March & April 2013 Layout Pages

 

credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: by Natali Design- Happy Hoppy Easter, At the Dawn of Spring Collection, by Bethany Harty- Easter Religious Wordart; Spring Fling by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; font: CK Becky

 
For March 2013 Scraplift Challenge at SBG, original layout by Lilith Eeckles.
credits: at Scrapbookgraphics.com: by Flergs- Candy Crush with Melita Bloomer, Candy Crush Extras Collection; Tangie Baxter- AJC11 Provisions Parcel 30 Gesso Textures; font: AJF Mock Turtle, custom font by Darcy Baldwin

  credits: Love is All You Need, Yes You Can Patterns and Prints, Yes You Can by Captivated Visions at scrapbookgraphics.com; Homebody templates by Crystal Livesay at Pixels&Company (part of Homebody collab by P&Co at MSA in April 2013)

 
credits: Let the Games Begin by Libby Pritchett and KCB at SweetShoppeDesigns.com; Rock the Blocks by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; Putt-Putt by Chelle's Creations at scraporchard.com;
font: Loosie Script 

 
credits: You and I by Litabells (newsletter freebie); Rock the Blocks by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; font: SBC Distressed Typewriter

  credits: at The-LilyPad.com: by Michelle Godin- A is For Awesome Papers, A is for Awesome Elements, Snarky Snippets: Awesome, by Kim Jensen: Ragged Edges; GWL Letters: June by Crystal Livesay and Sara Gleason at Pixels and Company
font: custom print by Darcy Baldwin

 
credits: Captivated Visions: You are Worth It Value Bundle, Mish Mash: Stamp Stash Value Bundle 1, CU Kraft Papers; Flergs: Volterra Glitter Styles, Magical Christmas with Jady Day (stars), Love 2 Dance with Charlize (rhinestone ring); Launchpad Feb 2013 template by Blagovesta, Tangie Baxter: Mansion Masquerade (black feather), Microferk: Tragic Romance (red feather), Luna (bling diamond); Jenn Barrette: Naturally Organic (spotted feather); retired: Urban Love by Birgit Kerr, Vivid Intensity by Kim Jensen; font: Arial

 
credits: Captivated Visions: You are Worth It Value Bundle, CU Kraft Papers, Everyone Has a Story; Flergs: Volterra Glitter Styles, Love 2 Dance with Charlize (rhinestone ring); Tangie Baxter: Mansion Masquerade (black feather), Microferk: Caliente Alpha, Tragic Romance (red feather), Luna (bling diamond); Effortless Templates by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany; Jenn Barrette: Naturally Organic (spotted feather); retired: Urban Love by Birgit Kerr, Vivid Intensity (retired) by Kim Jensen  

 
journaling: Alice, Brenna and Brieyelle have had so much fun working together on their ballet trio. Between the extra rehearsals and the playdates together afterwards they’ve become really good friends too. I hope that it is a long-lasting friendship.
credits: What a Wonderful Day by Michelle Godin and Pink Reptile Designs at The-LilyPad.com; Fun With Shapes Vol. 3 Circles by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com
font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

  journaling: With 3 kids in the high school band, Friday nights are often filled with the sounds of grunts, cheering, stomping, pep band music and wolf howls now. It’s often cold, and the bleachers are uncomfortable before too long, but it’s fun cheering for the football team and the band. We are VR! Go Wolves!
credits: Play Ball by Dani Mogstad at jessicasprague.com, Round and Round by Dani Mogstad (retired); Template 219 by Yin Designs

  journaling: Dean Kamen set out to  bring the excitement of sports events to science, and I would say that he has succeeded. You can feel the emotions of the participants in the air when you walk into the Ritchie Center on FIRST regional weekend. The 2012 game was Rebound Rumble- the robots had to shoot 8 inch diameter foam basketballs into 3 levels of hoops, and cross and balance on bridges. Coopertition was taken to a new level with bonus points being awarded when robots from the 2 alliances balanced on the middle bridge together. The Cyber Wolves performance was a mixed bag this year. Essentially no practice time with the robot before Bag and Tag Day meant that all of the little glitches were found on the field during the actual matches. A third day of competition might have made all the difference in showing off what our robot was actually capable of this year.
credits: Play Ball by Dani Mogstad at jessicasprague.com, So Square by Dani Mogstad (retired); Homebody Templates by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com
font: Century Gothic, custom font by Darcy Baldwin

