Valentines

I love giving and receiving Valentines, it is my favorite thing about this holiday! So I wanted to share with you what I did last year for my Valentines.

There is one of the cutest little Etsy shops called Paper + Pip and they create some of the cutest little printables. I was able to get these when they were running a deal on GroupDealz last year.

I just fell in love with all the different designs and the cute little pictures. They are too sweet!

These went together pretty quick.

I whipped up a batch of cookies using Valentine's M&M's instead of chocolate chips.

Purchased these paper CD sleeves and put a little red napkin in each one and then put a cookie inside.

I wrapped the Valentine's I printed out around the cookie sleeve and tied it up with twine.

They are so darling and yummy! I couldn't wait to give them out!

I hope this helps you if you are searching for a cute Valentine idea!

Happy Christmas!

Sunbeam Play Dough: a Recipe

For anyone that reads this blog that doesn't know what a Sunbeam is; no it is not a beam or ray of sunlight. In our church the Sunbeams are the children age 3 that will turn 4 in the coming year. This year is the first year they are out of Nursery and in Primary with all the other big kids. They are the cutest and best class on the planet! I get the opportunity every Sunday to be in the Sunbeam class with another teacher and we get to teach this great group of kids. There are 8 kids in our class and I wanted to do something special for the kids on their birthday. The only guidelines I wanted to follow were:
1. Quick
2. Easy
3. Inexpensive
The kids are 4 so this shouldn't be too hard right? But with my lack of experience and having no kids myself I didn't quite know what I should do. So I asked a girl at work who in my opinion is awesome with kids and she has four of her own that were 4 once; what would a 4 year old like to get for their birthday that fits my requirements?
PLAY DOUGH!

And from there it was just too dang easy! I pulled out the book, threw together some dough, got a ton of pretty awesome cookie cutters, made a few tags and I am ready for the year baby!!
The first child's birthday was last week so I had to get on this little project pretty quick. I decided to go ahead and make all the tags at once so I have them all and they will be ready when I need them. This will totally come in handy if I forget a birthday is coming up and don't have time to recreate this on the computer. I love it when I think ahead.

Aren't these just so stinking cute, I love it when an idea in my head comes out so well in real life! I decided to use some Mod Podge to glue the label to the jar so it would stick like a real label.
The play dough recipe I have makes a ton of play dough so I only made a quarter recipe and also made it bright blue for Andrew.

Play Dough @ Max Power                          Recipe @ 25%

1 1/2 C. Salt                                                 1/4 C. + 2 T. Salt

5 C. Flour                                                     1 1/4 C. Flour

1/4 C. Oil                                                     1 TB. Oil

2 TB. Cream of Tartar                                 1 1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar

2 3/4 C. Boiling Water                                 1/2 C. + 3 TB. Boiling Water

Food coloring (optional)                              Food coloring (optional)

Combine salt and flour in a large bowl and mix.

Add oil and cream of tartar.

If desired, add food coloring to boiling water; then pour water into salt mixture.

Mix completely and knead into dough.

Add more flour as needed until dough has reached desired consistency.

Store in an airtight container or bag. (In my case a darling birthday jar.)

 

The only thing left to do now is decide what cookie cutters you want to give away. This was the most difficult part for me because they were all so stinking cute! My advice for anyone wanting to do a project like this, buy a pack for you and a pack to give away. I got this awesome pack of animals at JoAnn's and was able to use my 50% off coupon. Talk about a steal, it was fantastic! Andrew ended up getting a dinosaur and a I believe this one was the cow.

I'm so happy I've got an entire year of Sunbeam birthdays planed and ready to go; the only thing left to do now is wait for May when the next birthdays roll around!

PS: If you would like this gift tag/label shoot me an email: abenchproduction {at} gmail {dot} com and I will be happy to whip it up for you! :) Below is one I made for my niece's birthday coming up.

Moving Announcements

I was so excited about these!! I just couldn't wait to share them.... but I had to at least wait until after they were sent out.

So... We moved!

And the most fun part about the move is that I got to make announcements!

I got my inspiration from Vandella Design.

I love Diana, she is beautiful and amazing! And she creates such wonderful projects!
~please spend some time browsing her site, you will be glad you did~

The quatrefoil background I got as a FREE stencil from HERE.

I have been dying to make a little envelope like this for something so this was my perfect chance! Aren't they just so dang cute?

Then I just taped the label on to close it up!

These were so much fun to make!

I created the whole thing on the computer and printed them off on white card stock so they would be stronger than regular paper. Then I cut them out!

The label is printed on regular paper, there was no need for card stock there because it was just being taped to the front.

After I had one envelope made and the announcement in it I realized it needed something else, there was just too much white. So I grabbed black card stock and glued them to that. This made them look so much better, also they stood out from the envelope that way.

All done and ready to ship out!!

This was such a fun project for me, I can't wait to make something else like this.

Don't you just love to send and receive things in the mail? I just love it!

Now, I'll leave you with a shot of my darling little boy!

Happy Wednesday!

mmmmm

I've made a few things recently that I need to post about!

First off, the Aloha card!

This I made for a friend's wedding reception/baby shower. They were married in December and had a BBQ Luau to celebrate this summer.

I think it turned out super cute I love the palm tree!

So my birthday was earlier this month and I decided to whip up a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. It was supper yummy!

So here is a great frosting:

Take 1 Strawberry Jello packet and dissolve in a little water or milk then add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and butter. Tastes great as long as the Jello packet is dissolved otherwise it is very grainy.

It was a very yummy cake, but not very pretty :)

Last weekend I decided to try a new cookie recipe. 

