Can you make me some cupcakes?

A: Will you make me some cupcakes to take to M at work?

Me: Sure. When do you need them and what flavor?

A: Thursday, and I don't care.

Don't you love the "I don't care" part? Maybe this isn't a big deal to the "normal" person, but for me there are far too many choices out there and it takes me days to figure out what to make. At first I was going to go with a smaller version of this gorgeous Neapolitan cake but then I decided that the pink frosting wasn't very boyish. See why it takes me so long? Then I started wondering if there are any allergies or if he liked chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and so on. I finally decided to go with these Hi-Hat cupcakes by none other than Martha herself! I used my go-to chocolate cake recipe, the Hershey's Celebration cake, and followed Martha the rest of the way. They are surprisingly easy to make, other than having to stand over the stove with a hand mixer for 12 minutes. :o

I also decided I would use my Cricut to make some cute cupcake wrappers, can't neglect her. :) I found these a long time ago. I had to resize them to make them fit and they are still taller than I would like, but that is as small as I could get them and make them fit around the cupcake.

Then I added some tulle to the cupcake holder and a gift tag stamped with Happy Birthday.

I hope this works for "I don't care!"

Mickey Mouse Birthday Party

My little guy turned 2 yesterday. It is so hard to believe that 2 years have gone by so quickly! On Sunday, I threw him a Mickey Mouse party and he LOVED it! He is totally obsessed with "mouse!" Here is a sneak peak at all of the tutorials that are to come.

The first thing you need for a party is to create an invitation. I have seen so many ideas floating around, but fell in love with this one.

I created this invitation right after I got my cricut and SCAL, so I was still trying to figure out what I was doing! I found a free Mickey head svg and went from there. The card measured 5.5" tall and 6.5" wide. Then I used the draw tool in SCAL to trace around the bottom portion to create the read "pants." I added real buttons, but you could use ones cut out with the cricut. For the party information in the pocket, I found a Mickey graphic that I liked and then went to Photoshop! It measures 3 x 7.5. I saved it as a jpeg and then opened it up in OpenOffice. There I made 3 fit on a sheet and printed it on white cardstock. Finally, fold it in thirds and place in the pocket! I made custom envelopes for all of them, which did require extra postage.

If you are looking for any of these products to buy, you can find them in my etsy store at: inspiredbyjagger.etsy.com.

Whoooo loves you?

Owls are all the rage these days, so I knew I wanted to make an owl valentine's card! I came up with the idea of making the card one big owl! I ran across this owl svg a while ago and loved it, so that is what I used. I made it to fit in a 5 x 7 envelope, so play around with your measurements, and remember to check the "Keep Proportions" box. I then welded them together on the side, but you could potentially make it open from the top. I used a silver paper for the main card and the all of the valentine paper is from Target 1 spot, again!

For the right inside of the card I cut out "Whooo heart's you?" in pink glitter paper and added a stamp from Michael's. For the left side I added a piece of Jagger's art work and I added some bling to it with some clear glitter glue. I always like to add the name of the child and year so that I can remember when this was done years from now.

Later this week I will be showing you how to turn shipping boxes into lined storage containers, some birthday cards, and the beginning of the projects from Jagger's Mickey Mouse party!

LOVE

Here is my second valentine card that I added Jagger's art to.

Again, I used SCAL and my cricut with a free svg! I got the svg from here. I took the bottom layer and and welded 2 of them together to make the card. I can't remember the exact size that I cut it at, but it was around 3 x 8. Just click the Keep Proportions button and play around with it until you get it the size that you want. I cut this out on, you guessed it, white shimmer paper! You have to play around with it to make it line up right. I added a picture of Jagger in the "O" and ribbon to the bottom. For the "L,V,E" make sure you resize them as well. All of the paper came from the 1 spot at Target, again.

For the inside I cut out another inside "L, O, V, & E" and also used Jagger's art cut out in the shape of a heart.

I did have to cut out a envelope for this one since it is not a standard size. Here is where I bought some envelope templates to use when needed.

Paper Flowers

I will be sharing more of my cards that incorporate your child's artwork, but I wanted to share this card with you tonight! I loved how it turned out and I am even more in love with paper flowers now! They are simple to make but add a real punch to any card.

I used a baby pink card that I already had to start. Then I cut 5 different valentine papers that I got from the $1 spot at Target, which you should check out if you haven't already, and cut them 1" wide by about 6" long. Lined them up on my cricut mat in the order I wanted them. I used a frame that I already had in my SCAL library to cut them. For the paper flower, I used a flower that is in my SCAL library and cut 4 different sizes each a 1/4" different. The largest was 2". I then curled the edges and added the black brad in the middle. For the banner, I used white simmer paper and added the stamp, from Michael's.

For the inside, I just added some matching paper, topped with some shimmer paper, and inked the edges.

Incorporating Artwork

Ever wonder how you can incorporate your child's artwork into a gift for a family member? I have done several different projects with Jagger and given my mom from paintings that Jagger has done. Jagger has really been into painting lately, so we made some valentines "art" and I knew I was going to be sending out handmade valentine cards to some family members, so I decided to incorporate this art in the cards. I have 3 different cards that I have done so far. First up, a tree of hearts.

I used brown craft cardstock, dark red damask paper, and dark red cardstock. My card is 5 x 4. For the brown tree I used a shimmer paper, which I am loving! Then, you guessed it, I used the painting for the hearts! I have a cricut but use SCAL for all of my cuts. I always search for free svg files before even thinking about buying any! Here is where I got the tree of hearts file. The stamp is from a set I got at Target. I added a little bling to the one heart.

Enjoy and I can't wait to share all of the other projects I have been working on!

Changes

I have decided to get back on the blogging train, but with some changes! I am going to start posting projects that me and Jagger are working on. This includes sewing, card making, scrapbook layouts, baking, cooking, kids crafts, and much more. So stay tuned, it will debut soon!