Lambs both Vintage and Modern with Spring Cupcakes

Happy day!

"Keep the promises you make to yourself."

Dove Promises candy wrapper

Remember, you can always click on the image, puzzle or coloring page 

for a larger version to view and/or copy!

Here is a quick and easy cupcake decoration for Spring. This is perfect for those days when your child is getting ready to go to bed and informs you that he has committed you to bringing snacks for a party... tommorrow!

Easy Spring Cupcakes:

You will need:

> Baked cupcakes from cake mix directions (total time is approx. 30 minutes start to finish)

OR

> purchased pre-made cupcakes from local bakery/grocer

> Jelly Beans

> tinted green coconut

> canned frosting,

          optional: tinted green

reminder: Remember how to tint coconut from a previous blog? Get a glass jar with a lid. Put in coconut. Drop in a few drops of green food coloring. Shake well to coat coconut. You can always add a drop or two more, but once it's green it is hard to make the coconut lighter.

Okay - simple directions.

* Frost cupcakes with canned frosting. If you have pre-purchased cupcakes, you still probably need to put a very light dollop of frosting on top.

* Sprinkle on green coconut.

* Press in 3 jelly beans to simulate eggs.

Presto! Bingo! You're ready to place them in a box and go to school!

Timely tip:

Remind your child that you need more notice next time, like a week!

Remind again. And again.

for sale at Princess Paradise, etsy

"Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful spring."
-  Thomas Carew, The Spring, 1630  

Here are some great Vintage Song Sheet graphics

that would look great decoupaged onto a tray!

c.1895

and

c.1907

and

c.1906

Here is a more recent lamb, Shari Lewis' Lamb Chop:



"The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs."

- Biblical quote

Here is a classical portrait of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God,

and as the Great Shepherd:

"Oh for a closer walk with God,

A calm and heavenly frame;

A light to shine upon the road

That leads me to the Lamb!"

- William Cowper

I think both the pencil sketch and the poem are so beautiful. On that lovely note, I will close for today.

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/



Day 4 countdown St. Patrick's Day +

Good morning!

An Irish Friendship Wish

"May there always be work

For your hands to do;

May your purse always hold

A coin or two;

May the sun always shine

On your window pane;

May a rainbow be certain

To follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend

Always be near you;

May God fill your heart

With gladness to cheer you."

RUBBER STAMPING

Today I thought we could explore the wonderful world of rubber stamping together. I am still amazed when someone says to me "Rubber stamping? What is that?". I have been rubber stamping since 1983 or so, starting out self-taught as there really wasn't that much information out there about it. I have been teaching rubber stamping classes for a couple of decades! Wow.

In the back of a craft magazine I found an ad for a company named "Bizarro", that had rubber stamps. I saved up my money and sent off for the catalog. I think I may even still have it! The pages became very dog-eared and worn what with me reading and re-reading every page of quirky images.

To illustrate how much rubber stamping can be economical, I still have that original bottle of copper embossing powder I purchased for my first batch of home-made-rubber-stamped Christmas cards. I also still have the stamp I used. Both are still quite usable!

To illustrate how much rubber stamping can be outrageously expensive, I now have an entire room dedicated to my hundreds of stamps, thousands of sheets of paper and cardstock, and dozens of bottles of embossing powders, fun flocking, pearl ex, embellishments....well, the list could go on for quite a while!

How sweet it is!

hand stamped and colored domino magnet by inkspired

"The person born with a talent they are meant to use

will find the greatest happiness in using it."

- Goethe

Let's start with a fun rubber stamping project for any level stamper!

St. Patrick's Day Party Cupcakes

The fun baking part-

To do ahead:

Make a batch of cupcakes, let cool.

Frost with green frosting. If you can't find any pre-made, simply use a can of prepared white frosting, and drop in JUST A COUPLE OF DROPS of green food coloring. Really, just a couple. Mix well. You can always add more food coloring a drop at a time.

Sprinkle frosting with green tinted coconut to simulate grass.

How to tint coconut:

Add a few drops of food color to coconut in a jar; shake until evenly tinted.

The fun rubber stamping part-

Find a simple rubber stamp with an Irish theme - shamrocks are great. The image should be no larger than 1 1/2".

