CRAFT: Smashbook

So since I haven't been feeling very crafty lately, I thought I'd share an ongoing craft with all of you. My Smashbook.

A Smashbook is a scrapbook journal with different themed pages that the purpose is to take things and just "smash" them into the book.

There are at least 20 different styles to choose from, and I plan on collecting all of them eventually...
When I first discovered Smash, there were only about 5 styles to choose from. I ended up picking the one called "pretty."
I'm not much of a fan of the color pink, but the pages inside are what interested me. I will eventually cover the spine with a different color binding. But for now it's the inside full of cupcakes and flowers and cute things that's what's so exciting!

Each book comes with a combination pen and glue stick (which is surprisingly sticky for a glue stick). And Smash also sells cool accessories you can use with the book like folder pockets, stamps, washi tape, and little post it flags. They also sell these really cool inspiration notepads you can fill out that include questions like top ten ___, favorite songs, favorite people, and good places to eat.

I wanted to share with you some of the pages I've put together. I did not include pictures of some of the cooler background pictures that come in the book though, such as a page full of dice, silverware, birds in a very blue sky, bookshelves, and various other beautiful pictures. But these books are beautiful, awesome, and so unique!

Anyway, here are a few of my finished (and some almost finished) pages:

The inside front cover.

This was on the packaging. I had to add German!

Adventure waits...

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First page. Cupcakes and pointe shoes!

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Next two pages.

Finished. Introduction page.

Things to gather and put in the book.

Finished. The "I am..." page.

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Finished. A trip to the Art Museum in Philly.

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The "vintage" page.

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"Some kinds of wonderful"

"Some kinds of crazy"

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Things to Do.

I need to check off the "Move Out" bullet.

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Mostly Finished. "Big Ideas?"

Crafty things to do... eventually.

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"Say It!"

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My "Best Buy" page. I'll probably add some goodbye notes. 

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"Good Fortunes"

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Mostly Finished. "The Good Things in Life"

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So cute I wanna put it in my pocket!

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"Sweetie" Foodstuffs

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"Adventure Log"

The hair is from when I dyed my hair purple I think. 

I wanted to log the moment I did crazy shit with my head.

But I haven't logged the date yet.

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Procrastination station! 

Still needs some work, but I've been procrastinating! Hehe...

Most days procrastination, some days making a difference.

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Finished. "Precious Treasures"

Another "peekaboo" door.

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The blue page. It looks much nicer in person, less gray...

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Another finished page. Well mostly. 

It's just missing a photo I need to print out.

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The inside back cover.

So anyway, I hope this helps to inspire you or something. Give you ideas for your scrapbooks or the want to go out and buy a Smashbook too! ;D

FOOD: Lucky Charms Cupcakes

So my last post was potato soup in honor of St. Paddy's day tomorrow, but I thought I'd also share a dessert.

Lucky Charms cupcakes! They are all rainbowy and have a fun cereal crust on the bottom. Top them with green icing or fancy shamrock sprinkles and you have fun festive cupcakes!
The recipe I followed comes from one of my favorite cupcake blogs Cupcake Project. She has a ton of fun flavor combinations among her 200+ cupcake recipes.
I will admit, though, I was a little hesitant to try out this recipe. The cake calls for corn syrup and only two tablespoons of butter. I took the chance and as I was making it, the recipe became dry and crumbly and looked nothing like what cake batter should... BUT I stuck with it since she did make a note that it would be that consistency... It seems to have turned out well. I will test them on the masses tomorrow.
ALSO... She says the recipe yields 10 cupcakes, which I ended up making ten, but the papers overflowed and I had extra crumbles for the crust. I think it really could make about 12.
Anyway...

Here's what you need:

For the crust:

• 2 cups crushed Lucky Charms
• 1/4 cup melted butter

For the cake:

• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup Lucky Charms (not crushed!)

Preheat over to 350 F.

Start by taking that bottled up anger you have toward your childish roommate and smash those Lucky Charms with a rolling pin, hammer, mallet, rock, brick, fist, or your roommate's tiny head. (Or you could be gentle and use a food processor...) I think this works best with smaller pieces, so smash all you want.

Combine melted butter and crushed cereal in a small bowl until every little tiny piece is moistened.
Line a cupcake pan with your 10 to 12 cupcake papers.
Take the buttery cereal, evenly divide it between the cupcake liners and smush it into the bottom of all the papers.
Bake for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl combine corn syrup, sugar, flour, powder, and soda.

Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because of the lack of butter, the consistency will be very crumbly. Make sure you combine it well. I prefer hand mixing and got the same result after three minutes.

In small bowl, whisk egg, sour cream, and oil until smooth.

Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Add milk and combine until almost smooth. It will be very runny. This is okay.

Fold in Lucky Charms. Looks gross.

Spoon into prepared cupcake papers over the crusts. I emphasize spoon so you know how important it is to NOT POUR it. Seriously. I made a mess. And my batter to Lucky Charms ratio was all whack.

You can fill the liners all the way up to the top of the paper because they don't rise very much (supposedly). Mine got all weird... and kinda overflowed a bit from baking, but really not that much, and this is one of the reasons I think the recipe should not be ten cupcakes.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Half-baked and goopy. Needs another 2 minutes.

When they are done, immediately remove them from the pan and set on cooling rack.

They look all deformed because of the batter overflow.

Good thing we are icing them to cover that!

Once cooled, you may ice them however you want. I wanted to use up some leftover icing I had so combined them in a piping bag to get this bi-color effect. Open the bag and on one side place some chocolate and the other side place the white icing. When you squeeze it out it creates this cool twist effect.

Top with sprinkles! I think next time I may just use green sugar crystals. I feel they'd look better on the twist icing.

What I really need though is a Bailey's Irish Cream infused icing... Hmm...

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE!