Easter Cards

Having a Cricut Expression around has encouraged me to get into papercrafting a lot. I made these cards without the Cricut, though...anyone can do this for pretty cheap!!

I used a scrapbooking paper stack that has cut-out letters and some embellishments (I used flowers). I got this at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 (I think...). I now realize one sheet the cutter wasn't aligned with the print so it's kind of useless with the pictures cut in the middle...but the rest of it is worth it for sure!!

I also used some 3-D foam stickers. These are great for adding dimension to your cards, signs, anything really.

This is what I gathered to get creative with...I only used one of the scalloped scissors on the right side. The rest of it was...just for inspiration?

I've come to prefer starting with my available envelops for size and cutting my cards to fit them. While I love being able to make envelops on the Cricut...I don't like having to because my card is too big/small for the ones I have on hand. Plus the Cricut ones aren't always big enough either.

P.S. I love the Cricut cutter. They make other brands the same, but this one is great because you can always measure your cuts...you can see through to know it's lined up right...you can use the raised edge to make your folds even. I LOVE it.

So I cut it just so it will have enough room to not be crowded..but not wiggle too much...the pencil is for scale, the top is the envelope (it will be bigger) and the bottom is the paper. I have it indented about this far on the right edge.

After I cut, it's time to fold. Again, I love the cutter...I always use the raised edge to make sure my fold isn't uneven. I also love the scraper. It's supposed to be for cleaning your cut mats I think so they stick better...? But I use it to score my folds. It works wonderfully. I never saw a package so I may be totally off about it's use.

Now for the fun part...assembling.
I punched out my letters from my "Scrap Pack".

 I had to decide how to make these too-big letters fit nicely on my little card.
They could go like this...

Or like this...

Or like this...

I liked this arrangement. I used a ruler to help me keep my letters straight. For these I used the glue roller thingi-ma-bob. See another post about the Scotch roller..

Then I used the roller to attach some patterned background paper.

And here come the 3-D Dot Stickers. As you can see I paid $1.04 at Meijer for these. I love clearance pricing stickers. My eye is trained to find orange at Meijer and red at Target for sure.

They're double-stick, so I just pealed the back, attached it to my letter, and then pealed the other side and pressed it on where I wanted it.

This card started out being for a 3 year old boy. I then thought it might be a little too fragile for his fingers, so I made another one for him. This one has a different special recipient.


The next card is even easier to make. I used a scrap from my scrapbook paper that was too small from the last card, and cut the edge with the fancy scalloped scissors to add some flair. At Hobby Lobby (I wish we still had one up the street from me) I found some card-stock stickers. Even better. These were a whopping $2.99 but they were the best Easter ones they had this close to the holiday and they felt very nice.

The pastels are kind of hard to see here...sorry. I kept adding stickers. I put too much thought into this.

It was a little plain, so I added some flowers from my scrap-pack. One 3-D, one level for dimension.

So...I made two cards, and still have the materials to make MANY more with this stuff. The 100 sheets of white card stock was like $1-2 at Big Lots--I still call it Odd Lots in my head and vernacular.

So, not including equipment or glue, but including my on-hand materials with the card stock, these two (and potentially many more) cards cost me $8.02 at most, with lots left over. If we took the time to divide it all out it's...basically free and obviously way less than Gibson, Hallmark, Papyrus, would charge. And it's personal.

Rice Krispie Treat Eggs

Somewhere in this great, big world-wide-web I found this idea.

I can't wait until Aidan's old enough to appreciate little things like this, but then again that would only mean he'd be closer to being too old to appreciate them, so I'm not going to wish the time away.

To give us all an idea of how much he's grown...here are his legs in his car seat: then and now.

6/15/2009

 3/27/2010

Anyway...

I made the Rice Krispies as usual, per the box instructions.

3tbs Butter/Margarine (I tried margarine again...I think it might work out for this recipe but I haven't tasted them yet...if not I'm swearing off margarine for good) Edit: I've tried them, and they taste fine! The box wasn't lying on this one...

1 Bag Marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows

6 Cups of Rice Krispies

I bought some clear-glittery Easter eggs to make egg-shaped treats. I decided the clear would look nice for leaving them inside or taking them out. I considered getting the jumbo eggs, too, but I'll save that for a year that there is more excitement for the holidays.

First, I used some vegetable shortening to grease the eggs, I wanted to have these ready for the krispies while they were hot.

Then I melted the butter margarine, and added the marshmallows. LOW heat! I've made burnt marshmallow-rice-krispie-treats before and they're NO good..let me tell you!

Slowly melting...it takes a while to do it right but it's worth it. 

 Next I added the first two cups of Rice Krispies.

After adding the rest in, gradually, it starts to get very tough and webby...it looks pretty cool!

I coated my hands with some shortening, too, to keep from turning into a marshmallow-swamp monster. It worked very well. I didn't take pictures of this part, due to the busy, messy hands, but I stuffed the krispies into both halves of the eggs and then squished them together until they snapped shut. This made for a tighter, smoother egg than if I were to guess and fill out the bottom in the open top part.

There's not much to clean up, which is always a plus!

I had some extra, since I didn't use many eggs. I planned on having a mixture of regular Rice Krispie Treats and egg treats for this batch.

And now presenting...the beautiful (and fun!) finished product...

I'm definitely becoming a firm believer in home-made treats and entertainment (especially for kids) instead of buying candy and all kinds of toys and games. Don't get me wrong, Aidan's got tons of toys already...but when you can have just as much (if not more) fun with more creative, personal stuff, why spend more money on the alternative?

I also wanted to share with you the GIANT marshmallows my dad found at the grocery store (Meijer for those of you reading who can go to one). Apparently they were in the imported foods section, that's Spanish on the package, too so I'm guessing they're from Mexico but I know way better than to assume that automatically..they could be from anywhere. The smaller marshmallow is a regular sized one, for scale.

I don't even think these pictures give a clear idea of how humongous these marshmallows are...it's pretty amazing. I can't wait to get these on a stick and roast them around the fire. 

I'm so ready for warmer weather, and it looks like I'll be getting it soon!