Brown Teddy Bear Cupcakes

 

Party at Build-A-Bear = bear cupcakes, right? Well, I wanted brown teddy bears and I couldn’t find any simple ideas for them. There were white polar bears and panda bears, there were paw prints, and there were the cutest  sculptured teddy bears made out of Tootsie Rolls and other candies, but there were no easy brown bear ideas that I liked. :( I started touring the craft store cake decorating aisles and made up my own with things I found on the shelves, and since I’ve gotten so many good ideas from the lovely ladies who share their ideas on Pinterest and blogs I decided I would put instructions for my brown teddy bear cupcakes up for others to use too. These are so quick and easy, and even the littlest kids can help make them. Sarah was my helper this year and even my perfectionist self could let go enough to let her help. I think they turned out to be adorable.

1. Bake your cupcakes and let them cool. Choose any flavor you want since the cake part doesn’t show. Flatter top cupcakes will be easier to decorate, so don’t overfill the muffin cups.

2. While the cupcakes are cooling, collect your decorating supplies. Here is what I used:
Milk Chocolate Frosting
Wilton Light Cocoa Candy Melts
Wilton Brownie Crunch Turtle Sprinkles
Caramel Creams
Sixlets, black 12mm
Festival Candy Eyes
Wilton black Food Writer, or black decorating gel
optional: pink or red frosting or decorating gel

3. Frost the tops of the cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

4. Pour Turtle Crunch Sprinkles into a bowl and dip the top of the frosted cupcake into the sprinkles making sure to cover the whole surface. Add more sprinkles to the bowl as needed.

5. Unwrap a Caramel Cream candy and gently flatten it with a rolling pin until it is about a quarter inch thick. Put a small amount of frosting on one side of the flattened caramel and place it on the top of the cupcake near one edge. If your cupcake tops are rounder, gently shape the caramel to fit the curvature before sticking to the top.

6. Push 2 candy melt discs into the cupcake at a small angle at the opposite edge of the attached caramel to form the ears. I pulled the discs out and added a bit more frosting on the edge before reinserting it into the cupcake to more firmly attach it, but if you were in a time crunch you could probably do without that extra step since the cupcake is already frosted and they seemed to be fairly secure when first pushed in.

7. Put a dab of frosting on the backs of 2 candy eyes and place them on the cupcake between the caramel and ears.

8. Put a dab of frosting on a Sixlet and place on top of the caramel for the nose.

9. Draw a mouth on the caramel under the nose with a Food Writer or decorating gel.

10. Optional: You could add a tongue and/or pink to ears with frosting or decorating gel.

 

I made 2 dozen cupcakes and still had about a third of the Crunch topping leftover, so a 5 oz. jar should cover 3 dozen cupcakes.

The cupcakes transported to the party well, and the kids loved them.

