Easter chicks galore!

Hi!
First of all, don't you just love the word 'galore'? We just don't use it enough.
So, today we will have paper dolls 'galore', chick coloring pages 'galore', and darling chick photos and vintage clip 'galore'!

Since I know you have that big ol' box of crayons out from yesterday, here is a fun Easter Chick coloring page for you!

and another:

Here is a rubber stamped card from Peddler's Pack:

Okay, okay, I know these wonderful eggs will not become cute little chicks,
but the card was so pretty I had to add it!

So, here are some more chicks:

and another vintage postcard:

“Our theories of the eternal

are as valuable as are those

of a chick which has not broken

its way through its shell

might form of the outside world.”

 - Budha

Here is a fun little paperdoll by Lucinda Darbin, courtesy of OrigamiBears.

Be sure and make some extra outfits!



And we can't leave out Betsy McCall, now can we?

"We can see a thousand miracles around us every day.

What is more supernatural than an egg yolk

Turning into a chicken?”

- S. Parkes Cadman

Here is a tip for making your own Easter egg stands:

Cut a toilet paper cardboard core into 1 inch cylinders.

Have fun decorating with stickers, scraps of fancy paper, lace and ribbons!

Now, how easy is that?

Here is a darling little cupcake recipe from McCormick's seasonings:

Chick Cupcakes

Hatch a batch of these cupcakes this Easter with your little kitchen helpers.

Makes 12 (1 cupcake) servings.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

1 container (16 ounces) vanilla frosting

McCormick® Assorted Food Colors and Egg Dye

2 cups flaked coconut

12 unfrosted cupcakes

12 plain donut holes

12 pieces candy corn or 6 orange jelly beans, halved lengthwise

Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Tint frosting yellow, using 18 drops yellow food color. Place coconut in resealable plastic bag. Add 12 drops yellow food color to coconut in bag; shake until coconut is evenly tinted.

2. Spread top of each cupcake with tinted frosting. Press opposite sides of each cupcake into tinted coconut. Spread donut holes with remaining frosting. Press a donut hole into top of each cupcake to form the chick’s head.

3. Press coconut on top of the head for feathers. Insert a candy corn or jelly bean half into the face for the beak. Use the chocolate chips for the eyes.

Test Kitchen Tip: For ease in frosting donut holes, first insert small wooden skewer into donut. Use skewer as a handle when frosting donut. Invert frosted donut onto cupcake then remove skewer.

Copyright © 2008 McCormick & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | www.mccormick.com

And for a final too cute end:

Hope today's blog has made you smile at least twice!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.myinkspired.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

Daffodils, a muffin recipe and Minnie Mouse gardening

Good morning!
Today the sun is shining and there is a light breeze. Just gorgeous!  My daffodils continue to bloom, and each one is exciting to me!

pattern for sale by melbangel, etsy

I hope some of you have started your daffodil afghan from yesterday.

I would LOVE to see pictures of your progress and finished afghan!

Doesn't she just look like a coutntry maid?

go Barbie!

"I don't like formal gardens. I like wild nature.

It's just the wilderness instinct in me I guess."

~ Walt Disney

These are paper punched flowers. Highly addictive to make!

c.1913

Madge Bellamy, Hollywood beauty

In keeping with these spring gardening dreams,
let's do some old fashioned baking!

Poppy Seed Muffins:
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

1.  Preheat oven to 400'. Grease muffin cups or use baking liners.
2.  In small bowl, stir together flour, poppy seeds, salt and baking soda.
3   In large bowl, cream together sugar and butter.
4.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.
5.  Stir in yogurt (or sour cream) and extract until well blended.

6.   Add flour mixture until moistened thoroughly

         Do Not Over-beat!!!

7.  Fill mluffin cups 2/3 full.

8.  Bake at 400' for 15 - 20 minutes

9. Makes 12 - 16 muffins.

Muffins are always best when served warm! and with real butter.....

oh, better get back to gardening!

These next 3 photos were taken in WaltDisneyWorld, Toon Town.

They are inside Minnie's House.

Look closely, and you will find some funny jokes!

 prize-winning daisies:

 prize-winning buttercups:

Here is a fun coloring page for you (ok, you can share with your kids):

and another:

Go outside and enjoy this wonderful day!

Yes, even if you have snow, or rainy weather. Enjoy it for what it is!

