Today I AM a winner!

Today I found out I was a WINNER...YEAH BABY!!!!!

What did I win you ask???

Oh just something super fun to help me make my own super star digital scrap books!!!

Last week my Mom  who is an artist & has a blog of her own (Pearl Avenue Studios) sent me a message to check out this blog:

http://peachstreet.blogspot.com/

On her blog was this awesome giveaway.....I only had to do the easiest things to enter! Follow her blog..DONE , follow her on Pineterst..DONE 

(she has some amazing things pinned so it was a win for me anyway)

and like her page on facebook..DONE

there were a few other things I could do too but I felt these things were the winning ticket for me (hmm guess I was having a premonition lol)

Anywho......was so grateful just to see her pins on pinterest that in all honesty I forgot all about the contest because I never win anything so I chalked it up to helping a fellow blogger out & left it at that.

Well while I was out & about I got a text from my mom today that said, "I knew you were going to win if you entered that drawing"! to which my reply was what drawing???...wait, did I win something???? 

Obviously I won something or she wouldn't have said that but I was so excited!! I mean, REALLY,  to win something so fun!!! ...I always make those photo books from all those places...but lets face it, when you do that they look great but don't we all feel like we wish we had more options!! THIS will give me great options to feel like my photo books are truly my style!!! I am so excited & I cant wait to check this software out!!!

So here is my shout out to Jamie @ Peach Street!!!!! 

Thank you SO Much for making me feel so Lucky today!

and just to pay it forward........

I am going to have a giveaway of my very own!

That's right.....my very first giveaway!
I will make a custom 1 word paper banner just for you!

Here is how you can win:

**you MUST be a follower of my blog
**You MUST leave a comment on THIS POST.  Tell me what you'd like your banner to say if you were the lucky winner!

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:

~Like Creative Mrs.Smith on Facebook

                 ~pin this post & leave a comment telling me you did!

That's it ...that is all you have to do!

Winner will be announced Saturday April 21st

Good Luck & Happy Creating!

Paper flower pinwheel

      When I make my paper banners I always try to make some kind of embellishment between the pennants.  Sometimes I dress up the brads a little bit but my favorite thing to do is to make my 

paper flower pinwheels.  

I think they make a paper banner  look very cute & a little different from the usual.  I also think it is a great way to use up all those odd size papers you accumulate when working on paper projects {like all the extra triangles you get from cutting the pennants out} **hint~hint**  and the crazy cool combos you get 

with all those left over bits can turn out incredibly awesome. 

                                                                                     

You can make the circle cut outs for these as big or as small as you want.  In my case I had the
crop-a dial to install the grommets so I was limited to the size of paper that would reach the center of the circles.  Because of this I couldn't make the largest circle more than 3 inches.  Then I just made the circles go down in size from there.  It really isn't a science.....more of a preference of what you like.  Just do what feels right to you.

Once you have the circles cut out just punch a hole in the center so that the grommet can be punched without damaging the paper.  I like to slightly crumple my circles to give them some wavy depth {it also makes it easier to get larger circles punched with the crop-a-dial}.  I also like to take colored sharpies & color my brads but that's totally optional.  Then you insert the brad through the circles & then through the pennant corner, fold out the back & there you have it. . . . .

 cute little paper flower pinwheels {at least that is what I call them} I mean after all, they look like flowers but spin like pinwheels. . . . . .but you can call them whatever you want, that's the whole fun of crafting in the 1st place, coming up with new things every day. 

I always love to see what every banner ends up looking like. I also LOVE all the eclectic looking colors & patterns you get when you mix it all up.

So next time you have all those little scrap papers left over. . . .put them to good use & incorporate them in your next paper banner project.

Happy Creating

Sweet 16 and more cake!

My cousins daughter turned Sweet 16

I really just don't know where the time goes but I do know that she is maturing into a beautiful & sweet young lady.

My cousin asked if I would make a cake for her family birthday dinner & I because I knew I would have so much fun making her cake, I agreed.

All she said was that she wanted a round chocolate cake & that I could do whatever I wanted for the rest.

So I decided on a chocolate cake with butter cream frosting & a chocolate ganache over the top. Because I mean seriously........ who DOESN'T like ganache, right?? ya that's what I thought too~

I was pleased with the outcome & the Mr. said "who knew we had a pastry chef in the house"

Which made me feel quite nice because that to me means my cake looked just as good as one you would buy in a bakery (tasted like it too)
Here is the birthday girl with her cake
(isn't she the cutest)


Here is a closer look of the cake with the paper Lolli-pops I made for her topper. I liked using the paper lollies because they were fun & lets face it...doesn't everyone like stuff with their own name on it haha, I know I am guilty~

and here is the paper Sweet 16 banner I made for her so she would have a memento :)
and because I like making them so I guess you can say I seized the opportunity

So Happy I caught the reaction of a 16 year old who really likes the gift you got her...........very priceless!

I love that I can incorporate my creations into everyday life and in turn make other people happy in the process.