{Mini Tag Album} - Tutorial

I want to share with you a fun and extremely quick and simple way to make a mini tag album.

And by mini, I mean MINI -- this album is only about 3 inches long -- the perfect size to tote around.

There are lots of instructional photos coming up, because how fun is a tutorial with just words?  Not very fun indeed.  Even though there are lots of photos, it's very simple.  I made my album in under an hour!   Let's get started...

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The first thing you will need to do is save this tag image to your desktop and print it out:

For the best quality image, I suggest saving it directly from the source at {JUST SOMETHING I MADE}. Cathe Holden's site is amazing and is filled with printable freebies just for you!  Be sure to check out the entire site.

Next, tear the back off of a thin cardboard cereal or cracker box.  This will act as your free version of chipboard to help make the tags more sturdy.  Cut out the tags and glue them to the cardboard.  A glue stick works great for this project.

Once all the tags are glued down, it's time to cut them out.

The cardboard is thin enough to cut with a paper cutter or scissors. 

After they are trimmed you can round the corners.

I prefer the look of the rounded corners on one end, but you can certainly leave them square and they will be just as cute!

Next, you will want to score the back of the tags to make them bend easier once they are all tied together.   If you have a papercrafting score board, perfect.  If not, you can do what I do... I use the channel in my paper cutter and an embossing stylus.  The lines aren't perfectly straight, but it works!

Then fold the tag forwards on the scored line.

Now it's time to decide how you want to tie your tags together to make a book.

You can do this in SO many different ways -- holes with clip rings, ribbon threaded through, spiral bound or you can do what I did, mini eyelets.

I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch the tiny holes and to set the eyelets in place.

However you decide to hook it together, just be sure your holes are all punched in the same place so all of your tags will line up evenly.

Lookin' cuter by the minute!

At this point, the backs of the tags are plain cardboard.  The cardboard is cute on its own, but I wanted to add a little more color to my pages.

I grabbed some coordinating papers from my crafty stash and glued them onto the back of the tags, again with the glue stick.  Then cut around the tag to trim off the excess paper.

Now is the time to decorate your pages!

You can distress the edges of the tags with ink or paint or rough them up with a sanding block (or nail file) and just make them as shabby or as clean as you like.

I decorated my tags and the cover with some black + white polka dot washi tape. I stamped some wood grain on white paper and ripped the edges and glued it down. I die-cut some leaves and punched out a sentiment with my Dymo label maker. I then threaded some aqua + white baker's twine through all of the eyelets and tied a tight bow in front.

That's all there is to it!  Pretty easy, right?

You can use this as a mini photo album, or a "Favorite Blogs" album (hint hint) or a "Things I Love" book, as I have.   It's sort of a mini Smash* book... a small place to list the things that make you happy!

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Lately, I've been keeping myself busy coloring and creating cards over at my papercrafting blog

{Annie Rose Makes Things}.
If you, too, are a fan of papercrafting, I'd love it if you stopped by to say hello! :)

- Annie

*Please check out our Linky Parties page or our side column to see the linky parties we participate in*

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{Valentine's Wreath}

I found this grapevine wreath at Goodwill for $1.99! I remembered some sparkly red heart ornaments I bought a few years ago (Christmas clearance at IKEA) and knew just what I wanted to do with them.

I used the ruffler foot on my sewing machine to ruffle some white grosgrain ribbon, and then I sewed that onto some red lacy-edged ribbon (another Christmas clearance bargain) and added it to the bottom.

Happy Valentine's Day!

--Tammy

*Please check our Linky Party tab or our sidebar for the weekly parties we participate in*

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{Fudge Brownie Layered Ice Cream Cake}

A few years ago my niece was in town during someone's birthday and she offered to make the world's best ice cream cake...

UM...YEAH!

Go right ahead.

Turns out she was right. This cake rivals Baskin Robbins or Cold Stone any day.

Now this cake has become our family's tradition for birthdays. There just aren't enough birthdays in the year though. I could eat this every day!

The part that is the most fun is coming up with your favorite combination.

Ours is mint chocolate chip ice cream with oreos. But you could also use Grasshopper cookies...they are good, too. You can also do a chocolate-based ice cream and use Nutter Butters. The possibilities are endless with this cake!

You'll need:

1 box family size brownie mix

1/2 gallon ice cream

1 package oreos

1 bottle hot fudge (premium thick stuff)

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions, and pour batter into a greased springform pan. Bake for about 20 minutes (you'll want to underbake these a bit.. You won't be able to chew frozen, fully-cooked bites of brownie!). Cool completely.

Line the outside of the pan with whole oreos, pushing them down into the brownies a bit so they stay in place.

Spread half of the ice cream on top of the brownies:

Crush up the remaining oreos and sprinkle half of them on top of the ice cream:

Now it's time for the fudge. I like this Smuckers brand or Ms. Richardson's. But make sure it's the thick stuff that comes in the bigger bottle.

It's easiest to dollop it all over evenly and then start spreading it around.

This is the trickiest part...just spread it as evenly as you can.

Next, layer the rest of the ice cream on top of the fudge. This is a little tricky, too...I always have to use my finger to help, but then you can spread it smoothly and evenly with a hot spatula or something when you are done to make it nice and even.