I used a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have but instead of adding the chocolate chips I added a few chopped up mini-Butterfinger bars! MMMM it was so good!

A couple of weeks ago there was a birthday at my office and one of the girls made these chocolate cupcakes! So I had to snap a few shots!

Doesn't it look delicious!
And the last thing I must share:
D's cake!

He did such a good job on this, he made it all by himself while I was at work then I came home and made some frosting and he decorated it all by himself! I'm so proud of him, it was such a yummy cake!
mmmmmmm

Personalized Wedding Card

I was finally able to make a wedding card for our friends! I'm so excited with how it turned out!

I had some ideas floating around but I just couldn't decide on anything. Then when I saw the 411 Sketch I knew that was the perfect design and I am so in love with this card!

Their wedding colors were so pretty, I really wanted to incorporate them into the card. As you can see by his tie the bright blue had to be in there but lime green was also one of their colors. I thought if I used too bright of green on the card it wouldn't look as classy so I went with the darker paper and it's perfect!

I really hope they like the card!

I'm so happy for them!

Don't they look gorgeous together? And so happy!

Congrats guys!

My favorite cookies: a Recipe

I try to bake something at least once a week and I like to try new things each time. But when you get that craving for your favorite cookies you just have to pull out the oats and get baking! These are my most favorite cookies in the world, nothing tops these yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of milk!

Oatmeal Spice Cookies

In a small bowl combine:

1 C Flower

½tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Cinnamon

½tsp Nutmeg

In a stand mixer add:

¾C Brown Sugar

¾C Chocolate Chips

½C Sugar

3 C Oatmeal

¾ C Butter, softened

1 Egg

1tsp Vanilla extract

Gradually add in flour mixture.

Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12 mins.

Enjoy with milk!

Make them and enjoy them, they are wonderful!

I was also able to make a few cards this week.

A friend of mine got married last week and so I made a card for them. 

The colors on their wedding invitation were lavender, white and black. Unfortunately I don't have anything lavender at all so I just went with a classic Black and White card. I hope they like it!

I'm so glad I have this wedding stamp set, I've been able to really wear it out this year!

My Uncle's birthday is today so I made him a card this weekend and sent if off in the mail. Boy cards are really hard for me to make. I don't have a lot of stamp sets that are boy and I love to use ribbon which isn't very manly. I think this one turned out really great though even with the ribbon.

The simpler you keep things I think the better when it comes to masculine cards. The over embellishment is what makes them look so girlie I think.

But boys still like the detail you put into a card and appreciate the time and effort to make something just for them. I hope he likes this one!

Until next time.... happy creating!

Birthday Card

I wanted to try another Stamping 411 challenge and I liked the style of the baby card so much I used it to make my Father-in-law's Birthday Card!

It turned out so cute, I loved it! 

The bear is so fun! I wish I would have taken a shot of the inside, it was different and really cute too! Here is the envelope, I added the trees to go with the bear, I just can't stand plain white envelopes.

I've got another wedding card to make this week! I'll post it soon!

Baby Card & Cookies

Last weekend I had a baby shower card to make. I do not have any baby type stamps, so I was a little worried. The baby is a boy so I pulled out my western stamp set and used this as inspiration and this is what I came up with.

I think it turned out pretty well.

And the inside is really cute too!

I had a lot of fun baking new cookie flavors too! I grabbed a bag of Reese's chips and made the recipe on the back of the package. It was so yummy!

If you have never tried these before, go ahead and make a batch for yourself!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies Recipe

I've been waiting to try to make M&M cookies and I got my chance the other day! They were really good too!

I sure love cookies! They are so much fun to make I can't wait to try another new recipe.

Very Productive

This was such a great weekend! The weather was awesome, I spent a ton of time outside with the puppies, and got a lot of fun stuff done!
It was my Aunt's birthday on Saturday so I made a card for her. I love it!

I went over to Stamping 411 to use their sketch! These are so much fun to do, it makes creating a great card super quick, cute and easy! I love how it turned out! The blue is really pretty together. I really need to get some new stamp sets though, I only have a few I can use for birthdays and I feel like they are getting worn out.
The thing I love most about this card is how it opens. I had 2 pieces of the dark blue and I really didn't want to cut a brand new piece so I decided I would clip them both together and it can slide open. I love it! I've never done one like this and it's super cute!
I purchased some awesome, very 'loud' fabric the other day to redo our kitchen chairs. The chairs are great, and perfect for our place. They were covered with a cream microfiber fabric. It's nice and neutral, matched really well but I wanted something a little more bold.
So after a trip to Home Depot to get a staple gun and a drill (so excited for the endless possibilities with both these purchases) we came home and I got to work. This took me about 45 minutes to complete. Ironing was the most time consuming part of this whole makeover. I am happy to introduce you to this wonderful new set of chairs! So what do you think?

I am totally in love with these now! Before when I would walk into the kitchen I didn't really notice the chairs unless they weren't pushed in property. Now I walk around the corner and I am a little surprised every time! It makes me so happy! And it was so much fun and easy! This makes me excited to tackle my big reupholstering project but that still wont be for a while.

Ahhhhhh so beautiful!!
I also snuck in a little baking this weekend! I just love to make yummy treats!
Danny bought me a mini muffin/cupcake pan a couple weeks ago and I've just been dying to try it out! We had a Funfetti cake mix in the pantry so I pulled it out and threw them together. Made some basic frosting and added a little blue food coloring. I think I liked them a little better without the frosting but either way these little cake poppers are so yummy! You could throw down quite a few very easily! And we sure did, they go really fast!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend yourself!

Stop by soon for more fun!