Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

In recent years I've come to adore lemon desserts. I'm not sure when I started liking them but I've certainly got it bad for them now. I love the bright colors and the citrusy punch of flavor. Lemon makes me think of summer. It's a happy flavor, wouldn't you say? The fact that my husband does not like lemon flavored things creates a bit of a quandary for us. Usually I'll pass over my lemon recipes and instead make something that he'll eat, too. As a result I don't get lemon desserts very often, which I think heightens my love of them in their rarity.

Well, he flew off to attend a conference this week and I needed to bring something for an end of year potluck. So I got to make one of my favorite cupcakes, a lemon flavored cutie with equally lemony cream cheese frosting. Mmm mmm! I think these would also be a perfect addition to any Memorial Day picnics one might be having this weekend. *wink* Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend!


Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes from Kraft Food & Family Magazine, Spring 2008
makes 24

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix
1 pkg. (4-serving size) lemon flavor instant pudding & pie filling
1 c. water
4 egg whites
2 Tbsp. oil
16 oz. powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter, softened
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, egg whites and oil in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon batter evening into 24 paper-lined 2 1/2-inch muffin cups.

Bake 21-24 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove to wire racks. Cool Completely.

Meanwhile, beat sugar, cream cheese, butter and juice with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost cupcakes. Garnish with lemon peel if desired.

A Green & Yellow Birthday

I'm trying to be back on the blogging bandwagon with at least one post a week. So here's to two weeks in a row! Hehe. :)

This week brings us another card with stitching on it. I admit to being a little obsessed with this technique now that I have my sewing machine figured out. I may need intervention!

The presents were stamped on watercolor paper with Versa Mark ink. I had originally stamped them on Whisper White card stock, but when I colored in the image the paper warped too much. Thicker paper was definitely in order. The whole focal image is also popped up with foam tape.







The stitching is a zig zag between the yellow scallops and green pattern paper. I thought it helped tie (pun intended!) the two papers together and added some interest. I also wanted to do something other than ribbon on this card so some jute twine did the job nicely of holding the "happy birthday" tag.








The inside was done to match. The white panel is the same shape as the green paper on the exterior and it is flanked with the same yellow scallops. And that is it! :)


SUPPLIES
Stamps: Happy Moments
Paper: Crumb Cake, Barely Banana, watercolor paper, Parisian Summer dp, Thift Shop dp by October Afternoon
Ink: Versa Mark Onyx Black, Barely Banana, Old Olive
Embellishments: jute twine
Tools: Nestabilities large oval and large scallop oval dies, corner rounder punch, scallop border punch, word window punch, 1/16" circle punch, aqua painter, sewing machine, foam tape

Boho Bird

Hello, friends! I have certainly missed updating my little ol' blog, but the month of April was a crazy one for us! We were out of town ourselves, then we were blessed to have guests in town for several weeks. My craft room is also the guest room, so no crafting while guests were here! But now it's back to life as "usual", whatever that means. :)

This is the first card I've made in weeks, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. The main stamp set is Friends 24-7. I feel like I always use this one but I do love it so!



I was going for a bit of a shabby chic feel for this card so there is lots of tea dye ink around all of the edges, along with the small splatter image from Itty Bitty Backgrounds. Even the large flourish image in the background was stamped with tea dye!

For the circle element, I stamped the bird in brown and then clear embossed over top. I then cut a mask for the bird from scratch paper so I could stamp the flourish over top. The edges of the circle were distressed with a bone folder.



I pulled out my sewing machine again to add some zig zag detail in the upper right corner. This is just my second time sewing on my cards so I am still learning. It took me a while to set up and get the correct tension on my machine. But I love the effect and that I was able to find matching thread!



Thanks for coming by to spend part of your day with me, have a wonderful week!

*Hugs*

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Friends 24-7, Baroque Motifs, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo (PTI)
Embellishments: clear embossing powder, seam binding, button, jute, thread
Tools: Cutter Bee Circle Cutter, embossing gun, stamp-a-ma-jig, sewing machine