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Saturday, June 11, 2011

A Splash of Joy Card and Sweet Saturday

Happy Saturday, friends! I hope you're enjoying a weekend of sunshine and scrumptious treats. :o)

You already know my love for Cooking With Cricut, but now that love has deepened because they made me play with my Create a Critter again. Their challenge this week is to use your favorite Cricut cartridge and color, so I had no choice but to bring another animal to life. :o) I absolutely adore this cartridge and the color blue.

The destination of this card is my dentist office! They are the most incredible bunch of ladies I've ever encountered in a professional environment. Every single team member is so caring and their sweetness makes me miss them between cleanings. (How incredible is that? I'm so blessed.) I went to school with one of them, so at least I get to see her more than a couple times a year. :o) I had an appointment a few days ago and they were sweet as ever, so I decided now is the perfect time to make them a card.

The inspiration behind this sentiment is that a splash of joy can make someone bloom, which is why I made the hippo splashing the flower. They bring me such happiness and serve as a reminder that all it takes is a simple act of kindness to sparklify a heart. :o) I wanted their card to contain touches of both whimsy and elegance to suit each personality. It was a bit of trial and error in some regards, but I rather like this.

As I did previously, I wanted my animal to have some personality so I tried my best to draw another Peachy Keen face stamp. Henrietta needed a cute face. ;)


I had a doozy of a time photographing this. Not clearly apparent is the DCWV blue glitter paper for the water, hippo, and the Splash part of the sentiment. I used Glossy Accents to make tiny bubbly droplets and to fully coat the splashes. I pop-dotted the hippo, front grass element, and the sentiment tag for some dimension. Lastly, I couldn't resist making the grass a little sparkly. ;)

Now it's time for another Sweet Saturday! A whimsical explosion of color... you just can't go wrong with rainbow sprinkles:



I wasn't able to bake anything this week (the horror), so I dug into my recipe box and photo album for a good stand-by recipe to post. Rest assured there are lots of extra special goodies on the horizon! But this week I give you Funfetti Cupcakes and an easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. They're good staples to have, especially the homemade funfetti if you have kids in your life (or are a woman-child like I am).

Side Notes: I'm not a huge fan of plain, regular buttercream. It's just too buttery for my liking. (I'm yearning for more of this Chocolate Frosting, however!) But everyone else loves this frosting, so it remains my main buttercream base recipe due to continued rave reviews from my peeps. Also, the cake is the original recipe as written for a birthday cake. To make it into cupcakes, simply divide the batter into a lined cupcake pan and decrease baking time to 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Thank you as always for visiting. You brighten my days! Have a blessed weekend. :o)

Funfetti Cake

Ingredients:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
½ cup milk
¼ cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Grease and flour the sides of two 5-inch round cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites to the bowl and beat until combined. Add in the vanilla and almond extracts and mix until incorporated. Mix in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until incorporated. Gently fold in the sprinkles with a spatula. 

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Frost cooled cakes as desired.

Source: Annie's Eats


Easy Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:
20 tbsp. (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2½ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1⁄8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add the confectioners' sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add the vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice.

Source: Annie's Eats

Key Card Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridge: Create a Critter
 * Cuttlebug Flowers embossing folder (came in the box)
 * Paper: DCWV, Core'dinations
 * Ribbon: American Crafts
 * Flower: Prima
 * Miscellaneous: iRock, Glossy Accents, Studio G glitter glue

Photobucket

9 comments:

  1. OMJ!!! I LOVE YOU HENRIETTA!!!

    *tackle squishers her with giant hippo hugglers* AHHH!!! She is sooooooooo precious, Sunshine!!! I MUST have this card. *snatches it from you before you have a chance to send it off to your happy denist friends* Tee hee hee. Am I in trouble sis?

    And not only is Henrietta the universe's most adorable hippo EVER, she is also the most sparklie squishable hippo EVER!!! I LOVE how you gave her some bling sis! *dives into the happy pond and splashes away with her* WHEEEEEEEE!!!

    And GASP!!! Are those rainbow sprinkle happy happy cuppiecakes I see?!?! *faints* Do you know how hungry you made me now sis with those pictures? I totally want to devour my compy. TEE HEE!

    *dumps endless rainbow sprinkles and hippo sparklies all over you*

    God bless you my sweetest sis. If only you knew how much your kindness means to those blessed to have you in their lives...

    I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh, Henrietta Hippo is just the cutest hippo ever! I absolutely love this card! Not many people would think of sending a note to their dentist's office so what a sweet gesture! I have that same embossing folder but have never used it...this was perfect...it looks like little lily pads in the water! Just fabulous! And the cupcakes - one word -> YUM!!

    Lisa
    http://indymermaid.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Miss Henrietta is absolutely adorable! The ladies at your dentist's office are one lucky group, Sweets. I think your card will be permanently on display in the office.

    And funfetti cupcakes! Are there two happier words that go together? I actually made those for the first time by accident. I was pretending to dump sprinkles in the batter, and doh, the lid came off! Best baking accident ever! So delicious. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love it :) Such a cute card and hippo! I have a hard time getting the sparkle to show in my pictures too, but this looks fabulous. And... those cupcakes look so yummy! Cupcakes are one of my favorites. TFS

    Tiffany
    http://sparkledmemories.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Karen, this is the cutest card ever! Love your blue hippo! Thanks for joining us this week at Cooking With Cricut.

    ~ Jen, CWC Design Team
    www.gator-4-life.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is adorable! Thanks for playing along with us at Cooking with Cricut.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh Karen, the hippo is just too stinkin' cute! I love the blue theme and the hippo's cute face! I am really thinking I need some PK stamps! I also love the embossing. And how sweet that this is for the dentist's office! You are so talented my crafty friend!! xo

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh my goodness!!!! I think you may be my new favorite Blog! Not only are your cards super sweet, you have super sweet RECIPES on here too! Woot! Woot! Baking and crafting - my 2 favorite hobbies. You're amazing, and as such, I am your newest follower. :)
    Nita
    www.niftynitanotes.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your Hippo is very sweet, as sweet as those cupcakes are am sure! Did I understand correctly that your drew on the hippo's face? Girl you have some chops!! I am already a follower and I will be checking back soon. Pam from craftycards4u2.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving some love! Have a beautifully blessed day. :o)

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