I Love Fall Weddings!

So, October was a busy month for me! Three weddings, birthdays and Halloween baking kept me busy for the entire month. Good thing I found a Kitchenaid for half-price to get me through the month. My little hand-mixer would have never made it through all of that icing! This post is primarily cakes! Stamping has kind of taken a back seat to baking these days but I hope to have some new projects to post in the coming weeks for all of you stampers out there.

This picture was preparation for two weddings that happened to fall on the same day. My sister married Bob and then our friends, Kathy and Mike, celebrated their 20 year anniversary by renewing their vows. My sister decided to have cupcakes for her reception and Kathy and Mike went with a "beach" theme in preparation for their upcoming "honeymoon" cruise.

Amanda and Bob

Mike and Kathy's cake

Then, a couple weeks later, my cousin Jennifer, married Michael and I made wedding cake number three for the month. I love this cake! I love the colors and the shape and the flowers. It turned out beautifully, a great fall wedding cake!

At the beginning of the month, one of the girls that I work with was celebrating her little one's 1st birthday and the theme was John Deere. So I came up with this cake for the party. I've never done a John Deere cake before, but I thought it turned out pretty cute!

Halloween came and went but I was able to make some cookies and cupcakes for my favorite holiday. I also squeezed in several batches of chocolate chip cookies and a batch of pumpkin spice cookies, too. The pumpkins spice cookies and the chocolate chip cookies were not around long enough for a photo opportunity. My family loves chocolate chip cookies. After they have cooled they take the whole batch and put them in a ziploc bag and freeze them. They eat them frozen, kind of like eating cookie dough!

I've also been on a bread-baking kick this month and baked several kinds of bread - French baguettes, cinnamon swirl bread, dinner rolls and country white bread. There is not much that tops a fresh, warm loaf of bread with a little bit of butter melted on top.

The month of October, while busy, left our house smelling like a full-fledged bakery. One of the best smells in the world, along with (in my opinion) a freshly opened jar of peanut butter and stovetop cooked popcorn. ~Amy

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Fall Appears To Have Finally Arrived

Thought I should post a few Halloween projects and a few fall pictures being that this is my favorite time of year. The girls and I went for a walk at Jefferson Barracks today. It was a beautiful afternoon and the colors are still good. Saw a few bare trees but most of the leaves are still hanging around.We walked the same route that we would have walked on Saturday if we had made it to the Annual Walk Run for their schools, but we missed it. Weddings on Friday and then volleyball on Saturday followed by extreme exhaustion!

Did have time in the last couple of weeks to put together a few Halloween projects. Here are my favorites. The others are posted in the Creative Gallery, which you can view by clicking on "Cards and Things". Saw "eyeballs" made with ROLO candies and they were displayed in a clear jar on someone else's blog. So, I decided that instead of ROLOs and a clear jar, I would use Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, make bigger eyes and turn them into individual treat bags. I love the new Bat Punch, too!

Since Halloween is really all about the treats, here are a couple more candy holders. The pumpkin jar was made by purchasing a small plastic jar from the local craft store ($.67, a steal!) and then stamping the pumpkin face with Staz-On ink. Used tissue paper and some rafia and added a tag. The spider web treat bag was cut from the Two Tags Die on the Big Shot and then embossed with the Spiderweb Embossing plate. It holds a single mini candy bar, the flavor is your choice (we prefer Milky Ways in this house)!

And last, but not least, a creepy Halloween card. I saw a version of this card on another blog (sorry, don't remember where). I changed it up a bit by adding the ribbon and a glitter brad and I love the end result. Had a great time putting these together and I hope to put together a Christmas class in the next week or two. I'll let everyone know when that class will be held, just as soon as I decide what projects I plan for us to make.

I've also posted cake pictures again in Cakes, Cookies and Things. A couple new wedding cakes to view and a birthday cake or two.

Have a great October and Happy Halloween!

~Amy

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Lots of Pictures Today . . .

So, I have been seriously lacking when it comes to posting things to this blog. I guess a full-time job, summer, vacation, etc. kind of kept me busy. A few new things to see here. I have added a slide sho on the left - pictures from our vacation in Arizona. On the right there are now two links under the heading "Creative Gallery". You can find pictures of my cakes and cards by choosing the appropriate link. I will try to add to these links regularly, so check there for new pictures. Hoping to plan a Halloween Class soon!

I am thinking these dates and times . . .

Friday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m.

and/or

Sunday, September 19 at 2:00 p.m.

If you plan to attend, please let me know. Hope to see you all next month!

Amy

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Easter Stampin'

This weekend was all about Easter at my stamp classes. Thanks to Tracy who hosted Friday and thanks to Cheryl for letting us use her house. As always, thanks to everyone who attended. We made 5 projects and had a great time.

