Easter Table Decor Ideas

Friday, March 29, 2013

I can’t believe Easter is already here. I remember last year when I made a colorful last minute Easter cake for my blog (click here for that post), and when I think about how far I've come since then—it puts a smile on my face. I've gotten more readers, customers, and friends since then; and, that’s so exciting to me. Today I wanted to share a few super cute I ideas I had for your Easter party preparations—and I’m using my favorite stamps and paper, by Lawn Fawn, for the samples. I was thinking that it would be nice to have a whimsical feel to all the decorations on our Easter day dinner table; with paper treat pouches sitting on top of each place setting, a simple paper flag for the straws, and matching toppers for the dessert. Doesn't that sound cute? Well, I’ll show you how you can make the treat pouches and you can choose any stamps and paper to match your decor.
For the treat pouch: I took a piece of Lawn Fawn card stock (click here to view the collection), and I cut it down to 7.5” x 5”.
I than placed it onto my scoring board, and applied a score mark at 1/2”, and folded that over using my bone folder.
Next, apply some adhesive to the flap. 
Next, you can take one end of the card stock and fold it over to the flap with the adhesive, and adhere, making sure not to crease the rounded end.
 Once that has been done, you can apply some glue to the bottom of the treat pouch like so…
 …and close.
Fill with treats. 
Next, apply some more glue. Much like you did on the other end, and seal in the opposite direction.
 This is what you should end up with.
 Optional: Use serrated edge scissors to cut a decorative edge.
Here are the steps for how I decorated the treat pouch with a circle embellishment but I won’t bother with the details, because I’m sure if you plan on making your own, you’ll come up with something different :-) 
That’s it. Wasn't that so much fun? What you can also do is use a scallop punch using pattern paper to create some matching cupcake toppers, and a cute flag for your paper straws. I love how these treat bags can be used for any occasion, really; such as, weddings, and birthday parties. Are you planning on having an Easter dinner? 

Free 90 day Sponsorship!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013


Today, I’m happy to offer FREE sponsorship to all my fellow shop owners and bloggers. This sponsorship coupon code is good for 90 days, and there are no requirements at all for this free promotion. If you’d like you can go ahead and add any of my shop buttons to your blog as well—but there is no obligation. Just have fun and I can’t wait to approve all of your buttons! Happy Spring! Click here to view my sponsor page, and enter the following promo code: FREEFUN. 

Organizers from the Dollar Store, Perfect for Paper Crafters

Monday, March 25, 2013

Since spring is here, I thought I’d do a little bit of spring cleaning and organizing. I’m always trying different things to keep my craft table neat and organized; and, as my business gets bigger I start to collect more stamps, paper, and tools. But, while all these things accumulate, my desk seems to keep getting smaller and smaller—not leaving me with enough room to create! So, I thought I’d take a trip to my local dollar store to see if could find anything there to remedy my issue, and I did. I found this simple dish rack, and I thought I work perfectly for keeping the papers I use the most within reach and easily accessible. Before the dish rack I used to have them stacked up and have more tools and things on top of those—it was a mess. So this dollar store dish track—turned paper organizer—worked perfectly.
I also purchased these lock lid food containers to store my embossing powders. I wasn't using my powders as much because it was a hassle to clean up after each use; so, this will be much easier.
I also bought these really long containers to store my cards, templates, unfinished pouches, card bases, and ready to ship tags.
Lastly, I bought these little mini containers to keep my cloud embellishments, die cuts, and ready to ship toppers in. I really like them, and I feel like I have so much space now. Having everything easily accessible makes my work flow much better. 

Baja Style Fish Tacos

Friday, March 22, 2013

Wouldn't you agree that it’s been a while since I've shared a recipe on my blog? Well, I think so too. In my house, we all take turns cooking; and, Wednesdays is my turn to make dinner. So this time around I thought I’d shoot pictures of the yummy fish tacos I was preparing. I’m not a huge fan of fish tacos, but my sister wanted me to make some—so I thought, “Ok, why not?” Since, I’d never attempted making them before I thought I would turn to my trusty source of great Mexican food—Marcela Valladolid, from the Food network. I've tried some of her recipes before and loved them; so, I figured her fish tacos would be amazing—and they were! You can click here for her recipe, and if you click on the image you can watch the video of her making them. I’ll also post the full recipe below, too.
I always love to make my quick and easy salsa for almost everything I eat, and these tacos are no exception, hehe. This salsa is super easy and it consists’ of: white onion, jalapeƱo, 1 garlic clove, and tomato. All I do is give them a ruff chop, spread the chopped pieces onto a baking sheet, apply some nonstick cooking spray to a baking sheet, top with salt and pepper, add about a tbsp. of vegetable oil, and place in the broiler on high heat until they’re cooked through and slightly burned. Lastly, I just place the veggies into a blender and pulse a few times until I get a nice salsa.

