Art for your Walls!

 Hey there scrappy chicks!  Wanted to introduce to you my new line of home decor wall art.  


I am growing to love mixed media art....and with these altered printers trays, I get to combine my love for scrapbooking, paper crafting and altered art!  


They come in a variety of styles and finishes; once decorated, they can be left as is, or for you cropping fans...they can be dolled up with your personal photos.  They have oh so many uses, like collecting and displaying mementos from a trip, storing artist trading cards, a way to display your favorite chatzkies or maybe creating one to hold your baby's keepsakes or making one to give as a housewarming gift (people still do that don't they?)!  

 Buttons, buttons and more buttons oh my!

Wouldn't this be too cute in baby's room?

With photos added :)

Have you altered a tray?  Leave your link so I can check it out!  

Cupcakes for my Chocoholic Hubby!

Hey sweet friends!  Got an extra yummy recipe for you from my "go-to" cupcake book, "Cupcakes" by Susanna Tee.   We celebrated hubby's birthday the other night, and I wanted to come up with an extra special treat for him but that is no easy task.  He loves his chocolate, and I mean he's a chocolate cake and chocolate chocolate chip ice-cream kinda guy...so I decided on these devil's food cake ones with chocolate frosting.  To make them look extra cute, I layered them in some mason jars, with frosting in between and sprinkled some chocolate chips on top...so divine!  Hubby was quite pleased, so mission accomplished!

Here's the recipe with my substitutions in parentheses:


Makes 18 cupcakes 
3 1/2 tbsp soft margarine (or butter)
generous 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I used organic maple)
2 large eggs
generous 3/4 cup all purpose flour (I used unbleached)
1/2 tsp baking soda
generous 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup sour cream (I used plain greek yogurt)

Frosting
4 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate (I used Trader Joe's chocolate chips)
2 tbsp superfine sugar (organic maple)
2/3 cup sour cream (greek yogurt)

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  You can use 18 paper baking cases in a muffin pan or I used coconut oil to grease muffin pan since I planned to put cupcakes in the mason jars.

-Put the margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, and cocoa n a large bowl and, using an electric hand whish, beat together until just smooth.  Using a metal spoon, fold in the sour cream.  Spoon the batter into the paper cases or muffin tin.

-Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until well risen and firm to the touch.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

-To make the frosting, melt your chocolate in a heat proof bowl (I melted mine in the microwave for 1 minute at 70 percent power, stirred and then for an additional 30 seconds at 70 percent power).  Remove from the heat and let cool slightly, then whisk in the sugar and sour cream until combined.  To put in the mason jars, it's less messy to put one plain cupcake in the bottom, then frost, layer another cupcake on top and spread frosting over the top.  You can set in the refrigerator before serving.  Serve decorated with left-over chocolate chips.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the author or publisher of the "Cupcakes" book!

Birthday for Baby Spice

My sweet girl turned three last month and we hosted a small birthday dinner for her...ordinarily I don't do full-blown birthday decor, unless it's a P-A-R-T-Y. But Miss Thang had it in her mind she wanted cute party hats (perhaps she saw them while I was on Pinterest?) and for those who know me, I just couldn't leave it at that. Especially when I came across this post on Ruffles and Stuff's fab blog, about doing party decor for free with scrapbooking materials. And as we all know from previous posts, I have PLENTY of those around :)

For the hats, I took an old store bought one I had (yes, I hoard like any good crafter), took it apart and used it as a template. I added the ribbon trim while the girls' hats were still flat --I used hot glue instead of sewing...but the ruffles look good, right?

Baby Spice got in on the dessert-making (no surprises here!)

We're a cupcake kinda family, so this year we decided to try cupcakes in a jar, and yes, the yellow cupcakes and Raspberry lemon frosting were homemade! See this post here for the recipe. They were delish!

I had been itching to make some of these as well...yes, more scrapbook paper! They were the perfect wall, well, mirror decor and you can reuse them or hang them in your child's room. Now, how's that for crafting on a budget?

Pinterest Challenge Giveaway Winner

We finally have a winner for the Pinterest Valentine's Day Challenge Giveaway!  Boy, did it come down to the wire or what???  Two of my FB fans hung in there for dear life, and the right guess came in on the last day! Congrats to Kathleen Heltzer for guessing the winning project, "So Pretty!"  Paula, from Scrap Your World sure gave her a run for the $$$!!  Thanks to all who entered.  Kathleen, please email me at cinnamonspice7 {at} gmail dot com to claim your gift.   

You will be receiving this lovely felt-rosette wreath!  The original wreath was pinned by theidearoom.net.

Now for Part II...I need you, my lovely readers to head over to the EtsyMom FB page HERE and check out all the lovely Pinterest-inspired Valentine's Day projects and vote on your favorite, EVEN if it's not MINE!  They should be posted by tomorrow, Feb 2nd.  You can visit my Pinterest Board here to see the original wreath, {it's a pretty full board, so scroll all the way to the bottom!}. Remember, we all created something outside our normal niche!

Happy voting!

{Giveaway} with a Twist!!!

Are you ready for a fun little giveaway based on one of the hottest Internet past times?  Yep, you guessed it...this giveaway is all about Pinterest!  I'm participating in a Valentine's Day Pinterest Challenge sponsored by EtsyMoms...I have to choose a V-Day inspired project to complete and give as a gift.  Here's the catch, it has to be a non-papercraft...

Oh my stars, what have I gotten myself into???  

Soooo, where do YOU come in?  I've created an "Oh My Sweet Valentine" inspiration board here...all you need to do is guess which craft I'm going to make.  The first one to correctly guess what I'm making will win the gift!  No kidding, I really am going to make it for one of you :)

The RULES:

• You must be a fan of my Facebook page here to enter.
• Comments should be entered on my FB page, along with your email addy so I can contact the winner.
• To describe the pin you've chosen, use my comment for that pin, ie "Cute font ;)".
• 1 guess per day, so think carefully, but don't take too long!!
• Giveaway will end once the First person correctly guesses the item I'm going to make.

Good Luck...maybe you'll catch a little inspiration for your Valentine's Day projects!!!

2012, the Road Ahead

Welcome 2012!!!  

My family and I closed out last year with a 2-week trip to my folks' place in St. Louis...after it took us nearly 3 days to drive back, hubby has declared no more winter road trips to my hometown!  

During the many hours on the road, I had lots of time to reflect on my creative business, what I've accomplished and where I want to go this year.  I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but I believe wholeheartedly in 

setting goals, personal and business, with a DATE attached, don't you?

SO I want to share mine with you!  It will help keep me accountable and might inspire you as well ;)

This year, I am going to:

• Make better use of free business coaching resources (Ongoing). I started by attending Laura Roeder's Facebook Divide Webinar yesterday.  If you want some usable tips on untangling your business from your personal page, check it out here!
• Design a newsletter, develop a subscription list and decide the content and how often it will go out  (Jan 30).
• Overhaul my blog--I have changed the content a few times and need to decide on the exact direction I want it to go!  (Feb 29).
• Work on my branding, to include a possible name change, new logo and shop banner (Mar 31).
• Organize my craft room/studio--I need to carve out time to focus on getting this room set up so that I can be productive--tough because we moved last year and my space is much smaller, AND I'm still digging things out of boxes (May 31).
• Launch my own website! (Oct 30).
• Increase my sales by 50% -- I am launching a new, higher priced product line which is more cost- and time-effective to help achieve this.
• Do 4 quality craft shows (Dec 18).

I would love to read what YOU want to accomplish this year and what steps you'll take to get there, so feel free to share ;)