Cartwheels In My Mind

Pizza Cupcakes Followed by Paper Cupcakes.

Hello hello everyone! I thought it would be a fun little change to share a recipe today. Normally I am not big on recipes but when my sister made these for us in Ohio I loved them so much that I just had to share. And plus, you can't go wrong with cupcake in the title, right?

Ok, so first of all...when Angie (afore mentioned sister) makes them, she uses sausage & bbq sauce...but I hate barbecue flavoring with a bloody passion so i asked her not to put the sauce on mine. It was still delicious, but making them pizza flavored is my little twist on it. She got rave reviews from the bbq lovers though, so if you are a fan you might want to try it that way.

SO, to have it all in one place, i'll do the entire recipe here and then share photos I took of each step after:

INGREDIENTS (makes 8 cupcakes):

1/2 lb of Ground Sausage

1 tube of Grand Biscuits

1 jar of Pizza Sauce

1/2 cup of Mozerella Cheese

Diced Onion & Green Pepper 

PREPERATION: 

(Preheat Oven at 350 degrees)

* Brown Sausage

* Fold in Pizza Sauce

* Add Onions and Peppers (optional)

* Take each individual bisquit and mold it into the (ungreased) Cupcake Pan slots creating space in the center for the pizza ingredients 

* Scoop a couple spoonfuls of the Sausage mix into each biscuits 

* Sprinkle cheese over the top

* Cook for 8-10 minutes or until the cupcakes are slightly brown

* Devour their deliciousness! :D

 

Such a fun take on cupcakes right? I feel like these would be great for parties. Especially parties that involve women, because cupcakes are just the cool thing to like when you are a woman. :D

And as a little related bonus, I wanted to link you to a fun kid's cupcake project that Jessica over at Vol25 did as a FREEBIE for anyone that wants to download it. Once you link your way over there you'll see just how much time and creativity Jess put into it, and I promise you will love it and want to do it with your kids and/or steal someone else's immediately so that you can be a part of it. Don't believe me? Here's a couple previews:

I am in constant awe of this girl's talent. I might even be slightly jealous. Or alot, depending on the day. :) Speaking of...she has just released a new line of blog post templates as well so be sure to check those out while you are over there!! 

Happy Wednesday, my friends!

xoxo, Cheryl

RANDOM FACT ABOUT ME: My favorite TV show is the Canadian show FLASHPOINT about a Strategic Response Unit in Toronto.  It's the perfect mix of crime, phsycology and big bad cop heros. I have never watched an episode that didn't make me cry. My second favorite show is Criminal Minds, and my third is Reno 911!. 

Anatomy Of A Room :: A Vintage Nursery 02, Feedsack Pillow.

Happy Monday, my friends! I want to start off this post by apologizing...while sick last week I added some posts to the site from bed and apparently either forgot how to save them correctly or forgot the date. Either way, they didn't get posted...so I'm bringing them to you now! Better late than never, right? :)

Not too long ago, my friend Amy (Covey) sent me this old feed-sack in the mail, and as soon as I saw it I was super inspired and had lots of ideas for it.

(Here's a photo of an identical one that I found for sale on Etsy by seller tracytreasures13.)

I originally thought I'd use it in my kitchen since the side that's shown above has red and navy in it, but recently when I was cleaning out my art studio, it fell on the side that has only the black letters...and immediately I thought of adding lots of fun colorful flowers to it and making it into a pillow for Gracie's room. I just feel like the sack has that vintage feel that I'm going for, and the cream and black background with colorful accents are my favorite color combination.

The first thing that i did to design the pillow was to cut off a few little yo-yos from the huge quilt that is the main focal point of the room (you can see a bit of it here in the photo above)...that way it matched exactly. But then I added a few of my own fabric flowers with coordinating fabrics to add a little dimension since the yo-yos are so flat. To attach them, I just hand-stitched them directly onto the feedsack with a little bit of thin felt lining the inside of the sack to keep it from tearing. 