Here in the Rocky Mountains, we always love snow or rain days,

 as we need the moisture.

:0)

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.myinkspired.com/



Day 4 countdown St. Patrick's Day +

Good morning!

An Irish Friendship Wish

"May there always be work

For your hands to do;

May your purse always hold

A coin or two;

May the sun always shine

On your window pane;

May a rainbow be certain

To follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend

Always be near you;

May God fill your heart

With gladness to cheer you."

RUBBER STAMPING

Today I thought we could explore the wonderful world of rubber stamping together. I am still amazed when someone says to me "Rubber stamping? What is that?". I have been rubber stamping since 1983 or so, starting out self-taught as there really wasn't that much information out there about it. I have been teaching rubber stamping classes for a couple of decades! Wow.

In the back of a craft magazine I found an ad for a company named "Bizarro", that had rubber stamps. I saved up my money and sent off for the catalog. I think I may even still have it! The pages became very dog-eared and worn what with me reading and re-reading every page of quirky images.

To illustrate how much rubber stamping can be economical, I still have that original bottle of copper embossing powder I purchased for my first batch of home-made-rubber-stamped Christmas cards. I also still have the stamp I used. Both are still quite usable!

To illustrate how much rubber stamping can be outrageously expensive, I now have an entire room dedicated to my hundreds of stamps, thousands of sheets of paper and cardstock, and dozens of bottles of embossing powders, fun flocking, pearl ex, embellishments....well, the list could go on for quite a while!

How sweet it is!

hand stamped and colored domino magnet by inkspired

"The person born with a talent they are meant to use

will find the greatest happiness in using it."

- Goethe

Let's start with a fun rubber stamping project for any level stamper!

St. Patrick's Day Party Cupcakes

The fun baking part-

To do ahead:

Make a batch of cupcakes, let cool.

Frost with green frosting. If you can't find any pre-made, simply use a can of prepared white frosting, and drop in JUST A COUPLE OF DROPS of green food coloring. Really, just a couple. Mix well. You can always add more food coloring a drop at a time.

Sprinkle frosting with green tinted coconut to simulate grass.

How to tint coconut:

Add a few drops of food color to coconut in a jar; shake until evenly tinted.

The fun rubber stamping part-

Find a simple rubber stamp with an Irish theme - shamrocks are great. The image should be no larger than 1 1/2".

Purchase a good ink pad. Go ahead and invest $7 and get a green one. I like Stayz-on, Brilliance or Marvy Matchables.

You will need a pack or so of lollipop sticks. You can find these anywhere they sell Wilton cake decorating supplies (I get mine at JoAnn's Fabrics).

Now you want circles or squares or ovals of plain cardstock.

You will also need the same amount of green cardstock cut into shapes. 

There are many hand held punches in these shapes.

For more addicted stampers, there are the cuttlebug or cricut machines, etc.

Or you could do the old fashioned but really cheap way, and trace around a bottle or jar for a round circle, and cut out.

Ink your stamp lightly. No grinding, pounding or smacking.

Stamp your simple image onto scratch paper first to practice, then stamp onto the shaped plain cardstock.

Pretty!

Let dry or help it along with an embossing gun to set ink.

No, a hair dryer won't work.

Now make a sandwich:

Shaped and stamped plain cardstock circle face down +

    blob o' glue, with lollipop stick in the center +

        shaped green cardstock.

Press to secure lollipop stick. Let dry.

alternate - you can tape the lollipop stick in place and then glue the green card onto the back.

Or, you can put a dab of frosting on back side of stamped circle, and push lollipop stick into that, then a dab more frosting and squish the green cardstock in place on top.

Go clean your stamp. Using an old washcloth or tube sock, dampen the cloth. Dab your stamp repeatedly onto it and slightly scrub until no more green comes off. Then stamp several times onto scratch paper to make sure there is no more ink leftover. Your stamp should not be wet.



For extra pretty, tie a thin ribbon bow at the base of each stamped circle, around the lollipop stick.

Push one decorated lollipop stick into each cupcake.

Ready to go!



Fun extra - if this is for a school party, you can write the name of each student on the back, plain green cardstock side to personalize!

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish,

then you're lucky enough."

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com



Cake, Quotes and Baking tips

Hello!

Swiss Alps town

"The atheist can't find God for the same reason a thief can't find a policeman."

Today is gray, foggy and a light scattering of snow looking out my window.

