I love you a waffle lot - Silhouette Cameo and a Heart-Shaped Waffle Maker

It really is no secret how much I love to bake and make fun foods for the holidays. Even my teenager still gets a kick out of my silliness! When scrolling through the Silhouette Design Store, looking for Valentine's Day designs, I came across this adorable cut file and knew that I HAD to purchase it immediately. That, and a heart-shaped waffle maker. I know, I am a giant kid at heart and slightly ridiculous!

It was yet another snow day away from school and making chocolate heart-shaped waffles for lunch seemed like a really good plan for my son and I to do together. We covered the waffles with red raspberry syrup, raspberries, strawberries, whipped cream, and a few mini chocolate chips. This was not a healthy lunch. Does the fruit help at all? :D

Before making the waffles, I used my Silhouette Cameo 3 to cut the image out. I repeatedly cut the file's parts from different colors of cardstock. When cutting a file with many layers, but one set of images to place on the design page, I remove the extra layers.

For example, the words on this image did not need to be cut from the brown. Knowing that, I simply ungrouped the images, deleted the extras, and sent only the background portions to be cut. It saves time and paper.

To cut the portions I wanted in red, I simply opened the image again, ungrouped, removed the images I did not need, and sent it to be cut.

After all my images were cut, I glued them together. These images all fit so nicely on the design, but to help myself line things up, I referenced the image in the Silhouette Design Store.

Who wants to come over for Valentine's Day breakfast?

Sincerely Yours,

Silhouette Design ID #248020

April Fools Fake Food: a look back

That day is quickly approaching, April Fool's Day. Its become quite the tradition in this house to have a fake food dinner! I started it when we first moved to Iowa and now he counts down the days to it like any other major holiday. That means so much to me and its something I know he will always remember. And honestly, it is just as much fun for me to create!

This is last year's dinner, Chinese Take Out and Dumplings.

The broccoli was green tootsie rolls. The ends were dipped in frosting and then green non-pareils use for baking. Lime flavored broccoli? I would make that face too! :)

The dumplings were slices of bread filled with peanut butter pressed into an actual dumpling press. A little chocolate sauce is the soy for dipping.

The year before, it was also Take out Chinese, but this time with sushi. Its really fruit roll ups, frosting, coconut, and some useful candies.

Such a hoot!

The pea pods? Sunflower seeds pressed inside fruit roll ups! The best part, the REAL Chinese take out was hiding in the oven! :)

The looks on his face are always the best! He knows the fake food is coming, but for a moment, he is always unsure! :)

Grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

"This is pretty good." It should be, its pound cake with frosting! 

The meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting didn't go over as well. LOL!

The first year was pretty random. I wanted to try it all and lacked focus. Spaghetti and bread sticks and bacon and eggs. Weird. I know.

The eggs, which were white chocolate, didn't work quite right when I added color. Buy the colored Wilton melts and be happy. The "bacon" is tootsie rolls and caramels softened and pressed together. Those were pretty good.

Bread sticks with sugar. Jam as the ketchup. Also tasty. 

Again, the look on his face is priceless! 

If you are interested in any of these ideas, and many more, head over to my Pinterest page,

April Fool's Fake Food and check out a ton of ideas!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

MFT Release Rewind; lots of sweet treats + a secret family recipe

Welcome back! Just a couple more projects to share with you from the September release from MFT Stamps! There were so many great products, I still had a few ideas that I wanted to share with you!

The sentiment, "hey smartie pants," from Packed With Positivity, caught my eye and I knew I needed to make a clear lunchbox with real Smarties inside!

I dug through my stash and found a small, clear box that allowed me to place the lunchbox on the front, and still show off the candy inside. Electric Red cardstock was cut with Die-namics Lunchbox, along with Black Licorice cardstock for the handle and feet.

Tag was cut from Primitive White cardstock with Die-namics Lunchbox. I stamped the sentiment and stars from Packed with Positivity in several colors of ink. (Be sure and check out the links below my signature for all the details and links directly to the products used.)

The same die worked perfectly to create a set of mini lunchbox notes. Who doesn't love to toss a little bit of love into their kiddo's lunch? I stamped these with Packed With Positivity and added a little glitter on the stars for fun.

And the final treat of the day. This also was on my mind from the moment I saw Die-namics Mason Jar. I thought it would be cute to create a little jar tag to hang from a gift in a jar. There are so many gifts in a jar ideas out there, this set of dies will be perfect for creating tags for all of them!

And a bit of love to my ice cream bowls in the background. I adore them. They are red, my favorite, and the most splendid shape. :)

The jar was cut from Primitive White cardstock and inked with Sno Cone blue. The lid is Steel Blue. I stamped the label shape in Sno Cone ink and the sentiment in the darker, Blu Raspberry ink. The heart is cut from Electric Red cardstock using Die-namics Mason Jar.

The top was created using basic muslin. It was cut with Die-namics Circle STAX Set 1. When die cutting fabric, run it through your machine twice, and on the second pass, turn in 45 degrees. That will help cut the cross fibers contained in the material. After that, I stamped the circle with Gingham Background using Hybrid Wild Cherry ink, made for a surface like this. Its tied to the jar with Hemp Cord.

And now, the secret family recipe, the hot fudge contained in this jar. Who knows, it may not even be a secret, it could be from Betty Crocker, but this recipe has always been a special treat for generations in my family. Its amazing on ice cream, over eclairs, and let's be honest, by the spoonful. Enjoy and share the jar, but I am guessing that person will have to be pretty special!

Swanson Hot Fudge:

1 C. chocolate chips

1/2 C. butter or margarine

Melt.

Add:

2 C. powdered sugar

1 lrg. can evaporated milk

Bring to a boil. Cook for 8 minutes.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Store in the refrigerator, in a sealed container.

Head over to the MFT Blog and get linked up to the design team. We have been sharing projects for two days, and you just don't want to miss what they have been creating!

thanks for stopping by!

~kimberly

Supplies for Lunchbox Fun:

InLinkz.com

Supplies for Sweet Treat Jar:

InLinkz.com

April Fool's Dinner

So I just had to share another one of our traditional April Fool's faux dinners! I made this last night for the little man and he loved it! I think he had more fun guessing what everything was, rather than eating it!

Fried Rice: 

Is a cupcake I cut in half, placed on a plate and added more frosting around. Then I poured on Rice Krispies cereal. The peas and carrots are candy I ordered online. The egg is a flattened yellow Tootsie roll cut into small pieces.

found the original idea here

Broccoli:

Green Tootsie rolls stretched out and some split at the top. I rolled the ends in frosting to create a ball and then into green nonpareils. I think this one creeped him out the most. 

found the original idea here

Potstickers:

I purchased a set of presses online and used wheat bread filled with peanut butter. The cook marks were made from me brushing on chocolate syrup. Chocolate syrup is also what the sauce is, with a few sesame seeds added for look.

found the original idea here and so many more

The look on his face is hilarious! Thank goodness for real dinner afterwards!

thanks for letting me share a little bit of our family fun!

~kimberly