This is probably my favorite card, with the Bunny Card (at the end of this post) coming in at a close second. This is one of my favorite stamp sets - A Good Egg. I love pink, brown and green together and the little chick is so cute!

Again, the little chick, but on the front of a treat holder.

This is the Chocolate Bunny stamp from the mini catalog. The Big Shot was used for the scalloped circle and the Little Leaves.

Again, we used the scalloped circle to make the "carrot" and then punched out scalloped ovals for the "leaves".

I love this bunny! I saw him on Andrea Walford's blog. She had made a gift tag using him. I decided to make a small, 4 x 4 card and he turned out so cute! His backside is made with the Ornament punch that was in the Holiday Mini.

Thanks for stamping with me! ~Amy

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Spring Break!!!!

I have been off work for the last 10 days and it has been FABULOUS!!!!! The kids began their break on Friday, March 12 and we have had a great time. All are sad to return to our regular schedules. Macy had to get a tooth filled on Monday, so our adventures started on Tuesday. First stop, Missouri Botanical Gardens. Not many flowers outside yet, but inside the Climatron there were many things to see. My camera lens kept fogging up due to the humidity, but I got a couple shots.

Second stop was Turtle Park. We had packed our lunch, so we went to the park to eat and the girls climbed on the turtles for a while.

And then a stop at the St. Louis Zoo.

And finally, a stop at Crown Candy Kitchen for a sandwich for all of us and some ice cream for the kids.

And that was just Tuesday! On Wednesday we went to Sky Zone in Chesterfield and they both bounced until they could bounce no more. They were red-faced and sweaty when we left, but loved every minute of it! On Thursday, Mark was home with us, so we packed a lunch and headed over to Suson Park. The kids tried to fish, threw around the softball and played on the playground. I got sunburned - nobody else, just me.

On Friday we played at home with my nephew Eddie while Mark played golf. Friday night I went to teach a stamp class in Hazelwood and Mark took the kids ice skating. And then on Saturday, we bought new floors, finally!!!! All of the tile in our house will soon be new - we can't wait! Today I had another stamp class, so the girls played with friends. It has been a blast and I am sad to see the week end. I guess we have our vacation in August to look forward to!

~Amy

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Birthday Stampin' in February

So, I haven't posted anything since January but I have lots of stuff to share! So, get ready!

In February I did a birthday themed class because February is my birthday month. I used Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper and built the class around that - I love purple and green together! The main colors were Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Orchid Opulence. Here are the projects that we made for that class.

A birthday card and a little gift bag/box. The box is made with the Fancy Favor Big Shot Die. I used several stamp sets for these - Crazy for Cupcakes, Well Scripted, Tiny Tags and Whimsical Words. I love the new Medium Jewelry Tag Punch!

This is a tiny 3 x 3 card or tag with a 3-D flower on the front which was made from a number of punched Scalloped Circles. The leaves are satin ribbon trimmed into a leaf-shape and the background of the card is embossed with the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder.

This is a gift card holder. When you open the tucked flap there is a pocket inside to hold a gift card. Stamp sets used were Happy Moments and Celebrate Everything.

This was the party favor! Everyone had to make their own, but I baked a cookie for everyone! We used the Glassine Bags from the mini catalog (they are 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 - the cookies were 4-inch chocolate chip cookies). We ran the bags throught the Big Shot with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and then punched out a little tag.

Every month I make a hostess gift for my stamp club hostess. This one was for Dawn and it contained purple and green buttons to use on future projects. The flowers on top were "curled" with a bone folder and Cottage Wall DSP was used to decorate the container.!

Thanks to all the stampers who attended in February! It was a fun class!

~Amy

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Lots of Valentine Pictures

Just got home, not long ago, from a Stamp Class in Hazelwood. Thanks for hosting Cheryl! We had a great time getting ready for Valentine's Day. We made two cards (below), a gift bag and two treat holders. Here's a peek . . .


Both cards used the Sending Love Specialty Designer Series Paper in the new mini catalog along with lots of chocolate chip, real red and pretty in pink cardstock. As we all know, I love layers and ribbon, so there are some of both on each card.

This is a little gift bag for a friend. The closure on the purse opens and the front of the purse flips down to reveal a message inside - "So Happy to Have a Friend Like You!" I saw this purse on a gift tag at http://inkingidaho.blogspot.com/ and I had to copy. It is just too cute!

This is a tiny little envelope that holds a Ghirardelli chocolate square perfectly. The tag says "love" and it is really tiny. Why is it that the smallest things are so cute!!!


These were just a couple cards and a treat holder that didn't make the cut for the Valentine Class. I love the cupcakes and the treat holder - the birds, not so much.

If you are interested in upcoming events, hosting a workshop, earning free product or joining Stampin' Up, send me an e-mail!!! I would love to hear from you!

Amy

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