 #133333}

Stamp Set: “Papillon Potpourri”

Ink: “Coastal Cabana” and “Crisp Cantaloupe”

Punch: Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly

Xtras: Pearl Basic Jewels

Special Tools: Glue Gun

Liz's “Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath

Sophie's “Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath

Anne's “Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath

Kathe's {my} “Burlap and Blooms” Simply Created Wreath

If you look closely at the Wreaths made by the ladies, you will see they have added their own individual touches ... can you spot the Dragonflies, Pearls, Rhinestones and Decorative Leaves? 

I ♥ that we each started out with the same Kit, yet each of our projects turned out so differently!

I hope you have as much fun making your "Burlap and Blooms" Wreath as we did!

School Goes Back Tomorrow … Finally!!!

Well …first day back at school on Friday {after the Summer holidays}, and I get a call to say that JorjaRose has thrown up and could I collect her.
Poor baby ♥

Reilly goes back to school tomorrow {I mean today as it is 2.25am!!!}, after 7 weeks of Summer holidays.

This will be Reilly’s final year at Intermediate {Middle School}, before he goes on to College {High School} next year.
I have just finished covering his school exercise books with glossy Clear Cover-Seal.

My how easy it is to work with Clear {NZ$1.99 per roll}, rather than patterned {NZ$5 per roll} or my DIY on JorjaRose’s school books! {please click to read Tutorial}.

I polished {pun intended} them off in just over an hour.
My biggest hint is to cut the Cover-Seal to about 2cm bigger than the exercise book.
Start covering the back first, as I found that the last side of the book covered always came out best.
Use a ruler to smooth the Cover-Seal as you go.
Mitre the corners, and cut a V into the Cover-Seal where the spine of the book is.
And wah-lah … job done!

My hubby Wayne made the kids school lunches, as this is one job I do detest!

We ♥ to re-purpose in this household, so Reilly’s lunch box was originally an Ice-Cream container!

On a side-note, with the kids back at school, I can {finally} get back into my craftin’ and I can’t wait!!!

My project for tomorrow is the gorgeous Stampin’ Up! “Burlap and Blooms” …

 

Anyways … must dash as I need to get some sleep before shepherding the kids off to school tomorrow, I mean today!