Crafts

I am sooo excited for this weeks Friday Flair and another fun bonus {GIVEAWAY!}

Have you seen Charmingly Chic Boutique on Etsy? Lori the fabulously talented woman behind the cute shop has some fun jewelry that I would LOVE to add to my collection!!

Lori, creates beautiful vintage style charm necklaces, earrings, hairpins, and rings. She has lot’s of designs to suit every personality and style. She can even turn your favorite photograph into a necklace!

She is generously giving the winner of this giveaway a $30 gift certificate to her shop. Additionally, for the duration of the giveaway, she is offering all you guys a 15% discount on their order! Use the coupon code ‘blogger discount code’ when checking out.
There are so many fun designs to choose from, you’re bound to find something (or even a few things) that are perfect for you — or someone you love! Happy entering, and thank you Lori!

Here is what you need to do to enter…

• Go to Charmingly Chic Boutique , browse around, and tell us your favorite piece(s) in the comments section of this post.

Additional entries (leave one comment for each entry please):

• Become a follower of the Charmingly Chic Boutique Blog
• “Like” Charmingly Chic Boutique on Facebook
• Blog, tweet or facebook about this giveaway

This giveaway will run though Sunday, June 19th with the winner selected by random.org and announced on Monday the 20th!

Now on to the PARTY!!

It’s Friday Flair… show us what you have {Whipped-Up} this week!

Here are the sticky rules {you know rules are in place so that no one gets their feelings hurt or their eye poked out! So let’s play nice.}

• Please link up only your own projects, and link to the specific post, not your blog home page. No Etsy shops or giveaways, please.

• You must grab a WhipperBerry button and include it somewhere in the post you’re linking, or on your home page (a text link is great too).

• Stay and mingle (remember, it’s a party!), and leave a couple comments for other guests!

I wrote this post while participating in a blog tour conducted by Clever Girls Collective on behalf of Children’s Claritin®. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program.

My little guy has inherited not only his Father’s temperament, and zeal for life… he has also inherited his life long challenge with allergies!!

The poor kiddo has dealt with a a runny and sneezie nose pretty much from the moment he came home with us from the hospital. It has been a challenge because we don’t really have any major environmental issues {that I know of} in our home. We don’t have pets, we keep a clean home {for the most part} and we live in the desert. You would have thought that moving to the desert it would solve most allergy issues… but alas it has not! My husband grew up in a house full of animals and didn’t know that he could breath through his nose until he left home!!!

The little guy was constantly suffering from ear and sinus infections brought on by the fact that he was having mucus issues all the time. Even with all of that I didn’t realize that all of this was because he was an allergy sufferer. I was blown over when his doctor told me that he had allergies. For months we dealt with a very grumpy infant who was always having trouble sleeping because he couldn’t breath very well.

Here’s the disclaimer… I don’t normally like to medicate my children very much when I can avoid it. With that said… I have fallen in LOVE with Claritin!!! The little guy has been on it for almost a year now and he is a totally different child. He SLEEPS well and can play without the constant runny nose and water eyes. He’s a totally different child. Sometimes I start to feel like maybe we should take him off of the Claritin and I kid you not, usually within a week he has a sinus and ear infection. So… I am a believer and will never leave home without Claritin!!

For more tips on relieving allergies, visit www.Facebook.com/Claritin. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

My obsession began with this lovely post from Kevin & Amanda for Amanda’s CCCD Cupcakes.  The looked soooooo good and I began my quest for the perfect CCCD cupcake.  Little did I know what a challenge that would be.  I followed Amanda’s recipe to the { T } and all I could manage was a cookie inside of a cupcake.  I didn’t want  a cookie… I wanted soft creamy dough!!!  So with a little tweaking and simplifying I came up with the WhipperBerry version with a little help from Amanda and Jenny from Miss Picky Palate herself.

To begin, mix up a batch of modified cookie dough originally from Picky Palate with the following recipe…

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Combine the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

For the cupcakes…

1 Box of white or vanilla cake mix {along with the ingredients for the mix}

I am all about simplicity… and quite honestly a basic cake mix is just fine for these cupcakes.  They’re so many other components you don’t need to worry about whipping out a fancy, made from scratch cake.