Then, to make the sack into a pillow, I took the original flat feedsack and filled it with quilt batting...packing it in tight enough that it has a pillow-like texture. I didn't worry too much about it being the most comfortable pillow in our home since it will be used for decorative purposes only, but I did want it to function correctly. 

Even though it's not perfect, it's perfect for the feel of that room. And that's the most important thing, right? And I sort of love that it's the only one of it's kind. 

What are YOU working on this week?

 

Anatomy Of A Room :: A Vintage Nursery 03, Bob Marley Bird Canvas.

Howdy, Howdy friends and neighbors!! Raise your hand if you are excited that it's Friday! I know I am...I have big plans to hit a bunch of thrift stores in Baltimore tomorrow. My favorite kind of day. :)

Anyways...I thought I'd pop in and share with all of you some nursery art. Now, some of you that have read my personal blog might remember something very similar posted there, but I took it apart and redid the whole thing so this isn't technically a double share. 

It IS, however, that very same Bob Marley song that I used before. We are huge Marley fans around here...we've usually got one of his cds playing at least 70% of the time. Anywhoo...this is one of my favorites of his and I just feel like it's the perfect quote for a nursery. 

To design it I:

1. Used the same paint color as the cabinet in the nursery so that it would be a perfect color match. (Random fact, for this blue I matched up the color of the Sassafras vintage patterned papers and then used it to paint my kitchen and furniture around the apartment.)

2. I used stamps from the teacher store to stamp out the lyrics using white ink.

3. I then just freehand cut out everything but the birds (JBS chipboard shapes) onto patterned paper and then adhered them to the canvas using permanent bond glue.

And voila!!! A one of a kind canvas that matches the room to perfection is born. Fun, right!? :)

It now sits on this little wooden dresser that was my dad's when he was a kid (sentimental alert!) with this little group of loveliness that i found at various thrift stores around here. I love used stuff! 

What are YOU working on this week? Don't forget to share your art in our FLICKR GROUP so that we can share it here on the site. We love art from our readers!

x's and o's my friends! And happy happy Friday!

C. Amet

Handmade gift : headbands

  
 

The countdown is on and you still need a few stocking stuffers or a simple gift?  We've gotcha covered.

Here is a rockin' little idea that will just take a few minutes of creativity but will be a great handmade gift.  All you need are some stretch elastic headbands, ribbon, felt scraps, a hot glue gun and some flowers.  I got my headbands at Target.  The ribbon & flowers I had in my scrapbooking supply stash that often doesn't get used for scrapbooking.  So this project was a perfect way to use up some of those supplies.  Some of the ribbon is from Hobby Lobby and the rose ribbon is from American Crafts.  Flowers are from Prima, often found in the scrapbooking section of most craft stores.

American Crafts has this great rosette ribbon that's pretty sheer.  So lovely!  Simply handstitch the ribbon onto a handband, tacking it on here and there, for a super simple & fast headband.

 

For these next several headbands , I used Prima Flowers and some felt.  I cut out two felt circles that would fit the back of each flower.  One circle is hot glued onto the headband.  The other circle is hot glued to the back of the flower.  Then I just hot glue the circles together, sandwiching the headband in the middle to create a good solid base.  I have a photo of the back of the flower below.

 
 I used the same method here on these Prima Flowers.  Just a felt sandwich with the headband glued inside and the flower glued on top!

 

These headbands with the ribbon and beads were a bit more time intensive but still only took about 15 minutes each.  That tells you how fast and easy the others were!  First I cut a felt circle about the size that I wanted to flower to be.  Then I applied hot glue a little at a time, starting on the outside of the felt circle, glueing the ribbon a little at a time in a spiral shape toward the inside of the felt circle to create the flower.  I used a toothpick to help me glue the edges of the ribbon easily without burning my fingers.  There's no real science to this.  It's just glue as you go and it'll turn out just perfect in its own way!  Then you can hot glue beads in the middle or handstitch a few sequins if you'd like.

 

And there ya go.  A little preview of the felt sandwich on the back of the flowers.