I wanted to take a picture of the tacos all assembled in the tortilla with the cream, salsa, fish, and cabbage—but I couldn't wait to eat, lol, and I didn't get a chance to. They were so good—so good in fact that I’m now a fish taco lover, but only if I make them, of course.

Ingredients

Beer Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup dark Mexican beer*

Cream Sauce:
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup Mexican crema** or sour cream
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fish Tacos:
Oil, for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
2 pounds skinned halibut cut into 5 by 1/2-inch strips
Freshly ground black pepper
Corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups tomatillo salsa (store-bought or homemade) for garnish, optional
Pickled jalapenos, for garnish, optional
Directions
For the Beer Batter:

Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Gradually add in the beer while whisking. Set aside and let the batter rest for 15 minutes before using.

For Cream Sauce:

Add the mayonnaise and crema to a medium bowl. Whisk in the lemon zest, lemon juice and water. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper (can be made 3 days ahead, covered and refrigerated).

For the Fish:

In a large skillet, over medium heat, add enough oil to reach a depth of 1-inch. Heat the oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees F or when the end of a wooden spoon sizzles when inserted into the oil.

On a large plate, combine the flour and salt. Season the fish pieces all over with salt and pepper and coat with the flour. Working in batches, dip the fillets in the beer batter and coat on both sides. Fry in the hot oil until golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Make tacos with the tortillas and fish and top each with cream, shredded cabbage, tomatillo salsa and pickled jalapenos, if desired.

*Cook's Note: Crack open a cold Mexican cerveza like a Negra Modelo or a 2 Equis (XX) Amber to make this tasty beer batter, which will change the way you think about fried fish! You can use it for vegetables, too.

**Cook's Note: Mexican Crema is Mexico's version of creme fraiche and is found at many supermarkets and can easily be substituted with sour cream.

Video of the Lawn Fawn Party

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

As promised I wanted to share a picture of the the die cuts and ink that I purchased from, Stamp Fever, when they held Lawn Fawn's 3rd Birthday party. It was so hard for me not to buy everything but I had to control myself, LOL! So, I bought the good fortune die set that coordinates with the 'Good Fortune' stamp set, by Lawn Fawn; and, I'm so glad I did. After buying the 'Good Fortune' stamp set, when they were released, I realized that the fortune cookies in this set would make really cute cupcake toppers. But, after testing them out I realized that cutting more than 24 of these by hand would be time consuming. Therefore, I decided to purchase the matching die set. Next I purchase some shadow inks that I've wanted to try for some time now, and I love that these come in a little sample pack. The last thing I got was a free prize! It was this super cute 'Year Three' stamp set--isn't it adorable? I love it, and I can't wait to make something with it. Ok, now I'd like to share the video I made. I know that pictures are great--but sometimes video can be even more fun and make it feel like you were actually there. So I put together this little clip--to be honest I thought I captured more video than this but I guess I didn't, hehe. Don't forget to click, HD, it looks so much better in HD, hehe. 
Thanks for stopping by again, and I hope you've enjoyed this mini post + video. Sorry about my posts' being so short lately--I've had a few orders consuming all of my time, recently. 

Lawn Fawn's 3rd Birthday Party Hosted by, Stamp Fever

Monday, March 18, 2013


This weekend was Lawn Fawn’s 3rd birthday party, hosted by Stamp Fever. Where everyone got to do a make-n-take with Kelly Marie, the owner of Lawn Fawn, shop a little, have some delicious cupcakes, mingle, and even make some new friends. It was a lot of fun meeting Kelly, Nancy (who works at Stamp Fever), and all the other bloggers and crafty gals. Hanging out with a group of ladies that enjoys crafting as much as I do was definitely a nice change for me; and, there’s nothing better than talking to others about blogging, stamps, card-making, and techniques—I know I can talk about it for hours, hehe. Stamp Fever is such a cute store, and I recommend visiting this shop if you ever in the area. They have loads of stamps, cardstock, ink, dies, ribbon, and so much more! You can even take classes there; and, if they don’t have what you’re looking for—they’ll order it for you. Isn't that the best? Everyone I met at the party was really nice, and I’m looking forward to Lawn Fawn’s 4th birthday party. I bought a few things from the shop, and won a really awesome Lawn Fawn stamp set but I totally forgot to take pictures of them, oops—but! I do have a video of the party on the way, so perhaps I’ll snap a few photos of what I bought and share those when I upload and share the video. I hope you've enjoyed the pictures! 

Update: Click here to see a short video clip of the party!
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