This is a little overdue, but Sunday was a big day in our house! We celebrated my husband's Grandma's 96th birthday, my brother's birthday and my son's birthday (he is officially 2!). Not to mention all of the father's who we honored. Whew! There was a lot of eating and family and fun times. It began with this fun idea I saw on Flickr. . .Cheeseburger cupcakes! Don't be fooled, they are not cheeseburgers - they are cupcakes that LOOK like cheeseburgers. My family loved them! I did a little searching to see how to make these and thought I would post a quickie tutorial here.
You begin by making vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes (brownies would work too). I had taken better pictures but then realized my memory card was not in my camera! Once you are finished baking the cupcakes (be sure to use lots of PAM to keep the cupcakes from sticking), let them cool and then cut the tops off of the vanilla and chocolate. You will need a sharp knife for this task. The tops of the vanilla cupcakes are your "bun topper" and the tops of the chocolate are your "patties"

You will need icing for your "lettuce, ketchup, and mustard". I found that the Betty Crocker icing was the easiest to work with. No squeezing bags required and it comes with the interchangeable tops. I used one that would make the icing kind of squiggly like lettuce.


You need only to put the icing on the outer edge of the cupcake bottom. . .see?

Put your pattie on and then add the "ketchup". Put it on the outer edges too and you can be a little more liberal with this to make it taste more yummy!

Next comes the "mustard"


And lastly. . .

Aren't they so cute? I added little toothpicks, but you could brush a little orange juice to the tops and sprinkle sesame seeds as I learned from one tutorial. I thought they were wonderful as is and they were a hit!
I put them on a platter and fooled my mother in law who thought we were eating sliders. =)


Here is the birthday boy. . .


My dh with little dude. He is an amazing daddy!


Lastly, I found some time to work on this lo, which was a lift from Maggie Holmes and inspired partly by Debee Campos who rocks the spraypaint!


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating our husbands and fathers!

I have been a crafting nut this week. I cannot get enough. There are weeks where I am lucky to work on one lo, but this week I have completely neglected my laundry (sorry you have no underwear, hon!) and have been just painting and collaging and making lo's like crazy. It kind of began with the Corey Moortgat book I mentioned in the previous post (link is in the prev. post too). Then I discovered this artist from this amazing artist's blog. One link leads to another and before too long I am screen sucking and just slobbering over all of the inspiring work I am seeing! I have never really experimented, so I just bought a water color pad and some mediums and have been trying new techniques. I also signed up for the collage class over at SIS and that has been fun too! I recommend it if you are unfamiliar with techniques like transfers and what all of the mediums are and what they do. It has been super helpful to me. These are the things that I've worked on so far. . .now I'm not crazy about how they've turned out, but I'm going to share them anyways because it's the process that I enjoy just as much if not more than the end result. Besides - I truly feel that with each one I've completed, I learned what to do or what not to do differently, so the mistakes really do help to get over that hump.

my first sad attempt


My second even sadder attempt

I kept trying to cover up mistakes so I just painted over them and then would make something else I didn't like. . .it must have like 15 layers of paper and writing and paint! Lol!

Getting better

My friend Deana is the guest DT over on the ad this challenge blog, and I think I may use this one for that challenge. You have to use 5 mediums, and I think I've accomplished that! I also used a label from a RAK I won on her blog. . .thanks girl! ;-)
It's inspired by the ad for Fresh Air campaign. Love the quote. . .kind of makes me teary eyed.

Used new magazine transfer technique from another inspiring mag ad.


So what has been inspiring you? Link me up!
Just so you don't think I am neglecting my kiddos while I craft - we have made some time for the pool. . .

Can you spot my serious sunbather? ;-)

Five for Friday!

I've been a bit neglectful and only posting about once a week. That's because we are thoroughly enjoying our summer right now! We have been taking advantage of the sunny days to go to the pool. I don't know if this is a nationwide promo or not, but if it is you may want to know that Starbucks has iced coffees for $1.95!! I have been getting one a day for like two weeks! Hehheh! =) Here I was proud for spending only $3 for the iced mochas at McD's. It's for the grande size and you can get one flavor. I lurve me some caramel iced coffee!!

Here is what I am thankful for this week:

1. Don Chavez Mexican restaurant (a new find here in the Fort. . .yay for authentic Mexican!!)

2. Sleeping in. . .need I say more?

3. My kids being home. I love having them home - despite the fact that I have to referee numerous arguments throughout the day - I like to do crafts with them and play outside and run errands and make snowcones together.

4. $1.95 Starbucks Iced coffees (see above) ;-)

5. My new fire pit! Using it this weekend with our friends.

Here is what I have been working on this week. . .


a fun new lo using kitschy digitals and Sass Lass and other goodies! Oh yeah. . .and it is a lift from this lo!

Saw this thread on Decor 8 blog and was immed. inspired. I find these kind of paintings all of the time at garage sales for next to nothing. In fact, this was thrown in for free with another purchase I made at a garage sale! I love how it turned out. I white washed the frame. . .er. . .with teal that is, and reverse appliqued fun paper to the painting. Then I added a few tidbits all from Kenner Road kits


I found this artist while blog hopping one day - don't you love when that happens? I found the book on Amazon and have been so inspired by it! I love her journals for her boys. I would love to do something like that for my kids if I could find the extra time. It looks so whimsical and fun and messy. . .I love messy. =)
Okay don't laugh. . .but here is my take on one of her techniques. . . =)


So I did fit some crafting in this week afterall! Yay for time management! Lol. Oh yeah. . .and my house is clean! Woot!
So I'll leave some other goodies for another day, but for now - have a happy weekend!
xo

Drive By Post. . .

Busy week! I had three photoshoots this week which was so much fun, but I have been doing edits like crazy! This has left little time to craft. =( So I don't have much to share on the craft front. It has been a fun week though! Yesterday we had a free meal at BWW's (Buffalo Wild WIngs) from dh's boss. All of his employees and their fams got to eat there courtesy of his boss. It was yumm! Then on the way home, we saw that Sonic had FREE rootbeer floats until midnight! We were so there. I whipped the van in line and the kiddos were a happy bunch. =) Tomorrow will include garage saleing and preparing for dd's 6th bday! The fruit toppers I think will be so cute! I'll be working on those today. We also bought a pool pass for the first summer since we've lived here. So we will be heading over there a lot this summer! I'll finally get to catch up on some reading I've wanted to do!

Challenge #16 is up over at Scrapping Across the Universe! This one is sponsored by Gudrun! Her papers are SO MUCH FUN! I'm telling ya. . .this is one challenge you won't want to miss. She was very generous with the papers she sent and they are a blast to play with! Here is my lo:


Here are a few samples of what I have been up to with the photoshoots. . .

my fave. . .


A few from the newborn shoot. . .


The pink piano was a garage sale find from last week. . .SCORE! haha! =)

xo