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26/08/2014

Orange Creamscicle Cupcakes

I'd like to interrupt this normally blog post free day to bring you the recipe I promised I would share yesterday. I had a busy weekend, and slept in yesterday, then I got my photos from Persnickety Prints and was so excited to open them and get creative! So, to make up for my excitement over photos, I'm sharing this recipe on a Tuesday instead.


I made these cupcakes and shared them with my parents, and siblings, and took a few to Jon's parents. Everyone loved them, though they were a bit heavy, and the icing may have not been mixed quite evenly.

This recipe comes from here. I found it on Pinterest while searching for new recipes to try. If you follow me on Pinterest, you know that my 'Food' board is actually full of sweets I want to try. So much for trying to lose weight right?



Ingredients:
  • 2 10.2g Package of Orange Jell-O
  • 1 White Cake Mix
  • 1 box of Jell-O No-Bake Cheesecake mix
  • 1 1/4 cups of Orange Juice
  • 5 Eggs
  • 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
Frosting:
  • 1 8oz Package of Cream Cheese
  • 1/2 cup Butter
  • 2 tsp Vanilla
  • 4-5 cups Powdered Sugar
  • Reserved Orange Jell-O
  • 1 tsp Finely Shredded Orange Zest

Instructions:
  • Preheat over to 350 degrees
  • Line cupcake pan with liners (makes 24-27)
  • Set aside 2 tsp of orange Jell-O for frosting
  • In a bowl, mix together the remaining Jell-O, cake mix, cheesecake mix, orange juice, eggs, oil and vanilla
  • Fill muffin cups with batter - about 2/3 full
  • Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
  • Cool cupcakes before frosting
Frosting:
  • Soften cream cheese and butter at room temperature for at least 30 minutes
  • In a large bowl, beat butter, cream cheese, reserved Jell-O, orange peel and vanilla until light and fluffy
  • Add in powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved
  • Add orange food colouring if desired

I altered the original recipe a little bit. I used the Jell-O I had on hand, made a double batch of the cupcakes, but a single batch of the icing and used a lot less icing sugar than called for. My family (and Jon's) aren't ones for a tower of icing on top of their cupcakes, so a single batch of icing made enough icing to cover all the cupcakes. I'd do whatever works for you. If you like a lot of icing, make the full recipe of icing, if not, make half, or a double batch of cupcakes and a single of icing.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I don't know about you, but I plan to try it with other Jell-O flavours to see how it turns out!

Have a great day!
-Alexandria

22/08/2014

Project Life: Week Thirty

Good morning! Today I'm sharing my Week 30 of Project life. This week is one page and the back side of the insert from Week 29.


This week I used cards from coral, honey, and Studio Calico. Thickers are from American Crafts.


Here's the left side. I was sick this week so I included the medicine I was taking. I spent most of it laying on the couch. Gracie spend most of her time laying on the bench sleeping while I slept. It was cute.


Here's the right side. When I was feeling better I worked on some cards, Shopped for baby gifts for my brother's second baby (who turned out to be a boy). Their nursery theme was owls, and I found some gender neutral owl items to get them since they didn't know what they were having yet.

This week was pretty short and simple. On Monday I'm going to share a recipe I'm trying this weekend. Fingers crossed it works out. Of course it's going to be a dessert, and perhaps I'll share with my family!

Have a great weekend!
-Alexandria

20/08/2014

Studio Calico: Hello Hello Card Kit

Good Morning! Today I'm sharing the cards I made using the Hello Hello Card Kit from Studio Calico. This kit was easier to work with than some of the past kits, and that makes me happy. I have enough left over to make a few more cards if I want.


This card was inspired by a sketch on the Studio Calico blog. The sketch was inspired by a card Maggie Holmes made. I added circles to the doily patterned paper to make it more visually interesting. This is my favourite card from the kit by far.



This card was inspired by the gallery. It took me two attempts to get the dot stamp lined up the way I wanted it, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I trimmed the bottom because I didn't care for the extra white space, though now I wish I'd left it.



This was inspired by another of Maggie Holmes' cards. This was my first ever time stamping on vellum. It was successful. I just used ColorBox ink, and regular vellum. I left it to dry for a few minutes before trimming it and adhering it to the card with a staple. 



Another card inspired by the gallery. I don't currently have a manual die cut machine (it's on my birthday wishlist) so I stamped the woodgrain frame on white cardstock and trimmed it by hand. Same with the heart.



Another card inspired by the gallery. I swapped out the string they used, and added white alphas to the red banner.Overall I'm pretty pleased with this one. It was challenging to get it to look the way I wanted, but luckily I could position the paper to hide most of my mistakes.



This card was inspired by the gallery. I made it monochromatic, stamped on some vellum, and added the blue dots. Punching through the felt was a bit of a challenge, but I imagine it would have been easier with a die cut machine.



Somewhat inspired by the gallery. When I saw these stamps I knew they'd be perfect together. I also knew these papers would be beautiful together.



This card was inspired by one from my last kit. I used some leftover herringbone vellum, and a gold tag leftover from the other card. I used the green buttons and blue dots to make two triangles of embellishments around the tag, and make a wish sentiment.



This card was made using some left over strips and the pink string in the kit. My goal was to use as much of the kit that I could. I've always loved when people stamp something more than once, and get the faded/ombre look, so I tried it here. Who doesn't think saying thank you more than once means more.