Bake the cupcakes as directed.  Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes.

Here is where I diverged from Amanda’s recipe… She makes her cookie dough, freezes it and then bakes it along with the cupcake.  I found that this resulted in a partially baked cookie within my cupcake.  Here is what I do…

Using a large piping tip I core the cupcake after it has cooled for a few minutes.

I then pipe in some cookie dough when the cupcake is still a little warm. 

Let the cupcakes cool completely and then frost them with your favorite white or vanilla frosting.  I again simplified and used a store bought vanilla frosting.  I admit… sometimes I just don’t have time to make everything from SCRATCH!! Sprinkle with some mini chocolate chips and there you go… a standing ovation worthy, SIMPLE Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake!!

A few weeks ago we had the honor to guest post on the Silhouette blog {yea, just a little excited about that!}  I thought that I would post the project that we posted over there today, just in case you missed it…

One of our favorite products EVER is the Silhouette.  We have been working with it for quite some time now and have really fallen in love.  I have recently started working with the heat transfer material and my stars… what a great design element. 

With the summer approaching I decided to make a Chore Ribbon for my kiddos…

This is kind of a non traditional approach to the chore chart.  I used the silhouette vinyl for the hanger and then used the heat transfer material to place my girl’s names directly on the jute ribbon.  Here’s how I did it…

First, I created my girl’s names in the Silhouette software with the LD Charming Bold font that I purchased from the Silhouette store.  Keep in mind when using the heat transfer material you need to create a mirror image to place on your fabric.

I then cut the heat transfer material according to the package instructions.  Next, I carefully peeled the excess heat transfer material away from the plastic…

I flipped the image over and placed it on the jute ribbon…

… with the image right facing and the plastic sheet on top of the heat transfer material.

Next, I place a thin cloth over the ribbon and the image and ironed according to the package instructions.  After it has cooled for a few minutes carefully remove the plastic covering and voila…

…the heat transfer material in now firmly affixed to the jute ribbon.  To finish the project I added vinyl cut with the Silhouette using the same font to the wooden hanger…

… now isn’t that cheerier than a chore chart?  There is a “need to do side” and a “finished” side to the ribbon with all of the jobs on labeled clothes pins.  Place the clothes pins on the appropriate side of the ribbon with a reward section an the bottom to track their rewards.

Hang from a convenient door and you and your kiddos have a fun way to track what they have accomplished for the day.

Come on over to WhipperBerry we have a few more Silhouette inspired project that we think are quite dandy. Thanks Silhouette for this fun opportunity to share our Silhouette love with your fans!!

If you know me at all you know that I LOVE jewelry.  Ok, maybe you wouldn’t know that… I LOVE jewelry, I just don’t always wear the stuff I really want to wear because I’m a total dork and don’t think that I can pull it off sometimes… that doesn’t stop me from loving a good piece of bling.  Well, in walks Stella & Dot!

Have you seen some of their aaaamazing pieces?  Hello, let me introduce you…

 

  

Aren’t they divine!!  Megan my sweet friend and Stella & Dot Stylist is offering one SUPER lucky WhipperBerry reader this little beauty!!!

She let me pick, and I fell in LOVE!!  Check out the detail on the coins… I just love it!  Here is what you need to do to enter…

• Visit Megan’s Stella & Dot site and return to WhipperBerry and tell Megan and I what you would LOVE to add to your wardrobe.

For extra entries…

• Visit Megan’s Stella & Dot Facebook page and leave a comment telling her hello from WhipperBerry and “like” her page.  She rolls out some amazing deals you won’t want to miss out on!!
• We would LOVE for you to follow WhipperBerry via Twitter, Google Friends Connect or through Feedburner. 
• Blog, tweet, tell all your friends.  Come on… who doesn’t love a great giveaway!?!

Return to WhipperBerry and leave a comment for each entry.  The giveaway will run through June 19th with the winner announced on Monday, June 20th.

{If you happen to be in the Vegas area… leave us a little note.  Megan will draw a Vegas friend out of a hat and hold a fantastic trunk show for you and your friends.  Word on the street is that you {as the hostess} scores a ton of loot!!}