Cookie Cutter Brownies!

I was inspired by this blog post to make these (and this photo gave me the idea for turning the gingerbread people cutters upside down to make reindeer).

I used Betty Crocker's gluten free brownie mix for these, mostly because that was all I had on hand and I didn't really want to make brownies from scratch. Using the gluten free mix means I can bless a friend of mine at church with one, since she can't eat gluten any more.



I lined a Wilton 15.25 x 10.25 x .75 jelly roll pan with parchment paper. I placed the cookie cutters onto the parchment paper. Then I mixed up the brownie batter according to the directions on the box (using Earth Balance margarine in place of the butter, since Earth Balance is free of milk proteins), and filled each cookie cutter about half way with the batter. This particular batter is fairly thick, so I had to spend some time pushing it into the nooks and crannies of the cookie cutters.

I baked the brownies at 325° for 20 minutes. Do yourself a favor, if you don't have an oven thermometer, GET ONE! The temperature display on most ovens is inaccurate (ours is 25° cooler than the digital display reads). Having a thermometer inside your oven will increase the consistency in your baked goods.

I let the brownies cool, and then I mixed up Spectrum palm shortening with some powdered sugar. I didn't measure it, sorry!. I placed the icing into my piping bag using THIS method (which TOTALLY rocks, mess-free piping bags? YES, PLEASE! Take the 3 minutes to watch the video, it's completely worth every second), and went to town. I admit these would probably be cuter with bright colors, but I don't have any food coloring in the house and a trip to the store to purchase some was out of the question.

I'm going to package these up, cookie cutter and all, and label them with cute Christmas tags. I'll post a photo of the completed packaging once I've finished it!

TSOL and The Twinery BLOG HOP!!!

Are you ready for some fun?
The {Stamps} of Lifeand The Twinery Design Teams are playing together for this hop!

About The Twinery

Our twine is made from 100% cotton, it’s eco-friendly and made in the USA. Whether you’re gift wrapping, crafting or tying up baked goods to give to a friend, our baker’s twine adds a fresh, yet nostalgic look to any project at hand! Our baker’s twine comes in 14 delicious colors and is uniquely twisted against a bright white hue, creating an eye-popping burst of color and a creative embellishment! Our twine has lots of color which lends to a fun, candy-striped look. For creative ideas & more…visit OUR BLOG!

About The {Stamps} of Life

We feature high quality, made in the USA, clear stamps and digital stamps/brushes for stampers, card makers and scrapbookers. Feel free to browse our gallery with more than 2500 samples using our stamps, watch our free how-to videos and join our club!

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 2 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs:

One winner will win 2 stamp sets (winners choice) valued at $12.95 -total retail value: $26.90 per prize! from

The {Stamps} of Life

&

One winner will win the Ultimate Color Sampler Pack ($25 value!) from The Twinery!!!

The prize winners will be announced on The {Stamps} of Life and The Twinery Blogs on Wednesday November 16th.

Here's the card I created using Christmas4Him, Swirls2Build, Holly4Christmas and the Maraschino twine.

Green paper by The Robin's Nest, black ink is Licorice Premium Dye Inkpad by ColorBox and Stephanie Barnard. Other ink is by Versamark.

The hop list:

The Twinery Blog

The {Stamps}of Life Blog

Jeanne Streiff

Julie Ranae

Deb Felts

Monique Hansen

Vicki Garrett

Monika Wright

Emily Niehaus

Emily Leiphart

Beverly Sizemore

Hera Frei

Tami Mayberry

Stacey Winters

Lydia Fiedler

Caroline Stender

Kim Pargeter <<< You should have come from here!

Joana Studer <<< You are here!

Katrina Hunt <<< Go here next!

Laura Williams

Jen Carter

Kim Howard

Jenny Suchin

Sheri Twing

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to leave a comment to be entered in the drawings!

Altered Milk Carton Template

Head on over to The Hybrid Chick to see what I did with a milk carton template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff! You won't be disappointed!

Birdhouse Explosion Box

It's been a busy summer! I haven't had much time to write blog entries, though I have been busy creating! I'm hoping once the kids are in mother's day out come September, I'll be able to sit down and write lots of blogs to catch you up on everything I've been making!

I did want to share this cute little explosion box I made using Kelleigh Ratzlaff's Sweet Birdhouse Template and a great collab kit, Life is Sweet, by Meghan Mullens and Misty Cato.



Hope you enjoy!

Two More, As Promised!

Running in here right quick to share the last two projects I talked about yesterday! Kelleigh Ratzlaff has this awesome new box template just in time for Mother's Day!



And here's my second little 3" card with Dani's grab bag!



That's it for now - I'm super-busy with lots of new products coming to Sweet Shoppe Designs on Saturday!

Thursday is new release day at The Digi Chick, and making new release day even more exciting is the fact that the first Saturday in May is always iNSD (interNational Scrapbook Day). That means lots of awesome products from lots of awesome designers AND lots of really, really fabulous deals and sales throughout the weekend!

There are a TON of really great grab bags and other things available this week, and so I have several to share with you. First up is the digital layout I created using the grab bag by Mye De Leon. Isn't it so soft and pretty? The layout also uses a template from the grab bag collab between geniaBenia and Cluster Queen Creations. Seriously, 16 templates for just $4? That's a quarter a piece and totally worth every penny!

From the Arty Pants Grab Bag, this also uses Sugarplum Paperie's The Old Garden Gate and a border clipping mask from Mye's grab bag listed above. The flower was made with a Nestabilities blossom die and I used my digital brushes from The {Stamps} of Life All4Moms set.

Finally, here is one of three projects I created using the absolutely HUGE Color Me Happy grab bag by Dani. It's a little 3" card. I'll have the other two projects on the blog tomorrow - right now they're still in various stages of assembly on my workspace. I anticipated getting all three done today, but when your 18-month old teething son wants you to hold him, it makes it a little hard to get any paper crafting done!

I hand-cut the medallion, and added some Lilac twine from The Twinery to the card and button. I just love that purple!

Stop back tomorrow to see the other two projects I created with Dani's yummy grab bag! Happy shopping and scrapping this weekend!

Blog Candy Entry & Another Project

First, check out the awesome Nestabilities blog candy Col's Creating Memories has going on her blog until May 15!



And now the little hybrid project I made using Kristin Cronin-Barrow's digital scrapbook kit, Go Green. I took a 4" bar coaster and created this little piece of artwork. I applied Mod Podge to the coaster and then put the background paper on it. I sanded the edges, and then adhered the second layer. I absolutely HAD to make some paper roses from the newsprint paper in the kit. I printed it on regular copy paper and then created the three paper roses. I wrote a tutorial on making the rosettes (the outer flowers) for Jennifer Fox a while back. The center flower was made using this fantastic tutorial by Scrappy Cath.