More cards from magazines

I made some more cards with images I cut from magazines. I still have plenty of images left, so I'll post more as I get them made.

First of all, here's a set of notecards with the theme of silver and birds:
These images all came from the same magazine page, so I got the idea to make them into a set.

Supplies: decorative corners (Vintage Cuttlebug die); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis border punch (EK Success); paper (American Crafts).
This next one uses my new Sizzix picket fence die:


Supplies: paper (The Paper Company); embossing folder (Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls); picket fence die (Sizzix Sizzlet); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin).

Supplies: paper (The Paper Company); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis border punch (EK Success); decorative corner punch (EK Success); Cuttlebug die (Ornamental); pearl brad (K & Co).

I know those pearl brads look a little odd, but I had to cover up a number. I tried to balance them.

Supplies: paper (The Paper Company); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis border punch (EK Success); brads (Making Memories); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin); pearl brads (K & Co).

Supplies: paper (The Paper Company); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis border punch (EK Success); brads (Dollar Tree). NOTE: I colored these brads with my BIC Mark-It markers.

Hot Cross Buns as Easter gifts

I know this is a little late for you to use this year, but I wanted to share this little project and couldn't do it before Easter since I finished it at the last minute.

At our church, each of the Sunday school teachers gets their own class a little something for Easter. Since I teach the teen class, I didn't want to give anything too juvenile. I was making Hot Cross Buns anyway, so I got the idea to give one to each of my students. The only problem was presentation ... until I remembered seeing this free cupcake box pattern. It was perfect!

Since I didn't have any paper muffin liners, I used small doilies I had bought at the dollar store. They worked perfectly! (I should note that I made a slightly wider circle in the insert to fit these buns.)

I got these $1 stamps at AC Moore a few weeks ago, and I wanted to use them on something this Easter. This was the perfect project, since it highlights the cross on the buns. Everyone loved the project and couldn't believe I had made it - box and all.



Here is one kind of box ...



And here is a different one. (The only difference: the stamp and the paper.)



Here are my boxes all lined up and ready to go. I thought they made for some pretty gift boxes!

Now for the recipe. These are yummy!!

Hot Cross Buns
4 to 5 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 pkg active dry yeast
1-1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine
2 eggs
3/4 cup raisins
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp cold water

ICING:
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tsp cold water

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, cinnamon and salt. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter to 120-130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients; beat, just until moistened. Add eggs; beat until smooth. Stir in raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with nonstick cooking spray, turning once to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Punch dough down; turn onto a lightly flour surface. Divide into 16 pieces; shape each into a ball. Place in two 9" round baking pans coated with nonstick cooking spray. Using a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut a cross on top of each roll. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Beat egg yolk and water; brush over buns. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine icing ingredients; drizzle over top of rolls.

Yield: 16 rolls

To make it easier, I dump everything but the egg yolk and cold water (and icing ingredients) into my bread machine on the "Dough" cycle and let it do the work. Also, if you want to make these more decorative, you can take the time to pipe the icing on top in the shape of a cross. I did that on the ones I gave away, but usually I just coat the tops of the buns with the icing. They're yummy either way!

Easter at our house

I haven't had a chance to edit these pictures yet, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway. Here is my family in our Easter "finery" yesterday. :)

My little princess who is growing up faster than I can keep track!

My little preacher boy who is doing the same!

And the whole family. I think this was the first "easy" family picture I've taken of us. It isn't perfect because I used the self-timer and had to run to get in the picture, but I like it. It's us.

Lastly, we had a special visitor yesterday:

A new baby duckling from one of our parishioners. This duckling spent the evening service in our house to keep warm, and the kids loved him!

The kids loved their Easter baskets and were blown away by the Sizzix Sidekicks and Cuttlekids dies. (In case I didn't mention it before, we got the machines on clearance for $8.50 each. They are regularly $50.) They call them their "Cuttlebugs" since that's what I have and it does much the same thing. Good thing I gave them a bunch of paper cut to fit the dies because they had fun cranking them through. I was surprised at how quickly they learned how to build the sandwich and how good they're getting at centering everything on the die.

Now I need to run! We have revival this week and had a last-minute change of plans. Our scheduled evangelist couldn't come because of health issues. Since they eat all of their meals in their motorhome, I had done no special grocery shopping for revival week. We're keeping the replacement evangelist at our house, so I'm currently finishing my menu so I can run out to the store today. Good thing I have a day to get ready! :)

Cards from magazines

Thank you, Martha Stewart! I got a free year's subscription to Martha Stewart Living (I can't remember how, but it was an online freebie for something), and I was very pleased to find these gorgeous images in one of my first issues.