Purchase a good ink pad. Go ahead and invest $7 and get a green one. I like Stayz-on, Brilliance or Marvy Matchables.

You will need a pack or so of lollipop sticks. You can find these anywhere they sell Wilton cake decorating supplies (I get mine at JoAnn's Fabrics).

Now you want circles or squares or ovals of plain cardstock.

You will also need the same amount of green cardstock cut into shapes. 

There are many hand held punches in these shapes.

For more addicted stampers, there are the cuttlebug or cricut machines, etc.

Or you could do the old fashioned but really cheap way, and trace around a bottle or jar for a round circle, and cut out.

Ink your stamp lightly. No grinding, pounding or smacking.

Stamp your simple image onto scratch paper first to practice, then stamp onto the shaped plain cardstock.

Pretty!

Let dry or help it along with an embossing gun to set ink.

No, a hair dryer won't work.

Now make a sandwich:

Shaped and stamped plain cardstock circle face down +

    blob o' glue, with lollipop stick in the center +

        shaped green cardstock.

Press to secure lollipop stick. Let dry.

alternate - you can tape the lollipop stick in place and then glue the green card onto the back.

Or, you can put a dab of frosting on back side of stamped circle, and push lollipop stick into that, then a dab more frosting and squish the green cardstock in place on top.

Go clean your stamp. Using an old washcloth or tube sock, dampen the cloth. Dab your stamp repeatedly onto it and slightly scrub until no more green comes off. Then stamp several times onto scratch paper to make sure there is no more ink leftover. Your stamp should not be wet.



For extra pretty, tie a thin ribbon bow at the base of each stamped circle, around the lollipop stick.

Push one decorated lollipop stick into each cupcake.

Ready to go!



Fun extra - if this is for a school party, you can write the name of each student on the back, plain green cardstock side to personalize!

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish,

then you're lucky enough."

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com



Cake, Quotes and Baking tips

Hello!

Swiss Alps town

"The atheist can't find God for the same reason a thief can't find a policeman."

Today is gray, foggy and a light scattering of snow looking out my window.

A perfect day for baking a cake!

The following is a cake recipe that my mother baked every Christmas morning.  It has a long baking time, so we would gather around our Christmas tree, and Dad would read the Christmas Story from Luke.  Then we would open our presents, one at a time so we saw what each of us received.

Then it was time for CAKE!!!!!

Neiman Marcus Cake

or

South St. Louis Ooey Gooey Cake

or

Gooey Butter Cake

(I have seen similar recipes with these different names.)

I will provide you with the recipe I grew up with:

1st Layer:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick melted oleo/margarine

2 eggs

> Combine these 3 ingredients with a mixer and spread into a greased 13"x9" pan.

2nd Layer:

1 box powdered sugar (3 3/4 Cup)

8 oz. cream cheese, soft

2 eggs

> Combine these with a mixer and pour over the first mixture. It's actually more like a glopping over the first layer!

> Bake at 275' for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

> Cake will become light brown and begin to fall in the center and will continue to fall as it cools.

How cool is that? A cake that is actually supposed to fall!!

Some recipes call for a sprinkling of powdered sugar over the top, but I find this unnecessary and just makes it messier.

courtesy of Dover Publications

http://store.doverpublications.com/

ENJOY!
I am sure this will become a family favorite for you, just as it has in our family.

"Peace on earth will come to stay,

When we live Christmas every day."

- Helen Steiner Rice

No, I'm really not in a Christmas mind set, but I suppose writing out the recipe for a traditional Christmas morning cake, and it being a bit snowy outside, I kinda' go with the flow!

COOKING TIP:

Do you have trouble getting your gravy to thicken? Does it always seem to turn out lumpy? Here's an easy, simple solution:

Gold Medal Wondra quick-mixing flour. It comes in a cylinder canister; easy to spot with its' bright blue label. You just sprinkle it into the hot liquid and it always works great.

Remember, when thickening anything, it will get more and more thicker after it sits for a bit. So stop trying to thicken just short of your desired consistency.

