Woot, woot, gotta love a good cupcake...

So, we're mid-way through Spring Break (insert big sigh here) and I'm well on my way to achieving my "get organized during Spring Break" goal. I spent today prepping for the April 16th Stamp-a-Stack and I've got to say, if you ain't gonna be there you gonna be sad!! Sorry for the poor English, it just seemed like that was the right way to make that statement. :-) Okay, so let's start at the beginning...I'm planning my third Stamp-a-Stack for April 16th. The first one I hosted was in February and was a bit of a gong show. The next one was in March and other than the fact that I hadn't finished prepping for it as of an hour before it started it went much more smoothly. So for April I wanted to be totally organized and on top of things, hence my "get organized during Spring Break" goal. I decided that I wanted to showcase the cupcake punch and stamp set from our current mini (ending on April 30th). When I first saw the punch and stamp set I thought they were cute but figured, really, how many cupcake cards does a person need to make. Well, how ignorant I was because let me tell you ladies, there is sooooo much more a person can do with these lovely cupcake toys. So, without further ado here are our April 16th Stamp-a-Stack projects... Our first card incorporates the cupcake punch (and stamp set) and yet takes it someplace completely different, using the bottom of the cupcake as a bucket to hold popcorn, and the top of the cupcake is the background of the popcorn. This card was created by one of the ladies on my Stampin' Up team and was sort of the jumping off point to get me inspired to use this set in all sorts of different ways. (Unfortunately there's no name on the back and so I'm not sure who created it.)

Our second card is going to be in honour of Easter. Again, we're using the cupcake punch and stamp set to create little Easter baskets which we will then fill with colourful eggs (the "eggs" are created using the smallest heart from the Heart to Heart punch and dsp from Sale-A-Bration). The fluffy white clouds are the tops of the cupcakes from the cupcake punch.

Our third card is again using the cupcake punch to create the hot air balloon basket, and the clouds. The "grass" is dsp from Sale-a-Bration (for those who are going what the firetruck is dsp, it means Designer Series Paper). I saw this idea on line at the Stampin' Up demonstrator idea board (Stampin' Connection) and fell madly in love with it. There were several super cute examples but in the end I decided to go with this one. I love, love, love it!!

Now, as productive as I was today I was not able to complete the fourth card yet (not because I'm lazy but because I don't have all the supplies). So, there will be a fourth card for the Stamp-a-Stack and we will actually be using the cupcake punch and stamp set to create a card with a cupcake on it! Just for something different! ;-) Our final card will be bright, spring-inspired colours and will be a Mother's Day card. I may post pictures of it later (once my order arrives) or I might just leave that one as a surprise for my ladies at the Stamp-a-Stack...we'll see.

In the midst of prepping for the Stamp-a-Stack I spent some time playing with the set and creating other projects, the picture below shows a bunch of them all together.

Now, look closely at the picture...do you see the Early Espresso cupcake basket on the right hand side of the picture (when you're looking at it). This is, I think, the most funnest (I feel like Winnie the Pooh there) project yet!! I'm putting out a call for ladies who would like to get together and create a beautiful, hand-crafted, heartfelt Mother's Day gift for their deserving mom's (or friends, sisters, co-workers - whatever!). I'm planning my first ever Friday Night Lights bonanza. On May 6th, in time for Mother's Day, we will meet at my place and create a lovely basket filled with a variety of homemade, and adorable, 3.5x3.5 cards.

I will have more pictures and a price for this fabulous class posted tomorrow! If you want in please leave me a note in the comments, email or facebook me or you can even be old fashioned and phone me!

Just a few other little notes, I was prepping all my ribbons for my ribbon club and was struck by how pretty they all looked all jumbled up together and it made me want to take a picture of it, so I did! And it was a good thing I looked at them all again because it made me realize I had completely forgotten to give my ladies Pumpkin Pie ribbon - a travesty! (And Tam, I have your Pumpkin Pie ribbon sitting on my desk!)

(These cards are two of the projects from the March Stamp-a-Stack, all using the level 2 hostess set, Fast and Fabulous)

One last picture before closing tonight...spring in Winnipeg! Everyone gets the itch to be outside doing outside type things. In Addie's case she was desperate to use her new bike that Grandma gave her for Christmas, seeing as outside is muddy, snowy, icy and just generally yucky we put on her helmet, put baby in the back seat and lampchop in the basket and tooted around in the basement. It was almost as good as the real thing!

So, check back in tomorrow for all the details about our Friday Night Lights - Mother's Day event and some more pretty pictures.