 Finally, sprinkle the rest of the oreo crumbles on the top. Wrap it up in foil and freeze for several hours or overnight.

When you are ready to serve, remove the foil and undo the springform pan. You will be left with this beautiful masterpiece:

 Slice it, plate it, and ENJOY the heaven that is this cake!

-Tammy

*Please check our Linky Party tab or our sidebar for the weekly parties we participate in*

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{Revisiting Christmas Favorites}

We thought we would share some of our favorite Christmas posts from last year that might be just the idea you are looking for this year.

Simply click on the descriptions below the photos to be taken to the original posts where you can find all of the details, tutorials and recipes.

We hope we can inspire you in some way to make this holiday season one of the best!

{Garnished Gift Box}

{Pinecone Cheeseball}

{we WHISK you a BERRY KISSMAS}

{Butter Toffee}

{Handmade English Crackers}

{Peppermint Pretzel Kisses}

Enjoy!

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{Gingerbread Cupcakes}

My mother-in-law gave me these cute gingerbread man cupcake liners for my birthday last month. 

I knew that I couldn't bake just any old cupcakes in them...they were deserving of something special.

 They needed to GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES, of course!

Topped with these cute little gingerbread man sprinkles I found last year? Definitely.

Here is what the bottom of the liners look like. Cute, huh?

I scoured the internet for a great gingerbread recipe, and decided upon this one for old-fashioned sticky gingerbread, made with boiling water just like our great-great grandmas would have used. Or at least I imagine mine did ;)

And let me tell you...this recipe did not disappoint! It's just the texture and taste I was envisioning. Super yummy! And topped with some extra special cinnamon lemon cream cheese frosting?

Yuh. Uhh. Mmm.

{Old Fashioned Gingerbread}

Preheat oven to 325*.

In a large bowl, mix:

1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark molasses

Add:

2 large eggs

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly:

3 cups flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Add to wet mixture.

Boil (in microwave):

1 cup boiling water

Add to water:

1 tablespoon baking soda

Once dissolved, add water (SLOWLY) to batter and mix until just combined.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

{Cinnamon Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting}

1 cube butter (room temp)

8 oz light cream cheese (room temp)

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Beat together until smooth, then add:

5-7 cups powdered sugar

depending on the consistency you want.

Enjoy!

-Tammy

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WINNERS - {Holiday Tags Giveaway}

It's time to announce our two lucky Blogiversary Giveaway WINNERS!

They are:

Congratulations, ladies!

Please email us at PeppermintPlum{at}Hotmail{dot}com with your full name and address and your tags will get shipped right out to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Stay tuned for some more {yummy} holiday goodness...

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One Year Blogiversary {HOLIDAY TAG GIVEAWAY}

In honor of our ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY coming up this Tuesday, we wanted to have another GIVEAWAY to say thank you to all of our readers, old and new.

We have two sets of 5 distressed angel holiday tags to give away, which means there will be TWO lucky winners!

Each tag measures 4 in x 2 in.

The perfect addition to any holiday gift!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN?

There won't be any jumping through hoops here.

Just LEAVE A COMMENT letting us know that you would like to win!

Comment entries will be accepted until midnight (MST) on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6th.

Winners will be announced here on the blog on Wednesday, December 7th, so keep a close watch!

This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere, as long as you can receive mail.  Just keep in mind that if you live outside of the United States, you may not receive the tags in time for Christmas this year, but you can always save them for next year!

(Please note:  These tags are for personal use only. Please do not sell or copy these tags exactly for your own monitary gain. Thank you.)

Thanks, again, to all of our loyal readers.

We couldn't (and wouldn't) have done it without you!

- Annie + Tammy -

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{A Gingerbread Christmas}

'Tis the season for holiday decorating...and my house is finally--after several days of boxes and messes and chaos--looking like it's Christmas Season. I love it!

 I have an obsession with gingerbread. Real, fake, anything gingerbread. I love the taste and the playfulness of the candy decor. I love the colors of the candy and white icing against the dark brown of the gingerbread.

I have dreams of living in the witch's house from Hansel and Gretel.

Wouldn't that be awesome?!

But if I lived there I wouldn't trick children into thinking I was a sweet little old lady and then try to fatten them up to eat them.

Here is a glimpse of my gingerbread collection:

I'm not usually one who likes "cutesy" decor, but when it comes to gingerbread decor, the cuter the better!

I've also collected gingerbread ornaments for years...and I have enough that I think I can title my 9-foot tree a "Gingerbread Tree."

Well, I figured it was high-time that my gingerbread tree had a tree topper that matched it's decor...so I made my own gingerbread star topper!

I bought some brown felt and white rick-rack and whipped this up in about 20 minutes.

I printed out a large star (using the basic shapes in MSword) for a pattern, cut out two layers of felt, sewed them right-sides-together, leaving a couple inches at the bottom open, turned it right-sides-out, stuffed it with batting and a wire coil (stolen from my old tree topper), and then whip-stitched the opening by hand, reinforcing the area around the wire coil to hold it in place.

I think my gingerbread tree is now, officially, properly topped.

Happy Holidays!

--Tammy

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