Birthday celebrations and two-tone icing tutorial

My little man Nathaniel was 5 yesterday!!
It seemed like he had a week long celebration with cupcakes at preschool Wednesday then cupcakes at Early Intervention Friday then more cake with the family yesterday....he loved it!

Here are the cupcakes we took to Early Intervention.

The group had really loved reading a fire engine book earlier in the week and always love the fireman puzzles so we went with fire engine cupcakes.


I wanted to make the icing look like fire so I used yellow and red two tone icing.  The fire engine was made from fondant and white chocolate

How I made the two tone icing:

1.  Mix up two (or more) different colours of icing (I just used a buttercream icing).

2.  I used a medium star nozzle with my piping bag (see pic below).

3.  I then spooned one colour down half of the piping bag and the other colour down the other half.  

I forgot to take a photo so I drew up this diagram of what it kinda looked like when I put the icing in the piping bag, although mine was nowhere near as neat as this...

NB.  I have seen some tutorials that put the different coloured icing into separate piping bags (that don't have nozzles) and then put those bags into another piping bag (with nozzle) and pipe that way which probable gives a more uniform finish but seems like too much cleaning up to me.

4.  Pipe out some icing (onto a plate or small bowl) until the desired two-tone effect comes through.

5. Starting from the outside of the cupcake, spiral around until you reached the centre. 

NB.  If it doesn't come out how you want, just scrape it off and try again.



Here are the cupcakes that Nanny made...

Nathaniel just LOVES Mario so Nanny (and Poppy) printed out some Mario images, laminated them and stuck them onto sticks to make Mario cupcake toppers (and because Nanny is so good she did 3 colours in her icing).  The best thing was they made 2 of each image so now he has a set of Mario cards that we can play snap or memory with....great idea Nanny and Poppy!!

The last cake was a dinosaur cake to have with the family after dinner...

The dinosaurs were shaped from fondant....and didn't last very long!

poor dinosaur!

Well we are definitely caked out for the time being!  luckily we have another couple of months before our next birthday celebrations. 

If the instructions aren't clear or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Happy creating!!

Heart Cards - Harrisons Little Wings Appeal

During the week, I have been making some cards for the new Heart Cards appeal for Harrisons Little Wings Charity. 
 
For those of you who don't know about HEART CARDS, it is an ongoing project set up by Shazz Pratten and is "set up to give communities that have been affected by devastating events, such as natural disasters; and community groups, a way to say "Thank You" to those who have helped them out in times of need." (description taken from the Heart Cards blog).

In this particular appeal Shazz is collecting cards for Harrisons Little Wings.  This is such a touching story...to tell you a bit more here is an excerpt taken from the Heart Cards blog:

On September 14, 2010 a little boy was born.His name was Harrison.
On September 15, 2010, Harrison died.

Instead of taking Harrison home from the hospital, his family took home a box of memories that the Mater Mothers Hospital had kindly made up for them. This included Harrison’s monitor wiring, his foot prints, sunnies and ear muffs - just to name a few.

Being an avid scrapbooker, Mel, Harrison’s Mum, has started making 6 x 6 albums of scrapbooking pages to be included in the boxes, for other Angel families to take home in their boxes..
Mel has found scrapbooking Harrison’s photos a form of therapy, and a wonderful way to preserve the very special photos her family holds dear.

You can read more about Harrison’s fight for life here – http://harrisonsfightforlife.blogspot.com
And more about the Harrison’s Little Wings Charity here – http://harrisonslittlewings.blogspot.com

Heart Cards would like to help these families say thank you to the medical staff; support staff, family and friends who have helped them through a very sad and difficult time in their lives.

We are asking paper crafters to please make 10 thank you or blank cards to be given to families of these little angels.
Please be mindful that these cards are for grieving families so use appropriate papers and embellishments.
Personally I think the more simple the card and design, the better in this case.
Please make the cards non-gender specific; i.e. no boy or girl cards.
A paper butterfly is placed on the door of the rooms where families have lost a baby so a butterfly may be an appropriate embellishment on your cards.
Feel free to enclose 10 postage stamps which will be divided between packs depending on the number we receive.

Cards MUST be made to the size of approx 10cm x 15cm - fits a C6 envelope - (landscape or portrait aspect) to allow ease of packing and also to allow them to fit into the boxes given to the families.
If you use a card with a shiny surface, please add an insert into the card to allow ease of writing.
Please do not put postage stamps on the envelopes.
All cards will be accepted but may be put aside for future appeals if they are deemed to be inappropriate for this appeal.

Please forward your cards to Shazz Pratten, 9 Windsor Court, Goonellabah, NSW, 2480 by July 29.
The cards you send will be repackaged and delivered to Mel to placed in the boxes given to the families of these tiny angels.

You can keep up to date with the Harrison’s Little Wings Appeal via our blog -
Http://heartcards.blogspot.com/

Thank you for supporting this worthwhile cause.

The death of a baby is like a stone cast into the stillness of a quiet pool;
the concentric ripples of despair sweep out in all directions, affecting many, many people.
--De Frain, 1991

Here are some examples of the cards I have made for this wonderful project.  I have kept them very simple.

If you are a papercrafter, can I encourage you to create some cards for this very worthwhile project.  Or if you aren't into card making but want to help out, I'm sure Shazz would gladly receive donations of postage stamps to help with postage costs.

