Monday with Mom

Oh, my! Mom made the most adorable card using the Sweet N Sassy Woof You clear stamp set. I really love how she colored this little guy. On top of the great coloring, she used the tutorial over at Stamptv to create a flocked background on the card. It turned out just fabulous, but see for yourself.

The striped background paper was made using flock and score tape. I haven't tried this technique yet but Mom said it was really fun and I do need to use up some of my flock supply. This is a great little stamp set to work with. Hmmm! May need to get this one back from Mom.
Okay, I've really wanted to try the flocking technique but I've been trying to get some projects done and I didn't want to experiment just in case it turned into a disaster. So... let me show you what I did create. One of my coworkers had a birthday on Friday the 13th and I overlooked it (talk about bad luck). To make up for my oversight, I created a cake in a can for her complete with some icing in a baggie and a candle.

I've had few questions about how I create these and though I've shared this before on my blog, I thought it might be time to repeat it. First of all, I got my recipe for this from Jackie Gannaway. I discovered Jackie years ago at a Country Peddler show and have been a huge fan ever since. I still have the very first cookbook I ever bought from her, signed and everything. You can find Jackie's cookbooks and gift ideas here. This recipe is found in the Crafty Cans from the Kitchen book. Jackie doesn't actually cook up the cakes for the recipient. Her recipes call for creating and giving the mix in the decorated can. My way of thinking is that I don't want to cook up anything on my birthday, so I go ahead and bake the cake for the recipient in one can and while it's baking, I decorate a clean can. That way I can put the cooled cake in the decorated can with a little bit of glaze mix or icing in a zippered baggie.
Basically, you mix a small pudding mix with a store bought cake mix. You use 3/4 of a cup of the mixture per can. For each can, you'll add one egg, 1 T of water, and 1 T oil. Mix that together and pour into a buttered (not sprayed) can and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  The cookbook will give you lots of ideas for different combinations for cakes, but there are other recipes in there including several bread recipes, too.
I just think this makes a nice, simple gift to give a coworker or neighbor without creating a whole cake.
Did you see those flowers on my can?

 I spent a large part of yesterday playing with flowers. I watched some videos and then got busy converting some primas and punching some patterned paper to create these gorgeous flowers. First, I stopped here and got the original inspiration. Then, went here to watch the video.
If you managed to get through this whole post, you've had quite a read. I'm not normally this chatty on a Monday morning, but I had lots of ground to cover today. Hope you found it enjoyable, helpful, or inspirational.
Cheers!

5 Star Cake in a Can

As school came to a glorious close, I made eleven cakes in a can for my co-workers who had summer birthdays. Now, I had to cook the cakes in a couple of different batches since I only had so many cans to work with. (I don't cook much or I'd have had more cans, but oh well!)

I decorated the cans with some Papertrey Ink bitty dots patterned paper, PTI Pure Poppy and Spring Rain ribbons, and created some embellishments with the Star Prints stamps. I originally fell in love with this stamp set because it coordinated perfectly with the SU large star punch, but what did I go and do? Did I stamp on material that could be punched out? Of course NOT. I had to stamp on fun foam and felt which then had to be CUT out with scissors! If you know anything about me, you know that trimming out stamped images is not at all one of my favorite things to do. I own a Cricut, a Cuttlebug and half a million punches so that I don't have to cut, but wouldn't you know, I'd have to take a simple project and make it all time-consuming. Actually, stars are not that hard to cut out, but if I admitted that to begin with, then I couldn't complain!

Anywhoo, I did punch out some stamped stars to create candle holders for the tops of the cakes. I glued the foam and felt stamped images to the cans which gave the cans a little dimension, too. The sentiment on the cans is also from PTI's Star Prints stamp set.

I'm pretty much through with cakes in a can for my co-workers since school is now out, but I've thought of a couple of friends with impending birthdays who might like a special little cake of their own. Usually it is the mothers and wives who bake or buy the cakes for their loved ones, but these women are often forgotten when their birthdays come up. If you want some more ideas for decorating or making cake in a can see my earlier posts. Also, don't forget to check out Jackie Gannaway's website for her book Crafty Cans From the Kitchen. There are several cake in a can recipes in this book, and all are very simple to make. The book is only $3.95.

Project Recipe

(All supplies from PTI unless otherwise noted)

Paper:Spring Rain CS, Pure Poppy CS, Rustic White CS, Bitty Dots PP in Spring Rain and Pure Poppy

Stamps: Star Prints

Ribbon: Spring Rain topnotch twill, Pure Poppy Luxe Satin

Accessories: SU Star Punch, red felt (hobby lobby), blue fun foam (walmart), cleaned recycled tin cans, candles, cellophane bags (hobby lobby), curly ribbon (dollar store)

Yummy in a Can

I needed one of my birthday cakes in a can to give to a male colleague. I kind of needed it in a hurry, and I wanted to keep it simple since I didn't think this particular coach would get really excited about getting a cake with a bunch of bling and flowers all over it. So I just pulled back my urge to "decorate" and found some soft green paper and a simple sentiment stamp, a few coordinating buttons with twine, and then baked the cake. So simple!

It's hard sometimes to not go all out, but sometimes less is more. I really liked how this turned out in spite of not using every tool in my arsenal. Plus, it is more cost effective.

Project Recipe

Paper: CTMH That's Amore, PTI Rustic White, My Mind's Eye PP

Stamps: SU Yummy

Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities die, cuttlebug, buttons, PTI twine

Spring Fling Inspiration in a Can

My neighbor said the temperature reached 100 degrees today, so I think we may have skipped right over spring down here and gone straight to summer. But Papertrey Ink is sponsoring a Spring Fling Inspiration Challenge and the design team have all found an inspiration piece that reminds them of milder temperatures and the colors of spring. See the details here.

I grabbed my inspiration from Lauren Meader's Tea Party magazine spread. I loved the yummy colors in the picture and borrowed a couple of design elements from Lauren's projects. I baked one of my cakes in a can (see previous post) for a fellow staff member who has a birthday tomorrow, decorated the can, stuck the cake in it, and "planted" a flower.

Lauren used PTI's new Guidelines Cardstock to create some patterned paper. I've been looking for an excuse to try this technique out, so I pulled out my heart prints smaller hearts to create my "blossoms". Then, Lauren and her daughter created a fan flower as part of their project, so I decided instead of sticking a candle in my cake, I would "plant" a flower. I colored the top half of a bamboo skewer with my green copic marker (don't know if these are non-toxic, so I just colored the part that wouldn't touch cake), cut out two flowers with Spellbinders nestabilities scalloped circle die, and nestled the stem in between the two flowers. Zippy, right!

Project Recipe

Paper: PTI Lemon Tart CS, Guidelines I Gridsheet, Bitty Dots Basics in Raspberry Fizz PP
Stamps: PTI Heart Prints, Birthday Basics

Ribbon: PTI Raspberry Fizz Satin Dots

Accessories: Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Circle and Classic Circle, Cuttlebug, yellow buttons(unknown)

Birthday Cake in a Can

Here's my can all ready for the cake I just finished cooking. It's a lemon cake. I make these for all my co-workers at the junior high where I teach. Jackie Gannaway has this fabulous little cookbook with recipes for quick and easy cake in a can. You just use cleaned out 14-15 oz. tin cans. Check out this cookbook and others here.







This is the can with a cake and candle inside. It's all wrapped for delivery to the birthday girl in the morning!
Project Recipe
Paper: Tea Party DSP, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Stamps: Yummy, Lovely Labels
Accessories: Making Memories Blossoms and Buttons, Imaginisce flower, Regal Rose ribbon
Tools: Fiskars scallop border punch