A perfect day for baking a cake!

The following is a cake recipe that my mother baked every Christmas morning.  It has a long baking time, so we would gather around our Christmas tree, and Dad would read the Christmas Story from Luke.  Then we would open our presents, one at a time so we saw what each of us received.

Then it was time for CAKE!!!!!

Neiman Marcus Cake

or

South St. Louis Ooey Gooey Cake

or

Gooey Butter Cake

(I have seen similar recipes with these different names.)

I will provide you with the recipe I grew up with:

1st Layer:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick melted oleo/margarine

2 eggs

> Combine these 3 ingredients with a mixer and spread into a greased 13"x9" pan.

2nd Layer:

1 box powdered sugar (3 3/4 Cup)

8 oz. cream cheese, soft

2 eggs

> Combine these with a mixer and pour over the first mixture. It's actually more like a glopping over the first layer!

> Bake at 275' for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

> Cake will become light brown and begin to fall in the center and will continue to fall as it cools.

How cool is that? A cake that is actually supposed to fall!!

Some recipes call for a sprinkling of powdered sugar over the top, but I find this unnecessary and just makes it messier.

courtesy of Dover Publications

http://store.doverpublications.com/

ENJOY!
I am sure this will become a family favorite for you, just as it has in our family.

"Peace on earth will come to stay,

When we live Christmas every day."

- Helen Steiner Rice

No, I'm really not in a Christmas mind set, but I suppose writing out the recipe for a traditional Christmas morning cake, and it being a bit snowy outside, I kinda' go with the flow!

COOKING TIP:

Do you have trouble getting your gravy to thicken? Does it always seem to turn out lumpy? Here's an easy, simple solution:

Gold Medal Wondra quick-mixing flour. It comes in a cylinder canister; easy to spot with its' bright blue label. You just sprinkle it into the hot liquid and it always works great.

Remember, when thickening anything, it will get more and more thicker after it sits for a bit. So stop trying to thicken just short of your desired consistency.

(oh, that's terrible grammar, but it says what I want it too!)
Go grab that cup of tea, and give yourself a few minutes of quiet.
Then eat cake.

inkspired
http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/
dominoes@myinkspired.com



Punches, Quotes and Oatmeal Muffins

It's a beautiful day today. A storm is blowing in, and all the trees and grass are tipped with lovely white crystals. I love it when that happens - it is so pretty.

"Begin doing what you want to do now.

We are not living in eternity.

We have only this moment,

sparkling like a star in our hand -

and melting like a snowflake."

- Francis Bacon, Sr.

Thank you to those who have given me some feedback. After some consideration, I will try to streamline this blog and make it a bit shorter. I suppose it doesn't make sense to expect everyone to want to read an "inkspired  book" every day! :0)

Let me know what you think!

Tip:  Punches

Are your paper punches just not punching as well as when you first used them?

Fold a piece of wax paper (I use 1 sheet folded into fourths.)

Punch through the wax paper several times. Use a toothpick or sewing pin to pick out any pieces of wax paper that may have gotten stuck in the intricate design ones.

Repeat, only this time with a piece of aluminum foil, again folded into fourths.

Punch through several times.

Doing these two steps can really perk up sluggish punches that have been ripping your paper, and encourage them to punch their best!

Here is a great muffin recipe that is easy to make, tastes really good, and is good for you!

OATMEAL MUFFINS

pre-heat oven to 425'

1 Cup quick cooking rolled oats

1 Cup milk

Combine rolled oats and milk; let stand 15 minutes

while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

1 Cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/3 Cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

1 well-beaten egg

1/4 cup canola oil or melted shortening (I always use canola oil)

Mix:

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into bowl.

Combine egg, oil and oatmeal mixture. Add all at once to sifted dry ingredients, stirring just to moisten.

TIP: over mixing muffins make them condensed and tough after baking.

Fill muffin pans 2/3 full. You need to either grease the muffin tins, or use paper baking cups. I like the ease and no-clean-up of the paper ones!

Bake:

425' for 20 - 25 minutes. Makes about 16 muffins.

Let cool a few minutes so the paper wrapping comes off easier.

Add-ins, if desired:

3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 pared and chopped apple

1/2 cup of chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips

1/2 cup raisins or chopped dried apricots

or my husband's new favorite - dried cherries!

Remember, laugh at least once today!

inkspired

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com