I got this idea to use magazine pictures on cards from another blogger whose ideas I just love. Check out her post about it here. I'm more into frills than country, so mine look a little different than hers. :)

Supplies: paper (American Crafts); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis edge punch (EK Success); brads (Dollar Tree). NOTE: I gave the brads two coats of that pearly nail polish I got for just this purpose (I don't paint my nails). They don't look exactly like pearls, but they are beautiful! CARD SIZE: 6x6"

Supplies: paper (American Crafts); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis edge punch (EK Success); brads (Dollar Tree). CARD SIZE: 6x6"

Supplies: paper (American Crafts); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis edge punch (EK Success); brads (Dollar Tree). CARD SIZE: 6x6"

Supplies: paper (Dollar Tree); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Swiss Dots); fleur de lis edge punch (EK Success); brads (Dollar Tree). NOTE: I custom-colored the brads with my BIC Mark-It markers. CARD SIZE: 6x6"

Supplies: paper (DMD Industries); ribbon (Michaels $1 bin); embossing folder (Cuttlebug Textiles); fleur de lis edge punch (EK Success). CARD SIZE: 4.25x5.5"
I cut out lots more pictures, so maybe I'll get to post a few more soon. This is addicting!

Candy recipes

I was asked to share my recipes for the candy I made, so here goes ...

Peanut Butter Eggs

1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 stick margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 lb 10x sugar (2 3/8 cups)
1/2 pkg chocolate chips
1/8 cake paraffin wax

1. Blend together the first four ingredients. Shape and refrigerate until firm.

2. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips with shavings of the paraffin wax.

3. Dip eggs into chocolate mixture. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate.

Yield: 4 large eggs or 28 (give or take) small eggs
NOTE: I made small eggs with this, and I used my medium-sized Pampered Chef scoop to get just the right amount of peanut butter filling. Then it was just a matter of making it an egg shape.

Coconut Eggs (adapted from a coconut cookie bar recipe)

5 ozs sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups 10x sugar
14 ozs shredded or flaked coconut
dipping chocolate (from above recipe)

1. Blend the condensed milk and vanilla.

2. Add the powdered sugar to the above mixture a little bit at a time, stirring until smooth.

3. Stir in the coconut. The mixture should be firm.

4. Shape into eggs (used my P.C. scoop again) and chill in the refrigerator until firm.

5. Dip eggs into chocolate mixture. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate.

Yield: 28 (give or take) small eggs

Enjoy! :)

Frugal Easter preparation

I had planned to take pictures of my homemade peanut butter eggs and coconut eggs, but I forgot to take the pictures before I put the kids to bed. Suffice it to say that making your own Easter candy is much more inexpensive than buying the candy from the store.

In order to make around 28 of each kind of egg (peanut butter and coconut in smaller sizes), all I had to purchase was a bag of coconut ($1.40). I already had the rest of the ingredients on hand, so it was a lot cheaper than buying just 6 of each kind of premade egg.

I also decided that a family of four, with two of them under the age of six, does not need a whole ham to themselves! I like the boneless Cure 81 hams, but I certainly don't like the price of them. And since I haven't been on hand to find good grocery deals on hams over the last few weeks, I decided to go with a cheaper presliced ham and add my own glaze. For less than $3, I got plenty of ham for us. I was happy!

Some other traditions we plan to enjoy this year: an Easter egg hunt (using last year's plastic eggs filled with loose change and various on-hand candies), homemade hot cross buns, pickled eggs, coloring eggs (using a kit I got for $0.10 last year), and hidden baskets.

As for the baskets, there won't be much candy in them. I suspect most parents feel like I do - my kids get enough sugar! :) So I got them each a chocolate cross, they'll each get a few homemade peanut butter and coconut eggs, and the rest will be non-food items. That includes a Sizzix Sidekick (reg. $50 on clearance for $8), 2 sets of Cuttlekids dies (also on clearance for less than 50%), papers I've cut to the exact size needed for the Sidekick machine (from my own paper scrap pile), and a few embossed Winnie the Pooh images (from my own Cuttlebug). If I know my kids, they'll be deliriously happy. And I'll be happy when I'm not dealing with two young kids on a sugar high. :)

What are you doing for Easter?

I'm back!

Well, I ended up with the same sickness as my daughter. Surprise, surprise. At least it only lasted a day. I still managed to get a lot done at my parents' house, and I'm quite pleased with our progress. We spent the last day or so mostly visiting, so that was nice, too.

So now I'm back and trying to get back into my normal schedule here. This was my first day back home, and I feel a bit disorganized. Hopefully that's only temporary! :)

At any rate, I should be able to resume my regular posting now. It's late and I need sleep, so I'm calling it a night!