Party Favors

This weekend I had the privilege of hosting an engagement party with 7 of the Quail Hollow ladies that John grew up with. Kelli & Ben are one of the sweetest couples I have ever met and a fun couple to host a party for!

The party was themed a "Wine & Dessert Cocktail Party." We had a chocolate fountain with strawberries, pineapples, homemade marshmallows, brownies, pound cake, and bananas. There was also a delicious cheese tray, nuts, lemon cheesecake, cheese bites, and other yummy goods. I was in charge of making cookie party favors. Here is a little glimpse of the evening:

 The homemade marshmallows that my mother-in-law made. 

They were delicious and I'm not normally a 

marshmallow person!

 Before all of the food was put out. Don't know

how I missed getting a picture of the finished product!

 Ben & Kelli

 Some of the wonderful hostesses

Oh, how I love wedding stuff! :)

Fabric Covered Magnet Boards

Not to long ago my friend (and co-worker), Ashley, and I went to the Shopping Spree and saw fabric covered magnetic boards. Ash and I both thought they were super cute but kinda pricey, so we decided we were going to try to make our own. Ash has a sweet little baby girl due in just 3 weeks so we decided to have a Saturday craft date to work on the boards. Thanks to Ashley we had this wonderful website to guide us through our project: Fabric Boards.

 (Sorry about the bad photo quality - I was using my phone)

We started off by purchasing the following items:

1. picture frame ($10.00)
2. zinc-coated steel ($10.00 -> could make 2)
3. steal-cutting scissors ($10.00)
4. extra strong magnets ($2.29 for a pack of 8)
5. fabric (mine was only $1.50!!!)
6. buttons ($2.29)
7. adhesive spray ($6.99)

To begin our project we used the mat from our frame to outline where we needed to cut on our steel

*A little side note: Cut the steel slightly smaller than your outline so that it will fit easily into your frame. We broke 2 frames learning this the hard way. 

** If you could get Lowes or Home Depot to cut your steel.. DO IT!!!! Otherwise, the scissors make it super hard.

Unfortunately we didn't get pictures from the rest of our experience because the adhesive spray was super sticky. But we did learn that it is easy to have 2 people to help keep the fabric nice and tight. After our first board we decided to use a "scraper" to help press down the adhesive spray so our fingers didn't get so dirty - I also think it helped our fabric to lay down better. 

 

Lastly, we used the adhesive spray to glue the magnets to the back of our buttons. 

Here are our finished products:

 For baby Kaylee

Ash kept the glass on the front of hers and the magnets still worked great!! Unfortunately, my glass broke so I wasn't able to do this but I highly recommend it. It seems to make the fabric stay down better as well. 

For me:

This was a super fun project and fairly easy to do! Ash and I both agreed to start having "craft days" more often! Baby Kaylee is going to have lots of great crafts!! I can't wait to meet her!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

I want to begin by apologizing for the lack of posts within the past couple of months. I have had every intention of updating it since December when several of my co-workers wanted the site to share with their friends and family members for gift ideas. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. BUT last week the assistant principal at my school asked me to share my blog with one of my students who is SUPER creative (she made cutest clutch out of duck tape). I promised to update my blog and share it as soon as I could, so here we go:



Here are a few goals I have for the next couple of months/ maybe even summer:

• Try to make a shower curtain
• Try to make wine charms
• Try to make monogramm koozie wraps

Notice I said "try to make" because I haven't made any of these before but I thought they would make cute little gifts.

Until I get to some of those new projects, I will share some pictures of some other projects I have been busy with lately:

Lots of baby burp cloths: 

Stocking Stuffer Keychains:

 Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting and Candy Canes

(Christmas-inspired birthday party)

Chihuahua and Bone Cookies

(for the little girl I babysit's birthday party)

My first attempt at

Strawberry Scones

I've even tried my hand at designing invitations:

Well, that's it for now! A co-worker and I have a "craft date" this upcoming Saturday, party favor cookies coming up at the end of January, and cookies "out of town guest" in June. Hopefully, I will get started with some other sewing projects as well!

Hope you're all having a wonderful LONG weekend!

PS: As of December I have graduated with my Masters in Reading Education K-12! WOO HOO! For those of you who are my teacher friends, here is a blog I created last semester, hence why there was no time for this blog too,  21st Century Learning. Although, I don't post on there much anymore, I would love for you to share your technology ideas! 

Babies... babies... babies

One of my good friends is throwing a baby shower this weekend and asked me to make some cookies for her to use as party favors. The color scheme of the baby room is pink and green so those were also the theme for the cookies. I tweaked the cookie recipe a bit so I am excited to hear how they taste!

Looking forward to making many more "baby-themed" cookies 

for my friends at work who are expecting! I even

bought special cookie cutters. :)

CONGRATS!

