Friday, January 7, 2011

Big Cupcake

Have you ever seen the commercial for the giant cupcake pan?  Well, I think it looks so cute.  I found one of the pans marked half off at CVS a few days ago. To make things a better deal, I had a $5 off coupon.  So I paid $5 for it.  Gotta love that : )  When I brought the pan home on Monday I didn't feel well.  After all, the reason I was at CVS was to pick up prescriptions for myself.  I have some kind of upper respiratory/sinus infection.  Moms aren't allowed to be sick - ever!  The doctor even prescribed some antibiotic ointment for my eyes because they were all red.  I'm trying to use it, but it's really difficult to function when you can't see.  Since I'm a mom, I have to take care of myself -- and sick eyes don't feel good either.  (That reminds me, I haven't use the ointment yet today.)

Yesterday right before my kids got home from school, Clarice said, "Let's make tuptakes, Mommy!"  I asked, "Do you want to make little cupcakes or one big cupcake?" She said, "One big one!"  So I got the pan out and gave it a try. We used a confetti cake mix.  I thought I greased up the pan enough, but some of it stuck inside the pan. You can't tell the difference once it's been frosted.
 
Look how quick Clarice is in sneaking a lick!  (Actually, Randy had the wrong setting on the camera, but I thought it looked funny!)

We let her do it again so we could get a "proper" photo.
By the way, the cupcake cake was just for our family. That's why we allowed the licks.

Annika's best friend Sophie is turning eight today.  Annika reminded me that I needed to make a card.  But since I spent half the night making the big cupcake, I didn't cook dinner OR make Sophie's card.   At the not-so-bright and early time of 5:32 am the phone rang. It was a recorded message from the school superintendent announcing a two-hour delay because of snowy and icy conditions.  After shoveling snow for a half hour, I still had plenty of time to make a card.  And here it is:

I used some new products from the Occasions Mini catalog - the Create a Cupcake stamp set and the Build a Cupcake punch.  The pretty in pink taffeta ribbon was tied using the fork bow method that I saw on Diana Gibbs's blog.  (I should've straightened the bow a bit before taking the photo. It really did turn out cute!)  Annika was really impressed with the fork bow.  I used a serving sized fork to tie it and joked to her that I should keep the fork in my stampin' studio.  She wants me to tie A LOT of bows for her after she gets home from school - in every color! It's hard to tell from the photo, but I added dazzling diamonds to the "frosting."  I told Annika have Sophie show the card to everyone at school.  Maybe I'll get some workshops scheduled. You never know :  ) 

Happy birthday, Sophie!!!

Stamps:  create a cupcake
Ink:  early espresso, pretty in pink
Paper:  whisper white, pretty in pink, crumb cake, early espresso
Accessories:  pretty in pink taffeta ribbon, build a cupcake punch, big shot, polka dot embossing folder, dazzling diamonds, glue dot

Happy Stamping!

Susan

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a younger sister.  Well, I also have a younger brother named Joe. He's the baby of the family, but he's all grown up now.  In fact, he's a successful pharmacist currently living in Winchester, Virginia (and he's single ; )  ).

When Joe came home to visit in the first week of December, he made a stop to the Victorian Christmas Bazaar where I had a table selling my Stampin' Up! goodies.  (I didn't sell many cards, but I did make a profit.  That will be the topic of another post.)  Anyhow, it was really the first time that Joe had seen what I do and all that Stampin' Up! has to offer.

Joe's passion is Beachbody. He signed up to be a Beachbody Coach about a year ago.  You may have seen those Insanity/P90X workout infomercials on TV.  Well that is part of what Beachbody sells.  He has really gotten into this whole workout thing and thinks everyone else should too. 

Beachbody is also a direct sales company.  After just a year, Joe has sponsored several other coaches.  When he saw some of my Christmas cards, Joe asked if he could buy some to give to the coaches in his down line.   I said, "Yes!"  To make a long story short, Joe forgot to take the Christmas cards with him that weekend.  The next time he came home was a few days before Christmas, and it seemed too late to send them.

Joe still wanted to send some kind of cards to his team. I agreed to make them for him, but didn't know exactly what.  Then last week I had an "Ah ha!" moment and reached for my Word Play stamp set.  I inked up the stamp "Go Confidently in the Direction of Your Dreams," made a sample card, took a photo, and emailed it to Joe.  I thought that this would be the perfect card to send:



Stamps:  Word Play
Paper: marina mist, pacific point, poppy parade, soft suede, whisper white, designer series paper patterns pack brights, designer series paper pack in color (hostess level 1)
Ink: marina mist, soft suede, and poppy parade markers
Accessories: dimensionals

Joe loved the cards!  Said it was perfect for the occasion.  He printed the Beachbody emblem small enough to punch out with the 1 3/4" circle punch and glued it to the inside of the card (sorry, no photo.)  Joe said that the Marina Mist color that I used for the card base was almost the same as the Beachbody emblem color.  Joe is writing an encouraging message to each member of his team to do well in the upcoming year.  As a bonus, he said he would enclose a copy of my Stampin' Up! business card in each envelope.  Thanks, Joe! 

Here is link to Joe's Shakeology web site.  Shakeology is a nutritional product marketed by Beachbody.

Happy stamping!

Susan