I hope you're all enjoying these last few weeks of summer! I can't believe it's almost over! Soon work will be open again, and I'll be trying to be crafty in my decreased free time, but I'm sure I'll find a way to make it work.

 Have a great day!
-Alexandria

18/08/2014

Project Life: Week Twenty-Nine

This week, lacked photos. There's a list of things I could have done to push this into a full two page spread (I'll include a few suggestions at the bottom of this post), but I only had a few from the next week as well, so I did a single page with the front of an insert for Week 29.


This week I used Studio Calico, and Dear Lizzy. 


Here's the left side. I used a photo for my title card because the photo was pretty empty. I used the 4x6 spot next to it, to journal about my trip to the lake to visit my niece. The bottom right quadrant is from the beginning of my trip to my Grandma's for the funeral.


Here's the front of the insert, and end of this weeks photos. The top photo is from a photo album, I'm working on putting into a Project Life style scrapbook for my Grandma. The bottom photo is a scrapbook I started to her when I was a preteen. I was so embarrassed by it, but I can see how much my style has evolved from that since then. It also makes me pretty happy that I've discovered Project Life so I can fit all of it into one album, instead of two or three albums.

Here's a few ideas for when you have few photos, and want to push your spread into two pages:
  • add a list 
    • favourite things
    • what you're reading right now
    • favourite foods
  • more filler cards
  • combine two weeks into one
  • add photos from another week that either didn't make the cut, or wouldn't fit
  • share a story about a loved one or your hometown
There are plenty of other things you could do, just do whatever feels right to you, and fits into your album.
Have a great weekend!
-Alexandria

15/08/2014

Michael's Haul #10

Happy Friday! Hope you all have exciting plans for the weekend. Jon and I have a family dinner tonight, and tomorrow we help his aunt move into her new home. So excited for her! Today I'm sharing my Michaels haul from yesterday. I was so excited to have the new Heidi Swapp Project Life kits, that I couldn't wait to share them with you. I snapped these pictures when I got home last night, so they might be a little dark. 


First up, I picked up a package of water colour paper. Hopefully I'll either get to time to do some more painting, or I'll find a way to incorporate it into craft projects. I also picked up two more Martha Stewart wide tip brush glue pens. I've been using them to adhere some detailed pieces to the Birth Announcements that have been taking up my desk, and most of my time. I picked up more tape for my ATG, and blades for my trimmer. 


These were just small packages of Heidi Swapp journaling cards. Probably intended for her Memory File, but I plan to use these in my Project Life. 


I fell in love with these stamps when I watched her YouTube video showing the products, and I was so excited when I was able to get my hands on all of them!


For no real reason, I picked up some Heidi Swapp ephemera. These packs come with one shape in each. From the left, hearts, arrows and butterflies. 


This trip was mostly Heidi Swapp products. The left is some flair, the right is photo frames. 


Heidi Swapp circle stickers. I loved the colours. Fingers crossed I can find a use for them, otherwise they'll go into a rack. 


Left is Teressa Collims Far Away 6x6 paper pad. I bought this to do my sisters scrapbook for her trip to Ireland next April. If I start now I hopefully won't forget I promised her I'd do it. The right is My Minds Eye Sky's The Limit. 


I've become obsessed with letter stickers. Even though I used to hate them more than anything. I love that the title looks uniform, but I hate when you run out of one letter. 


Just a closer view of the names in case you wanted to get some. I bought more of the map ones because I love them so much. 


Here are the two Heidi Swapp value kits I was able to get. I wanted the gold foil one, but they were sold out. 


This one is called Glitter Kit. It's very glittery and sparkly.


This is the Overlay Kit. It's full of overlays and embellishments.


Here's the co kit dreamy. 


It's very pretty and girly. I love the pastel colours. 


Here's favourite things. 


These colours are a lot bolder, but also my style. 

Have you bought any of the new Heidi Swapp products? If so I'd love to see what you do with them!

Have a great weekend!
-Alexandria

13/08/2014

Project Life: Week Twenty-Eight

Good morning! I feel like I've been a couch potato for a week straight. I took Monday off from the blog to just relax with Jon, and work on the baby announcements for my nephew. I wanted to get a little ahead on assembly before my photos come in (hopefully this week). Today, I'm going to share the photos of my week 28 spread and insert.


Left side and front of insert. This week I used Honey, Maggie Holmes, Studio Calico and Jade. The wood veneer on the bottom center photo is from Studio Calico.


Here's the left side. The photo in the bottom left, isn't particularly recent, it was taken in 2010, but it's the most recent picture I have with my Great Grandmother who passed away recently. The rainbow card is from one of the Studio Calico kits earlier this year (January / February). Behind the rainbow card I placed a 4x6 card with journaling about her, and a few memories. I like that I've hidden some private thoughts behind a card that is slightly symbolic of what happened, without dragging down the rest of the layout.


Here's the front of the insert. Just some of the guys Jon painted this week. Digging the colour combination! I used half of a Design C pocket page.


Here's the back of the insert and the right side. I used Kraft, 5th & Frolic, and Studio Calico.


Here's the back of the insert. Still waiting for Jon's journaling about his painting.


Here's the right side. We played a lot of Wii U this week, and beat Super Mario Bros. U, and all the main levels on Super Mario 3D world. I also included a bit more painting, and the shows we watched this week.

That's all I have for this spread! 
Hope you're having a great week!
-Alexandria