Remembering 9-11

Wow, it has been forever since I have posted something on here. My apologies... I spent the last week in July and the first week in August studying abroad in England. It was the most amazing learning experience I have ever had and I'm so eager to go back! Not too long after I returned it was time to start back teaching, as well as, graduate school. Therefore... my life has been CRAZY! Here are a few pictures from my trip:

 

So what's new with Award Inspirations? I have been busy making 70+ keychains for birthday gifts!!! I might possibly be getting another order from a local daycare. :) This has been a lot of fun and gives me a break from doing work! (woo hoo!)

And... this weekend my friend Heather is having a Remembering 9-11 party and asked me to make something creative. With limited time these days I decided to try my hand at making an American Flag out of cupcakes.  Here's how it turned out:

 

I even got to use some of the new edible glitter I got at a tea shop in England!

I hope everyone takes some time this weekend to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. Many people lost the ones they love in this tragic event. It's a day we will never forget.

God Bless the USA!

Zebra Print Cookies

I made my first attempt at zebra print cookies! I have been meaning to try this for awhile but I've been super busy and haven't had time. 

I started out with this cookie cutter: 

To get the circle in the middle of the cookies I used a biscuit cutter and traced around it using these edible markers {thanks for the markers ZestyBaker}:

I then flooded the cookies with the white icing, as well as, the outside with the red icing. After letting the cookies dry for about 30 minutes I attempted the zebra print. I think zebra print is something that I just have to continue to practice with but it was fun and the cookies were delicious!

What do you think I should try for my next cookie?

Burp Cloths (set 1)

 

Last week I was asked to make some burp cloths for a friend's sisters... that's right both of her sisters are pregnant! 

I have made burp cloths before but only for boys so I was ecstatic to find out that she wanted both sets for girls. AND what made it even more fun is that she let me pick out the fabric and design of the burp cloths. It was fun to play around with bows and full length cloths. It made me super excited to do more....

Another set of burp cloths will be coming this week, as well as, some cute gift-giving ideas for baby showers!

Cake Pops

 About 3 weeks ago Sarah {the Zesty Baker}, Ford, John and I started a bible study. We are using the book Can You Hear Me Now by Tommy Nelson. It's really awesome because it guides you through every question, discussion, and bible verse ... and we are so lucky to have Sarah as our amazing leader. :) We alternate meeting at each others houses each week, and Sarah and I always try to have some kind of goodies prepared. This week my goal was to try cake pops. Surprisingly they were quite simple once I got the hang of coating the outside of the balls. 

 

These cake balls are chocolate with a vanilla white chocolate outside. The first batch I made were plain white. I shared them with my study abroad group and everyone loved them! The second batch of cake pops I wanted to do a design with. Sarah came over last night and we colored the chocolate and played around with some designs. 

A little extra thanks to Sarah for being my craft photographer! She does an awesome job doesn't she?

 

I have already started to make a list of different flavors I want to try! 

Red velvet cake with cream cheese 

Funfetti with vanilla

Strawberry with cream cheese

Chocolate chocolate-chip with vanilla   .... (to name a few)

 So I am sure you are like, "Why does she have a picture of a spatula on her blog?" Well, during our first bible study Sarah and Ford shared a "pass the pen" strategy they learned during their marriage counseling which helps with communication. We decided we were each going to get the other couple a pen alternative. Sarah and Ford got John and I a loofa {see theZestyBaker}. John and I decided to get Sarah and Ford a spatula... also known to Ford as a spu-tu-lu. Ford shared a story with us about a time he and his mom were out shopping and he called a spatula a spu-tu-la. We all died laughing when he shared this story so John and I thought it would only be perfect for their gift to be the one-and-only spu-tu-lu. They thought it was great! 

If you aren't in a bible study, I definitely recommend it. We both (the Bakers and the Wards) thought we had great marriages before, but each week we all agree our marriage gets better and better. Not to mention we are able to support each other in the growth of our relationships with God. What an amazing experience it's been so far.. and it's only been 3 weeks!

Sweet-n-Salty Treat

John and I love our apartment complex... for the most part... but lately it seems like everything has broken. About three weeks ago it was the knob on our dryer, last week we woke up and the ice maker had broken in our freezer and water was pouring onto our floor, and this week our microwave crashed. Luckily, we have an amazing maintenance crew that typically comes the day you put in a request. In particular, there is one maintenance man that John, Harlow, and I love! Harlow doesn't stay in a crate during the day so whenever he enters he says that Harlow happily greets him and stays by his side. (Maybe it's because he's a frequent visitor these days.. haha). Whatever the case, he is amazing and always gets our problems fixed ASAP... so I wanted to do a little something special for him. I needed something simple and sweet, so when I heard about this little treat I was super excited!

It's the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

Here's what you need:

*You can use any kind of M&M's but I bought the peanut butter to give them the taste of a Reeces Peanutbutter cup. 

Step 1

Set your oven to 275 degrees. Lay out a layer of pretzels on a baking sheet.

Step 2

Place a Hershey's kiss on top of each pretzel.

Step 3

Bake for 3 minutes.

Step 4

Immediately press a M&M into each kiss.

 

Step 5

Set them in the freezer (or refrigerator) for about 15 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened.

Step 6

Enjoy!!

Caution

Keep them away from your husband, kids, or significant other!