These cupcakes have so many customization options depending on what decorating supplies you can find and what type of bear you want. Build-A-Bear bears come in a rainbow of colors and patterns. I found all of my decorating items at local craft and big chain stores on the shelves- Michaels, JoAnn Arts and Crafts, Hobby Lobby, and Wal-Mart- but the selection available in different areas might vary.
*Dark brown bears: use dark chocolate frosting and Brownie Crunch Cookies and Cream Sprinkles, dark chocolate candy melts, and flattened tootsie rolls for the muzzle. You could use chocolate jimmies in stead of the crunch sprinkles or just leave them off to let the frosting color show.
*Colored bears like the Sweet Cuddles Teddy, Autism speaks bears: use white or colored  frosting and cover with colored sugar sprinkles. Match the color of the candy melt and Sixlet (or M&Ms would work too for the nose!) to your bear color, and use flattened fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls or Starbursts for the muzzle.
*For multi-colored bears like the Furever Hearts, Lucky Clover, Rainbow Hugs, Champ  and Camo bears, use a mix of colored sugars. You can mix the colors for a random color look or layout specific lines or swirls of the colors in the bowl.
*For looks like the Cele-BEAR-ation, Pink Flurry, Colorful Stars bear, use white frosting and colored sugar, then add shaped sprinkles to the top before adding the face features.

January & February 2013 Layout Pages

   credits: at The-LilyPad.com: by Kim Jensen- Temperamental Painted Papers, Sketchy Alpha, Button Strings, Random Moments Elements(mesh), Srsly Stoked (with Kate Hadfield, sketched border); Michelle Godin- Just Because Papers; Amy Martin- Needed More Stitching 2; One Little Bird- For the Birds (feather scatter, retired); bird shapes by ~lukeroberts at deviantart.com; font: AJF Tweedledee

  credits: Studio Mix 38: Handful of Love by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com; font: CK Becky

 
credits: by Michelle Godin at The-LilyPad.com: Build Your Wings with Melita Bloomer, Handcarved Stamps

 
journaling: There were periods of time when the kids were younger that I would have given a heck of a lot just to get out of the house for a little while. Now that they are all older and have lots of activities that keep us busy, I look forward to the times when all we have to do is stay home- no appointments, no classes, no meetings, nothing to have to watch the clock for..... nothing to do but sit and be still and relax. Being together is good, but being alone is pretty good too!
credits: Fun With Shapes by Crystal Livesay at Pixels & Company; Home by Kaye Winiecki and Studio Basic at The-LilyPad.com; Needed More Stitching by Amy Martin at The-LilyPad.com;
font: Chromosome Heavy, custom font by Darcy Baldwin

 
journaling: FIRST is a huge challenge each year- Design and build a robot that can accomplish the 2 or more difficult tasks in the year’s challenge, all in just 6 weeks. The scrimmage at Coronado didn't go as planned, it's never a good thing to be told that you misread a rule and your robot isn't legal to do what you need it to do. But, at least we found out about it in time to fix it before Stop Build Day. So, it was back to the Fab to reduce the height by 12 inches instead of being able to practice with the robot on the field. We can do it. Don't let the backward steps keep you from moving forward.
credits: Studio Mix 40: Life Is a Journey and Studio Mix 40: Life Is a Journey Flair by The Studio Girls at scrapbookgraphics.com; Angled by Crystal Livesay at Pixels and Company; font: custom font by Darcy Baldwin

 
journaling: I got up on the morning of Valentine’s Day to find Mark bringing in this beautiful boquet of a dozen red roses. Added to the poem Sarah wrote for us and the stack of chocolates and other candy treats I had for the kids, we had quite a pile of sweetness on the table.
credits: at scrapbookgraphics.com: On Chalkboard: First Love and On Chalkboard: First Love Alpha (blog freebie) by Palvinka, Volterra Glitters by Flergs; Lots of Love by Crystal Livesay at PixelsandCompany.com; font: custom print by Darcy Baldwin

journaling: The giraffe area of African Safari at the zoo is usually our first stop when we get to the zoo. The giraffes are always friendly and come up to say hello. Yes, they are looking for crackers or lettuce, but even if you don’t have food they will stay long enough for you to pet them on the nose.
credits: by Michelle Godin at The-LilyPad.com: Wild Thing with Paula Kesselring, Big Stampy Alphas, Teeny Tiny Alphas; Monogram Pagemap from ldsolutions.com
font: Blackout, custom font by Darcy Baldwin