Seriously so simple, I'm telling ya!  Fast and easy and a great way to create a few last minute handmade & thoughtful gifts to share! 

Enjoy!
Merry Christmas!

Digital frames from Andie Smith Designs. 

Christmas List Check-off Help :: The Music Lover.

Who among you has everything all under control as far as the perfect gifts for everyone on your list? No-one? Ok, then that's what I'm here for. I thought it would be fun to share some cool finds over the next few days (so that you have time for everything to ship in time for Christmas) that I discover online for all types of people in your life. 

And today, for my first gift idea session, I thought I'd go with a music-lover's theme...specifically items made to look like or made with actual cassette tapes.  (Just a note: I'm going to be trying to share lots of handmade options, but some will just be novelty or unresistantly made by the little Chinese elfs working in sweatshops for the sake of a better American Christmas for all of us.)

First up, this super cool Cassette Tape iPhone Cover at fredflare.com. I'm not going to lie, though...I really actually want this for myself so if I ordered it for someone I'd probably not be able to resist keeping it and just quickly wrapping something out of my emergency gift stash on Christmas morning: 

 And how fun is this Listen To The Retro Music necklace from ninexmuse's etsy shop?

And this set of earrings from lesadraws on etsy.

 

How about these Handmade Recycled Cassette Tape Wallets from TreeHugger.com (they're environmentally friendly!!)

Or this little coin purse from Crafty Crafty.

And then there's this Cassette Pillow from MyMimi on Etsy:

And finally, here's an Mp3 Cassette player and a Wooden Cassette box, also from Fred Flare:

All right, that's one person off your list...who should we shop for tomorrow? 

I'm thinking the artsy/photographer friend...:)

Guest Artist Tutorial :: Stacie Taylor.

Although I have a few different hobbies up my sleeve (primarily crocheting and
photography), I am a scrapbooker through and through.  It makes me giddy to get
my hands on some pretty products and capture some memories.  Although I love
experimenting with new techniques, there are a few techniques that I find myself
turning to time and time again on my layouts.


Framing.  

One thing I like to do on my layouts a
lot is frame my photographs or the outside of my page.  All the die-cut papers
on the market these days make it easy - I love cutting the outside edges and
using that as a frame.  On this layout, I enclosed my photographs and my
embellishments all within the frame, leaving the white space outside of the
frame.


Layering and dimension.  

Layering papers is another thing I
love to do.  On this layout, I layered papers, journaling spots, and some
elements that I handcut from the patterned paper.  To make my clouds truly look
like they were floating above, I used some pop dots to give them some dimension
- pop dots are some of my favorite adhesive!

Clustering, borders, and sewing.

 
 
I think clustering is a 

great way to direct a viewers eye exactly where you want it to go.  On this
layout, I created a little embellishment cluster to the side of my photographs
to draw the eyes to them.  Border strips are my best friend.  I used them time
and time again when I feel my layouts still need a little something.  Lots of
companies make them already cut for you, but with all the fun border punches on
the market these days, there are so many ways to make your own.  And sewing!   I
find it's such a fun way to add some finishing details to a page.  Of course, I
wish I knew how to use my sewing machine for something other than paper.  Oh
well, it certainly still gets a lot of use ;-)

Handcutting and masking.  
 I am always on the lookout
for patterned papers that have beautiful patterns that can be cut out and used
as embellishments.  On this layout, the black flowers that I cut out did double
duty.  I placed them down on my background cardstock to use as a mask with some
mists, and then I attached them to my layout to use as an embellishment.

You can find more of my art on my blog: creatingmyeveryday.blogspot.com.

A big thank you to Cartwheels for having me as a Guest Designer.  I'm constantly
finding inspiration and new ideas here, and i'm thrilled to be a part of the
fun!

Staci :)

P.S. Here's my random just-for-fun fact about myself: When I was about 8 or 9, I was in a
bowling league with some friends on Saturday mornings.  I ended up dropping out
of the league because it was getting in the way of my Saturday morning cartoons
- primarily the Smurfs! :-)