(oh, that's terrible grammar, but it says what I want it too!)
Go grab that cup of tea, and give yourself a few minutes of quiet.
Then eat cake.

inkspired
http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/
dominoes@myinkspired.com



Beginning Altered Art Paper Doll tutorial, Kirigami intro and quotes

Hello!  Here is a great quote to start your day:

Like snowflakes, the human pattern is never cast twice.

We are uncommonly and marvelously intricate in thought and action.."

........Alice Childress

Altered Art Paper Doll Tutorial:

I moved around quite a bit as a child. I was blessed with parents who thoughfully provided me with the perfect portable toy - paperdolls! They went everywhere with me.

I cherished each and every one. I had Lucille Ball, Hayley Mills, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mary Poppins, 5 Ballerinas, 3 Nurses, Little Women, it's a small world..the list goes on and on!

So...you might say I have had a love affair with paperdolls for a very long time. In the past few years I have been very interested in altered paper dolls. By using paper dolls as a vehicle for creative release, you might say I'm STILL playing with my paperdolls!

Sounds good to me!

Getting Started:

You already have!  Using all that wonderful found treasure from you backyard, sewing kit, scrapbooking box, game room, etc. you are well on your way.

Decide what you doll will be.

Will it be a self portrait?
Will it be for your eyes only, or will you share it?
What do you want her/him to say?
Does your paperdoll represent a theme?
An emotion?
A certain time in history?
Or is she just to be a fun and quirky piece of creative art?

Now that you have started thinking about your altered paper doll, sort through your "treasures" that you picked out in the last few days. Does anything strike you for a base? This will be a head, a head with a torso, or a complete base with head, arms, legs and torso.

You can find paperdoll bases at many places on the internet for free:

Here's one:
 http://familycrafts.about.com/od/paperdolls/ig/Paper-Doll-Accessories/Paper-Doll-Body.htm

and another:
http://www.box.net/shared/n2o0zxx0rf

and another
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/TCR/0615_57-59.pdf

You can also take a paper doll that you already own, and trace around the outside of the doll, to give you a good base.
I have also had success with cutting out full length photos of someone from magazines. I also snag photographs with great body parts in them - a good set of legs, a good arm or two, etc.

You can either choose your head first or your torso first to get started.
Let's look at things that you might want to use for a head:

* doll head
* paper doll head from a tattered set
* matchbox
* copy of a paper doll head, or of a photo of someone in your family
* a sticker
* a copy of a famous painting
* small shrine box
* game piece

TIP: a doll head does not have to have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 nose or 1 mouth!

Here are a few things that you could use for your torso:

* any of the above items!
* silk flower head
* playing card, or tarot card
* card stock figure
* mentos tin
* small computer component

Getting the idea?   :0)

Re-arrange and play with your pieces.
Do you want arms or legs?
Do you want your paperdoll to be moveable, or glued into one position?

Here are some photos of other talented artists' work:

The first is from ArtByDebora, an etsy artist.

This one is from dadadreams, on etsy.

This one is made by penniesfromheaven, another etsy artist and shop:

TIP: There are so many options for limbs - thread beds onto wire stiff enough to stay in place. Or use chenille stems! Be sure to loop one end of the wire to the beads don't fall off!  Thread the top of the wire through grommets, eyelets or punched holes on the body base. For a foot or a hand, make another loop at the end of the wire/chenille stem.

Get ready for tomorrow:

Look through your stacks of magazines, and catalogs. If you don't have any, go ask a neighbor to donate to your project. It beats asking for a cup of sugar!
Variety will make this next part so much more fun.
You can start clipping and tearing out body parts if you still need them. Cut out fanciful hats, or colored, textured parts to cut your own hat out of. Same goes for interesting necklaces, bracelets, earrings, shoes, skirts, etc.

Let your imagination soar into silliness!

Baking tip:
After unwrapping a stick of butter or margarine, use the wrapper to butter the inside of pans/muffin cups, etc. Anywhere that you have to "grease" the surface.

Here are some photos of kirigami that I have done. It is to whet your appetite for the next few blogs!

"If you don't like where you are,

change it!

You're not a tree."

...Jim Rohn

Have a wonderful, serendipity day!

Share your creations and thoughts with me!

hugs,

inkspired