If you need a starting point, I've included a simple sketch based on the cards I have made.

Happy creating!

Wedding embellishments and a quick tutorial

A couple of months ago my beautiful sister Jess got married to her handsome hubby Kiel and they asked me to help make some things for the wedding - table number cards, seating lists, and labels for the lolly buffet jars (which was soooooo yummy!!). 

Here's a pic of me and my lovely sisters all done up (which doesn't happen very often for me).

Me, Jess, Anita

She wanted things kept very simple and with a theme roughly based on 'secret garden-y' I designed the items around this. 
Here are some of the finished projects...

Seating lists.

Seating lists were displayed in the foyer as guests arrived at the reception.

Lolly Buffet labels

Table numbers

As a little extra decoration, I made some little butterflies to go on the wine glasses for the reception tables.  They looked so pretty when they were all set up  :)

So here's an easy little tutorial on how to do them...
These are soooo easy and is an idea that can be used for any party or special occasion - especially for those girly get togethers!

You will need:

• a butterfly punch (I have used a 2 inch punch).
• paper / cardstock
• scissors
• optional embellishments (eg glitter, embossing powders etc)

Step 1.  Take your punch and cardstock and punch out your butterflies.

Step 2.  Embellish as desired.  To do mine, I have swiped the edges with a VersaMark inkpad, added embossing powder then heated.  If you don't have embossing powders you can easily just add glitter or ink around the edges or alternatively just leave them as is!


Step 3.  Cut a slit for the butterfly to sit on the glass edge.  To do this just fold the butterfly in half and snip with your scissors as shown below.

slip onto your glass and you are done!

Hope this adds that something a little extra to your next party!

Happy creating!!

Reflective journaling ...

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to get away for the weekend with some great friends.  I spent this time reading, reflecting, eating chocolate :) and had a go at some journaling. 


Here's my first attempt, reflecting on Matthew 10:29-31.

I used Smooch Spritz, Distress Inks, stamps and journaling pens...

I love the shimmer of the Smooch Spritz (hopefully you can see it in the photos).

and another attempt...this time using mainly watercolour pencils and journaling pens...

This one was very basic but I found the whole process very therapeutic.  There's something about creating as an outlet and expression and not having to meet any deadlines.  It was more about the process and not the finished product. 
Anyway...enough rambling -  will definitely be doing it again!

I so enjoyed my 'time out' but when I got home reality met me at the front step (quite literally) and had me thinking.....when is the next weekend away!

Take care and happy creating!

Bright and Beautiful range

Introducing the new range of designs from nic creates.

The inspiration behind this range came from the beautiful hymn, 'All things Bright and Beautiful'....

All things bright and beautiful,

all creatures great and small, 

all things wise and wonderful: 

the Lord God made them all

I wanted bright colours to feature in the designs, so you will find all the colours of the rainbow!



DESIGNS INCLUDE:
Headband - The rainbow flower headband is made from lots of colourful layers and measures approx. 3 inches across.

Layered rainbow headband - $9.00 each.

Modelled by Miss Charlotte.

 Funky Flower clips - 2 new designs
Flowers are made from colourful layers of satin, organza and netting, they measure approximately 2 inches wide and are attached to fully lined alligator clips. They also feature non-slip grip for fine hair.

'Aquamarine' funky flower clip - $5 each.

'Tropical Sunset' funky flower clip - $5 each.

Snap Clips - are a new addition to nic creates.  Designs are attached to 5cm snap clips.

Layered rainbow snap clip - $3.50 each.

Twisted rainbow snap clip - $3.50 each.

Mini flower clips - set of 3 flowers attached to baby snap clips (3cm snap clips).

'Tropical Sunset' mini flower set - $5 set of 3.

'Aquamarine' mini flower set - $5 set of 3.

Embellishment pack - a new product for nic creates!
A pack full of handmade goodies perfect for your scrapbooking, cardmaking or other craft projects...or as a gift idea for your crafty friends.
 

Bright & beautiful embellishment pack - $12 per pack.

Embellishment pack contains:
12 inches of rainbow ribbon.
1 Pleated fabric strip (approx 9 and a half inches long).
1 Rainbow flower puff.
1 Twisted rainbow fabric flower.
1 Layered rainbow felt flower.
6 mini flowers.
2 rainbow organza flowers.
1 'Tropical Sunset' satin flower.
1 'Aquamarine' satin flower.

If you are interested in purchasing anything you see here just send me an email to nic.creates@gmail.com and I will send you an invoice when I receive your order.  I do my absolute best to ensure postage costs are kept to a minimum.
Payment is by direct deposit.

Thank you and take care!!

Creating . . . . Cup Cozies

I have been playing with my sewing machine over the holidays and got a tad carried away making some cup cozies. 

It all started when I made this one for my hubby for Christmas as a gift from the kids - he wanted a new coffee mug for work so this is what he got....

Here's another I've made...

and if you want a change from the design...then turn it around because it's reversible - pretty cool hey!!

They make cute gifts as some of my friends have already found out.

Here are some more...

and one for the guys...

They are made from 100% cotton material and contain a bamboo blend insulation layer.
If you'd like one of these or a custom order... I am selling them for $8 each plus $1.20 postage.  Just drop me an email.

Thanks for looking, will update with more fabrics as they come...