HALLOWEEN BAKING AND CARD - A LITTLE LATE

I am way behind on posting my Halloween creations, but better late than never.  I had a blast making these Halloween chocolate pops, marshmallow pops, dipped pretzels and gift mugs.  I think my favorite was the mummies. 

 

The Halloween card was made using all Stampin' Up materials, including the cat punch from last year.

 

I go to an SU card class a couple times a month and I've met the nicest ladies and made good friends there.  Two of the ladies made these cuties for us - Dee K. made the little bags from SU Paper Pumpkin kit and Dee D. made the gorgeous sewn pumpkins with candy corn.

 

I WALK FOR MY MOMMA - ENDALZ

So my sister and her two daughters and I did the Alzheimer's Walk.  The facts about Alzheimer's are staggering:

• Alzheimer's disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States
• 16.1 Million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimer's or other dementias
• 5.7 Million Americans are living with Alzheimer's.  By 2050 this number is projected to rise to nearly 14 million.
• Every 65 seconds someone in the United States develops the disease.

If you are or have been a caregiver, my heart goes out to you.  You are a warrior!!  There are a lot of Facebook Groups, Live Support Groups and organizations that can help if you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or Dementia.  You aren't alone.  God Bless

HALLOWEEN - MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY

So you'll be seeing more Halloween stuff from me in the upcoming days as I finish off my cards and goodies.  It really is my favorite time of year. Chocolate witches finger pretzels, marshmallow pops, my kitchen valance, and a re-done wreath.  Enjoy

SIMPLE GAMER CARD

All the males in my life are into their video games.  I thought this card would be perfect for any of them.

CUPCAKE TIME

It's officially fall as far as I'm concerned, so I had to make pumpkin spice cupcakes.  And chocolate of course.

FALL WREATH FOR GRANDMA

Dan's sweet grandma is 102 and just moved into an assisted living facility three weeks ago.  I made her this pretty fall wreath for her door. 

CARROT CAKE & CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD CAKE

Baking is my therapy.  It makes me happy and I love everything about it (well, except the dishes lol).  I made a yummy carrot cake and a decadent chocolate overload cake for a fundraiser.  They were grabbed up right away. 

LANTERN BIRTHDAY CARD

I haven't been making many cards lately as I've been having problems with my hands and fingers. It's getting better so I hope to be back at it soon.  For now, here's one I made a few months ago for a sweet friend who loves to camp. 

FOURTH OF JULY YUMMINESS

Fourth of July is one of my family's favorite holidays.  We love to shoot off fireworks (and we live out in the country - kind of), have weenies & s'mores over the fire, and just be silly.  My sister's birthday is also July 1st, so we celebrate it at the same time.  This year I made some cute patriotic treats - cupcakes, pretzels and delicious M&M s'more bars.

CHOCOLATE BOUQUETS

People just love getting one of these chocolate bouquets.  I have tons of chocolate molds so I make chocolate lollipops, chocolate covered pretzel rods, chocolate covered Oreos and chocolate dipped marshmallows.  Wrap them up and tie with a ribbon and then I arrange them in a cup that has a piece of Styrofoam in the bottom.  And, sometimes I even luck out and find some of the cutest cups to use for these at my local Goodwill.  I sell cupcakes and cakes now, I'm thinking about adding these and cookies to my menu.

EASY CRAFTY FUN

I love easy projects.  I have a hairdresser friend who asked me to make her some jars to store bobby pins, barrettes, etc... in - but she wanted them cute.  I went to Goodwill and found some glass candlesticks in different sizes, used some spray paint (I  prefer the Rustoleum brand) some mason jars and cabinet knobs I had hanging around and Ta-Da!

 

So, since the spray paint was out, I painted some frames.  Then, I put some prints that I had purchased years ago from Pick Your Plum (check them out - great stuff at unbelievable prices). 

 

EASY CARD

I love it when I find an easy card that looks great and that can be customized for different occasions.  This was one of those.  I think I may mass produce more so I can have them on hand when I need them.

GIANT CUPCAKE

I just love making these giant cupcakes.  They are so pretty and once you get the hang of it, fairly simple.  I make the "liner" on the bottom from chocolate, so it gives the cake more stability.  And rosettes are so fun for anytime.  This was for my nephew's wedding.  They loved it.  I even made cream cheese mints to match.  The mints are special because my mom taught me how to make them when I was a little girl.

 

MOTHER'S DAY CARDS

It was such fun making cards for my sweet mom, mother-in-law and grandma (she's 101 btw).  All supplies I used for these were 'Stampin Up.

TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK CUPCAKES

I love teachers.  My kid's have the best ones!  And, I appreciate teachers because it is a job I could never, ever do.  They have the patience of a saint.  This year I made Blueberry Swirl, Strawberry Swirl (pie filling swirled into white batter), white almond, chocolate overload, Reese and Unicorn Bubblegum.  They were so fun and I was happy to treat such a deserving group. 

Easter Lipbalm Cards

Easter is so much fun.  Spring is in the air, baby bunnies & birds, egg hunts - love it!  I made these simple but cute cards for my friends using the Stampin Up Basket Bunch stamp set and Basket Builder framelits along with the MFT Die-namics Lip Balm Window & Frame die set.  The fun Peeps Lip Balm I bought at the Five Below store that just opened near me. 

GREAT WEEKEND FOR BAKING

Oh my gosh you guys - I had some great orders for this weekend.  I got to do Strawberry swirl and vanilla Moana cupcakes for a sweet girl's birthday, I had pink & blue smash cakes for twin's first birthday and I had strawberry and chocolate cupcakes for another little girl's first birthday.  It was busy but so fun.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

I'm not Irish, but I love St. Patrick's Day.  I especially love to make cupcakes for the occasion, my favorite being the Irish Car Bomb.  It's a Chocolate Guiness Stout cake with a Jameson Irish Whiskey Ganache and Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting.  Yummy - but it is an adult only cupcake. 

BAKING-YAY!!!  I love to bake, especially cupcakes and this is the beginning of my busy season, I'm so excited.  This past week I did Cookies-n-cream, carrot cake, blueberry swirl and white chocolate macadamia nut.

Yellow Daisy Birthday Card

The color yellow, for me, is a happy color.  It reminds me of sunny days, daffodils and smiley faces.  This daisy happy birthday card just had to be in yellow.  All Stampin Up products

Pet Sympathy Card

No one likes making sympathy cards, but sometimes they are necessary.  My sweet niece & her hubby lost their dog of 14+ years.  I made this card and got her this garden stone.

VALENTINE CARDS

VALENTINE CARDS For me, card-making is therapeutic.  I love Valentine's Day and these cards were super fun.  The huge letter dies from Stampin' Up are great for thes eclipse style cards. 

My nieces and I don't see each other too often.  They have been doing 5K runs, but I never have and my schedule doesn't allow for me to get away much when they usually take place.  So my niece Sandy got online and got us virtual runs for this year.  I'm super excited.  You get a race bib and a medal.  You do the race at a time and place that is convenient for you and then you report your time on the website.  And the best part is that portion of the money you pay to do the runs is donated to charity.  The cupcake run we did raised money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. 

I have always loved shaker cards.  I just don't think to make them too often.  As part of a crafting FB group I belong to, we had a fall shaker card swap.  Here were my two.  I really had fun with them.  The mouse card was case'd (sorry don't remember from where) but the coffee card is all mine. For the coffee card I used coffee beans and it actually made the card smell good.